Quince

Yes, we are back in town, but since I got a little behind on the trip I will try to finish up in the next couple of days.  

On Wednesday we went to Quince in the financial district in San Fran. Michael Tusk, owner and chef, holds a Relais Gourmond status and in 2011 was awarded James Beard "Best Chef Pacific".   While Coi was definitely an experience for a true "foodie", I think Quince was a little more approachable for the general public.  

Two options are presented to you for dinner:  a tasting menu with an optional wine pairing or a four course dinner menu.  Drew and I opted for the four course because we could each get different things and cover more ground on the menu.  So this will take a while.... 

They started us off with some "snacks"

parmesan & salmon roe ,puffed bread w/ bleu cheese , Caesar Salad, Buffalo Chicken

pickled green tomato and custard tart ( oh so good...)

On to the amuse

carrot granita, coconut foam, & thyme 

and the bread. Baked to order Brioche rolls. We got seconds. Drew got thirds.    

First Course:

Wild King Salmon Crudo, Brokaw Farm avocado, orange blossom and fennel

Zuckerman's Farm green asparagus, yogurt, grapefruit and sorrel

We got a bonus dish from the chef!

Casoncelli, asparagus in variations, brown butter.  I can still taste the richness of this dish in my mouth.  Drew and I have our favorite dishes we like to talk about and this will definitely be one to come up over and over again. I totally understand why all of you would want to be friends with us. Only really cool people sit around and talk multiple times about dishes they have eaten from various restaurants. 

Second Course:

Phil Paine's squab "Cannelloni"

"Gnocchi di Ricotta" black truffle and broccoli di ciccio

Third Course:

St. Canut suckling pig, endive, young turnip and whey

dry aged côte de bœuf, salt-crusted formanova beet, bone marrow and foraged nasturtium

Before the fourth course we had a selection of cheese, more bread, and mostarda (an italian condiment made of candied fruit and a mustart flavoured syrup)

I failed as a blogger and do not remember the names of the different cheeses, but at this point I'm a couple of drinks in and verging on a food coma so you can hardly blame my lack of attention to detail.

Since you are already totally disappointed with me right now I might as well mention I don't remember the names of the really great wines we had that were recommended by our waiter.  I'm sorry but the quick flash of the bottle before you try the wine is hardly enough for me to recall the name, which I'm positive was in a different language anyways.   

Fourth Course:

Rhubarb Rôti, citrus crumble, and feuilles de brick

pistachio millefoglie, honey comb, lemon confit, and sicilian pistachio gelato

At this point we really should be done, but no... 

a decorative tray of petit fours  

  

Napa Valley - part 2

We not only did the whole wine thing while being in Napa, we of course did some eating too! While many of you are probably wondering if we went to The French Laundry, it was not in the stars for us this trip.  While we were certainly willing to drop some change on food this trip, for research and deveopment of course, The French Laundry is a whole different tax bracket kind of a place.   

Since we didn't eat there, we opted for another of Thomas Keller's Yountville restaurants, Bouchon.  It is right down the street, and is a more relaxed atmosphere but still holds the same standards you would expect for one of Keller's restaurants.  Bouchon is a Lyonnaise inspired cuisine, while French, it is a style where dishes are typically heavy and meat oriented. This will explain why we only stuck to a couple of courses, as opposed to the normal 7 or 8.  Normal being relative to us anyways...

Drew started with Daurade Escabèche

marinated sea bream with garden vegetables & Espelette pepper vinaigrette

Main courses: 

Foie de Veau: calf's liver with melted onions, crispy onion rings & red wine vinegar sauce

Steak Frites: caramelized shallots, maître d'hôtel butter served with french fries

Anthony Bourdain visited Bouchon's in Vegas and particularly mentioned the fries.  So although I had the best intentions of eating something with veggies, I couldn't pass up the opportunity to try them!

Since Bouchon was right down the street, we at least took a peak at The French Laundry and their personal garden across the street.  

Out of all the food we ate, I think seeing this type of set up might have been the most inspiring thing Drew and I experienced on our trip.  We both feel strongly commited about the concept of eating REAL food. Food that comes from a farm, and not one of those mass produced, pesticide indulging farms.  I appreciate Keller's (he is not the only one) desire to help revolutionize America's relatively new farm-to-table concept, but I can't help be slightly jaded by the fact that what has become a restaurant fad is actually the way people eat in pretty much every other country since ...umm... forever.  

Coi

Tuesday night we dined at Coi, a two Michelin Star restaurant (also ranked 58th on the San Pellegrino's best restaurants in the world) in the North Beach District of San Francisco.  A tasting menu is the only option available and we opted for the full wine pairing, which from my amateur palate was spot on.  It was so well done I made sure I drank it all! You know, just to make sure they knew how much I appreciated all their hard work.  Since I only knew about half of what I was eating, I will just post pictures with their descriptions in the order we were served.

California Bowl, brown rice crackers, whipped avocado, petite greens. 

wild steelhead trout roe, smoked egg yolk, créme fraîche, chive

paired with: (mv) Voirin-Jumel, Blanc de Blancs, Grand Cru, Cramant, Champagne, France

charcoal roasted beets, blackberry, salted marrow fat, arugula

paired with: (nv) Kamoizumi 'Kome Kome' Hiroshima, Japan

chilled spiced yellow squash soup, saffron, lime, nasturtium

paired with: 2011 Storybook Mountain, Viognier, Napa Valley, California

celtuce, brown butter, burnt hay, comte, tarragon

paired with: 2011 Clos Saint-Vincent, 'Le Clos' Rosé of Braquet, Bellet, Provence, France

Monterey Bay abalone, new onion, scarlet mustard

paired with: 2010 Peay 'Estate' Chardonnay, Sonoma Coast, California

gently steamed wild king salmon, stuffed morels, peas, sorrel

paired with: 2011 Anthill Farms, Pinot Noir, 'Comptche Ridge' Mendocino, California

Emigh Ranch lamb rack, chard leaves and steams, garum, rosemary

paired with: 2007 Jamet, Côte-Rôtie, Rhone, France

strawberries, tiny herbs   *a palate cleanser

whipped coconut, olive oil, rhubarb, blood orange

paired with: (nv) Domaine de l'Octavin 'Foutre d'Escampette' Chardonnay, Arbois, France

(As an uneducated palate (me) and an educated palate (Drew) we both agreed this was possibly one of the best desserts we have ever had!)

blueberries, soy milk, baguette, caramelized cocoa

paired with: 2009 Bava, 'Rosetta' Malvasia di Castelnuovo don Bosco, Piedmont, Italy

The whole experience was pretty impressive and although the food was great the most memorable part about Coi was the company.  We were sat next to a fellow chef from San Francisco who was eating by himself.  Quite a character was our new friend.  I actually had to clean my mouth out with soap afterwards just from listening to him talk.  I will leave you all with a quote from when Jonny left us last night, "I'm going to go finish this meal off with some beer and cocaine".   Umm, ok... I think we will just stick to coffee. 

Napa Valley - part 1

On Monday we set off for Napa Valley.  Being a future wino, I was really excited about going to wine country. And I highly recommend Napa if your looking to drain your bank account.  Two things I would recommend about Napa: 1) make all your reservations early because most vineyards only do tastings by appointments 2) make sure you don't only take a designated driver, but also a designated decision maker. You are going to want someone to tell you after the wine tasting that you really don't need to become a "club member" of every vinyard you go to.  It may sound great at the time to let the vinyard keep your credit card on file and send you boxes of wine annually (you don't even have to renew it... they just keep charging your credit card every year!), but the majority of us are not retired doctors.   This is where your DDM (designated decision maker) comes in! Should we try to go to a fifth wine tasting? DDM. Should I buy that really expensive wine because I just love the bottle? DDM.  Is that a special Napa bathroom or just a pot for plants? DDM.  As the day goes on, this person becomes increasingly more valuable.  

The first vineyard we went to was Ehlers Estate in the northern part of St. Helena. I was interested in this vineyard because it was 100% organic, biodynamic and one of the only non-profit vineyards, with all proceeds going to cardiovasular research.   Ehlers core values are: quality, sustainability, and community.  And all wines produced are estate grown. 

During our tasting we tried their Sauvignon Blanc, Merlot, One Twenty Over Eighty (which is a cab blend), and 1886 (Cabernet Sauvignon). 

The second vineyard we went to was Schweiger Vineyards up on Spring Mountain.  I would definitely recommend trying a vineyard on Spring Mountain, but depending on how long you plan to be there you might want to pack a lunch because once you get up there there isn't anything besides the vineyards. This was another small operation with all wines produced soley from the estate. 

While we were there we tried their 2010 Chardonnay, 2006 Merlot, 2008 Cabernet Sauvignon, 2008 Dedication (Cab blend), and Port X.  I don't feel quite mature or cool enough to keep bottles of Port hanging around my house, but this stuff was incredible and we definitely are headed home with some! 

   

Tartine

We tried to eat at Tartine on Monday morning before heading to Napa, but by the time we got there at 9:00 the line was already wrapped around the building. So Tuesday we got up extra early and we were waiting outside before it opened at 7:30.  

I don't even know how to write anything to explain Tartine.  As I said before I'm not really a writer, and the only words I can come up with like "incredible" or "amazing" are too familiar and really don't do this place justice.  I am however pretty sure this is what you get to eat in heaven for breakfast.  

Day one at Tartine: Morning Bun, double Pain au chocolat, grugére, croissant, and a dried fruit scone 

Morning Bun (half eaten!)

Sorry we don't have pictures of everything.... maybe next time we will be able to hold off before eating it all! 

Sushi Ran

Sunday night we started our week off at Sushi Ran across the bay in the Salsalito area.   Chef Scott Whitman handled all food coming out of the kitchen while Chef Nori Kusakabe takes care of the sushi bar.   Apparently, he is also specially trained in torafugu (aka blowfish), which is poisonous unless cut specifically. What I want to know is, how many people had to die to figure this out?!?  "There's plenty of fish in the sea" is a quote we are all familiar with and I think can certainly be applied in this context as well!

**Please don't be alarmed at the amount of food we consume.  We trained for this trip.**

We started the night off with a vegetable tasting and Drew had manila clam miso soup. 

From left: kimchee brussel sprouts, spiced roasted cauliflower, and kale,dates, and puffed rice

Even the most basic meat and potato eater would have devoured these veggies.  My only complaint was that we only had chopsticks. This really slowed down my ability to shovel these into my mouth at a speed only Americans are familiar with. Thank goodness for forks, otherwise we might all be skinny!  

manila clam miso soup

From veggies and soup we moved onto the sushi bar where I ordered shirayaki, a piece of eel.  I will eat Sushi and enjoy it, but this was all pretty hard core.  No American watered down version with large amounts of cream cheese and fried shrimp.  However, Drew was in heaven.  With no blowfish on the menu to be had tonight he settled for: 

From top left: aori ika (big fin reef squid), ankima (monkfish liver pate), iki botan ebi - the head (live wild sweet shrimp).  From bottom left:   toro (blue fin fatty tuna) ,kasugodai (baby red snapper cured w/bamboo leaf, iki botan ebi (live wild sweet shrimp)

From Sushi we went back to the "kitchen" where the menu was broken down into three parts: Earth, Sea, and Land.  From Sea, we had grilled octopus, scallop-chive dumplings, and chilled squid.  And by we I mean mostly Drew. 

Scallop-chive dumplings, water spinach, soy-vinegar

grilled octopus, popcorn puree, romanesco, marcona almond, castelvetrano olive 

chilled squid, chili, mint, lime, crushed pinenut

These seems like a reasonable amount of food to end a meal on, if you were eating with normal people.  But no, we progressed to "land".  Drew ordered the kurobuta short rib and I had the vietnamese shaking beef.  Both meat in our dishes came from Snake River Farm and that place knows how to do some meat! 

   vietnamese shaking beef, sweet onions, tiger lily buds, lime-pepper dipping sauce

 kurobuta short rib, potato-garlic puree, spring pea relish, lemongrass

and just because we felt like we hadn't ordered enough, we made a full circle and revisited the spiced roasted cauliflower (seriously, that's how good cauliflower can be). 

Um, we also ordered dessert... but don't worry, we split it!