Heirloom Cafe: San Francisco

Date:  vendredi 1 avril 2011
Location:  2500 Folsom Street

San Francisco, CA 94110
Tel:  +1 415 821 2500

Typical San Francisco style cooking. Fresh, seasonal, local, mostly organic.  Barely any dressing on the salads, since the fresh sweetness in the greens speak for themselves.  This was yet another one of those 48hour weekend trips to San Francisco - and recently my approach has been to treat my work "base" as any other stay-cation city I frequent.  Sounds so oxy-moronic I know, but it certainly is true.  

Everything is very fresh and sourced locally.  A minimum requirement for any restaurantto survive in San Francisco.  The cooking style here is just clean. 

I was not too satisfied with their wine list, but I guess, the food is simple and clean as was their accompanying wine list.  Alright, then.

Update:  lundi 30 mai 2011
I have just been informed by a fellow wine enthusiast friend that Heirloom Cafe has a Cellar List for wine that can be requested.  Also, they give 60% off corkage fee for older vintages.  Thanks TJ! 

Olives!

Dining Room.

Cauliflower soup, crispy leeks.

Potato gnocchi, fennel sausage, mushrooms, English peas.

Love sitting upfront and personal with the chefs, watching them make the magic that feeds our souls!

Maine sea scallops, sweet mashers, frisee, brown butter, currants.

Little gem lettuces, citrus, avocado, fresh herbs.  My San Francisco!

Aftermath of my three desserts!

Hoffman chicken, wilted escarole, bacon, roasted garlic bread pudding.

Dessert #1 - the crunchy meringue top, with dollop of meringue tart and vanilla bean ice cream on top, with berry squeeze.

Strawberry shortcake.

Affogatto!

Watching the action....

Cade Winery: Howell Mountain, St. Helena - CA

Date:  samedi 21 mai 2011
Location:  360 Howell Mountain Road South
Angwin, CA 94508
Tel:  +1 707 965 2746
http://www.cadewinery.com/cade/

This is a beautiful, contemporary, serene, quiet winery.  It is private-feeling and I almost hesitated to blog about this gem of a find.  Reservations are a must (since this is a small production winery) and you will be introduced to Cade's wines while sitting inside their living room or their outside patio - both which offer stunning views of Napa Valley perched on a dramatic hillside. 

I was delighted with Cade's 2009 Sauvignon Blanc (93% SB, 6% Semillon, 1% Viognier) - a great steal at only $26USD/bottle.  I enjoyed this perfect breakfast/lunch/pre-dinner wine at 11am, which is how every Saturday should begin in any wine country - sunny outdoors on a quiet hilltop above grapevines!  This fresh Sauvignon Blanc glistened brightly and so cleanly in my wine glass in that Northern California morning sun, reflecting against the concrete infinity pool.  All the while, there were only a mere three or four other visitors tasting during the same time around us.

Because this is a small winery, you will be able to enjoy yourself and the wines without feeling rushed (which is how most wineries in Napa/Sonoma region on the main roads feel like - rushed!).  Personally, I prefer discovering the more obscure wines off the beaten path minus the commercialized approach, taking my time speaking with the wine growers and understanding what is it about their wine's terroir and micro-climate that makes them unique. 

I was pleased to know later that evening that a very good friend of mine (aka the "Sheriff of Taste" http://sheriffoftaste.com/) saw my morning posting about visiting Cade and could not resist making a quick day trip up to Cade himself, but missed me by about 2 hours.  My just-long-enough short stay for a brief respite, then off again along the travel status quo.  A pity to have missed him, a fellow Burghound who shares an incedibly similar palatte to mine.  Of course, we collected our notes the next day and agreed on all the same tasting notes for Cade's wines.

I went home with a couple bottles of their SB and the 2008 Cade Estate Cabernet Sauvignon (98pts RP) - which comes in both cork and screwcap.  Yum yum. 

Bellagio & Lake Como: ITALY

Date:  dimanche 8 mai 2011
Location:  Bellagio via Lake Como, ITALY

Train from Milano Centrale to Varenna, Italy.  Meeting a good friend for lunch and afternoon stroll through a small, picturesque town and lakeside.  This place is beautiful and it is no wonder some have tried to replicate it (although quite poorly) at the Bellagion casinos. 

For previous blog on dining for lunch in Varenna, Italy in Lake Como:
http://soledad-bleu-etoile.blogspot.com/2011/01/vecchio-varonna-varonna-italy.html

Gatto Milano: MILAN

Date:  samedi 7 mai 2011
Location:  via Castel Morrone, 10
Milan, Italy
Telephone:   +39 02 70006870

Naples, France, and Mediterrenean all fused into one.  It was Saturday in Milan and I spent most the day lazing about in bed in my hotel room.  By 6pm I was finally determined to get myself out of the hotel and to find someplace to eat.  Dial in Milan friends?  I was too lazy to start calling people and coordinating or tagging along last minute.  So I reviewed a Milan blog that I bookmarked from my last trip in Milan... http://labellacitta.com/ and chose Gatto because it sounded a little kitchy (crooks and curios) with homestyle rustic Italian cooking with Mediterrenean flair.   

I ordered 3 appetizers (at which the server said to me "ehhh... too muuuchuh!!!"), 1 entree... dessert, and a bottle of wine.  All just for me!  It was a lot of food but what can I say, I want to try everything on my last Saturday in Milan!!

This place makes their own breads daily.  Their breads alone are worth a visit to the restaurant.  Especially the Tarallini bread (the small round ones that look like Cheerios!).  I ate two plates by myself, they are addictive.  For those "gluten-free" - you are missing out. 

There is an open viewing kitchen, and the young chefs are pretty hot too.  Greaty eye candy!

Anyway, I drank half the bottle, was totally full (too full in fact, I hate that!), and caught a cab ride home through the Milan night to finally pass out on my hotel bed.  Good night! 

Tarallini bread!!!  Like Cheerios. :)))))

Orto di mare: small eggplant flan served w light anchovy cream sauce and few fresh anchovies marinated in EVOO and lemon.

Octopus.  Too big and chewy... I did not like this one much.  :'((

Perfectly al dente how I luv u so.  Guico di gamberi:  spaghetti setaro pan fried in garlic, EVOO, and chilly peppers w crunchy cockroach from sea.

Alici del cuore:  millefeuiles fresh anchovies marinated w citruses and carpaccio of courgettes, served w pesto sauce of mint



Carre des Feuillants: PARIS

Date: samedi 14 mai 2011
Location: 14 rue Castiglione
75001 Paris
Telephone: +33 01 42 86 82 82
http://www.carredesfeuillants.fr/index_en.html

Michelin 2 star, with my girlfriend Monique.  It's one thing dining out with the boys.. another experience entirely when just with the girls.  Especially an intimate 1:1 dinner when with a fellow food wine snob (Burghound Sommelier Elizabeth Harcourt, this is pointing at you!). 

I had just had a divine lunch experience in the Alain Ducasse's Le Jules Vernes earlier that afternoon.  As per my usual European modus operandus, I took a brief siesta that afternoon (in my perfect hotel room with a picture perfect view of the Eiffel Tower!), then hopped into a taxi over to the First Arrondissement to meet my Chinese-French girlfriend, Monique.  Somehow it never surprises me that I meet up with my closest friends more frequently internationally than stateside.  Monique and I had lunch about a month ago in Paris... however we had not seen each other in over a year prior that since she was hopping around London and me everywhere else...  How luvly to meet with her again, and this time over a proper dinner!! 

Chance had it that I would dine here at Carre des Feuillants this evening, due to a last minute reservation recommendation by a good friend.  Walking in, the environment definitely conjures up Parisien Michelin Star style atmosphere.  Sophisticated, quiet, muted sound insulation, orderly, and at least one if not usually two hosts greeting you as soon as you walk through the door. 

Our 1997 1er Cru Leflaive Puligny Montrachet Les Pucelles was memorable... though overall softer than I had anticipated.  Perhaps that was a nice touch for a soft landing considering the steely minerality from the Grand Cru Chablis I had for lunch which still resonates in both my palate, my brain, and my spinal cord.  Good for a Premier Cru, this Puligny Montrachet... though part of me guiltily almost dares to say that this wine was a bit on the flabby side... missing that strong steeliness and structured acidity that I look forward to always.  The label was covered with dirt, and the sommelier said "yes, from our cellar..."  I absolutely love vintage hints for wine labels...  something about waiting patiently for perfection, and seeing the weathered age on the label...  I like to pretend that this bottle was found in the trenches of some pirate's treasure chest in a sunken ship.  :))))  Anyhow... overall it was a nice bottle. 

Killer wine list... I would expect nothing less from my good friend Sebastien Khoury of Domaine De Baal Wines (http://www.domainedebaal.com/) who recommended this place when I cried out for last minute help due to another reservation being cancelled.  The wine list here is extensive with many white burgundies to pair with the many fish dishes on the menu.  I recommend this place as a dinner venue since the ambiance is dark and cool inside - so as not to waste away a beautiful sunny Spring Paris day inside. 

I know this sounds strange, but my favorite dish of the evening was the Orange Pancake Dessert... see below!

Dining room, with fun, happy art on the walls... cheerful watercolors on canvas.

Olives~!

View out toward the main entrance area.

Name brand water... I took the Wattwiller home so I can use the bottle at home for my drinking water.  :)

Appetizer... duck 3 ways.  Foie in the middle, jelly in the left... and some other way on the last....

Super cute mini baguette!!!

 I <3 butter!!

1997 1er Cru Leflaive Puligny Montrachet Les Pucelles - dirt covered label, I absolutely love that!!

Salmon...

Wild turbot, caviar, broccoli semolina, and squid ink rice!!!

 Best end of suckling lamb from "les pyrenees" the sweetbreads slowly cooked in clay creamy watercress and potatoes. 

I forgot what this was.... :)  Some kind of chocolate cake sitting in chocolate pow.

Then a green tea concoction poured over it... quite YUM!

Little puffs of creme bruelee, apple tart, and violet.  My favoritewas the violet!

My favorite of the eve:  Oranges from the cap sweetness, filled pancake (orange blossom jelly, saffron, and cloves marmalade).  WOWOWOW!!!!!

 And finally, un cafe due to my Italian habits. :)))