Eating Elsewhere: Napa

I forgot to share! Earlier this month, Jon and I spent a weekend in Napa — celebrating our three-year anniversary. Since we were staying at the Carneros Inn, we had dinner our first night at FARM and breakfast the next morning at the Boon Fly Cafe. I highly recommend them, even though I wasn't a big fan of our main waiter at FARM ... and Jon had some technical difficulties with the teapot at Boon Fly. The food at both was immensely enjoyable. And they are such charming spots.

We also had to go to Bistro Jeanty so I could order up the tomato soup in puff pastry. It is so good, I would make the drive to/from Napa just for that soup. The mushroom pasta special I had that day was also ridiculously good. Jon's Nicoise salad was bigger than his torso, and I think he ate almost all of it. (He started off his meal with some other salad that I don't recall. Can you tell that he's a much healthier eater than I am?)

What else ... Thomas Keller's Ad Hoc! Okay, so Jon and I are not really good with restaurants that have a single fixed menu. Even if they say it's because they're trying to create a family-style vibe. See, we don't always favor the same kinds of dishes. But we wanted to give Ad Hoc a try anyway. The food was fine (I liked it better than Jon), and the service was friendly but on the slow side. We probably wouldn't go back, but that's partly because there are so many great places to eat in the area. (Note: I loved that the servers at Ad Hoc get to wear Converse All-Stars!)

Why, Hello Blog!

I know I haven't posted in a while. The past month or so has been busy on all fronts, and the only recent meal I can think of right now to recommend to you: Fondue at Crepes Cafe in Menlo Park. If you order the dinner (two-person minimum), you get to share an appetizer crepe served with grilled veggies, caramalized onions, creamy chicken and mushrooms; a side salad each; and, of course, a pot of bubbling cheese.

What more could you ask for? (Okay, maybe the fruit that the menu says comes with the dinner — but we saw no sign of.) During our visit, Jon and I opted for the Savoyard. With gruyere, emmental and comte, it's considered the classic cheese fondue.

Since I was in NYC last month, I can offer a few more suggestions if you're lucky enough to make it out there any time soon: The Modern, Yakitori Totto, Pastis, Per Se, Shake Shack and Nobu 57.

Eating Elsewhere: Carmel

Poor neglected blog. Last January, I posted 28 times. This January? Not so much. This is just my second post of the new year. What's even sadder: The January 2007 posts thus far are not about the Peninsula!

It's pathetic, I know. But I can't complain because I've been busy with fun freelancing work and fun traveling. Jon and I spent the recent three-day weekend in Carmel Valley. To celebrate my sister's birthday, we had dinner at the Chef's Table at Marinus. SO AWESOME. Everything about the evening was amazing. We ended up consuming 10 savory courses and 3 desserts.

The next day, Jon had the brilliant idea to drive down Highway 1 to one of my favorite places on the planet: Big Sur Bakery. I love this place. It is so cozy and charming. And the food equally comforting (and delicious!). Behold the breakfast pizza:

After Marinus and BSB, I thought dinner at Bouchee in Carmel would be a let-down. But it so wasn't! Another great meal. Jon enjoyed the Kampachi Sashimi and the Free-Range Sonoma Chicken. I had the Monterey Abalone and the Beef Short Rib "à la Bourguignonne". Dessert was just as good: Churros with Hazelnut Hot Chocolate. (I was considering the beignets, but since they're chocolate, and I like mine plain and straightforward, we only ordered the churros.)

More pictures and descriptions from our Marinus and Big Sur Bakery visits can be seen/read here.

Oh, you know what our first meal was once we got home? Quizno's. We are so all over the map when it comes to food.

Eating Elsewhere: Turks & Caicos

It's been a few weeks since my last post, but I've got good excuses for my blogging absence:

1) The obvious one - The Holidays.
2) And I was on vacation.

#1 involved lots of good eating, family time, post-Christmas shopping, gift-giving and -receiving.

#2 involved Hilton Head Island, SC, and Providenciales, Turks & Caicos. Jon headed out to the East Coast a few days before me (work gets in the way of all the fun!). So we met up in HH for New Year's. And a couple of days later, we were off to the Caribbean.

Since this is a food-related site, let's talk about the food. We made it a priority to hit up the usual/favorite HH spots. It was my first visit to Turks, however, so we mainly took the advice of others. In case you're ever in Provo (which is how most folks refer to Providenciales), here are my dining-out picks:

• Fancy Meal: O Soleil
• Casual/Expensive Meal:* Bay Bistro
• Casual/Cheap Meal: Da Conch Shack
• Meal with a View: Magnolia

Prices were high pretty much everywhere we went. So your belly may be full, but your wallet will be empty. The best value was Da Conch Shack — where, for $12, I got a plate of fried conch; mac'n'cheese (it was baked-up so crispy, it was like a slice of mac'n'cheese); and fried plantains. So so good!

You can get more details on Provo restaurants here.

* This category explained: You don't have to dress up to dine here because the ambiance is very casual, laid-back, beachfront. But the entrees are still around $30.

Eating Elsewhere: Los Angeles

I've been meaning to write about a few places we visited in L.A. over Labor Day weekend, and am just now sitting down to do just that. So here are few suggestions if you find yourself down south:

• Roscoe's Chicken and Waffles. I love fried chicken. And I love homemade waffles. So, really, what could be better at 8am?
  
  
• Sprinkles Cupcakes. This is the first cupcake shop I've ever visited where there's actually a line out the door! But the place is small, so it only takes a handful of patrons to make this happen. The short wait was definitely worth it, as these are some of the best cupcakes I've ever had. Flavors we sampled: peanut-butter chocolate, banana, red velvet and strawberry. Jon's favorite was the pb-choc; mine was the red velvet. But the strawberry was surprisingly yummy (the ladies in front of us recommended it). Not too sweet.

• Jin Patisserie. By far, one of my favorite tea spots. Ever. I like to order the Afternoon Tea, a good mix of sweets and savories. On our recent visit, Jon went with the chicken salad sandwich on olive bread. It was SO good! I got a package of mango candies to go, too, and am still enjoying them. (The woman at Jin said they should last a few weeks if they're sealed up properly.)

(Image from Sprinkle's web site)

Eating Elsewhere: NYC and Boston

We got back late Tuesday night from a week-long trip to the East Coast. As you can probably guess, there was a lot of good eating to be done in NYC and Boston. Believe it or not, the photo below is a FRIED TWINKIE from the Chip Shop in Brooklyn.

Although I was a bit skeptical, the Twinkie turned out to be quite good. The outside had a nice crunch to it, while the cake was still spongey and moist. (I think the heat from the frying process causes the cream filling to melt/become absorbed into the cake.) The raspberry coulis was a fancy touch! Here are some of the other food highlights from our vacation:

New York

• Lunch at The Modern Bar Room, before taking in the MoMA.
• Afternoon Tea at the Tea Box, on the lower level of Takashimaya.
• Crispy rice with spicy tuna at Koi. (We first had this dish at the original Koi location in L.A. and loved it. So of course, when our hotel restaurant turned out to be Koi, we *had* to pop downstairs for a bite.)
• Breakfast at Balthazar. (When you're dining here, it's easy to pretend you're in Paris.)
• Small plates at The Stanton Social. (I loved the French onion soup dumplings! And the dessert of warm doughnuts!)

Boston

• Meatball sandwiches at Quincy Market. (It was so hard to pick just one place to eat in there!)
• Italian in the North End of the city, specifically at Piccolo Venezia.
• Breakfast at Tealuxe.
• Fried dough and Fenway Franks at the Red Sox-Yankees game.
• Fried Ipswich clams at Jasper White's Summer Shack.
• Dessert at Finale.
• Yummy pizzas at Todd English's Beacon Hill location of Figs.

And now we'll get back to our regularly scheduled programming of local eating establishments!

Eating Elsewhere: Pismo Beach

Prior to receiving an invitation to a wedding in Pismo Beach, I didn't really know where the place was. And for those of you who also need a little geography lesson here, it's basically halfway between San Francisco and Los Angeles, along the coast. We stayed at a hotel overlooking the ocean (pretty! and not ridiculously hot!), but Jon and I still managed to venture into town a couple of times during our short stay in Pismo.

"Town" is filled with plenty of shops and restaurants. Nearly every place had a long line on Saturday night, so we opted for the one that seemed to have the shortest wait of them all: Mo's. Now, usually, if a restaurant is the only one that isn't packed, you have to wonder about the quality, right? But in this case, because I think most people come to Pismo for the excellent seafood and Mo's is a barbecue joint, I figured that was the reason it wasn't backed up around the corner. The food itself was quite good. Jon had the Shredded Chicken Sandwich, while I opted for the Rib Combo (1/2 slab of Philthy Phil's Pork Ribs and Sweet Carolina's Pork Ribs). Of the two sauces, I preferred the Phil's -- which was spicier and less sweet than the Carolina's. The meat itself was tender and just fell off of the bone. Jon liked the potato salad more than I did, but we both agreed that the corn muffins served with honey butter were delish.

On Sunday, we went back into town for lunch with six others. We decided on Splash Cafe, which we had read good things about... But apparently, everyone else had also read about the place, because by 11:30am the line already stretched around the corner. (It wasn't nearly as bad as what we witnessed the previous night though.) It took us about half an hour to get to the register to place our order. Then you get to the hard part: Finding a table. It was obvious that we weren't going to nab a table for eight, so we had to split up into three groups to enjoy our meal. But that was the only downside of the place. The food was awesome. Splash Cafe claims to have the best clam chowder and Jon's dad seemed ready to accept that after he took one bite of the creamy concoction. I went with the oysters and chips. The fried oysters were plump and juicy, while the fries were served crispy and hot. No complaints here. Jon and his mom both ordered the ahi tacos, which were piled high with fish. At $4.50 for a pair, they were a great deal.

So there you have it. If you ever find yourself in Pismo Beach, you've got at least two good dining options. Oh, and don't miss the place on the corner of Pomeroy and Dolliver that has all sorts of yummy fudge, and you can watch saltwater taffy being made!

Mo's SmokeHouse BBQ
221 Pomeroy Street
Pismo Beach, CA
(805) 773-6193

Splash Cafe
197 Pomeroy Street
Pismo Beach, CA
(805) 773-4653

Eating Elsewhere: Chicago

My recent four-day trip to Chicago was filled with so many gastronomical delights. I -- along with my two travel companions -- ate ridiculously well:

• We landed in Chicago around 3:30pm and were famished because none of us had eaten breakfast before flying out that morning. And they served absolutely NO FOOD on the plane. Well, there were some muffins wrapped in plastic that you could buy. But those weren't the least bit appetizing. Where were the snack boxes?!
  
  Anyway. As soon as we checked in, we headed to the Lobby restaurant in The Peninsula to get our grub on. Afternoon Tea service was just winding down, but they were happy to seat us anyway. Apparently, the dining space is modeled after The Peninsula in Hong Kong -- which is famous for its Afternoon Tea, which I have also enjoyed. But I don't know if it was just the extreme hunger, but I thought the Chicago tea service was actually better than the one in Hong Kong. Everything we ate was so good.
  
  
• I've had the pleasure of dining at Charlie Trotter's restaurant in Mexico. But with superchefs like Trotter, if possible, I think one should eat at their original establishment to really appreciate their genius. And that's exactly what we did Saturday night.
  
  There were three of us dining together, and we each opted for the Grand Menu:
  
  
  • Amuse Gueule
    
  • Japanese Hamachi with Roasted Bell Pepper, Kalamata Olive Sorbet, Spanish Paprika & Basil Oil
    
  • Hawaiian Escolar with Steamed Dungeness Crab, Chives & Crispy Pig's Feet
    
  • Whole Roasted Squab with Braised Sweet Onions, Chanterelle Mushroom &
    Szechwan Peppercorn Reduction
    
  • Four Story Hill Angus Strip Loin with Kohlrabi, White Runner Bean, Pickled Garlic & Spiced Date
    
  • Meyer Lemon & Olive Oil Sherbet with Candied Lemon Peel
    
  • Poached Rhubarb with Jasmine Semifreddo & Celery
    
  • Mignardises
  
  The flavors... The textures... Delicious. And we even saw the man himself (Charlie Trotter) pass through the dining room.
  
  
• And just when you think NOTHING could top dinner at Charlie Trotter's, along comes Alinea. The Tour Menu consisted of 24 courses. They were small, but still! TWENTY-FOUR! And each plate was a masterpiece. Truly beautiful. I have never seen food presented so well in my entire life.
  
  Grant Achatz' cuisine can best be described as avant garde. It is so completely different than anything you've ever seen or tasted. For example, the first course was called Hot Potato/Cold Potato. It consisted of a translucent bowl -- small enough that you could easily cup it in the palm of your hand -- filled with chilled potato soup. Suspended over the soup, from a needle, was a bit of parmesan, a bit of cold butter, a sliver of chive, a warm chunk of potato, and a slice of black truffle. The server instructed us to pull the needle away from the bowl, thereby letting all of the suspended items fall into the bowl. Then sip and enjoy. The flavors blended so harmoniously. It was gorgeous to look at, fun to eat, and -- best of all -- tasted divine. Subsequent courses were just as brilliant.
  
  It's hard to put the Alinea experience into words. You just have to go and appreciate it for yourself.
  
  (Image from Alinea's web site)
  
  
• After Charlie Trotter's and Alinea two consecutive nights, on Monday, it was time to get back to "normal" food. We hit Grant Park for the Taste of Chicago festival. This is where I enjoyed two of my favorite foods: deep-fried dough (funnel cakes!) and deep-fried potatoes (a plate piled high with chips).

• We couldn't leave Chicago without sampling some cupcakes. So we made a visit to Sweet Mandy B's. Yummm! The cakes were so moist, and the frosting not overly sweet. The Red Velvet was my favorite.

And those were pretty much the food highlights from Chicago!

Eating Elsewhere: Hilton Head Island, SC

Jon and I just returned from a visit with his parents, who reside in Hilton Head. It's an idyllic resort town where golfing, tennis and going to the beach are the major pastimes. What makes it an even better vacation destination is the great food that can be found there.

On the casual front, Captain Woody's is a must. You really can't go wrong with anything on the menu. I usually order a basket with fried oysters and fried shrimps, plus a side of hush-puppies (which come with delicious honey-butter). Jon almost always gets a grouper melt sandwich.

For something a little nicer, it's got to be Michael Anthony's. They have a salad that is one of my absolute favorites: poached pear, sweet gorgonzola and honey-roasted pine nuts. We've never had a bad dish here, and the desserts are worth saving room for.

So if you ever find yourself in Hilton Head, both of these eateries are definitely worth checking out.

Eating Elsewhere: Los Cabos, Mexico

We just got back from Mexico -- where all we did was eat, relax on the beach, eat, relax by the pool, eat, relax on the daybed on our terrace, eat ... You get the picture. I'm fairly certain I added on a few extra pounds during the trip, but this could not be confirmed; when I stepped on the scale in the hotel room, an error message kept popping up on the screen. Hmmm ... Not a good sign.

Okay, with all of the eating we did, I of course have a couple of recommendations -- should you find yourself in Los Cabos any time soon. We enjoyed so many good meals at the resort, but I'll share with you the highlight of our excursions "into town":

• San Jose del Cabo - Although still a tourist hot spot, SJ has more of an authentic vibe than CSL. There aren't people on the streets trying to aggressively hustle you into their store and you won't find TOO many American chains on the main street, Boulevard Antonio Mijares. The heat may tempt you into the Baskins-Robbins there, but don't do it. Instead, head to this little ice cream/popsicle store that I should have written down the name of but didn't. However, I can direct you there: It's on Coronado (I think), about two blocks from Mijares. The popsicles were not just simply frozen fruit juice. Mine had bite-size chunks of mango imbedded throughout. It was both beautiful to look at (sort of mosaic-like) and wonderful to eat. Especially since it was about 90 degrees out.
  
• Cabo San Lucas - Yes, downtown is home to a Hard Rock Cafe, Houlihan's and Ruth's Chris Steak House. But if you venture off Boulevard Marina and onto Ignacio Zaragoza, you'll be rewarded with amazing and affordable food. We were instructed to visit Los Claros, which was emphasized as a "Mexican restaurant" -- meaning, there is limited English spoken there and not a lot of tourists. Worked for us. The fish tacos were so frickin' awesome. I can't even put it into words. The fish is fried right there, in front of you, in a little trolley. Then you take your plate to the condiment area, where all sorts of garnishes and salsas await you. I also tried the oyster tacos -- equally delicious! And each taco cost us roughly $1. I would have gone back again and again if only the cab ride to CSL wasn't $28 each way.

With all of the churros I've eaten this week (poolside! so decadent!), I think I need to sign up for a gym membership ...