noodlie's Profile
Spago Review
We thoroughly enjoyed the tasting menu on our recent trip to Spago, to celebrate a special occasion. We made the request for the tasting menu at the time we made the reservation.
We parked in the public parking lot a block from the restaurant, since I prefer to self park rather than hand my car keys to a stranger, for valet parking, whenever I can.
We were quickly seated, our server asked about food allergies, and then the decadence began. We were served a series of 6 Amuses, all wonderful. The Amuse with the most “wow” factor was a squid ink cracker, which looked like a small polished stone, filled with sturgeon mousse and then topped with caviar. This was arranged in a box with seashells and herbs mimicking seaweed. It was a vignette of the seashore at low tide.
After the Amuses, a bread tray was presented with about 6 different selections. I chose a couple, and they were delish. A server with a bread tray returned later in the meal to offer a refill. It was hard to maintain restraint on the bread, it was so good! I kept some bread on hand to sop up sauces from the plates.
The first course was a palette cleanser of cucumber sorbet, of which the server poured a savory tea over. This was a pleasant combo of flavors. Next was a cheese soufflé in a pool of mushroom soup. The soufflé had the texture of a cloud and the soup had a pleasantly intense mushroom flavor. Next, Thai infused Santa Barbara spot prawns, sweet and perfectly done. Crusted Loup de Mer was next. A delicate fleshed fish served with a crunchy crust and accompanied by a cute squid ink sausage that looked like a black olive along with a sweet bite of lobster. Agnolotti followed. While very good, this was the weakest dish of the night. The sweet pea flavor rang out, but the dish lacked the complexity of the others. Next up was duck breast, cooked to a perfect pink and with a delicious jus. The last entrée was American Kobe beef. This had some of the tiniest brussels sprouts I have ever seen, and sauce worthy of sopping up to the last drop with the bread.
The cheese course followed. I’m not big on cheese courses, but the 3 cheeses served were quite good - a creamy cheese blend from Italy, a hard aged Gouda, and an Oregon blue. They were served with thinly sliced walnut bread, honey and a fruit puree.
The first dessert was a warm rhubarb cobbler with oranges and maybe another fruit, served with a very vanilla ice cream. The last dish of the night was a “Chocolate Bar”. I was well into happy food overload at this point, so my now spotty memory of this dessert is dark chocolate bottom layered with a lighter chocolate, a bit denser than mousse, topped with caramel corn and tiny crunchy chocolate balls, and accompanied with chocolate sorbet.
Service was attentive without being obtrusive. Our water glasses were kept filled. The dishes were well described by wait staff as they were set in front of us. Part way through the meal we asked if we could have a list of our tasting menu, and this was brought to us after the check, which came to $145pp, before tax and tip, food only. There is a 20% service charge applied, which I do not begrudge one bit. Service was excellent.
It was good to walk the one block to our car after the meal, in fact it probably would have been better for me to jog a couple miles, to work off some of the calories. What a wonderful meal!
Mardi Gras 2012 ...what are you making or baking?
Gumbo with andouille, chicken, shrimp, and garnished with crab. I just finished making the shrimp stock for it. Hush Puppies as a side. For dessert, Pains au Chocolat. I know, the dessert isn't traditional, by my SO makes such a yummy version!
Ventura/Oxnard help?
I too was really sad to see Brooks close. It was my favorite, and only fine dining restaurant in this area worth visiting.
Ventura/Oxnard help?
For sushi, I like Anaba on Tradewinds Dr. in Oxnard. I also like Moqueca, a Brazilian rest. at Channel Harbor. Friends like Tierra Sur, at Herzog Winery in Oxnard. I was not impressed the one time I went for lunch with the friends, but the friends felt our experience was unusual compared to their previouse visits.
Some one already mentioned Andria's. I like their clam chowder, also the chowder at Brophy Bros. These are both at Ventura Harbor.
My go to places for lunch in Ventura are Danny's Deli on Telegraph, I usually get the Pastrami Dip or tongue sandwich, and Marshall's Bodacious BBQ on Ventura Bl. for their boneless pork rib sandwich.
I was not impressed by Cafe Zacks, however my visit was during Restaurant Week a couple months ago and they only served a rather unimpressive set menu and the service was slow.
Enjoy your stay!
What food magazine do you recommend?
I loved Gourmet magazine. I was really, really sad to see it go. I accepted the offer to switch to Bon Appetit, but I will not be renewing it when my subscription runs out. It was OK, but I think it has become an even more poor substitute for Gourmet with the new editor-in-chief. Does anyone recommend Saveur? Food & Wine? Any other mag?
Scala’s Bistro and Ferry Building in SF – Short Report
We made a short trip to SF before Thanksgiving. We had dinner at Scala’s Bistro, which was very close to our hotel in Union Square. I was surprised how crowded it was on a Monday evening at 6:30pm and thankful I had made a reservation. We shared a tasty pizza as an appetizer (pear, gorgonzola and bacon) and our entrees were the pork chop and duck breast, both cooked perfectly. For dessert we shared the apply named “Chocolate, chocolate, chocolate” dessert, which consisted of chocolate mousse cake, chocolate gelato, and chocolate sauce. It was very good. Portions were good size. Dinner with tax, no beverages and before tip came to about $90. We had a table next to the window and enjoyed watching people, the cable cars, and the bellhop from the Sir Francis Drake next door in his red olde merry England costume. I hope they get paid extra for wearing the costume.
The next day we arrived mid morning at the Ferry Building. It was Tues., so the small farmers market was in progress. Our first nosh were empanadas from El Porteno Empanadas. We had a mushroom and a jamon and queso, both very good with flaky pastries and tasty fillings. We shared an order of baked oysters at Hog Island Oyster Co. There were 4 Sweet Water oysters in our order in a buttery parsley sauce. Good bread was brought to our table and was useful for sopping up the tasty oyster juices. We then walked next door to Ferry Plaza Seafood and had New England style clam chowder and half a shrimp sandwich and half a crab melt sandwich. While pricey, the food was good. The chowder was thickish and had good clam flavor and a good amount of clam chunks. The sandwiches were yummy, full of flavor. Next were brownies and a box of chocolates from Scharffen Berger. The brownies, though thin, were to die for. I haven’t broken in to the chocolates yet (still experiencing Thanksgiving food coma). Boccalone had the cutest cones of cured meat displayed, so we had to get one to share. It was a paper snow cone container filled with various cured meats (salumi, mortadella, etc.). Very yummy. We also bought some pancetta piana for later.
All in all, a delightful trip!
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Ferry Plaza Seafood
1 Ferry Building, San Francisco, CA
Scharffen Berger
1 Ferry, Building San Francisco, CA
Hog Island Oyster Co
610 1st St, Napa, CA
El Porteno Empanadas
San Francisco, San Francisco, CA
Pre-Theatre dinner in Ventura?
My favorite restaurant in Ventura is Brooks. Their website states they open at 5pm.
http://www.restaurantbrooks.com/index.htm
Dress Code for Melbourne and Sydney Restaurants; Tipping
In Melbourne, I’m considering dinner at Cumulus and in Sydney dinner at Etch. We will be site seeing all day, so will be dressed casually and wearing walking shoes. Will we be appropriately dressed for these restaurants? We are visiting from the Los Angeles area, and here, you see a wide range in dress even in the fine dining restaurants, from T-shirts to jackets w/ ties.
My second question is on tipping. I’ve read that tipping is not expected except for over and above service and fine dining restaurants. Would you tip at restaurants like Cumulus and Etch for average service? If yes, how much? Thanks for your help.
D.C. Report
My SO and I visited D.C. toward the end of Oct. I used this forum extensively in planning our dinners. I’m near Los Angeles, so I was looking for restaurants that would be different from what I could get here. For example, LA has good ethnic restaurants, such as Chinese, Japanese, Thai, Vietnamese, Mexican and Ethiopian. Also, I was looking for restaurants that were close to metro stations. Here is where we ended up going:
Komi: This was our anniversary dinner, so we splurged. This was an excellent all around experience. Though all good, the dishes that stand out are the scallops, stuffed dates, spanakopita and the roast goat. I was surprised on how ungamey the goat tasted. The meat was so tender, yet the outside had a very pleasant crunch.
Ooh and Aahs: The entire package, from the woman who took our order, the food served in take out boxes, the cozy upstairs dining room, to the oldies R&B music make this a stand out experience. The Google map I had showed we had to cross a couple streets from the metro station to reach it. Of course we walked in the wrong direction, and I have to admit the neighborhood was starting to look dicey. We very soon saw our error. The restaurant is directly across the street from the metro station. I was going to order the broiled crab cakes, however the order taker warned it would take 30 min. I had the fried crab cakes instead, not wanting to hold up my SO’s order. The fried crab cakes were very good, not oily at all. The collards and rice w/gravy were also good. SO had the special of marinated fried chicken breast, also very good. It was served butterflied, the meat was moist, and not greasy. His sides of green beans and mac n’ cheese were OK.
Matchbox: There was a Caps game, so I think that lent to how crowded this place was. The server was very pleasant and helpful. For appetizers we had the sliders and shrimp with grits. The shrimp with grits was a real stand out. I could have eaten a lot more of this. We then had a pizza, which was good. Though the outer crust along the edge was pleasantly scorched, I found the crust toward the center too soggy. SO had the molten chocolate cake for dessert. He said it was good, but had had better. I was too full for dessert.
Proof: Another pleasant server. The spread served with the cracker bread was delicious. It consisted of yogurt, fresh herbs, lemon and olive oil. I’m going to try to make this at home. We had the Plate of House Made Pates & Terrines, which consisted of a duck liver and a chicken pate and a terrine of which I don’t recall the details, but liked the best. SO liked the duck the best. For my entrée I had a special of halibut was Indian spices. SO had the duck breast. Though I liked the halibut, SO had the better entrée. SO had something chocolate for dessert, I had the apple crumble, which was very good.
Jaleo: This was my next favorite, after Komi. Though Jose Andreas has a restaurant in LA, I decided to give this a try anyway. I’m glad I did. The server was very helpful with suggestions. We had the Jamon Iberico, wrinkled baby potatoes, shrimp with garlic, scallops with butternut squash purée, fried squid that was on the specials menu, and rice with duck confit, duck breast and foie gras cream. Though all very good, the standouts were the Jamon, shrimp, and duck breast. For dessert we shared the chocolate hazelnut mousse cake, which was good.
Lunches consisted of whatever cafeteria was in the sight we were visiting or skipped because our schedule was so filled, but I have to mention the mac n’ cheese at the Capitol Building cafeteria. This was very good, even better than at a number of sit down restaurants I’ve been too.
Thanks for everyone’s postings in helping me plan this trip. Washington D.C. is a wonderful city.
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Komi
1509 17th St NW Ste 1, Washington, DC 20036
Passionfish in Pacific Grove, dissappointment
I was last at Passionfish about 2 yrs. ago, and had a great meal. It was most go to, on my recent trip back to the area a couple of weeks ago.
While our appetizers were good, our entrees weren't. Our appetizers were the crab cake, which was almost all crab, and a special of sweet shrimp nigari style. The shrimp order came as 2 shrimp artfully straddling across two rice balls, but was a bit awkward for eating that way. We quickly fixed that by rearranging the dish so that one shrimp was on top of one rice ball for each us. For my entree, I had the sturgeon, was totally overpowered by the vinaigrette. My partner had the rib eye. Though ordered medium rare, it was chewy. It was the chewiest rib eye I have ever encountered. I don't remember exactly what my partner had for dessert, though it was something chocolate, and he said it was good. I had the Meyer lemon panna cotta, and it was good, though I thought it was a bit small.
The next night we ate at Fishwife and were pleasantly surprised. We had an appetizer platter that had fried calamari, grilled artichoke, and some other things. This was good, though I enjoyed the appetizers at PF more. My entree was halibut with shrimp in a saffron sauce. I enjoyed this much better than my entree at PF. The fish and shrimp were done perfectly and the sauce complimented the fish nicely. My partner had the stuffed shrimp with risotto, which he enjoyed much more than his entree at PF. He also had the chocolate cake for dessert, which he much enjoyed. I skipped dessert, since I had no room left.
We would gladly return to Fishwife, however, PF wil not be seeing us again.
Where to buy seafood (crab/lobster) in Ventura?
Hook Line & Sinker, 2077 Oxnard Bl. in Oxnard. It's a fish & chips type restaurant with a fresh seafood counter and live lobster tank. I routinely buy fresh lobster here when going to Ranch 99 in Van Nuys isn't convienient for me.
Where to find tahini paste in Ventura??
Shamsi's Deli, 2705 E Thompson Blvd. carries it.
need restaurant in ventura/oxnard for anniversary
I also vote for Brooks. It's my favorite restaurant in Ventura. They have a 3 courses for $33 offer. Do NOT go to 71 Palms. I've been served over cooked foie gras and hard profiteroles there.
Mei Long Village or Lake Spring for "Pork Pump"?
I'm leaning toward Lake Spring for the Pork Pump. Are they friendly to non-Chinese speakers? Does the the Pork Pump need to be ordered ahead? Any other menu recommendations at Lake Spring?
Mei Long Village or Lake Spring for "Pork Pump"?
I have never had "Pork Pump", but have read about this dish on this board, and seen a pic of it in Gourmet Mag along with an article that mentions Lake Spring. I would love take a few friends out to try this dish. Who makes it better, MLV or Lake Spring, or perhaps somewhere else?
Koberl at Blue in San Luis Obispo
We discovered this restaurant on our very recent trip to SLO. It is located on Monterey St., across from the Fremont theater.
We shared the seared fois gras appetizer that had a blackberry sauce and micro greens sitting on a small waffle. The fois gras was cooked perfectly and all the components went well together. For my entree I had the the duck, which consisted of sauteed duck breast with a pomegranate sauce, a leg prepared as confit, sweet potato hash and chard. The breast was cooked perfectly, medium rare. The slight saltiness of the confit was a nice pairing with the moist breast. Both duck preperations were very tasty, full of flavor, and the sides went well with them. Hubby had a special of buffalo short ribs with polenta and veggie that I don't recall. The short ribs were not fork tender, but still pretty tender and flavorful. You could see it had been cooked with the bone in, and then the bones removed for presentation. It's right up there with the best short rib dish I've ever had, at Lucques in LA. I was too full for dessert, but I tasted hubby's chocolate lava cake. It was very chocolatey, and hubby stated it was one of the best versions of this he's had, and he's had quite a few.
The prices were reasonable for the quality of food. Service was good, if not polished, but hey, I'm sure most of the wait staff in SLO are students working their way through school, and I'm all for that. The service was right on in all the important spots: cordial, dirty dishes cleared promptly, courses did not overlap, proper silverware presented. Portions were generous for a fine dining restaurant. I would definitely eat here again.
4 nights/5 days in City of Ventura
Ventura:
I've had two very good dinners at Brooks on Thompson in the last few weeks. The last meal was the tasting menu. I strongly recommend this place.
Tipp's Thai and the Thai/Peruvian restaurant have typical Thai fare. Cholada Thai has some dishes you don't normally see. I find Peruvian food kind of bland, unless you add the "green sauce" they have as a condiment. All of these restaurants are downtown on Main.
Bariloche's emapandas are "heavy" in my view, more like English pasties than the real deal.
I like Jonnathan's. The have updated their menu recently. They are downtown on Main.
I've had some good lunches at The Sidecar Restaurant and have been meaning to go back for dinner. They are located midtown on Main.
By the way, if you can't find parking on the street downtown, which is free, there are free parking lots all over downtown off of Main. Just follow the signs.
food in Ojai / Ventura?
Ventura:
I've had two very good dinners at Brooks on Thompson in the last few weeks. The last meal was the tasting menu. I strongly recommend this place.
Tipp's Thai and the Thai/Peruvian restaurant have typical Thai fare. Cholada Thai has some dishes you don't normally see. I find Peruvian food kind of bland, unless you add the "green sauce" they have as a condiment. All of these restaurants are downtown on Main.
Bariloche's emapandas are "heavy" in my view, more like English pasties than the real deal.
I like Jonnathan's. The have updated their menu recently. They are downtown on Main.
I've had some good lunches at The Sidecar Restaurant and have been meaning to go back for dinner. They are located midtown on Main.
By the way, if you can't find parking on the street downtown, which is free, there are free parking lots all over downtown off of Main. Just follow the signs.
korean-chinese restaurants in l.a. for noodles
Does anyone know of a restaurant in SFV where I can get these noodle dishes other than the food courts at the Galleria and the mkt on White Oak?
French Onion Soup.....
I've made the Alton recipe without the cider and added more broth. Topped it with sliced baguette and swiss cheese ala Cook's Illustated's recipe. Very yummy!
Review: Hell’s Backbone Grill in Boulder, UT
Sorry, even though you defend this place, I can't see giving my money to the rude owner of HBG. This is not the only restaurant in town. We had good home style fare at the Boulder Mesa and The Burr Trail Grill, though closed while we were there, was to resume regular hours right after we left the area. Both of these restaurants are within walking distance of the Boulder Mountain Lodge. Perhaps some can overlook repeated rudeness if they like the food, but for me, the service is part of the whole restaurant experience.
Sedona AZ
Hubby and I ate at Cowboy Club a couple weeks ago and thought it was just OK. On the other hand we had a very good dinner at Heartline Cafe.
Review of Sedona restaurants
My hubby and I were in Sedona a couple weeks ago and also had a very good dinner at Heartline. You didn't miss much by not going to Cowboy Club. The dinner we had there was just OK. The cactus fries were interesting, but my buffalo skirt steak and hubby's buffalo filet were nothing to write home about. I've had buffalo before and liked it, but our entrees were indistiguishable from beef. Infact, I found my entree tougher than the beef equivalent, even though I had it done rare. I think the way the meat was sliced may have contributed to this, bias cut pieces but rather thick.
Review: Hell’s Backbone Grill in Boulder, UT
On our recent trip through the Southwest, hubby and I had dinner twice at Hell’s Backbone Grill (HBG). While the food was good, the hostess, who also turned out to be the owner, ruined any recommendation we would give for this restaurant.
When we checked into the Boulder Mountain Lodge, of which HBG is on the property of, they told us dinner reservations were required at the restaurant. Fyi, HBG’s website, as well as the posting in HBG’s window state reservation are recommended, nothing about required. We made reservations for their first opening, 8:30. When we arrived at 8:25, the owner told us we were 10 minutes early. Hubby takes great pains to have his watch set correctly. We were admonished for her incorrect time. Then she told us reservations were running late, and repeatedly said it would be a few minutes. She finally sat us at about 9pm and said she would comp us dessert. We were then ignored for quite awhile. We were not given menus or anything to drink. Finally I was able to flag someone down, and we were given menus and water. The owner made a comment about forgetting to give us menus. When the waitress took our order, I had to prompt her for specials. Hubby later told me he observed the owner asking our waitress to work overtime, so I can forgive our waitress’ lapses. We both had the pork chop. While good, it wasn’t as good as the pork chop I had at the El Tover at the Grand Canyon a few nights earlier. Hubby had the chocolate bread budding for dessert and said it was very good. Of the desserts still availabe, I didn’t find anything that interested me. I had to tell the waitress the dessert was comp’d when she brought us our bill.
A couple nights later, I decided to give HBG another try, since any restaurant can have a bad night, right? We made reservations for 6:30. When we arrived, the owner asked us to wait a couple minutes so she could seat us next to the window. I asked if it really would be just a couple minutes, due to our previous experience. While we waited, we looked up the restaurant’s biscuit recipe in the cookbook that was displayed and for sale in the restaurant. The biscuits, served as the bread, are quite good. My husband took notes, to see what he could do to adjust his own biscuit recipe, and the owner made a comment about “stealing” the recipe, and then sat us. She then said we had given her a hard time with our comment about the wait. We tried to be cordial and explained our comment stemmed from our previous experience at HBG. She stated the problem the previous evening stemmed from the cold whether, another restaurant in town being closed, etc. Her rationalizations don’t make sense to us, since reservations where required and she was scheduling them. Of course hubby and I were quite annoyed at this point and were contemplating walking out, when our waiter showed up. Because of his friendly attitude, we ended up staying. I had the pot roast which was a special, and hubby had the New York Strip steak. Both were good.
By the way, the biscuits, while quite good, are doled out like a precious commodity. A breadbasket containing one biscuit per person is placed on the table after placing your order. If you want more, good luck.
I found the prices here more expensive then the other restaurants we had very good dinners at on this trip - El Tovar and The Spotted Dog Café in Springdale.
While in Boulder, UT, we also ate the Boulder Mesa which had good home style fare, as well as friendly staff. We had a recommendation for The Burr Trail Grill, but they were closed while we were there. If in this area again, I would go to these other 2 restaurants and definitely not Hells’ Backbone Grill.
Does any have La Super Rica's Menu?
I've only been to La Super Rica in Santa Barbara once, and loved it! The line was a bit long and I didn't have long to study the chalkboard menu before reaching the order window, since the board is right next to the window. So my question is, does the numbered menu items change, and if not, does anyone have a copy of it to share? I'd like to be able to take a longer look at the menu items to be able to plan my order for my next visit better!
food in Ojai / Ventura?
I second Baccali's for a casual restaurant in Ojai. Wonderful gourmet pizzas and stawberry shortcake to die for.
Lucques - Disappointing
I went to Lucques about a month ago. I loved their short ribs and pork belly! Also had the sorbet, which was a great end to a very good meal.
