PekoePeony's Profile
Fun, foodie restaurants on the strip
I'm a big fan of L'Atelier du Joel Robuchon at the MGM, but make sure you get the multi-course Discovery menu. The decor is a bit 80s but I really enjoy sitting at the bar and chatting with the waitstaff there, who are happy to explain the dishes or answer questions you have as you peek into the open kitchen.
My husband loves Raku but I haven't been as impressed after two visits. Lotus of Siam is worth visiting for their unique dishes, but you need to order very carefully as I've had quite a few disappointments / so-whats there. That said, I'm not sure either really can be classified as "fun".
Jaleo Review
Thanks for posting, especially the detailed recommendations for each course. Next month I'm making my 3rd trip to Las Vegas this year and am trying to decide where to go, so might visit Jaleo.
Russian River Valley and Sonoma area wineries
Seghesio is in Healdsburg itself so very convenient for you, and I love their zins (my hubby is a wine club member there). There are lots of wineries in the area so you'll have a great time.
For tasting only, normally I spend about 30-45 minutes at a winery but I'm a bit of get-moving-along type of person. Also, a bonus for Sonoma (Dry Creek or Russian River) is that many wineries have no or a very low (around $5) tasting fee -- much preferable to Napa where lots of wineries have tasting fees of $15-25+ per person!
Russian River Valley and Sonoma area wineries
I personally prefer the Dry Creek area over the Russian River, and our favorite wineries with bottles in that price range are Seghesio (lovely zins) and Frick (really interesting varietals), though they're not the most exciting scenery wise. Other solid wineries with bottles around $20-$30 are Pedroncelli, Kokomo and F Teldeschi, but they're also not that pretty. If you're up for going to the $40 range, scenic and tasty winery choices are Bella, Mazzocco, and Michel Schlumberger.
Le Cinq Revisited
I was there for lunch in December and wore flats with a black skirt and nice top, but then I walked around for a while afterwards. As biondanonima mentioned, most ladies wore nice day dresses or dressy slacks.
What to bring back home from SS, Madrid, Barcelona?
It's been a while since I've been to Spain so hopefully other posters will chime in with recommendations, but here are a few tips.
First, make sure you can carry meat into HK. In the US, meat (including jamon) is not allowed through customs, regardless of whether it's a large or small packet. That said, I've been successful getting meat by a few times (small packages only!) but I wouldn't count on it.
Check out La Boqueria market in Barcelona -- lots of tasty goodies there, though many are perishable. For me, easy to bring home items from Spain are saffron, paprika (many different flavors like sweet, bittersweet, etc.), turron, and cookies. An interesting experience for me was to try the horchata sold on the streets -- in Spain it's tiger's eye milk, very different from the rice & milk concoction here in the US.
Need New York & New England recipes for Super Bowl party
We're hosting a Super Bowl party for 30-some people, and this year we were hoping to celebrate the teams by showcasing dishes inspired by their locales; however these dishes need to be potluck-friendly (i.e., can sit out for a while and not need to be eaten right away).
Any suggestions? So far we're thinking of:
New England:
* NE clam chowder
* Boston baked beans
* Something with lobster, maybe a salad
New York:
* Manhattan clam chowder
* Pizza
* Bagel chips with cream cheese & lox
* Hot dog bar
Others? Any recommendations for smoked meats would be especially appreciated as the hubby wants to fire up the smoker.
Vegas trip report: Monta, Aureole, Fleur, Wicked Spoon
Hubby & I, plus two friends, swung by Vegas for 3 days this past weekend. DH & I go at least a couple times per year, and it's always fun trying new places.
MONTA NOODLE HOUSE: Based on recommendations from his board we visited Monta in Chinatown for a late lunch. The chashu was the star, being very tender and melt-in-your-mouth, but they were tiny slices so if you visit, definitely order extra chashu. I did not like flavor of the noodles, and thought the other items & components were fine but nothing special. My take is that if you're from an area which has good ramen already, Monta is skippable.
AUREOLE: For dinner we tried the Parallel Tasting Menu at Aureole. We've dined at Aureole many years beforehand and thought it was solid value for the money, and it's always fun to browse through their extensive wine list though I wish they had more reasonably-priced bottles (very little was under $100). Half the dishes on the menu were good (the sea bass with truffles was awesome!) but the other half were very meh, plus the plates overall looked a little sloppy.
MESA GRILL: One of our friends wanted Mexican so brunch that day was at Mesa Grill (ok not very Mexican, but SW-inspired), where we've dined a couple times before. The wait was quite long -- 40 minutes at 1pm -- but I always find the food (and the complimentary bread basket!) very satisfying, and the drinks are delicious. The shrimp tamales didn't seem as amazing as previous times but it was still solid.
FLEUR: We ordered a bunch of plates to share. Favorites were the onion soup shooters and garlic fries, but many of the other dishes were rather boring. I ordered their cocktail tasting flight and thought the Sumo was fantastic -- it sounded nasty on the menu but was awesome in real life. In the future I probably would only go here again for snacks/drinks.
MANDALAY BAY SPORTS BOOK SNACK BAR: The next day were the big AFC/NFC playoff games, which we spent at the Mandalay Bay sports book. For a food counter attached to a sports book, the food was decent but nothing to go out of your way for. The sports book itself wasn't great to see the game if you were in an inopportune location (as we were) since there was only one big screen.
WICKED SPOON BUFFET: Dinner the last day was at the Wicked Spoon buffet in the Cosmopolitan. There was no line to pay at 8.15pm but for some reason the waitresses who seat people were very slow / inefficient. The buffet itself had a lot of interesting dishes that I've not seen anywhere else, and the overall quality of what they had was good. Standouts were the smashed truffle potatoes, beet salad, and roast pork. On the downside, they had very few "expensive" items: only 4 types of sushi rolls (with very little fish in each), the snow crab legs were rather anemic, and only 2-3 shrimp were in each portion of cocktail shrimp. Although having the items in individual serving dishes were cute (and probably more hygenic), I personally was not a fan as it meant I got larger portions than desired and had to make more trips as the containers took up so much space. That said, I'd revisit the Wicked Spoon again since their comfort food was really good.
Revisiting in three weeks for Guy Savoy, Julian Serrano, Milos, and likely Sage (had to cancel e' since they changed to a special & more costly Valentine's menu)!
We have only two dinners -- help!?
I'm pretty fond of L'Atelier du Joel Robuchon in the MGM and getting their Discovery Menu. Reasonably priced (about $140?) and tasty, and if you sit at the bar, you can chat with the servers behind the counter who are happy to interact with you and explain the dishes and how they were made.
A few days in the Loire Valley
I agree that a car is a must. My friends went around by public bus a couple years ago and barely saw anything as it took forever to get from place to place. My husband & I rented a car in Paris near the Champs-Elysees and drove -- it's not far, about 2.5 to 3 hours from Paris to Tours. The area around Tours is pretty central but would recommend staying in one of the villages or the countryside and not Tours itself. We stayed in a chateau (Artigny) a little south of Tours, rather romantic; there are others.
My husband really enjoyed the meal at the gastronomic restaurant at Artigny, and the little local artisan food building at Chambord -- they have free tasting of wines & various local products. Both of us liked stopping at the various wineries for tastings & purchases. We went in mid-June which did not seem overly busy.
Simple things you can't get right
I always make fried chicken with the bone in, using thighs. First, I brine it overnight using the Ad Hoc chicken brine recipe :) After I fry the chicken, I put it on a wire rack over a baking tray and have them cook in the oven for a little while. This way you can take out the chicken from the fryer at the right darkness, but still make sure they're cooked.
Need some practical pragmatic input on a rice cooker! [moved from Home Cooking]
We have a small Zojirushi fuzzy logic after many years living with a cheapo rice cooker. As an Asian, a rice cooker is a MUST (even though I only cook rice once every other week), but I'm not sold on the Z fuzzy logic. The rice does come out slightly better than the cheap rice cooker (which in turn is slightly better than stove top), but it takes about 2x-3x as long to cook. I would just get a standard $20 rice cooker and be happy -- it'll keep your rice warm plus you don't have to watch the pot.
Sous Vide Supreme - first recipe?
After looking at the SVS, we ended up getting the PolyScience instead via eBay, and so far have tried steak & eggs. Eggs are remarkably simple and super tasty (crack them on toast, add some Maldon salt, black pepper, and truffle oil -- brunch heaven!), plus you don't need bags. Steak was good (tender & perfectly pink) but not as amazing as the eggs -- have found tougher meats like flank steak are better than filet mignon as they have a beefier taste. Will be trying short ribs this weekend -- just put them in the machine last night and they'll come out 36 hours later!
Proposal Trip! Restaurant Lineup help needed for 4 days in Paris
A tip for the Louvre: go early (preferably when it opens), ideally on Monday AM. If you go to the Carrousel du Louvre shopping center (entrance on Rue Rivoli) and take the escalators down, there are ticket machines there. Then enter the Louvre straight away from inside the mall, no waiting in line at all. Starting around 10am it gets busy, and in the afternoon the line is super duper long. Tickets are good all day so you can leave the Louvre for lunch and come back, so maybe plan a lunch nearby like at Spring or Angelina's and then go back in (with little or no waiting).
I had lunch at Le Cinq last month, and while it was an enjoyable lunch with super-cute butter cloches, I didn't think it was amazing, esp. since some of the best mid-priced restaurants are offering similar quality food at a lower price point. That said, if you've not been to a high end French restaurant then it's probably a good choice to experience the service and see the room (and check out your fellow diners). If you do go, do NOT order the champagne unless you want to pay 48 euros for one little glass.
Dry Creek/Alexander recs - need more like Unti, Preston, Coffaro
We've tried a good number of the Dry Creek wineries from going to the Passport to Dry Creek event a few times (a fabulous affair which we highly recommend). I really like Frick which has some unusual and tasty varietals -- great to visit when you're a little Zin'ed out. Seghesio is awesome; we stock up every year. Teldeschi and Pedronicelli are good value for the money, esp. with their Passport discounts. Last year we tried Mazzocco for the first time and were quite impressed. Bella wines are delicious and the winery is pretty, but the wines can get a little pricey.
Restaurant to contrast current Paris itinerary? + Wine Bar preferences?
I was just in Paris last week for six days for a business/personal trip. We stayed in the 1st (near the Louvre/Vendome) and my office is in the 2nd (Bourse). My Parisien co-worker highly recommended Les Fines Gueules (though he said to avoid the cheese plate as it wasn't worth the $), but we didn't go. Could not get a reservation at Frenchie's at all.
We did enjoy: L'Ardoise (though lots of American tourists are there, and it's a bit crowded, but near your hotel), and had a super-well-valued meal at L'Angle du Faubourg (in the 8th) by booking the special La Fourchette menu on lafourchette.com (thefork.com) -- honestly it was a better value than any other meal we had in Paris, and with the exception of Le Cinq, had a nicer atmosphere too. Might be a bit fancy for your mom but maybe she may like it for something a bit more formal. Many years ago I went with my parents to Bofinger and they did enjoy it, and I remember the food being decent. On my last trip I really enjoyed Josselin (like Breizh Cafe, a crepe restaurant). Your mom may enjoy the Christmas markets too -- we ended up eating dinner there with the sausages, hamburger-in-baguettes & such, a bit touristy eating but still fun. Maybe your mom might like tea / lunch at Laduree or Mariage Freres? Laduree (we went to the Champs Elysees one last trip) has a more formal atmosphere (should make reservations); Mariage Freres (we went to the Marais one this trip) was a bit of a madhouse as they pack you in. The food at neither is outstanding, but both are pretty decent and kind of a cute thing to do with your mom :)
Weekend trip report: Del Inti, Screen Door, Hayden's, Simpatico
Last month my husband & I spent a weekend visiting friends who recently moved from the SF Bay Area to Lake Oswego. Neither my husband nor I have been to Portland for years, and I was quite surprised at how large the city was, and the general quality of food -- quite a change from my impression of it's being a boring dumpy city 14 years ago!
After being picked up at the airport, we had Friday dinner at DEL INTI in Portland where we tried about 2/3 of their menu with sharing. Very solid, with our favorite dish being the ceviche traditonal.
For drinks we went to DEPARTURE at the top of the Nines Hotel, a very slick bar which would be at home in a more cosmopolitan city (not to say Portland isn't cosmopolitan, but it seems more down-to-earth and casual than most cities its size). The outdoor sky terrace had a lovely view of the downtown, and the cocktails were decent (though not as good as drinks at the Screen Door or VQ), though the service was super slow.
Saturday we had a delicious brunch at HAYDEN'S GRILL in Tualatin. I really enjoyed my salmon hash and my friend's corned beef hash -- the grated potatoes were beautifully crispy & added great texture to the dish.
Then we went wine tasting in the WILLIAMETTE VALLEY, hitting up Argyle (nice bubbly & dessert wine, but a little expensive), Seufert (well priced pinots), Stoller (good pinot but wished they poured a wider variety; pretty winery), Archery Summit (really beautiful setting but overly pricey wine; only place we didn't buy any bottles), and Erath (lots of choices so easy to find something to like).
For dinner we canceled our Le Pigeon reservations and instead went to the Southern comfort food SCREEN DOOR knowing quite well we would likely wait an hour, and sure enough that was the case. However the amazing fried chicken made the wait worthwhile, and the collard greens and sweet tea were outstanding as well. The other dishes we tried -- fried green tomatoes, bean cassoulet, ribeye steak, pecan trout, pecan pie -- were fine to ho-hum. My spice-loving husband's favorite find was the restaurant's house-made habanero sauce, which lent a flavorful kick to the meal.
We finished off the evening at VQ, the bar at Veritable Quandary, where I had a delicious Bloody Mary made with beet juice. I have to give a shout out to Portland for its well crafted and very well-priced drinks, most of which were in the $8 range -- quite a refreshing change from $12-16 range in San Francisco, Vegas, etc! My husband's Old Fashioned was only $5.75 at VQ -- can't remember when we've had a cocktail with such positive return on investment!
Brunch on Sunday was supposed to be at Tasty N Sons, but with the two hour wait and our friends' two young (1.5 and 3 years) kids in tow, we decided to change to SIMPACTICO DINING HALL instead where we could secure reservations. Like Screen Door it's a casual, somewhat loud room where diners can peer into the open kitchen. The fried chicken was definitely not as good as Screen Door's, and I felt the biscuit in the biscuits & gravy was overthought. It was a satisfactory meal but nothing special.
For dinner we decided to stay close to our friends' house and had take-out from the BLAST BURGER in Lake Oswego. Their Blast Burger with fried jalapenos, roasted anaheims, pickled serranos, pepper jack cheese, and chipotle aioli was delicious paired with a Kobe beef burger -- something worth going back for! The Handsome Devil burger with bacon had tasty bacon, but was otherwise a pale shadow of deliciousness compared to the Blast Burger, and the Kobe beef here seemed to lack beefiness with the plainess of the other ingredients. The chocolate malt was a little lacking on the chocolate intensity.
Overall we had a very enjoyable trip and look forward to visiting Portand again!
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Le Pigeon
738 E Burnside St, Portland, OR 97214
Veritable Quandary
1220 SW 1st Ave, Portland, OR 97204
Del Inti Restaurant
2315 NE Alberta St, Portland, OR 97211
Only Losers Ruin Their Scotch.. on the Rocks
Not to say what's right or wrong (though I tend to agree that adding ice waters down my Scotch so much that I may as well not even be drinking Scotch), but last year at the SF Macallan tasting (which they have around the US), we sampled the 10, 12, 15, 17 and 18 year bottlings.
They did have water (and I think ice) on the tables, but all the tastings were served neat, and the brand ambassador recommended us to drink them neat except for the 17 year, which he said was enhanced by a few drops of water.
Late night casual eats between airport & the Keys?
We're arriving at the Miami airport late next Wednesday night and driving to Key Largo, but would love to get suggestions for a quick dinner spot along the way that's open around 10.30pm.
We adore Jamaican food and ideally would like a casual spot that offers great jerk chicken, curry goat, patties, etc. We've enjoyed Jamaican Kitchen in the past but it's not open that late; maybe someplace similar (and perhaps spicier)?
A tasty Cubano or Cuban food would be wonderful as well. We weren't wowed with Versailles but perhaps there are other places (with specific recommendations on dishes) that are good and on the way?
Of course other casual places are welcome, though we'd prefer to have cuisine that isn't very popular in the San Francisco area. Thanks!!
East Africa Trip Report: Nairobi, Dar Es Salaam, Zanzibar
Just returned from a wonderful three week trip to East Africa. There isn't much written on these boards so just wanted to leave some comments for others.
TAMAMBO AT KAREN BLIXEN COFFEE HOUSE, NAIROBI: Literally a minute from the skippable Karen Blixen ("Out of Africa") museum, this restaurant is part of the well-known Tamarind/Tamambo group of upscale restaurants. We went for lunch which is ideal for sitting outside on the lovely lawn -- even though everyone seemed to be tourists, we didn't mind with the great atmosphere! We had an excellent (tho a little pricy) lunch here -- recommend the prawns pili pili, seafood platter, and meat platter. The fresh oysters were a little bland. Photos are the first 3 attached. Menu: http://www.tamarind.co.ke/tamambo-karen/index.php?id=39
BLANCO'S, NAIROBI: Perhaps our expectations were too high but we thought the food was good but not really special. Our favorite dish was the mukimo -- large deep fried balls of potatoes & some green veggie that was remarkably tasty! Service here was extremely slow too and not the friendliest. Menu: http://www.blancos.co.ke/blg/chef.php
THE ALCOVE, DAR ES SALAAM: One of the best meals of the trip! We had lunch at the dated downtown location (in a somewhat dirty area) of this well-known Indian/Chinese restaurant, but they also have a beautiful new location at the upscale Sea Cliff hotel. We stuck to the Indian part of the menu but the other diners (almost all locals) mostly seemed to be ordering from the Chinese side. The crab masala recommended by Frommer's was okay but a little boring (maybe good if you can't take spice), but the seafood biryani, though a bit moister than biryanis I've had in India, was so delicious and full of flavor. The bread in the 3 roti basket was great too -- the sesame-coated paratha was *so good* that I could have eaten a whole basket by itself, and didn't want to use it for the curry. We eat Indian food often in the San Francisco area, but if the Alcove were in our 'hood we would definitely return again & again to try out their offerings. Menu: http://www.alcovetz.com/Menu.htm
ADDIS, DAR ES SALAAM: This Ethiopian restaurant is located in a converted house in a somewhat hard-to-find area near the US Embassy. The outdoor seating is very pretty and atmospheric, and their homemade tej (honey wine) is a bit cidery and refreshing. The food, especially the doro wot (spicy chicken) was delicious but I didn't think it was significantly better than the Ethiopian food in the San Francisco Bay Area. Apparently Addis also has a location in Cape Town, South Africa as well; its menu is here (Dar website is under construction): http://www.addisincape.co.za/cuisine.php
SPICE TOUR, OUTSIDE STONE TOWN, ZANZIBAR: Although not located in any restaurant, one of the best meals on our trip was the vegetarian lunch served on our Spice Plantation Tour! I'm not sure if the meal was part of the tour or arranged by the booking guy (not part of any agency but just our snorkeling guide who we arranged excursions with on the side), but it highlighted many of the spices on the tour and was like a taste of the simple but spectacular local home cooking. Delicious potato rice, stewed bananas (not sweet!), potato curry, and an onion/tomato side salad. I recommend anyone doing a spice tour to ask for the lunch to be included in it, as that's an option which we just happened to request. I'll admit we were a little uncertain as to the food's cleanliness when it was first brought out, but once we took a bit all our hesitations fell away and we ate like crazy! Photo is the 4th attached picture.
FORODONI GARDENS, STONE TOWN, ZANZIBAR: Normally a more calm tourist-oriented affair, it was totally jammed packed during our trip which happened to coincide with the Eid festival at the end of Ramadan, so all the local families were celebrating by going to the gardens & eating. I had looked forward to this but thought the seafood Zanzibari pizza was just so-so (maybe the beef would be better, as that's what all the locals were ordering), and the prawn skewer tasted a bit off. See attached 5th photo.
MONSOON, STONE TOWN, ZANZIBAR: We went for the taraab music on Wednesday nights but found that all the tables were full for that and had to sit outside where we couldn't hear the music. Recommendation: book ahead for inside tables for the music, which seem to be quite the experience. Passion fruit calamari was really good, and the other dishes quite solid. Menu: http://www.monsoon-zanzibar.com/enjoy.html
236 HURUMZI TOWER TOP, STONE TOWN, ZANZIBAR: The small restaurant at the top of the 236 Hurumzi restaurant offers expansive views of Stone Town & the Indian ocean. I hear it's popular for dinner but we enjoyed our lunch to better see the view. Our meal was solid overall, and we especially enjoyed the spicy prawn curry.
ARCHIPELAGO, STONE TOWN, ZANZIBAR: This casual cafe is conveniently located near Fodorini Gardens but was unfortunately the least impressive of our meals in Zanzibar. The steamed fish tasted very fishy, and the other items were very blah.
Z HOTEL, NUNGWI, ZANZIBAR: We stayed at the boutique Z Hotel and ate at their onsite restaurants a couple of times. Their weekly Saturday seafood BBQ buffet on the beach is a good deal if you like lobster -- there's no limit, though some pieces were sweeter than others. Lunch at the Cinnamon restaurant was enjoyable as well -- tasty drinks, good thin-crust pizza, other items were very solid too.
LANGILANGI HOTEL, NUNGWI, ZANZIBAR: I heard the food at the nearby LangiLangi hotel was quite good so we swung by for dinner once. The waka waka pili pili prawns with coconut spinach there are REALLY SPICY -- we eat spicy food all the time and that was pretty up there. The whole fish with chili sauce was good and of normal spiciness, and their other dishes quite good as well. Be aware that their milk shakes are mostly just milk!
JAMBO BROTHERS, NUNGWI, ZANZIBAR: Less expensive than many of the other Nungwi restaurants was Jambo Brothers, also oceanfront. The grilled octopus was a tad tough but had excellent smokiness and flavor, and other dishes were good too. Prices were easily 30% less than at LangiLangi & the Z.
INFUSION, NUNGWI, ZANZIBAR: The pizza wasn't as good as at the Z, and their other dishes were fine but not as good as other renditions at nearby restaurants.
MANDUKA, NUNGWI, ZANZIBAR: I wasn't expecting much from this small restaurant on the beach but the grilled snapper was the best fish we had on our trip -- so fresh and delectable! The mantis prawns were a bit muddy tasting -- not our fave but worth trying once.
SAFARI: On safari we stayed at various lodges & tented camps which were all-inclusive, so won't really comment much here. Food was a mixture of Western & Indian food -- seems to have a lot of British influence, esp. since we could get a full English breakfast almost every AM. Our non-meat-eating companion preferred buffets (which often had delicious vegetarian curries or fish options) over fixed menus as the fixed menu places usually only had a meat-based main course, and some "vegetarian" soups tasted like they had chicken stock. Sadly the boxed picnic lunches were uniformly dry and tasteless.
Benu / Crenn / Coi / Saison
Glad as well to hear you're going to Coi. We were at Saison a couple weeks ago, and while it had a nice mix of innovation with "very Bay Area" wonderful fresh ingredients, it wasn't as delicious as Coi which we visited a couple months earlier. Hope you have a good experience at Benu -- my DH & I are very reluctant to try it after a disappointing experience at French Laundry when he was at the helm there.
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The French Laundry
6640 Washington Street, Yountville, CA 94599
Saison
2124 Folsom St., San Francisco, CA 94110
Benu
22 Hawthorne St, San Francisco, CA 94103
Foodie dining partner in Nairobi June/July 2011?
waytob: thanks for your response! There's still a week before our trip so your feedback is very timely. We're only in Nairobi for a bit over a day so unfortunately not much time to explore.
Do you have African restaurants to recommend in the Karen area or a casual late night one near our hotel? Talisman & Que Pasa sound great but the food is more European, and I figure while in Africa, we should try that out! It would be really wonderful to try cuisines that aren't popular here in the San Francisco area -- we have lots of Indian & Ethopian restaurants, but not much of other African cuisines.
Foodie dining partner in Nairobi June/July 2011?
Great info waytob, but can you recommend a lunch spot in the Karen area? We'll be by the Elephant Orphanage in the AM next month and will likely go to the Giraffe Center afterwards, and looking for a good meal in between. We were thinking of Tamambo at Karen Blixen Coffee Garden but reviews seem to say it's way overpriced.
Diamond Plaza sounds fun, like the hawker stalls in Singapore, but it's out of the way and we're going to Blanco's for dinner. How late are the stalls at Diamond Plaza open, in case we want a casual late night snack the evening we fly in? Or are there better options for that closer to our hotel, the Hilton?
cooking pots - big vs medium vs small
I cook usually for either myself & my hubby, or myself only. The size I use the most often is a 3.5 or 4 qt deep saucepan to boil pasta, make soup, make rice, sautee veggies, steam,, etc. The others in order are 2.5 qt shallow saucepan (sauteeing items when the 4 qt is being used), 1.5 qt saucepan (mostly for sauces, a bit small otherwise), and 8 qt pot (for braising, large batches of soup, etc.).
For me, the annoying thing about using big pots (larger than 4 qt) is that it's a pain to wash.
Avignon and Ludes, Lively Restaurants
It's been a while, but we enjoyed our dinner at La Chartreuse in Villeneuve-les-Avignon, which is a quaint medieval village across the water from Avignon. The restaurant is housed inside an old church, and we came upon it entirely by accident while we were roaming the streets at night and saw some people enter what we thought was a closed historic site. We followed them inside, through a cute garden, past a poetry reading, and into a casual outdoor cafe/restaurant for a pleasant meal either overlooking the rooftops of the nearby medieval houses or under a spreading arbor. We were also there in June, so it was so lovely to sit outside, watching the sun go down while enjoying a meal.
Some info is located here:
http://www.qype.fr/place/214755-La-Chartreuse-Villeneuve-Lez-Avignon
5A5 Steak impressions [San Francisco]
I don't see many reviews of 5A5 Steak Lounge in the Jackson Square area, so decided to add a few thoughts after dinner last night with my husband.
Appetizers:
* Maguro shooter was simple and good, hamachi shooter was much tastier at Alexander Steakhouse. Both were reasonably priced at $4 each for a decent amount of fish.
* Lobster tempura: Perfectly cooked lobster, very moist and tender inside with lovely sweet lobster flavors. I'd prefer the tempura to be slightly crunchier but that's just me. The sweet & sour sauce was okay but I preferred the lobster without.
* Seared foie gras: Nothing exciting
* Truffle french fries: It seems hundreds of restaurants do truffle fries, but I liked how 5A5 rough-cut their fries and left the skins on, and fried them to a medium-brown color instead of a pale gold. This gave the fries a much more rustic look & taste than normal which I surprisngly liked.
Mains:
* Special bone-in filet: really quite disappointing. Some of it was a bit tough, and there was little beefy flavor. It seemed there was some strange sauce on top which detracted from the flavor. Would not order it again.
* 100% wagyu ribeye: Pretty expensive at almost $20/ounce, but very tender and flavorful. I got the 4 oz, and while it's more filling than normal steak due to the fat content, would recommend getting 8 oz as the right size with appeeizers. I liked the garlic puree with it although it wasn't really necessary. I was a bit disappointed that it was Chilean wagyu since the front of their menu boasted about having wagyu from Japan, but maybe i mis-read it. Next time I would order the $145 wagyu sampler -- seems expensive but at least it comes with 12 oz of beef.
Dessert was the earl gray panna cotta, which was nicely creamy and I loved the yuzu curd and lemon foam which really complemented the flavor. I'm normally not a fan of dessert but I liked how this was not very sweet, and was a nice ending to the meal.
Overall I wasn't wowed by 5A5 but thought it was fine for a business dinner or a place in the area. Prices are lower than Alexander's Steakhouse, so this would be a good place for a taste of 100% wagyu without having to shell out a couple of Benjamins. However I'd avoid the normal steaks. On Mondays, bottles of wine are half off which is a great deal considering their markup is very reasonable. We got a 2007 Frank Family cab for $42, which is a couple dollars cheaper than what we paid for a bottle at the winery!
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Alexander's Steakhouse
10330 N. Wolfe Road, Cupertino, CA 95014
5A5 Steak Lounge
244 Jackson Street, San Francisco, CA 94111
Cheese Classes and/or Tours
There's a Cheese School in SF associated with the Cheese Plus store -- they offer interesting classes. I haven't been yet but wanted to check them out sometime. Has anyone else taken a class there?
http://www.cheeseschoolsf.com/
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Cheese Plus
2001 Polk St, San Francisco, CA
Bay Area Food Festivals - 2011
My very favorite foodie event is the Passport to Dry Creek Valley, scheduled this year for April 30 to May 1st. 40+ wineries pouring lots of wine and little eats paired with them. We've gone the last two years and are really looking forward to going again this year!
Is Cochon 555 worth it?
Thanks for the great report, CarrieWas218! Sounds like there was terrific food but an overall mad house scene, so I'm glad we skipped. For $125 I can get a pretty good sit-down dinner -- hope the Cochon 555 guys can fix the logistics and make it an overall much better experience for everyone.
Napa - Tentative Itinerary (Restaurants + Wineries)
Good itinerary! I'm not at all a fan of Del Dotto, but maybe it won't be such a drunken madhouse on a Monday (I visited late on a Saturday). Their caves aren't that exciting. My favorite winery in the Napa area is Pine Ridge. Have heard mixed reviews of Bottega.
If you're going to Healdsburg from the Napa side, maybe cut over on Spring Mountain Road and visit some of the wineries there like Pride? Many of them need reservations, though, and the road is super windy (just drove it again over the weekend).
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Bottega
6525 Washington Street Suite A9, Yountville, CA 94599
