Cheese Please's Profile
2 Nights in Forestville
Cryus is pretty expensive. Sort of a junior French Laundry. My wife and I made it "affordable" by skimping on alcohol. It is more formal in feel than other Sonoma restaurants, which in general have a laid-back feeling (Zazu being a prime example). But Cyrus is not snooty. The staff are very friendly and cool. None of that your'e-not-worthy vibe. We'd go back in a heartbeat.
That said, we LOVED the Farmhouse Inn. It's a real jewel. The food was divine and not remotely pretentious or trendy. Simply perfect.
Zazu is the kind of place I'd go to once a month if I lived in the area - which alas I do not. It feels like an upscale roadhouse. Cool people and good grub.
Santa Rosa and St. Helena
In Santa Rosa try Syrah or Zazu. If you don't mind a short drive and if you can get reservations, go to the Farmhouse Inn in Forestville - very special.
Annual Yosemite Trip
My information is a few years old, but we stumbled onto a fun outdoor BBQ place in Groveland. As you drive through town on the 120, there's a parking lot to the right (south). At the back of the lot is (was) this funky BBQ joint with great ribs, cold beer, etc. If you get as far as the Iron Door Saloon on the 120, you've gone too far.
Which hotel in Santa Barbara has the best food?
We have a nice cheese shop in town, C'est Cheese, located on Santa Barbara Street between Canon Perdido and De La Guerra, two doors down from Our Daily Bread (mentioned in earlier posts). (Website: cestcheese.com) C'est Cheese is closed on Sundays, so plan for that.
Have fun.
Hungry Cat Santa Barbara
Final bill at Hungry Cat was $160, including tip. We ate and drank indulgently though (5 dishes, 1 dessert, and 3 rounds of drinks for two people), so it is possible to eat there more reasonably.
Taiko was the Japanese place on lower State. Initially enjoyed the food, if not the microwave oven interior. Then the food slipped noticeably and the interior webt from bad to worse when they redesigned it to install a sushi bar. Went there once thereafter, swore not to return. Apparently others were of like mind.
Agreed on funny notion of quality here. Joe's and Harry's are scenes, somewhat pathetic, where stiff drinks anesthetize the patrons so that the dismal quality of the food offerings and execution are overlooked. I'm all in favor of tradition and local color and bars with character - just not at the expense of decent chow.
Hungry Cat Santa Barbara
The long-awaited Santa Barbara outpost of Hungry Cat opened this week on Chapala Street at Anapamu, and last night my wife and I checked it out. The place clearly has kinks to work out.
Some of us who know the space have wondered why and how an operation like Hungry Cat would make do in such cramped quarters. Well, they do, although it felt very cramped and loud. It was like a college party in a studio apartment. There is literally no entry space, and indeed no free space anywhere inside. A person simply cannot stand tactfully and survey the scene, wait for a bar seat, sip a drink, wait for the hostess, etc. They apparently do kitchen prep in a basement space that does not connect to the kitchen from the inside, so several times a chef came barreling through the front door with a tub of ingredients, shooing customers and wait-staff out of the way!
With that said, I think they did a pretty nice job building out the space and optimizing it for their purpose; I just think the space is pathetically narrow and small for a quality restaurant operation.
They have some creative seating in the small space, including bar seating and a row of seats at a low counter that faces Chapala Street. I highly recommend sitting at one of these two areas. The main table area seemed very crowded, whereas the folks eating at the bar and at the counter had plenty of room to maneuver. We ate at the bar, which gave us the pleasure of watching and talking to the chefs prepare the dishes (which we enjoy). The trade-off, of course, is that you are sitting next to and not across from the person you are with.
Hungry Cat has a reputation for its creative drinks, which we were eager to try. I had a blood orange margarita, my wife had a caprainha. My margarita came off far too sweet for my taste, ironically giving the false impression of being made from concentrate. The caprainha was good, although not distinguishable from other serviceable caprainhas we've had.
I felt the drinks were too small for the price (around $10 per drink), a complaint that also applies to the round of wine by the glass we ordered later. We were very disappointed in the paltry pours of wine, given the double-digit price per glass.
We ordered a small pour of the Craftsman lager, which I need to single-out for praise. It was an extraordinary lager, maybe the best lager on tap I've ever had.
Now the food:
We started with "peel and eat shrimp," which we peeled ourselves (they'll do it for you for $2.00). I was surprised when the shrimp arrived cold, as I had envisioned them as being served hot. Still, they were terrific, generous size (each piece that is, not the whole order), wonderful fresh non-briny taste and crunchy. You might want to have them do the peeling though. Peeling is messy (they do provide a bowl of water with lemon for you to clean up), but also, most of the herbs that cover the shrimp come off with the shell. A little pricey ($16) for the size of the portion.
We moved onto the tuna tartare, which was also quite good. The quality of the fish was obvious and the preparation was subtle - nice accent from lucques olives.
We also had the crab cake, served with frisee, pancetta, and fried quail eggs. I'll have to try this again, I think. I liked it (hard not to like the ingredients) but somehow it didn't seem to add up to the sum of its parts.
We moved onto the fish stew, which was corvina in a garlicky broth with garbanzo beans, fennel, and a poached duck egg. I was not wowed by this presentation. Not bad, it just didn't knock my socks off. This dish was severely undersalted, which we remedied. That got me thinking that it might need to be tweaked by the chef in order to reach its finest expression.
We also tried the clams with chorizo, sofrito, and grilled bread. I have always enjoyed the idea of chorizo with shellfish, and this worked for me. The sofrito is a reduced broth with a prominent red pepper taste, nice and sweet with the clams and chorizo - I enjoyed it.
We finished with the lone dessert offering - chocolate bread and butter pudding. Nice, although another option or two would have been appreciated.
General thoughts:
Hungry Cat has a very risky menu, particularly in a place like S.B. where, in my opinion, palates can be pretty bland and unsophisticated. Other than raw bar items and a hamburger (easily the most-ordered item last night, I would note), there is nothing simple or comfort-foodish on this menu. The dishes are all complex and mostly seafood-based, requiring an adventurous palate and an open mind. The menu says "no modifications or substitutions," which makes perfect sense but also suggests an approach that might be off-putting to people who might not agree with everything that goes into a particular dish.
As I general impression, I thought the dishes we had last night could have been better seasoned. This will probably work itself out in the days and weeks ahead.
The pricing and portioning was, in general, fairly reasonable - with the exception of the drinks.
I'll be curious to hear other locals' impressions about H.C.
Dargan's Irish Pub and Restaurant in Santa Barbara
Yeah, here's my recommendation: Eat somewhere else! I don't mean to be flip about it. I live in S.B. and my wife and I have eaten at Dargan's three or four times over the past few years. As a rule the food is simply not well-executed. It's a shame because the atmosphere is fun and the brews are great. If you have to eat there, my advice is to order simple dishes. Avoid the shepherd's pie and other stew-type dishes; they just don't have the touch.
Some SANTA BARBARA restaurant news
Don't know a thing about Couchez... None of my local foodie friends has been there or even mentioned it.
Some Upper State Street news:
There is a brew-pub type restaurant being built on the North side of Upper State Street at one of the hotels (the Sandman I think), at Hitchcock. There's already a sign out front with the name on it, but the name escapes me at the moment.
Also, I see that Ruth's Chris Steak House is going to move into the old Red Robin space at the La Cumbre Mall. Ruth's Chris is one of the better steak house chains, expensive but better than the other local steak options.
The Marmalade Cafe is also coming to La Cumbre. I used to frequent its Santa Monica and Malibu locations featuring counter service with some cooking and some pre-prepared foods. Overall pretty decent, nice additions to the local scene and a nice boost for the quiet La Cumbre Mall...
Romantic Restaurant in Sonoma County
There are regular posts on this board on just this topic, so use the search feature for tons of feedback.
For Sonoma + romantic, you can't do much better than the Farmhouse Inn in Forestville. Cyrus in Healdsburg feels a little more formal and is more expensive, but is terrific. In the city of Sonoma there is The Girl and the Fig, Cafe le Haye, and La Salette. In between there is the Kenwood Inn.
Lots of other restaurants in Sonoma County have been praised on this board, so there is no shortage of fine restaurants or opinions about them...
Here are a couple of links on Sonoma area wineries:
http://www.chowhound.com/topics/380978
http://www.chowhound.com/topics/323135?query=sonoma%20county%20wineries
Santa Barbara
Do your special dinner in Santa Barbara at Bouchon. Ask to be seated in the waiter David's section. You will not be disappointed.
Best Dry Creek Valley Wineries
At the risk of spoiling all the good feelings, my wife and I came away with a pretty negative reaction to Bella when we visited right around crush time last September. The natural setting is lovely, but the whole experience was cheesy. They had a schmaltzy musician singing and playing an electric keyboard on their lawn. The staff relentlessly pushed the wine club and merchandise, shuttling us from station to station in conveyor-belt fashion. You know, when you walk into a wine cave, you kind of want it to be... cave-like. The Bella staff was cranking lousy music on a boom-box in the cave, and the gift shop with all manner of corny trinkets was right there at the cave entrance - ruining the whole idea of wine tasting in a cave, for us anyway. To our taste, the Bella wine was simply not as good as similarly priced and even lower priced offerings from other area producers. But maybe we're too snobby - all the other people there seemed to be enjoying themselves in a Bella-trance. You decide.
Mozza update-no squash blossoms
My wife and I went to Mozza last weekend - in spite of the hype, not because of it.
The place is a joy, undiminished by lack of squash blossoms. We had:
Arancine alla Bolognese - Delightful, though plainly undersalted - the only "disappointment."
Brussel sprouts with proscuitto breadcrumbs - Delightful, too tasty to be considered a mere vegetable.
Bruschette with chicken livers, capers, parsley and guanciale - Rich and delicious and generously portioned. A taste explosion.
Pizza with burrata, braised bacon, and escarole - Divine. Whether it is technically pizza or not (as some have argued), it is simply as good as it gets.
Lamb stracotto - Terrific lamb shank, tender and perfect, in wonderful sauce and on top of smooth and creamy polenta. For $20, which is less than other lamb shanks of lesser quality.
Three kinds of sorbet - pear, cassis, and blood orange - fabuloso.
Butterscotch budino - Wonderful, although we agreed it could have used more caramel and no cream.
Three pourings of wine - rosata, sangiovese, and nebbiolo - all priced as a single pour but served in a small carafe that gave both of us a fair sized glass of each wine. All were very tasty and not punishingly expensive.
Total bill, including nice tip: $135.
I don't know if it is possible to eat as much food and wine as we had anywhere else for that kind of quality at that price.
Lunch between Morro Bay and Santa Monica?
If you plan to take Highway 1 into Santa Monica and you hit the Point Mugu area after 11:00 a.m. or so, you might stop at Neptune's Net. It's a classic fresh fish shack with ocean views, right at the Ventura/Los Angeles County line. It's not the most "chowish" place in the world, but the food is reasonably priced and decent.
Best Burger in Santa Barbara?
The Paradise Cafe makes a pretty nice burger. I like it with grilled onions and bleu cheese - rare all the way.
Top 3 in Healdsburg Area
Farmhouse and Cyrus are both fantastic. Lots of folks on this board like Ravenous - I haven't been there. Haven't heard anything about Underwood.
Maybe it's just me, but I have trouble when I stack a lot of indulgent dinners in a row like that. More than a couple of fine dinners in a row and my experience at every place suffers - because I can't keep up my appetite, enthusiasm, focus, etc. I'd pass on at least one place and do something off-beat, whether a wine bar or ethnic or take-out or nothing...
Need Santa Monica area recommendations
glutton has hit some of the more celebrated places on the Westside, so no argument here with those recs. But you simply have to know that there's no way for two to dine indulgently (wine-appetizer-entree-dessert for both diners and a proper tip) at these places for $125. It's hard to find a bottle of wine at such places for under $30, but more likely the cheapest bottles will be around $40.
That said, I am a huge fan of Josie - I love the food, service, and vibe. I recommend it other all others. Jiraffe and Melisse are also very special.
I think Joe's is overrated. And Michael's - what can I say - it is awful.
Brunch/Lunch Spot in Sonoma
We had our "rehearsal" dinner at The General's Daughter, just a couple of blocks off the square, about 10 years ago. I've seen various posts on this board about it, generally approving of it. We had a great experience there with our event, long ago though it was. I don't know if they do a brunch, but you ought to check it out.
Sonoma County - Not to Be Missed
Agreed on Farmhouse Inn, and most posters on this board are also very fond of it. Also consider Cyrus in Healdsburg, which has generated a lot of buzz and press, mostly deserved IMHO. Both are very refined, although Farmhouse is more homey and comfortable while Cyrus is very elegant and more formal-feeling. And Cyrus is definitely more money.
I also like Zazu, which is a little ways west of Santa Rosa proper on Guerneville Road. And Zin, in Healdsburg.
The Railroad Square area in Santa Rosa is an ever-improving zone with a couple of interesting options. There's a fine restaurant there called Syrah. And not long ago WIne Spectrum Shop and Bar opened nearby, a nice and sleek space with friendly and knowledgeable staff who pour great wines. They also have a kitchen and a small but tasty-looking menu. I haven't eaten there though...
The Kenwood Restaurant in Kenwood on Highway 12 on the way to Sonoma is great.
In Sonoma proper I really enjoyed The Girl and The Fig (though some posters here have been less charitable). I also liked Cafe Le Haye.
Koi Palace on a Thursday? Advice?
I went to Koi Palace on a Wednesday morning last September. Arrived at 11AM, when it opened. It took the place about 15 minutes to start hopping, but otherwise we in no way felt cheated by the quality or diversity of the offerings. They do both carts and menu ordering, and we enjoyed both. We returned to KP the Friday before XMAS, also arriving at 11AM sharp, and within 10 minutes every table was filled and hordes of people waiting were spilling into the dining area. It was, for all purposes, a weekend-like dim sum experience. The food was great again, but we struggled to get the staff's attention because the place was so slammed. Can't wait to go back!
Tengu Santa Monica, Four Easy Pieces
My experience last year at Tengu in Westwood was very much the same as the critic's experience at the new SM location. The place was very nice looking and the staff and patrons even better looking. The food was unexceptional and expensive; I felt like I was paying for what I got to look at, not what I got to eat. Tres, tres L.A.
Romantic Santa Barbara Valentine's Day Dinner?
Hmmmm...
Perhaps Elements, on Victoria, across from the courthouse. I don't know if any of our local restaurants will give you all of the things you are hoping for, but Elements may cover most of the bases. The food is generally pretty good and the room is nice, with a nice bar scene and the lovely view of the courthouse and grounds.
The Wine Cask certainly has a lovely atmosphere, but I've always found the food there to be far too expensive for its pedestrian quality.
I always push Bouchon on this board, my local favorite. It may fall a little short in the "sexy sophistication" department, but it makes up for it in the tasty cuisine area (and maybe the romantic, if you request seating in the front by the fountain...)
Others (I am not one) tout Sage and Onion. My wife and I did a Valentine's dinner there a couple of years ago - they had one of those gruesome chocolate fountains (cruise ship special). But you'll definitely find others who disagree and think it is a good combo of smart-sophisticated-elegant-tasty.
Good luck! (Me, that night we'll be bringing in El Sitio...)
Recs for Petaluma/Sonoma area for a Special Dinner
I had very nice experiences at both Cafe Le Haye and The Girl and The Fig last September and posted here about them. They are at opposite corners of the square in Sonoma.
South Lake Tahoe
We've now eaten twice at Sala Thai, a Thai place on the lake side of Hwy 50 about 3 miles east of the Y (in the stretch before you reach Rufus Allen Blvd./Inn at the Lake). It is very good Thai food - highly recommended.
Milk and Honey - New Santa Barbara Tapas Restaur --- er, Nightclub?
I don't know. It's a fair question. It was close to 8:30 p.m. on Saturday night when we arrived and the music was already blaring. Maybe I'm crazy, but to me that seems awfully early to make the switch from restaurant to nightclub. But sure, there's a chance it's less noisy at 6:00 p.m. than after 8:00 p.m.
Santa Barbara: American Institute of Wine and Food
Thanks for the link glbtrtr.
I'm not a member but it looks interesting.
I have to laugh though - the upcoming event that is advertised is at Nu, which remains on my "avoid" list....
;)
Milk and Honey - New Santa Barbara Tapas Restaur --- er, Nightclub?
Good question - no, I didn't think to ask about the name. Perhaps if the service had been more attentive and the noise less intrusive, I would have had the presence of mind to ask.
Milk and Honey - New Santa Barbara Tapas Restaur --- er, Nightclub?
Last night my wife and I tried Milk and Honey, the new tapas restaurant located in the former Eclectico space on West Anapamu. Here are our impressions:
All other considerations were completely overshadowed by one unforgivable sin. The music in the restaurant was playing SO LOUD, so appallingly loud, that it was simply not possible for ordinary diners to enjoy themselves. I say "ordinary diners" because there were many patrons there to drink - young UCSB students and other 20-something singles who were there to experience a night club vibe. For those people, the food and intimate conversation were probably unimportant. My wife and I though - umm, we actually like to talk. We were sitting across a tiny table maybe three feet apart and had to lean forward in our chairs and throw our voices like opera tenors to be heard. The culprits are two enormous, concert/studio-style speakers elevated over the front wall that were booming pulsing electronic dance music through every square inch of the deep but narrow space.
Setting aside the noise - which, let me be clear, we could not do while there - the restaurant has a smart and sophisticated look to it. The promoters have designed a nice look for an imperfect restaurant space.
The place was very busy when we got there at 8:30 p.m. We were seated immediately in the one open table for two. For the next 90 minutes we noted that all of the tables and bar stools remained filled, with people standing behind some of the stools at the bar.
There was too long a pause before the waitress took our drink order - perhaps five minutes. But that was nothing compared to the wait for our drinks. We waited FIFTEEN MINUTES - no exaggeration - for our ginger mojito and caprainha to arrive. Those precious libations were prepared a distance of, oh, perhaps 12 feet away from our table. To make the wait even more dispiriting (pun intended, naturally), after we were seated and waiting for the drinks we watched as six young revelers arrived at the restaurant, occupied an obviously pre-reserved table, and immediately ordered and were promptly served their drinks - by our same waitress.
This put me on tilt, and I spoke up to the waitress. She adopted one of those exasperated looks that harried but well-meaning waitresses get, but couldn't find it inside to apologize or explain. She did produce the drinks immediately after that. Ultimately we ordered two rounds of drinks, and interestingly, one of the two rounds was free - but at no time did she or anyone else tell us this gesture was coming. We checked the bill and noticed it ourselves. So while it was nice and fair compensation for the poor service, you'd think someone would actually come to the table and tell us. Never happened.
The drinks were TERRIFIC. The ginger mojito was expertly prepared, bracing with lots of flavor. My wife had a fine caprainha and later a nice sangria. So, to the extent this place is really a nightclub or bar, it's doing a great job with the product!
Oh yeah, we ate too...
And the food was pretty darn good.
We had:
(1) Dates wrapped in bacon in honey - always a delicious thing, but done particularly well here because the bacon was perfectly crispy and the honey was very fragrant and high-quality. Unfortunately, this dish consisted of four small pieces (each piece appeared to be about half the size of a normal date) and the price was way to high for the quantity - $8.00.
(2) Roasted tomato puree with goat cheese served with garlic toast - Very nice version of the Spanish classic. The puree had a really nice roasted and tangy flavor, a little spicy, not sweet and tomato-ey.
(3) Mushroom caps filled with beef chorizo and covered with manchego cheese - Of all possible restaurant sins, none is any worse than advertising that a dish consists of a particular ingredient, particularly a coveted ingredient, then serving but not disclosing a substitute ingredient. And in this instance, it took my wife and I all of two seconds to see that the cheese sprinkled over the mushroom caps was not manchego, but feta. We addressed this to one of the waitresses who was running (literally) by (as our waitress had, at that point, seemingly checked out completely). She kindly went to the chef and reported back that yes, it was feta, and so sorry, but the kitchen had run out of manchego. BAD, BAD FORM. Now, truth be told, the dish was still a success - the chorizo was very powerful in flavor and the substitution of feta did not compromise the dish that much. But manchego is a lovely cheese, expensive for a reason. Feta is less refined and, well, less expensive. Perhaps the dish shouldn't have been so much money if it were less expensive to prepare. But I quibble here - the main sin is in hiding the substitution.
(4) "Paellita" - little paella. We shared a seafood-oriented bowl of paella that was lovely. Interestingly, we could not detect the saffron that is usually a hallmark of paella. It was either absent or very slightly used (probably absent, knowing my wife's incredible taste buds). But the dish was good because the seafood was all moist, not dry and overcooked as is the risk with paella. Nicely done.
(5) Tamales - This was a presentation of two corn tamales served in husks with pork inside and a homemade tomatillo salsa in a small ramekin. The tamales were excellent - wonderful corn masa, not at all dry, with tender and flavorful pork. The portion could have been bigger (and I think it was $13), but the quality was there. My complaint with this dish was with the salsa: It was positively volcanic. I can tolerate very spicy salsa better than most (even enjoy one of those crazy habanero mango martinis at Elements from time to time). But this was too hot, and ruined our taste buds for the next hour.
By the end of these dishes we felt exhausted and beaten down by the noise and disinterested service, so we skipped dessert and left.
Bottom line: I would return for the food, in spite of the poor service (hopefully an aberration) and the prices that (typically of Santa Barbara) are 25% higher than they should be, but for the oppressive noise level. I will not return there unless they make the noise level more hospitable to normal human beings.
Healdsburg recommendations
My wife and I really enjoyed Cyrus. Here's what I wrote in my post a few months back:
In Healdsburg, we made the pilgrimage to Cyrus. It was spectacular! I have never eaten at a place full of such pomp and circumstance where I was made to feel so special and welcome and appreciated by every staff member. (My wife and I decidedly being non-VIPs...) And there were A LOT of staff on hand. It seemed that ten different servers helped out at our table at one time or another, and each had as much grace and good spirit as the others. And they all are trained to know about the food. Really impressive. Before we ate we enjoyed drinks at the bar. The bartender is something of a regional legend, and should be. The bar drinks were amazingly creative and full of freshness and flavor, with high quality alcohols and different-themed drinks infused with fresh herbs and fruit and spices. Really a treat.
We were delighted to see you can either pick and choose dishes from a long list of intriguing items or you can do a tasting menu for the table. We opted to pick five courses of our own. If I am lucky enough to return I will do three courses and see if I have any room left. We were so stuffed by course #4 we were laboring to finish - not exactly how you want to eat at a temple like that. Here is the link to the menu:
http://www.cyrusrestaurant.com/menu_d...
The standout items we ordered were the billi-bi with tempura mussel and olive oil potato puree; summer bean cassoulet with squash succotash and chilled zucchini puree; the foie gras (had all three preparations); veal paillard with roasted figs; striploin of beef with fingerling potatoes and shortrib hash. We tasted from the amazing cheese tray instead of having dessert, but we were so stuffed it was hard to get into it. Another reason to order less, and to avoid the awesome bread they continually replenish on your plate.
We were conservative with wine - split a nice glass of champagne with the caviar and then split a half bottle of charbono (Char-what? Charbono, an obscure red varietal. Very flavorful!) Credit to Cyrus for having MANY half-bottles on the menu.
Our total bill was $390, everything included. Like I said, we'd probably cut some corners next time, but would not hesitate to return.
LA Hound in Santa Barbara for a day - what to eat?
Based on the poster's criteria I would recommend Arts and Letters Cafe for lunch (nice atmosphere, behind Sullivan and Goss art gallery/bookstore on Anapamu just off State). Also agree with the Montecito Inn rec, but it is in Montecito, which might not be what the poster wants.
Opal or Intermezzo for dinner - again, focusing on the poster's criteria.
Ca Dario is always a reliable choice, though I wish it were more comfortable. Also it is Italian, not CA cuisine, although it meets the fresh seafood criterion.
Enjoy!
SLO Morro Bay Pismo
We stayed in Morro Bay a few weeks ago and found there to be a total dearth of worthy chow. We asked several locals, including the hotel concierges, for recommendations. It was a clue that even the question seemed to take everyone by surprise. The supposed top spot in town, Windows on the Water, was pedestrian. Dorn's, a fish and steak type of place that overlooks the embarcadero, was even more blaah.
We did better on our runs into SLO. You ought to consider doing the same.
The other steak place people talk about in the area is the Far Western. I think it's in Guadalupe. I've never been.
