mdt

Again, thank you Monica for setting this up. The chef and his staff did a tremendous job of putting together a wonderful menu. What a great meal! I really enjoyed the selection and found the Ragda Pattice and Chole Bhature especially tasty. At one point I remember thinking of how much food we had eaten, only to realize that we were just done with the appetizers! I had never had any Indian sweets before and really enjoyed sampling the various items. The jalebi and besan laddoo were my favorites. Looking forward to the pictures.

I will have my camera with me. I have to agree with JPW, Monica rocks!

Lets do it! We can discuss it Sunday evening.

I've not been, but here's what Zagat has to say: While its St. Helena storefront suggests a simple joint, this newcomer’s pedigree hints at potential greatness: Nick Peyton (a front-of-the-house veteran of Gary Danko and the Ritz-Carlton Dining Room) and chef Doug Keane (ex Jardinière) present an all-American menu, while sommelier Bob Stuckey (ex French Laundry) oversees a wine list of both notables and little-knowns. No ratings yet, as it's too new. But it sounds good! I was just there last week and had a very respectable meal. It was recommended to me by a couple of different people so I stopped in. If you are looking for a very good meal in a comfortable atmosphere, by all means stop by. If you are looking for a wow experience, keep on looking.

Off topic of sparkling, but Darioush and Pine Ridge are worth a visit as they have some very nice wines. I was just out there last week and those 2 places stood out among the ones that I visited.

Count me in too!

Thanks for all the recommendations. I ended up eating at the bar at Gary Danko. Absolutely amazing food and I think cinghiale's quote above just about sums it up nicely. Service was great and not nearly as stuffy as I thought when I first walked in the place. I will return when I get back to SF. I was back in town before returning home and my friend and I ate at Quince one night and had a terrific meal.

Unfortunately I will not be able to attend.

I am heading to CA for vacation on Sunday and arrive early in the morning. My friend is not getting into the airport in Oakland until 9:30pm. We are heading out of town from there so no late dining for the two of us. I have my day of sight seeing and eating pretty well planned out from the other posts here. When dining solo I enjoy eating at the bar. Suggestions on which great SF restaurant I should dine at? Relatively convinient to the airport in Oakland would be nice. I will have a car and no restrictions on cost or type of food. Thanks!

Brie baked in PP is nice, but I think a wheel of brie baked inside of brioche is even better! Yum! Give that a try sometime and see what you think.

Sounds like fun. Let me know when...

I have been using 5 oz. of AP Flour per cup with all my baking from BWJ and have had no problems.

I have been way too busy these past couple of weekends and have not baked anything at all! Good thing is that I will have time this weekend and the danish sounds wonderful!

Finally got a chance to stop by Buck's for dinner on Saturday night. Got there just before 7pm and we were seated just ahead of the crowds that came shortly after. I started dinner with chopped chicken liver that was servered on slivers of crispy toast, tasty with a slight sweet note. My friend had the mozzarella with pesto that was quite good, although I was only allowed one bite! We both had the grilled whole fish (Mediterranean rock fish as we were told by our waitress) for our entree. The fish was grilled perfectly, the skin was nicely charred and crispy and the meat moist and tender. It was served with a lemon zest, onion, and watercress garnish that was quite tasty. They had two offerings for dessert, apple and rhubarb pie and a tin roof sundae. The tin roof sundae was homemade vanilla ice cream with warm chocolate sauce and peanuts. While the chocolate was good the ice cream was pretty bland and just offered a contrast to the warm sauce on top. I was surprised at the lack of flavor in the ice cream. The apple and rhubarb pie was really a tart and just ok and served with a scoop of the bland ice cream.

Wow! How did I not know about this?

713 H St. NW

I plan on being there by 6:30p. Al?

I was thinking of heading to Matchbox for a before dinner cocktail. Anyone interested in joining me?

JPW -- You beat me to it! I was thinking the same thing when I read that. Those paninis sound like they are going to be wonderful! Nice to hear that there are even more reasons to go to Palena!

I made the small versions of the cakes and they looked just like your Seth. We now know why they did not have a picture of this specific cake in the book! They tasted good and I served them topped with whipped cream to which I added a bit of marscapone. Yum!

"Culinary bushwacking" sounds like fun! I am in favor of seeing if we can have them prepare some special items for the group and then ordering off the menu and sharing.

I went to the wine tasting the other week and they had South African wines. The guy (forgot his name) doing the tasting was very friendly and would spend time explaining the various wines he selected to everyone interested. They had a few items to munch on while tasting. Check it out if you are free on Tuesday nights.

I'm in! The rhubarb upside down cakes sound great! Of course I still need to make the ka'kat that I did not have time for last weekend.

So ventworms are actually Marshmallow Peeps that ran into a wall? That does not look like any ventworm I was ever served, let alone the nuts. Okay, I'll still don't know what ventworm nuts are. I googled "ventworm" and got the one and only result from Rock's post. A vent worm is...

Those ka'kat look good. Since I did not find any mahleb I ended up making some cibatta, from the Italian Baker for Easter dinner. Turned out very well and was rather easy to make.