hapacooking

I had the opportunity to dine there a couple of weeks ago. First the tasting menu is now $59 no longer $49. However the food was fantastic. Service needs a bit of polishing, the decor is pretty bland but the dishes were outstanding. My wife started with the Soft Egg with Black Garlic which was incredibly delicate and flavorful. I had the Cod followed by the Chicken. The chicken was poached followed by a slow roast. Very nice but a bit on the small plate side. The Strawberry Soup dessert was outstanding. I give it a huge thumbs up. Portions could be a bit larger and the service needs a slight adjustment but other than that it was delightful.

Texturas Gellan is Kelcogel F

As a huge fan of Brian Eno and especially his Oblique Strategies, I found this link from Gourmet which is quite an interesting take on using OS and the art of cooking. Enjoy. http://www.gourmet.com/food/2009/06/brian-...ategies-recipes

Geronimos is still good but since DiStefano left for Coyote it has gone down a bit. I believe the chef from The Ore House is now the chef there. I had a great meal there a couple of months ago and I still think it was the best in SF. Coyote Cafe is back and getting better. It has a slight Asian slant to the dishes but I think DiStefano will find his way. He did leave a couple of Mark Miller's classic on the menu which were fantastic. Cafe Pasquals is great for breakfast or lunch. I would choose breakfast. Another great place for drinks on outside patio is Inn on the Anaszi which also is great for breakfast. Last time we ate there for Dinner is was a bit boring. La Casa Sena is also great for dinner as well as the Santa Cafe which have lovely outside garden seating Dont miss the Shed or Marias for lunch, if you have the chance.

Yes I received the same email and then looked at it a bit closer and then realized that it cost $7.80 for shipping and an additional $5.00 for Chef Rubber's "handing charge". Thats $22+ for a single issue, no thanks

Yes it is. not sure why I typed Solgel.. I ate at Solgel, the restaurant at Solage,last weekend and it was fantastic to say the least. A couple of standouts were the bacon and egg salad and the beef shortrib entree. Also the venison, 3-ways, special along with a truffle pasta appetizer were outstanding! There is a special Valentines chocolate dinner coming up that looks like it could be lots of fun. The chef, Brandon Sharp, was the sous at Danko. Highly recommend! ← It's Solbar. http://www.opentable.com/rest_profile.aspx?rid=13702 John S. ←

I ate at Solgel, the restaurant at Solage,last weekend and it was fantastic to say the least. A couple of standouts were the bacon and egg salad and the beef shortrib entree. Also the venison, 3-ways, special along with a truffle pasta appetizer were outstanding! There is a special Valentines chocolate dinner coming up that looks like it could be lots of fun. The chef, Brandon Sharp, was the sous at Danko. Highly recommend!

Here is the online link for the article http://men.style.com/gq/features/landing?id=content_8001 great article!

I have seen the Alinea book in three different Borders bookstores as of last Saturday. I am still waiting on mine from the Alinea website. The latest info is that they will not start shipping until Monday of next week.

I have had a proof copy of the Alinea cookbook for a couple of months now and there are a few recipes which are can be done without a lot of work and have come out very good and a whole bunch that are very complicated which I haven't even thought of attempting. This book is going to be a gem!

I live down the street from Manresa and have eaten there 7-8 times in the past few years and the service has always been a consistent problem. On our visit a couple of months ago, our main server was going outside and having a cigarette during our meal. When he returned he stunk like stale cigarettes which made the meal less appetizing. I left a message at the restaurant about this problem but never received a response. We recently dined there during the René Redzepi of Noma visit and although it was an interesting meal, none of the dishes were outstanding. Service was sketchy at best and at that price, it was not a good value. Manresa was fantastic when it first opened but has sadly never returned to the greatness it once had.

We had the opportunity to dine at Schwa a couple of weeks ago and all I can say is WOW! From the Anchovy/Banana/Celery dish to the Beer Cheese Soup with accompanying Belgian Beer to the Pad Thai to the Kampachi/Lime/Maple dish, Chef Carlson's precise flavor combinations were right on and incredibly delicious. However, the Lamb Brains/Morels/Nasturtium dish was the highlight of the evening. It was close to perfection as we have ever experienced. This is about as close to Andoni Luis Aduriz style of cooking that we can get here in the states. The under-pretentious atmosphere of the restaurant along with the genuine warmth of the staff make this one of our new favorite restaurants in the US. Hat's off to Chef Carlson and his team. BTW, we dined for our 5th time at Alinea two nights later and although these restaurants are polar opposites in many respects, we thought Schwa blew Alinea away on many levels.

Not sure. I kept calling over a 4 day period until I spoke with someone. I called around 3:30 and spoke to a human and snagged a reservation 60 days in advance.

I was wondering if anyone knows if the new Thomas Keller book on Amazon "Under Pressure" is his long awaited volume on Sous Vide. The title sounds weird for Sous Vide and the price is somewhat high. http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/157965351...d=2L04EQJX0EJWI

I had the opportunity to eat at Mugaritz, MB, Arzak and Akellare all in one week last year and I would recommend Mugaritz at the top of the list to visit. The creative flavor combinations and inventive concepts of Mugaritz were unparalleled. MB was good but for my taste, the preparations were lacking and the setting and service were below par. I would rate it below Arzak but above Akellare. BTW, Adruiz has recently published an small book/encyclopedia which includes a DVD where Adruiz demonstrates the preparation of about a dozen of his dishes. It is mind-blowing to observe how much care, thinking and effort goes into each of his dishes.

I see on elbulli.com that the 2005 and the 1983-1993 editions are no longer show that an english version is coming soon. Juli Soler told me that they have dropped plans for an english edition. Does anyone have any idea why there will be no english translations?

I ordered this book from Amazon.uk when it first came out and I must say it is very very nice. The recipes are all fantastic unlike some of his earlier books. I tried the chilled tomato consomme with asparagus, peas, tomato concasse and basil and it was incredible. Additionally I tried the slow-braised pork belly in maderia sauce, made a few short cuts but it was also unbelievable. great work Gordon!

And they are NOT tasting good this year.... Seriously. ← Yes that is what the produce manager told me also. He said they had very little flavor this year. BTW, a typo in my post it was 0.64oz for $236

I saw today that Draegers in Los Altos has a very nice white truffle for sale, 0.04oz for $236, which is based on their price of $5900/lb. OUCH!

Although I haven't checked yet this year, Draegers usually has white and black truffles at very high prices. Not sure if all the stores carry them but I have seen them at the San Mateo store in the past.

I have had the pleasure to dine at WD-50 quite a few times and always found the experience somewhat confusing. Some dishes interesting and some dishes very strange. In my experience, WD-50 is not for everyone. I had the tasting menu two nights ago and found it to be utterly fantastic. Every dish was very very good. Flavors were well balanced and quite satisfying. The Knot Foie was super. The crunchiness of the nuts with the tartness of the huckleberries was divine. Whimsical and fun. The Hamachi Tartare was probably the weak dish of the evening with the sea beans being somewhat overpowering with the dish missing something that I could not identify. The French Onion Soup was an interesting and delicious rendition that was one of the better dishes of the evening. I found the Lamb Belly with chickpeas probably the best dish of the evening. The belly was cooked perfectly with a perfect balance of flavors. A new dish recently introduced was Eggs Benedict which included a deep dried breaded lump of hollandaise sauce with small cylinders of egg yolk with a thin sliver of bacon, was outstanding. A playful spin on the original that was nothing less than spectacular. Stupak's desserts were also super. The toasted coconut cake with smoked hazelnuts and brown butter sorbet was out of this world. The soft white chocolate with white beer ice cream was interesting with flavors that you you would not expected to work but, in fact, worked perfectly. Hats off to Wylie, Alex and the crew.

I received my copy from Amazon last week. Lots of interesting savory recipes. I will try a few for my thanksgiving weekend party.

I had the opportunity to dine at Alinea again about a month ago. This was my 4th experince at Alinea and the food and service was outstanding and delightful as all of my previous visits. I brought a collegue from London with me and he thought it was the best meal he has ever had. He dined at the Fat Duck just prior to coming over the pond. I am sorry that you had such a bad experince and would have also been disappointed in the service you received. Of course all restaurants have bad days and it sounds like you unfortunately visited Alinea on an off night.

Another classic for Chile recipes is "Texas on the Halfshell" by Phil Brittin and Joseph Daniel. There are over 25 prize winning recipes for Chile along with a great collection of other texmex dishes. I have tried 5 or 6 of the recipes and they all turned out fantastic! Not sure if it is still inprint but it is considered the bible by some for real Texas chile.

I just got back from Peru and picked up Peru Mucho Gusto. The first part of the book explains the history of Peruvian cuisine followed by some recipes for the basic dishes found throughout Peru and the last section includes innovative recipes from some of the top chefs from Peru. The book is quite heavy similar in size to Alain Ducasse's Spoon cookbook housed in a box along with a thin supplement which is the recipes in english. Throughout the book there is a fair amount of english translation but for some odd reason the english recipes are included the thin supplement and not in the main book. I picked it up for around $90US in Lima and highly reccomend it.