Honkman

We have more an European approach and always buy every or every other day day (we don't like buying fresh stuff in bulk or freezing stuff as it decreases quality) so know what is in season at that time. At the same time we have many cookbooks we like as inspiration for cooking and tend to have shopping lists based on the recipes we would like to use as a starting point.

It's a good way to try different ice cream flavors but they are not really new. We had them in our supermarkets for the last 2-3 years.

Chicken and Crab Callaloo - Caribbean version of Gumbo. Every part of the Caribbean has its own variation, here we tried one from Trinidad and Tobago with rice, crab, chicken, ham, bacon, okra, spinach and coconut milk (and a few other ingredients).

Beside Barn Diva we really enjoyed Scopa in Healdsburg.

Oh dear.......... That kind of a statement puts icebergs down my, uh..."bathing suit area". Look, Mr. JR Shaul, I have but two requests for you, and I really want you to consider them--you don't have to follow up on them, (although it would be ideal if you did) but I really want you you to consider them, O.K.? The first is to "know the enemy". Please, please, pretty please with a cherry on top, get a a job in a restaurant. Just for a month. Walk the mile in the man's shoes before you judge him, O.K.? Everything you do in life is experience, and you can really use this experience, especially if you want to continue writing about the hospitality industry. The second is to print off this entire thread on paper and stuff it in an envelope with a note on that envelope to be opened in 3 year's time. If, after that time you can open the envelope and read it's contents and can critique your comments as well as all the others, then the world is a good place. If you can not open the envelope and refuse to read the thread--including your posts, well then, the the world is a bad place. All I'm asking is to consider these two requests. I don't necessaryly agree with your first point that you have to work in a certain in industry to understand it and judge it but it definitely helps. But I agree with your second point and found the first quote from the OP pointing towards a general problem in this discussion - somebody is taking himself way too serious and seems to expect that things have to be done only his way.

Hey, you can't come with facts that might confuse people

Our regular digital kitchen balance only measures in 5g increments. For recipes in Modernist Cuisine it is often necessary to measure ingredients in 100 mg increments. We are planning to buy an additional digital balance for that. So which one are people using since there are numerous available.

Sage is very good but the service feels sometimes rushed. B&B with their regional tasting menus are also a good idea.

I haven't tried them yet but some parters of Ray continued the company under a different name - Meat Man. So there is hope for local charcuterie. http://www.sandiegomagazine.com/media/San-Diego-Magazine/May-2011/Meet-the-Meat-Man/

I might misunderstand you but are you implying that "grass-fed" cows are only grass-finished ? This is definitely not the case. I don't see why "grassfed" is dishonest - there are some farms who grainfed and only grass finish but there are many farms who fully grass-fed their cows their whole life - which wat least in my opinion gives a much better beef flavors (in addition it is much less painful for the cows). Like with many other food issues it comes down to have trust in your source for the meat.

Full review and photos: Cavaillon - Two Chefs, One Tasting Menu Two Chefs, One Tasting Menu There are normally two ways how the time of a chef at a restaurant often ends – either the restaurant runs out of money and it has to close or the owner of the restaurant decides on a different culinary direction of the restaurant and hires a new chef to initiate these changes. When recently chef and owner Philippe Verpiand of the Cavaillon restaurant announced that he was unhappy with his current situation and the general state of affair of restaurants in San Diego and plans to move to Houston we expected a similar fast end of his restaurant. Cavaillon occupied an interesting niche for us in San Diego covering the culinary space of strongly French inspired food somewhere between bistro and haute cuisine and we had many excellent dinners there including some memorable black truffles tasting menus. After reading that Chef Verpiand thought “California is way too complicated. Little laws. Too much taxes. Not enough customers. I can do the same thing with a better lifestyle… Everybody wants to bring his own wine and they complain about I’m charging corkage… It’s a sad joke” we didn’t expect any future for his restaurant. So we were caught by surprise when after a few weeks we heard the news that he was actively searching for a new owner and successor in the kitchen who could continue his restaurant and cuisine even under the same name of the restaurant. And indeed soon thereafter the restaurant webpage announced that the search was successful and Cavaillon had a new owner and chef – Michael van Euw. Chef van Euw was born in the German speaking part of Switzerland and originally pursued a completely different career path by getting a degree in economics and environmental studies. But he then decided to switch gears and followed his culinary interest and enrolled at Le Cordon Blue in London with a focus on French cuisine and patisserie. After apprenticing at the Capital Restaurant in London under Chef Erick Chavot he moved to the Culinary Art School in Tijuana in Mexico to establish a pastry curriculum. An important career step for him was then his work as Executive Chef at the Le Cordon Blue supper club Signatures Restaurant on board of the Seven Sea Mariner. He then recently came to San Diego not only to acquire Cavaillon but also to start VE Chocolates, a private label chocolatier. His background seemed to make him a perfect candidate to take over Cavaillon and continue the tradition of French cuisine but at the same time incorporate his own style. When we recently received an e-mail from the restaurant that Cavaillon would offer a special tasting menu featuring both chefs at the same time (two chefs, one tasting menu) we saw this as a good opportunity to experience and compare the cooking styles of both chefs. Despite the year round great weather in San Diego there are surprisingly few upscale restaurants with a nice patio for an extended lunch or dinner. Even though Cavaillon doesn’t have an ocean view it is still a great place for al fresco dining as it is located in the quite suburb of Santa Luz with no significant traffic close by. And since the summer just recently started and the temperatures are getting higher it was the perfect night to sit outside for a relaxing dinner. Cavaillon just offers their house made rolls as the only choice for bread but the fresh, warm rolls are addictive and we never end up with just one basket. 1st Course: House cured salmon, micro fennel, lemon mustard vinaigrette (von Euw) The salmon was a very good start to the tasting menu with its elegant flavor and distinct but restraint taste of spices in the background. We wished the salmon would have been cut a little bit thicker to have more pronounced flavor. The vinaigrette with its lemony taste brought some acidity which helped to brighten the flavor of the dish. Only the presentation of the dish with its swirls of vinaigrette reminded us more of something from a cafeteria and didn’t really fit to this good dish. 2nd Course: Seared scallops, white corn risotto, vanilla foam (Verpiand) Risottos were always one of the signature dishes at Cavaillon and this one was an interesting variation. This risotto appeared to be soupier than usual which was also caused by the vanilla foam which had a strong aroma. At first it appeared that the vanilla flavor would be too dominant and cover all other ingredients but once we mixed all components the risotto was very well balanced with some sweetness from the corn and some saltiness from the parmesan countering the vanilla. The perfectly seared and tender scallops completed the dish. 3rd Course: Pan roasted wild turbot with truffled gnocchi, mushroom sauce (von Euw) Pan roasting a fish can easily dry out the filet and especially with such delicate fish as the turbot it was impressive to see how moist and perfectly cooked this piece of turbot ended up. The light gnocchi had some truffle aroma which was subdued enough to not overwhelm the dish. The spinach and mushroom sauce were rather classical accompaniments for the strongest dish of the tasting menu. 4th Course: Roasted duck breast “a l’orange”, glazed mushrooms, daikon radish (Verpiand) A fine example of classical French cuisine – very tender duck breast with a light orange sauce accompanied by braised daikon and butternut squash puree. The glazed mushrooms were a good addition to the dish as the vegetable component but the previous course also had some mushrooms flavors which seemed too much overlap between both courses and we thought that a different vegetable for this dish would have been a better progression for the tasting menu. 5th Course: Warm chocolate molleux, lime ginger sorbet, warm chocolate froth (Verpiand, con Euw) With the strong pastry background of Chef von Euw we were particular curious about his dessert. The combination of chocolate lava cake and a chocolate soup/froth looked first like chocolate overkill but the combination with the strong lemony sorbet really elevated this dessert. The chocolate components or the sorbet by itself were both well made but rather one dimensional but once you ate both together they were nicely balanced. This dish was for us similar to the risotto course as it really grew on us the longer we tasted it. Mignardise On our way to Cavaillon we discussed how much of the restaurant we would recognize from our last visit several weeks before when the kitchen was still run by Chef Verpiand. But once we entered the restaurant we immediately recognized many of the waiters and had some small talks with them and it felt not much had changed. One notable difference was the new GM Michael who was very involved with many guests throughout the night and worked efficiently with his team to make it a good experience for everybody. Chef von Euw’s decision to have a combined tasting menu with dishes from former Chef Verpiand was a similarly well thought out approach to combine well established parts of Cavaillon with his own new ideas. His own cooking style is similarly to Verpiand also founded in French cuisine and so his interpretation of the dishes, his own and Verpiand’s, felt cohesive throughout the tasting menu. At the same time his own dishes were the highlights of the tasting menus and one could feel that he felt more comfortable with them and that they are a good sign in which direction Cavaillon will go in the future. And indeed when we had the chance to talk with Chef von Euw after the tasting menu he indicated that he didn’t want to overwhelm the regulars at Cavaillon with too many changes from the start but at the same time also give his own team enough time to adapt to his own style and dishes by offering a menu with several “classics” from Verpiand even though he had left the restaurant several weeks before. Throughout the month of July he is planning to change the menu more and more so that by the end of the month all of the dishes will be his own creations. He also mentioned that he wants to continuously evolve the menu at Cavaillon. We felt that Chef von Euw is up to a good start at his new restaurant and that if he continues in the direction he is planning he should be able to keep the regulars with familiar French cuisine but at the same attract new clientele with more modern interpretation and techniques like sous vide. We are looking forward to have the next tasting menu at Cavaillon solely based on Chef von Euw’s own ideas.

We also got finally our shipping notice today.

He gets a lot of praise for his cookbooks which I find very underwhelming and too basic. Reading some interviews/articles with him it sometimes sounds as he sees "real" cooking just on focusing on the basic of cooking like it is described in his books and so for him chefs are getting to elaborate and refined in his cooking definition and are missing or neglect key qualities for him.

San Diego has the largest number of farms of any county in the US and has also the largest community of organic growers in the nation. There is a lot of room for improvement for the restaurant scene in San Diego but the quality and abundance of produce is as good as it gets anywhere.

Venissimo in Del Mar has Saba from time to time.

Major Market in Escondido and Jonathan's in La Jolla tend to have Puy lentils (and sometimes Whole Foods in LJ). And since you mentioned unusual meat cuts, e.g. pork liver, asian markets as Ranch 99 and Lucky Seafood are good sources. Two other good butchers who tend to have those cuts are Tip Top Meats in Carlsbad and Bisher's Meat in Poway.

Nobody forces any restaurant to participate with Groupon (or any other) coupon. It's their own choice to work together with Groupon.

Looking forward to your blog. Which CSA do you belong to and are you planning to include any restaurants this week ? And just out of curiousity since I am also chemist living and working in San Diego and working in the biotech industry which company are you working for ?

Sous vide is just one technique amongst many others and should be used, as any technique, when it fits with the desired dish. Using only sous vide would be as boring as using only any other technique continuously.

Whe did you eat there. Chef Verpiand left end of June and Chef van Euw took over. We had a first tasting menu which was very good.

When did you order the books ? 26 March! Thanks. We ordered our books about 3 weeks later. Hopefully we will get an update from Amazon soon

When did you order the books ?

Full review and photos: Fooding around in LA with Laurent Quenioux at Starry Kitchen Fooding around in LA with Laurent Quenioux at Starry Kitchen There is probably hardly anybody who wouldn’t agree that music, art, books or food are an important part of our life and that everybody is enjoying it in one way or the other. We all like to listen to music or read a book to relax, visit a museum or gallery to look at paintings or remember fondly certain dishes made by our parents when we were younger. But once you start asking different people what are their true favorite bands, artists or restaurants there will hardly be any agreement and everybody has their favorite band or restaurant often based on certain memories or connections they feel to them. Over the years we have visited many different restaurants and often came repeatedly back to some because we like them so much. But if anybody would ask us what was our favorite restaurant over the last 1-2 years our answer would be without doubt – Bistro LQ. It is always hard to describe what makes for us a good dish to become special or a chef to stand out, but with Chef Laurent we felt from the very first visit at Bistro LQ a unique connection/resonance how he interprets food, creativity and execution which is very close to our idea of a perfect meal. Rooted in French cooking techniques and preparations he hasn’t limited himself to any style or country anymore and takes ingredients, flavors and conceptions from anywhere and combines them in his own, unique way. He constantly challenges common notions which flavors and ingredients shouldn’t work together and every dish tells its own story, and it is quite stimulating for us to try to come up with our own interpretation which is part of the appeal of Bistro LQ. And so it is no surprise that Bistro LQ became our second “living room” on our frequent trips to LA and that GM Eric Bouty even mentioned to us that we were among the most frequent guests of the restaurant. Unfortunately excellent cooking and good reviews don’t guarantee success especially if you are cooking far away from the mainstream in a style that might be better fitting with restaurants in San Francisco. This together with issues with the landlord led to the closing of Bistro LQ in March of this year – a very sad day for us. After a very short time Chef Laurent appeared back on the culinary scene as Executive Chef at Vertical Wine Bistro in Pasadena, at collaborations with Chef Walter Manzke, and perhaps most interesting with a pop-up like concept LQ Fooding Around in LA at Starry Kitchen. What appears at first as an odd combination is actual a nicely matching one. Not unlike Laurent Quenioux the owners of Starry Kitchen, Thi and Nguyen Tran, took an unconventional approach to realize their ideas. Starry Kitchen originally started in their Hollywood apartment in which they served home cooked meals. Once their home restaurant became too successful it got shut down by the health inspection for not having a commercial kitchen. Despite this setback they didn’t give up but decided in the beginning of 2010 to open their “official” restaurant in Downtown LA. Starry Kitchen serves lunch throughout the week but only dinner on Thursdays and Fridays, and so it was a perfect match to have a Bistro LQ pop up from Sundays to Wednesdays. And it was no question for us to visit LQ Fooding as soon as we had heard about it. Starry Kitchen is located in downtown LA at the California Plaza The restaurant has more a feel of a lunch place, but the team around Nguyen did a great job to make it a very welcoming and relaxing place for dinner as well. Starry Kitchen has a partly open kitchen and you could see Chef Laurent and his staff busy at work. A few items like the water glasses seemed to have come from Bistro LQ as well as their signature cucumber-lemon water. The bread from Bread Lounge was perhaps the weakest part of the meal but good enough to sop up some of the sauces throughout the night. It was served with good olive oil instead of the more common butter. Amuse Bouche: Sea snail, soy butter French meals often start with escargots, but the whole dinner had Asian influences and so it was just fitting to serve a sea snail as a starter and accentuating it by pairing it with soy butter instead of garlic butter. The sea snail had a slight rubbery texture not unlike geoduck and tasted sweet and was faintly reminiscent of the ocean. 1st Course: Summer vegetables, hamachi, lemon miso curd, black sesame soil, yuzu kosho, herbs and sea weeds The hamachi had an impressive marbeling and a smooth and buttery taste. At first the summer vegetables, like peas, corn, fava beans, seemed like an unusual pairing but with their natural sweetness and the tartness of the lemon miso curd and yuzu kosho the whole dish was perfectly balanced. The sea weed added an interesting textural crunch to the dish which reminded us of a spring dish. 2nd Course: Carlsbad oysters and mussels, kimchi sabayon, Chinese celery, cauliflower Both the mussels and oysters were very tender and had a similar consistency as the cauliflower. The kimchi sabayon had a slightly sour flavor but also some hidden spicyness which kicked in after a short while. The fried Chinese celery leaves added an unexpected flavor which brightened up the dish. 3rd Course: Mu shu foie gras Mu shu is a staple of Chinese restaurants in the US which are heavily Westernized. It often consists of shredded pork and vegetables wrapped in a pancake. In Laurent’s playful interpretation, the pork was replaced by a perfectly seared piece of foie gras. Foie gras is often paired with strong sweet or savory flavors to counterbalance its richness but in this dish the subtle flavors of the vegetables and the hoisin sauces created a nice balance so that the foie gras was always noticeable in every bite but it never overpowered the other ingredients. We easily could have eaten several of these wraps. 4th Course: Squab, veal feet, ginger cone boudin noir, mashed potatoes, apple This dish featured two ingredients Chef Laurent used regularly at Bistro LQ – squab and boudin noir. The outstanding boudin noir was always a highlight and this was no exception. Served in a cone with mashed potatoes and apple puree it reminded us on dishes from Alsace. The squab which can easily be dry and tough was cooked perfectly. Both main ingredients were brought together by the veal feet which were small morsels of gelatinous meatiness. 5th Course: Rhubarb, hazelnut soil, curacao cubes, sour cream sorbet Rhubarb has often a very tart flavor but here it was cooked until tender with spices like cardamom and was in itself already tasty. The sour cream sorbet mellowed the tartness even more and proved to be the right balance - a strong finish for the tasting menu. Tasting menus at Bistro LQ always provided rollercoaster rides through the culinary world with its different flavors, and this pop up incarnation was no difference. You often read the menu and wonder how these flavors could work together but once you taste the dish it becomes clear and obvious and you wonder why nobody else might have thought about that before. It’s not very often that we have a tasting menu in which every single dish worked, and after every single course we talk about that we wish we could get a second portion. Before this event we were curious if a pop up of Bistro LQ would change anything how Chef Laurent would cook, but beside a bit more Asian influences than before, perhaps as an homage to his hosts, the pop-up concept was an extension of his regular Bistro LQ. The ambience and service was even more relaxed and laid back than before but was always professional and fitting for the occasion. It was interesting to see the energy of Nguyen while he talked with every guest and explained different dishes, and hopefully even once LQ Fooding around LA stops at Starry Kitchen Nguyen will continue do similar concepts in the future as he, his team and the location seem to be a good match for such events. He definitely made us curious to stop by at Starry Kitchen itself in the near future. It was great to eat dishes from Chef Laurent after the painfully long break since March, and we realized how much we missed it that we seriously considered to ask for a place on the patio of the restaurant for the sold out second seating at that night to start the menu over once more. Not unlike as with your favorite band it’s nice to listen to a single to remind yourself why you like them but what you are really interested in is to be able to listen to a complete LP/CD to be able to really dive into the music. Restaurants are no different and pop up events are a welcoming “snack” but what we really hope for is to have the possibility to again taste full blown tasting menus with Chef Laurent, and it was great to hear from him after dinner in the kitchen that he is planning to open a restaurant in Pasadena. We can’t wait for that to happen and will be among his first guests !

Depends on the restaurant - If it is an innovative, creative restaurant with very unusual flavor combinations I tend to smell it to get a first idea about the food and the thoughts of the chef how he composed the dish. If it is the mom and pop shop around the corner for a quick lunch/dinner not so much.

If you like seafood than Passionfish in Pacific Grove is a very good option. You should give a few more hints for what type of food, price, ambience etc. you are looking for as there are many, many different options at all three locations.