melkor

I wonder what was in the bottle...

A few weeks for me, I'm just thankful that my wine hiatuses are by choice rather than necessity.

I haven't been to the LV Bouchon, but my most recent meal at TFL was less than a week ago - the man is without a doubt obsessing over every part of the food being prepared there. The Bouchon in Yountville and the one in LV make no claims to be TFL, they simply serve excellent bistro food. The French Laundry right now is producing better food that I've ever had there, the wine program is spectacular and without a doubt things there are not being sacrificed for the new restaurants in NY or LV.

Terra is up there as well - but yes, that's pretty much the list.

Another odd touch from my meal yesterday was the postcard/coupon we were given with the check for a 2 for 1 wine tasting at the Wine Garden. Just to add to my reputation for broad generalizations - restaurants that give out coupons often frighten customers away. Keeping track of who is a repeat visitor and sending out another dish is a nice touch, giving someone a coupon for free stuff next time they come in seems sad and deparate considering the Wine Garden is trying to portray itself as an upscale wine country restaurant. It would be another story entirely if they were trying portray the restaurant as a value/family oriented establishment.

I forgot Oliveto... All of my experiences there have been awful.

Maybe I should go back, I've been going to Bistro Jeanty recently instead of Bouchon as I'd previously had much better meals there. I'll give it another shot next time I'm feeling like bistro food.

I'll get things started with my list, which is obviously biased towards where I live - #1 The French Laundry, Yountville #2 Gary Danko, SF #3 The Martini House, St Helena #4 Terra, St Helena #5 Kiss Seafood, SF Places to avoid - Michael Mina, SF Fleur de Lys, SF Tra Vigne, St Helena

It seems that here on the California forum we focus on restaurant recommendations when someone posts they are coming to visit. There are individual restaurant reviews, but in general we don't spend much time talking about where we love to eat. List your top five favorite restaurants in order, toss in a few to-be-avoided places if you want. Let's see if there is anything that remotely resembles a consensus on what is best from Gilroy to the bottom of Mendocino county and out towards Sacramento. edit: changed from 10 to 5, since I got stuck at 6 on my list

You are correct, however the menu wasn't online before the french laundry website launched. It's good to see the menu online, since it's almost impossible to read on translucent paper in the dark at the restaurant

The perceived difference of opinion could also be from transport shock, sparklers in general don't like being shaken and take quite a while to recover. I’ve found that some NV Champagne is ready on release and some isn’t, for me it depends on the producer. As a practical matter I often wait 6 months to a year to drink NV sparklers, but that's because they are usually purchased by the case.

Obviously it was the best masa ever

I had a pleasant late lunch at the Wine Garden today. Aside from a few dishes needing to be ordered multiple times, the service was adequate. The restaurant was mostly empty during my entire visit though that’s not entirely surprising given my 2pm arrival time. It’s hard to assess how smoothly things go when they are busy but this meal was handled well. The wine list is bizarre - it is composed entirely of wine producers who buy grapes from the family who owns the restaurant and ranges from uninspired generic Napa producers to mediocre small production California wineries. Strangely all the wine on the list is available for retail purchase at a reduced rate. On the bright side, the list is reasonably priced and has an abundance of options by the glass in both 2 and 5 oz sizes. The meal started with the two ceviche options on the menu, halibut and tuna. The halibut was one of the best dishes of the meal, and the tuna simply acceptable – it was plated with yellow and red “gazpacho sauce”. The yellow side of the tuna had a very nice heat from the bits of chili pepper that were oddly lacking on the red side of the plate. Next was corn tamales followed by a cheese plate - both were well thought out. The corn tamales are one of the few Mexican items on the geographically diverse menu. The cheese plate, on the other hand, was composed of all domestic cheeses. Grilled stuffed quail and grilled hangar steak made up the last course. The quail was awful, filled with a bland Thanksgiving turkey stuffing and drowned in a sticky sweet bbq sauce that tasted like it came from a bottle. In stark contrast to that, the steak was excellent. It was served properly cooked rare inside with a satisfying crust outside, some sweet red onions, and creamy smashed potatoes. It was by far the best dish of the meal. Lunch finished up with a chocolate pecan tart, which had a good filling and somewhat bland crust. Coffee to accompany dessert was acceptable though noticeably worse than the Wine Garden’s neighbors (Bouchon, Bistro and Pere Jeanty, etc). All in all, I’d say it’s a decent choice for lunch, don’t go expecting amazing food or a compelling wine list, but it’s a solid meal at a reasonable price in a comfortable setting.

I don't think so. I really like Kiss seafood, but it's obviously not at the same level.

It depends what the priority is, amazing coffee often makes a mess. If budget is no issue then a LM Swift grinder and single group Linea would likely be your best bet - the grinder also tamps the filter basket and somewhat limits the mess being made. The Jura isn't exactly cheap, but it's much less expensive than the LM setup.

Yeah, but in 2012 restaurants in CA will have to stop serving it unless it's produced in a different way. I don't see why they couldn't just hook the ducks and geese up to a bacon IV - needn't look farther than the simpsons for a solution to the problem

$800 a week won't pay the rent either in SF or NYC, but from the few people I've spoken to who have worked at The Cheesecake Factory in SF, 2k a week is normal for a server.

I'm not fond of them; they are inexpensive for a reason.

So, enlighten me. My argument is simple - it is inappropriate for someone who doesn't care about the food they are serving or who doesn't know anything about the food they are serving to be seasoning that food. We'll ignore the issue of clumsy waiters grinding pepper onto the table and onto the customers. People in general do their best work when they are happy, I can’t imagine someone who loves food being happy at the Olive Garden. Sure it’s a paycheck, and the tips are consistent, but the food is crap.

No, the steakhouses in northern california are complete crap and are to be avoided...

I generally prefer to cook at home than go out to a lower end restaurant, so I suspect that explains our difference of opinion. I associate the nitwit waiter waiving a peppermill with places like the olive garden. It's just not something you see at the mid-level and better places in northern california.

Apparently I'm the only person who thinks the kitchen should properly season my food before they put it on the table. Not that I'm against having salt and pepper at the table, but needing them should be the exception rather than the rule.

Drip brewing is very popular in the states, but is often done with low quality machines that don't brew at the proper temperatures. Most people who are serious about coffee here tend to prefer espresso. Rosting here is done either in large drum roaster or in hot air roasters. The drum roasters can be heated with many different methods, electric coils or gas fire are most common, some people use wood fires. I use a water softener with my espresso machine, I don't for drip or french press coffee. Most coffee here is roasted for use as drip coffee.

I didn't say it was bad for dinner, just that I'd choose lunch there and dinner somewhere like the Martini House instead. I think this whole foie gras debate is missing the point, it's hard to argue that raising any animal in a pen, feeding it, and killing it is what that animal would choose for itself. Unfortunately for the animals, they not only taste good but they also keep us alive. Sure foie isn't a required part of anyones diet, but raising ducks to produce foie isn't any worse than the large scale chicken factories with cages stacked on top of eachother and dead birds being sent to the packing plant. I have every expectation that if this bill is signed, an alternate production method will be found before 2012 when the ban takes effect.

So Sunday I had the best meal I've ever had at the French Laundry - Lizzie, her husband John, Pim, and I went for lunch. This was the first time I've had lunch there - it's the same experience without the need to sleep as soon as you finish eating. Pim and I met Lizzie and John at the restaurant; arriving a few minutes late, we were greeted with glasses of Champagne (Gimmonet MV) as we sat down. On my previous visit, which was all of a month earlier than this one, the kitchen cooked for us – we were asked our dietary restrictions and the kitchen built a menu around them. The sommelier provided spectacular pairings for each course and our table was served two different preparations for each course. Mind you, this was our 8th visit in a little over two years, so I was under the impression that they were taking special care of us because we visit semi-regularly. That meal was at the time the best I’ve had there. The lone flaw in the entire process was serving a roast chicken a few courses after roast quail, the quail being a heartier presentation made the chicken seem less spectacular than it was. The chicken presented tableside with slices of black truffle stuffed under the skin was excellent, but I think it might have been better had the quail and chicken swapped menu spots. If MsMelkor and I are considered regulars, then Lizzie and John are rockstars. Everyone working at the restaurant knows Lizzie and John, and everyone makes a special effort to visit the table and catch up. On our way to the garden for a break Chef Keller spotted Lizzie, and paused the conversation he was having to talk to her. Again the kitchen cooked for us, each course was paired with wine, and our 12:30 lunch ended at 6:00 after 18 courses and countless glasses of wine. 16 of the 18 courses were served as two different preparations for the table, the exceptions being the Salmon Cornet and the whole roasted foie gras. 34 different dishes, of them the cornets, white truffle egg, and black truffle tagliatelli were the only dishes that I’d previously been served. Parts of other things I’ve had made appearances, though the brilliant black truffle poptart, and the donuts are all that come to mind. A few of the highlights were the roast partridge, the whole foie gras, pesto agnolotti, and cauliflower polonaise. Thanks again to Lizzie, John, and Pim for sharing their table with me - it was truly an incredible experience.