Ling

How is the quality of the single origin bars at TJ? What are the prices like?

^What a cute idea for a party! I made David Lebovitz's "Fresh Ginger cake" today. Had 3 big slices with some salted caramel over top. Mmmm....

Laughing Stock Portfolio? I like that a lot. I believe they have it on the wine list at Aurora Bistro. (The line-up of food sounds soooo good! Especially the pig...and the gravy...oh man.)

My last three... Saturday night dinner at Rare followed by ice-cream and sorbet at Feenie's Sunday night Habit Lounge--this was my first time here. We got some drinks and shared the duck, olive, and polenta dish as a snack. We both found the duck dish fine, but would probably pick something else from the menu next time. Then we had dinner at dinner at Shanghai River.

Well aren't you suave!!

I see your grilled corn, butter, lime juice, and raise you a dash of paprika and cayenne.

GET THE TWICE-BAKED ALMOND CROISSANT!!! I've had a variety of pastries from the Yountville location and they were all good, very good, or excellent. Nothing was stale. The twice-baked almond croissant was definitely the best of the six or so pastries I've tried. My least favourite was the sticky bun. It was good, but nothing special.

We talked to some locals during our trip and many of them suggested we go to Ame. Unfortunately, we didn't have time, but thanks for the exceptionally beautiful pictures and the report!

ugh...not all things should come chocolate-flavoured.

I like the menu very much as well. We had a hard time deciding on what to order, because the restaurant features a number of interesting dishes. We had cocktails at the bar, a bottle of Sauternes, and wine pairings with our meal. Service is quite formal. The pork belly was leaner than what I expected, but I'm guessing this would probably appeal to most diners who find the taste/texture of a full, thick strip of fat off-putting. I like how they included the bone, as everyone knows the meat around the bone is the best part! I liked this dish more than the pork, which is good b/c my date liked the pork more than the quail. I found the quail very flavourful, and the sweetbread stuffing was delicious. The boar bacon quenelles and the surrounding sauce added a nice salty/sweet/tangy element to the dish. The taste of the duck fat was very apparent. This was also my favourite dish! I had a nice piece of luscious fat on top of my portion of the veal as well. Delicious! A fatty cut of meat cooked in fat...what could be better...

The pork was stir-fried with garlic and chillis. It was spicy enough for me. Delicious! Even the spinach was not bad. The wrappers are a little thicker than the ones at Bao Guo Bu Yi, but thinner than the ones at Shanghai Wind. I think the soup base is in between the two restaurants' in terms of richness and depth of flavour. I know it takes more skill to make the wrappers thin, but I still like the amount of soup and the taste of the soup in the xiao long bao at Shanghai Wind better. (Unfortunately, SW was closed last night so we couldn't do a comparison like we had planned.) Agree. Bland. Would not order again. Not enough colour on the potstickers either. Agree. Wouldn't order this again.

I had some 68% Scharffen Berger chocolate, a few peanut butter cookies, and a pain au chocolat from Sen5es.

^Beautiful pie, Ann! I've missed your pictures! I had a lovely dinner last night that included quail stuffed with sweetbreads and boar bacon, pork belly, AND veal breast confit so we had something a little lighter for dessert--a few scoops each of Poire Williams sorbet and caramel and fleur de sel ice-cream.

^We went at dinner and I didn't see a fixed menu available. We ordered a la carte as well.

Great pictures! Did you order everything a la carte or was that the fixed menu? I don't remember a fixed menu there when we were having dinner. Here's the link to our pictures: Chez Panisse cafe I loved Chez Panisse!

I booked a reservation on Open Table for the first time this week. Seems like everything is working fine--I got email confirmations and so forth. I would use the system again--it's very convenient.

That looks like a lot of fun!

Isn't Death by Chocolate in the Ironwood Plaza mall by Steveston Highway and is it 5 Rd.? I have no idea if it's all it used to be cracked up to be, perhaps a certain dessert aficionado might know if it's worthwhile looking up? ← Well...I used to go there in high school... OK desserts, I guess. There's not much in Richmond that comes to mind. The gelato place mentioned upthread is near the corner of No. 3 and Westminister Hwy., I believe.

That's only because you weren't driving a Porsche.

Excessive amounts of cheese on a grilled cheese sandwich is a bad thing?!! What sort of cheese is used, if you don't mind me asking?

^Oops, you quoted me and I just edited my post. I thought I sounded very juvenile in my original post.

Mid-tier level wines are fine with me. I can't afford wines that are over $100 a bottle on a regular basis, and I'm not so far along in my wine education (very rudimentary at this stage, I assure you! ) that I would be able to tell the difference between a good $100 bottle and a good $300 bottle. (I'll also admit to wanting to go to "Cakebread" because of the name. "Cake-Bread"--come on! How could I pass that up?!!! ) I did save your PM with the winery suggestions and I hope to make it down to San Fran again soon so I can visit them! We (well, hhlodesign) bought the half bottle from the Don Giovanni wine list. If the Persian thing at Darioush is cheesy, then label me the Princess of Cheese. (Neil's Yard stilton, preferably.) I thought Darioush looked cool! The Le Corbusier (or "The Crow", as I learned he's labelled) chairs were pretty stylish.

Drink specials too!

Just wanted to add that Veil has a Happy Hour menu that started about two weeks ago!

I'm so sorry! I ate all the pastries that same day we bought them, so I didn't get any interior shots! I should've though...darn. Sorry!