Hest88
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Posts posted by Hest88
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The author seems to think the French Laundry is in San Francisco.
I actually see this a lot. For instance, Oliveto is often referred to in the national press as being in Berkeley, even though it's well into Oakland. I used to think that was because of the familiarity factor but now I think it's often just a snob factor.
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Michael's descent into profanity is ample proof that many furtive meetings have taken place between the two of them. Now we need only wait for Michael's foray into the hard-boiled crime thriller genre.
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I didn't need to read past PF Chang's.
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Yeah, I'm thinking the same, Jason. I also think they created the good cop/bad cop scenario as part of the overall Bourdain marketing scheme and Ruhlman gets some sort of percentage from Tony's profits.
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Damn Gary! My admiration for your wife just continues to grow!
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We got back from our anniversary trip to SHH this past weekend and had a great time.
The first night we ordered off the menu and I wasn't too terribly thrilled. I made the mistake of ordering Dungeness crab hot (even though my husband kept telling me to get it cold) and it was awfully overcooked. My excuse is that I usually have Dungeness stir-fried with ginger and scallions and have no idea how I'm supposed to order it in a non-Chinese restaurant!
After a few nights of eating cheese and crackers and the like, we re-entered the dining room for our anniversary and their "Gastronomic Adventure." The sweet, pretty front desk people kept calling it "the Gastro" so I perversely just referred to it as the tasting menu. (There's something just a bit too breathless about the term "Gastronomic Adventure.") Although I wasn't expecting much, both of us were completely blown away.
We have the menus at home, if anyone really wants me to type out what we had, but I remember a glorious mixture of tastes and colors--the equal of many of the finest meals we've had in San Francisco. (Samples: Smokey porphyra seaweed broth with Weathervane scallops, sage stuffed crepe, fresh beans, nasturtium flower oil, and crispy shallots; Spiced grilled Giant Neon flying squid with sweet and sour, root vegetable, cilantro, and buckwheat noodles wrapped in marinated cucumber, and arugula emulsion, fenucreek cracker, and baby arugula.)
It was also the most incredible duck I'd ever had and we discovered my newest cheese obsession: Hilary's goat cheese cheddar---this coming from someone who's not a huge goat cheese or cheddar fan. The food was so good, my husband insisted we eat at the restaurant the following night and have the tasting menu again. I was really impressed at how the menu completely changed the next night, considering how complex the preparations were, and thought the 2nd meal was easily the equal of the first.
Service was okay. Certainly better than most other Pacific Northwest restaurants, though they seemed to be uneasy balancing that Van Island casualness with the restaurant's inherent formality. The cute young server also pronounced crème fraîche "creme fre-shay" and I was nice enough not to correct him.
(Yep, lots of cute young things of both sexes running around SHH.)Let me know if you want me to elaborate on any aspect of the menu or our stay at the hotel.
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My two favorites are simple ones: pork bone soup and chicken with white fungus (thrown in at the end so that they're nice and crunchy). My mother will often come up with crazy combinations where she'll throw in a dozen sinfully expensive ingredients, cook them to death, and then expect the soup to taste good, but I've tried to tell her that I really enjoy her easy preps the best.
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I haven't seen it yet, but I'm also looking forward to it. I agree that he seems like a wonderful man and a refreshingly unpretentious chef.
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Jello
Slim Jims
Pork Rinds
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Okay, these are not necessarily places I think are stupendous so much as old favorites we frequently return to for their consistency, value, and good food.
Oh, and proximity to our house.
#1 Gary Danko
#2 Cafe Rouge
#3 Kirala
#4 Chaat Cafe
#5 Holy Land
Places to avoid:
Oliveto, except for special event meals
Frishman's New York Deli on Solano
Downtown (Berkeley), unless you're getting appetizers
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Hm. The only time I use a timer is when making the Thanksgiving turkey. Scratch that, I use a Poldark which beeps when the proper internal temp is reached. Otherwise I just glance at the clock and estimate when I need to check the food.
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Dammit. *Are* there any Northern California Japanese restaurants that compare with your So. Cal. ones?
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Huh, I'll bet the sous chef will be a woman. And blonde. Or, the restaurant owner, having suffered a death or divorce, and forced to take over her family's or husband's restaurant, will be blonde and buxom, and forever clashing with the charismatic bad-boy chef. Until they fall into bed.
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Well, my experience here in Northern California is that most upper-mid to upper range restaurants have those cute little peppermills on the table instead of pepper shakers. As for the brandishing waiters, I've seen them in upper range restaurants as well as Olive Garden-types, usually, as others have said, after salads. Right now the only one I can be completely sure of is Oliveto, but I'm pretty sure I've seen them in other places.
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If I had to kill crab or lobster myself I'd never eat it. Instead, I had my parents teach my husband!
They also pry the shell off then whack the crab into pieces with a butcher knife.
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Well, the way I wash my marinade brush is to wet it, drop a bit of dishwashing detergent on it, then rub it in between my fingers. The detergent gets distributed through the bristles easily and then I just rinse it.
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Just for the record, I speak unaccented English and I get the same reaction from a certain type of monosyllabic speaking people.
I always thought they were just momentarily dazzled by my exotic beauty!
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Did any of you eat "pig in a poke" jui jie bang cakes as a kid? My Po-Po always made sure I received one. Usually it just hangs in my room.
Oh yeah, I loved those baskets but I never ate the pastry. I was picking up mooncakes at Eastern Bakery a few hours ago, saw those baskets, and *almost* thought about buying one. I don't know what I'd do with it though!
We're actually having our Autumn Moon Festival dinner tonight, because we can't do it next Tuesday. Not ideal, I know, but it's really just another excuse to eat anyway!
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Oh yuck! Here in California I remember going out to catch crayfish, but I don't ever remember white worms. <Shudder>
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Not in the Bay Area. Every Chinese restaurant I know of has a "chow mein" section on the menu, and you'll always get the soft, pan fried noodles, unless it's described as "Hong Kong" style, and then it will be as I decribed it.
Another confirmation from a Bay Area born and bred gal. I had no idea NY chow mein was crispy. We have to specify "Hong Kong" style to get it crispy here, and then it's made with thinner noodles.
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I don't know yet where the blame should fall without more information. Sweaters are delicate and a rough spot can ruin one. However, if it's a real splinter, one that could jab someone's skin and cause a small wound, then you're talking about something that could have created a liability for the restaurant--in other words, serious enough so that they're just lucky it was just a sweater. If that were the case, and the sweater were actually ruined, then I do think the restaurant has an obligation to replace the sweater.
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I've always hated Wonder Bread, even as a kid, and haven't eaten a Twinkie in maybe 15 years. However, I can be hopelessly sentimental about childhood foods, so I do feel a bit of a twinge.
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Thanks for the reviews and a belated happy anniversary!!!
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aren't there also people from one part of asia with partners from other parts?
Yeah, Mongo, but that wasn't the question. ;)
Employeers Responsibility Towards Employees
in Restaurant Life
Posted
As someone involved in the communications of various layoffs (though not in the restaurant industry), I can only say that giving them advance notice is a more respectful approach than springing it on them at the last minute--especially if rumours are already flying.