Eating In and Out

I haven’t written in a while but I have been in my kitchen…as well as other kitchens!

Have you tried any of Jacques’ recipes yet? I’ve tried his Sauteed Quail with Raita, Asian Eggplant Salad and his Cubed Potatoes with Garlic and Sage. Of the three, I loved the Eggplant and Potato dishes. The quail, in spite of having cayenne pepper, was rather bland and the Raita didn’t help. I love quail though and will try some other recipes from past cookbooks to satisfy that craving. Did you ever prepare or eat a dish that you thought was going to taste great but didn’t? And, what it does is create a craving for how that dish “ought” to taste? Well, that’s what’s going on for me right now.

The Asian Eggplant Salad recipe didn’t specify how thick to slice the eggplant and I sliced them too thin so I overcooked them in the oven. But, in spite of that boo boo, the dish was lovely and I actually like that bit of charred taste in eggplants. The salad dressing for this dish was de-lish! I used arugula & maché instead of the watercress he called for and liked the result.

The Cubed Potatoes were to die for! So simple but a perfect accompaniment to any main entré. I may bring them to our dinner, I liked them so much. . .of course that depends upon what everyone else brings. I mistakenly chopped the garlic instead of using whole cloves but it added a nice crunch to the potato dish that I liked so I make turn that mistake into a change in the recipe.

In addition to my kitchen, we’ve been eating out a bit lately. Our dining out seems to come in spurts. We eat a home for months and then in a few weeks, eat out 5 times!

We returned to Manresa to celebrate Bill’s B’day and, as you can guess, had a fabulous meal. If you have the time and money, go to Manresa again. They have remodeled the restaurant and it is so much nicer! They added a cocktail lounge where you can try some innovative cocktails and some small bites. I was thinking that it would be fun just to just go to the lounge. The cocktail mixes were quite alluring! While I won’t go into the entire menu (5 courses is $115 pp...there wasn't a choice for fewer dishes), my favorite dish of the evening was the Asparagus, both roasted and raw, crispy mussels with citrus saboyan, toasted seed. The combination of flavors (we’ll learn more about this at our Sent Soví event) was the perfect example of sweet, sour, salty, savory, mouthfeel and umami. David has this concept down to perfection. He also shared an amuse bouche that was an abalone custard served in a Japanese lacquered container. I could have made a whole meal out of this “bite.” It had that soft mouthfeel and was savory, sweet, salty and definitely umami!

We also ate lunch at Campton Place in San Francisco because I bought a groupon-type deal. Every dish was perfectly constructed, arranged on the plates and again, brought forward the five flavors and visual beauty. Because it’s spring, I order a lot of asparagus dishes and this one was wonderful! Delta Asparagus, Slow Poached Farm Egg, Green Herb Emulsion & Shallot Crisp was so French and I think I groaned, it was that good!

We recently ate at Daffodils, in the Orchard Hotel in near Union Square as part of SF’s Dine About Town. It is a beautiful restaurant but the food is sadly lacking. While sounding delicious on the menu, the actual dishes were poorly prepared, overcooked and several were rather dry. The server was doing everything including bartending and while missing a few notes, kept a smile and positive attitude and we enjoyed his attentiveness.

But, enough for now. Our next event is just around the corner and I, for one, am looking forward to learning how to create our own recipes from Josiah Slone, the executive chef/owner of Sent Soví restaurant in Saratoga…as well as tasting his innovative creations. It will be a prelude to our October dinner so stay tuned!