Posts Tagged: dining
Dining in Vegas
Spinach and Grilled Salmon Salad
There is no shortage of people who are willing to pay a lot for their meals in Las Vegas. That must be the case, because there was no shortage of places charging very high prices for mediocre food. Being a complete Vegas newbie, I didn’t quite know what to expect. I had always heard that everything was cheap in Vegas because they make all their money fleecing the players. I guess that was before the city became a more broadly marketed vacation destination with high-end entertainment, food, art, etc.
Not knowing the ins and outs of eating on the strip, we had our share of over-priced, dull food. But we did have a few outstanding meals. The very first meal we ate after landing and getting settled was at Mon Ami Gabi at Paris, Las Vegas. It included a spinach and salmon salad, artisanal cheeses, frite, and a couple other appetizers that the four of us shared around. Not to mention a really nice bottle of wine. And it was all reasonably priced.
Perfect over-medium eggs and crispy hashbrowns!
Chicken Crepe at Mon Ami Gabi
Having been so lucky on our first, perfectly random selection of a place to eat, we got the idea most places in the nicer resorts would be really good. It was with breakfast in the Wynn the next morning that we started to learn otherwise. And so it went for the next couple days with nothing comparing to that first meal.
We even at dinner “affordably” at the Cuban place on Fremont St. Yes, it was fun and funky and loud, and while the food was priced more appropriately, everthing beyond the opening chips and salsa was somewhat uninspiring.
Our sushi dinner at Japonais before the show (“Love”, which as fantastic, BTW) was pretty good at the price we paid, which was about half off for happy hour. At full price, I would have been disappointed. That goes for the drinks, too.
Finally, on our last morning there, we went back to the frenchie joint, where we had a great breakfast on a beautiful sunny patio while watching the water show across the street at Belagio.
Yes, maybe someday we’ll go back for another show or two. And we’ll be sure to do better job getting the intel on where to eat.
Birthday Dinner
I didn’t manage to get my daily post up last night as I was out for birthday dinner with the family. We then came back home for dessert and enjoyment of presents, which included a bottle of Ridgemont Reserve 1792 bourbon. Get it?
Dinner for six was at Sea Salt in Berkeley. This has been one of our favorite places over the years, and I was certainly looking forward to this return. The menu looked good on this evening, and so we had a bit of trouble figuring out how to approach it. Some in our party wanted to do large plates which are more or less individual entree plates, while I was leaning toward small plates we could all share so we could taste different things. The waiter had to come back a couple times before he could get an order out of us. But then again, he did nothing to help — made no recommendations of dishes or an approach to the menu, and offered no descriptions of anything.
Eventually, we did manage to order a caesar salad and a beet salad to share around, and they were both excellent. The beet salad in particular, had a certain complexity that was interesting, and I couldn’t quite put my finger on what ingredient was responsible. Perhaps it was the Capricious, or the pistachios, or the pickled shallots. Whatever it was, it rocked.
Then everyone ordered large plates. Sarah and Ray had the char, and reported it was very good. Rocky had the cioppino, and reported it was good but not great. Marge had the pan-seared Hawaiian barramundi and enjoyed it immensely. I was stuck on the idea of small plates, and even though I was now the only one, I stayed stuck.
So, I ordered the grilled local squid you see above. It was served with Italian butter beans and arugula, and topped with an almond-basil pesto. Interestingly, when the food arrived, the consensus was that my small plate was nearly as big as the other large plates, and it looked fabulous. And it was good. But it wasn’t transcendent. My chief complaint was that the squid was not really hot — in fact the edge pieces were downright cold — and that it while it had some grill marks, it really didn’t have the oomph of a decent charring that one expects from “grilled”. I know squid can be tricky, but this really would have benefitted from more grill character.
The major problem of the evening, however, was feeding the child. For Theo, we ordered the Masami beef and bacon slider. It looked good and was the perfect size for Theo. Unfortunately, after slathering a bit of the catsup from my side of fries on there, Theo complained that it was too spicy. Sarah tasted it and had a coughing fit. While the catsup turned out to be a bit spicy (I had not really noticed it, honestly), it also turned out that there was something quite spicy on the burger already. When we called the waiter over he said, “Oh is the black pepper aioli too spicy?” He offered to get another one out to us right away sans aioli. Unfortunately, he forgot to actually order that. So, by the time all the rest of us had finished our meal, we were still waiting on Theo’s burger to come out. Obviously, at that point, there was no point. I told the waiter as he was going by to cancel the order, if there in fact was one. I’m not sure what to make of this. Should we have been more inquisitive? Should the menu mention that there is black pepper aioli on the burger? Should the waiter have mentioned it when he saw we were ordering it for a small child? Where ever the fault lies, we had a hungry child at 9 pm. So, he had turkey slices and carrots sticks back at the house while we started on our dessert: rocky’s apple upside-down cake. Yummm!
And we cracked the Ridgemont Reserve 1792 Kentucky Straight Bourbon Whiskey. So all was not lost.
Better Late Than Never
One thing leads to another. For example, a business lead leads to a dinner. For example, a dinner at Greens in San Francisco.
I first heard of Greens in the mid-80s. At the time, I was working at Harland’s Restaurant in Fresno, where friend and chef Sheli Stancato was a big fan of the place. I think my recipe for black bean chili passed along by Sheli originates from Greens. Also, I was studying Eastern philosophy in college about this time, and when I had a course on Buddhism we took a field trip to the Zen Center in San Franciso, the organization that built and founded the restaurant. But we didn’t make it to the restaurant. So, it has taken me quite some time to make the pilgrimage.
It was an interesting coincidence. A couple of months ago, a friend and I came to hear an electronic music concert, part of the San Francisco Tape Music Festival, in a theater at Fort Mason. Afterwards, cold and dark as it was, we wandered around the grounds for awhile, I realized that this is where Greens is. I didn’t know, even after living the last ten years in the Bay Area. Then, just a few weeks later, we ended up out at Fort Mason again when friends were visiting from Seattle and staying in the City, and went to see the handful of Exploratorium interactive exhibits installed around Fort Mason. This time, we had a great takeout lunch of sandwiches from Greens.
Finally, Angelo called to say we’re going to dinner and had made reservations at Greens, totally coincidentally. So after years of not being anywhere near the radar screen, Greens serendipitously pulled me into its gravitational field three times in just a few weeks.
Dinner was wonderful. Was it transcendent? Well, not quite, but almost. The wild mushroom ravioli above was fantastic, and very generous, as was everything else our group had. I hope it doesn’t take another 25 years to make it back. Something tells me it won’t.
Keeping the Flame Alive on Fourth St
We were so excited we started eating before I got the camera out!
Dinner tonight was at Zut! on Fourth St in Berkeley–to celebrate Rocky’s birthday. I’ve lost track of how many restaurants have been in this spot, and while it was, of course, remodeled yet again, Zut! really reminds me of the one that got it all started here: Fourth Street Grill. There appears to be some old wood around the banquette we sat in, and I wonder how much if any of the interior was there when it was the Grill.
Sarah and I were practically kids when we first started coming up from Fresno to visit my cousin Tommy in the Bay Area. Often, Tommy would insist on taking us out to dinner, and often it was Fourth Street Grill to which he would his maniacally maneuver 6 series BMW. It’s been over 20 years since those dinners, so I don’t remember all the food details. But I’m pretty sure that was the first time I had Caesar salad with whole leaves, always perfectly coated with tangy dressing and grated parmesan. Perhaps the I’ve ever had. And wonderful little french fries, and the best roasted chicken ever, and fabulous burgers, and…
Tommy loved, LOVED to share good food with his peeps. Nothing made him happier than to take friends and family somewhere and turn them on to his latest discovery of culinary excellence. There were many other wonderful places we went, but Fourth Street was always high on the list of places to go. Thinking about the satisfaction and excitement he felt whenever we ate together makes me miss him so much, all over again.
Tommy would have been content; tonight’s meal was outstanding. Even before our appetizers arrived, we were all loving the bread, and Theo declared it the best bread EVER. Then came the beet salad with feta and mandarin and mint. Fabulous! Next came a bowl of crispy fried smelt with mayo for dipping. They disappeared almost immediately. Although I have to say that to me they didn’t quite live up to what we often got on our last trip to Greece. But I’m not complaining. They were pretty darn good.
Then our entrees came. Theo had a giant cheeseburger off the kids menu ($10), and since he doesn’t really eat french fries, he had Caesar salad on the side instead. I had to QA it, and while it was not a rival to the old Fourth St Grill Caesar, it was very good. Rocky had seared Ahi with grilled sunchokes, young chickories, treviso, blood orange and dates ($23). It was beautiful, perfectly cooked and ample. Sarah had the halibut with roasted brussel sprouts in lemon, brown butter and capers ($24). Her only complaint was that there was no starch on the plate, but we got a second round of bread to take care of that. She ate every bite on her plate. I had the rotisserie chicken with horseradish mashed potatoes and escarole ($17). It was fabulous. The escarole was perfectly cooked and had just the right acid tang to be the perfect foil for the creamy potatoes. The chicken was very slightly smokey, wonderfully moist and delicious. But it was both whole halves of a poussin! I would have had to eat through the pain to eat it all. I might have, if I didn’t know we were committed to dessert. Instead, I brought half home for lunch tomorrow. Yum!
Finally, for dessert, we shared a couple of things. Chevre cheesecake with gingersnap crust and blood orange. Outrageous! And also mandarin sorbet with Greek frozen yogurt–like the best 50-50 bar you’ll ever experience. And they made a special little chocolate sundae for Theo.
And before I forget, a nice surprise of the evening was the wonderful Greek wine. The 2008 Santorini, Asirtiko/Athiri, Sigalas ($34) was bright with a hint of gravel, had nice fruit, and was perfect with all the food.
All in all, a wonderful evening sharing good food with the family.
Kokkari Stars
crispy zucchini cakes with cucumber & mint-yogurt dressing - $8.75
Beet salad with dill
Grilled octopus with lemon, oregano & olive oil - $11.75
It turned out a little different than I had expected it would, than any of us expected it would. Not that I didn’t have high expectations. I did. I have been hoping to dine at Kokkari for a long time. We just never quite seemed to be able to get it together. But when we saw Jim and Kelly a couple weeks ago, we all talked about getting together soon in the new year, and I suggested Kokkari as a possibility.
That suggestion stuck with Kelly, and she made reservations only the day before. So, the earliest we could be seated was 8:15. What a fateful decision that was.
We arrived, waited a few moments for our table, and then were led through the restaurant and around to a round booth near another large table with a party of eight or so. After a few minutes we noticed something distinctive about the large party.
In the meantime we ordered and started drinking our first bottle of Greek wine. By the time the appetizers came, we were giddy. We started out with crispy zucchini cakes with cucumber & mint-yogurt dressing, oven-baked giant beans with tomato sauce, olive oil & herbed feta, grilled octopus with lemon, oregano & olive oil, and beet salad with olive oil and dill. They were all fantastic. The octopus was perfectly cooked, tender, delicately charred and nearly transcendent.
It is true that we had started with wine back at house, and wasted no time getting going at the restaurant. But that’s not exactly why we were giddy. Nor was it the appetizers. Rather, we determined that one of the people in the large party at the next table was Nancy Pelosi. She may not be the Speaker of the House at the moment, but her star power is utterly undiminished!
Nancy Pelosi at the table next door
But before our entrees arrived, someone else did: Gavin Newsom and wife stopped over for a brief hello with the Pelosi party.
Gavin Newsom
As the introductions went around we discovered that the gentleman sitting with his back to us was former Senator Christopher Dodd, chair of the Senate Banking Committee. By now we were beside ourselves.
Retired Senator Christopher Dodd
Grilled sea bass
Dry-aged rib-eye
That’s when the entrees came. Sarah and Kelly each had the Mediterranean sea bass. Jim had the dry-aged rib-eye. And I had the grilled lamp chops. I ordered them medium-rare and they came perfectly cooked. I managed to eat every bit, though all the portions, appetizers and entrees alike, were quite ample.
Lamb chops
Heavenly galatobouriko
Baked apple with mastica ice cream
Finally, we finished up by sharing a couple desserts: a spiced baked apple served with mastica ice cream, and galatobouriko, which was absolutely transcendent. The house brought us a round of muscat dessert wine from the island of Samos.
As we were finishing the politicos got up to leave and as they did, Chris Dodd, turned to us and said, “I hope weren’t raucous and bothersome.” That was all the opening we needed to engage him in conversation. We talked about his young children, and his trip here working on the financial reform. When I thanked him for his service, he said “that’s really nice to hear, thank you”, and seemed genuine and sincere. Ms. Pelosi shot us a smile and a wave, too.
Finally, as were leaving the restaurant, the group was still stuck at the entrance, and with the secret service detail thrown in, it was a traffic jam. I took the opportunity to say to Ms. Pelosi also, “thank you for your service and great work.” She thanked me and shook my hand. We burst out into the cold night air still giddy and more than satisfied with our selection of restaurant, the fabulous food, and the stunning star sighting.
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