San Diego Mini Vacation

D and I have been looking forward to getting out of town for a LOONG time. It's so nice to get away from the day to day routine and even though it was only a little over an hour away in San Diego it was really nice.

We were invited by our friends the Hale's. They are newly weds like us and share the same wedding date just a month later so this weekend was our 3 month anniversary (1/4 of a year! woohoo!) and their 2 month.

We stayed in a nice hotel called La Pensione in Little Italy. The rooms were small but very clean and everything was literally right outside our door. Like this street market on Sunday. There also was a really cute dog that was in the lobby that somehow I didn't get a picture of. We could have attached a broom handle to his collar and used him as a mop. Our first meeting with "Rosie" involved her pilfering food from the refrigerator.

Dinner was Italian of course. There were several beers that preceded, and followed after the meal. Including Old Thumper ESB and Ballast Point's cult hit Sculpin IPA. I was shown up by a girl too. No, the weirdly layered concoction of Guinness and champagne is not mine. The itty bitty little port is mine. The big one? It's called a Black Velvet and it definitely made the Guinness better. I'm not a fan of Guinness, I know, blasphemy.

We ended the weekend at Hash House A Go-Go. This place is INsane. We all took turns walking around the room looking at everyone's food. Did you see the steak? I think they threw the whole cow on the grill! How is the table holding up the bathtub filled with salad? People, they put an entire branch of rosemary in the dish. Steakhouses use knives to hold their burgers together sometimes, this place used rosemary. We just wish that the taste was as big as the novelty. The food was so-so. Underseasoned, very underseasoned. Nevertheless it was a great two days and it left us with Sunday to relax and veg

Old Vine Cafe+New Waiter= VDay Grudge Match

If you read the post on Old Vine Cafe you know that D and I had an amazing time there. Great food, great service, and HUGE pours of all of the paired wines. I think Mario poured me 4 oz of port for my dessert and Danielle was given an entire bottle of prosecco.

Oh but how the mighty have fallen. D and I were really excited to take our friends the Rhino and W there to enjoy a Valentine's Day dinner. I even called the day before to request that we be seated in Mario's section. It's a small place but I wasn't taking any chances with "the most romantic night of the year" -wink-

When we got there we were immediately seated and I said hi to Mario. He assured me that he would be taking care of us. Come to find out Mario lied. Oh how he lied.

I knew from past experience as well as from working at my wine bar that I HATE the 2006 Frogmore Creek Chardonnay from Tasmania that was paired with my first course of scallops. It tastes like roasted pineapple, stewed fruit, and jam. Mmmmmm...tasty. I thought, no big deal, I'll just ask to be poured the wine from the other tasting menu in place of this one. I didn't ask for an off menu wine, I didn't ask for a more expensive wine, I just asked to be poured the OTHER wine that they were pouring with the first course. Reasonable right? I thought so. WRONG!

Have you ever been reamed by your Denny's waiter for ordering the All-American Slam with a coke instead of a traditional breakfast beverage? How about your Mcdonald's drive-thru attendant for choosing milk with your egg McMuffin? No? Ok ok maybe you deserve to be yelled at by the sushi chef because you ordered the wrong sake with your omikase?

Apparently I was not informed of the fact that sauvignon blanc is a poor pairing with scallops. I tend to disagree and told him so.

 Me: I think it will be fine
Him: (indignantly) Would you drink milk and orange juice together? No, I don't think so.
Me: I think it will be fine
Him: Do you know about wine? Do you have any training?
Me: Yes I studied with Master Sommelier Peter Neptune
Him: Really? I think Peter would agree that this is a horrible idea.
Me:(Thinking Peter would like the idea because shellfish and SB go great together) I think it will be fine
Him: Against my better judgement since you studied with Peter I will let you ruin your food.
Me: Thank you

He then proceeded to be an ass for the remainder of the meal. Pouring acrobatically over D's head, sloshing wine, plating food with no explanation, etc. I felt terrible for our friends because we had raved about Old Vine to them. The food was wonderful as usual, although plating was not as good as the first time. D's polenta was not creamy it was slices, but overall the food was enjoyable. Now if we could just get rid of our waiter.

So if you intend to go to Old Vine Cafe make sure that you request Mario as your server.

Chaya Downtown L.A.- My First Uni

As a little kid I was a very, well, boring eater. Cheeseburger? Plain, no ketchup, no mustard, no lettuce, no nothing. I distinctly remember telling someone that I thought ketchup was gross. Even though I had never tried it. Salad? Heck no! And DEFinitely not with dressing. Vegetables were not my thing. I was a meat and potatoes guy. Literally. I ate broccoli begrudgingly, okra on orders only, and peas under protest. I thought Indian food was too spicy and raw fish was for the birds.

This was me until I was out of college. Once I graduated it was like I had passed through some lame food barrier. I don't know what the heck changed in me but suddenly I couldn't get enough greens, cooked fish was too warm, and I put hot sauce on the nuclear holocaust hot-wings. There was, and to this day nothing I won't try once. Well maybe one, D knows what it is. It starts with a B and ends with a half formed baby duck. Maybe I draw the line at fetuses.

This new found love for new found food brings us to last weekend. It was our friend's birthday and we were going to Chaya in Downtown L.A. Chaya is one of a slew of Asian fusion restaurants that seem to be showing no sign of being played out. Chaya leans less heavily on the fusion side though. It's more of an upscale contemporary restaurant with a sushi menu. They use yuzu and ponzu. Kobe beef carpaccio is there. They have classic Italian fare, paella, and sea bass.

Hmmm, now that I think of it this place was a real hodgepodge of cuisines. Kind of like the chandelier they had in the lobby built of cheap, plastic, Asian made toys, utensils, and various and sundry colorful items. No fusion but it seemed to work.

Looking at the menu I was really excited to finally try two different things that rarely show up on a menu that I feel comfortable ordering them from. Uni(sea urchin roe), not so rare, and pan roasted sweetbreads(thymus gland in the throat of a calf), more rare. I ordered the Uni sashimi as an appetizer and the pan roasted sweetbreads with herb grilled gulf shrimp as my entree. I was really stoked to have these offal(sorry couldn't resist the pun) items checked off of my "must try list."

It was not to be however. I was thwarted by our server when he informed me that they were out of sweetbreads. Out of sweetbreads? I didn't think that would be something there would be a sudden run on but never the less I had to settle for uni, a scallop roll, and one of my all time favorite sushi picks, unagi(freshwater eel).

Everything came all together as an entree and the presentation was beautiful as you can see here. The portion of uni was HUGE!

Sorry about the pics the lighting was really low and I was with people who would think I was REALLY weird if I started snapping multiple pictures of my food. The couple that I did take had already drawn some odd looks from the guy seated across from me that I had just met.

I went for the uni first. Using chopsticks I picked up the first piece and just let the flavors mingle around in my mouth. All I can say is wow, if you love seafood, I mean, love the fishy, oceany, smells of the sea, THAT is what was now concentrated in my mouth. A pudding of the sea with a bit more substance. I loved the texture, I loved the taste. It was not briny or salty like I thought it was going to be. It just had a concentration of the ocean that was amazing. The other amazing thing? D asked to try it! I knew she wasn't going to like it, but she wanted to try it. D does not like ANY fishiness so, we all know how that turned out. I gave her a tiny piece which she took down quickly. Just as quickly she screwed up her face and turned up her nose and declared it was too fishy. But, "at least I can say I tried uni!" I'm slowly getting her into this seafood thing.

I ended up being the last one eating because I was enjoying my meal. I wasn't really paying attention to the fact that my dinner mates had wolfed down their mostly traditional pasta dishes and were now staring at what I had on my plate with a "what the heck died on there"? look on their faces. So now not only am I the guy that took pictures of his food with a big fancy camera I am now the guy who eats weird food. Oh well, my food was great. The scallop roll was pedestrian and the unagi was great as usual. Can anyone DO bad unagi? I've never been disappointed. Crisp edges soft interior, with a light ponzu on top. And the coup de grace? The uni was every bit as good as I had hoped for. Anyone know who serves some good sweetbreads?

Date Night at Geisha House...I'm More Asian Than This Place

D and I really try to have one date night a week where we go out and we don't cook. We have a drink, some food, and we always have really great conversations. Even though she can't do it I could go to a (insert National Coffee Chain Brand Name Here) order a venti, errr Large cup of coffee, sit in a comfy chair and talk for hours. Not to go all mushy but she's my other half, good thing because I'm marrying her right?

ANYway. Friday night we had planned on making this really great vegetable soup and staying in but I could tell that neither one of us was up for cooking. Shocking I know right? Part of D's Christmas gift this year was a bunch of restaurant.com gift certificates to different places. The idea was that we could try out different food on date nights for cheaper. We're saving for a wedding here. If you have never used the site it is awesome. I bought 25$ gift certificates for 2$. There are some restrictions but hey, it's free money. So Friday night wasn't allowed on any of the cards except for PJ's Abbey and Geisha House. We both decided on a little more healthy and Geisha House since it is basically right down the street. Weird right? Large chic Japanese restaurant with its roots in Hollywood home of small portions and big prices decides to open a place in a Santa Ana shopping mall home of small tacos and big burritos. It will all make sense in a second. Ok here's the secret about Geisha House's location.

I... of the white, German, Scottish, blonde, blue eyed ancestry... am more Asian than this place will ever be. It makes sense that the only person in here that greeted us in Japanese, was Mexican. D IS Asian and  one of my more constant refrains is, "I should have been born Asian." (To which D replies, "I don't date Asians,") so it goes without saying that we have a pretty good idea of what good Asian food tastes like. This was not it.

I might go so far as to say my favorite "American Chinese Food" place called Golden Dragon complete with warming trays of unidentified meat with familiar names like General Tso, is more Asian than this place. Not that the food was awful it just didn't taste like it should anything. Seasoning was woeful.

"Spicy tuna tartare on crispy rice cracker" should have read,

"Crispy on the outside, mushy on the inside(sounds like a bad rap song anybody know the one?) rice bun topped with spicy in one area only, pretty much tasteless everywhere else, tuna pate and tobiko for color."

The sushi rolls they offered sounded very interesting and I was excited by the "geisha's lips" hey now, don't get all dirty on me here. It was supposed to be crab, spicy tuna, avocado, sprouts, wrapped in a cucumber skin. Sounds nice and light right? Basically the chef's knife skills were non existent because the cucumber skin was about 1/2 an inch thick. Far be it from me to criticize a "sushi chef's" knife skills but I'm sure I could have cut a thinner skin with a rusty railroad tie. He did make up for it though by cramming a lot of stuff into that "skin." It was just too bad it was undernon-seasoned crab salad, a hacked off piece of tuna, and I think there might have been some avocado in one or two of the pieces. Don't get me wrong it didn't taste bad but there really isn't any way something can taste bad if it has no taste.

The one bright spot of the night foodwise? I got D to try some salmon and she liked it! She is particular about her fish so I have to make sure I introduce her to things when I know for sure she will like them. The salmon was not fishy (again with the non-taste, taste and this place) and cooked well.

Our bill was large, our taste, small. Needless to say I would rather wait for an hour outside a nondescript Fountain Valley Ramen place with my name on a piece of notebook paper waiting for somebody to mispronounce my name to call our table and look at me funny because I am white than go back to Geisha House.

New Years at The Old Vine Cafe Costa Mesa

I had heard great things about The Old Vine Cafe.
2937 Bristol St. Suite A-102 Costa Mesa, CA 92626 (The Camp)

Ok mainly I had heard how amazing their burrata (locally sourced) is. We even attempted to procure said burrata (at 10PM) after a dissappointing dinner(more on that later) at the tapas restaurant, Boqueria.

The Old Vine was having two seatings for New Years, one at 5:30 and the other at 8:30. D and I are DEFinitely not early dinner people. I HATE Thanksgivings that start at like 1 PM. I eat, stuff myself, then I am hungry again and raid the fridge and feel like a heifer(cow). Hence the reason I chose the 8:30 seating. There were two prix fixe menus to choose from: The Original and the Vegetarian. Not wanting to miss out on any of the dishes and D being fine with either as long as she had burrata we ordered both of them. Here comes the amazing thing:

Each course of the 4 came with a paired glass of wine. 8 total courses 8 glasses of wine. D and I being who we are asked if we could order a glass BEFORE dinner since we were early. Our waiter, Mario, (every time I hear that name I can't get Nintendo's Mario voice out of my head) looked at us as if we were crazy and told D that if she could walk out upright after dinner he would buy our wine. Us, being the "professionals" ordered. She had the Cristalino Cava (super dry, a one note wonder, we stock a 4$ bottle that's better) Me? I was intrigued by the Chikurin "Hou Hou" Sparkling Sake (D's comment? Tastes like a soda) I'll try anything once. Even this slightly embarrassing looking bottle to the right here. Japanese schoolgirl anyone?

Now, my glass could only be as full as the bottle over to the right but D's glass? Cava in a white wine glass HALF FULL (6 oz at least) This would become a theme with Mario. Who is an AWEsome waiter and not just because of the pours and his name. He knew his wine, he loved to talk about it, and he took the time to explain each course and why each wine was chosen for the food. D and I are certified by WSET in wine so we annoy our friends when we go out but wine is a passion of ours.

First Course:

Original:  Sautéed Sea Scallop on a nest of Crispy Fried Yucca finished with Tarragon Chardonnay Sauce.

Paired with a 2006 Frogmore Creek Chardonnay, Tasmania

Food: Scallops were perfectly cooked, I cut them with a butter knife like it WAS butter and I had a HOT knife. D even tried it and she HATES scallops. We both loved the Tarragon sauce it was genuis. Briny, smooth, touch of tarragon annise but not too much.

Wine: Awful. I knew this coming in because we sell this wine at the wine bar I work at. Come on, Chardonnay? Tasmania? Can anyone say STEWED FRUIT. Think of eating hot pineapple. MMMmmm Tasty... I finished my japanese schoolgirl soda which paired much nicer with this.

Vegetarian: Baby Spinach with Dried Fruit, Pine Nuts, Fresh Goat Cheese & Honey Balsamic Vinaigrette.

Paired with a 2008 Wild Rock Sauvignon Blanc, Marlborough New Zealand

Food: I enjoyed the figs, D liked the spinach and dressing. I even got her to try the goat cheese which was not overtly gamy(she hates goat). She compared it to a heavier sheep cheese. The salad was good but not groundbreaking. What do you want? It's a salad

Wine: D and I love our Sauvignon Blanc. ESPECIALLY New Zealand. There is something about that grassy, herbacious, who am I kidding it smells like CAT PEE and it tastes so good! This is the only instance where I will say I like cats. Wine drinkers love cat pee but hate wet dog. This wine didn't have as much acid up front as most SB's do but nevertheless I was not allowed to have more than a sip. D REALLY likes SB. Although it would have paired better with MY dish.

Second Course:

Original: Handmade Fettuccini Pomodoro garnished with Aged Pecorino Romano Cheese.

Paired with a 2005 Tre Serre Barbera, Piedmonte Italy

Food: The noodles were perfectly cooked al dente and toothsome. Sometimes handmade noodles can be mushy and these weren't. If you talk to someone FROM Italy they will tell you that handmade does not equal good. Most pasta is cooked from dried noodles there because it's a better more consistent product. The noodles were a bit eggy for D. The sauce was wonderful and the pecorino added the salt it lacked. I ate it all and I am NOT a carb person. D was amazed.

Wine: The barbera we are used to is a big, powerful, meaty wine. I wasn't sure how it was going to pair with this rather light pasta dish. D and I were pleasantly surprised by the lightness of it. The taste was full but it didn't overpower the dish. Mario explained that this is characteristic of the Piedmonte region.

Vegetarian: Mozarella Buratta, Panko Crusted Eggplant, Grape Tomatoes & Basil Pesto.

Paired with a N.V. Caposaldo Brut Prosecco, Italy

Food: It finally came! There should have been a light from heaven shining down and angels singing hallelujah. Let's put it this way, I got one bite...one small bite...one. It was that good. D asked Mario if the chef would make her a tasting of burrata three ways when we come back. Mario thought the chef would love it so I think we will be making another reservation soon

Wine: Mario kept the big pours coming. D actually commented and Mario told her he could take it back if she wanted. D was still savoring her SB but managed to let Mario keep the pours coming.

The prosecco was pretty standard. Dry, minerally. I only had a sip or two.

Third Course:

Original: Filet Mignon & Crispy Fried Onions with Bleu Des Basque Demi Cream Sauce.

Paired with a 2008 Maipe Cabernet Sauvignon, Argentina

Food: The filet was a perfect even pink all the way through. The sauce(which D was unsure of because of the blue cheese) was amazing. I wanted more of it and more of the crispy onions. Great dish!

Wine: This was my favorite wine of the night. I could have just smelled it all night which was weird because I don't live Cab's in general. Leathery, tobacco, deep rich aroma, with a hint of dark chocolate on the end. paired perfectly with the filet.

Vegetarian:Pan Fried Polenta with Pomodoro Cream Sauce with Aged Pecorino Romano Cheese.

Paired with a 2006 Valle Reale Vigne Nuove Montepulciano d'Abruzzo, Italy

Food: This was the one that D was unsure of on her menu but she really enjoyed it. Nice cheese flavor that wasn't overpowered by the sauce and the polenta was well cooked. She is even going to let me try and recreate it at home. The great polenta debate at our house has ended. I hav had some in the cupboard for a while and until now it has gone unused.

Wine: Didn't try this one but D seemed to like it.

Final Course:

Original:

Grandma's Cheesecake, Wild Berry Puree

Paired with a NV Ferreira Ruby Port

Food: If it looks naked that's because D doesn't eat fruit so we asked for it without the berries. It was really good. D raved about the crust and teased me that it had TONS of butter. The health nut in me rebelled, and lost.

Wine: Pretty standard port. Not very deep in flavor or aroma. Very light body. Not one of my favorites.

Vegetarian:

Mini Pecan Pie Tartlets garnished with Vanilla Fleur De Sel Butterscotch Sauce & Whipped Cream.

Paired with 2003 Famiglia Bianchi Late Harvest Semillon, Argentina

Food:  I didn't get a picture of this one but it was good. I don't like pecan pie which was perfect for this dessert because there was very little pecan flavor. It could have almost been called Mini "insert good tasting filling here" Pie Tartlets. The fleur de sel really highlighted the sauce and made the flavors pop. It was a perfect ending.

Wine: I only had a sip of it but D said it was good.

Overall: D and I agreed that this was one of, if not the best meals we have ever had in total. The service, the ambiance, the company, the food, and wine all added up to a memorable experience. We definitely will be coming back for burrata three ways!

Oh and Mario bought us our first two wines.

Like I said, "Professionals."