Guess what? I managed to score a seat for dinner at Momofuku Ko on Tuesday night. Of course it was only possible because Tuesday happened to be Election Day and the seating was at 10pm. But still, God bless America.

Well, once again I was not able to take any pictures, and this time, I’m sure I have forgotten a dish somewhere along the line, thanks in part to the wonderful $85 wine pairing, but these are the things I do remember having:

Mini super rich bread-like thing next to an awesome fried pork rind
Mini encased sausage thing with a crisped bit of chicken skin
Raw fluke with poppy seeds and white soy
Lamb belly in a “soup” (pureed daikon I think?)
Coddled egg with generous amount of hackleback caviar, onion soubise, and mini chips
Pasta rags and mushrooms in a mushroom broth
Monk fish with uni
Venison with coffee
Signature shaved foie gras
Mandarin Orange Sorbet with bitter orange supremes and juniper
Pretzel Sorbet with Cheese Puffs

Yes the lamb belly was obviously from the same glorious Elysian Fields lamb whose chops I wrote about in my last entry. I was hoping to have the deep fried short ribs I had read about, but apparently that dish has been replaced. But having this lamb dish, I am soooo not complaining. I’m telling you, Elysian Fields is raising some magical lamb.

The soft egg dish was delicious but seemed to have too many things going on. I see caviar and I just want to eat it alone, but in this case it was sitting atop the slightly oozy egg yolk, just begging to be mixed with the tart onion soubise. A lot of delicious flavors there, but I’m not convinced they all worked together like that. Maybe I’m just too partial to the purity of straight caviar, I dunno.

The venison dish also had a lot going on, but it worked. The flavor of coffee was so unexpected and surprisingly well matched with the rare venison, and there were huckleberries to add a dimension of sweetness too. Well conceived and well executed dish, even though venison isn’t something that usually blows me away.

I’m glad I could have the shaved foie gras again too, just to be absolutely certain it was really as good as I remembered it. And damn, it certainly was. One thing I picked up on this time that I didn’t notice the last time is that the hazlenuts are not just toasted, it is actually pieces of hazlenut brittle. The added bit of sweetness definitely brings something to the game above and beyond what the lychee provides. Definitely a hall of fame dish.

The clever little dessert deserves special mention too. Although flavor-wise it wasn’t my favorite thing of all time, I gotta give props for the originality. I mean pretzel sorbet? Who thinks of that? When I think pretzels, I don’t think light and refreshing, yet there it was, a palate-cleansing sorbet that was unmistakably pretzel. Surrounding the plate were deep fried mini cheese puff like things that were delicious in and of themselves. Imagine what snack food cheese puffs would be if they were made with 99% cheese instead of puff. That’s what these were, and they were goooood.

So now that I’ve tried both lunch and dinner at Ko, I would say that lunch is a better value even though it is more expensive. The dinner courses are somewhat more substantial, i.e. heavier, but there are at least 5 or 6 fewer dishes, it takes half as long from beginning to end, and the vibe is slightly different. Don’t get me wrong; service and friendliness at dinner were still beyond awesome, but lunch just seemed like so much more of a special experience. Partly it has to be that lunch takes a full three hours, but it’s also that at the end of dinner they are actually cleaning up the kitchen as opposed to the end of lunch where there is still lots of cooking going on in preparation for dinner service. Also, we got a jar of pickled veggies to take home after lunch and didn’t get any parting gifts at dinner. In the end, I can wholeheartedly recommend both lunch and dinner, but if you can only score one Momofuku Ko reservation, make it lunch.

Like many other NYC foodies, I’ve been trying unsuccessfully to get a seat at Momofuku Ko since they opened several months ago. There are only 12 seats (everyone eats at the counter), and reservations are only available online starting at 10am a week in advance. This causes a crush of internet traffic to hit their website at 10:00:00 every day. Go ahead and try it every day from your fastest internet connection, and maybe, just maybe you will get thru to the schedule grid page while there are still some green checkmarks indicating available time slots. But try and click on one of the checkmarks and the odds are that you will be told that someone else has just grabbed that spot ahead of you. This week however, it occurred to me that Halloween falls on a Friday night and it stood to reason that all the young chow hounds who normally jack those precious seats before I can reserve them would probably be out partying till the wee hours and prefer to sleep in on Saturday. So I started reloading the Ko Reservations page over and over throughout the week hoping for a cancellation. Lo and behold, one seat did in fact open up and I snatched it right up, practically in disbelief. What a score!

So, I’d love to show you all the wonderful things I ate today, but unfortunately David Chang has prohibited the taking of pictures. This makes it impossible for me to give you details on every dish because there was such a vast array of brilliant little accoutrements on each of the plates I couldn’t possibly remember which element was on which dish unless I had pictures of them in front of me. In fact, I spent much of the afternoon just trying to recall all the dishes that I had in the order I had them. So I guess I better write them all down here before I forget anything. So here, from memory, is what I had during my 3-hour lunch:

Braised duck tongue on a grilled rice ball
Oyster on the halfshell with hackleback caviar
Kampachi
Fluke
O-toro tartare
Nantucket Scallop
Uni
Beef Carpaccio
A mini roll dubbed “The Butter Bomb”
Lobster Crusted Charwan Mushi
Escargot with Chestnut dumplings
Black bass over soup dumpling
Eggplant Tortellini
Shaved frozen foie gras over lychee and nuts with riesling gelee (their signature dish)
Quail and foie gras terrine
Lamb chop from Elysian Fields
Cheese plate
White Peach sorbet
Chocolate-Corn parfait

Pretty insane for lunch, even by my standards. The only other meal I can compare it to is the lunch I had at French Laundry. While Ko lacks French Laundry’s atmosphere of refined luxury, the creativity of the food and the quality of the ingredients were every bit as good. So many remarkable little touches left me thoroughly impressed. The oyster was from Duxbury, MA and was generously covered with caviar and accented perfectly with just a few sacs from the flesh of a lime. The raw fish dishes had things like subtle gelees, microscopically diced garnishes and one even had finely sliced miyoga, probably my favorite but relatively unknown Japanese veggie. The “lobster crust” on the charwan mushi was a super thin disc of what essentially appeared to be fish cake, but tasting of fresh sweet lobster meat instead. Completely brilliant, since it takes the classic dish and gives it a much needed textural complement. And on and on it went with subtle but brilliantly conceived details like that throughout the meal.

And you simply cannot speak of brilliance without mentioning their signature dish. A frozen torchon of foie gras grated with a microplane over bits of lychee, roasted hazelnuts and riesling gelee. The concept is mind blowing and the flavors and textures even more so. The nuts give you something to chew while the foie gras shavings and gelee melt in your mouth simultaneously enveloping your palate with richness and lightness if that makes any sense, and rounded out beautifully with the faint sweetness of the lychee. I had heard so much about this dish before I went that I half expected it to be a letdown. Let me tell you, you can believe the raves. It is definitely a contender for best dish I’ve ever had, bar none. No joke.

And while I’m doling out superlatives, I also have to mention the lamb chop. Holy crap it was so amazing. First of all, it was much larger than the little chops you see everywhere else. Flavor-wise, it was mild, meaty and delicious. And the gaminess that most people associate with lamb? In these Elysian Fields chops, that gaminess is so muted that you really have to be looking for it in order to taste it. Normally gaminess is most concentrated and unpleasant in the fat of the lamb, but not in these. In fact the fat on these chops was arguably the best part of the dish. Pan seared so that the edges of the fat were toasty-crisp, it intensified the richness and the lamb flavors. And these chops were plenty fatty so there was no problem getting a little bit of that insane fat to go with every bite of that sweet mild meat. Definitely the best lamb chop I’ve ever had and it’s not even close. I don’t even know what to compare it to, it’s that far off the charts. If anyone knows where to buy lamb chops from Elysian Fields, please let me know!

Oh, and one other nice detail came at the end of the meal. They give everyone a little jar of pickled vegetables to take home with them. Some of the veggies in there I don’t recognize at all, but you can bet I’m eager to try ‘em. It’s certainly a much more interesting parting treat than cookies or chocolates. Very cool and unique, just like the restaurant itself.

I should also mention that I had the wine pairings with all 19 of these dishes. There were a few missteps in my opinion, especially the Amontillado towards the end of the meal, but there were quite a bunch of winners too. Some of my favorites were the Joel Falmet champagne, the Nicolas Potel Volnay and the Reymos Sparkling Moscatel. But perhaps the greatest little discovery was the Kome Kome Shu sake. Lightly sweet, fruity, low in alcohol and positively refreshing with every sip. You can definitely identify it as sake when you taste it, but it kind of reminds me of the flavor profile of a Vouvray. I can see myself drinking this on a regular basis, especially during summer months.

I gotta give props for the service at Ko as well. Despite some of the things I had read prior to going, I found all the cooks to be pleasant, knowledgeable and engaging. The two young ladies who were handling the wine service and place settings were as friendly and attentive as they were attractive. And they were very attractive. The whole operation seemed to flow flawlessly at a nice, relaxed, yet efficient pace. All the cooking happens right in front of you so if there were any panic or stress, we would have seen it and felt it. The dishes came out promptly, settings and glasses were cleared away literally seconds after I was done with them, re-set for the next course minutes later, and everything was evenly spaced apart, never a delay in between. Not a single staff member ever acted rushed, and the result was that it all just felt so natural. Like yeah, it was kick ass service, but to them, it was really no big deal. That impressed me. Now all I hope is that I won’t have to wait until next Halloween before I can score another reservation!

Mario Batali and Joe Bastianich’s latest venture brings them to my neck of the woods, renovating the historic Tarry Lodge into another crown jewel in Port Chester’s renaissance. If you’re not familiar with Westchester, you might incorrectly assume that it is all hoity-toity as if everyone here hobnobs with the Clintons or something. Ok, many of the towns here are in fact like that, but one drive through Port Chester and you would see the other face of Westchester. It is a neighborhood with rundown buildings and roads in disrepair, oddly juxtaposed with signs of new mega urban development like Costco and Bed Bath and Beyond. But Port Chester is a town with flavor. It would take you weeks just to eat your way through the great ethnic restaurants up and down Main St. And now, with the reinvented Tarry Lodge, it has top notch Italian as well.

The dining rooms are really upscale cozy with warm dark olive tones offset by white in the tablecloths, crown moldings, and touches of marble. Even the choice of lighting fixtures, having a black iron look, really added to that carriage house feel I think they were trying to preserve. Very elegant while not feeling uncomfortable or stuffy. Definitely an A+ on the renovations. Now onto the food…

Their antipasti were served in awesome little mini crocks on a custom Tarry Lodge serving tray. Have a look:

Clockwise from top left we have Shrimp with Pickled Watermelon, Cauliflower Gratinate, Marinated Mussels, and Octopus with Baby Potatoes. The shrimp was sort of like a ceviche, well seasoned and quite refreshing with chunks of melon. The cauliflower was rich and creamy, not adjectives you would normally associate with cauliflower. The charred top was particularly awesome. The mussels were served with beans which added a textural interest but not much flavor. I would say the adornments were in fact a rather bland, but the mussels themselves were not just good, but actually quite spectacular. Not sure what breed of mussels they were or where they got them, but they were extraordinarily flavorful, sweet and plump. Simply fantastic. But my favorite of the apps was the octopus. The texture of the octopus itself was quite a bit firmer than any I’ve ever tried before, very meaty. It almost seemed as if the octopus had been dried slightly before cooking. The result was a terrific hearty chew and a more intense octopus flavor. The baby potatoes seemed to me an odd pairing, but the potatoes were tender and delicious in and of themselves so I can easily forgive the mismatch. if you go and have this dish, just don’t bother taking a bite of octopus with potato in the same mouthful; enjoy each bit on its own.

In addition, not pictured, I sampled the Speck (smoked prosciutto) and the salumi from Mario’s dad, Armandino Batali. The Speck was like a drier more intensely flavored prosciutto. I loved it and would probably have ordered another plate of it if there wasn’t so much more food coming already. The salumi was delicious as well, not overly salty, a beautiful red color and a very balanced texture, not too dry and not too soft.

Following the antipasti came the pizza course which turned out to be the highlight of the entire meal. It was a pizza with guanciale, black truffle and just to absurdly gild the lily, a sunny side egg. Ridiculously good. Just look:

I busted the egg open so that every slice could get some runny yolk on it, almost like dipping sauce for pizza. Every ingredient on that pizza was incredible. You’d get a whiff of the truffle first, then taste the milkyness of the cheese, the saltiness of the guanciale, the richness of the egg yolk, and then finish off with the magnificent chew of the thin crust. There was just enough charring and bubbling on the crust, and the edges of the guanciale had gone crisp in the oven which really just put everything over the top. If you wanted to nitpick to find fault, you could say that the thin crust got overly soggy in the center, but seriously, the flavor of this pizza is so out of this world you will not care. I’d say Tarry Lodge is worth the trip just for this pizza alone. I must warn you though, it is so rich and sinful that it will probably knock you out before your entrees arrive.

The first of the entrees I tried was Fluke Francese. Basically a couple of fluke fillets in a light egg batter and a caper sauce, with a bit of artichoke on the side.

It was a simple dish, well prepared, but I wouldn’t call it impressive. It was interesting how lightly battered it was, but tasting it, you can clearly make out the flavor of fried egg. Good but not outstanding.

The next entree was this rather generous portion lamb chops:

The chops themselves were nicely grilled with just the right amount of char. However the accompanying shitake mushrooms were not so fortunate. They were in fact burnt. The unusual garnish you see at the top was some sort of candied scallion. I’m not really sure what the thought was behind that, and it just seemed so off the wall that I’m not really sure if it worked or not. So basically, thumbs up for the lamb, thumbs down on the mushrooms, and a big question mark on the candied green thing.

And last but not least was the Thursday special- a veal breast, grilled and served over a kale-like green called cavolo nero:

As you can sort of see in the picture, it was actually two slices of a roulade of veal breast, stuffed with some sort of pork in the center (could have been bacon or guanciale). The veal was sublimely tender, and a thin layer of fat had been left on so that every bite would also be incredibly rich. After that dizzying pizza, I would say the veal fat made this dish almost too heavy of an encore. I of course managed to finish it anyway because it was so good. But that completely knocked me out.

The dessert offerings were rather limited so nothing jumped out at me. Just as well since I was so full I didn’t really want to be tempted into overdoing it. Overall I was impressed. Service was superb considering it was only the restaurant’s second night open to the public. There was no delay in getting our food and the waitstaff was friendly and knowledgeable. I was told they would start serving lunch in a few weeks too so I am really looking forward to that. You can bet I will be craving that guanciale black truffle sunny side egg pizza on a regular basis.

The plan for Labor Day was to head up to NH to play golf for a couple days, and then I would drive up to Montreal while the rest of my friends headed back to NY because they have jobs and whatnot (suckers!). On the way up, I stopped at Mohegan Sun with Gar. He was telling me he had a terrific meal at a lobster shack there the last time he went. Cool, I thought. When we got there, it was even cooler than I had realized. The lobster shack he was referring to was Summer Shack, Jasper White’s restaurant! Back in my Boston days, Jasper’s was hands down the best seafood restaurant in town, from the day it opened right up until White suddenly closed it in the mid-90’s. That to me was like a sports star retiring at the top of his game and depriving us fans of the opportunity to continue enjoying his work. A few years later he went on to consult for Legal Seafoods, adding some interest and flare to their previously staid menu, but it still wasn’t the same as Jasper running his own restaurant. Then, just like today’s sports stars, he came out of retirement to open Summer Shack in Cambridge, a casual family oriented seafood restaurant. I had no idea that he had gone on to open a branch in the Mohegan Sun as well! When I saw the sign, all I could think about was Jasper’s pan roasted lobster. A lobster split in half, started on the stovetop, blasted in the broiler, then finished with a cognac butter sauce made in the same pan with lots of chopped chives and chervil. It was probably his most famous dish from the old days, made even more famous by Julia Child who was known to order that same dish every time she visited Jasper’s restaurant. So I was of course delighted when that dish was in fact on the menu at Summer Shack in the Mohegan Sun. Tasting that cognac butter sauce I had my own Anton Ego moment, taking me back to my days in Beantown. And if that were not enough, as I looked across the room and into the kitchen, who do I see? Jasper White himself! Albeit a much gaunter Jasper than in the old days, but it was unmistakably the man himself. I know Uncasville isn’t that far from Boston, but still, I was really surprised to see him at that location. No wonder that lobster tasted exactly the same as in my younger days! Wow. A great start to the long weekend.

Up in NH, we had our share of good eats too. From the great coffee and breakfast sandwiches at Half Baked Fully Brewed to the incredible value of the $6 escargot apps and enormous racks of lamb at the Common Man. And for our golf bet on the second day the losing team had to prepare dinner, so we were treated to a hearty meal consisting of a beef roast, garlic mashed potatoes, pasta and veggies courtesy of Kat, Gar, Judy and Dan.

From there I made my way up to Montreal, but first getting fully interrogated at the Canadian border. This was a treatment I actually got going both ways across the border, and in retrospect, I realize that the border guards are working off of a script and for every one of their questions, I probably answered with precisely the wrong answers as far as raising suspicion is concerned-

Q: What is the purpose of your trip?
A: Sight seeing.

Q: How long will you be staying?
A: One day, maybe two.

Q: Who do you know in Montreal?
A: Nobody.

So I had to pull my vehicle over, turn over the keys to an inspection team while I went inside to answer questions from a customs agent. Wonderful. The whole ordeal took about half an hour, and I was annoyed. Even worse, those Frenchie fockers took everything out of my trunk and packed it back in with my graphite shafted golf clubs on the bottom and my golf bag and suitcase on top of them! What assholes! At least on my way back into the U.S., the American border guys handled my belongings with care.

So my Canadian adventure wasn’t off to a good start and the rest of the day wasn’t any better. I ended up checking into my hotel only to find that they had no wireless, so I had to turn on international data roaming on my iPhone to get web access. More on that later. Anyway, I used google maps to plot my way to Au Pied de Cochon, the restaurant I had been looking forward to trying. When I got there however, I was turned away because I didn’t have a reservation, and even though I was just a single, it was 6p on a Sunday night, and the restaurant was open until midnight, they still could not accommodate me. Wonderful. I ended up eating at some little bistro and had some beef tartare and a seared fish dish; decent but not memorable. Went back to my hotel disappointed, and didn’t even bother venturing back out to check out Montreal’s famous strip clubs. I just stayed in my room scoping Yelp reviews, planning what I would do the following day.

I got up early, too early to do any serious eating, so I decided to take a 3 hour bus tour from the hotel. It was cool, I got to see all the usual touristy things, got a better sense of the size of the city, and more importantly worked up a decent appetite. After the tour, I headed straight to Schwartz’s deli, a place recommended to me by my old boss, and with tremendous reviews on Yelp. As I got there, probably 1:30pm, this was the scene:

The line on the right is for takeout, the line on the left is for a seat inside. It took about half an hour for a seat at the counter to open up, but boy, it was certainly worth the wait and lived up to the hype. Here’s what I ordered, the quintessential Schwartz’s lunch:

It’s a “smoked meat sandwich, medium fatty” with a cherry soda and half sour pickles. It may look modest, but I assure you, it is as good as a sandwich gets. Better than the pastrami at Katz’ and that is saying something. Here, let’s take a closer look at this beauty:

Look at the spices, the ideal smear of mustard, look at the perfect, and I mean perfect combination of lean and fat. The seasoning is as good as it gets too, not too salty, just a little peppery and just enough of an accent to that magnificent smoked meat. If you visit Montreal, you simply have to go to Schwartz’s.

With a full belly, I wanted to take a nap, but when I got back to my hotel, the maids were just about to service my room, so I decided to head back out. Where to? Casino de Montreal. It was only about a $15 cab ride from downtown. Not the fanciest casino I’ve ever seen, but certainly nice. Several gaming floors and restaurants on the upper level. I played blackjack for a few hours, just to kill time until I got hungry again, and ended up getting lucky and winning $1000. I decided to take my winnings upstairs and find a nice place to eat. I browsed the menu at Nuances, a fancy looking restaurant which offered a 5-course tasting menu that included a foie gras course. That sounded good to me. So I walked in and asked for a table for one. The maitre d’ informs me that they do not allow shorts in the restaurant. I look down, and I am indeed dressed like a skateboarder with cargo shorts, loud sneakers and a t-shirt. He politely informs me that they do have pants for me if I would like to change. Cool. That was the first time I’d ever had to do that sort of thing, and I must say, I still looked ridiculous after I changed- black dress pants, red t-shirt with brown and yellow New Balance track shoes. Even better, my pants pockets were bulging because I had transferred all the stuff that was in my cargo shorts’ pockets including my camera, iPhone, wallet, keys, and a fat wad of cash in two currencies (I had also won a grand at Mohegan on the way up). Good thing the dining room was mostly empty because I certainly looked like a clown.

The food at Nuances was surprisingly good. First course was a couple of plump pieces of lobster in a white gazpacho. It was an elegant dish with a good balance of flavors; a great first course for sure. Next up was this beauty of a foie gras dish:

Perfectly seared foie gras with rhubarb and sauced with a duck jus. Duck jus over foie gras is just the kind of overkill I appreciate. I loved it so much that I called the waitress over to make a special request. I asked if the chef could make me another foie gras preparation after my entree but before dessert. I figured I would order my dessert wine after the entree so I could enjoy it with another slab o’ foie gras as well as my dessert. I said I’d prefer if the chef could do a different variation, but if not, the same rhubarb one would be fine.

Next up in the tasting was this black cod dish:

I loved this dish, not so much because of the cod, which was perfectly cooked, but because of the brilliant pairing with sea beans. I love sea beans and we just don’t see them nearly enough. They have that perfect natural saltiness that matches well with just about anything but especially with a fish as rich and buttery as black cod. The sauce of pepper puree was a nice touch as well. A well thought out and well executed dish on all counts.

For the entree, Nuances served something else that is rarely seen these days- saddle of lamb. Everybody does rack of lamb or lamb chops, but you just don’t seen people do the saddle very much, maybe because it’s a little harder to butcher properly. In any case, they serve it at Nuances and it is good. Very good:

The beauty of the saddle is that you get that marvelous layer of fat along with the meat, which when cooked properly like it was here, becomes slightly caramelized on the outside, is mildly gamey just under the caramelization, and gives you just the most decadent bite of meat and fat in every morsel. This dish was every bit as delicious as the foie gras dish. And as you can see by the execution of the vegetables, they take great care in every aspect of every dish. Great stuff.

Next up was the additional foie gras course I requested. And sure enough, the chef came up with a different variation, equally delicious, this time with slices of pear and jerusalem artichoke two ways (a puree and chips):

I paired it with a Moscatel from Portugal which went well, especially with the pear in the dish. And it also matched well with the killer dessert which was a vanilla parfait filled with a berry coulis and topped with fresh berries. I’m glad it wasn’t an overly rich dessert because the saddle of lamb and two foie gras courses left me wanting something a little lighter and that parfait totally hit the spot. It was an excellent tasting menu all around and the service was superb to boot (especially considering that I walked in dressed like a punk and was seated dressed like a clown).

So that was my extended Labor Day weekend. I returned to NY the following day only to find my iphone data service was no longer working. I called AT&T customer service to find out what was wrong and was told that I had excessive international data roaming usage. How much? TWO THOUSAND DOLLARS WORTH!!! Hahahaha, oh man. I can laugh about it now only because they were able to add an international plan to my account to avoid that absurd charge, but I assure you it was not the least bit funny at the time. Note to self- when traveling to Canada, think of better answers to border guards’ questions and do not turn on international data roaming under any circumstances!

Buckle up, because this is probably the longest and most food-porn laden entry I’ve ever written. I haven’t had a chance to write anything here for almost a month because life has been quite the whirlwind since my birthday, mainly because that was also the day that I was given two weeks notice that I would be getting laid off. It was a bit of a frenzied scramble trying to wind things down for a proper handoff so things wouldn’t collapse after I’m gone. Then, after my last day, I was on a 7:40am plane the very next morning to Oakland for my cousin’s wedding. I still want to recap my birthday dinner at Dinosaur BBQ, but let’s just say I loved it so much I think I will be making a return visit very soon and will write about it after that. So for now let’s talk about my trip to Cali instead…

My flight landed 15 minutes early in Oakland and my cousin Tony picked me up at the airport. First stop? To buy a bunch of Vietnamese sandwiches to bring back for the family for lunch at cousins Charlie and Nancy’s place where I would be crashing. We got a few different varieties of the sandwiches, but the best was the BBQ pork which had the perfect balance of sweetness, heat from green chile pepper, and freshness from cilantro. It was the first of a lot of good eating I was about to do over the next few days.

My cousin Wilson’s wedding was held at Half Moon Bay, atop a hill overlooking what I believe was the 18th fairway of the golf course. Because of our elevation, you couldn’t see the fairway below, making the bay itself the backdrop beyond the altar. It was a beautiful setting and a wonderful wedding presided over by their multi-talented friend Alex who played the role of minister, MC, musical talent and I don’t know what else. I wonder if he does balloon animals too.

The dinner and reception was a bit of a blur as somehow I ended up doing some incredibly heavy drinking with my uncle (father of the groom). He told me how happy he was that I made it for the wedding and how he’s always felt a debt of gratitude for help that my mom had provided long ago. He then proceeded to try repaying all of that debt in liquid currency! After multiple lowball-sized glasses of cognac (XO I think) I had to switch to Guinness just to slow him down a bit. Now I see where my cousin Lily gets her hard core drinking tendencies from. Holy cow! Somehow I made it through the night, including an after-party run to Red Mango for frozen yogurt which I barely remember. Pretty good for the first day of my trip!

The next morning, we had the perfect hangover food lined up- lunch at Santa Ramen in San Mateo. And line up we did, because this place was just as popular as Ippudo Ramen is here in NY. Fortunately the line moved pretty quickly and we were seated before too long. The comparison with Ippudo is particularly apropos since Santa serves the same Hakata style of ramen featuring the thick almost milky style tonkotsu pork bone broth. So how do they stack up against each other? Well, let’s have a look:

As you can see, I ordered my Santa ramen with fried garlic, a boiled egg, and stewed pork. Ippudo doesn’t offer fried garlic, so Santa gets an edge there. But their boiled egg was overcooked and had that green sulfur layer around the yolk; big minus. The noodles lacked life, seemingly a bit mushy after the initial bite so Ippudo gets the nod there. Santa’s broth was quite good but nowhere near as rich, porky and unctuous as Ippudo’s. Ah, but the pork itself. Oh my god, it was so good it was not even the same sport as Ippudo’s. It was Kurobuta pork that had been given a long braise that added a dimension of sweetness which completely permeated every bit of meat and fat without obscuring the natural pork flavor. Really superb. Overall, Ippudo makes a better bowl of ramen hands down. But man, I wish we could get some of that Santa pork out here.

After lunch, we were off to the Ferry Building with two things in mind- caviar and oysters. Mat, Beth and I decided to do the caviar first, so we nestled up to the counter at Tsar Nicoulai and indulged ourselves with this:

The Select California Estate Osetra on the left was easily my favorite. The eggs had a slightly greenish-grey color to them and a deeply satisfying oceany creaminess on the palate. Really intense and interesting flavor from beginning to end. The California Estate Osetra in the middle was jet black in color and had a simpler flavor profile, more straightforward salt and minerality. The Paddlefish Sturgeon caviar on the right was the least interesting, with more of a nutty flavor and not much else other than the saltiness. We followed that up with a sampler that included some varieties infused with things that were just so weird they seemed wrong, like vanilla, saffron, and olive oil. Next time I think I will just order another tasting of the plain Select osetra instead. Man, that could become a very expensive addiction.

Next, we hit Hog Island oysters. We were seated outside and ordered a huge raw oyster sampler plus an additional dozen of their Kumamotos which I love so much. But it turned out that the gems were the Pacific Sweetwater variety in the sampler. So sweet with a clean, oceany brininess. Fantastic. Oh, and the view from our table wasn’t too bad either:

After that we headed back, but of course not without another stop for food. Nancy took us to an Indian (dot not feathers) grocery where they cook a small selection of food items in the back. One of the things we tried was this delicious pani puri, basically a little puff of dough filled with a chickpea soup. What a terrific little mouthful of goodness.

From there it was back to the cousins’ place for a family dinner. Earlier in the day Tony asked me if I’d do some cooking for them, so I hit up the Japanese market right across from Santa Ramen and picked up some asparagus and ingredients to do my version of the dressing that Sam uses on the asparagus salad at Hajime. In addition, I decided to make beer can chicken since Charlie was firing up the grill that night. Stoopid me, I prepped the chickens, got them on the grill, turned it to medium low and went inside to do the asparagus, having total faith that I could get the asparagus prepped in time to check on the chicken. Boy was I wrong! Normally beer can chicken would take about an hour to an hour and a half to cook, but apparently Charlie’s grill packs some inferno-like power. The two poor chickens were comically torched and I was ready to write them off. My brother was more optimistic though and managed to save the birds by slavishly removing the firebombed skin and it turns out that the meat itself was perfectly cooked and even the white meat was fantastically juicy. So for future reference, you can cook beer can chicken in 20 minutes if you’re willing to spend 30 minutes scraping off the crispy carbon shell! Fortunately the asparagus came off without a hitch and in the end both dishes were well received and I was happy to have been able to cook for my west coast family and friends. Nancy’s endless pitchers of mojitos made me pretty happy too.

The next day six of us headed off to Napa but got a late start so we were only able to hit 3 wineries- Rubicon, V. Sattui and Corison. As you know, Rubicon and Corison are two of my faves, and we just hit V. Sattui because they have a nice area with picnic tables where we could sit and snack a bit. The V. Sattui wines were way too light and watery in style for my taste, but my bro and cousins seemed to like it, so it was worth the stop. I was able to take advantage of my membership at Rubicon to get us a tasting in the member’s salon. The 2004 Rubicon was tasting particularly well and Nancy managed to score us an extra tasting of it by asking in such a way that the poor Rubicon lady could not comfortably say no! We did buy a bottle to go though, because we had a special dinner on tap for later that afternoon…

At 5p, we found ourselves in the dining room of Thomas Keller’s Ad Hoc in Yountville. The concept at Ad Hoc is that each night there is a different menu featuring whatever they feel is the best dishes they can produce with that day’s ingredients. The customers have no choices to make and so everyone is completely in the hands of the chefs. I like that concept. In addition the food is served family style which adds to the restaurant’s air of relaxed, casual refinement.

The first course was a salad of romaine with stone fruits (plums and nectarines I think), sliced cucumbers, candied spiced pecans and a spearmint yogurt dressing:

Every item on that plate was so fresh, crisp and seemingly perfect. The fruit was not just one dimensionally sweet, but had incredibly bright nuances. It’s hard to describe, but those plums tasted preternaturally plummy if you get what I mean. And that yogurt dressing was sprightly but not overly tart so it was perfectly balanced with everything else. And I must say, after tasting it, it seems that spearmint and yogurt are such a great pairing I’m surprised we don’t see it more often.

The entree for the night was Mishima beef with fingerling potatoes, eggplant and squash. And just to gild the lily, the beef was topped with a pat of chive butter. As you can see the beef was perfectly cooked, and oh, did I mention the potatoes were cooked in duck fat?! All I can say is wow.

Next up was a cheese course. But basking in the afterglow of that Mishima beef dish, I admit I kind of tuned out exactly what kind of cheese it was, but it was an elegant and simple presentation with Gala apple slices and wildflower honey:

And finally for dessert, a chocolate brownie cake. I’m not usually big on chocolate desserts after big fancy meals, but man, this brownie was awesome. I mean soft, moist, rich chocolate flavor yet somehow not overly sweet or cloying, even with the vanilla ice cream and caramel sauce over the top. I finished the whole thing which I rarely, if ever, do with a chocolate dessert. This baby was just that good.

For most people, that would just about round out the day’s eating. Not for me of course. We headed back into San Fran to go for… sushi! Actually we were just after the live uni at Sushi Groove, but we ended up ordering a few other things too like the mussel shooters. The shooters were just ok, with minced mussel meat and the highlight being a quail egg. Pretty good, but not spectacular:

But we were there for the uni and it did not disappoint. Sure it’s main appeal was purely presentational, but it was sweet Pacific uni and it was as fresh as can be, so really how can you go wrong with this bad boy:

The next day was my last day in CA for this trip, and there was of course more amazing eating in store. Cousin Tony was the only one who didn’t have to work that day, so it was just the two of us for the afternoon. We began with lunch at Chez Panisse Cafe. Not the same menu as the famous main restaurant downstairs but still the same great ingredients and “California Cuisine” style that Alice Waters created. It was everything I’ve read about and more.

The first app was a salad of smoked black cod, cucumbers, dill and a shallot vinaigrette. The fish, while smoked was still quite fresh tasting and seemed much lighter than what you’d expect from black cod. And as this is California Cuisine after all, lightness is a theme that ran throughout the meal. The light vinaigrette was nicely restrained, giving just enough zing to contrast the fish and to make those delicious little cucumber slices sing.

The next app was an heirloom tomato and avocado toast with wild watercress, not pictured because that photo came out blurry. Nevertheless, it was a simple dish that really worked. The tomatoes were awesome but it was the choice of watercress for spiciness really brought things together.

We followed that up with a mini pizza of zucchini, squash blossoms and basil. Super thin crust, super fresh veggies, and really intense basil made this a great pie. We killed this beauty off pretty quickly:

Up next was roasted Monterey Bay squid with a salad of frisee, little gypsy peppers, roasted potatoes and an aioli. The squid was terrific because of the charring and the frisee, like all the raw veggies at Chez Panisse, was off the hook. But the gypsy peppers weren’t particularly interesting in flavor, the potatoes completely lackluster simply because we’d had Ad Hoc’s fingerlings the day before, and the aioli seemed unnecessary if not a little out of place.

And for our final entree we had the fried chicken. Let me tell you, this was a damn brilliant way to make fried chicken. According to the menu it was buttermilk fried, but what they don’t tell you is the most important part- it’s boneless! They actually boned out a chicken leg/thigh, and battered and fried it. The super crispy coating was well seasoned and since it’s dark meat inside, it was moist throughout. Who knew that Chez Panisse of all places would be doing fried chicken and that it would be sinfully delicious to boot? Here’s a picture of that glorious chicken:

We closed out the meal with a couple of simple fruit desserts, just some Meyer lemon sherbet and a bowl of mulberries and figs. It was a great meal, and being light Cali style food, I was just pleasantly sated, not stuffed. But you know me, I couldn’t leave well enough alone. As we left the restaurant, what do we see across the street? The pizza joint that Nancy recommended, The Cheeseboard. Ok, one slice won’t kill me, right? Haha, except when the pesto slice I ordered comes with a bonus free extra mini slice!

Cheeseboard makes a very tasty pizza, but it is thicker and breadier than I prefer. The flavor of the crust is pretty awesome though, and I can’t deny that having that substantive chew can be a good thing, it’s just not my favorite. The pesto flavor was pleasant but not particularly bold. But what does earn the slice high marks is the cheese. It had a fresh, salty, milky flavor, possibly the most notably delicious cheese I’ve ever tasted on a slice of pizza. Good stuff, but that cheese was so rich it put me over the top and suddenly I went from feeling ok to feeling totally stuffed. No more food until dinner…

To pass the rest of the afternoon, Tony took me to a couple of, um, interesting places in San Jose for coffee, Vietnamese coffee to be precise. And what made them interesting is that they were essentially bars without alcohol, and the servers were scantily clad women. The first place had a cool upscale vibe and the girls were just dressed kind of import-model slutty. But the second place was a total hole in the wall and the girls were dressed in straight ho-ish lingerie, the kind worn by strippers as they take the champagne stage. I didn’t quite get what the protocol was supposed to be at these places- are you supposed to chat it up with the girls, are you not supposed to look at them, or considering the way they’re dressed, will they be offended if you are not ogling them? The vibe, especially at the second place, is such that you don’t want to do something wrong for fear of a VC gangster popping out of the back with a machete to take care of you. I dunno. I will say that the coffee and the orange juice was excellent at both of these places.

And last but not least, it was finally time for my last meal of this trip, at a place call Sushi Sam’s in San Mateo. Lily had raved about the omakase so we had to check it out. We ordered a few things to start as we were waiting for everyone to arrive and then had a 9 course omakase. On the outset, I didn’t have high hopes for this place as the employees were talking in Cantonese and the spicy tuna roll that Lily ordered wasn’t very good. But it turns out that the quality and variety of the fish they have, which was really showcased in the omakase, was excellent. Probably my two favorite items of the meal were a nigiri sushi of wild halibut and a nigiri of blue shrimp which was seasoned with sea salt and lime juice. That sensible finesse of accent flavors on the blue shrimp in particular won me over completely. I had never had it that way before and it really was superb. Overall, Sushi Sam’s is not in the same league as Hiura or Sushi of Gari, but is still pretty damn good. Cousin Charlie picked up the whole giant check and wouldn’t let any of us pay. It was one of many super generous things my awesome west coast family did for us during this trip and to all of them I am grateful. I had a truly excellent time and look forward to seeing them again soon. What a great trip!