My sister Katherine spent her spring break with us and very graceously babysat Mika most nights she was here. This and the fact that I didn’t felt like cooking all week, meant that I ended up going out for most meals. I talked about the early part of the week, but there is more.
Thursday, Kahty, Mika and I went to lunch at Fontina in Pleasanton. We all enjoyed the sidewalk dining, the wheater once again was beautiful. Michaela behaved wonderfully. Alas, we found the food overpriced and not very good. I’m still hoping to find one good restaurant in downtown Pleasanton with outdoor dining where I can return again and again.
Thursday night is Survivor night so we didn’t go out (poor Lex got bamboozled!) and instead got Panda Express take out. I’m not very fond of chains as a matter of principle, but Panda Express actually produces some fairly descent Chinese(American) food. The mandarin chicken is particularly tasty.
Friday we all had lunch at Emil Villa’s, a local coffeeshop which seems to be operating under new owners. The food was quite decent (it usually is) and I found their grilled cheese sandwich particularly tasty (though also a bit overpriced).
For dinner we went to Benihana the chain “Japanese steakhouse” and a favorite of Kathy’s. The food was fine and the “show” kept Mika’s attention for a bit. Most importantly, Kathy had a good time.
Saturday we skipped lunch and Mike and I went to dinner at CreAsian, a local upscale fusion restaurant. The little restaurant is interesting but needs some more variety in its menu (it doesn’t seem to have change since our last visit there over a year ago). Still, we had a good, if too-quick meal.
Today we took Kathy to brunch before her flight back home. We went to JD Restaurant in Castro Valley. Big portions, OK food, Kahty was happy again.
Finally, for the grand finale, our friends Regina and Boris took us to dinner at Pomegranate, a Mediterranean restaurant in Berkeley. It was one of the most affordable places we dined at this week and probably my favorite. The food was simple, hearty and very tasty; the atmosphere managed to be elegant/casual and comfortable at the same time and people didn’t even seem to mind Mika going beserk (she was in too good a mood, sometimes a crying child is easier to control than a too-happy-child).
This week I’m planning to eat in, eat in and eat in. And cleaning up the pantry is not out of the question.
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We spent part of today, our 11th anniversary, winetasting in Livermore – our closest winemaking region. The wines were generally pretty good, though not remarkable, and the wineries cute and modern. In all we had a great time. We made it to four wineries, apparently all I can take before getting too tipsy.
Concannon Vineyards, our first stop, seems to specialize in Syrah. Here we learned what a difference a few years aging can make. The 2000 Syrah was completely undrinkable for me – it was too tannic and acidic. The 1995, on the other hand, was quite pleasant. We found the other wines to be OK but unremarkable. I probably liked the Cab most of all, but it tasted just like your run of the mill $10 Cab (though it was probably more expensive than that). On the plus side, this winery has a very nice tasting room.
Stony Ridge Winery, our second stop, features not only their wines but those of Crooked Vine Winery, owned by the same people. Here we met some new wines for us like the orobianco (nicely drinkable) and the nebbiolo (id). But the Malvasia Bianca, a not-too-sweet dessert wine, was by far our favorite. If we only ever drank the dessert wines we bought, we’d have bought a bottle.
Our third stop was Steven Kent which was featuring Tamas Estates wines. All the wines here were nicely priced, completely drinkable but not too interesting. In a way, these are the perfect wines to serve at a party. They are sure to not offed anyone, beginners won’t find them too challenging and wine lovers won’t find them too cheap.
Finally, we went to Murrieta’s Well, a very cute “boutique” winery owned by Wente. Murrieta is trying very hard to be different by offering unique blends and not-very-common grapes. It has a Chilean winemaker that comes a few times a year to select the grapes and do the blending. You have to pay $5 to taste six wines here, and is probably worth it as they were by far the best wines we tasted in Livermore. Of the two white I liked the “Los tesoros de Joaquín” Chardonnay & Semillon blend the best. It was a smooth yet bodied wine that I could imagine would be perfect for sipping before a hearty meal or drinking with bread and cheese. Of the reds, I liked the Tempranillo quite a bit as well, specially for the price. It was smoother than a cab but probably as satisfying. I also really liked the Sarzuela, a mixture of tempranillo with other grapes, though probably not enough to justify the difference in prices. Murrieta’s pride and joy, the Red Vendimia, surprisingly didn’t do much for me, even though it’s a blend of cab and other varietals that I like.
With my sister in town babysitting Mika, Mike and I had been doing a fair amount of eating out (and expect to do some more). Our last three meals have been at restaurants and in all they’ve been satisfying.
Tuesday night we had dinner at A Cote, a “small plates” restaurant in Rockridge We weren’t as impressed by the food as we were in our first visit, but we had a good enjoyable meal.
For lunch Wednesday we went to Boci in Pleasanton. We enjoyed the sidewalk dining and the linguini carbonara, though the ravioli bolognese was a dissapointment.
Finally, for dinner tonight we went to Jojo on Piedmont Ave. We had a very nice meal in this unassuming French restaurant.
As usual, full reviews of the restaurants will be available at http://www.marga.org/food/rest/
I just posted the recipes I prepared for Mika’s party. Eveyrything was well received. Recipes include a green salad, a potato salad, tofu and chicken satay, and anticuchos, Peruvian beef kebabs. All available at http://www.marga.org/food/party/mika2/
My website and this blog have changed url’s! From now on, you’ll be able to find this blog at http://www.marga.org/food/blog/ and all my food pages at http://www.marga.org/food/ The old url’s will be automatically redirected.
Casa Sanchez guacamole is the best commercial guacamole I’ve tasted so far. It’s available at Albertsons and Beverages & More for about $6-7 for a 12-oz tub. It’s expensive, but it’s fresh, it contains no preservatives, oils or fillers. The next best thing to home made.
Casa Sanchez guacamole is the best commercial guacamole I’ve tasted so far. It’s available at Albertsons and Beverages & More for about $6-7 for a 12-oz tub. It’s expensive, but it’s fresh, it contains no preservatives, oils or fillers. The next best thing to home made.
Sunday afternoon we took my father wine tasting in the Russian River region. We’d previously taken him to Napa and Sonoma and wanted to go somewhere new. We started late so we only hit four wineries, but it was a very pleasant (if long) trip. The region is very pretty, the wineries are much less busy than those in Napa or Sonoma and they are more generous with their wines, I think you could taste an average of 7-8 wines at each winery we went to. Hint for next time: eat before we go.
We only hit four wineries:
Martinelli Winery was our first stop and it had by far the best wines we’d ever tasted at a winery. They were also the most expensive at $35-50 a bottle. The artisanal wines are hand-made (that is to say, without the use of heavy machinery) and they were all very smooth and non-tanic and yet quite complex. These are the types of wines you can sip for hours and still enjoy every minute of it. We were particularly fond of the Sauvignon Blanc (and we’re not white wine drinkers), though my dad’s favorite was the Giuseppe & Luisa Zinfandel. We’ll have to go and get a bottle sometime to gift him.
Sunc
Tango Gelato is, as far as we know, the only creamery serving Argentine ice cream in the Bay Area (and possibly in California). If you’ve never had Argentine ice cream you are in for a treat. It’s surprisingly light and dense at the same time (it’s lower in fat than American ice cream but has no air mixed in), and extremely creamy. The dulce de leche ice cream is almost as good as what you can get in Argentina.
If you love sorbet, then you are in for a treat! Argentine sorbets, made with real fruit, are extremely flavorful.
On the minus side, it seems that Tango Gelato has started to cater to American tastes with some definitely American flavors (like green tea). And going to Tango Gelato requires a trip over the bridge (and looking for parking!), as Tango Gelato moved from its previous location in Fruitvale to San Francisco. It’s currently located at 2015 Fillmore Street, between Pine and California streets.
http://tangogelato.homestead.com/
Last night I went to dinner to Matterhorn in San Francisco with Mike, Mika, my parents and two sisters. Matterhorn is a Swiss German restaurant which specializes in fondue.
We had a great time. The fondue was very yummy (though not alcoholic enough for my parents’ taste), the service great and the whole experience very positive.
A full review will be available shortly in my restaurant review page http://www.lacabe.com/marga/food/rest/
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