The Slanted Door and more in San Francisco!

The Slanted Door and more in San Francisco!

When I arrived in San Francisco, I headed to the Sir Frances Drake Hotel at Union Square. It’s a wonderful old hotel and is located in the heart of S.F. I quickly checked in and took a cab to the Ferry Market Building at the Embarcadero. I was hoping to get there in time for the Farmer’s Market held there on Saturdays. But I was too late. When I travel to various places, I love to go to the local markets to see what fresh produce and products are offered. It’s part of my interest in slow food movement and… fresh is always best!

As I walked through the doors of the Ferry Market Building, I spotted a wine shop, the Ferry Plaza Wine Merchant, and lots of folks drinking wine. Bingo! After a 4-hour flight from Houston to S.F., I was definitely ready for a glass of wine!

The place was very crowed and tables were hard to come by. I happen to see a couple leaving and grabbed the available table.

Another couple was searching for a table as well. I told them that I was solo and if they cared to sit down at my table and have their wine, they were more than welcomed. They took me up on the offer, and I ended up making a couple of new friends. Now, I never meet a stranger anyway, but my sweet Southern accent seems to draw people to me. John and Claudia were from Carmel and were in S.F. for the Fancy Food Show as well. They love wine, cooking, and were foodies too, so naturally we had a lot to talk about. Three glasses of wine later, we exchanged contact information and agreed to stay in touch.

After leaving the wine shop, I strolled through the building to the Cowgirl Creamery. I was in heaven and the cheese munger gave me several tastings of a variety of cheese. Needless to say, I bought several different cheeses to bring back to Texas with me. I just couldn’t resist! Thank goodness for refrigerators in the hotel room! Some of the cheeses that I bought were Humboldt Fog goat cheese, Sottocenere and Comte.

Next, I went to the Slanted Door restaurant that is also located at the Ferry Market Building. I was able to find a chair at the bar and ordered a couple of appetizers and, of course, more wine. This is a hip, very busy restaurant that had fantastic Vietnamese food. I perused the menu and ordered an appetizer roll – crispy imperial rolls with shrimp, pork, glass noodles and peanuts as well as the seared dayboat scallops with spicy red curry, celery root and asian pear slaw. The wine I ordered was a French wine – L’ANCIEN Beaujolais – 2008 – Jean Paul Brun. I really wasn’t trying to pair the wine to what I ordered, but the French red went with the dishes very well.

The crispy rolls weren’t your typical rolls. The dish came out with lettuce leaves, the crispy rolls, a side of glass noodles toped with peanuts, and sprigs of mint. It also had a wonderful spicy sauce to dip the rolls in before wrapping in the lettuce leaves and topping with the noodles. But what gave it a unique, wonderful taste were the mint leaves. I met a couple from Berkley sitting next to me at the bar who also had this appetizer, and we all agreed that the mint “made” the lettuce wrap. Again, I never meet a stranger and they enjoyed my sweet Southern accent!

The next appetizer was the seared boat scallops. They were cooked perfectly and the spicy red curry sauce gave it a distinct flavor. The Asian pear slaw helped to balance the spicy flavors. It’s a fabulous restaurant worth visiting.

If you are a foodie, then you must go to the Ferry Market Building during your visit to San Francisco!

Crispy Imperial Roll

Seared Dayboat Scallops

L’ANCIEN Beaujolais – 2008 – Jean Paul Brun.

Gary Danko Restaurant – San Francisco – OMG it was impeccable!

Seared Foie Gras

Pan Seared Tuna

Roasted Pork Belly & Loin

Seared Filet of Beef

Baked Chocolate SoufflÈ

Gary Danko Restaurant – OMG it was impeccable!

One of the most incredible food experiences I had while visiting San Francisco, was a chef tasting with one of the best chefs in the country…Gary Danko. OMG – the service and the food were absolutely impeccable!

The award-winning restaurant GARY DANKO has received its sixth Five Star rating from Mobil as well as a Relais & Chateau designation, and reviews continue to describe its delights.

At this point, most chefs would relax and count their blessings, but not the unstinting Danko. 

”We may be three thousand miles and twelve blocks off Broadway, but what we do here is definitely theatre,” explains Danko. “We work hard to ensure that each evening’s ‘performance’ is seamless and magical.”

The well-trained staff was so attentive and made you feel like the most important person in the restaurant. Their elegant suits complement the restaurant’s décor, a mélange of relaxed California modern and Upper East Side chic. This mix is also reflected in the restaurant’s style of service, a graceful blend of polished professionalism and straightforward friendliness.

Danko has created an enveloping, intimate space. The two adjoining rooms are elegant without being stiff, and the banquette seating provides both luxury and comfort. Taupe-toned walls are the perfect backdrops for museum-quality modern paintings from artists Hunt Slonem, Erin Parish, and Angelina Nasso.

Some of Danko’s signature dishes of roast lobster, foie gras, and lamb loin are served year round, and accompaniments reflect the changes in season. The prix-fixe menu offers three, four, or five-course meals, and wines can also be paired with each course for a set price. Yes, I could not resist, and I did the five-course menu.

The restaurant’s wine cellar holds over 1,500 wines and includes an exceptional selection of grand vintages as well as coveted wines from small producers. I had a wonderful wine pairing and experienced some wines I probably would never experience otherwise. It really expanded my wine pallet.

The GARY DANKO experience now reaches beyond the confines of San Francisco. Danko recently acquired property in the Napa Valley town of Yountville. This property will be developed as a small farm to grow produce and herbs for the restaurant. “We’re constantly burnishing and upgrading here. This will ensure us greater control over the ingredients we use,” allows Danko. “We’re organic in the true sense of the word,” he laughs. “This restaurant is a living, growing thing.”

So here are the five courses that gave me the most decadent dining experience. You know the expression you have when the food was exquisite and it leaves you speechless…that was me the entire

Course 1 – Seared Sonoma Foie Gras with Caramelized Red Onions, Roasted Grapes and Apples. This was paired with Tokaji Aszu 5 Puttonyos Chateau Pajzos 1999 – Hungary

Course 2 – Pan Seared Tuna with Couscous, Chermoula, Fennel, Olives and Saffron-Orange Emulsion. This was paired with Viognier Cold Heaven Le Bon Climat, 2007 – Santa Barbara, CA

Course 3 – Roasted Pork Belly and Loin with Brussels Sprouts, Bacon, Parsnip PurÈe and Maple Cider Glaze. This was paired with Pinot Noir August West Rosella”s Vineyard, 2007 – Santa Lucia Highlands, CA

Course 4 – Seared Filet of Beef with Spaetzle, Butternut Squash, Crimini Mushrooms, Bone Marrow Butter and Shallot Marmalade. This was paired with a Barolo Massoleno Serralunga D’Alba, 2004 – Piedmont, Italy.

Course 5 – Baked Chocolate SoufflÈ with Two Sauces. This was paired with Banyuls Chapoutier Ven Doux Naturel, 2007 – Langutrdoc-Roussellon, France.

San Francisco Fancy Food Show – Fancy That!

San Francisco Fancy Food Show – Fancy That!

My friend Jeff Davis, founder of Food Fete, knew that I am a big foodie, and thought I might be interested in attending this show. Plus, I was looking for a reason to go to San Francisco. This was my first experience of the Fancy Food Show, and I was very excited to see what the show was all about. I had been told how large this event was, but when we walked into the event, I was overwhelmed with the thousands of specialty food products.

The National Association for the Specialty Food Trade holds 3 Fancy Food Shows per year, one in winter, one in spring, and the largest one in summer in NYC.

I didn’t realize this until I started researching the event, but not everyone can attend the Fancy Food Show. It’s an industry trade event, which means you need to work in the Food Industry to attend. Luckily for me, I received a pass as a food consultant with Food Fete.

The cost to register is usually around $35, and the price of admission is well worth it. What your get for your money is access to thousands of gourmet food items to sample, hundreds of vendors to interact with, over a dozen countries promoting their food products, and the opportunity to schmooze and network with industry peers. There are even cooking contests and seminars on how to better position/brand food items or businesses.

So basically you get to sample your way through almost every type of cheese, meats, seafood, desserts, chocolates, dips, chips etc. almost everything you could imagine. It’s like attending the largest food festival you’ve ever seen. I even spotted some vendors from my former hometown of Austin, TX. Stubbs had a huge booth with a walk-in trailer pushing their sauces and other barbeque goods. Also there, from my home state of Mississippi, was the Mississippi Cheese Straw Factory. I think they have the best cheese straws and it’s what I remember having when I grew up in Mississippi.

Please note that if you are not part of the Food Industry and manage to attend the event, to be mindful that many of the vendors are small mom and pop operations trying to network and get their food distributed. They pay thousands of dollars to participate and you want to make sure that they have the chance to talk to retailers.

There is so much food to sample that 1 day is just not enough to cover everything. And unfortunately I only had one day to attend the event.

Personally, I just zeroed in on the seafood, meats, cheeses olives, and of course chocolates. Even though I tried to pace my sampling carefully, it was still taste bud overload. Fancy Food veterans recommend not eating too much before attending the show, and after experiencing my first show, I can see why. I have lost 35 pounds in the past four months…yes even through the holidays, so I was really trying to pace myself. But I did not deny myself while at this event or at San Francisco restaurants.

There was also an international section at the show that consisted of vendors from Chile, Canada, France, Italy, Spain, and various other countries. When you went to booths in these “countries,” there was a noticeable difference in the lack of interaction with attendees. I guess Americans tend to “sell” more when presenting their goods. I did taste some fabulous Parmesan cheese in the Italy section that was topped with balsamic vinegar infused with truffles. Delicious!

One of the best and most unique “samples” was from Lucini, an Italian company, who had a dish that was a chic pea mixture that you cook in a cast iron skillet. Its draw to me was that it was high in protein and not high in calories. I guess it also drew my attention because I knew how many calories I was taking in with all the other samples. You top this with their wonderful marinara sauce. The vendor said this dish was popular years ago when sailors would come into port and looked from something cheap, but full of protein. They have not yet started distributing this, so I look forward to seeing this in the market soon.

There was also a large section of cheese suppliers, and I was like a kid in a candy store! There were cheese makers from California to Oregon, to Vermont, and all over. I strolled through and sampled every cheese you could imagine. One was even flavored with lavender. Samples of foie gras, prosciutto, were available on a limited basis at some booths.

I was advised to skip breakfast and lunch to walk this show. I spent over three hours to walk the entire show. They were right… I didn’t need breakfast or lunch. For press folks and retailers, it really takes some effort to seek out what is new and different because after going by booth after booth, everything starts to look the same. But, I had a great time tasting my way through the event.

4-course Chef tasting at Terra, a restaurant at Encantado Resort in Santa Fe, N.M

4-course Chef tasting at Terra, a restaurant at Encantado Resort in Santa Fe, N.M

During one of my recent visits to Santa Fe, I went to Terra Restaurant for a tasting experience by Chef Charles Dale. I visit Santa Fe often and love to see what creations chefs come up with and present. By the way, did you know that Santa Fe has more restaurants per capita than anywhere in the country? And many of the restaurants have renowned chefs who will give you a wonderful culinary experience.

Encantado Resort is located about 7 miles north of Santa Fe and is a 5-star hotel. As you walked up onto the porch to Terra, there’s a huge fireplace that’s very inviting to warm by, and it’s set with a view of the Sangre de Cristo Mountains, in the background with gave the restaurant additional ambiance.

First Course:

I had the Cesar Salad paired with a Franciscan Chardonnay. Now this might seem very ordinary, but the salad had a true Cesar dressing over crispy romaine lettuce with shaved Spanish Manchego cheese and masa croutons. The croutons were what made the salad wonderful. Usually the croutons are an after thought, but these have a great taste. The chef makes the masa mixture and fries it to get a crunchy texture. It gave a whole new twist to croutons.

My dining companion had the leafy greens salad with a confit of roasted tomatoes, caramelized shallots with Sherry vinaigrette. It was fresh, light, and the tomatoes and shallots gave it additional flavor.

Second Course:

My second course choice was Autumn Ravioli with roasted veal and spinach stuffing, exotic mushroom ragoût The pasta was perfectly cook and the veal and spinach stuffing with that mushroom ragoût was melt-in-your-mouth good.

Lobster risotto was the second choice course for my dining companion. It was creamy with a rich flavor and a lobster tail on top. Both of these courses were paired with Row 11 Pinot Noir. I fell in love with this wine. It’s a fruit bomb, fruit forward, in your face Pinot Noir like I’ve never had before. A bottle of this Napa wine retails at around $35 and it worth every penny.

Third Course:

For the third course, I selected the beef short ribs, which is always a favorite dish for me. This was outstanding! The short rib was slow cooked and fell off the bone. It was served with some of the au jus and the meat was so tender that it flaked apart.

The third course for my dining companion was lamb. Always a good choice and she loves it as much as I do. This dish was called Duo of Lamb which was a roasted rack with a guajillo chili jus, lamb shank tamale and tomato-tomatillo salsa. It was delicious as well. Both of these dishes were paired with Strattalumic Cabernet Sauvignon.

Fourth Course:

We were both so full and relaxed, and we had to muster the strength for the dessert course. I had a warm apple tart with homemade vanilla ice cream on the side and my companion got her artisanal cheese plate to go. Both of these were paired with a Jospheh Phelps Dessert wine.

The tasting menu was a great deal for the money. It was four courses for $44. Of course the wine pairings were an additional cost, but well worth it. Paul Montoya the sommelier paired the wines beautifully and made it a delightful evening. Excellent service

8-Course Chef Tasting at VOICE

8-Course Chef Tasting at VOICE Restaurant in Houston, TX

Hotel Icon’s fine dining restaurant, VOICE, serves contemporary American cuisine in a glamorous setting in downtown Houston, Texas. With a swanky wine bar and contemporary menu, VOICE offers some of the best fine dining in Houston.

When I first walked into the restaurant, I was amazed at the décor. Voice is located in the grand space that is a cavernous, two-story-high former bank lobby with enormous faux-marble pillars and vaulted ceilings, gold and ornate features with gilded decorations and huge, round chandeliers. Fabric panels separate sections of the dining room, and an octagonal bar occupies the center. It is majestic space that makes you feel like an important, rich oil tycoon. Ok, so it was fun to pretend the rich oil tycoon part!

The 8-course tasting by Chef Michael Kramer provided the most exquisite, most memorable dining experience that I’ve had thus far. It was definitely worth the splurge!

My dining companion and I were impressed by the attention to detail with each taste that was perfectly paired with each wine. The out-of-the-box food presentation was impeccable. We had no idea what the chef would present with each taste and the surprise factor excited us even more. The tasting menu was Chef’s Choice and we eagerly anticipated each course.

Ok, let’s get started with describing this succulent tasting which was supposed to be 7 courses and turned into 8 courses including the dessert course.

After we were seated at our table, we were served some lovely homemade bread selections with butter, a roasted garlic puree and an olive tapenade.

First Course – Mushroom Soup “Cappuccino” paired with Rotari Brut Prosecco. This soup was the richest, most intense mushroom soup I’ve ever tasted. It was presented in a cappuccino cup with a truffle foam and sprinkled with shaved cremini mushrooms. I love truffles and this just sent me into orbit! The first thing you taste is the truffle froth and then the soup below had an earthy, nutty taste that was just incredible. I thought to myself, if this is the first course, then OMG, what will all of the other courses be like? The prosecco was a great pairing as it really cut through the richness of the “little” soup.

Second Course – Patchwork of Baby Beets paired with Domaine Massiac, Savignon Blanc, France 2008. Presented on a small square white plate, the red, yellow and candy-stripped roasted beets were served with goat cheese on top of arugula and a little balsamic vinegar drizzled on top. The colors of the presentation were just lovely.

Third Course – “Crudo” Yellowfin Tuna, Kimchi, Aloe Granete paired with Botani Muscatel Seco, 2008 Italy. This tuna tartare presented topped with Kimchi, sliced iced radishes, and sprinkled with black sesame seeds served with citrus olive oil sauce. The sashimi fish was full of flavor, but what made this dish interesting was the crunch of the Kimchi, the crunch of the sliced radishes, and the cold granita gave your pallet a delightful sweet savory flavor. It was a great pairing with the Muscatel too.

Fourth Course – Ricotta Gnocchi, Chantrelles, Baby Brussels, Prosciutto paired with Hogwash Rose’, Napa Valley 2008. This gnocchi was so soft and creamy. It simply melted in your mouth! It was topped with green and red baby Brussels sprouts, chantrelle mushrooms and house cured prosciutto. The different texture of this dish was what made this interesting, with the creaminess of the gnocchi, the chewiness of the mushrooms, the slight crunch of the Brussels sprouts and the salty flavor of the prosciutto. The Rosé paring really brought the flavor out of all the ingredients. Wonderful!

Fifth Course – Halibut, Bok Choy in a Lemon Grass Broth, pair with Albert Bichot Saint Veran, Burgundy France, 2008. This fish was seared perfectly, served with bok choy Chinese long bean, eggplant, topped with micro greens, and was placed in a lemon grass broth. The only criticism on this was the broth was too salty and overwhelmed the fish. We thought the broth would be a little more buttery than it was. A pairing with a buttery chardonnay might have cut the saltiness a little more.

Sixth Course – Pork Belly Bosc with Pear Puree, Celeriac paired with GG Grenache Australia, Victoria, 2006. Pork belly was delicious and the pear puree gave it a little sweetness to the saltiness of the pork. This was one paring I was very pleased with. The sweetness and Grenache did not go together. But the dish itself was excellent.

Seventh Course – Ribeye Roulade, with cremini mushrooms and blue cheese, paired with Mettler Cabernet Sauvignon, Napa, 2008. This hunk of meat was served in the braising broth, and cooked medium rare. It was topped with the cremini mushrooms and blue cheese and was served with fingerling potatoes. The Cabernet was the perfect paring and really stood up to the beef.

Eighth Course – Dessert – Dark Molten Chocolate Cake served with homemade vanilla ice cream and rolled in a sugar wafer crunch. My dining companion had a banana crème brulee, with a vanilla-chocolate ice cream swirl and candied hazelnuts. The dessert dishes were served with a port wine.

Our waiter, Chris, offered us excellent service throughout the evening and even wrote down the name of the courses with the wine pairing for us. As I pushed my chair back away from the table, a beatific smile spread across my face as I reminisced about what we just experience.

Thank goodness we parked our car a couple of blocks away so that we could walk off a little of the food and wine we had consumed. I’ve always heard that Houston has some fabulous restaurants. This was my first chef tasting in Houston, and it certainly did not disappoint.

Here’s the link to their website. If you get the chance to experience the Chef’s Tasting menu, do it!

http://hotelicon.com/voice-restaurant/