SF Chefs 2011

Husband treated us again to SF Chefs 2011!

(Here’s my entry on last year’s SF Chefs.)

Friday evening definitely had a different vibe… not that I would have dressed any differently.

Never be afraid to be overdressed or the best dressed. Maybe I wasn’t the fanciest-dressed, but there were also a great many people there in jeans and leggings. Whyyyy???

The best thing about an event like this is people who otherwise would not dine at these fancy restaurants have a chance to have a little taste of ‘em… before deciding which one to blow $300 on.

We had a great many bites that night, but these are just my favorites.

Big Jim’s BBQ pork sliders on the top left. So moist, really sweet (Husband thought it was too sweet… yeah, they could’ve toned it down a little), and perfectly proportioned. I hate when there’s way too little meat for the amount of bread there… This was perfection.

Ryan Scott’s little morsel on the top right – the pork rillette on that little cracker – was a winner, as well as a yummy little cracker with cherry tomatoes and raw salmon… from a vendor whose name I don’t remember AAAHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!! I should remember – I had like four of ‘em!

Oh, and that coconut shake, which came with a little toasted marshmallow, from Roam Artisan Burgers? SO AMAZING. *swoon* So rich and coconutty, thick, not too sweet.

Before I forget: Special shout-out to Trace (the restaurant) for serving the best chocolate cookies ever! They were these little thin wafers, rich and moist, super chocolatey with a sprinkling of salt… We had thirds.

I can’t really say much about the food on Friday night. It was… underwhelming? I was even disappointed by Michael Mina, who put out this little fish (sea bass, I think?) that desperately needed seasoning. Sigh. However, he does have a new restaurant called Bourbon Steak… I shall have to try it out sometime.

The real stand-outs this year were the cocktails. Mmmmmmmmm so many more this year than last year, and wines too! They were so much fun that I had to take a picture of the description.

The Fragile Things cocktail was my favorite of the night. I could’ve had three or four of those… and end up on the floor.

Those little shooters were raspberry vodka shots… with something else in them, naturally, but I don’t remember what.

HAHAHAHAHAHA. Who expects me to remember anything after 2 glasses of wine and 3 cocktails!

During our second walk-around (for second and third helpings, duh!), I saw a celebrity at the Wayfare Tavern table:

DUN DUN DUN TYLER FLORENCE!!

I was served by Tyler Florence hehehehehehe! He gave me food OMG!

I didn’t even know he had a restaurant in San Francisco, then I saw the sign with his name on it during the first walkthrough and was like wuuuuuuuuuuut. But he wasn’t there yet. I’m glad we decided to go around again! We were there for like, 3 hours. Eating, drinking, sitting, eating some more. It was totally worth skipping lunch for.

But here’s the kicker: the difference between daytime and nighttime is in the afternoon, there are food demonstrations! And this time, Richard Blais and Fabio Viviani of “Top Chef” fame are gonna be there!! And Martin Yan?? AAHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!!

*throws tantrum*

Ah well. I think I still prefer the nighttime atmosphere. There was a DJ spinning, then a live band playing oldies, and to follow up a tall Stella Artois, there was that little plate of pork and noodles from the Le Colonial table.

It was a great evening.

San Francisco really has so much to offer – it definitely rivals New York City. There’s fresh local seafood here, organic everything (if you’re into that sort of thing, and many people are), and of course no one does sourdough like SF. It’s a treat to read restaurant menus that indicate the sources are all within a 50-mile radius of here. There’s also something about the culture that influences many chefs to do all sorts of crazy fusion things. I’m proud to be a Bay Area denizen! *sniff*

Review: Cyrus Restaurant

For Husband’s birthday, I treated us to dinner at Cyrus, a two-Michelin star restaurant located in Healdsburg.
I don’t know what took me so long to finally dine here.

It wasn’t very long after we sat down that we were given yummy little canapés to nibble on.

The interior reads very “hotel restaurant,” meaning kind of generic taupe-y ambiance sans cheesy red roses in tacky vases (Campton Place, I’m looking at you).

Anyway, it would appear that Cyrus has too jumped on the bubble bandwagon. You have some kind of liquid, you throw in some sodium-something-or-other compound and little globs form. I believe this one was some kind of blueberry liquid. It was delightful, the fruity goodness burst thick and almost fizzy-like!

I enjoyed the little clam gelée. The gelée the clam itself was encased in was clam-my, and it was just perfectly salted and delightful.

Birthdays mean cocktails. (Who am I kidding, any night out means cocktails.) No points will be awarded to the person who correctly guesses the cocktail I ordered (and had two of).

If you guessed the ‘Peach Impediment,’ you’re right! Summertime means peaches and Cyrus used peaches wherever they could. Smart. However, I wish there’d been more peachiness – that basil and the vodka really needed something wholesome to round out this drink.

Why did I post a photo of two pots of butter?

One, I like butter. Two, the pot on the left contains goat butter! I am a new fan of goat’s milk butter – it is so delicious! It’s tangy and light and creamy, with a little less richness than regular ol’ butter. It was amazing on the moist chive scone and other great bread options, among them two kinds of sourdough.

On the right there, you’ll see our first little amuse-bouche with – you guessed it – peaches!

From top to bottom:

My only problem with the sea scallop (with watermelon and coriander broth) dish is sea scallops are so delicate and the sweetness of the watermelon very easily wiped it out. Plus, I was unable to enjoy the meatiness of a well-done scallop because, well, all I got was half a scallop.

The corn and bacon tomago dofu tasted only somewhat corny – there’s just no excuse during corn season – and once you take a spoonful with a little bit of bacon, BAM! it’s all bacon. I was so disappointed.

Somehow, my eyes missed the part about the fois gras torchon being accompanied by a huge-ass pistachio biscotti. This is the sort of dish to have between your last savory course and dessert, not at the beginning of a meal! Ugh… My palate was confused. The torchon was delightful and rich. The cherry (and supposedly ginger, but I didn’t get it) jam spread at the bottom was very sweet and accompanied the fois gras very nicely.

How did the roasted and smoked beets salad rate? You may be surprised to know that it tasted better than my fois gras torchon. It was very well-balanced.

So far, this highly-rated restaurant didn’t seem to deserve its two Michelin stars.

At least, the service was attentive and warm. (At one point, a server came by our table with the wrong dishes and I had to point out that they weren’t ours.) Our server was a very knowledgeable and friendly woman with a sense of humor. As the dinner was a birthday celebration, it was a nice change from the formal sort of service like I experienced in New York.

At this point, it was important to readjust my expectations. The dishes we’d had so far (with the exception of the canapés) were muted in flavor. It would make sense now to stop expecting robust flavors.

Adjustments made, I found the lamb roulade good, juicy. The lovely green and brown layer there did not add to the lamb at all, but they sure made it pretty. The sauce coated the bites of lamb with saltiness and richness that the meat lacked.

I think it was at this point that an awkward Asian female server – the same one who had brought the wrong dishes – came by with a little palate cleanser: some kind of frozen pop. Dammit, I hate being rushed. I also hate being told how to eat my food. She told us to “eat it in one bite.” Yeah, as opposed to snorting it?? She would make another annoying appearance later.

Anyway.

This sea bass with artichokes didn’t seem like sea bass at first bite. The flesh looked cloudy, but that may have been because it was rare. I asked the server if that was done on purpose, and it was. (This was the first time I’d seen and tasted raw sea bass.) Very interesting. I don’t what to make of the combination of fish and bland artichoke. There was so little juice and so little meatiness and they just seemed very separate.

However, my favorite part about this dish was the dashi broth. OMG I CAN DRINK A BOWL OF IT EVERY DAY. Now if only the flavor of the dashi had been inside the fish, it would’ve been a home run! It was warm and perfectly salted and comforting and smooth. If I could redesign this dish, I would remove the fish (but keep the crispy skin, of course), put another half-cup of broth, add more pea shoots, and made it an appetizer. HOME FREAKIN’ RUN.

Husband made a better choice with the beef short rib with mung bean sprouts and cherry tomato confit with hoisin sauce. I usually avoid such dishes because many restaurants go overboard with the hoisin, but this was a beautifully composed dish! The meat was juicy and tender, the cherry tomatoes added a light sweetness while the sauce contributed a rich sweetness. The sprouts gave it a fresh crispness to what would have otherwise been dense. This was a multi-level, multi-dimensional experience for the taste buds.

When I made the reservation, I’d added a little note: “Please put birthday candle on dessert plate.” At most restaurants, that’s what they do for birthdays – Michael Mina, Gary Danko, Chez Panisse, La Folie, all candles.

Cyrus? No no no no no no.

EPIC BIRTHDAY DESSERT!

Allow me to explain the contraption (brought by the aforementioned annoying Asian female server) in the top photo: On that fancy lit-up platform was a vacuum-sealed jar containing warm chocolate chip cookies. In order for the birthday boy to get to his present, he had to turn that there valve that would release air from the gold balloon into the jar!

(The Asian female server felt the need to tell him exactly how to do it. Dude, shut the hell up, will ya? We can figure it out. We both took physics in college.)

And when he got there, the cookies were warrrrrrrrrm and chewy and the chocolate chips were all melty mmmmmmmmmmmmmmm. Then, we were served tiny chocolate sodas which really hit the spot and were a fun counterbalance to the rich melty goodness of the chocolate chips.

But wait! There was still dessert!

Husband can’t say no to a Thai coffee. When it arrived, it was sitting over a little dish of dry ice. I, on the other hand, got the plum wine cake with strawberry. This was sweet and bright and I loved the contrast of textures. I do have to wonder why it’s so ridiculously small compared to how much Thai coffee Husband got.

Cyrus wasn’t ready to let us go yet. On the verge of exploding (or puking, both equally unpleasant), we were showed a cart covered with dainty delights, from little candies to marshmallows to truffles. Fortunately, they were for our little to-go box, bless their hearts! We could enjoy them later, after more space in our stomachs freed up.

The dessert chef deserves a medal for saving the dinner from being one big expensive and time-consuming (the restaurant’s a two-hour drive from home) disappointment. Inside that cute little jar was coffee pudding and tiny chocolate malt balls.

One last parting gift: a maple bourbon mini donut. If this were three times larger, it would’ve been a really great dessert, served with maybe a little espresso pot-de-creme.

It’s clear that one of Cyrus’ strong points is presentation. The best amuse-bouche is really an appealing and inviting appearance and Cyrus nailed it. I had issues with proportions and flavor combinations here.

The key point to enjoying the dinner is adjusting your expectations. There are no popping flavors here, nothing cutting-edge, no conversation starters; flavors here are a dense, soupy fog that comforts on a chilly summer night. Nouveau cuisine aficionados ought to look elsewhere, though if you don’t feel like cooking and want to be pampered in a cozy atmosphere, this would be the place to be.

Review: Ca’Bianca

Ugh. Just another Italian restaurant.

The problem with Italian restaurants is so many people think it’s so easy – it’s just pasta! – and so a lot of these little Italian joints pop up, but so few of them are the real deal.

It had potential. The restaurant is this renovated house built in the late 1800s and it felt like we could’ve been down South – a weird place to find an Italian restaurant – and it was roomy and there was even a little “outdoor” area with wooden floors and heaters on the ceiling, which would’ve been nice had the group already there hadn’t been so goddamn loud.

But anyway, the bread was stale and the tables a little too small (see the size of those bottles of olive oil and balsamic vinegar?), but that’s not terribly important, is it.

Let’s get to the food.

It looks like a whole lotta prosciutto, right? I’d say it was just right. My favorite part, however, is the cherry tomato flowers.

What an eye for detail! That takes skill, y’all.

If there is a fettuccine alla vongole option, I will take it.

It was… okay. The pasta was way too much olive oil and not enough vongole goodness. I have never had a plate of pasta alla vongole that didn’t have a tiny amount of grit and this was no exception. Plus, the clams were too small. So the problem with this dish was just proportion – too much fettuccine, not enough vongole. Sigh.

The mark of a good Italian restaurant lies in its tiramisu. Now, I’ve been to Italian restaurants that did not serve tiramisu. I don’t know what to make of that.

Anyway, for a dessert with so many interesting elements with very individual flavors, this one didn’t have much of any flavor.

I am so serious. Let’s start from the top:

• I put my nose to it to see if I could smell the liquor, but ended up inhaling the cocoa powder and then choking on it. Why they put so much cocoa powder on it is beyond me, and it was clear that there was no liquor in it.
• The ladyfingers were so soggy it had absolutely no texture. It was mush. The whole thing was mush, which is kinda gross. It didn’t have much of any taste either, which makes me wonder if they’d soaked it in plain water instead of coffee.
• The cream part tasted a little bit of sugar and not a whole lot else.

Needless to say, I didn’t finish it.

Service was pleasant, polite, though not confident – like you can tell they’re really trying to provide good service. That’s fine and all, but having a great location and good staff when the kitchen puts out lame food is kind of a moot point?

Review: Petite Syrah

This was the last culinary stop on our way home from our Russian River getaway last month.

If you like super modern cuisine, this is the place to go.

Who needs a bread basket when you can have fried sweet potato chips mmmmmmmmmmmmmm. I wanted to steal another plate of it. It’s too bad it was room-temperature (the plates of it were sitting out on the counter, which was kinda gross) and no longer crispy, but there were a few that were and mmmmm light potato goodness. The dressing is passable and completely overwhelmed the chips. Those were good enough to eat on their own.

If you have ever wondered what squash blossoms taste like, here’s the answer:

NOTHING.

Squash blossom tempura à la Petite Syrah tastes like tempura batter. The best part of the dish was the creamy avocado with the spicy Japanese chili thing and the sauce.

Well, it was worth a try.

This is a scroll-down corn soup-gasm.

Behold:

Mmmmmmm.

It was corny, but not corny enough for me. Summertime is the season for sweet corn. There is no excuse for un-sweet corn. But it was satisfying enough.

Crispy quail? YES PLEASE.

It was perfect. I’m tellin’ ya: juicy flesh, perfectly crispy and well-seasoned outside, refreshing fruity salad.

Here’s a question about restaurant etiquette: is it appropriate to eat with your fingers? Like say it was a chicken wing? Because I did, because the yummy yummy meat on the itty-bitty bones was too good to waste. I sucked every single one of ‘em quail bones dry. (Not literally… but kinda.)

Next up: Meringue. Ice cream. Chocolate bits. Zzzzzzzzz.

It was okay, but here’s something I found off-putting: I was watching the guy assemble my dessert and he DID NOT WASH THE RASPBERRIES. He took it out of the little plastic carton that had the paper on the bottom (you know what I mean, like you buy it straight from Safeway) and right onto the plate. I was so turned off.

I was dissatisfied and unsatisfied, so I did what anyone else would do: I ordered another dessert.

(What, you don’t?)

That’s right, my friends: this was a two-dessert night. The description of the sorbet dessert had piqued my interest so much (olive oil powder say whaaaat??), I just wouldn’t have forgiven myself if I’d left without trying it. It really should’ve been the only one I ordered. Ah well.

EXPLOSION OF FLAVORS IN THE MOUTH. Y’all, these people aren’t playing around. Everything is nicely balanced: lightly sweet pear, the faintest bite and freshness from the micro celery, the salt with the sweet and then the rich smoothness of the olive oil… However, if you do get a little too much salt in one bite it can be off-putting – none of these things are miscible in the others – so one must be careful in assembling the perfect spoonful. Multiple utensils may be necessary.

The cuisine is like, a Californian take on classic American dishes with Japanese influences. It’s really fun. You should try it!

I loved the casual atmosphere and the (tiny) open kitchen. There were low tables in the middle of the room, high tables with tall stools around the sides, tall and wide windows, and lots of wood. I like wood. (Ha.) It was a very inviting atmosphere that’s perfect for summertime dining. Service kinda dropped off toward dessert (I was literally watching my dessert sit by its lonesome on the edge of the prep table 6 feet away and the servers pass it again and again and again until the boss finally brought it over himself), but overall it was good, friendly. It’s also close to the freeway so if you find yourself driving north or south, you could make a quick stop.

A Quick Review: Josie Maran Cosmetics

Okay, so I’d bought the JMC Beauty In a Box from Sephora in May, but hadn’t had time to write a proper review. Here’s a quick one:

Argan Illuminizer (my favorite!)

I like using this on my forehead, cheekbones, and chin for that extra little glow. I also dab a little at the inner corners of my eyes as well as my browbones and my eyelids in a pinch (like when I forget my eyeshadow… which happens sometimes).

Blush/Bronzer Duo

The blush is nice – nothing special, really – but the bronzer came out orange.

Argan Color Stick in Rosey

The Argan Color Sticks not only smell divine, they are easy to blend out and are very natural-looking. I’ve found that it works best after applying powder and letting my make-up sit a little. When used too soon, it can smudge everything and make blending a nightmare.

I love it not needing to think about how to match my lip color and blush. Just swipe the color stick (I have both colors, actually) on and voila!

Argan Natural Volume Lip Gloss in Soledad

My lips are very pigmented as it is, so I didn’t notice this peach-colored gloss do anything but give my lips some shine.

GOGO Instant Natural Volume Argan Mascara in Black

The mascara isn’t anything special. It doesn’t curl my lashes but it does apply evenly and gives my lashes a nice thick look, and it washes off easily enough.

Hair Serum

My hair is pretty healthy and I haven’t seen it do anything special to my hair. My scalp is also oily anyway, so I don’t really want to put more oil on it. You must, however, use VERY LITTLE of this stuff. I mean, it is oil and if you put too much, you’ll just end up with oily hair that’s flat and limp.

Organic Argan Oil

It doesn’t perform any better than my CVS pure vitamin E oil. I do like the little dropper so that you can use only what you need, but seeing as it is ridiculously expensive, you’d want to use one anyway.

Obviously, the big draw here is there’s organic argan oil in all of its products. My skin is too problematic for any natural remedy to help, so I really can’t say if using them helped at all. But I do love the Luminizer – it’s a great multi-tasker on face and body. (Décolletage, anyone?)

Recommendations: e.l.f. Studio products

If you are a make-up newbie or a wannabe make-up artist, and you want to get a feel for the basics, you need to jump on e.l.f. Studio cosmetics A.S.A.P.

And if you’re a make-up veteran, you might wanna stock up on some pretty good basics. Here are what I recommend:

1. Make-up Remover Cleansing Cloths – cheap, effective, pleasant-smelling.
2. Lip Stains – Lucky Lady is my go-to MLBB (My Lips But Better) shade. It is a stain, so I put lip balm on then put the stain over that.
3. Lip Balm SPF 15 – It has SPF and looks cool for a lip balm.
4. Make-up Mist & Set – It’s cheap and I love it when it’s windy and cold out.
5. Eyebrow Kit – I cannot do a photoshoot without this. I usually just use the wax side, and the powder side serves as eyeshadow in a pinch.

When I travel for photoshoots, I make sure I have these along. Not only do they work, I won’t shed a tear if they’re lost!

I love my eyebrows.

One of the worst things…

I hate waiting to be taken by sleep.

I lie in bed… 10 minutes… 30 minutes… 1 hour… 2 hours…

It’s been happening very frequently for the past few months.

Last week was a good week, but tonight… Sigh.

Tonight is another one of those nights.

First, I’d lie there feeling somewhat comfortable – hugging my pillow, fetal position, under all of the covers.

Then, I would feel less comfortable. Sometimes it’d feel like my stomach is moving. Other times, my legs can’t stay still. I’d keep turning over and over – three times, four times, five times.

When I cannot take it anymore, I get out of bed.

I turn on the computer, but there’s nothing to do. Too tired to chat, too tired to read, too tired to write (anything of substance), too bored to play games. All the while, too awake to lie still but too tired to do anything else.

On even worse nights, I’d go back to bed, lie there for another hour, then get out of bed again. Maybe futz with stuff on my desk or the ever-present suitcase next to my closet. Then go back to bed when I start to think I’m tired enough, then get up again 30 minutes later.

As a result, I sleep a lot, wake up at odd hours, nap occasionally, have no eating schedule, and get pimples (four since Thursday). I lose track of time. When you’re me, there is no difference between Monday and Saturday. Tomorrow is another day, just like yesterday. Once, I went to the bank and found the door locked – it was Sunday.

This week will be a busy one. I always get butterflies before something big happens. Those butterflies are not helping me at all.