Memorial Day review: Restaurants, Weather, Crowds, Traffic, etc
Lars
10 months ago
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Memorable meals and the Restaurant that made them!
Comments (33)My earliest restaurant memory is of having deviled crab at Gaido's Restaurant in Galveston back around 1956 or so. I make my own version of that dish today, and it is still one of my favorites. My first pizza was in Shreveport, LA, and it had shrimp on it and no cheese. I was 14 at the time and did not eat cheese, and so I loved it. I lived in San Francisco for 12 years, worked in a restaurant there, had friends who worked in restaurants there, but never had a memorable restaurant meal there - I think the restaurants in New Orleans are much better, for my taste. Almost every meal I've had in N.O. (or even in the state of Louisiana) was memorable. I also remember having great food at sidewalk cafes in Houston, like Ari's Grenouille and Maison des Crepes. I really like the Cajun/Creole influences that I found in SE Texas and southern Louisiana, and I am partial to alligator tail, although I love the sushi that I find in L.A. I liked street food in Mexico City, especially the quesadillas de huitlacoche. In Merida, I found a Lebanese/Mayan restaurant that had excellent cochinita pibil that I will never forget, and I've tried to replicate it myself with reasonable success. I had jumbo Gulf shrimp on the beach in Vera Cruz that was very memorable, although I like what I've made recently better. I think I have high expectations for restaurants, and I generally feel that there is something missing or something that could have been done better when I eat out. There are a few restaurants that I appreciate for their atmosphere/ambience, whether the food is excellent or not. That includes Nepenthe Restaurant in Big Sur, which has stunning views but mediocre food. Lars...See MoreIs World's Best Restaurant Worth the 12-Month Wait?
Comments (41)Apologize for the length, but what the heck: Bumblebeez, I have to say it's one of those individual decisions, speaking as someone who lives a little over an hour away from Napa and visits just for the restaurants. I've never made it to FL, but a foodie friend I trust made it in on a last-minute cancellation (yes, sometimes those impromptu calls really do work) and he loved it, said it was the best dinner he'd ever had. OTOH, as someone once commented to NYTimes critic Pete Wells (she is in the industry, eats at these very top-level restaurants without having to pay for it), you are paying for two things: the very freshest ingredients and exquisite precision of execution; e.g., the cutting and placement of food. She pointed out it does not actually taste any better; it is simply beautiful and consistent with no flaws, plate after plate. You need never worry that somebody else's caviar with oyster foam is a little bigger or less salty than yours; the food will be the same no matter who is receiving it that night. Now...that kind of experience may well be worth it, just as a once-in-a-lifetime experience. Nothing wrong with that - every gourmet/foodie has their own memories that they hold dear! I can only say I've given up trying for FL. It just isn't worth it to us. We've eaten great food in Northern CA for 45 yrs, and would rather spread my $$$ around elsewhere at restaurants we can get into, that also have truly remarkable food. We're retired and can spend as much time and $$$$ as we want up there. That said, your friend might try for Meadowood. Chris Kostow is not the household name that Thomas Keller is, but unlike Keller, Kostow remains the ExecChef, hands-on, at Meadowood, which holds the same # of Michelin stars that FL does. Talk amongst local foodies is that FL is still very good but Meadowood is better and more exciting. If it was my $2K, this is what I'd spend it on (but I could do it because we don't drink, which saves a lot of money!). Opinions are STRICTLY MINE, ymmv: - Auberge du Soleil - Upscale resort with glorious food and an even more glorious view IF, and only if, you can snag one of the four tables on the outdoor patio. Sitting there overlooking the Napa Valley, eating a lobster and veal sandwich on brioche and finishing with an after-meal French brandy, is one of our favorite memories. It's the only restaurant in the Napa Valley with a high-hill valley view. Worth every extra penny it’ll cost. - Ca'Momi @Oxbow Market - Brilliant authentic Italian cuisine in a noisy, uncomfortable market hall. Try to get a patio table because the tables inside are small and smashed together. Bring a cooler and ice for those luscious pastries! - Etoile @Domaine Chandon - Stunning. Wonderful. Worthy of LVMH's Dom Perignon (they own all three brands, and more). If I had to pick only one dinner in the Napa Valley, Etoile is where I'm going. Perry Hoffman is a genius, with the masterfully understated touch that only terrific talent and classic training (French, of course) can produce. Try the Chandon brandy, 24 yrs old and only available for sale at the winery - phenomenal stuff. - Solbar @Solange Resort: A Relais & Chateaux property, and worthy of its siblings. Too many people miss this phenomenal restaurant in Calistoga. The service is excellent and the food is exquisite. The heartier side of the spa menu is surprisingly carnivorous as well as generous. But don't miss the spa dishes; they aren't your usual rabbit food. A chicken pasta soup from the spa side was downright stunning; a rich dark brown from roasted bones, full of juicy shredded chicken breast and mini-farfalle. I drag my DH all over to eat and he said this was hands-down the most amazing soup he'd ever had, simple yet utterly perfect. After that splurge you need something cheaper. Cheese and pate and good bread for a picnic: - Bouchon Bakery- Croissants a little saltier than Parker-Lusseau in Monterey, but crisp and lovely. Chocolate budino dessert cakes are a winner. Baguettes are extremely neutral in flavor, excellent for a cheese tasting. Note they get very crowded at lunchtime and sell out by 2p. - Dean & Deluca Delicatessen/Specialty Grocery - The goose mousse pate is worth selling your soul, or more probably all your arteries, for. Come with ice packs and your cooler, and stock up! - La Foret Chocolatier - Opened by the former pastry chef at the French Laundry, she makes fairly salty chocolates (and still supplies FL for their chocolates). But we did like the white chocolate macadamia ginger bar, which surprised us since we don't like white chocolate or ginger. Hidden in a very obscure, tiny residential strip mall outside downtown Napa. Look for Browns Valley Market which fronts the mall, and BVM also carries Bouchon baguettes (but skip BVM's deli offerings, Dean & Deluca are better). And yeah, I'd make time to visit the Castello di Amoroso, Sattui's own personal folly. I'm a sucker for brick buildings, and a series of wine cellars with double-vaulted brick arched ceilings? There are only 7 brickmasons in the world who know how to do that kind of artisan work any longer, and Sattui had three of them working on it. Their wines aren't top tier, but they offer a cabernet and chocolate tasting that is a lot of fun. Loved the tour and recommended it to my role-playing Renaissance Fair friends! It's hard to get bad food in the Valley but it's possible. I'm not a lover of over-the-top, "throw in the kitchen sink" cooking that many young chefs do. And we avoid Napa in summer, when service is more amateur (the summer temps are hired in May) and everybody is crushed under busloads of visitors. Good for more casual meals: - Angele, Napa - Bistro Jeanty, Yountville - Lucy @Bardessono Resort, Yountville - Market Restaurant , Yountville - Redd, Yountville Avoid: - Bottega, Yountville (gone downhill) - Bouchon Restaurant, Yountville (go to sibling Ad Hoc instead, casual American food) - Brix, Napa (new chef just started) - Don Giovanni, Napa (tired oldie) - The Grill @Meadowood - Note this is NOT the upscale FL competitor, Meadowood Restaurant, which is sited upstairs above the Grill. Too expensive for a casual place. - La Toque, Napa. Erratic. - Mustards, Napa. Sloppy oversized plates - Oenotri, Napa. Same as Mustards but Italian - Siena, Napa. Corporate blandness Anyway, no matter what your friend does, I'm sure she'll have a great time. Just don't schedule too much in one day -- common first-timer error. Distances are long, traffic is messy in summer, heat is tiring. And remember, bring a jacket for cool evenings! 64 degrees may sound great but when at 3p it was 103, it'll feel surprisingly cold. Here is a link that might be useful: Sattui's Castello in Napa Valley This post was edited by jkom51 on Tue, Jun 10, 14 at 11:29...See MoreGood, better and best for the SF/Fantasy Crowd
Comments (63)>A Spell for Chameleon That one hooked me on to Piers as well, I was in my late teens. I can't imagine any young reader having trouble with it -but then I was reading 'adult books' long before I got my adult library card. (Thank goodness for my older sis!) My parents never censored what I read. They figured if I didn't understand stuff, I'd skip it or ask about it. And if I did understand it, I was old enough to read it. (Read Valley of the Dolls, and was horribly embarrased, at age 12, for my dad to notice and to say that when I'm finished give it to him, as he'd been wanting to read it.) I think a parent has to know her child to decide whats appropriate or inappropriate, but I probably choose the more lenient side, making sure that I give her a chance to talk about the book later with me. But that's just me. I suspect (no, I know) that my feelings would drastically change if I was actually a parent! I lent my boyfriend (later DH) the Xanth books. He hated them, thought them horribly childish and silly (this from a rather childlike and silly person but I digress). So I started re reading them. Oh my - yeah, I see what he means. But I loved them back then. Another horrid sequel: Children of God, after The Sparrow. While I had quibbles with the first book and thought the author made some poor decisions, I liked it enough. I could not finish the other. jan I am not big into mysteries, but if she wrote them, and they are more suspense than 'whodunit' type, I might just have to try them....See MoreNYT reader comments on restaurant closing
Comments (74)Horse's mouth. Interview with son of Thrifty: They did their own manufacturing and made a lot of different flavors. They had a plant in West Hollywood and eventually moved the operation to El Monte. It was very high quality and they were very proud to get awards at the L.A. County Fair. The price was quite low so we didn’t make a lot of money off it, but it got people in the store to buy other things. Same as every bit of info ever about Thrifty ice cream--they make their own. https://www.lamag.com/digestblog/thrifty-ice-cream-history/ According to Wikipedia, the first plant they bought, in 1940, was purchased from Borden. Were you thinking of Borden, rather than Carnation? https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thrifty_PayLess#History_of_Thrifty Thrifty make their own ice cream. Have since before either of us were alive. This is fact. Maybe they co-branded with Carnation or made ice cream for them or with their milk. Maybe it was Sav-on you're thinking of, not Thrifty. Maybe one store was mad at Thrifty and brought in Carnation instead. I don't know where your Carnation memories are coming from, but fact is fact. Thrifty has their own ice cream plant, where they make their own ice cream. A couple of sources cite a flash freezing process that makes it creamier with less butterfat. It's a thing. I know a lot of people who prefer Thrifty ice cream to more convenient premium brands....See Morerob333 (zone 7b)
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