Thursday Night Dinner

On Thursday, of course we had to go to Flavor Bistro (located at 96 Old Courthouse Square, Santa Rosa), especially since they were having crab cakes and braised short ribs. Flavor was not part of restaurant week but dinner was still $24.95 for 4 courses with wine pairings.

 

Tortino Di Granchio--Sautéed Dungeness Crab Cake, Crispy Pasta Wafer, Basil & Saffron Aioli paired with 2012 Amalaya Vino Blanco De Altura, Torrontes Riesling, Valle Calchaqui, Salta, Argentina. When I was in Argentina, I tried the Torrontes but was not a big fan. Combined with the Riesling, I really like it.

 

 

 

Risotto D'Anatra Con Asparagi--Arborio Rice Cooked with Duck Confit, Organic Asparagus, Roasted Garlic & Parmigiano-Reggiano, paired with 2012 DeLoach Vineyards Pinot Noir, Central Coast. Another nice risotto--good chunks of tender duck in the creamy risotto.

  

 

Brasato Al Barolo--Center Cut Short Rib Braised with Aromatic Herbs & Porcini Mushrooms Topped with Barolo Wine Sauce, Garnished with Truffle Essence, Potato Puree, paired with 2012 Root: 1 Cabernet Sauvignon, Colchagua Valley, Chile. The meat fell of the bone and the wine sauce was rich.

 

Limone Cagliata-Mirtillo Vol-Au-Vent--Puff Pastry Filled with Lemon Curd & Organic Blueberries, paired with 2011 Bonterra Vineyards, Bartolucci Vineyard, Late Harvest Muscat (Organic), Lake County

2014 03 13

Olive & Vine

Wednesday night was Olive & Vine, 14301 Arnold Drive, Suite 3, Glen Ellen. Last year, theirs was my favorite meal at $29. This year, the 3-course meal was $39 but it was well worth it.

 

Amuse Bouche--Tomatoes with Balsamic Reduction. The balsamic was so sweet and delicious.

 

Baby Greens, Arugula & Heirloom Chickory Salad with Roasted Garden Beets, Laura Chenel Chevre, Toasted Walnuts & Nana Mae's Cider Vinaigrette. I just love the sweet beets and slightly tangy Laura Chenel goat cheese in the salad.

 

Chef Damian's Spring Asparagus & Green Garlic Soup with Meyer Lemon Crème Fraiche. This was absolutely delicious. I still remember last year's mushroom soup and this was equally delicious. The soup was creamy, flavorful and the green garlic gave it a subtle zing.

 

Slow Roasted Niman Ranch Pork "Osso Bucco" with Red & Black Rice, Savory  Dried Cherry Compote & Spring Market Vegetables. The osso bucco was fall-off-the-bone tender and I loved the firm bite of the red & black rice.

 

Sage & Meyer Lemon Roasted Mary's Chicken with Sweet Corn Pudding, Thyme Jus & Spring Market Vegetables. Loved it, loved it, loved it! This was my 2nd favorite after the asparagus soup. The chicken was moist, tender and seasoned just right and the corn pudding had small pieces of corn and was just delicious.

 

Roasted Pear & Caramel Bread Pudding, Chantilly Cream. I'm not a bread pudding fan but I loved this dessert. The outside was nicely crisped and it was so delicious served hot.

 

 

Chocolate Souffle Cake, Raspberry Coulis & Cream--I'm usually a chocolate lover but after the bread pudding, I was a little disappointed with this dessert. It may have been meant to be crumbly but I thought it was a tad dry.

 

 

Mignardise of truffles was presented at the end of the meal.

Corkage was free on Wednesday night. We had a nice bottle of Carlisle zin.

I learned that they have a 2-course locals' special for $25 on Wednesdays with free corkage. I'll definitely return. It was my favorite meal of the week.



2014 03 12

Spinster Sisters

On Tuesday, we went to Spinster Sisters, 401 South A Street, Santa Rosa. They don't take reservations, so we arrived around 5:45 pm and there were still plenty of seats. Happy Hour is 4-6 pm Tues-Fri, so we just caught the last of the 50% off tap beer & wine. We had 500 ml of the Charbono, 2011 Fable, Napa Valley for $11 (regularly $22). This was a nice accompaniment to our 3-course dinner for $29.

Watercress and Endive Salad, Blue Cheese Toast, Hazelnuts, Sherry Shallot Vinaigrette. I loved the blue cheese toast--it was basically blue cheese blended with butter and spread on toast.

House Cured Salmon, Brioche, Egg, Capers, Crème Fraiche. The brioche were croutons and I would have preferred a larger piece of brioche to eat with the salmon. The salmon was nicely done--not too sweet or salty.

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There was only 1 choice for the entrée--Braised Lamb Stew, Middle-Eastern Couscous and Chickpeas, Roasted Carrots. This had a nice cumin flavor and the lamb was tender. Not much more needed to make me happy.

Only 1 choice for dessert as well--Mascarpone and Blueberry Roulade Cake with Lemon Anglaise. The cake was moist but the dessert was nowhere near as impressive as the dessert at Café Lucia the night before.

Overall, dinner was tasty and worth the $29 but Café Lucia definitely offered a lot more for their $29 Restaurant Week deal. While we were at Spinster Sisters, 3 Food Network celebrities walked in and had dinner. I'm terrible with names so I couldn't tell you who they were. I recognized 1 from "Chopped."



2014 03 11

Cafe Lucia, Healdsburg

Sonoma County Restaurant Week started on Monday. This was the 5th annual event where restaurants in Sonoma County offered special lunches and dinners. Lunches were $10, $15 or $20 and 3-course dinners were $19, $29 or $39.

We started the week at Café Lucia, located at 235 Healdsburg Avenue. It specializes in Portuguese cuisine. They offered a 3-course dinner for $29 and it was delicious.

Amuse bouche of linguica, cheese and olives. Nice blend of flavors--a little spice from the linguica, a little tart from the olive and creamy cheese.

 

 

Chourico Crusted Day Boat Scallop pan seared, Japanese sweet potato puree, leek confit, molho cru. The scallop was perfectly cooked and the chourico added a nice, slightly spicy flavor without overpowering the scallop.

 

 

Bolinho de Bacalhau cod cake, cilantro aioli, Moroccan black olive coulis. As expected, the cod cake was salty, nicely crisp on the outside and the cilantro aioli was delicious.

 

 

Pacific Wild Caught Blue Nose Sea Bass Fillet oven roasted, grilled yellow corn, sautéed collard greens, molho cru. The sea bass had a firm flesh and if it was cooked 30 seconds more, it would have been overcooked. I liked the corn and collard greens that accompanied the dish.

 

 

Pork Tenderloin "Recheado" with olive, fig and almond stuffing Sao Jorge cheese potato croquettes, port wine sauce. The pork was a tad dry but the potato croquettes were delicious and the wine sauce was rich and flavorful.

 

 

The desserts were the most amazing part of the meal. You had a choice of "Traditional" with arroz doce with Madeira braised figs, malassadinhas (baby fried dough) with "vos moles," and almond ice cream sandwich with fig cake. I'm not a rice pudding fan but this was delicious and the ice cream sandwich was amazing. The other option was "Chocolate"--chocolate mousse with almond tuile, chocolate soufflé with ruby port gelee, mint chocolate ice cream with caramelized banana. The mousse was light, the soufflé was rich and the caramelized banana had a nice sugar crust. This is a pastry chef in training for a Michelin-star restaurant.

 

 

We even got a mignardise of chocolate truffle. They called it an "obrigado something." Didn't quite catch the 2nd part.

Overall, we were quite impressed and will be back to try out the rest of the menu. I saw the table next to us eating blood sausage from their tasca tasting plates menu. Also on the menu were octopus, pig's ears and tripe. Can't wait to try those!



2013 03 10

Ryujin Ramen Shop

Our final meal in Sacramento was lunch at Ryujin Ramen, located at 1831 S Street.

 

 

Chicken Karaage was on the menu so of course, we had to try it. Our favorite is at Orenchi in Santa Clara but this actually beats Orenchi's. Five very large pieces for $5.95. The chicken was juicy and tender on the inside and crispy on the outside. Absolutely delicious with a squeeze of lemon.

 

Shiro Tonkatsu Ramen--$8.95. The broth was flavorful and the ramen was nicely al dente. There was pickled ginger on top and this distracted. I'll have them leave it out next time. I did like the wood ear and the pork was tender. There was a soft boiled egg but it was cooked a minute too long.

 

 

Aka Tonkatsu Ramen--$8.95. This was shiro ramen except spicy. My friend thought it was delicious.

 

Shoyu Ramen--$7.95. Soy-sauce based broth. The broth was much lighter than the tonkatsu and flavorful but I didn't like the corn in it.

2014 03 02

Freeport Bakery

Right next door to Marie's is Freeport Bakery, located at 2966 Freeport Blvd. We had to go and check it out.

 

 

 

They had beautiful cakes and some pastries. We tried the Cinnamon Crisp for $1.95--it's the one on the right. This tasted like pie crust mixed with cinnamon and sugar. It was good but I wouldn't drive out of my way to get one.

2014 03 02

Marie's Donuts

I love donuts and read that Marie's had the best in Sacramento. It's located at 2950 Freeport Blvd.

 

 

There is a walk-up window.

 

We ordered a glaze raised ($0.95), chocolate raised ($0.95), glaze old-fashioned ($0.85) and an apple fritter ($1.55). The chocolate was the best of the bunch but nothing too extraordinary. I like the Stan's glazed in Santa Clara SOOO much better. The old fashioned and apple fritter had too much grease.

2014 03 02