Razzle's Travels

Huynh - Vietnamese in the Creek

2009-09-30T17:33:00.000-07:00

I've been craving decent Vietnamese food for the past few months, ever since reading A Cook's Tour for bookclub. That was the only chapter that literally had me salivating. So after having disappointing Vietnamese in Oregon, a post for a later time, I was glad to be back in the Bay Area where my all time favorite, Tu Lan, resides.

Alas, today I was in the suburban East Bay and so my choices were limited. We headed out to Downtown Walnut Creek and hit Huynh for lunch. We walked in around 1 pm and the restaurant was more than half full, mostly business lunch types, but also a couple of women friends having lunch and catching up and a couple Persian men discussing thier families. The decor is great, greenish bamboo wallpaper, dark woods, a glass (?) wall with green trees painted on it, and a beautiful wine wall in the bar that I would like to incorporate into my imaginary house one day.

I suspect the two people who worked there were the owners, she would take orders and refill water glasses, he would bring out the food. But you didn't get the feel of a typical mom and pop ethnic restaurant, it was definitely a step above. Tablecloths, plastic chopsticks, and with every serving of food, new plates were laid out. Cute square plates at that, made me want to go shopping at Pier 1.

We ordered the imperial rolls ($7 for 3) and they were every bit as flavorful as imperial rolls should be. There was a side of pickled jicama, carrots, and lettuce that we nibbled on. Our neighboring table had ordered the spring rolls and they were HUGE! I'd have problems fitting that in my mouth. Next time, I'm ordering those.
My companion ordered the chicken curry with yellow rice ($9). I'm not sure what the yellow rice is, maybe a curry rice? I don't think it's saffron. It was delicious, full of flavor, but not overly spicy. There were carrots and potatoes and plenty of sauce. Not to shabby on the chicken portion either for lunch, although I would hope for dinner it would be a slightly larger portion.
I ordered the Brown Rice Clay Pot ($11). I couldn't finish all of it, it was filled with zucchini, green beans, mushrooms, onion, chicken and shrimp. Initially, I didn't think it had much flavor but as I dug deeper into the pot the sweetness of the rice and veggie mixture started to come out. Delicious.

Does it beat Tu Lan? For atmosphere and cleanliness absolutely! I'd say it's a tie for tastiness and obviously slightly higher in price, but this is the Creek and priciness is a given. It is certainly better than the Walnut Creek outpost of Le Cheval and I will be returning.

Chow SF - Home cooking in the Castro

2009-05-15T21:30:00.001-07:00

Last night I met a good friend for dinner in the Castro. My default comfort food spot there is Home, which is conveniently across Market from Chow, but he insisted on Chow, which led me to believe there is a hot waiter there or just a better gay scene.
I'd eaten at the one in Lafayette before and left with a stomache ache and completely disappointed, because how hard is it to get spaghetti right?
But as this is the city and competition is stiffer I'd hoped for a better result.
I was not disappointed.

I had the short ribs which come in 3 sizes, small through large. I asked how many ribs per serving size and was told it was by weight, although not what the specific weights were. I opted for medium, he got a large. Our food was on the table less than 4 minutes later. Took me by surprise, but I was hungry and dug in.

My medium was two pieces, and left me still wanting more food. His large seemed substantially bigger, and for $2 more well worth it. The meat was tender, fell off the bone easily and was delicious. The mashed potatoes could have been more sizable, and althought they were supposedly mushroom flavored I saw nor tasted the funghi in my potatoes.

I got the chocolate cake for dessert, it was warm and I didn't share. But it was very dense and with the chocolate sauce on top, very rich. But just mediocre in flavor.

Service was quick, the restaurant was busy and it was considerably better than it's suburban outpost. But next time I'm sticking to Home and it's awesome mac and cheese or pot roast.

Fe's Bed and Breakfast - Tule Lake, CA

2008-08-31T10:13:00.000-07:00

On a road trip from Central Oregon to Carson City, NV we decided to spend the night midway which landed us in the border town of Tule Lake, CA. We decided to stay at Fe's B&B and couldn't have chosen a more hospitable place.
We arrived late, at 10 pm, and noticed how small Tulelake was. Most the bars on Main Street had signs welcoming bikers, which seemed strange, but I guess welcoming if you were a biker. Fe's is a very short drive off the highway, which made it convenient when traveling to parts unknown at night. As soon as we pulled up Fe came out to meet us. She showed us inside her 2 story, 4 bedroom bed and breakfast and it was amazingly full for the night!
We had the only room on the first floor, perfect for families traveling with a child, since it had a twin bed in addition to the queen bed. The only downside of this room is that the two bathrooms are upstairs. None of the rooms have private baths, but that wasn't a problem even though Fe's was full. The room was spacious in B&B terms, and had DISH Satellite TV. So our night was spent watching the Olympics in bed. The other guests were all watching Olympics in the common room. Something about Fe's feels like you are staying at your aunt's house. It might be the decor, it's very comforting, and unlike staying in a chain hotel it's not bland predictable.
In the morning, breakfast was served at two tables, one for 6 and one for 4. We met Bob briefly, and then he was off to give a lava bed tour. That and hunting seem to be the big draw in Tulelake, almost everyone was there to see the lava beds. Breakfast was generous. An omlette with mushrooms, peppers and cheese, english muffins, canadian bacon (or ham?), home fries, coffee, orange juice, and fresh fruit bowls.
We had a lovely talk with Fe about the area, and how they started thier b&b. It's been there for 8 years, since Fe came over from the Philippenes. She is a very energetic and lovely hostess. I'm used to staying in places where the hosts generally shy away from the guests and this was a refreshing change. After breakfast we started on the rest of our drive to NV.
Contact info: 877-478-0184
660 Main Street
Tule Lake, CA 96134

Hilton Portland - My default hotel

2008-07-20T17:55:00.000-07:00

When I need to stay in downtown Portland on the cheap I go to Priceline and bid on a 3 star hotel. I have yet to get anywhere but the Hilton. Usually hovering somewhere around $110 a night, this weekend I hit the jackpot and got it for $64 (going rate was $149 at the hotel).

In the five times I've stayed here, this was the first time they accomodated my request for a room with a king bed. So those are the pics you see.

Room sizes completely vary, this king room was the smallest room I've been in, I've also had corner doubles that were enormous and a couple other doubles that were average size and a very small double. So if you get a room that is small and you are staying with someone, you might want to try asking if they have another room available.

The beds aren't super comfy like some of the other Hiltons I've stayed at, but also not uncomfortable by any means. I chalk it up to the older status of the hotel.

It is an older hotel, decor wise, but very centrally located and I can walk anywhere downtown or in the Pearl relatively quickly. There is a Max station located a couple blocks down in Pioneer Square and the Streetcar runs a few blocks over on 10th. Shopping galore is also a couple blocks away, Nordstrom, a huge Banana Republic and also the mall.

It is also generally a very busy hotel! This is the one time I've checked in and not come across large groups of people and parties in the lobby.

There is a fitness center, which they charge $10 a day to use, and internet is also at a charge, like all other Hiltons. Parking is $25 a day, but there is a lot across 6th Street that charges $15 for overnight parking if you just need a place to stash the car while you sleep.

Another odd thing I came across charge-wise, I left my rings in the bathroom and realized it when it was too late to turn around and go back. I called and security confirmed they were in the bathroom. They offered to mail it back to me, but would need a credit card to charge it to. Otherwise they will hold on to them for 60 days. I didn't understand why they wouldn't just mail them to me in an envelope and not charge me, but it just seemed part of the small fees for everything nature of the chain.

I've eaten at the 921 Bistro a few times, and it is reasonably priced and the food is fairly good. Great if you get in late at night and just want a quick bite to eat before bed. But if you have time and want really good food you are just a walk from tons of restaurants. For breakfast it's good if you want a quick bite before a meeting, but if you have time you need to go to Mother's instead.

Overall, it's a good bargain if you are in town and need a centrally located place to stay.

Cocoon Urban Day Spa - Manis and Pedis

2008-07-20T17:05:00.000-07:00

So when my best girlfriend suggested we go after work one day to treat our little toes, I tried to find somewhere that was a midway point for both of us. Enter Cocoon Urban Day Spa in the SoMa part of town. Location is a few uphill blocks away from most of the financial district, but if you are lazy like me you take a cab.

It's a bit hard to find from the street, as the building didn't have an easily noticable sign, and shares a space with a restaurant. The space is on the second floor, and is also part yoga studio.

The manicure/pedicure room is huge! and has windows on two sides, so full of light. While you can occassionally hear the traffic from the street below, for the most part you forget that you are right downtown.
They had brownies and strawberries for us to snack on, and for the ladies that came in after 5 pm they offered champagne. It might have been because we were using a coupon? Coupons on thier website are pretty good, they are limited by time of day but that just gives you an excuse to cut out of work early!

Service was great, they were running late, but the ladies that worked on us were all very nice and sociable and did a great job. Even when I smashed my nails upon paying. We got the ultimate mani/pedi combo, which for some reason I thought included paraffin, but instead just had warm booties and mittens. Still very relaxing and a good way to spend an afternoon.

They have one person doing your nails while the other does your toes, so it's efficient and you don't have to sit around and wait too much. And so you know it's sanitary they also use metal bowls for the pedicure water and not the sometimes unclean plastic tubs most places do. However, they do still have massage chairs. It would be a great place to go with a group of girlfriends for an afternoon of treatments.

I haven't gone back to try any of thier other treatments, but it seemed they only had a couple treatment rooms. And the space that seemed to be the yoga studio seemed a bit small. Maybe they have small classes.

I will definitely return for another treatment soon! Oh and you cannot tip on your credit card, so make sure to take cash for tips (otherwise you have to pay the atm fee downstairs).

Location: 330 first street, second floor
san francisco, ca 94105
415.777.0100

Burgers and Shakes Oh My! - Taylors Automatic Refresher

2008-05-03T18:57:00.000-07:00

So I had reservations at Thomas Keller's Ad Hoc one night, we were headed up to Napa to shop for the day and it seemed like a delightful idea to stop and get some fancy food time in. But, as I pulled up the menu for that evening, nothing appealed to me. And so reservation cancelled and a new mission is upon us. We had passed a new outpost of Taylor's Automatic Refresher along the way, and since I love me some tasty burgers and thick shakes that was where dinner would be!

The line here was considerably shorter than I've ever seen at the Ferry Building outpost, I suspect it is because this is a very new location in what seems to be a new part of downtown Napa.

But let's get on to the food shall we? I got a cheeseburger and fries. Classic. I think the key to thier burgers, is really the bun. Look at that thing, it's just perfect.

The tasty continues with thier yummy good quality meat, cheese, and of course special sauce thing.

My companion got a patty melt, and the sweet potato fries. But she mixed it up a bit and asked them to leave off the chili powder and instead give it the garlic coating. She is BRILLIANT! They were possibly the best sweet potato fries I've ever had.

She did love her patty melt as well, and it even caused a man to pause at our table and ask what she was eating. He apparently had never seen one before.

I do love that thier condiments come in little pastic containers with lids. They were sturdy containers and for some reason just struck me as really adorable. Thier plastic drink cups are made from recyclable materials and they have recycling bins next to the trash as well. Yeay for being green!

A little bit of Rock n Roll - Jupiter Hotel - Portland

2008-05-03T18:23:00.000-07:00

The Jupiter is what I'm going to refer to as Rock n' Roll hotel. It is home to the Doug Fir Lounge, a small venue with live indie bands, food, and obviously a bar. Located nearby is also Union Jack's a strip bar. So, on a Saturday night, you can only imagine that it is crowded, loud, and full of partiers. We arrived late (1 am) and the hotel parking was full, so park on a residential side street and pray for no ticket in the morning. I didn't really see any signs clearly marking the hotel, so it's a good thing my companion had stayed there before!

There's lots of outdoor seating, and I swear I saw a firepit, but I may have been a bit tipsy. I suspect this used to be a Travelodge or a Howard Johnson's type hotel, that was just updated to be kinda cool kinda funky. We ended up in one of the Lobu rooms.

This means a queen platform bed with a light comforter and blanket, no artwork, a small table with two chairs and a tv. The bed however, is comfortable and the towels soft.

Very minimalistic, and very small. There is chalk in the room, and until the morning I didn't realize it was for the room door that is painted with chalkboard paint. Cool!

The bathroom also follows the minimalist approach, fun vinyl shower curtain, small sink. Very basic.

The only, and biggest complaint I have about the Jupiter is the super thin walls. We had been placed between two rooms that were for one group of friends. So there was lots of going back and forth between the two rooms, standing in front of our room and having conversations about who was drunker than who, and who could kick a cops ass. Other conversations revolved around which strip club was better (Mary's is apparently more "accomodating"). I couldn't decide if it was a bunch of frat boys, or a bachelor party.

So if you want a romantic night away, I wouldn't recommend staying here for a relaxing quiet night. I would however recommend it for a girls or boys night out partying late. Or if you want to have really loud sex and want people to hear.

The lobby has apples and coffee in the morning, and the Doug Fir apparently serves a decent breakfast starting early in the morning for those of you who don't plan on going to bed.

Salt House - San Francisco

2008-04-05T12:09:00.000-07:00

The Salt House opened a while back, but I finally had a chance to grab lunch there this week. I am a huge fan of Town Hall, the partner's other restaurant a couple blocks away and have eaten many a satisfied meal there.
I arrived very late for lunch, so my friends had already eaten bunches of oysters, and 3 dishes of thier pickled vegetables. Apparently those were quite good! We did get another dish for the table, but the two of them inhaled it before I got a chance.
Since I was late I had my friends order for me. They ordered the chicken. Which as the waitress informed them is a salad, even though it is on the entree portion of the menu, and doesn't use the word salad in the name or description.
When the waitress brought it to the table I could see why. It was possibly half a roast chicken and not greasy at all, with perfectly crisp skin. It laid across a mixture of baby spinach, radishes, and the thickest, meatiest, chunks of bacon I've ever seen. Sprinkled with finely chopped egg and tossed with a dressing that I couldn't identify but wasn't heavy or oily. There were some crimini mushrooms in there as well, that didn't distract me enough to realize I was eating them.
I rarely order salads, but this is one I would certainly get again.
One of my friends is a vegan, and there was nothing on the menu for her. However, the kitchen threw a dish together for her with vegetables and some salsa verde. It was colorful and smelled amazing! She said it tasted as good as it smelled.
Our other friend got a rueben turkey sandwich on rye, with some red relish and a side of very yummy chips. He didn't share the sandwich with me, so that speaks as to how tasty it must have been.
Despite being full, we had to have dessert. I got a molten chocolate cake with chip whip and mint-chip ice cream. I was slightly disappointed with the amount of ice-cream on the plate. Literally a teaspoon size. Which Mr. Turkey Sandwich picked up with one spoon and swallowed in one bite! I guess it was good......
There was a drizzle of mint oil on the plate and while the melty, yet not warm chocolate cake didn't have any mint flavoring, swiping it along the mint oil gave it a very very minty flavor. The chip whip was a clever mix of homemade cream with teeny tiny chocolate chips thrown in.
The other dessert at the table was mango pudding with forbidden rice and cream. I had a couple bites of this, and it was so rich and mangoey! I love when I can taste the freshness of the fruit in dishes. It reminded me of mango sticky rice but ten times better.

My favorite little thing to love about the restaurant are the glass milk bottles they leave at the table with water. They have a very cute pirate type of design on the bottle that made me want to put it in my purse and take it home. However, if you want ice water here you must ask for it, the water they bring to the table is room temperature.

I have to admit I like the ambience of Salt House better than Town Hall. My one complaint about Town Hall is the acoustics. No matter where you sit, it reverberates with all the conversations going on in the restaurant. Salt House has the same high ceiling space, but it wasn't loud. Decorated to fit with the loft style of the SOMA location and with an open kitchen, it was very airy and yet welcoming at the same time.

Location: 545 Mission Street, between 1st and 2nd across from Golden Gate Law School.

Tutweiler Hotel - A Hilton in Birmingham

2008-02-09T17:59:00.000-08:00

When I was told I was heading to Birmingham, I was none to excited. I'd never really had a desire to go to the South in the summer months, I remembered lots of humidity from my childhood in Georgia.

It was suggested I stay at the Tutweiler, and so I booked my room with the hesitation that it was a Hampton Inn.

Oh was I ever wrong.

I got in late after some major airline snafus at about 1 am. The lobby of the hotel is absolutely gorgeous. It was not your run of the mill Hampton Inn.

The front desk greeted me without seeming tired or annoyed that they were at work so late. They suggested a few places that would still deliver dinner at that late hour.

This was the cornerstone of my stay here. Just how friendly and accomodating every staff member I came across was. This is southern hospitality at it's finest.

The room was a bit on the small side, but extremely clean, renovated, and comfortable. Incidentaly a suite was only $20 more and as I found out the following day would have been well worth it. Everyone else in my party had chosen to upgrade and they raved about the suites.

One thing that was odd about my room was the height of everything. It was as if my room was designed for a tall person. Now, I'm 5'2, so I am a bit on the shorter side, but I felt like I needed a step stool for the bed.

A bed wich was very comfortable I might add.

There was also a plasma tv in the room, quite sleek and a dvd player and cable.

So I crawled into the high bed, turned on the tv and went to sleep.

My shower also was created for the tall people. The showerhead was so high I couldn't reach it by standing on my tiptoes. And as there was no bathtub I couldn't stand on the edges to adjust the showerhead either.

Otherwise, there was nice marble flooring, a granite vanity and good towels.

In the morning there is a free breakfast upstairs. Along with the typical croissants, muffins, cereals and fruit there were also hot dishes everyday. The sausage, biscuits and gravy stick solidly in my mind.

Oh and there's always warm cookies to be had atop the piano in the lounge.

Lunch was at the hotel restaurant Icon. This is not southern dining. It's very California sleek and healthy. The salad portions were good and quite yummy.

All in all, I wouldn't hesitate to stay here again. A fabulous hotel, with a wonderful staff.

Hilton Pearl River - NY

2008-02-07T16:44:00.001-08:00

The Pearl River Hilton seems to be in a part of NY/NJ that really has no other hotels around. So thier rates can be as high as they want them to be.

We stayed here for 2 nights for a family wedding, and had a block of about 20 rooms. The regular rate for the Thurs/Friday we were staying was $189/night. Our wedding rate was a bit lower.

When you enter the hotel, you are immediately impressed by the lobby. I suspect in any season other than the winter the grounds would be green and lush and impressive as well. The website makes it seem like an extremely fancy and nice hotel.

Now, when a room costs close to $200/night, outside of Manhattan and in an area that doesn't seem to really have much of a draw I expect it to be a fairly nice room.

This was at best a 3* room. The bathroom was small, and the tiles on the floor cracked, the shower was designed in a way that the entire bathroom floor was soaked by the time you got done with your shower. The rooms on the 2nd floor smelled musty, our rooms on the 4th floor fared better in that aspect.

The rooms were large, but the furniture and bedding nothing special. However, the beds were VERY comfy. I do like that about Hiltons.
Internet was $5/day, which is cheap as other Hiltons I've stayed at charged $9.95 or more.

We had breakfast at La Maisonette, the one restaurant the hotel has, other meals we drove into Nyack to eat. Breakfast has 2 buffet options. The cold buffet, which seems to be a glorified continental breakfast for $9, the hot buffet which included eggs and bacon goodness that was $13.

Overall, if in the area again I would have to see if there is another hotel, because for the room rate it wasn't worth it.

Myers & Chang - Fancy Asian in the South End

2008-02-03T09:34:00.001-08:00

For my birthday this year a few friends and I hit up the buzz of the South End, Myers & Chang. The pedigree of the chefs promises great things, although I am not entirely certain of the decision to not offer a dessert menu when Ms. Chang is known for her pastry skills.

The night started off very poorly with us being quoted a 45 min wait, which turned into an hour and half. There's really no excuse for this, as numerous people who arrived after us without reservations were seated before us. We were a party of 4, it's not incredibly hard to wait for 2 tables of 2 to be empty to seat 4. Plus a party of 4 that arrived after us was seated before us (because one member of the party was pregnant?). They lost many points for the poor handling of this, and for the lame excuses of it will be just a few more minutes.
I wanted to leave, as there are plenty of great restaurants in the area, but my companion K was determined to eat the food there since we had waited already.

Once we turned that corner and were seated the rest of the experience was all positive. Our server was funny and friendly and full of suggestions of what is good "my fault is that I am honest and will tell you what not to get".

The food arrived super fast (as in under 10 minutes), which again, confused me as to why we had such a long wait.

We started with crispy spring rolls ($5) which were filled with chives, bamboo and shitake mushrooms. I didn't taste the mushrooms at all, it was much heavier on the chives and bamboo. Good, standard fare.

We also had the scallion pancakes ($7), K liked them so much we ordered them again later in the meal. These aren't your typical scallion pancakes, they are doughy, an almost foccaccia type of dough lightly sprinkled with scallions. Very yummy, and very filling.
Tiger's Tears ($10). Oh my the yum! If you like beef, and spicy THIS is the dish for you! It's a salad, so it's cold, but the beef is so tender and flavorful and citrusy and just mouth on fire good! The basil and tri-color bell peppers were fresh and crunchy and delicious, and the khao koor (some sort of rice like thing) added a bit more crunch. Although I wasn't a huge fan of the lack of flavor of that ingredient.
Our waiter recommended we have a couple of the dumplings. So we opted for the lemony shrimp ($13), which were interesting yet not particularly memorable or flavorful. Next time, I'll skip this.
The girls also tried mama chang's pork and chive dumplings ($11), I think they all liked them. I had a tiny bite, but not being a huge fan of pork, didn't like these much either.

We had to try something from the middle page of the menu as well and so C asked for the Nirvana Chicken ($9) served over white rice. I loved this dish! It had to be the incredibly strong star anise smell and flavor that did it. One tender thigh and a good smokey flavor.

Onto the noodle portion of the menu, first up we have the Dan Dan Noodle Salad ($7). The waiter commented that this was a heavy dish, but I didn't think so. The peanut sauce was tasty, and the cucumbers added a clean fresh flavor to the dish. K apparently got a bite that had all the sambal in it, because she suffered the mouth on fire phenomenon and yet the dish was completely not spicy to me or anyone else at the table. Perhaps I didn't mix things up well enough. N also loved this dish and threatened to finish it off.

Thai ginger chicken salad was one of the dishes recommended by the waiter. The dish was very pale looking, white rice noodles, very white grilled chicken, pale cabbage. The girls dug in and ate it, I was a bit hesitant it would be too bland. However, I was wrong. The ginger and lemongrass flavor came through in the chicken and at the bottom of the bowl there were even some red pepper flakes.

Although the restaurant doesn't have a dessert menu, before the check everyone is served a dessert. This evening it was a lemon mousse with small pieces of crystallized ginger on top. I am not a fan of the ginger and was able to pick it off, while totally enjoying the lemon mousse. K didn't like it at all and had thought we were being served a bowl of parmesean, which she would have been very happy with. N didn't like the mousse of the ginger on this.

And a special dessert for the birthday girl, a brownie with chunks of ginger. I'll give the brownie yummy points, but the ginger was way too much for me to be able to enjoy it. N loved it and ate half of it.

Ambiance: The restaurant is cool and casual, very reminiscent of a diner. Complete with the counter seating overlooking the kitchen. The soundtrack is provided by an iPod, but the noise level in the restaurant makes it hard to hear what songs are playing unless you are in the bathroom.

Thier website is a myspace page, which is a bit odd. Just pay for a real website and design it so that the menu is easy to read. Speaking of menus they do have a vegetarian menu and a nut free menu. You need to ask for them seperately, but the items are all also on the main menu (which for some reason smells like crayons).

Our total bill pre-tip was $153, including 2 bottles of wine. A bit steep for the quality of the food and the fact that it's basically chinese food in a very casual setting.

Swanky Modern in Motown - MGM Grand Detroit

2008-01-15T20:19:00.000-08:00

I spent a couple days at the MGM Grand in Detroit recently. The hotel is only a couple months old and apparently the only luxury hotel in town. I took pics and then mistakenly deleted them, so you'll have to take my word on it.
Holy cow is this place NICE!
The lobby lounge is called the living room, it has some suede armless sofas, and the coolest fireplace that runs through the middle of the length of the stainless steel wall.

The rooms are super cool, and technologically a bit too advanced for me and my friends. 42" plasma tvs, a phone that shows your name on the screen, it also has some sort of touch screen functionality we couldn't figure out. The hotel info book in the room also claimed there was a butler button on the phone for room service, but none of us could find the button. The phone had too many buttons. But no room service button.

The walls against the bed are some sort of bamboo textured wallpaper that I couldn't stop touching for 5 min. The curtains were also a touchable silk crinkly material. A velvet couch which was comfy to lay on, silk throw pillows, and a velvety bench at the foot of the bed rounded out the textural furniture.

The bed, oh the lovely bed I didn't want to get out of. Featherbeds, down comforters, soft soft cotton sheets. It got mighty hot in there at night, and my only complaint was that we couldn't get the thermostat to go under 67 degrees. Yes, it was winter and there was a snowstorm outside, but that bed was just too hot.
The thick espresso stained headboard had a light in it that wasn't controlled by any of the switches in the room. This was weird. And annoying while trying to sleep. It took 2 days to figure out the switch was on the side of the headboard.

More about the lighting, there is one lightswitch that controls all the lights in the room. Not your traditional sliding dimmer switch, this one gives you 5 options for controlling just how much light there is. I liked it. There is also a very cool orange light panel in the wall that separates the bedroom from the bathroom.

The bathroom was huge and marble. With two undermounted sinks, which was very cool. The shower and toilet were both behind frosted doors. This was so sleek that neither of us initially noticed the toilet wasn't out in the open. The shower had two rainhead showerheads. Which makes for fun 2 person showers. Bathroom amenities were all h20+ brand, smelled soooo good! I forgot to take them home with me though. Lots of fluffy towels, and two very thick and comfy robes. There was a weird mirror within the mirror of the bathroom, which I found out after the fact was apparently a tv. See? Too much fancy technology!

Room service was from Wolfgang Puck's restaurant. We ordered a italian sausage, eggplant, carmelized onion and mushroom pizza and a couple beers. The pizza wasn't all that great, the Italian sausage tasted a bit weird and there was cilantro on the pizza, which didn't blend well with the other flavors. Service was very prompt, although they didn't bring us any ice water with the dinner, which I've never had happen before.

The hotel also has two of Michael Mina's restaurants, Bourbon Steak and Saltwater. I meant to try at least one of these as he is one of my favorite chefs, but both of us were under the weather most the weekend and room service was just easier.
There is also a Starbucks, which strangely enough closes at 7 pm.

The hotel staff and concierge were all very nice and as helpful as could be.

If you have to go to Detroit and want a truly luxurious stay, I highly recommend the MGM Grand.

Cutest Hotel Ever -Pod Hotel - NYC

2008-01-13T12:34:00.000-08:00

I've never been compelled to review a hotel the minute I walked in the door, but the Pod Hotel did it for me.

Now, I tend to like the luxury hotels, and this certainly is not one. But it's cute, boutiquey, has a great staff, and a total find!
I was looking for a cheap one night stay in NY, and stumbled across this place. It has bunkbeds (also, the cheapest room option) and I thought it would make for a fun stay with L. The room is tiny, as in I think my walk-in closet may be larger than this but, it is incredibly charming!The concept of a shared bath (they do have rooms with private baths, but not the bunk rooms) seemed a bit sketchy and weird, but as I was coming up the hall two bathrooms were being meticulously cleaned by the housekeeping crew. They bathroom may actually be larger than our room, but it's clean, has one of those rain showerheads, music piped in and is not at all run down. The room has all the towels and toiletries and a sink. Picture an airplane bathroom sink.
They offer free wireless (yeay!), an ipod docking station/stereo, the rooms temperature control works well, and as I am using the air conditioning in January it really is individually controlled.
The lobby is large and very modern trendy, I shall go hang out there shortly.
So far the bed I am sitting on is comfy, with it's own small tv screen.
This place gets an A+ rating from me.

Comfort Food in Boston - Silvertone

2007-11-02T12:47:00.000-07:00

Hidden on a side street in downtown crossing is Silvertone. It's a bar with great food, and good drinks. Really, you can't go wrong. Cocktails are in the $6 - $8 range, and beer on tap is $4. Food runs from $4 - 18 at dinner time, with the majority under $12.
The steak tips are great ($10) as is the mac and cheese ($8). Portion sizes are decent, and it's a fun place to go with a group. Friends have had the meatloaf and raved about it.
One warning, if your party is arriving separately and they are busy, they will not let anyone who sits at the table later order. It is a completely retarded rule, and I can't figure out the reasoning behind it. We've had that happen to us once, and luckily it was still not super crowded that the two that were half an hour late were allowed to order.
It's kinda like that hidden dive bar, but with the law school in the area, it's usually got a good size crowd.
Location: 69 Bromfield St (at Tremont) - Park Street T stop served by both the Red and Green lines, a short walk from the Downtown Crossing T stop for Orange and Red lines.
(617) 338-7887

Kingfish Hall - At which Todd English joins us for dinner

2007-10-27T09:02:00.000-07:00

Ok not really, but he was at the next table. Kingfish Hall is his seafood restaurant in the heart of Faneuil Hall. Since this area caters heavily to tourists, I tend to not eat at the restaurants, I figure overpriced and mediocre. But last night my favorite neighborhood restaurant was booked solid and I wanted something good to eat. And in my world, one cannot go wrong at any of Todd English's restaurants. I did like that he was there, popping in on the kitchen and watching the goings on in there. It's good to know he still takes the time to keep an eye on his restaurants.

The menu is very expensive for such a casual place. There was an incredible sounding crispy lobster, which is basically a de-shelled lobster tempura fried, for $49. Other entrees were all over $28 and fairly basic. And since I wanted to eat more than one dish, I opted for some Kumamoto Oysters served with a cocktail sauce, I opted for just some lemon juice squeezed on top. I ordered the tuna tartare, a starter which I thought would be small. I was wrong. This was a lot of tuna, served on a lot of sushi rice, with a thin layer of seaweed in between. Basically a deconstructed tuna roll. And completely delicious! There was a hint of Sriracha on top which nearly burned my tongue off. I also ordered a side of the mac and cheese, which was served in the cutest cauldron, but lacking in cheese flavor and left a filmy layer on my teeth. I took a few bites, brought it home and reheated it with additional cheese. Sadly, I can make a better mac and cheese myself.

N ordered the fried calamari and the seafood gumbo. The calamari was delicious. It was covered in sauce, which resulted in it becoming soggy rather quickly. The seafood gumbo was served in a shallow skillet and was good, although over salty. You definitely tasted the seafood in the stock, however it looked and tasted as if it was thickened with black beans. Something we both found odd.

The service was a bit slow, even though there was enough staff and the restaurant wasn't very crowded.

A cool thing about the space, if you get a seat on the second level and can get into one of the booths that look like giant clam shells, they turn. So you can opt to sit facing the open kitchen or you can face the dining room. The light fixtures are also all funky and I would love to have one in my house.

Overall, I would not go here again for dinner, our total bill was $90 (including 2 glasses of wine) and for that much money there is far better food in the area at less casual places.

Small and Classy - Melt Spa

2007-10-23T17:18:00.000-07:00

Are you looking for a small, intimate day spa? Melt is your place. Yet another spa on Newbury street you say? Yes, but this one is different.
The waiting area is small, just three chairs, meaning it's not the type of place that is so busy you have to wait around. There are 2 side by side pedicure stations (great for bringing a friend!), and from what I could see 3 treatment rooms. Satin sheets on the bed for facials, soft cotton flannel sheets for massages. The odd thing is there is one bathroom, no shower, and I had to change in the treatment room. There was a closet in the room for my clothes if I didn't want to leave them on the chair.
I was offered water, wine or champagne after my massage.
The massage itself was incredible. Sheila listened to me and avoided the areas I was uncomfortable with. She asked me about the pressure more than once, leaving me comfortable to indicate if it was too hard or too soft. There was music in the room from an ipod. Next time I will ask if I can use my own tunes.
Their prices are on par with most places, but the intimate aspect of the spa and the great service is priceless.

Breakfast in Eugene - Glenwood Restaurant

2007-09-30T10:35:00.000-07:00

If you are looking for a healthy breakfast look no further than Glenwood Restaurant. I am sure there are other breakfast joints in town, but this must be the best. Seriously. On a Wednesday morning at 11 am this place was completely packed. And this wasn't the location on the U of O campus. So you know it's good.
The menu is pretty typical, scrambles, pancakes, egg dishes, and sandwiches. But the food is anything but typical.

I was torn between french toast and pancakes, as I usually am, but decided on the pancakes. To make matters more complicated there were three options. Buckwheat, honey and wheat, and some other natural grain one. None of that white flour boring pancake stuff here. I opted for the honey and wheat flour one, and am so glad I did. There was no need for maple syrup on this, even though a small pitcher of it was brought out. The pancakes were already slightly sweet and the butter made them perfect.
My companion got the eggs benedict, which were also quite delicious, although surprisingly a bit heavy on the hollandaise.

We also ordered a side of the home fries, which were of the red potato variety. Not overly greasy, with a a good sprinkling of herbs and garlic. The bacon was cooked well and not greasy. I don't know how they manage to make breakfast food taste so good and yet go light on the grease!

The price is pretty reasonable, our breakfast including coffee and juices ran just $20.
Next time I'm back in town, I will be trying the biscuits and gravy. I couldn't stop wondering about them the rest of the day.

You can find the Glenwood in two locations: 1340 Alder Street (541)687-0355 and 2558 Willamette Street (541) 687-8201.

Tapas in Albany - Fonda Restaurant and Cocktail Bar

2007-09-30T09:52:00.000-07:00

We went to Fonda on a Sunday afternoon right before they started thier dinner service. So it was wasn't packed, but given the quality of the food, I would guess this place does get pretty crowded in the evenings and weekends for the dinner crowd.
We all got glasses of wine, although the cocktail menu seemed pretty inventive and made me want to go back and try a few of them.
They brought out chips with salsa and guacamole when we were seated. The salsa was hot and the guac smooth. We requested more chips so I could eat up all the guacamole.
We started off with a tomato, cucumber and queso fresco salad, it had a very light and refreshing dressing, I would guess lime juice and oil.
A ordered the yellowfin tuna tartar, it was served on three pieces of crostini, but with a sufficient amount of tuna that there was enough for the four of us.
J ordered the duck tacos. I doubled that order as there were 2 per order. They were amazing. Lots of duck filling, that wasn't greasy at all, and a soft taco shell. It was served with guacamole and salsa for spicing it up, but I thought they were perfect just as they were served, and you know I love the spicy! It didn't even need the guacamole to smooth it out.
N ordered the seared steak, done medium-rare. So I didn't try any of it. But she commented that it was very tender and everyone else liked it as well. I did, however, try the manchego onion rings that came with that dish. Oh my! So tasty!
I ordered the rack of lamb, an order that we also doubled as it was only two lamb chops. So good! The chimichurri sauce was very flavorful and we all gnawed the meat off right down to the bone.

Then it was dessert time. We ordered two of the warm chocolate cake, which had the most perfect melted chocolate center. Served with a side of delicious whipped cream. We also ordered (off the appetizer portion of the menu) the figs with Belwether Farms ricotta, which had a delicious honey drizzled over it. If you like figs, then you must get this dish.

The decor is very lofty, with large windows, high ceilings, and lots of wood beams. There is seating upstairs (but not until 5:30), and they have a good mix of comfy armchairs for that loungey feel, bar seating, regular table seating.

Price: It is a bit on the expensive side for the portion sizes, but the food is good and this is Solano Ave. so it is almost to be expected.

Fonda is located at: 1501 Solano Avenue, Albany, CA 510-559-9006

The Butcher Shop - Restaurant Week #2

2007-08-07T18:24:00.000-07:00

Barbara Lynch is pretty much the queen of the Boston chefs. She's opened a couple more casual places in the past few years, and as luck would have it one was participating in restaurant week.

The Butcher Shop is a small restaurant, with table seating for 19 and a long bar. In the back there is a refrigerated section with a selection of meats and accompaniments. I will admit, that I walked out with a bag of meat, cheese, honey and cornichons. The set up is a bit weird, in that there is no real waiting space so it gives a very bar-like atmosphere. Our table was shared with another couple, I'm not a fan of the communal dining, so luckily I wasn't on a date.

My dining companion (B) and I planned on splitting everything, so we got to taste the whole gamut of restaurant week offerings. Instead of the usual bread and butter, here we were served Irish Soda Bread and butter with Fleur de Sel (man that salt is good!) and a giant side of their unfiltered honey. We both ended up buying jars of that and B doesn't even like honey!

I needed to try the chickpea fritters off the regular menu, so we started with those. They had a yogurt and mint sauce with them, the yogurt was a thick greek style and the mint flavor was very mild, perhaps dill would have worked better? The fritters themselves were good, very dense, but a bit dry, so that after 2 I had enough. Good to share for a table of 4, where everyone just gets one.

Appetizers:
Watermelon gazpacho with honeydew, prosecco, and mint: I love nothing more in the summer than a chilled melon soup. I believe it's just the lightest starter for a meal. This was no different, although it had an ingredient that wasn't listed - avocado. I liked this addition, it gave the soup a bit of substance. B wasn't a fan of the avocado, and tasted something that "tastes like redhots" in the aftertaste. I kept eating more and also tasted it, but it wasn't cinnamon. There also was some oil in the soup, which I couldn't quite figure out the purpose of.
Arugula Salad, Goat Cheese, Pickled Onions and Tomatoes: Straightforward salad with a light vinaigrette dressing. The tomatoes were yellow and red grape tomatoes, and when plated they were hidden under the arugula. There was a good sized serving of goat cheese on it, which we both fell in love with and I had to buy half a pound of to take home. I did ask the waitress 3 times what kind of goat cheese it was, but never did get the answer to that. B loved the onions.

Entrees:

Given the name of the restaurant is Butcher Shop one option was Hanger Steak, Great Hill Blue Cheese and Radish. I had a few issues with this dish, we asked for it medium, and it was a bit too pink for me, plus it came out cold. I asked if it could be cooked a bit more, and it was (rather, it was a whole new plate). But it was still cold. I think, they had prepared a bunch ahead of time and so they weren't fresh out of the broiler/pan what have you. The other being, that it was served not with radish, but with arugula. So if you had ordered the salad appetizer, you were essentially getting two of the same salad, one with blue cheese and one with goat. But the meat was good, not the best slice of steak I've ever had, but again that could be the cold factor. The Great Hill Blue was VERY strong. So much, that I opted to only eat the tiny crumbs. If you have a deep burning love of strong cheeses, this is certainly the one for you. Again, we had the plater who likes to hide things, the cheese was in the middle of the arugula.The next option was Crispy Chicken Breast with Corn and Shitake. Seeing as this was my lunch yesterday at Radius, I was curious as to how it was done here. This was GOOD! Although, not chicken breast. There was a drumstick and some thigh. It wasn't breaded, just skin on lightly fried with some herbs. B exclaimed that the corn was "da bomb" and she was sooooooo right. Neither of us could get enough of it. Fresh, crisp kernels with I have no idea what. The shitake was very garlicy. This plate was wiped clean with only the drumstick bone left on it. Desserts: My favorite part of any meal.
Fruit Salad with Chantilly Cream: Other than dessert in general there is nothing I love more than fresh cream. And this came with a GIANT MOUND of it. Underneath we had blackberries, raspberries, blueberries and a sliver of apricot. All delicious, light and a good end to a meal. B felt like the berries could have used something more, maybe sugar. The other dessert was Chocolate Almond Cake with Peaches. This was one dense piece of cake. A small piece, but anything more would have been a waste. Topped with a cream (possibly almond flavor?) that was weird. I couldn't put my tongue on exactly what was weird about it, but it was something in the texture. The peaches, I am fairly sure were apricots, sliced and just amazing in this heavy sugary sauce. I could've eaten a plate of those alone! Lucky for me, they didn't sell those in the retail shop. Service: Very good the first 2/3 of the meal. Our waitress was friendly and prompt with everything, until after the entrees. There was a 20-30 minute or so lag between those and the desserts. The only thing we could think of was they ran out of desserts and had to make new ones? She even came over at one point to mention the desserts were coming. I suppose us looking around wondering if maybe she thought she had already brought them may have fueled that comment. But other than that time lag, it was flawless.

Ambiance: As I said before it has a definite local bar feel. Which means I would be very likely to go back with a group of friends, rather than a date. There is a large butcher block area in the middle of the restaurant where when the wait got to be an hour and half a lot of people congregated. Besides, that is a good location to have a place to put drinks while waiting for a table.

Rating: 8/10. I would recommend it, and would take friends. And next time I will be sure to order the antipasto platter the table next to us had. It looked amazing. The $14 hot dog on the other hand, still seems a bit much to me.

Radius - Boston Restaurant Week

2007-08-06T16:03:00.000-07:00

Coming from SF where restaurant week lasts a month, and generally the theory behind it seems to be "let's give customers the real restaurant experience to make them want to return, even if we are a 4 star restaurant and don't need to beg for customers" my first foray into Boston's restaurant week (really 2 weeks) seemed to be a tad different. I was warned by a friend that the theory behind Boston's is "let's get people in and out fast and not really put our best foot forward because we don't need the additional customers".

Lunch today was at Radius. This being one of the city's celebrated restaurants I was expecting food that stands on par with it's regular prices. Sadly, I would give it a 5/10 and most of that being for the service.

Appetizer:
Both my dining companion and I opted for the Salmon tartare. What we got was not really a tartare. Cooked salmon mixed with mayonnaise, topped a scallion paste and kumquats, sitting on top of cucumbers drizzled with chili oil. I felt like there should have been some sort of companion to eat it with. Basically, it was what I would call salmon salad (in the vein of canned tuna salad). I ate a few bites and left the rest on the plate, the waiter did ask if everything was ok and I told him that to me tartare generally is raw and not mixed with mayonnaise. He agreed and said they should have called it something else as it isn't tartare and the label is misleading. My companion was also not a fan, but being more polite and hungrier than me, she did eat her entire dish.

Entrees:
Here and at dessert my companion and I opted for different dishes so as to taste all the options.
Hers: Grilled swordfish, sauteed squash and zucchini, potato confit. The swordfish should have been topped with a tomato and caper "salad" but it was left off the plate and we had to send the waiter back to the kitchen to bring a side of it. There was a dash of a basil puree streaked across the plate. The swordfish was very tender and well grilled. I wasn't sure I would like swordfish, but it was good. The tomato and capers added a good flavor to it. The potato "confit" was an utter disappointment. No flavor, just boiled potato taste.

Mine: Crispy chicken paillard with wild mushroom and corn succotash and bacon tomatillo sauce. This translated to fried chicken breast, not pounded thin as paillard tends to be, but a thick chunk of chicken breast. Luckily, it was very deeply fried and so very tasty for fried chicken. There was no bacon tomatillo sauce anywhere on my plate, unless they consider the very tiny slivers of bacon mixed in with my corn and mushroom to have been it. I didn't taste any tomatillo flavor at all.

Desserts:
Hers: Chocolate Pilon with Fenugreek Ice Cream and salted peanuts. I admit, I wanted her to order this because I was curious as to the flavor of fenugreek in ice cream and as part of a dessert. Fenugreek has a very strong and distinct flavor, not one I would ever think of using in this context. The dessert was a giant explosion of contrasting flavors and textures. The dense chocolate mousse core was delicious, but the almost curry like flavor of the ice cream was odd next to it. There was also some golden raisens and what we determined to be black currants involved and a very sticky strongly flavored not really caramel but the same consistency sauce. When deconstructed, the dessert was good, but as a whole, while interesting and the most memorable of all the dishes, it just didn't work for us.

Mine: Mango and Raspberry Tart with Pistachios and Hibiscus Ice Cream. The tart was just a giant shortbread cookie with raspberry sauce squirted on it and some sliced up mango a couple raspberries and pistachios. The cookie was very buttery and yummy and I had to control myself from eating it all. The hibiscus was a sorbet that my companion described as very flowery. Hibiscus always has a tart taste to me and so I was expecting a bit of that, but she was right, it was very flowery. Regardless, it was a light and summery companion to the dense cookie.

Service: As expected in a good restaurant the service was prompt and smooth. Napkins were refolded when I stepped away from the table. Fresh utensiles with every course.

Decor: Large space, but warm wood tones, beautiful molding, and a very cool dash of red across the top of the walls.

Mare - Organic in Boston's North End

2007-08-04T19:48:00.000-07:00

With a name like Mare you already know the majority of the menu will be seafood oriented. What I didn't expect was a restaurant in the North End that is organic, right down to it's wine list, they also have wines that use sustainable farming methods which is pretty damn cool.

The space has the feeling of being really large, perhaps because it's on a corner and two walls are all windows. Clean modern lines let you forget you are in the North End. The only complaint is the noise level can get loud, and that does not make it a good place for an intimate meal.

We went in thinking 5 course tasting menu, at $75 it's not a bad price (you get a hot appetizer and a cold one, a primi, an entree and dessert) it is not a set menu, the chef picks it as he goes along, but if you want to try a certain dish be sure to let the waiter know and they will include it.

In the end none of us ended up with the tasting menu, because we decided we would just share all our plates.

Our amuse bouche was a crostini with fennel and onion. Good, but not supremely memorable.

Three appetizers started us off:

Kobe beef tartare was fantastic, topped with a quail egg I immediately mixed it all together and we went to town on the plate of raw meat like lions! Our waiter forgot the crostini and so the plate looked rather empty.

For our vegetarian appetizer we opted for the ricotta stuffed zucchini blossoms with melon and prosciutto. Lest you think this will be the traditional proscuitto wrapped melon, it of course wasn't. The zucchini was beyond stuffed with melted ricotta. It actually squirted as we cut it, but that didn't mean any of the filling went to waste. The cantelope and proscuitto was light and full of flavor!

And our seafood appetizer was the fried clams, not terribly original on our behalf, but fried sure sounded good. And it was! Not overly greasy with horseradish. I liked the presentation in the cone, very pomme frites-like. I placed this strategically closest to me so I could eat more than anyone else.All our entrees were seafood, it was a warm evening and lamb or steak sounded too heavy. Plus these were the three we all couldn't decide between.

The first thing on the menu that caught my eye was the lobster stuffed paccheri. So that was destined to be my entree. I have a huge dislike for mushrooms, but luckily chanterelles are one of the few I do like, so it was a bonus that they were the ones in my dish. The red currents added a nice bit of tanginess to the dish, and a good splash of color. The lobster stuffing was amazingly melt in your mouth good. I only wish there had been more of the lobster stuffing in the pasta. Our heartiest entree, and the one that half of got packed up and taken home was the shellfish risotto. Full of calamari, mussels, shrimp the result was shellfish in every bite. Fantastic! Do not be deceived by the big plate, there is plenty of food in this dish.
Our most carb-conscious dish was the tuna mezzo crudo. Perfectly seared high quality tuna, polenta (or possibly mashed potato?) wrapped in proscuitto and wilted spinach in onion cream decorating the plate. We all wanted more of the proscuitto canneloni. They should seriously consider making this an appetizer.
As a side dish we got the Gorgonzola potato gratin. It was dee-lish-ous. The gorgonzola flavor was very very mild, but I will definately entertain this idea the next time I make a potato gratin at home. Serving it in an all-clad pan was a nice touch.
By the end of the meal, no one wanted to order dessert. But my personal philosophy (stolen from a good friend) is that you must always try all a restaurant has to offer the first time you go. So I ordered the bread pudding with amaretto gelato and caramel swirls (per the waiter's recommendation). I must say, the gelato was good, but the bread pudding was a bit dry and not very flavorful, even after dipped in the caramel sauce.
The table next to us had ordered the ricotta pie with coconut sorbet and left half of it as well. So I'd say skip the desserts and just head to one of the many cafe's lining Hanover Street and pick up dessert there.

The service overall was just ok. Initially our waiter was very rushed in explaining menu options and specials, which I found a bit irritating. Tack on to that the forgotten crostini with the tartare, and not being very good about refilling our empty wine glasses, it took away from me wanting to give the service fine dining status.
I'll be back though for the food was good and original for the neighborhood. And except the dessert there wasn't a single dish I wouldn't order again.

Tapas Ashland Style - Tabu Restaurant

2007-07-20T20:15:00.000-07:00

When I think tapas, I think enough for a couple bites per plate. This is not the case at Tabu. Small plates are not the norm here. So while we went for a light dinner after spa day, we walked away with lots of food in our bellies, and plenty to take back to the B&B with us. We had ordered all the food at once, perhaps the 2 of us should have paced ourselves.
We started off with chips, salsa and guacamole. The guacamole was smooth and fresh, I almost forgot about the salsa. A generous portion that I kept dipping in.

Next was the empanada of the day.

Pork, corn, carrots and creamy goodness fried to perfection. With a slaw like salad on the side and 2 dipping sauces (chipotle crema and something else). I am not a huge pork fan (my companion is) but this was some good stuff. We ate one and took the other back with us.

There was of course the requisite queso fundido. Cheesy goodness, some bread and the overwhelming desire to take it home and eat it for the rest of the night.

Then we had the meatballs in a saffron broth. This was the dish that should have been small, but oh no. These were some serious meatballs!

The saffron tomato broth was light, but there was also the mashed potatoes. They were yummy and there was trouble deciding if I should eat more meatballs or more potatoes. The meatballs won. I can't explain just how large they were, but take the size of a meatball in a homestyle Italian restaurant and that sounds about right. There were 3, we ate 1 1/2.

While perusing the menu I had been eyeing the sweet potato fries with jalepeno crema dipping sauce. But we decided we should get one of the dinner platos in addition to all the tapas. So we got a slow roasted pork, covered in cheese, with the potatoes on the side. And boy was that the right choice.
Again, not a fan of pork but this was tender and tasty. And of course I inhaled the fries. My friend and Tabu just may have converted me to the other white meat.

The drinks were good, the food was plentiful and tasty. And yes, as if it weren't obvious my hungry belly and I will surely be back.

Home Cooking in Portland - Mothers Bistro & Bar

2007-07-14T19:32:00.000-07:00

Tasty tasty and cute! We popped in on a Saturday morning and while there was a line outside the wait was maybe only 5-10 minutes. I'd heard good things about Mother's and they were right. The french toast dipped in cornflakes sounds strange, but works, really well. So well, you don't even need syrup. The stuffed frittata was tasty, I like sour cream and bacon and cheese and if you put all that together you can't really go wrong.

The decor was so bright and airy, I loved the big windows, and the yellow and green walls and the chandeliers. I want a big house so I can decorate it like that.

Moral of the story: don't be intimidated by the long line on a weekend, it goes by fast.

I can't wait to get back to try thier Mac & Cheese, something tells me it won't disappoint.

Great Ambiance, Lame Service - Bluehour

2007-07-14T19:28:00.000-07:00

I had been to Bluehour before in 2003 and absolutely loved everything about it, the food, the decor, the service. Sadly, my last visit had a very different experience. The service was subpar. Our waiter could have cared less that we were there (no bread for us, yet all the other tables got some), we ordered the cheese tray and he just put it on the table and didn't tell us what he brought out. When we asked he seemed annoyed and said "I can't really explain what I want to say" and just walked off. We stared at the cheese and each other, laughed a bit, were confused as to if he was serious. He walked by the table a couple more times, and stopped in and started telling us how hard his job was, memorizing new menus everyday, and wines, and cheeses, and he'd been there since 10 am. So here was the cheese list, we could take it shopping with us if we liked the ones he put on the tray. (Um ok, but really this is your job, I don't call my clients and bitch about how much work I have to do everyday and tell them I can't be bothered with thier work). He just had a bad attitude, and I don't go out to what is supposedly still one of Portland's best restaurants to deal with a snarky disgruntled waiter.The only thing that is meriting more than one star is the food, it is still excellent (altho my lamb was more fat than meat - it's a good thing I like lamb fat) the tuna tartare and avocado mixture was very tasty, nice touch with the tangerines, the burger my friend got was enormous, and the cheeses were quite good. We didn't try dessert, since he didn't ask us if we wanted any, and brought the check after clearing our dishes.

New Sammy's Cowboy Bistro - Ashland

2007-07-09T17:28:00.000-07:00

While planning our trip to Ashland, I of course had to find a couple fancy food places to go. I had stumbled upon New Sammy's Cowboy Bistro in a San Francisco Chronicle article years ago, and then again in my research skills this time around. For a place in a small town outside of Ashland to have a 2 month wait list is pretty impressive. So I was excited to try this place that had no website, no menu anywhere online and quite a dramatic Bay Area history. Charlene Rollins was a cook at Chez Panisse and Vernon Rollins a French wine importer. Charlene does all the cooking and uses all organic and to the extent possible local ingredients.

Sammy's did not disappoint.

All reviews I had found said that it was hard to find, a shack hidden behind overgrown shrubs, and a parking lot that was more like a gas station. They were outdated, Sammy's is now clearly visable from the road due to a new facade, and what seems to be a greatly expanding space. It will be amazing when done.
Right now, finding the front door is a bit tricky (hint, it's inside the new building to the left down a hallway) and we had some random people who were sitting in the parking lot show us the way. There still is a garden in the back where a lot of the veggies and herbs they use are grown.

Inside, it is an eclectic old shack. Lots of menus and posters and wine labels from France line the walls. There are 2 tables in a back room (where we sat), and 4 or 5 in the front room. The ceilings are low (and I am only 5'2) and in the bathroom I almost hit my head. But all of this adds a certain charm to the spot, the hideaway it was for the owners who wanted to focus on nothing more than preparing good food and serving great wines.

I wish I knew more about non-domestic wines, the wine list is apparently incredible and impressive, but completely lost on me. Although there are some seriously expensive bottles on there (upwards of $800!) so if you are an oenophile, you should get yourself there in an instant. We had Vernon recommend a couple glasses of wine that would go well with our meals, and he was spot on.

For dinner I opted for the evening's three course prix fixe menu ($58) with the addition of an appetizer from the regular menu. Yes, the prix fixe came with a salad, but the appetizer sounded too good to not try.

We had an amuse bouche, mine was a chicken pate with a pickled cherry (soooooo good, I wanted to come home and do the same), some mustard, and pickles. It took me a while to finish it because it was so yummy I wanted to make it last as long as possible. My companion (A) had a sorrel soup, it was fresh tasting with a touch of creme fraiche and wasabi. The wasabi threw me off a bit, since normally I am ready to suck down anything involving sorrel and it took me a moment to realize why this tasted different.

The appetizer I got was fresh sugar snap peas (from the farm) with proscuitto and a sort of rice pudding. Portion size was quite hearty and it was indeed very filling. The freshness of the peas and mint was a good balance with the richness of the rice. We kept forcing ourselves to eat it, even though we were full and had other dishes coming, because something about it was just so right.
The salad that came with the prix fixe dinner was also huge. Soft boiled egg, applewood bacon, bay shrimp, and more fresh greens from the garden. I couldn't eat it all. It was fantastic however.

A got a salad as well, which was smaller, and also quite fresh and good.

The theme of the night was definately the fresh tasting goodness of food that comes straight from the land.

A got a ravioli entree with of course more garden-fresh peas, and I got a braised lamb with ricotta gnocchi. Little fluffy pillows of gnocchi. Honestly, the best I've ever had. Her ravioli were huge and light and so fresh tasting. This was the key to Charlene's cooking, everything tasted so crisp and clean and you just knew it was fresh. It's amazing what a difference that makes in the flavor of the food.

Dessert was a bowl of melted chocolate with scoops of ice cream and cornmeal biscotti. Let me repeat, MELTED CHOCOLATE. Nothing can be wrong in this world after eating that. It was insanely rich, I doubt the chocolate was diluted with anything. And all I wanted was to figure out how to transport it back to the B&B because I just wanted to eat it all night long.

A got a strawberry chiffon cake, with deliciously thick and rich frosting and cake that was light as air. She ate the cake, I ate the frosting. There was a final dessert amuse bouche, a cornmeal sugar cookie shaped like a cow. A ginger chocolate and a Meyer lemon jelly sqaure. A bit of whimsey to finish off the evening, and so you don't forget that Sammy wanted the cowboys to come eat here.

I don't know about the cowboys, but I will be back anytime I am in the greater Southern Oregon neighborhood.

Location: New Sammy's Cowboy Bistro. 2210 South Pacific Highway. Talent, OR 97540. 541-535-2779