Epicurious

We're moving...again...

noreply@blogger.com (California Dreamer) — Sun, 23 Aug 2009 16:47:00 +0000

I'm in the process of moving everything over to my new domain...come check us out...

http://www.dalechang.com

La Toque

noreply@blogger.com (California Dreamer) — Sat, 29 Sep 2007 15:23:00 +0000

About a month ago, I went to a restaurant called La Toque in Rutherford, CA. It was phenomenal. The food, service and ambiance were all fantastic. This dining experience really was one of those evening long events; a 7 course tasting menu, paired with exquisite wines from around the world. While all the courses were phenomenal, the one stand out was the foie gras. Yes, I may be offending a few animal rights activists up there, but there is nothing quite like the sweet and salty taste and creamy texture of goose and duck liver. Force Feed Away!

Reservations are recommended and taken 6 months in advance. Also, plan on spending the entire evening dining. It is well worth it.

La Toque
1140 Rutherford Road
Rutherford, CA 94573
707-963-9770

Horny Toad

noreply@blogger.com (California Dreamer) — Sat, 28 Jul 2007 17:20:00 +0000

This place is infested with bugs. We sat down to dinner and I had a "creeping" suspicion that we should have just left. Menus were set down on the table and a beetle of some sort crawled across the table. As one of my teammates was about to eat a french fry, the aforementioned beetle's cousin was sitting on the end. I noticed on crawling across my shirt. I almost just threw up reliving the evening. This place should be closed down for health code violations.

6738 E Cave Creek Rd
Cave Creek, AZ 85331
(480) 488-9542

Elements

noreply@blogger.com (California Dreamer) — Sat, 28 Jul 2007 16:12:00 +0000

Elements has some great things going for it. The view is absolutely amazing, the food is very good and the cocktails and wine list were excellent as well. The one thing that the place lacked was great service. The service was good, but it didn't match up to the food and ambiance of the place. Looking out over the Sonoran desert with thunderstorms in the distance, you get to see a completely different view than what you would expect of the Phoenix metropolitan area. Great wines from "hidden gems" round out the already delicious menu of food. I started with the Duck Two Ways which paired duck with foie gras and peaches. It was absolutely delicious. For my main course, I had the filet with Maytag Bleu Cheese. It, too, was delicious. Some of my teammates did not like their salads, but I was impressed with the place. A little expensive for what you got, but I would go back none-the-less with hopes for better service.

5700 E McDonald Dr
Paradise Valley, AZ 85253
(480) 607-2300

Chino Bandido Takee Outee

noreply@blogger.com (California Dreamer) — Sat, 28 Jul 2007 16:06:00 +0000

Avoid this place like the plague. I was "treated" to this place by some of my teammates and it was the yuck. Remember how I said I hated fusion. This is a prime example. Blending egg-foo-young and a quesadilla. Who thought of that putrid combination? I wish I could have that hour of my life back, but alas, it is gone.

Chino Bandido Takee Outee
15414 N 19th Ave
#K
Phoenix, AZ 85023
(602) 375-3639

Bloom

noreply@blogger.com (California Dreamer) — Sat, 28 Jul 2007 15:46:00 +0000

I've been out in Scottsdale quite often and have had a chance to go to some great restaurants and some not-so-great restaurants. We can start with Bloom, which gets average to good marks in my books. The service and the wine list by the glass is quite impressive, however, the food I felt was just average.

My dining party started out by sampling one of every appetizer on the menu, literally. Some were better than others, but they are all worth trying. For dinner, I had the scallops, which were a bit overdone. I don't think there is anything worse than overcooked food. Especially shellfish, where the texture turns rubbery and the quality of the meal quickly deteriorates.

That being said, the rest of the dinner party enjoyed their meals, so perhaps I just chose the wrong item. They did also have an extensive wine list, of which, many were served by the glass. In fact, they did several varietal flights (About 20 or so) that were some of my long time favorites as well as new favorites.

Overall, it is worth checking out. The service and wine are great. The food, I'll leave that up to you.

Bloom
8877 North Scottsdale Road
Scottsdale, AZ 85253
(480) 922-5666

Saba

noreply@blogger.com (California Dreamer) — Sun, 14 Jan 2007 02:32:00 +0000

Last night, I went to dinner with some b-school friends at Saba. Now, I usually don't like small plates restaurants, but this one wasn't bad. I really can't place the food, but it was a big mix of island, asian, spanish, latin and western flavors. Usually, I would say that is too confusing, but I think the food was really good.

One thing that I didn't like about the restaurant is the dimly lit atmosphere. I'm a big believer in eating with your eyes before anything else. If the food doesn't look appetizing, then I don't want to eat it. In this case, it was too dark, so I guess I had to give the chef the benefit of the doubt. I'm assuming that the food had great presentation and color, but it was really too dark for me to tell.

Overall, I thought the restaurant was great. If you go, it might make sense to bring a flashlight.
;-)

Saba
208D W Fourth St
Austin, TX 78701
(512) 478-7222

Uchi

noreply@blogger.com (California Dreamer) — Fri, 29 Dec 2006 22:26:00 +0000

"Eureka!"

Besides being the state motto of California, this was the word that sprung from my mouth when we went to Uchi. I have been on a rampage, searching high and low for the best sushi in Austin, and I honestly feel as though my search may have finally come to an end. After experiencing such horrendous experiences such as Kenichi, Uchi finally satisfied my craving. While not 100% traditional, the fish was fresh, the flavors delicate and the atmosphere, was well, let's just say it was a bit trendy.

One thing that you must try is the Hotate (Scallops). It was phenomenal.

Uchi
801 South Lamar
Austin, TX 78704
512-916-4808

Craft Dallas

noreply@blogger.com (California Dreamer) — Thu, 12 Oct 2006 20:55:00 +0000

Finally, a great meal at a great restaurant. Unfortunately, I had to travel to Dallas for this meal. I went to the Dallas outpost of the original Craft Restaurant in New York City. Tom Colicchio has really worked his magic. The food here is creative, elegant and delicious. The waitstaff was highly attentive. The food is served family style and meant to share. While simple, the dishes were amazing and brought together some of the best flavors from around the world. I dined on Kobe Beef Skirt Steak, Scallops, Heirloom Beans Salad, Heirloom Squash and Roasted Mushrooms. All of the dishes were awesome, save the Heirloom Squash. It wasn't bad, per se, but it just didn't measure up to everything else on the menu. Finally, I finished the night off by sharing a Chocolate Cake with Fermented Berries. Phenomenal.

I highly recommend trying out this restaurant, though don't go with an empty wallet. You'll need some cash, and you could quite possibly leave with empty pockets. My opinion, well worth the experience.

Craft Restaurant
2440 Victory Park Lane
Dallas, TX 75219
214-397-4111

Santa Rita

noreply@blogger.com (California Dreamer) — Sun, 24 Sep 2006 19:25:00 +0000

I'll admit that I haven't been the best about posting to this blog. Part of it is that I have no time. the other part of it is that I have no money to go out to dinner anymore. Add to that the fact that credit card roulette sucks, and you have the reason for my lack of writing.

I will tell you upfront that I lost at credit card roulette for this particular dining experience. Ouch.

The restaurant is in a little bit of a strip mall, though the food is quite tasty. We had an over excited server who told us that he was recently appointed manager of the restaurant. Screw him. He was the one that picked my card to pay for the meal. Just kidding, it's not like it was his fault.

Chips and Queso, which they serve at every meal in Texas, were good. Not the best I've ever had, but I would order them again. I had the combination fajitas and they were very good. Now, they weren't as good as Lupe Tortilla in Houston, but nobody will be, so that's not even a fair comparison.

Overall, the drinks were tasty, the food was delicious and the company was great. The meal was just ruined in the last 5 minutes. The one final moment that made the evening spectacular was when my friend GW was walking out and told a latin looking fellow that it was a wonderful night and thanks for the great food. It turns out, he was just waiting for a table.

Santa Rita Tex-Mex Cantina
1206 W 38th St
Austin, TX 78705
512-419-7482

Oh yeah, I forgot to add, don't go to Kenichi.

Kenichi

noreply@blogger.com (California Dreamer) — Tue, 22 Aug 2006 23:13:00 +0000

I'm a big believer in restaurants that serve great food with minimal fanfare. This seems to be the opposite of what the proprietors of Kenichi had in mind. This sushi restaurant is located in the warehouse district of Austin, and features a dimly lit room, loud music and bartenders with attitudes. I mean, I like bringing together flavors from different cultures, but this whole "Asian-Fusion" category must stop. I mean, what year do they think this is--1999?

Any sushi restaurant that, when asked what their best fish is for the night, mentions their California Roll and what they deem their "Volcano Roll" which is a mayonnaise covered mess, should be shut down and never allowed to operate in the industry ever again. But, shame on me for not just walking out.

Kenichi
Screw it, I'm not even going to put the address and phone number in here. I don't want you to be able to find it. If you really want to put yourself through some pain, Google the restaurant. But don't say I didn't warn you.

Tomasita's

noreply@blogger.com (California Dreamer) — Thu, 10 Aug 2006 13:13:00 +0000

Upon entering the establishment, there is a noticeable sign indicating:

A MESSAGE TO OUR GUESTS
Residents and frequent visitors have come to love the spice of our cuisine and depend on their chile 'fix.' At Tomasita's, chile is a main ingredient of our dishes and we serve it HOT. If you are new to the taste, please ask for a sample of our chile before ordering so that we may serve you better.

Now, being the capsaicin junky that I am, I took that as a challenge. By the crowded waiting room, it seemed like many others had the same thought. The place was packed to the gills for lunch. We had a 30 minute wait, but we took our place on the bench and waited since the food here was exhaulted by several people.

In one word. Delicious. Not being able to choose between the multiple dishes, I chose the Super Combination Plate which included an enchilada, a tamale, a chile relleno, a taco served Christmas style and rice and beans to boot. Sopapillas were also served with the meal, though I didn't really have much room after the hefty portions of food on my plate. Everything was fantastic. Though I was disappointed with the supposed heat of the food. Maybe I got a tame batch, but it didn't seem that spicy to me at all. Actually, I found it to be relatively mild on the Scoville scale. Regardless, the food was amazing and I would have no problem recommending this place to anybody.

Tomasita's Santa Fe Station
500 S Guadalupe St
Santa Fe, NM 87501
(505) 983-5721

Yippie-Ei-O Steakhouse

noreply@blogger.com (California Dreamer) — Tue, 01 Aug 2006 23:17:00 +0000

Just outside of the Grand Canyon, there is a small town of Tusayan. We were starving, so we went to a restaurant called the Yippie-Ei-O Steakhouse. Overall rating is that this restaurant is not great.

One highlight of the meal was the appetizer of fried zuchini and mushrooms. That was actually quite tasty. But then again, they are deep fried.

The steak I ordered was quite dry and overcooked. However, my girlfriend's filet was pretty good. All the wait staff was foreign, so they couldn't even understand me when I asked them questions about the menu. Best of all, was that they only had ranch dressing for the salad, which was made up of old iceberg lettuce and a couple cherry tomatoes. I will say that they do serve hearty portions of food. Even for American standards. Included with my dinner was the aforementioned salad, the steak, fried shrimp, a baked potato, corn on the cob, a biscuit and baked beans.

My girlfriend did say that the biscuits that they served were delicious. I, however, do not like biscuits, since they are cakey and not bready. (That we will save for another discussion.)

If I were you, skip Tusayan and go somewhere in Williams or Flagstaff.

Sonic Drive In

noreply@blogger.com (California Dreamer) — Mon, 31 Jul 2006 08:22:00 +0000

After the big build up, I must say that I was extremely disappointed with Sonic. I've only heard good things about them, but then again, it could be that I've been listening to the wrong people. I guess I should have known better when someone referred to fast food as being great. (Exception noted for In-N-Out Burger.)

I asked for a burger with everything, hold the mayo. I got...you get guessed it, a burger with nothing but mayo. My "Iced Tea" had no ice. The service was slow. Basically, I could have picked up roadkill and had a more satisfying meal.

Overall, thumbs way down.

EDITED TO ADD: Another funny thing that happened was that the server we had was brand new. To make things worse, he nearly killed himself when he ran into our car with a tray of food.

E'Angelo

noreply@blogger.com (California Dreamer) — Sat, 29 Jul 2006 18:13:00 +0000

So, someone had to do it. Someone had to be the first bad food review on this esteemed site. I went to E'Angelo last night for some old fashioned italian fare and came to discover that it had gone downhill quite a bit. I'm not exactly sure what happened, but most of the food ended up tasting just a little off. The meatballs were super salty and all of the sauces were just, "eh." The one shining star of the night was the chicken with arugula and asiago cheese. That was pretty darn good. Lots of different earthy flavors from the nuttiness of the cheese to the peppery arugula, it all came together pretty well.

Coincidentally, the also started taking credit cards at their restaurant. A major convenience factor since half the times I go there I forget cash and end up having to walk around the corner to the ATM.

Well, I've had better at E'Angelo. I really just hope it was a fluke occurence. Usually the food there is pretty darn good.

E'Angelo
2234 Chestnut St
San Francisco, CA 94123
(415) 567-6164

The Bell Tower

noreply@blogger.com (California Dreamer) — Thu, 27 Jul 2006 17:18:00 +0000

Last night, I went to dinner with a couple friends to The Bell Tower on Polk St. It was pretty good. Nothing to write home about, but the food was good and a great place for a casual meal and drinks. I had the French Onion Soup and the Fish and Chips. Being a FOS connoisseur, I give it a rating of Good. It was just missing something. I'm not sure what, but it felt a little empty. That being said, it is still pretty good and blows the FOS from Brazen Head out of the water, or soup as it may be.

The Fish and Chips were decent, but I probably would change my order next time and go for the chicken sandwich that my friends got. It looked pretty delicious.

1900 Polk St
San Francisco, CA 94109
(415) 567-9596

Zushi Puzzle

noreply@blogger.com (California Dreamer) — Wed, 26 Jul 2006 18:01:00 +0000

I went out to dinner last night with a couple of friends to a sushi restaurant I had never been to before. The fish was amazing, the sushi chef was awesome and our neighbors at the sushi bar were a little strange. (Though very nice since they did buy us a couple rounds of sake) I actually think Roger, the sushi chef, ate more fish than he sent out on plates. Every time he would make something, he would cut himself off a piece and, for lack of a better word, slurp it into his mouth. I was a little worried that some of that "slurp" would end up on the sushi, but I don't think it ever did. Or, maybe that's the special sauce in the "Remix" sushi.

Oh, and they serve Orion Beer, which is one of my favorite Japanese beers.

The nigiri and sashimi was good. Their special rolls were very creative. Personally, I am more of a sushi purist and would prefer nigiri and sashimi. But these special rolls were very good.

Zushi Puzzle
1910 Lombard St.
San Francisco, CA 94123
415-931-9319

Make a reservation for the sushi bar so you can witness the slurping yourself.

Le Soleil

noreply@blogger.com (California Dreamer) — Tue, 25 Jul 2006 15:59:00 +0000

Yesterday for lunch, after the movers came to give us an estimate on our move, we picked up some Vietnamese food from Le Soleil. The food there is pretty good, though I have noticed that the price of the food has crept up slowly over the past few years. Regardless, the food they serve up is always consistent.

Since I am a sucker for vietnamese spring rolls, that is always on my order. In addition, we usually end up getting some sort of noodle dish. Other dishes to try include the special rice bowl with chinese sausage, shrimp, chicken and vegetables or the Vietnamese Crepe.

Overall, I would recommend Le Soleil to anyone looking for a casual Vietnamese meal. There are, of course, other restaurants that have better ambiance, more interesting menu selections, etc., but this one fits the bill nicely for quick, inexpensive and dependable.

Le Soleil
133 Clement St
San Francisco, CA 94118
(415) 668-4848

Siam Square

noreply@blogger.com (California Dreamer) — Fri, 21 Jul 2006 06:07:00 +0000

Sometimes you just want tasty and inexpensive Thai food delivered. My choice in San Francisco is Siam Square in the Marina. Everything on their menu is great, their prices are reasonable and delivery is quick. Tonight, the food was at my door within 20 minutes.

My usual order?
Po Piah
Panang Chicken Curry
Tom-Yum-Gai
Pad Eggplant

Everything on the menu is very tasty though. (One exception is the Pad Thai, which isn't my favorite.) Maybe it's not as fancy as some of the other haute cuisine in San Francisco, but the sometimes simple food just hits the spot.

Siam Square
2414 Lombard St
San Francisco, CA 94123
(415) 775-3963

Food, Wine and Sometimes Not Remembering Because of the Latter

noreply@blogger.com (California Dreamer) — Fri, 21 Jul 2006 05:59:00 +0000

I'm glad that I'm going to start blogging about restaurants/food/wines that I have tried. I admit, this is somewhat selfish in nature as I do want to be able to remember some of the spectacular places that I have been. But, I want to be able to share my experiences with my friends.