Bouchon

Yountville, CA

Bouchon is Thomas Kellar's casual French Cafe in Yountville, CA. We had a late lunch during the taste of Yountville, a street food fair gathering of the local restaurants. It was nice to be seated outside in the small patio with Shaddy, people watch and enjoy some good food. Truth be told, we had been to Bouchon before after seeing Anthony Bourdain rave about the perfect French fries, but weren't blown away. Last time I had the Steak Frites (not bad, but nothing that special) and Chu-Toro had the Mussels, pretty good. We started with Kellar's exclusively made Blue Apron Ale and an iced tea which never reached empty, a pair of wonderful beverages on a warm afternoon. 


I'm not sure what possessed me to order the blood sausage given I've never thought blood sausage sounded appealing to me before, but the way it was presented as the special intrigued me. It was presented with a bed of potato puree and asian pears.

Blood Sausage

Texturally, the sausage was moist inside and flavorful, and other than the color of the sausage, you wouldn't know a core ingredient was blood. The sweet juicy pears and creamy potatoes blended well to offer a different consistency to the delicate sausage. The buttery, parsley topped sauce was a nice touch. This dish has not turned me into a blood sausage lover, but it definitely offered me a good change of pace and culinary experience.

Poulet

Where blood sausage is off the norm, Chu-Toro's dish was a boring as can be, the poulet with bok choy. I'm also not sure what possessed us to order this because we never, ever order chicken. But we certainly were glad we did, since it was one of the most tasty moist excellent chicken dishes we've ever had. Out of the top three chicken dishes ever, two are from Kellar establishments (TFL and Bouchon) the other was Bottega's. They know how to make it really juicy, sweet, and wonderful, a great dish.

Mac and Cheese and Fries

You would think these aren't the kind of sides you'd see at a Michelin starred restaurant, but these classics are staples here. 

Shadow under the table

It ended up being a very enjoyable meal, the staff was attentive, friendly to Shadow (bringing her a water bowl)  and the food well executed. The goal here is to offer high quality classic dishes and they've succeeded in this regard.

Rating 7.5/10

March 20, 2010

Shaddy Approved

Bottega

Yountville, CA

I watch a lot of food network programming and my absolute favorite show is Easy Entertaining with Michael Chiarello. I have no idea why, since his recipes are hardly easy, but I really like his style and his food always looks amazing. He always stressed the use of grey salt on his shows, and I was brainwashed enough to drop $13 bucks at his NapaStyle store on it. I remember my first visit to Taylor's Refresher, I saw him in the flesh and was gitty for hours. So when i heard he was opening Bottega in Yountville, I was excited to say the least.

Wood Grilled Octopus olive oil

We heard amazing things about the octopus and rightfully so. It was unbelievably tender, flavorful, presented with a perfect grilled aroma. Combined with high quality olive oil, it may have been the best dish of the night, although there were a lot of contenders. I've also had grilled octopus at Osteria Mozza in LA which was also memorable and would love to taste them side by side in attempts of determining a winner.

Green-Egg and Ham 

Chu-Toro started with the green egg and ham consisting of olive oil poached Delta asparagus, crispy soft-boiled egg, pecorino cheese pudding and prosciutto bits. Also an incredible appetizer, simple and complex at the same time. The simple poached asparagus laid beneath the perfectly breaded soft boiled egg that oozed out wonderfully across the dish. The ingredients shined on their own, but together offered layers of marvelous flavor.

 Potato Gnocchi

Gnocchi can truly be a magical or awful experience but I only learned that after dining at Bottega. I don't think we knew how wonderful gnocchi could be until Chu-Toro ordered what she calls Chiarello's "little pillows of heaven." Often, gnocchi is the pasta dish that makes you prematurely full, given the nature of its contents (potatoes). But there is no exaggeration when I say this is the best gnocchi we've ever had, hands down. It was light and tasty, soft and melted in our mouths, a magical dish. 

Parpadelle Ragu

Truth be told, I don't recall the protein in this ragu, but do remember that the pasta was really fresh, al dente and overall it was nice dish. I think we just in such awe over the gnocchi that we've forgotten the contents of this pasta. 

Seafood Brodetto 

For the entrees, I ordered he seafood brodetto, a tomato based seafood stew with clams, shrimp, fish and a large rectangular piece of toasted bread in the middle. The dish was good, but in retrospect, I probably would have ordered another item. 

Roasted Chicken

Chu-Toro ordered the roasted chicken with cipolini onions. Normally, I am adamantly against ordering chicken since its boring. But I'm glad thats what stuck out on the menu for Chu-Toro since it is one of the best chicken's I have ever had. Between Bottega and Bouchon, less than a block apart from each other in Yountville, are the two best chicken dishes I've ever had. There was not one bite of the chicken that was dry or overcooked. Perfectly juicy and flavorful chicken with a side great cipolini onions. We also ordered a side of truffle fries, awesome but very heavy in truffle flavor which made them difficult to finish.  

Chocolate Soufflé with cream anglaise  

This dessert peaked our interests when the table next to us received theirs, so we decided to go with the same. It was delightful, and surprisingly not overly sweet.

Our meal was great and we're eager to return for another round of Chiarello's food.  The prices are reasonable, the ambiance is not stuffy and the food was excellent.


Rating 8/10

May 3, 2009

Daimo

El Cerrito, CA

Chu-Toro and I have been coming to Daimo for the past seven years. It was a staple during the college years, conveniently located in El Cerrito a few exits from Berkeley next to 99 Ranch. It's open till 3 AM and offers good Chinese food and the closest Won Ton Mien that reminds her family of Hong Kong.  And although we haven't been here in a while, it remains a simple classic. Since we hadn't had lunch and got a bit overly excited, we ordered too much.

Beef Chow Fun

A classic oily rice noodle dish with large thin slices of beef, sprouts and green onions, one of my favorites. You know its oily because if you ever try to make it at home, your noodles stick together, but at good Chinese restaurants, they never do. 

Won Ton Mien

This is what my in-laws always order, a straight-forward noodle soup with shrimp filled won ton dumplings. Daimo's won ton are large and hearty, filled by multiple shrimp and a perfect accompaniment to the fresh noodles and hot broth. 

Deep Fried Tofu

When you order Chinese food, you always have to have that one veggie dish. I cheated and ordered a deep fried one, salty and spicy fried tofu. 

Char Siu

Chu-Toro used to rave about how amazing and fatty the Char Siu was as a kid in Hong Kong. I experienced it for myself this past summer and now am on a journey to find a version of it in the states. Daimo's version, although a valiant attempt, lacks the fatty juices and perfect sauce of the one from HK but definitely hits the spot in comparison to the usual Chinese grocery stores.

This is not the place you come for ambiance or service, its where you come for good late night Chinese food with hopes of fulfilling those nostalgic cravings.


Rating 7/10
September 3, 2010

Manresa

Los Gatos, CA

Over the past year when our foodie excursions really started ramping up, we've been extremely fortunate to dine at many of the best restaurants in CA including TFL, Cyrus, Coi, Meadowwood and Providence. The one that has stuck out in Chu-Toro's mind is Manresa, David Kinch's two Michelin star jewel in Los Gatos. Last October when we dined there, the lighting was poor, we didn't have our DLSR and weren't documenting our meals as we are now, so this past Saturday was our chance to make up with detailed pictures, assessments and hopefully meet and take a picture with chef Kinch.
Upon arrival, we were seated by general manager Michael Kean who was very accommodating to change our table to the corner where we would not disrupt other guests with our flash. Waiting on the table was a signed card congratulating us on our anniversary, a very classy and thoughtful touch right off the bat.

A sealed and signed Anniversary card sitting on our table

We went with the tasting menu ($160) titled "The Late Summer Garden," and started with the classic Manresa Petite fours "red pepper-black olive." The madeleine was olive flavored, soft in the center with a more firm crust, the gelee like our last visit was prevalent of red pepper, almost tasting roasted.

Petite fours

The following amuse bouche was garden beignets, vinegar powder. Atop the small circular marble slab were two small beignets and fried crispy kale. When biting into the beignet, the two foremost flavors, kale and vinegar explode into your mouth. I'm not a huge fan of too much vinegar, which I thought this dish had, but for the purpose of an amuse bouche to awaken your flavor pallet, it was a creative unique bite. 

Garden beignets

Next was a strawberry gazpacho with marcona almonds. We were instructed to shoot the fruity cold soup. It was a sweet shot with hints of red peppers and the crunch of my favorite almond.

Strawberry gazpacho

The final amuse bouche was Manresa's classic Arpege farm egg. During our last visit, this egg was one of the most anticipated things we read about. Although we felt this one was slightly overdone, it was still a great rich, creamy excellent dish. I could have this for breakfast every morning.

Arpege Egg

While we awaited our first course, we were offered a bread service slightly different to the one we encountered under a year ago. Infatuated with the bread service at Cyrus, Chu-Toro was happily surprised to see that Manresa had upgraded to offer five carb types including their original French, whole wheat, pumpernickel and fennel seed, rosemary olive and her favorite, the brioche. The buttery brioche was biscuit like, buttery, flaky and heavenly. Between the two of us, we ate about five of these bad boys.

Brioche and butter

Onto the first course, abalone jelly with cucumber noodles. 

Abalone jelly with cucumber noodles

This is the kind of brilliance that makes David Kinch so amazing. This delicate thin slices of citrus marinated abalone combined with dashi flavor gelee and cool stringy cucumber noodles was excellent. Although the flavors were not completely original, the combination of freshness, texture and flavor blended superbly, a wonderful start.

Squash shoots and snails in bonito butter

The next course was squash shoots and snails in bonito butter with toasted seeds. The first lightly fried squash blossom was best squash prep I've ever had which was difficult to say since the following bite underneath that with a snail filled squash was also delectable. The richness of the bonito butter acted as a soup, a savory dressing to the various pieces of squash shoots.

Into the garden

Kinch's quintessential "into the garden" dish was next, which represents how fresh picked vegetables and flowers from a garden can be a simple yet stunning fine dining experience. I don't recall every item in this dish, but it did include carrots, eggplant, beets, radishes, oca, fennel fawns, cherry tomato, arugla, potato, simulate dirt for texture as well as as foam and vegetable purees that can only be describe as an extremely thought provoking, meticulously plated unbelievable course. It still remains completely original to any other restaurant that we've experienced and is a greatly appreciated offering.

Pumpkin veloute "potmarron," nasturtium ice cream

Our next dish to our delight was a pumpkin veloute. Besides pumpkin pie, most people don't appreciate pumpkin as the focus of a dish, we certainly didn't before our last visit to Manresa. But just like time, we instantly fell in love with the pumpkin veloute, a creamy soup that you want to drink on every cold winter evening, served in a large stone bowl, poured atop a small arrangement of nasturtium ice cream, fresh and fried flower. The fried floret was particularity enjoyable.

Black Cod and carrots with exotic spice, coriander

Following four remarkable courses, we had our first just "good" dish, a black cod with carrots. I guess when you think you might have your best dinner ever after four home run plates, you have to be brought back to earth with a single. Although it had a tasty India inspired flavor, I'm not sure an extremely delicate lightly flavored piece of cod was the right combination other than a textural contrast. The carrots offered a pleasant sweetness to offset the heavy handed spices.

Farm chicken roasted with matsutake, green gage plums

Chicken is always a tough sell for me, since I find it boring. Unlike the perfectly juicy flavorful squab we had at TFL, or the very good chicken at Bottega and Bouchon, Manresa's roasted poulet was pedestrian. The matsutake felt out of place and the extremely sweet plum sauce was mis-used. Unfortunately a forgettable main entrée. 

Young lamb, golden marjoram and tomato jam

The lamb was prepared two ways, a very thinly sliced rare cut and underneath it a braised smoky lamb offered. Underneath the large leaf was a tomato jam with a grilled eggplant. Regrettably, another misstep entrée, the rare lamb was just a little too undercooked, difficult to cut and chewy. The braised lamb, although extremely tender was gamey. The tomato and marjoram jams were great, but could not save the lamb preparations. 

Garden melons with rose geranium ice cream

The pallet cleansing yuzu flavored ice cream and thinly sliced melons were sweet and clean. The tiny bars of meringue added a bit of texture and variety to the dessert. When it was served and described as yuzu flavored, I was extremely excited since some of my all time favorite desserts (at Coi, Providence, Zo) include this lively citrus ingredient. But this version was too watery almost if the yuzu was simply poured on top of the dessert instead of being incorporated into the dish itself.

Fromage blanc soup with homemade granola with fruits and brown sugar jelly

This send off course righted the ship with a familiar flavored but complex dessert, a play of a deconstruction fruit cheesecake with a granola crust. Like the starting dishes, the harmonious medley of components complimented each bite of the delicious confection. Not too heavy and not too sweet, the fresh fruits and crunchy granola had us licking our spoons until the last bite.

Petite fours

Just like we started, we ended with petite fours of "strawberry-chocolate."

We did tour the kitchen in hopes of meeting chef Kinch after our meal but to say the chef was stressed out was an understatement. Under duress of cooking and plating, which he was doing both, he was clearly focused on offering the best dishes possible without any other distraction in mind, including meeting a couple of foodies at 11 PM. He raised in voice at his staff yelling for servers while three plates of lamb sat cooling on the counter. We definitely did not want to add to his busy night and left without interruption. 

Chu-Toro's favorite fine dining destination remains Manersa and its hard to disagree. With the exception of a pair of underwhelming proteins, the meal was near flawless, displaying David Kinch's unequaled imagination on the use of techniques and ingredients. The point of our constant search for the perfect meal is to taste flavors we didn't know could be or should be integrated together and you're lucky to experience two to three of those types of courses at premiere restaurants. Chef Kinch is able to produce those epiphanies throughout our two visits and is clearly one of the best food minds in the country. 

Rating 9/10

September 4, 2010

Mori Sushi

Los Angeles, CA

Chu-Toro and I fell in love with amazing nigiri at Sushi Zo in LA over a year ago and haven't felt the need to venture elsewhere. But just to change it up this past LA visit and to make sure we weren't missing anything in the LA sushi scene besides the ridiculously expensive Urasawa, we made reservations for Mori Sushi. Mori's like Zo has been recognized for a Michelin Star and is a beloved sushi destination amongst Chowhounders. Owner and chief sushi chef Mori Onodera's philosophy is focused on perfect polished rice. He even has his own rice fields in Sacramento to ensure his rice meets his exact specifications. As we entered, we saw the chef working on the far right side of the sushi bar with two other sushi chefs. When we arrived at 7:30 on Friday in the small 30 person restaurant, we were seated at sushi bar and ordered the Omakase.

Homemade tofu and freshly grated wasabi

We started with homemade tofu topped by sharkskin grated wasabi and were instructed to pour the provided soy sauce over it. It was really cool and fresh combined with the saltiness of soy and spiciness of the wasabi. A very nice pallet starter. 

Grilled Japanese Eggplant (white and red miso), Slimy seaweed, yuzu abalone, eel gelee 

Our next course was a unique one, starting with grilled eggplant two ways, with white miso and red miso. The white miso marinated eggplant was sweet and creamy while the red miso eggplant was salty but carried a clear grilled flavor. The small middle bowl was filled slimy seaweed, a first for us. Texturally it was as described, extremely slimly and a little tart, an interesting dish. The highlight of the dish was the tenderly citrus yuzu abalone which was fresh and sweet. The final component was a eel gelee, which started off very light and ended salty and eely, a fun bite.

Red Snapper soup 

The next dish was a red snapper soup, with roasted skinless eggplant, sea beans, tofu skin and a slice of calamansi lime. The ends of the large chunk of snapper were slightly overcooked, but the center was just perfect. Combined with a sweet broth, the tofu skin and saltiness of the sea beans meshed well and the texturally soft eggplant felt like it had been stewed for hours. A very nice soup to have on a cold winter night.

Grilled Spot Prawns with clams

The grilled spot prawn was beautifully split in half presenting hundreds of tiny roe and sat atop a bed of eight clams mixed with tart tomatoes and clam juices. A great dish, but unfortunately the prawn was a bit overcooked.

Fried abalone

The fried abalone was excellently executed and Chu-Toro's favorite dish of the night. Amazingly the lightly battered crunchy abalone remained tender and blended well with the lemon and sea salt provided. 

Red Snapper marinated in kelp

Red Snapper marinated in kelp was sweet, tender, and melted in my mouth. Right off the back, we could tell the difference in the rice and the perfect temperature consistency with the fish with just the right amount of wasabi. Simply amazing.

Wild Kampachi

The wild kampanchi with soy was soft, smooth, and melt in my mouth delicious. Also wonderful.

Spanish Mackerel 

The mackerel with soy was also superb, offering great texture and flavor contrast with the minced ginger and green onion topping.

Stone Snapper with Shiso and Sea Salt

Anytime Shiso is combined with my nigiri, it's a success, mainly because I love the bright mint-like flavor provided by the leaf. The sea salt sprinkled on top was also a great alternative to soy.

Baby Kampachi

The baby Kampachi was up next and buttery soft. Chu-Toro preferred the wild kampachi which had a little more bite, but I enjoyed the melt in my mouth toro texture of the this bite.

Chu Toro

Toro is one of the nigiri pieces that can tell you a lot about a sushi joint, especially because EVERY place offers a version of it. But as you can tell in the photo, the brightness and richness of the color pops and is visibly appealing. The taste was just as great, fatty, luscious and everything you could want from the perfect morsel of tuna. 

Shark

Anytime I get to try a piece of nigiri I've never had before I get very excited. There was no difference when i received the Shark nigiri. Despite my impression it would be rough, it was very tender with a sardine like texture. 

Ika with Shiso

The Ika with Shiso was not too firm but did have a rather gummy texture. Quite strange and unlike other pieces of squid I've had. 

Geoduck with sea salt

The geoduck can also be texturally rugged but a good nigiri cut usually denotes a crunchy composition rather than a rough one. Mori's offering was the former, offering a nice balance of sweetness and bite.

Barracuda 

Another first for us was the baby barracuda which was flaky and fragile. The cut of fish was solid but its body fell part in our mouth without chewing, a very delectable nibblet.

Japan & Santa Barbra uni duo

An exciting duo of uni followed, showcasing the Santa Barbara uni versus its counterpart from Japan. There is a noticeable visual difference between the two, the Santa Barbara version, a large singular piece where as the uni from Japan was 4-5 time smaller. Flavor wise, there was a clear difference. The uni from Japan was much more mild, rich and creamy with tones of ocean flavor. The Santa Barbra piece was stronger in ocean flavor, but not overpowering and an excellent example of the California coast product. 

Fresh Sea Eel

The fresh sea eel was the final omakase dish and was delicate and light, extremely contrasting the typical unagi sold at most places. 


At this point in time, we were allowed to choose any additional dishes we still wanted to try. We opted to go with Hotate, Tako and Sake, three boring classics, but favorites from the generic selection.

Hotate

The hotate was quickly grilled with a squirt of lemon and sea salt. It was good, but truthfully I prefer my scallop nigiri completely raw to grasp the natural sweetness.

Tako

One of Chu-Toro's favs, Tako was next and although sliced pristinely the octopus itself was nothing special or memorable.

Sake

At this point, we we told we practically tried everything except the ol' boring salmon. Funny that amist all the great sushi we had already been served, we totally forgot about this classic. It did not disappoint, as it was oily, fatty and excellent.

Green Tea Ice Cream

The green tea ice cream rounded out a marvelous meal, once again reaffirming my love for LA sushi. Chu-Toro crowned it better than Sushi Zo, which was difficult for me to swallow. Although this meal at Mori was incredible I still have to rate Zo slightly higher purely based off the memorable items (halibut fin, ankimo, uni noodles) I experienced there. Admittedly, Mori's rice is superior and they offer a variety of menu items and selection in comparison to Zo's omakase only. There is no wrong choice between either Michelin starred establishment, both encompassing their own style and ambiance. On this night, 85% of the nigiri I had was flawless, seducing me to fall in love with yet another LA sushi joint.

Our view from the bar

Michelin stars 2008, 2009

Chef and owner Mori Onodera

Rating 8.5/10
August 27, 2010