El Dorado Kitchen Is Muy Delicioso!

On the rainy eve of my wife's birthday in December, the comfort food of El Dorado Kitchen helped warm our stomachs. While we waited for the restaurant to open its seating at 5:30pm, we sat on a leather couch in the fireplace room warming ourselves.

The open kitchen permitted our senses to hear the flash frying of the french fries doused with truffle oil. Our noses smelled the truffle oil as the staff whizzed by with pomme frites dish in hand. We could almost hear the wood crackling in the 750F oven baking our pizza topped with sopressetta and egg. The duck pastrami was interesting and tasty. The lamb shank simmered in its pot so tender that when put the fork to the meat, it fell off the bone. We finished with the crepes dessert with vanilla ice cream and passion-fruit sauce . For wine, our Jayson Pinot Noir 2006 went well with our dinner. It was fruit forward, a long finish to the tongue with spice. The service was timely and helpful with our questions. We will go back and bring friends. They passed our "napkin test" when we returned to the table with our napkin folded.

Puffy Profiteroles

My first attempt at making the puffs for a croquembouche turned out flat, but my second attempt turned out these nice puffy ones. I ended up filling them with chocolate custard. My flat ones I turned them into an ice cream filled profiterole .

I split up the flat puff in half and filled it with homemade

vanilla ice-cream, and topped it with chocolate.

My second attempt had a nice air pocket to be filled with chocolate custard. It's nice and airy inside. Instead of a pastry piping bag, I used a small ice cream scoop.

The plain topped puff is filled with vanilla ice cream. What a light taste with a punch of flavor. Wait for my croquembouche. The holidays are around the corner, so my wife suggests I make the crunch in the mouth dessert.

Americano at Hotel Vitale

The Americano offers Italian food. Chef Paul Arenstam got the mushroom pizza with fontina cheese and truffle oil right! The thin crust is crunchy, and the mushroom and truffle oil make a tasty combination. It's surely the taste of Autumn.

For the main dishes, my wife had the butternut squash ravioli. The texture of the the butternut squash was smooth and soft. The ravioli was fresh. The dish was sweet and savory.

I had the duck breast special that night. The breast slices were seared nicely, but I prefer the inside to be a bit more rare. It was served medium-well and I preferred it to be medium-rare. The serving portion was good- about eight slices. The potatoes were cooked just right topped with watercress. Next time, I will order the rib-eye because I know it's more flavorful and could get it medium-rare.

For dessert, the fried creme brulee caught our eye on the menu. It sound interesting and tasted interesting. Usually creme brulee is soft and jiggly in a ramekin, but the interesting characteristic of this dessert was that it was fried. The cream was firmer and drier. What makes the dish is the passion fruit-caramel sauce. It added sweetness to the otherwise flavorless cream. The portion had two triangular pieces.

The Cabernet Sauvignon was very nice. We chose a half bottle of 2005 Opus One. It's a wine collaboration of Mondavi and Rothchild. It had a nice aroma and dark ruby color. There were hints of blackberries and currant. There was a spicy finish. It really matched well with all our dishes. It was surprisingly smooth for an young Cab.

The service was a bit lacking, though our server was very friendly. It was hard to get his attention behind the see through curtain. The dining area can get loud from the patrons at the bar.

We would go back for the pizza if we were in the area.

O La La Boulud!

A must stop in Las Vegas dining is Daniel Boulud Las Vegas- one Michelin star. It offers fantastic service, a helpful sommelier, and delicious French food and wine. We gave ourselves plenty of time to enjoy our meal before the 9:00 p.m. showing of La Reve and had a 6:30 pm reservation. The entrance is from the Wynn Hotel taking the escalator down to the bottom floor. Above the entrance are color parasols. They’re very festive and classy.
We were greeted by the hostess and she showed us to our white linen covered table. We wanted a view of the water fall since there was going to be short musical entertainment.

Our sommelier helped us pick a smooth, silky red wine. We picked a half bottle of 2005 Les Fiefs de Lagrange -wonderful nose and dark cassis color. There is a light touch of oak but not overpowering. There is a hint of berries and chocolate.
The small seafood platter appealed to us because we wanted a fresh and cold appetizer. This seafood was really refreshing and sat on a bed of ice. The serving was just enough to please our palette. Included in the platter are raw oysters, shrimp, clams, mussels, lobster, and three types of sauces…cocktail, horse radish, and basil aioli.
For the main dish, my wife and I shared the seared day boat scallops with terrain of foie gras and steamed fall veggies. The scallops had a nice caramelized sear, the terrain of foie melted in the mouth, and the veggies crunchy and flavorful. To accompany the dish were a piece of peanut brittle, a sweet fruit puree, and sliced grapes with champagne gelee.

The anniversary dessert was the dark chocolate soufflé with crème anglaise. The soufflé was rich, moist and creamy! This is a definite go back place for us. When we left the table to use the restroom, our napkins were re-folded by the time we returned. In addition, the bread was crusty on the outside and airy on the inside. We even got petite fours to go at our asking. The coffee was strong and bold.

I'm Dreaming of a Dose of French Toast!

French toast topped with strawberries and New Mexican
Pinon nuts

Great on an October fall morning weekend when the sun is just rising over the back patio fence and the squirrels are peering into the patio sliding door to see what’s cooking!


Ingredients
3 slices organic multi-grain bread
1 large organic egg
¼ C organic heavy cream
1 t vanilla extract
1T ground cinnamon
1 pinch of kosher salt
¼ t organic olive oil for cooking
Organic butter for cooking
6 organic strawberries
¼ Pinon nuts (alternative, pine nuts) If allergic to nuts, do not use.
Organic maple syrup
Shaved organic dark chocolate (optional)


Pre-heat medium sized pan on medium-low heat.

In a small mixing bowl, mix and scramble egg, cream, vanilla, cinnamon, and salt. Set the bread slices aside until soaking.

Pour mixture into a 8" x 8" glass or tin Pyrex for bread soaking. Soak each slice of bread separately on each side for about 30 seconds. Let the bread soak the mixture. Don’t over soak another slice of bread while cooking the first slice bread.

In the pre-heated pan, put ½ t olive oil and a little butter. Place soaked bread into pan and cook for about 1 to 1 ½ minutes until the side is golden brown and then flip with a spatula to the uncooked side for about the same amount of time.

Pre-heat the oven to “warm” and turn off. Each time a toast is cooked, put it on a oven safe plate and put into oven that is warm. It keeps the cooked French toast warm while the other slices are being cooked.

Top with sliced strawberries, Pinon nuts and dark chocolate shavings (if you’re craving sweet). Drizzle maple syrup on top too.

Happy eating!

Amazing Amuse Bouche!

The best amuse bouche I've ever had was at Joel Robuchon's The Mansion. He's the chef that has the most Michelin stars (18). The executive chef is Claude LeTohic at the restaurant in the MGM Grand Las Vegas.

When the wait staff brought over the dishes, my wife and and I looked at each other in utter disbelief. We were giddy like kids and couldn't wait to dig in. I mean, enjoy each spoonful. I knew our anniversary dinner was going to be a great one.

The amuse bouche is dungenous crab topped with Oscietre caviar served in the caviar tin. The sweet crab and mild salty roe complimented each other. C'est magnifique!

So Long Summer

Today is the last day of summer. No more weekend walks on the beach. No more bright yellow sunflowers. Forget about the violet and pink peonies. No more camping in the mountains with family and friends. No more summer campfires. No more baseball, softballs, beach balls and volleyballs. No more Frisbees. No more county fairs and state fairs.

No more long days, but longer evenings. Now is the transition to autumn. Fall brings cooler weather and the fall colors- burnt orange, bright reds, browns and aubergine. Good bye summer, and hello fall. The holidays are just around the corner.

Dining at Bardessono - Yountville, CA

It was the hottest time of the day, 3pm on Vintner Golf Course- Yountville. It was a summer scorcher, 103F, July 2009. I couldn't wait until the end of the round. A refreshing dinner was on my mind. The place? Bardessono.


To get to the restaurant from outside parking, one has to walk through the serene, minimalistic setting. We were greeted with a smile and a good evening once we got to the hostess. We arrived an hour early from our reservation, but we were accommodated after a ten minute wait. We were seated outside section under a heater. It was a pleasant evening so we didn't mind sitting outside. We actually preferred outside in the breezeless night. We were seated at a table with a glass top, the seats dark tan plastic rattan. In my front view, there was a sandstone color block sculpture of a nude woman.


Alfonso, our waiter, recited the specials; an heirloom tomato salad and the second special, a Sockeye salmon. We passed as we ordered the chilled shell fish pistou ($14) - a seafood salad with a mild pesto-like dressing. It was refreshing and cooling to the palate.


My wife ordered the Atlantic Cod ($25) with brandade & deep fried parsley, and creamy risotto drizzled with a lemon sauce & capers. The portion was large, about 8 oz and the fish was nicely done. The skin was crisp and the flesh moist.



I had the lamb two-ways (seared and braised) with spring veggies ($31) atop a coconut basmati rice. The lamb was medium rare and melted in my mouth. The rice was creamy and matched well with the lamb.

The wine of choice was the 2005 Lail Vineyard's Blueprint Cabernet Sauvignon ($58/half bottle) (Philippe Melka, wine maker). There are hints of blackberries and cassis with a touch of oak. The cab held it's own with the lamb, and went well with the cod.

For dessert, we shared the Coffee bar ($10), it looked heavy but one bite, it was light and sweet and very chocolaty with chocolate nibs and Chantilly cream. I ordered the Blue Bottle coffee (brown lump sugar & cream) in a french press (equal to two servings, $6). The bottle water, flat or with bubbles, is complimentary.


The venue is very relaxing and the service attentive, and the staff was eager to please. They are friendly and helpful. Bardessono is a go back place. It's hard to believe that it's been open since March 2009 as it seems like it has been serving for years.

Watching Sailboats in San Francisco Bay

Watching sailboats in the San Francisco bay is relaxing. It was a sunny day with lots of wind. The typical summer marine layer was hovering among the towers of the glorious Golden Gate Bridge. The sun rays shinning on my face and the wind blowing through my hair almost made me feel like I was on one of those sailboats, of course, without the work of sailing.

I watched as the boats came about, jibed, fell off and headed up. They raced toward the Golden Gate Bridge and returned sailing passed Alcatraz towards the finish line. Who won? I didn't care. I could hear the sails luffing in the wind and then the sails went silent when the sails caught all the wind. It was full speed ahead. I could see the seagulls above racing with the boats. And then in a flash, the gulls were way ahead of the boats.

There was a an old man in his SF Giants hoodie on the same pier where I was standing, casting his three fishing poles one after the other. He only looked up, not at the sailing boats, but to check that the bait was still on his hook and then with a heave, he cast his line out into the bay water. Then he sat down on his make shift seat, an inverted five gallon dirty white bucket, watching his lines and listening for the sound of the bells attached to the poles hoping to catch a fish.

I stood against the rails watching the sailboats, hoping to catch a splash of the sea water on my cheeks as the sailboats passed me. And for that time, I had no care in the world. I was just relaxing.

Sour So Sweet!

Candied Lemon Peel

An uncle and aunt were headed to the Philippines. They invited me and my wife to pick lemons from their two lemon trees before they left. They didn't want them to rot on the tree while they were away. We took them up on their invitation, drove to their home and picked about 100 lemons and filled two plastic bags.

After washing and stripping (use a lemon zester) the lemons, the peels are ready to be candied.

In a 1,5 quart sauce pan, fill with simple syrup (1 C water and 1 C organic sugar) and add 1 C of stripped lemon peels. Boil for 15 minutes and then reduce to a low boil for 1,5 to 2,0 hours with cover on, stirring occassionally.

Drain well and place boiled lemon peels and 1/2 C organic sugar in an air tight container. Shake well. Refrigerate overnight (or more) and then add another 1/2 C organic sugar. Shake well again. Candied peels should be dried and covered with sugar granules.

Eat like candy or use as a dessert garnish. Enjoy!