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ABOUT ME: Name: Gutenberg Location: Somewhere near the Golden Gate Bridge. Occupation: BRPR (Bunrab public relations.) |
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Do you need to answer back? You can send me comments if you want to. If I want to, I'll post 'em in this very blog. -Gutenberg |
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June 24-30, 2007
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Saturday, June 30, 2007 We slept well in the mountain air. After breakfast, our friend D suggested we check out the Calaveras Big Trees:
The name proved that there is truth in advertising. We stomped around these behemoths:
... before returning to fill our behemouths before more poker. Calaveras Big Trees State Park
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Friday, June 29, 2007 We hit a bit of traffic on our drive to C&M’s cabin in the hills. Luckily we came across a jerky trailer/shack:
... on the way for a protein boost. We tried the alligator samples before going with elk:
... and beef. Just the fuel we needed to finish up the trip before we arrived for poker and some of M’s delish slow smoked ribs:
Western Sky’s Jerky Co.
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Thursday, June 28, 2007 Our late lunching habits left us with only a handful of choices. Luckily, Wood Tavern:
... serves an abbreviated menu between traditional dining hours. I got the Portobello sandwich ($9.00):
... on toasted foccacia with roasted peppers and Munster cheese. This fungustatory event didn’t appear to be the ordinary mouth packing material to shut up the vegetarians. It was the daddy of umami combos with chopped 'shrooms, roasted pepper strips and melty cheese. It came with a ramekin of crunchy cabbage slaw that was olive oil dressed (which I prefer to mayo.) I wish there was a jalapeno kick to this, but it was still refreshing. Tasty, crisp housemade pickles en-cumbered the plate area. Chubby got the Niman burger with bleu cheese ($11.00):
It’s good that it came on a baguette because it was too juicy for a standard bun. Lettuce, tomato and red onion rounded out this toothsome patty. Chubby requested his fries extra crispy and the waiter responded that they always come that way since they are double fried. They were good, but would have been even better with a little more crisping time. We liked this casual bar:
... and restaurant and will have to return during standard meal hours to sample their extended offerings. The pastrami sandwich sounds promising as do their fish dishes.
Wood Tavern
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Wednesday, June 27, 2007 Our pal S had a great idea to get some pie at Crixa. Pie happens to be one of our favorite things to eat and we find that 3.14% of the time, our samplings are of the lowest common denominator variety, but Crixa is off the pie chart. The purple pie ($4.60):
... had sour and sweet plums in a buttery mitt with a sugar sprinkled circumference. Not only was it the perfect balance of tang to sweet with a satisfying crust to fruit ratio, it was an ample portion as well. They serve this with a scoop of firmly whipped cream. All this plus a cup of coffee and a nice visit was a grand equation. On our post pie-randial walk to the Berkeley Bowl, we came across a protuberance:
... that a caring person had coned off.
Crixa Cakes
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Tuesday, June 26, 2007 Manresa in Los Gatos
... provide rhyme to the end of the dinner with the gum drop and cake bookending. Hot dice shaped croquettes of romaine:
...are to be rolled directly into your mouth so that the liquid center doesn’t crap out on the front of your shirt. Bagaduce oyster:
... was incarcerated in citrus gelee with an uni shellmate. A snipped chives added the turf to the nori tuille surf board. Cardoon soup:
... looked perfectly innocent with a hook of olive oil smiling from the surface, but there was a foie gras custard and ‘shrooms hidden below for a wonderfully savory demi-tasse of full flavor. L’Argege egg:
... is a softboiled, maple syrup sweetened, sherry vinegar tanged, cream capped, amuse with just enough salt to conduct all of these distinct flavors in concert. Mesquite grilled foie gras:
... was a smokey, salt topped, room temperature ingot of cholesterolisciouness. The Iceplant cometh alongside to cut the richness with it’s succulent, crisp foliage. Radish and hazelnut added more textural interest to this buttery organ. Peekytoe crab and surf clams:
... swam in a bonito broth under a canopy of shaved haricots verts. This Japanese influenced soup had great contrasts of texture and flavors. Copper River salmon:
... rested on a bed of roe like a hen sitting on her eggs, except in this case this chicken was “of the sea” of red pepper and tuna broth. My abalone:
... may not have a first name, but it was still Oscar worthy. This rock-grabber was stuck to milk skin, broken egg and braised romaine. I remember when milk skin would gross me out, I guess it’s because I never had it with shellfish before. Japanese sea bream:
... was overcooked for my taste (but to be fair, I know my taste runs rawer than most.) The skin had a pleasing crispness over the slightly dry flesh. Chanterelles and cabbage were foamed by lemon. An oxtail raviolo:
... with beef bouillon and Persian cress was boyardeelish. Slices of spring lamb:
... and shreds of salty braised shoulder were served with carrot puree and an Indian spiced foam. All this runny action made me wish I had a sauce spoon. Strawberries with basil chiffonade:
... were topped with Meyer lemon crème and a citrus tuille. Raspberry and citrus meringue:
... was served with a thyme milkshake Chocolate mousse with cocoa nib ice cream:
... hid a ginger cookie. Two cherries (one Bing, one Rainier) were set alongside a chocolate tuille. The rhyme was completed with a strawberry gelee and chocolate Madeline:
Our dinner was fabulous but we felt bad for the guy at the next table who had to endure his date’s cel phone activity. A proper dinner is like a performance, you turn your freakin’ phone off. To be fair, it wasn’t as bad as Mr. Anytime Minutes during our dinner at Jöel Robuchon at the Mansion.
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Monday, June 25, 2007 They really should serve cocktails at the “Genius Bar” in the Apple Store. I mean who’s the genius that made a bar without something to input into your serial port? Since there were macs but no snacks, we escaped this food-monikered shop to grab a byte at the stand down the way. Stang’s:
... sells Primavera tamales but their focus is dogs. They have beef, chicken and two specials (one savory, one spicy) which you dress up with their sauerkraut and condiments. I got their regular dog ($3.50):
... which had a decent snap and hit the dog spot . Nothing earthshaking, but a good snack nonetheless. Chubby went with the spicy special ($5.00):
... which was a habanero pepper dog. It was heftier than my dog and delivered the promised peppery kick. The bun was doughy, (but not horribly so.) Both were quick and peppy mall belly balast:
... which we prefer over the other limited options of this shopping center. Stang’s
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Sunday, June 24, 2007 We happened upon a ladies’ group in a festive gathering:
... on Market Street today. They were part of a transportation contingent that led a procession whose theme was pride.
Although there was no evidence of lions to reinforce this title, we did see some bears.
There was a diversity of transport including Dykes on Bikes, Mikes on Bikes:
...and Hooters on Scooters:
I wish that there were more floats:
... and fewer politicians:
Waving politicians are boring (unless they are in drag.) Chubby and I felt as though we may have overdressed for this occasion but found that there was no dress code at all:
The one thing missing along the parade route was chow. Aside from an ice cream cart and a few overcrowded Starbucks, there wasn’t much on offer. But to be fair, chow isn’t the point of this seriously fun parade.
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2007 by BunRabCo. All rights reserved.
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