The office space right next to our's is occupied by some folks from a different department. We have not interact with them much yet. My view is, if you don't bother us, we are okay with you. But unfortunately, that was not meant to be. So one of the guys over there, let's call him jackass, apparently has a problem with the level of our voice. He claimed that our alleged racous affect their ability to work. At the same time, they play loud rap music during work hours, they converse just as loudly, and this girl has the loudest and the world's most annoying cell phone ring tone ever.
It is funny, I was just listening to a Bo Diddley song yesterday, and its beginning went like this "before you accuse me, better look at yourself"..... What is even funnier, this jackass look just like that loser steve guy from 90210 (don't deny it, you know who I am talking about).
Wednesday, July 19, 2006
Monday, July 10, 2006
can I still fit into my pants?
As some of you may know, my good friends kevin, misty and don owns two eating places here in the bay area. The boxed foods company in the financial district serves very good sandwich and salad for lunch. B restaurant in old town Oakland has excellent, rustic, and seasonal dishes, along with a well chosen, sensible and reasonably priced wine list. They work extremely hard, and I am super happy with their success so far.
A third place will be open in the Yurba Beuna Garden later this summer. This is going to be a slightly more ambitious project. A lot of work goes into opening a restaurant, one of the element of course is find someone to cook the food that not only taste good, but fits into the vision of what this place is going to be. Well, this afternoon, I was lucky enough to sit in on the tasting done by a very promising candidate to be the future chef at B restaurant San Francisco.
We started with a scallop and calamari ceviche. A lot of components were in this dish, but the freshness of the seafood came through effortlessly. This was followed by more scallop, thick slices of raw scallop served on top of a half shell, with a impeccable smoke salmon beurre blanc on top that was caramelized slightly so the scallop was cooked just enough to change the texture. Shaved asparagus topped the dish. This was probably the best scallop dish I have had. Not only the flavor was good, but the way the scallop feel in my mouth as I chewed was unlike anything else. This was followed by a addictive black eye pea salad with grilled ahi tuna. He admitted that smoke trout may work better with the dish, but I can't stop eating that fucking salad anyway. Next was snow crab legs and snapper in a light but salty broth, I have never been fans of larger crabs, but it tasted good. The snapper was cooked only by the heat from the hot broth, it was just about perfect.
After that, it was chicken three way. The breast sealed and cooked in water bath, there is a french sounding term for that shit but I can't spell it. Thigh was partly de-boned and roasted. The small tenderloin was battered and fried. Truffled mash potato and juices from the roasting was also on the plate. The breast was as good as chicken breast can possible be, but the leg meat was awesome (especially good was the skin). I am stuffed, and needed a nap at this point, and there were two more dishes and dessert to go.
Butter braised bass was next, grilled torpedo onion was sweet and good, but I can't remember too many details by this point. The final savory dish was grilled new york steak, with a thick lobster bisque, sauteed mushroom and grilled bok-choy. It was an interesting take of surf and turf. Along the way, we had a nice ripe 2004 german riesling, a 1995 haut-medoc (cantemerle), that was fragrant and supple and a bottle of 1998 far-niente cabernet that was alright. Finished the meal with bread pudding served with hazelnut ice cream and root bear syrup and a half bottle of 1996 La Tour Blanche sauterne.
The guy has sound technique and lots of creativity. It may take a little bit of polishing and shaping to find his own style. But there was enormous amount of potential. I know how hard kevin, misty and don has worked to make this new place happen, I really hope this works out to be a productive working relationship (well, I guess he is not officially the chef just yet).
I almost felt guilty to be eating and drinking like this for the second sunday in a row, but I am definitely don't feel bad for enjoying it.
A third place will be open in the Yurba Beuna Garden later this summer. This is going to be a slightly more ambitious project. A lot of work goes into opening a restaurant, one of the element of course is find someone to cook the food that not only taste good, but fits into the vision of what this place is going to be. Well, this afternoon, I was lucky enough to sit in on the tasting done by a very promising candidate to be the future chef at B restaurant San Francisco.
We started with a scallop and calamari ceviche. A lot of components were in this dish, but the freshness of the seafood came through effortlessly. This was followed by more scallop, thick slices of raw scallop served on top of a half shell, with a impeccable smoke salmon beurre blanc on top that was caramelized slightly so the scallop was cooked just enough to change the texture. Shaved asparagus topped the dish. This was probably the best scallop dish I have had. Not only the flavor was good, but the way the scallop feel in my mouth as I chewed was unlike anything else. This was followed by a addictive black eye pea salad with grilled ahi tuna. He admitted that smoke trout may work better with the dish, but I can't stop eating that fucking salad anyway. Next was snow crab legs and snapper in a light but salty broth, I have never been fans of larger crabs, but it tasted good. The snapper was cooked only by the heat from the hot broth, it was just about perfect.
After that, it was chicken three way. The breast sealed and cooked in water bath, there is a french sounding term for that shit but I can't spell it. Thigh was partly de-boned and roasted. The small tenderloin was battered and fried. Truffled mash potato and juices from the roasting was also on the plate. The breast was as good as chicken breast can possible be, but the leg meat was awesome (especially good was the skin). I am stuffed, and needed a nap at this point, and there were two more dishes and dessert to go.
Butter braised bass was next, grilled torpedo onion was sweet and good, but I can't remember too many details by this point. The final savory dish was grilled new york steak, with a thick lobster bisque, sauteed mushroom and grilled bok-choy. It was an interesting take of surf and turf. Along the way, we had a nice ripe 2004 german riesling, a 1995 haut-medoc (cantemerle), that was fragrant and supple and a bottle of 1998 far-niente cabernet that was alright. Finished the meal with bread pudding served with hazelnut ice cream and root bear syrup and a half bottle of 1996 La Tour Blanche sauterne.
The guy has sound technique and lots of creativity. It may take a little bit of polishing and shaping to find his own style. But there was enormous amount of potential. I know how hard kevin, misty and don has worked to make this new place happen, I really hope this works out to be a productive working relationship (well, I guess he is not officially the chef just yet).
I almost felt guilty to be eating and drinking like this for the second sunday in a row, but I am definitely don't feel bad for enjoying it.
Monday, July 03, 2006
I am a little dizzy!
Couple of good friends were in town for the weekend from seattle. We ate dinner last night at this place called Michael Mina. The place is really expensive but food was really quite good. Three course dinner was like $88 a person. I had butter poached lobster ($8 supplement) and idaho raised kobe style beef roast ($20 supplement) and the cheese plate. We also drank some really great wine, the 1997 Calera jensen vineyard ($166) was not as good as the 1996 I drank a couple months ago in seattle, but was still really enjoyable. We also had a bottle of 1982 Ch?teau Beychevelle ($495 !!!!!! it was one of the cheapest vintage bordeaux on the list), which was in my opinion, not ready to drink yet. This meal could be like one of those fucking master card commercial, you go $88 for three course x 7, like $200 for all the addition food supplement, $800 for wine and cocktails, $36 for just the bottle water, and $360 for service, but a great meal with good friends, price less.
After the really fucking expensive beef (which is to me, the only thing worthy coming out of idaho right now), I got up to take a leak. But after eating and tasting all the food and wine we just had, I really felt disoriented, I don't really know what I was suppose to feel, it is like I am on some kind of drugs, but I have not done any drugs (at least to my knowledge). I was walking like a zombi. After the cheese plate and a glass of 94 d'Yquem, I wanted a wheel chair and someone to wheel me home (only two blocks away). Not that I was really that full, but just felt really helpless, and that is before I saw the check.
Thanks to andy, who bought me the dinner for my recent graduation, I will actually be able to pay rent this month.
After the really fucking expensive beef (which is to me, the only thing worthy coming out of idaho right now), I got up to take a leak. But after eating and tasting all the food and wine we just had, I really felt disoriented, I don't really know what I was suppose to feel, it is like I am on some kind of drugs, but I have not done any drugs (at least to my knowledge). I was walking like a zombi. After the cheese plate and a glass of 94 d'Yquem, I wanted a wheel chair and someone to wheel me home (only two blocks away). Not that I was really that full, but just felt really helpless, and that is before I saw the check.
Thanks to andy, who bought me the dinner for my recent graduation, I will actually be able to pay rent this month.
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