Feast Blog

Happenstance brought a handful of old friends to Napa and unexpectedly, the four of us found ourselves at Rotisserie and Wine, the newly-opened restaurant in downtown Napa by television darling, Tyler Florence. Of more interest to me however, is that Jeremy Fox, a favorite chef of yours truly, has been hired by Tyler to head up the kitchen in this meat-centric, waterfront establishment with a decidedly Southern bent. They have only been open two weeks and already it is jam-packed, but with a full capacity of barely a hundred diners, it is not surprising that without a reservation, there is a bit of a wait. While waiting, the service staff, thematically clad in jeans in plaid, work hard to ensure comfort with drinks and a menu for early perusal. It is the costume of the waiters and overalls and plaid donned by Jeremy which gives the restaurant an almost hick feel to it. The bulk of the space is taken up with the open service area where diners can see Tyler directing the staff. My friends noticed that Nancy Silverton was also waiting for a table with her friends, so even the famous don’t necessarily get preferential treatment.

After almost a half-hour wait, the four of us were given a counter spot. While this was not necessarily conducive to sharing the food, it did give a great opportunity to witness the action in the kitchen. While perusing the menu, some corn sticks arrived. I have a feeling these were comped; I didn’t see them on the menu and I’m not sure they were offered to everyone. About four inches long, these warm fingers of goodness provided a fantastic start. A crisp, crunchy exterior gave way to a sweet, tender crumb so light and delectable. Sighs were heard as one friend immediately commented, “I could eat these for breakfast every day of the week.” This was also my first glimpse at another aspect of the restaurant which charmed me, the place settings. Classic and elegant with a Victorian aesthetic, it is the sort of thing my Grandmother would have swiped to keep and I personally covet.

The menu is broken up into Snacks, items To Share, Fixins, and The Rotisserie. Separate from all these categories was a highlighted offering of something called The Meat Board. Snacks include a handful of individually-priced bites that can be ordered including Kale Chips, Olives, Scrapple, and the two snacks we ordered, Cheese Puffs (gougère) stuffed with bacon Mornay, aged Vella jack cheese, and chives and Deviled Jidori Chicken Egg, a deviled egg made with maple, sherry, celery, and candied bacon bits. The gougères, large with a delicate crust, oozed with rich and creamy bacon Mornay sauce. It would be very easy to eat an entire place of these. The deviled eggs’ filling was probably the most creamy and smooth ever tasted. The maple flavor was subtle and slightly sweet. I appreciated the micro greens garnish, giving a crisp bright contrast to the stalwart egg.

Shortly after our three tantalizing “bites,” The Meat Board arrived. Unlike most restaurants offering various cured charcuterie salamis and sausages, here it is terrines and potted meats. I would be very interested to know who was the brainchild behind its inception but there is no doubt that it is Jeremy who is adding the final touches which make this platter the shining highlight of the evening’s meal. Not only did we have the vantage of watching him cutting and plating and decorating, but the skill and artistry is not lost on the other staff in the kitchen as several stopped to view the master in action. Like watching a Da Vinci with a paintbrush, Jeremy layers slivers of radish into flowers and creates a mille fleur garnish with truffles and slivers of mushrooms. The plating is not just decorative, every delicately-placed leaf, perfectly dotted mustard, and stacked and layered vegetable is a part of a whole creating an incomparable platter of the most stunning terrines I have tasted.

On the platter was a Game Bird Terrine, laden heavily with porcini mushrooms and served with red wine jelly. Rich and earthy, the delicacy of the game meat was punctuated with the porcini but heightened by the truffle mille fleur garnish and red wine jelly. A large slab of country pâté had been carefully dressed with a bit of olive oil and micro greens and consumed with the toasted, country bread from nearby Model Bakery with dots of grain mustard and Moutarde Violette. But it was the Duck Liver Mousse on the board that surprised me the most. With the texture and lightness of whipped cream, concentrated richness of liver was accented with fried sage, frizzled leeks, and decorated with chunks of pickled beets and vegetable crudité. This is a restaurant riding on the laurels of its ability to roast giant hunks of meat, but I have no doubt that the restaurant’s appeal and reputation will grow based entirely on this amazing platter of potted meats.

Almost ten items made up the To Share section of the menu and for me were the most intriguing and reasons I want to go back. I am dying to try the Uni Toast with Shaved Pine Mushroom as well as the Sonoma Duck Confit with Cracklin’ Waffles. Instead we opted with only a Beets and Avocado salad, made with red quinoa, Fuyu persimmons, and pistachios to accompany our Rotisserie selection, Beef and Bones, prime rib eye saddled up next to a horizontally-severed marrow bone, Yorkshire pudding, and horseradish. I suppose my only complaint about the prime rib is that instead of one, large thick slice of rare meat, two thinner slices were served. Good prime rib is good prime rib and we all wanted to order this more for the marrow which was crusted with bread crumbs. It was all very good, but hardly memorable considering everything else the restaurant has to offer. Other rotisserie meats for potential future visits include Sonoma BBQ lamb ribs, Petaluma chicken, and a stuffed porchetta.

Sadly, no Fixins were ordered on this trip and again, the Fixins and To Share menu options are what will bring me back; Arbuckle grits draped with lardo, Hudson Valley broccoli with pine nuts, capers, raisins and Vella dry jack, Mac & Local Cheeses, and David Little’s potatoes…

While I stepped away to take a phone call, my friends ordered dessert. I was only surprised because I was more than full at this point and would have been quite content to call it a night but was more than pleased after taking a few bites of what they ordered; a classic slab of apple pie à la mode and a panna cotta, dressed with Balsamic vinegar and served with cookies. The apple pie is about as great as it comes. The apples were crunchy and perfectly spiced but it was the crust that shines. Too often I am left disappointed by a pie due to a soft or soggy crust and this does not disappoint. The panna cotta is another nice surprise but more for the cookies for me, although the panna cotta was perfectly prepared and made that much more interesting with the vinegar. The cookie we all loved with pig-shaped with a bacon flavor to it. I also greatly enjoyed the gingerbread as we had been sent a complimentary glass of Aloroso Sherry which made for a great combination and a lovely way to end the meal.

That this restaurant is a mere block away from my new job could be my downfall. As part of the revitalization of downtown Napa, it faces the riverfront and outside chairs show that once the warmer summer evenings arrive, outside service will obviously increase the number of people which can be served and will make this a destination for those looking to expand beyond the standard Napa standard of Cal-French or Cal-Mediterranean fusion cuisine. While the name of the restaurant implies that meat and wine is the draw (and I regret that I completely forgot to take a note on the glass of wine which I ordered), it is the Southern cuisine-inspired sides which will tantalize and ultimately please.

Saison had been on my list of must-try restaurants and it was when chef Joshua Skenes announced a series of “fire dinners” with some guest chefs that rushed to book a table because the first buddy he had working with him was the high-priest of vegetables, Jeremy Fox. Since leaving Ubuntu, I have been waiting anxiously to eat Chef Fox’s food again and had some brief hope in his partnership with Daniel Patterson for the Oakland restaurant, Plum, but instead it seems that Jeremy is looking for his own place instead.

What I did not know when I sat down was that the meal I was about to consume, was going to blow the publicly-lauded Benu out of the water. I am sure this write-up is probably a bit stilted because there there is an obvious question as to what the restaurant is like without the guest chef scenario, but based simply on the quality of the ingredients and preparation alone, I will definitely go back to see what Joshua Skenes does on his own. Those Chef Fox influences I know well and could detect his influence in certain dishes.

This review is also a little different in that I have separated out the photographs; I took a handful of shots of the restaurant upon our arrival. There are two seating areas, one inside with comfortable and intimate banquets surrounding a few rustic, dark wood tables and an outside seating area around the wood stove and fire pit. There are also eight bar stool seats; a chef’s table inside the kitchen and a similarly-designed table for the fire pit. After we completed our meal, Lisa and I went outside and struck up conversations with some fellow diners and Chef Fox who had been minding the fires. All of those pictures are at the end of the post.

But to the food first:

Château de L’Aulée Cremant de Loire, NV paired with an amuse of Wild Things, a concoction of cactus, pear, fennel and caviar. A few tender bites of texture and flavor dressed in crème fraîche. Reminiscent of Japanese textures, the cactus provided a bit of stickiness the way Mountain Yam produces a bit of gooeyness. The bright flavors of the pear and slight crisp spice from the fennel were all balanced with the salty caviar and hints of faint citrus from nasturtium buds. These tiny buds provided tiny little explosions of flavor that both intrigued and beguiled. Paired with the lively bubbly, this was a stunning beginning.

Alliment Laugner Cremant d’Alsace Rosé, NV. This 100% pinot noir rosé demonstrates a wonderful strawberry fruit with a faint sweet entry that expands into a delightful flowery blossom in the back of the mouth and was paired with Tomato In Different Ways. A beautifully composed platter was placed in front of us that showed a chunk of green tomato, tomatillo, a peeled yellow cherry tomato, nardello peppers, river vegetables, and small slivers of a pork product. The waitstaff then poured a thickened, unctuous tomato-based sauce and the worship began. With every bite the distinct ingredients produced exciting variations of sweet and spicy, rich and subtle, sexy and demure. We discovered later that the pork slivers were, in fact, pork face so any bite might have been cheek or jowl and the hints of salt playfully toyed with the freshness in the river vegetables and clean tomatoes.

Bread and Butter. We were not given bread and butter upon sitting down, but after two courses. I am not sure whether I should be annoyed or if it was done strategically. The bread comes from Acme and is their Upstairs Bread, a heartier and chewier carb, studded with whole wheatberries and rye without being dense or heavy. Warmed briefly in the outdoor oven, it is served with a disk of house-churned butter unlike any I have ever experienced. Flakes of smoked Japanese nori, river vegetables, and topped with fleur de sel, I cannot remember ever being so excited about a butter before. Had we received bread and butter upon sitting down, we would have easily just sat there and consumed piece after piece of warmed bread with this brilliant condiment. I am reminded of the fresh nori-studded rice I get at Nombe created by Nick Balla which is so good, I take it home for breakfast. The subtle umami and earthiness of nori elevates these simple ingredients but in the case of Saison’s butter, it does not hurt that Saison is churning their own butter on a daily basis. Absolutely gorgeous.

2007 Domaine Leflaive Mâcon-Verze, Burgundy poured with Polka Corn and Okra. The stunning white burgundy had a pale nose of lime rind but produced a creamy mouthy entry which expanded with fleshy and focused wine. I have always lamented Chardonnay for being over-oaked and it has taken me too many years to realize I just don’t like California Chards but this French version has tang and zip and structure. The red okra was prepared in several ways; thin, wafer-like slivers were nestled amongst some cornmeal-breaded and fried chunks. The smoke from the fire and a faint hint of ash played against the sweet seat of corn on which the okra was sitting. Like tomato dish, there is a playful juxtaposition of textures in the crunch of the fried okra with crunch of the sweet corn and crunch of the raw okra, toying against the faint tender okra interior and balanced out by the creaminess of the wine.

2006 Müller-Catoir Weissburgunder, Pfalz, Germany coupled with Various Carrots, our vadouvan, stone fruit and nasturtium. One of the things I miss about Ubuntu is the famed cauliflower with vadouvan and having the memories of that favored flavor brought back in this context was fun and impressive. Several varieties of carrots had been pre-cooked for softening yet given a darkened, charred exterior giving away to sweet mouthfuls of earthy goodness with chunks of peach and nectarine. The burnt crust on the vegetables exploded against spicy flowers and sweet fruit – all these seemingly disparate flavors coming together with their individual freshness; spice without pepper but with flowers showed brilliance in knowledge of the ingredients.

2006 La Font du Vent, Côtes du Rhône Villages, France showed a dark cherry nose and exploded with well-integrated fruit. A tannic entry with balanced black berry in the back of the throat. This showed well against Merlin Beets prepared in ash with buckwheat leaves, wild cherries and grains. This was a truly stunning dish – deconstructed ingredients, letting the diner choose which flavors to bring together. The brilliant aspect? A cylinder of of veal marrow which had been removed from the bone and briefly fried to produce an entirely crisp interior but maintaining the creamy, rich fatty interior. The occasional bits of grain developed the stable, earthy base with a core of the marrow fat, a heightened layer of earth with the clean beets and a top, bright sweet component in the cherry. Scattered amongst the plate were a few slivers of pickle, but pickled what? We weren’t quite sure — it could have been pear or apple but the bottom line is that the pickle produced a cleansing factor which elevated the simple marrow.

2006 Jaboulet Crozes-Hermitage, Rhône, France, a rich, jammy syrah unlike most syrah I have experienced from California in its intensely smooth, concentrated mouth. So easy to drink and a surprisingly big wine to be paired with Heartbreads served with muscat grapes, asparagus green, and alliums. We were told there were five kinds of garlic constructed within the dish but we were hard-pressed to detect that, they were so well integrated. Superbly prepared protein, a very thick, crunchy crust capped the lighter, sweeter underbelly of the meat. These were served atop a tiny brunoise of carrot, cocoa and romano beans, haricot verts, vidalia onion slices, and a few scattering muscat grapes. All of the ingredients themselves provided relatively delicate flavors with the wine elevating it in boldness. I can still taste that crunchy carnitas-like exterior of the heartbreads, craving it really…

Rhubarb Sorbet with milk granité. A simple slice of roasted rhubard set next to a quenelle of rhubarb sorbet but it was the milk granité which brought the simple offering together. That faint creamy structure which occurred in the back of the throat with the melting granité gave the sharp, rich sorbet a rounder mouth flavor.

2009 Giacomo Bologna “Braida” Brachetto d’Acqui, Piemonte, Italy. A slight, sparkling wine is ruby red in hue with tons of candied raspberry and cherry on the sweet side which surprised me to be paired with a fruit-based dessert, Summer Berries in their consommé with yuzu ice cream. A similar complaint that I had a Benu, simple fruit desserts with a frozen component does not quite satisfy my sweet tooth in that I want something with a little more substance. I greatly enjoyed the incredibly fresh fruit which had been macerated enough to soften and sweeten them and the yuzu was demure in its citrus component with a little crunch coming from the broken cookie underneath. I guess it is the Fried Dough Ho in me that craves something a bit more cakey and substantial.

Mission Street Food is a rare restaurant anomaly in San Francisco. Strike that. It is a rare restaurant anomaly anywhere. You see, it is not a full-fledged restaurant (although they are striving towards becoming one). They only operate two days a week — Thursday and Saturdays — out of a dinky and understated Chinese Restaurant, Lung Shan. If you don’t have reservations, you are likely to be presented with a line of people, waiting for a table.  It is worth the wait. $5.00 corkage is one of the cheapest in the city, but bear in mind that you are drinking your quaff from tiny Chinese teacups.

The menu changes every week and the prices are incomparable. The dishes are served family style and easily feed two or three people each. On the evening I finally got my dining buddy, Lisa, to join me, we were intensely lucky to have the menu be geared entirely around Beef Seven Ways (meaning for us – mostly OFFAL!)

Our first course, priced at a mere $10.00, was Mosaic of Carpaccio; New York strip steak and honeycomb trip with a slow-cooked egg, violet mustard, fried capers, and potato chips.  The selection of meats were sliced wafer thin, tender and rich. The only downside of the dish was the accompaniment of the rather pedestrian potato chips. There are easily half-a-dozen different, EASY ways to present a carbohydrate other than opening a bag of Lay’s.

Next up was an Oxtail Terrine, with fines herb gelée, root vegetable brunoise, truffled egg, mixed chicories, puffed barley, and spring herbs. Here is my confession; it was a posted picture of the chef making this very terrine which enticed me to this meal. Despite the varied flavors, this was a very balanced and well-made terrine; fresh and surprisingly light. It made me miss creating my own terrines. Quite a deal at $9.00.

Lisa is a sucker for marrow bones and their presentation of Beef Consommé with marrow butter toast and persillade might very well have been the dish of the evening. Two long croutons were presented with the broth poured tableside. Pacing ourself because we had ordered the entire menu (and, admittedly, packed up some of the terrine to take home), this was a course we finished easily and eagerly. $8.00.

Based on the menu description, the Surf and Turf was quite possibly destined to be Lisa’s favorite; simmered Atlantic skate with crispy sweetbreads with asparagus, crushed pea, and sea urchin emulsion. We both adore sweetbreads AND skate but this is the one dish which somewhat faltered for me. The sea urchin emulsion on the sweetbreads worked extremely well but the crushed pea and asparagus sauce for the skate was heavily spiced with something that bit back. I was happy with the few bites of pure fish I could get, but it was a discordant flavor against the light, engaging foam on the sweetbreads. There was nothing that brought these two main ingredients together. But Lisa liked them both; $12.00

Tongue and Cheek — hilariously entitled and delectable to behold — continued our beefy endeavor. Seared tongue, braised cheek, savoy cabbage served with a demiglace and fresh grated horseradish. The intense richness of these meats precluded us from taking much more than a few bites, reserving the bulk for left-over status. The cabbage was a brilliant, somewhat palate-cleansing attribute which helped cut through the fatty texture of these meats. $11.00

Served last in the bovine extravaganza, was Aged USDA Prime Ribeye with potato espuma, charred scallion pickle, and béarnaise sauce. While Lisa is a sucker for all things with sea urchin, for me, it is all about a good béarnaise sauce. The potato espuma was almost non-existent in its fluffiness, practically disappearing when it hit the mouth. I was ready to scrape my fingertips through the béarnaise but thankfully, the meat was an excellent tool for job in lieu of my fingers. This was the most expensive dish of the evening, a whopping $14.00

This was a rare evening at Mission Street Food in that the only “dessert” which was offered was Sweet & Sticky Glazed Habañero Jerky. I suppose they wanted to stay within the Beef theme, but our server advised us that as opposed to a delightful sweet finish, the habañero predominated the flavors, providing a mostly spicy finish which we opted to avoid. When all was said and done, with tip and wine, the cost of this meal PER PERSON was around $60.00. Had I thought to bring a wine from my collection, we would have gotten it around the $50 per person mark. For the quantity and quality of food offered, there truly is no better deal in town; as long as it is a Thursday or a Saturday. Oh, and of special note, they serve late. Up until midnight!

I had a lot of dining recommendations for my trip to Scotland, but The Kitchin is the one I was looking forward to the most. Of my entire U.K. expedition, this was one of the two most memorable meals (the other being a grouse dinner I have yet to write up). A stunningly glorious meal as I am still recalling the most amazing razor clam I have ever tasted…

Dampierre 1er Cru Cuvée des Ambassadeurs, Champagne, France N/V

Amuse – Cauliflower soup with apple and crème Fraiche. A simple way to start a meal, but already showing bold moves to put a crème fraiche in a white, creamy soup. One would anticipate too similar textures being boring, but it was anything but. So often a cream of any vegetable soup tends towards the grainy, but this was absolutely perfectly smooth with a subtle base of coriander and the crème fraiche was not a hindrance in any way. The single beet root slice was eaten almost immediately and I regret not savoring it more slowly with the rest of the soup.

Dry Riesling Donhoff, Nahe, Germany, 2007
Razorfish (Spoots) from Arisaig, served with diced vegetables, chorizo, and lemon confit. Largest razor clam I have every seen; eight inches at least in length. It was studded with the smallest brunoise I have ever experienced with only the bites of razor clam being slightly larger than the vegetables. I had initially dismissed any additional servings of bread as I did not want to fill up, but in experiencing the elegance of the creamy lemon confit beurre blanc, I requested more bread to get every drop. It was that good.

Chardonnay Swamp Reserve, Hawkes Bay, New Zealand, 2006
Snails & Bone Marrow – roasted bone marrow served with sautéed snails from Devon, Iberico ham, and Scottish grolles with quail egg.
As with the razor clam, I was astonished at the size of the serving. In this case, the marrow was served “open face” with all the marrow easily accessible under the unctuous offering of snails, quail egg, and ham. My only complaint on the dish was that only a small toast bit was offered to scoop up the ample marrow, but I still had some bread left so all was fine. Intensely rich, the snails were not at all chewy with the addition of the Iberico ham being the only non-Scottish ingredient in the dish. Rich and satisfying, I knew I had to start pacing myself based on the confluence of flavors being presented.

Trimbach Gewurtztraminer, Alsace, France 2006
Pig’s Head & Langoustine, boned and rolled pig’s head, served with roasted tail of langoustine from Anstruther, and a crispy ear salad.
Inside was pork cheek and on top, fried pig ear. Bringing it all together was a collection of wilted lettuce greens, a creamy sauce akin to the most decadent tartare, and a rich circle of sauce. The langostine was perfectly cooked with no hint of being either under cooked and flabby or overcooked and hard. The thin layer of fried slivered pigs ears provided a great salt and textural crunch to the richness of the pig jowl.

Pinot Noir Hautes Cotes de Beaune, Domaine Delagrange, Burgundy, France, 2006
Poached halibut from Scrabster, served with ink pasta and a samphire sauce. I have to admit that I am not sure what samphire sauce is. With bits of saffron, I can honestly say I have never had a more stunningly perfect hunk of halibut. The “asparagus of the sea” bites were a bright juxtaposition of crunchy delight next to the tender and smooth fish and vegetables. Hints of saffron brought the dish together.

Mourvedre Yalumba, Borassa Valley, Australia, 2007
Venison – saddle of roe deer from Humbie, served with pumpkin, celeriac, roasted apple from Moira’s garden, and pepper sauce. A rather classic example of a protein offering with a root vegetable puree, a few slivers of vegetable that are fried to offer a crunchy texture, and some wilted greens. So incredibly tender

Mas Ameil, Maury, France, 2007
Cheese; Gabietou (ewe), Trappes (walnut cheese), Mont Briac (South France), Criffel (Dumfries), and Ealisa Craig (goat). Gorgeous cheese cart and points on being offered a wide selection of Scottish cheeses.

Recioto Della Valpolicelloa, Tommasi, Italy, 2006
Dark chocolate tart with served figs, chestnuts, and port ice cream. A perfect culmination to a fabulous evening. I have gotten tired of U.S. restaurants feeling the need to offer two and three desserts. One is fine for me and this was neither too sweet nor too heavy. I am only used to California figs and these Turkish offerings are milder and fatter.

A note on service; the waiters and waitresses are definitely international – from Australia, Barcelona, and France. They were young, energetic, and provided impeccable service without being over-bearing. I had to laugh that two or three times my napkin slid off my lap to the floor. Before I could realize it, a brand new cloth was offered even though the “dirty” one that had hit the floor would have sufficed. The room is elegant and modern. I am glad I had an early seating for a Friday night, there were two large parties which arrived at 8:00ish made the room rather loud. But I have found a reason to return to Edinburgh to eat Kitchin’s stunningly brilliant food.

I’m writing this from a Barcelona tapas bar, just trying to keep ahead of the reports. Our last day-time meal in London was at Papillon, recommended by the concierge at our hotel. We had wanted to go to brunch at the The Ritz, but it is still under renovation. I was a tad dismayed when I saw the menu as there were no “typical” brunch items that one would expect. My friends had gotten accustomed to my devilish ways of wanting many tastes and we essentially ordered the entire left-hand side of the menu; all of the soups, most of the salads, and all of the appetizers. Nine courses for five people, way too much money, and one of the most memorable meals I have ever had.

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