Houston Trip 2012

Here are some pics from my recent trip out to Houston to visit my buddy Mike and his wife Jill. They were gracious enough to let me stay at their place. Thank god I visited in the winter and not the middle of Summer. Had a blast, ate very well, played a round of golf and even checked out a rodeo. Throw in all the drinking going on around us for St. Paddy's day and you get the idea. Good times.

Started off the trip by hitting up this amazing place, Torchy's. I just wish I had them out here in San Fran. I had the Baja Shrimp Taco and another one aptly named 'The Trailer Park' It was fried chicken, with green chiles,pico de gallo poblano sauce done dirty. Amazing, but it made duck fat fries seem like a light dish.

Torchy's, Houston

Suckling Pig @ Liberty Kitchen
A magic and noble animal. It was amazing!

Lunch at this roadside joint, Rudy's for Texas BBQ. The brisket chop sandwich was sublime! Sorry no photos of it.

Rudy's BBQ

The second night there, we tried this new restaurant called Uchi which is run by Top Chef winner Paul Qui. The food was sublime. The service left quite a bit to be desired. Still an amazing meal! They flew in their selection daily from the Tokyo fish market. This quality of food was better than any Japanese spots I've been to in SF.

Baby Yellowtail, ponzu, thai chili, orange supreme @ Uchi

Maguro sashimi and goat cheese
bigeye tuna٠pumpkin seed oil٠
fuji apple

Spicy crunchy tuna bigeye tuna٠
avocado٠jalapeño٠cucumber

Scallops, shishito, cucumber

Spanish Anchovy. AMAZING!

oak-grilled escolar٠candied citrus٠
yuzupon٠myoga

Vegas Baby!

I just got back from another fabulous trip to Vegas where I spent the weekend with my buddy Mike and his girlfriend, Jill. We stayed at the Wynn which was pretty money. I'm sure I gained 5 lbs that trip, but who cares? It was well worth it. We visited Thomas Keller's Bouchon, L'atelier de Joel Robuchon, Wolfgang Puck's Cut steakhouse, and Okada for some sushi. We also got to check out the Cirque du Soleil show- Le Reve which was simply amazing. I suggest anybody interested check it out.



Le Reve theatre



Chilling at the Wynn with Mike (keep him away from the craps tables)

L'atelier de Joel Robuchon is one of my new favorite restaurants. I'm going there every time I go to Vegas from now on.

We all had the Discovery tasting menu at L'atelier de Joel Robuchon:

• L’AMUSE-BOUCHE
  crémeux de foie gras au Porto et son émulsion au parmesan
  Foie gras parfait with port wine and parmesan foam
• Saumon Fumé
  Smoked Salmon in an herb geleé with Wasabi cream
• 
• LES HUITRES
  de Kussi pochées dans leur coquille au beurre salé
  Poached baby Kussi oysters with French « Echiré » butter
• 
• LA SAINT-JACQUES
  la noix cuite au beurre d’algue dans sa coquille
  Scallop cooked with seaweed butter and black truffle
• 
• LE FOIE GRAS
  en ravioles dans un bouillon de poule avec une fleurette pimentée
  Foie gras ravioli in a warm chicken broth with herbs
• 
• LE SAINT-PIERRE
  John Dory filet cooked a la plancha with herbs and potato crisp
• 
• LA CAILLE
  au foie gras, caramélisée avec une pomme purée truffée
  Free-range quail stuffed with foie gras and served with truffled-mashed potatoes
• 
• L’Onglet
  de boeuf à l’échalote
  French-style hanger steak with fried shallots
• 
• L’ANANAS
  à la vanille de Tahiti, crème de cheesecake
  Pineapple infusion, Tahitian cheesecake
• 
• LE PARFAIT ARABICA
  Crème onctueuse au lait de coco et au citron « Corsica »
  Light coffee cream served with coconut milk and lemon from Corsica
• 
• LE CAFE
  Coffee or Espresso

C'est Coi

I went to try the restaurant Coi in SF earlier this month. I heard good things about it and decided to give it a try. The flavors were pretty amazing. I guess you would describe the food as avant garde cooking. While the meal was outstanding, its not the type of food that leaves you feeling full satisfied, like you had a big meal. Since my friend owed me a dinner, I wanted to see him squirm when we ordered the 11 course tasting menu, and he did...

Menu February 6, 2009

Amouse Bouche
milk and honey encapsulated in a thin sugar (Money!)

1. Pink Grapefruit
ginger, tarragon, black pepper

2. Shiny Beets
citrus scented gel, vadouvan


3. Inverted Andante Dairy Goat Cheese and Black Olive Tart
chicories, Green Apple, Mint


4. Parsley Root-Green Garlic Soup
braised Snails, Padron Chile Flakes, Breakfast Radish

5. Crab Melt, California Style
dungeness Crab, Staffan's Lardo, Wheatgrass, Sprouts



6. Earth and Sea
steamed tofu mousseline, yuba, fresh seaweeds, mushroom dashi

7. Sauteed Monterey Bay Abalone
escarole, caper berry-sea lettuce vinaigrette

8. Pastured Beef, Pure Form
prather ranch loin cooked in its fat, Marrow roasted cauliflower



9. Two Year Montgomery's Cheddar (Neal's Yard)
rye bread, arrowhead cabbage, grain mustard

10. Blood Orange Curd
Douglas fir Ice Cream, Black Walnut Crumble



11. Chocolate-Mesquite Cake
smoked pepitas praline, squash sherbet

Le Declin de L'empire Americain

Not a whole lot going on at the moment. A few weeks ago I went to see a French play for the first time. While I enjoyed the overall experience, I was completely lost with the dialogue since all the actors spoke so quickly. They might as well have been speaking in Mandarin Chinese. Naturally, you miss out on part of the experience when you can't understand any of the jokes. C'est la vie! The play was titled 'Le Declin de L'empire Americain' (The decline of the American Empire). The play had nothing to do with politics or the United States for that matter.

Plot Synopsis:

Eight intellectual friends: four men and four women from the Université de Montréal department of history, prepare to have dinner together. The ensuing conversations range from their professional lives to politics, but primarily concern their sexual exploits. The group has plans to gather at a secluded house for dinner. While the four men prepare the food and reflect on their promiscuity, the four women discuss their own affairs at a nearby gym. At the dinner table, conflicts soon arise when Dominique reveals that she herself has had affairs with two of the men there -- one of whom is married to Louise (also present).

I haven't taken many photos recently since the weather has been quite cold, but here are a few. Most were taken near Le Musée Georges Pompidou.


The Golden Man


Statue #1 near Pompidou


Statue #2 near Pompidou


Statue #3 near Pompidou


Statue #4 near Pompidou


Place de la Replublique





A tempting restaurant


A flier from my first French protest to defend immigrants who were arrested and deported for not carrying proof of residence papers.

Chateau de Chantilly

Last weekend I went to visit the Chateau de Chantilly which is located about 40km north of Paris nestled on a property covering 7800 hectares. It was this gorgeous estate that dates back to the middle ages. The Château de Chantilly stands at the heart of a vast domain covering 7 800 hectares, located in one of the largest forests near Paris, Le Massif de Trois Forêts (Chantilly, Halatte and Ermonville forests).

The grand chateau housed a museum with manuscripts dating back to the middle ages and works by Raphael where the attention to detail was simply amazing. While walking around the vast property I thought it would be the perfect setting to film a James Bond movie, which as I found out afterwards, they did, 'A View to a Kill'. (not one of the better Bond films, but oh well)

Brief History of the Chateau:

The estate began in 1484 when Chantilly came into the possession of the Montmorency family. The first mansion (no longer extant, now replaced by the Grand Château) was built in 1528-31 for the Constable Anne de Montmorency, by Pierre Chambiges. The Petit Château was also built for him, around 1560, and probably by Jean Bullant. In 1632, after the death of Henri II, it passed to the Grand Condé who inherited it through his mother, a Montmorency.

Several interesting pieces of history are associated with the Château during the 1600s. Molière's famous play, Les Précieuses ridicules, there received its first performance in 1659. Madame de Sévigné relates in her memoirs that when Louis XIV visited in 1671, his maître d'hôtel committed suicide when he feared the fish would be served late.

The original mansion was ruined in the French Revolution. It was repaired in a modest way by the last Condé, but then entirely rebuilt in 1875-81 by Henri d'Orléans, duc d'Aumale (1822-97) to the designs of Honore Daumet. (The new chateau has met with mixed reviews. Boniface de Castellane summed up one line of thought: "What is today styled a marvel is one of the saddest specimens of the architecture of our era - one enters at the second stage and descends to the salons".) In the intervening years, the entire property had been confiscated from the Orléans family between the years 1853-1872, during which interval it was owned by Coutts, the English bank. In the end, the Duc d'Aumale bequeathed the property to the Institut de France upon his death in 1897.

The château's art gallery, the Musée Condé, houses one of the finest collections of historical paintings in France (after the Louvre), with special strength in French paintings and book illuminations of the 15th and 16th centuries. The library of the Petit Château contains over 700 manuscripts and 12,000 volumes, including a Gutenberg Bible and Les très riches heures du Duc de Berry

***


Chateau de Chantilly


View of Building housing Horse stables


Some Guy


Cool Statue


Entrance to the maison





Le Maison entrance


Inner courtyard





View of Chapel inside the maison


Painted Ceiling


le Parc


View of the chateau from the park


another statue


Another angle of the maison








One last view of the chateau before leaving


The Last couple of pics were just thrown in for the hell of it.


Eiffel Tower in Autumn


This face just made me laugh


Trying a new angle


Enjoy!