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Other people's food
Feb. 16th, 2005 07:45 amLast night Maia and I went out for Valentine's Day.
Not only was I feeling a tad blah on Monday but it was both Monday, and Valentine's Day, neither of which are great restaurant days. Instead, on Monday, she made, "cardboard and tuna fish" (which is the Wolff family way of referring to box made mac and cheese and a very wet tuna salad with large chunks of pickles and enough celery to lose weight on). I added a tablespoon of stilton to my mac, and it was very good.
So last night we went out.
Le Bistro Fandango is a Basque place in downtown SLO. We've been there a couple of times. The special menu usually has at least one game dish, and the rest is simple, though not always plain, list of foods. A couple of steak dishes, a couple of duck, some chicken, seafood and a brace of quail dish as well as a rabbit stew.
Salads are large, I had the goat cheese, chevre on baguette crostini; toasted under the broiler, and a heap of mesculin and a drizzle of a garlic dressing. Maia had the house, which is the same, absent the toast. The cheese was ripe, not quite punguent and the goatiness played well with the garlic.
Maia chose the garlic, rather than the house vinagraite because she likes it.
I looked at the quail (which I've had before), decided it was too much work for tonight. I love quail (game meats in general, and while this was farm raised, they do get a workout... unlike chicken they've not been bred to be at market weight in really short times) sighed at the lamb (it's Lent, and that's what I give up, every year, which has the odd drawback of requiring me to go out to restaurants which serve it, so I can feel the lack) and decided on the magret of duck in black pepper sauce. To go with it I ordered a local Zinfandel (I forgot to write it down, I think the vineyard [or at least the label] was Condor. It was a subsitution on the wine list).
Maia orded the coq au vin.
I got side dishes of carrots in butter and clarified onions, green beans and escalloped potatoes with cream and parsley.
Maia got pasta in lieu of potatoes. The duck was good. The sauce was, to my taste, a bit too heavily peppered, but the meat's flavor was still there. It was a good, fatty, breast, just pink in the center and the fat scored and crisped. The zin was smooth, silky with a bit of earth in the afternotes and musky tastes of berry. I'll have to stop by and get the vineyard, then step across the street to see if I can get a couple of bottles.
Maia's coq au vin was a marvel. Her reaction was about the same as mine usually is, it's chicken. But the trick to the dish is the cooking. It works best with birds one can't find at the market, tough old birds that need a slow braising to make the meat soft enough to be worth chewing.
They, of course, had a more genteel bird, but they didn't skimp on the cooking. The brown of the sauce had soaked into the meat between 1/8 and one quarter of an inch. The knob-end of the drumstick was browned, and died almost black, where the meat had pulled off the bone it let the pot liquor run along it to dye the meat. The thigh was nice, the drumstick wonderful.
The only off note was her pasta. It seems it was made to order (there were a total of 14 other people in the place while we were there. Because we have, for the next two weeks, a single show to which we are addicted the meal was not our usually leisurely 3 hours or so [another reason we prefer T-Th evenings, since it isn't all that fair to a busy place to tie up a table that long, even if we order well for a duo] and I don't think the kitchen was all that busy), and the lack of blanching meant someone forgot to stir the pot, so there was a lump of it which was less than al dente, right into al cruncy.
The apple tart (puff pastry, sugared apples, with a drizzle of honey water and cinnamon, topped with housemade vanilla ice cream) was perfect for the two of us. I am, sadly, not much of a dessert person. I have a smallish appetite, which means I have not much room by the end of the meal (for those who've eaten with me... My plate was empty when they took it away last night). At Mon Grenier, in Los Angeles, I will make certain I have room, but apart from that exception, I am more likely to nibble of my companion's plate.
The bar has pastis, at least three labels, and calvados. I like the latter, and it is rare to find it at a restaraunt. Andre, at Mon Grenier, tries to keep a bottle, but about half the time he's out, because the kitchen uses it more than the clientele. I had a glass with my coffee.
Total bill (incl. tax and tip) was about $100.
Thinking about heading to Fandango last night made me think about being adventurous today. Which means I have a tenderloin thawing, so I can roll it in kosher salt, slice it and dress it with a calvados sauce. Maia also bought me a book. Not the copy of Cookwise we started with, because she saw a copy of The Breadmaker's Bible, and got me that instead. She has been planning to give it to me for some time, but the last time we went prezzie shopping in a bookstore it was something else she elected to get.
So, I have a sponge building. She uses honey to make her sponges, so this one has a tablespoon of my italian heather honey. I need to get some less expensive/rich honey, since I expect the musky taste of this (it's a dark honey, which came mostly crystalised. I've been letting it clarify over the past year. It's the color of molasses where the chrystals have melted back to liquid) to be lost. The dough will make parker house rolls.
I'm not sure what I'll do for veggies, but the carrots were very good, and Maia is less than thrilled with green beans, be they Kentucky Wonder, or haricots vert so I may go for that.
Today I think I'll go buy a sil-pat, when I shop for apples and vinegar.
Not only was I feeling a tad blah on Monday but it was both Monday, and Valentine's Day, neither of which are great restaurant days. Instead, on Monday, she made, "cardboard and tuna fish" (which is the Wolff family way of referring to box made mac and cheese and a very wet tuna salad with large chunks of pickles and enough celery to lose weight on). I added a tablespoon of stilton to my mac, and it was very good.
So last night we went out.
Le Bistro Fandango is a Basque place in downtown SLO. We've been there a couple of times. The special menu usually has at least one game dish, and the rest is simple, though not always plain, list of foods. A couple of steak dishes, a couple of duck, some chicken, seafood and a brace of quail dish as well as a rabbit stew.
Salads are large, I had the goat cheese, chevre on baguette crostini; toasted under the broiler, and a heap of mesculin and a drizzle of a garlic dressing. Maia had the house, which is the same, absent the toast. The cheese was ripe, not quite punguent and the goatiness played well with the garlic.
Maia chose the garlic, rather than the house vinagraite because she likes it.
I looked at the quail (which I've had before), decided it was too much work for tonight. I love quail (game meats in general, and while this was farm raised, they do get a workout... unlike chicken they've not been bred to be at market weight in really short times) sighed at the lamb (it's Lent, and that's what I give up, every year, which has the odd drawback of requiring me to go out to restaurants which serve it, so I can feel the lack) and decided on the magret of duck in black pepper sauce. To go with it I ordered a local Zinfandel (I forgot to write it down, I think the vineyard [or at least the label] was Condor. It was a subsitution on the wine list).
Maia orded the coq au vin.
I got side dishes of carrots in butter and clarified onions, green beans and escalloped potatoes with cream and parsley.
Maia got pasta in lieu of potatoes. The duck was good. The sauce was, to my taste, a bit too heavily peppered, but the meat's flavor was still there. It was a good, fatty, breast, just pink in the center and the fat scored and crisped. The zin was smooth, silky with a bit of earth in the afternotes and musky tastes of berry. I'll have to stop by and get the vineyard, then step across the street to see if I can get a couple of bottles.
Maia's coq au vin was a marvel. Her reaction was about the same as mine usually is, it's chicken. But the trick to the dish is the cooking. It works best with birds one can't find at the market, tough old birds that need a slow braising to make the meat soft enough to be worth chewing.
They, of course, had a more genteel bird, but they didn't skimp on the cooking. The brown of the sauce had soaked into the meat between 1/8 and one quarter of an inch. The knob-end of the drumstick was browned, and died almost black, where the meat had pulled off the bone it let the pot liquor run along it to dye the meat. The thigh was nice, the drumstick wonderful.
The only off note was her pasta. It seems it was made to order (there were a total of 14 other people in the place while we were there. Because we have, for the next two weeks, a single show to which we are addicted the meal was not our usually leisurely 3 hours or so [another reason we prefer T-Th evenings, since it isn't all that fair to a busy place to tie up a table that long, even if we order well for a duo] and I don't think the kitchen was all that busy), and the lack of blanching meant someone forgot to stir the pot, so there was a lump of it which was less than al dente, right into al cruncy.
The apple tart (puff pastry, sugared apples, with a drizzle of honey water and cinnamon, topped with housemade vanilla ice cream) was perfect for the two of us. I am, sadly, not much of a dessert person. I have a smallish appetite, which means I have not much room by the end of the meal (for those who've eaten with me... My plate was empty when they took it away last night). At Mon Grenier, in Los Angeles, I will make certain I have room, but apart from that exception, I am more likely to nibble of my companion's plate.
The bar has pastis, at least three labels, and calvados. I like the latter, and it is rare to find it at a restaraunt. Andre, at Mon Grenier, tries to keep a bottle, but about half the time he's out, because the kitchen uses it more than the clientele. I had a glass with my coffee.
Total bill (incl. tax and tip) was about $100.
Thinking about heading to Fandango last night made me think about being adventurous today. Which means I have a tenderloin thawing, so I can roll it in kosher salt, slice it and dress it with a calvados sauce. Maia also bought me a book. Not the copy of Cookwise we started with, because she saw a copy of The Breadmaker's Bible, and got me that instead. She has been planning to give it to me for some time, but the last time we went prezzie shopping in a bookstore it was something else she elected to get.
So, I have a sponge building. She uses honey to make her sponges, so this one has a tablespoon of my italian heather honey. I need to get some less expensive/rich honey, since I expect the musky taste of this (it's a dark honey, which came mostly crystalised. I've been letting it clarify over the past year. It's the color of molasses where the chrystals have melted back to liquid) to be lost. The dough will make parker house rolls.
I'm not sure what I'll do for veggies, but the carrots were very good, and Maia is less than thrilled with green beans, be they Kentucky Wonder, or haricots vert so I may go for that.
Today I think I'll go buy a sil-pat, when I shop for apples and vinegar.
