run to a SF BJ do - belated - long
Nov 30, 2006, 10:51 pm
#1
In memoriam
Original Poster
Join Date: Mar 2000
Location: IAD, BOS, PVD
Programs: UA, US, AS, Marriott, Radisson, Hilton
Posts: 7,203
run to a SF BJ do - belated - long
UA 166 LAX BOS 2230 0649 752 2D Empower Y Ch 9 Y
The usual cheese plate, which I passed up. Great service by
a middle-aged guy with glasses and a bit of gray stubble,
who was running himself ragged whenever I looked. The purser
was an attractive woman of nearly 40 who contented herself
with strutting up and down the aisle like a marching
policeman, when she wasn't sitting doing nothing in the
front galley. The red wine was fruity and obvious (turned
out to be an Andrew Peace blend); I had a couple glasses
but switched to Courvoisier for the cookie.
Got back to the apartment at around 7:30 and got a good
morning's sleep before dealing with life and the bills.
Then off to the club for a gander at some rare mss. and a
glass or two of eau-de-vie.
=
Met TransWorldOne at No. 9 Park, one of the hotter Boston
spots and supposed to be one of the top couple for food. We
had reserved for opening time, as he had a 6:20 flight and
I a 6:50. The dining room wasn't ready until 5:40 or so;
until then we sat at the bar, TW1 nursing a water and I
abstaining. At about quarter of we were seated in a corner
banquette in the back area.
We didn't seem important enough to get amuses, but the
bread was good, although cool, the butter decent but salted.
I recommended the sweetbreads appetizer and the prune
gnocchi with foie gras - TW1 took the former, no bargain
at $25 but the best dish of the meal. It came with a
dab of truffled mashed potatoes and a bit of foie gras.
Against my better judgment (I hadn't eaten all day, and
my lunch had been a glass of the Massenez eau-de-vie de
framboise) I went for something lighter, my Carol watching
invisibly over my shoulder: the Maine crab salad, about
2 1/2 oz of nicely picked and good-tasting peekytoe over
tiny cubes of celery root and apple and possibly green
mango and topped with celery leaves (I shouldn't have
eaten these - they were too strong). A blob of orange
nothing on the side (pumpkin or other squash en sorbet)
was nugatory. The Hidalgo Manzanilla went well with both
of these; actually, a heavier Sherry would have gone better
with the sweetbreads.
For mains, TW1 had the venison en croute, which was
perfectly done, rare, but the supposed croute was a
kataifi pastry, the texture kind of distracting. He also
found the accompaniments silly and not integrated into
the dish. He mused on how the presentation took away from
the extraordinary quality of the meat.
My duo of pork was likewise satisfactory but not stunning.
When negotiating the huge and grossly overpriced wine list,
I noted to the waiter that I was being drawn to a pheasant
or some such game bird dish because it was listed as being
accompanied by hen of the woods mushrooms, a variety of
which I am fond, but I was otherwise leaning towards the
pork; he suggested the "duo of pork."
It was a pleasant surprise when the loin part of the duo
came garnished with sauteed hen of the woods lightly bound
in an espagnole. The pork was medium-rare, four little
medallions of a baby loin, brined, roasted quite plain.
That half was good but not astounding. The disappointment
lay in the second part, what looked like a nice piece of
belly but that turned out to be the white flap meat on top
of the rib; this was a bit stringy and boring, as it is
always, and did not have enough fat or flavor to help the
accompanying mix of flageolets and cranberry beans. The
brussels sprouts with bacon that had been meant to go with
the loin came in a neat little pile on the side - they were
the best part of this dish.
We had the Clos Montirius 2003 Vacqueyras, a biggish red
that TW1 thought had gone dumb (he caught a lot of tannin
but didn't find enough fruit or spice) but I thought pretty
satisfactory: some dark dried fruit, tobacco, but maybe not
enough oomph on the finish.
Time for dessert. We still had a glass each of the Rhone,
and none of the desserts looked all that interesting (they
were all a bit too all but) ... so I ordered a main course
of sauteed Pekin duck breast with sugar pumpkin and orange
to be split between us. Well, someone - I thought maybe the
kitchen, TW1 insisted the waiter, forgot, and many minutes
later when I gave the waiter the hairy eyeball, he said,
oh, the duck will be right out, which it wasn't. Obviously
the order had to be put in (again), so we waited perhaps a
half hour for the dish; it came out divided neatly onto a
pair of full-size dinner plates, sort of silly-looking, as
as you can perhaps infer the portions this day were not at
all large. The duck was good-tasting but neither rare nor
crisp-skinned; the accompaniment ring yet more changes
on the squash theme - a butternut-like puree topped with
some insufficiently-toasted seeds. TW1 said, rather sourly,
that if he wanted the harvest motif, he'd have gone to his
church for turkey dinner for 9.95 all you can eat. On the
side were two cute walnut-size blobs of shredded confit
wrapped in skin - a neat idea, only somehow they managed
to taste like hash out of a can.
Okay, we got out of there bleeding profusely from the
pocketbook but still somehow unsatisfied. So I suggested
we go to Cambridge for ice cream, just a 5-minute ride by
subway. We alit at Central, but something funny happened
on the way to Gus's, and as we passed Mary Chung I said
that I was still kind of hungry and there was this good
dish there. Of course it was the famed suan la chow show,
and we inquired if there were still two orders left -
there were, so we ordered them. They were a bit saltier
than last I'd had them and the wrappers a bit doughier,
but the dish - big pork wontons on a bed of bean sprouts,
the sauce of broth, soy, and hot pepper - was the best
balanced of the day. You can get the bean sprouts by
themselves, if you are vegetably inclined.
I asked for crispy duck. What came was duck braised in
salt water. Pretty good but very salty and not what I'd
asked for. So we ordered some Sam Adamses, and what came
out was Amstel ... when I saw the waitress coming I
audibly cursed; she looked shocked, took a glance at
what she was carrying, and turned back into the kitchen.
In a moment or two the real beer came out.
All in all, a decent experience for 1/7 what our
pre-dinner adventure at No. 9 had cost.
Of course we still had to go to Toscanini's, where I had a
scoop of lemon rosewater sorbet (much more subtle than it
sounds and not at all gag-making), and TW1 had a micro
hot-fudge sundae with grapenut, followed by a scoop of the
same sorbet.
It was getting on toward bedtime, so TW1 headed toward
the Customs House Marriott and I to the apartment near
the airport.
UA 163 BOS LAX 0650 1007 752 2D Empower covered Ch 9 Y
Met up briefly again with him at the airport, and then we
went to our respective flights - his D security looked
easy, and mine at C was pretty painless, even though there
was a ten-minute queue.
When I got to the plane I discovered that I had drawn the
same seatmate as on my last flight. We had a little chuckle
about that - turns out he likes 2C, I 2D, so it may yet
happen again. He's a good seatmate, as am I - we both tend
to sleep on airplanes.
This day the non-fruit-plate choice was a frittata with
sun-dried tomatoes and pesto (not bad, actually) with
asparagus Hollandaise (the sauce probably from a mix,
the veg pretty decent), awful hash-brown potato blobs.
A pale sausage didn't taste as good as a banger and in fact
has the honor of being perhaps the first sausage I've ever
been served that I didn't finish. But there was a slice of
slightly tough but good-tasting Canadian bacon.
It might have been too early for the Andrew Peace
"Masterpeace" Cab-Merlot 04, but that didn't stop me - the
wine helped breakfast down.
The movies were both about love flourishing under weird
circumstances - The Lake House followed by this Adam Sandler
movie where he woos a brain-damaged girl - it has some
poignant moments, but how can anyone take seriously a movie
in which someone falls in love with Adam Sandler?
The usual cheese plate, which I passed up. Great service by
a middle-aged guy with glasses and a bit of gray stubble,
who was running himself ragged whenever I looked. The purser
was an attractive woman of nearly 40 who contented herself
with strutting up and down the aisle like a marching
policeman, when she wasn't sitting doing nothing in the
front galley. The red wine was fruity and obvious (turned
out to be an Andrew Peace blend); I had a couple glasses
but switched to Courvoisier for the cookie.
Got back to the apartment at around 7:30 and got a good
morning's sleep before dealing with life and the bills.
Then off to the club for a gander at some rare mss. and a
glass or two of eau-de-vie.
=
Met TransWorldOne at No. 9 Park, one of the hotter Boston
spots and supposed to be one of the top couple for food. We
had reserved for opening time, as he had a 6:20 flight and
I a 6:50. The dining room wasn't ready until 5:40 or so;
until then we sat at the bar, TW1 nursing a water and I
abstaining. At about quarter of we were seated in a corner
banquette in the back area.
We didn't seem important enough to get amuses, but the
bread was good, although cool, the butter decent but salted.
I recommended the sweetbreads appetizer and the prune
gnocchi with foie gras - TW1 took the former, no bargain
at $25 but the best dish of the meal. It came with a
dab of truffled mashed potatoes and a bit of foie gras.
Against my better judgment (I hadn't eaten all day, and
my lunch had been a glass of the Massenez eau-de-vie de
framboise) I went for something lighter, my Carol watching
invisibly over my shoulder: the Maine crab salad, about
2 1/2 oz of nicely picked and good-tasting peekytoe over
tiny cubes of celery root and apple and possibly green
mango and topped with celery leaves (I shouldn't have
eaten these - they were too strong). A blob of orange
nothing on the side (pumpkin or other squash en sorbet)
was nugatory. The Hidalgo Manzanilla went well with both
of these; actually, a heavier Sherry would have gone better
with the sweetbreads.
For mains, TW1 had the venison en croute, which was
perfectly done, rare, but the supposed croute was a
kataifi pastry, the texture kind of distracting. He also
found the accompaniments silly and not integrated into
the dish. He mused on how the presentation took away from
the extraordinary quality of the meat.
My duo of pork was likewise satisfactory but not stunning.
When negotiating the huge and grossly overpriced wine list,
I noted to the waiter that I was being drawn to a pheasant
or some such game bird dish because it was listed as being
accompanied by hen of the woods mushrooms, a variety of
which I am fond, but I was otherwise leaning towards the
pork; he suggested the "duo of pork."
It was a pleasant surprise when the loin part of the duo
came garnished with sauteed hen of the woods lightly bound
in an espagnole. The pork was medium-rare, four little
medallions of a baby loin, brined, roasted quite plain.
That half was good but not astounding. The disappointment
lay in the second part, what looked like a nice piece of
belly but that turned out to be the white flap meat on top
of the rib; this was a bit stringy and boring, as it is
always, and did not have enough fat or flavor to help the
accompanying mix of flageolets and cranberry beans. The
brussels sprouts with bacon that had been meant to go with
the loin came in a neat little pile on the side - they were
the best part of this dish.
We had the Clos Montirius 2003 Vacqueyras, a biggish red
that TW1 thought had gone dumb (he caught a lot of tannin
but didn't find enough fruit or spice) but I thought pretty
satisfactory: some dark dried fruit, tobacco, but maybe not
enough oomph on the finish.
Time for dessert. We still had a glass each of the Rhone,
and none of the desserts looked all that interesting (they
were all a bit too all but) ... so I ordered a main course
of sauteed Pekin duck breast with sugar pumpkin and orange
to be split between us. Well, someone - I thought maybe the
kitchen, TW1 insisted the waiter, forgot, and many minutes
later when I gave the waiter the hairy eyeball, he said,
oh, the duck will be right out, which it wasn't. Obviously
the order had to be put in (again), so we waited perhaps a
half hour for the dish; it came out divided neatly onto a
pair of full-size dinner plates, sort of silly-looking, as
as you can perhaps infer the portions this day were not at
all large. The duck was good-tasting but neither rare nor
crisp-skinned; the accompaniment ring yet more changes
on the squash theme - a butternut-like puree topped with
some insufficiently-toasted seeds. TW1 said, rather sourly,
that if he wanted the harvest motif, he'd have gone to his
church for turkey dinner for 9.95 all you can eat. On the
side were two cute walnut-size blobs of shredded confit
wrapped in skin - a neat idea, only somehow they managed
to taste like hash out of a can.
Okay, we got out of there bleeding profusely from the
pocketbook but still somehow unsatisfied. So I suggested
we go to Cambridge for ice cream, just a 5-minute ride by
subway. We alit at Central, but something funny happened
on the way to Gus's, and as we passed Mary Chung I said
that I was still kind of hungry and there was this good
dish there. Of course it was the famed suan la chow show,
and we inquired if there were still two orders left -
there were, so we ordered them. They were a bit saltier
than last I'd had them and the wrappers a bit doughier,
but the dish - big pork wontons on a bed of bean sprouts,
the sauce of broth, soy, and hot pepper - was the best
balanced of the day. You can get the bean sprouts by
themselves, if you are vegetably inclined.
I asked for crispy duck. What came was duck braised in
salt water. Pretty good but very salty and not what I'd
asked for. So we ordered some Sam Adamses, and what came
out was Amstel ... when I saw the waitress coming I
audibly cursed; she looked shocked, took a glance at
what she was carrying, and turned back into the kitchen.
In a moment or two the real beer came out.
All in all, a decent experience for 1/7 what our
pre-dinner adventure at No. 9 had cost.
Of course we still had to go to Toscanini's, where I had a
scoop of lemon rosewater sorbet (much more subtle than it
sounds and not at all gag-making), and TW1 had a micro
hot-fudge sundae with grapenut, followed by a scoop of the
same sorbet.
It was getting on toward bedtime, so TW1 headed toward
the Customs House Marriott and I to the apartment near
the airport.
UA 163 BOS LAX 0650 1007 752 2D Empower covered Ch 9 Y
Met up briefly again with him at the airport, and then we
went to our respective flights - his D security looked
easy, and mine at C was pretty painless, even though there
was a ten-minute queue.
When I got to the plane I discovered that I had drawn the
same seatmate as on my last flight. We had a little chuckle
about that - turns out he likes 2C, I 2D, so it may yet
happen again. He's a good seatmate, as am I - we both tend
to sleep on airplanes.
This day the non-fruit-plate choice was a frittata with
sun-dried tomatoes and pesto (not bad, actually) with
asparagus Hollandaise (the sauce probably from a mix,
the veg pretty decent), awful hash-brown potato blobs.
A pale sausage didn't taste as good as a banger and in fact
has the honor of being perhaps the first sausage I've ever
been served that I didn't finish. But there was a slice of
slightly tough but good-tasting Canadian bacon.
It might have been too early for the Andrew Peace
"Masterpeace" Cab-Merlot 04, but that didn't stop me - the
wine helped breakfast down.
The movies were both about love flourishing under weird
circumstances - The Lake House followed by this Adam Sandler
movie where he woos a brain-damaged girl - it has some
poignant moments, but how can anyone take seriously a movie
in which someone falls in love with Adam Sandler?
Nov 30, 2006, 10:52 pm
#2
In memoriam
Original Poster
Join Date: Mar 2000
Location: IAD, BOS, PVD
Programs: UA, US, AS, Marriott, Radisson, Hilton
Posts: 7,203
6493 LAX SJC 1229 1345 CRJ 8A
A perfectly insignificant flight. We got in just early
enough so I just missed the earlier bus and then just
missed the earlier train, and, and boy, does it take a
long time to get from SJC to San Fran ... eventually got
downtown. Headed to the Ferry Building, where I promised
I'd have some oysters for Travelkhatt. Tried to sit at
the bar at Hog Island but was shooed off by some officious
guy, who seated me sort of mirror imagely from where I
wanted to be. No biggie. Had the usual waiter. A dozen
Sweetwaters and a glass of Andre Bregeon Muscadet set me
back $30. The wine was perfect - acidy, grapefruitty,
with the sweet-salt oysters. Gave my waiter a nice cash
tip, enjoining him not to share with the greeter.
A big old whoops as I discovered that California Certified
Organic Farmers was having its wine tasting. Perhaps I
should have paid more attention to my surroundings. My
palate was too loaded with oyster brine to be any good,
so I envisioned doing a quick tour and running off. Asked
the enthusiastic young volunteer at the ticket table how
much to expect to be poured, and she indicated about a
3 oz pour per sample chit. I shouldn't have, but I sprang
for the 15-tasting (or was it 20?) plan ($25) instead.
I should have known. The producers were all more interested
in pushing their products than in the protocols, and very
few of the booths even took the chits at all. Every booth
had multiple products and offered multiple pours. I estimate
that had I showed up at opening and stayed until closing (4
to 8) I could have had 60 3-oz samples, some of them really
5 or 6 oz. Or more if I'd revisited some of the favorites.
To get the fish taste out of my mouth, I went first to the
Eel River Brewing table and had an IPA - tasty, well hopped,
but a bit floral for me (the Cascade, Hallertau, and some
Pacific-specific type). Did a good job on the residual
oyster oils, and soon I was ready to do some tasting.
=
La Rocca Vineyards ("Grapefully Organic") - a genial guy,
apparently the winemaker, was pouring impossibly big
tastes (filling the 6-oz taster glass nearly to the brim
unless you asked otherwise) in an ebullient Italianate
sort of way. Makes pretty honest no-nonsense wines.
Chardonnay - honey oak quite nice, worth buying almost;
Merlot - eh, hardly memorable;
Pinot Noir - had no varietal quality, something peculiar
that I found about many California Pinots (I exclude the
Russian River, not represented here); maybe the grapes are
grown in the wrong climate to bring out the character (too
warm and cozy?);
Cabernet - greenish in the style I grew up imagining as the
California style but pretty nice
Late harvest Zinfandel - had botrytis and a raisiny aspect,
aggressively sweet, long finish, not too alcoholic.
=
Contrast the Moon Mountain booth, which had apparently
hired some cuties from the local modeling agency, some of
whom sort of knew about wine. This was the bling table of
the show, with the most costly and actually some of the
best wines.
Cabernet Franc was disturbingly honeyed, with notes of wax
and plum; it was actually rather fine and grew on me;
Cabernet Sauvignon was less concentrated, with an acidy
brown coffee-like taste; I didn't like it as much;
Malbec had more of that coffee, but it was muted somehow,
so the fruit came out more; a fairly impressive wine, and
one I'd consider bumping my normal Malbec for, so I asked
the price: $45 (gulp - my usual, the Norton, can be had
for 7.99, 6.99 on special).
=
Sobon is one of the few wineries represented whose products
are readily available on the east coast. I'd tasted the Old
Vines before and hadn't been blown away (despite its name,
it sells for under $12); here I had the chance to taste it
against a single-vineyard product by the same winemaker.
But first, the Viognier, which tasted disturbingly like
Bazooka bubble gum; I couldn't get over that, but I guess
it makes sense that occasionally those yummy fruity and
floral components go wild, and so ...
Tried the Old Vines Zinfandel again: a little petrolly,
tannic, ok, one-dimensional;
Rocky Top Zinfandel had spice, honeyed fruit, and chocolate
on the palate and the usual raisiny finish; it was a big
wine with good tannin - ageable for a few more years and
at this point a decent tipple;
the Zinfandel Port was almost Port-like, with raisins and
honey; it had more alcohol and less residual sweetness than
the La Rocca, which I'd tasted maybe 15 minutes before. I
think I liked it better.
=
Frey Vineyards
Chardonnay - a bit alcoholic on the nose, decent fruit, a
little lactic tasting: not bad, not compelling;
Sangiovese - lots of new wood, spices; attractive but
going into a dumb stage (I didn't get vintages for most
of the wines, but they're the current offerings);
Zinfandel had honey and tannin competing, but the overall
impression was not unpleasant.
=
Jeriko
Chardonnay - lots of acid but good fruit; oddly, despite
the acid, gave a slightly sweet impression - I liked it;
Merlot - not Merlot style, sort of odd, dumb;
Syrah - spicy and attractive; I'd buy (maybe).
=
Ukiah Brewing Co. Pilsner - floral (bathroom disinfectant)
aroma carrying over into the palate; good hops, though. As
one can guess, I didn't care for it.
=
Girasole Chard - a bit overt on the fruit; I thought it a
bit unsubtle; might go well with food.
=
Barra (poured by Madame Barra, first name forgotten)
Muscat Canelli - very sweet aroma, honey and peach (she said
pear) on the palate, moderately sweet, maybe the pears came
out on the finish (if I closed my eyes and thought about it,
I could detect some);
Pinot Noir - light honey, honeycomb, actually fairly typical
of a California Pinot Noir;
Zinfandel - good body, fruit; liked it quite well;
Cabernet - didn't care for, found it a bit wimpy.
=
Butte Creek Brewing
Pilsner - quite heavily hopped, enjoyed this
IPA - less floral than the Eel River; liked it a lot, maybe
better than the other.
=
Preston white and red Rhone blends
Viognier - floral aroma, sort of thin, Jell-O like;
Syrah-Mourvedre - dark fruit, meaty, a rich wine.
I wonder if L. Preston was trying to make quintessentially
"feminine" and "masculine" wines - if so, he must like
guys better than gals.
Checked the time - quarter to 7, so I had to pass on
several other wineries' offerings, including Ceago
and Organic Vintners.
Finished with a palate-cleanser and mind-refogger of Eel
River amber ale, a pleasant quaff.
By now it was about time to head over to the R&G Lounge,
so I staggered off there to join those few FTers who eat as
well as drink: VPescado, travelkhatt, KathyWdrf, PTravel,
and jswong.
A perfectly insignificant flight. We got in just early
enough so I just missed the earlier bus and then just
missed the earlier train, and, and boy, does it take a
long time to get from SJC to San Fran ... eventually got
downtown. Headed to the Ferry Building, where I promised
I'd have some oysters for Travelkhatt. Tried to sit at
the bar at Hog Island but was shooed off by some officious
guy, who seated me sort of mirror imagely from where I
wanted to be. No biggie. Had the usual waiter. A dozen
Sweetwaters and a glass of Andre Bregeon Muscadet set me
back $30. The wine was perfect - acidy, grapefruitty,
with the sweet-salt oysters. Gave my waiter a nice cash
tip, enjoining him not to share with the greeter.
A big old whoops as I discovered that California Certified
Organic Farmers was having its wine tasting. Perhaps I
should have paid more attention to my surroundings. My
palate was too loaded with oyster brine to be any good,
so I envisioned doing a quick tour and running off. Asked
the enthusiastic young volunteer at the ticket table how
much to expect to be poured, and she indicated about a
3 oz pour per sample chit. I shouldn't have, but I sprang
for the 15-tasting (or was it 20?) plan ($25) instead.
I should have known. The producers were all more interested
in pushing their products than in the protocols, and very
few of the booths even took the chits at all. Every booth
had multiple products and offered multiple pours. I estimate
that had I showed up at opening and stayed until closing (4
to 8) I could have had 60 3-oz samples, some of them really
5 or 6 oz. Or more if I'd revisited some of the favorites.
To get the fish taste out of my mouth, I went first to the
Eel River Brewing table and had an IPA - tasty, well hopped,
but a bit floral for me (the Cascade, Hallertau, and some
Pacific-specific type). Did a good job on the residual
oyster oils, and soon I was ready to do some tasting.
=
La Rocca Vineyards ("Grapefully Organic") - a genial guy,
apparently the winemaker, was pouring impossibly big
tastes (filling the 6-oz taster glass nearly to the brim
unless you asked otherwise) in an ebullient Italianate
sort of way. Makes pretty honest no-nonsense wines.
Chardonnay - honey oak quite nice, worth buying almost;
Merlot - eh, hardly memorable;
Pinot Noir - had no varietal quality, something peculiar
that I found about many California Pinots (I exclude the
Russian River, not represented here); maybe the grapes are
grown in the wrong climate to bring out the character (too
warm and cozy?);
Cabernet - greenish in the style I grew up imagining as the
California style but pretty nice
Late harvest Zinfandel - had botrytis and a raisiny aspect,
aggressively sweet, long finish, not too alcoholic.
=
Contrast the Moon Mountain booth, which had apparently
hired some cuties from the local modeling agency, some of
whom sort of knew about wine. This was the bling table of
the show, with the most costly and actually some of the
best wines.
Cabernet Franc was disturbingly honeyed, with notes of wax
and plum; it was actually rather fine and grew on me;
Cabernet Sauvignon was less concentrated, with an acidy
brown coffee-like taste; I didn't like it as much;
Malbec had more of that coffee, but it was muted somehow,
so the fruit came out more; a fairly impressive wine, and
one I'd consider bumping my normal Malbec for, so I asked
the price: $45 (gulp - my usual, the Norton, can be had
for 7.99, 6.99 on special).
=
Sobon is one of the few wineries represented whose products
are readily available on the east coast. I'd tasted the Old
Vines before and hadn't been blown away (despite its name,
it sells for under $12); here I had the chance to taste it
against a single-vineyard product by the same winemaker.
But first, the Viognier, which tasted disturbingly like
Bazooka bubble gum; I couldn't get over that, but I guess
it makes sense that occasionally those yummy fruity and
floral components go wild, and so ...
Tried the Old Vines Zinfandel again: a little petrolly,
tannic, ok, one-dimensional;
Rocky Top Zinfandel had spice, honeyed fruit, and chocolate
on the palate and the usual raisiny finish; it was a big
wine with good tannin - ageable for a few more years and
at this point a decent tipple;
the Zinfandel Port was almost Port-like, with raisins and
honey; it had more alcohol and less residual sweetness than
the La Rocca, which I'd tasted maybe 15 minutes before. I
think I liked it better.
=
Frey Vineyards
Chardonnay - a bit alcoholic on the nose, decent fruit, a
little lactic tasting: not bad, not compelling;
Sangiovese - lots of new wood, spices; attractive but
going into a dumb stage (I didn't get vintages for most
of the wines, but they're the current offerings);
Zinfandel had honey and tannin competing, but the overall
impression was not unpleasant.
=
Jeriko
Chardonnay - lots of acid but good fruit; oddly, despite
the acid, gave a slightly sweet impression - I liked it;
Merlot - not Merlot style, sort of odd, dumb;
Syrah - spicy and attractive; I'd buy (maybe).
=
Ukiah Brewing Co. Pilsner - floral (bathroom disinfectant)
aroma carrying over into the palate; good hops, though. As
one can guess, I didn't care for it.
=
Girasole Chard - a bit overt on the fruit; I thought it a
bit unsubtle; might go well with food.
=
Barra (poured by Madame Barra, first name forgotten)
Muscat Canelli - very sweet aroma, honey and peach (she said
pear) on the palate, moderately sweet, maybe the pears came
out on the finish (if I closed my eyes and thought about it,
I could detect some);
Pinot Noir - light honey, honeycomb, actually fairly typical
of a California Pinot Noir;
Zinfandel - good body, fruit; liked it quite well;
Cabernet - didn't care for, found it a bit wimpy.
=
Butte Creek Brewing
Pilsner - quite heavily hopped, enjoyed this
IPA - less floral than the Eel River; liked it a lot, maybe
better than the other.
=
Preston white and red Rhone blends
Viognier - floral aroma, sort of thin, Jell-O like;
Syrah-Mourvedre - dark fruit, meaty, a rich wine.
I wonder if L. Preston was trying to make quintessentially
"feminine" and "masculine" wines - if so, he must like
guys better than gals.
Checked the time - quarter to 7, so I had to pass on
several other wineries' offerings, including Ceago
and Organic Vintners.
Finished with a palate-cleanser and mind-refogger of Eel
River amber ale, a pleasant quaff.
By now it was about time to head over to the R&G Lounge,
so I staggered off there to join those few FTers who eat as
well as drink: VPescado, travelkhatt, KathyWdrf, PTravel,
and jswong.
Of course i'm very pleased you did!
Dec 4, 2006, 1:35 pm
#5
In memoriam
Original Poster
Join Date: Mar 2000
Location: IAD, BOS, PVD
Programs: UA, US, AS, Marriott, Radisson, Hilton
Posts: 7,203
Party, your absence was noted!
JS - I was staggered in general ... but bear in mind that other
than the palate-cleansing water and beer, I spat. Good to meet
you, by the way.
JS - I was staggered in general ... but bear in mind that other
than the palate-cleansing water and beer, I spat. Good to meet
you, by the way.
Dec 6, 2006, 6:14 pm
#9
In memoriam
Original Poster
Join Date: Mar 2000
Location: IAD, BOS, PVD
Programs: UA, US, AS, Marriott, Radisson, Hilton
Posts: 7,203
A consensus meal, but it worked out well.
Salt-pepper squid was a universal choice, as was salt-pepper
crab, after we saw a big Dungeness go by and the waiter
quoted a quite reasonable price. Both were exemplary. I'm
a little dubious about the salt-pepper treatment for a food
where one's not going to eat the outside - I'd have maybe
preferred steamed or sauteed with ginger and scallion, but,
as I said, it was exemplary, the salt and pepper salty and
peppery and the crab sweet, fresh, and delish.
I asked for an order of soy sauce brisket, which was quite
different from the soy sauce brisket that I make. This was
very much like spiced beef in aspic (usually made with shin
but this time made I believe with chuck blade); a bit
gristly so not a favorite, so I ate most of it.
jswong suggested a vegetable dish in what was going to be a
heavily protein meal, so we got mustard greens with black
mushrooms, quite nice in a comforting Chinese restauant
food sort of way.
Hot-sour soup was requested by three of us, so we just got
a big bowl and split it. It was good in the same way.
I suggested prawns with pine nuts instead of the standard
"honey walnut prawns" - I preferred this one; I don't know
about anyone else, but it did get gobbled up in short
order. The shrimp were big and fresh, the pine nuts crisp;
and it was a bit less sweet than the walnut version.
Incredibly, we were still hungry after the above so had
another order of squid.
The bill for dinner plus beer was about the same as for a
couple drinks at the subsequent Do.
We wandered toward our destination, the Redwood Room at
the Clift (only a mile away - that's one reason I'd chosen
the restaurant); with detours and hilarity it took nearly
half an hour, but we were still pretty early - the only
FTers in evidence was one table in the corner populated by
Windflyer, Liz, couscous & mrs. couscous, and kluau88 and
a friend of his. The next table was reserved for us as
well, so as newcomers we took that one.
I started on my tasting of brandies-that-I-can-afford as
people filtered in. Eventually it became a largish
boisterous-ish of frequent flyers and those who wish
they did.
I had three VSOPs - Sempe - rather dry woody, hot, with a
bitter aspect, not surprising for an Armagnac; I didn't
care for it as I far prefer the Larressingle style;
Remy - rather suave, nice vanilla, wood, and fruit notes,
but impossibly sweet after the Sempe;
Hennessy - good balance between assertiveness and suavity.
I used to order this a lot before Dom Capossela suggested I
start drinking Remy back in '74. Apparently Remy has changed
or I have, because I preferred the Hennessy big time. The
only experience I've had with Hennessy since the Dom days
(this is Dom senior we're talking about) has been the weird
hot Asian formulations, some of which are extremely costly
and all of which are nasty nasty.
Salt-pepper squid was a universal choice, as was salt-pepper
crab, after we saw a big Dungeness go by and the waiter
quoted a quite reasonable price. Both were exemplary. I'm
a little dubious about the salt-pepper treatment for a food
where one's not going to eat the outside - I'd have maybe
preferred steamed or sauteed with ginger and scallion, but,
as I said, it was exemplary, the salt and pepper salty and
peppery and the crab sweet, fresh, and delish.
I asked for an order of soy sauce brisket, which was quite
different from the soy sauce brisket that I make. This was
very much like spiced beef in aspic (usually made with shin
but this time made I believe with chuck blade); a bit
gristly so not a favorite, so I ate most of it.
jswong suggested a vegetable dish in what was going to be a
heavily protein meal, so we got mustard greens with black
mushrooms, quite nice in a comforting Chinese restauant
food sort of way.
Hot-sour soup was requested by three of us, so we just got
a big bowl and split it. It was good in the same way.
I suggested prawns with pine nuts instead of the standard
"honey walnut prawns" - I preferred this one; I don't know
about anyone else, but it did get gobbled up in short
order. The shrimp were big and fresh, the pine nuts crisp;
and it was a bit less sweet than the walnut version.
Incredibly, we were still hungry after the above so had
another order of squid.
The bill for dinner plus beer was about the same as for a
couple drinks at the subsequent Do.
We wandered toward our destination, the Redwood Room at
the Clift (only a mile away - that's one reason I'd chosen
the restaurant); with detours and hilarity it took nearly
half an hour, but we were still pretty early - the only
FTers in evidence was one table in the corner populated by
Windflyer, Liz, couscous & mrs. couscous, and kluau88 and
a friend of his. The next table was reserved for us as
well, so as newcomers we took that one.
I started on my tasting of brandies-that-I-can-afford as
people filtered in. Eventually it became a largish
boisterous-ish of frequent flyers and those who wish
they did.
I had three VSOPs - Sempe - rather dry woody, hot, with a
bitter aspect, not surprising for an Armagnac; I didn't
care for it as I far prefer the Larressingle style;
Remy - rather suave, nice vanilla, wood, and fruit notes,
but impossibly sweet after the Sempe;
Hennessy - good balance between assertiveness and suavity.
I used to order this a lot before Dom Capossela suggested I
start drinking Remy back in '74. Apparently Remy has changed
or I have, because I preferred the Hennessy big time. The
only experience I've had with Hennessy since the Dom days
(this is Dom senior we're talking about) has been the weird
hot Asian formulations, some of which are extremely costly
and all of which are nasty nasty.
Dec 6, 2006, 6:24 pm
#10
In memoriam
Original Poster
Join Date: Mar 2000
Location: IAD, BOS, PVD
Programs: UA, US, AS, Marriott, Radisson, Hilton
Posts: 7,203
. Sorry about that - couldn't stop myself!
Dec 8, 2006, 4:41 pm
#12
In memoriam
Original Poster
Join Date: Mar 2000
Location: IAD, BOS, PVD
Programs: UA, US, AS, Marriott, Radisson, Hilton
Posts: 7,203
end of trip
BenjaminNYC and his fellow AA F runners qasr and Axey
showed up pretty late, after many of us had had our
snootfuls; hence a number of folks didn't get to see them.
KathyWdrf and I did pace ourselves to stay alive and
conscious and to at least make an effort to be social for
an hour (or closer to two, as it turns out). Eventually
Kathy and I toddled off home for altogether too few hours of
sleep. I'd promised her a dim sum breakfast in return for a
billet, so a bit too early we dragged ourselves away from our
slumbers and after a slug of life-giving orange juice went
east to Yank Sing in Rincon Center. We arrived just as a
garage attendant was putting out a sign saying that Yank
Sing validated from 10:30, but on picking up a ticket, we
found that it was too early indeed, 10:26 or so by their
time stamp; what to do? The helpful guy on parking level
said, no problem, just exit immediately and go around the
block, eh walla. So we did, returning at the appropriate
time. So we showed up at Yank Sing's doorstep, confident
as we'd had reports that the place opened at 10:30. It
doesn't. A meal starting at 11 bodes ill for the BART to
OAK for a 1:30 flight, so we searched out alternatives.
Sorabol is two doors down - a noodle and teriyaki place
that smelled pretty good, so we decided to have a light
chow there and maybe get a few pieces of xiao long bao
when Yank Sing opened. As we wanted to keep our stomachs
and options open, we didn't go for rice plates (rice,
small main course, miso soup, pickles) but had a la carte
orders instead: teriyaki chicken with a small side of spicy
chili pork. I'd like to make the pun and say that it
sorabol, but in fact it's perfectly respectable in an
undistinctively northeast Asian way. The chicken was fine,
the boneless meat of a leg (thigh and drummer) and a half,
$5, the slightly too sweet marinade perked up with a tiny
bit of extra ginger. The pork ($3 for the small portion),
was mixed with scallions and regular onions and generously
anointed with Korean red chile: I thought it was terrific,
although many non-Asians would not think so, as the meat
was largely from the belly with some pieces from the fatty
part of the shoulder: i.e., if you're afraid of pig grease,
don't do it. This may explain the wide divergence of
opinion about the place: if you're Asian, you'll tend to
like it; if you have no taste buds, you'll tend to like it;
if you've grown up with the Occidental fear of pinguitude,
forget it. Out of there at ten past eleven, but we still
wanted dim sum, so we went back to Yank Sing with the
intention of just having a few bites; but the flesh is weak.
The quite good Shanghai dumplings should have been enough
to fill us up, but in short order we managed to accumulate
a big meal on our table - har gow, siu mai, char siu bao.
sugar snaps in soy sauce, and seafood dumplings with sweet
basil. The siu mai were dreadful, no better than what you
might get out of a Trader Joe's frozen box, but the rest
of the things were good at least. The basil dumplings were
the most interesting but had some fake crab in amid the
ground shrimp and white fish. Sugar snaps were cold,
apparently intentionally so. As by this time there was no
way I'd make my flight without assistance, I suggested that
if Kathy were to make a field trip to beautiful Oakland
International, I'd pick up the tab. So it was. A good thing.
A huge 30-minute line at security; some Mexican guy flying
to Guadalajara tried to jump the line from the Mexicana
counter (80% of the way through the line) instead of going
back to where he should. Some very tall smug western he-man
types directly ahead of me abused him roundly (he really had
no right to cut in line, but they were really obnoxious);
what he did was just go back a few yards and cut in line
again. Thought about fussing (what would happen if everyone
cut the line? It'd be like New Jersey) but didn't bother.
UA 444 OAK DEN 1338 1657 752 2D Empower Y Ch 9 Y
A good crew and a pleasant flight. I'd originally doubted
this could be, as row 1 housed an employee, his wife, and
three brats (3 kids for 2 seats, but this was remedied by
the husband taking an open seat farther back), but the
brats were mostly well behaved, until just around our
initial descent when they started getting antsy and did
things like kept putting the shades up and down with a
crunch. By this time I wasn't worrying about much, though.
Canyon Road Cabernet was a decent dryish, not wildly fruity
wine with a pleasant finish; I'm sure it went well with the
fruit and cheese plate; but instead I had Biscoffs only and
thus switched to Courvoisier.
UA 732 DEN BOS 1830 0010 752 3A Empower N Ch 9 Y
Okay crew. The sort of attractive blonde appeared to take an
instant dislike to me - she was fairly chatty and smiling to
most of the passengers (largely old white men) but was
coolly correct or perhaps slightly-less-than-correct with me
(no matter as the rest of the cabin crew made up for her
deficiencies).
My seatmate was a crusty old New Englander who bore a
striking resemblance to George VI. We started off with the
usual grunting acquaintance and bare acknowledgment of each
other's existence ("how dare he take a perfectly good empty
seat away from next to me?"); but after both of us had had
humorous and polite interchanges with the FA, we both
determined that we were worthy of speaking to each other
and ended up having an interesting chat that kept me (in
spite of my original plan) awake for the whole flight. We
shared a love of travel, exogamous relationships, and wine
(he drank the Andrew Pearce but admitted it was rotgut and I
might have made the right choice with my brandy) and a
dislike of the current regime (though for different
reasons).
I'd have thought him a lawyer had he not said otherwise,
from the probing set of questions he asked. But in return I
got a fair amount of information about his own life, so
I guess all's fair. Turns out he had married a Singapore
Girl (met on a flight) and owns an accounting firm in
Indonesia (?!), and they spend much of their time in Asia
although they make their legal home in Rhode Island. A very
late-20th-century lifestyle, one that I'd envy were I not
living a facsimile of it myself.
Dinner: salad with ranch dressing; hard roll; chicken breast
stuffed with pesto, in red sauce; asparagus; potatoes; Eli's
mocha cheesecake (food all edible, none interesting)
or
salad with ranch dressing; egg bread; cheese ravioli;
dessert. The ravioli looked awful but smelled okay.
Seatmate finished the dish.
Flight landed a few minutes early; on deplaning I said
thank you to the blonde, who was stationed at the door;
she stared right through me.
showed up pretty late, after many of us had had our
snootfuls; hence a number of folks didn't get to see them.
KathyWdrf and I did pace ourselves to stay alive and
conscious and to at least make an effort to be social for
an hour (or closer to two, as it turns out). Eventually
Kathy and I toddled off home for altogether too few hours of
sleep. I'd promised her a dim sum breakfast in return for a
billet, so a bit too early we dragged ourselves away from our
slumbers and after a slug of life-giving orange juice went
east to Yank Sing in Rincon Center. We arrived just as a
garage attendant was putting out a sign saying that Yank
Sing validated from 10:30, but on picking up a ticket, we
found that it was too early indeed, 10:26 or so by their
time stamp; what to do? The helpful guy on parking level
said, no problem, just exit immediately and go around the
block, eh walla. So we did, returning at the appropriate
time. So we showed up at Yank Sing's doorstep, confident
as we'd had reports that the place opened at 10:30. It
doesn't. A meal starting at 11 bodes ill for the BART to
OAK for a 1:30 flight, so we searched out alternatives.
Sorabol is two doors down - a noodle and teriyaki place
that smelled pretty good, so we decided to have a light
chow there and maybe get a few pieces of xiao long bao
when Yank Sing opened. As we wanted to keep our stomachs
and options open, we didn't go for rice plates (rice,
small main course, miso soup, pickles) but had a la carte
orders instead: teriyaki chicken with a small side of spicy
chili pork. I'd like to make the pun and say that it
sorabol, but in fact it's perfectly respectable in an
undistinctively northeast Asian way. The chicken was fine,
the boneless meat of a leg (thigh and drummer) and a half,
$5, the slightly too sweet marinade perked up with a tiny
bit of extra ginger. The pork ($3 for the small portion),
was mixed with scallions and regular onions and generously
anointed with Korean red chile: I thought it was terrific,
although many non-Asians would not think so, as the meat
was largely from the belly with some pieces from the fatty
part of the shoulder: i.e., if you're afraid of pig grease,
don't do it. This may explain the wide divergence of
opinion about the place: if you're Asian, you'll tend to
like it; if you have no taste buds, you'll tend to like it;
if you've grown up with the Occidental fear of pinguitude,
forget it. Out of there at ten past eleven, but we still
wanted dim sum, so we went back to Yank Sing with the
intention of just having a few bites; but the flesh is weak.
The quite good Shanghai dumplings should have been enough
to fill us up, but in short order we managed to accumulate
a big meal on our table - har gow, siu mai, char siu bao.
sugar snaps in soy sauce, and seafood dumplings with sweet
basil. The siu mai were dreadful, no better than what you
might get out of a Trader Joe's frozen box, but the rest
of the things were good at least. The basil dumplings were
the most interesting but had some fake crab in amid the
ground shrimp and white fish. Sugar snaps were cold,
apparently intentionally so. As by this time there was no
way I'd make my flight without assistance, I suggested that
if Kathy were to make a field trip to beautiful Oakland
International, I'd pick up the tab. So it was. A good thing.
A huge 30-minute line at security; some Mexican guy flying
to Guadalajara tried to jump the line from the Mexicana
counter (80% of the way through the line) instead of going
back to where he should. Some very tall smug western he-man
types directly ahead of me abused him roundly (he really had
no right to cut in line, but they were really obnoxious);
what he did was just go back a few yards and cut in line
again. Thought about fussing (what would happen if everyone
cut the line? It'd be like New Jersey) but didn't bother.
UA 444 OAK DEN 1338 1657 752 2D Empower Y Ch 9 Y
A good crew and a pleasant flight. I'd originally doubted
this could be, as row 1 housed an employee, his wife, and
three brats (3 kids for 2 seats, but this was remedied by
the husband taking an open seat farther back), but the
brats were mostly well behaved, until just around our
initial descent when they started getting antsy and did
things like kept putting the shades up and down with a
crunch. By this time I wasn't worrying about much, though.
Canyon Road Cabernet was a decent dryish, not wildly fruity
wine with a pleasant finish; I'm sure it went well with the
fruit and cheese plate; but instead I had Biscoffs only and
thus switched to Courvoisier.
UA 732 DEN BOS 1830 0010 752 3A Empower N Ch 9 Y
Okay crew. The sort of attractive blonde appeared to take an
instant dislike to me - she was fairly chatty and smiling to
most of the passengers (largely old white men) but was
coolly correct or perhaps slightly-less-than-correct with me
(no matter as the rest of the cabin crew made up for her
deficiencies).
My seatmate was a crusty old New Englander who bore a
striking resemblance to George VI. We started off with the
usual grunting acquaintance and bare acknowledgment of each
other's existence ("how dare he take a perfectly good empty
seat away from next to me?"); but after both of us had had
humorous and polite interchanges with the FA, we both
determined that we were worthy of speaking to each other
and ended up having an interesting chat that kept me (in
spite of my original plan) awake for the whole flight. We
shared a love of travel, exogamous relationships, and wine
(he drank the Andrew Pearce but admitted it was rotgut and I
might have made the right choice with my brandy) and a
dislike of the current regime (though for different
reasons).
I'd have thought him a lawyer had he not said otherwise,
from the probing set of questions he asked. But in return I
got a fair amount of information about his own life, so
I guess all's fair. Turns out he had married a Singapore
Girl (met on a flight) and owns an accounting firm in
Indonesia (?!), and they spend much of their time in Asia
although they make their legal home in Rhode Island. A very
late-20th-century lifestyle, one that I'd envy were I not
living a facsimile of it myself.
Dinner: salad with ranch dressing; hard roll; chicken breast
stuffed with pesto, in red sauce; asparagus; potatoes; Eli's
mocha cheesecake (food all edible, none interesting)
or
salad with ranch dressing; egg bread; cheese ravioli;
dessert. The ravioli looked awful but smelled okay.
Seatmate finished the dish.
Flight landed a few minutes early; on deplaning I said
thank you to the blonde, who was stationed at the door;
she stared right through me.
