entombed in the shrine of zeroes and ones

The menu says, PROPER ATTIRE ENCOURAGED.  I wish the dude in the frayed jeans and the "I LOVE MY GIRLFRIEND" T-shirt had read it.

We considered the omakase, but i really didn't see myself eating that much.  I went in with the firm idea that, given the high level of culinary art on display, i would try everything i was served, even if it's not to my normal taste.  So i tried the blue cheese dressing with my iceberg wedges salad and enjoyed it; i got the beef and reef, and ate all the mushrooms, which went well with the filet mignon; and for dessert, i ordered the Ooh!, and ate the black olive ice cream.  I generally abhor olives, but the waiter explained that the saltiness of the ice cream was there to cut the richness of the various chocolates; i figured i had nothing to lose.  I don't know if i would have liked it on its own, but the ice cream fulfilled its duty as a richness buffer with flying colors, uh, flavors.

Kimmy had the baby lettuce salad and the filet mignon, and the Pearadise for dessert; we also ordered the haricot verts, and a couple of hamachi shots, which were simply delicious.  The amuse-bouche were also very good.

As for the wine, i opened with a glass of the aged riesling (not the one listed; it was a 1989 Dr. Heyden Oppenheimer Kruez Auslese from Germany), which was a highlight for me; it was quite complex for a white wine, it showed its age very well, and it adapted well to everything i had before my entrée.  We then ordered the Barbaresco half-bottle to go with our filets, which did an admirable job despite my initial skepticism (it tasted like a pinot noir trying to impersonate a merlot).  For dessert, Kimmy got a glass of their muscat, which was excellent, not too sweet, and paired perfectly with the Pearadise, and i asked for a glass of 1968 madeira.  Sadly, they were out, so the server upsold me to a glass of 1983 vintage port and one of the 10-year madeiras (the latter came at no charge).

I have to showcase my dessert.

It is as described in the dessert menu, except that the bits you see surrounding the black olive ice cream on the right are minced cacao nibs.  The chocolate sphere was not precisely filled with fudge; rather, it was a dollop of fudge about the same size as the ice cream.

When the dish was brought out, the sphere was complete; hot melted chocolate was poured upon it until it melted through and fell upon the fudge within the sphere, leaving the jagged edges you see above.

They brought this out as their gift, purportedly some sort of apple crème brûlée, but Kimmy thought it tasted more like pumpkin.  It tasted more like apple pie to me, with a definite cinnamon flavor which i did not care for.  The other freebies we got were two flutes of Cristalino Brut, which were the first things to arrive at the table.

When our server pulled the cork from our bottle of Barbaresco, he put it in this weird contraption, clearly intending to display the cork, but the next time he came by our table, he took it away.

Our meal, overall, was fantastic.  But i have some complaints:

• Their online menu wasn't updated, so a few dishes we wanted were missing.  The omission i found most puzzling was the Divinity, the chocolate soufflé, which was inexplicably replaced by the Rise ‘n’ Shine, a banana soufflé.
• We were amused by patrons receiving cotton candy as the sweet that comes with the bill; we were looking forward to ours, but the blasted machine broke just before we received our bill.  We received some odd ultra-French toast-like squares instead, which weren't all that and really were too sweet for that point in the evening.
• There's no other way to put this: the men's room smelled like tinkle.  If i'm going to a ballgame, fine.  If i'm going to a fancy restaurant, unacceptable.
• Kimmy found the chairs almost too uncomfortable.  Again, not what you'd expect at a high-end restaurant.

The missus and i will be eating here (PELIGRO: Flash).  I am pondering how much i'll let myself spend on wine.

Mom and Aunt Martha flew in last week to visit, and Kim and i brought them along on our 10th anniversary trip to the Santa Ynez Valley, which we've been wanting to visit ever since we saw Sideways.  It's absolutely beautiful down here, and so is Santa Barbara, which we visited today.  Today we also had tasty æbleskiver for breakfast (i also had medisterpølse and eggs).

Yesterday in Los Olivos, we went to taste at this one room that collects wine from vineyards that don't have their own tasting room.  It was run by a man whom i dubbed the Pinot Noir Nazi, perhaps like Sideways's Miles but gruffer and without the somehow charming dysfunction.  He declared that cabernet franc was a blending grape and was wasted when vinified on its own, and the same went for merlot, dolcetto, and tempranillo.  I just nodded and said, "I see."  He did pour us an absolutely fabulous pinot noir from Fiddlehead Cellars, and i passed his snob test by correctly pronouncing Meritage and Lompoc.

Sabrage is a neat trick.  However, there's the right way to do it, and the wrong way.

Kim and i took a flight early this morning to Marion Morrison Airport to drive to Riverside (yes, i know Ontario's closer, but we couldn't get any decent fares) for the wedding of my old college friend Dave Zuckerman.  The traffic in Southern California is an obnoxious endemic feature, a daily hazard for travelers; besides, SoCal is so big, it takes a long time to get anywhere anyway.

For the first time since the early `90s, "we" were all together at the same time: Brian Dailey, Eugene Hsu, Ron Swain, and the aforementioned DZ.  We had a blast, of course, cracking wise during the wedding rehearsal, the rehearsal dinner, and at the après-ceremony dinner at Café Sevilla (which reminded me of the Current Music).  Except for Brian, who also works in the IT dungeons (albeit for academia instead of the dread world of startups), we've all settled into different careers, all of which have little to do with the degrees we achieved (and by "we" i mean "they", as i never completed my curriculum).  The food and wine at Sevilla were excellent, despite a few hitches (how does a Spanish restaurant run out of Spanish wine, i ask you?)

This afternoon's ceremony was elegant and succinct.  Dave and Julia radiate passion, love, and good humor.  I liked what i saw, and i had a great time.

This morning, we had brunch at Plums with jkcohen and his better half Beth, and it was delightful to spend a few hours with them (alas, not nearly as much time as we'd've liked), and the food was excellent.

Now i must go to bed, as we must get up before the crack of dawn to make an 06:45 flight.  I just didn't want to take Monday off...

2wanda and i went to Dishdash yesterday to have lunch with the lovely madmerle and the irrepressible drieuxster.  drieux is entertaining and educational.  He also won't shut up.  The three normal people had a pleasant conversation during the silent gaps while drieux was swallowing.  Three hours later, we managed to escape by distracting him with what i assured him was a small swatch of fabric from Barry Goldwater's favorite suit, in exchange for which madmerle gave us a bottle of Smoking Loon 2005 Syrah.

That evening, we went to thib_gc's birthday party, and we picked up sandollar17 so she wouldn't have to walk there in the rain.  A fabulous time was had, and much wine was drunk; someone brought a bottle of Ravenswood 1996 Zinfandel, which i thought might be past its prime, but my fears turned out to be unfounded.  We donated our bottle of Dunnewood 1997 Charbono Port to the cause.

Kim prepared a feast today for her knitting circle; sandollar17 came, and so did amywithani and racerxmachina, and somehow palecur snuck along, so we played Magic: The Gathering with Type P decks as i looked over my shoulder in case work reared its ugly head.  And now, it's time to get to bed.

No!  We actually went winetasting again today!  There was a fundraising event for the Mt. Eden Vaulting Club at Cooper-Garrod Vineyards, so Kim, her mom, sandollar17, and i sandwiched our attendance of the event between visits to Picchetti and Thomas Fogarty (i've been a fan for some time, but i only found out today that Fogarty was a doctor).  In addition to Cooper-Garrod's wines, they were also pouring wines from the The Winery at Holy Cross Abbey (they have a fugly Flashified site, which comes with an unmutable soundtrack of chanting monks), a Colorado winery (yes, there are a few wineries in Colorado), which were quite good, but unfortunately not for sale because they didn't bring enough (duh).

Wednesday was elmuchacho's first time winetasting, and today was sandollar17's first time as well.  The ladies had to patiently put up with me as i ended up working on my laptop (plus EVDO card) all through brunch.

Picchetti has peacocks.  Don't believe me?  I have proof!

( one more! )

I took the day off today to go wine tasting with 2wanda and elmuchacho (captain_nesky was supposed to come but couldn't).  We didn't make a decision whether our destination would be the Santa Cruz Mountains, Paso Robles, or Sonoma; at the last minute, we chose Sonoma so i could drop by Lambert Bridge and say hello to my winemaking class instructor, who is Lambert Bridge's winemaker.

Kim and i have never made a trip with Sonoma as our destination; we've often been to Calistoga, and from there jetted down Highway 128 through Knights Valley and Alexander Valley to hit Dry Creek Valley, where Preston and Ferrari-Carano are favorite destinations.  So, this time, i wanted to hit Russian River and Sonoma Valley.  But as Lambert Bridge is in Dry Creek, and we did want to hit Preston... hello Dry Creek!  Again!  But before we hit the wineries, we had lunch at Sake'O, which consisted of good sashimi and a very tasty tempura banana with a scoop of the best vanilla ice cream i've ever had.

We hit Lambert Bridge first and said hello to Jill, who generously gave us a thorough tour, and we got to talk a bit of shop (or, at least in my case, future shop).  Then we went on to Preston, and then Pedroncelli, Geyser Peak, and finally Meeker.  We were greeted and served cheerfully everywhere, but as always, i spent way too much money; this is why i can't take a trip to wine country more than once, maybe twice, a year.  Also, the generosity at Pedroncelli and Geyser Peak made our tasting at Meeker a bit suspect due to tongue fatigue (not that i'm saying that they were stingy at LB or Preston, mind you).

The sushi didn't stick with us, so we stopped at the Healdsburg Bar & Grill for dinner.  David got a beef rib dish which was just amazingly delicious and made me wish i'd gotten it.  And then, we drove home the end.

<tosh``> i got a date with this hot chick next week... and of all the fucking restaurants in the city she somehow picked out some wine dinner priced at 70 bux
<tosh``> fucking shit
<beakman> you better score then
<tosh``> i hope she doesnt expect me to pay for her too damn
<tosh``> and there better be some fucking sex after dinner
<tosh``> and the thing is i dont know shit about wines
<tosh``> its at "maverick"
<tosh``> never heard of it
<lb> you're sitting in a channel full of people who mostly give a shit about wine and know the basics
<lb> ask some questions
<tosh``> well i want to sound like i know what i am talking about... so what should i say exactly
<tosh``> man i only drink beers
<nyar> say that it is fruity, with a good mouth feel
<lb> like when you fellate a banana

<kevinying> i almost bought the wine named Solaris because that was the only thing I recognized in that rack
<ronebofh> it would need three years to be ready to drink!
<davewsmith_blog> 19" rack?