“VACA” IN VERMONT AND MAINE

Recently, Beth and I took about 10 days and went back East to visit my folks.  We also spent three nights in Camden, Maine.  We got to see my brother and his wife and son, and I got to visit with some old high school friends!  Those were the personal highlights of the trip, but here I will mention a few culinary ones.

Our first meal in Maine was at Cappy’s in Camden.  This isn’t a “fine dining” place.  It’s a busy, friendly, neighborhood establishment with great seafood and probably a good place for locals to try and get laid.  We ended up eating here again, me getting the fried whole-belly clams again, and Beth trying the lobster roll once and a special sandwich the next time. 

Picnic at the shore with lobster rolls!

Another great meal was the dinner we had at Peter Ott’s in Camden.  This was a steakhouse and a little more upscale.  The best thing we had was the lobster & corn chowder that Beth ordered.  We also tried the steamed clams, which were OK, the steamed mussels which were yummy, a whole lobster which was yummy, and butternut ravioli with sage & brown butter.  Overall it was a very nice restaurant and I would definitely eat there again.  The one place we wanted to try, Francine’s Bistro I believe, we never made it to.  Oh well, another reason to visit the Mid-Coast region of Maine again soon!

Beth atop Mt. Battie

Another highlight was visiting the Camden State park and driving up Mount Battie where we were treated to a spectacular view of the islands off the coast!  We had originally planned to take the car on the ferry to Islesboro island, but we found out that the ferry schedule had changed for the season.  Sounded like they only have a “car ferry” every couple of weeks in the offseason.  So we headed to Camden State park and after soaking up the views from atop Mt. Battie, we drove back down and across the road where you can hike down to the water and use picnic facilities.  We had brought sandwiches from the deli in Camden, (which was the cheapest lobster roll I had on this trip at $12) and enjoyed the beauty and solitude of the setting.

Typical backroad in VT during October.

We spent the rest of our time back in Vermont, meeting up with Beth’s mom and Lori’s mom as they stayed in Newfane for a couple of days too.  We took them out with my parents for a day of sightseeing and lunch and along the way what did I see, but a group of Corvettes!  Sadly, I was in our Hyundai Elantra rental car so I couldn’t play.

Corvettes and colors

Bottle Your Own Event

Laurie and I filling bottles.

Last Saturday was the Bottle Your Own Event at Martin Ranch Winery in Gilroy.  (I hate saying Gilroy because people will picture 100 plus degrees and fields of garlic, when actually the winery is on the east side of Mt. Madonna, so Santa Cruz mountains would be more accurate.)  We were scheduled for the 3pm time slot, but we got there a little early, and Laurie and her daughter Lauryn were a little late.  So, Beth and I sat in the shade waiting, in the heat.  Yes, it was probably close to 100 degrees, even on the east side of Mt. Madonna.

When Laurie and Lauryn showed up, we got to bottling.  It was fun!  We were given quick instructions on how to fill the bottles, cork the bottles and install the foil capsules that cover the cork.  I got two cases of the 2006 Cabernet blend and I had ordered custom labels from a woman in Half Moon Bay.  Therese Martin was happy that I went to the effort to bring my own labels, and she was super nice and went to the trouble of suggesting I use a different color capsule than the gold ones the had out.  She ran off and returned in a few minutes with red and black capsules, and we all decided the black would look the best with my labels.

After bottling, we bought a bottle of nice, cold white wine (Sauv Blanc I think?) and sat down to chat.  After a while, Dan Martin yelled that he would give a tour of the barrel room so we grabbed our glasses and happily headed from the blazing hot Indian summer day into the nice, cool barrel room.  Dan talked about the tanks of Pinot Noir that were sitting in the barrel room, waiting to be punched, and even fielded some questions.  It was as it always is with Dan, very informative and down to earth at the same time.

Before leaving and after loading our wine in the cars, we walked down to the vegetable garden that is open to wine club members and hunted around for some yummy produce.  I picked a couple tomatoes and a couple cute, little eggplants, and Laurie got those and a round watermelon, some fennel and a couple other things.

Finally, we returned home and restocked the wine closet with our own custom labeled red table wine.  I took some liberties with my label, calling it Cabernet Sauvignon when it is actually a Cab blend of Cab, Merlot and Petite Syrah.  I don’t know the percentages, but obviously there is not enough Cab to call it Cab.

CAPLES LAKE

Caples Lake

I took my nephew Ryan camping and fishing last weekend up to Caples Lake, just south of Lake Tahoe on highway 88.  This was the first time I’ve ever stayed at the campground there, and turns out it’s pretty nice.  Maybe a little close to the road, and no showers or flushing toilet, but very nice scenery!

Mountain scenery from camp.

We left on Friday, at 3:15 pm when Ryan got out of school, but due to heavy traffic leaving the Bay Area, we didn’t get up there until 9pm.  (About two extra hours due to traffic.)  Anyway, we got the tent set up with the help of  the lantern, and made a fire and hung out for a couple hours before hitting the rack. 

Our campsite

We got up at 7am on Saturday and wolfed down a couple breakfast bars while we drove up to the north end of the lake.  We parked at the Woods Creek parking lot and hiked down to the water.  We fished there for about an hour, but had no luck so we decided to head back down to the dam/spillway end of the lake.  I managed to catch a small stocker rainbow on green Powerbait Gulp as we fished the side of the spillway, before we stopped for lunch. 

I made a charcoal fire and cooked up some hotdogs for lunch and we rested until about 3 pm before heading out again.  This time we went to the store at Caples Lake Resort and bought some mini night crawlers and mini-marshmallows (thanks Vince for the tip!).  We went over to the dam this time and I managed to catch two more 12 inch rainbows, one of which I kept so we would each have one for dinner.  Ryan was trying hard, but becoming a little discouraged from his lack of action.

We made a friend with our sunflower seeds!

After getting back to camp, I got a fire going and proceeded to make dinner.  Beth had packed a bag of cut potatoes with peppers and onions from Trader Joe’s, and I was able to cook it up in my cast iron skillet with a generous heap of butter.  They actually came out very well, despite having to wing-it on the cooking style.  I wrapped the trout individually in tin-foil with some seasonings and lemon juice and poached them over the fire.  They came out very well and couldn’t get much fresher.

A little chilly at 7800 feet in the morning!

Sunday morning, after packing everything up, we headed back to the spillway and fished for two hours before hitting the road.  I’m glad we did because Ryan caught his first trout of the trip, a nice little rainbow.  Also, I caught a beautiful Brook trout, about 15 inches long and very healthy.  I’m guessing it was a holdover from last year.  We released both trout and headed back to the Bay Area.

ALEXANDER’S STEAKHOUSE

Beth and I celebrated our second Anniversary last night at Alexander’s Steakhouse in Cupertino.  We have been wanting to try it since seeing it on Check Please Bay Area.  It did not disappoint.  Unfortunately, we didn’t get any good pictures of the food.

Alexander’s is a fine dining steakhouse with an Asian influence.  The have a case in the front as you walk in, filled with dry aging beef.  They have a great wine list and many kinds of exotic, wagyu styles of beef.  (Some from different Japanese prefectures, some American and some Australian, which is a cross-breed of Holstein and Kobe cattle I think.)  Anyway, here’s a little breakdown of what we had as best as I can remember.

Since Beth is expecting, she refrained from trying any of their specialty cocktails, but I ordered a glass of 2000 Corison Cabernet.  The waiter brought out a couple small glasses of Cava for us as well as an amuse bouche of seared scallop topped with a roasted mushroom.  It was probably the best thing we had all night.  I got a little worried next when the waiter approached and held out a BOTTLE of Corison for me to look at the label.  I was relieved when I noticed it was not full.  A nice touch to present the bottle even when ordering wine by the glass!  The wine was awesome!

We started with a couple of small plates.  One was seared scallops which was good, but not as good as the amuse.  The other was a torchon of foie gras with pickled onion, blueberries, and cocoa nibs.  I ordered it because I had never had foie torchon style.  It was good, but I think I will stick to seared or terrine style in the future.  We also got a gazpacho, which was interesting.  The server brought out a large, shallow bowl which had the assorted cut veggies and chunks of lobster meat, then he poured the green gazpacho over it.  It was good, and the presentation was fun.

For our entrees, I ordered the dry aged Porterhouse with a sweet onion “jam”, Tabasco butter, piminton croutons and celery root chips.   Beth got the Melange a trois, (filet with mushrooms and demi glace, braised short ribs and brie en cocotte, and Kobe steak tartare) and we shared a baked potato.  Of course, we were to full already to make much of a dent in anything, but the meats were very good.   (I ordered another glass of Corison and was happy when the waiter gave a rather generous pour for the second time.)

We declined ordering any dessert, but they brought out a nice plate with a small chocolate cake dessert topped with a candle, and “Happy Anniversary” drizzled in chocolate around it on the plate.  I was very impressed with the talent of whoever drizzled that chocolate in perfect cursive lettering!  They also bring out a cotton candy on a stick with the bill.  It was melon flavored, like Midori.  Yum!

Overall, a nice restaurant with some nice (albeit expensive) cuts of beef.  I think the quality of food was very good, but not quite the calibre of a Gary Dankos or Manresa.  Maybe the flavor profiles were just a little off from what I like, but an interesting take on a steakhouse nonetheless.

STEAK AU POIVRE- REVISITED

I posted a while ago about the Cop-R-Chef fry pan I bought to make Steak Au Poivre.  I used Rib-eyes and it came out delicious, but I failed to take any pictures of the dish.  So, a few days ago I bought a granite mortar & pestle to make crushing peppercorns a lot easier, and Beth picked up a couple petite filets. 

Granite mortar & pestle

The peppercorns crushed up nicely and I used some of the salt that Lori brought us from Hawaii to season the meat prior to coating with the pepper.  I used a little less Remy this time and a little less heavy cream, so the sauce thickened up nicely and quickly this time.  I think I prefer using Rib-eye to the filet Mignon however.  The Rib-eye just seemed that much more decadent!

Filets after being added back to pan and sauce.

Yes, I needed a little more crushed peppercorns to coat the outer edge of the steaks, but they still tasted damn good!  Serve with a baked potato, chives and sour cream and enjoy heaven on earth!

ANOTHER ROUND OF GLUTTONY

Man, I’m starting to feel old!  My buddy Money was visiting the Bay Area again for about ten days, and I can only hang with him for three to four days in a row.  I just don’t have the stamina to keep up with all the eating, drinking and socializing!  Of course, I did end up driving a lot during the first few days.  So that will be my excuse.  Too much stressful driving!!  LOL.

Unfortunately, I just don’t have the energy to do a write up on all the places we went that were new and interesting to me.  I will try to touch on each however, if I can remember.

After flaking on him two Fridays ago after finding out he would be in the city (SF) all afternoon and evening, I did volunteer to drive Money and his cousins Tony and Nancy up to the Hog Island Oyster Co in Tomales Bay.  (Marshall, CA.)  Having never actually been there before, I trusted in Garmin to get us there in a timely fashion.  I forgot that Garmin has a sense of humor.  We ended up taking a small, windy road off of 101 toward the coast.  The windy road wasn’t too much of a problem, at least there were hardly any cars on it.  The problem was the bicycle “race” that was using the road as part of its route.  Even on the way home, on a different road, we were still apparently on the race route.  Try driving on narrow, windy roads while having to pass hundreds of bicyclists that are “racing” each other.  No wonder I’m exhausted!

Money is showing how its done!

As for the oysters, damn they were good!  We all learned how to shuck the stubborn little bi-valves, and actually became fairly adept at it.  We sampled four different varieties and/or sizes of oysters and washed them down with a couple bottles of Chardonnay.  (Which we brought)  The total bill was less than $150 for 11 dozen oysters which makes it a very good deal in my book!

That evening, Nancy had prior dinner plans, but the three of us and a friend of Tony’s all went to The Boiling Crab in San Jose.  Apparently, this is a Vietnamese restaurant, as I think I was the only somewhat white person in the joint.  It’s known for always having a long wait for dinner, but we got lucky after being told it was an hour and a half wait.  We ordered some beers and were watching TV when it became apparent that most people had put their name in, then bailed.  We got our table in less than 20 minutes.  We ordered four pounds of shrimp, four pounds of crawfish, and a Dungeness crab each, all with The Whole She-bang (combo of their three flavors) and medium hot.  After a while, the server brought out a big bag of whole shrimp, a big bag of crawfish, and then four huge Dungeness crabs!  If we had know the crabs were going to be 2 1/2 pounders, we would have ordered less shrimp and crayfish.  Regardless, the food was awesome.  No plates or utensils, save for the “crackers” to break the shells, just some fresh butcher paper to cover the table and pile a mess of shells on.  After eating our crabs, we barley put a dent in the shrimp or crawfish, although the shrimp were probably my favorite part of the meal.  I think the bill came to $270,  but we really over-ordered.  Anyway, it was worth it and I will definitely be going back there soon.  I then took the guys over to Santana row and dropped them off for Nancy to pick up later.

Sunday, we went to the SF Giants game, which they won and it was a beautiful day at the park.  Afterwards, we went to Philz Coffee, where I was introduced to a “one-cup-at-a-time” coffee experience.  I ordered some kind of Mocha, and it was delicious.  I’m just not enough of a coffee guy to be able to distinguish it from others.  Beth and I bailed out after that since I was exhausted and headed for home.

Monday, after I got out of work, I picked up Money in San Jose and we headed up to SF again, this time to check in on his barrel of wine that his friend Eric had commissioned at Crushpad.  Having some time to kill after finding a parking spot, we wandered into a little dive called The Hard Knox Cafe on Third Street.  The staff was friendly and the soul food menu looked pretty good.  We ordered a beer and Steve called Tony to let him know where we were.  Turns out Hard Knox is owning by a guy Tony went to high school with.  Too funny!  Tony showed up and we went to Crushpad where we got a great tour from a great guy.  I think his name was Stu?  Anyway, he was very knowledgeable  and did a great job of explaining the challenges and processes of how they make hundreds of different wines at the same time.  It certainly sounded intense, but you could tell that they put quality and customer service at the top of their priority list.  We each sampled a glass from the barrel of Syrah, which tasted like it was coming along nicely and will make a very nice wine after blending and bottling.

After Crushpad, we went back to The Hard Knox Cafe and had an early dinner.  Oxtails, fried chicken, collard greens, mac and cheese, red beans and rice and blackened catfish were all tried and they were all very good! 

Next we went to Dell’Uva, a wine bar in North Beach to see Paulina, who’s been friends with Steve since our days hanging in pool halls in Boston.  After a bottle of sparkling wine, some kind of very dry white wine, and a great Petite Syrah, we called it a night and I dropped off Tony in Alameda, then took Steve to his other cousins place in San Jose before heading home.  I had forgotten about the fact I had to take Beth to the SF airport the next morning at 4:30.  And I wondered why I am tired?

I pussed out on Steve the next two nights, citing stressful work conditions.  (Which wasn’t entirely untrue, with Paul being in Hawaii for a week, leaving me to deal with the customers)  On Thursday night, I met up with Steve at his cousin’s in San Jose after work where Lily gave me a glass of a great Ridge Zinfandel.  We were going to go to the boiling crab again, but after being told the wait was over two hours, (and believing it from the number of people waiting outside the building) we decided to go to a Vietnamese restaurant on Tully.  I think it was called Anh Hong and they are known for their “7 types of beef” so that’s what we got.  It was my first time at a Vietnamese place and the food was very good.  It just seemed like four of the seven beef courses were too similar.  Next time I’ll get the “5 types of beef”.  We when back to Lily’s place where they guys got set to play some Hold “Em, but I had to leave to pick up Beth at SFO.

Friday, Beth joined us at Dio Deka in Los Gatos for a wonderful dinner.  Man, the seared diver scallops with seared foie gras was to die for!!  We managed to get home without too much damage, just stopping in to Carrie Nations for two rounds of drinks before heading home.

Saturday was the Sonoma trip.  Nancy had organized and booked a mini-bus to take us and assorted friends to as many wineries as we could hit in Sonoma.  Turns out that equals about five actual wineries and one or two tasting rooms in the plaza area of downtown Sonoma.  Not too many highlights to report, save the duck confit I had at The Girl & The Fig, and the Cazadores tequila cousin Charlie provided on the bus to keep our buzz going!  Thanks to Nancy for organizing and providing all kinds of snacks, water and entertainment on the bus!

So that was about it!  Of course, go to Steve’s blog to read up on all the places I missed, because I’m old and tired!

CALVIN’S CHEESESTEAKS

Picture from Calvin's website

Beth picked up a copy of The Wave magazine last week and we read through the “Best Of” issue.  We found a cheesesteak shop that we hadn’t tried called Calvin’s on the Alameda in San Jose.  Of course I needed to check it out and see how it compared to the cheesesteaks of my college days in Boston.  (I know, I know, Boston???  Yes, Boston had some very good cheesesteaks.  Not all were “Philly style”, but very good just the same.)

We headed down to Calvin’s last Sunday around noon.  It is in a small space on the Alameda, and has a few tables outside on the sidewalk which was perfect on a beautiful, sunny day of about 80 degrees!  I ordered a cheesesteak with onions, peppers, mushrooms and salt and pepper while Beth got one with onions and mustard.  They were both delicious and we also split a large order of fries, although we should have just ordered a regular.  The large fries was huge!

How did it compare to the cheesesteaks of my youth?  It was very good.  Not quite the same as two of my favorites from Boston, but I need to sample some more of Calvin’s offerings, with different combinations of toppings.  I will say that I haven’t found a better cheesesteak in the Bay Area.  Calvin’s gets two thumbs up!

ALL-CLAD COP-R-CHEF 12″ FRY PAN

All-Clad Cop-R-Chef 12" Fry Pan

I’ve been wanting to get a stainless steel saute or fry pan for a while now, and I found this for a great price at Wasserstrom.com restaurant supply.  I loved the copper bottom on this line, however, it only lasted until I used the pan the first time.  It turned a yellowish color the first time, and has become more and more discolored with each use.  Oh well, it’s not like it effects the food and now Beth won’t have to yell at me to put the pan away.  (I had been hanging it from the ceiling to show it off!)

The main reason I wanted a stainless pan was to make Steak au Poivre, and you can’t use a non-stick pan to de-glaze, thus the need for stainless.  And after a quick consult with my gourmand friend Steve, I confirmed that you can’t go wrong with All-Clad.  The second thing I cooked with the pan was Steak au Poivre, and it came out awesome!  I used some Remy Martin VSOP to de-glaze and the sauce was yummy!  Unfortunately, I didn’t take any photos, so I will have to wait until the next time I make it to show it here.

As far as the pans performance, I’m very pleased.  The bottom is perfectly flat, so it sits flat on our glass-top range.  The three layers of copper, aluminum and stainless go all the way to the edges of the pan and do a great job of evenly distributing the heat.  I’m learning what dishes to cook in it and which ones don’t work so well.  I fried some cubed potatoes in olive oil in it the other day and it was a bear to clean!

WINE TASTING WEEKENDS

Windy Oaks vineyard

Well, Beth and I realize how lucky we are to live where we do.  We went wine-tasting the past two weekends without driving  more than 45 minutes each way, and without spending a fortune.

Two weekends ago we had $35 tickets for the Corralitos Wine Trial.  The tickets let us taste at four different wineries around the Corralitos area.  We met up with four friends at Windy Oaks Winery where Beth bought a bottle of Chardonnay.  (I know, what is the world coming to?)  It was a very tasty Chardonnay, but it should be for the nearly $40 price tag.

Next we all went to Alfaro Family Vineyards, where Ed and Laurie met up with us.  This was my favorite stop.  It was pretty crowded and lively, and had a fun atmosphere with Richard Alfaro running around nonstop, being a great host.  We broke out the picnic lunch we had brought, and everyone ate and drank wine.

The last stop was Pleasent Valley Vineyards, which was my least favorite.  We were beat after a long afternoon of wine-tasting, and the only places to sit were off limit to non-club members.  Well, Ed & Laurie are members, but the other six of us weren’t .  So, we were summarily kicked off the back porch and we watched some other people get kicked out of the pool area for sitting on the little wall surrounding the pool.  Now, Ed & Laurie explained how the place was really just the home of the vineyard owners, not really a tasting room, so I can understand their strictness.  However, with no place to sit, it didn’t really make me feel like sticking around to try their wines, join the wine club or buy any wine.

This past weekend, we met Paul & Lori and Ed & Laurie at Creekview Vineyards in San Martin.  This was the weekend that many local wineries were open once a month.  Paul met the owner of Creekview at the cigar bar a little while back, so we decided to taste some of his wines.  The wines were good, the only problem was the weather which was 104 degrees in San Martin.  Not exactly conducive to wine-tasting, but we tasted nonetheless and the wines were good.  The delicious chocolate pairing definitely helped.  All of us ended up buying two or three bottles.

Paul and Lori ended up heading home, but Ed & Laurie followed us to Fernwood Cellars in the north foothills of Gilroy.  The wines were good and Beth and I picked up a bottle of Sangiovese.  Ed and Laurie bought a few bottles and joined the wine club!  I have to admit, the photos of past club events looked very enticing.  (A lobster boil and a salmon fishing trip to Canada will do that.)

We finished off the day by stopping at Martin Ranch so Ed & Laurie could pick up their wine club shipment.  (Martin Ranch is four tenths of a mile back down the road from Fernwood)  Dan and Therese were as knowledgeable and friendly as they were when we ate dinner with them last summer.  Laurie and Ed broke out some pasta salad, sandwiches, barbecued chicken and watermelon and Dan sat down to grab a bite with us.  In fifteen minutes, I increased my wine-making knowledge by about 100%.  What a pleasure!

So, we survived the 100 degree temperatures and brought home a couple bottles of wine.  Not bad for an afternoon’s work.

DIY- FILET MIGNON

Is that Wagyu??? J/K.

Well, I was inspired by Alton Brown after seeing his show where he shows how to buy a vacuum-sealed whole beef tenderloin and shows how to clean it up and turn it into a bunch of steaks.  When it came time for Beth and her Mom’s join birthday party, I decided to try it out.  (The original fare was to be beef Tri-tip steaks, and although they are tasty, they are not my favorite cut of meat.)  So, I offered to provide the meat, and delved into the world of PSMO.

Fire up the grill!

Now, if you do an internet search, you will quickly find differing definitions of PSMO.  But the bottom line is PSMO means you will have to do a little additional butchering work at home before cooking this meat.  Some fat and silver skin (connective tissue) will need to be removed and pieces of muscle separated from the tenderloin.  It wasn’t too difficult and didn’t take more than 20 minutes to end up with about 3 large tenderloin steaks, and about 10 petite filets. 

The meat was very nicely marbled and cooked up well.  (Actually, medium rare not well.  I just couldn’t resist!)  I bought the tenderloin at Nob Hill because they had it on sale for $6.99/lb.  That meant I spend about $42 to feed nine people filet mignon!  Much better than tri-tip, in my humble opinion.