The Jaded Palate

Hosea, top chef? Really? Seriously? Does anyone really believe that he’s the top chef? It pains me. It really does.

In the end, it seemed it was Carla’s to lose, which is strange given how much she underperformed in the early parts of the season.  But as executive chef, I don’t think you want your sous chef significantly changing up your menu, and at the end of the day, that’s what did her in.

On the Stefan vs. Hosea front, there really isn’t any debate.  Stefan is the clear top chef by miles, kilometers even.  I just feel that the judges too often rely on the “he’s too much of a technician” argument mainly when they don’t like the actual personality of the chef.  This almost happened to Hung in Season 3.  And definitely to Marcel of Season 2 (although he was a complete “twat,” direct quote from Stefan.) Who cares if they are not likable?  Simply stated, he deserved to win. He literally won half the challenges and on top of that he created the best dish of the night.

This is where judges and I probably fervently disagree. They felt Hosea created the “overall” best meal. He hit some high points but the highs were not as high as Stefan.  In gauging all the meals of my life, I rarely fixate on one “harmonious” meal.  I fixate on dishes, so even though the dessert at Michael Mina was blah, I could go about the foie dish for days.  That’s not to say the rest of the courses should be blah, but I’d rather have a more memorable main course than three 8 on a scale of 10 courses.  Because it stays with you…the flavors linger on your palate…are etched in your memory…and you feel all warm and fuzzy when you think back.

Plus, Hosea is just supremely douchy.

Love this article by Gawker, Top Chef Ends. Rash of Self-inflicted Fork-to-the-Eye wounds reported.

• Underrated: 9 out 10 (as in very good)
• Price: Entrees from $15 to $35
• Location: 3rd and Brannan, SOMA

Back from Moscow, we took Mattie out for a SOMA meal to catch up over good food and wine.  For whatever reason, I feel Bacar has stayed relatively under wraps for being a great spot.  The meal is a bit pricey for a casual dine, but I was impressed by the unusual flavor profiles (can you tell I’ve been watching a lot of Top Chef and picking up the vocabulary).  We began with the a very simple, but Deflina pizzeria-esque thin crust pizza of prosciutto and argula (or something like that).  I then had the sea bass with olive oil crushed potatoes with smoked bacon, which was perfectly cooked and seasoned.  And lastly, our table of four shared two desserts – a great goat cheese meyer lemon sorbet and lovely rice pudding.  Good people, memorable food, cool space.  I’m a fan.

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• The Food: 8.5 out 10
• The Scene: High on 50-something men with their late 20/early 30-something women
• The Price: $125 a head
• The Location: Four Seasons, Midtown

Every time I visit the Big Apple, I shell out for one of those “special occasion” dinners.  I justify the expense to myself because I’m not there that often (and my diem covers at least a portion), so this could be my only time to sample the food.  This excuse has been breaking down since I’m due in NY at least 5 times this year – more often than I make the 25 minute drive over the Bay Bridge to Berkeley.

This time around, a friend and I decided to dine at L’Atelier de Joel Robuchon.  It’s been on my list for awhile, especially after watching Marcel of Top Chef Season 3 fame.  I wanted to know how many gelees and foams could possibly be incorporated into four courses.  Apparently two.

The meal began with a quick amuse bouche of a foie infused soup. I then had the Le Homard – Maine lobster over Iceberg lettuce and moved into Le Caille – caramelized quail stuffed foie, potato puree and summer truffle.  I ended the meal with Le Riz – rice pudding, caramelized apple and rosemary ice cream (I think…speaks to how unforgettable the last course was).

Although the food was inventive and good, it wasn’t mind blowing, but there were two elements that really stood out to me. The first was the plating.  Each dish was a mini work of art with beautiful colors, proportions, textures and visual spacing.  The second was the wine.  The winner of night was actually a glass of 2007 Sancerre from Domaine Alain Gueneau that I can’t find anywhere.  As as most of you know, I am by no means a wine-y, so the mere fact that I’m mentioning it at all means that that wine was one helluva glass of wine. Overall, I would be back some time in the far off future if the scene didn’t sketch me out. (See above).

• Veggie paradise: 4 out 5
• Prices: $6-15
• Location: 140 W 4th St, West Village, NYC

Being a vegetarian must suck.  Sitting down and picking from 1 of 2 options on a menu. Never feeling satiated. Annoying people like me who get all hoighty toity about my meat eating ways.

On Friday, I sucked it up and took my lifelong veggie friend to Red Bamboo, a small asian influenced, fully vegetarian place in the West Village right off of Washington Square Park.  First impression. Totally overwhelming menu.  So many options our heads were spinning and we ended up asking our waiter for 3 dishes to share.

So, Red Bamboo does this curious thing where it tries to create meat dishes from Seitan, a meat substitute.  Vidya and I ordered the “classic” buffalo wings, the “chicken” creole dish and “cod” cakes with mango salsa.  Strangely, the buffalo wings and cod cakes tasted like meat dishes but not the ones they were suppose to impersonate.  The wings tasted vaguely like sweet and sour chicken with a bit more of a vinegar kick and the cod cakes tasted like crab cakes that you would would get at Olive Garden (not a bad thing btw).  The chicken creole dish did taste surprisingly like fried chicken, which I guess is the whole point.  Overall, Red Bamboo is probably veggie heaven for vegetarians and was comfortably satiating and a nice meal for carnivores like me. (The next day I prompty went to Prune and ordered marrow bones to get the taste of healthfulness out of my mouth.  Yes, I know. Balance, Wendy…balance.)

• Melt-in-your-mouth-sashimi: 10 out 10
• Location: 402 E 78th St, Upper West Side
• Price: $8 hand rolls, omakase price unlisted

In very New York fashion, I discovered Sushi of Gari while exploring the local haunts surrounding the hotel.  The minimalist restaurant front betrayed the quality of delectable goodies inside.  I seriously cannot express the awesomeness of what I experienced there. Everything from the very simple seaweed salad to the creamy, buttery, slightly sweet, amazingly fabulous, all-you-could-ever-want-in-a-spicy-tuna handroll handroll.  If I had my way and my wallet would have relented, I would have dined here every night.  But alas, unless you are a girl and can get full off of 2 handrolls and seaweed salad, you’re bound to drop $70+ to fill up.  Or you can do what Dan actually did. Go for a taste and fill up on the Chirping Chicken down the block.  Dating a non-foodie…bane of my life.

• Bowl-o’-ramen: 10 out 10
• Price: $14 for lunch
• Location: 4th Ave. & Astor Place

How do I love New York? Let me count the ways. By Ippudo, by Sushi of Gari, by Via…and the list goes on. Nothing like a quick trip to NY to remind me of how much good food there is to be had out there. This time, it was all about Japanese as my office was situated next to NYU, which meant great food but at student-friendly prices. Ah, the best of both worlds. My first great find was Ippudo, a Michelin recommended restaurant, with steaming hot bowls of ramen for the low, low price of $14. As I sat there among a slew of Japanese folks (always a good sign when there’s a high ratio of the slanted-eyes to round-eyes in the room), I remarked to my friend how there is an absence of good Japanese food in SF. And yes, you can occasionally stumble upon a decent sushi dive, but no where can you find the plethora of other culinary delights the Japanese have to offer – ramen, donburi, soba and even mochi… Alas, I did not curse the limitations of SF as it was 35 degrees outside as I waited outside of Ippudo for a table. The tradeoff seemed fair – 65 degree January weather for lack of steaming ramen bowl. If only I can have both in one locale…the best of all worlds.

• Omelette Fluffiness: 5 out 5
• Price: $12
• Where: Hayes Valley – Gough & Grove
• Good eats: Fromage blanc & ratatouille omelette, Wilted Spinach salad w/bacon and a carrot cupcake

On my way to dropping my friends off at the local Red Bull Soap Box Derby this past weekend, I ducked into Citizen Cake for some early morning brunch.  For some reason Citizen Cake has slipped off the list of top brunch places in the City, but sitting down for a quick omelette on Saturday, I had no idea why.  The ratatouille omelette with soft puddles of slightly sour fromage blanc melted in my mouth.  Yes, the crowd is a bit on the older side (is it the nearby symphony?), and the service is a occasionally spotty, but Citizen Cake definitely makes the grade.

If you have been recently, the restaurant renovated the space next door and has opened a patisserie filled with scrumptious cupcakes, cookies and gelato.  The carrot cupcake is my favorite.

• Superfruitiness: 5 out 5
• Price: $2.99 to $40
• Where: Brazil and beyond

For those who haven’t noticed, we are in the midst of an exotic fruit beverage explosion.  The branded beverage industry, tired of North American fruits, has foraged the jungles and forests of other continents in search of the next flavor, guaranteed to tickle our taste buds.  And the winner appears to be…Acai.

For those who just tried to pronounce Acai aloud, it’s A-sigh-ee, not A-cai. Acai has descended from the Amazon rain forests to our local supermarket and here are my favorite ways to sample this antioxidant rich superfruit.

Top Acai Products

1. Bossa Nova – $2.99

My favorite way to experience Acai.  You can find it on sale occasionally at Safeway for $2.50 for 2.

2. Sambazon Bowl at Lettus on Steiner at Chestnut for $6.75

Do like the Brazilians do and have your acai blended into a pulp and served over seasonal fruit and granola. Sounds like the perfect breakfast.

3. Monavie shots and gel packs – $10-40

Okay, it’s pretty pricey, but I love shots of the original Monavie formula.  The good stuff is slightly hard find since Monavie products are distributed through a “multi-level marketing network.” Think Avon but applied to juice.  Apparently, there’s a bit of a cult following for the products with some avid drinkers claiming cured ailments, but I keep a bottle around simply because it tastes good.

4. Do-it-yourself smoothie ~$2-4

Pick up Acai pulp at your local Whole Foods or grocery store and create awesome smoothies whenever you want!  I personally like to blend acai with some blueberries and milk.

• San Francisco Treat: 5 out 5
• Price: $16
• Location: 4th & Brannan
• The Dish: Fresh pappardelle, lamb sugo, mushrooms, parmesan, davero olive oil

Tired of the lunch time drill, I wandered out of the 2 block radius of my office space and found myself at Coco500.  I had been there once before to sample the fare of Jennifer Biesty of Top Chef fame, but hadn’t made my way back in over a year.  This time I ducked in for a quick lunch and was pleased to find myself awash in a room of foodies.

As I made my way across the room, I made mental notes of all the tasty dishes being sampled by the local patrons and after a quick scan of the menu, I decided on the fresh pappardelle with lamb sugo.   Having rationed my carb intake of late, I found myself in fresh pasta paradise.  I don’t like dinners in Soma, but I might have to make an exception for Coco 500.