2 posts tagged “restaurants”
Thanks in no small part to my wonderful in-laws, we've had the opportunity to have quite a few nice dinners out recently. And we've taken advantage of this to try a few new (at least to us) places in the area:
Pampas is a Brazilian steakhouse that just opened in Palo Alto. And I mean, it just opened -- as in, it opened on Tuesday, 4/29, and we went that weekend. Not because we're in tune with the buzz on hot new restaurants, of course. We went because we happened to find it on Open Table; it was in the right location and had an opening at the right time, so we went. Neither of us had ever been to a Brazilian steakhouse before, but we both enjoyed it quite a bit and thought it would be a really fun place to go for a special event. We each ordered the rodizio and sidebar which gives you unlimited churrasco-grilled meats and trips to the sidebar. Considering the amount of meat you can get and the huge number of offerings on the sidebar, the $44 price tag is very reasonable. We tried a little of each of the meats since we'd never been there before, and our favorites were the picanha, maminha, sirloin filet with garlic and herbs, and the fraldinha; now that we've sampled everything, I think we'll get more of our money's worth the next time we go. The sidebar was extensive, but I'll admit that with all that yummy meat to try, I didn't pay too much attention to it. I couldn't tell you what I tried off it, but everything was very good (though obviously nothing was amazing enough for me to be able to remember 1.5 weeks later!).
On Friday, we had dinner with Eric's team and their spouses at Bix. This was my first Michelin star restaurant experience (I'd have loved to have gone to one of Gordon Ramsay's while we were in London last time, but that wasn't very practical with 3-month-old Jake in tow). I thought it was pretty amazing, though not the best meal I've ever had. We shared the Firecracker Shrimp with Chile Aioli and Tuna Tartare on Olive Toasts appetizers. The shrimp were just OK, and the aioli was the only thing that saved them from complete mediocrity. I was a bit apprehensive about the tuna tartare given that I absolutely hate olives, but it was absolutely delicious. And, yes, I did eat raw fish (tuna, no less) while pregnant (gasp!). Eric and I shared the arugula salad which hit the spot for me with the earthy arugula greens, tangy citrus, and roasted hazelnuts; Eric's not a huge fan of arugula or hazelnuts and really only got it because I wanted it, but he still seemed to enjoy it. I chose the Fresh Maine Lobster Spaghetti with Lobster Cream as my entree, and I thought it was great. I was a bit wary of getting it because I usually find spaghetti to be a bit thick and heavy, but this spaghetti was actually very light and delicate and did not overpower the delicate flavor of the lobster. And there was lots of lobster flavor in this, too, between the lobster cream sauce and the huge chunks of claw meat (which I find to be more delicate and flavorful than tail meat). And best of all, since Eric doesn't like lobster, I didn't even have to share any with him :) He had the Kobe "Bavette" Steak which was really good, too. We also shared a side of the Truffle French Fries for the table. They were amazing, and I ate so many of them that I was actually a little self-conscious about having so many when no one else was really partaking! For dessert, Eric and I shared the sorbet of the day which was 2 scoops of strawberry and 2 scoops of mandarin orange which was a refreshing end to an otherwise very rich dinner. The restaurant is a cool old brick building that you enter from an alley -- very old San Francisco -- and the live music was wonderful.
Despite our multitude of sicknesses and the difficulty in storing up enough "Jacob Juice" for while we were gone, our first "vacation" without the baby went fine, and we even managed to have some fun. It didn't start out very auspiciously given that, although I started back on dicloxacillin on Tuesday evening, by Wednesday, the day before we were to leave, my breast infection was pretty full blown. I stayed home from work that day and pretty much slept all day. By Thursday morning I was well enough to drag myself onto the plane, which we nearly didn't make it in time for thanks to our cab not bothering to show up -- thank god we live so close to the airport!
When we got into NY on Thursday, we went out for dinner after resting for a few hours. We went to Chez Josephine; unfortunately, I still really wasn't feeling very well, so I wasn't really able to enjoy my food and ended up leaving most of my $30 entree untouched. Eric really enjoyed it, though, so I have to assume it was the fact that I still was pretty ill. By Friday, the day of my all-day meeting, I still wasn't feeling great, and my breast was not at all improved, so I called my OB. She decided to start me on clindamycin that day. It took a while to actually get it due to the fact that NYC pharmacies apparently don't check their voicemail (?!!?), but that stuff sure worked like a charm! By Friday after the meeting, I felt well enough to actually enjoy the 8pm performance of Spamalot that we'd booked tickets for before we left. And thank goodness, because it was fabulous! I'm a huge fan of Monty Python and the Holy Grail, but even Eric, who seems not to be able to stand the movie and doesn't generally enjoy musicals, really enjoyed it. I just wish we'd gotten to see it while David Hyde Pierce was still starring in it. After the show we had dinner at Le Madeleine, a restaurant that Eric had found while on a business trip about a year ago. We shared the Seared Japanese-Style Tuna "Ultra Rare" starter which was a rare treat for me as I generally try to avoid tuna since I'm breastfeeding. But boy do I love it, especially raw or seared, and this did not disappoint. Eric had the Grilled Rib Eye which he really enjoyed, and I had the Spice Crusted Duck Breast. I almost always will order duck if it's on the menu as a) I don't cook it at home and always like to order things I couldn't/wouldn't make myself when dining out, and b) it is so yummy! I have to say that this is one of the best duck dishes I've ever had; the seasoning on the crisp skin was delicious, and the meat was done to a perfect medium rare. Even the accompanying sides were exceptionally good, though I must admit I was too full to finish the bread pudding. With our dinner, we were lucky enough to take our server's suggestion of a half bottle of Cahors (being on 2 antibiotics, I didn't want to overdo it on the wine!) which unfortunately does not appear to be on their website's winelist. Even more unfortunately, I can't remember the winery, though I do remember that it was imported through a company in Berkeley -- like that'll help me much! And our server was also kind enough to give us each a complimentary glass of champagne to end our delicious meal and our lovely evening.
Saturday was a gorgeous spring-like day, so we spent most of it walking around Central Park. We hit the zoo where we saw so many babies (all in MacLarens, it was like a mass brainwashing there were SOOO many of them!) which made us miss the boy quite a bit. But when we talked to Grandma and Grandpa that night, we found out that Jake had had his own day at the zoo -- in his Graco in SF :) After Central Park, we headed over to Madison Ave to check out what was supposed to be "NYC's best yarn store!" which I found rather disappointing to say the least. But I definitely didn't need to buy any yarn anyway, so I got over it pretty quickly. From there we walked back to our hotel via Madison Ave which was neat as I've never actually specifically walked down it. We stopped in at one children's clothing store where we were fooled by the $38 price tag on the first outfit we looked at...subsequent price-tag checks yielded prices that were more along the lines of we'd been expecting but were still shocking, none-the-less (who on earth would pay $500 for a 3-piece suit for an infant??? Who on earth would buy a 3-piece suit for an infant???!). After a pit stop at the hotel for a quick wardrobe change and pump session, we headed down to South Street Pier to see Bodies...The Exhibition. This was a wonderful exhibition, though in some ways it disappointed me (I guess from the more sciencey-perspective, but I'm sure there was plenty of science included for normal people). We had missed it while it was in SF, so I'm really glad we checked it out in NYC, though it was rather ridiculously expensive. After that we walked over to one of our favorite restaurants, Landmarc in Tribeca, via the WTC. We found this on one of our trips back in 2004 and I fell in love with it after having Petite Sale for the first time there. Eric's been back a few times since on some of his many business trips, but this was my first return trip. We shared the smoked mozzarella and ricotta fritters and the endive salad to start. The fritters were absolutely delicious as they were light and airy even though they were deep fried. Eric ordered the grilled pork chop, but as they did not have the petite sale on their menu this time, I was forced to try something new; I opted for the grilled quail which came with 2 birds partially deboned on a very hearty and incredibly flavorful sauce. We did order a good but forgettable bottle of French wine, but we were disappointed that their winelist didn't contain as good of values as we had recalled from our first visit. We splurged and ordered dessert -- the tiramisu for Eric, and the nutella eclair for me. They warned us that each of the desserts was only a couple of bites, and they were definitely right! That was the smallest serving of tiramisu I've ever seen! But both desserts were yummy.
Jake had fun staying with Grandma and Grandpa, and he survived 4 days without mommy just fine -- probably better than Mommy did without him! As noted before, Grandma and Grandpa took him to the SF zoo where Grandma reported that most of the animals were, unfortunately, just laying around and not doing anything too entertaining. From the pictures, it looks like Jake was more interested in Grandma and Grandpa than in the animals, anyway. Unfortunately, he didn't enjoy his second carousel ride as much as his first. And, of course, he came home from Grandma's with a few new outfits and new pair of pirate Robeez!
