Vacation Day 3 Redux (Now With Bonus Food P*rn!), Plus Even More Hotness

Pant pant pant…it is still so, so unbearably hot here today (definitely over 100). We spent most of the day trying to escape it in various not-quite-cool-enough enough places (bagel store, grocery store, mall, movie theater, car, grocery store, back yard sprinkler, etc. We had a nice visit from my Colorado aunt and uncle today, whom I haven't seen for probably several years now (they hadn't met Isaac). It was great to see them. My aunt's daughter (my cousin) is getting married in Colorado in September, and has invited my whole extended family to come, which is a big deal--there's been some family friction between my dad and his sister and this cousin of mine ever since my brother's wedding 10 years ago, but this new wedding and I guess the distance of a decade seems to be finally easing the friction. Thank goodness. I try not to get involved in these Dvorin family frictions--I think life is way too short to cut yourself off from your family, even if they are at times annoying--but they always impact my life nonetheless. I'm really looking forward to this one resolving itself (at least somewhat).

Anyway, the only other thing I wanted to record about today before backtracking to the rest of our vacation (scribbles for posterity, remember), is that today when Eli and I went to the movies, we had one of those "my boy is growing up moments": Eli wanted to go to the men's room by himself. And I let him. My part big/part little boy, who still uses the phrase "I have to go potty" and who still consented to come into the women's room with me (though not in the stall)--I'm so proud of him, even though (and especially because) it was hard to let him go. I was worried and kept peeking in the door when it opened, and it seemed like way too long before he came out again (with his hands washed!). But he did just fine, even though he told me later that he had a hard time figuring out how to open the lock on the stall door. Sigh…the end of another era, another door gently closing on a part of your child's journey towards independence, that you don't even realize you might feel funny about missing until you do.

Ok now it's getting late so back to the vacation stuff before I pass out. So let's see, I think we last left our heroes on Friday night, about to go to uber-fancy schmancy Cyrusfor dinner. This place was touted as "the next French Laundry but easier to get reservations" and I have to say that was nearly correct. Now, we've eaten at the French Laundry, and it still remains the benchmark against which every other great gourmet dining experience is measured. And while Cyrus did in fact come very close, it did not displace French Laundry in either our hearts or stomachs. I'd say that if French Laundry was a 10, Cyrus was between a 9 and a 9.5, mostly due to relatively intangible factors like overall atmosphere, service, and mood.

However, this by no means is saying that Cyrus was not superb, totally top-notch foofy dining. Overall, the dining experience was over the top and the food was fantastic--creative, entertaining, surprising, beautifully presented and of course, absolutely delicious. You can get an idea of their "normal" menu here, but because we're that kind of crazy, what we decided to go for was the "chef's tasting menu", a 7-course "chef's choice" menu that was made up on the spot for us. We also chose to get the recommended 7-course wine pairings with the chef's menu, which turned out to be a brilliant idea. The wine (and the sommelier) arrived first, and poured something that piqued our curiosity about the upcoming course, which then turned out to be the perfect, if unanticipated companion (of course). Because I know that each and every one of you seven readers is dying to know in excruciating detail exactly how over the top our dinner was (actually, I'm just doing this for my own gratification when I go back and read this someday), I now present to you the menu (lovingly retyped) that they presented to us on their restaurant letterhead after our meal (yes, this is the kind of place that actually gives you the menu as a take home souvenir of the experience…):

Chef's Tasting Menu For The Archers' Anniversary Dinner
Friday, July 21, 2006

Canapes
(This was when we got to select from the champagne and caviar cart. No, I'm not kidding. We had "J" champagne since that's a nostalgia label for us and a half ounce of whatever the least expensive kind of American caviar was…we are not *quite* that foofy yet that we can tell the difference between caviars, and besides, the "best" kind costs somewhere around $100 a half ounce. It was served with fingerling potato crisps, crème fraiche, crumbled egg, and minced chives. My verdict: good, not incredible.)

Amuse Bouche
(Two tiny little pastry-cupped creations…some sort of eggplant, and some sort of raw salmon? I can't quite remember, maybe Josh will. But incredibly delicious.)

Big Eye Tuna "Sashimi" with Lemon Cucumber and Lemon Verbena Tomato Water
Sauvignon Blanc, Tupari, Marlborough, New Zealand 2005
(This was my least favorite course, because I was underwhelmed with the fish. The lemon verbena tomato water was quite clever and delicious though. And the wine, which was supposed to have notes of "electric asparagus", was outstanding.)

Seared Foie Gras with Peaches, Blackberries and Buttermilk Biscuit, Frangelico Duck Reduction
Monbazillac "Cuvee du Chateau", Grande Maison, France 2000
(Ok, really, you had me at "foie gras"…but this was probably one of the most amazing things I have ever tasted. Honestly. Whatever you may think of foie gras, and I myself have some serious moral misgivings about the process of creating it, I must say it was like the perfect orgasmic Julie-dish. The creamy sweetness of the foie gras was sort of like a fruit; the texture of the peaches and the richness of the little bits of hazelnut scattered on the top were reminiscent of meat; the frangelico duck sauce plus the biscuit made it almost like an incredible Belgian waffle. I'm telling you, if there is a heaven, which I'm 99% sure there isn't, they will serve me this dish every day in between the hamachi course and the avocado, mayo and sourdough course and I will never get tired of it. The wine they served this with was apparently a sauterne (sp?), which I don't know diddly about except I know it's usually a dessert wine, which surprised us when it was poured but turned out of course to be totally, deliciously appropriate.)

Japanese Pen Shell "Tairagai", with Sweet Corn and Pickled Ramp-Greens
Reisling Kabinett, Ziliken "Saarburger Rausch", Germany 1994
(What the heck is a pen shell, you ask? Well we asked too. It's a mollusk, apparently, shaped vaguely like a very large mussel. What we were served was a slice of it, seared like a scallop but much firmer and chewier (like calamari or clam). But what really stood out in this dish was the sweet corn "foam" that was under the pen shell--not only did it look all marine-like, which was cool, but it tasted like, well, sweet corn foam. Not something you have every day. Yum. The wine was supposed to have notes of "diesel", and by gum it did. And that actually worked with the marine theme too.)

Intermezzo: Huckleberry Sorbet Lollipops
(These were little disks of sorbet frozen onto a short straw, served like a single-bite lollipop. Perfect palate cleanser.)

Quail with Haricots Verts, Cannelli Beans, Chanterelles and Lavender Dumplings, Vermouth and Lavender Consomme.
Pinot Noir, Cep, Sonoma Coast, California 2004
(Teeeeeny tiny tasty bird bits, oh so delightfully roasted. The combination of flavors here was subtle and superb, especially the hint of lavender in both the sauce and the dumplings. We finally got a local wine and it was quite fabulous, and of course perfectly paired.)

Ume-Glazed Pork Belly, Caramelized Bamboo and Cherry Blossoms (Josh)
And
Hoisin Squab, Black Bean-Rice Cake and Kumquats (me)
Rioja Crianza, Sierra Cantabria, Spain 2001
(Josh was a tiny bit disappointed in his pork belly, because it was braised, not seared, and was a little too fatty for him. I tasted the bamboo/cherry blossom sides though and they were terrific. I loved my squab--I'm a total sucker for both hoisin and black bean so both the sauce and the rice cake were super yummy to me, and both flavors balanced really well with the kumquats, which were sliced and sort of candied. Absolutely delicious wine as well, of course.)

Artisanal and Farmhouse Cheeses With Complementing Breads and Fruits
Montlouis Sur Loire, Francois Chidaine, "Les Truffeaux", Loire, France 2004
(Oh my lord, you know I love a good cheese plate, and this one was just superb--although really I would not have expected anything less. There were at least 7 or 8 selections, some local, some not, and I wish I could remember them more clearly so I could find them again. They were served with an amazing dried fruit/nut cake, some spiced nuts, some champagne grapes and of course, a perfect wine. Ohhhhhhh so good.)

Blackberries Lime Rickey
Moscato D'Asti, La Spinetta "Bricco Quaglia", Piedmont, Italy 2005
And
Caramel Soup with Kettle Corn Sorbet and Chocolate Filigree
1994 Colheita Port, Niepoort
(I really can't speak much to the Blackberries Lime Rickey, except to say that it was little beads of ice-cream like lime stuff with some coconut, and some berries, and some sauce. Not so much my thing, although it was very flavorful and refreshingly zippy on the tongue. Josh really liked it though, so I let him eat it. But the other dessert, which is one of their signatures--oh my god, another near orgasmic Julie-dish. It was served in a bowl with the sorbet on the bottom and a chocolate mesh disk across the top of the bowl, on which a few pieces of actual kettle corn were suspended. Then the server poured the hot carmel "soup" over the chocolate, in a circle around the pieces of kettle corn, until the chocolate dissolved and the whole middle of the disk fell down onto the sorbet, which by now was melting too. Mmmm, sweet, salty, caramel + chocolate + popcorn---soooooooo good and so cleverly served! The port was quite tasty with it too. Josh didn't care for my dessert too much, so we both happily ate our own after the requisite tastes.)

And then, even though we were groaningly full at this point, there were "mignardises", little candy thingies--I remember particularly a gewurtztraminer gelee and a dark chocolate candy and a passionfruit gummy thing--and then espresso, and then even more little candy things they sent us home with in a fancy gold envelope. There were some other little intermezzos/amuse bouches in there too but honestly you get a bit overloaded remembering everything, and since they didn't put them on the menu that they gave us to take with us, I don't remember them.

We got there at 9:30 (the only seating they had left when we called to make the reservation), and we didn't get out of there until a few minutes after midnight. As you can imagine, we went directly home and fell groaning into bed. The next morning we both had a bit of digestive discomfort from all the rich, unusual food, but I'd have to say it was worth it.

So now we're up to Saturday (yesterday), and I think I've actually exhausted myself with that whole menu recounting, so I won't say much more. It was hot, we were tired out, and believe it or not missing our kids and wanting to go home. But we had a whole day to kill before the wedding started at 6pm, so we decided to visit one more winery, then go grab lunch and see a movie. The winery was definitely the high point--it was Roshambo Winery, the hip young urbanite's winery. Their schtick (go check out their webpage, you'll see what I mean) is so entertainingly refreshing and different (and I'm sad to say, so aimed directly at us as far as marketing goes) and happily, their wines were so good, that we signed up for their wine club on the spot. We had a great conversation about music and blogging with a perkigoth wine guy who was pouring tastes for us, and can't wait to go back for some of the parties they throw there (Pirate Prom! Need I say more?).

Lunch was Tex Wasabi, movie was Superman Returns; both were interesting yet ultimately underwhelming. Then after a little dawdling and changing clothes at a Starbucks, we went to Linda and Petros' wedding, which despite the heat and the fact that we didn't know anyone else there, turned out to be pretty fun. I'm running out of steam here so I'll leave it at that, except to say that I'm really happy for Linda and I am looking forward to getting to know Petros better someday.

Whew, still hot here, but time for bed! Maybe I'll get around to posting a few pictures tomorrow…