Savoie Eatery

Ha, NEARLY one year later, I'm finally bringing this out of the vault...

Partly due to neglect..

and also lack of motivation since I'm still so behind on other posts. But hey, after seeing recent bloggers' posts on Savoie figured I should finally do it before I forget entirely!

Bankers Hill Bar and Restaurant

Earlier this week, Bert and I had an extremely RARE "date night" on a weekday.

TC was away at 6th grade camp and we wanted to try something different...

Marche Moderne

As seen in my previous post, Bert and I celebrated our 16th wedding anniversary.

We were married at 10 in the morning and had a lunch reception at a bayside venue in Mission Beach with the reception ending at 5 pm. In our haste and excitement, we didn't think of packing other kinds of clothes. Now don't get the wrong idea! I seriously did not want to go out to dinner wearing my wedding dress nor did Bert want to wear his tuxedo. Plus our clothes for the next day were just jeans and fugly t-shirt and I did not pack regular shoes. I only had my white high heels, so we decided to order in.

Our nuptial feast for that night (and breakfast the next day)?

Pizza Hut Supreme Pizza...

(image courtesy of Food in Real Life)

The Wellington

A few nights ago, I met up with several foodbloggers (three of  whom I hadn't met yet). The meet up was organized by Darlene in honor of Leanne's upcoming nuptials. The location? Drinks and appetizers at The Wellington Steak and Martini Lounge in Mission Hills.

It was a small group consisting of Darlene of My Burning Kitchen, Leanne of Three Dog Kitchen, Marie of Meandering Eats (the blog formerly known as "Adventures of an Amateur Foodie"), Jenny of A Foray into Food, and Mary from Foodies: A SoCal Foodblog and lastly me.

It's very dark and masculine in here. Dark wood. Leather. Quite swanky and very Mad Men.

My camera sucks.

Darlene bought Cheese Kit Kats for everone so we put them on the place settings. I haven't eaten mine yet but the others who tried one said the smell was stronger than the actual taste. These were bought from Mitsuwa and had that cool Japanese packaging. I'll have Bert "taste test" this Kit Kat later.

The idea was to just stay for a few drinks and appetizers. The first appetizer was the Shrimp Creole: (description taken from their online menu) which was white shrimp sautéed sautéed with onion, celery, green bell pepper and garlic; finished with Cajun spices, white wine and cream served with a crispy three-cheese polenta cake. The polenta itself wasn't really "crispy" but it had a nice firm texture.

The other appetizer was the Spinach and Artichoke Dip topped with goat cheese and served with pita chips and crostinis. This was also pretty good. I liked what lurked under the goat cheese - the creamy dip itself. This was the most decadent food I'd had in about three weeks. I hadn't had bread or cheese until today.

Several of the ladies ordered drinks (some sort of chocolate Martini and the "Pretty Princess") which I'm sure will be posted later on their respective blogs at a later time. The idea was to just stay for a tiny bit, then move on to another place for actual dinner and/or dessert. It was really nice putting Mary and Marie's faces to their names, especially after having followed their blogs for awhile. It was also such a relief to see other like minded individuals whipping out their cameras to take photos and no one batted an eye!

Next...dinner!

25 Forty Bistro

[Update - Closed as of June 2013]

This was the weekend of using up my groupon and coupons...This was one I got for $20 for $40 at 25 Forty Bistro in Old Town. (NewTokidoki bag - "Americana" print in Carino Cross body messenger style - finally got it on sale!)

Ooh, I used the "sunset" setting on my camera for this freeway pic:

The restaurant was on Congress Street but we parked on some tiny side street that dead-ended into the Rockin' Baja Lobster restaurant. We were lucky to even find a spot.

25 Forty Bistro is in a renovated cottagey-looking house.

There's some cool outdoor seating with heatlamps and another area with a mini fire pit.

The inside is not huge but not so tiny that you are elbowing our neighbors. The decor was also very cool - black and white and very modern. None of this frou frou crap. Very streamlined and tasteful. The music was also very Thievery Corporation'ish (it probably was Thievery Corporation!). On the counter were glass topped domes with pastries within.  At 6 pm, we were the third party there that night. By the time we left, the room was filled.

We also had a cool view of the kitchen. The lighting in here was not totally dim or dark but towards the end of our evening, I had to resort to using the flash.

I like how their menu is quite simple. No overblown pretentious descriptions.

One of the walls had a huge chalkboard with a world map of where their wines are from.

Bert got a German beer that night, the Franzishaner. The flavor had a nice orange finish towards the end. I had a sip or two and thought it was pretty good.

We were given a tiny complimentary appetizer. This was a thinly sliced toasted baguette with Stilton cheese and honey. I ended up giving my cheese to Bert since I'm not a fan of blue cheese.

For starters, I chose the Kale salad which had candied cashews, sweet soy sauce and golden yellow raisins. It was quite a bit for one person so the waiter was kind enough to provide two extra plates for me to share with TC and Bert. I loved the thinly sliced kale with the sweet soy sauce. The salad had sweetness from the raisins, soy sauce and cashews as well as texture and crunch from the nuts. Everyone liked this unique salad.

My entree was the Homemade Fettucine with Duck. The sauce was the broth created by braising the duck with onions. The ethereal topping was razor thin wisps of fried vegetables, perhaps leeks and/or carrots.

TC chose the Rib Eye with homemade fries and Chimichurri. It was served on a wooden lazy suzan which was fun for her because she liked how she could spin it around.

In addition, there was also a salad of mixed greens and a pile of coarsely ground salt. We liked how the fries were thick cut and how there wasn't an obscene amount of fries on her plate. Well, for a 10 year old it was a lot but for an adult, it was just right. We "helped" her out with it anyways. Her ribeye was done "medium" but it was too pink in the middle for me. The leftovers are still in the fridge waiting to be eaten for dinner.

This was Bert's Bistro Filet with Truffle Sauce and seasonable vegetables and mashed potatoes. He really enjoyed this; the meat was tender and flavorful. The truffle sauce had an interesting flavor (it's not my favorite but I liked it). The vegetables included not just your standard carrots and broccoli, but also asparagus, cauliflower, and halved brussel sprouts.

We saved enough room for dessert as well. By this time, we'd gone way over the groupon limit of $40 but we knew that would happen anyways so Bert took care of the difference....

TC and I shared the Raspberry Sphere. Now this was NOT what I expected. When I read "merengue" on the menu, I was thinking of the hard, baked crunchy kind like an Australian Pavlova. I was pleasantly surprised to see this snowball looking thing. The waiter set it down on the table and opened up a tiny vial with the blood red raspberry sauce and poured it on top of the sphere! I should have taken a photo but by the time I tried reaching for my camera, he was already done.  The sphere was also ice cold which was also a pleasant surprise. TC had so much fun eating this.

Bert's choice was the Caramel Pannacotta with Chocolate Sauce. This was served in a small jar which was cool. I was thinking it would be served as a "mold" from a ramekin or something. His dessert had a nice silky smooth texture.

Inside the sphere was more of that super concentrated raspberry sauce. That was an amazing dessert and I wish we could have had more of it.

I'd love to go here again but for lunch since they offer a different menu. They are also known for their baked goods so I'd like to try some of those next time since they are only $2 each. 25 Forty  also offers breakfast but I'm not up early enough for that. The service here was super nice from the receptionist to our waitress and servers. 

One thing I noticed was that the clientele was old, like bluehair old. We were probably the youngest people there (as well as the only ethnic Asians). Although this was not a formal eatery, I noticed that people did dress up here but not so much that you looked like you were going to the Opera or something. It was fun going out to a nice comfortable place that served excellent food.

Who else ate at 25 Forty Bistro?

Ed Bedford of the SD Reader went here last fall: "25Forty Bistro and Bakery is an Island of Modernity"

I like how it's not near all the tourist trappy type restaurants but it's still in Old Town so my only gripe is the parking. When we left, this car totally sharked us for our spot. Can't wait to try this place out again.

San Diego Restaurant Week (extended) - Roseville

Update - This restaurant is now closed. :(


[As has become my pattern of late, four new posts! Scroll down to read...]

San Diego Restaurant Week has been extended from January 23 to the 29th. This was the first time that Bert and I went to Restaurant Week. In the past, we've always wanted to go, but the days were wierd. They weren't convenient to us since they were usually Sundays through Thursdays and we both had to work; plus there was added complication of trying to getchild care on school nights. So, I usually thought, "Fk that..."!

This year I'd totally forgotten about restaurant week until a co-worker told me about the extension. I saw that the dates were "workable" so....I chose for Bert and I to go here...

...which was Roseville in Point Loma. Now that's a lovely view of the BACK door. I didn't get an outdoor exterior shot. There is also parking in the back by the way...While getting links for this post, I found out that Roseville is named after the neighborhood in which this restaurant is situated (Wikipedia info here). 

According to that article:

"Roseville-Fleetridge is a neighborhood in Point Loma, San Diego, California. it is bounded by Rosecrans Street on the east, Cañon Street on the south, Catalina Boulevard on the west and Nimitz Boulevard on the north. It is actually two separate neighborhoods, Roseville and Fleetridge, which the city lumps together for policing purposes.

Roseville is the oldest settled part of Point Loma, and is named for its developer, San Diego pioneer Louis Rose.[2] Rose bought the area in 1866, laid out streets, and built a wharf and a hotel. For a time, Roseville functioned as a separate city from San Diego. Many Portuguese fishermen and fishing boat owners settled in the area, and it is still the focus of San Diego's large Portuguese community."

I've lived in San Diego nearly my entire life and I never knew that there were named neighborhoods in Point Loma...Interesting. I now have a new wrinkle on my cortex.

By the way, the above photo was a shot of the back of the restaurant since that's where we parked. We had 5:30 reservations but arrived ten minutes late (I called in our "tardy"). Not to worry because when we passed by, the restaurant was empty save for one couple. Here's the restaurant's official site here, a copy of the Restaurant Menu here, and reviews from Yelp, Clayfu (you can see an exterior shot of the restaurant as well as a more extensive review of the various dishes in his post), and Food Buzz SD.

The restaurant was pretty dim so I felt so conspicuous taking photos.We were seated along a banquet and I chose the corner instead of sitting next the that other early bird couple.  There were a ton of waiters there...One of them brought us some bread with a ramekin filled to the brim with soft and tasty butter. Real butter, not that margarine shit. Not that a nice restaurant would ever serve margarine...unless it was some health food place, in which I would never set foot in it!

Bert's choice of alcoholic beverage that evening was the Thunderweissen which I think he chose because he liked the name. But seriously, because it was similar to another beer that he liked...I had a glass of Pinot Grigio (not pictured plus I forgot the maker)...

Because I'm a lazy ass, I'm taking the descriptions straight from Roseville's Restaurant Week menu. Comments of course are mine.

First Course

Kabocha Squash Agnolotti

Mushroom Ragout, Rosemary Brown Butter and Walnut Gremolata

This was my first course. I didn't really want to have cauliflower soup since that is one my least favorite vegetables.  The agnolotti itself was pretty thin...I loved the mushroom sauce and the brown butter (the rosemary flavor,thank goodness, was not pronounced)...The walnuts also added a bit of texture. One thing that irked me was that our waiter kept pronouncing "Kabocha" squash as "kabuchka" squash.  Did this vegetable somehow acquire a Russian pedigree? Anyways, mispronounciation aside, our waiter did a great job introducing each dish and answered many of my questions about the ingredients.  As for the "kabocha" squash...I've been seeing it more on menus now. I usually eat kabocha squash in Pinakbet, a Philippine vegetable stew with fermented shrimp paste.

Shaved Fennel and Clementine Salad

              Salmon Tartare, Poblano Rajas, Chive Creme Fraiche and Crispy Purple Potato

Now this was Bert's choice...He really really liked that raw salmon..it was really fresh tasting and went well with the other ingredients. There was a tiny bit of a smoky kick from the peppers. The clementines didn't really look appealing with their membranes on. Isn't there a fancy chef way to section citrus fruits without the membrane? He also liked the dressing because it wasn't overpowering - it was quite light and you could tast each ingredient. The purple potatoes, while they may look "cute" because they are waffle cut and are a freaky color, didn't really add much to the dish. It seemed like an afterthought to me, like, "Oh, let's put some colorful vegetable on the edge of the plate to make it look nicer."

Second Course

Braised Beef Cheek

              Roasted Winter Vegetable, Parsley Root Puree and Red Wine Sauce

Okay, this was my choice...None of that Provencal Fish Stew for me. Ever since I had the Beef Cheek at Urban Solace (see my old post here), I'd been longing to have it again. This time, it was Roseville's beautifully braised version that lay atop a puree of parsnips. The sauce was really good - I kept dipping the meat into the sauce and if I could have done so, I would have licked that damn plate. Ironically, Bert and I saved some of our food so that TC could try it the next day. We left the the damn box of leftovers in the restaurant! Boo. My portion was pretty substantial - I could not finish it all. The meat was so tender it fell apart on my fork and I could taste the unctuous fat in some of the pieces...One thing about this dish...the sauce could have looked nicer. But the important thing was that the flavor of this dish and I guess that really would override the presentation.

Next up...Bert's entree...

Pancetta Wrapped Pork Tenderloin Herbed Goat Cheese Spaetzle, Braised Red Mustard Greens,

         Kumquat-Sage Marmalade and Madiera Reduction

Now that is a mouthful! His pancetta was pure porky goodness wrapped around more pork. The pancetta was a soft smoky blanket of meat and fat. The kumquat marmalade on top utilized whole fruit; I detected the rind when I tried this. The waiter said the vegetable was 'black kale' (does that even exist?), but the menu description was red mustard greens (which I liked because it has a bitterness to it that contrasted nicely with the pork and marmalade). I've never had spaetzle before but it didn't wow me. Maybe because it had goat cheese in it. All in all, Bert really enjoyed this dish!

Third Course

Double Chocolate Bread Pudding

   Ricotta Cheese, Candied Orange Peel,

Mascarpone Gelato and Sambuca Sauce

So this was my dessert...they only had two choices. Since it was a bread pudding, the 'chocolate' flavor wasn't really as pronounced as it would be if it was, say, 'cake'...It was moist and had a layer of ricotta cheese in the middle. The gelato was also a nice touch, but I prefer to have my desserts one temperature and not a mixture (ex: I hate pie a la mode - I like both ingredients separately but not touching each other!). What was interesting about this dessert was the sambuca sauce (an Italian liqueur), which had a faint anise or licorice flavor to it. It was a nice finish to this dessert which wasn't overly sweet.

Butterscotch Pot de Creme

Cognac Chantilly and Walnut Shortbread Cookie

It was so funny when Bert took his first taste of this pudding...he likened it to the food critic's reaction to the rat's ratatouille in Pixar's movie of the same name...You know, the scene where the critic gets a forkful of the dish which triggers happy childhood memories in him.

That was how Bert felt last night about this dessert.

I had a few spoonfuls of this as well, and while I normally don't like soft mushy things, I really liked how this tasted. The shortbread cookie however, was devoid of any walnuts or walnut flavor, unless the nuts were ground into the dough. The chantilly cream was also quite delicate. I kind of wish they boozed it up some more!

In all, dinner at Roseville was a win!  Everything, and I mean everything was done perfectly. The service and the ambience was great. Our waiter was really attentive and helpful...This three course meal was $30 a person. For this type of meal, that was a deal. I liked that the restaurant was not in the Gaslamp (horrors, no!) or in Hillcrest (don't get me wrong, I like Hillcrest but parking there sucks ballz)...

It wasn't overly busy here but the place was packed when we left. I did notice that there were very few people of color there. And by few I mean no one else besides us!!! WTF!!! Besides a few Latino waitstaff, we were the ONLY nonwhites there. Hmmm...I'm just sayin'!   But then again, I am not surprised.

And before I end this post, check out this awesome bathroom! There are two. This is the bigger one. I chose this one because someone just left the other room and out of the door emanated an odor so foul as to make me do a hasty retreat so as not assault my olfactory senses with its horrificly inhuman stench. Whoever was in there should have lit a damn match.  Nay, a whole matchbook. I think I may have singed a few nose hairs from inadvertently walking in and haplessly breathing. I would have gladly traded places with Luke Skywalker, Han Solo, Princess Leia and Chewbacca in the trash compactor.

So, they had this really cool black and white damask print wallpaper...so lovely! It reminded me of the black and white decor at the old Laurel...

And ooh la la! Check out that fancy gold mirror and chutelike faucet!

That was our first (and hopefully not last) outing for San Diego Restaurant Week. Cheers!

JRDN

In honor of Valentine's Day, I broke out my Tokidoki L'Amore Ciao. The L'Amore print was from Spring 2007 and now a collector's item. I bought the Ciao from a friend who was unloading some of her collection. Here is an archive of the Tokidoki collaboration with LeSportSac. My other prints are Famiglia, Tutti, Adios Star, Trasporto, and the very last print, Vacanze...I love how the characters are coupled up, like the chili peppers, the flowers, the cactus people and the milk boxes. Cute! The only thing about this bag style is that it's too small to fit my stuff!

[Edit - This is not the bag I brought to dinner at JRDN though - that was my black Dooney!]
Valentine's Day is one of the few occasions that I dress up and wear a tiny bit more makeup than I normally do (this means blush and two more blended eyeshadow colors). So yeah, I wore a dress, but not a fancy one. It was an older dress - it's a boatneck sleeveless sheath dress by Banana Republic. I call it my Audrey Hepburnish funeral dress but it's very classic, I think. Our daughter was hanging out with my sis and her boys (thanks if you're reading this sis!) so we were off on our own without TC (a rarity indeed). Our reservations were for 5:30 but we got there a tiny bit before 6 pm since there was traffic on the I-8 (congested near Mission Center Road).

The sun was still out and we got to see a beautiful sunset. Our destination was JRDN at Tower 23, a boutique hotel on the edge of the Pacific Beach boardwalk and steps away from Crystal Pier. The first time I went to JRDN was for lunch last summer for my co-worker's bday . See the post here. We did valet parking. Note to self - Don't fart in the car before you turn it over to the valet. Please, don't judge. You know you fart in your cars too. Actually, the smell had already dissipated by the time we reached the Hotel/Restaurant. Thank goodness for air freshener!
We were actually carded here by this young guy before entering the restaurant! WTF! Well, I guess he's doing his job, but damn, I'm old enough to be his mom (if I were a teen mom). When you walk in, there's the bar area. To the left is a quieter dining area which is where we were seated. This is my attempt to take a photo by our window view but all you can see is Bert's reflection and the cool undulating wave wall which changed colors every few minutes.JRDN had their own prix fix Valentine's menu for the night. It was kind of pricy but we (actually Bert) wanted to splurge just for tonight. It was $70 a couple or $90 with wine pairings. To make it fun and also so I could blog it, we chose one of each course (except for the salad since there was only one choice).

Blurry pic of the wave wall:

Instead of choosing wine pairings for the dinner, we chose one glass each. Bert had a Pinot Noir and I had an Albarino.

Because I'm lazy - here's the menu for each course...This is the First course - Appetizers:

Love those little horny descriptions - check it out, "lagging libidos", and citrus is energizing for "long nights". Who wrote this shit?
I had the Hamachi Sashimi - This was a first for me because I normally don't eat raw fish. This was very good - the fish was sliced very thin and had a hint of citrus flavoring. I also liked the texture of the seaweed salad - crunchy!

Bert had the Oyster Shooters. Sorry, but I couldn't bring myself to try this. Not a fan of raw oysters. He really liked it - especially the ponzu sauce.
Second Course - Salad: There was only one choice.
I really liked the brie here, it was melted just slightly so. The pine nuts nuts are supposed to make you horny. Ha ha! Okay....I also picked out the red onion slices but ate everything else. I wished there was more than one crouton.

Third Course - Seafood:
I had the Lobster. The sauce was quite different - the vanilla went really well with the butternut squash puree. The agnolotti (little raviolis) were also delicious - very tender. I would eat a whole plate of those. By the way, the portions for this dinner were just right. They were not big ass portions, but just enough to whet your appetite for the next course. I also liked their presentation. Everything was on a pristine white plate; the shapes of which varied (big oval, square, rectangle, etc). I think all food looks better on white dinnerware. Serve me a hotdog on a white square plate witha squiggle of ketchup and I'm good to go.

Bert had the Seabass on the hornificating Fennel Puree which added just a tad of licorice flavor. I just made up a word by the way.

Fourth Course - Meat:
Bert was a good sport and got the Venison. In retrospect, I didn't even notice the "coffee-anise" flavor. I only had a few bites of his venison and didn't really care for it. It had a strange gamey flavor to me. Oh, read the description above about carrots. Not only are they a phallic symbol but they can help "aid seduction". Woo hoo! The Yorkshire Pudding was just a big bread poof (or popover mutant). There was hardly any filling inside but it's probably supposed to be that way. I really liked the demi-glace though. I could just mop that up with some bread...
I had the Meyer Ranch Beef Filet. See those burnt looking shavings on top? Those were the truffles which tasted kind of dirty to me. Excuse me, they are Himalayan truffles! I had this cooked Medium. I didn't post a cross section of it because it came out too bright, but it was still pink inside. Mmmmm, Nice and tender. Soft and moist. Prince song titles?

Closeup of Bambi's flesh:

The Yorkshire Pudding with demi glace (nestled inside in scant amounts was the apple chestnut stuffing). This is not American pudding which is like a dessert, but a savory type of dish - more about this delicacy here .

My beef filet was resting on top of an "herbed potato galette " which a fancy way of saying "herbed hash brown". I loved it - nice and crispy! The shine is from my knife and I was too lazy to crop the bottom of the photo out.

And lastly, the Fifth Course - Dessert (cut off at the bottom but basically saying how chocolate is an aphrodisiac, yada yada yada):
That's a chocolate squiggle on top of a small scoop of vanilla ice cream draped with rose petals. The chocolate cake wasn't that exciting to me. There was a hint of chili. (they used chipotles - I asked). Bert is a fan of Dark Chocolate (or even Regular Chocolate) with Chili, especially those Lindt Chocolate Bars with the funky flavors. The dusting you see on the plate is chili powder as well. There were also "chocolate cookie" crumbles surrounding the ice cream which I found a bit annoying. There were two sauces - one was chocolate and the other was fruit based but it wasn't raspberry. It was some other kind which escapes me at the moment.

We had really great service; there were 2 to 3 waiters who served us. They knew the menu and did not hesitate whenever I asked them questions about the ingredients. If there's one thing I don't like, it's ig'nant waitstaff. These guys knew their sheeyit. Dinner was super fab! The food was excellent! Now I'm planning where our next dinner outing will be!