The Life of a Silicon Valley Rockstar

My varied life… in a nutshell

Spontaneous Wine Trip to Napa

I woke up on Monday and wondered what to do. I had the day off and wanted to escape somewhere. Oh yeah, it’s before 10am and I’m craving wine… time to head to Napa!

For a day spent in Napa this might be the fewest number of wineries I visited; 3. Got to the first one around noon and finished dinner around 7.

The first stop was Pride. I hadn’t been here since they well before the put in the new tasting room. All my memories were of the small wooden bar in the small building on the side. Russell hosted and he was great. Another car nut like myself he whipped out the latest Robb Report to show Pride in the background (and a few cars I can’t dream of affording in the foreground). We started with the 07 Chardonnay. It was good but unremarkable. Not much distinctive about it but it had pretty good balance. Could have used a little more acidity IMO. From there we walked into the caves to taste the 06 Merlot and Cab with a special treat of barrel tasting the ‘07 Merlot and the Vintner’s Select Cab. We ended with the Mistelle Di Viognier. Pure honey, almost overpoweringly so. It reminded me I still have some I picked up in 98 and 99 their first two years making it. With the high alcohol content it should have aged well. May find out tonight. Finally I walked up the hill at Pride to the picnic area to check out the views. It was an amazingly clear day and gorgeous. I could have stayed there all day with a few bottles to enjoy.

The next stop was down the hill a bit at Charbay. Although they weren’t technically open Susan was nice enough to pour the full gamut of Charbay wines anyway. I love the creativity in all their products. I wish they would allow tastings of their spirits (permit limitation) but still the wines were great! I don’t remember all the wines but I left with 7 bottles including one of their wine-based pomegranate apertif. They had a “masculine rose” that was pretty good. Definitely unique and interesting. If the sun comes out today that’s what I’m opening. I know I picked up 2 ports as well. I thought they reminded me a bit of the Schweiger ports… Susan mentioned Andy uses their brandy so it makes sense. This was the biggest surprise and probably the nicest experience of the day. One to remember for future visits to Napa.

Stopped at Sunshine Foods for a quick sandwich break. Mmmm, prosciutto on soft sourdough. Out of this world good!

Finally did a cannonball run across the valley floor into Angwin to “Outpost” as per Andrew McNees’ recommendation. Wow, this place is out in the boonies but it’s worth the drive. HUGE, powerful Howell Mtn wines. The Petite Sirah is a monster and the Cab is exactly what you’d expect from Howell Mtn. Huge, extracted, inky. The view rivals Pride’s as well.

Dinner at Ad hoc was good. Not extraordinary like my first time there but good all the same. It started with a great spring salad. Although not a salad person somehow I always love the ones at ad hoc. The duck “ham” was tasty. The smoke was a little over the top and a little less would have made it perfect. The buttermilk fried chicken was perfect! exactly what ad hoc is all about, simple food done perfectly. I was a bit too full to enjoy the black butte cheese and blood orange jam but the little bite I had was good. The hazelnut roulade dessert was forgettable. Just kinda boring for what I expect from ad hoc.

All in all a great trip, especially for waking up on a Monday and thinking “What should I do today? oh yeah… go to Napa.”

April 7, 2009 Posted by Alex | Life | , , , | No Comments Yet

Stone fruit and gin dinner at OrsonSF

The menu looked promising and I got excited about the event. I should have known that was a bad sign. I had high expectations and unfortunately this dinner didn’t live up to them. The menu is below along with my thoughts at the bottom. I will say however, meeting Elizabeth Faulkner was by far the highlight and saving grace of the evening. She came by our table as she was leaving, in street clothes, and was very pleasant and humble.

Onto the meal, but first… cocktails

touch of evil
“The strangest vengeance ever planned” ~1958
  bourbon, mint, lemon juice,
absinthe, rhubarb syrup

I started off with a cocktail. Seemed simple enough and everyone on staff was bragging about the mixologist. This drink tasted like watered down absinthe with a squeeze of lemon. The other flavors didn’t mesh well and were nondescript. Big disappointment as I’m always on the lookout for new mixed drinks with absinthe.

 

In the Beginning

Sweet Peach and Lobster
grilled peaches and spiced lobster gazpacho

Minted Marble
right gin, manzanilla sherry, mint, lemon, syrup

First

Broiled Hamachi
apricot, smoked pork belly, puffed black rice, togarashi

Fairly Jaded
right gin, kubler absinthe, ceylon tea, pineapple, lemon, mint

Second

Whole Roasted Duck Breast
plum and duck confit tart, peppercress, pistachio

Amber
right gin, aperol, dubonnet rouge

Intermezzo

Summer Snow
white peach and lychee soup, lemon verbena sorbet, kubler absinthe foam

In the End

The Golden Forest
rainier cherries, dark chocolate, cinnamon, kirsch, gold

Smokey Quartz
right gin, smoked cherry syrup, coffee

 

Executive Chef Elizabeth Falkner

Chef de Cuisine Ryan Farr

Mixologist Jacqueline Patterson

The first course was the sweet peach and lobster gazpacho. Looks GREAT on paper. When it was brought to the table I felt like the guy in the “what is this, elf food?” commercial. It was a very small wedge of peach, thinner than my pinky and a single piece of lobster tail meat the size of a 50-cent piece. To whichthe waiter poured a light gazpacho. It had great flavor, I just wish there was more than one bite. The minted marble was mediocre, forgettable and very disjointed from the dish. Almost a poor attempt at a gin mojito.

The broiled hamachi was good, but there’s no way it was broiled. Pan roasted more than likely but it lacked the crust created when broiling under high temperature. Great taste and doneness just not what I expected from the description. The apricot was outstanding but the pork belly was really lacking. IMO it needed to be cooked longer and better seasoned. The fairly jaded was again forgettable with the anise flavor of the absinthe taking over any other complexity.

Ahhh, my favorite course of the night. The duck breast was cooked perfectly and the confit tart was perfect. I could have had 5 plates worth of this easy. The Amber paired well and complemented the dish. I’d come back for a full portion-sized version of this dish.

The white peach and lychee soup reminded me of the fruit salad dessert often served at japanese restaurants. It was okay, but certainly nothing special.

The chocolate mouse “finger” for dessert was rich and tasty, however the cardamom ice cream was horrible. Second only to the drink that accompanied this course. The smokey quartz was so bad I couldn’t even swallow. I don’t think a tenderloin tranny could have swallowed. Who’s idea was it to ever make tobacco syrup and put it in a drink? Uggh, left a bad taste in my mouth all night, literally.

I might go back sometime but would skip the special dinner. The regular dishes coming out of the kitchen looked quite good and seem worthy of a second visit.

June 12, 2008 Posted by Alex | Life | , , | 1 Comment

Have I always been a drunkard?

John’s been a good friend for a long time. We had some good times getting our weekly, sometimes nightly, intake of brass back in, oh, around 2000. Hehe, I still remember “Faith”. Like George Michael said, “Gotta have Faith!” John was the perfect drinking buddy, never saw a drink he didn’t like and so big we used to call him “The Big Show”. I should have gotten in more bar fights before he moved back east. Anyway, here’s a shot in the morning, I think, after a long night of drinking at my old place, aka the south park house.

May 7, 2008 Posted by Alex | Life | , | 1 Comment

Ice Kabobs

Sooo, random, but these things are so cool!

Stir and chill your drink at the same time!

While I’m on the topic of booze related toys I had a nice bottle of wine tonight. Clos Pepe makes some awesome wine! Their pinot noir is one of the best I’ve had… and I drink a LOT of pinot. Screw it, I just drink a lot! Back on topic, the 04 Chardonnay is drinking really well right now. Clos Pepe’s whites are known for aging fairly well but I tend to prefer them younger. I have a 2002 in the cellar but plan to drink it soon.

Being a fairly casual night, I drank from an oh-so-casual, and really convenient riedel O stemless glass. The choice tonight was one I picked up for free at Four Vines during my last tasting there. Great new skool winery with a dose of irreverence.

 

May 3, 2008 Posted by Alex | Life | , | No Comments Yet

The Ablemarle Fizz

I was sitting here thinking, wondering really, what my drink of choice should be tonight. Thanks to good friend Cior and her blog I think I may have my answer. The Ablemarle Fizz, also called the albemarle fizz and apparently even an ablemarle royale… Thanks to Josey Packard of Alembic, through Cior, for the recipe:

Ingredients:

10 raspberries
1/2 lemon, juiced
.5 oz simple syrup
2 oz gin
champagne

Muddle 10 raspberries in a Boston shaker, followed by the juice of half a lemon. Add .5 oz of simple syrup (or none if you tend towards tart), then 2 oz of your favorite gin. Shake with ice, pour into a glass and top with champagne.

May 2, 2008 Posted by Alex | Life | | 1 Comment