Degustation @ Manresa + 7 Bamboo == A Perfect Night

Manresa. Tasting menu. With Raf. Also accompanied by Andrew and his awesomeness, and we talked Carlo into it as well. Woot !

Andrew doing his model walk


Chee-zu !


The lighting was really dim so the few photos I pulled these photos were from when I was "staging" there.

The menu for tonight:

AMUSE BOUCHES

Petit fours "red pepper-black olive"

Lavender lemonade, mint

Parmesan churros

Courgette sorbet, pistachio vinaigrette


Sweet Corn cromesquis

Aprege farm-egg


ENTRÉES

Foie gras, gently roasted, licorice and cherry

Shellfish and golden rasberries in bonito broth, fragrant green curry oil


Tomatoes, both raw and cooked, smoked roe with roast tuna consommé (This photo is pre-consommé)


Pumpkin soup "potimarron", nasturtium ice cream

Into the vegetable garden...


Roast tuna and vegetables in exotic spice, flowering herbs


Sweetbreads, roasted whole, morel soubise with lemongrass

Roast lamb with eggplant and dates, anis hyssop


DESSERT

Pluots and olive oil ice cream, sorrel consommé

"Monkey bread" with Tahitian vanilla bean ice cream

Chocolate-blackberry napolean, black berry sorbet and coffee

Petits fours "strawberry-chocolate"

And for coffee... none other than Affogato

Afterwards, we took a quick peek into the kitchen - it was cool to be able to show them where I worked for a few days.

This dinner was amazing - and I have to say I haven't had some of the flavor combinations before. Everything was delicious, but I especially enjoyed the corn cromesquis, foie, garden salad, sweetbreads, tuna, and "monkey bread" dessert. I really want to go back but the wallet needs a little work... or a lot of work. =) Maybe next year heheeh.

Manresa
320 Village Ln
Los Gatos, CA 95030
Tel: (408) 354-4330

Thanks Raf !


Outside the resto after dinner with Chef David Kinch and Miss Pim.


We didn't get out of dinner until around midnight. We were supposed to meet up with Luigi at a house party but apparently the cops came and it had died down. We decided to go to 7 BAMBOO - the coolest dive bar/karaoke bar EVER!

If I still lived here, I would totally be a regular. And normally, I don't even like Karaoke! (Depends on how many drinks). 7 Bamboo is so cool that you can stream them online and even type in comments about whoever is singing at the moment - which is displayed on the wall inside. The crowd is completely mixed too.

Here is Vic. He was here last time, about a year ago. Raf is convinced he's the owner but I think he is just a regular. He's good!


This guy was so funny with the cowbell


More cowbell !


7 Bamboo
162 Jackson Street
San Jose, CA 95112
Tel: (408) 279-9937

What a fabulous weekend so far.

Gochi Love

What I have been looking forward to on this trip back home...



Fortunately, Andrew drove from Santa Rosa to come visit me for the weekend... which also means great eating.



NATTO lettuce wraps !!!


Hamachi


Tuna


Risotto balls


Carlo


Cha shu PIZZA


Unagi claypot


My ONE TRUE LOVE - Yaki Onigiri (Mentaiko)




Rock cod braised with soy-sake


The "vegetarian" eating fish !


Gochi education for Louis and Christine =)


Tea cheesecake


Raf, Andrew, Carlo, Christine, Louis, me, Luigi



Great times at Gochi !

Afterwards, Andrew and Carlo came over. Here's Andrew bonding with Gingy.


Gingy sure loves the boys

Love Apple Farm + Manresa**

Today I met up with Chef David at Love Apple Farm - the farm where Manresa gets all their fresh produce and eggs. I also had the pleasure to meet Cynthia - the owner and operator of the farm.

I had almost forgotten how beautiful it was to drive to Santa Cruz. This is on highway 17 - and don't worry, I was in 5th gear the whole time and had a steady hand on the wheel while taking this pic + video


So gorgeous - it was a perfect day to take my little miata out for a drive on some windy roads


Here we are - it's an absolutely gorgeous property












Beaucoup de poulets




They have tons and tons of bees for the honey and veg












Capucine !




Trinity! So adorable


And her bro


There were at least 3 other farm kitties too.





I ended up picking a bunch of fleurs de courgettes with Manuel who works there. Afterwards, I got myself a nice, cold Jamba and drove back on beautiful hwy 17 to Manresa. Wednesday's are typically very busy (it's like their Monday) so I volunteered to help with the mise en place.

Got off work around 18h45 and met up with Luigi for some Korean food at Tobang in Santa Clara.

Ummmm....


And free fried fish !


Bul Go GI


Bi Bim Bap


I really missed spicy food so I doused my Bi Bim Bap with the traditional spicy Korean paste.


Look how red it is - alas, it really wasn't spicy at all so I gave up.


After dinner, Luigi and I went back to Raf's to hang out a bit. Then we went to Blowfish since Matt was supposed to be spinning. Met up with Sean and his pals too.


Had a nice peach sake drink and some beer and then called it a night.

Arcadia restaurant

Weenie and Hubby treated me to Arcadia (a Michael Mina modern steakhouse) tonight for dinner. Met up with Raymond and a couple of his buddies as well.

Not the best photos but...

Of course I got the rib-eye, medium rare. Ummm, red meat !


Truffled mac n cheese


Fries fried in duck fat + mushrooms as well.

And, comme d'habitude, I failed to take a photo with them. Dammit! =(

Thanks for dinner, Weenie + Hubby! Love yous !

Arcadia
100 W San Carlos St
San Jose, CA 95110
Te: 408.278.4555

Chillen at Pluto's

Good times at Pluto's.

Drew, Sean, his friend (oops, forgot her name), Matt, Toots, me, and Raf taking the photo =)