Browse Day: August 8, 2010

Iron Chef Sighting!

Masaharu Morimoto is one of the original Iron Chefs and he has a restaurant in Chicago, NYC, and now Napa!!  It just opened a couple weeks ago and Jes and I went last night.  As soon as we walked into the restaurant, there he was!  He was on the line with all the other chefs hard at work.  So cool!

We opted for the Omakase tasting menu and were delighted with an 8-course meal.  My favorites were the toro tartare that came on a bamboo platter with a dipping sauce and 6 little flavors to try with the tuna.  It was so much fun to eat with a paddle and it was oh so tasty.

My other favorite was the foie gras chawanmushi topped with 2 slices of savory duck.  I already LOVE chawanmushi and now they went ahead and added foie to it!  Wowzers.  The broth was light and flavorful and the rich foie/egg custard was hiding underneath.  It also came with a tiny ball of wasabi on the side.

Everything was presented in such a classy and yet interesting way and the production of having 8 surprises arrive at you table was so much fun.  He also has a bunch of really nice housewares in the front.  Check out all these sake boxes and cups!

Another Girls’ Night Out

Friday made the 5th night in a row that I was out this week!  Mai was in town so we arranged for a Happy Hour at Conga Lounge and it certainly was not lacking in laughter.  These girls crack me up and I’m so thankful that my co-workers are people I enjoy hanging out with after hours.

At the end of the night, we went to Ici, which is another ice cream shoppe that I’ve been dying to try.  I chose maple candied bacon and it was delicious.  It was a sweet vanilla ice cream with bits of salty goodness hidden inside.  Mmmm…