Someone Finally Got My Name Right!! :)

Our Trip to Napa

So I got back from LA this past Thursday and was suppose to start my first day in San Francisco on Friday. However, the Chef that will be training me was on vacation the whole week so I got the weekend off as well! Andi and I decided to take a trip and headed up to Napa, CA for a couple of days. Napa is only about a 50 minute drive from our front door in Berkeley so it's real convenient. We came up Friday afternoon, found a cheap pet-friendly Motel 6, and headed out to grab a quick bite to eat.

We found a small Japanese sushi shop and ordered several things on the menu but only two really stuck out. Above is "Sushi Biscuit." They tempura battered nori strips on one side only and fried them. Then they added spicy tuna, sriracha, and spicy aioli inside of the pockets and served it on a bed of diakon radish "noodles." It wasn't much to look at but damn tasty!!

Beef Yakisoba! Delicious!!

The next day we headed out early because Andi wanted to do some clothes shopping. We ended up at Ross and while see was shopping I stumbled upon.....

"Footloose" pint glasses! We're these really necessary to be made?!?!

After shopping I surprised Andi with a facial and manicure at

 The Silverado Resort and Spa.

 

Their resort across from the spa is huge!

 We then headed to a winery called Clos Du Val....

....and did a little wine tasting.  

 Their vineyards are right outside of their front door.

They even have a great little patio you can sit at and picnic if you like.

 After wine, we drove up the road to the small town of Yountville. It's a very artistic little town where we saw several cool pieces of art like the "chef" above.

Small rock "mushroom" garden.

Yountville is also home to three of  Thomas Keller's restaurants. Above is his first and most famous The French Laundry.

Across from his restaurant he has his own huge garden!

Each row is labeled with the item, it's variety, and it's Latin name.

He also has his own chicken coop.

Mmmmmmmm....Thomas Keller chicken!!

Bouchon with the bakery on the right. Huge line out the door!!

A quick drive-by shot of one of his newest places, Ad Hoc.

Our next stop took us to dinner at Kitchen Door which is located in downtown Napa. It's a great little home style comfort food spot by Chef Todd Humphries. The music on the website has some amazing blues!

We started off with herb flat bread and duck liver mousse. The small ramekin has a thin layer of fat on top with savory duck liver mousse underneath. You spread it on top of the warm flat bread where it melts like butter. Out of this world good!!!

Andi ordered grilled salmon with warm asparagus salad, fried capers, and hollandaise sauce. Simple yet elegant.

I went with the house-made bratwurst, pierogi's filled with farmers cheese, and grated apple "saurkraut." With the addition of some whole grain mustard, it was amazing!!

The next morning we made one last stop at Boon Fly Cafe for brunch.

We both got "Poppa Joe's Eggs in a Hole." Sourdough bread with two fried eggs in the middle, home style hash brown, and chicken apple sausage.

 As Andi said, "totally an American breakfast!"

And that was our Napa trip! :)

My Day Off In LA

So this entire week I have been in LA training for my new job as Executive Chef for the Daily Grill in San Francisco. They flew me down here and put me up in the Westin close to LAX where one of there restaurants is located in the hotel. I have been working all week and they gave me Sunday off. A good friend of mine from my Kingfish Hall days in Boston moved out here a little under a year ago and we hooked up for lunch. She took me over to a really great place called Manhatten Beach. It's a little area full of surfing shops, small restaurants, and other miscellaneous shops. I was able to get some photo's with my Blackberry (not the best however) of the beaches and piers. I found it funny that this area totally reminded me of the movie Karate Kid! Can't wait to come back out this direction when I'm not working and explore further!

War of the Arrows

"War of the Arrows" is a South Korean movie set in 1636. When they were children, Nam-yi and his sister Ja-in witnessed their father betrayed and murdered by King Injo. Before his death, he tells them to head for a small village where a friend of his, Kim-Min Soon, will hide them. He gives his son his bow and tells him to protect his sister. Their father's friend hides them and teaches Nam-yi the art of shooting with a bow. Years pass and Nam-yi has become a disappointment. He wastes his talent and spends most of his time getting drunk, fighting, and feeling sorry for himself. His sister however plans on marrying Kim-Min Soon's son. On the day of their wedding, Manchurian soldiers attack the village, enslave Ja-in and her husband to be, and kill Kim-Min Soon. When Nam-yi returns from hunting in the woods and finds out that his sister has been kidnapped and will be sold into slavery, he picks up his bow and heads out to save her.

Nam-yi works his way to the Manchurian camp to rescue his sister and kill anyone who gets in his way.

The movie turns into a game of cat and mouse as Nam-yi flees from the soldiers and squares off against, Jyusthina, the best archer the Manchurians have.

South Korea once again impresses with War of the Arrows. Here is a link to the US trailer for the film. In my opinion, South Korea has been putting out some of the best action pictures with amazing and involving stories for the past several years. The Man From No Where and I Saw the Devil where better then anything I saw coming out of Hollywood in the past two years! If you can get past the fact that there are subtitles, which is hard for most Americans, start checking in on more South Korean films. You will be highly impressed!      

My Goodbye Cake

Yesterday was my last day working for Original Joe's. I was there for a little over 6 weeks and I did such a good job that they gave me a cake!! Oreo ice cream!! As usual, no one ever gets my name right but it's the thought that counts. They were great to work for and I made a lot of connections from line cooks to purveyors to friends. Now I'm taking a couple of days off to rest and then flying out to LA for a couple of weeks for training at The Daily Grill.

First Day of Since Christmas

Finally I have a day off!! I have been working since the day after Christmas to help open a restaurant here in San Francisco called "Original Joe's." The chefs and myself have been working 15-18 hour days trying get ready for the grand opening which took place last Thursday. The restaurant has been getting so much press with it finally opening again after 4 years. We have had people come from all over: Seattle, Fresno, etc. There is a great video here that really gives you the history of the place.

The front door was packed with press the day of opening.

The mayor showed up and declared January 26th as "Original Joe's Day." In the doorway you have 3 out of 4 of the family members:(from left to right) John Duggan Jr. Elaina Duggan, and John Duggan Sr.

They also came into the restaurant and took some photo's. I'm in the red circle talking to a kid I just hired.

One funny thing that happened was that they blocked off the street out front because of the occasion. This one car hadn't moved so there was a cop giving him a ticket.

But the funny part was when the cop went to put the ticket on his car, he found a bottle of beer, a bowl, and a bag of weed inside!! This guy was really screwed!

On another note, I got the Executive Chef position at The Daily Grill!! My last day working at Original Joe's will be this coming Wednesday. I'm taking a couple of days off to regroup and then they are flying me back out to LA for about 2 weeks to train in one of their flagship restaurants. Pretty exciting! Also, Andi just started a job this week. It's a part time job but she will work 5 days a week helping with consulting on certain projects in the company. Everything is slowly coming together.....:)

Missing China