Trevese - Los Gatos

Trevese
115 North Santa Cruz Avenue
Los Gatos, CA 95030
(408) 354-5551

Just found out Trevese has closed its doors. Guess my scathing review was a little late!

Our 10 year wedding anniversary snuck up on me somewhat. We'd gone on vacation, had been preparing for our son to start kindergarten, and summer was just flying by. But at the last minute I found a babysitter and did a little Googling and found that Trevese had a Michelin star and we hadn't been there. I hired a car to drive us over windy Highway 17 and we had our evening booked.

We quickly vetoed the tasting menu as it had too many things we wouldn't enjoy (pork, lamb, cheese). The vegetarian tasting menu seemed like a joke. The chef has got to be mocking vegetarians. On the vegetarian tasting menu is Tofu TarTar, Granola Rice Roll and Potato Tot... seriously?!? I wanted to order the Tofu TarTar (note, not "tartare") just to see what the heck it was! But I didn't.

The first thing to arrive was a shot glass of heirloom tomato and strawberry gazpacho. It was the inspiration for my own gazpacho shooters. A wonderful balance of sweet and tangy. A great start while we were perusing the menu. We did finally settle on what we'd order and it started off well.

The Crispy Quail with Polenta Cake, Smoked Cherries and Chard was finger licking good. The quail had a fried chicken quality and not in a bad way. In an "I want to suck on the bones and lick my fingers" way. The greens were excellent along with the polenta cake. I didn't have the cherries because I don't like fruit with my meat but my husband liked them.

To accompany the meal we had a bottle of 2004 Domain Leflaive, "Clavillon," Premiere Cru, Puligny-Montrachet. It seemed versatile enough to match most of our courses. The wine list was quite interesting. What was most striking was the entire page and Brunello di Montelcinos. There was no other (especially Italian) wine that took up so much of the list so we inquired about this and found out that one of the main investors in the restaurant has a huge collection of Brunellos and sells them on consignment. Brilliant! This gets wine that has been properly aged onto the wine list without the exorbitant markup you can get by trying to find 10-15-year-old Brunello on the retail market. But back to what we actually drank! The Puligny-Montrachet went beautifully with the quail.

Next up was the Sweet Gem Lettuce with a Sweet Onion Dressing, White Anchovy, and Kalamata Olive. This had a very good Caesar salad flavor so it surprised me that it had no cheese on it—of course I was happy with that! It was served with what really tasted like our favorite quick appetizer: Dinon white anchovies. The other salad we ordered was the Asparagus Salad with Juniper Berry and Basil Vinaigrette and Fennel. This was seasonal and fresh. It was a challenge to get on a fork but we managed. It had something they were calling "asparagus flan" which I think would have been better if they'd not called it a flan. It had the texture of a butter more than a custard or flan. Great flavor in it though, just inaccurately named.

So the first courses were great. And then the, unfortunately, all too familiar happened. The main courses came and were disappointing. I see this in so many fancy pants restaurants it seems. The firsts and desserts are great but the mains fall short. Sometimes it's because of too many ingredients, this time it seemed like it was because of the wrong ingredients.

First up was the Mer Rouge—Prawns, Couscous and Shells Simmered in Marsala Tomato Sauce. This dish was prawny. That's all there was to it. To quote Janice in Chef, "The prawniness borders on the vulgar to be frank." I had about three bites and left the rest. And unfortunately the wine emphasized that flavor as well. Blech!

The other dish was Skillet Seared Loch Duart Salmon with Herbed Rice, Fennel Salad and Basil Saffron Broth. The rice in the basil broth was good, the salmon was cooked well (more cooked than I tend to prefer but not overcooked by any means) and then they smothered the salmon in overpowering mustard sauce! It obliterated the fish and anything it came in contact with. Sad.

I decided to have a simple dessert and got an assortment of sorbets and ice cream which were all very good. The texture was wonderful and the flavors were interesting. I wish the openers and desserts stuck with me as much as the mains did. I'm still perplexed by the Michelin star. Was it an off night? Maybe. The first courses were lovely though. Service was impeccable and the sommelier knew his stuff. The evening wasn't a total loss by any means but not the 10th anniversary extravaganza I was seeking.

Recchiuti and Magnolia Brewery - Beer and Chocolate Taste Project

This was my second Recchiuti Taste Project event. The first was the Salt and Chocolate tasting which inspired many dishes and a shopping spree at The Meadow in Portland. The beer tasting was really for my husband who is the alchemist behind the Barely Legal brews. Of course, I enjoy the end product, he enjoys the process and the science. The brewer sharing the "stage" with Michael Recchiuti was Dave McLean of Magnolia Brewery in San Francisco.

We sat down to a plate containing three small cups and a ramekin. The cups each had malt in various stages of roast. The ramekin had one of the toasty malts covered in chocolate, slowly coated until it was equal parts malt and chocolate. Sitting in that with a 64% Valrhona chocolate disc sprinkled with some toasted Maris Otter malt. Barley is such a wonderful grain. It's complex; it can be sweet, the more you chew it the more sugar you can extract. It gives us everything from barley soup to beer to malted milk balls. So when you think about it, pairing beer with chocolate isn't odd. People have been drinking malts for decades and that's just refined barley mixed with some chocolate ice cream!

Dave and Michael took us through the brewing process while we were nibbling on chocolate covered malt and watching a video loop on the wall that showed the brewery in action. The grain being milled, added to the boil, all the way up to pouring pints at the brew pub. The grain, post-mash, is still great for compost or animal feed so they try to get farmers to come take it. I got the impression that's a challenge in the city. Any farmers out there who want grain and can pick it up may want to contact their local breweries, they may have a rich, healthy feed source!

Up next was wort soda. This probably was crazy-weird to many people, but wasn't overly complex or unusual to someone who has had unfermented wort a number of times! It was bubbly, cold, malty soda. It was a dark malt so it was almost coffee-like and a little bit bitter (like black coffee). What was crazy-weird was the malt-foam cube marshmallowy thing. It was, let's say, interesting!

We then moseyed into the kitchen for a little tour and treat. We saw the cooling tunnel that takes the chocolate through a trip at temperatures from 58° to 62° to 71° so it comes out at room temperature. We weren't waiting for ganache to cure, we got fresh chocolate. Michael had cooked down the hopped wort and added white chocolate -- not the crap you get from the mass-produced chocolate factories. Pure, real,un-deodorized El Rey cocoa butter. He coated this mixture with chocolate right in front of our eyes, a beautiful thing. As these set (this only took seconds) we tried the unfermented hopped wort from Oatmeal Stout and Kolsch. Both were obviously headed toward being stellar beers. And then we got to eat the fresh chocolate. This was insanely good. These could never be produced to sell because the high water content of the filling gives it a shelf life of about three days. This was my favorite taste of the day. Rich, creamy, unique... WOW!

Now comes the part that you can enjoy as well. Get a box of Recchiuti chocolates and head to Magnolia brewpub. Time for the chocolate-beer pairings flight!

#1: Blue Bell Bitter with Candied Orange Peel
Who knew? The Maris Otter malt in this beer has a citrusy aspect to it so the orange worked so well! The bitterness matched up and the confection enhanced the orange peel flavor in the beer.

#2: Spud's Boy IPA with Star Anise and Pink Peppercorn
This was a dud for me. I don't particularly like IPA and I don't like anise. The beer quote of the day came from discussing the IPA though. Dave said, "Beer doesn't have to be pale, yellow and insipid." YES!


#3: Big Cypress Brown Ale with Burnt Caramel
Both the beer and chocolate are toasty (the burnt caramel is made with sugar that's been brought to 420°!) The chocolate emphasized the bitterness in the beer that didn't stand out without chocolate. This was a perfect pairing.

Are you on your way to Magnolia with your black box yet?

We got to try an Imperial Stout out of Dave's stash that was made in 2007. Imperials really improve with age. Michael made an incredible devil's food cake with a white chocolate ganache on top. The beer was light in alcohol but rich and caramely with the cake. And then there was the gelée. I'm not a gelée and foam gal. This was also a case of what David and Michael called "illusion of food" because you taste with your eyes first. The appearance affects your expectations. The gelée looked like a little piece of chocolate, it was most definitely not. It was hoppy and bitter and, well, gelée-like. I hate that texture. This was not for me... the cake was though!!

For dessert (heh) we had a float made with malted 64% Valrhona ice cream and Dark Mild beer. Who needs root beer? Glug, glug, mmmmmmmmm. This ice cream... holy my gosh. Seriously, I've never had chocolate ice cream that creamy, rich and amazing. When's that next ice cream social?

I'd say I can't wait until the next Taste Project event but I don't have to. I'll be heading to the Acme Bread and chocolate event in less than two weeks! For those of you who still think you've had good chocolate but have never had Recchiuti, you are fooling yourselves. Order some! You will love me forever for it.

Sand Sole with Zucchini Fritters

I had one large zucchini left from my dad's garden. I'd already made zucchini bread, I'd already frozen a bunch of it for zucchini bread in the winter, I'd sautéed, I'd put it in pasta, I needed something new! Well, there's my tried and true 'mashing things together and frying into a cake technique'... I'll try that! It worked!

Shred one large zucchini, salt, and place in a colander to drain.

Mix together:
2 minced garlic cloves
2 T. marjoram
3 T. Parsley
juice of half a lemon
1 t. lemon zest
1 egg

After about 20 or 30 minutes of it being in the strainer, squeeze the zucchini out with paper towels. Get as much liquid out as you can. Mix the zucchini thoroughly into garlic/herb/egg mixture.

Now to the tried-and-true portion of the method. Heat about 1/4 inch of olive oil until it's a very hot but not smoking. Take a small handful of the zucchini mixture in your hands, flatten slightly and gently place it in the hot oil. Don't touch it or move it until the underside is very brown therefore holding together the fritter. Carefully turn it over and repeat! Remove from oil and place on paper towel to drain.

I cooked the fish very simply. Salt and pepper on the fillet, dust with semolina flour, pan fry in butter.

I squeezed a little lemon juice over both the fish and the fritters and topped with chopped fresh basil. I sprinkled it with a little Big Sur Sea salt I just discovered in my pantry!

Bon appétit!

Gargantuan Reed Avocados

I don't think I'd ever seen a Reed avocado before. I'm pretty sure I'd remember. I bought one for $5. Yes, just one. It was about the size as an infant's head!! I made a batch of guacamole out of it for four of us and we couldn't finish it there was so much. It mashed up into a much creamier dip than the typical Haas avocado does. If you can find them, it's worth the splurge. They really aren't far more expensive than a typical avocado since you get so much from one (I'd say mine was equivalent to about three regular size avocados). They should still be available now but I think their season is short.

This is what I would consider a small Reed next to a large Haas. I, unfortunately, didn't get a picture of the GARGANTUAN Reed before hacking it into guacamole bits.

Cellar Door - Santa Cruz, CA

Cellar Door Café at Bonny Doon Vineyard
328 Ingalls St
Santa Cruz, CA 95060
831-425-4518

We were in the mood to try something new for lunch the other day. Since we were on that side of town I suggested The Cellar Door since we'd been told to go there so many times but had never made it. I'm really glad we went.

We had an assortment of small plates. I started with local greens with lemon and almonds. A salad was beautifully presented, well dressed and lovely. My husband started with a plate of pedrón peppers which he said were great, but I had to take his word for that, I can't stand the things!

We also started off with some Boquerones. They were beautifully marinated, not at all over salty. We ended up having to order two more plates of them because our five year old ate them all!!

I finished up with the Crisp Steelhead with local squid, cannellini bean brodo, corn and Sungold tomatoes. This was fantastic. The skin on the trout really was very crispy and tasty. The squid was cooked perfectly so it wasn't chewy and the brodo was drinkably good. I've got a thing about corn in dishes, it tends to taste like a cheap filler to me (I think this comes from school lunches as a kid). This corn was so sweet still so crisp that it added to the dish rather than taking away from it.

I'd like to return to taste more of the menu and try their tasting menus sometime.

Seared Ahi with Crispy Rice Cakes

Last night for dinner I felt like being creative. When I started, I didn't know what I was going to end up with. I began by throwing some sushi rice rice cooker, I didn't know why but I thought I might end up using it. I ended up with this amazing dish, here's how.

For "sauce"
2 shallots, minced
1T dashi miso (already has the bonito, etc in it)
1T grated ginger
1T soy sauce
juice of 1 lemon
2T rice wine vinegar
1/4c. sake

Put this all into a small pan, bring to a boil, and let it reduce slightly. Stir in a handful of chopped parsley and cilantro. Set aside.

I took two gorgeous pieces of fish, one piece of ahi and one piece of hamachi, sprinkle them with salt and pepper and seared them over high heat.

While those were searing, I grabbed a couple of scoops of the sushi rice out of the rice cooker. I mixed with that about a tablespoon of Nori Komi Furikaki rice seasoning. All it is is a mixture of sesame seed, salt, sugar, and seaweed and I love it! I got my hands wet so the rice wouldn't stick and formed thin patties of rice and laid them, carefully, in a pan with about 1/4 inch a very hot olive oil. Don't move them! when you can see that they're very brown around the edges, then carefully flip them over to brown the other side. When crispy, remove the rice cakes and place them on a plate with paper towels to drain off the oil.

I assembled all this on the plate topping the crispy rice cakes with micro arugula greens that had just a hint of rice vinegar on them. Sliced the ahi and hamachi and topped with the sauce and then made a little side of cucumber sunomono salad (thinly sliced cucumber with some seasoned rice vinegar).

I thought this turned out amazingly well. My husband couldn't stop raving about it all night! Let me know if it works for you too!

How Many Pickled Peppers....

I just finished reading Animal, Vegetable, Miracle: A Year of Food Lifeby Barbara Kingsolver. I was completely inspired. So much so that I brought home a bag of bell peppers from my dads house. I hate bell peppers just about as much, if not more, than cheese. (If you're curious, a list of everything I hate is here!) My husband loves roasted red bell peppers though. So even though the smell is completely vile to me, I roasted, peeled, and jarred about 3 1/2 pounds of peppers!

I also shredded, bagged, and froze a pile of zucchini for winter time zucchini bread. I made a couple of test loaves today and they were wonderful!

There is now also a gallon bag of clean, trimmed green beans in the freezer so my son can have some of grandpa's green beans for dinner even in the winter!

I think Animal, Vegetable, Miracleshould be required reading. Of course not everyone can drop everything and begin farming. I couldn't do it. But it made me want to do everything I can to reap the rewards of my, or my family's, gardening year round.

And I must give credit where credit is due, the recipes for both the peppers and the zucchini bread came from Simply Recipes. They have a great site!