Since I’m a big fan of Top Chef, I wanted to go check out Jennifer Biesty’s Coco 500 in SF. It’s been on my list to try for a long time, but I had just never had a chance.

I liked the simple decor. I always enjoy places that are nice but opt out of the wine tablecloth and just use a wooden table instead. White tablecloths, while great, aren’t for every night.

I started by ordering the Coco500, which is their signature drink. It’s made with Kaffir lime vodka (Yes!), Thai basil, bitters, lime, seltzer, and raw organic sugar. If you ask me, it was overly sweet, but the Thai basil gives it a great flavor and compliments the Kaffir lime vodka beautifully.

We ordered the mussels with curry sauce and couscous to share. This was my favorite thing all night. The mussels were from Prince Edward Island and were delicious. Anything in curry sauce is great for me!

Then I had the asparagus pizza with spring garlic and goat cheese. This wasn’t horrible, but it wasn’t completely memorable either. It was just good. Heston and our good friend Aaron both echoed those sentiments their their main dishes as well.

You can find their menu on here.

Why is Coco500 so festive?
(All ratings are out of 10.)

Food: 6

Drinks: 6

Atmosphere: 7.5

Price: $35/person

I took Heston to Bouchon in Yountville for his birthday. We had tried to go while we were in Vegas, but they were closed for a private event. It was perfect because we were in Yountville for the day picking up our wine club shipment at Goosecross and had a great day doing some tastings. Bouchon is the little sister of the famed French Laundry, also in Yountville.

We ordered a bottle of Hirsch Vinyards 2006 Pinot Noir Bohan Dillon. It had a great earth flavor with some blackberry and vanilla flavors as well.

It was recommended that we try the mussels here so we did. Wow. So wonderfully fresh. They were perfect. We shared those as well as a simple green salad with goat cheese. Both were fantastic!

For my main course I ordered the Coquille St. Jacques- seared sea scallops with piquillo peppers, asparagus, marcona almonds, green garlic & chorizo broth. Heston thought it was weird to put chorizo and scallops together. I disagree. The flavor of the chorizo gave the scallops a welcome bit of spice! The wine was a great compliment.

Ever since we went to Boulevard a few weeks ago Heston is obsessed with ribs. He ordered the Plats de Cotes de Boeuf- slow braised beef short ribs, spring onions, horseradish pain perdu & red wine beef jus. He seemed to think that the flavor a much flatter than at Boulevard, but he wants me to be sure to mention that they were still fantastic.

Dessert was a plate of profiteroles and so rich and wonderful. The ice cream was fresh and delightful. A great and memorable experience overall.

Why is Bouchon so festive?
(All ratings are out of 10.)

Food: 8

Drinks: 8

Atmosphere: 8

Price: $80/person

Summary: Must go!

After hearing about how we just had to try Boulevard for so long Heston and I finally gave in.  It’s a bit of an early birthday celebration for H.

Our reservation was at 7:15pm, which is pretty early for us.  It was still light outside! They sat us in this cozy little corner table that was tucked away from everyone else.  We ordered our now signature Hanger One Kaffir Lime Gimlets.

To start I had the Mariquita Farm Beets & Red Lettuces salad.  It is served with pistachio and blood orange oil with Mad River goat cheese.  Anything with goat cheese I’m totally sold on.  The beets were marinated perfectly and they were quite tasty with the goat cheese.

Heston had the La Quercia Artisanal Prosciutto & White Asparagus with toasted hazelnuts, arugula, shaved parmesan, white balsamic & extra virgin olive oil.  His asparagus was killer and went supremely with the proscuitto.

Both salads were amazing.

For our main course I had the Filet Mignon.  It had cognac peppercorn sauce that completely fell flat with me.  I was so disappointed with it!  It made the entire filet less than exciting.  It also came with green peppercorn salsa verde over the fingerly potatoes that was disappointing as well.  The whole plate was just bland…

Heston faired better than I did with his BBQ Angus short ribs.  After he ordered it he confessed that he’d never had ribs before.  (He was a vegetarian for most of his life.)  His ribs were amazing.  I don’t really care for ribs, but these were wonderful.

All in all it was a good night.  I would have just been happy with my salad though.  I think I’ll have to try this one again sometime though.

Why is Boulevard so festive?
(All ratings are out of 10.)

Food: 8

Drinks:8

Atmosphere: 7.75

Price: $101/person

Heston and I decided last minute to head out to Vegas a few weekends ago.  We both needed a break and had some free Southwest tickets so why not?!  Since this blog is about Bay Area food I’m going to review all the bars, restaurants, and hotel in one big post!

Before I start, I want to say that probably the best discovery of the entire weekend was Hanger One Vodka.  Specifically Hanger One Kaffir Lime.  Hanger One Lime Gimlet.  Order it.  You won’t be disappointed.  Hanger One is made with natural fruit and infused.  It’s simply delicious…and local!  It’s in Alameda!

Hotel

We wanted to stay at the Luxor because it’s probably the most iconic hotel in Vegas.  We stayed in the pyramid with a view of the strip.  It was clean and reasonably priced.  The whole weekend (3 nights) cost a little over $300 total. This hotel is quite old though!  The bed we slept on made me wonder if it had been around since the pyramids themselves!  It was clean and that’s about all I can ask for since we weren’t there very often except to stumble in really late at night.

We had made a goal for ourselves to try to visit as many hotels on the strip that we could.  We made stops everywhere: Luxor, Mandalay Bar, MGM Grand, Venetian, Palazzo, Paris, Treasure Island, Caesar’s Palace, Palms, Planet Hollywood, Bellagio, NY NY, Excalibur, THEhotel, and the Four Seasons.

Here is a summary of our journey with some commentary along the way.

Bars

 Mix Lounge - Hands down the best place in all of Vegas.  It’s on the 64th floor of THEhotel @ Mandalay Bay.  The view is stunning.  You can sit outside and they make some killer festive adult beverages.  Heston and I came here at the beginning of every night.  There is also a restaurant up here that I hear it killer too.

Aurora Lounge- Typical middle of the casino bar in the Luxor.  Drinks are cheap and strong.  The atmosphere wasn’t as smoky at the rest of the casino bars.  This is where Heston and I discovered that we could go anywhere on the strip and just “charge it to the room”.  It was a fantastic discovery and rather dangerous too!

MGM Centrifuge-  Again, typical middle of the casino bar in MGM Grand.  First…MGM Grand is horrible.  We walked all the way over there to check it out and were just really disappointed.  Service was horrible and it was full of smoke and sketchy looking people.

iPop Lounge- Where Heston and I spent our final night in Vegas  after dinner at Social House.  They made the drinks stronger the longer you stay and if you start gambling. Oh yeah and it’s inside Mandalay Bay.

Palms Island Bar- Okay seriously?!  We just took a $10 cab ride to The Palms to visit Ghostbar since Heston and I both love that place.  We get IDed as soon as we walk into the door of the hotel!  Then again at the bar in the middle of the casino…all this after on a SUNDAY night they were charging a cover to get up to GB.  I’ve never paid a cover to get in anywhere in Vegas…including at The Palms.  I wasn’t going to start on a Sunday night.  I’m so over The Palms.

Sala Lounge- Heston and I went here two nights of our three.  We liked this place.  It’s in the Palazzo.  Since the Palazzo isn’t quite finished yet there weren’t a ton of people around.  We talked up the bartender and ended up with some free shots.  I can’t wait to go back and see this place in full swing.

Restaurants

Chin Chin- Heston really wanted to go here because they’ve got one in LA.  We happened to be in NY NY passing through and decided to sit down.  Nothing too festive to report as it’s very similar to it’s LA counterpart.

Pyramid Cafe- Simple cafe for all the drunk people to come sober up at in the Luxor.  It does the job well.  Nothing I want more at 4am is some french fries!

Burger Bar- Same chef as Fleur de Lys (where we did Vday this year).  Pretty much the most amazing burger I’ve ever had…EVER.  You build it yourself and then it’s cooked to perfection.  Simply one of the best ideas for a restaurant I’ve ever seen…and I hate burgers!

Social House- Heston and I wanted to do one really nice dinner while we were there since there is a ton of amazing food in Vegas.  You may have heard of Social House because a lot of celebrities have been spotted there.  It is done by one of the chefs from Nobu, which is another favorite of mine.  We sat at the sushi bar and talked to the guys making us our sushi.  He prepared us a complimentary plate of octopus sashimi with cilantro that was THE best thing I had in Vegas…yes better than Burger Bar!  I’d definitely go back here…it was awesome.

Zumanity- This is a Cirque show that I took Heston to as an early birthday present.  It’s not a normal Cirque du Soleil show though because it’s done topless.  It’s about the journey to discover ones sexuality.  It’s got everything in it….everything.  This would make some people feel uncomfortable I’m sure.  The guy next to me apparently couldn’t handle the scene with two guys in it.  He was squirming the whole time!  The most famous scene is with two women playing and swimming in what looking like a giant martini glass.  They did flips and jumps…wow.  The show had all the normal Cirque elements in it too but just with a more adult flavor.  We both really enjoyed it.

There are many parts of this trip that I didn’t write about.  It was a ton of fun and wonderful to just walk around and spend time with my love.  I can’t wait to go back this summer with my girlfriends!

Why is Vegas so festive?
(All ratings are out of 10.)

Food: 7.5 (They’ve got nothing on the Bay Area!)

Drinks: 9

Atmosphere: 7 (only because of all the smoking!)

Price: $1000/2 people

Whenever I walk into Gregoire I think about that scene in Mrs. Doubtfire where Robin Williams is trying to cook that amazing dinner and ends up burning everything so he has to call out for some equally amazing take out.  This is the place I would call if I was ever in a similar bind.

Their menu changes monthly and they are open for both lunch and dinner.  They have locations in Oakland and Berkeley, but both have very limited seating.

Heston and I joke that we can never get out of there for less than $50 because everything always sounds so yummy that you want to try it all.  I beg to differ….It was only $38 for both of us a few nights ago and we had leftovers!  The March menu let us try the baked boneless Cornish hen with tomato and garlic stuffing with chicken gravy as well as the grilled beef bavette medallions, lemon and parsley butter. YUM!  We also tried the potato puffs, which are completely unnecessary…but amazing and wonderful all at the same time.  You’ve gotta try those!

It’s classy take out for when you want a gourmet meal without going out.   Grab a great bottle of wine to pair with what you order and enjoy.

You can find the changing menu here.

Why is Gregoire so festive?

(All ratings are out of 10.)

Food: 8

Drinks: n/a

Atmosphere: 4

Price: $18/person

Top Chef’s fourth season begins tomorrow on Bravo.  Heston and I truly enjoy watching this show with a glass of wine in hand and sometimes some snobby cheese.

I think this season will be particularly wonderful because of the 16 chefs, four are from the Bay Area! Zoi Antonitsas, Jennifer Biesty (executive chef, Coco500), Erik Hopfinger (executive chef, Circa restaurant), and Ryan Scott (formerly of Myth Cafe).  You can read about all this seasons chefs here.

I’ll be rooting for the locals!

Heston wanted to make Valentine’s Day this year extra special so we decided to try Fleur de Lys.  They had a special Valentine’s Day menu that was seriously amazing.  It was the best meal I think I’ve ever had.

Wine:  Patz & Hall Chardonnay Hyde Vinyard

Menu:

White Gazpacho, Truffle Popcorn with ris de veau with sea urchin - How can you go wrong with truffle popcorn?!
Trio of Chestnut- Chestnut soup with Osetra caviar, Chestnut gratin with sea scallop, and Chestnut and crab fritters.  They were pouring our Patz & Hall as this came out and I remember thinking…WOW…this is so wonderful together.  The wine really brought out all the flavors in the chestnuts.

Jumbo Galapago Prawns- with coconut milk, lemon grass, ginger, shiitake and curry vinaigrette.  This was my favorite of the three starters.  I’m a big Thai food fan so when this game out I was in heaven.  The flavors were so bold and perfect.

For my main course I had the “Tender Filet Mignon topped with Seared Foie Gras”.  This was simply the best filet I’ve ever consumed.  Every filet after this one has fallen completely flat.  It came with shaved truffles, truffled mashed potatoes, and the most amazing sauce I’ve ever tasted.  My words are not doing this filet justice and it’s just sad.  I enjoyed this with a wonderful glass of Santa Barbara Pinot Noir

Heston had the “Oven Roasted Boneless Qual on Creamed Corn, Rustic Winter Vegetables”.  He said he truly enjoyed his since he’s sick of having the same old chicken or beef.  I tried some of his and it went so well with the Patz & Hall.

When the sommelier realized Heston is a Hall of Patz & Hall he invited us back to eat anytime we like.  He said we always have a table.  As we walked out of the restaurant…at 12:45am I might add…we were bid a goodnight by none other than Hubert Keller!  We were both in awe.  He’s truly very talented.

I can’t wait to go back!

Why is Fleur de Lys so festive?
(All ratings are out of 10.)

Food: 9.5

Drinks: 9

Atmosphere: 9

Price: $90/person

In looking for the perfect Valentine’s Day present for my boyfriend, Heston, I knew I wanted to get him a membership to a wine club to one of our favorite wineries in Napa or Sonoma. I finally decided that I would go with Goosecross for his membership. We’ve been to the winery a few times and I’m on their mailing list. I noticed that they were having a special event for Valentine’s day yesterday the 9th of Feb. I decided that this would be the perfect time to give Heston his membership to the wine club and a great way to enjoy the day together.

First, the weather yesterday was amazingly beautiful and couldn’t have been better for a day of wine tasting! We arrived to the winery around noon and were greeted by Colleen Topper, the owner of Goosecross. She gave us each a glass and gave us the low-down on what they were offering for the afternoon. We went over and tried some 2006 Viognier and found some bread and cheese to nibble on. We went and sat in the sun looking out over the vineyards. After a little bit we decided to go inside to sample a few more wines as it was getting quite warm out.

They were offering some tank tastings of some almost finished wine. One was their chardonnay that had yet to be filtered. It was surprisingly good for not being quite finished or filtered yet.

I think that these special events at a winery like this, because it is so small, is very unique because not that many people are able to come and the winery is able to let people sample pretty much anything they like.

Heston and I were able to talk to the winemakers about exactly what they would pair with each wine. For example, I had no idea that Chenin Blanc would work well with Thai food. (Goosecross’s Chenin Blanc is wonderful…by the way.)

The best thing I tasted all day was the 2003 Howell Mountain Cabernet Sauvignon. We were able to try it decanted and then, as a comparison, we tried it straight from the bottle to the glass. Wow, what a difference it makes. You can really taste how the wine opens up in a decanter. Some people think that opening a bottle of wine and letting it sit for 30 minutes is the same as placing it in a decanter. This is just not true.

We picked up Heston’s four bottles that he gets in his latest wine club order. Here is what he got:

2006 Sauvignon Blanc

2005 Zinfandel

2006 Tempranillo

2007 Viognier (which has only been released to wine club members…they arent even tasting it yet!)

I’ll give an update on Goosecross in April when Heston receives his next installment of the wine club. If you’re interested in the wine clubs that Goosecross offers you can find them here.

Zazie has been on my list of places to visit for a very long time. It’s a French style casual bistro in the Cole Valley neighborhood of San Francisco. I went with two friends and we really enjoyed our experience. One of the best parts of Zazie is that when you arrive you put your name on the list for a table and if there is a wait they take your cell phone number and they call you when your table is ready. We decided to go next door and have a drink while we waited. There are lots of different kind of bars in the close vicinity.

When we were seated after only a 20 minute wait we were greeted by a wonderfully friendly waiter who had an English accent that we enjoyed. I ordered a bottle of pinot noir and he promptly recommended that we try a bottle of the 2005 Unti Dry Creek Valley Segromigno instead. Wow. What a great bottle of wine. Their wine list was filled with great bottles at very reasonable prices.

After we placed our order they brought us each a biscuit that I must say was one of the best pieces of bread I’ve ever had at the beginning of a meal. I’m also not usually one to eat lots of carbs before the meal even begins. The three of us HAD to get some more.

I ordered a small green salad to start. It was simple but I always appreciate a good simple salad tossed with vinaigrette. Perfect. It reminded me of the green salad at Dopo in Oakland that I really enjoyed as well.

For my meal I had lemon ricotta ravioli with prawns and asparagus. It came in a giant bowl dripping with some lemon sauce that was just divine. If you put a bit of everything in every bit you end up with a plethora of tastes that truly compliment each other perfectly.

My friend, Lauren, ordered the polenta cakes that had a red sauce and some spinach with them. I tried a few bites of that, and while I can’t speak to her entire meal, I know that she really enjoyed it. The few bites that I had were good and the only thing I can say is that the polenta was a bit bland.

Zazie does not put their menu online because it changes often but you can check out their website to make a reservation.

Ratings (out of 10):

Food: 8

Drinks: 7

Atmosphere: 7

Price:  $30/person

Clos du Val is one of my favorites when it comes to Napa Valley Wineries. They’re located in the Stags Leap District of Napa. In recent years they’ve become a bit more touristy than I’d like. The wines are worth a taste though. I’m a big fan of their reds. The 2004 Napa Valley Cabernet Sauvignon and 2005 Carneros Pinot Noir are my two favorites.

Tastings are $10/person.