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Fresh New Coma
Selby's was great, as it turns out. I think it's technically in Redwood City right *next* to Atherton on El Camino Real, but we did get to drive through the heart of it on the way there. The houses are all hidden by privacy fences set back from the road, but there's enough to see through the trees to know that these are some fucking expensive places. I briefly thought about what it must be like to live there and how expensive it must be to keep the grounds, make sure the house is in good shape, electricity, water, etc. etc. It makes me wonder if the people who live in those houses actually enjoy them, or if they're more concerned about the stresses involved in keeping it.
Anyway -- for appetizers I had the lobster consumme; R. had Olivier's salad, this nice little dish with micro-greens and an expertly-cooked soft-boiled egg. The consumme was delicious; lobster knuckle and tiny string beans in this rich, earthy brown broth. R.'s salad had a very impressive sprig of fresh dill. :9
For the entree I went with the petite filet mignon, a six-ounce cut in Bordelaise sauce, with blistered tomatoes and fondant potatoes on the side. The steak was delicious! It was cooked medium-rare, and the inside was so tender, a beautiful shade of pink, while the outside had an amazing char. I'm wondering if it was reverse-seared or maybe even cooked in a sous-vide bath before being finished on a skillet. Just impossibly even cooking all around. I wish I had taken a picture!
R. got a 14 oz. bone-in veal chop, which I had to try since I never had veal before. I was surprised by the taste of it! Beef typically has a very rich, dark, umami-savory profile, but this meat was incredibly soft but also tasted bright and grassy. It reminded me of venison, actually -- like, you knew it was the flesh of an herbivore somehow, with very little of the "gaminess" you might have in that kind of meat.
I went with a vanilla bean panna cotta for dessert, and R. had the midnight chocolate cake. The panna cotta was topped with this watermelon-strawberry coulis AND bits of dried strawberry and small watermelon balls. The coulis was incredible, just jellied watermelon, and the panna cotta was so silky-smooth with a solid base of vanilla bean flavor that carried through the sweetness of the topping. R.'s chocolate cake might have been even better, actually -- it was sweet and rich, but so light and moist. It's hard to describe, but it was the lightest chocolate bomb I'd ever had.
The maitre-d seated us at an anniversary table, where we got a congratulatory card and this great amuse-bouche of summer melon, roe, and a root vegetable I can't remember. We started with a rose champagne, had the "coldest martinis on the West Coast" with our appetizer, and paired our entree with a lovely, earthy syrah from the Rhone region of France. The martinis were actually quite impressive -- they pour into the glass from a little decanter, and the drink is so cold it flows like syrup.
All in all, an amazing night. We capped it off by falling asleep to Welcome to Nightvale.
I've been thinking a lot about our wedding and what it meant to me. I might have talked about it a little bit here, but...when I first came to California I was so worried about "making it" out there. I was a college dropout with no marketable skills but a passion for selling used books. I had no idea how well I would fit in with R.'s friends, if I had what it takes to be as interesting and fun and passionate as everyone out here seemed to be. We took it slow, because we had both dealt with this transition from a long-distance relationship before.
Our wedding day was a true celebration of the community I had been accepted into over the previous two years. So many people contributed to that day, and to this day my heart swells with gratitude thinking about it. It was the very first time I felt like I was part of a found family. And that feeling hasn't gone away since.
Anyway -- for appetizers I had the lobster consumme; R. had Olivier's salad, this nice little dish with micro-greens and an expertly-cooked soft-boiled egg. The consumme was delicious; lobster knuckle and tiny string beans in this rich, earthy brown broth. R.'s salad had a very impressive sprig of fresh dill. :9
For the entree I went with the petite filet mignon, a six-ounce cut in Bordelaise sauce, with blistered tomatoes and fondant potatoes on the side. The steak was delicious! It was cooked medium-rare, and the inside was so tender, a beautiful shade of pink, while the outside had an amazing char. I'm wondering if it was reverse-seared or maybe even cooked in a sous-vide bath before being finished on a skillet. Just impossibly even cooking all around. I wish I had taken a picture!
R. got a 14 oz. bone-in veal chop, which I had to try since I never had veal before. I was surprised by the taste of it! Beef typically has a very rich, dark, umami-savory profile, but this meat was incredibly soft but also tasted bright and grassy. It reminded me of venison, actually -- like, you knew it was the flesh of an herbivore somehow, with very little of the "gaminess" you might have in that kind of meat.
I went with a vanilla bean panna cotta for dessert, and R. had the midnight chocolate cake. The panna cotta was topped with this watermelon-strawberry coulis AND bits of dried strawberry and small watermelon balls. The coulis was incredible, just jellied watermelon, and the panna cotta was so silky-smooth with a solid base of vanilla bean flavor that carried through the sweetness of the topping. R.'s chocolate cake might have been even better, actually -- it was sweet and rich, but so light and moist. It's hard to describe, but it was the lightest chocolate bomb I'd ever had.
The maitre-d seated us at an anniversary table, where we got a congratulatory card and this great amuse-bouche of summer melon, roe, and a root vegetable I can't remember. We started with a rose champagne, had the "coldest martinis on the West Coast" with our appetizer, and paired our entree with a lovely, earthy syrah from the Rhone region of France. The martinis were actually quite impressive -- they pour into the glass from a little decanter, and the drink is so cold it flows like syrup.
All in all, an amazing night. We capped it off by falling asleep to Welcome to Nightvale.
I've been thinking a lot about our wedding and what it meant to me. I might have talked about it a little bit here, but...when I first came to California I was so worried about "making it" out there. I was a college dropout with no marketable skills but a passion for selling used books. I had no idea how well I would fit in with R.'s friends, if I had what it takes to be as interesting and fun and passionate as everyone out here seemed to be. We took it slow, because we had both dealt with this transition from a long-distance relationship before.
Our wedding day was a true celebration of the community I had been accepted into over the previous two years. So many people contributed to that day, and to this day my heart swells with gratitude thinking about it. It was the very first time I felt like I was part of a found family. And that feeling hasn't gone away since.