Big (Early) Birthday Weekend

September 10-12, 2010

As a milestone birthday began to approach, I decided that I wanted to fully embrace and celebrate it’s arrival. This celebration was a month prior to the actual date of my birth, but only because of scheduling with some of my very favorite people, my family. Along with my parents, brother and his wife the festivities took place in one of the greatest cities that I know, San Francisco. In my opinion, San Francisco is rivaled by only the very best cities in the world for architecture, culture, character, and of course food and wine.
To be honest, I spent months planning the weekend and countless hours just thinking about the possibilities. Those that know me well, probably aren’t too surprised by that admission. But hey, this is a big birthday, what can I say?

After landing at SFO at noon on Friday, I was promptly picked up by my parents to head into the city and it was time to let the revelry begin. In my research for this weekend’s culinary explorations, I found a great little sushi restaurant in the New Fillmore neighborhood called, Maruya. After traversing through the busy city streets and extensive road construction, we arrived. We were randomly greeted to San Francisco by a friendly mustache clad police officer who teased and jokingly asked for a bribe of a free lunch for help in parking our car. After a few laughs we walked up the street to our lunch destination and came upon a much smaller than expected take out sushi spot. Luckily we were welcomed by the very friendly and hospitable owners of this tiny family owned restaurant of 45 years. They allowed us to eat in their phone-booth sized establishment and there we enjoyed unbelievably fresh fish of clean and precise flavors.

With delicious and healthy food in our bellies we were off to the Marin Headlands for some hiking and absolutely phenomenal views back at the city and Golden Gate Bridge. The weather was perfect with the sun prevailing in a battle over the typical summer fog. After a great time and plenty of fresh air, we went back to the hotel to check into our room at the Hilton Union Square and meet up with my brother who was just arriving.

After settling into our rooms and relaxing for a brief period, it was time to get ready for a night out. The evening began with a visit to the Mark Hopkins Hotel on Nob Hill and their famous restaurant, ‘Top of the Mark’, for a pre-dinner drink and a chance to soak up the fantastic views of San Francisco. In some ways this felt like the official ’kick-off’ for my birthday celebration, with my family doing what we love to do, spending time together in beautiful places while enjoying great food and wine.

Dinner was at the Michelin starred restaurant of Piedmontese inspiration, Acquerello. Elegant and intimate this was a place of great class and the menu was a gourmet expression of classic Piedmontese cuisine. Though I did have a problem with one of the two bottles that I brought to be enjoyed, we did have a pretty amazing experience here. We began with a Grower Champagne from Egly-Ouriet that was fruit driven and quite nice. This was enjoyed with a couple amuse bouche that consisted of arancini with truffle oil and a bruschetta of mushrooms. For my first course I decided on the Chopped beef tartare with Parmesan cream, quail egg and truffle drizzle. This was a wonderful way to begin and something that I enjoyed multiple times on my last trip to Piedmont. The next wine opened was something that I was most looking forward to, a bottle of Giuseppe Mascarello Barolo Monprivato. This wine is one of great interest to me and has a growing presence in my cellar due to it’s quality, rarity, and explosive aromatics. Onto my second course, Saffron malloreddus tossed in a rich Abruzzese ragu' of lamb and beef. This was an absolutely delicious pasta dish that had a new pasta shape for me that was similar to gnocchi with ridges. For my third course I went with the Stuffed, grilled pork chop over polenta of toasted farro, roasted plums and pancetta wrapped radicchio Trevisano. Our last wine of the night was a bottle of Brunello di Montalcino from Poggio Antico that I picked up while living in Rome and have been anxiously waiting it’s opening in the 8 years since. For dessert I chose the Valrhona dark chocolate ganache with hucklerries and mascarpone. Overall this was a fantastic night of exquisite Italian food and exceptional wines.

I Vini:

Egly-Ouriet Vignes de Vrigny Blanc de Noir N.V. ***
Very enjoyable and fruity without losing the class that I’ve come to expect with good grower Champagne. Toasty fruit all over this one with nice acidity to cleanse and prime the palate.

Giuseppe Mascarello Barolo Monprivato 1999 ****
This wine evolved from the moment the cork was pulled until the last drop was consumed, 3 hours later. Beyond it’s beautiful red raspberry color, the nose was richly aromatic and perfumed. Along with the palate the wine gained weight with air, starting with crushed rose pedals and sweet wild fennel, to a slightly darker anise seed, and finishing with licorice root, truffle, and tar. The palate was elegant and tannins persistent but not overpowering and showed juicy red plums. This wine was amazing but will reward those that have the fortitude to hold onto a couple bottles for at least the next 10 years. Wow!

Poggio Antico Brunello di Montalcino 1997 ***
Wonderfully dark in color with classic leather and tar on the nose. Plum skin and licorice on the palate of this more elegant than expected Brunello.

Onto day two of this birthday extravaganza. We start off the day with a classic hole-in-the-wall greasy spoon diner called Dottie’s True Blue Café. With a 45 minute wait outside we are greeted by some local flavor and finally make it inside. This was a great start to the day and after a hearty breakfast from this tiny but lively spot, we were ready to go. We then visited Golden Gate park for some much needed exercise for a stroll around the beautiful park. After an attempt to have lunch at the exceedingly crowded Ferry Building we settled in the 80 year old Irish Pub, Harrington's for some lunch and to watch the Notre Dame game. Harrington's was a great spot to grab a couple pints and have some lunch, despite the outcome of the game, we forged on. Next we hopped onto a historic street car and headed down the Embarcadero to do a little more exploring before heading back to the hotel.

Saturday’s dinner was at a restaurant that I’ve been wanting to visit for a long time, Chez Panisse. Before heading across the Bay Bridge, we shared a fantastic bottle of bubbles, my first ever bottle of Krug. After a great start to the evening we drove over to Berkeley for dinner.

We arrived a little early to our reservation and after waiting upstairs in the boisterous café we were seated in the comfortable and elegant dining room downstairs. Our experienced waiter started us off with an amouse bouche of olives and fresh bread with a small glass of Spanish Cava as an aperitif before moving into our spectacular meal and wines. The first course was the delicate and wonderful Cucumber carpaccio with cured salmon and herb salad that had a refreshing quality that went surprisingly well with the J.J. Prum Riesling. Next came the Chanterelle mushroom lasagne, which was rustic yet very refined and a great match to the Rioja. I could have eaten a couple more portions of this dish. Third was the Grilled Paine Farm squab with rosemary, pancetta, shell beans, romano beans, and sweet corn fritters. It was savory tender goodness that is rarely matched and I can honestly say is probably the best fowl that I’ve ever had. It’s rusticity played quite well with the Chateauneuf du Pape. Lastly came something sweet, Frog Hollow Farm plum crostata with wild fennel ice cream. We took our time and savored every delicious morsel of food and drop of wine, while sharing each other’s company and rich conversation. This was honestly one of my favorite meals I’ve ever been lucky enough to enjoy in one of the best restaurants in the world. Simple, fresh, and elegant food prepared and served without compromise. Everything here was executed to the finest of detail without ever being pretentious or making you feel like you were anything but welcome and comfortable.

The Wines:

Krug Champagne Grand Cuvee Brut NV ***+
An elegant and classy bottle of wine. Drank as an aperitif but could have been even better with a little food to help cut the huge acidity. Bright nose with buttery brioche tones to round it out.
Joh. Jos. Prum Wehlener Sonnehur Auslese 2002 ****
Fantastic wine with wonderful richness of spiced apples, candied lime, and plenty of that sweet petrol nose that I look for so much in a wine like this. The palate was surprisingly light on it's feet while still giving mouth coating pleasure. This wine is only going to get better and better with age.
R. Lopez de Heredia Rioja Gran Reserva Vina Bosconia 1981 ****
Light ruby color with a Tawny Port like appearance. This was shockingly “youthful” in that there was still so much there and it’s evolution in the glass was remarkable. Bright red berries on top of savory teriyaki beef jerky and new leather that eventually showed fresh wild dill on the nose. The palate showed a chutney of tart cherries and cranberries, wonderfully bright acidity, while all being wrapped up in an elegantly silky mouthfeel. I want more!
Henri Bonneau Chateauneuf du Pape Cuvee Marie Beurrier 2000 ***+
Inky dark and enjoyably elegant in style. This was a big wine, don't get me wrong, but never heavy handed. The nose was rich with leather and spice while the palate showed dark berries and forest floor. The acidity was brighter than expected and gave the wine a slightly ethereal feel to it. Quite nice.
Sunday morning was spent walking around the sleepy neighborhood of Cow Hollow, eating a pastry on Marina Green, and then enjoying a hearty Italian lunch at a family favorite, Scoma's.  The time had come to head back to SFO because the festivities had reached their end.

Everything went to plan as well as could be expected while keeping to a feeling of something organic despite being organized. The one major missing piece was the absence of a special someone, my special someone. But, that couldn’t be helped and I know that there will be countless future milestones spent together. This was truly a special weekend that I will never forget. As always, endless thanks go to my loving family for all their love and generosity.

Cheers!

0 Stars - No rating
1 Star (*) - Not of significant quality or interest
2 Stars (**) - A notable wine of legitimate interest
3 Stars (***) - Great wine that should be searched out
4 Stars (****) - Fantastic wine that should not be missed
5 Stars (*****) - An absolutely mind-bending wine - beg, borrow, or steal to get your hands on some of this amazing juice!

Disclaimer: This rating is based on my palate and at the given time when tasted and may differ from yours. Also, I may catch a bottle in a dumb phase or it just may not speak to me at that particular time.