Brian L. Colbert

Posts Tagged ‘food’

I recently had an introductory visit at Heaven Qi & Earth with Elizabeth McDowell.  I met Elizabeth when she decided participate in SavantMD.com during the early Fall 2009.  To date, I have generally been agnostic about alternative medicine.  It has plenty to offer but it’s not an avenue that I frequent pursue with my own health. Although, I once visited a Chinese herbologist in Flushing New York.  I think I went to Flushing more for the free ride and the food than to see the herbologist.

After working with Elizabeth for a few months, I was deeply impressed with her ability able  blend Western and Eastern Medicines and to clearly communicate the concepts between Eastern Medicines which prior to meeting Elizabeth ranged fuzzy to downright baffling.

So, I decided to put aside my (mild) skepticism) and see Elizabeth for an assessment visit.

It was great!! As always her office was comfortable and welcoming.  Personally, the highlight of my visit was this “pulse” test that she did.  It was interesting and oddly accurate.  The main takeaway I got was to watch what I put into my body, there is simply no substitute for a healthy diet.

It was time well spent.  you can find her office here.

On Thursday Nihal and I went to dinner at Commis and it was simply fantastic.

It was the best meal that I’ve had in the Bay Area and one of best anywhere.

My expectations were high and Commis somehow managed to exceed them.  Commis is in Oaktown, so it was a bit of a journey.  A quick jaunt from Nob Hill to grab BART in downtown SF, a 15 minute BART trip under the Bay, a 10 minute ride on the Oakland bus system (of which 5 minutes were spent stuck in traffic) and then a quick two minute walk after exiting the bus.

There is no name on the outside of Commis, just a white awning and some frosted windows facing Blockbuster (are they still in business) across the street.

Let’s get right too it, t the three course prix fixe, amuse bouche and palate cleanser were  simply divine.

Special kudos  to Scott our server and Sarah, the sommelier.  Both of them the made us feel as if we  had stepped into a restaurant in which we are long time regulars.   They sensed our needs before we knew them ourselves  and patiently, even humorously answered all of our questions.  Thanks Scott and Sarah

We lead off with a fresh Jasmine-Hibiscus soda, a shot of frothy goodness that had been plucked straight from the banks of the Nile and delivered immediately to our table.

The amuse bouche was a 1 1/2 hour  poached egged nestled in an onion soup topped steel cut oats, dates and arugula.

The first two courses were  local halibut tartare with pickled radishes and some kind crazy “ginger snow.”   I won’t even try to describe “ginger snow,” but that’s what it tasted like.  Nihal opted for a leek soup with chanterelle mushrooms and some kind of off-the-wall-ham.  Both were off the proverbial hook.

The two second course dishes duck and lamb.  The duck had been done for 12 hours, was accompanied by (can’t read my notes) and was perfection.

The lamb matched duck.  Nothing more to say.  I was too busy enjoying the experience to take diligent notes.

Dessert was a chocolate ganache cake with vanilla bean  ice cream.  I finished this feast with panna cotta topped with a beet-blood  orange sorbet.

Did I mention the wine pairings?  I’m not a drinker, but a well-done wine pairing does really accentuate and complement a meal.  All of the wine pairings were excellent, but the final wine, a Tintero paired with the panna cotta was like dancing a tango somewhere between Jupiter and Saturn.

In no way does this post do justice to the meal.

I have already made a reservation to return to Commis next month.

Been busy lately.

Wrote up a contract last week which was mentally challenging and fulfilling  at the same time.

Had a great San Francisco Weekend.  Grabbed some food at the  Ferry Plaza Farmers Market on Saturday and then went back for an early dinner at Slanted Door.  Finished up the evening at the Top of the Mark, which has really great views.  Unfortunately the sound system was bad so it felt like my ears where going to explode every five minutes.

Sunday was spent out in Napa, a quick stop in Tiburon to visit, lunch at Taylor’s Automatic Refresher and then wandering back to SF, hitting some wineries along the way.

Monday was back to the grind, capped off by a great meal at Lark Creek Steak House.  The pork chop was great, but their biscuits are simply transcendent.

Yesterday was absolutely beautiful in San Francisco,  I hopped over to Japantown and picked up some Pocky.  Pocky is a throughly addictive and totally fun to say Japanese snack.  To have Pocky is to love Pocky.  I also picked up few random cheap bits of fun from Ichiban Kan.

Today was a much more deary day in SF.  It was cloudy all day and even tried to rain for about 30 seconds, but no matter.  As long as it’s not snowing.

There is a great series of videos on social media by Euan Semple on Guruonline. Seriously, it’s wonderful stuff!!  Euan takes what’s going on in social media distills it into understandable bits, tells you where its headed and how to make it work for you.  That’s how I feel after speaking with him.

I had the pleasure of meeting Euan over sushi at Jeollado in the East Village with Paolo.  Euan is funny, smart and likes sushi.  Pretty much a perfect combination for an enriching conversation.

Euan’s email signature reads “helping people understand the web.”  There is no false advertising that statement. Here’s his site.

And when you’re in NYC, check out Jeollado and order the rolls, they are awesome.

Last night’s dinner was grilled scallops over a salad of mixed greens with a shallot-champagne raspberry , endive, pine nuts and fried onions with fresh backed cranberry walnut bread.

Here’s the recipe:

• Grill the scallops.
• Arrange the endive around the individual salad bowls
• Dressing: Mix olive oil, fresh lemon, raspberry vinegar, shallot-champagne mustard and touch of rice wine vinegar.
• Toss the salad with the dressing and put into serving bowls
• Add scallops and top with pine nuts and fried onions

Serve with fresh walnut-cranberry bread and Damascus ice tea.

Enjoy.

Had dinner Michael Mina’s new place RN74 Friday evening. I’ve already dined at his flagship “Michael Mina” and decided to mix things up.  RN74 is on the ground floor of the Millenium Tower in SOMA.

The food was unsurprisingly delicious.  The preparation was absolutely flawless, Friday’s selections consisted of  the following:

• soft-shell crab with lemon and ginger
• sauteed pork bellies and manila clams with spring garlic and paprika
• wild Alaskan halibut with black truffles, sunchokes, peas and a whole lot of carrots
• duck “cassoulet”

The meal was topped off with a couple of delectable desserts:

• Kumquat Confiture with coriander sponge cake, yogurt and white verjus sorbet
• Warm beignets with mascarpone, blueberry, lemon thymey and Ras al Hanout sorbet

The menu is simple and , so I would definetly make sure that everyone in your party was happy with the possible selections before making a reservation.

The room, successfully invoking the feeling of railroad era gone by  was nice, not particularly cramped and nice high ceilings.

The place was also a bit loud, but that could be the result of dining on a Friday night.  The bar area is a  least the size of the restaurant and at one point the line for the bathrooms (coed) was baffling long.  Perhaps someone (or some two) was trying to recreate the bathroom experience at The Box in NYC.

Very interesting meal for an anniversary.