TeamSD: Adventures of Lawyer Girl and Demian Man

Donato Enoteca is the latest in a line of recently opened restaurants in Redwood City (following 2007′s Slanted Door-wannabe Red Lantern and this year’s gastropub-without-the-pub Martin’s West).  Of course, I had to try it, since it’s just a block away from the theater and the menu looked so promising.  After dragging Demian all around Stanford Shopping Center yesterday in search of a new summer dress, we stopped at Donato Enoteca for an early dinner.

The interior is rustic elegant, with exposed wooden beam ceilings and an open kitchen trimmed with beautiful (and its appears, unused) copper pots and pans.  You can dine indoors or al fresco, with the two areas separated by large, wood-framed windows and a door that permits the waitstaff to pass between the two without clogging the dining room – pretty clever, and something that I appreciate.

Service is good, but not perfect.  Our water glasses were replenished frequently, appetizer and entrees came quickly, and the staff was friendly.  However, there was a long wait – and a few attempts – to get the dessert menu because our waiter had disappeared after our entrees arrived.

The food is decent, but not memorable.  There’s not a single thing – including the practically unsweetened lemonade – that I would come back for, except perhaps to have a glass of wine before a movie to enjoy the pretty restaurant.

Fresh, warmed foccacia is served with an olive oil, basil, garlic, and what we believed to be fresh mint aioli.  The bread is good, but the aioli a little weird – the mint adds a very grassy taste that seems almost out of place.  We started with an appetizer that I had been looking forward to, Calamaretti e Fagiol, Fresh Monterey Bay calamari with “bianchi di Spagna” beans and mache lettuce, plated to the side.  The little calamari themselves were lightly poached, then slightly grilled, so a little crisp on the outside and barely cooked on the inside.  I thought the seasoning was good – good balance of garlic and salt – but the plate was just too oily.  Having the mache to toss in the oil helped, but the plate could have used a little acidity.

I had ordered the Risotto Nero, a squid ink risotto with Nova scallops, tiny cuttlefish hidden in the risotto, slices of cooked tomato flesh, and Marche DOP extra virgin olive oil.  I am a sucker for squid ink, which, as I learned from Demian, is not the ideal choice for a date.  Overall, I was happy with the flavor of the risotto, although it was a tad salty.  It contrasted nicely with the sweet acidity of the tomatoes – a tasty combination of hearty and refreshing.  Unfortunately, the scallops were overcooked and dry – a disappointment.  Demian ordered what would have been my next choice, Foiade di Funghi, organic buckwheat parpadelle pasta with mixed wild mushrooms, garlic, parsley and slivers of Grana Padano cheese.  Demian’s dish was also a disappointment – the pasta was grainy and flavorless, and the dish in general lacked any mushroom intensity.

Dessert was also so-so.  My shortbread, basil cream, and peach dessert was just strange combination.  A slightly sweet, very basily cream sat between two very hard shortbread “cookies” that tasted more like unsweetened scones.  A sour, jammy sauce of cooked peaches was also out of place on the plate.  Demian’s panna cotta was better, smooth layers of lemon, then bluberry panna cotta topped a strawberry and raspberry compote at the bottom of a martini glass.  Again, decent, but not cravable.

The restaurant has potential, but there were too many misses for me to explore its potential again anytime soon.

Rating: Two stars.

Well, I believe his exact words were “That was good… kind of gay, but good”. Anyways I’m getting ahead of myself.

For Memorial Weekend Jaci and I decided to take a trip to Vegas. Normally we try to go for one of our birthdays but as Jaci was looking for flights, loh and behold she found cheap tickets for Memorial Day Weekend. 3 day weekend + lower prices = no brainer.

Anyhoo we were once again flying the party plane: Virgin America (think really excited flight attendants + pink neon lights on flight to Vegas, and really depressed/quiet/hungover flight attendants and passengers with dimmed lights on flight back) and unfortunately our flight was a bit delayed. It was a surprisingly foggy day and they weren’t letting any planes land. On a funny note, I’ve included a completely undoctored (seriously) photo taken by my phone below from the VA ticket counter.

In case no-one knows what I took a picture of…that is a picture of the VA ticket counter with a sad smiley face delay notice. Luckily the plane landed only about 45 minutes and we made up most of the time in the air.

On Friday night we just had a quick dinner (I already forgot where, Jaci can fill in the details later if she remembers) and then we had a David Copperfield magic show to check out. Jaci’s never seen a magic show, and I’ve never seen one in person so I figured it would be something that would be interesting to check out one at least once. So Jaci bought FRONT row tickets (literally the first row) and about 15 minutes before the show one of the magic show helper people comes up to me and goes “hello sir, would you like to participate in one of David’s magic tricks today?”

Of course… I pause and in my head I’m like “uhhh no… don’t really want to” so I look at jaci with what I can only imagine was a bemused expression in which she immediately blurts out “of course he will!” and pushes me up. I won’t go into too many details about the trick, but all it required me to do was to help make sure this box he was using was solid and involved some dancing ties (in the middle of which he calls me gay…) =P

Unfortunately we were not allowed to take any pictures during the show, so the only proof I have this event occurred is an official signed picture from Mr. Copperfield himself!

Other adventures included seeing Cirque’s O. This was the second time for me but I wanted to take Jaci there because I thought O was better than Ka. She disagrees but she still enjoyed it. Before the show we also ate at Le Cirque in the Bellagio which is a fancy circus themed restaurant which was pretty good. Otherwise our weekend was otherwise full of gambling and shopping. As always, Vegas trip was fun and enjoyable and I can’t wait until the next one =)

We don’t have many pictures from Vegas because #1 most of the places they don’t let you take pictures, #2 we don’t normally take that many pictures when we’re on vacation, and #3 all the pictures we (and by we I mean jaci) usually takes are of food… So what pictures we have are posted below for your enjoyment!

Us eating at Le Cirque

Ceiling of “O”

In typical fashion, I have totally flaked on documenting our amazing trip to Hong Kong, Shanghai and Ningbo.  In sum, though, we had a great time – way better than we expected, given the very compressed schedule – and got to spend some quality time with Demian’s family.  In fact, it’s probably one of my favorite trips we’ve ever taken.  It’s been about 12 years since the last time I’ve been to Hong Kong, and it’s so much different experiencing the city as a 25-year-old than as a 12-or-13-year-old.  I think the thing I like best about Hong Kong is that it is the perfect mix of old and new – it embraces the ancient and rich Chinese culture, while celebrating the new and modern.  I loved that in Hong Kong, it’s cool to be Chinese.  I feel like I don’t get a lot of that here, especially food-wise.  Here, we have trendy Vietnamese, Japanese, Spanish, and more recently, Indian restaurants.  Even hot dogs are experiencing a renaissance.  Aside from the recently opened Heaven’s Dog (Charlie Pham’s new joint in S.F., which I’ve yet to try), I feel like we’re stuck with either Mr. Chau’s or the Flower Lounge.  It’s so different in Hong Kong, where you can eat Chinese every day, for every meal, but still experience variety and something new, whether it’s cuisine or decor.

Plus, the shopping in Hong Kong is rad.  It’s definitely more expensive than it was 12 years ago (Giordano – why hast thou forsaken me???), but you can still get pretty terrific deals if you (or your husband’s aunt or cousin hehe) knows where to go

That said, here are my bullet-pointed highlights of our trip – less for you, the reader, and more for me, so that I remember where to go when we (inevitably!!!) return.

Airline: Cathay Pacific: No reclining chairs (?!?!), but excellent on-demand entertainment center

Hotel: Langham Place (Long Ho Zhao Deem, Wongkok): Comfy rooms, FREE internet access in business center!, English TV, and close proximity to delightful street food vendor, Langham Place Mall, and subway (*thumbs up*)

Day 1

• Lei Garden: Great dim sum in a posh setting; best BBQ pork I’ve ever had
• Ladies’ Market (Mongkok): Outdoor market – not the best, but still pretty good for souvenirs
• Times Square (Causeway Bay): Mushroom village (!) and designer stores
• Beverly Island and Trendy Zone (Causeway Bay): Cheapo ladies’ clothes – yeehaw!

Day 2

• Nobu Hong Kong: Great location by the habor, generous portions, and foie gras roll; satisfying, but not earth-shattering
• Midlevels Travelator (so steep!) and Cicada Bar (where everyone knows Victor’s name)
• Harbor Boat Trip: Windy but entertaining light show!
• Hutong: Seriously out of this world Chinese dining experience; ironwork birdcages everywhere, beautiful red hot chili crab dish – we have to go back…HAVE TO
• Night Market: Where was this???  It was awesome!  Hooo pang!

Day 3

• Return to HK from Shanghai (best siu lom bao ever) and Ningbo (family time!)
• Peking Garden: Another great traditional Chinese restaurant (nice carpets!), noodle making, delightful dessert that I can’t remember…darn…
• Or did we go to the Night Market this night?  Dang…it’s starting to fade…

Day 4

• The epic final day
• G.O.D.: “Ikea of Hong Kong” is such an understatement; old-school Hong Kong made COOL
• Xi Yan: Terrific lunch place; healthy and flavorful Chinese fod
• Some amazing bar/lounge near Sushi Kuu – LOTS of Rod Stewart on the speakers (AWESOME)
• Sushi Kuu: The dish that made me love food again (cold poached egg, uni, and ikura); sushi chef is Auntie Vivi’s tenant!; Victor eating that AWFUL PLUM; so much food…SO MUCH ALCOHOL…AAAHHHH!
• Zuma: I can’t believe we ate the whole damn thing (towering inferno of dessert)
• Savva: Best freaking view of Hong Kong

For pictures, check out my two-part Facebook album!

When Demian and I found out yesterday that the Bacchus Group (the force behind The Village Pub, Pizza Antica, and Spruce) had just opened up the Mayfield Bakery & Cafe in Palo Alto’s Town & Country Village, we could not resist.  As we learned upon entering the restaurant, neither could half of Palo Alto.

Around 8 p.m. on a Friday night, it was packed to the gills with yuppie academic and business types – recession, schmecession.  Although the MBC doesn’t take reservations, you can call 30 minutes ahead for a table.  Expect to wait longer, though, before you can be seated.  Last night, a space at the bar opened up before our table did, so we gladly took a seat there – ultimately, it may have been more roomy than the cozy booths and tables (none of which seemed to accommodate more than four people…tops).

I’m very much a fan of the decor – lots of exposed wood, white marble, clean lines.  New American, like the food.  Comfortable and (business) casual – although, as Demian astutely pointed out, it’s unlikely that they’d turn away a dude in shorts and Tevas…and Demian didn’t feel too out of place in his graphic tee, zip up hoodie, and jeans.

Food was excellent, for all the same reasons the food at The Village Pub is excellent – seasonal ingredients, classic yet  clever flavor profiles.  In addition to complimentary bottled water, I opted to take my dinner with a glass of Kabinett Riesling (cold, sweet and refreshing), while Demian had an outstanding vanilla milkshake (!), intense in vanilla bean flavor and totally drinkable thickness.  For appetizers, Demian selected the very popular golden, roast beet salad with shaved fennel and yogurt dressing.  Even I, who hates beets, thought this salad was delicious – beautifully sweet golden beets, nice crunch of the fennel shavings, and refreshing, slighty sour tang of the yogurt.  I chose the grilled shrimp, pancetta, and frisee salad and was very impressed by the hot, flavorful shrimp.  The creamy dressing was also so good that I used my fatty pancetta to sop it up.  For my entree, I ordered the penne with whipped cauliflower, caper berries, pinenuts and raisins – this was good.  First of all, it came out piping hot (just the way I like it).  I really enjoyed the combination of the sour caper berries, sweet raisins, nutty pinenuts, creamy and not too salty cauliflower puree, and al dente pasta.  This is the new comfort food.  Demian was less impressed by his pork shoulder dish, which featured – to his horror – brussel sprouts.  We were both expecting the meat to be much more tender and moist than it was, but it may just be the nature of roasted pork shoulder (versus something like braised pork or pork loin).  Finally, dessert.  When Demian and I didn’t order anything to drink with dessert, our waiter/bartender insisted that we try (on the house) this muscat dessert wine.  I’ve never been a fan of dessert wine – usually it’s too sticky sweet or too alcoholy.  This wine was the best thing I’ve ever tasted – sweet but not syrupy, full of ripe peach flavor (my favorite fruit!).  I could drink this all day, any time of day.  I would come back just for that wine.  Unfortunately, it very much surpassed my dessert.  I had high hopes for my sour cherry bread pudding, but was disappointed that the top of pudding was so hard to chew.  Demian ordered the house specialty, which is a very nice carrot cake with a not-too-sweet caramel sauce.  I’m not a fan of carrot cake generally, which I usually find too sweet and sugary – this was a much lighter, subtler version of this favorite American treat.

As for service, I was very pleasantly surprised, especially since this is a relatively new restaurant, and it’s only to expected that kinks would need to be worked out.  I found the hostess, wait staff, and bartenders very gracious and attentive, despite how busy the evening was.  Our water glasses never went empty, and I have to give some major brownie points for the complimentary glass of dessert wine – clearly this guy had been paying attention to what I was eating and drinking that night to know that I would love this wine.  There was something of a wait between our appetizers and main courses, but the fact that the entrees came out piping hot (and mine, at least, absolutely perfect) made up for that fact entirely.  After a hard week, I found the entire dining experience totally therapeutic.  I will definitely be back for more “sessions.”

Another excellent Valentine’s Day, if I do say so myself.  I’ve decided (and I think Demian has discovered) that Valentine’s Day really means “Shower-Siu-with-gifts-and-do-things-she-wants-to-do-that-you-wouldn’t-otherwise-do-in-a-million-years” Day.

V-Day actually started for me on Friday the 13th, with a delivery of beautiful roses and a choc-o-late box   I didn’t remember to take a picture at the office, so here is a crappy camera-phone picture of the roses after I’d brought them home:

The best thing about Valentine’s Day being on a Saturday is that I can get Demian to do a bunch of stuff haha.  First up on the agenda – drag Demian to “He’s Just Not That Into You.”  It made me giggle to myself when Demian asked the ticket lady: “We’ll take two tickets to see…’He’s Just Not That Into You’…*sigh*”  It was, as Demian will tell you, a pretty crappy movie, but one that I thoroughly enjoyed!  It was like watching “Sex and the City” – which is a terribly written, totally cliche kind of show, but riveting because women just eat this junk up.  I was pleasantly surprised by Justin Long’s performance, since usually I hate that guy…I’m a PC, dammit!  Basically, the movie was about how stupid girls are and how big a-holes men are.  Like I said – “Sex and the City.”

After the movie, we went to CostPlus to see if we could find some decorative throw pillows for the house.  Demian pretty much hated them all, so we left empty handed…(until today woohahaha)

For dinner, we went to The Village Pub, which has become our old standby for Valentine’s Day – since I didn’t want to punish Demian too much by forcing him to drive to the city.  A really great 4-course dinner overall – very refreshing lobster, golden beet, and blood orange salad, following by a Jerusalem artichoke soup (very truffle-y and smoky), with an entree of petrale sole (really perfectly cooked and seasoned) accompanied by seared hearts of palm and red grapefruit sabayon (love the tropical flavors), and rounded out by a cute little baked Alaska.  The Kabinett Riesling I had with dinner was also verrry tasty – just sweet enough and ice cold, which is the way I like it.  Very satisfying overall.  Obligatory restaurant picture!

So glad my hair is finally growing out…so much for quarter-life crisis haircuts.

Today was also very relaxing, and much more productive too.  Went to La Tartine for a little breakfast, then to the Nissan dealership to check out the Skyline import that Demian has been drooling over.  No no, don’t worry – we’re not going to buy it.  At least, I’m not going to buy it!  Then hit up Pier 1 Imports, where I did end up finding some very cute pillows to go with our couch in the “piano room”:

I’m still looking for some cute blue and white pillows to go into our entryway, on the rattan chairs there.  I found these perfect pillows online, but they’re $150 each, and there’s no freaking way I am spending that much money on a throw pillow…so the hunt is on.  Here’s the inspiration:

I’ve found a couple of inexpensive alternatives online, but it looks like they’re all temporarily out of stock…figures.  Ah well!  I’ll keep looking.

Since Demian had some sort of World of Warcraft thingie tonight at 7:30, we decided to stay home for dinner, so I made some chili – perfect rainy day food, if you ask me.   Cleaned up and then came upstairs to do some work, since this week will be pretty busy with me having to report for jury duty on Wednesday.  Hrmmm…I feel like there’s something else productive I did today but I can’t quite…OH CRAP, forgot the laundry in the dryer!

Gotta go!