Holiday Dining

I opted to stay out of both the kitchen and stores for the holidays, so we ate in a lot of restaurants the past few weeks. First, there was Citizen Cake in SF and Seven in San Jose (see below). Then, my husband and I stopped at Massimo in Walnut Creek after going to see the local Christmas Carol performance at Lesher Center on Friday night. We were seated promptly and I thought the menu was great. My picky husband went for the nightly pasta special - spaghetti! Ho, hum, I said. It was a chilly night so I wanted winter comfort food - and what could be better than rabbit with polenta. Their "Rabbit Three Ways" (confit, seared, and braised) was excellent, but the polenta was an out-of-body experience. It was simply wonderful, and the portions were large so I had enough for lunch another day. I highly recommend this restaurant.

Saturday we had a Sharks game, so we went to the bar at the De Anza hotel in San Jose. They have the best bar food. I love the grilled prawns with oranges and balsamic, and the carpaccio is amazing. Good pizzas too.

The following Monday, Sandy and I went to the movies in Albany. Ajanta Indian restaurant is close by, so we went there for dinner. We'd eaten there once before and loved it, and I've been wanting to go back. We had the scallop appetizer, which was nothing special, but the entrees we shared, Badami Murg and Palak Kofta, were both really tasty. We ordered medium spice, which was perfect.

Tuesday we had another Sharks game, so out again for dinner, but we were running late so we just went to Quizno's. We did at least stay home on Christmas Eve, and had a nice cheese fondue with apples, sausage, and baguette for dipping. This is a long-standing tradition for us, and was followed by the umpteenth viewing of Edward Scissorhands and then opening gifts. [Why, you might ask, would anyone want to watch Edward S. on Christmas Eve? Because, well, it IS a story about why it would snow in a bedroom suburb in California, isn't it?!]

For Christmas dinner, we decided to splurge and go to Jordan's at the Claremont Hotel in Berkeley. They have a buffet that's pretty amazing, although so is the price ($89). We had a table with great views of the bay and the city, and I definitely got my money's worth - crab, shrimp, salads, breakfast food (gingerbread waffles, BACON, sausage, wonderful eggs benedict), and the usual holiday fare (turkey/ham/prime rib). Of course, it was all lost on Mr. Picky, who ate about $7 worth of food. Should have taken him to Quizno's, I suppose. Nonetheless, I enjoyed it, although it will probably be a one-time thing. After dinner, we had a nice drive out to the Berkeley marina and enjoyed the scenery before going to see Seven Pounds at the Shattuck Cinema. Good flick, if you like to laugh AND cry. But we are serious Will Smith fans, so how could it be bad?

The day after Christmas (you'd think we'd have been sick of going out, wouldn't you?) we had Nutcracker tix in SF, so I had made a reservation at Jardiniere for after the performance. We arrived 1/2 hour early (but they knew we were coming from the ballet and had our table ready), were seated promptly, and had a nice table overlooking the bar. Luckily, there were several menu choices for Mr. Picky, including his favorite soup, butternut squash. I had the duck confit salad, which was really tasty, and he loved the soup. For entrees, he had the short rib, and I had the sea bass, which was one of the best fish dishes I've ever had. It was served with crispy skin over a bed of roasted veggies that were caramelized to perfection. Mr. Picky scarfed his entire plate, so I know he enjoyed it. In fact, he wants to go back. Now if we can just get a reservation at a normal dining time! It's no wonder the place is so popular.

OK, I should have been tired of dining out by then, right? Well, no, on Saturday I had a lunch with friends at Amarin Thai in Lafayette, a place I love despite it not being particularly authentic. The food is just consistently good, and it's a nice place for lunch when the knitting bug hits because there are TWO yarn stores in walking distance. So, a fun but expensive afternoon was had by all.

Finally, the dining binge ended Saturday evening with a visit to a local favorite, Left Bank in Pleasant Hill. We were taking the ex-sister-in-law and nieces out for dinner. The girls are picky, so with 3 picky eaters in the group Left Bank usually works. Well, the food was good, but the service was horrible. Our reservation was for 6:45, and we finally left at 9:00. Good thing they brought lots of bread to the table. Apparently they have a new chef and he sort of lost control of the kitchen. They apologized with an order of profiteroles for the table, so we were somewhat mollified. I sure hope they go back to their usual speedy service in the future.

That's it! Sunday night I made marinated, sauteed chicken breasts and salad at home. It would have been memorable if we hadn't spent the entire evening addressing our (late) holiday cards.