2/14/10 Cafe Juanita Valentine's Day

Valentine's Day was great. a friend had come over the night before to be here early to get out on the bike. the plan was to ride around lk sam at 11. i had heard a weather forecast stating morning rain clearing to sun in the afternoon. i was thinking we were taking off for the ride around noon like we did last week but i was wrong. it didn't matter though, as christa bailed on the ride. matt and i hung out and watched some olympics, but around noon it had cleared up, stopped raining, and yes the sun was starting to peak through the clouds. so we decided to get on the bike.

it was a great ride. we saw 8 eagles, a couple which were yearlings. + we had brunch at the IHOP. we made it around the lake to the house in about 90 minutes (not counting the food stop). i took my camera but realized i forgot to put the chip back in it so i had no 'film'. oh well. it did turn out to be a gorgeous afternoon. the roads were still wet in the shade, but in the sun were completely dry. and upper 40s for temps.

we got home, i hopped in the shower and when i turned on my computer at 3.35pm i saw an email from holly. she had posted up on the cafe juanita site about some canceled reservations. i yell into matt who was in his office about the email and he shouts back "let's go!". so he calls and we get a table at 5pm. reservation made at 3.37pm. wow. this is going to be close. at least i had already showered! we get there maybe 5 minutes late, but dang that was record time!

valentine's dinner is a special menu. in that there is no menu, just the chef's menu. i guess we could have skipped a course, but why would we want to do that? we opted for 1 of the wine pairings, too. so here we go.

Alaskan King Crab with Green Apple Sorbetto and Crab Butter Powder

this portion was about the size we get and share around the table! with each of us having our own portion we had a lot of that crab butter powder and boy does that enhance the flavor of this dish! i think in the future we'll need to request an extra dish of that butter powder!

served with: Rose, Philipponnat, N.V., Reserve

Housemade, Hand Cut Tajarin with Sterling Imperial Caviar.

that 4th word is pronounced Tye-reen, i'm told, but i could only find 1 reference to it online for this post, but believe it or not i could only find 1, and it said it was pronounced tah-jah-reen. so who knows. but it is not tah-JAR-in :-).

this is an egg yolk pasta, so a little heavier, but it's also cut really thin, like capellini. and a special thank you chef! for a great big glob of caviar! the pasta on it's own was fab, but add the saltiness of the roe really brought it together. just wow. i could've had a whole bowl of this, only this and been in heaven! i really hope we'll see this on the menu - of course i realize the caviar may not be included, or at least at a much lesser amount. :-(

there was a choice of wines with this course. we chose 1 of each since there were 2 of us, and shared them.

Pinot Noir 2007, St. Innocent, Temperence Hill Vineyards, Willamette Valley

the red was heavy and contrasted with the dish while the white, a

Pinot Biano 2007 Mario Schiopetto, Friuli

was lighter and blended well with the dish

Winter Citrus Fennel Salad with Meyer Lemon Foam and Arbosana Olive Oil

until i re-read the menu i didn't realize (remember) that i was eating fennel! it had none of that licorice flavor. there's also very thin pumpernickel crackers. blood oranges, regular oranges, pink grapefruit were among the citrus.

Arneis 2008 Vietti, Piemonte

Blackmore Wagyu Tenderloin with Parsnip Crema, Seared Foie Gras and Barbera Reduction

wow. i'm going to have to start ordering beef! this farm is down under, and it is definitely a keeper! i love the foie gras - this was prepared as she does her appetizer of it, but it was a smaller portion :-( oh well. i could barely eat it i was already full! i did end up bringing most of my meat and dessert home.

that was something i did notice about dinner service that night. it was much faster. i can understand the desire, in fact need in some places, to turn the tables at least 2x a night, but that many courses of that size, i need a lot more time for my meal. i think that meal lasted about 2 hours for 5 courses, in comparison to 4.5-5 hours for a 9 course meal at another of our favorite places.

Cabernet Sauvignon 2006 Betz Family Winery, Pere de Famille, Columbia Valley

Milk Chocolate Ganache with Frosted Cacao Nuts, Passion Fruit Sorbetto and Galangal Caramel

this was yummy! but i had to eat the sorbetto since it wouldn't make it home, and the rest made a great dessert to the leftover steak!

Vin Santo 2000, Fattoria di Felsina, Toscana

we also had coffee, and then little heart shape mignardise to finish the night.