2/6/10 Cafe Juanita

this was my 3rd cancer-free anniversary dinner. i've really enjoyed celebrating at cafe juanita. maybe it's because we've been there so often that most of the staff on the floor know us, so it's like they can celebrate with us. in fact, this time the 6th fell on a saturday, and there were easily 5 or 6 other celebrations - birthdays, anniversaries, promotions, who knows what all. we ended up getting there early since we went straight from the movies, so we had to wait a few minutes for our table. oh gee.

while we were waiting for our table mason headed past with arms full of plates when he did a double take of matt. he hasn't seen matt since last october i guess it was, and as he's not on FB he didn't know matt cut his hair for me at christmas. we all had a good laugh. we were seated in jim's section, and had a lovely corner table.

oh, and before you get all a-flutter that ring was a gift from matt on my 1st anniversary of living cancer free. i just didn't have an outlet for being able to share it before this blog. due to the reasons behind this dinner out, this post has a little more story to it than other dinner outings we've had. if you're here just for the food, look for the pictures and you'll get your fill.


on saturdays jason serves and david sommeliers, which gives them a nice little break. while we were waiting for our table matt looked up the wine list and saw they had the bolly back in the cellar, so he let sarah know we wanted that. we weren't seated for long when david brought the champagne over to us. he congratulated me on my 3 years as he popped the cork. matt had momentarily forgotten he had let sarah know what we wanted a bottle of this. as david was wrapping the napkin around the neck of the bottle i made a comment on making sure the cloth was far enough away from the candle flame. he looked at me a little off-kilt and i retold my seeing someone accidentally catching a menu on fire from a candle. he laughed and told us about a client at a former restaurant who had 'big hair' (read lots of hairspray) who ended up with her head on fire! yikes!

but enough small talk. let's get onto dinner.

there was a new appetizer on the menu. and wow was it tasty! not a hot dish, but warmer than room temp. but then, whatever temperature a room is is room temp, isn't it?


if given the opportunity, order the
House-Smoked Sablefish with Frisee, Cara Cara Oranges and Toasted Horseradish Vinaigrette.

as a special last saturday they had an appetizer on special. jim was hinting pretty hard that we needed to try it, and when he described it that's all it took to convince me.

Lamb Sugo with House made Ricotta, Cara Cara and Navel Zest, Heather Honey and Mint Hankie. Oh wow. i hope both of these become a permanent fixture.

i wasn't really in the mood for a full 'primi', so i asked jim if we could get a bomboloni. normally served on a beet salad with a brown butter sauce, i didn't want the entire plate. We started to get into the plating of it, and i said they could just bring it in the little individual dish if they wanted to.

so here is a single La Tur Bomboloni with a little sea salt on top. YUM

now we had to have something other than champagne, didn't we? David suggested this wine for us. we hadn't had it, and it opened up quite nicely. the bouquet was quite different from the taste. it had wonderful notes. ok, so i don't really know exactly what i'm saying, but it was good.

we split a primi course of

Citrus Risotto with Pumpkin Seed Oil.  there's a little parmesiano reggiano shaved on top.

there was lemon and orange zest along with a few other things in this. i thought i had asked them to write it down but i find looking at my notes that i don't have it. it was good. i wouldn't want this entire plate to myself as the lemon gave it a nice sharp bite. (i really need to start remembering to take in a little notebook with me.)


anyway, we must not forget the reason we were there. while a happy occasion, it's an emotional reason and several times throughout the course of dinner i started to cry. one of my trips to the ladies' i passed lori who was getting wine glasses and she congratulated me on my 3 years. we joked lightly about it but i wanted to cry again. yes i've been open with everyone about this, and the crew at CJ is not an exception. don't get me wrong, i have never wished i kept it secret. i guess part of me wished the whole restaurant knew so i could just start bawling and not draw stares or whispers.

we ordered dinner 1 course at a time on saturday. the fish of the day was a steelhead trout and i decided to pass on that. matt landed on the quail and i chose the lamb for our secondi. it wasn't long after the risotto was on the table when the main course was delivered to the table next to us. jim put down this plate in front of the lady seated closest to us. we knew it wasn't the rabbit, and it didn't look like the lamb, way too big for the quail... not sure if jim overheard us trying to figure it out or if he's just good. well, he is that good, even if he did overhear us :-)  he turned around after serving them and says to matt "there's 1 more pork chop left do you want it?" "OOOOHH yessss!" so he scampers (am i allowed to say jim scampered?) off to change matt's order. and yay, he got the chop. pork, that is.

i think we were in the middle of the risotto when matt asked jim if chef would be able to swing by and he didn't think it likely as the other tables would also want to talk with her - and they were very busy. there were 5 other celebrations that we saw, but that we could stop by the counter on our way out. but on 1 of my many (yes i have a tiny tank) trips past the kitchen to the ladies' i hear jim repeating my name. when i finally get my brain to process that he's calling my name and respond, he points to the bar and says "holly". when i look over she's looking at me, waiting for me to come over. so i get over there, skirting everyone trying to prepare drinks and pick up plates. she was so nice, complimented me on my dress, and thanking us for allowing them to be a part of this important night. i thanked her and let her know matt wanted to to say hi before we left. i knew she was busy and didn't want to take up a lot of time. i was hoping we could get a few minutes as we were leaving. so after a couple minutes i figured that as busy as she was that was probably it (turns out they were down a chef that night).  but she said she'd come out. "are you sure? we're all the way back in the corner". "it's fine, i'll say hi then run back and hide in my corner." or something like that. i thought it was really nice. on the way over to the table i let her know matt had posed a question to me that i didnt' think he'd ever voice to her. "what's that" she asks. little does she know.. no, nothing bad. "he's wondered if you'd be willing to give him some cooking lessons". when we get to the table she just pops out with "you should come cook in the kitchen!" wow! now we do have a friend who paired up with the pastry chef at the time and made the zabaglioni during dinner service. i think it would be great if matt did that. i'll definitely let people know so we/you get a chance to book a table that night! then matt surprised me. he blurts out "we've been holding some dinner parties and we'd love it if you would come over and let us cook for you". she was very gracious and thanked us and said she'd love to. and i let her know her son was also invited. i called him on it a little later - he was a nervous wreck with the thought of chef Ethan coming for dinner and here he is inviting chef holly! LOL.  we talked a little bit longer and then let he rget back to work.

here's the pork chop. it's not as pretty as the one he had last summer when you compare plating, but mat it was delicious! next time chops are on the menu i'm going to order it!

as it wasn't on the menu we didn't get the run-down of the description. but matt says "it had rosemary and it was delicious".

it did have deep-fried huckleberries, and we think parsnips, plus a little spinach. not sure of the sauce, and probably pan-seared first by the looks of it.

i had the Oregon Saddle of Lamb with Semolina Gnocchi, taggiasca Olive Tapenade and Grand Marnier. yum.

i've had this in the past but it'd been a while, maybe even a little over a year.









we had to leave room for dessert, so about 1/2 the risotto, 1/2 my lamb, and a little of matt's chop went into boxes to come home for leftovers. i swear chef Holly's risotto is almost better the 2nd day!

we had david bottle up the rest of the red wine and ordered coffee and dessert.

a new item on the dessert menu was matt's choice, a

Goat Cheese Bavarian with Frosted Walnuts, Meyer Lemon Coulis and Citrus Salad

it was quite tasty.

i went with something  a little more traditional.

Blood-Orange Sorbetto on the left,
Chocolate Port Sorbetto on the right, and
a Blend of the 2 in the middle

on a plate that reads
"happy 3rd anniversary libby!!"

yes, i think i started to cry again.

as a parting mignardise we got a chili (or spiced) chocolates/













as i was getting my coat from the hook sarah came over to say goodbye and Chef Holly came out of the kitchen, which i definitely didn't expect after she came to the table earlier. i thanked them again for a great dinner and gave them both a teary hug as i was starting to cry again.  we talked with Chef for another 10 minutes or so before we took off.

i'm closing this post with 2 pics of matt and myself because i can't decide which i like more.

I want to say a very heartfelt *Thank You* to all the people at cafe juanita. you really know how to treat your customers and make a special night really mean something.