I’m a serial note-taker. Call it occupational haphazard, random thoughts recorded at random moments. I’ll see something odd or annoying, taste something delicious or horrid, or have any experience that’s worth noting and I’ll write it down — or dictate it to my personal assistant Siri. If I don’t, those thoughts are no longer accessible, rattling around in the back of my cobwebbed cranial cavity.
It’s so important to me that I keep an old spiral notebook on my nightstand. It’s filled with often unreadable hieroglyphics that a future archaeologist may one day find fascinating.
All these notes keep the juices flowing, and the columns coming.
So I thought it would be fun to spill some of my latest notes into my column, and try to explain what they mean.
Note: ‘Contact Joe V about 7D?’
Joe Valencia is a front-house-bar manager at the buzz-worthy Seventh & Dolores. He advanced me the new lunch menu at 7D and it’s much more than a modified dinner experience. Kudos to chefs Todd Fisher and Jeremiah Tydeman for coming up with unique items. Notables: BLT Salad with Baker’s Bacon and Heirloom Tomatoes; Ahi Tuna Salad with Asparagus; 7D Lobster Roll with Old Bay Mayo; Open-Faced Hanger Steak Sandwich with Chimichurri; and Red Wine Steamed Salt Spring Island Mussels with fries. The cocktail of choice? House bloody Mary with chef Todd’s beef stock, pickled veggies and seared flank steak wrapped around blue cheese-stuffed olives (post-lunch nap required).
Note: ‘What’s shaking about Manhattans?’
This is for a future column about my pet-peeves when visiting bars. What shook me up this time was a string of bartenders who’ve been shaking my favorite cocktail. I’ve been drinking long enough to know that you’re supposed to shake drinks that contain citrus (daiquiri, margarita) or egg whites (whiskey sour). But under no circumstances would you ever shake a spirit-based cocktail such as a negroni or my favorite, a Manhattan. (It waters down the taste of the whiskey). I sent back a shaken Manhattan recently and the server had the gall to say: “You didn’t say you wanted it stirred.” Wow. I now order a reverse James Bond Manhattan — stirred, not shaken.
Note: ‘Wobbly tables must end!’
Why is this still happening in 2017? Restaurants should be able to provide a dining surface that does not mimic eating on a rowboat. It’s not that difficult. This has become my biggest pet-peeve, but I’ve decided not to throw a certain restaurant under the bus (although I emailed the manager). A wonky table spills drinks and upsets the balance of the entire dining experience. If you’re still putting shims under table legs it’s time to buy a new table!
Note: ‘Meat. Knife. Fire’
I met Jack Kimmich a few years ago at a local food event and came away with so much respect for this rancher from Hollister. He runs California Kurobuta, a small, sustainable pig farm operation that produces quality Berkshire cuts (100 percent pasture pork, no growth hormones). Now his son Thomas has started a new venture called Meat Knife Fork, where he will deliver 50-200 pounds of tender whole hog. It shows up at your event on a barbecue trailer. Want to impress your friends? Go to www.meatknifefire.com.
Note: ‘Love me some low-country boil’
I woke in the middle of the night with an idea. It goes without saying that I have fevered food dreams, but this one found me at the beach with dozens of friends feasting on a Southern specialty called frogmore — more commonly known as Low Country Boil.
I scribbled the above sentence in my notebook at 3 a.m. with the hope it would make sense in the morning. It did, and I’m planning a massive beach party featuring a string of tables lined with Wednesday’s Herald food section. On top we will dump a melange of kielbasa sausage, corn, new potatoes, crab and shrimp — all cooked at appropriate times in a stewing liquid spiked by Old Bay seasoning.
Why there isn’t a local restaurant serving this traditional specialty is a mystery. Those ingredients are not a mystery to this region. I’m thinking it’s perfect for 7D Steakhouse (chef Todd Fisher could put an interesting spin on it) or perhaps Schooner’s on Cannery Row.
This type of “boil” originated in the Georgia and South Carolina, and is usually accompanied by hush puppies and cold beer. It’s traditionally dumped onto a paper-lined table and eaten without utensils.
Note: ‘Siri, what’s the Trident Room in Monterey?’
“Here’s what I found,” said my trusty assistant, who clued me into one of the few local restaurants I’ve never heard of. She led me to a review that said the following: “This is a great place for a drink and to just enjoy a good conversation. This is one of those places you go to for the history.” Trouble is, the Trident Room restaurant/bar is inside the hotel at the Naval Postgraduate School. Trouble is, you need to have a military escort. I found a Navy family who will adopt me for an evening and I will report back.
Note: ‘I’m craving KFC’
Not Kentucky Fried Chicken, but Korean fried chicken. I ordered the best sandwich of the year last week at Whole Foods, of all places. It consisted of a boneless ginger fried chicken thigh, Napa cabbage kimchi slaw, pickled cucumbers and Mother in Law’s gochujang chile paste on a brioche bun. Now that’s finger licking good.
Note: ‘‘Wurst’ business plan at Nuernberger’s’
Serving brats, schnitzel and smoked pork at a restaurant across from a health club (and with limited parking) cannot be financially sustainable. And it wasn’t. Lasting just more than a year, this tasty restaurant simply could not draw enough at this challenged spot (formerly a failed cupcakery). When I walk out of the Monterey Sports Center, sweaty and swaying, no amount of rationalization can talk my conscience into making bad decisions. Nuernberger’s needed to be in a dark alley or in a strip mall where one can eat a schnitzel without the extra helping of guilt.
Mike Hale can be reached at thegrubhunter@att.net. Listen to his weekly radio show “Food Fodder” at noon Wednesdays on KRML, 102.1 FM.
