Cavaillon

A few weeks ago we went to Cavaillon in someplace called Santaluz (just north of THE 56) after seeing an excellent rating in The Reader review and high praise on Chowhound. I made reservations for their Monday night $32 fixed price 3 course “meal deal”. Reservations on a Monday night? Seems odd, but they have a fairly small dining room (unless I missed a larger back room?) with a small bar left of the entryway so reservations may be suggested on potentially busy nights. We were offered either a tiny table inside or our choice of any table on the empty patio. Since the weather was nice, we went outside and had the patio to ourselves.

Starters included French Onion Soup with Cubes of Beef Short Rib and Onion and Eggplant Tart with Sautéed Calamari. Both were great.

My entrée was the slightly famed "Coq au Vin" with Creamy Potatoes and Vegetable Brunoise. As you might know, I’m a “foodie dummie” and don’t know much about anything, so I wasn’t aware of Coq au Vin before Naomi’s review. At Cavaillon they serve up two meaty chicken thighs. Plenty to eat here!

My wife got the Shiitake Mushroom Risotto with Green Asparagus and Aged Parmesan. Filling! Seinfeld fans know this! And they do a Shrimp and Lobster Risotto – either as an entrée or a smaller appetizer.

Dessert was an Almond Macaroon with Fresh Berries and Raspberry Coulis plus another Coconut Ice Cream, Pineapple & Golden Raisin Marmalade. Yum.

The food overall was excellent, good portions and great service, but from the looks of the dinner menu, that $32 meal deal results in just maybe a couple bucks off. I probably wouldn’t bother with that again – just go whenever you want and order whatever you want – most of the menu is under $25 (a couple under $20) for entrees and the full dinner menu is available on Monday nights. Cavaillon also serves brunch on weekends (alert to Jim, the Brunch Master!) with plenty of options right around $10. That patio is calling me for breakfast some weekend!

Pump-beer-kin

Trader Joe's has been discounting (down to $2.99! for six bottles!) this seasonal beer recently all the way from Sea Dog Brewery in Bangor, Maine. I liked it. And it's the home of Stephen King. The beer has a sweet flavor - maybe a little bit like a beer and creme soda combo. Not a hint of nutmeg thankfully.

I like Trader Joe's many tasty chocolate covered goodies. And other treats.

Reuben Tuesday

Last week, I guess the old fashioned taco Tuesday got upgraded some how as The Linkery introduced Reuben Tuesday™ for all us masses. After apparently disappointing many fans around Saint Patty’s Day, a large batch of corned beef was commissioned and last Tuesday the Reuben had reappeared on the menu.

My wife had the Sausage Tacos ($11.50 – yes, taco Tuesday is back!) made with a link of Chicken Curry Sausage – take your pick of any link available that day (they usually have 3) served up on grilled corn tortillas with fresh pico de gallo, cabbage, and queso fresco and served with jicama black bean salad. Yes, I took that from the website menu. And it’s probably a run-on sentence.

I got the Reuben ($15.50 – is it okay to say Yikes to my lunching buddies? Hey, it is what it is.) paired with the Death and Taxes black lager from little ol' Moonlight Brewing in Sonoma County. The Reuben is served as an “open-faced” sandwich, topped with white cheese with the sauerkraut hidden beneath the meat. Delicious. Yet, I couldn’t help notice that a neighboring table got a bigger portion. Eh, call it “plate envy”. Pickle slices and homemade style potato chips finish off the plate. Of course, we started out with a cheese plate (around $12) and finished the meal up with a couple of desserts: their homemade pound cake topped with cream, kiwi and strawberries. Plus we got the awesome Linkery made Oaxacan chocolate ice cream with cacao nibs. (Each around $6.) This was a huge success!

Maple Syrupin' 2007

It’s a bloggin’ field trip! Far away from our very own Southern California is a place that people might make maple syrup. Mrs. Butterworth and Vermont be damned, this post will be about the upper Midwest maple syrupers. Specifically, my Dad’s small time maple syrup shack which is all new this year! It’s just a fun time spring hobby with most of the product going to friends and family.

Gone are the old large open pans that cooked maple sap over a closed fire box and gone are the old buckets that collected the sap. Enter a new era! Collection bags! A modern evaporator! The process is easier as the cooking sap runs thru a series of separate pans as it cooks down, eventually measured and then a faucet is opened to pull off a couple of quarts of finished syrup. This is way different than the old method in which 10 gallons (or more) would have to be taken off the fire at once and quickly filtered. The new setup includes a filter press – days later the syrup is filtered and bottled.

But it’s all best shown with pictures. No need for me to blather on.

It all starts with the sap collection.

A time machine?

Wood fired.

Cooking away!

Dad reports that he produced 50 gallons of syrup this year. This is off of 300 taps (multiple taps per tree are typical) with about 33 gallons of sap needed to cook down to a gallon of syrup. In Syrupin' 101 you'll learn that you need nighttime temperatures to hit 25 degrees and daytime temperatures around 45. This gets the sap moving and dripping out of the spouts. Cooking it is just a relaxing time filled with card playing and general shooting of the shit.

What is it?

Coffee? Err...probably not.

Beer? From the latest brewery tour?

A load of honey? Bee poop?

Be back with a full post in a day. Or nine.

Random Junk

I haven’t been inclined to post much – but that doesn’t mean I haven’t been eating lots. Oh, I’m been eating so much. Sorry if you have been checking in every week only to see nothing new.

And I missed doing an April Fool’s Day post…
…did any San Diego food bloggers do one? I just didn’t get around to it. I think it would have been something about the superb quality of hot dogs and just would have blathered on and on about how good hot dogs are. (They really are.) Or maybe a lengthy post deconstructing the $1.29 McFish Fishy Samich. It’s a Good Friday tradition. Tiny but still probably 350 calories. Really soft bun. Weren’t these bigger years ago. Anyhow, that is a rare fast food for me. It's some kind of appealing, isn't it?

Thanks to the Chowhound…
…which anyone can find on the Internets I’ve recently checked out the famed Super Cocina on University – yum! The samples! I will be back soon! There is a little place on Miramar a couple of doors down from the BBQ place that does sort of the same thing in a smaller way. (Carnitas, Chicken Mole, more!) Speaking of BBQ, I recently checked out San Diego’s very own Phil’s BBQ for the very first time at their new location. Pretty good stuff – it smells great outside the place.

Poway Restaurant Reviewer
Poway’s very own city councilman, Bob Emery, reviews local restaurants as noted in a recent article. Cool! I checked the meeting minutes and the reviews are brief but glowing.

I’ve got more stuff on the way…I have no less than 3 posts. Unfortunately they are only in my mind and have not been written yet. So more could be on the way. Even this week.