Winterland
da...@schweisguth.org
Steiner in the Fillmore. As the chef worked at El Bulli we were expecting
plenty of avant-Spanish creativity. Winterland is not, as it turns out,
quite as avant as, say, Elizabeth Daniel was (never mind any of the actual
avant-Spaniards), but dinner was interesting and entertaining all the same
and the restaurant immediately moved into our short list of favorites.
We had:
- watermelon/tomato gazpacho + olive granita amuse, spiced up with something
mysterious, remarkably fully flavored and the real standout of the meal
- prettily arranged octopus carpaccio with olive oil and smoked paprika,
pleasantly reminiscent of the homelier but excellent octopus stew we had
recently at B44
- scallop ceviche and pickled wasabi cubes over tomato (I think) gelatin;
the wasabi was reported excellent but (therefore) I didn't get any and
can't comment personally
- deliciously long-cooked rabbit over a green and cheesy risotto with
savory snails on the side
- cuttlefish -- savory, tender and unanalytically excellent, and thread
mushrooms cleverly bundled up to look exactly like the cuttlefish
- pork belly and cheeks with, among other frills, earthy lima bean puree
- a generous veal chop with sweetbreads, potato disks and puree, and long
Serrano ham chips
- cornbread, blackberries and commendably goat-cheesy goat cheese gelato.
(Note that some of the most interesting items are not on the on-line copy of
the menu.) Not a bad dish in the bunch, and several were outstanding.
The wine list is short, casual and well-suited to food, although short on
reds by the glass. We therefore tackled a bottle of Ribera del Duero after
glasses of Gruner Veltliner, Albarino and Pinot Blanc. We only tasted the
sweet white Lillypilly dessert wine from Australia, but it was an
impressively complex and floral taste.
The only blot on the evening was too-infrequent visits by our waiter. It
wasn't his workload, as there was, inexplicably to our mind, only one other
table of diners all evening. Perhaps he was with the somewhat larger crowd
in the bar enjoying the interesting bar menu. In any case, the food was
worth the occasional wait and we'll certainly return.
Cheers,
--
| Dave Schweisguth http://www.schweisguth.org/~dave/ |
| Home: dave at schweisguth.org Work: dschweisguth at grandcentral.com |
| For compliance with the NJ Right to Know Act: Contents partially unknown |
Chester
[A visit to Winterland in SF]
>- prettily arranged octopus carpaccio with olive oil and smoked paprika,
> pleasantly reminiscent of the homelier but excellent octopus stew we had
> recently at B44
I just read _San Francisco_ magazine's review of Winterland and they
described the octopus carpaccio as something they put through a
complicated preparation process that includes, as a step, some sort of
chilling technique hailing from Japan that helps to make the octopus
tender.
Reminded me of the one dish at Hatcho (Franklin Mall, Santa Clara)
that I really enjoyed: an octopus "salad" with thin slices of Fuji
apple served in a bowl of slightly sweet marinade/dressing/broth. Much
more tender than I ever would have expected from octopus and the apple
gave it a nice sweet sharpness.
Chester
Michael Sierchio
> I just read _San Francisco_ magazine's review of Winterland and they
> described the octopus carpaccio ...
Stop right there! I'm on a campaign entitled "Carping about Carpaccio."
Whoever started applying the term to raw, flat shit had it all wrong.
Carpaccio is thin, raw shell steak with a mayonnaise/mustard sauce.
It originated at Harry's Bar in Venice, and was named to honor the
Venetian painter Vittore Carpaccio, whose palette was biased toward
the whites and reds.
Okay, continue...
Chester
Fair enough. Is "octopus tartare" kosher?
I mean, I know octopus is very much un-kosher, but is "octopus
tartare" a etymologically-acceptable term?
Chester
Reg
> Stop right there! I'm on a campaign entitled "Carping about Carpaccio."
> Whoever started applying the term to raw, flat shit had it all wrong.
> Carpaccio is thin, raw shell steak with a mayonnaise/mustard sauce.
> It originated at Harry's Bar in Venice, and was named to honor the
> Venetian painter Vittore Carpaccio, whose palette was biased toward
> the whites and reds.
I support your campaign in principle (do you take contributions?),
but I expect it won't get very far. In FoodLand, definitions morph
into odd permutations and then become pretty much permanent. Usually,
as in this case, the definition becoming very broadly applied.
It then reaches a point where it connotes little of it's original
specific meaning.
Anything sliced thinly becomes carpaccio, anything layered in the
center of a plate becomes a napoleon, anything even resembling a
paste becomes pesto. That's just the way of it I'm afraid.
--
Reg email: RegForte (at) (that free MS email service) (dot) com
Chester
wrote:
>Fair enough. Is "octopus tartare" kosher?
Oh, that won't fly since it's not ground and not beef.
What about "octopus sashimi"? That should be fine, right?
Chester
Michael Sierchio
> What about "octopus sashimi"? That should be fine, right?
Tako salad? :-)
Michael Sierchio
> Fair enough. Is "octopus tartare" kosher?
The Russian term is Myasa po Tatarski -- Tatar (style)
meat -- so if you can find Tatars who eat octopi, you'll
get my endorsement.
Michael Sierchio
> I support your campaign in principle (do you take contributions?),
> but I expect it won't get very far.
Thank you, Sancho Panza.
evergene
>Stop right there! I'm on a campaign entitled "Carping about Carpaccio."
>Whoever started applying the term to raw, flat shit had it all wrong.
>Carpaccio is thin, raw shell steak with a mayonnaise/mustard sauce.
I was on that same campaign until I saw, on a local restaurant's
dessert menu, a sorbet described as "Citrus Carpaccio." At that
moment I stopped caring, and am happier for it.
--
cleve...@newsguy.com is not my email address.
Meg Worley
>[Octopus tartare] won't fly since it's not ground and not beef.
Simon says, Stop right there! As retired presidentrix of the
Boeuf Tartare Appreciation Society, it is incumbent upon me to
note that beef tartare is *not* ground but chopped.
I can't remember the last time I had *good* steak tartare in the
Bay Area. Who does a good one (for our next trip to the BA...)?
Rage away,
meg
--
Meg Worley _._ m...@steam.stanford.edu _._ Comparatively Literate
Julian Macassey
<m...@steam.Stanford.EDU> wrote:
> Simon says, Stop right there! As retired presidentrix of the
> Boeuf Tartare Appreciation Society, it is incumbent upon me to
> note that beef tartare is *not* ground but chopped.
>
> I can't remember the last time I had *good* steak tartare in the
> Bay Area. Who does a good one (for our next trip to the BA...)?
Beef tartare - Capers and all - is best served at home.
The only place I have ever had good, consistent beef tartare is
Denmark.
--
Patriotism is a kind of religion; it is the egg from which wars
are hatched. - Guy de Maupassant
Alison Chaiken
How do you choose the beef?
--
Alison Chaiken "From:" address above is valid.
(650) 236-2231 [daytime] http://www.wsrcc.com/alison/
Mr. Wilson [ . . . ] and even his wife's outing have as much to do with
the real story here as Janet Leigh's theft of office cash has to do
with the mayhem that ensues at the Bates Motel in "Psycho."
-- Frank Rich, NY Times, July 17
Chester
wrote:
>>Stop right there! I'm on a campaign entitled "Carping about Carpaccio."
>>Whoever started applying the term to raw, flat shit had it all wrong.
>>Carpaccio is thin, raw shell steak with a mayonnaise/mustard sauce.
>
>I was on that same campaign until I saw, on a local restaurant's
>dessert menu, a sorbet described as "Citrus Carpaccio." At that
>moment I stopped caring, and am happier for it.
I started living a much fuller, healthier, and happier life the moment
I stopped scolding my friends for not deleting unnecessary quoted
text.
Chester
Chester
Worley) wrote:
>Chesty writes:
>>[Octopus tartare] won't fly since it's not ground and not beef.
>
>Simon says, Stop right there! As retired presidentrix of the
>Boeuf Tartare Appreciation Society, it is incumbent upon me to
>note that beef tartare is *not* ground but chopped.
Cripes. I've gotten nothing correct in this thread.
It probably wasn't even fucking octopus we had, but squid.
Chester
Ian MacLure
news:ojite1hlq4s5rdvkn...@4ax.com:
And-uh from a historical perpsective, octopus was
not exactly common on the burning plains of Tartary.
Probably isn't even a word in the Tartar vocabulary for
octopus.
IBM
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rone
octopus isn't a Latin word, so it shouldn't be pluralized "octopi".
"octopuses" will do, "octopodes" if you want to get fancy.
rone
--
"If the movie was an episode of 'Battlestar Galactica' with a guest appearance
by the Smurfs and everyone spoke Dutch, the graphic novel is 'Citizen Kane'
with added sex scenes and music by your favourite ten bands and everyone in
the world you ever hated dies at the end." -- Warren Ellis, on 'From Hell'
Stef
>In article <1P-dnfG82dw...@speakeasy.net>,
>Michael Sierchio <kudzu-...@tenebras.com> wrote:
>>Chester wrote:
>>> Fair enough. Is "octopus tartare" kosher?
>>The Russian term is Myasa po Tatarski -- Tatar (style)
>>meat -- so if you can find Tatars who eat octopi, you'll
>>get my endorsement.
>
>octopus isn't a Latin word, so it shouldn't be pluralized "octopi".
That's what Oxford says, but American Heritage and Merriam-Webster say
it's one of the accepted plurals.
ObFood: Apparently octopi fight quite vigorously when eaten alive.
--
Stef ** avid/sensible/sensual/wise/essential/elemental/tangle
** st...@cat-and-dragon.com <*> http://www.cat-and-dragon.com/stef
**
Paradise is exactly like where you are right now...only much,
much better. --Laurie Anderson