Crab House: A San Francisco Must-Do

Crab House

203 C Pier 39

San Francisco, California 94113

http://www.crabhouse39.com/

When you visit San Francisco, the Crab House is the one restaurant that you have to eat at. It is located on Pier 39 which is one of the popular piers with lots of shops, infamous seal watching, and view of Fisherman's Wharf and Golden Gate Bridge. 

If you are a seafood lover, the Crab House is the place to go when visiting Pier 39. They are known for their "Killer Crabs" which is dungenous crabs covered in their secret garlic sauce. The restaurant not only has great food, but a very fitting atmosphere. It is right off the water in a white looking house. The inside of the restaurant is covered in white tile and crab figurines on the walls. The restaurant fumes with the smell of the pipping hot seafood, and when the windows are open you can feel the cool breeze of the bay. 

We started the lunch off with some creamy, mouth watering crab chowder. It was loaded with crab, and they gave you french bread which was great way to sop up the remaining chowder. The cesar salad  is also another light starter which is lightly dressed with dressing and parmesan cheese.

Next came the main crab, it was sizzling, hot on a skillet with the shrimp we order. On the skillet, they had a butter and lemon sauce for the shrimps, and a butter, garlic, and horseradish for the crab legs. The crab and shrimp were pipping hot, but it smelled so good, and you had to dig in. The shrimp might of been a little small, but the crab legs were nice and meaty. To keep with the garlic in everything, we order the garlic noodles. It was a rich, buttery fettuccine which pairs well with the seafood.

The last seafood dish was the mussels in a white wine and garlic sauce. September is mussel season, so they were nice and sweet. To pair with all this seafood, we selected a white wine, Honig Sauvignon Blanc, that was recommended by the waiter. It was a nice,crisp wine to pair with the meal.

If we were not full enough, the waiter topped it off with their tiramisu. It was light and creamy from the mascapone cheese filling, and the lady fingers nice and moist. It was a great ending to a loaded garlic seafood meal.

Phyllo Peach Coconut Cobbler

Serves 2

2 Peaches, Diced
1/2 TBSP Honey or Maple Syrup
1 TBSP Shredded Coconut

1 TBSP Coconut Oil
1 TBSP Honey or Maple Syrup
A Pinch of Salt
1 Sheet of Phyllo

1. Preheat oven at 325 degrees fahrenheit.

2. In a microwave and oven safe bowl, mix peaches with honey and coconut.

3. Next heat in microwave for 2 to 3 minutes.

4. In a separate bowl, melt coconut oil, honey, and salt together.

5. Top bowl with phyllo dough and top off with coconut oil mixture.

6. Bake 12 to 15 minutes or until the crust is golden brown.

7. Serve up by itself or with vanilla or cinnamon ice cream and enjoy!

Hot Box Grill: American Cuisine

Hot Box Grill

18350 Sonoma Highway

Sonoma, California 95476

http://www.hotboxgrill.com/sonoma-county-restaurant.html

This American style restaurant is a small, quaint joint in Sonoma. This small restaurant's management had just changed, and it seems like managing a packed restaurant it not something they manage well. We started to night off with a 2013 David Noyes Pinot Noir Rose. It was a nice crisp wine that would of gone well with our meal.

We ended up waiting over an hour after we order for our meal. It was a very slow service and were running out of food items quickly. There was two, hard working chefs with about eight tables in the restaurant with two big tops including us. The food did not seem too complicated, but the servers and expediting was not going smoothly.

Some of the items that we ordered was to the left an American staple, Deviled Eggs. It was kicked up a notch with Parmesan cheese and chopped up pieces of bacon. In the middle was a Roasted Beet Salad, it was lightly marinated with a citrus vinaigrette and was dressed with shaven fennel, grapefruit, and toasted pistachios. It was light and earthy start before the main course. One of the main courses ordered was the Petrale sole which is a flat, delicate, white flesh fish. It was served on lemon beurre blanc sauce and basmati rice. The sauce consisted of white wine, butter, and lemon which made the fish taste fresh and rich. Presentation for the dishes were very nice and tasted satisfying.

The other main courses, we ordered was the Western burger which was a 7 oz ground beef patty with cheddar, restaurant made barbecue sauce, shoe string fried onions, and malt vinegar aioli. The burger itself was very rich and hearty, but it was suppose to be served with duck fat fried French fries. It was never on the plate when served though. To make it worse, they never told us when they ran out of the fries until I had asked about them. We waited over an hour which was already for the food itself which way too long then they ran out of food with no updates to the customers. To substitute for the missing fries was an under seasoned "Semi-spicy mac n cheese". It was nice and hot, but the mac n cheese needed salt.

The last main dish that we ordered was Chicken Paillard which pounded, thin chicken grilled. It was severed with fingerling potatoes, baby artichokes, and a caper sauce. The chicken itself was very dry, but it was the only dish that had the right amount of salt.

All in all, I would not recommend this place unless they operate the kitchen better. The service was way too slow and majority of the dishes were under salted. Coming from a person that does not like much salt and not trying to insult the chef, I had to salt all but one of the dishes.They have some things that need to be worked on before they can keep continuous customers.

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Brix: Contemporary French

Brix

7377 St. Helena Hwy

Yountville, California 94558

We enjoyed a lovely brunch at Brix Restaurant which is the Napa Valley area of California.While we waited for our reservation, we enjoyed their robust garden in the back under the trees while sipping on Schramsberg's 2009 Blanc De Noir. It is a sparking wine that has been aged for three years and medium bodied. It pairs well with a lean pork and cheeses such as a nice smoked Gouda or Gruyere.

While we waited, we also enjoyed Brix's little outside market they had where they were selling vegetables from their garden such their juicy heirloom tomatoes, crunchy lemon cucumbers and other varieties, and some jarred items like spices, honey, pickles and more. We bought some heirloom tomatoes and lemon cucumbers to enjoy in a salad later in the week and the fresh picked figs to enjoy for a later breakfast. I had also bought a little spice mix to rub on chicken.

After we enjoyed the beautiful outside for a little it, we were then brought to our table and served ourselves to a buffet style brunch. In the main area, they an assortment of salads, eggs benedict, breakfast meats, petite size pancakes and desserts, and fruit. 

In the other room, there was a chef making eggs the way you want it with or without vegetables. They also had on the bar fresh, shucked oysters, seasoned, larger-sized shrimp, and marinated clams. The seafood was very fresh and delicious.

 

All the food was full of flavor, and I would definitely go back for brunch or dinner.

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LaSalette, Contemporary Portuguese

LaSalette

452 1st Street East, Suite H

Sonoma, California 95476

http://www.lasalette-restaurant.com/

For dinner our first night in Sonoma, we went to a "Contemporary, Portuguese" restaurant tucked away in one of the alley way in Historic Sonoma. As we came up to the restaurant, we walked through the terrace where guests were enjoying their food. We then entered the restaurant where the lights were dimmed, and the kitchen was open where guests can sit at the bar to watch the food being prepared. The ambiance was homey with the kitchen view of the wood burning oven, copper pots hanging from the ceiling, and the chef prepping the meals on the end of the counter.

After we sat down and ordered, we were offered an amuse-bouche. It was a shot glass of gazpacho they made to give to everyone which was quite refreshing to the palette. In the gazpacho, it contained cucumber and heirloom tomato water, tiny cubed pieces of  cucumber and chourico, a Portuguese chirizo, which added texture and saltiness to the gazpacho, and a drop of olive oil at the top to give the gazpacho some fattiness.

For appetizer, we ordered an array of seafood appetizers, and we paired it a local Sonoma wine, Albarino by Gordian Knot Winery. First was the special for the night, baby squid with caramelized onions, topped with an herbaceous dressing and micro-greens, and topped a hard boiled quail eggs. 

Second was the Na Cataplana, muscles that came out in a hot copper pot. It was cooked in a delicious concentrated stocked called fumet of  lobster and tomato and topped with cilantro and chourico. The mussels were nice and delicate, and the broth was so irresistible that you had to keep eating it with the bread that was provided.

  

The last appetizer was the Bolinhos de Bacalhus, which is a delicately fried cod cake and sauce. They had streaked across the plate artfully the Moroccan black olive coulis which gave the cod cake some saltiness, and drizzled a cilantro aioli which brightened the dish.

To complement our dinner, we decided to go with another local Sonoma wine which was the 2012 Schug Pinot Noir. 

For the main course, I ordered the Seared California Lamb Tenderloin, Goan Style. It was a seared lamb loin to medium rare with a blachao sauce which is a spicy, tangy chili-tomato sauce. It was placed on top of whipped sweet potatoes which were a rich, creamy touch to the dish and came with baked seasonal summer vegetables which were earthy flavors to the dish of squash, zucchini, and a hot pepper on top. 

Second dish was one of their specials for the evening which was a whole, grilled sea bass topped with fresh herbs, lemon, tomatoes, garlic. It was a light, delicate fish with great seasoning to keep the taste of the fish.

Third dish was the Feijoada Completa which is a traditional Brazilan dish. It was not the prettiest looking thing on a plate, but it had great flavors of the stewed beef, pork, and sausage.They also dressed the plate with some white rice with a type of pico de gallo and pan cooked spinach.

The last dish was the heartiest dish of them all Bacalhau no Forno. It was a salted cod fish casserole with mashed potatoes, onions, and olives which was topped with a little more spinach and a hard boiled quail egg on top. It was crisp on the outside, salty on the inside from the fish, and filling from the potatoes.

To top it all off, we ended with the Chocolate Fetish. A plate for the chocolate lover or to share with others. To the left was a rich, airy chocolate mousse with a crispy almond tuile. In the middle was a decadent chocolate souffle with ruby port gelee in the middle. Last but not least was a scoop of bitter chocolate sorbet on top of some sweet caramelized bananas.

The food was great, but the service was not the best. We only saw our waitress two or three time during the entire meal. You could hear every time the house manager was commanding the one busier in the entire restaurant which was constant, you can hear her behind the bar reprimanding the wait staff, and you can especially hear her constantly asking the hostess to do things around the house while she was not busy. To me, the kitchen worked smoothly. The house just needed more wait staff working the busy restaurant. 

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