Montalvo Winter Camps: Spies & Clowns!

When my cousin and I were really little we liked to play a game we simply called "Spy." Every kid does this so I'm sure you can relate. We snooped around and "spied" on our family. We'd hide montalvo arts center,saratoga, in painfully obvious locations, whisper about the person we were spying on and then giggle just loud enough to completely give away our awesome hiding spots.

Maybe my cousin and I would have been better spies if we had been sent to Spy Camp, but that option didn't exist for us.

It is, however, available for your kid!

Montalvo Arts Center, thanks to their Youth Scholarship Program, offers fun camps for kids this coming February.

"Taught by top arts instructors from around the Bay Area, these camp sessions encourage the creative process and give campers an opportunity to engage their bodies and their minds in challenging, thought-provoking fun, all the while making new friends."

SPY CAMP Monday, February 18 - Friday, February 22, 2013 9am-12pm (Ages 10-13) 1-4pm (Ages 6-9) Master the finer points of espionage and challenge your mind at this adventure camp! After exploring Montalvo's grounds and designing a 3D map of the property, students will learn about secret "languages," riddles, and other methods of encryption to create an alphabet that only their special team knows.  In addition to Spy Camp, Montalvo is also offering Circus Arts Camp! Now -- adult clowns I can do without, honestly. But cute little kid clowns are awesome! CIRCUS ARTS CAMP Monday, February 18 - Friday, February 22, 2013 9am-12pm (Ages 6-9) 1-4pm (Ages 10-13) Come join the circus! In a fun, safe, and challenging environment, students will dabble in the circus arts of juggling, tumbling, pyramid building, rolling globe, and more. Circus Arts train both the body and the mind, and help build self-confidence, discipline, coordination, and a great sense of humor. These classes are filling up fast, so if you are out buying gifts for the holidays or upcoming birthdays, register now! Registration price per class is $175 (members: $160), not including a $20 materials fee or $20 non-refundable registration fee. Montalvo coordinates a scholarship program for students who would not otherwise be able to attend. For more information on how to apply, please visit www.montalvoarts.org/programs/scholarships.

Review: Dishcrawl's Foie Battle - 'Duck Pork Foie'

Last week I attended Dishcrawl's "Duck Pork Foie" as part of their Bay Area "Foie Battle"; this one located at Myth Taverna & Lounge (and Greek restaurant) in Downtown San Jose.

For $90 (prices vary per event), hungry participants were treated to a five-course meal prepared by chef David Ramsey of Myth.

For those that enjoy foie gras* and are sad that they soon won't be able to order it in their favorite restaurants, this was quite the meal to enjoy and say farewell to the rich dish.

It has been awhile since I had foie gras, 2008 to be exact, while visiting friends living in Paris, France. What a place to have it, right? I remembered devouring it, along with the various yummy cheeses and other tasty treats our friends introduced us to.

That said... I was eager to taste these dishes! Keep in mind I am not a professional food critic; I like to think of myself as a general food enthusiast!

Course #1
Riesling Poached Foie & Cognac Tourchon with Mache, Brioche, & Marmalade Gastrique
(Paired with Chateau St. Michelle Riesling '10)


-- The marmalade made each bite really sweet with a little tart aftertaste. I'm not a huge fan of marmalade (usually because it's just too sweet); this dish was pretty much what we had in Paris so it brought back some fun memories. The pairing with the Riesling helped to mellow the sweetness of the marmalade.

Course #2
Crispy Fingerlings with Foie & Rosemary Cream Pudding and Fleur de Sel
(Paired with Elderflower & Rosemary Champagne Cocktail)


-- I wish the "pudding" had been a smidge thicker; the flavor, thanks to the rosemary, was pretty good. Kind of bummed the fingerlings were cold. I'm not sure if they were supposed to be or not. The cocktail paired with this course was interesting. I had to sip it slowly throughout the next course as well (I can't have carbonated drinks, but I can sip slowly.) It tasted fantastic however. And when you moved the sprig of rosemary around it'd cause more fizzies around the sprig.. I was amused OK?

Course #3
Pan Seared Foie & Slow Roasted Pork Belly with Bing Cherries, Frisee, & Pain au Lait
(Paired with Late Harvest Tokaji '09)


-- Favorite course! My mouth is watering just a little bit while I relive eating this dish. The mix of a little crispy bite of pork belly, bing cherries, and a bite of the pan seared foie, oh my. So delicious. More please!

Course #4
Duck 3 Ways: Leg Confit, Pan Seared Breast, & Foie Demi Glace with Potato Mousse & English Peas
(Paired with Echelon Pinot Noir '06)


-- This dish felt like homemade comfort food; you know with duck confit and foie gras - just how mom used to make! I have to admit, the presentation could have used a different flare to it - the squeezed-tube look of the potato mousse wasn't too appealing, but the taste was all that mattered (delicious!)

Course #5
"Ice Cream Cone" Blueberry Mousse with Brandied Foie Gras "Sprinkles"
(Paired with Heated Grand Marnier)


A tasty dessert - the "cone" was crispy and chewy (like a toffee) and the overall mix of flavors was great. The foie gras "sprinkles" were… eh? I tasted them by themselves before the rest of the dessert and couldn't taste anything. It didn't add to the dessert in my opinion.

Overall - TASTY DELICIOUS!

Want to join others before it's too late? Here's some upcoming Foie Battles:

(The list below has tickets available as of publishing of this blog post.)

Tues April 24th, 8:00pm: Proud to be An American… Foie Dinner (SF) // $110
Wed May 2nd, 6:30pm: Bataille de Chefs - Foie Gras (SF) // $180
Thurs May 10th, 7:00pm: For the Love of Foie (Saratoga) // $180
Mon May 14th, 7:00pm: Foie-some, Four-some (Downtown SJ) // $110
Thurs May 24th, 6:30pm: Filipino Foie-Down (San Mateo) // $180

(http://www.dishcrawl.com/foiebattle/ for more information and to buy tickets)

*For those that have other opinions about foie gras, please note that 5% of the proceeds will go to CHEFS, the Coalition for Humane and Ethical Farming.

2010 Michelin Restaurant Ratings

The latest Michelin ratings for Bay Area have just been released and 39 restaurants have been recognized in our neighborhood. Receiving a Michelin star is one of, if not the highest honor a fine dining restaurant can receive. There are 3 different categories:

One Star - A very good restaurant in its category
Two Stars - Excellent cuisine, worth a detour
Three Stars - Exceptional cuisine, worth a special journey

The same rubric is used all around the world, so a Two Star restaurant in the Bay Area would be the equivalent to a Two Star restaurant in France, London, or New York. As you glance through the full list of restaurants below, you may notice that NONE of them are in San Jose. So my question to you is, how the heck does a city of one million people not have a single Michelin rated restaurant? I know it's not because we don't love food. Did the Michelin committee just ignore San Jose entirely, or do we truly not have a single restaurant that deserves a star? If the latter is the case, I'm pretty sure I can think of a restaurant or two that deserves to be on the list below...

Three stars

The French Laundry, Yountville

Two stars

Coi, San Francisco
Cyrus, Healdsburg
Manresa, Los Gatos*
The Restaurant at Meadowood, St. Helena

One star

Acquerello, San Francisco
Ame, San Francisco*
Auberge du Soleil, Rutherford
Aziza, San Francisco (new)
Bouchon, Yountville
Boulevard, San Francisco
Chez Panisse, Berkeley
Chez TJ, Mountain View
Commis, Oakland (new)
The Dining Room at the Ritz-Carlton, San Francisco*
El Paseo, Mill Valley (new; now closed)
Etoile, Yountville (new)
Farmhouse Inn & Restaurant, Forestville
Fifth Floor, San Francisco
Fleur de Lys, San Francisco
Gary Danko, San Francisco*
La Folie, San Francisco
La Toque, Napa (new)
Luce, San Francisco (new)*
Madrona Manor, Healdsburg
Masa's, San Francisco
Michael Mina, San Francisco (two stars last year)
Murray Circle, Sausalito
One Market, San Francisco
Plumed Horse, Saratoga*
Quince, San Francisco (new)
Range, San Francisco
Redd, Yountville
Sante, Sonoma (new)
Solbar, Calistoga (new)
Terra, St. Helena
Trevese, Los Gatos (now closed)
Ubuntu, Napa (new)
The Village Pub, Woodside*

* Restaurants I've been to