UBUNTU- July 17, 2009

My review is late, I am the ultimate lagger! ;)



The place I chose was Ubuntu in Napa, vegetarian style for a change of pace :) It was a prefix menu and served as follows:



For starters:

Lavender, sugar and sea salt marcona almonds



Fried chickpea clusters with romesco, rosemary and lemon



Yellow bean hummus with wild fennel crackers



Followed by:

Forono beets and orion fennel with amaranths, whipped creme fraiche and caraway salt



Fregola in a spicy rosemary broth, agretti, zucchini costata romanesco, roasted whole garden

pepperonata



Organic grits infused with goats whey, strawberry soffrito, basils and shaved "midnight moon"



Cauliflower in a cast iron pot with vadouvan spice, delfino cilantro, brown butter toast



And ending with:

Warm and straight out of the oven chocolate souffle with fresh mint ice cream.



I picked this restaurant as I really like the idea that it bases it's menu on what's in season from local gardens and farms and has it's own biodynamic garden as well (the ingredients in CAPS on the menu). I enjoyed trying so many different things, none including meat (thanks for being open boys though I know you were wanting steak!), my favorite being the fregola in rosemary broth. I thought that the food could have been brought out in a better order to be enjoyed though. The grits and cauliflower were too similar and heavy to be served one after another and therefore not individually enjoyed. The dessert was fabulous, fresh mint ice cream and warm souffle, can't beat that!

Happy August

Hello everyone. Sorry, I know this is kind of cheating because I am posting this for Joe, but he is out of town so I wanted to get it done ASAP because we are running out of time. A bunch of stuff is going on in August, and as it turns out the one and only weekend that Joe could do the supper club is on the weekend of the 21st. He has chosen a pizza eatery called Pizzaioli at 5008 Telegraph in Oakland. Chef Charlie Hallowell was named a Rising Star by the San Francisco Times in 2006 and has been continually praised for it's pizza and other menu choices by diners worl-wide. Who doesn't love a good pizza anyway?

Reservations are on Friday, August 21st at 8:00 PM. Please let Joe know if you can make it and how many people will be in your party so he can adjust the reservations accordingly. His email is jkoller3@gmail.com.

Yumm!

Hello Hello!

Can you believe that May is almost over already! I know that Jen and Erika will be in Arizona next weekend (I will be in Missouri that same weekend visiting family) This weekend is already here, the only weekend left is May 29th (I have Abby but can try to arrange for a sitter or something) or the first weekend in June if we push out a little bit depending on every ones schedule...lets see what works best for everyone and go from there...votes please! :)

Members

Jan - Andrea Ballus

Skipped - Jeff Ballus

Feb - Elizabeth Boca

April - Corey Fanfa

May - Amy Kline (or is it Silva?)  

June - Joe Koller

July - Larry Mikami

August - Liza Sweet

Sept - Erika Thompson

Starting after September, we will start the list over again using first names alphabetically.  

New members, please add your name and I will update accordingly!

Metro Review

Hello fellow foodies…. I am slowly acclimating to your tasty world. On my first Secret Supper Club dinner I had the pleasure of joining the usual group, minus some people, and welcoming new ones. All-in-all… very nice evening and it was nice to sit down and have a spectacular dinner together.

Elisabeth’s pick was Metro Lafayette “a stylish destination serving big city food.” This was a great pick, not only was the ambiance and décor of the restaurant delish to the eye, the food was fantastic yet affordable.

Highlight of my evening consisted of the absolute most delicious crispy brussel sprouts I have ever had the pleasure of introducing to my pallet and paying a tab of only $35. Great pick, would recommend it to anyone. I heart Brussel Sprouts! Next pick is mine yippee

Ad Hoc 1/17/2009

4 courses…3 were awesome!  

First course was a salt cod salad with egg, kalamata olives, grapefruit, onion all on that lettuce that’s not really lettuce.  I actually tend to pick each and every piece of it out of my salads when I can.  I call it, “the weed”.  The vinaigrette was fantastically flavorful, and I liked the unexpected combination of everything else that wasn’t fish orweeds lettuce. 

We came on grilled short-rib night…and OMG…those baby’s were out of control!  melt in your drooling mouth delicious-o!  And they brought out so much.  They serve everything family style and I love that.  

Next was a cheese plate, camembert, spanish almonds and quince.  Love. Cheese, mmm.

For dessert we had crepes with a lime sabayon sauce, grilled pineapple and sprinkled with a wonderful salt.  nice and lightly perfect after those heavy short-ribs.  

We celebrated my dad’s birthday that night.  Lucky him with 4 lovely ladies!  Had to get a pic in front of the sign.  Cheesy, yes…but necessary.

Next Foodie: Elizabeth Boca.  Where will you be holding your Secret Supper Club?  

Rules & Regulations

Meals and alcohol are on two separate bills, that way anyone who doesn’t drink doesn’t have to pay for everyone elses drinks.

Dinner bill has to be split evenly between everyone who ate. So yes, you’ll have to pay a part of that guys steak dinner…you might as well get what you want too.

Must bring cash-ola (I would guess $50-$100 per person per month)

Everyone gets a chance to choose a restaurant of choice…anywhere in the Bay Area.

Maybe we can choose a date that’s like the 3rd Saturday of every month or something like that (which would put us at the 17th of January for the first supper, 21st of February for the 2nd one). I know that these are tight times for people too, so if you don’t want to be involved just let me know, otherwise you can see where we’re going and jump on board when you want to…or when it’s your turn to choose the restaurant! 

Think about other foodie friends that would enjoy this as well, let’s get a good group of people involved in the SSS. 

Fellow Foodie/Wino –

Andrea