Frances– Worth the Wait?

I’ll just say right off the bat that Frances Restaurant is well worth the wait! If you can get your hands on a reservation at this new hot-spot, you’re golden. Now, just to forewarn you, this review is coming from me; a serious foodie that bends over backwards to try haute fare.  By bending over backwards, I mean joining and becoming successful in a circus might be easier than getting that coveted slot on OpenTable into Frances. Maybe in a month or two it will cool a bit and become more tangible (wishful thinking). In the meantime, your best bet is to check back very frequently on OpenTable, also pressing the “find next available” button has proven helpful.

We were a party of 4 last night and each of our dishes were great! I started with the Applewood Smoked Bacon Beignets, YUM YUM YUM! I’m a sucker for beignets since first trying them at Cafe Du Monde but these are a different, more savory spin on a straight-to-my-thighs favorite. Just as I was finishing the beignets, our server brought over a deep bowl full of little goodies, which she promptly poured my White Corn Soup over. The goodies in the bottom of the bowl were small roasted cherry tomatoes, chanterelle mushrooms and creme fraiche. The soup was the perfect cream to corn ratio and gone within a few minutes. Next up was the Smoked Steelhead Trout, accompanied by; fingerling potatoes, creme fraiche and grain mustard. With a very Salmon-like texture going on, the Trout was awesome!

Now, of course the food was the main attraction to this establishment but, with good food, great wine is a must. I felt the responsibility to (just in case) bring something fabulous with us, that wouldn’t let our taste buds down: 2008 Brown Estate Petite Sirah. Having had a beer (elsewhere) earlier in the evening, I couldn’t drink anything before the BE PS was opened and boy was it perfect! Frances has an interesting pay by the ounce system for their house wines. Everything else is priced per bottle or BTG, with a nice range of domestic and foreign wines. Happily I saw Peay Vineyards on the wine menu, so they know good wine!

Feeling very full at this point, I knew there was only room left in my secret dessert compartment for another course– the Bittersweet Chocolate Pot du Creme would fill the compartment nicely Brought out in a cute little glass jar with halved, roasted Bing Cherries and Vino Visciole it was beyond the perfect end to my meal.

Way to go, Frances! I’ll be back, hopefully sooner rather than later.

17th Annual Hillsborough Family Fun Run & Carnival

Can you believe it’s already the middle of May? This year is just zooooming by! The 17th Annual Hillsborough Family Fun Run & Carnival is just one week away and it’s not too late to get in on the activity-packed day. This is the first year that they’ve added a 2k course, so those that might not be so into running the long distances–there is now a Fun Run for you, Woo Hoo! After sweating it out in the 2k, 5k or 10k races; skip on over to the carnival and join the fun.

For the 5th year in a row, I’ll be volunteering during the race with Cashin Company Realtors. Look for me and Brendan Aiello handing out water to thirsty runners as they fly by our post.

To top it all off: I hear that the Central County Fire Dept will be preparing a BBQ lunch and Jamba Juice, It’s It, Popcorn and Coffee will also be available for purchase.

Here’s the schedule of events for your day of fun (hopefully in the sun!):

7:00am Fun Run Race Day Registration (race bib & t-shirt pickup)

7:30am Stretch/Warm-up

8:00am 2k, 5k & 10k races start on Eucalyptus Avenue

9:00am Carnival Opens (at North & Crocker School Fields)

9:30am Awards Ceremony (for the Fun Run)

3:00pm Carnival Closes

Google Course Maps can be found by clicking on each of the below maps

Come get your run on– hope to see you there!

And please, kindly observe:

No Pets Allowed on the Fields, Tennis Courts or Fun Run Courses!

*Plus check back for photos after the event!

2010 SF Dine About Town

COMING SOON!

Summer is just around the corner and SF Dine About Town is a great kick-off! A fifteen-day fete of food for fabulous prices, what could be better? At participating restaurants, you can enjoy specially prepared 2-course lunches for $17.95 and 3-course dinners for $34.95. Many times these restaurants are out of my budget and yours but this event makes some of San Francisco’s most pricey establishments affordable.

After previous years of experiencing Dine About Town and dining at many of the participating establishments, here’s a list of my favorites!

Foreign Cinema
Lark Creek Steak
Le Colonial
Maverick
One Market
Ruth’s Chris Steak House
Spruce
Thirsty Bear
Urban Tavern
Waterbar
Yoshi’s 

Hurry and make your reservations via OpenTable before these restaurants are all booked up!

Bon appetít!

Dates and times of participation vary by restaurant.
Menus subject to change.

Spring Wine Events

With my favorite season upon us, there are so many new wine releases– many of which are being celebrated at the wineries or tasting events. Take a moment to look over the following information on upcoming wine happenings in the next month!

CADE Estate LEED Certification Ceremony & OpenHouse
Saturday May 1st, 2010
CADE Estate will be hosting an open house for tasting as well as a ceremony to celebrate their recently awarded LEED Gold Certified status!

– Wonderful event with fantastic wines and people!! Here are some photos from the incredible CADE Estate Winery!

♦  ♦  ♦  ♦  ♦  ♦  ♦  ♦  ♦  ♦  ♦  ♦  ♦  ♦  ♦  ♦  ♦  ♦  ♦  ♦  ♦  ♦  ♦  ♦  ♦  ♦

Duckhorn Vineyards Spring Celebration
Saturday May 1st, 2010 2pm-5pm
“Join us for a spring celebration atDuckhorn Vineyards on May 1st. Sample our newly released wines including the highly anticipated bottling, The Discussion, Three Palms Vineyard and Napa Valley Merlot and Sauvignon Blanc.“- Duckhorn Vineyards

-Great event- don’t miss it next year! Enjoy the photos!!

♦  ♦  ♦  ♦  ♦  ♦  ♦  ♦  ♦  ♦  ♦  ♦  ♦  ♦  ♦  ♦  ♦  ♦  ♦  ♦  ♦  ♦  ♦  ♦  ♦  ♦

Still to come…

Uncorked Wine Festival

Saturday May 22nd, 2010 1:00pm-6:00pm

Enjoy live music, wine seminars and chef demonstrations at this
free event. Tickets must be purchased to participate in wine tasting.
Tickets cost $50; proceeds benefit La Cocina. Click here for tickets.

Cheers & Enjoy

(please check back for event photos)

Passport -Day #2

I didn’t think that it was possible for Sunday to top Saturday on this great weekend but, it happened! All the wineries were just fabulous and we had such a great time! Here’s some pics to prove it:

Our first stop for Day 2- Ridge Lytton Springs. Specialty Stone did the patios and flooring inside here!!

Mazzocco– what a cool place! We loved their theme!

Mazzocco again, looooong line for their amazing African cuisine.

Maurtison- It was too dark inside to take pics with the iPhone but we had the most amazing Zinfandel braised short-rib sliders (Charlie Palmer’s), paired with a great Rokpile Zin (Clay Maurtison)…Winning combo!

Maurtison again- love their adirondack chairs!

Cute Baja-themed entrance to Michel-Schlumberger

Sbragia

Entertainment @ Sbragia

Seghesio was packed and rockin’. Great BBQ and band!!

Group shot @ Kokomo — LOVED their Pinot!

Passport – Day #1

Happy Saturday to all! We’re in Healdsburg, CA this weekend; attending our favorite event of the year: Passport to Dry Creek Valley. I’ll be updating throughout the day and adding photos from all our various stops at the participating wineries.

Check back often to see new photos!

Here we go…

Zichichi!! YUMMY Old Vine Zin!!

Dutcher Crossing:

All the wonderful food and wine @ Dutcher Crossing was under this tent– loved their Chardonnay!

View @ Dutcher Crossing:

Truett-Hurst:

These were SO cute– mini-cones with sorbet!!

The actual Dry Creek:

Private Access @ Passalacqua:

Chocolate-Hazelnut Gelato…YUM!

View @ Armida:

THE place to be!! This is before it got rockin’!!!

AWESOME!! Great day! Cannot wait to do it again tomorrow

Add some Spring Style – Easy Ideas!

April 21st, already!?! WOW, has this year been flying by or what? With all this gloomy, rainy, gloomy, not rainy, sunny, warm, gloomy, rainy weather we’ve had recently; I feel the need to spring-up the things around me…maybe it will influence Mother Nature to get her act together! Here are some easy spring ideas/accents for rooms in your home:

And for some room color inspiration:

Happy Spring!