Jardiniere

View of Jardiniere from across the street

Whenever I travel I make it a point to eat out a lot.  There is so much you can learn from a city by eating your way around it.  The dining trends, where people like to hang out, and visit all the different neighborhoods by visiting different restaurants.  With a visit to each city I always splurge on one big-named restaurant.  A restaurant that I don't mind paying upwards of over $150 for myself, as I know it will be worth it and remain a memory worth having.

In the case of San Francisco this restaurant was Jardiniere.  Owned and operated by Chef Traci Des Jardins, Jardiniere has remained one of the top restaurants in the Bay Area for the last 15 years.  Recently just finishing a solid run on Top Chef Masters, Traci has won numerous awards through her career including "Rising Star Chef", "Best New Chef", "Best Chef Pacific Region", and "Best New Restaurant" after Jardiniere opened.  With so many accolades under her apron it was no surprise I made it a point to dine here.

The spectacular ceiling of twinkling lights

Located just across San Francisco's City Hall, the corner building with exposed brick walls is where Chef Des Jardins makes her home.  Walking through the glass door entrance you are transported to a room designed after an inverted cocktail glass filled with champagne.  On the ceiling is a spectacular glass dome with twinkling lights evoking the feeling of effervescent bubbles.  The decor continues downward to a champagne-colored staircase connecting the ground floor.   The ground level has marble floors sweeping throughout, laying home to a large, circular mahogany bar and the entrance to the main kitchen.  Exposed brick walls on the inside of the restaurant give a more rustic feel and counteract the elegance of the tablecloth covered dining room.

Outstanding in the Field Event at Brooklyn Grange Farm

Outstanding in the Field (OITF) is a group that runs farm-to-table dinners right at the source of a local farm.  They set up large tables, where guests from all over can dine and enjoy the food as it was meant to be served.  Straight from the ground, and onto their plates.  They want their guests to have an experience which makes them feel closer to the land, and to the people who's hard work brings food to the table.

On August 30th, ABC Kitchen was asked to participate in one of the OITF events at Brooklyn Grange Farm.  Brooklyn Grange (which is not based out of Brooklyn) is located in Long Island City, Queens.  Wait, a farm in an urban setting?  That's correct.  Brooklyn Grange is a start-up, organic urban farm growing their vegetables on a NYC rooftop.

The man behind the greens is Ben Flanner.  Ben is a trained engineer, with a background in finance.  He did not grow up a farmer, nor was he really exposed to a farming lifestyle.  A few years ago he decided to follow his passion for food and food production, and started Brooklyn Grange with Anastasia Plakias.

Brooklyn Grange's message is simple.  They want to connect people of an urban setting to those of a rural one.  Although they just have one one-acre farm in production at the moment, their goal is to eventually have rooftop farms all over the city.

Tacos el Bronco

I would be surprised if anyone tells me that haven't had some sort of Mexican food in their lives.  Mexican food is just a part of American culture nowadays as the hamburger.  Tacos, burritos, enchiladas, taquitos, salsa, mole, nachos, tamales, quesadillas, and guacamole.  Is your mouth watering yet?  Mine is too.

But like many cuisines across the United States corporate monkeys looking to make a quick buck destroyed the image of Mexican cuisine.  Chain and fast food restaurants like Taco Bell, On the Border, Chilis, and even Chipotle are using sub-par ingredients, dismal food pairings, and charging customers an arm and leg for it.  What's even more surprising?  People are willing to pay for it.

Mexican food is about love.  Mexican food is about simplicity.  It's not about deep-frying a burrito and covering it in three types of cheese, with a side of "Spanish" rice and beans.  It's about taking quality meats, slow-braising them until tender, and serving them inside soft, warm tortillas with onions, cilantro, and lime.  It's about taking homemade masa (corn-based dough), stuffing it with braised meats, and steaming it inside a banana leaf until tender.   In Mexico they fill their burritos only with meat and refried beans.  Whoever came up with the idea of stuffing rice, meat, salsa, sour cream, lettuce, avocado, beans, and cheese into a burrito is just looking to scam you by making you pay $12 for it.  Mexican food doesn't need all that.  As long as you have a passionate cook that knows how to handle the ingredients, you realize you don't need all the extras.  You taste the love that they put in with their own hands.

The Breslin Bar & Dining Room

The Breslin is a British-style gastropub at its finest.  I love restaurants like this.  A place you can go grab great food, in a casual setting, yet still maintains a type of elegant touch. 

The Breslin is located inside the Ace Hotel, with the main entrance adjacent to it.  I emphasize that because my first time going to the restaurant I missed the entrance completely.  I walked into the lobby of the Ace Hotel and thought “this is the strangest looking gastropub I have ever seen”. 

Walking into the Breslin you immediately walk into their bar area.  Lots of dark wood colors, lively atmosphere, and large windows which allow for a lot of natural light to come through.  They offer a wide selection of beers, and it’s a great place for friends to come in and hang out.

This then carries over to the restaurant.  Comfortable booths, wood chairs, tan paper-cloths covering black wood-finished tables, and a lot of random food and animal memorabilia which covers every piece of empty space in the restaurant.  Still-life paintings of fruit, red paper lobsters, a small bull’s head with a giant ring coming out of its nose, and so forth.  Even though the décor is all over the place, it just screams at you “I want you to be comfortable”, and that I was. 

Au Pied de Cochon

It just made sense to me to make my first real post about my favorite restaurant.  It’s called Au Pied de Cochon (or PDC for short), and it is located in Montreal, Quebec.  If you have not heard of it, the Chef’s name is Martin Picard, and he specializes in everything related to foie gras, pork, duck, and fat.  How could this not be MY favorite restaurant in the world?  This is truly a gastronomic destination. 

The restaurant is very easy to miss the first time you walk by it.  The only visible signs are located on a high window.  I don’t think it is much concern to Chef Picard, though, because the restaurant is packed every night.  I have eaten there a total of five times, and was able to get a reservation only once.  I have realized as a single diner, your best bet is to walk in once they open, and grab a seat in front of the open kitchen. 

The entrance way is very tiny.  I was greeted by two hostesses and sat in the "special seat" at the bar.  When Au Pied De Cochon opened in 2003 Martin Picard asked for donations because he couldn't afford to buy all the seats he needed at the bar.  The result was three hunters donated three chairs that looked VERY out of place, but are very cool in their own sense.  I felt lucky to sit in the last one standing, which was wrapped in gold antlers. 

When you walk in you immediately pass by their seafood tank, and then a huge array of market produce before making your way to your seat.  So many fresh tomatoes, turnips, apples, and so forth just on display.  The tank hides the pizza oven area, where two cooks prepare the large items like the guinea hen for 2, pork loin for 2, and the lamb shank.  PDC bakes their bread fresh daily, and also had eight of their fresh sourdoughs attached to what looks like a giant spear on a counter table.  Unlike most restaurants, the FOH team is very involved with the daily routines of the kitchen.  I witnessed my kitchen runner slicing fresh sourdough to order, as well as others peeling and shelling fresh cranberry beans.