NOLA {Part 2}

On to the best part, the food of New Orleans. The food did not disappoint; although the hubs was mostly looking forward to a crawfish boil, but crawfish was not in season!

Our first night there was Christmas Eve, and we went to Borgne one of John Besh's restaurants. Borgne is Besh's coastal Louisiana cuisine restaurant. They had a reveillon menu to celebrate Christmas.




The hubs had the Crispy Boudin Balls -- Duck & Andouille Gumbo -- Black Drum -- Citrus Olive Oil Cake


I had the Duck Poppers -- Alligator Soup -- Whole Stuff Flounder -- Pot de Creme


On Christmas night we tried another John Besh restaurant, Domenica, his Italian restaurant inside the Roosevelt Hotel (featured here. We had a Meat&Cheese Board (the duck liver pate was amazeballs) -- Clam Pizza -- Stracci (oxtail + fried chicken livers) -- Tagliatelle (rabbit + porcini) -- Banana Zuppa Inglese. The appetizer and pizza was great; the pasta was way over salted (they ended up remaking the hubs' tagliatelle)

(see that big fluffy pillow dough on the top left corner, they were pretty amazing: its Domenica's savory version of a beignet fried in DUCK FAT. so yummy with the duck pate. anyway..moving on before i drool...)

I think I'll stop here for now and do one more post of the more casual foods we had.

NOLA {Part 1}

I can't believe its been almost 3 months since our New Orleans trip! It was our "big" trip of the year; we were there from Christmas Eve through the 29th before heading off to LA for a wedding.

Most of the trip was spent walking, exploring, and, of course, EATING! This was our first time in NOLA (first time in the south - minus TX). The culture is definitely unique and enticing. It also felt quite familiar and comfortable, like easing into an old, comfy couch. There was a lot of old, mixed in with the new; and the rebuilding of the city was definitely felt, as well as the love of the citizens for their city.

The architecture was amazing; it really transports you back to a different era:






We also did a swamp tour while in Louisiana. The bus picked us up and drove us out about a half hour to the swamp. During the drive, our driver pointed out different areas where Katrina had hit and the damages that occurred. I wish I got photos of it, but I was too busy soaking it all in. In some places the water was 15-20 feet. Some buildings, like a movie theater, decided to not rebuild, and it still sits there - stranded and debilitated. Then some areas have rebuilt and come back strong. We also got to hear/see the damage on the swamp.





It was winter, so the expectation was that we weren't going to see much wildlife. We did spot a couple of little gators, including one whose jaw was busted open, saw a pelican, a nutria (giant rat). I was most excited about getting to hold a gator!


(Please excuse my ridiculous look, someone said something that made me laugh)

I'll end with one of my favorite scenes from the trip. This was the lobby of the Roosevelt Hotel, dressed to the nines for Christmas:

(my photos really don't do this place justice)

Time Flies

Wowee! It's MARCH already, how crazy is that? Looks like I've been slacking again on this blog thing. So I thank you if you still read this thing. Here's a peek at what's been going on:

So many goodies: Noodle Theory Ramen w/ +Lynn Vuong; panne cotta & roasted chicken (from +Irene Byon bday); Koja Kitchen Truck; homemade pasta casserole and miso braised chicken; BeardPapa chocolate cream puff; lamb chops and oysters from Sushi Delight


 3crosses Volunteer Appreciation Month; ironman micro mugs (thanks to +Peter Lee); Sideboard w/ +Nicole Makinney Miranda; Chinese New Year dinners; Mimosa & Monte Cristo breakfast w/ +Erica Dang & +Matthew Lee; Homecooked Valentine's Dinner by +Edmund Lee; M.Y. China lunch


(I'll have to do a full post about our trip to NOLA still)

Ornaments

I wanted to post this earlier, but I guess better late than never. We had our first tree this Christmas in our home and added a few new ornaments to our collection. Here's a peak into some of the ones we added:

L to R (clockwise):
Blessed photo frame ornament from the hubs that came in my stocking this year
Snowman Lenox porcelain ornament. This was a steal of a deal that we found at HomeGoods (have I told you I love that store?). I believe he retails full price around $50-60 and we got him for $10 or so.
Mickey Mouse Disney Vinylmation ornament. He smells like the gingerbread man that he's eating. The hubs got into Disney Vinylmations towards the end of the year, so this was a fitting ornament, plus we had a coupon :)
Aruban Fisherman from Aruba (duh!). This isn't a new ornament, but still a fave of mine. We picked this up on our honeymoon. Which now has started a tradition of bringing home an ornament from trips we take (next year, you'll see the one I got from New Orleans)
Fabric Lion from Target. Target had a line of really cute ornaments this winter, and they went fast (at least the good ones did). If you didn't grab it when you saw it, chances are it'd be gone by your next visit.

There you have it! a glimpse into our Christmas decorations. Next year, we should have more exciting things to share on the Christmas decor front, keep your eye out for them!

Hakkasan

1 Kearny St * San Francisco, CA

It's been a while since I've done a restaurant review post. Since +Steve Nguyen brought up the fact that my blog has been lacking reviews, I thought this would be appropriate, as he treated us to a holiday luncheon at Hakkasan.

Hakkasan recently opened this San Francisco outpost on the 2nd floor of what looked like an all but abandoned building on the corner of Kearny and Market. I've seen a lot of posts and reviews lately about it even before it opened, so I was glad to get an opportunity to check it out.

You walk into a very chic and sophisticated dining room separated by interesting wood frames. The centerpiece of the restaurant is gorgeous bar.

We started off with a few dimsum items:

Clockwise, starting from top-left: King crab noodle roll; har gau; crab and taro croquette; daikon cake

The dimsum was all cooked nicely. My favorite was the crab/taro croquette. It was perfectly crispy on the outside and the taro was smooth and creamy inside. This is usually one of my favorite dimsum items to get, but the crab version made it more luxurious. My least favorite was the daikon cake, not sure if the ratio of rice flour and daikon was off, but it turned out alittle too mushy for my liking.

For our main course, we ordered the spicy prawns, black pepper rib-eye with merlot, and chicken fried rice with salted fish.

The dishes were all executed well. The prawns were cooked perfectly, not overcooked at all.

For dessert, we had a steamer full of macarons. I don't remember all the different flavors, but there was a blood orange, burnt caramel, jasmine tea, and yuzu. I thought the macarons were good and a good deal (7 for $12...many places around here charge close to $2 for a macaron)

Overall, I thought this was a great meal, with the prices, definitely not an everyday place. But they had great service and a wonderful ambiance.

Paws: 4