Mark Dedrick

Sorry I missed your earlier post! Agree on the wings. So good. Everything was so good. I'd love to go with a group to cover everything on the menu.

Agree with both of you. I thought this was a very enjoyable season across the board, and the top chefs (so to speak) were all quite likeable.

We spent four nights in Healdsburg last week (at the H2 hotel, which I would recommend, very nice hotel, good sized rooms, wonderful location a block off the square). Here are a few dining highlights: Chalkboard - Just off the square in the former Cyrus space. Our meal here was . . . fine. Nothing was bad, the service was good (except for what was a poor wine recommendation), but nothing really popped for us during the meal. For starters we had the salmon crudo and the beet salad. Both were very meh. The mains (Porcini Gigli and the Cab Braised Short Rib) were far better. I wouldn't recommend against it, but it's not a restaurant I want to return to immediately. Valette - We really enjoyed our meal at Valette, also just off the square. Everything was wonderful, although if anything our meal was a bit too rich. We got the Day Boat Scallops En Croute, which are apparently their signature dish, and I can see why. It's a show-stopper presentation, and also absolutely delicious. I was skeptical going in as scallops are so great when just prepared simply, but this was worth it. Their beef tartare was also fantastic. For mains we went with the Crispy Skinned Steelhead Trout with peas, and then with the Coriander Crusted Duck Breast served over forbidden rice with duck confit. Both were standouts. Service was wonderful. Just a standout meal. Willi's Seafood and Raw Bar - I've still never had a great crab cake on the west coast. Overall however, I enjoyed Willi's. The oysters and other items from the raw bar were fantastic. Barndiva - I would say it was between Barndiva and Valette for our best meals in Healdsburg. They don't have the same menu posted that we ate from, but the fish entree we had here was fantastic, as was the roasted squab. Tremendous meal all around with great service.

We ate very well in San Francisco. One of our favorite meals was at Mr. Jiu's in Chinatown. Very cool, hip space, with fantastic views of Chinatown from the main dining room. They don't seem to post their menu online, but we loved everything we ordered. From my photos, we had some sort of spicy beef tendon dish with a red pepper puree; squid ink wontons with squid; some sort of spicy eggplant dish; dirty chicken fried rice; and their version of ma po tofu. All of it was great. We had slightly too much food, but some of that was due to the fried rice and the ma po tofu both being a lot of food. And it was worth getting to taste those dishes. Anyhow, strongly recommend this spot. Service was also fantastic.

Our final meal on our west coast swing was at Prubechu in the Mission. It's a relatively new Guamanian restaurant in Mission. I heard about it only from some internet searches, it's appearance in the Eater 38, and the fact that they had reservations available when I was finalizing my plans. Going in I had no idea what to expect in terms of type of food, etc, but it ended up being a spectacular meal, and one that we enjoyed greatly. First, as of right now they are only seating people outdoors in their parking lot. They have a nice set-up out there, with heaters, but it was very cold and windy last weekend, and we definitely needed the long-sleeved shirts and coats we were wearing. The service and the food, however, were both fantastic. We ordered the following things: Iceberg Wedge with Wasabi Ranch - This was outstanding, to the point where I reverse engineered it upon arriving home. Spicy, crunchy, delicious all around. Lechen Birenghenas - This was a barbecued eggplant dish with coconut milk and soy sauce, and was nearly the texture of babaganoush, although it held together a bit more. It was fantastic. Gulf Shrimp Kelaguen & Coconut Tityas - There is a section of their menu devoted to different dishes served with a sort of flatbread. We got this one, which was a very flavorful and nice shrimp ceviche with coconut milk. Ko'Ko' Wings - Spiced, battered and fried. Really good. Paired well with the wasabi ranch from the earlier dish. BBQ Pork Ribs - Delicious. We got the Dinache hot sauce, which was similar to a sambal, which worked great with these and gave them some heat. All around, fantastic and interesting meal. We weren't really sure what we were getting with any of the dishes as they came out, but they were all wonderful. Servers were knowledgeable about the menu, and were helpful in advising us on our order. We'd definitely return.

We had dinner for the first time at Zuni Cafe this past weekend, and for the most part it was a delightful experience. Perhaps to our detriment we did not get the chicken as it seemed like a lot of food for just two people, but what we did have was delicious (the menu is not updated so I can't say for sure everything that we had). We had the Caesar salad (as good as people have said) and the Piccolo Frito to start. And we then split the Ricotta Gnocchi, and a hanger steak with a balsamic vinaigrette. Service was a bit odd at times, but on the whole an enjoyable meal, and I can certainly see why this place has been as successful as it has been for this long.

We spent a few days in San Diego around our Valle de Guadalupe trip. Fort Oak – We returned here because we loved it last year, and were also really trying to pick quieter spots as my dad has trouble in loud restaurants. It did not disappoint. Civico 1845 – Very good Italian restaurant in Little Italy. We were seated outdoors, and the food was wonderful. The Neighborhood – Another return venture for us, we love this spot. We had drinks at J & Tony’s beforehand while waiting for our table, and then great steak frites here. Petco Park – We ended up eating dinner at the ballpark one night (we went to two games). Petco has probably the best food and beer situation of any ballpark I’ve been to. The smoked brisket poutine at Grand Ole BBQ is outstanding.

We made a return trip to the Valle de Guadalupe last week, again driving down from San Diego and spending four nights there. There has been a lot of new development, in the form of a lot more places to stay, as well as new restaurants and wineries. Once again, we loved it. The scenery, the food, the wine, the people were all outstanding, and it was a great trip (even taking into account that I likely caught COVID somewhere along the way). The roads remain bad, and mostly dirt, but this time of year things are so dry that while not ideal, it was much easier getting around. I’ll cover this in two posts, one on lodging and wineries, and a second one on food. Lodging – This time we stayed at El Cielo, which is both a winery and a resort. It was great. The resort has a series of buildings which all have three suites in them, a king bed suite, a two queen bed suite, and a larger master suite on the first floor. We ended up in the two queen suite, and the room was very spacious and nice. Comfortable beds. Nice balcony looking out on the vines. The location is very convenient to many of the wineries and restaurants we wanted to visit. I’d stay here again. They were very good about arranging drivers for us to get to dinner at night (we did not want to drive on those roads in the dark, and the cost for transportation was like $20 each way, which we would spend on cabs in DC). Wineries – Here’s the list of wineries we visited in rough order of preference. All of them were good, and I wouldn’t necessarily recommend against any of them. Vena Cava – Our favorite winery hands down on this trip. Reservations required. The wines were all absolutely fantastic (one white, two reds, one sparkler), but the rest of the experience also played a big part. It was a gorgeous day, we sat outside, by ourselves for the most part, directly next to a pond with ducks, and with stunning views of the Valle (we could see Villa de Montefiori, which we visited next). The person pouring for us was great, spoke excellent English, and was very knowledgeable about the wine. Our tasting came with a charcuterie and cheese board. Many of the wineries in the valle sell arts and crafts, or are obviously catering to groups and tours, this is obviously just a winery, and I loved that about it. They make approximately 4,000 cases a year. Vinos Plata – This was a tiny spot recommended by the guy at Vena Cava, it’s across the valley in San Antonio de Minas. Really small operation, you need to make a reservation, and the guy who poured wines for us was the owner/winemaker. Great wines. He poured three of them, a canned white (which was delicious and refreshing), a Tempranillo/Grenache/Syrah blend, and a Merlot. Las Nubes – Our favorite last time around, and it did not disappoint this time either. Great setting, wonderful tasting room inside and out, and we had a very engaging person pouring for us. They’re larger (about 20,000 cases annually), and they have a distributor you can order from in the US. Vinisterra – Another smaller producer recommended to us by Vena Cava, also in San Antonio de Minas. We had a Vinisterra wine we really liked at dinner our first night, and it was great to taste their wines. Strongly recommended. Villa de Montefiori/Paoloni – We returned to this winery from before. They appear to be rebranding, with Paoloni being their higher end wines. Nice experience in their new (to us) tasting room. Great outdoor space, very nice wines. All Italian grapes. Adobe Guadalupe – It was a return for us to this spot as well, which was very near our hotel. The wines were delicious once again. One white, one rose, and two reds. All of the wineries above were 100% about the wines, while the next three are selling crafts and other things as well. Alximia – We hit this spot as we were first arriving in the Valle. The wines were very good, but I think our tasting suffered slightly because the person who started off our tasting poured us one wine that had been open for too long and was no longer good. Once we switched our pourer, our experience improved a lot. Decantos – Fun space, great tasting room, the wines were fine. They’ve got great views. Vinos Cruz – Another recommendation from Vena Cava, and by far the smallest producer we tried. The wines were good, but the language barrier was quite a bit to overcome here. We ate very well on our trip. If you’re heading to the Valle de Guadalupe you should definitely factor in that the temperature drops a lot at night, and many restaurants are mostly, if not entirely, outdoors. Finca Altozano – This was a return visit for us. It’s all outdoors, mostly cooked over fire, and everything was delicious. Highlights were the Wood Fired Oyster Mushrooms, the Grilled Octopus From the Pacific (served with a soy sauce, citrus, ginger, cilantro and peanut sauce), Shrimp Sopes with Bone Marrow, Oak-Grilled Local Quail, and the Caja China Suckling Pig. Bruma Wine Garden – It was hard to find restaurants that were open on Tuesdays, so most of the places we tried to get in were closed. We ended up here, which is the most casual restaurant at the new-ish Bruma resort. All seating is outside. Also, despite the fact that they let us make a reservation for 8 pm, they also close the kitchen very shortly after 8 pm, so don’t make the same mistake we did, and if you’re going to dine here, do so earlier in the day. This place was great. More casual than the other places we dined at, and we also ordered in a very haphazard manner as we needed to get our entire order in very quickly. Their menu is also not online, so I’m basing this entirely on photos, and my months old memories. Among the dishes we enjoyed were an abalone with quails egg; a broccoli “guacamole” that was outstanding; and a couple of very good and inventive pizzas. Worth doing, and a very cool outdoor atmosphere. Animalon – This is another restaurant from chef Javier Plascencia, like Finca Altozano. In my opinion it was the best meal of the trip. We opted for the tasting menu, and there wasn’t a miss on there. Strongly recommend it. Once Pueblos – This is another new-ish restaurant, in a beautiful setting up on top of a hill overlooking the valley. We also went with the tasting menu here, and everything was delicious. I’d rank it slightly behind Animalon, if I had to just choose one, but I’d happily return. Adobe Food Truck – At the Adobe Guadalupe winery, they serve “Spanish” tapas and it’s quite delicious. El Trailero – This is a taco stand on Highway 1, right near the turn inland towards the Valle de Guadalupe, but before you enter Ensenada proper. The tacos are outstanding. Strongly recommend it as your first meal in Mexico. La Guerrerense – Food cart in Ensenada, and some of the best seafood I’ve ever eaten. Just outstanding. Tacos Mi Ranchito El Fenix – Really good shrimp and fish tacos in Ensenada.

Probably late on this, but I'd add that the Valle de Guadalupe is only 90 minutes away and is spectacular. I strongly recommend it. We were there last week.

What part? It's a big place!

Not sure if this is the correct thread to post on or not, but I didn't see a dedicated Sonoma thread, so I'll launch here. We're going to a wedding at the end of next month just outside of Sacramento, and have decided to tack a few days in Healdsburg on to the end of it (as well as a couple of days in San Francisco). It's been a number of years since I was last there, anyone have any recommendations? Meals, wineries, etc, all welcome.

I'll be back in San Diego at the end of next month. If anyone has any new recommendations please post them here!

We made our return to dining at Granville's on Saturday after more than two years away. It felt basically the same. Mussels and fries were great. Beer list was good. Crispy Brussels Sprouts were excellent. Calamari was fine. Great service. Looking forward to returning much sooner than my last visit.

Demarr seems great, as does Buddha. We are also team Jackson in our house. And had a great meal at his restaurant Ospi in LA last weekend.

Definitely looking at dining here during my upcoming trip, has anyone been recently?

If anyone has anything new to report here let me know. I'll be staying in Santa Monica for a few days later this month.

Yeah, this one hurts.

We went once a couple of months ago and had a very nice experience, despite the fact that the building fire alarm led to us all having to evacuate, and then having an absolute monsoon descend near the end of our meal (neither of which are issues where the restaurant is at fault of course). Good food, good service, good cocktails. Only confusing thing as noted is the entrance to the restaurant.

We're having our holiday party at Moon Rabbit later this week, so I was looking at their menu and they've totally overhauled their wine list. It doesn't suck! It's really good! https://www.moonrabbitdc.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/09/cocktails-beers-wine-9.16.21.pdf

We bookended our time in Key West with short stays in Miami. Here are a few spots we sampled: 27 – Wonderful meal and experience. Stubborn Seed – For me this is the best restaurant I’ve been to in Miami, and consistently so. This time was no exception. Everything was excellent, as was the service after a bit of a hiccup at the beginning when we had to wait a long time for our table to become available. A thing I don’t normally consider, but which was an issue with my father, is that this place is quite loud. Yardbird – A real crowd pleaser. Living in Oregon my parents don’t get southern food often at all, and this got the job done. NIU Kitchen – My wife and I ate here our first night in Miami and it was great. We’re not normally downtown, but I would happily return. Puerto Sagua – My folks had never had Cuban food before, and this spot was a good introduction for them. Bazaar – We had lunch here, outside. The menu is substantially smaller than it used to be, likely due to COVID. Taquiza – I remain a huge fan of this place. And the new location has more indoor seating, which came in handy when a rainstorm popped up. Great tacos, great beer selection. Lost Boy – We grabbed cocktails here before our dinner at NIU Kitchen. Cocktails were very good, although I doubt you’ll have the same experience we did as the bar was packed with Chileans watching soccer.

Back in the early part of the summer when I was convinced that this whole COVID thing was behind us, we went to Miami and Key West with my parents, who are currently trying to visit all the National Parks (they have about 14 to go). While thanks to tropical storm Elsa we were not able to make it to Dry Tortugas, we did have a nice time. Elsa also messed up our dining plans rather substantially as well, as many places closed on one or both of Monday and Tuesday nights. Here are a few restaurants we visited: Blue Heaven – This place remains wonderful. We had another great meal here. Bagatelle and Grand Café – I’m lumping these two together as they’re very similar restaurants. Perfectly fine, but nothing special. I wouldn’t actively advise against eating at either one, but at the same time I wouldn’t recommend either. Both are overpriced for what they are. Alonzo’s Oyster Bar – We chose this spot because it was one of a small number of spots that was actually open on Tuesday after Elsa swept through, and it was great. We got a seafood tower, which was wonderful, and I had some great steamer clams in butter and garlic. Sitting on the water topped off the whole experience. Eaton Street Seafood Market – My favorite lunch spot in Key West on this trip. I had awesome shrimp tacos, and some great conch salad. First Flight Island Restaurant – This is the original headquarters of Pan Am airlines, and it has a nice vibe. The food was good. I wouldn’t make a point of going here, but it’s close to a lot of stuff, and I’d happily return. Keys Fisheries – We stopped here on our drive from Key West to Miami. This place is known for their lobster reuben, which my wife ordered. I had fish tacos and conch chowder, and both were very good. Key Largo Conch House – We stopped here on our drive down. Very good conch fritters, and fish tacos. Would happily return. A few other establishments we visited: Papa’s Pilar Rum Distillery – Very nice distillery tour. Rum Bar – I love this place. Incredible rum selection, and very knowledgeable bartender.

I've now been to Portland twice this summer. The downtown feels like a ghost town right now, but I wouldn't say any more so than other cities I've been to recently. Some of my favorite restaurants (Imperial, Little Bird, Andina, Red Star, Pok Pok) have closed permanently, and it can be really hard to find restaurants that are open depending on what day of the week you're looking, and what neighborhood you're looking in. Last week I had a wonderful meal at Mediterranean Exploration Company, followed by outstanding cocktails at Teardrop Lounge in the Pearl District. And last month we had exceptional drinks at the Scotch Lodge followed by a great dinner at Normandie, both new spots for me. I'd happy return to either.

We'll be traveling to Puerto Rico in November, over Thanksgiving. I've been twice before, but all told for no more than 36 hours. We'll be splitting our time between San Juan and Rincon. Any hotel or food recommendations from anyone who has been recently?

We ate at Moon Rabbit in like May or June and had a wonderful meal. The only negative is that the wine list is terrible, and overpriced. As in, with the exception of Krug, you could purchase every single wine on their list at a Safeway. This is a problem that Kith and Kin also had, so is likely related to the InterContinental. But I really hope they can fix this. Apparently corkage is $30, and I'll be taking advantage of this next time I eat there.

I'll post more in depth later, but we've just spent a week in San Diego. Much of that was to watch the Padres (booked the trip before they went into the tank), but had some good restaurant meals as well. By far the best one was Fort Oak. Incredible meal. Herb & Wood was also solid. Juniper and Ivy was much worse than either. Horribly slow, and just not as good. I doubt I'd return. Fort Oak is a definite re-visit for us however. On the bar side, J & Tony's Discount Cured Meats and Negroni Emporium was wonderful. Everthing I want in a bar. The Neighborhood, from the same restaurant group, was also great. Open late, with food, and wonderful. They had a late night steak tartare when I needed it.