Notes from the West Coast

With some great vintage menus. The view from my desk. Beautiful plates. And the most amazing cake.

Been doing a lot of interviews lately, and one of the questions that keeps coming up is "Where do you write?"

This is the answer: a little cabin in the woods in the foothills of the Berkshires. From my window I can look down at the pond below and the Catskills off in the distance. Deer come crashing through the trees. Birds perch on the roof. Occasionally a chipmunk hops up the steps and peers inside.

There's no internet, and the only heat is a wood-burning stove. My daily ritual begins with building a fire, coaxing the flames to catch the logs, then making sure it doesn't die. Amazing how much heat you can get from one small stove; on even the snowiest days, by the time dark falls it's so warm I have to open up the windows. 

It's peaceful in here.  I sit in this quiet place, waiting for the characters to come and talk to me, tell me what they're thinking. There is no place I would rather be

.

I’m in San Francisco as I write this - still love this city! - but I can’t quite believe how much it’s changed. Feeling nostalgic, I reread this ancient review which was written in a very different city than the one where I now find myself.

The Napa Valley was very different back then too. Here are a few menus from that much simpler time.

Consider, for example, the original French Laundry, which was beloved by local wine makers - the restaurant had the most incredible local wine list. The late Sally Schmitt created food that was fresh, easygoing and extremely appealing. (Just before she passed away in 2022, Sally published a wonderful cookbook called Six California Kitchens.)

There are two introductions to Sally’s cookbook; one is by Thomas Keller, who bought The French Laundry and transformed it into one of the best restaurants in the world. The other is by CindyPawlcyn, who runs the much-loved restaurant down the road, Mustards Grill. Cindy once described it as "a deluxe truckstop," which tells you everything you need to know. And unlike most of the early Napa Valley establishments, both restaurants are still going strong.

Sadly Doidge’s is no longer with us. In the old days it was where everyone met for breakfast.

Miramonte’s gone too. It was a pleasantly ambitious establishment; who could resist Chinese eggplant in the style of Provence?

But the restaurant I miss most is Rose et LeFavour. Tiny and exquisite, I went as often as I could. Bruce LeFavour was self-trained with an incredible imagination, and his partner Caroline Rose ran the front of the house with extraordinary grace.

You probably can’t read my scribbled notes, but they say that the scallops were served on red chard with a raspberry vinegar sauce and a julienne of snow peas. The rabbit, I thought was fabulous, the cheese tray offered a chevre, Morbier and an unspecified blue, and the dessert cart contained a persimmon tart, candied fruit and chocolate souffles. And we apparently drank a ’69 Meursault and a ’66 Cos d’Estournel.

Alain Chapel’s pigeon jelly would come to be widely copied, but this was the first time I’d encountered it outside of Chapel’s own kitchen. Bruce LeFavour’s interpretation of Chapel’s jelly was a loose translation, involving raw yellowtail and pigeon breast, a sauce of crème fraîche and orange juice, shards of daikon, leaves of arugula and bits of chervil. The salmon on the millefeuille, I noted, was slightly overcooked, but that sorrel sauce I scribbled was “like a beure blanc made with egg yolks.” Whatever that means. The quail breasts had a tender texture reminiscent of poached eggs, and were served with lemon-poached apple slices.

The lamb (brave to include the kidneys), was served with chard with red peppers and beautiful asparagus, the cheeses were chevre, Pont L’Eveque and a brebis, and the dessert cart included a strawberry tart, an unsweetened chocolate cake, and a macademia tart. But there was more to come: stuffed dates, cookies, fruit jellies and chocolate truffles.

Quite a meal for forty bucks!

I found this beautiful cedar plate at Sanko, a unique Japantown shop, which is filled with dozens of gorgeous objects, every one of which I covet. I’d love a table set with a few of these sustainable cedar bark plates made by Aras.

I’ve eaten a lot of great food this week as I’ve made my way from San Diego to Los Angeles and San Francisco. But the two dishes I can’t stop thinking about are this rare duck with creamed morels and grilled onions at Chi Spacca…..

and the spectacular cake that Sherry Yard made for the party at Kali

Looks innocent, right? Inside was…

…this!! Amazing. (Incidentally, Sherry cut the cake with an electric carving knife, which I thought was genius.)