Food Love a la Pebble Beach

The French master himself has said it so many times: "Food is love. Sharing food is sharing love." Fittingly, PBF&W is showing Jaques Pepin (above, pictured during his demo this afternoon) the love, honoring him in an unprecedented way at this pinch-me-it-can't-be festival—he just accepted a reserve bottle of some of the best Roerderer bubbly in the business during his caviar cooking demo as part of the honors, which include a special dinner anchored by epic-in-their-own-right Charlie Trotter, Ming Tsai, Ken Frank and Gina DePalma tomorrow. A well-deserved nod to his trend-setting in creativity, accessibility and overall delicious-making ability happens tomorrow.

But before that came lunch. This was the opener for the "By Land or By Sea: The Delicacy Lunch Featuring Russian River Valley Wines," a cauliflower panna cotta with scallops and salmon roe, with a rhubarb foundation.

And before that happened, Ming Tsai and Thomas Keller did some dynamite demos (while various wine tastings lavished attendees with their own surreal sensations nearby) on the Spanish Bay grounds in big tents erected solely for this event.

Tsai has some zingers. On Iron Chef: "I can't go down as the Chinese guy who loses at [preparing] duck! I wouldn't be able to go into a Chinese restaurant. 'Kids! We're getting burritos.'"

On Neptune Seafood in L.A.: "Their live king crab is one of the best things you can eat in this life."

On crab cakes: "Julia Childs would say this about burgers. Pack loosely. Let the spaces fill with juices. Same with crab cakes."

On oil: "Olive oil has a lower smoking temperature. And it's expensive. So canola can be just what you want...test oil first—try something besides the cake because that would be a waste. Like a bread crumb. You need good heat for the crust that seals in the flavor."

On avocados: "Avocados are nature's butter. I can't think of a better thing that comes out of the ground."

On chicken: "This is a place where you want to 'one-up'—dry aged bone in ribeye can be significantly more expensive, but organic, kosher chicken might be $3.50 a pound instead of $2.50. It's worth it."

On Chinese: "That was my first Fonzie impression. Don't think I'll do that ever again. And Chinese can't do other things. Like wear cowboy hats."

On chicken and Chinese: "I'm a dark meat guy. Legs and thighs. There is a reason they are fattier: skin all the way around. The difference in flavor [compared to chicken breast] is astronomical. And it's a Chinese dream: better and cheaper?! How can you not use it?"

On Thanksgiving: "Always brine your turkey. Twenty-four hours. In kosher salt and sugar—add them until the water tastes like sweet sea water. In a cooler. And keep it cold with non-toxic frozen gel packs in the cooler."

On Thomas Keller: "He's a different level chef. We are craftsmen. He is an artist."

Speaking of...Keller was doing his demo deal next door. I just caught the tail-end. "Only two things enhance food: Salt and acid," he said. "People thing 'Salt and pepper are seasoning,' but salt enhances flavor. Pepper changes it."

Then came the ludicrous lunch. Michael Ginor of Hudson Valley Foie Gras reinvented sustenance as far as this quazi-foodie's concerned with a pâté brulée, duck confit brouille (above foreground) and duck procuitto charcuterie plate (which overachieved further with an excellent Thomas George Estates Chardonnay)....

...before Roy Yamaguchi dropped this lobster pierogi with caviar, chanterelle and morel helping the cause. Aloha means "Hello" (and "I'm going to eat you").

Then squab, roasted, with chamomile, and sublime pistachio cream sauciness and heiloom carrots and crispy truffle flakes. Tender as a first teenage love and just as tasty. Particularly with '07 Guyzer Block Syrah from Davis Family Vineyards.

And dessert from Pebble Beach Company's own oracle of sweetness, Jonathan Hui: milk chocolate mousse built like a delicious brick with pear gelee inside (above), pistachio gelato made in house with a pistash brittle topper and warm sour cherry almond cake. It's like damn, dude, nicely done.

At a post-lunch demo, self-taught Charlie Trotter had some stirring insights himself. My favorite riff: "To be a great chef you can read lots of cookbooks, filet fish [professionally], treat leg of lamb…but if you don't taste, taste, taste, you're nothing," he said. "Like Larry Bird, Michael Jordan and Magic Johnson, who shot free throw after free throw, thousands, you start to feel it. You have to practice. [Then] you understand nuance. You interpret. Like the 'mind's eye,' there's a palate's eye. I haven't tasted this dish yet but [because of that practice] I can smell it I know I have to 'goose' it up a little bit."

Pepin was up next, dishing laughs with his daughter Claudine and blowing minds with caviar treatments paired with Cristal. (Paging heaven: We're fine here.)

In short, serious salivation activation on the premises. Onward.

2010 Pebble Beach Food & Wine Tees Off

Signs that life is good at Pebble Beach Food & Wine 2010 are ample. And often edible, like this delicious pulled pork mini with cole slaw, Memphis barbecue sauce and white-pepper mustard, which local standout meat-smokin' outfit Me and the Hound is serving at the 14th tee as part of today's sun-blessed sponsor-and-chef golf tournament.

Or this lobster crossaint sandwich by grub guru Jerry Regester of the Intercontinental's C Restaurant, served with truffled eggs before the shotgun start.

Or these "foie gras" breakfast potatoes. "It's Pebble Beach Food & Wine," Regester told me. "You gotta do something crazy."

They're potable too, like the Belvedere vodka poured through the swirling "ice luge" at the 4th hole or the Patron Bloody Marias served at the 1st tee (before and after the opening Krug champagne toast).

Of particular appeal to co-foundering visionaries Rob Weakley and David Bernahl (above left), though, the signs are also numerical: The 2,000 (!) slots for Saturday's Grand Tasting are sold out (50 $175 slots remain Sunday), five of six dinners are maxxed out, and after a nasty opening day in '09, temps today scratched past 70. Even as sales continue, those number help make this the most successful PBF&W yet.

The final good sign is rather self-explanatory: The above picture of Bernahl jogging some of the loftiest links around in his Pacific Tweed finery while a wine-loving gorilla looks in the other direction.

Pebble Beach Food & Wine. Period.

Not all chefs are created equal. And more than 60 of the most wildly unequal will be channeling all their disproportionate gifts to festivalgoing palates all weekend for Pebble Beach Food & Wine's third iteration of astronaut-class flavor exploration. In fact, it's already started: The founder's dinner has poured out $200,000-plus worth of private-collection wine, pairing three wines with each of nine courses by the likes of Angela Pinkerton, Thomas Keller, above, and Walter Manzke, and the chefs are playing Pebble Thursday (after a champagne toast, of course).

I'll be attending a fraction of the proceedings—including Charlie Trotter and Ming Tsai-Blue Ginger demos, a Krug tasting with a Krug presiding (read: very rare) and the way-too-much-goodness tour de force that is the Grand Tastings. Last year we envisioned what some of the possible pairings there would be like (hint: it's nutzoid...read that here); this year you can follow what some of the universe's top tastemakers are doing live as I post pictures and commentary from my mobile from the various events.

Not long after taking in a Keller demo at Spanish Bay, I got to track arguably the globe's top toque down in the Per Se kitchen to talk sourcing and sustainability. Check that out here.

More flavor: The Weekly wrote the definitive coming-out piece for PBF&W with a cover story on the eve of the original. This week in the Weekly print edition I described the strategy Dan Dunn, Playboy cocktail and spirits columnist advocates to survive such absurd amounts of sublime stimulation (and wine drinking—more than 250 top rung operations will represent). It's a como se dice classic DD breakdown. His Playboy website is worth checking out, as is his description of what it's like to be a professional drinker in an interview with BroBible.

River Road Revelation

Sometimes you just know, you know?

You walk in someone's house, and you can tell the friendship's gonna flow deeper. You step on the field and somehow discern it's your day. You ease into a new restaurant and sense it's a spot where you'll get along famously.

So it goes with Element Tasting Bar & Pizza Bistro (998-7045), the kind of place that, thanks its obscure coordinates and that you-just-know vibe, feels like a discovery definitely worth permanently downloading to the hardrive in the head.

It sits a good three miles east of Highway 68 on River Road, so you gotta want it, or live in the area, though folks there insist that's changing quickly. My pal and I actually drove past it on our virgin voyage, but I'm glad we doubled back and found it next to a 76 gas station.

The door swung open and—bang—the small bar area was packed. Warmth bubbled from clearly collegial parties at the bar, where I asked the barkeep if there was a wine she might recommend. Owner Misty Romassa (above right) didn't hiccup, retreating for a taste of Element Syrah, a wine that turned out to 1) be the product of her sister's Addamo Winery in Santa Maria; 2) enjoy the kind of smoky bacon fat flavor that only a quality Syrah can do righteously; and 3) a heavy-pour bargain at $6.

Specialty pizzas like the Tuscan (onion, tomatoes, kalamata olives, garlic and fresh basil), Jordan's (artichokes and bacon) and the midwestern (barbecue chicken, red onion, corn, black beans, cilantro drizzled in ranch dressing) traveled to tables nearby ($8.95/nine-inch; $13.95/12-inch). At the bar, though, it looked like the only thing on the menu was what Romassa calls their most popular plate, at least when it's on special Thursday-Saturday: the prime rib ($16.95, above left, with accompanying au jus, broccoli slaw and a twice-baked potato). Thing was massive, somehow dwarfing one of the largest and most carefully crafted iceberg wedges (right) you will find for $5.50.

For a place only a year old, Element felt awfully homey and established, so what Romassa (left, with server/pal Ashley Buck) told me next made sense: She's been in restaurants her whole life, serving most recently as manager at Ellie's in Salinas for six years.

Her fiancé Jim Armstrong tasted us on some other winner wines, keeping with their code to honor family-owned wineries. Speaking of family owned wineries, Mark and Sabrina Manzoni of Manzoni Vineyards—whose Pinot ranks among the region's best—sat next to me at the bar, and pointed out that fast-approaching May 1 is a prodigious day for wine in these parts, what with the 16th Annual River Road Springfest and its collection of open houses starring new releases, barrel samplings, food and entertainment.

Good times ahead. Good times going on at Element. Something tells me I'll be back (maybe to try the artichoke bruschetta, $7.95, above)—just got that feeling, you know?

Fresh Crab on the High Seas

The bay can be enjoyed so many ways—via ridgetop trail, oceanside deck or wetsuit exploration. But one of the best ways goes by the name Bella on the Bay Monterey (818-822-2390).

A small band of buddies and I boarded the 47-foot Italian sailing cruiser on a Saturday for sunset and were met immediately by the charming Christian Hestness (above), who took advantage of a potentially gnarly recession-bred situation (losing his job running Victory Toyota in Seaside) to live and work on his cherry racer and tour people around our off-shore sanctuary.

Soon after we cleared the Coast Guard breakwater, the collaboration of camaraderie, beauty and conditions already felt cosmic enough, then our captain broke out the cracked crab, fresher than Bill Clinton at an intern job fair—he had pulled it from pots on the previous tour. We grinningly grazed on as the sun dove toward Del Monte Forest, pitching shells into the surprisingly still seas and chasing it with Coronas and Edna Valley Chardonnay.

These days Bella's doing 1-3pm and 5-7pm tours for $69 a person (it fits seven comfortably). He also rents by the hour, day or week. On top of birthdays and anniversaries, he also elevates everything from weddings to midnight moonlight cruises to bachelorette parties.
All told, it's a great thing to get wind of.

Al Fresco Fabulous

The only thing better than better than a lunch of excellent onion rings and a spicy grilled albacore tuna steak sandwich ($10.95)—with spinach, tomato, chipotle mayo and powerhouse pepper jack—is enjoying it on a sun-soaked patio overlooking wide swaths of manicured green with Jacks Peak bristling beautifully in the background.

Therein lies the crucial beauty of the Del Monte Grill (642-4684) at the Del Monte Golf Course—the oldest golf course west of the Mississippi, adjacent to the Hyatt in Monterey —which inspires a steady tribe of knowing locals to frequent it, but not many beyond the core in-the-knowers.

The menu presents above-average grill fare including a Nicoise salad ($7.95), a prawn cocktail (pictured above, $9.25) and sandwiches like a half-pound Angus burger ($8.75) or the Del Monte Melt with chicken, Swiss, guac and grilled mushrooms ($10), though the tuna steak sandwich is tough to top. But it's the welcoming patio that make it a regular spot for me.

As underappreciated patios go, DMG’s is not alone.

The newest revelation in my palate's wanderings: Chamisal (484-1135), where Chef David Frappeia is executing an impressive lineup of benedicts, sandwiches, salads and even French-inspired dinners. For more on a spot particularly appealing for the destination-depraved residents of Los Laureles Grade, check out my recent column here.

Perhaps the most foolishly neglected belongs to Jacks in the Portola Hotel (649-2698), with its fire ring and views of the brick plaza and the boats beyond, which was already worth savoring before the menu was recently reimagined, as I reported about a week back. Sibling spot Peter B’s (649-2699) around the corner benefits from surrounding gardens, good beers and a great happy hour 4-7pm.

London Bridge's (372-0581) outdoor area has one of the better views going, and a recent redesign of its patio cut out the wind from the harbor-adjacent watering hole. Not far from there Esteban (375-0176) enjoys a nice sandstone expanse, especially for being next to a parking lot. Meanwhile Kula Ranch (883-9479) rules in Marina (yes, ugly-weather central - that’s how welcoming the huge decks and multiple oversized firepits are) and Carmel is coated with superb patios, many designed to seduce dog owners, including the leafy escape furnished by Forge in the Forest (649-8600). And arguably the best place to have a drink when the weather's right: the fire-pitted patio at the Inn at Spanish Bay (647-7500), complete with west-facing sunset sights and the bag piper who seems to materialize from the mist pre-dusk.
My top sleeper, though, might be Trailside Café (649-8600) on the Rec Trail just north of Cannery Row. Sean Taylor's kitchen dishes superlative salmon benedicts, beignets and fish tacos, his taps spit out grade-A microbrews and the Pacific provides idyllic views for those lounging on the vine- and brick-blessed patio.

There's a reason they call the outdoors great.

Good Noodlin': The Top Vietnamese Soup Kitchen Redux

A cult hit in Seaside has sprouted a branch in Marina. The Noodle Bar’s new location in the former Pizza Paradise (384-6225) is just two weeks into existence, but what I saw there on its one-week anniversary bodes well.

The menu is intact—only significantly larger, and with more vegetarian items. (The popular-as-ever spring rolls still rock, as pictured above.) The prices are the same: $5.50 for regular bowls and $6.50 for a large one. The somewhat clinical ambiance is another animal, as the feel of the coffee-shop-style counter on Fremont is impossible to replicate, but, as happened during my visit, they can now serve a party of 12, which would’ve filled the other location. (For nostalgic types there is a counter along the window).

Most importantly, the soups and noodles are still superb. My won ton soup soared on a broth I could slurp indefinitely and my pal’s chicken pho evaporated almost as immediately as mine. The Thai teas ($2.50) were just right. And the service is just as sweet and familial.