Category Archives: Dining Out

Catching up with Moveable Feast Posts and a One-Year SJ Eats Anniversary Congrats

From the better-late-than-never files (AKA the I-took-these-pics-and-I’ll-post-them-no-matter-how-old-they-are-dang-it files) are pics from previous Moveable Feast food truck gatherings.

I caught the craft beer bug early last year. But at the time, I already had the food truck bug. In fact, it was the presence of the food trucks at the San Jose Meet the Brewers beer festival last year in February that enticed me to attend in the first place. And it was seeing the lively San Jose beer scene up close and personal at the beerfest that stoked a deeper interest in craft beer in general and then local craft beer in particular that continues today.

Still, I’m always keeping tabs on the South Bay food truck scene. This post is a lengthy catch-up post, and its timing coincides with the one-year anniversary of the historic San Jose food truck festival called SJ Eats (later to become Moveable feast) that took place last April 2011.

Today, the San Jose food truck scene is popular and continues to expand, and most of the credit goes to the Moveable Feast founders Ryan and Christine Sebastian, owners of San Jose’s Treatbot karaoke ice cream truck (for those not already familiar with Treatbot, yes you read that correctly – karaoke and ice cream truck).

Let’s get to the pics already!

From Oct. 8, 2011 in West San Jose.

FOOD TRUCKS:

  • An the Go – Garlic Noodles
  • Chairman Bao – Baos
  • Hiyaaa! – Fushion
  • Iz It – Hawaiianese
  • MoBowl – Rice Bowls
  • The Wow – Silogs
  • Treatbot – Karaoke Ice Cream

The “408” from Treatbot is one of their signature flavors, and I certainly see why.

From Oct. 22, 2011 (West San Jose).

  • Hiyaaa
  • MoGo BBQ
  • O Mi Ninja
  • Rice Rockit
  • Sanguchon
  • The Wow

Those banana fritters from the WOW truck are addicting. Is it possible to have just one?

From Dec. 17, 2011 (West San Jose).

  • Chairman Truck – Baos
  • Louisiana Territory – Cajun
  • Nom Nom – Vietnamese
  • Sanguchon – Peruvian
  • The Wow – Silogs
  • Treatbot – Karaoke Ice Cream

The tofu tacos from the Nom Nom truck were a delight with their fresh ingredients.

From Feb. 4, 2012 (West San Jose).

FOOD TRUCKS:

  • Chairman Truck – Baos
  • KoJa Kitchen – Japanese/Korean Fusion
  • Louisiana Territory – Cajun
  • MoGo BBQ – Korean Fusion
  • Sanguchon – Peruvian
  • Treatbot – Ice Cream
  • Wow Truck – Silogs

It appears that shortly after we left this particular day in early February, the crowd kept getting larger as Moveable Feast announced on Facebook, “Thank you for supporting quality street food in your hood. We had a record breaking Saturday with 1,000 visitors in 3 hours!” Moveable Feast would go on to announce new attendance records as well as new locations throughout the San Jose area.

Since February, we’ve driven by the West San Jose spot a number of times but have had to pass right on by upon seeing the large crowds. It’s a bummer missing out on good food, but the huge turnouts are awesome sights to behold.

Always Grateful,

~Andy

Stone Brewing Co. Brewmaster’s Dinner at California Cafe Palo Alto

As part of their ongoing beer and food pairing dinner series, California Café Palo Alto last Thursday featured beers from Escondido’s Stone Brewing Co. Wifey and I were fortunate enough to attend. Thanks, bro’, for childsitting!

Let’s just get to the verdict now: the dinner and beers were awesome. Executive Chef Mark Pettyjohn, along with his team, once again showed his love for beer and food by creating fun, artistic, and delicious dishes. Here are our pics:

When wifey and I got there, we noticed that we had our own booth, which was  a surprise to us as we thought that we would be sitting with some folks whom we had met at the previous brewmaster’s dinner. Alas, most of these folks did not show up. Note to self: get the contact information of folks whom we meet and with whom we want to stay in touch.

The menu.

And before long, the first course had arrived.

Arrogant Bastard Ale (American strong ale, 7.2% ABV).

Grilled portobello mushroom with chic pea fries, foie gras croutons, goat cheese. Neither wifey nor I had ever had foie gras, and it was fun to get an introduction to it in the form of croutons. The chic pea fries were tasty and a nice change from “regular old fries.” Our favorite part of the dish were the portobello mushroom slices.

Second course:

Stone Ruination IPA (American double/Imperial IPA, 7.7% ABV).

“Here piggy piggy piggy…” House cured pork belly, crispy pancetta, smoked bacon butter. The bitter hoppiness of the IPA cut nicely through the richness of this tasty dish. The pancetta was salty and crispy and just a joy to eat. The pork belly was soft, juicy, and rich. The two very different preparations of pork went very nicely together and were even more enhanced by the beer.

Cheers!

The introduction of the food and the beer is what makes the beer dinners at California Cafe so special. It’s a treat to see Chef Mark so excited about the dishes he creates and to learn a bit about all the prep and planning that go into the individual courses. It’s also nice to hear more about the beers directly from a brewery rep.

Surprise course:

Cherry chocolate stout (Milk/sweet stout, 7.3% ABV).

Duck with cherry topping, polenta with white chocolate, beer chocolate cherry sauce. The pairing in this dish worked extremely well as the cherry notes in the beer were represented very pleasantly in the dish. I have not eaten a lot of duck, and never duck like this. To say I was pleasantly surprised would be an understatement.

Executive Chef Mark Pettyjohn.

He stopped by to ask us how we were doing. And then he stayed for quite some time talking with us, which wifey and I sincerely appreciated.

Third course:

Stone Imperial Russian Stout, Vintage ‘08 (Russian imperial stout, 10.5%).

Braised beef short ribs with parsnip puree, crispy onion strings. I enjoyed this course but wifey loved it. She couldn’t get enough of the parsnip puree and talked about making it at home. I can’t wait! The beef had a mild flavor, but only because I’m so used to soy sauce heavy Korean braised short ribs; wifey thought it was perfect as is.

Fourth course:

Stone Old Guardian Barley Wine, Vintage ‘09 (American barleywine, ~12% ABV).

Carrot cake with tipsy raisins, carrot gel. The dessert was AMAZING! Neither wifey nor I had ever had barleywine, and we’ll have to try it a few more times to learn to fully appreciate it. But that didn’t stop us from polishing off the most amazing carrot cake. The highlight was the carrot cake wrapped in a lumpia wrapper and then deep fried. It was warm, flavorful, and simply perfect.

Awesome food. Awesome beers. Awesome dinner date. Awesomeness all around.

Always Grateful,

~Andy

Celebrating Oktoberfest at Harry’s Hofbrau San Jose

Copied from last month’s Harry’s Hofbrau Facebook page:

OKTOBERFEST! September 26th Come kick off our month long celebration with Schneider Brewing from Kelheim. We will feature 4 brews on draft Aventinus (100/100 ratebeer.com), Hopfen-weiss (98/98 ratebeer.com), Edel-weiss (95/99 ratebeer.com) and Original Weiss (95/99 ratebeer.com). Buy the beer take home your 1/2L mug, and refills are only $6-$4! Sausages, Schnitzel, Sauerkraut, Hot German potato salad, and meet the rep from Germany!

My brother and I went. Here are the pics as proof.

    

Schneider Aventinus (Weizenbock; 8.2% ABV).

 

Hopfen-weisse (Weizenbock; 8.2% ABV).

 

Both of these beers were enjoyable. It was great taking home these beer glasses. Hanging out with my brother for a while was also nice. Smile

And I had the pleasure of hanging out with my brother a couple of weeks later at Harry’s Hofbrau again.

October 13th Thursday’s pint night will be a German celebration! Hofbrau Munchen original will be on draft… Large steins will be only $11 that’s for the glass to take home and 34oz of delicious Bavarian beer. .5L steins will go for $7 for the glass to take home and 16.9oz of HB Original… The rep will be here with samples. So come grab a brat, a schnitzel, and a Litre of Hofbrau Original! Prost!

 

Sausage and Weinerschnitzel, sauerkraut, and hot German potato salad.

 

 

Hofbrau Munchen Original (Munich Helles Lager, 5.1% ABV).

A refreshing, relatively light beer that paired very well with the hearty food.

 

More.

 

As is usually the case when going out, the highlight of the evening was the company. It was simply great to meet up with a couple of friends we haven’t seen in ages. Hope to hang out with them again soon.

Prost!

~Andy

21st Amendment Brewing Brewmasters Dinner at California Cafe

This post highlights the last of the three dinner dates that wifey and I were fortunate enough to go on last month, and let me just get this out of the way right now – this evening was amazing!

California Café in Palo Alto hosted a beer and food pairing dinner, partnering up with San Francisco’s 21st Amendment Brewery.

Our menu.

First course:

Hell or High Watermelon Wheat Beer.

Chili poached prawns with watermelon-radish salad.

I loved everything about this gorgeous and tasty dish.

Second course:

With Executive Chef Mark Pettyjohn standing right next to our table to introduce the course.

And 21st Amendment Brewery co-founder and brewmaster Shaun O’Sullivan on hand to introduce the beer.

Brew Free or Die India Pale Ale.

Bacon wrapped pork tenderloin with bacon-tomato hash and sweet corn puree.

I loved every molecule of this dish.

Third course:

Back in Black IPA.

“Peking” quail with coffee-hoisin glaze and baby bok choy. Very well executed.

Shaun O’Sullivan chatting with our table.

Fourth course:

Monk’s Blood Belgian Dark Ale.

Vanilla veal sweetbreads with cippolini onion & mission fig jam and cinnamon-shiitake polenta cake.

Well, at least wifey and I can officially say that we’ve tried sweetbreads now. Smile

Chef Mark answering our question of, “What exactly are sweetbreads?”

And Peter from the BetterBeerBlog realizing that wifey hasn’t touched her sweetbreads.

Speaking of Peter, if it weren’t for his blog, then wifey and I wouldn’t have known about these dinner events at California Café. So thanks again, Peter, for sharing so much about our South Bay beer scene!

On to the final dessert course:

Hop crisis imperial IPA.

Hop crisis creamsicle with citrus-hop crisis ice cream.

Perfect dessert! I could eat this every day. I wouldn’t be surprised if everybody who tried this course agreed.

Chef Mark introducing his sous chefs, Madison and Ben.

Bravo, chefs!

I liked each of the 21st Amendment beers when I tasted them individually, and the folks at our table especially loved the Hop Crisis Imperial IPA. We also agreed wholeheartedly that the beer and food pairings all worked incredibly well.

So this was the first beer and food paring dinner that wifey and I ever attended, and it was awesomely memorable. I already know that as far as such dinners are concerned, that this one will be tough to beat. We lucked out with our table mates and just felt like VIPs throughout the dinner. Even the general manager, Andre’, after introducing himself and the restaurant at the start of the evening, checked in on us to ask if there was anything he could for us.

I’m so glad to have been able to attend this sold-out dinner. And of course, nothing is better than the fact that I was able to share this wonderful experience with wifey.

Always Grateful,

~Andy

Dishcrawl at the Fairmont San Jose

I forget how I found out about Dishcrawl a few months ago, but wifey and I got to experience the Dishcrawl phenomenom last month in downtown San Jose, specifically at the Fairmont San Jose.

What’s Dishcrawl?

Its a new way to discover your food neighborhood! Get to know friends over an exciting night through four restaurants you never knew existed. Its delicious and fun!

And when I saw last month’s San Jose pitch:

Dishcrawl is kickin it up a knotch by taking you on a tour of the luxurious and elegant hotel that is the Fairmont San Jose. What could be in store here? Well only the best. Where well be leading our adventure is a mystery but not so much that you dont have a clue! Join us to taste the awesomeness that the Fairmont San Jose has. You will be sad if you dont.

I went ahead and purchased two tickets, as I didn’t want to be sad.

Boy, the folks at Dishcrawl are good with words, as shown in their last-minute preview message:

From Near and Far, the travel to Downtown San Jose this Tuesday eve is worth it for a Dishcrawl that’s been whispered into the hearts of folks craving elegance, sexiness, and an opportunity to experience it all at the Fairmont San Jose.

We’ll be waltzing through the elegance of The Fountain where a trio of delights will be prepared, relaxing in The Lounge with some exquisite sushi bites, enjoying The Pagoda’s hip music vibe, and admiring the luxurious sweets littered throughout three elegant suites.  Chef Daniel, Fernando, and many others are ready at your service.  Can you taste the deliciousness now?

Yes, I can taste it! Let’s get to the pictures!

Wifey and I were very happy to have such a trustworthy babysitter.

And also quite happy to check out Dishcrawl.

Tracy is the person who started it all, and the Dishcrawl blog goes back to February of last year. But Dishcrawl seems to really be picking up major steam in recent months.

First up: Pagoda Restaurant.

Dungenness crab egg drop soup, honey walnut prawns, work fried mango and mint chicken, and steamed jasmine rice.

Next: Fountain Restaurant.

House hickory smoked salmon blinis with caviar and crème fraiche, heirloom tomato shooter, and dungeness crab cake with basil aioli.

Cheers!

Time for the Lobby Lounge.

Fresh tuna and salmon nigiri sushi, spider and unagi-hamachi roll.

And finally…

Some desserts up in the Presidential, Fairmont, and International suites.

Assorted French pastries and mango-fennel panna cotta.

Chocolate fountain.

Truffles and macaroons.

Everything was awesome – food, setting, people, organization, cost… Can’t wait to go again!

Always Grateful,

~Andy