Salad Is Slaughter

One of my favorite restaurants — Manresa in Los Gatos — has been named one of the top 50 restaurants in the world by Restaurant magazine.  

From Manresa’s web site:

Manresa Restaurant in Los Gatos has been selected for inclusion in Restaurant magazine’s annual “World’s 50 Best Restaurants” awards. The London-based industry bible polled more than 300 international restaurateurs, chefs, critics, and journalists to rank the best restaurants worldwide.

The complete list of award winners will be revealed on April 18, 2005, at an exclusive awards ceremony to be held in association with Penfolds Wines. David Kinch, chef and proprietor of Manresa and his partner, General Manager Michael Kean, will attend the event in London, where the world’s finest chefs and restaurateurs will converge. This is the first year that Manresa has been chosen for the international award in the restaurant’s three-year history.

“This is a great honor for the entire team at Manresa Restaurant,” said Chef David Kinch. “To be included in such elite company is very gratifying and, for Michael and myself, also increases our awareness that we are only as good as our staff is, and that we and the staff share a common goal. This recognition is all about them and for them.”

American, European, Asian, Australian, African and Middle Eastern restaurants comprise the list of 50 best restaurants. American restaurants selected for last year’s “World’s 50 Best Restaurants” included The French Laundry, Gramercy Tavern, and Daniel. In 2003 and 2004, The French Laundry was awarded top position on the list and named Penfold’s Best Restaurant in the World. Top awards have also gone to European restaurants The Fat Duck, El Bulli, and L’Atelier de Joel Robuchon.

The award categories include “Best American Restaurant,” “Best Newcomer,” “Most Improved,” “Outstanding Value,” and “Chef’s Choice.” Paul Bocuse will receive The American Express Lifetime Achievement Award, an award presented for the first time this year to someone who has made an outstanding contribution to the world restaurant trade.

Congrats to Chef David Kinch.  I probably won’t be able to get a table any more.

I called the vet yesterday to find out about Rolfe’s status.  They told me that he was scheduled to go into surgery at noon, and I could come by after 3:00 to visit and drop off a blanket and a toy.  I pulled into the parking lot about 4:00 and there was Rolfe on a leash.

Rolfe heard me and went nuts.  I knelt down to pet him and he was all over me; licking and climbing and generally thrilled that I was there.  I asked the vet assistant holding Rolfe’s leash why he wasn’t in a cast.  She said that they had a lot of emergencies and they hadn’t done his surgery yet.

Rolfe peed – the reason he was outside in the first place – and we walked to the car to get Rolfe’s blanket and sheepskin toy.  We wanted him to have something that would smell right to him.  Rolfe recognized my car and wanted to get in.  He’d had enough of that vet’s office, thank you very much.

I grabbed his stuff and we walked back to the building.  Rolfe stopped.  He did not want to go back inside.  He wanted to go home.  I went with him to the prep area, kissed him goodbye and went home.  When I arrived the house seemed strangely empty, even though Janet was there with the three other dogs.  The vet called at 5:00 to say that they were starting on him.

At 7:00 we got another call telling us that Rolfe’s knee surgery was complete and he was doing fine.  He was sitting up, which they said was a good thing and he wanted his dinner.  I suspect that he wanted both his breakfast and his dinner since by the time he got out of surgery he hadn’t eaten in 24 hours, and he wasn’t allowed to eat for several more.

We’re picking him up at noon today.  The big trick is going to be keeping him from trying to run around, especially when he gets his cast off in two weeks.

The forces of ignorance, stupidity, and superstition are alive and well in the United States.  When you see stories like this http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,151256,00.html you have to wonder about the future of this country.  The religious extremists are keeping IMAX films out of theaters because they present scientific facts that conflict with human origins first postulated by nomads wandering around in a desert.  It’s not surprising that our student test scores plummet, technical jobs are being out-sourced overseas, and the rest of the world is passing us in science and technological innovation.

Back on New Years Eve, Manresa gave us a certificate for a free chef’s tasting menu dinner. Last Saturday we finally got around to using it. Manresa is one of the better restaurants in the south bay. The chef David Kinch is inventive and usually comes up with unique combinations. We were looking forward to this dinner for quite a while.

Overall, dinner was good, but we felt that the menu wasn’t up to their usual standards. We started off with at least six amuse. They came one at a time (except for the one that served the olive appetizer with the beet jelly appetizer) but they came too quickly. Along with the aforementioned olive item and beet item, they served a sardine atop a fried chickpea stick, “the egg” which I’ve described elsewhere, a fried potato item, and one or two other things that I don’t recall.

Every one of these amuse were very good and the evening looked promising. Again, our only complaint was that the items came too quickly. Spacing would turn out to be a problem all night.

The various dinner courses varied in their impact. The oyster and sea urchin in jelled sea water was wonderful. They also had a dish that can only be described as a jello margarita. Normally I don’t like tequila, but this was really good.

I was a little bothered by having two mackerel dishes in a row. The first one was ordinary while the second one was more impressive. I think there may have been another fish dish with salmon roe in there as well. They served a dish with a slice of tongue that was good, but not spectacular.

Our opinions on the pork dish varied. I thought it was excellent while Janet thought it was too fatty. She just may have gotten a piece that wasn’t up to their usual standards. A beef dish rounded out the dinner courses. It was excellent, but by the time we got it we were pretty full. All I remember about the desert was chocolate and excellent.

I’ll admit that we did eat lunch a bit late, and we were maybe a little tired from running errands all day. That may have contributed to our thinking that the dinner was less than perfect. Still, the service seemed rushed and there really wasn’t enough time for one course to settle before the next one arrived.

We also thought that they had too many fish courses in a row, and having two mackerel dishes back to back was unexpected. We had also seen several rabbit dishes on the menu and were hoping that one of them would be included. Alas, no. I also noticed that chickpeas in one form or another showed up on at least three dishes. I don’t know what that was about.

Of course we’ll go back, but it just seemed like last Saturday David Kinch was a bit off of his game.

Rolfe has been limping a bit for the past couple of weeks.  When he first hurt himself the vet said to give him some aspirin and see if he gets better on his own.  He’s gotten somewhat better but he still can’t put a lot of pressure on his leg.  Today we took him to the vet for a look-see.

Overall Rolfe is in great shape.  Unfortunately a couple of weeks ago he blew out his ACL.  That means he has to have an operation on April 4 to repair the damage.  Oh well.  The vet was surprised to see a standard poodle with a blown ACL.  He does a lot of these surguries it is the first he’s had to do on a standard because they’re very athletic.  We pointed out that Rolfe is a bit of a klutz.

Our dog Sammi had the same operation on both knees a couple of years ago and she’s fine now.  In fact, the technique has improved quite a bit since she had her knees done, so Rolfe’s recovery time should be a lot quicker.

Anyone want to contribute to the Rolfe Operation Fund?