Tuesday, November 24, 2015

Lynn's Birthday at Foremost Wine Co

We lucked into it again! Lynn and I celebrated her birthday this evening with an evening out just the two of us. On the rainy drive into San Luis Obispo, we were still totally undecided about where to go for dinner. There's like 2 million places we love in SLO, and on our list tonight were two new ones. At least I thought both were new. Turns out upon drive-by that one we had been to before and wasn't even open tonight. Granada Bistro was full (most of their seating is outdoors which was rained out). We decided that ambiance was the most important thing tonight. That's not entirely like us normally; we're usually more about the flavors.

I had just heard about Foremost Wine Company. Follow that link, but understand that the website was not nearly as intriguing as the place itself. I guess looking back all the pieces were there (on the website), but I still didn't get it. While I idled on the curb, Lynn dashed in to check it out - remember, ambiance was big tonight. She came back and said, "park the car, this is it."

I could go on and on describing the ambiance inside this old Creamery building. I could also go on and on trying to describe how unique and wonderful the food was. Truth is, you just have to go and check it out for yourself. As much as we liked the look and feel of the place, and the service, and all the other pluses, we were blown away by the flavors. OMG. You should read all about the French chef. No wonder, it was all about the sauces. And, we love the way all the food is designed and served to be shared.

We figure it'll take us six visits to sample all the food offerings and sit in the unique niches around the place. And then they'll change the menu on us, which they say is done with some frequency. And there's no way you'll ever try all the wines. We didn't recognize too many of the wines; a new world begging to be explored.

They offer a wine club membership, which may well be great. But I KNOW I'd have died and gone to heaven with a food club membership!

Give us a shout if you wanna go - we'll go with you! If you hate it, we'll buy. If it's the best ever, you buy. Anything in between is dutch treat.

Since the website doesn't fully tell the tale, here are a couple links to help us describe this place to you:

SLO's Foremost Wine Co. embraces farm-to-table philosophy
http://www.sanluisobispo.com/entertainment/restaurants/article39538005.html

Foremost Wine Co. a Great New Eatery
http://www.centralcoastcritic.com/destination-restaurant-2/foremost-wine-co-exciting/

On our table this evening (except we missed a photo of the truffle risotto with poached egg), along with a very nice brut French champagne:

Romanesco Cauliflower


















Butternut Squash in Mole

Seared Diver Scallops, creme fraiche, Opal basil, etc.

Passion Fruit Tart with a fabulous dark chocolate layer you can't see

Saturday, November 14, 2015

Matteo's Birthday Party: Rocks and Minerals

It was a "Rocks and Minerals" kinda party. We hunted geodes in the yard and cracked them open (as best we could). Then a bingo-like game called Rock On. Some hardness testing. Of course, there was rock candy in each person's mine bucket to which they added specimens as we went. Lava Keep Away was a balloon game. The soil stratification snack was well received! We had lots of rock and mineral specimens out and about for decoration.

All the pics are here.