Bouchon.

Oh Bouchon. How your truffle fries' scent intoxicates my body and leaves me foaming at the mouth. Just messing, but I love truffle fries. Went here a bit ago, 02-13-2010 to be exact, and I don't remember my dish too much so I'll just talk about what I do remember and just reference to what I wrote on Yelp. Haha. The environment is very ... well let's just say if you're a bit claustrophobic then you might feel a little uneasy. But I guess it's a little more romantic that way? I would not have minded so much if it wasn't for these annoying girls sitting next to us talking about the most ridiculous things with their high pitched annoying voices. (I swear I'm pretty friendly in person hahaha). Anyway, made a reservation and we were shown to our seats promptly. Pretty good service. Here's a picture of the wine list

I'm not sure if I had any other picture. I have upgraded cameras since so the resizing made the cheesy watermark a larger font. Picture of the bread they serve

Nice, warm and chewy. Go to the bakery next door if you want to try their other baked goods or just get some on the go.

Appetizer: Salade de Saumon Tiède. Not too bad. My better half and I enjoyed this dish very much. Poached to a perfect texture, broke apart easily and had this ever refreshing taste when paired with the lettuce and little potato salad mixture. Underneath the salmon were these little potato chips that added the perfect amount of salt to the fish. That when mixed with salmon roe on the side was great. We both love our salmon sushi and sashimi and other cooked forms of salmon so we enjoyed this very much.

All gone! Haha.

I'll be honest, I don't remember the name of this special. I just know it was Trout. Has some nice sauteed mushrooms on the bottom with a bed of some beans that I recall not enjoying too much. The beans were quite salty but I guess it complimented the fish. The trout was stuffed with something. Reminds me of some type of Chinese meatball. This dish wasn't anything superb so I guess in my mind I didn't care too much to remember it ...?

Second entree: Steak Frites with Truffle Fries.What's not to like? A nicely seasoned and grilled piece of meat. Hahaha, has some of their bearnaise sauce. Our steak was cooked medium rare and since there was plenty of bearnaise to go around we used some of it for the fries. Don't get me wrong this steak was very good but the additional $12 for truffle fries is a bit steep. Might have even been a little stingy on the truffle oil that they sprinkle onto the fries.

All in all, very enjoyable minus the annoying girls. Food was good. Service was great. Our waitress came back every 10-15 minutes to ask how things were, fill up our water, you name it she was there. Would I go back? Sure I would but I'd have to say I'll be questioning myself about the $12 addition for the truffle fries. Maybe if I'm dying for that earthy robust flavor I will but that doesn't happen too honest .... I think? If you're in the neighborhood, visit this joint, hell it has Thomas Keller's name attached to it, why not? Hahaha, if not there's always Bouchon in Vegas.

Bouchon Bistro
6534 Washington Street
Yountville, CA 94599
707-944-8037

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Coffee? (Scoffffff)

This is where we found ourselves after finishing up at The Stinking Rose.

Friend suggested we just go up the street (about a block) to try out this little Cafe and get some coffee. Clean up our palates and get some sweets. Seemed pretty busy, lot of people outside (but I come to realize maybe it was for the Cafe right next door) and a couple people inside.

I realized not many places serve good coffee. Starbucks isn't good. Coffee Bean isn't too great either. Had their Brazilian Light Roast the other day, black, no sugar or cream. Acidity was low, not a very full bodied coffee and the beans were fried to hell. How do I know they went to hell and managed to come back in this dark liquid form, the bitterness that screamed "I was a decent bean whose family, along with self, were kidnapped, grounded, and burnt by scolding water temperatures only to have all our flavors stripped from us."

Back to what I LOVE to emphasize: service. Here's our conversation:
Me: "So what kind of beans do you use to brew your coffee?"
Man: "Illy"
Me: "Oh right, duh (finally realizing their little canisters with Illy written all over them)"
Man: (waiting with notepad)
Me: "Are there different types of Illy beans or you use the same beans for everything?"
Man: "Illy"
Me: "Okay ..."
Me: "I guess I'll try a cup of that"

Yeah......

Here's the coffee. Full bodied, high acidity, mild bitterness. Not great but better than Starbucks.

My better half and friend got the hot chocolate. It was fine. Upgrade from a packet of Swiss Miss. Didn't use great chocolate though but overall not half bad. Can actually taste the chocolate ... milk chocolate I think. Some mint chocolate chip gelato was also ordered and it was fine. Just nice to get a little bit of flavor on the tongue since The Stinking Rose was just superb ....

Would I come here again? Never. Would I suggest you visit? Sure why the hell not if you need some coffee, little goodies, and just so happen to be in the neighborhood. Do I agree with the Yelpers on this place? Hell no. 

Caffe Greco
423 Columbus Ave.
San Francisco, CA 94133
415-397-6261

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