PEET'S COFFEE: BERKELEY, CA

 PEET'S COFFEE: BERKELEY, CA

Some years ago, during one of our earliest trips to San Francisco, we took a bus wanting to visit Chinatown. We had, in those days, a Clipper Pass which enabled you to go by bus, BART, ferry on any route. We were too distracted talking about something or the other and we ended up in Fishermen's Wharf. After walking for a long time admiring the sights around us, we yearned for a hot cup of coffee. That's when we saw Peet's Coffee on Jefferson Street. We loved the fresh brewed coffee there and that was our  introduction to Peet's Coffee.

Later,  when we visited San Diego our relative, an aficionado  of coffees (  and one who would typically drive miles only to haunt a particular Peets)  took us to his favourite Peet's near his house. Here too we enjoyed the rich brew of the dark roasted coffee. 

With this as background, you can imagine our delight when in our current vacation in Oakland, Ca  we got to visit the first ever Peet's Coffee shop! Tommy told us one day that he would take us to a place in Berkeley that we would find interesting. We parked the car and walked to the corner of Vine and Walnut near UC Berkeley and there we were- in the very place that Alfred Peet founded the firm way back in 1966. 

It wasn't a coffee shop as we know it- when it first started. It sold roasted coffee beans and soon it became so well known that Peet came to be called "the Godfather of Gourmet Coffee" in the United States. A man of Dutch origin in the coffee trade for years, he had then reportedly said, " I came to the richest country in the world, so why are they drinking the lousiest coffee?" 

We got a sense of history in this charming place. It was fascinating to see an old world museum here of memorabilia  and interesting snippets about how the Peets chain of stores- started right here - grew to have  over 200 locations all over the United States.

Interestingly, the three University of San Francisco students who started Starbucks as young entrepreneurs in Seattle in 1971 were mentored by Alfred Peet himself. 

In due course of time Alfred Peet sold his original business -in 1979 though he remained connected with the world of coffee trading and brewing. Peet's changed hands a few times after that retaining its original name. Ironically, today it is owned by Starbucks, the biggest chain of coffee shops in the world, whose founders were guided by Alfred Peets himself! 

For more on the various types of coffee and the numerous ways of drinking it, do check out the blog in Peet's. Very interesting and informative! 

OUR DINING EXPERIENCE; COAST KITCHEN, JENNER, CA.

 OUR DINING EXPERIENCE; COAST KITCHEN, JENNER, CA. 

We recently enjoyed 4 relaxing and quiet days in the scenic Timber Cove Resort on the Sonoma Coast for which the nearest small town is Jenner, Ca. We chose this place in particular as they are a pet-friendly resort and we could take our Goldie, Buster with us. The restaurant in this resort is called the Coast Kitchen and is a popular restaurant  in the Sonoma Coast.

The place was beautiful with superb views of the waters of the Pacific Ocean. We enjoyed seeing the different shades of colour in the ocean - from sun rise to sun set!

Through this post, I will share something about a few of the dishes we liked very much from the Coast Kitchen. 

For breakfast one day, I had Avocado Toast. As we discovered during our earlier trips to California, the Avocado fruit is a "must have" in these parts. It is considered to be one of the best foods for overall health. Check out more information on why avocados are considered a superfood here. 

                                                 Avocado Toast 

I loved the Avocado Toast which had Grilled Ciabatta ( a kind of bread), Poached Eggs, Baby Tomatoes, Pickled Vegetable, Feta Cheese ( made with goat/sheep milk) and Lime Crema to add a tangy flavour to the dish, apart from Avocado of course,

Prem (my husband and partner in this blog) chose the "Eggs Any Style". He chose to have an omelette which was served with breakfast sausages and roasted potatoes. Of course, toasts with butter and jam were there as well. This has been- and always will be-  one of his favourite breakfast spreads. 

To complete our breakfast, we had hot cups of Cappuccino, which we prefer amongst the ever so many types of coffee one gets in this part of the world. I have found that most Americans seem to love their coffee! This article elaborates on the many types of coffee beans available. Apparently, in the US 400 million cups of coffee are consumed per day!! 

Another dish that caught our attention was the Artisan Cheese Board. This was made up of three different types of local cheese along with  Truffle Honey, Fruit Mostarda, ( a fruit and mustard syrup), Mixed Olives, Grapes, Crackers, and Grilled Ciabatta. 

We also ordered a Romain Caesar Salad to go with the Artisan Cheese Board. This had Rosemary Caesar Dressing, Parmesan Cheese, and Croutons. 

The lunch was made complete with a Fort Point KSA Kolsch Beer, This is based on a German pale ale and is brewed in San Francisco  by the Fort Point Beer Company. 

We wondered whether the Grilled Chicken Sandwich on offer would be filling. On tasting it, we can confirm it was both very yummy and quite filling! This was built around a Brioche Bun which had Chicken, Jalapeno Aioli, Lettuce, Tomato, Onion, Bacon, and Avocado accompanied with a generous helping of French Fries. 

This post cannot be complete without my writing about the Smoked Oak Cod Rillettes- the secret of the recipe apparently is to perfectly smoke the cod  which is then served with Fresno Pepper Sauce, Radish, and Grilled Ciabatta. 

Another dish which we enjoyed was the Fritto Misto from Italian cuisine. The name comes from it being a "fried mix". Here seafood ( in this case: Calamari and Shrimps) is lightly battered and then deep fried and, mixed with Pickles, Jalapeno, Red Pepper, Aioli, and Fried Arugula. Interestingly, our Fritto Misto had a sprinkling of Japanese style Furikake ( a seasoning for rice). The dish was lip-smacking and though we don't have much of deep fried food, we had to make an exception for this Fritto Misto! 

Ever since we first tasted Chowder in Boston, years ago, this has remained a favourite for both of us. Naturally we sampled the Smoked Trout Chowder at the Coast Kitchen. This Chowder had potato, fennel, and Cream, and Micro greens. We loved the subtle flavour and rate this dish highly. 

Here we are enjoying some white wine- this one is a '21 Saini Sauvignon Blanc from Saini Vineyards in Dry Creek Valley in California. 

We ended one of our dinners with a dessert that we simply loved! This was the Strawberry Cheesecake Swirl - presented in an appealing, eye catchigng manner. This cheesecake came with Strawberry Sauce and Graham Crumble. Truly delicious!! 

Since we were staying in the resort, it didn't take us long to find out the best locations for our meals. Since we had our pet with us, we could not eat in the main restaurant but we could eat in the spacious Bar lobby, or on the patio on the other side of the restaurant which overlooked the Pacific Ocean. Another locations- a combination of indoors and outdoors was on the front side of the rest lobby.

The service was extremely good though the resorts tends to get crowded on the weekends. During this time, you simply have to budget for longer wait times for your orders. I guess that would be the case almost everywhere.

We thorugohgly enjoyed our stay at the Timber Cove Resort and our food at their Coast Kitchen. 

OUR DINING EXPERIENCE: ESTEBAN RESTAURANT

 OUR DINING EXPERIENCE: ESTEBAN RESTAURANT

The Estéban Restaurant, famous for its Mediterranean and Spanish cuisine, is located in the historic Casa Munras Garden Hotel and Spa in Monterey, Ca. Their address is: 700, Munras Ave. More details about this restaurant can be found in their website. 

We enjoyed our dinner there recently, seated in the heated outdoor patio. Actually, while making the reservation we had specifically asked for outdoor seating having found out that they had a heated patio. 

To start with we ordered the Red Sangria preferring this to the White Sangria. As the name suggests, this is a drink with a base of red wine with a taste of apples, orange and lemon. It tasted out of the world! 

The Local Fried Peppers sounded interesting so we had this. They came cooked in Manchego Cheese with Maldon Sea Salt and Garlic Aioli. The aioli, ( a kind of sauce/dip) traditionally made with garlic, is a must in much of Mediterranean cuisine. The peppers were spicy without being difficult to eat and we enjoyed them with the accompanying aioli. 

Next we opted for the Coca La Mancha Flatbread which had artichoke, piquillo peppers, manchego and olives. This is the authentic Spanish flatbread and the whole dish was very filling and tasted delicious.

We enjoyed our dinner thoroughly. I must say the service too was impeccable.  

I find it interesting to meet Chefs wherever we dine. They have challenging jobs and often have their signature dishes that have made them famous. It was a pleasure to meet with the Executive Chef, Mario Garcia, who has 14 years experience in this field. He has a warm and friendly personality. He mentioned his aim was to use as much of local produce as possible in his offerings. 

As we were leaving Chef suggested we have his dessert - Chocolate Pot de Creme! This came topped with fresh strawberries. It was a fitting end to a great dinner. 

OUR DINING EXPERIENCE; THE PLAZA BISTRO AT SONOMA, CA

OUR DINING EXPERIENCE: THE PLAZA BISTRO AT SONOMA, CA

My son booked us on Viator's Tour of Muir Woods and The Wine Country recently and we thoroughly enjoyed the tour. This took us first to the beautiful Muir Woods National Monument located in Mount Tamalpais in the Marin County in California and later to three wineries in the Sonoma and Napa Valleys in California.

There were just eight of us on the tour and we came from different places. There was a gentleman from the Philippines, a couple from St Louis, Missouri, a couple from Houston, Texas, and a lady from Orange County, California, apart from my husband and me from India.

Today I write about the excellent lunch we had at The Plaza Bistro located in the Sonoma Plaza in Sonoma, Ca. The "Gourmet Lunch" was an optional part of the tour and it meant paying more for this upgrade but I am so glad we got to enjoy a memorable meal.

The lunch started with a complimentary sparkling wine which was served with the appetizer of Cheese Board with Fresh Fruit. On that day, we were served strawberries, pineapple and grapes along with two types of cheese.

With each course, we got to taste a different type of wine. The first course was the Baby Mixed Greens tossed with Fresh Herbs Vinaigrette, Red Grape Tomatoes and Croutons. This was so tasty and refreshing.

From the various options for the main course, we had opted for the Grilled Salmon over Sauteed Vegetables drizzled with Balsamic Reduction. This was simply superb.

We visited three wineries in all, the first in the Sonoma - where we had this lunch- and two more later in the Napa Valley. There we got to taste different types of wine.

Our 11 hour tour, which had started early in the morning ended in the evening with a halt at the iconic Golden Gate Bridge in San Francisco, where all of us took many pictures of the beautiful views from there.