Text 1097, 115 rader
Skriven 2013-06-09 09:52:00 av MICHAEL LOO (1:123/140)
Ärende: California Cafe 680
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I'd forgotten about this meal with JT and Brian.

After the concert and the little reception afterward, JT
and Brian took me to his father's condo, where I was to
spend the night. It's quite nice, and as Brian's dad was
off gallivanting with his girlfriend, I had the place to
myself. But first, a celebratory bottle of Shiraz from
Trader Joe's, accompanying chocolate ice cream, of which
I had none. They eventually went off, but before that,
JT had told me not to set the deadbolt, as she would be
by to pick me up in the morning.

Nice night's sleep, though the shower in the guest bath
was inoperative, so I had to have a tub bath, something
that I hadn't had in years; it's decadent and relaxing
but isn't as cleansing than a shower.

I woke to the Colonel puttering around (he was eventually
invalided out or retired as a B/Gen, but when I'd known
him decades ago he was a Colonel); he offered me a ride to
church. I told him that JT was going to take care of me,
so he went off.

I went upstairs and minded my own business, including
ignoring a couple phone calls. Mistake, as it turned out
that it was JT telling me to find my own way to church,
but whatever.

The Colonel returned afterwards. I went down and chatted
with him for a while, and then the phone rang, and it was
JT, livid that I hadn't picked up the phone before. Silly
girl, thought I, you were supposed to come and fetch me
much earlier.

Anyhow, I'd screwed up all her plans for the day, and
she had to go all the way cross town to fetch me, and
blah. We went back to church to drop stuff off for the
reception for the next concert, pick up Brian, and then
head to lunch out in Los Gatos. As I'd inadvertently
made them late for lunch, I suggested that we go elsewhere.
No. We got on the freeway to get to the restaurant that
JT had picked and was stubbornly sticking to, and of course
there was a traffic jam. Oy. I tentatively suggested that
we consider a plan B, but no. So we eventually showed up
at the California Cafe with only an hour for lunch instead
of half again as much time.

The California Cafe is in a shopping mall that is the
remodeled former Los Gatos High School, which due to
crowding issues moved a quarter mile down the way. I'd bet
that the new high school (well, 30 years old) can't be as
nice as this place. We were encouraged to sit on the patio,
but JT convinced them to put us in back by the picture
window, so we had the view of outdoors and the climate control
of indoors all at once.

JT got the crab cakes benedict, i.e. poached eggs, crab cakes,
and Hollandaise served atop a split English muffin. She
pronounced this delicious, though tastes were not offered.

Brian's smoked beef hash was also reported good, whereupon
JT took a confirmatory taste and agreed.

For me, the hanger steak extra rare with spinach and breakfast
potatoes sounded really good, but I didn't want the potatoes;
the waiter, who was pretty attentive, suggested I get double
spinach, which sounded even better. When it came out, the dish
in fact was just what I'd been hoping for.

Around the middle of the meal, a plate came out, and JT asked,
what's that? and the waiter said it was the ahi poke with
avocado and pickled cucumber ... so she said, we'll take one.
The waiter, who had previously been apprised that we were on a
time constraint, put the order right in, and it came out right
away (I'm not sure if this was a good or a bad sign), and it
was, well, okay. The tuna was okay, not of the best, not
marinated in anything so slightly fishy with little taste
otherwise. The avocado was the best part though mushy. The 
cucumber was both mushy and insufficiently pickled; no idea
how they accomplished that. There were some crunchy tortilla
chips on top and on the side as garnish and to serve as
conveyances; perhaps there were really the best part,
insignificant though they were.

One of the special offerings of this place are the wine flights,
which unlike many places, offer a progression of contrasting
wines, going as many meals do from light to robust. As I am a
sucker for anything with the word wine or the word flight, I
had the prestige one. This consisted of

Gauthier Riesling 10 (Santa Lucia Highlands) - this was a
pretty standard offering, a bit on the floral side. I got
some nice mineralliness and tropical fruit. A touch off-dry,
which was perhaps okay for the wine but less okay given its
position as the first wine tasted. By the way, these were
poured sequentially, the subsequent one not dispensed until
the previous had been finished.

Summerland Chardonnay 11 (Santa Barbara) - I'd say tropical
fruit for this one as well, but quite different fruit, more
acidy and unripe than the other; this was a rather tart wine,
though that quality was compensated for by a fair amount of
oak. I enjoyed this.

St. Supery Dollar Hide Cabernet 10 (Napa) - a surprise to
find on anybody's list, much less a tasting flight; it was
this that convinced me to order it, despite its being fairly
pricy. Lots of dark fruit, black cherry, blackcurrant, and
so forth. Good tannin, good balance, of course a bit young.

We got out of there just a little behind schedule and for
just a little more than I thought the meal would cost. I
was somewhat glad that JT had insisted we go here.
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