DAY 5 Wednesday, December 7: I Don’t Even Want to Know What You Just Paid For Dinner

On Wednesday, I got to sleep in before my afternoon case. On my first day in my favorite city, I had to drive a few miles south and sit at the top of one of the huge hills in San Mateo county. It was a great view and the only productive day of my trip. I left my case in the evening and went back to my friend’s apartment.

Upon my return, M informed me we would be heading out to one of the top restaurants in the country, named Jardiniere. So, I got cleaned up and dressed in the proper attire and we headed out. After walking the three blocks to the restaurant, we were seated on the second floor, overlooking the bar(I have never seen worse plastic surgery, than the job I saw done on one woman's face, who was seated at the bar.). We decided on the chef’s taster menu, which read like this:



Plate#1-Santa Barbara Prawns with Fuji Apple and Chestnut Salad, Apple Vichyssoise

Plate#2-Washington State Steelhead with Chive Crushed Potatoes, Meyer Lemon and Oyster Veloute, Tsar Nicoulai Caviar

Plate#3-Sonoma Sqaub with Creamed Nettles and Caramelized Salsify, Sauce au Poivre

Plate#4-Loin of Venison with Bacon Roasted Brussel Sprouts and Celery Root, Huckleberry Jus(at this point, I have to give a shout out to my little brother Brad, who made a much better Loin of Venison than a 5 star restaurant. And, this one was very good.)

Plate#5-Robiollo Misto Cow, Sheep and Goat's Milk Cheese, Piedmont, Italy

Plate#6-Five Spice Layer Cake with Maple Meringue, Brown Butter Creme Anglaise, Candied Pecans


All of the dishes involved items that I had never tasted, and M and I caught up, as we rarely talk on the phone for very long and I have not seen him in at least 3 years. After dinner we walked the few blocks back to his apartment and on the way passed City Hall, the Symphony Hall, and several other landmarks that fall into those few blocks.


You can see the dome from M's balcony. That is real 23.5 gold inlaid on the dome.

When we got back home it was about time to crash as he, his sister and I all had early days the next morning.