Cellar Door - Santa Cruz, CA

Cellar Door Café at Bonny Doon Vineyard
328 Ingalls St
Santa Cruz, CA 95060
831-425-4518

We were in the mood to try something new for lunch the other day. Since we were on that side of town I suggested The Cellar Door since we'd been told to go there so many times but had never made it. I'm really glad we went.

We had an assortment of small plates. I started with local greens with lemon and almonds. A salad was beautifully presented, well dressed and lovely. My husband started with a plate of pedrón peppers which he said were great, but I had to take his word for that, I can't stand the things!

We also started off with some Boquerones. They were beautifully marinated, not at all over salty. We ended up having to order two more plates of them because our five year old ate them all!!

I finished up with the Crisp Steelhead with local squid, cannellini bean brodo, corn and Sungold tomatoes. This was fantastic. The skin on the trout really was very crispy and tasty. The squid was cooked perfectly so it wasn't chewy and the brodo was drinkably good. I've got a thing about corn in dishes, it tends to taste like a cheap filler to me (I think this comes from school lunches as a kid). This corn was so sweet still so crisp that it added to the dish rather than taking away from it.

I'd like to return to taste more of the menu and try their tasting menus sometime.

Michael Mina - Las Vegas

Bellagio
3600 Las Vegas Blvd.
South Las Vegas, NV 89109
702-693-7223.

I've had the opportunity to not only eat at one Michael Mina, but two. The first was in Las Vegas and we were impressed, although we were still being subjected to "Vegas people." They are not our people. The sommelier and waiter were actually quite appreciative of the fact the we were foodies and interested in the details of both the food and the wine.

For the Vegas meal we went with the cookbook tasting. I thought these would be the dishes that have had any kinks worked out and were really the best they could be. It of course had Mina's signature Ahi Tartare that he brought with him from Aqua. I was disappointed with the dish at Aqua years ago, there was too much heat and the fish was lost. I'm happy to say that problem has been corrected and the flavor balance is perfect. I do however think they need to evaluate their bread choice. The toast points have the taste and texture of a sliced white sandwich bread. I found the wine pairing I challenge: 2005 Schloss Johannesburg Riesling. The sesame flavors in the tartare really clashed for me. I'd rather have had champagne or any very crisp, white wine.



The lobster pot pie could have been really good but missed on a few points. The first was that it was very hard to eat. It was served in a small pot which made it geometrically impossible to cut up the chunk of lobster inside. The second was that it had button mushrooms in it... lobster is worthy of a fungus better than a button.

The highlight of the meal by far was the Miso-glazed Black Cod with shiitake consommé, shrimp and scallop raviolini. The fish, bok choy, mushrooms and accompanying ravioli were all perfectly cooked and at the perfect temperature to eat all while floating in broth. A near impossible task in my book. we had a lovely not sweet, not sharp sake: Takasago Junmai Daigingo "Diving Droplets" sake. Very much recommended. The recipe for the dish is on page 203 of Michael Mina's cookbook, I'm sure it's a snap!



The dessert course was a trio of root beer float, chocolate chip cookies, and Valrhona chocolate ice cream and mousse. The root beer float was a challenge with any wine or aperitif (the artichoke of desserts) but it was still a good float! The whole dessert plate was fancified comfort sweets.

If I find myself back in Vegas, which I don't plan to for a very long time, I will go back to Michael Mina. But given that I'm an hour and a half from San Francisco, I'd rather just pop in on that one again and not have to deal with the neon.