Happy Halloween!!!

Rander says, "Be safe!"

Display at Teuscher Chocolate in San Francisco

Zinfandel Grille: Gold RIver

Zinfandel Grille
2220 Gold Springs Ct
Rancho Cordova, CA 95760
916.852.0214
http://www.zinfandelgrillegoldriver.com/

Kobe steak

Pork Loin

Bread Puddin

I started of the night with a glass of wine. I feel lucky that there are so many good wineries in California. The Zinfandel Grille features local wines, this is one of the things I really like about this place.

The wine I had was:

2005 VENTANA PINOT NOIR

“Our Pinot Noir was harvested after a long mild growing season just perfect for this varietal. This resulted in a wine that has an explosion of vibrant cherry flavors with a delicious hint of milk chocolate. Lengthy barrel aging in French Oak for over 18 months gives the wine structure and vanilla tones. This food friendly Pinot Noir will be a very pleasing accompaniment to almost any entrée from almond encrusted salmon to duck in cherry reduction sauce.” Link

This was a nice wine. It was smooth with a little bit of the cherry. I could not taste the milk chocolate because I do not think my palate is that sophisticated or they have a very imaganitive author. J It was very drinkable and went well with my pork loin.

These are the entrees we had:

Grilled Kobe Steak with roasted garlic mashed potatoes and baby summer squash. The steak was seasoned an cooked perfectly as requested, medium. It may be time to change the menu soon, baby summer squash in late October? Hmm. Nonetheless this was a good dish.

Grilled Niman Ranch Pork Loin: Served with creamy Parmesan polenta and baby green beans.
Topped with roasted nectarines.

I ordered this minus the polenta and substituted the garlic-mashed potatoes. I had a very bad experience with polenta once so I try to avoid it. I just do not like polenta or risotto. This was delivered as requested: medium rare. I like my pork medium-rare. The picture does look quite pink, but it was cooked just to perfection. The roasted nectarines sweetness complemented the pork and the green beans were cooked al dente. Another good dish.

White Chocolate & Cherry Bread Pudding warm and moist bread pudding. With fresh cherries and the perfect touch of white chocolate. Served with vanilla gelato.

Can we make it three in a row? Yes. Warm bread pudding with chunks of white chocolate mixed in…yum! The chunk of white chocolate provided a nice textural contrast to the bread pudding. The cherry gave just little extra tartness/sweetness in every few bites. Topped off with a vanilla bean gelato pulled the whole dessert together.

I am not quite sure why this place is not packed on a Saturday night. I suppose everyone goes downtown to have dinner. I have always been happy with the rustic, simple, properly cooked food at the Zinfandel Grille, both this one and in Sacramento.
My rating = 15/20 = Very Good. I would miss a Chicago Bears game to eat here.

Lime Tree, San Francisco

Lime Tree
450 Irving Street
San Francisco, CA, 94122
(415)665-1415
http://www.limetreesf.com/

These are the dishes we had:

Chicken Satay: grilled skewered chicken marinated in Lime Tree's special sauce served with fresh vegetablesThese were tender and tasty, albeit a tad undercooked. I got mild case of food poisoning from this. C'est la vie.

Pork Spareribs in Tangy Soy-Vinegar Sauce served on a bed of spinach with jasmine rice. The pork spareribs were braised until they fell off the bone. Soy-vinegar sauce? That sounds like my country's adobo. It was good though. The spinach I could have done without. The vinegar made it too sour.

Singaporean Curry Noodle glass noodles with shredded chicken in our special curry sauce.

My friend is from Singapore and she said it tasted like nothing she ever had back home. I thought it was OK. The flavor was kind of even, nothing standing out.

My impression 11/20 = average. I may or may not dine here again.