VinDivine - Living it Up John & Janine Style

Asian - Paris

This is classic. Not so long ago we visited our wonderful city of Paris (we lived here for a short period) and were asking our concierge at the Artus Hotel about this place cuz we couldn't remember the name of it!! No lie, "We're looking for the name of that cool Asian restaurant across from the George V Hotel". Uhhhh, maybe Asian?! Damn, fools we are.  We used to go here all the time when we lived here. It's got to be at least a decade old which says a bunch for a restaurant's life in Paris.

In the 'first impressions count' category, super hotties (both women and men, ladies and gents...or gents and ladies...whatever) greet you at the front door and escort you downstairs to the spacious, dark, attractive restaurant area. Odd, they have a "smoking" area and "non smoking" area with no partition. Hmmm. How does that work, again? BTW, we hear the Frenchies are picketing in the streets as we speak against a No-smoking ban that's supposed to take affect Jan 1. Hey, if it can happen in London it can happen anywhere!

This place has a super great layout. You walk through this uber cool bar area with an Asian jungle-like feel with palm trees and cool hidden nooks to hang. You need to walk through the bar to get downstairs to the restaurant, brilliant design. A bit cheesola? You can buy t-shirts at the bar...oh well. No, we didn't buy any. And I take offense to the question!

Everytime we've been there, the food comes out in record time...this time before the drinks which was weird...did they use some bizarre ESP to know what we wanted? Almost too fast, but we're not gonna whine. Very good spring rolls and some really amazing miso black cod. So tender you could eat it with a spoon. Seriously can't remember what else we had, but we licked the plate clean. Side note: They also serve up some great looking sushi, but it wasn't a sushi nite for 'ol J&J.

After din din go upstairs and people watch at the bar, and sip a $20 drink (I mean, SIP). One thing, it won't get going until at least midnight. Oh and if it's the one man show, he does some great Neil Diamond covers, yikes. That guy is definitely getting some cougar action!

Bottom line, the food has always been a solid 7 1/2, and along with the atmosphere, great service and hot employees, pushes it to an 8 1/2!

Asian
30 Avenue George V
75008 Paris
01 56 89 11 00

Rosé Trio Throw-down

I know, I know. Common wisdom (which if you possess, means you are prolly not reading this blog), would suggest that it is a tad late in the year to be talkin' about Rosé. But hey all you SF'rs, has it not been summer-like all the way through November? Just like it tricks the flowers to bloom in winter, it makes 'ol J&J think it's still prime time Rosé time. 

Plus a little Rosé at the beginning of your wine bender is not a bad way to begin, regardless of the weather. So without any more yammering, away we go, with a Cali, Languedoc, and Loiré Valley Rosé fight to the finish. None from Provence? Are we MAD?!:

2006 Bonny Doon Vin Gris de Cigare.  You sassy girl you (all Rosés are female if you didn't know. Just like all King Charles Spaniels are female, and all bulldogs are male. Follow me?)
even though this one has a cigar-shaped spaceship on the label, which has guy-like implications for obvious reasons. Anyhoo, back to the taste. Ahh yes, the taste or the Flavor Profile, as we professionals call it. This wine exhibits fine minerality, and light fruit notes of cherry (not dark cherry, think lighter) and strawberry. Slightly sweet, with hint of vegetative taste on the finish, in character with Provence style Rosé. Goes for about $10-12 bones. Great value! If you demand super-duper dry Rosés skip this one, but itsa thirst quencher. 

2006 Domaine Begude Pinot Rosé. This vino from the Languedoc region of southern France is closest in proximity to Provence, the home of my all-time fave Rosé, Bandol. But we're not talkin' about Bandol today. No sirree. The Domiane Begude is a bit more delicate than the sassy Vin Gris above. This contender also displays notes of strawberry and cherries, and has that awesome salmon color that only real French Rosés seem to possess. Slightly less minerality than the Bonny Doon as well, I enjoyed this wine, but there was something about the finish that let me down. Goes for about $12-13 bucks. I wouldn't necessarily reco this wine due to the gamey finish. But for  $12 bucks, it may be worth a try.

2006 Sylvain Bailly Sancerre Rosé This Loiré Valley Rosé takes the prize, as it is head and shoulders above the previous two. This player has attitude and class all wrapped  up in one very satisfying wine. It's chock full with with tart cherries and excellent minerality, subtle strawberry notes as well. And there's something about this wine that just feels good in your mouth. OK, I'll stop there. Yummy! This one will set you back about $18-20 bucks, but hey, life's short. Go get some!

I believe you can find all these wines at K&L either on the website or their stores. And, where VdV talks smack we must give props. The past two times I have shopped at the SOMA location, the employees  have actually been NICE. Conversational. Pleasant. Hmmm. I am suspicious! Still not a lot of proactive help, but maybe I just look like I Know My Shit (yeah, riigghht!). No, this is NOT a paid advertisement. Anyhoo, y'all know we'll keep you up to date  on the soap opera that is our ongoing experience with K&L! Will it turn from hate-hate to love-hate, or even LOVE? Stay tuned!

Koh Samui & The Monkey

This is not your average Thai people. This place is packed every night for dinner and now for lunch. It's the sister restaurant of the famed Citizen Thai & The Monkey in North Beach that we've raved about. We still like Citizen Thai a teensy bit more, but since this place is about 1 block from Chez VdV, it gets the nod for convenience. Anyhoo, this place has been around for a few years and we gotta say, we shied away from it because the take-out on more than one occasion was a bit "off".  Screwed at the the drive-through, as they say. And that just pisses us off. But, we're no quitters. A beautiful thing happened on the way home from work one day: we bellied up to the bar (shocker!) to give it another shot.

We're so happy we did VdVers, and you should be too! The Veggie Samosa Rolls are OTH, and eating the Tom Ka Gai soup makes you feel like you're dining smack-dab in the middle of a Chang Mai hill tribe. By that, I mean authentic. I mean, as close to good Thai we got as kids was mom cranking open some La Choy's Chicken Chowmein and pouring it over those crunchy noodles. Are they still around anymore? Everyone should have some in their earthquake kits, that shit never goes bad.  Anyhoo back to the menu at hand, you want some Spicy Beef, you need it on demand. Well you got it here, with veggies in green curry sauce. Mmmm, mmmm good. We steered clear of any of the grilled stuff cuz it looked just too healthy.

Top if off with what else?? SAKE. They've got a great list. I'd pick some out but see my issues below.

An open letter to Koh Samui (and any restaurant, really)

1. When I clicked on your site link it goes to an annoying page that draws your logo, and I can't click past it. It's a nice logo, but do I have to watch it be drawn? I come to you for food, not art.
2. When I am finally able to click on it to get to your site it's an error page. Fire someone.
   
3. When I am finally able to get to the page where I see your menu, you only show a part of it and make me download a word doc. Word? WTF uses Microsoft applications anyway?! a) Why make it a download only? b) Why not show it in html on your site 3) If you do have offer a download, either do Google docs or a PDF. Screw MSFT!
   

Help us help you KS&TM, we love you.

Koh Samui & The Monkey
415 Brannan St. (3rd & 4th)
San Francisco, CA 94107
(415) 369-0007