Pi

Before you begin reading, I feel compelled to warn you that I am constantly prone to bad puns and geeky math jokes.  And having eaten last night at a restaurant called Pi, here they come, irrational or not.

Now that we have the disclaimers out of the way...

As we cozied up in a (square) table alongside the wall, the first thing I noticed was a stellar beer selection up on the board featuring many of my favorite local brews:  Moonlight Death & Taxes, a Trumer Pils, and some Russian River selections including Blind Pig, my choice for the evening.  No Pliny the Elder, though, or I surely would have indulged. 

The menu actually pleased me with a simple typeface and a simple selection, including a couple of apps, a couple of salads, and the ability to craft a pizza out of a limited but thoughtful selection of meat and veggie toppings.   We ordered a spinach salad, which came with Belfiore feta (props to Pi Bar for supporting a local cheese producer), red and yellow toybox tomatoes, and ground Italian sausage ... the perfect way to get your date on board with the salad!  We also ordered a pizza with pepperoni, kalamata olive, and mushroom which arrived as pepperoni, olive and onion.  No worries as my love for pizza is infinite!

Also noteworthy, the classic pies at Pi r still round (not squared).

Groan.  And with that, I will leave you with my favorite geeky math cartoon.  Happy Wednesday!

Le Garage

Oohh, Le Garage, what delight you brought me on a meandering Monday afternoon!

We sailed up for a quick glass of wine to celebrate Rachel's engagement. (Congrats, Rachel and John!)  After a bottle of Chateauneuf du Pape and a hello from Chef Gaby (our French cuisine instructor from Kitchen on Fire) we decided to linger a while longer. 

Gaby brought us out a special treat, a smoked salmon tartine with creme fraiche, delicately nuanced with lemon verbena.   Merci, Gaby!

I could have remained all day savoring the second bottle of Chateaneuf, the gentle sunlight, and the flavor of anticipation. 

We ordered also a smattering of snacks, including Dungeness crab stuffed squash blossoms, a beet salad, and PEI mussels with merguez sausage, shallots, white wine and pastis. 

And then we ate happily ever after ...

Lunch at the Rotunda

The weekend really began over a bubbly lunch at the Rotunda. 

Of course we sampled the popovers with strawberry butter (which tasted like a warm and spreadable version of Haagen Daaz strawberry ice cream).  I warmed up with a split of Moet rose and nibbled on a shrimp and quinoa salad.  We finished the meal with a shared dessert ... a chocolate bombe that was a feast for the eyes as well as the palate.  Well, most of you reading this probably know I didn't exactly eat the chocolate, but my friends seemed quite delighted.

I was feeling spoiled, spirited, and a little bit sassy!