A blog about food and cooking by Chris Norris

Author: ChrisN

Bar Jamon (my Yelp Review)

Enjoy tapas in (almost) Madrid style at Bar Jamon in Union Square/Gramercy, Manhattan. Review of Bar Jamon, Manhattan, October 21, 2011

Loconda Verde (my Yelp Review)

Here’s a place full of locals and with great food in the TriBeCa neighborhood of Manhattan! Review of Locanda Verde in TriBeCa, Manhattan, December 8, 2011

Landmarc in Tribeca, NYC (my Yelp Review)

Don’t miss this great restaurant by Marc Murphy (of Chopped) in Manhattan!  Here’s my Yelp review …

Review of Landmarc, located in TriBeCa, Manhattan, December 7, 2011.

Wayfare Tavern (my Yelp Review)

Review of the Wayfare Tavern, San Francisco, December 3rd, 2011 Don’t miss this one – we had a great time!

Yountville Celebrity Chef Birthday Tour – Part II

We kicked off my 48th birthday celebration this year with dinner at Zuzu in Napa, and picked up steam from there.  The crescendo meal for the weekend was a mid-day dinner at the French Laundry in Yountville, a three start Michelin restaurant owned by Chef […]

The Art of the Dog!

The Art of the Dog!

The Art of the Dog

Check out The Art of the Dog; a series of posts describing some unique, and really good, hot dog recipes!  Two of the creations that are part of this series include a BLT Dog, which is a hot dog with bacon, lettuce and tomato and a Hummus Dog, which has hummus, cucumbers, pine nuts and more!  Both are waaay good …

Does OpenTable Suck (away profits)?

While planning a recent dinner outing to Incanto in the Noe Valley of San Francisco, I was struck that the restaurant has an electronic (web-based) reservation system that is NOT OpenTable.  Incanto is run by Chris Cosentino, a two-time contestant on Iron Chef, who specializes […]

New York City: Two Days, Four Feasts!

I’m a lucky guy.  A few weeks back I “won” an all-expenses paid, two-day trip to New York City in exchange for a few days of meetings with potential investors in my company.  Conveniently, said investors all happened to have offices in Manhattan, which is […]

Yountville Celebrity Chef Birthday Tour!

What do you give a 48 year old guy for his birthday when all he really wants is a KTM (hint to Laura) to add to his already over sized collection of dirt bikes?  How about a weekend food trek in the Napa wine country?!   I’m writing in front of the fire in a very cozy room at the Yountville Inn north of Napa, working on my appetite in advance of a day of feasting and wine tasting.  Yountville, named after trapper/settler/farmer George Yount, is the hometown of Thomas Keller’s French Laundry and a collection of other high-end, celebrity chef-owned culinary establishments.   This weekend, with the exception of a kickoff tapas dinner at Zuzu (www.zuzunapa.com) in Napa, we’re eating entirely in Yountville. Coming later today is Keller’s French Laundry, followed by Michael Ciarello’s Bottega.  And tomorrow, we’ll start the day with another Keller rendition, Bouchon!

As for Zuzu, our weekend started off with gastronomic goodness at this pretty darn authentic tapas bar in downtown Napa.  True to their Spanish heritage, Zuzu doesn’t take reservations but has plenty of bar seating and tables for two, so schedules can be flexible and places to sit open up fast.  We had a near perfect rendition of the Spanish Tapas we’ve come to love, whether we’re in San Francisco, New York/Boston, or Valencia and Madrid.   Our choices included olives, Iberico ham, grilled octopus and potatoes, bocalao (salt cod), grilled green peppers fresh from the Zuzu garden, and grilled and marinated cauliflower and yellow beans.   While the octopus was arguably slightly over-cooked, the peppers were the best I’ve ever had.  In fact, the only dish we thought was a miss based on our experiences in Madrid and Valencia was the cauliflower and yellow beans, which were over-marinated in sherry vinegar and then served neither hot nor cold, confusing both the diners and the cauliflower.  We finished the meal with a very fine empanada filled with apple compote and topped with house made caramel.  Rockin!

Next stop: French Laundry!

Tapas on the Napa River at ZuZu
Lovin' It!

San Francisco Tapas Crawl Redux

Almost one year ago Laura and I embarked on our original San Francisco Tapas Crawl (see my blog entry describing our adventure), inspired by an article in the San Francisco Chronicle.  Tapas crawls are exciting – new restaurants, no reservations, no schedule, and no expectations […]