“Twenty years from now you will be more disappointed by the things you didn’t do than by the ones you did do. So throw off the bowlines. Sail away from the safe harbor. Explore. Dream. Discover.” - Mark Twain

10/24 Loretto Dinner with Phoenix Supper Club (see "Happenings")

I’m giving away a pair of VIP tickets to this Thursday’s (11/19) Indy Spirits Expo at Mighty (6-9pm; 5pm entrance for VIP). At $75 per person ($150 value) it’s a rare event, only held here and NYC annually, to discover and taste small batch, artisanal spirits from around the world.

To be eligible to win, have five food/drink/travel-loving friends sign up for The Perfect Spot newsletter (you can also send me their email addresses/names) by this Tuesday, November 17, at 5pm. I’ll draw names and let the winner know by Wednesday (the winner and a guest will be on the guest list). In it’s inaugural year, I’m looking forward to meeting distillers, discovering new spirits and tasting ones I like but don’t see often (like North Shore Distillery from Chicago). See you there!

Top Tastes reflects the best new places, dishes, drinks and bites from my culinary explorations since the last issue.  Happenings takes on a speakeasy jazz Loretto dinner with Phoenix Supper Club. Imbiber captures my top tastes in drink.

I’d love your feedback on any spots visited from my site. As your personal concierge who tells it to you like a good friend would, I create personalized itineraries: trips, meals, explorations (check out “Services“).

Let me guide you to the perfect spot!

Virginia

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**Unless otherwise noted, all photos by Virginia Miller**

10/24 Loretto Dinner with Phoenix Supper Club

Inside the lovely Haas-Lilienthal House (this photo: Daniel Stumpf)

Boarding the limo

Meet at a corner disclosed when making a reservation to Phoenix Supper Club’s Loretto dinner. A limo awaits with champagne and about 10 other guests all guessing where you’ll be dining. October 24, the first Loretto dinner, brought us to historical Haas-Lilienthal House/Museum, where we were ushered to candlelit tables and entertained by live jazz from lovely vocalist, Sabrina Modelle, with pianist.

Ahi Tuna course with Nicoise olives, Peruvian purple fingerling potatoes, haricot vert, sherry vinaigrette, paired with Sebastiani 2006 Sonoma Coast Pinot Noir

A nine course meal (each course paired with wines) follows from Chef Tommy Halvorson, creating delicious, delicate (but never fussy) dishes covering all food groups from vegetables to fish to a range of meats, portioned small enough to leave room, though I was heartily full by the end.

Entrance to the house

The Renaissance Man and I savored a romantic hour at our own table initially, but we’d made friends in the limo and talking across our neighboring tables, felt the evening begged for a communal aspect. We asked to have our tables moved together halfway through the meal when the evening turned into festive dinner party. Eventually more tables and guests intermingled, an ideal trajectory for the evening (and maybe future dinners?) to take. With three seatings of 10 or so people arriving every half hour, the gathering grew, while remaining intimate.

Jazz standards sang by Sabrina Modelle

With each dinner different in location and menu, Loretto comes at a high cost ($220!) But it’s fine dining plus, with points for romance, intrigue and surprise… a one-of-a-kind birthday or anniversary dinner. If the communal aspect is encouraged, it can also operate as a unique dinner party.

Dessert: Chocolate Hazelnut Crepe, Lemon Cream Sorbet, Candied Zest

In a sea of pop-up dinners and supperclubs these days, the concept of classy, comfortable speakeasy dining with live jazz is one that actually excites me. At about half the price, there’s also Mephisto, a five course dinner series with speakeasy surprise locales (minus a limo), so choices abound. The next Loretto dinner is this Saturday, 11/21.

Dining rooms exuded a Fall glow (this photo: Daniel Stumpf)

This issue’s Top Tastes in DRINK

“A cocktail hath the soul of wit, it is brief. It is a jest, a bon-mot, happy thought, a gibe, a word of sympathy, a tear, an inspiration, a short prayer. ” - Sportsman/travel writer, Francis Francis in Nineteenth Century

Victoria D'Amato's cocktail list at La Costanera, Half Moon Bay

COCKTAILS

Cocktails with an ocean view at La Costanera

•  Neyah White at Nopa can always be counted on to create a superior cocktail… Nopa’s sherry cocktails are influenced by his recent travels in Spain. Post Exchange ($9) is bright with Pedro Ximénez sherry, Bulleit bourbon, lemon juice and egg white. Puro ($9) is a smoky nightcap of Diplomatico rum, Oloroso sherry, Pedro Ximénez sherry, Angostura bitters, the glass first seductively filled with smoke. Non-sherry cocktails are equally stimulating, including a Westward Old Fashioned ($9), made of small batch spirits across the country: Wasmund’s Single Malt from Virginia, rare North Shore Mole Gin from Chicago and Oregon’s Ransom Old Tom Gin.

• Victoria D’Amato created the drink menu at La Costanera in Montara, between Pacifica and Half Moon Bay. Though I’m sad not to see her there making my drink, the cocktail menu (all $10) reflects her sensibilities with fresh fruit purees and homemade syrups. A change of pace from a margarita is La Montara with Sauza Horintos Reposado, hibiscus juice (gives it a pinky tinge), lime and a light jalapeno syrup. Pisco de Agave had a bit too much agave nectar sweetness for me, but I loved the fresh cucumber juice and lime with Pisco Acholado. Best of all is breathtaking ocean views and fire pits as you imbibe.

Tropical cocktails by Martin Cate at Jardiniere's Tiki Dinner

• Tiki torches welcomed outside of Jardiniere, a favorite of mine, during their one night only (11/9) Tiki Dinner (though every Monday there’s a themed $45 prix fixe). Guest bartender, Martin Cate, of the soon to open, highly-anticipated Smuggler’s Cove, served three of his island-friendly cocktails all night. No one makes tropical drinks like Cate and out of all three he served, my favorite was Don’s Beach Planter ($10) with Rhum Neisson, brandy, Coruba rum, pineapple, passion fruit, lime, Angostura bitters and Herbsaint, the latter two ingredients keeping it nuanced, lush, the right amount of sweet.

WINE

•  Wow, is my sadly inept descriptor for 2004 Alsace Zind-Humbrecht Gewurztraminer, blissfully enjoyed with friends at Circolo. Mineral notes, hints of rose petal, it confronts with layered complexity. I fell in love immediately.

Fresh sugar cane press at Leblon Cacaha Master Distiller session

•  At One Market’s Weekly Beast Goat dinner, the vanilla, cedar finish of 2005 Millbrandt “Traditions” Merlot held up with a ham-like Goat Leg course.

SPIRITS

•  A special session on 11/10 (held at Conduit) with Leblon Cacahca’s Master Distiller, Gilles Merlet, visiting from Brazil and Cognac, France, included a rare bottle of unfiltered cachaca and cocktails from Reza Esmaili, Conduit’s bartender. Reza created three lovely cocktails, including a lushly smooth Avocado mi Amor with avocado, key lime, agave nectar, pure cane juice, and, yes, cachaca. We tasted pure cane sugar juice and learned of distilling processes for cachaca. A fine way to spend an afternoon.

Top Tastes is my usual run-down of tastes over the past two weeks. Rather than a list of all-time favorites (another thing altogether), it’s highlights since my last newsletter, often from new openings. Many don’t make the cut, being a revisit written about before or simply not as stand-out as dishes mentioned.

Light-filled interior of South Beach's newest taqueria, Iron Cactus

SAVORY – SEAFOOD

• Bar Tartine is getting my vote yet again (see last month’s Top Tastes) with Pickled Sardines ($13): flaky and full, paired with an egg, watercress and radish. Lest it sound bland, I assure you, it is not. Nuanced, vinegary, with just the right emphasis on the salty…

Roasted Crab & Garlic Noodles at Crustacean

• Siam Lotus‘ Thai Tacos, or Nom-Beauang ($6.95), has been covered in the SF Guardian, my employer, years ago, but I finally tried them, and they were right: an appealing “taco” in a paper thin rice shell with shrimp, chicken, peanuts and tons of shredded coconut.

• Though I’ve long been partial to Thanh Long, at a recent visit to elegantly old school Crustacean, from the same owners, I found the same tantalizing Roasted Crab (market price) and addictive Garlic Noodles ($9.95).

SAVORY – MEAT

Lucious Raw Beef Salad at To Hyang

• Raw Beef Salad ($18) with egg yolk at Inner Richmond’s To Hyang (ask for it – it’s not listed on the menu) is big enough for two. A gleaming mound of raw beef may sound frightening to some but this a truly fine dish full of flavor, both sweet and beefy.  A Korean mother cooks with a deft hand, the best Korean food I’ve had in SF (!), as her daughters serve in this humble Korean eatery toned in yellow and white.

• Cheers for slow-braised Snake River Farm Waygu Beef Cheeks with pretzel crust on spaetzle, choucroute gratin, scented with beer sauce at Fleur de Lys (one dish in a $72 3-course menu, $82 4-course, or $95 5-course). Paired with a recommended Rhone, Alain Graillot Crozes Hermitage Rouge 2007 Syrah, plummy, black-pepper notes mix well with the oozing tenderness of the cheeks.

SAVORY – VEGETARIAN

Kezar's Potato Pancakes w/ Andouille Sausage

• Kezar Pub & Restaurant’s giant Potato Pancakes ($13) with Andouille sausage, applesauce, sour cream, satisfied my cravings for New York Jewish delis where I’d load up on potato pancakes and blintzes in my teen years on the East Coast. This is pub food done  well, with Anchor Steam’s Old Foghorn Ale to boot (along with great beers on draft).

SWEET

• Ever since Bong Su closed, I was sad to lose sweets from husband/wife team, Dennis & Catherine Eloise Leung… but to my delight, they opened Delise, a “dessert cafe” featuring baked goods and their inventive, often Asian-tinged ice creams ($2.25 single, $3.50 double, $4.50 triple scoop).  For me, it’s a not too convenient location near Fisherman’s Wharf, but when I can go, I taste every flavor (usually around six). Favorites so far? Certainly Pesto with candied pine nuts and olive oil is a stand-out. Coconut Kaffir Lime Sorbet is an aromatic flavor-punch – and it’s vegan. But I find myself wanting a repeat of Toasted Rice, simple and straightforward, like a wheaty (and creamy), toasted rice tea.

This issue’s Top Tastes in DRINK

“Alcohol may be man’s worst enemy, but the Bible says love your enemy.” - Frank Sinatra

COCKTAILS

Oaxacan Old Fashioned (photo: Casey Kelbaugh for New York Times)

It’s a special night (10/21) at Cantina (a worthy destination any night) when New York City’s Joaquin Simo, of Death & Co, and Toby Moloney (formerly of Milk & Honey, now running culinary cocktail bars around the country, including Chicago’s one-and-only Violet Hour) guest bartend. All tattoos and friendliness, these guys are cool – and awe-inspiringly adept behind the bar (behold the energy with which Toby shakes a cocktail or the deft discreetness dealt in Joaquin’s lighting of citrus peel). I put full reign in their hands and they delivered every time. Joaquin did his own variation of a bourbon cocktail using Old Overholt Rye instead with Aperol, Peychaud’s bitters, Yellow Chartreuse. Smooth, balanced, sexy. I truly loved his Oaxacan Old Fashioned, a Death & Co staple  with El Tesoro Reposado tequila, a smoky tinge from Los Amantes Joven mezcal, amber agave nectar and Angostura bitters. Toby stopped the show using one of my favorites, Zacapa Rum, with Green Chartruese, lemon, egg white, Angostura, dash of Peychaud’s on top and a Campari rinse. Hello!

WINE

Levels of wine tasting at SF Design Center for Wine & Spirits Top 100

• A New Zealand 2006 Rippon Riesling paired just right with seafood courses at Fleur de Lys: floral and crisp with a slightly viscous texture, it maintains a proper balance of sweet and dry.

•  Wine & Spirits Top 100 event was a swank affair, jazz band, striking atrium, tasty bites from some of SF’s best restaurants and eateries… I couldn’t begin to pick a best out of 100 award-winning beauties from around the world. There was quite a line-up of champagnes and sparklers, wines from Portugal, Chile, Greece, and, of course, Italy, France, California. I immediately took to Australian Penfolds Shiraz and Riesling, Chilean Concha y Toro’s Sauvignon Blanc and Carmenere, a 2005 Joseph Drouhin Puligny-Montrachet, and a 2000 Vilmart Champagne Brut Coeur de Cuvee Premier Cru.

SPIRITS

My first Whiskyfest was a memorable experience. Only held in Chicago, New York and SF annually, it’s a sea of whiskies from around the globe in SF Marriott ballrooms, with distillers and staff from various countries flying out to serve you unlimited tastes (oh, so dangerous). Yes, you must pace yourself, fill up on the buffet of roast beef, pastas and such, and plan strategically from the long list of vendors. Though pricey ($110 a ticket or $150 for VIP hour), out the many events I attend in a year, I find this is one worth saving up for, particularly if you love the brown spirit.

The Renaissance Man samples cocktails from Rickhouse & Bourbon & Branch bartenders

One of the joys of the night was Steve Beal’s Classic Malts class (all classes included with ticket price – line up a little early to secure a seat). Graciously leading us through various regions of Scotland, Steve used photos and stories of the history and production of some key scotches (including distiller’s editions of Glenkinchie, Dalwhinnie, Oban, Lagavulin, Cragganmore, Talisker)… with little glasses of each as we journeyed along.

It is impossible to name favorites so I will list at least a few highlights beyond the more-affordable greats like Oban, multiple years of Caol Ila, and ever-reliable Lagavulin (I enjoyed trying the Distiller’s Edition: super peaty, with notes of brine, sherry wood). Highland Park’s dark 30-year wowed… but the boozy 25-year was not too shabby either. Glenrothes 1975 was a bright blend of fruit and spice, while the 1979 equally delighted. I’d happily imbibe Pappy Van Winkle’s smooth 23 and 20 year bourbons again. Parker’s Heritage 27 year is brilliant – so much going on. See if Malt Advocate’s description doesn’t make you salivate.

And this is just for starters… get thee to next year’s Whiskyfest.