Welcome to Mayfield

Back in the day, south Palo Alto was a independent town called Mayfield.  Apparently, Mayfield was kind of a rowdy place, and refused Leland Stanford's offer to place his university there. Thus Stanford was founded in Palo Alto.  You know the rest.  In the 1920's, the two towns merged but the Mayfield name pops up from time to time.  Well now, Palo Altans of all stripes can enjoy the Mayfield Bakery and Cafe, another new arrival to the revitalized Town & Country Shopping Center.  So far we've visited the bakery twice and been happy each time.

Our first foray was for a weekday pastry run.  The bakery is sparkling with lots of white tile. There are two small tables if you want to stay, but it's definitely more of a carry-out location. The display case holds individual desserts and sandwiches.  Behind the counter are baskets holding a variety of fresh-baked breads including baguettes and a killer ciabatta, not too crunch on the outside and light and airy inside.  We selected a cream cheese danish, cinnamon sugar danish and a huckleberry muffin.   The pastries were delicious.  The dough was flaky, and the filling fresh.  I am not usually a muffin eater.  Typically they are a calorie and vegetable oil laden stomach bomb.  But, I was intrigued by the huckleberry and didn't want to go off the deep end with the pecan sticky buns (but boy did they look good).  It was light, fluffy and not too sweet or too large.  Nice way to start the morning.  As usual, Georges tried the espresso and pronounced it surprisingly good.   We decided to pick up a few desserts for later.  

The desserts were a mixed bag.  I loved my lemon tart with crystallized ginger.  It was smooth and tart, although I think the ginger could have been more pronounced.  Giselle had the Smore, which was a re-imagining of the childhood treat.  A homemade marshmallow topped a very rich chocolate ganache and graham cracker crust.  It was beautiful and delicious, but only a real chocoholic could finish it.  Georges had tiramisu which was also a twist on a classic.  I think your enjoyment of this one would depend on your willingness to let go of the traditional preparation of this dish.  All the flavors were there, the creamy mascarpone, the coffee and chocolate, but it resembled more of a tiered mousse than the layered ladyfinger and custard dish we all love.  Pastry chef Nancy Pitta has an impressive resume (Hawthorne Lane and Boulevard in SF) and her talent is evident.  I look forward to more treats from Mayfield's ovens.  I must add that all this deliciousness comes at a price.  My wallet was about $40 lighter after this little adventure.

Today, we decided to take-out a rainy day lunch.  We sampled three sandwiches: spit-roasted pork loin on the aforementioned ciabatta.  It had grilled red onions, cheese and a red pepper mayonnaise.  The pork was tender and well-seasoned and the combo worked.  Also good was the roast beef with the same onions, and asiago on a baguette.  Not as successful was a pulled chicken sandwich with bacon, brie and arugula on the same baguette.  The bacon had an unappealing pale look and fatty texture which gave the sandwich a greasy mouth feel. Combined with the buttery brie, it was not a pleasant experience.  

Next up, we'll review the Mayfield Cafe for lunch or dinner.

Great Expectations

After meeting famed Google chef Charlie Ayers when we went to scope out his new restaurant, Calafia, last week, we were excited to try this spot in Town & Country Shopping Center here in Palo Alto.  So, on a rainy Sunday, we decided to have brunch.  It seems to me that brunch is much more popular on the east coast than the west.  I have always enjoyed this combo meal.  It makes it easy to dine with a group on a lazy weekend day and satisfy the cravings of all.  

First of all, I love the design of the restaurant.  It's inviting, with lamps made out of recycled milk bottles and lots of warm wood.  There are two dining counters, one at the front window and the other facing the open kitchen.  The kitchen is streamlined and includes a gigantic panini grill and wood-burning pizza oven. The chef himself was cooking on our visit which I took as a good sign.

We ordered coffee while perusing the menu.  Our server explained that Calafia creates its own blend from three different types of beans.  I'm not much of a coffee drinker, but I tried a cappuccino and it was tasty.  Lots of foam like I like it.  Georges had an espresso (surprise!) which he deemed good, but not as good as the Mayfield Bakery next door.  There's also a full wine list and an assortment of Shoju cocktails, but not a full bar.  

The menu, as expected, is split between breakfast fare and lunch offerings.  We ordered Tobias' Famous Coffee Cake, Lamb Sausage and Eggs and the Smoked Salmon with Red Pepper Hollandaise and Crispy Potato Cake.  While we sipped coffee and the house-filtered water, we watched other diners and tried to see their plates.  The atmosphere was lively and plates seemed to be going back to the kitchen empty.  Another good sign.  

Here's where expectation meets reality.  The coffeecake was pretty good, if a little dry, but it had fresh apples which were a nice surprise.  Then came the entrees. First, Georges' eggs arrived fried, not scrambled as requested.  The plate was quickly changed out, but the eggs were overcooked.  The lamb sausage were delicious.  The smoked salmon dish looked beautiful, except for the blackened potato cake underneath.  The eggs were perfectly poached and the salmon was silky.  However, each bite was ruined by the burned potatoes. After trying to suffer through, I had to tell the waiter (Chad) when he came over to check on us.  He was apologetic and fetched me a much better cooked hash brown from the kitchen.  I transferred the remaining benedict to the new potatoes and got an idea of how the dish should taste.  The hollandaise was well prepared, but not as flavorful as one would expect.  Unfortunately, I think my palate had suffered too long with the burned potato and I could not overcome that taste.  

My first impression of Calafia is mixed.  The atmosphere and service were good, but the food, which I really wanted to love, was not up to par.  We saw many other plates going out with the burned hash browns.  That is not acceptable at a restaurant at this level.  One of the keys to the locavore/organic movement is to simplify the cooking method to let the flavor of the food shine through.  Mistakes like this kill the flavor of all the elements of a dish.  That said, I will give the restaurant another chance, for lunch or dinner.  In a few weeks, they will also open their Market a Gogo, a Whole Foods style marketplace of prepared foods and an organic soup and salad bar and I'll report on that in a separate review.

Dawnville on the Road: Inauguration Edition (part two)

I've heard from many sources that Washington DC has become a real foodie town in the past few years.  The inauguration turned out not to be the time to discover any of these delights.  The hordes of visitors made it nearly impossible to visit any restaurants near the National Mall. 

After a long day spent soaking up the electric atmosphere on the Mall, our group was starving. Poor Giselle was surviving on a bag of popcorn and Georges and I even less.  With cold limbs and aching feet, we headed over to Union Station which promised a wide variety of dining options. Options abounded, but the crowds overwhelmed them all.  So, we hopped onto the Metro and went to Historic U street, once the heart of Black Washington, to find respite from the frigid temperatures.  Obama fever was in full flush here as well.  How exciting to stroll streets swelling with proud citizens awaiting the big event of 1-20-09.  Turned away at our first few stops, we finally found refuge at Cork, a wine bar located in the Logan Circle neighborhood. What appears to be a cozy little one-room restaurant/bar upon entrance is actually a warren of dining spaces on various levels.  We were escorted to a table on a little balcony in the middle of the restaurant.  It was warm and snug, the soft lighting, rustic wood tables and extensive wine menu allowing us to exhale at last.  

We settled in with a glass of Tissot Cremant de Jura, a pinot-based sparkling wine that was dry and crisp ($11) and the Bartolomiol prosecco ($8), which was a new brand for us, and very enjoyable.  After our wine orders were placed, were were able to peruse the menu.

The small plates menu enabled us to sample a range of items.   We started with the cheese (3 for $10)and charcuterie (3 for $15) plates as well as an order of the roasted brussels sprouts with pancetta and brown butter ($8).  Funnily enough, two of the three cheeses offered were California favorites, Humboldt Fog and Cowgirl Creamery.   The third was a nutty pecorino.  All three were well complemented by the quince jam and the mixed nuts that completed the presentation.  The charcuterie plate featured a mound of thinly sliced prosciutto, salami and chorizo and a ramekin of mustard.  The fresh French bread was plentiful and we made short work of devouring all that was set before us.  Funny what missing lunch and 6  hour walk will do for the appetite.  We decided to try one more dish and selected the grilled Angus flat iron steak with broccoli rabe, braised radicchio and horseradish sauce.  The steak, cooked at the requested medium rare, was juicy and flavorful. The broccoli rabe absorbed the tasty juices and we were all happy with the choice.  

Cork is definitely a place I would return to if in DC again, particularly during a less busy time than inauguration week.  

Dawnville on the Road: Inauguration Edition (part one)

The citizens of Dawnville traveled to Washington DC (via Philadelphia) for Barack Obama's inauguration.  More on that magical day later.  After arriving at our hotel (a perfectly pleasant airport Hilton) at 1 am the previous evening, we decided to sleep in on Sunday.  By the time we got ourselves up, dressed and retrieved the rental car, we'd missed breakfast and were well into the lunch hour.  Starved, we decided to head into Center City for an all-day breakfast at the Down Home Diner in the Reading Terminal Market.  The Market, in operation since the 1800's, is filled with independently operated stalls selling everything from seafood to flowers to Indian to baked goods to the ever-popular cheesesteak.  It's like the San Francisco Ferry Building Market for people without stock options.  One corner of the market is given over to the local Amish, but unfortunately and not unexpectedly their stalls were closed on Sunday.  And, in another dose of disappointment, the diner workers decided to close up early on this particular Sunday.  No breakfast for us.  However, we couldn't be discouraged for long.  After a few spins around the floor, we decided to try Carmen's version of the classic chessesteak.  Taking the counterman's advice, we got a straightforward version with steak, cheese and some sweet peppers.  The roll was fresh, the cheese melty and steak hot.  It didn't knock me out, but it was tasty.  Next visit we will try one of the much heralded versions at Chink's.  We also tried an Italian hoagie which was also good, especially with the homemade hot peppers that added a feisty kick at the end of each bite.  

Giselle was not in the mood for a sandwich so she sampled the delights at Delilah's, a family-run shop that was recognized by Oprah as having the best Mac and Cheese in America.  Now that's a dish we had to try.  We ordered the two piece chicken dinner (dark meat) with the aforementioned mac and cheese and collard greens.  The chicken was ok, a bit underseasoned for my taste and also not cooked to order.  I like my fried chicken hot out of the fryer.  The greens on the other hand were well-seasoned and tasty.  And the mac and cheese, it was very good, but not the best I've ever had.  I think it also suffered from sitting on the steam table, resulting in lukewarm temperature and too-soft noodles.  

I would definitely go back to the Reading Terminal Market to explore some of the other vendors, especially the local Amish favorites.  If you're in town, I'd recommend you do the same.

Bistro Elan: What a Neighborhood Restaurant Should Be

As the grateful recipients of a one-night pass courtesy of my visiting mother, my husband and I decided to go out for a nice dinner.  While at age four our daughter is quite a discriminating diner and well-behaved in restaurants, there are some experiences that are better without her. After a lengthy volley of potential choices--San Francisco, Marin, something new, we settled on an old favorite, Bistro Elan.  We had been to the restaurant only once since Giselle's birth, when she was about 11 months old.  She enjoyed it, but it's really not a place set up to welcome kids.  So, it was with great anticipation that we set out on the Tuesday before Christmas for an adult meal.

Bistro Elan is on California Avenue, the sometimes overlooked other main street Palo Alto. Truth be told, California Ave. has its own charms that compete with University Avenue including a much better (year-round) farmers market, a great women's boutique (Leaf and Petal) and Izzy's New York Bagels (for a salt bagel with whitefish salad and tomato).  Bistro Elan looks warm and inviting from the street with its low lighting, small bar and bustling, tiny, open kitchen. Since our last visit, the owners have divided the space with heavy, chocolate-colored velvet drapes, offering needed privacy between some of the tables and making it even cozier. We were seated in the front of the restaurant with aforementioned drape on one side an a two-top on the other.  We had a pleasant view of the holiday lights on California.

Within moments, we were greeted by our server and placed our order for a half-bottle of Billecart Salmon Rose, our favorite champagne.  It was the holidays after all and worth a splurge.  Shortly after our drinks arrived, we received an amuse bouche, a few bites of delicious salami and olives that was perfect with the yeasty bubbles of the champagne.

So, as you can see, it's all going pretty smashingly to this point.  I think what a neighborhood restaurant offers vs. big venues is a level of service and attention to detail that is often lacking at their larger cousins.  Everything we had that evening was a delight.  Georges started with smoked salmon on a potato waffle.  This dish is an update of a Bistro Elan favorite, the smoked salmon napoleon, that graced the menu for years.  While skeptical, we both agreed that the waffle's airy texture was a wonderful complement to the silky salmon.  I had oysters on the half shell which can be a bit of Russian Roulette these days, but I love them.  These did not disappoint.  They were fresh, well-chilled and briny, everything you want.  The straightforward mignonette was the right accompaniment.  

After this intro, we had high expectations for our main courses.  I was torn between day-boat scallops, which the chef does very well, and petrale sole.  I opted for the sole and boy was I glad. There were two big pieces, simply breaded and pan-fried in a traditional lemon-caper sauce. The fish rested on a bed of roasted broccolini and melted in your mouth.  I could not eat the entire portion, although I gave it my all.  So, I shared a few bites with Georges, who agreed that the fish was perfectly cooked.  For him, the choice was easy: a flat-iron steak with BE's addictive pommes frite, served in a wooden bowl.

Though I couldn't finish my entree, I could not resist the temptations of the pastry chef.  We briefly thought of sharing, but generally we go different directions on a dessert tray.  And thus, Georges ended up with a seven-layer vanilla and white chocolate sponge cake while I turned my attention to the lemon tart.  The cake was good.  Very light and airy, but the tart presentation was fabulous.  The tart was served with pistachio crusted lemon semifreddo that was the height of yumminess.

We both talked all the way home about how much we enjoyed the meal.  The restaurant fires on all cylinders delivering great food, warm atmosphere and attentive service.  Bistro Elan is definitely back in our dining rotation.

The Rise of Pizza Friday

Let's start with my current obsession: pizza.  It is actually a lifelong pursuit nurtured by spending my formative years in Connecticut.  With Pepe's and Sally's only 20 minutes away, and great local joints including Jerry's, Apizza Center and the Brick Oven, I have eaten more than my fair share of pies.  It is the  thing that I miss most of all, more than 15 years after decamping to the west coast.  Thankfully there has been a surge of interest in what I call "real pizza" in the last few years.  Delfina in SF.  Diavola in Geyserville.  Pizza Antica in San Jose and Tiburon.  They all make delicious pizza that has no relationship to the doughy mess that is served at places like RoundTable.  Still, the pizza of my youth has eluded me.  And so, I have started Pizza Friday to try and capture the taste of pizzas past.  It started slow with store-bought dough and jarred sauce.  I have progressed to making my own dough (using Chris Bianco's recipe and Italian 00 flour).  Talk about a challenge.  I cannot claim victory with the dough, but the toppings are great.  My current favorite is italian sausage, red peppers, cremini mushrooms, and thinly sliced red onions.  Proscuitto and portobella is another crowd pleaser.  The secret is the fontina Val d'Aosta.