Thursday, April 16, 2009

Opening Night at Spanish Bay

How many hours and am I running on...lost count. I'm okay though, the adrenaline from Pebble Beach Food & Wine is keeping me going. I promise photos will be coming soon!

A quick wrap of the day. Celebrity chef golf tournament this morning. Thomas Keller and others were out on the fairway. Unfortunately, no Ming Tsai this year, or Tom Colicchio. Tom C is recovering from surgery. Met up with him at the kitchen inside Spanish Bay, and I like him even more after our interview. Oh, also met the CEO of Louis Roederer Champagne -- or Cristal. The Cristal dinner tomorrow tonight should be fabulous. The Rouzaud family will be sharing -- I believe -- 9 bottles of vintage Cristal. Pretty historic. It will be a vertical tasting paired with amazing food. David Kinch of Manresa will be cooking some of the food. Will be covering that as well as the Michelin Stars of San Francisco dinner.

Quick wardrobe change -- the opening night reception at Spanish Bay was like half Oscars, half Iron Chef, half Napa Valley Wine Tour. Seriously, 20 top chefs cooking amazing food paired with 200 wines. The food -- don't get me started. Some of my favorites of the night:
1. Cyrus - Oxtail consomme with a umeboshi
2. Buttermilk poached trout with trout roe
3. Spicy tuna handroll from Roy's

Wish I had time to sample more...but I was running around reporting. Met Dana Cowin from Food & Wine -- charming woman and wonderful editor. Got an invite to the very VIP chefs' party. Couldn't stay because needed to feed stories over to 10 and 11 shows, and needed to get some well-needed shut-eye. But it looked amazing...and on one corner, boxes of Patron piled to the ceiling. A fun night for all.

Wonder if I can squeeze in quick 10k tomorrow morning before work. Okay, be back tomorrow night with a wrap of the Cristal and Michelin dinners. Stay tuned!

1 comment:

Scott McReynolds said...

So Jealous!!! Wish I had a tee time at Poppy Hills this weekend. I go every July for my Birthday and nothing like leaving 100* behind for perfect air conditioned 70* weather in Pebble Beach.