Restaurant Review: Donato Enoteca
June 27, 2009
I’ve decided that the time has come for me to embrace my first love, food, a bit more fully. More concretely, that means I’m going to start reviewing restaurants I go to and dishes I help make!
First up we have the very newly opened Donato Enoteca in Redwood City. Chris and I suffered through the Giro de Peninsula on Saturday (suffered because it was over 100 degrees for a significant portion of it - and 100 degrees when climbing is not fun) and decided that trying a brand spanking new restaurant would be a good way to treat ourselves. So I booked a reservation on OpenTable and we were on our way!
What we got (see whole dinner menu here)
Munchin’ Bread:
- The bread they bring out is totally yummy, though the spread most certainly had olives in it (which Chris didn’t mind but I did). The bread was certainly yummy enough to eat on its own, though. Very cool airy yet doughy with a firm darkened crust.
Appetizer:
Prosciutto e Pinzin (Traditional Emilia-Romagna dumplings with 18 month aged prosciutto) ($9)
This was sort of an uninspired beginning. The “dumplings” were, as Chris said, “like an empty thin crust empanada.” Or, for those of us who have never knowingly eaten a so called “empanada” it was just sort of dry puffed-out nada. Now, the prosciutto on top was delicious but what about the whole dish? The two pieces didn’t integrate for me at all. It was like a dry hollow puffy bread thing to the left and super yummy prosciutto to the right. I’d recommend you pass on that one.
Main Course:
Bigoli (small tube pasta with braised ox tail and asparagus tips) ($14)
- Portion size: too small (if you are hungry this will not be enough to make you happy)
- Other than the size of the dish it was quite tasty. Chris was totally digging the braised ox tail and its yummy juices flavored the dish nicely. The only complaint other than its size – not enough asparagus.
Tagliata di agnello (Lamb with balsamic reduction (I believe) and vegetables (brussels sprouts, carrots, green beans)) ($19)
- Portion size: lovely
- This was definitely the winner in my eyes (finally I choose well!) The lamb was seriously delicious, nicely cooked (perhaps just a hair overcooked on the sides). The only complaint has to do with the vegetables. The flavoring over them masks the taste of each (except the brussels sprouts, which Chris said were way too overpowering for the dish). I thought they were tasty and nice from a consistency/feel perspective but would have appreciated a little more of their natural flavors coming through. Just a little more! The sort of corn-o-meal pancake things were good for soaking up the little left over juices, too. Overall the lamb was quite delicious. I definitely would have eaten more!
Dessert:
Tiramisu ($9)
- I took two pictures because I was so surprised by this one! It was really a sort of tiramisu pudding. Still tasty but if you’re looking for (what I at least took to be classic tiramisu consistency) be prepared to be surprised.
Overall the meal was lovely and the price was much more reasonable than I thought it would be.
First food review: complete!
ALC8 Day Six: Rain and a Knight in Scion Armor
June 5, 2009
Throughout the night between day five and six the rain was just pounding on the tents. I’m talking waked-me-up-it-was-so-loud pounding. Granted, I think being in the tent amplified the sound (and thereby amplifying our concern) but still… it was raining. Now I came prepared for rain. Chris and I did the Pon Memorial ride with the Positive Pedalers (a group comprised mostly of HIV+ cyclists) and that two-day ride was so bad they had to cancel the second day and sag us all home.
(sag = when for whatever reason you can’t complete a ride so the organizers pick you and your bike up in a vehicle and drive you the rest of the way. Also see loss of all glory for more information)
Anyway, through the Pon ride I had purchased a waterproof jacket, full fuzzy finger gloves, toe covers, and wool socks. So when I woke up on day six I was ready to have a Pon repeat. I even had toe warmers I put in my bike shoes!
Originally the plan was for a group of us to get out early, hit a coffee shop, and then wait around until they opened the 101 section for us. Basically all riders were going to be held at rest stop one (I believe) until 9AM because we had to cross this bridge on the 101 that had no shoulder, so they were going to close a lane for us for a specified amount of time. And obviously they weren’t going to let you go over it before they closed the lane. So me, Michael, Topher, and Ryan all started together in search of coffee. And in the cold drizzle we made our way to the start of the gradual climb to rest stop one and, hopefully, coffee.
Unfortunately, it was a full-blown war zone out there. Bikers left and right were getting flats and the rain wasn’t going anywhere.
You may be wondering why the rain would cause soooo many more flats. The answer (as best I know) seems to be that generally there’s a lot of crap on the side of the road. Pieces of glass, nails (you’d be surprised how many nails I see…where do they even come from?!), sharp rock shards, etc. Over time those things are sort of covered in dirt and more bike friendly crap. And, because of cars, most the really heavy evil stuff gets pushed to the very right of the shoulder. However, the rain seems to uncover all those nasty sharp critters and pull them up a bit from the far right side. Thus, you get a LOT more flats.
Well the Google crew was not immune from such a horrible flat fate and it seems I was picked, nay chosen, by the flat gods to be the Google sacrifice. Right on the first descent I felt like my back tire was a little funky. I slowed down, lost the Google guys, and as some random guy was passing me I yelled “Excuse me, could you please look at my back tire. Is it flat?!”
And, sure enough, I had a flat.
Now, I’ve never actually changed a flat on my own (don’t judge me) – so I was pretty nervous. With a zillion bikers nervously wobbling by me in the rain and flats happening right and left (there were three people about ten feet away from me trying to fix one), I was feeling pretty overwhelmed. So I started taking my back wheel off while sticking my thumb down (which is the sign for “I need help!”)
Now in theory a friendly biker was supposed to see my thumb, pull over, and help me… but alas, no luck. I think people were too flustered to really grasp that my thumb was down. And then, after grasping it, to actually decided to pull over. Luckily, soon enough a sag vehicle saw me and pulled over. I explained that I could use a bit of help with my flat but the nice woman said she wasn’t a mechanic and could only sag me to the rest stop. I was NOT interested in sagging (see definition above) so I started fixing it myself. As I was working on it another biker came out of the sag vehicle and tried to help me. We got it all set up, went to pump the tire, and nada. Nada. Apparently I had a bad tube. So there was really nothing for me to do but sag. They reminded me we did what we could and that it was only a few miles to the rest stop. So I got in and right away the nice guy asked if this was my first time sagging. Right when I went to say yes I started crying (which I think gave him his answer) so he gave me a hug.
Once I was dropped at the rest stop (at the rest stop there are bike techs set up that have extra tubes and whatnot) I saw my very friendly bike tech dude! So I went up to him told him what happened, got all teary again, and got some big giant bear hugs. Really, the hugs help. He then told me that all bikers were being held at the rest stop because there was (according to rumor) a big accident on the 101 so they couldn’t close a lane for us. There were loads of bikers all using those emergency blankets waiting for news.
I told him I’d be right back and called Chris crying. “Hunny?? Something terrible has happened [insert sobbing]” I then explained how I had to get sagged to the rest stop and how my world had pretty much ended. He tried to be supportive but I think he was so relieved to hear the “something horrible” wasn’t a bike accident it was a bit difficult for him to take me too seriously 
But, to make me feel better, he told me what was going to be a surprise – he started driving down at 7AM and would be in Ventura in time to see me roll in! But, at that moment, I found out they had cancelled the rest of the ride (CHP shut it down) and we were either to wait at the rest stop for a bus or bike back to camp (15 miles) to wait there. I decided to bike back and Chris was to meet me there and be my personal sag vehicle to Ventura!
Soon enough Chris arrived and picked up me, Michael, and Ryan. We stopped by Carl’s for lunch and then made our way down to Ventura… to our hotel rooms!!
The rest of the night consisted in a big group of Googlers going out to a nice steakhouse for our last dinner together and then everyone hitting the sack pretty early. I was sooooo happy to see Chris and finish up my week long adventure!
ALC8 Day Five: Red Dress Day and Mixing it up a bit
June 4, 2009
After the long quasi-century yesterday, today was to be a shorter, and you’d think, much easier day at 60-some odd miles (once again I couldn’t charge the Garmin properly). However, I’ve noticed that the harder days for me aren’t the long century days but the day after them! Though the difference between today and day three (the last post-century ride day) is that today is red dress day! Basically that means that pretty much everyone dresses in red, and preferably a red dress, for the ride!
However, while in years past the red dress day ride was a super mellow 40 miles, this year the course was changed to be a bit over 60 miles – and to include, I’m told, a bit more climbing. Knowing that, I was curious to see if people would be as dressed up and ridiculous as years past! I mean 60+ miles is a non-trivial ride! Are you really going to want to do it in a giant dress and heels?
The other difference between this “recovery” day and the last one was that a group of us (Ryan, Baris, and Topher) decided to do it together. Ryan wanted a real recvoery day and I figured if I pushed hard enough, I could keep up with that!
So after getting dressed up in our red day best, we got moving. The first rest stop was about twenty miles long and it was relatively chill-going. But, after looking at the route map a bit more I realized there was some significant climbing between rest stop one and lunch. And, while it’s possible for me to stay with Ryan on flats (when he’s in recovery), there’s no way in hell I can stick with them on the climbs. So, to avoid the stress of watching them zoom off into the distance, I just said we should split up and re-group at lunch for lunch and a stop in Solvang for some yummy pastries. So everyone agreed and we split up.
So after we split I had some rough goings for a bit. I think the grade was seriously only 2-3% with 4-5% rolling for a long time but ddaaayyuummm I felt like a slug. It wasn’t until the real steeper bit showed up that I finally felt like I had some energy. Oy!
Soon enough I arrived in oh-so-adorable Solvang to find Baris and Ryan eating lunch. And, soon after that Topher arrived, too. We ate quickly and then made our way to downtown Solvang in search of some cycle-friendly cafe Ryan had been to. Eventually we found it, ordered some drinks and a scone (guess who ordered the scone) and hung out for a while.
It was actually kind of nice to spend time riding with people. And, more than just that, to have people to actually eat with!
The rest of the ride was fairly uneventful. Near the end Ryan and Baris pushed a bit ahead so Topher and I rode together. Poor Topher, his friggin ankle was so swollen!
That afternoon/evening the group took a shuttle into Lompoc to eat Thai food to prep for 80+ mile Friday.
Oh, and after all the eating, we went back to camp and decided to actually go to the town hall-esque meeting that happens every night. I ended up meeting a guy who got his PhD/JD and is about to start as a professor of political science at Santa Cruz! So we talked a bit about what that’s all like (since I’m interested in the PhD/JD track). I also got to hear some great speakers explain a bit more about what the SF AIDS Foundation and LA Gay and Lesbian Cener do. Pretty amazing.
And after that I am totally wiped out and must hit the sack!
ALC8 Day Four: Evil Twins and Riding Solo
June 3, 2009
Sadly today my Garmin died before lunch so I can’t give you my super fascinating data. But, suffice to say, the ride was supposed to be 94.1 miles, I got lost for a few miles, which means my ride was somewhere between 96-98 miles.
Basically I got lost because I’ve not had to look at my route sheet one single time on this ride – there are roadies at pretty much every possible stop you could get lost at, so it’s just not necessary! However, there was this one point near the end of the day where there was no roadie and the turn was .1 miles after the previous turn, which means I totally didn’t see it! But anyway, that’s getting ahead of my story…
So Michael and I did a better job today and got out by 6:40-6:45. And that was the last time I saw him until we were both back in our new camp.
So today is known for the “evil twins” which are two back to back climbs that start at (if I remember correctly) mile 10. I didn’t really know what to expect because when I hear “evil twins” I think of something like friggin Tunitas or worse… page mill! (because let’s face it… page mill is a friggin BIATCH). But I was happily surprised – both hills maxed out at around 7% but were very steady.
Oh! But before that! So remember how yesterday I said I felt sort of “blah” with food and stuff? Well today my super special monthly visitor decided to show up a week early! So that was a happy surprise this morning. So biking from camp to the climb was really uncomfy because oh god my cramps were bad. So I decided to stop at that rest stop and ask the medic for some Vitamin B (IB that is) . A little while after that I felt a lot better.
Anyways, the rest of the ride was pretty solo. Climbing really separates people out a lot more, so it’s not surprising to be solo for ten or fifteen mile stretches.
The only complaint about the whole solo thing are the freakin headwinds and crosswinds! Oh dear gods they were strong today! I definitely missed having Chris there to take the worst of it 
And I also missed Chris a bit because when heading into the last fifteen miles I smelled the MOST delicious cinnamon rolls. But, by the time I smelled them I had just passed the little restaurant and, being alone, couldn’t get myself to turn around for them. But I just KNOW that if Chris smelled them he would have stopped us in our tracks and turned our booties around! And oh boy it would have been worth it! When Topher got into camp tonight he mentioned that he stopped there and I sure was jealous!
When I got into camp Michael and Ryan PC yelled to me from their chill spot in the grass. So I went to say “hello” before my shower (PS: since Michael gets in soooo way before me he actually lugs my luggage to our tent for me! Isn’t that awesome?!)
After dinner the three of us went to Burger King so they could get their ice cream fix and I ate my fair share of fries.
I just heard them say that tomorrow is 67.7 miles – and it’s red dress day (the day when everyone gets all dolled up in, yeah you guessed right, crazy red dresses).
Now it’s time to get ready for bed – I mean it’s already 7:45!!
ALC8 Day Three: My butt, it hurts me
June 2, 2009
Miles: 63.57
Calories: 3570
Average Speed: 15.8mph
Total Ascent: 2008 ft
Avg HR: 133
Today was a quasi recovery day with 63ish miles from King’s City to Paso Robles. Michael and I were a little bit more efficient this morning and got to our bikes at 6:40. However, because I failed to pump my tires the night before (oh I should go do that now…) and my Garmin was acting up (it wouldn’t friggin restart! For the love of god!!), I didn’t roll out until about 6:55.
Of course ten or twenty minutes doesn’t really matter, but whatever – getting out earlier means more time on the road by myself, and I’ve grown to really like that solo time.
The route started with a pretty consistent 1% grade for about eight miles until we hit *que scary music* QUADBUSTER HILL!! I’d heard tales of this hills epicness so I was interested to see how hard it was going to kick my butt. Turns out it wasn’t too bad. I mean, I wasn’t flying up it by any means but me and my granny gear just churned it out slowly but surely and it was just fine
But overall today I was definitely feeling it. Yesterday I felt fresh but today my butt felt like a giant bruise and my muscles just weren’t at full power. I wasn’t dying or anything but I was moving position about once every few minutes to give different segments of my booty a break.
Lunch today was in Bradley, population 150. The town puts on a BBQ to raise money for the school and whatnot so I gladly handed over my $6.50 for a cheeseburger and gatorade. I bumped into Topher at lunch and saw we were wearing complementary jerseys (picture forthcoming)
After calling Chris (he got his final job offer numbers!! Yay!!!) I hit the road again my myself. 40-some odd miles down, about 20-some odd to go.
The scariest part of the ride today was biking for bits on the 101. Daaayyyuummm those big rigs and big and daaayyyuummm when they pass do the biggest gusts of wind ever blow up in my face! During that section the shoulder was just so bumpy and horrible that I lost all my sour gummy worms and sour patch kids (biking fuel of champions) and my blackberry bounced right into the lane! What was I to do? I looked down the road, saw no cars in sight, counted to three, and ran over, got it, and scurried on back! Yikes!
A little while later I was passing a girl and when I turned to her to say some little “hi” or “nice road, hey? [sarcasm]” I realized it was none other than Leslie from day one! So I slowed it down just a hair so we could talk about how horrible that 101 is, how much our butts hurt, and how grateful we were to be on smooth road again. We road together until the rest stop but she decided to stick around a bit longer and I wanted to get the last eight miles over with.
After I got into camp (oh and it started to rain just a bit for the last few miles or so) and waited a good bit for the water to get turned on for the showers, me and most of the Google guys went to dinner and then Frosty Freeze. I wasn’t feeling particularly hungry so I just got a chicken breast and no Frosty deliciousness. I guess to be smart I’ll try and eat something else tonight but I just wasn’t feeling the food thing. ugh.
Anyways, we had a good time hanging out and cheering on the bikers who were still coming in. That last part is actually quite fun! Ryan PC brought a little bell, so I was ringing that yelling for them all!
Tomorrow is 93 miles I believe so I’ve got to get a good night’s sleep. But, alas, the most INSANE snorer to EVER WALK ON EARTH ITSELF is sleeping diagonally form me. We got back to dinner and heard it and had flashbacks to night one. (last night the tent setup put him far far away from us). I’m hoping I’m so tired it won’t matter, though!
Three days down, four to go!!