O Christmas Tree! O Christmas Tree!

Happy Holidays!

I have been overly busy this season, but managed to get the tree decorated. This is the first year, I bought and used my own decorations. Previous years I resorted to my mother's massive collection of Christmas decorations, her decoration collection is so abundant that she has to store some at my house.  

This years decor scheme is Black&Gold&Silver. Ornaments collected from Pier 1, Crate&Barrel, & Pottery Barn. 

Cucina Enoteca Opens: Good Eats + Interior Design

Cucina Enoteca finally opened at the Irvine Spectrum Shops. I have been waiting for this restaurant to open since I loved Cucina Urbana in San Diego. They share the same design + menu with a few defining elements. I encourage everyone to check this amazing restaurant out if you are ever in Orange County.  

I love the interior design. When you can't stop turning your head finding new interesting things to look at, you know the designer accomplished something unique and wonderful. The owner, Tracy Borkum, is the visionary behind the restaurant; she created the menu, the interior design, the service, etc.. 

Here are a couple iPhone photos from my dinner last night:

Napa: Good Eats

All of these restaurant choices were based on yelp! Yelp is definitely my best friend when traveling.

Redd
We came here for my sister's birthday dinner. Getting reservations here was a challenge, especially Thanksgiving holiday weekend, but we ended up just walking in and was seated within 30 minutes.

We decided to order the five-course tasting menu. I always opt to go with this option, especially, at a restaurant I probably will only get a chance to try only once. There was five of us and every course we each got our own plate, but two different dishes were served among us. So to get the most out of it, we tasted each others dish if we wanted. For those with nut oil or nuts I passed on, for obvious reasons.

Bare with these photos, I took them with my iPhone in low light. I was a tad embarrassed to take out my SLR , especially because it was a pretty dim atmosphere.

First Course: 
Raw 
Sashimi of hamachi + sticky rice + edamame + lime ginger sauce
Yellowfin tuna tartare + asian pear + avocado + avocado + chili oil + fried rice + cilantro (not pictured)

Second Course: 
Sea
Carnaroli risotto + maine lobster + meyer lemon confit + truffle oil
Petrale sole + coconut jasmine rice + clams + chorizo + saffron curry sage

Third Course:
Poultry 
Roasted chicken + pinenut potatoes +  root vegetables + natural jus
Liberty farms duck breast + turnips + spinach + quince + huckleberry jus

Fourth Course:
Meats
Lamb (not sure what was in this)
Prime new york steak + shortrib + cannelloni + bone marrow crust + creamed spinach

Fifth Course:
Sweets
Pumpkin Cheesecake
Peanut butter beignets

Favorites are the Lobster Risotto, Duck, Short rib and of course, pumpkin cheesecake!

Brix
We came here for Lunch. I originally yelped this spot for Brunch, but when we got there I realized that brunch was only on Sunday. Whoops! But regardless, I enjoyed this restaurant, it had a pretty view of  the vineyards!
I will have to try there Brunch buffet another time, since it seems to be amazing according to yelp reviews.

Artisan Cheese Board / Apple wood bacon & fall mushroom flatbread

rustichella pasta bucatini / ginger creme brulee / pumpkin cheesecake

Favorites is the bohemian creamery capriago cheese and the pasta bucatini!


Wine Spectator Greystone @ Culinary Institute of America
We came here for our last dinner in Napa. My sister chose this spot. The Culinary Institute of America is gorgeous, looks like an old castle, I wouldn't mind going to school if it looked like that.

The food overall was pretty good, but definitely some dishes were on the WAY too salty side, luckily my main dish didn't suffer that.

On the Menu: 
Appetizers
Today's Temptations: small bites of different appetizers.
I wish I remembered what each are, but I know my favorites of this was the cream of mushroom soup and the duck bruschetta. 
Oysters on a half shell

Main Course
Seared breast of Sonoma Duck 
confit butterball potatoes + delicata sqaush + Bloomsdale spinach + fig red wine jus


Dessert
Chocolate Molten Lava Cake + Vanilla Bean Ice Cream
This molten cake was amazing! It wasn't too rich or bold. I think I ate 3/4 of it.

Of these three restaurants, I would recommend to most definitely try REDD. 

Enjoy! 

Heels to Boots

Doing some winter cleaning and organizing! I decided to switch out my heels in my "shoe" case (once was a bookcase) to my boots and booties for the season. Easier access is always time efficient.

Next up is my bathroom drawers and cabinets and then tackle my crazy closet full of clothes, bags, jewelry, sunglasses, more shoes, and more more more....

My Design Life - Dripp Grand Opening

Photo Courtesy of latimesblogs.latimes.com

I am happy to share with you that the Grand Opening of Dripp Steam & Cream Cafe, Chino Hills, CA is tomorrow, Thursday November 17, 2011. So go check out Davis Ink's design and indulge in Dripp's yummy products. I am excited to see my design come to life!

Can't wait to go there, myself, and photograph my experience!

San Diego: Interiors - Craft&Commerce

I got to finally see Craft&Commerce in person! My boss and I came here for a late lunch after our client meeting in San Diego. We quickly fell in love with the place, not only did the design evoke a warm comfy feeling, but the details of the place were remarkable. To name a few, the reclaimed wooden tables with industrial u-channels framing it, crackled/broken mirror behind book shelving, use of text/words...I can go on and on about this place. Thank goodness for the iPhone 4S, I got to take some quality photos.

Since we arrived around 3, their menu was in between lunch and dinner, so we settled for some appetizers. I got the Mini Corn Dogs + Sweet potato fries. Good comfort food when I am starving. I am definitely coming back to try their dinner menu + cocktails.

I love San Diego's interiors and food culture... it is growing and I am happy to be a part of the new developments soon to open. 

See No Evil, Hear No Evil, Speak No Evil

Love these chairs by Unodot. Can't wait for the perfect project to come along so we can utilize these funky fantastic Eco-friendly chairs!! Definitely would be cool in a cafe, burger joint, or a unique restaurant.

Fall Favorites.

Deena & Ozzy Weekender Bag / Marc by Marc Jacobs Satchel / Aldo block heeled booties / Alexander McQueen Cat's Eye sunnies / Diane von Furstenburg round sunnies / Top Shop metal clasp hooded coat

I have been so busy this season, but I wanted to share some of my Favorite Fall purchases. I definitely needed a new weekender bag with all the traveling I have been doing the past weekends. I purchased this Deena & Ozzy bag from Urban Outfitters and I absolutely love it! Very light weight, but sturdy, only thing that freaks me out are the zippers, they are pretty delicate. Great bag for the weekend if you aren't packing heavy duty clothing. 

Love my new Marc by Marc bag! It's a medium sized bag, leather + white suede accent patch. Definitely going to be my new everyday bag, casual or dressy! The Alexander McQueen Cat's Eye and DVF sunnies are super cute and classy. I like my sunnies to be over-sized, especially with my short hair, it exaggerates the architecture of the sunglasses. 

These Aldo booties are very comfortable and I am loving the blocked heel, they look great with skinny jeans, leggings, or even a maxi skirt/dress! My absolute favorite purchase is the Top Shop coat, I love the details: the leather pipping, nutmeg color with red interior lining, and gold metal hardware!!!! This coat is perfect for California winters, keeps me warm&cozy without the bulkiness. 

More purchases to come... the holidays are approaching way too soon.

Chicago - Architecture + Sites

Not only does Chicago have amazing food, but it also has amazing + breathtaking Architecture, History, and Character. There are so many different architectural styles&periods within this city and so many influential architects that have set their mark on Chicago. 

To tell you the truth, my History of Interiors&Architecture class, in design school, was one of my least favorite classes. I have a hard time concentrating on massive amounts of history information flowing in, but for some reason, what I learned in that class stuck, whether I knew it at the time or not. But experiencing interiors&architecture is completely different from hearing information on it.

Oddly enough, my favorite building is Marina City by architect Bertrand Goldberg. This is odd to me because my design style is usually grid like and with the use of lots of right angles and rectangular shapes and this particular structure is basically a cylinder shape! Anyways, this building was named a "city within a city", where they hoped that everything you needed was within these buildings.  

I highly recommend taking the Architectural Boat Tour if you are ever in Chicago, especially if you have an appreciation for design. Whether it is interiors, architecture, fashion, graphics, etc.., you can find inspiration everywhere you look. 

Enjoy my photos. 

The Bean.

Site by the River / Jay Pritzker pavilion

On the River Walk

Marina City 

My brothers place / view from his deck at night (amazing!!!)

Chicago - Good Eats

Chicago is definitely in my top favorite cities. It would be perfect if it weren't the "Windy City" and was more dog friendly. (I'll get into the whole dog friendly thing in another post) But the food culture here is amazing. So many little neighborhoods with great restaurants + bars + lounges, too many that I will need multiple visits to get to every "must try" restaurant. Luckily my brother lives here, so more trips to come. This trip was my fourth trip to Chicago, but only my second trip that I was able to explore the Good Eats there. 

One thing I have learned with Chicago food culture is MAKE RESERVATIONS, if possible. This trip we had no reservations, except our last night for dinner, but that was at 10:30 pm!!! If the restaurant doesn't take reservations or was booked expect to wait at least 2.5 hours. But eating late dinners is definitely not uncommon in Chicago.  

I am only posting about a few restaurants because, either they were worth it or I didn't have my camera for some of my food stops. 

The Bongo Room. (Wicker Park)

My brother suggested to go here for brunch. As some of you know, I am not a breakfast person, but I decided to try the Red Velvet + Chocolate Hotcakes topped with vanilla bean cream. I actually really enjoyed this dish, I only really eat pancakes when I crave them, but the doughy texture of this hotcake was addicting. And the vanilla bean cream instead of standard syrup made this dish more of a dessert than a breakfast dish. I love dessert, so this pleased me. 

My sister got the Pumpkin Spice + Chocolate Chunk Cheesecake Flapjacks topped with vanilla bean cream. This tasted like Autumn Fall and the best part of it, was it had graham crackers crumbled in it! I don't exactly remember what Krista got, but it was some kind of seasonal french toast. I didn't try it since it had walnuts, but from what they were saying, it was good. 

This place had delicious mimosas. I got the raspberry + pear mimosa and my sister and Krista tried the other two, orange + mango mimosa & black raspberry + grapefruit mimosa. I highly recommend the raspberry + pear mimosa, I could barely taste the alcohol, but I definitely felt it! haha. 

Raspberry + Pear Mimosa / Red Velvet + Chocolate Hotcakes / Pumpkin Spice + Chocolate Chunk Cheesecake Flapjacks / Seasonal French Toast

Frontera Grill. (Near North Side, Downtown)

My brother claims this is one of the best Mexican places, but I can argue that. I think Javier's in Irvine/Newport can compete this place. We waited 2.5 hours for our seats which probably turned me off at first, but we found some seats at the bar while we waited. It wasn't easy getting these seats, we had to "fight" for them. We ordered some drinks + appetizers to ease our hungry stomachs. After 2 orders of Ociones (Oysters) + 1 order of Trio, Trio, Trio ceviche + 1 order of Taquitos de Mariscos + 1 order of Guacamole&Chips we were finally seated! 

The oysters were amazing, I forgot where each oyster was from, but I know that the smallest ones were the best. The three different ceviches were good as well, but the best one was the middle one, which I believe is the Cevich Fronterizo that consisted of Lime marinated Hawaiian Albacore + tomatoes + olives + green chile. I like my ceviche on the sour side, the more lime the better! 

I usually order a cheese enchilada + taco combo at Mexican restaurants, but lately I have been trying different dishes or out of the norm dishes. I went with the Special of the night which was a braised beef dish. I am so glad I ordered it! Braised meat is becoming a favorite of mine, especially when done right. This was SO good,  my sister and Krista were wishing they ordered it. The beef was cooked to perfection, very tender + juicy. I am not sure the spices or ingredients in the dish but the flavors were so yummy and it wasn't overly salty! Some braised meats I've had tend to be overly salted, but this was perfect. The dish tasted just as good the next day too! And whatever greens was paired with it was amazing too. Everything about this dish was satisfying. 

Ociones / Braised Beef / Falda Asada "Brava" / Trio Trio Trio

The Purple Pig. (Near North Side, Downtown)
Despite the "20 minute" wait that was more of an hour wait due to the mistakes of the hostess', this place is probably my favorite of the weekend, partly because it was small "tapas" dishes. I love getting to try a lot of the Menu. 


We ordered Braised Baby Artichokes + Fingerling Potatoes + Asiago&Salami Toscana, Prosciutto bread balls, Roasted Bone Marrow + Herbs, Cured Meats: Coppa & Lingua Agrodulce, Cheese: Gouda & ??, Milk Braised Pork shoulder + mashed potatoes, Razor Clams + Oregano + Lemon&Olive oil, Chicken Thigh kebabs + fried smashed potatoes + Tzatziki, Meatball slider. 

My favorites were the Braised Pork Shoulder, Braised Baby Artichokes, and Chicken Thigh Kebabs. The Braised Pork shoulder was tender and the mashed potatoes on top were creamy&delicious, good textures together. Others thought the pork was too salty, but I didn't mind it at all. I never really order any artichoke dishes, but this one was worth trying, if you like Medditerranean flavors. Love the "citrus-ness" in this dish, it was quite refreshing. I didn't get a photo of the Chicken kebabs. This was our last dish and I was so full I wasn't going to try it, but I am glad I did. The chicken was crispy on the outside and juicy in the inside and went well with the Tzatziki sauce. However, I couldn't stop picking at the fried smashed potato even though I was full. This was crispy on the outside and creamy in the inside. How they achieved those two textures together I have no idea, but I would love to know how. Amazing.

I could have gone without the Razor Clams and the Prosciutto Bread Balls.  The clams tasted more like squid with a tough and rubbery texture and the flavors were a little bland for my taste.  The Prosciutto Bread balls sound better than they tasted. Didn't really do anything for me, except add carbs to my body!

Moscato Wine / Water

Braise Pork Shoulder / Cured Meat&Cheese

Meatball Slider / Razor Clams / Bone Marrow / Prosciutto Balls

Braised Baby Artichokes / Cured Meat&Cheese

Good Eats: The Gorbals

For a belated birthday dinner for my brother, we decided to meet half way and eat in Los Angeles. Originally we were suppose to go to Church & State, but since the reservations were all booked for the night we opted to try The Gorbals. The Gorbals is owned by Top Chef Ilan Hall. This quaint little spot is located in what use to be the Alexandria Hotel. The interior has that speak easy feel it to, simply, simple.

The servings are small plates, meant for everyone to eat "family style". After contemplating what we should get and how many of each we should get, we decided to indulge in the "King's Feast" for a party of 8. I was reluctant to do this at first, but for $40/head it was totally worth it. We were served plenty of dishes from each category on the menu and refused any chicken dishes, so we'd get the most of our money! (haha!)  We ended up having a 13 course meal that was ridiculously satisfying.

The break down of our dinner is as follows: (not in this order)

Pork
Bacon wrapped matzoh balls
Spare ribs
Banh mi poutine

Beef
Roasted marrow + oyster mushrooms + walnut + malt vinegar
Burger + onion six ways
Confit tongue + romesco + croutons

Seafood
Grilled squid + lemon + garlic + parsley
Prawns a la plancha + anchovy butter
Squid ink battered local yellowtail + chips

Side Veggies
Latkes + smoke applesauce
Grilled sweet corn + pimenton butter
Broccoli + soy + chilies & vinegar

Dessert
Sticky toffee pudding + ice cream + maldon salt

My favorites were the beef tongue + burger + corn + toffee pudding. The tongue was cooked perfectly, crisp on the outside and oh so tender in the inside! Beef tongue has become one of my must try on menus lately, definitely a new favorite meat.  The burger was nice and juicy. I wish, at the time, I took the time to figure out the six different ways the onions came, but it was so good I was savoring the taste and I was starved at this point. I love corn and any way it is served, so of course I would love this dish. I must have eaten at least 3/4 of one of corn plates. The sticky toffee pudding was amazing! The balance of the textures + flavors were on point, sinfully sweet with a slight salty after taste.. I tried to hold my self back to just one bite, but I could not resist!

I would review each dish, but that would take too long! However, I would skip out on the cocktails and get straight to the business of the food. The drinks were overpriced and didn't make any real impression on my meal. Save your money and indulge in the King's Feast, especially if you have a larger group!

The Gorbals : Bar & Dining / Billy Buttons (I love these)

The Desperate Housewife / Birthday Boy with his Manly Drink

Beef tongue / Spare Ribs / Latkes 

Sweet Corn / Matzoh Balls / Broccoli 

Grilled Squid / Yellowtail / Burger

Prawns / Banh Mi Poutine

Bone Marrow / Sticky Toffee Pudding