Skip to main content

Millennium Restaurant & Some New Vocabulary {Tasting}



I was very proud of one of my best friends this weekend. He's a self-described germaphobe, who not only reached into a garbage can during our Urban Spy Adventure (Click to read about that: here.) but he actually didn't mind. And the evening before that mandatory fun, I took Mr. No-Meat-No-Meal - along with his wife and my husband - to a vegan restaurant. Brian actually raved about the food! Major food coup.

We dropped the kiddos off with grandparents and friends after work on Friday and headed up to San Francisco. After checking in to our hotel, we walked down to Hotel California's Millennium Restaurant for a late night meal.

Here's what we ate...

Zucchini and Carrot Pappardelle (raw)
oil-cured black olives, fennel & sage marinated mushrooms, cheddar cauliflower, sweet pepper-cashew puree, macadamia nut crumble, basil & fresh herbs

Crusted King Trumpet Mushrooms
Arborio rice & sesame dredge, cabbage & carrot salad with line vinaigrette, green tea togarashi, sweet & spicy ginger-chile jam

Black Bean Sopes
Crisp corn masa medallions, smoked black bean puree, caramelized plantains, avocado & roasted tomatillo salsa, pumpkin seed-habanero sauce, cilantro & epazote cashew cream, grapefruit-radish salad

Cinnamon-Scented Volcano Rice Cake
Miso-glazed eggplant, Chinese broccoli, yuba, shitake mushrooms, lemongrass tofu, star anise carrot-ginger phô broth, spicy Asian pear, chile relish, Thai basil & shisho, sprout salad

Arborio & Pistachio Crusted Eggplant Napoleon
tomato & leek tagine with roasted eggplant, zucchini, butter beans & artichoke, tofu-sage cheese, Israeli couscous, cardamom-chile zhug, radiccio & frisee salad

Vanilla Bean Tamarind Crème Brûlée with dots of tamarind syrup, honeydew melon soup, and fresh passionfruit

...and this one never leaves the menu: Chocolate Almond Midnight!
almond cashew crust, mocha chocolate filling, raspberry sauce, white chocolate mousse

Millennium Restaurant is dedicated to supporting the essential earthly concepts of organic food production, small farms, sustainable agriculture, recycling and composting. They cook with fresh produce delivered everyday, and choose organic whenever possible. They believe that a gourmet dining experience can be created out of vegetarian, healthy, and environmentally friendly foods. They are proudly completely free of genetically modified foods. So, they are socially, environmentally-fabulous as well as delicious.

I did learn some new foodie vocabulary from this meal...

togarashiThis blend of spices is used throughout Japan as a table condiment, occupying much the same place that salt and pepper do in the American household. It most likely contains Chinese chile, orange peel, seaweed, ginger, poppy seeds, and sesame seeds.

epazoteThis is used as a leaf vegetable. Raw, it has a medicinal pungency, similar to anise, fennel, or tarragon, except stronger. It is often used to season quesadillas and sopes

zhug: This is a Middle Eastern hot sauce, originating in Yemeni cuisine and brought to Israel by Yemenite Jews; it is now a staple of Israeli cuisine and made from fresh hot peppers and seasoned with coriander, garlic and various spices.

Comments

Popular posts from this blog

Connecticut Lobster Rolls, Canned Lobster Bisque, and a 2019 Henry Fessy 'Maître Bonhome' Viré-Clessé #Winophiles

This month the French Winophiles group is looking at affordable wines from Burgundy.  Host Cindy of Grape Experiences wrote: "Burgundy, or Bourgogne, is known for its wines of Chardonnay and Pinot Noir... as well as Aligote, Gamay, Sauvignon, César, Pinot Beurot, Sacy, Melon in lesser quantities. Many of the well-known wines are quite expensive, but there are plenty of values to be found." Read her invitation here. And there won't be a Twitter chat for this event, so you will have to dive into the articles themselves to read about our pairings and findings. Here's the line-up... Wendy Klik from A Day in the Life on the Farm enjoys Domaine Chevillon Chezeaux Bourgogne Hautes Cotes de Nuits, 2018 Paired with a Maple Pecan Chicken . Camilla Mann from Culinary Adventures with Camilla shares her love of Connecticut Lobster Rolls, Canned Lobster Bisque, and a 2019 Henry Fessy 'Maître Bonhome' Viré-Clessé. Jeff Burrows of FoodWineClick! explains why we should Look t...

Homemade Lorna Doone Cookies #SundayFunday

Today the Sunday Funday group is celebrating childhood favorites. Thanks to Stacy of  Food Lust People Love , Sue of  Palatable Pastime , Rebekah of  Making Miracles , and Wendy of  A Day in the Life on the Farm  for coordinating this low-stress group. Today Stacy is hosting and she's given us the following prompt: "Childhood favorites. Did you have a favorite dish growing up? It could be something your family cooked or a restaurant dish, even a Chef Boyardee canned good or packaged ingredients like Rice-a Roni or mac and cheese. Recreate THAT dish from SCRATCH for this event."  Here's the #SundayFunday childhood favorites line-up... Chili Mac from A Day in the Life on the Farm Ham and Mushroom Breakfast Burritos from Making Miracles Homemade Lorna Doone Cookies from Culinary Adventures with Camilla Homemade Wonder Bread from Karen's Kitchen Stories K-Mart Sub Sandwiches from Palatable Pastime Kempakki Dosa from Sizzling Tastebuds Meat Chilly Fry...

Quick Pickled Red Onions and Radishes

If you've been reading my blog for even a short amount of time, you probably know how much I love to pickle things. I was just telling a friend you can pickle - with vinegar - or you can ferment - with salt - for similar delicious effect. The latter has digestive benefits and I love to do that, but when I need that pop of sour flavor quickly, I whip up quick pickles that are ready in as little as a day or two. I've Pickled Blueberries , Pickled Asparagus , Pickled Cranberries , Pickled Pumpkin , and even Pickled Chard Stems ! This I did last night for an upcoming recipe challenge that requires I include radishes. Ummmm...of course I'm pickling them! Ingredients  makes 1 quart jar radishes, trimmed and sliced organic red onions, peeled and thinly sliced (I used a mandolin slicer) 3/4 C vinegar (I used white distilled vinegar) 3/4 C water 3 T organic granulated sugar 1 T salt (I used some grey sea salt) 6 to 8 grinds of black pepper Proce...