July 22, 2023 breakfast - Bagels and Gravad Lax with Cream Cheese and Red Onion. Lunch - PPI Crab Soufflé and Tabouli Dinner - Frenchish

July 22, 2023 breakfast - Bagels and Gravad Lax with Cream Cheese and Red Onion. Lunch - PPI Crab Soufflé and Tabouli  Dinner - Frenchish

Today there was an abundance of sports to watch, including Stage 20 of the Tour, two Women’s World Cup matches in which England beat Haiti and Denmark beat China, and later in the afternoon in the newly created Premier League Summer League Man Union beat Chelsea.

I made Bagels and Gravad Lax with Cream Cheese and Red Onion and capers for breakfast around 10:00.

Then after an appointment that went until 3:00 Suzette and I shared the last of the PPI Crab Soufflé and Tabouli. I drank a glass of Kirkland Pinot Grigio with my Soufflé.

Then Suzette went to the nursery to buy creeping thyme for her back yard project and I slept until 4:30 having awakened at 3:30 to watch Women’s World Cup.

We left the house at 6:00 and drove to Central and Richmond to see Sumner Fest that stretched from Girard to past Morningside and included four stages with live music.

We walked a block or two toward Girard until we could hear the band clearly and after a few minutes walked back toward Nob Hill where at 6:20 a blues/heavy metal band began playing at the stage set up at Welsley.

We stood on the north side of Central in the shade where a striping breeze was blowing cool air through the intersection.

Then at 6:45 we walked the 2 1/2 blocks to Frenchish where we had dinner reservations.  We sat for a few minutes until our table was cleared and cleaned as we looked at the wine menu.

When we were seated we quickly decided to try the 2020 Savoire Blanc for $44.00.

Then we turned our attention to the food menu. I was undecided on what to order other than an appetizer called panisse [chickpea fries], sauce verte looked interesting, so we ordered that and Suzette ordered the daily special salad of roasted vida verde beets, marigolds & watermelon with balsamic & evoo 13, and the menu fish dish of  wild king salmon•, panzanella, basil 35 with Rockfish instead of salmon.

We decided to split these three dishes, which is most likely how we will order in Spain,because we have heard that the portions are large.

We loved each dish.  The fried garbanzo bean flour and milk sticks with the sauce verte were a lovely appetizer that allowed us to enjoy the fruitiness of the wine because the fried garbanzo did not have much flavor, even with the parsley and oil sauce verte.  

Then we waited a few minutes and then were served the salad.  Vida Verde is a good local farm and the beets were rich with just a drizzle of good olive oil and balsamic, the watermelon was cool and slightly sweet and the dried marigolds added color to the dark and light red beets and watermelon; a very successful dish both for flavor and presentation.

I ordered bread when the salad arrived and soon a lovely small loaf of warm dark bread arrived with a small cup of butter.

We ate a piece of bread with the salad, but enjoyed it more when we used it to wipe the remaining beet, olive oil, and balsamic sauce from the plate.

Again a bit of a wait reminiscent of French restaurants before we were served the fish entree floured and sautéed in the Meunière style resting next the round of a fresh slice of green tomato base formed with panzanella (essentially, fried bread crumbs) and cherry tomato halves.

I loved the fresh sautéed Rockfish that retained that wonderful marine juices that only fresh seafood cooked properly can.

I was not wild about the panzanella, but was impressed again by Jennifer James’ creativity and willingness to introduce unusual dishes to the  Albuquerque dining public.

Suzette was so impressed with the wine that she asked our waiter to tell us the name of the distributor and then called her restaurant manager and asked her to order a case of it for the Bistro.

After dinner we walked back to the car as the sun set with gray shafts of clouds streaking through the golden sunset.

When we arrived home we ate the last of the clafoutis for a perfect finish to a lovely dinner.  I with a glass of German apple and pear brandy and Suzette with a sniffer of cognac. 

We went to bed at 10:30 and I woke up at 12:45 and blogged and watched the Netherlands play Portugal in World Cup competition.

Bon Appetit