Stockholm in November...

What makes a light in a dark dark month?

November has been rainy, dark and cold..no wonder people drink in this country...hahaha!

Well it's a good time for making your business boom. I call this the "working cave". A lot of work and hardly any time off for some daylight and outdoor activities...

But you can also visit some restaurants you like or just newly opened...

This is a picure of a buffé I made for my friends birthday. It turned out very good. The place was a homestyling showroom in the city and the tables was small so I had to do everything in individual cups and glasses.

My old employee Lux Stockholm has branched off again and now opened up a long lasting dream I know they have had for quite some time. A bistro.

It's called B.A.R. Blasieholmens Aquarium and Restaurant. The meaning is you order your fish or meat from a fresh bar or point out your lobster from the aquarium you want the kitchen to prepare. The place has a nice atmosphere and I like the raw interior. The inspiration comes from Pastis in New York and you who has been there know that's a French bistro in the Apple :-)

The place is packed when we arrive and you can tell that the service needs to shape up to the standard. Nobody said hi in the door....Well, it's only been a week since the premiere.

We did had a nice waitress at our table.

Ok the food then...

We started with norwegian lobsters, just cooked in salted water and served with bread and mayo. It was great! Perfect texture and salt. Me gusta!!
The main course. Grilled pike perch was our choice. Huge portions! The choice of sidings on the menu was as many as you could count. We choosed grilled tomatoes with capers mayo. Nice, simple and the fish was grilled to perfection.
Grilled tomatoes..it's good don't you think?
Dessert was as plain as it looked. Caramellised pineapple with coconut icecream. Yep! It tasted like that too :-) Nothing wrong with straight flavours...
We got a tour of the kitchen by H. Big and well thought trough, but I do feel sorry for the poor bastard who have to stand by the charcoal grill station during a full service in the summer... It's hot ladies and gents... But as they say..if you can't stand the heat...get out of the kitchen!!

I will be working a few more weeks and then my nose will point west again. New York and Buenos Aires awaits...

Believe me I will report from it!!

Next trip is booked!

Buenos Aires is booked! I'm very excited!

A city or country I've never been to, but I've been to South America before, Colombia, Venezuela, Peru and Brasil etc.

I'm joining up with my travelpal J from Sweden. Me and J was exploring Tokyo and Kyoto in may and now it's time to see some tango dancing shows and put our teeth into the fantastic Argentinian steaks!! No I can't wait!!

I have friends there too, so hopefully they have the time to show us around a bit and tell us where to go and not to go...

But first I will make a pit stop to celebrate New Years in NYC with my friends.

Any restaurants to visit?? Of course!! :-)

I have to go back to Sho Shaun Hergatt because I loved it there...and this time my friends J&W have to tag along.

Other places that is interesting is Corton, Aldea, Tailor, etc etc...

It's endless amounts of places to visit and you can't keep up...but that's the beauty of travel I guess.

See you soon...M

Once again something about NYC. The city you (or me)can't get enough of

Yes this is it! The weiw!

From the top of the Empire State Building overlooking downtown Manhattan.
Brooklyn Bridge
Most of the people who comes to NYC and goes to Chinatown think it's only Canal Street and say ohh this is just crap and it's soo commercial...

They have NO idea! Chinatown is huge! It's the largest Chinatown in USA. The one in San Francicso is also pretty big...

It's packed with restaurants, food markets and of course people :-) Just walk around and explore. The picture is from a market where they sell everything you need for an Asian meal!
Hungry and poor? Lost it all on a BIG night on the town?? This place might save your ass. You get 5 pieces of pork dumpling for 1 usd!! Yes they taste fantastic too. Got to LOVE it here!

Or...aligator legs for only 3.99 lbs?? Yep here is China in USA...

Another cool and great place is these guys...step inside and smell the pickle!! Great stuff! Maybe not too exotic for us scandinavians...

Mr Lettermans night home....nowadays maybe his permanent home...??
Street performance at Union Square..this guy was insane! :-)

There is always stuff going on in this city...what's this?? Ohh we are walking around Meat Packing District and they are filming Wall Street II. Pretty cool...
Looking for a winestore? Here is one! Astor Wine 399 Lafayette Street. Great selection from all over the world. And a large section is California and around the states. Look it up..
Washington Square Park at night..how do you take a picture of atmosphere?? I bet you can't..really..but I just put up some pics here so you can see the city from my wiew..
The old railroad tracks is now a great walk down in the Meat packing dstr...

Moving up north on Manhattan and the famous Guggenheim!

It's close to Central Park and why not stop for a 2 dollar hot dog??

Relax and have a BITE!!
Still NYC and Central Park, I know...looks like the country side...
This is also a place I like a lot!! Why why why!!? don't we have this in Stockholm...A fast food place with amazing food. Mexican.. The concept like our Sandy's but 100000 times better! All the food is selected in the name of animal welfare, no hormons or other crap inside it. As you can see I had 3 tacos with the taste of greatness inside! The pulled pork or the braised brisket with spices...wow...ahh have to be back soon..

Cheap, fast and delicious so once again why?? We don't even have a Mexican restaurant in Sweden worth the name... Jealous....
Farmers market almost every weekend and almost everywhere..this one is East Village..
Tatatatatatatturista time!! Well a wiew from Ava Lounge ain't bad...:-)
The Empire state is now back at being the one landmark as it has been for soo many years...it use to be 2 other buildings...aswell... I do recommend a visit down to ground zero and look at the memorial and also the visit center where you can see the new project in a model.
Finishing off with a night flashing pic, traffic, neon, night at the town! NYC I will soon be back and embrace you....:-)

Nice to be back!!

October 13 2009

Stockholm and Frantzén/ Lindeberg

I called my friend J and he asked me what my plans was for the evening. I said, no plans..

He had a reservation at this restaurant. I've wanted to go for a long time, now the wait is over...only heard good things... love the spur of the moment sometimes...

This is the envelope where the "menu" is sealed.. It's not really a menu. It's a list of the products the kichen is using to prepare all the diffrent menues.

Very original :-) Our choice fell on the chefs tasting menu with wineparing of course!! What else...:-) ahhh...hehehe.

It started off with lovely bread (from their own bakery) and the butter is (smoked!!) at the table...yes it was very cool :-) and tasty too!

Some small freebees or acually 6 of them came in on a parade with an impressive arsenal of glasswear, china and woodplates. Mild and sober flavours, a lot of work behind them, superelegant!!

Crab with harissa foam and corn with saffron! Wow! This was one of my favourite this evening, just sublime in flavour and texture. Pure Perfection!

Tartar of Norwegian lobster from Smögen with caviar. Beautiful and very tasty :-)
Vacuum baked foie gras with marinated date and cinnamon. Nice, very nice!!
Low temperature baked monkfish with lardo and mushrooms..ohh yes! Super yummy!!
F/L's version of a french toast. Parmesancream and truffle...do i have to say how good it was??
A small rilette on the leg of the chicken. This was the only little thing that was a bit under the line..a bit tasteless actually.. but...
The main, chicken breast with beets from their own garden and walnuts.

This was fantastic! The texture of the chicken was amazing!! Liked it a lot!
Tour de France :-) A map with the rout of the race and cheeses at the stops! Hahahaha! Fun! I loved it! and great cheeses of course!
What?? Ohh yes... the cheeses was presented by a choice of Stellan Skarsgård or Ulf Elwing...we choosed the first.. yep it was something I've never experienced before and it was a big wink of the eye!!
The 3 desserts came out at the same time and each one a masterpiece in texture and flavour.
Granny smith sorbet with a mascarpone cream..mmmm ahhh :-)
A coffee icecream in a foam (I have forgotten what it was) but this was sooo good and the paring with a beer(!) was intense! This is more than great!
Dining out is always an experience but at Frantzén/ lindeberg is a bit more to it. The final little thing is a apple drop served on a spoon but on a tray with dry ice where the waiter fills it with hot water to make the effect!

I must say that this was one of the best fine dining experience I've had in Stockholm. Extremly well prepared and fun menu with amazing products, fantastic wineparings and very correct service!

I know I should say something about the space of the restaurant but I will not this time.

I just enjoyed it!

A couple of hours at Ubuntu Napa CA

Sieze the day!

I'm back in Sweden again and had to work like a crazy person because I had a lot of bookings this week. No time for the blog....

Ubuntu October 2nd

But now I want to show you a little about this fantastic place in Napa. Thanks to my dear friend W,(she popped the question) and the chef I got the opportunity to spend a few hours in the kitchen at Ubuntu. Of course I jumped on that one!!
The Executive Chef Jeremy Fox and the old fart...hehehe.
The restaurant have their own garden about 20 min away. I unfortunatly didn't had the time to go there but I will be back!! Anyway, the products I saw coming through the doors was amazing!! Baby radishes like this ones. Mini carrots with the flavour of heaven, fennel, kohlrabbi, squash, I can go on forever.. ohh yes the corn...ohhh the corn...my my, I had a taste of their corn cream and holy shit!!! It was sooooo intense! Just corn juice that was reduced.. unreal! Nature baby..
On the counter you see the "Raw bar" hehe :-) Heirloom tomatoes!

I just loved that! Humour, wink of the eye, very cool. The taste? It was picked straight from the wine, ripen in the sun.... do I have to say more??
The line is in the diningroom facing all the customers. Chef is on the outside checking everything.
The walk-in fridge and some of the goodies has just arrived. Here is flowers, herbs etc. Everything is picked daily and so fresh it jumpes! The kitchen is pretty small so they have the pickers sort most of the stuff out in the garden and label it. I'm right now green of jelaously.....Why cant we have this in Sweden??Well we are on the way...but I'm also very aware that this is California and Napa Valley with a climate so propitius for growing almost anything...
Trumpet mushrooms just arrived! To quote my friend Johan...you just want to jump in and cuddle with them...:-) Cooks are nuts I know, but we LOVE to see great products!

Fennel with the dillstems. Nice stuff!!
Black and green figs for the stuffing of the kohlrabbi ravioli that almost blow my head off!! Sooo yummy..
The intense stove. The prepp is full on and creativity takes place in this heaven for vegetables.

I was impressed by a lot of things about this place. First of all the creativity of all the courses and also the knowlegde about everything in season, but most of all how all the vegetables was being taken care of. Treated with respect and almost nothing went to waste...I tasted a wonderful broth made from the stem of the corn! Pickled chard stems, kohlrabbi leaves and so on...once again I lift my hat...

Just have to come back and soon...

Chef Jeremy also told me he's working on a cookbook. Guess if I'm buying??

Upcoming...more about NYC and some places I like...hang in there...

You just have to love this...I mean the art of winemaking..

Round the valleys with grapes, It's harvest Sept 09!

Dutton Ranch truck loaded with some bins of grapes ready to be pressed and soon made into the nectar of the Gods :-) These are Pinot Noirs going to Napa.

Time to be out in the fields and see the pickers again working as hard as they can. These guys are fast, I'm not kidding!!

They are soon loaded onto the big truck and headed down to south of Sonoma city.
Chardonnay this morning..
This guy is just realaxing and resting (I'm on vacation!!) on the big bin of Chardonnay grapes and the picking manager keeps track of how many loads every picker put into the bin.

They get paid for every load..
Big cluster of I'm guessing Cabernet Souvignon..?
Dutton is not only a grower and distributor, they also makes their own wine. As a matter of fact they make extremly good stuff! My favourite is thier Syrah and Pinot Noir.
I spent a couple of hours observing the whole process and here is the line where the destemming, takes place. First it needs to be assorted from raisins, leaves and bad clusters.
When the grapes have been taking off the stems, it goes into fermentation tanks. After a couple of weeks when the juice have been tested, it will be pumped into another tank. The rest of the grapes goes into the filterpress. These will be pressed and the juice who comes out is rich in tannins and it's up to the winemaker how much he will put into the the rest of the wine.
Yup. this is the stuff...
Clearing the tanks...
All have to be taking care of..
Action picture..

Ridge

Time for some serous winetasting the next day. First on the list, Ridge.

A fantastic winehouse who makes great Chardonnays and Zinfandels.

I visited Ridge at X-mas last year and got the opportunity to meet one of the winemakers, Jerry. You see him on the next picture.. He was so nice to us and showed us around again but this time it was in full action!!
Jerry showing the big fermentation tanks.
Instead of a "punch down" a circulation of the juice goes around to avoid the top grapes to dry out and go bad.

I want to thank everybody at Ridge for being great people and that they make such great wine!!

Unti
The sorting is full on!


Unti is a small but fantastic little winery. Making wine with a flirt to Italy.
This winery has their own contract with the White House. It was a clipbook in the tastingroom with menues from dinners where their wine was frequently representive. Should mean something ehhh??
Sonoma County..do I have to say it was great??
Another place to recommend..:-) I know, they are everywhere!!!

I've to pinch myself sometimes. I do feel blessed to experience all this. I aim my thank to a few special people and you know who you are...

Be back soon...

Wine sweet wine...:-)

Amazing to be a part of the winemaking in California

Russian river valley is known for this grape, Pinot Noir. The climate is perfect for growing it. Cold mornings with coastal influence (in this case, fog) and hot warm days. They also grow other grapes but as I said, world famous for Pinot Noir.
I had the big opportunity to tag along with my friends brother who works for a wine producer and grower called Dutton Ranch. Here is one of their 110 pickers. The light comes from a truck that follow the pickers with big flashlights in the early morning. Holy shit this is hard work!! They need to pick the grapes when it's still cold outside so the grape doesn't warm up. It's not good to press warm grapejuice because it get's the sugarlevel up to a standard you don't want. So rise and shine!!

They are picking Chardonnay here now...

This particular morning we headed north to Alexander Valley to deliver some Chardonnay grapes.

here they are...
Ohhh here it goes into the press...
The juice was soo tasty!!
Pinot Noir and the barrels are waiting in the background..

Fermentation is going on...it starts to smell like wine!!

I was grateful to the people at Goldeneye because I got the chance to see what they where doing and how they took care of the fruit that came in. We also got samples of the fresh grapejuice, taste out of barrels the secon press etc etc... and for me it was heaven. This is exactly why I came here for!!! After our visit at the winery we stopped and had a try at the product at their tasting room. Wow! These guys makes power Pinot Noirs!! I lift my hat off....