What's that you're eating?

Took my sister out last night to Acquerello (a 2 star Michelin restaurant) in SF for her 81st b-day. Here are some of the highlights.

A before dinner drink for me at a bar around the corner.

The bartender only charged me $25 for a 2oz shot which I thought was underpriced considering the fact that a bottle of it sells for $1500 or more and considering that I paid $70 for 2oz of the same stuff at another bar/restaurant in Walnut Creek just a month or so ago. :eek:

Tastes great BTW. Very rich flavors of chocolate and carmel. Well worth a try if you've never had it before.

GPEu7n7.jpg


Now for dinner. An amuse-bouche trio to start. Other than the oysters I forget what the others were made of but they tasted great.

1cdL0QY.jpg


A couple of tiny pieces of Kobe Beef that we both had which was WAY overpriced. The cost totally wiped out the "deal" that I got on the Old Rip Van Winkle. Should have had 2 pours of the bourbon to average down. LOL! ;)

6Uu320a.jpg


A very attractive presentation of what was just a serving of vanilla gelato for desert.

B9NXXHz.jpg


And a photo of the after dinner treat cart w/a view of part of the dining room.

oleZ0Xh.jpg


A great evening out w/my sister who I see all too seldom. :)
I love that Old Rip Van Winkle also. I paid about the same as you and then went on to try 3 different ages of Van Winkle. The Old Rip was my favorite as well as being the cheapest, so I came back to that.
 
Took my sister out last night to Acquerello (a 2 star Michelin restaurant) in SF for her 81st b-day. Here are some of the highlights.

A before dinner drink for me at a bar around the corner.

The bartender only charged me $25 for a 2oz shot which I thought was underpriced considering the fact that a bottle of it sells for $1500 or more and considering that I paid $70 for 2oz of the same stuff at another bar/restaurant in Walnut Creek just a month or so ago. :eek:

Tastes great BTW. Very rich flavors of chocolate and carmel. Well worth a try if you've never had it before.

GPEu7n7.jpg


Now for dinner. An amuse-bouche trio to start. Other than the oysters I forget what the others were made of but they tasted great.

1cdL0QY.jpg


A couple of tiny pieces of Kobe Beef that we both had which was WAY overpriced. The cost totally wiped out the "deal" that I got on the Old Rip Van Winkle. Should have had 2 pours of the bourbon to average down. LOL! ;)

Note: Just noticed that it was Wagu not Kobe beef but the point remains the same.

6Uu320a.jpg


A very attractive presentation of what was just a serving of vanilla gelato for desert.

B9NXXHz.jpg


And a photo of the after dinner treat cart w/a view of part of the dining room.

oleZ0Xh.jpg


A great evening out w/my sister who I see all too seldom. :)

Wagu beef is funny. It always looks gross to me in the pictures but it tastes amazing. But just because it has a wonderful flavor and is juicy (because the fat in the wagu IS juice, and there's a lot of it) doesn't mean it is a particularly good cut of meat or was properly aged. Some of the toughest steak I've had was wagu.

My neighbor is an amazing beef farmer who is working on these customized breeds of beef cattle. He is working on perfecting beef as if it were a cure for cancer. This is the best beef I've ever experienced. It has ruined me for restaurant and grocery store meat. One of his sirloins will run circles around the best New York strip you can get at the store. And the fillet is amazing. Well marbled. It is a hell of a good value even at 30 and $40 a pound.
 
Wagu beef is funny. It always looks gross to me in the pictures but it tastes amazing. But just because it has a wonderful flavor and is juicy (because the fat in the wagu IS juice, and there's a lot of it) doesn't mean it is a particularly good cut of meat or was properly aged. Some of the toughest steak I've had was wagu.

My neighbor is an amazing beef farmer who is working on these customized breeds of beef cattle. He is working on perfecting beef as if it were a cure for cancer. This is the best beef I've ever experienced. It has ruined me for restaurant and grocery store meat. One of his sirloins will run circles around the best New York strip you can get at the store. And the fillet is amazing. Well marbled. It is a hell of a good value even at 30 and $40 a pound.
College buddy from Japan had family that raised wagyu.

He said, "I think if I'm reincarnated, I should come back as Kobe cow. They get daily massage. Drink buckets of beer (yeah, they give their Kobe cows beer), be lazy... then one day, before you get too old, ssstttt. Is good life, right?" 😂


*** that was until he discovered that pigs can have 30 - 90 minute orgasms. Then he wanted to be reincarnated as a pig 🤣🤣🤣
 
I like to make up different kinds of dishes from time to time. So, heres a new one for me. It has last nights leftover of hamburger, with jalapeños and onions sizzled together that's nested beween mozzarella and colby jack habanero cheese. The green topping is avocado, jalapeños and onions. And of course sour cream and hot salsa. ;)

View attachment 1883151
 
I like to make up different kinds of dishes from time to time. So, heres a new one for me. It has last nights leftover of hamburger, with jalapeños and onions sizzled together that's nested beween mozzarella and colby jack habanero cheese. The green topping is avocado, jalapeños and onions. And of course sour cream and hot salsa. ;)

View attachment 1883151
Mexican Loco Moco?
 
Wagu beef is funny. It always looks gross to me in the pictures but it tastes amazing. But just because it has a wonderful flavor and is juicy (because the fat in the wagu IS juice, and there's a lot of it) doesn't mean it is a particularly good cut of meat or was properly aged. Some of the toughest steak I've had was wagu.

My neighbor is an amazing beef farmer who is working on these customized breeds of beef cattle. He is working on perfecting beef as if it were a cure for cancer. This is the best beef I've ever experienced. It has ruined me for restaurant and grocery store meat. One of his sirloins will run circles around the best New York strip you can get at the store. And the fillet is amazing. Well marbled. It is a hell of a good value even at 30 and $40 a pound.
Fairly recently found a beef farm near my cabin that has been raising 100% wagyu for the last ten years or so. Picked up a ribeye a few months back and it was the best steak I've had. I'd like to think it was primarily because of the breed/genetics and not my subconscious justifying spending what I did on that single steak.

Cw43HNl.jpg
 
My neighbor is an amazing beef farmer who is working on these customized breeds of beef cattle. He is working on perfecting beef as if it were a cure for cancer. This is the best beef I've ever experienced. It has ruined me for restaurant and grocery store meat. One of his sirloins will run circles around the best New York strip you can get at the store. And the fillet is amazing. Well marbled. It is a hell of a good value even at 30 and $40 a pound.
These are the kind of cattlemen that are rare. Like any industry..... Like yourself in the machining world. I have been selectively breeding beef cattle since 1998. And sheep that are bred for meat production. The genetics we use trace back many generations to amazing men of skill and vision. Then we try to carry it on, and learn from what we see as a result from the mating's each year.

The eating experience (like you have described) that is repeatable and predictable is not an accident or carelessly achieved. Within many breeds there are genes that when selected for, will enhance the desired traits in the carcass and also in all aspects of the animal. Loin area, percent or marbling, length of rib, and also docility and the ability to fatten easily on certain diets. 2 things we select for are the obesity gene and docility. Efficiency, temperament, and carcass performance on our forage plan.

We have tried purchasing in outside calves and raising them, but most of the time, the eating experience was sup-par.... all the way to awful. And most of the American eating public will just shrug it off and buy more the next time.... But once you have become a connoisseur of great meat, through exposure and availability, then it makes the tough and stringy meat very unappetizing.

I have tried rack of lamb at fine restaurant's in years past, that was to me inedible. And when we serve grass fed lamb shoulder or a lamb roast or chops from the grill here, people that would never dream of trying lamb come back for seconds. I would love to meet your neighbor. Do you happen to know what breed or breeds he has? Not that the breed is that important. It's the genetic potential and how it is developed and utilized that gives the results. on the plate.
 
These are the kind of cattlemen that are rare. Like any industry..... Like yourself in the machining world. I have been selectively breeding beef cattle since 1998. And sheep that are bred for meat production. The genetics we use trace back many generations to amazing men of skill and vision. Then we try to carry it on, and learn from what we see as a result from the mating's each year.

The eating experience (like you have described) that is repeatable and predictable is not an accident or carelessly achieved. Within many breeds there are genes that when selected for, will enhance the desired traits in the carcass and also in all aspects of the animal. Loin area, percent or marbling, length of rib, and also docility and the ability to fatten easily on certain diets. 2 things we select for are the obesity gene and docility. Efficiency, temperament, and carcass performance on our forage plan.

We have tried purchasing in outside calves and raising them, but most of the time, the eating experience was sup-par.... all the way to awful. And most of the American eating public will just shrug it off and buy more the next time.... But once you have become a connoisseur of great meat, through exposure and availability, then it makes the tough and stringy meat very unappetizing.

I have tried rack of lamb at fine restaurant's in years past, that was to me inedible. And when we serve grass fed lamb shoulder or a lamb roast or chops from the grill here, people that would never dream of trying lamb come back for seconds. I would love to meet your neighbor. Do you happen to know what breed or breeds he has? Not that the breed is that important. It's the genetic potential and how it is developed and utilized that gives the results. on the plate.

I don't know what he is mixing together. He has been at it for a while.

He has a medical degree as a veterinarian and apparently is pretty well regarded in the field.

I can see he has what appears to be a belted Galloway as a stud? but the cows appear to be some kind of an Angus hybrid? I would not be surprised if there's not wagyu in there because the fat seems to melt in your hands and there is an unusual amount of marbling in the lean cuts like the filet and the sirloin. The ribeyes just explode in your mouth. I really don't know. Anytime the subject comes up he doesn't offer any information, I figure it's proprietary.

He has a lot of cattle. It seems to all be pasture fed.

Everything gets vacuumed packed in thick plastic and then aged. I like to buy the entire tenderloin and cut it myself. You usually see tenderloins cut over 2 inch thick but I like closer to inch and a half. I grill it with some hickory wood mixed in with the regular charcoal. Takes about 9-10 minutes on my grill at this thickness. People often comment it's the best steak they've ever had in their life and they think I'm some sort of a grill meister but it's really the meat.

The hamburgers are scandalously good.

The guy's name is Bradley Mills, the Mills family farm in Mooresville NC. I don't think they sell their meat on the internet but if you ever get a chance to try some, it ain't cheap but it's a pretty good value
 
it's been a damn long time since I had a steak or anything made from cow:(
 
Personal choice?

I literally just finished 3 NY strip steaks (they were only 7 - 8oz each).

P.S.
Alpha-gal scares the heck out of me. I think it's mostly in the South, though
I'm not sure why, to be honest. No real reason, certainly nothing ideological. Haven't had any in such a long time that I rarely think about it.






kudos if you caught the pun
 
Back
Top