Saturday, August 06, 2005

April's Blog

My wife's company sprung the big bucks for a executive lunch and we decided it was a blogable event. Enjoy
Three Martini-Less Lunch

Kitchen at 868 Grant
Novato

One of the advantages of working in the corporate caves is occasional “appreciation” meal. When my boss solicited names of possible lunch places, I jumped at the opportunity to try a new restaurant in my hometown.

The restaurant is Kitchen @ 868 Grant Ave – a place my foodie husband Greg mentioned had gotten very good reviews when we passed it on the way to the farmer’s market. My coworker, Katy, had dinner there with her husband and we rallied our other coworkers like professional lobbyists. Everyone seemed up for a new taste adventure!

So our group of six ventured into Kitchen, a smallish restaurant decorated in warm reds with gold trim and ornate mirrors. After drooling over the menu, I ordered a grilled prosciutto/mozzarella/tomato/basil on French bread sandwich. Sandwiches come with a choice of French fries or salad. I opted for salad. My sandwich was sumptuous – it was like the ultimate grilled ham ‘n cheese w/the addition of basil and seasonally ripe tomatoes. The salad also earned my respect – a non-bitter mesclum mix with little yellow ripe cherry tomatoes and the house vinaigrette which was neither too acidy or too oily.

Two grilled skirt steak sandwiches with roasted red peppers, horseradish, balsamic mayonnaise and arugula, also grilled on French bread were among the other items ordered, declared very edible with the balsalmic mayo particularly enjoyed.

Among the orders was a Cobb salad dressed with pancetta instead of bacon and chicken Caesar salad, everyone seemed very happy with their choices.

Moving on to the best part of the meal – dessert! I couldn’t resist Strawberry Shortcake with Tarrgon Cream. It didn’t disappoint! Whipped cream atop the layers of strawberry and a true shortcake which really accentuates the height-of-the-season berries better than its sweet, spongecake-like counterpart. There was a lovely cake with a hard sauce and homemade strawberry ice cream. Mmmmmm.

The only downside is this is not the place to go if you’re in a hurry. Then again, some might considered the extended company lunch hour to be a plus.

There were some interesting wines on the menu, but alas, none of us partook. I’m guessing the thought of any one of us dancing on the desk at work later was enough to reinforce our sobering resolve. I’ll have to save that for an evening out with that handsome hubby o’mine.
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April's sandwich


1 comment:

cookiecrumb said...

Hi April:
How nice of hubby to give you the helm. Good job!
I'm gonna try Kitchen; sounds yummy.
Now, Greg: Get back on the blog!