foodwinesex. Thursday evening’s commute back to the city may have been the worst ever. It was bumper to bumper all the way from Mountain View north on 101. Most of the workday was dealing with our board meeting, which had ended a couple of hours earlier. I had just left a review meeting and was on my way to get my hair cut…having waited two weeks from the day I got an appointment with Tara at Kamalaspa…and just knew I was gonna be late. About halfway up the evening took a turn when I moved from the two lane toward the one lane and got smacked upside the door by a Suzuki motorcycle. A young guy, obviously in love with his bike (given the expensive looking Suzuki color-coordinated leathers he was wearing) was both somewhat inexperienced riding it and impatient enough to split lanes. On the collision he remained upright and other than a sore arm from where it met with my side-view mirror, the only damage visible in the darkness was a dent and long scratch along the driver’s side of my M3. Fuck. This means at least a week in the shop. At least I have a guy. It also means CHP coming out to do the inquiry, etc. No haircut tonight. The only question remaining…would I make it on time for dinner with ChP at Bushi-tei?
Traffic never did let up and I ended up arriving at dinner at exactly 8PM…three hours after I left the valley. This is what commuting is coming to. With Silicon Valley booming again traffic has gotten considerably worse than a year ago. What used to take 50 minutes in the morning on 280 is now 75 minutes. I am NOT looking forward to the rainy season and what that means.
Bushi-tei. This is the second time I’ve been here, the first being a visit a couple of months ago with BK. That meal was surprisingly good. We both had the Omakase and every bit of it was great as was the service and ambiance. Since my evening had gotten off to such a fucked start I was really hoping for something to make up for it…both dinner and afterwards.
I walked in…place was full. I approached the hostess and before I uttered a word she said, “Mr. g, your guest is waiting for you upstairs.” Nice touch…how did she know who I was? I went upstairs to find ChP at our table…totally decked out in a black and white dress with a plunging neckline. She looked fucking great wearing her hair up and a huge smile, perhaps to make up for what she knew I’d just been through. The salmon colored lighting gave her skin a soft glow. (Good restaurant designers know exactly what they’re doing.) Her cleavage took my mind off the traffic/accident/hellish-parking trifecta. The waiter in his soft French accent offered menus and reviewed the Omakase. We had a few questions and then requested a wine suggestion…a pinot. He winked and suggested a Fritz, which was not on the menu, very reasonably priced and as it turned out, delicious. Things were going well. We went to order and went with Tender loin of Kobe beef, pommes frites, perigueux (me) and Grilled Chilean sea bass, baby bokchoi, pignoli, ginger- tamari, lime oil (ChP). We both went with the celery root cream soup to start. (Given the menu I would have normally gone with a fish dish but last night I feasted at Kiss with JK and gorged on super-fresh sushi - and sake - until I couldn’t eat any more.) The wine was poured and an Amuse-Bouche was delivered. The mushroom pate was light and flavorful. The soup arrived and was terrific…perfect temperature (a pet peeve since most soups arrive too cool), flavorful and beautifully textured. I enjoyed it quickly since I this was my first meal of the day. I repeated my appreciation for ChP’s dress, smile, cleavage for the fifteenth time and poured more wine. We hadn’t gone with the sweetbreads Omakase and instead chose from the entrée/plata menu and our entrées arrived. My Kobe beef, rare, was perfect. Right balance of seared outside to blood inside…my protein fix. ChP’s sea bass was perfect as well. The service was the right balance of attendance, intimacy, humor and understanding. This guy was gonna get a big tip.
We split a dessert of Roquefort roasted black mission fig, vanilla bean oil with balsamic ice cream. Just the right ending. The sweetness of the figs was balanced with the creamy pungency of the ice cream. Hell of a good meal, I’d say one of the five best I’ve had this year, with great service and perfect ambiance. As we headed down the stairs, the proprietor who had been walking up the stairs, stopped, changed direction and retrieved ChP’s coat. We had no idea how he knew it was hers. Again, nice trick.
On the strength of two visits I think that not only did Bushi-tei deserve their Michelin star but frankly I think they’re better than all four of the two-star places (Aqua, Manresa, Michael Mina, Cyrus) awarded in the bay area. This is one of the very best places in town. Earlier in the evening I congratulated our waiter on their star and he responded that they were very proud of the award. I went on to say that my favorite place in town these days is Fleur de Lys (awarded a single star…robbery) and he told me that Hubert Keller brought a group to Bushi-tei twice a month to eat. High compliment indeed.
After dinner we headed back to ChP’s place for a little down time together. We hadn’t been together for 5 days (and I’m not seeing anybody else) but it felt like a year and the sex emphasized that. Tonight was a bit more intense and a bit less playful than usual. It completely erased the tensions of the day and it wasn’t until later when I got back into my car and saw the scratch that it came back…but just a little. Bushi-tei and ChP seemed to be the magic combination to make it all right again.
g.
Dude, sucks to hear about your car. That's just wrong ... especially with a M3. Glad noone was hurt. Also glad to hear the rest of your evening went well.
Posted by: GNP | November 13, 2006 at 09:28 PM