BEEN THERE, ATE THAT: WEEK OF NOVEMBER 4 - NOVEMBER 10

Between the return of my sister from a 10 week vacation and my 4th Annual Friendsgiving on Saturday, this past week didn't leave much room for dining out.  I did however have one reservation I wasn't willing to give up....

Bite of the Week: Rabbit & fontina croquettes from State Bird Provisions

Smoked sturgeon 'everything' pancake

Wednesday: State Bird Provisions
After a two month construction hiatus, State Bird Provisions officially reopened at the end of October. And although I was lucky enough to sneak in right before their close, I wasn't going to miss a chance to once again dine at San Francisco's hardest-to-get-into restaurant.

1/2 dozen cast iron quail eggs

Going with my sister and two friends we were able to put away a good portion of the menu including: guinea hen dumpling with aromatic broth, rabbit & fontina croquettes (although I was hesitant to try this, with a small nudge from Chef it didn't take much to talk us into saying yes. Thankfully we did as they turned out to be one of our favorite bites from the night!), duck liver mousse with almond biscuits, spicy kimchi yuba with smoked egg bottarga, garlic bread with burrata, steak tartare with jimmy nardellos, hamachi-avacado & seaweed cracker, smoked sturgeon 'everything' pancake, beet & horseradish condiment, 1/2 dozen cast iron quail eggs and of course the CA state bird with provisions.  And that was only some of the savory bites we tried!

'Ice cream' sandwich

For dessert we opted for the chocolate mint 'ice cream' sandwich with plum jam and walnuts and the birdseed bittersweet chocolate crunch with apricot cloud cream and bananas. And of course, four 'world peace' peanut muscovado milks please!

Needless to say the meal was phenomenal, as always at State Bird.  The service, the decor, the music, everything was fantastic and I'm already looking forward to my next visit!  Who's in?

Thursday: CREAM
It's not often that I make it down to Palo Alto, but when I do I am always sure to save room for dessert.  This past Thursday we were feeling a bit down after the loss of the Oregon Ducks to Stanford so we decided to pop into CREAM for a little "pick-me-up" dessert.

I tend to get overwhelmed in situations with too many options so I always end up going for something familiar.  This time it was the classic flavor combination of chocolate and peanut butter in the form of a peanut butter cookie sandwich with chocolate ice cream and sprinkles.  CREAM's cookies are always the perfect temperature of warm, carefully heated as to not melt the ice cream too much while the ice cream is the perfect creamy texture.

If you're ever in Palo Alto, Berkeley, Davis or Walnut Creek, I highly recommend finding your way to a CREAM near you!