Krik's Picks

My former boss, the one who rented a villa in Eze , France , after he retired, came to town for a meeting. So we decided to get together for dinner. He was staying at an airport hotel, and we didn’t want to go downtown. So my wife and I picked Cave Vin . I’ve provided a link to its web site, but it doesn’t have its menus posted. Open Table (the online restaurant reservation service) says that Cave Vin is located in the Armitage neighborhood. I didn’t know that was what the neighborhood was called. But it’s a pleasant residential part of town. The restaurant is located in a corner commercial area that includes a laundry and a convenience store. When my wife and I arrived, Bob was sitting outside enjoying a glass of wine. The restaurant has a few outdoor tables. But there isn’t any particular reason to sit outside except if the weather is particularly nice. Bob said it had a casual, comfortable feel of a French village café. Bob had ordered a Portuguese wine – Lisa Terras do Sado. I cou...

I arrived on Tuesday in Washington at 10:30 a.m. , on my usual flight. For this trip, I stayed at Hotel Rouge on Embassy Row, walking distance to my meetings on Wednesday. My lunch meeting was cancelled, so I was on my own. I wandered around downtown a little bit and decided on Olives at 1600 K St. NW . If you look at the web site, you’ll see that Todd English has six restaurants called Olives across the United States . I’ve never eaten at any of the others. But I have been to Olives in DC a couple of times. One of the cool things about the restaurant is that it’s two blocks from the White House . It’s impressive to just look down the street and see it as you arrive or as you leave the restaurant. I decided to have one of the daily specials – trout with a lemon caper sauce served with braised Brussels sprouts and pureed potatoes. The restaurant serves a nice bread basket to nibble on while waiting. The bread is served with a black olive tapenade, a green olive tapenade, and a small...

Okay. The first thing I want to say is I wish I had brought my camera because the image of Michelangelo’s from the internet does not do it justice. I mean really. Does this look like an art restaurant, for heaven’s sake? But it is. The art is good, and the food is wonderful. This was my second visit to Michelangelo in Sacramento . The first was a very similar business trip. I’m in town just overnight. I couldn’t bring myself to pay an outrageous rate for a ‘business’ hotel downtown, so I’m staying at a Clarion in the midtown district. But the best thing about staying here is that I discovered Michelangelo just a three block walk away. So when I set up this trip, I knew right away that I wanted a return visit to the restaurant. The shtick is that the restaurant is affiliated with an art gallery. Really cool. The restaurant décor is stone tile flooring, wooden tables and chairs, rustic ceiling, and eclectic art on the walls. I arrived before my dinner guest and had a drink at the b...

A year ago, my parents celebrated their 55th wedding anniversary. As part of the celebration, my brothers and sister and I did a family cookbook. One of the recipes that my sister included was for oven roasted tomatoes. Earlier this summer, we had a family get together at my brother’s house, and my sister mentioned the tomato recipe, and it got me curious. So this week, my wife went to the farmers market and I asked her to buy a peck of tomatoes so I could roast a bunch. She brought back a bag full of beautiful, ripe Roma tomatoes. As I reviewed the recipe, I realized I had a few questions. So I called my sister. Q: Your recipe says roast at 350 for three hours. That seems kind of hot for too long. Don’t they get dried out? A: Well, I have a convection oven, so I only set it for 325. And with a convection oven, it doesn’t go a full three hours. Q: Oh, well I have a convection oven, too. So I guess I won’t do it at the heat and time that the recipe says. Also, we bought Roma tomatoes ra...