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Zuni Cafe!

I recently made another trip out to California for work. The first night myself and my fellow NH-based pilgrims went to a place called Francesco's on the recommendation that it was someplace we could all find easily without getting lost. They had a passable Chicken Saltimbocca, but the most remarkable thing about them was top-shelf (Bombay Sapphire) martinis for $5.50! Less than any wine by the glass. Nevertheless, I did not partake since it was Monday and I had been up something like 19 hours.

Another night a couple locals took me to a place called A Cote which was described to me as "sort of tapas but with French food". (Hmm... small plates of French food -- isn't that what the French call an entree?) It was a pretty neat place, and more like a world influence than French. We had a selection of dishes which included Wild Boar Sausage flatbread, mini osso bucco, wild mushroom arancini (fried mushroom risotto balls), pancetta wrapped prawns, and braised short ribs. All of it was pretty good. For wine we had Nebbiolo Malvira Langhe Piemonte Italy 2001 which was recommended at "earthy." It was nice but I didn't taste too much dirt. It seemed pretty smooth.

But the highlight was the next night, when one of my local colleagues apologized for not knowing the current "hip" restaurants in downtown, but he'd take me to an old standby of his. As we drove by a sign that said Zuni Cafe I said, "Hey, I've heard of that place!" to which he replied, "Really? That's where we're going."

The Zuni Cafe is a place I've read many references to in the food magazines, not too mention over at Pork Cracklins where Sheri makes the Zuni Roast Chicken (which I guess is one of the Cafe's signature dishes) again and again and again. We were seated at a table next to the brick oven that looked straight into the kitchen and I watched probably 10 whole chickens come out of the oven and get quickly chopped up and tossed in a salad.

We, alas, did not have the chicken since we could not wait the hour required for preparation. Instead we both had the pork "stew" which was tremendous, although it was more like a braise than a stew. It was a broth soup with a couple pieces of tender pork on the bone, served over thin slices of sweet potato, roasted beets, orange sections... and boy I wish I could remember what else because it was terrific. There was some sort of gremolata on the top which I think contained very finely diced radish. The whole dish left a great buzz in my mouth from being just slightly spicy without actually feeling hot. For wine we had a Spanish wine from the Montsant region. It was a little rough at first, but actually stood up well to the pork.

In any case, after seeing all those nice crispy chickens come out of the oven, back at home this weekend I bought a whole chicken to try the Zuni recipe on. We even happen to have the wine they suggest with it (Handley Anderson Pinot Noir). Now I just need to find the time to prep it one night so it can sit for 2 days.