Howdy, gang! We made it. Barely. Tomorrow we begin a new decade, which feels like an extra-fresh start. I say make a resolution you want to keep, one that makes you happy. One year, my resolution was to cook for friends once a month. It was a good one—it helped me keep my apartment extra-clean and the piles of paperwork on my kitchen table to a minimum, and it was wonderful to have friends over for quality time while I got to try out new recipes. This year, I’m going to commit to a meditation practice. (Boy, do I need it. Moving at warp speed is taking its toll.) If you have any meditation favorites on InsightTimer, or anywhere else, I welcome your recommendations! Thank you.
Of course, any of you longtime tablehopper readers (love you!) know this is the time of the year when I write my annual rant—the bore—of ten things I don’t want to see in the New Year. (I almost put turmeric on the list, but as I was eating my turmeric granola a few days ago, I realized that would be hypocritical. I love turmeric everything, LOL.) I always get a kick out of hearing your own personal gripes and observations, feel free to drop me a line (unless it’s about how expensive it is to dine out—that’s just the way things are).
A few quick updates about New Year’s Day! If you’d like to leave your place and find some sustenance tomorrow, Son’s Addition will be open for brunch starting at 10:30am, serving their special caldo de crudo hangover stew (think spicy broth with chicken and achiote and vegetables, yessss) and other brunch dishes, with dinner service starting at 4pm. The Front Porch also knows a thing or two about how to fix a hangover (starting at 10am). Verjus is doing something fun: cheese fondue and movies (including The Hangover, natch), starting at 3pm. You can heal yourself with the Causwells burger (so good), plus they’re offering brunch, starting at 9am. In Cow Hollow, both Wildseed and Kaiyo will be open—check out the latter’s $28 all-inclusive brunch. And in Sausalito, Copita is doing their hangover brunch, with new breakfast tacos, plus huevos rancheros, enfrijoladas, and verde y rojo pozole! Heal thyself.
On Saturday evening, I hosted the tablehopper Crab and Cognac feast at M.Y. China, and wow, what a night! First of all, that event sold out in 70 minutes, damn. A record! Many thanks to Rémy Martin for making the event’s amazing pricing possible, and to Trent Simpson for introducing the new Tercet to our guests. Tercet and pineapple are an ideal match, so we enjoyed it with some fantastic sweet and sour pork (with lychee, also awesome). The Rémy Mule with Tercet ended up being a dynamic and refreshing pairing with all the crab, and the XO Old Fashioned at the end was pure decadence. We were also sent home with stunning Rémy Martin crystal Cognac glasses—it’s so fun to be spoiled. Merci, Rémy Martin!
We had a surprise guest host that night: the one-and-only chef Martin Yan (whose initials are the M.Y. in M.Y. China), who entertained us with a cleaver skills demo, generously gave away prizes to our guests, and personally checked in on all our tables! What a host. And the floor show didn’t stop: executive chef Tony Wu came in with a noodle dance—I’ll be posting a video on social ASAP!
The food was beyond: we started with an array of M.Y. China classics, like their Shandong beef roll, but then they dropped an off-the-menu treat on us: fried har gow! Oh man. (Our table definitely wanted that again.) I made sure we had the wild boar scissor-cut noodles, always a fave. And then it was time to get crackin’! The parade of seven kinds of crab made it hard to choose a favorite, but some top table picks were the Chili Pepper Crab, Jiangxi Spicy Crab, and Sweet Tamarind Crab. (There are no wrong answers.)
I’m telling you this because M.Y. China is offering their special seventh anniversary crab menu until mid-January, so you can go in and try them for yourself. (Check out my Stories on @tablehopper to view them all!)
It was a wonderful event to close out the year. Thank you to everyone who came, and a special thanks to the entire team at M.Y. China who made this event so special.
I hope you’ve all been enjoying the holiday season (you can witness all my holiday decadence here), and here’s to a happy and healthy 2020. Thank you for reading my column all these years (thirteen and counting!) and for all your support. Best wishes to you and yours.
M.Y. China’s off-the-menu ice cream and sugar egg puff/sugar cloud with a Rémy Martin XO Old Fashioned is how we ended the tablehopper Crab and Cognac Feast. Boom! Photo: © tablehopper.com.View tablehopper Newsletter from Tuesday, Dec 31 2019
