Cav Wine Bar, Aziza

Cav Wine Bar is amazing! This new gem next to Zuni opened six weeks ago, and I'd been yearning to try it since day one. I finally got my chance last night.

Chenja and I were originally just planning to catch a quick glass and a nibble before going out to dinner elsewhere. However, two words kept us at Cav: truffle sampling.

I looove truffles, and I looove sampling. I actually really enjoy food because I savor flavor. I'd rather taste than actually eat. Does that make sense? Is it weird? I would prefer to have twenty bites of twenty different things than chow down on a single dish. If you're eating with me, it means we're eating family style, whether the restaurant planned for that or not. If you don't want to share, I can't eat with you.

The truffle sampling consisted of truffled mushroom crostini, frittata and raviolini. All three were fabulous, but if I had to pick a favorite, it would be the crostini (which can also be ordered on its own). The raviolini oozed egg yolk, which might sound strange, but it was all so deliciously luxurious.

Isn't there something so sexy about truffles? After all our truffling, I found myself wanting to make out with Chenja... and then we totally did! (Ah ha, just kidding. I was just trying to make George mad; he's protective of his woman. Hey, Giorgio, did it work?)

We also had beet salad and oxtail pasta. Both were divine. The wine list was extensive, and the bartender was knowledgeable. I told him that my favorite wine was Ridge and that another recent fave find was Chasseur Pinot Noir. Based on that, he recommended this Verdad Tempranillo, which I enjoyed. My next glass was a Chilean wine, Kuyen. I didn't love this one right away, but it got better as it opened up a bit. I can't wait to go back again.

At the same time on the east side, Taer was playing cards and playing with babies. We send each other pictures over our phones all the time, so it feels like we're together even when we're not. We're practically a freakin commercial. I love me my Taer, and I love me some chubby cheeks. I can't decide who's cuter in this pic.
After Cav, we met up with Lee and DLao and friends at Skylark for drinking and dancing. Lee was working nights all week, but she's finally done (for now)! Yay! Reunited, and it feels so good.And tonight's dinner marked another reunion of sorts in the revival of the Chianti Club. What is the Chianti Club, you ask? Well, it was founded by Lee while she was living in New York. The purpose was to experience new international cuisines. Some of the restaurants they explored included Ethiopian, Senegalese, South Indian and Indonesian. The first official meeting of the San Francisco chapter was Moroccan at Aziza.

Yum, yum, yum! The space was beautiful. The food was flavorful. After dinner, the Club reviews their most favorite and least favorite dishes, and they discuss whether or not they would return, if there were any surprises, etc. Everyone had a hard time choosing least favorite dishes because everything was great. We had to resort to picking the bread. My personal favorite was the cous cous lamb entree. I'm not always a huge cous cous lover, but theirs was yummy. The squab was also great. And their drinks were all really good too; I loved their bloody mary. We would all come back.

But first, the Chianti Club has other countries to visit. Russia? Nepal?