Dear readers,
Welcome to the 2nd restaurant review on Just One Cookbook (the first review here)! Before I get started on the review on Cetrella, I want to share a little story about Nami and me. Nami and I both appreciate good food but our favorite foods are actually very different. I love food so spicy that my tears come out when I am eating them and Nami cannot take any spice at all.
I also love greasy food that goes well with lots of beer while Nami does not drink. There are a ton of food and recipes that we both enjoy but we definitely have our preferences. One of Nami’s favorite ethic cuisines is Peruvian food and we don’t have too many great Peruvian restaurants close by where we live. A few months ago I saw a local daily deal for La Costanera (Peruvian restaurant) in Montara Beach and decided to purchase it to surprise Nami. When I surprised Nami with the deal, she suggested we go there for Father’s Day to celebrate. Unfortunately, when I tried to make reservations a few days prior they were all booked. We were really looking forward to a nice Father’s Day meal so I started to look for alternatives on Open Table and found several options. We finally decided on Cetrella for several reasons 1) it’s Michelin Recommended 2) it won Open Table’s 2010 Diner’s Choice Award 3) SF Gate (the local newspaper) had great things to say about it over the years and 4) I can’t seem to find a single bad review. Off we go to Half Moon Bay again.
The weather on Father’s Day was really amazing, even at 5:30 pm Half Moon Bay was still sunny and warm. The restaurant has been around 2001 but both its exterior and interior are extremely well kept. As you enter, the sun shines on the beautiful white walls through the sky light from the 25 foot tall ceiling, creating a warm and welcoming feeling. The restaurant interior is simple but pleasant, showcasing rustic furniture and exposed wooden beams with a modern elegance. Since we had an early reservation to accommodate our children’s dinner schedule, there were not many other patrons at the time and we were promptly seated at our table without having to wait.
For the meal, we had 3 adults (Nami, me, and my brother) and 2 children so we decided order Pizza Margherita for the children and 3 appetizers and 3 entrées to share between the adults. For the bread service, Cetrella served traditional warm foccacia bread with olive oil and balsamic vinegar. Based on our server’s recommendation we ordered foccacia, fritto misto, and foie gras torchon as appetizers. The foccacia was very unique and the full name should be “focaccia al formaggio”, focaccia with cheese. It just so happened that two of Nami’s blogger friends also featured similar foccacia recently (Manu and Giulia) in their blogs. Giulia mentioned in her blog it’s very difficult to find outside of Recco, Italy so we definitely got a treat. The foccacia was very crispy yet still retains some moisture inside from the crescenza stracchino cheese, and the herbs and truffle oil blended perfectly with the tartness from the cheese.
Frito Misto was deep fried very well, no soggy spots and the panko layer was not overwhelming. What we really loved was the tartar dipping sauce. It had the perfect balance of cream and tanginess. The last appetizer was foie gras and it was my pick. Whenever I see foie gras on any menu I just have to order it. I love foie gras in every form, seared, poached, canned, jarred, and every other way. Needless to say the torchon was superb and paired very well with the lychee apple salad. The only slight complaint I have is I wished they had provided 4 pieces of bread instead of 2. We really had to pile on the torchon to make it all fit on 2 pieces.
For entrées we had the scallops, duck breast (I always prefer duck over chicken, more fatty), and bone in pork chop. The duck skin was crisp and the meat was slightly rare and very tender. The lemongrass risotto was very unique and you can taste the individual veggie as they were not overcooked.
As we finished the meal with panna cotta and chocolate trio, the restaurant was almost completely filled and I can understand why it’s so popular. We really enjoyed the Father’s Day meal at Cetrella and I look forward to going back there if we are in Half Moon Bay again. The meal did not have a lot of surprises but all the food were really well done and simply delicious.
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Just One Cookbook was nominated for Babble.com’s Mom Food Blogger Nominees for 2011. YAY! Please support us by voting for Just One Cookbook. It will take just a few seconds of your time.
1) Click the babble.com image below.
2) Click the tab “Alphabetical“
3) Go to page 4 and find Just One Cookbook
4) Click “I like this!” and that’s it.
Thank you very much!
One more extremely satisfying review..I had feast for my eyes with all the pictures! My favorite of course pizza Margherita, but would love piece of that Foccacia. I enjoyed reading about you guys and your taste differences..I can relate with you on spicy-I love it just the way you described it:)) and with Nami, since I do not drink at all! Awesome job Shen!!!
Congratulations on your cookbook Sandra!
Great review! Sad that I can’t get to try it. Love the Pork Chop and dessert.
*Voted for you too 🙂
Thanks Ellena for the support!
I love the review.
I voted! 🙂
Sandy
Thanks Sandy for the awesome support!
Loved your restaurant review…so well done with all the beautul photo and such delicious dishes, and desserts.!
Wow! Cetrella sounds like a great restaurant. I’m totally drooling over that focaccia bread. Warm, carby deliciousness. I love it!
Yum! It sounds really yummy! The focaccia look very similar to the one I make… only with no balsamic vinegar. It looks so good! I love foie gras too, I always order it too whenever I see on the menu!!! Great review Shen and I am happy you guys had a lovely time! 🙂
We actually had 2 different focaccia breads, the regular one that’s similar to bread and the crispy thin one. We only dipped the regular one with balsamic vinegar.
Lychee apple salad – now that is an interesting combination! Spicy – not spicy…that is the question.
I’ve been seeing lychee used more frequently as an ingredient in western restaurants, it’s definitely an interesting change.
Oh my… what a gorgeous expanse of space this restaurant has (for me at least half of the experience is the atmosphere – the architecture here is just gorgeous…). And the food? Whoa! I’m making special note so that the next time we visit San Francisco, Cetrella is on the list!
Hi Kelly, if you are spending a night on the coast next time you visit SF, I would definitely recommend Cetrella.
Can I cast more than once? I want to vote for you again and again. You have a great blog, everything from design, to your content and wonderful photos! And BTW its in page 5 now, people vote up 🙂
Thanks Raymund!! I am going to try your crispy fried squid and stir fry calm recipes.
Have already clicked and keep my fingers crossed!!!
Wonderful restaurant review and I am so surprised I share many of your food preferences. I love foie gras, which is widely available here both raw and canned, so I often prepare it on my own (there is a recipe for “terrine de foie gras” on my blog in case you or Nami are interested). I also order it every time I see it on the menu. It’s a good way to judge the restaurant’s quality.
I adore hot food and we sometimes go to an Indian restaurant and ask “the hottest possible please, I want to cry” (there is only one restaurant where they really listen to me) – then I am so happy crying throughout the whole meal! (Since I love hot food I often add the Korean gochujang to the Japanese dishes!)
I also enjoy drinking shochu, wine, cocktails, beer… depends on the mood and situation! I love greasy dishes but try to forget they exist, not wise for my waist 😉
I hope I don’t have a man’s eating profile 😉 (Although when we go for lunch and I have a glass of wine, while my husband has a coke, the waiter almost always mixes up our orders 😉 )
Anyway, I see you have had a great time and the restaurant looks beautiful! It’s funny, in Europe, I think, no restaurant serving foie gras au torchon would also have pizza…
Hi Sissi, have you tried “yuzu kosho” (Japanese citrus pepper)? Try marinating some sliced beef tongue in soy sauce and yuzu kosho, grill it slightly and don’t over cook. You’ll love it, just the perfect taste to go with shochu.
Nice review! Like the atmoshepe here, look cosy and warm. All foods served here sound so yummy. Ok, i need to go click to support you. Have a nice day.
thanks Sonia. Your food pictures always make me hungry!
It all looks so good! Great photos!
Congratulations on the Babble.com nomination. I think you should win:) The food looks great and really well presented. And I totally understand why beer/spicy food is so appealing:)
My favorite meal of all time, draft beer with Yakiniku (BBQed Japanese beef short rib)
This restaurant looks incredibly tasty. Wow. It’s beautiful inside too.
So I have never tasted beer and it’s just a personal choice to not drink – but I didn’t know beer went well with greasy foods. Do you know why that is? Interesting!
Looks like the image isn’t linked to babble. Nonetheless, I still voted for you by typing in the link manually! Good luck!
Looks like it’s fixed now! 😀
Yes… I’m still amateur making mistake with links! =P Thank you so much for your support Christian!! My husband will respond to comments. 🙂
Hi Christian, I couldn’t find out a scientific reason why beer goes really well with greasy food but there are a lot of sites dedicated to what greasy foods goes well with beer. LOL! The best logic I found is that the carbonation cleans the palate so the food taste better with eat bite. Cheers!
Yes, the Focaccia di Recco is very very similar to the home-made one!! The “original” one is very soggy at the bottom and not so crispy (so I almost prefer the home-made version) 🙂
Very nice restaurant and very good review! 🙂