Dishcrawlin' The Fairmont San Jose

First off, I have to say hello to the readers of The San Jose Blog! My name is Jennifer and I’m a blogger/photographer/San Jose resident. I’ll be blogging about random events, shindigs, places to be.. who knows -- but here I am! Hello to all!

SO....

Last Tuesday, I attended my third Dishcrawl, this time in downtown at the Fairmont San Jose. If you don’t know what Dishcrawl is then you are missing out. During a Dishcrawl, you get a chance to sample 4-5 different dishes of food; tasting food you may have never had before -- or perhaps going to venues you only thought you’d check out someday. Oh and a fun kicker - you won’t know what you get to try until a few days before the event. Mystery meals are fun!

Around 7pm I showed up at The Fairmont and the only area I was familiar with was the lobby. I looked around and saw a lot of hungry people, most with beverages from the lobby lounge in their hand.

I see buttons! Green, blue and red buttons. Everyone is ready to crawl, ready to EAT. I’m Team Green. Team Blue was the most rambunctious. Those crazies.

It’s time to start the eating. Green Team gets to eat Sushi from the Lobby first.

Now in no way am I a proper food critic - I just know when something tastes good to me or not so much. So these are my very-uneducated opinions in food cuisine.

My first dish: Fresh Tuna and Salmon Nigiri Sushi, Spider and Unagi-Hamachi Roll. The tuna and salmon literally melted in my mouth. I’ve had sushi that is a little chewy - THIS WAS NOT. I am not a big raw fish-sushi eater. However, I LOVED this sushi.



After some delightful conversation, our group moved on to Pagoda for some Wok Fried Mango and Mint Chicken and Dungeness Crag Egg Drop Soup, Honey Walnut Prawns (NOM!), and Steamed Jasmine Rice. My fiance and I have been to Pagoda before and have had the Honey Walnut Prawns but not the other stuff. Oh so delicious!



After Pagoda, it is time to hit up The Fountain. I honestly had no idea The Fountain was there. I only knew of Pagoda.

At the Fountain we were served House Hickory Smoked Salmon Blinis with Caviar and Creme fraiche, Heirloom Tomato Shooter, and Dungeness Crake Cake with Basil Aioli. I’m not a big fan of tomato soups or bloody marys, but with a quick taste of the shooter I noted it was pretty flavorful and had that zest kick to it. My favorite was the smoked salmon blinis with caviar and creme fraiche.



Tracy Lee, the creator of Dishcrawl sat down with us and chatted a bit. Did you know that there is essentially a Dishcrawl happening somewhere (within the 23 cities listed on the website) everyday? They’re becoming more and more popular too - I hear Portland sold out of their tickets for their first event in two days flat.

After some discussion about downtown San Jose and all the wonderful little spots to try out, someone with Tracy’s team came up to her and announced that IT WAS TIME.

Time for what?

The grand finale! On to the SWEETS!



The Fairmont opened three of its suites - The Presidential, The Fairmont, and The International and put out a spread of sweets: chocolate fountain with assorted fruits and nibbles, truffles, macaroons, mango-fennel panna cotta, assorted french pastries, and assorted fruit sorbet with super cute little cones. While there was no way I could try them all, I grabbed a plate of mixed goodies and sat down to nosh away.

I simply cannot pick a favorite as everything I tried was delicious, The Fairmont San Jose’s award-winning Pastry Chef Fernando Arreola is amazing.

Next upcoming San Jose Dishcrawl is “Taste San Jose’s Night Air” on Tuesday, September 20th at 7pm for $26. As of writing this blog post there were only 5 tickets left. Get yours before they run out!