Concord Comfort Food Week
Last month was California Restaurant Month, a month of culinary celebration and discovery created by Visit California. There were a large number of restaurant weeks happening all across the state, and I had the pleasure of exploring some of Concord’s culinary treasures during Concord Comfort Food Week thanks to Hilton Concord and Visit Concord.
With so many amazing restaurants and cafes in South Bay where I live and San Francisco, often a traffic-ridden hour plus drive away, I hadn’t really thought to venture out to Concord before. However, as real estate prices continue to rise, many families and restaurateurs are looking further east of the Peninsula to raise their families and start/grow their businesses. The weekend I spend in Concord changed my perception of the city and I have a couple places I’d love to visit again!
Upon arriving at the Hilton, my friend and I were greeted with a lovely cheese and dessert plate. The petite fours were darling — thank you Hilton Concord!
First stop for Comfort Food Week: Plate and Vine, the Hilton Concord’s on-site restaurant. If you’re staying at the hotel, this restaurant is conveniently located for weary travelers to grab a bite after settling into their room. We enjoyed so many great bites here, and typical me forgot we had our actual dinner coming up afterwards, yikes! Chef Philippe Chevalier is now at the helm of Plate and Vine, and I’m sure he’s going to do great things here. He’s a classic French-trained chef who worked at several Michelin star restaurants in France and cooked in restaurants in Saint Tropez and St. Barts before moving to the US to open his own restaurant. I’m glad I had the opportunity to taste his cooking! We enjoyed the beef carpaccio, artisan cheeses, prosciutto & gorgonzola pizza, spaghetti with clams, mussels, and calamari with wine.
Our next stop for dinner was Momo N Curry, a Nepalese and Indian restaurant a short drive away. The restaurant is owned by two brothers from Nepal. You’ll meet Sameer at the front of the house; his brother works his magic in the kitchen. We had a delicious spread of: butter chicken, chicken mo:mo sizzler, lamb tikka masala, garlic naan, all washed down with mango lassi. This was my first time having momo, a Nepalese dumpling. I’ve had the item on my list to try since forever and I finally did! I liked the sizzling momo plate since it keeps the dumplings warm. They were packed full of chicken and flavor. I’ve also never had a lamb tikka masala, only chicken. I’m pretty wary of lamb dishes since I don’t particularly like the gamey taste; however, this lamb cooked tandoori style surprised me. There was a hint of gaminess, but I liked the flavors in the dish eaten with rice and garlic naan. Everything here was so good; I’m definitely keeping it on my list of places to go for Indian and Nepalese food.
Even after we stuffed our faces during happy hour and at dinner, we still had one last place to visit before ending the night in a food coma: Pop Bar. One thing to note about the Hilton Concord is its PRIME location across the street from TWO shopping centers: Willows and The Veranda. It was getting late in the evening, but there was still quite a crowd at The Veranda, where Pop Bar was located. We got lucky with walking in and ordering when we did because by the time we got our gelato pops, there was a sizable line that stretched to the door. Both of us got a gelato pop and we got a free dip or drizzle thanks to Comfort Food Week. We each topped our bars too. We took our bars outside and ate them as we sat next to the fire pits by the ice skating rink to stay warm.
After a night of amazing sleep due to food coma, we prepared ourselves for a full day of eating. We were off to The Veranda again to grab a breakfast of farm fresh egg sandwiches and a latte from Coffee Shop. We had planned to walk across the street to grab breakfast, but we woke up to dense fog, so we hopped in the car for a short drive. It was surprising how many people were already at the shopping center for breakfast. We got our sandwiches and coffee and sat outside at one of their tiled tables. The sandwiches really hit the spot with fluffy eggs, cheddar, bacon, pepper jelly, and a soft brioche bun. After we finished our food, we walked around the plaza to digest our food and take a look at what shops were around. We were going to be back later in the day, so we planned to do a little shopping in between the eating.
We hopped in the car and headed to grab an afternoon snack at T4. The shop is located in a cute downtown area with many other shops, restaurants, and a park. We parked in the garage, which was free. For Comfort Food Week, they were promoting popcorn chicken and milk tea, a staple for Bay Area tea and boba lovers. Popcorn chicken has a soft place in my heart since it’s a common street food in Taiwan; it’s cheap and it’s convenient to eat (usually served in a sleeve or box with a skewer). The heaviness of the fried chicken pieces are offset by the sweetness of the milk/tea. We took the opportunity to sit and relax for a bit before heading off to our next stop.
Next stop: Concord Tap House. We got ourselves hydrated with some tea, now it was time to kick it up a notch with wine! We found some friends already there and joined their table. Concord Tap House doesn’t publish their beer list because what’s available is always changing. When they run out of one beer on tap, they switch it up. The offerings are displayed on a monitor inside. My friend and I opted for wine: we got one red and one white flight. We got their loaded fries that were part of Comfort Food Week, and the chef also sent out his catfish sliders. He uses the belly for a more tender meat. The food paired well with our wines and we enjoyed the atmosphere — they use wine barrels for table legs and they have TVs for sports games.
In order to keep our schedule of meals in close proximity, this meant back to back wine visits. Our next two stops took us back to The Veranda for a wine happy hour before dinner. Before happy hour, we walked around the shopping center to make some space in our stomachs. We popped into Cost Plus World Market and Sephora for light shopping.
I didn’t know too much about Residual Sugar before our visit, but once we found the wine bar, we were in love with the ambiance – the copper pipe lighting and bulbs reminded me of the Edison era. The decor feels industrial and rustic, yet chic. There’s counter space inside, but the seats were filled when we arrived, so we sat in an L-shape to the rest of the table; we were sitting outside, but we were at the bar within proximity to the bartenders. They have another covered seating area just a couple steps away from the bar. Sitting at the bar has its perks, like the bartender allowing you to choose a (vinyl) album to play. Yes, they have a record player; how cool is that? The two of us settled on a glass of rose and champagne and we ordered their spicy capicola. Since they ran out of the tomato bisque that comes with the grilled cheese on the Comfort Food Week menu, we only ordered the mac and cheese, but chef sent out the grilled cheese too! I was thankful that the bites were light and paired well with our bubblies. I’m in love with the ambiance here and I’m ready for another visit to shop at The Veranda and end the day with wine and bites.
To close out our Comfort Food Week visit, we settled down to dinner at EMC Seafood & Raw Bar. I was stoked all weekend for this dinner since I LOVE seafood and EMC’s uni pasta in particular, which they were promoting for Comfort Food Week! We settled in and decided to get a couple oysters, the truffle salmon carpaccio, uni pasta, and steamed whole Maine lobster. We had gone back and forth on the lobster choice before setting on this one and I’m so glad we did because the cajun garlic sauce was AMAZING. Make sure you don’t wear white to dinner if you plan to order the lobster entree because it can get messy with breaking down the shells. This dinner was just what we needed to end our weekend of gluttony on a high note. EMC didn’t disappoint with their seafood. Shopping, wining, and dining, who’s up for a visit to Concord?!
