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Founded in Menlo Park, with a direct connection to one of the greatest Art Collectors in US history, The Velvet Turtle taught me a lot about what Dinner could be!

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SiliGoneValley-VelvetTurtle

Tue, 7/5 12:34PM • 5:54

SUMMARY KEYWORDS velvet, turtle, remember, fine dining, sonoma, anderson, chain, hunk, places, zaman, seafood, food, salad, eating, chicken nuggets, roast, prime rib, silverware, 70s, lobster Come with me, we're going to Silicon Valley you always remember how you enter into something that really changes your life. And for me, this is a chain restaurant. And when introduced me to his the concept of fine dining. That may seem antithetical, but it's true. The stick around, hold on, you'll figure this out. In the 70s, there was a rise of the chain restaurant, we always had things like Denny's for example, Samos exploring avenues in which the food could be of a higher quality of a different tenor became important. And that was definitely shown by the chain the velvet turtle until the turtle was I don't want to say cutting it because it definitely wasn't cutting edge. But it was different. So different that it it was. I don't want to say magical because it wasn't like super fine dining. But it was something that was close. And there were a whole bunch of different founders, three primary, one of which was Wally Botello, who came up with a chain concept, and I believe was one of the first real people to push this out there. That was hunk Anderson. And if you listen to three minute modernist at all, I talk a lot about the Anderson collection. That's the dude, a hunk and his wife were the real stars. The menu for the velvet turtle was incredible. That thing you don't see so much anymore. You know, roast rack of lamb, beef wellington, roasted duckling on our own wash, the prime rib, which is what I got. Abalone medallions of seafood is another one, of course, filet mignon, all the things that you would expect. But the thing that really changed it was how it was presented, of course, heavy silverware, white tablecloth, kids were I don't want to say they were banned, but they were not encouraged. But I was probably eight or 10. When we went the first time. I remember the salad. They did it the classic way where they brought the salad in, they put the dressing on, they toss it your table, then they gave you your bowl. And I definitely remember the prime rib. And I think that was the first time I ever had lobster, my family didn't do a lot of seafood. tickly my mom. But that was definitely the first time I can remember eating a piece of lobster. And I remember it being kind of dark. But every time I would see a film that had someone at a fine dining restaurant and couldn't just say, I can remember the film Adventure Land, and where they go to the velvet touch, which I 100% believe was based on the velvet turtle. It had that air to it. And other other places that sort of get into this realm. For me, it to in particular, Stewart Anderson's Black Angus, had that sort of vibe to it, it was a step up, and I loved it. I still love it. If I get a chance to go I will. But then there was Oh Jays original Joe's downtown. Still, they're still one of my favorite places. That gave off a feeling that you were being there for an experience that included food, not just going there to eat in an environment. And the little touches like the table side, salad preparation. Perfect. When I really got into food again, on a higher level, I spent most of my 20s eating chicken nuggets we could afford. Everything had to fit into initially that mold of what I had experienced at the velvet turtle. Cookie. I went to shape honey, I went to the French Laundry. I started to branch out you know did a lot of stuff in Sonoma, a lot of stuff in Napa. My favorite place Sonoma, sadly, is gone. of the generals daughter, an amazing place. But you can see a lot of the sort of the smaller independent places that were being created in the 80s and 90s by chefs who were young in the 70s and 80s really showed an influence of that. And sometimes the influence was they were breaking away from it. But it's weird because the velvet turtle felt like it was branded fine dining. And, you know around here in Silicon Valley, you had some great fine dining places in particular, a lot patio, which I'll have to talk about at some point. Love for him. And of course he Lippia but it was the velvet turtle that for my generation will always have sort of a mark on it as what we had. And I went to the one in Sunnyvale and went to the one in San Jose, I think we might have gone to the one in Menlo Park and I was still young, but they always have a deep impact on how I Zaman food and I really wish I knew they'd be willing to ask because I was so good.

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