This month’s Ritual dinner with Chef Alberto Landgraf, a 2-Michelin star chef whose restaurant Oteque, in Rio de Janeiro, is number 47 on the current World’s 50 Best list. Location this time was at a private residence in Pac Heights.

Chef Alberto had a primarily seafood forward menu with many ingredients from Brazil and some sourced locally. Dinner consisted of nine courses (The pictures don’t really do it justicce) – Andrea and I both thought the cod with the tucupi (very Brazilian/Amazonian), leeks and the texture from the toasted buckwheat was our favorite. My second favorite was the lobster course (although at the table we had discussions about the controversy of having Maine lobster) and third favorite was the short rib course. We did also enjoy dessert which very much had the essence of acai. Wine pairings were always interesting (thank you Wendy) even if I didn’t think they were a perfect match (was a unique treat to see a wine from Lanzarote even!).

A lot of other foodies to talk to including some who live half a block away from us. We received great tips on other restaurantes from other fellow diners. One of the individuals I was seated next to had been to more of these dinners than I had (6 for me now) and seemed to have eaten everywhere in the world.

The Ritualo folks were very kind in letting us hang out until well beyond everyone else had already departed. I did get to spend a lot of time (more than an hour?) talking to the chef, so much so that Andrea said we had a bromance. He was very down to earth and personable (as well as Luis, Wendy, and Lucy at Ritual) and we hope we can dine at one of Alberto’s restaurants in the future (he’s opening up a new one in London in January).

All in all, this was a fantastic, bespoke experience and why we so much enjoy these events. We meet so many others who have an interest in these culinary experiences, we have world class international cuisine brought to us here in SF, and we get to spend a quality time with Michelin star chefs, A fantastic Friday night out for us!