Client Appreciation Dinner Party - 2010

This past week, I held my annual, private Client Appreciation Dinner Party. To be invited to the party, invitees must have either referred me to a prospective client (closed transaction or not) or have been a recent client that I represented on a purchase or sale that closed escrow. So, you too, can be invited by referring someone you care about for expert advice on the purchase or sale of residential or commercial real estate.


As in the past, we had a dinner party at Midori Japanese Restaurant in Sunnyvale. The manager of the restaurant, Jeff, made sure we wouldn't go about disturbing other patrons by reserving their tatami room for us. Food was excellent and included a selection of tasty sushi and sashimi appetizers, soup, salad with miso dressing, a wide variety of entree combinations, dessert and beverages (including adult beverages).


Each invitee was allowed to bring an adult guest and those that attended received a gift bag with a wonderful bottle of Steven Bannus Russian River Sauvignon Blanc wine, bag of chocolate truffles from Harry and David's and a gift card to use on their next visit to Elephant Bar Restaurant. Each attendee was eligible for drawings of wonderful gifts from Crate & Barrel that were specially chosen and wrapped by my lovely wife, Carol.

A second special gold gift bag was presented to those that had referred someone to me and those clients had closed on a transaction. The gold bag included a bottle of superb Beaulieu Vineyard's BV Rutherford Napa Valley Cabernet Sauvignon and their very own Passport Unlimited unrestricted gold membership card to save them money when dining at a great selection of fine restaurants!


Some of the invitees were attending their second or even third Client Appreciation Party!


The variety of invitees ran the gamut from first time home buyers to those referring prospective clients and came from as far away as San Francisco and included such occupations as a financial planning firm officer, architectural photographer, registered nurse, attorney, software engineer, residential mortgage and commercial loan professionals, insurance sales representative, stay-at-home mom, comedy club owner/operator along with my sons, David and Kevin, and wife, Carol. Just so you know -- she's my COO - Chief Organizing Officer! There were multiple, interesting conversations going on up and down the table on a variety of topics.


Everybody had FUN and didn't go away hungry! I know this because absolutely nobody complained!


I can't wait to have another Client Appreciation Party because I get to thank some of those that are the heart of my business. And, getting close to Valentine's Day, it makes perfect sense!


Thanks for reading my blog!

Real Eats -- Fontana's Italian Restaurant, Cupertino, CA

On a recent date night, my wife and I decided to visit another fine restaurant. We do this at least once each month where we choose a nice place to enjoy the food and ambiance and this time, we chose Fontana's Italian Restaurant on Stevens Creek in Cupertino.

While we've been to Fontana's a number of times over many years both on our date nights as well as with our two sons, we have never been disappointed.

We started things off by sharing their Caprese salad which was made with alternating fresh, sliced red-ripe tomato, fresh mozzerella cheese, pesto, roasted red pepper and capers. This was drizzled over with olive oil. Now we love caesar salads but this to us is our favorite. It was marvelous.

Our dinner entrees were outstandingly presented. We both ordered (first time in a long time we've both ordered the same entree) one of their specialties -- Scalone Indorati. It had a pounded, combined scallop and Abalone steak which was sauteed and served with a lemon-butter sauce. Included were ample sides of delicious garlic mashed potatoes and a vegetable mix. My wife loved it! Oh, so did I!

I chose a glass of Italian white wine to accompany my dinner which went well with the entree.

For dessert, we split a profiteroles al cioccolato which were a few small cream puffs willed with a vanilla custard topped with warm chocolate and caramel sauces. It was sweet as you might have guessed but the actual cream puffs were a little chewier than we had expected. Overall, we gave this a passing grade.

Apart from excellent food and comfortable surroundings, we were treated well by an attentive but not overbearing server. Till we return.


Fontana's Italian Restaurant
20840 Stevens Creek Boulevard (across the street from Whole Foods)
Cupertino, CA 95014
(408) 725-0188
http://www.fontanasitalian.com/

Give me a call at 408-830-0092, if you'd like to find out how you can qualify for an invite to my annual Client Appreciation Party so I can wine and dine you and a guest.


Thanks for reading!