Digest

david kaplan likes jagged, thick, knife-cut noodles. The handmade noodles at ASJ are everything he’d hoped for: “firm, rough, and a little unwieldy.” These are big noodles, wide and flat, and their floppiness will fling soup broth pretty much everywhere, he warns. “I made a point of wearing a water-resistant coat, zipped up, over my white stainable shirt.”

Noodles like these are easier to eat when they’re stir-fried, says daveena, but she adds, “I think the amount of flavor they pick up from absorbing the soup makes them totally worth the trouble.” She has also “developed the most unattractive hunch to eat these types of soup noodles—mouth right over the bowl, with one hand blocking spatters.”

According to david kaplan, ASJ’s hot and spicy beef noodle soup has “modest spice-heat and strong numbing-heat from Sichuan peppercorns, but the beefiness of the broth stood up to the heat. The beef itself was long-stewed, nicely marbled, and melting like the best short ribs, in big slabs that stayed intact despite their softness.”

He also adds some helpful instructions: “The hot & spicy beef noodle soup is the top-left item on the third section of the order slip. Drawing an upward-pointing triangle next to the check mark is the way to indicate the big noodles.”

ASJ Restaurant [South Bay]
1698 Hostetter Road, San Jose
408-441-8168
Location

Board Link: ASJ, Taiwanese beef noodle soup, San Jose: report

K K has found some superb sesame bread. It’s called Hamati bread, and it’s from a company called Aroma’s. It’s a big doughnut-shaped thing with a hollow center and sesame seeds on top. The strong roasted-sesame flavor permeates everything. “It smelled so delicious through the bag I had to get one to try. And it tasted really good, chewy but not hard and the sesame seeds on top really added to the texture and enjoyment … I think this will appeal to lovers of all sorts of bread: naan, green onion pancake, or those Northern Chinese Halal Muslim style sesame seed flat cakes.”

It’s good reheated in the toaster or right out of the bag, and has been spotted at Berkeley Bowl, Dean’s Produce, and Milk Pail market. It’s produced in San Bruno, so it’s probably available elsewhere around the Bay Area, too.

Berkeley Bowl
[East Bay]
2020 Oregon Street, Berkeley
510-843-6929
Location

Dean’s Produce [Peninsula]
451 Broadway, Millbrae
650-692-1042
Location

The Milk Pail
[Peninsula]
2585 California Street, Mountain View
650-941-2505
Location

Board Link: Superb Hamati Sesame Bread from Aroma’s San Bruno

The secret of Pit Boss Barbeque? It’s highly variable, and you have to figure out who’s in the kitchen. Civil Bear’s first visit yielded OK meats, and inedible sides. His second visit: “the moistest, tenderest brisket in the Bay Area … And this time the sides were fantastic!”

adrienne156 explains what’s going on. There are different people who cook there: “Mr. Boss, Mrs. Boss, and ‘others’. The meat is always smoked the night before, but the sides are always spot on whenever Mr. Boss is in the kitchen.” Mrs. Boss is also good, but the worst meals adrienne156 has had are when one of the others is in the kitchen. adrienne156 recommends brisket, “which always has a lovely pink smoke ring but did come to me overcooked on one occasion,” and hot links, full of finely ground meat, with crisp skin and a slight kick. And the pulled pork? “Moist with a light smoke … probably one of the best I’ve had out and that’s saying a lot because my friends are self-described pork-a-holics who spend most of their weekends smoking something.”

Pit Boss Barbeque [East Bay]
12889 San Pablo Avenue, Richmond
510-237-1996
Location

Board Link: Pit Boss BBQ revisited…