david kaplan's Profile
SF Metreon -- your favorites?
I work nearby and realized that I've overlooked the revamped Metreon as a lunch option. The SF Metreon site mentions FreshRoll (Vietnamese), Inay (Filipino), and other options. What are your current favorite Metreon dishes? Thanks.
B & M Mei Sing [San Francisco]
The bittermelon is an unexpected downtown treat. But the fish breading at B&M Mei Sing is heavy for my taste.
They'll do anything you ask. One of my current favorite made-up dishes is bittermelon and chashu chow-fun. It's how I get all of my favorite things from B&M Mei Sing in one dish.
Wo Hing General Store — thoughts? [SF]
Many of us have been.
http://chowhound.chow.com/topics/814931
Hand pulled noodles and knife cut noodles? Best options in SF (or BART accessible)
Perhaps just one dish on the menu, but one knife-shaved noodle (dao xiao mien) dish is worth 100 other dishes! Five Happiness is good but my favorite dao xiao mien rendition in SF is at Shanghai House, out on Balboa, a few blocks beyond Shanghai Dumpling King. Great noodles, good seasoning, and nicely cooked vegetables mixed in.
Nymphenburg area, Munich
Not much Munich eating. I skipped the Nymphenburg area entirely and took my two free meals in the city center:
1) snacking at the Viktualienmarkt, where there are lots of food stalls. I can't remember the names of the places, but there was a large seafood place with excellent matjes herring, and lots of great options for sausage and leberkase
2) dinner at Der Pschorr, a restaurant on the Viktualienmarkt, for Bavarian specialties. Delicious sauerkraut and cold cabbage slaw, roast pork, and so on. One can reserve online using a multilingual interface. Would go back there in a heartbeat.
For whatever it's worth, the Munich airport has good options. I like the Thai beef salad at Bamee and the Weisswurst breakfast at the first place one comes to when entering Terminal H.
Advice for making Bo Ssam (Aka Korean pork shoulder)
I took it as ssamjang plus extra gochujang and liked it that way. I think doenjang+gochujang would have been too doenjang-y. But I really love gochujang.
Nymphenburg area, Munich
I will be in Munich briefly this week and am hoping for recommendations within walking distance of Schloss Nymphenburg. Unfortunately I won't be able to venture far.
I am looking for German food or other cuisines that are hard to find in the US. (So I'd pass on Italian.) No fine dining -- just hearty, causal spots for breakfast, snacks, and full meals. I don't mind if it's touristy so long as the food is good.
Thanks for your help!
Christianshavn, Copenhagen
What do you recommend within a few blocks of the Christianshavn metro station? Not fine dining, but solid everyday restaurants, cafes, and take-out shops. I'm familiar with Lagkagehuset but not much beyond that. Thanks in advance.
Kimchi in SF
That's a great tip. What other surprises -- in addition to the good sandwiches -- are on offer at Rhea's?
Izakaya Yuzuki -- my favorite new Japanese restauarant in SF
Echoing the love for Yuzuki. I've been twice for amazing meals. I particularly liked beef tataki, served with onion and citrus, and the elegant onigiri, which look like toast points topped with either uni or ikura. On my second visit, miso tendon wasn't on the menu; I loved it on my first visit.
Like others, I missed the subtlety in the koshihikari rice and was happier with onigiri as the rice course.
They were pretty empty last night. If you haven't been, go -- both to keep them in business and to get a great meal.
Advice for making Bo Ssam (Aka Korean pork shoulder)
No luck with the brown sugar caramelizing here either, but it was totally unnecessary.
Advice for making Bo Ssam (Aka Korean pork shoulder)
I found the ginger-scallion sauce much better after it sat a few hours at room temperature. Freshly made, it just a mouthfull of raw scallion. After sitting, it mellows into something smoother and more complex.
Advice for making Bo Ssam (Aka Korean pork shoulder)
Roasted pork shoulder with a range of condiments is common to many cuisines -- like Mexican carnitas and a Thai dish whose name I'm forgetting. You could go in so many directions and serve it with:
* guacamole and a mild pico de gallo
* a garlicky, herby pesto-like sauce
* a sweet Chinese hoisin sauce with scallions
and so on. I'd probably choose one of the above rather than mix-and-match. The big decision seems to me whether you prefer it to be European/Latin or Asian. If the former, you probably don't want any sweetness in the sauces & condiments, but if the latter, then the balance of sweetness and salty is important. And the only alteration I'd made to the roasted pork shoulder itself is to exclude the sugar from the rub if you're going Euro/Latin -- but others might disagree.
2011 - It's chilly. It's the holidays. It's hot chocolate time.
A new SF strong contender is Ma'velous on Market near Civic Center. I wanted to like Coffee Bar on Montgomery in the FiDi, but too much globby unmelted chocolate at the bottom turned me off. Cafe Madeleine remains my favorite morning hot chocolate -- it's not so thick that it results in a daylong chocolate stupor like some of the European style drinks (Boulette's Larder, for instance).
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Cafe Madeleine
149 New Montgomery St, San Francisco, CA 94105
source for dried facing-heaven chiles (Sichuan)
Bumping this back up to ask about any recent sightings. Thanks.
Malan Noodles and the Falsehood of Memory
After having a great meal at Malan (the thickest, flat noodles, made to order as I watched) my last time to LA, I was sad to see this. Is someplace else a good replacement for Malan for handmade noodles? I'm looking this time for closer to LA than OC. JTYH is high on my list again, as is Tsujita. Any others?
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JTYH Restaurant
9425 Valley Blvd, Rosemead, CA 91770
Tsujita
2057 Sawtelle Blvd, Los Angeles, CA
Wo Hing General Store (SF Mission) report
Yes, the oyster crepe probably was supposed to be Chiu Chow style, which I tried once at a Chiu Chow restaurant in Hong Kong. The Wo Hing version wasn't even gentrified -- it was just plain badly executed.
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Wo Hing General Store
584 Valencia St, San Francisco, CA 94103
Wo Hing General Store (SF Mission) report
Wo Hing General Store is Charles Phan's latest addition to the Slanted Door group, and it opened Friday night (10/28/11) in the original Slanted Door location on Valencia near 17th. I went on its second night.
The concept is traditional Chinese street/snack/comfort food, and our server stressed (without our asking, and almost defensively) that the goal is authenticity, not fusion or creativity. The menu is mostly Cantonese, plus some Sichuanese chili-bean-paste dishes, lamb skewers from the north, and xiao long bao and red-braised pork from Shanghai. The authenticity is reflected in the menu items and ingredients, and my hopes were raised seeing jook, tendon, salted fish, and bitter melon on the menu.
We tried three dishes.
An oyster-egg crepe starter was rubbery and bland -- except for sparks of black pepper -- and left a greasy film in my mouth. Under-oystered, too: one of the four quartered pieces lacked an oyster. "Hand-made wheat noodles with pork and napa cabbage” -- i.e. chow mien -- was no better than average steam-table fare: heavy with oil and no wok char on the noodles, cabbage, or pork. Steamed ground pork patty with salted fish was the best of the three, though this, too, was bland and would have benefited from more ginger and scallion; also, there was less fish meat on the little salted fish bits than in other versions I’ve tried.
I asked for a side of the chili bean paste to taste because we didn’t order any of the dishes it’s used in. Although too garlicky, it had the hot fruitiness of fresh peppers alongside dried peppers. Nice touch.
All in all, a disappointing meal. If you’re going to pitch a restaurant as authentic Chinese in San Francisco and charge 2 people $60 for dinner, it should stand up to Koi Palace, Great Eastern, R&G, or Z&Y. Wo Hing falls far short. If I had to eat at a Charles Phan restaurant again, I’d much rather return to the Slanted Door or Heaven’s Dog, even though I’m not a huge fan of either, and at least get some creativity and lighter, bolder flavors.
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Wo Hing General Store
584 Valencia St, San Francisco, CA 94103
Any place one can buy Kouign Amann in SF?
I think Starter's @ Coffee Bar was $4. Leong's @ Flour+Water was something similar but I don't know @ Four Barrel. Sounds like a delicious research project!
Starter @ Coffee Bar also has a chocolate kouign amann, which I haven't tried.
Any place one can buy Kouign Amann in SF?
Also now at the new Coffee Bar, 101 Montgomery. Tried it this morning. I prefer Belinda Leong's version, which I tried at Flour+Water, over Starter Bakery's. Leong's pastry was lighter and flakier, and the sugar was more caramelized and pronounced. If I tried Starter Bakery's first I probably would have not complained, but having tried Leong's first I thought Starter Bakery's was heavy, dry, and too light on the crunchy caramelized sugar.
To be so spoiled by multiple Kouign Amann options!
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Starter Bakery
1552 Beach Street, Suite R, Oakland, CA 94608
Must have snack in SF?
Taiwanese steamed buns stuffed with pork belly, preserved vegetable, and cilantro, at Tea Garden in SOMA (Mission near 1st). One makes for a hearty snack.
Jerky or other meat treats at Fatted Calf, Fell & Gough, in Hayes Valley.
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Tea Garden
515 Mission St, San Francisco, CA 94105
Thorough Bread & Pastry (Castro), SF report w/ pics
Ditto on Chilango. Still my favorite Mexican and still kind of under-the-radar.
Green Chile Kitchen opened a sweet-and-savory pie shop on Church near 15th. Haven't tasted anything, but it looks very appealing, for whatever that's worth.
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Green Chile Kitchen
1801 McAllister St, San Francisco, CA 94117
Chilango
235 Church St, San Francisco, CA 94114
Asian Pearl Peninsula Restaurant OR Hong Kong Flower Lounge OR The Kitchen --for Dim Sum
Dittoing above. I think Asian Pearl, HKFL, and Zen Peninsula are similarly high quality, all ahead of the Kitchen, with a slight nod to both Asian Pearl and Zen P over HKFL.
However, HKFL has more festive decor, as Windy says, and HKFL is the only one that will take a reservation for a group for a set time. Unless you plan to arrive at Asian Pearl or ZP when they open, that would decide it for me.
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Zen Peninsula
1180 El Camino Real, Millbrae, CA 94030
anywhere in Chinatown sell fresh rice noodles?
Battambang Market (339 Eddy) in the Tenderloin has galangal.
If you're looking for galangal and rice noodles, I'm guessing you're making Thai food? Battambang is much better for Thai ingredients than anyplace I've found in SF Chinatown.
B & M Mei Sing [San Francisco]
Recent reports? Few mentions on the board. What to get, and what to avoid? Thanks.
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B & M Mei Sing
62 2nd St, San Francisco, CA 94105
Any place one can buy Kouign Amann in SF?
Including at Bittersweet in Rockridge, even though it's not listed on their website.
Any place one can buy Kouign Amann in SF?
Her Kouign Amman was the first I'd tried and I loved it. Allegedly Four Barrel will be carrying hers soon.
Sichuan Home, Geary near 15th (SF), reports?
Opened recently. Any reports, other than the glowing review in the Examiner?
Anyone Been to Kokkari Lately?
I'm still a fan. Food remains strong, and it has other pluses:
* easy to reserve for a weekday nice lunch: totally appropriate for corporate types without being sterile
* appropriate for groups that have different food attitudes: not too boring for the adventurous, and not too exotic for the timid; lots of meat, and lots of meatless
* they'll accommodate large groups easily
* possible to have big meals or just snack on the smaller dishes
Hand pulled noodles in the East Bay?
Doesn't the Imperial Tea Court in Berkeley have handmade noodles?
Just curious if you went to Shao-Lin in Vancouver or someplace else.
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Imperial Tea Court
1411 Powell St, San Francisco, CA 94133
