charliemyboy's Profile
Japanese food in San Francisco
Sounds delightful--
http://blogs.sfweekly.com/foodie/2011/05/eiji_oboro_tofu_sfoodies_92_favorite_dishes_2011.php
Pork chop sandwich?
Ah, yes, "Bud's" it was. Thanks for filling in the correct name. Too bad they're gone, those were really tasty sandwiches.
Vietnam House Chowdown Report [San Francisco]
Yes, I meant Vung Tau in San Jose. My favorites in SF include Bodega Bistro and Kim Thanh but I still haven't tried a number of the places with good reps.
Where can I buy authentic Spanish chorizo please?
The Spanish Table on San Pablo in Berkeley has a great selection of Spanish food items. I don't know about chorizo specifically but I got some great blood sausage there. Unfortunately they're not convenient to the Peninsula (which is also my home base).
Vietnam House Chowdown Report [San Francisco]
Thanks to pane and Windy for discovering Vietnam House and organizing our meal! We had a very tasty and satisfying meal but there were a few misses for me.
The Goi Cuan (shrimp/pork/mint roll) was unexciting. The ingredients in the roll didn’t stand out and the peanut dipping sauce was very plain.
The banh appetizers came with most of the same greens served elsewhere—lettuce for wrapping, mint, cilantro and rau ram (Vietnamese coriander) but unlike Bodega Bistro and Vung Tau there was no perilla. The Bhan Khot (rice cupcakes with shrimp for wrapping in greens) was very good, though the cakes weren’t as crispy and the dipping sauce not as tangy as at Vung Tau. The Bahn Cuon Cha Lua (pork/wood ear mushroom roll) was tasty but the sides varied—the Vietnamese “ham” was not so interesting but the fried prawn fritter was all crispy goodness.
I really enjoyed the Goi Du Du Kho Bo (green papaya salad). The tangy sauce was great and the textures were interesting. I definitely prefer the Vietnamese style papaya salad to the Thai style.
I enjoyed the Com Ga Xao Xa Ot (caramelized chicken) though it was not as complex as most of the other dishes.
The broth of the Bahn Cahn Cua (crab/shrimp/pork soup) was plain and uninteresting. My bowl had no pieces of other ingredients besides noodles so I didn’t get a representative sample.
One my favorite tastes of the meal was the Bun Cha Ha Noi (pork on vermicelli with dipping sauce)—the flavor was delicious and more intense than the other dishes.
While I really enjoyed the meal and appreciated a rare opportunity to have banh khot, I think Vietnam House is a bit below my favorite Vietnamese places. What’s lacking is a really tangy and flavorful dipping sauce. Except for the green papaya salad none of the appetizer sauces had much tang or intensity. Without better dipping sauce I don’t think their banh appetizers can compare with neighboring Bodega Bistro or most other really good Vietnamese places. Vietnam House did better on the broken rice and bun plates and I would return for these, for the green papaya salad, and for the banh khot (though Bodega Bistro’s banh xeo is probably overall more tasty thanks to great dipping sauce).
Vientian Cafe Oakland - satisy that insatiable craving for Lao rice ball salad and sausage...
I enjoyed everything we ordered and appreciated the easy communication with our server. Nothing was terribly spicy—the Zoob Nor Mai had the most heat.
Both the mok pa and the Lao sausage were very tasty but I think the versions I had at Green Papaya Deli were better. At least two of us liked the Roast Duck Salad more than RWCFoodie—we couldn’t get enough of the tangy sauce.
Most of the group was full enough so we didn’t order more, but I could easily have eaten much more of the Nam Kao and the Lao sausage. I’ll be interested to see if the frozen Lao sausage I brought back tastes as good as it did fresh.
Thanks to RWCFoodie for getting us together! My appreciation of Lao food has been re-awakened and I’m looking forward to trying some other places. I just wish we didn’t have to cross a bridge to get this quality of Lao food.
Pork chop sandwich?
Many years ago I frequented a place in Martinez that specialized in pork chop sandwiches and was neither Asian nor Southern. It was called something like "Phil's Pork Chop Sandwich" and was a few blocks from the courthouse. The sandwiches were tender and flavorful. For all I know it's still there.
Best restaurant desserts?
And let us not forget other variations such as the "reverse Baked Alaska", AKA the "Frozen Florida"--
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Baked_Alaska#Variations
http://lidian.hubpages.com/hub/Frozen-In-Florida
The Baked California has not yet made it into Wikipedia but the California Milk Advisory Board has posted a recipe that is totally different from the one at Haven and doesn't sound nearly as good to me--
http://www.californiadairypressroom.com/node/305
More promising, Plumed Horse in Saratoga has gotten into the Baked California act--
http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/object/article?f=/c/a/2007/11/18/CM8DT39QJ.DTL&o=3
Their menu describes it as "huckleberry sorbet, confit lemon shortbread, vanilla ice cream"--
http://plumedhorse.com/food_desserts.php
Hand pulled noodles and knife cut noodles? Best options in SF (or BART accessible)
My favorite dish at Bejing is the Sliced Fish with Preserved Vegetable Warm Pot. Here are some detailed threads about each location--
http://chowhound.chow.com/topics/590638
http://chowhound.chow.com/topics/751126
Draeger's Kobe beef Pastrami
Thanks for the heads-up on the Kobe beef pastrami, cheesecakeking! If I hadn’t known about it in advance I would never have figured out it existed. I had the following conversation today with a lady behind the deli counter in the Palo Alto store, after looking in vain on the signs and paper menus for the Kobe beef pastrami—
“What kind of pastrami do you have?”
“Just regular pastrami.”
“I heard that you had some pastrami made from Kobe beef!”
“Oh, I can get that for you also.”
Maybe they’re trying to keep it a secret.
Dinner near de Young museum?
If just south of the park isn't too far for you there are many options on 9th Ave. (about 4 or 5 blocks equivalent from the de Young) and more on Irving St.
Soon's Tofu and Korean BBQ in Foster City
Soon’s Tofu and Korean BBQ opened recently in the space previously occupied by Chipotle next to the 99Ranch Market on Foster City Blvd.
I was eager to compare Soon’s to my regular Korean place, Myung Dong Tofu Cabin next to the Marina Market in San Mateo.
Soon’s has music playing which I find annoying, but at least the volume was low. The space is like a typical café without the special tables for cooking as at Tofu Cabin.
The banchan was pretty good but overall I liked it a little less than Tofu Cabin’s. My Napa cabbage kimchi was not as bright and spicy as usual but a few bites after my initial disappointment I warned up to the more subtle fermented flavor and will be interested to try it again. The clear noodles were as good or maybe a little better than at Tofu Cabin but the potato pieces in sweet soy liquid were sweeter than I like and had less flavor than at TC. I enjoyed the creamy potato salad and the seaweed banchan.
My seafood and beef tofu stew was very good. I preferred it to the tofu stews I’ve had at TC but can’t be sure whether the quality was better or if I just prefer the combination of beef and seafood to the straight seafood and straight beef tofu stews I’ve had at TC. I’ll have to try the combo tofu stew at TC to see how it compares.
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Soon's Tofu & Korean BBQ
1062 Foster City Blvd, Foster City, CA 94404
Tai Wu: Take Two
I can’t say I’ve had them at enough different places to be sure what the norm is but they were definitely much thicker than on previous visits to Tai Wu. Coincidentally I was meeting some of the same group at Koi Palace today so I checked my impressions with them and they agreed the wrappers had been unusually and unpleasantly thick. The effect may have been exaggerated by the fact they were also under-filled and the flavor wasn’t as good as in prior trips.
Dim Sum at Zen Peninsula in Millbrae
Though I raved about Zen Pen's kabocha fries on this and other threads, my latest experience about two months ago was a big disappointment, though everything else we ordered that day was very good. The salty egg coating was too thin and not much egg flavor came through but the biggest problem was the quality of the kabocha itself-- no flavor. I'm not sure why they wouldn't be able to get decent kabocha in October. It may have just been under-fried-- it wasn't very crisp.
Tai Wu: Take Two
Five of us met for dim sum at Tai Wu last month. We ordered some of our favorites from prior visits and some new (to us) items. We had both highs and lows.
Unlike prior visits, the skins of the XLB and dumplings were unpleasantly thick, among the thickest I’ve ever seen. My take on what we had--
Roasted pork off the tray—nice crisp skin, tender meat, pretty good flavor
#001 Crab King Shiu Mai—excellent, the best shiu mai I’ve had in a long time
#005 Chicken Claw in Black Bean Sauce—tender, good flavor
#023 Chiu Chow Style Dumpling—nice crunchy texture but the very thick skin made it a fail
#083 Pumpkin with Salty Egg Yolk—very good, much better than a recent experience at Zen Peninsula but maybe not quite as good as the best I’ve had from Zen Pen and Hakka
#097 Soya Duck Tongue—tasty but not a lot of meat so I’d probably not order it again
Beef/Vegetable Noodle Dish (not sure which menu no.)—a fail. The beef was a little tough and the beef and veggies were fairly tasteless, but the noodles were good. I liked the crispy outside but it could have been more so.
Whole Lobster Meat Dumpling—the lobster quality was very good but very thick skins on the dumplings detracted from the flavors. The lobster pieces with the salty egg coating were every bit as delicious as on prior visits—the high point of the meal for me.
#075 Deep Fried Crispy Milk—very good
#050 Deep Fried Egg Yolk Ball—a travesty! Way over-fried and very dark on the outside. The inside was dried out with no liquid at all. When we complained and declined a replacement the charge was promptly and courteously removed from our bill.
Tai Wu now joins my list of dim sum places with a consistency problem, though they are still making some great dishes and I wouldn’t hesitate to go back for all that they do right. I don’t have dim sum often enough to be sure who on the Peninsula is most consistent in quality, but based on my experience at this point it would be Peninsula Asian Pearl.
Crestfallen at Shanghai Flavor Shop
Here is Wikipedia's take on SJB--
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shengjian_mantou
The article implies they are fried with the flat bottom down ("The "knot" of the bun, where the dough is folded together, faces downwards when cooling to prevent the crispy bottom from getting soggy.") but the accompanying photo from Shanghai shows them fried pleated side down. Maybe the pleated side gets less soggy because its shape means less surface area contacts the plate or because the unevenness allows moisture to escape.
Oaxacan and El Salvador specialties in San Jose: Monte Alban
After a tofu run to the San Jose Tofu Co. a couple of us stopped for lunch at Monte Alban.
The pickled veggies at the salsa bar were excellent. The salsa was also very good—I especially liked the avocado salsa.
We ordered the pipian mole, the Oaxacan mole tamal, and the huitlacoche (corn smut) quesadilla (which actually came with squash blossoms in one half and most of the huitlacoche in the other half).
The pipian mole was served without sides in spite of what the menu said, but when we requested rice and beans we got them at no charge. The black beans had great flavor but were more of a puree. The portion included a thigh and leg for the mole and relatively small amounts of rice and beans. The pipian mole had a very nice complex flavor but was fairly mild.
The tamal was a big disappointment—the meat was dried out to the extreme and I wasn’t impressed by the sauce.
I liked the quesadilla—I ended up with most of the huitlacoche half. I’m not sure why it came that way, maybe it’s supposed to have squash blossons and the cook just didn’t spread the ingredients evenly.
For drinks we had the tepache (fermented pineapple) and chilacayote (pumpkin with cinnamon), both of which I liked.
I expected higher quality based on prior posts but except for the tamal everything was at least pretty good. The pickled veggies and avocado salsa were standouts for me. I would come back for them and to try more items.
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San Jose Tofu Co
175 Jackson St, San Jose, CA
Monte Alban
980 S 1st St, San Jose, CA 95110
Dave's Killer Bread at Safeway in San Francisco
Thanks for the tip, Cynsa. I got Good Seed on sale at the Foster City Safeway for $4.99 (instead of $5.99) and it's really flavorfiul.
Asian Pearl Peninsula Restaurant OR Hong Kong Flower Lounge OR The Kitchen --for Dim Sum
Based on recent visits to Peninsula Asian Pearl and The Kitchen, Asian Pearl has way better food. Even my friends who like going to The Kitchen admitted after our last trip that the dim sum that day was below par.
I haven't been to HKFL in years and haven't heard many kudos for their dim sum recently, but as Windy notes the environment is nicer.
You might also consider Zen Peninsula. I've enjoyed the food there (the kabocha fries are to die for) but the one time we had a reservation for a private group they wanted to seat us behind a curtain in the main room which was less appealing than just being out in the main room so we declined it.
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Zen Peninsula
1180 El Camino Real, Millbrae, CA 94030
what's your weekly grocery shopping routine? looking for new ideas...
Is there a particular brand of Italian canned tomatoes you can recommend?
Suggestions for a Dim Sum first timer?
Here's an article from the Chronicle that's a good introduction to dim sum, including photos so you can recognize items when they come by on carts--
http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2009/01/27/FDGJ15D5ID.DTL
An Enchanted Evening at Acquerello
I’m sorry your experience was so disappointing. Some of the problems you describe can’t be explained by differences in our tastes so there may be a consistency issue at Acquerello. We had an early seating (6pm).
Sakae chowdown
It was a real treat for me to experience high-end sushi with such knowledgeable companions. Except for a trip to Japan and one experience at Kaygetsu, my sushi experience has been mostly limited to mid-range or low-end places. As I had hoped, there were a couple of “wow” moments at Sakae.
The first came when I tasted the body of the amaebi. As I held it up to my face and sucked out the body a complex mix of ocean tastes and scents filled my mouth and nostrils. At that instant something very odd happened—I suddenly flashed back to a moment in my childhood when I jumped into the ocean next to a pier in Maryland and was shocked by the intensity of the smell of the sea which in that location was particularly strong, perhaps due to sea creatures living on the pier pilings. The flashback vanished in an instant but the smell and taste of the sea from the amaebi stayed with me for a few precious seconds. I turned to share my experience with osho but before I could he declared that eating the amaebi for him was like “tasting the ocean” which perfectly described my experience.
The scallop/uni/ikura combination (which also contained a thin slice of lemon in the middle) was even more delicious. The flavors and textures worked so well together.
The chef played a little trick with his pairing of medai and kanpachi. They looked almost identical and were served as a pair just like the double pieces of most other items. Until Windy pointed out to me that they were different fish I assumed they were the same. Despite the visual similarity the tastes were very different—the kanpachi complex and delicious, the medai very good but relatively plain by comparison.
The only item in our original order that wasn’t at all interesting was the salmon, which I found pretty bland.
I was eagerly anticipating my first ever taste of ankimo. I enjoyed its creamy texture and its flavor but it didn’t strike me as a really premium item. The engawa was another first for me and was soft and delicious. I later found the following description at sushiencyclopedia.com—
“Halibut has its famous engawa, which means an exterior hallway on the side of a traditional Japanese house. In the halibut’s case, it refers to the thin muscle of the dorsal fin which is located on the side of the Halibut. This part of the halibut is very developed compared to the rest of the body and unlike the regular flesh of the halibut, it has a higher fat content which makes it a delicacy. It is very soft and chewy and more concentrated in flavor.”
The fish head and jaw were good but no more satisfying than similar dishes I’ve had at inexpensive places.
The delicious ikura with quail egg ended our meal on a very high note.
The meal was a real education for me and I was delighted by the high quality of the fish.
While I had no reservations about paying over $100 for high-end sushi, the total experience didn’t leave me with as much of a glow as most of my other meals at that price point. My judgement may be biased by the fact that just a few days earlier I had paid a few dollars less per person for one of the best meals (and best values) of my life (at Acquerello).
Perhaps I have just not developed the level of sophistication and sensitivity in my understanding of sushi to allow me to fully appreciate how special the meal was. But beyond just the food, I expect at that price to have a total experience which is also special in other ways—artistic presentation, beautiful décor, outstanding service or some combination of factors that elevates my spirits. I didn’t feel that at Sakae. The service was actually sub-par
While everything was nicely presented, overall I missed the level of visual artistry I have found at other high-end restaurants or even some mid-range places like Skool. Coincidentally the next day I had lunch at Seiya in San Carlos where our off-menu order of aji arrived in an artful construction of deep-fried aji pieces which formed a platform for the fresh aji pieces. None of the Sakae presentations showed equivalent artistry. One of my companions at Seiya who had been to Sakae expressed a similar reaction to mine—very high quality food but overall not all that special an experience.
If getting the finest quality sushi and sashimi is all that matters to you then Sakae is an excellent choice. I’m very glad I went but at that price I would generally prefer an elegant kaiseki meal.
I’m grateful to my more knowledgeable companions for helping me advance my sushi knowledge and for ordering such a wonderful selection. Windy was especially informative in answering my many questions about what we were eating.
Thanks to osho for a great job of organizing and to everyone for the good company and interesting conversation. I hope to see you all again.
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Kaygetsu Restaurant
325 Sharon Park Dr Ste A2, Menlo Park, CA 94025
Acquerello Restaurant
1722 Sacramento St., San Francisco, CA 94109
Skool
1725 Alameda St, San Francisco, CA 94103
Cooking Papa (Foster City)
My (admittedly limited) experience at Café Salina suggests there’s a downhill trend rather than an occasional miss. A couple of years ago I had some good experiences and especially liked the pork belly with preserved vegetables. Later that dish wasn’t so good as before. My only recent visit was a week or so ago when I stopped by late at night for emergency refueling. My BBQ pork was dried out and flavorless. I’m pretty timid about sending food back but in this case it was so bad I might have done so if I hadn’t been so tired, just wanting to put something in my tummy ASAP to stop it growling. I doubt I will go back.
An Enchanted Evening at Acquerello
Nope, no wine. I'm sure they have a great wine list but my friend doesn't drink alcohol and for medical reasons I now drink wine only occasionally.
Without wine the tab was only $169 before tip. Usually I wouldn't think of $100 per person after tip as a cheap date, but on a value per money basis that's what it was for me. Your mileage may vary-- tonight I met someone who wasn't happy with the service he got one night at Acquerello.
An Enchanted Evening at Acquerello
On Saturday I took a friend to Acquerello to celebrate her birthday. It was the first time there for both of us. We had a fabulous experience.
The space is exceptionally beautiful. There is generous spacing between the tables. Couples are seated at round tables along the wall with chairs rotated with their backs angled toward the wall so that you face looking out into the room and at an angle to each other. This allows you to sit close to your date and have a very private conversation. It’s the perfect setting for a very intimate dinner.
We were led to our table by a large gentleman who spoke with an accent that I found a little hard to understand. He seemed rather formal, perhaps even a bit stuffy. Fortunately he had a lighter touch in our later contacts and none of the other wait staff could remotely be called stuffy. The service throughout the evening was attentive, warm, friendly and gracious.
You definitely feel pampered at Aquerello. During the evening we were treated to complimentary extras—an orange-juice based aperitif when we were seated, delicious arancini with black truffle, and after dessert some exceptional chocolates. When I asked where the men’s room was the waiter escorted me to the door leading to the restrooms and opened it for me. When I returned my old napkin was gone and the new napkin which awaited me was opened for me and placed on my lap. Each new course was delivered by two servers who placed both our dishes down at the same time. There was a perfectly coordinated flow of events through the evening that seemed effortless and natural. The attention to detail was remarkable, but also unobtrusive.
The menu is arranged into three courses plus cheese and dessert. You can choose three, four or five courses with cheese and dessert counting as courses. We had four courses—three plus dessert.
The food was outstanding. I had previously examined the menu on their website and knew what my first choice in each course would be. I was pleased when my friend chose exactly the same three dishes and later when we both selected the same dessert as our top choice. Since we were sharing dishes we selected an additional choice for each course except for the third course where we both had the scallops.
Our choices were (with our first choice first):
First course:
-Chilled soup of toy box tomatoes, compressed peaches infused with basil and Marcona almonds
-Carpaccio of plum with herbaceous baby mustard greens, shaved porchetta and balsamic cipolline
Second course:
-Baby squash risotto, squash blossoms, piccolo fino basil and shaved Del Piave cheese
-Succulent ragù of guinea hen and duck with flour less and egg less potato gnocchi
Third course:
-Pancetta wrapped scallops with carrot ‘zenzero’ foam, puffed wild rice and chanterelle mushrooms
Dessert:
-Amarena and cherry gelato with bittersweet chocolate crema sauce, and cocoa cake with cherry syrup
-Compressed peaches and blackberries with lemon mascarpone sorbet and thyme scented phyllo
The chilled tomato soup was delicious, with a complex yet still delicate flavor and some nice crunchy textures. The only dish of the evening that didn’t impress me was the salad with thinly sliced plums—I didn’t think the bitter greens went well with the plum. I probably overused the 25 year old balsamic vinegar which may have contributed to my lack of enthusiasm. My friend enjoyed the salad very much.
We both were particularly anticipating the risotto. It was very good but not quite as sublime as I had hoped. The ragu was the only second choice selection we hadn’t immediately agreed on—I talked her into it and thought it was outstanding, better than the risotto. It had a wonderful complex flavor. I wish I could order this as a third course to enjoy a larger quantity. She was glad we ordered it and thought it was excellent but not necessarily better than the risotto, which she thought was terrific.
The pancetta wrapping really worked well with the huge scallops and the carrot foam complimented the other flavors.
Her gelato and cocoa cake dessert came with a candle and Happy Birthday spelled out in chocolate. It was artfully presented and each little puddle of flavor was wonderful in its own way. In addition to different cherry and chocolate flavors there were some delightful white puddles of deliciousness that I couldn’t identify. The peach and blackberry dessert was delicious but the quantity was small.
With so many wonderful dishes it’s hard to choose favorites, but mine would be the tomato soup, the ragu, and the gelato dessert.
It was a lovely evening and one of the finest dining experiences I have ever had. My friend declared it was the best meal she had ever had and stuck to her guns when I challenged whether any one meal can be unequivocally the best. The glow on her face left no doubt as to her sincerity. I can’t say the food was clearly superior to other very memorable meals I have had at La Folie, Chez Panisse and elsewhere but the total experience including the beautiful setting and wonderful service made this meal seem even more special.
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La Folie
2316 Polk St., San Francisco, CA 94109
Chez Panisse
1517 Shattuck Avenue, Berkeley, CA 94709
Acquerello Restaurant
1722 Sacramento St., San Francisco, CA 94109
Flavor King Pluot Season
Tried Flavor Queen samples from Hamada Farms at CSM Saturday but they didn't match up to the Flavor Kings.
Summer 2011 farmers market watch
I also found a new (to me) hybrid at the CSM FM on Saturday—a nectaplum from Kashiwase—it was excellent. I think the variety was something like “Super Zee”.
Sorry I missed seeing you there, RWCFoodie—I arrived late and for once didn’t taste all the options before choosing. For peaches I ended up with Kashiwase’s Heavenly White—the sample was very good but only the last 5 or 6 fruit remained and they were not in great shape. Moral-- go early, sample everything before deciding. I'll look for O'Henry peaches next time.
Cooking Papa (Foster City)
Thanks KK, for the clarification on the vegetables in the brisket and the differences in the two brisket dishes. I’ll give the noodle soup version a try on a future visit.
Another thing I like about CP is the menu. They have lots of choices but it’s coherently organized in groups that make sense to me and they don’t try to cover too many bases. Unlike Café Salina where I’ve enjoyed the food I’ve tried but the menu is all over the place.
Flavor King Pluot Season
I got some pretty good flavor kings at the CSM FM on Saturday. Hamada Farms was selling them for only $1.50/lb.
