fishhead's Profile
Dungeness Crab Prices '10
Just got off the phone with Andronico's in Palo Alto.
The fish guy said cooked dungeness crab will be $3.99 this Fri-Sun.
I've been buying crab from this store for years and it's always top quality.
inexpensive persian kabobs in the peninsula? (RWC)
We like this place too. I usually get koubideh, lamb hearts and grilled tomatoes. My daughter loves the chicken skewers. Delicious!
They sell fresh herbs inside at a fraction of the cost of Safeway or other chains.
Very satisfying.
Paris - suggestions for excellant dining-in meals
This might not be as close as you'd like but around 83 Rue de Seine there's a grocery store, Champion. Next to it is a place to get rotisserie chicken, prepared meat things and foie gras. One store down is an outlet of the ubiquitous bakery, Paul. If you go to google maps and use the street level view, you can walk by them.
Those stores saved us a TON of money a couple of years ago and we hit the foie gras pretty hard. At cafes a small coke cost about five or six dollars. At the supermarket, we could get 2L bottles of coke for two bucks or so.
From Paris we went on to Provence (St Remy de Provence) and found a largish supermarket, Intermarche. It was a lot of fun running around that store.
Guanciale
The PA AG Ferrari will get it for you if you ask them to.
The San Carlos AG Ferrari sometimes has it in stock. I suggest calling them before making a trip. It's inexpensive compared to Boccalone. I can't remember exactly but probably less than $7/lb.
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Boccalone Factory - Not Open to Public
1924 International Blvd, Oakland, CA 94606
Tongue other than lengua for tacos near Palo Alto?
Rose Market in Mountain View sometimes grills lamb hearts over mesquite. I think the menu also has lamb kidneys and liver. I had a lamb heart wrap a week ago and loved it. Make sure you get the herb mix and onions they offer to place into the lavash. Be aware that lamb hearts are kind of springy. If you don't like that texture, make sure they cook it longer than medium rare. The texture is a lot like chicken hearts and giblets. The skewer is about $2.50 in lavash. Ask for the herb mix (mint, cilantro, parsley). That's a sparse $2.50 lunch, less than a double double.
Marina Market in Foster City has intestines (don't know from what animal) stewed in the classic soy-anise method. I've had them a few times and love them. The first time I sampled them I worried the obvious worry, but they were clean. They had a rich flavor, richer than tripe.
Many Chinese BBQs sell I think pig tongues. Maybe not pig. They're small, about three or four inches in length. Delicious! Stewed duck wings and tongues are also excellent.
For tacos, I'd try cabeza, beef cheeks. Let's also not forget menudo. I think menudo is a soup of tripe. In tacos, I think it's called tripas. I love menudo but haven't found a good taco place for tripe. It always seems too dry and rubbery. It's possible these places try to get a crisp on the tripe but go too far.
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Marina Market
735 Escobar St, Martinez, CA
Locanda da Eva Opening Night
The Bunrab guy did a commentary on Locanda da Eva along with a handful of nice pictures.
http://www.bunrab.com/dailyfeed/2010July/dailyfeed_july-10_p3.html#july2510
They're doing pig feet? Yum! Plus points for putting it on a menu when maybe half the people would reject it out of hand -- just because it's pig feet. Gotta love it.
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Locanda da Eva
2826 Telegraph Ave, Berkeley, CA 94705
2010 Bay Area mushroom hunting report
Is there a good mycology club on the Peninsula you can recommend?
Thanks!
Sichuan Delight redwood city
I went there with family and friends about two months ago. The food was pretty good. My parents usually go to this place and share the spicy beef noodle soup for lunch. They've been complaining that it's gone up in price.
I don't remember everything we had but we did order the spicy cold tendons, the water cooked beef, a tea-smoked duck, some broiled shrimp, lion's head, a fish steamed with ginger and scallions, twice cooked pork.
I liked the tendons. The beef was really good and is something we always order. We finagled some noodles on the side and poured the sauce on the noodles. A hit. The duck was good and the lion's head surprised me -- excellent texture and flavor. The other stuff didn't interest me as much. While my mother likes twice-cooked pork, I'm indifferent. The shrimp were boring. The fish was standard fare -- good but not mind blowing.
I've only been to Crouching Tiger once. Based on that one, limited experience, I can't advocate one restaurant over the other. CT definitely is better appointed. The other thing is at Sichuan Delight, you can look into the kitchen and my father, who is from Chengdu, usually chats around with whomever is back there. So we might get better fare because of it.
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Sichuan Delight
2525 El Camino Real, Redwood City, CA
Crouching Tiger
2644 Broadway St, Redwood City, CA 94063
Ostiones Preparados and Pan de Elote at Mi Pueblo in East Palo Alto
Yes, I went last weekend and the oysters were there. I got a 24 count bag and found they originated from Drake's, which used to be Johnson's. I think they're around Pt. Reyes. They do the oyster thing Friday-Sunday.
The quality of the oysters varied oyster by oyster. Some lost their liquor. Others were full up. In addition to the bag I got for home, I had a half dozen to eat cruising the aisles. They were served with a copious amount of lime juice and a choice of condiments (red onion, cilantro, hot sauce, etc.). They were delicious in that sauce, but some were dried out prior to their swim in the sauce and wouldn't have been great eating plain on the half shell. You know the problem.... You see an oyster on the half shell and it's dry. You are immediately cast into doubt mode.
To further research in this department, I'll sample oysters at Mi Pueblo from time to time and report back if there are dire consequences. However it turns out, I'm happy that there's a place around here that wants to provide these magnificent bivalves at a cost about 50 cents apiece.
If you don't hear back from me, things are great or I'm dead.
I get sketchy on oysters that aren't full of liquor. That said,
Ostiones Preparados and Pan de Elote at Mi Pueblo in East Palo Alto
Were the oysters available only during the opening? I've been there about a half-dozen times in the last week and haven't seen any.
I've had menudo, which seems to be available every day. I can't argue about authenticity of the recipe -- I don't know. It's basically tripe and broth -- a bit salty for me. But it's still really good. They don't give you piles of onion/cilantro mix and when I asked for oregano, they had to go to the spice isle of the supermarket to get it. I got about four corn tortillas. For $6.99 I was satisfied. But I'm a sucker for menudo and they were serving it during the week, although their sign said it was available only on weekends. This is good. Enough people are ordering it that they're carrying it on weekdays.
For tacos, I've had the al pastor, lengua and tripa. They slice the al pastor from the revolving spit. Today, the guy slicing the meat cut a hunk of the pineapple off the top of the spit, sent if flying through the air with his knife and caught it on the tortilla. A move that had a bunch of us on the sidelines giving each other the thumbs up. There's something nice about standing in line with a bunch of strangers who are entranced with the big spinning hunk of meat, which is dripping juice. After slicing the meat, they put it on the griddle for a minute to add texture.
This step is where a lot of places I've tried have fallen down. It results in totally desiccated, rubbery meat. Thus far (keep your fingers crossed) Mi Pueblo has managed to avoid this. The meat I've had has always fallen into the not dry category, which makes it really good. In other words, char plus juice equals something terrific. Oh, today, the guys making tacos would griddle the tacos in advance and then dump them into the tray full of lengua, allowing them to soak up a bit of the juice.
When I've been there, this place has been giving out samples. Today I was headed over to resample a bunch of sugary crispy things and I got intercepted by the tortilla guy, who insisted that I try his tortilla. They make them fresh and when I bought a bundle the other day, they were hot and steamy. When I deep fried them they made these chips that had a lot of big pockets which make them layered crispy.
So far I'm pleased with this place and I don't particularly like Mexican food. I hope Sushi Monster will visit and give us his evaluation.
pannetone
I believe Acme makes them. I'd try calling the Ferry Plaza store.
chowhound.chow.com/topics/33457
Anywhere to buy guanciale in SF or Marin? Or even close by?
I've purchased it at AG Ferrari. I've only had it from there so I can't contrast it to other vendors. I liked it and was a bit surprised that it wasn't immensely expensive. I don't remember specifically how much it cost but it wasn't anything like $10/lb.
Can others weigh in on how much they typically pay for guanciale? I'm curious.
Thanks.
Foie Gras Deflowering: Where's the best place for a first-time foie gras experience in San Jose area?
I introduced my parents to foie gras by purchasing some foie gras torchon from the Fatted Calf at Ferry Plaza and spreading it on lightly toasted Acme baguette. Ferry plaza is a bit of a drive from SJ, but since you are relatively new to the area, you might make a morning of going there with your BF. Have some Blue Bottle coffee, maybe breakfast, then get some things for the ultimate dinner. There are a lot of posts on Ferry Plaza and it's just a great place.
If you want to introduce your BF in a low pressure kind of way, maybe pick up some of the Fatted Calf foie gras, some other salumeria stuff at the many places there, such as Boccalone, and if you really feel like a splurge, some good eggs and a couple of truffles. You can have your foie gras and then follow with soft scrambled eggs cooked in a double boiler or bain marie, which is just a fancy name for scrambling eggs in a pan that's in another pan with water in it that's maintained just short of boiling, and you are in for a real treat. When the eggs are almost done, shave the truffles in.
Serve with champagne.
Of course, you could call Manresa and ask if they have a foie gras on the menu, but if you want to go low key, check out Fatted Calf. When I had my parents over, I didn't mention up front they were eating foie gras, but after they tried it, they kept asking for more. They now love it.
With fatted calf, you need to check what they're selling on any particular week and order it in advance. fattedcalf.com. Call them and they'll have your stuff at ferry on Saturday. There's validated parking there so you can shop for a couple of hours for either $4 or $6, I forget which.
Check out posts on fatted calf. They have a lot of good things, like their bacon.
Anyway, whichever route you take, have a good time. You have a lucky boyfriend!
Source for great locally grown San Marzano tomatoes
Mariquita had two u-pick events last week. All their tomatoes, including San Marzanos, were fifty cents a pound. I picked up 130#s and canned and gazpachoed them. And gave a bunch away. It's nice being the Midas of tomatoes when being a big shot comes so cheap. I don't think they have any more planned events but you might call and ask. Their San Marzano field is still FULL of tomatoes.
If you can convince them to do a u-pick, please post back. Especially if it's on a weekday.
Picking that many tomatoes is hard work. But it also gives you an appreciation about why great tomatoes cost so much. And it's fun to figure out which tomatoes you want. They have a lot of varieties. The plants themselves are about two feet tall and each has dozens of tomatoes. Part of the fun is just trying to comprehend how that can happen -- how can such a small plant support so many tomatoes? I totally don't get it.
They also have beets. The beets were great but the greens were amazing. You bite into them and get the usual complex beet green flavors and then get a big rush of saltiness. Great for beet pot likkor.
Hopefully, you can get them to do one more u-pick. If not, wait till next year and hit them up. It's totally worth it.
Looking for cheap fresh clams
For your clam broth, you might buy a two pack of chopped sea clams at Costco and filter out the clams. Each can is 51 oz. I'm not crazy about the clams because there is sometimes sand in them, but if you have a fine mesh strainer, you can use the broth. I think the two cans cost around $13 so if you retain 80 oz of broth, that's less than half the cost of Safeway.
Looking for cheap fresh clams
For your clam broth, you might buy a two pack of chopped sea clams at Costco and filter out the clams. Each can is 51 oz. I'm not crazy about the clams because there is sometimes sand in them, but if you have a fine mesh strainer, you can use the broth. I think the two cans cost around $1
Where to find a large bag (10kg or bigger) of Caputo 00 Pizza Flour?
Forno Bravo (http://www.fornobravo.com/pizza-ingredients/index.html) sells 55# bags of Antico Molino 00 for $55 plus about $20 shipping, about $1.40/lb. This is a flour from Naples.
Whole Life in San Carlos (Laurel St) can get you 00 from Giusto's. It's not imported but they have both organic and regular. They don't carry it in stock but can order it. I usually call them up to put in the order and pick it up when it arrives. The woman there said you might be able to get the 50 lb bags directly from Giusto's in South SF.
Peninsula detours for unique food shopping
La Biscotteria
2747 El Camino Real
Redwood City, CA 94061
(650) 366-2747
www.labiscotteria.com
It's next door to Soccer Pro. They also make squash, cheese and meat (veal, beef, pork?) raviolis that are very good, especially the squash. They do a biscotti with candied pineapple in it that is great with sweet wine. On Saturdays I think they do focaccia.
In the summer they use veggies from their garden. Or at least they used to.
Best Place to Buy a Barolo?
I think Greg is now in the LA branch of K&L, but if you call him and gab, I'm confident he will put you in the right direction. He knows a lot about Barolos and when I was looking for wines to put away for my daughters' 21th birthday, he was very helpful. To draw him out, ask him about his travels to Italy. He's a good guy.
Rye Bread in San Francisco
About 10-15 yrs ago I had a sandwich on rye at Max's in Stanford Shopping Center. The rye was as Steve Green describes -- crunchy crust, soft inside. It was good enough that I asked if they sold loaves of the bread and was told yes, for $6.00 a loaf. It was too rich for my blood but it was definitely great bread.
Hopefully, they still make it the same way.
Greatest Hits Tour at Sichuan Delight in Redwood City
I agree with Yimster that they are as good as ever. The spicy beef noodles are a family favorite. Sometimes the beef could be stewed more, but when that happens my mother brings home the left overs and simmers the beef to perfection.
One of my favorites there is the water cooked beef. I've probably had it a dozen times and I think it's the best rendition I've had on the Peninsula. For me It has great balance between the strong, competing flavors. I also like their tea smoked duck. We've ordered it maybe six times and it was great five of those times.
The chong qing chicken at Trend seems more in keeping with the versions I've sampled in Chengdu. Trend uses significantly more peppers. The great thing about this dish is that every time I would have it in China, you could barely see the chicken because it was buried in the peppers. Then a relative would lean over and tell me not to worry -- that the dish wasn't too spicy and the idea was to pick up the fragrance of the peppers. Of course you'd look at the bowl of peppers and say, uh, yeah, sure. But it was always as they said, and the chicken would be redolent of the peppers, garlic, green onion and salt -- and not too spicy. The variety of pepper used differed from restaurant to restaurant, so I don't think it's anything cast in stone. This is one of the great dishes of China.
We always get the spicy tendons. Love them.
Their bathroom is usually relatively clean, which is a plus.
Bluefish at Hayes Street Grill
Thanks!
Hopefully when we're in Rhode Island this summer, I'll get a chance to catch some.
Bluefish at Hayes Street Grill
mdg,
Thanks for the post. I'm also one who occasionally suffers from bluefish deprivation. Have you encountered any markets which sells fresh or smoked bluefish in the bay area? I love smoked bluefish -- prefer it to almost any other smoked fish, including salmon.
Cheers,
John
What is the second dish to order at Shalimar?
I haven't been to Shalimar in a year and unfortunately am unable to go often. However, I've had a dish there called nihari. It's beef shank braised with ginger and other things. I like it because it reminds me of Chinese preparations of shank, and I had no idea the two cuisines came so close.
I also like the tandoor lamb chops. The ones I've had were bone-sucking good.
Family Dinner at Asian Pearl in Richmond
It is hard to tell definitively from the photo, but I agree with rw that these look like soft shell clams from New England. I don't think they look like littlenecks. The clams I'm talking about are also known as Essex or Ipswich clams. Twenty-five years ago, clams sold as Essex had to have shells at least three inches in length. I remember because I bought clams from a fish guy who asked me if I wanted steamers from Maine or Essex. He explained the difference was that generic Maine clams could be a lot smaller. The ones labelled Essex had to be three inches at a minimum. All of them.
Do you recall the price on these clams?
As Trillin might say, I'm suffering from east coast clam deprivation.
Dungeness crab $/lb at your local stores?
$2.49 @ 99 in Mountain View this afternoon.
Yahoo!
Dungeness crab $/lb at your local stores?
I usually eat it cold, unadorned.
Sometimes, I'll dip it in champagne vinegar that has shredded ginger or minced shallot in it. The sweetness of the crab fat pairs well with the tang of the vinegar and ginger. It's kind of like the effect you get eating a xiao long bao with vinegar and ginger.
Dungeness crab $/lb at your local stores?
Andronicos has local, cooked dungeness crab this week for $3.99/lb.
In past years it has been excellent.
Menlo Park - Jonathan's Fish and Chips - Sweet tea, Southern cornmeal-crusted catfish and deep-fried corn on the cob?
I live around five blocks from Jonathan's but rarely eat there. For fish and chips, I prefer Cook's Seafood on El Camino. It's an apples and oranges comparison since Jonathan's is southern style -- cornmeal crust --- versus Cook's. But the oil at Cook's is always clean. I've had fish fried in dirty oil at Jonathan's. I'm not slamming the place -- It can be good. But it also has local competition.
Back-a-yard is maybe three blocks away and serves fried fish as well. They always have clean oil and it's one of the best, inexpensive restaurants in Menlo Park.
Across Trowbridge from Back-a-yard is a Mexican place that has menudo on the weekends -- which I like quite a bit. It's got pig feet in it. Maybe not as good as Gonzalez at Middlefield and Fifth. They also have sandwiches and tacos made with cabeza. Is cabeza brain? Whatever it is, at $4 a sandwich, I like it better than fish and chips at Jonathan's for maybe double that.
On Menalto, a street south of Willow, is another Mexican market that has carnitas burritos and you can get it with chopped pork skin. Gimme some skin. Wow. I sometimes put the leftovers in the fridge and the skin congeals so you can slice the burrito into discs that are held together by aspic/protein magic. This is a great thing to have late night, slathered with Tapatio, when you need something in your stomach to dilute too much beer. Maybe I'm going into too much detail here.
It seems counter intuitive, but for me, if I'm going to pay to eat out near home, the place has got to be pretty good for the money because I can usually prepare a better quality meal at home for the same price. When I look at Jonathan's versus Back-a-yard versus a to go burrito on Menalto, or that place on Trowbridge, I usually fuggedabout Jonathan's.
Oh, Jonathan's has fried okra. Which reminds m last time I went was for that. But once again, the experience depends on the oil that day.
Fishhead
