Pavement2112's Profile
First time to Sonoma
I am a big fan of Sonoma west and north of Sebastopol. Iron Horse has great views and lots of sparkling wines. The small town of Forestville has a place called Mosaic - had a good inexpensive lunch there on the back porch. Quiet and peaceful. West County Grill is also a nice place in Sebastopol. The western side is a little more country than upscale Healdsburg.
Had a nice tasting at Lynmar - you get to sit outside and look at their garden. Wines are pricey and tastings are not free - so you need to pay for all that beauty.
Odysseus in Windsor was great when I went, and Mirepoix was good as well.
Best producers of white wine
I always enjoy the chardonnay at Iron Horse in Sonoma. It's a little out of the way, but the "tasting room" is outside their barn overlooking the hills there. A beautiful view, and they have champagne as well.
Chile Relleno in SF
Any recommendations on a restaurant for chile rellenos in SF? We're driving from East Bay to SFO, so the Mission is easy for us. My co-worker loves 'em - I know nothing.
Simple or fancy is fine - he is fine with holes in the wall.
Thanks!
Newcomer looking for food near Daly City BART
Tani's in Westlake is great - simple, homey-style Japanese food. I really like their chicken karaage. The cooked dishes are best, and the prices cannot be beat for the quality of food. I think the chicken karaage is around $7 for chicken, rice, macaroni salad.
Ame, Bushi-tei or Coi?
Never been to Coi, but Ame is better for a fancy dinner than Bushi-tei. Ame is fusiony, but it stays more to the Asian side of things. Their apps and sashimi are amazing - I recommend it highly, especially if you like Japanese food.
Ame report
Had a great dinner at Ame on Friday, Dec 15th. Ame is one of my favorite restaurants - a place with a real Japanese sensibility and some accents of western food. It is "fusion" but most of the food lies on the Eastern side. Entrees were not as strong as apps, and I would recommend eating only from the left side - you get more focused tasting.
1st course
Sea bream sashimi cured with konbu: slightly cured fish with lots of good seaweed - the ikura was excellent - very clean tasting without lots of sauce - had some namazume sake from miyagi
hamachi tataki: delicious fish with nice pickled wasabi leaves - the leaves had a great clean wasabi flavor
2nd course
ocean trout lightly smoked: i loved this - they diced up the fish so the pieces were small and square - wasabi cream was perfect without being overpowering - there was no oil or sauce on it and you could taste the smoke in the ocean trout
lissa's staff meal / ika somen: the squid were cut into noodle shapes, and they had a pefect texture - raw quail egg and uni added creaminess to the dish - this was a second time dish and awesome
entrees
octupus with squid ink risotto special: a great dish but a little strong - we probably should have ordered another app or starter - rather rich
hokkaido scallops cioppino: great seafood here with lightly grilled scallops, lobster, and dungeness crab toasts - mashed potatoes on the bottom were good but unnecessary - cioppino sauce was just some light tomato sauce - again, it was good but not worth over $35 - i would go with an app
drinks: i had a nice 2001 mt eden chardonnay that the sommelier described well - nicely aged and tasting like a burgundian wine
dessert: we split some macha affogato that was not so great - we were full
I really like this place and cannot wait to go back - it seems rare to get this kind of restrained, delicious food
Winterland chef?
Does anybody know where the chef from Winterland went? I loved that restaurant - the porcini ice cream we had once was amazing.
Russian River Valley Recommendations
I'll recommend Iron Horse just south of the Russian River. They have some excellent single vineyard Pinots, as well as great champagne. The winery itself is on a hill, and the vibe is casual. Their harvest parts was a lot of fun.
Graton is south of Iron Horse and has a cutesy upscale diner/polenta place in the middle of the one block that is downtown. Pretty good polenta there....
Gnocchi di ricotta e spinacci?
The key to this is controlling moisture. You need to get as much moisture out of the spinach and ricotta. Squeeze the heck out of the spinach - I even roll it in a paper towl to take it out. We drain the ricotta over a few hours as well.
Make sure to use some flour and good dry parmesan. They usually stick together.
You can freeze them for cooking later as well. A simple sauce of butter and sage is perfect for this.
Keep trying - they are wonderfully light and delicious!
Shishito and yaki-nasu on the grill
We cook 2 items on the grill over and over - just wanted to share a couple of ideas
Shishito is the Japanese name for sweet, thin, Italian peppers. My Italian family used to grow them, and I guess the Japanese have them too. We put them on skewers and place directly over a hot fire until they get pretty burned on the outside. Then, we dump them in a bowl and sprinkle katsuo-bushi over them, thay flaky tuna shaving stuff. We also pour over some tsuyu or ponzu, depending on what we want. These are the flavored sauces from Japan that you use for dipping noodles or other stuff in. Just awesome. You can eat them right off the grill for a great appetizer.
For leftover eggplants, we take the Japanese ones and score the skin. These go right over a hot fire until they get totally soft on the inside. I really cook them. Then, you peel off the skin (this is where the scoring helps) and dump them in a bowl. We mix in ginger, shiso (if you have it - parsley, basil are likely fine), and some tsuyu/ponzu. Nice smoky flavor.
Grilling seems always so meat-oriented, so it's nice to have some veggies that do well on the grill. I'll often toss some red peppers on there as well to blacken for use in salads later.
Chive ideas
My chives finally all came in. They're even reseeding themselves, so I'll have more in the future. I never had them in the garden or used them before, so any ideas on how to use them?
I know they go into cream stuff to add flavor, and I guess I can just use them in sautes with green onions. Any other good ideas?
Thanks!
Borage risotto
Yup, it was Zuppa. The waitress (from Sardinia, i think) said that people there just gathered it and cooked it. It had a really nice taste, matchhing well with the cheese in the risotto.
The plant seems really easy to grow. You need to plant directly outdoors and can even eat the flowers. It is in a lot of seed catalogs.
Borage risotto
I had some risotto made from borage leaves in an Italian restaurant in San Fran. The taste was awesome. I saw that borage is pretty easy to grow - you can eat the leaves and the flowers. Does anyone have a recipe for the leaves in risotto?
I think it entails boiling the leaves a bit, straining them, and chopping them fine. Any advice is appreciated.
It'll be in my garden soon!
Bistro 1689 report
We stopped by La Ciccia on Sat night (8/2) hoping to get in, but they were full until 8:30PM. We walked down to Bistro 1689, and they had plenty of space.
Overall, the place was very good for the price. We had 2 courses, dessert, and a cheap bottle of rose - all for $88. Food was:
Corn veloute: tasty soup with a combination of corn and seafood flavors (dungeness crab, oysters). The mushrooms in it were tasty
Deep-fried squash blossoms with goat cheese: solid, well done food with a nice shaved fennel salad in the middle. For $7, the entree was excellent.
Dungeness crab napoleon: i guess you really should not eat dungeness crab out of season. The crab tasted too salty, and the avocado in the dish was a little funky. Not terrible, but probably a bad thing to order in September.
Roasted cod with zucchini galette: Well-done bistro food here. The cod was cooked well and placed on top of a zucchini gallette and some kind of corn mixture. Solid food for a good price.
Frog Hollow Farm Peach and Blackberry Shortcake Blackberry cream and lemon berry coulis: the shortcake was classic, and the cream was really tasty - a good blend of fruit and cream
Fresh Plum Tart Goat cheese/ricotta mousse, thyme streusel, olive oil and honey: I really liked this - you could taste the thyme in the dessert. the combo of goat cheese with ricotta was excellent, not overpowering. I would add more plums on top, but it still was excellent. Serving was quite large.
Again, a good neighborhood place - low key. The service was prompt with a lot of attention - earnest.
I'd go again.
Halibut filet
Had some halibut cooked in a curry sauce recently. The curry sauce was left over from another meal, and we just cooked the halibut on one side and then poured over the curry sauce to finish cooking.
The curry sauce was light (japanese-type curry), and the curry spice was from indonesia or malaysia.
The light coating went well with the halibut.
Best Burger in Bay Area?
Joe's is way pricey - I totally agree. Still, I figure that I'm supporting a truly local business serving excellent food and retaining some history. I like the fact that people who eat there seem to be living around there. I'll pay a few extra bucks to get a good burger for that....
lunch at home ideas please!
I eat lunch at home all the time. I make salads mostly to try to stay healthy and low-carb. Here are some ingredients I use:
Romaine lettuce: I slice it up - it stands up well
Fresh tomatoes: I eat them every day in season
Oven-baked cherry tomatoes: once a week, put them in a low temp over for a while (30 min) and then use them throughout the week. I left them in forever once, and they were fine
Roasted red peppers: buy some and roast them over the grill or in a hot oven. Cut up and use all week
Leftover corn: great off the cob
Goat cheese: I just shave it off with a fork
Peeled hard cheese: use a veggie peeler to add some slices to the salad
Leftover meats
Excellent olive oil with salt: that's my only dressing, and it works great with really good olive oil. a teaspoon or so is enough
Herbs: whatever is fresh - some herbs make it taste interesting
The key is to get a lot of fresh food ready in the fridge and then assemble away.
Best Burger in Bay Area?
For me, Joe's Cable Car out on Mission near Silver in the Excelsior district of SF. Joe grinds his own meat daily, and the place is kind of surreal. It reminds me of home-cooked food.
Bushi-Tei report
Went there on Satuday (8/5) for dinner - overall an excellent restaurant but we wished the pushed the envelope more.
We started with a fluke sashimi and yellow beet carpaccio. Little dots of raspberry-ume sauce matched the olive oil well. A good appetizer to split.
I chose their summer special 3 course meal for $50 with wine pairing. My SO had two appetizers. Here's the breakdown:
3-course first: heirloom tomatoes with smoked new zealand sea trout: lots of resh tomatoes and well-smoked trout. they got the temperature right
Marinated slamon with ikura: The salmon here was excellent as well, and the SO raved about the ikura. They flavored it with something (soy?), and it was awesome.
3-course main: big eye tuna tataki-style with pepper salsa and potatoes. well-cooked here as well - the potatoes tasted like the ones you get in a japanese croquette. the pepper salsa sauce was delicions
tuna tartare: solid - the wasabi creme fraiche was great
3-course dessert: strawberry mouse with raspebrries: very good as well
apple dumpling: this came recommended and was excellent.
Overallm, the dinner was professionally done and well-server. $50 for the 3-course meal was really a great value. The $80 omakase was sold out that night, but we tend to prefer the seafood over the meat in the table next to us that had the omakase.
The wines with 3-course meal were not that great- the wine list does seem to be a problem. I enjoyed the Bianchi Pinit Grigio with the first course. The others were not spectacular at all.
We both liked the restaurant and would go back. We only wished they would try a little more inventive food and push the envelope a bit. The chef has plenty of talent, and the restaurant really is a peaceful beautiful place. At sunset, the view from the front was beautiful.
Quinoa suggestions
I like to cook quinoa separately and then bake it in the oven with some other vegetables. If you have some small artichokes, you can put them in the cooked quinoa and then stick it an oven for 15 minutes. The quinoa seems to be tastier when it gets dried a bit in the oven.
You can put whatever you want in it: cheese, sage, sun-dried tomatoes, olives, anything.
Winterland Report - July 13th
Had a farewell dinner at Winterland tonight. I really think that Winterland is an amazing restaurant for SF - truly innovative tasty food at great prices. It's sad that SF cannot make this restaurant a success. I prefer it to many more expensive, crowded restaurants - I hope the chef stays in the area. Here's the food.
Amouse bouche:
Canteloupe soup: cold melon soup with a lemon foam. They added togarashi spice for a little heat. Cooling, refreshing, and spicy at the same time.
First course:
Shrimp ceviche: almost a gazpacho with a tomato sauce base - on top of the sauce was watermelon and avocado pieces, topped by the shrimp ceviche. The shrimp was firm and not "over-cooked" - a perfet summer starter.
Octopus carpacccio: Excellent as always - better than the one we had at Ame - smoked paprika is the key
Second course:
Grilled sardines and pears: perfectly grilled sardines with thinly grilled pear slices. Mache was served with some salt and some kind of sesame paste dressing lightly splattered on. Wow, simple and complex. The sardines were moist and tasted of the sea
Tuna tartare: The bottom of the place was a thin slice of raw tuna, almost like a mousse on the bottom. Encircling it was anchovy paste, a deep umami taste. tuna tartare was on top of the tuna carpaccio with a sorbet of red peppers. perfectly tasting of pepper and very clean-tasting. Also, there was some kind of fig, pepper marmalade as well. Classic Winterland.
Third course:
Squid ink risotto: firm rice with soft, tasty squid in it. covered with a sea urchin foam. the taste was a bit strong and dense, but the seafood was perfectly cooked.
Scallops: Scallops were a bit overcooked, but the sauce was amazing. Some mix of butter, ginger, lemon grass, and citrus. matched perfectly with the scallops. Also, there was a mix of snow peas etc cut up. Solid entree - strong tastes without being overpowering
Dessert:
Chocolate cake with olive oil ice cream: maldon salt was on the chocolate to accentuate the taste, and the ice cream oozed olive oil. The desserts at Winterland have always shines - this one was excellent
Fig, goat cheese mousse, honeycomb ice cream: not as good as the chocolate cake but still excellent
Parting gift: some coffee mousse with a raspberry jelly.
Wow, I've been interested every time I went to winterland. It feels like the restaurant needs to go much more high-end to get the people to go there somehow. Wherever that chef goes, you should eat his food - imaginative and excellent. Sad to see it go.
