Pistou's Profile
Thanks Toronto Hounds--trip report
My wife and I just returned from a week in Toronto. We didn't have a lot of time to research restaurants, so we grabbed your weighted top-10 list and had at it. We didn't make it to Khao San Road, much to our disappointment. We saved it for the last night and by the time we got there, there was a line out the door and we were too hungry and tired to wait.
We ate at The Black Hoof twice. I love the cross-cultural approach to preserved meats and nose-to-tail. The charcuterie was more flavorful and more interesting than any I've had at Incanto or Boccalone, Chris Cosentino's places here in San Francisco. The lardzo-prosciutto was a particular favorite. My wife doesn't do a lot of "parts" so we were a bit conservative in our ordering, but everything was great. Of particular note were the carnitas tacos topped with chicharrones which my wife, who is Mexican American, declared "the best effing carnitas ever," and would hear no argument from me. Also the duck confit in Chinese black bean sauce with pickled cabbage. Oh, lord.
We also tried Enoteca Sociale and were very pleased. Loved that there were so many wines by the glass with a small-pour option so we could try lots of pairings. We had the arancini, chicory salad with crisp prosciutto, cauliflower puree topped with fried cauliflower and olives, raviolo with lemon and taleggio, pork shoulder with porcini emulsion. Everything was perfectly delicious. The only complaint that porcini emulsion, while delicious, is very, *very* unappetizing to look at. There was a moment when I wondered if I was going to be able to eat it. Really, people, put it under the meat not on top.
We did a splurge at Canoe and had a lovely meal though the service, as noted by others, was spotty.
I love the top-10 list and would love to see something like that on other boards. It made it very easy to have some wonderful meals without a lot of research. Thanks!
Roast beef--help!
I used the low-and-slow technique and it worked beautifully. I needed to take it out of the oven so I could get cabbage and potatoes in, so I went to 130 internal temp then took it out and it was perfectly medium rare, and very tender.
Thanks!
Roast beef--help!
Found the CI recipe--Thank you! This looks great. I'll report back . . .
Roast beef--help!
I want to make a beef roast this weekend--as in, nice and pink in the middle, thin-sliced. I went to my local fancy-pants butcher (where I've had great experiences before and the emphasis is on high-quality, humanely raised animals). My knowledge of beef cuts is not great, so I asked what they had that would be appropriate. The only roast-like cut of meat they had was a chuck roast, and the woman helping me told me it would be great for pot roast. No, I clarified, I wanted to make roast beef. "Oh, it's great for both" she said. I replied that usually one cut is not good for both--cuts that do well in lots of liquid on a long, slow cook don't produce tender roast beef. She asked the guy standing there butchering a whole animal and he said, "Definitely chuck roast."
I figured it must just be my ignorance and bought 3#. Now I'm doing research and when I look for chuck roast recipes *all* I come up with is long-braise stuff--stews, pot roasts, etc.
Do I have to change my plans to beef stew? Or can I really roast this thing medium-rare and come out with a good meal?
Hole in the Wall in Sebastopol!
We went to Hole in the Wall last Sunday with Tristan and her husband and it was as promised: simple food very well executed. We all split a gigantic bowl of perfect fries--hot, crispy, well-salted. Tristan and I both had a Caeser salad, one of the best I've had in a while. My wife had the Asian-style beef salad and everything was fresh and well seasoned. The beef was cooked medium-well as requested. Tom got a burger and reported it to be excellent and cooked perfectly medium.
Adam came out a couple of times and chatted us up, and our waitress, who obviously has an ownership stake, was delightful. We ate outside because the dog was with us and they brought her a bowl of water without even asking. :-)
This place is a very welcome addition to the Sebastapol low-to-mid range food scene.
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Hole in the Wall
972 Gravenstein Hwy South, Sebastopol, CA 95472
Gluten-Free Treats at Arizmendi
I adore those carrot muffins. So much that I will keep eating them even if/when I get to go back to eating wheat.
I stopped in the Valencia store yesterday morning and they had a new wheat-free product: current scones. The carrot muffins have that distinctive rice flour sandiness, but it's hard to imagine how they make the scones. Definitely not rice flour. If you'd given me one and not told me, I'd never have guessed it was gluten free.
The woman at the counter said yesterday was the first day selling them; said they've been working on perfecting the recipe for months. I'd say they did it. Amazing!
Where to buy a whole pig?
The new, bigger Caja China is here and assembled. Fatted Calf just called and the pig is there, brined, marinated and 68 lbs. (RL, your story about gave me a heart attack! 105 lbs?!) It's a gorgeous day. Now if we can just get a repeat on the weather tomorrow!
Photos, lots of photos on Home Cooking once we recover. Thanks for all the advice and cheer leading Chowhounds.
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Fatted Calf
644-C First Street, Napa, CA 94559
Where to buy a whole pig?
Thanks, tpc. It was worth a try.
Update: I spoke with Caja China this morning and they are overnighting the larger model. Fingers crossed!
Where to buy a whole pig?
Well, yes, we'd have to cut the pig in half but at least we could roast the whole thing! If Caja China won't overnight me the right model, plan B (or C, depending on how you count) is to have Fatted Calf take the haunches off and throw one on our grill and one on the neighbor's grill, remove the head and do our best to get the torso into the roaster. Never a dull moment, I tell you.
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Fatted Calf
644-C First Street, Napa, CA 94559
Where to buy a whole pig?
Hi tpc, so I don't suppose your friend would like to loan/rent his Caja China? I put mine together last night and realized they sent me the Model #1, when I ordered Model #2. I have an 80# (hang weight) pig coming Saturday and a roaster that fits a 70# (live weight) pig.
Where to buy a whole pig?
Thanks for the shout-out, Wolfe. I had the same thought . . .
Our Caja China has arrived . . . to be assembled by our wonderful co-host/neighbor/contractor this weekend.
We ordered our pig from Fatted Calf because it mattered to me to get an organic, humanely raised animal. The most they could narrow down hang weight was 65-80#, which they said is the smallest they can get. Apparently return on investment goes way, way up once the pig is fully grown, so ranchers are loathe to part with smaller animals. It's $6.50/lb, which is a lot. But, and this was a HUGE plus for me, they are going to marinate it to my specifications 2 days ahead. We just have to pick it up the day of the pig roast, and don't have to worry about keeping a whole, marinating pig cold for 24+ hours.
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Fatted Calf
644-C First Street, Napa, CA 94559
Renting a caja China in SF?
Update:
Fatted Calf used to have one they'd loan out with purchase of a pig, but it fell apart and they haven't replaced it (I called the FC on Fell, didn't check with Napa since I'm not going to go up there to get one). They suggested I try Advantage (?) Rentals. They have rotisseries that will hold up to 125#, but rental comes to $110 per day for rotisserie+heat shield+charcoal grill to go underneath.
Called Chop Bar and they sounded at least theoretically amenable to renting me one, but theirs is already booked for the weekend I need it.
So it looks like I will be obtaining my own personal Caja China, through Craigslist or new. If anyone wants to rent it, let me know :-)
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Fatted Calf
644-C First Street, Napa, CA 94559
New prepared food vendors at Heart of the City
New vendors I noticed today (I don't get over to the prepped food section that often, so they might not all be brand-new):
Onagilli (yay!)
Soup's On
Edith's Bakery
Go To Chocolate
Kimchi and pickles (don't remember the name)
Homemade Italian
The Hummus Guy
Plus there's wood-fired pizza and souvlaki that have been there for a few months now. Also noticed that the Kettle Korn guys have moved over to a spot on prepared-food row (on Market) and are now selling caramel corn and cheese corn (pre-cooked and packaged), too.
Other than Onagilli, which I love, I can't speak to the quality of the others. I bought a 66% bar from Go To Chocolate, but realized too late that the $4 bar was only an ounce. It's good, but at $64 a lb, I don't see myself returning.
Renting a caja China in SF?
I hadn't seen that thread, but I have read the Cuban Christmas writeup. That's when I realized that it was going to cost about the same by the time I got all the cinder blocks and created the grill/cage and figured the Caja China was the way to go, since at least it will be simpler to store. Space isn't really an issue and while we might use the CC again, I can pretty well guarantee we'd never whomp up the energy to reconstruct the cinder block oven.
After much reading--including some of the comments on that thread, I would not use the Caja Asadora that is made with galvanized steel, since it seems there are potentially serious health consequences from cooking in galvanized metal.
Renting a caja China in SF?
I'm planning a backyard pig roast in September. After quite a bit of research, the caja China seems like the way to go. Even if we have to buy one, it still makes sense. But I'd much rather rent one since I'm not sure if/when we'll do this again. Surely this must be possible? But I haven't turned up any sources. Or perhaps there is a Chowhounder who has one and might like to rent it?
Amazing things to do with my homemade ricotta
Made these for dinner for 9 last night, and they were fantastic! I put them together the night before, and just pulled them out of the fridge and tossed them about 6 at a time into the boiling water. They were cooked in a flash and a huge hit! The burying in semolina thing is pure genius. I will definitely be playing with new ingredients for this technique.
Help me find this citrus juicer?
WOW! Thank you, that's exactly what I'm looking for!
Help me find this citrus juicer?
This is my favorite citrus juicer ever, bar none. Relatively small, simple mechanism (no motor to die or fancy electronics), and works *great*. I have some friends who want one but we can't find it and I don't even know what it's called! Searches for citrus juicers have brought me no joy. (We refer to it as "the sqwunger"). I bought this one at Copia many years ago before they closed, and there is no brand stamped on it.
As a point of interest, my mother has one that she inherited from my paternal grandparents. It is not enameled like this one, and the plate that catches the seeds is like lacework from 75+ years of squeezing acidic fruit!
Help me like Off the Grid
I finally made it to Chairman Bao when they had baked buns left a couple of weeks ago. I had the red sesame chicken. Had it again this Friday. I will be hard pressed to branch out and try some of the other suggestions here if this sandwich is available. It has single-handedly saved OTG for me. It is a big, filling sandwich with lots of meat, a wonderful bun (tastes almost like brioche), delicious pickled veggies, and wonderful spicy, savory sauce.
I tried the cubano from Ebbetts a couple of weeks ago and it was good. Not amazing, but good.
Had a pulled pork from Southern Sandwich the week before that and it was okay. Mostly I am disinclined to go back because there were maybe 2 other people ordering when I did (I always get there quite late--around 1:45) and I had to wait 10 minutes for my sandwich, which seemed nuts.
I haven't seen 51st State again since I posted this, so no chance for Brunswick stew, but I will try it if/when they come back.
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Chairman Bao
San Francisco, San Francisco, CA
51st State
, San Francisco, CA
Palatium--reservations?
Mercy! Thank you so much for the detailed reply. Will do. And I will also come up with a Plan B. (If you have any suggestions I'd be delighted. We want something not too fancy and not too heavy, because we'll walk--stroll and digest, really--about a mile south from there to a hammam for a soak).
Palatium--reservations?
My wife and I will be in Rome in a couple of weeks, lucky for her on her birthday. As part of the festivities I thought we would have lunch at Palatium, which sounds like a place we will both enjoy a lot. They don't seem to have a website. Anyone know if I need to make a reservation for lunch at 2ish on a Friday?
Thanks!
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Palatium
Via Frattina 94, Roma , IT
Smitten Ice Cream
From the Smitten website: "Seasonal specials and personalizable ingredient combinations will mean there’s always something new to try."
BiRite doesn't use anything artificial, either, but their flavors are intense, much more to my taste.
To each their own. :-) While the texture was definitely the best I've ever had, the lack of flavor was a major letdown for me.
Smitten Ice Cream
Smitten officially opened their doors on the Octavia Green today and I hurried right over to check it out. I could have sworn I read somewhere that they would be making custom scoops--combining flavors and ingredients, etc--as part of the whole making scoops to order thing. Today the choices were: vanilla, strawberry and green tea (with "fortune cookie crumble" topping, which turned out to be piselles).
The texture was extraordinary, as you'd expect from liquid nitrogen frozen cream. Really, really smooth and amazing. Sadly, the flavors completely missed the mark. My friend and I tried the strawberry and the green tea and both were hollow and flat. The strawberry had some lemon in it, which really stood out over the strawberry flavor. There was no fullness, very little strawberry-ness, and the green tea was just empty.
At $5.50 a scoop, I will not be going back unless I hear that things have improved dramatically in the flavor department.
So sad.
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Smitten Ice Cream
Octavia Blvd Linden St, San Francisco, CA 94102
Compost cookie hack
Here you go: http://www.chow.com/recipes/29446-soil-amendment-cookies
Compost cookie hack
After utter disappointment with the recipe that's floating around on the internet for Momofuku Milk Bar's compost cookies, I've come up with my own version . . . thin and crispy instead of thick and chewy. The consensus in my house is that they are better than the originals. I just posted the recipe here. I'm calling them Soil Amendment Cookies :-)
My Canelé Misadventures, Thus Far
You are most welcome! Let us know how they come out!
The bummer is that the setup is very time consuming, as is the baking, so 4 at a time it will take you all day and then some to bake up a whole recipe's worth of batter. The Paula Wolfert recipe makes 17-18 of what I think of as "regular" size cannele (about 3" high by 1.5" wide at the base).
Where to buy small buns for sliders?
I am making pulled pork for an open house-type event this weekend and want to get ~100 small, soft rolls for people to assemble their own sliders. Has anyone gotten something like this from a local bakery? Thoughts on where to look?
Thanks!
Help me like Off the Grid
I work in the Civic Center and was so delighted when OTG started showing up here on Fridays, but after a bunch of tries, I am awash in ambivalence.
The great: Curry Up Now, Chicken tikka masala burrito. Loved it! Delicious and filling.
The okay: Steamed buns from Chairman Bao. In fairness, the buns were fantastic. The problem was that after dropping $6.75, I was still hungry. Maybe in the financial district people expect to drop $10+ on lunch but in the Civic Center that seems wrong.
Liba Falafel: Love the bar of pickled everything, but the falafel are, well, falafel (this is probably my personal problem; falafel just doesn't excite me).
The meh: lumpia from (I want to say Senor Sisig, but I might be wrong). Greasy and boring, sauces straight out of a jar.
Today makes the second time I have gone, walked around, and left. The only place that really looked tempting was Seoul on Wheels, but there were ~30 people in line and I didn't have 30-45 minutes to stand around. The menus at 51st State and the Japanese Curry place just looked dull.
I'm completely willing to give it another chance. Which trucks should I be keeping an eye out for?
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Seoul on Wheels
San Francisco, CA, USA, San Francisco, CA
Chairman Bao
San Francisco, San Francisco, CA
51st State
, San Francisco, CA
Off the Grid
Fort Mason Center, San Francisco, CA 94123
Senor Sisig
San Mateo, San Mateo, CA
