Where to buy frozen crawfish / crayfish?

I used to get fresh crayfish alive and squirming from the Old Oakland Farmer's Market on Fridays, but I no longer work in Oakland, so I don't know if that vendor still shows up. It was seasonal and of course I can't remember the season. California exports lots to Louisiana... If that vendor is still around, he's likely to show up at the fancier farmers markets in San Mateo...

Ericruo in San Francisco Bay Area

Dry Fried Squid - who makes it, what's the Chinese name?, is there a recipe?

CYL-

Thanks very much for the suggestion. Maybe Kirin used to have a Shandong influenced chef on hand in the old days. I do think that the Ojingeochae bokkeum sounds akin to what we used to get there. I will give it shot and try to make it. Many thanks.

E.

Ericruo in San Francisco Bay Area

Jai Yun, still around?

I was thinking about his take on orange beef, a staple of Hunan cuisine, that often appears gloppy and sweet hereabouts, and turns the beef into a fried chip, has the orange infused into the flavor - he must be infusing the zest?, and then steeps adds just a kiss of oil into which sichuan peppercorns have been infused. Each flavor is clear and yet harmonious.

Ericruo in San Francisco Bay Area

Jai Yun, still around?

What there ought to be is a chowdown there soon arranged in advance such that Chef Nei woiuld not to just do his deconstruction of the 'warhorses' of Chinese cuisine. As I've stated before, I think his versions of those dishes are the best ones I've had, but he has such talent and vision, it ought not be confined to making the best kung pao chicken and so on.

Given how slow his business has been the few times I've been able to afford to go, he would be well served to do a cooking class during the day where someone can translate for him. He needs marketing help. He really is singular and seems very gracious.

Ericruo in San Francisco Bay Area

Dry Fried Squid - who makes it, what's the Chinese name?, is there a recipe?

Thank you CYL. I know the salt and pepper squid/fish/frog/chicken etc. prep. If my memory is correct about the dish at Kirin, and it often isn't, there was no batter or coating to the squid. I was chewy, which I have attributed to it being dried and only partially rehydrated. There was the bite of vinegar in the sauce and red chiles, although the jalapenos and shallots characteristic of the S & P preps may have been there too. The dish seemed more like a Cantonese take on Sichuan food, not as oily, not as hot. Oh well....

Ericruo in San Francisco Bay Area

Dry Fried Squid - who makes it, what's the Chinese name?, is there a recipe?

Kirin Restaurant used to make a dish called dry fried squid. It was a semi-rehydrated dried squid that was stir fried with lots of garlic, chiles and vinegar. We used to order it all the time. I was at Kirin fairly recently and asked for it, as I didn't see it on the menu, and what came back was okay but not the dish I remember. Anyway, what is this called, and if there's not a local version extant, is there a recipe? Thanks all.

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Kirin
6135 Geary Blvd, San Francisco, CA 94121

Ericruo in San Francisco Bay Area

Foie Gras countdown...

Maybe there's hope, I read about this man who creates just a few (a thousand) goose livers annually in Spain. His company is called La Pateria de Sousa. He does not use the gavage method, he talks to the geese. There have been stories in the New York Times and elsewhere about him. He was trying to raise funds to help him continue, it didn't look like it was going that well. He seems a really nice guy and his products, from all accounts are terrific. The restaurants and consumers here that would otherwise have to give up on foie gras might be able to do something since his methods don't involve the specific objections to gavage feeding. http://www.lapateria.eu/home.html

Ericruo in San Francisco Bay Area

church luau at the end of December?

Thanks very much for the insights. I will tell my colleague the sad news.

Any word on what happened to Eat Nopal?

Thanks,

Eric

Ericruo in Hawaii

church luau at the end of December?

Some of my colleagues are going to Oahu on the 22-28th of December. They'd like to go to a good church or community group luau, as opposed the commercial sort. Are there any resources to find such events? I tried reading the classified ads in the StarAdvertiser on line, but I couldn't find anything.

By the way, I don't see postings anymore from Eat Nopal, I hope he or she is okay.

Thanks in Advance,

E.

Ericruo in Hawaii

Good Sources of Great Stone Fruit, Especially SF/Peninsula?

For folks who are truly invested, get a brix meter so you can tell how high the fruit sugars are. I haven't fallen into that deeper end of the pool, but i know and respect someone who has... They are available in many places, including Ebay...

Ericruo in San Francisco Bay Area

Restaurants/Markets in Oakland Chinatown

My 7-year old daughter and I lunch here pretty often. Last week, she ordered her favorite dish is a casserole of tofu, tofu dumplings, mung bean noodles, bamboo shoots and broth. Its pretty delicate and pure. I went off the tried and true and had eel with leeks, and that was pretty good, fat matchsticks of eel with similarly sized leeks, stir fried, pretty rich. Its a little cleaner and less cluttered than before. I still think its a great place.

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Shanghai Restaurant
930 Webster St, Oakland, CA 94607

Ericruo in San Francisco Bay Area

Crispy Orange Beef? East Bay??

This is almost unreasonable to say this given the tiny portion, but Chef Nei's take on Orange Beef is the best I have ever, ever had. He cuts the beef into potato chip like slices and there's chili oil with a clear taste of Sichuan peppercorns. It is just spectacular. If I could afford it, I would love to eat there often and have him make something besides his riff on the warhorses of Chinese Cuisine. Still, back to the topic, his take is fabulous.

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Jai Yun
680 Clay St, San Francisco, CA 94111

Ericruo in San Francisco Bay Area

Dekopon/Sumo Citrus

We found the Sumo brand Dekopon Mandarins at Ranch 99 in Dublin at $9.99 for the box. They're quite good but not worth the price. Since they were at that Ranch 99, it suggests they're likely to be found at other Ranch 99s. We were there on a konyaku run (the noodles made from konjac, essentially without calories or carbohydrates).

We also ate dinner at Full House Chinese Restaurant 7265 Regional Street, Dublin, Ca. 925-556-1698. They have a $21.99 for three dishes and throw in either rice or a scallion cake. We had black bean sauce fish fillet, a good version white fish chunks stir fried with bell peppers, onions and a not too sweet or overpowering addition of whole dau si (black beans); vegetables deluxe, onions, carrots, zucchini, straw mushrooms, very Cantonese, simple and good; braised tofu, again a Cantonese staple, but good - sauce not gloppy or sweet; Hot Bean Paste Tofu (Ma Po Do Fu) decent heat, from pickeled chiles, but no sichuan pepper detected, no green onions. I saw a great looking Eggplant with Spicy Garlic Sauce go by as did a what looked to be deep fried salt and pepper pork chops. This is a decent place and we'll likely be back.

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99 Ranch Market
7333 Regional St, Dublin, CA

Ericruo in San Francisco Bay Area

Fremont Sichuan - Spicy Town

I noticed this place earlier in the week after dim sum at the Fremont branch of the Asian Pearl empire. The dim sum was good, but that place is a known quantity and I'd not even heard of Spicy Town. I'd love to know what the Chinese name of this place is because it brings to mind, at least for those of my near geriatric set, Lipps Inc, 'Funky Town'. I wanted to report that the food is very interesting and well executed. I do think I we got the 'white boy' treatment, the chile quotient was way down and that's largely my fault for showing up with three little kids, and two other adults, all but two without dark hair, and only one of us capable of using chopsticks. One of our party drank all the water nonetheless.

Its sort of big room with stylized huge Chrysanthemum wall paper. There are bigger booths along one wall and smaller booths in the rest of the room. The fish swim along with the crabs and other critters in tanks next to the kitchen. its kind of a modern dark room. Nice place.

We had brown mushrooms stir fried with onions, dry chiles, garlic and smoked pork (didn't notice and didn't miss and I am a big fan of smoked pork in all its glory). The mushrooms identified as brown mushrooms had small circular caps and long stems. There was a nice hit from the Sichuan peppercorns, I think they were infused because there was no grittiness to the dish. We also had fish fillets braised with pickled chiles, garlic and shredded cabbage and some kind of very thin or thinly cut white noodle. The cooling dish was peeled cucumbers cooked with wood ear mushrooms and stock. We also had chow mein for the kids. I saw some interesting things on that menu and interesting dishes going out to other patrons. Two men were eating something that looked like a thinner stretchier version of dukk, like a truly wide and stretchy chow fun noodle with all sorts of red goodies in the dish.

Well worth checking out. It was $65 for the meal before tip, which given the spilled tea, rice all over the place mess the under 10 set left, was truly deserved.

I've dined at China Village a number of times, and a few other Sichuan places and this place is at least at that level. I'd love to come back here with folks who really get this food.

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Spicy Town
43683 Boscell Rd, Fremont, CA 94538

Ericruo in San Francisco Bay Area

Oaxaca - Itanoni, a celebration of corn

My friend just returned from a trip to Oaxaca and sent me the message below, which I've attempted to translate from the original Spanish about Itanoni, an inexpensive restaurant that celebrates corn, different organic varieties of corn in an assortment of dishes that are very Oaxacan. My glosses are in the parentheses.

The restaurant's website (in Spanish) is http://www.itanoni.com.mx/ They are located at Belesario Domínguez 513 in the Colonia Reforma (neighborhood), Open 7 am to 4pm, Monday through Saturday, and 8 am to 2 pm on Sundays. Phone 513-9223

The name of the restaurant means the "Flower of the Corn". They offer dishes based on organic varieties of corn. The corn is almost white, very pure and delicious. i ate a cheese and chicken quesadilla with chile de agua, and then a memela (like a sope but unlike the ones I've eaten here in the SF Bay Area, there the masa is cooked on the griddle, so the texture is crisp and the flavor of the corn more developed). I also had coffee and a flan, which were delicious. The coffee is served in an shallow earthenware plate, the sort that you'd use for a broth or a soup. The restaurant is very simple, they have transformed the front part of their home into the restaurant. The restaurant, although simple, is well known. They also have excellent tamales, and what they call "tetelas" which are triangles of folded tortillas filled with one's choice of various things including chicarrón with red salsa, mushrooms with onion and garlic, cheese and chiles de agua and so on. (Tetelas are akin to samosas, usually filled with mashed beans and other goodies; the tetelas are cooked dry on the comal, so you get the texture contrasts between the tortilla and the fillings)

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Itanoni
Belisario Domínguez 513, Oaxaca, OAX , MX

Ericruo in Mexico

UPDATE on BEST Coffee Beans, Pref. around Oakland/Berkeley

Home use coffee roasting machines make the process of roasting your own quite simple and have consistently replicable results.Hand roasting in a pan, or converted popcorn popper is also possible and takes more practice. Green coffees from Sweet Marias are in the $6.00 per pound range and can get much higher for a few coffees.

I use a Hearthware i Roast 2 and one can set a roast profile (how much time at which roast temperatures) and record it as a program for use. It was about $180. There are other roasters with higher capacities and differing technologies, such as the $300 3/4 pound of coffee Behmor drum roaster.

It simply isn't that tricky if you pay attention.

Ericruo in San Francisco Bay Area

UPDATE on BEST Coffee Beans, Pref. around Oakland/Berkeley

I've roasted my own for years with coffees from Sweet Marias (www.sweetmarias.com). It is not hard to do, nor is the investment in the equipment that daunting. What you get is to choose your degree of roast and find out what you really like among dozens of high quality coffees. To my taste, Pete's et al are overroasted and while it works well for coffee with milk drinks, the heavy roast wipes out much of varietal character of the coffee. Sweet Marias also sells roasted coffee and coffee for expresso but while what they make varies, the selection at any one time is limited. You can also get green and roasted coffee from Peerless (http://www.peerlesscoffee.com/), also in Oakland. My colleague prefers Peerless and I'm a fan of Sweet Marias. The other, not inconsiderable advantage is that I roast a half cup of green coffee beans at a time, which is about enough for a cup of coffee each morning for a week. Because these quantities are so small, if I want an Ethiopian bean today and Celebes one tomorrow, its no big deal. With roasted coffee, one generally has to contend with at least a quarter pound and at a go and so switching is not so easy.

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Peerless Coffee Co
260 Oak St, Oakland, CA

Sweet Maria's Coffee
1115 21st Street, Oakland, CA

Ericruo in San Francisco Bay Area

Mexico, D.F. not the high end, Merced Central Market

wrong address, corner of Londres and Varsova. Sopes were great!

Ericruo in Mexico

Mexico, D.F. not the high end, Merced Central Market

Last full day. Finally got around to trying the quesadillas made with blue corn. These quesadillas can be made using nopal, mole verde, squash blossoms, and mushrooms, in addition to Oaxacan style cheese, chicken and beef and combinations thereof. I tried three quesadillas made with the mole verde and chicken, nopal and cheese, and squash blossoms and mushrooms all very tasty. Three quesadillas is a substantial quanity of food and its $36 pesos, a little more than $3.00 US for what is really interesting street food. The one I ate at is on the literal corner of Londres and Hamburgo, but they´re everywhere, usually from morning till evening. They cook up the tortillas in sort of an elongated football shape on a large metal disc the size of a tire, heated by charcoal. One sits on little plastic stools while they cook them up. No grease on the metal comal, flavors are distinct and direct.

Ericruo in Mexico

Mexico, D.F. not the high end, Merced Central Market

I have too much of the supposed and not real cotija to go for more. Next time....

I read about the real stuff exactly in that Mexico Cooks blog.

I made it to la Nueva Viga, the giant fishmarket near the Centro de Abastos. The smell betrays its location blocks away. There are a bunch of stand selling empanadas which I last saw in quantity in Colombia many years ago. Stands also sell sea food, but that´s a given.

The fish market itself is just amazing. It seems to be about twice as big as the one in Guangzhou. The fish market area itself doesn´t smell, the entrance does because that´s where the dumpsters are.

After a long search I located mussels from Baja California, not that cheap at 90 pesos a kilo but they looked good. I took them back to my hotel and bummed a pot and a chef's knife and made mussels with beer, onions, garlic, parsley. Shared some with the room cleaner and returned the pot and knife to the hotel´s cook with a bowl full. Hope he liked them.

The fish market was full of staff and buyers, the quality and freshness were excellent for the fin fish. I am dubious about the custom of bivalves not being on ice so I didn´t go for the clams. It´s not a tourist spot but if you have the means to cook while here and want seafood, this is a fun place to go.

Ericruo in Mexico

Mexico, D.F. not the high end, Merced Central Market

A good number of the posts from tourists are for really high end places, and this isn´t one of those. I just want chowhounders not to overlook the taquerias all over the place, had some terrific proper tacos al pastor and tacos suaderos (14 pesos each for the big ones) in streets near the Insurgentes Metro stop, Tacos quisados outside of an Elementary School (Primaria), and a hoot of a time at the big big big market at the Merced Metro stop, wall to wall people, tens of thousands of people bying, selling and hanging out. They were certainly nice to this guy in his effort to find the Artesanal version of Cotija cheese (only made in the rainy season, not pasturized, has what amounts to a DOP control, unlike more industrial cotija, you have to buy the whole thing, about 65 pesos for something like a Kilo if memory serves, rustic bread unavailable, found Serrano Ham and bought a cantaloupe melon for tomorrows lunch. The Merced market like the Abastos in Mexican cities is just thousands of vendors of whatever there is comestible. I got some nice looking mole negro Oaxaqueño paste for 44 pesos for a kilo. I am staying at the PF Suites in the Zona Rosa, which is GLBT friendlier than some places, but the hoot is that its rather Korean, three Korean restaurants in three blocks, and a Korean market where I got some tofu and beansprouts. The relative dearth of fresh vegetables was gettting to me. If I get up early enough, I may go to the Fish Market (La Nueva Viga) tomorrow early, like 3:30 am for a 4 am arrival, take the radio taxi, pals. So far so good on the health issue although maybe the guisado taco with a terrific and hot salsa in addtion to the beef stew at 7 am was a rather abrupt start to the day. The tamale vendors are up early to serve the folks on the way to work and they get collected by 10:30 am and only the hot dog and candy people are left. The hot dogs are truly cheap and since times here are very hard, they´re more popular. They´re quite wet with salsa and the unwary get their shirts stained...

Ericruo in Mexico

Dry ice in Oakland/Berkeley?

If one needs dry ice in quantity, the least expensive way to do this in my experience has been to get it at Praxair. They have facilities in all over the Bay Area. They're closed on weekends.

San Francisco
1690 Evans Avenue
San Francisco, CA 94124
Tel.: 415-826-8627
Fax: 415-826-6508
Store Hours: Mon - Fri: 7:30 am - 5:00 pm

Hayward
23133 Kidder Street
Hayward, CA 94545
Tel.: 510-780-9306
Fax: 510-780-0498
Mon - Fri: 8:00 am - 5:00 pm

San Rafael
2971 Monterey Highway
San Jose, CA 95111
Tel.: 408-281-8849
Fax: 408-281-8361
Store Hours: Mon - Fri: 8:00 am - 12:00 pm / 1:00 pm - 5:00 pm

Ericruo in San Francisco Bay Area

Walker Apples, Graton

Arkansas Black apples are end-of-the-season apple, and because its been a cool summer, they'll be later than normal. A couple of weeks ago when I got my second box of Gravensteins at Walker, Mr. Walker said that this year, the Arkansas Black skins would be ugly because of the rain but the fruit itself would be very good.

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Walker Apples
10955 Upp Rd, Graton, CA

Ericruo in San Francisco Bay Area

Oasis Market - Oakland

I made lamb shanks purchased from Oasis last week, wonderful quality. Its something of a hoot to be in an Arab market speaking Spanish to one of the meat cutters. The Oasis folks are really nice, friendly and helpful. They're open till midnight during Ramadan, and when i was there Wednesday night, the place was full of people and very festive. That flat chewy bread they make in the tandoor is great. They also sell rounds of fresh injera. I liked their version of salta, the Yemeni national dish, better than San Francisco's Yemeni's restaurant. Maybe the SF folks toned it down as the Oakland one was spicier and had deeper flavor.

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Oasis Market
3045 Telegraph Ave, Oakland, CA 94609

Ericruo in San Francisco Bay Area

2010 - Gravenstein apple season is here !!!

Bought my second case of Gravenstein Apples this season from Walker Apples on Saturday. They're $25/box this year, very good, old trees, dry farmed etc. Mr. Walker said that he might have some Macintosh this week, and that the late-season Arkansas Blacks would be ugly because of the wet weather early in the growing season, but would be good. I think this works out to something like $0.50/lb. They grow 27 kinds or so. They cut tastes of what's ripe and then you decide what to buy. You don't have to buy a case, but I figure, I'm there.

The full leg of that acquisition tour stops at Liberty Ducks in Penngrove, Joe Matos Cheese in Santa Rosa, Walker Apples in Graton and Drake's Bay Oysters in Inverness. Take an Ice chest.

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Walker Apples
10955 Upp Rd, Graton, CA

Ericruo in San Francisco Bay Area

looking for flats of tomatoes

The Dirty Dog Farm folks who are usually at the Wednesday, SF Civic Center and sometimes at the SF Alemany FM on Saturdays said they'd have their organic dry farmed Early Girls available in September for about $25/box. The more presentable ones, are more costly of course.

Artemis informed me that a vendor at the Belmont FM had organic San Marzanos by the box, if memory serves. Most tomato vendors will sell you a case. Need to try them too.

If you're going for sauce, or canned tomatoes, you want less moisture for more robust taste. Each fall, I can enough tomato sauce to fill a dresser to last till next year.

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Marzano
4214 Park Boulevard, Oakland, CA 94602

Ericruo in San Francisco Bay Area

Source Pure Buttermilk in SF City Limits ??

Natural buttermilk, the milk left after butter is churned is not generally available here. I don't know of any source, but someone else might. What is commercially available here is cultured buttermilk, which is made by the addition of particular bacteria to low fat milk.

Ericruo in San Francisco Bay Area

Need a good source of organic tomatoes for July 22nd Canning Workshop

I found organic tomatoes (Early Girls and some Brandywine) from J & M Ibarra Farms at the Fremont Irvington Farmer's Market this Sunday. They were $1.00/lb for the soft ones and $2.00/lb for the more presentable ones. The vendor/farmer told me that if I put in an order, she'd be able to give me a deal. I'm still up at 11:30 pm putting up the last batch of pasta sauce for tonight.

FWIW, I hot shock the tomatoes to slip the skins, core them, squeeze them, and add them to a saute of onions, garlic, celery, usually some carrot, but I'm out tonight, anchovies, nicoise olives, salt, pepper, Aleppo pepper, oregano and basil. Each quart jar gets about a tablespoon of lemon juice and then gets water bath canned. I make lots of this sauce all season long. Last year I tried cold smoking the tomatoes and onions for some batches, that was horrible, so not this year. From winter to next summer, this sauce is the base for tomato pasta sauces around here.

Ericruo in San Francisco Bay Area

Resource for canning jars - east bay?

Their website says the minimum order if $500 for domestic, $1,000 for international orders. Too bad...

Ericruo in San Francisco Bay Area