Ned's Notes

2012 begins...

noreply@blogger.com (Ned Himmel) — Mon, 16 Jan 2012 20:21:00 +0000

High expectations as we celebrated our son's 30th birthday at Locanda, the new Valencia Street sister restaurant to Delfina. Delfina's is one of my favorites and I've heard many raves for the very-hard-to-get-reservations-to Locanda. Someone I trust had said the day before it's her new favorite. I wish I could say the same, but cannot. Service was very good with excellent explanations of each dish, although sometimes it took too long to have dirty dishes removed and as a nitpick, they served us 4 the same amount of "complimentary" pizza bianca as the couple next to us), but after trying 10 dishes, none of us was thrilled. The stars were the lamb's brains with artichokes, the Jewish-style artichokes, and the crecenza tortelle with black mushrooms. The fried duck egg, pizza bianco with bone marrow, and cuscini with burrata and gulf shrimp were very good but not life-changing, and bringing us down to earth were chilled nervetti (beef tendon) and the radiatore with lamb and pecorino. We did not get an entree but had a side of smoked mash potatoes, which only I appreciated. One dessert was outstanding, the ricotta fritta, and the date and almond tart had a very nice crust. It kept getting more and more crowded (we could only get a 5:30 reservation) and more and more loud, with the bar scene really hopping. We did have an excellent 2009 Rati “Ochetti” Nebbiolo, which at $47 was one of the cheaper wines, but rich and smooth and it went well with everything.

Our comparison for Locanda was Perbacco where we celebrated our daughter's birthday in October. Although it ended up costing more, with 2 bottles of wine, it was more satisfying and a more pleasant setting. Prices for pastas are similar at both, between $12-$20, although at Perbacco you can get primo or secondo portions. And Perbacco still offers matches. I love matches, harder and harder to find! Perbacco, located on California Street, next to Tadich Grill, focuses on Northern Italian cuisine. It's a much bigger restaurant with a much longer menu than Locanda. Our gluten-free daughter was able to enjoy quite a few dishes and the server brought her de-bread crumbed burrata. Standouts were vitello tonnato, gnocchi, pappardelli with short ribs, their justifiably famous tajarin (tagliatelle with 5-hour pork sugo), porchetta and scallops. Dishes are seasonal, so the menu does change, and the fruit desserts will be different depending on when you go. As it should be.

We've now had 2 good dinners at Gather in Berkeley. Many find their menu too politically correct, but it's great to have a restaurant that features excellent vegetarian/vegan/gluten-free choices along with a marvelous hamburger and good pizza. Very seasonal. They offer a large salad selection, veggie charcuturie with 4 or 5 choices, 4 different pizzas, and 5 or so entrees. Nice wine list including a couple of quite decent wines by the tap. Nice room, great restrooms, a little loud, good and friendly service. I'd return.

Dol Ho is my favorite dim sum house in Chinatown. Returned recently (a gift from my son) and had 2 new dishes. Their pork meatballs were light, moist, tasty almost like a mousse. I don't
know the name of the other dish, but it was shrimp paste, black mushroom, and fresh miso wrapped in rice noodles. Yummy. 3 people, $20. More yummy. Also brought home great BBQ'd pork, wonderfully seasoned fried chicken wing legs, and green beans with chicken from New Daisy on Stockton for $11. A family dim sum feast was held at Dynasty in Cupertino. The highlight dish was a whole Hawaiian papaya filled with seafood soup. Their mango rolls are teriffic, as really all their dim sum are. It's a huge, filled place and a find for the suburbs.

Gourmand quick tour of Los Angeles

noreply@blogger.com (Ned Himmel) — Tue, 06 Sep 2011 02:53:00 +0000

Returned from a Los Angeles movable feast fatter, but content. Here are the elements of my contentment... Our first meal after arrival was Langer's, at 7th and Alvarado, where we groveled at the altar of the great pastrami god. Thick-sliced meat so tender and flavorful piled high (but not too high) on thick double-baked rye. Many people order it with cole slaw on the sandwich, but we are purists and the cole slaw has bell pepper in it, shame, shame. Had a refreshing egg cream with extra soda water for a fully traditional experience. BTW, the rye comes from Fred's Bakery on Robertson. I called before we left and brought home a couple of excellent loaves. A sick friend changed our plans some for the evening, but we still had an excellent meal at Yujean Kang in Pasadena. It's kind of a fusion Chinese and yet it's not! Make sense? They create variations on classic Chinese dishes but very Chinese. Highlights were the veal with matchstick yams, the Chinese polenta with shrimp and mushrooms, and silk squash Beijing style. Combination of flavors and texture were great and unusual. The tiny dumplings were nothing special. They're famous for their beef tenderloin but amazingly they were out of beef on a Thursday evening.

The next day allowed us to explore Italian headliners. Lunch at Pizzeria Mozza could not have been better. Fried squash blossoms stuffed with ricotta, arugula salad, pizza margherita (simple is best) and butterscotch budino left us plenty satisfied but able to have a great dinner that night at Campanile. Friday nights is wine pairing night, where 3 tapas-sized dishes are paired with 3 glasses of wine for $38. Grilled shrimp and sweet potato was paired with a Sancerre, Grilled pork belly paired with a Santa Barbara Pinot Noir, and lobster mushroom with bigoli pasta and kale was paired with a really wonderful 2001 Barbaresco. We had another glass of that. We finished with an excellent cheese cake and a highly recommended but not ethereal peach tarte tatin. Campanile does not rest on its laurels and has different theme nights during the week so one can always try something new.

Saturday was international day. Breakfast was at Nickel Diner, a perfect new downtown LA institution. Pulled pork hash was meaty, nicely spicy, mixed with perfectly cooked potatoes and topped with 2 perfect eggs. I had my Zocor the night before. Two eggs baked on polenta with spinach and garlic topped with parmesan made a defining breakfast, everything cooked to perfection and balanced. A shared maple bacon doughnut, housemade with brioche dough put the diner on our must return list. Food friends picked us up at our hotel to share a few favorites. We began with great Peruvian ceviches and causa (potato salad) from Mo-chica and added interesting panuchos (a Yucatan papusa) from Chichen-Itza. I prefer papusas, but the ceviches were first-rate. A driving tour of the San Gabriel Valley Chinese cornucopia made a stop at 101 Noodle Express, a totally nondescript place in a mini-mall in Alhambra, for perfect dumplings and an incredible beef roll, kind of like a Chinese quesadilla with thinly sliced beef, hoisin suace, ciliantro, and onion. No description equals the eating pleasure of it. Wow. And then onto dinner at Park's BBQ in Koreatown, where we could not quite finish exquisite marinated galbi (short ribs), prime ribeye, and assorted mushrooms accompanied by classic renderings of Korean banchan. Go with the marinade. The servers stay in charge of the BBQ, but got a little sidetracked and did some overcooking, but still very tasty. And valet parking in another mini-mall lets you know it's an in-spot. By this point, even I had had enough and my Zocor was calling me back to the hotel.

Before our plane left the next morning we stopped at an old favorite, the Apple Pan, with its excellent hickory burger and apple pie. Thinking of what I ate the day before, I passed on the fries. The place is so wonderfully consistent and charming and you feel you're in on great insider information eating there. An excellent wrap up to good LA eats.

Below are a few of my favorites for your dining pleasure.

Sancho's, 491 Lytton Ave. Sancho's has the best fish taco and their other food is good too. The fish taco is $3.95 which seems like a lot but one taco with the free chips is enough for lunch. They will soon open another location in Midtown next to CVS.

Whole Foods Market-I've been able to do the salad/hot dish bar for $5-6. I go for heavier food that by itself would cost more than the $7.99 lb, so salad toppings like salmon, teriyaki chicken. I don't add plain salad or if I do I get it from the fresh veggies area where it's $6/lb. I'm cheap but thoughtful.

Paxti's-441 Emerson --Chicago style pizza, deep-dish. One piece for $4.99 is quite filling. Takes a while as it's made fresh, so order, do a task, and come back.

China Delight--461 Emerson-generous lunch plates with soup are $5.50-$6.00 and quite decent with a nice selection.

Rangoon--565 Bryant Street-Burmese and Chinese food with lunch specials from $5.95. Nice variety including a few Burmese specials like the coconut chicken noodle soup add an exotic touch.

Mi Pueblo--1731 East Bayshore, EPA-a great Mexican grocery with the best tortilla chips. Always some free samples. Sometimes on Fridays (I'm not sure when else), they have fresh or BBQed oysters for $1 each. 3-4 of those with a fresh tamale ($1.49) is a great $5 meal. They also have a very large prepared food counter and large burritos and tortas.

SF, Berkeley, and San Jose misc.

noreply@blogger.com (Ned Himmel) — Mon, 05 Sep 2011 00:17:00 +0000

I always enjoy returning to a favorite restaurant or cuisine and finding it as memorable as I remember. We recently had lunch at Kabul in Burlingame and the joys of Afghan food were happily made apparent. I love aushak, the Afghan leek ravioli with a meat mint and yogurt sauce; these were cooked like in a fine Italian restaurant, just enough give in the texture, each bite better then the last. We also had a vegetable sampler, featuring the fantastic pumpkin ( kadu) sweetly contrasting with fresh yogurt, sabsi (fresh spinach with onons, garlic, and assorted spices) and bodenjan, soft eggplant with onions, tomatoes, and herbs. All were served with challow, perfectly cooked rice, each grain independently clustered together. A combination kabab platter, with perfectly cooked chicken and lamb with an herbed pallow (browned rice) rounded out a perfect meal for Lisa who had just finished a half-marathon and craved meat. Salad with a very nice dressing and freshly made, yeasty Afghan bread accompanied.
Have the glory days of Chez Panisse passed? I'd say no. We celebrated our 32nd anniversary with lunch at the cafe of this 40 year old icon, and although not everything was perfect, some things were spectacular. We toasted each other with glasses of Agrapart et Fils Blans de Blanc Champagne and ate our first courses. The little gems salad was just OK, but the heirloom tomatoes tonnato salad was wonderful-- an herby mayonnaise whipped with tuna proved a perfect foil for tomatoes at their peak with Thai basil leaves. A main course pizza with bresaola and grilled squid with beans and Gypsy peppers was amazing and I'm not a big pepper fan, or I didn't use to be. we shared a lovely chocolate mousse for dessert, leaving Berkeleyized and content. Then we got to buy some cheese rolls and baguettes from the Cheese Board, always a treat. I remember walking by Chez Panisse in 1974 and reading the menu and drooling and thinking I'd never be able to afford the $6.95 meals, so lucky me to not pass out paying $160 for a lunch for 2.
Another notch in my fried chicken belt was made at Criolla Kitchen at 2295 Market. The 3 piece chicken wirh red beans and rice and salad for $13.95 was tasty, crispy, and cooked just right. A touch salty. A daily special of BBQed pulled pork po-boy was delicious as were the BBQed oysters to start. Very nice service, a good amount of noise, a simple well-selected wine list with all bottles I think being $27. Speaking of noise, we had a marvelous dinner at Serpentine on 3rd and 22nd in Dogpatch. It's loud but the cocktails are terrific (the best Manhattan I've had) and the food is fresh and well-executed. A beautiful little gem salad with sliced nectarines and spectacular chickpea flour-coated calamari combined with a bean stew got us off to a great start. We followed with a terrific burger and fries and a perfectly cooked and tender pork chop.
A couple of good San Jose downtown lunch spots have opened since I retired in 2009, although several others have closed. Punjab Cafe at 322 E. Santa Clara near 7th has an excellent Indian buffet for $8.95. There are about 8 choices served with a fabulous wheaty naan. All meats are very tender and each item has its own integrity, with delicious sauces good by themselves. The place is very small and sometimes you have to wait. Punjab is 2 doors from A & K Noodle House, on Santa Clara and 7th and was I excited to find it. It's run by the nephew of China Chen, my favorite downtown soup place and is just as good. Their shrimp won ton soup is spectacular, just a simple broth with beautiful whole slightly spiced prawn won tons for $5.75. It's nicer looking than its mother ship too.

Acquerello and other fine eats

noreply@blogger.com (Ned Himmel) — Tue, 23 Aug 2011 00:31:00 +0000

The best meal we've had recently was dinner at Acquerello, San Francisco's finest Italian restaurant, which I think is saying a lot in itself. The only unpleasantness is leaving a credit card for the reservation, but after that everything is perfect. The entry and dining room had been remodeled since I last was there (a few years ago) and it is a wonderful space. Filling a former chapel, it is elegant, quiet, and comfortable. Warmly welcomed, as we were seated we were offered a black napkin if we were worried about white lint. I noticed that some tables had little seats for women to put their purses on. We were given an orange juice, melon, and bitters refresher to help us settle in.
An incredible amuse gueule of a small arancino with a little dollop of truffled mousse was served after we ordered. It was perfection. We ordered a lovely Roero Arneis to begin and then followed with a beautiful Petrolo Sangiovese, the best I've ever had. They were 4 of us so that's just 1/2 bottle each! Both were around $80, which is high for me, but on the low-end here with an encyclopedic selection of the very best in Italian wines, and both were worth it. They have 2 wine rooms which one is welcome to enter.
Dinners can be ordered in 3, 4, or 5 courses as well as a chef's tasting menu. We all had the 4 courses at $78. Again, for the quality, prices are more than fair. Starters included a Parmesan budino on sauteed mushrooms, a perfect combination of taste and texture, smoked sturgeon over parsnip puree, just smoky and salty enough to honor, not overwhelm the fish, and grilled lambs tongue, deliciously chewy and flavored.
Second courses included a nicely stuffed ravioli of lamb shank, a baby squash risotto with squash blossoms, and a ridged pasta with a foie gras and truffle sauce. OMG, each was balanced and celebrated the ingredients. Main course highlights were a beautiful lamb tenderloin, a filet of dorade, and pancetta-wrapped scallops. Once again, the ingredients sparkled, the tastes exploded, happiness abounded.
The dessert that for me encapsulates the whole Acquerello experience is the house-made vanilla gelato with 25-year old Balsamic, and in season strawberries. It is very simple but each ingredient is perfect, and each bite ethereal. They also offer a beautiful cheese selection, which 2 of us took advantage of.
Service throughout the meal was perfect, replacing napkins if you got up, serving warm bread when needed, dishes coming at the same time but not French Laundry pretentiously. I had asked the sommelier to write down the names of the wines we had. An envelope was waiting for me as we left with an embossed card with the names. Acquerello is such a bastion of good taste and service, may it thrive forever. Multi grazie!

A few other recent great dining experiences include finally having food from the Chairman Bao food truck. Palo Alto now has a Monday night food truck gathering at Edgewood Plaza, which is fun to try. The greatest single item was the pork belly steamed bao, rich, flavor-packed, and sooo tender. Yummers. Another highlight was the bundt cake with strawberries from Butterscotch-on-the-Go. They had just run out of their famous-- and still untried-- butterscotch pudding, but this was a great substitute. We had dinner at Liaison in Berkeley before a great performance of Let Me Down gently by Anna Deveare Smith. Service was not great, but the weekday prix fixe of 3 courses and a glass of wine for $32 was quite nice. It started with a mixed green salad, followed with veal scallopine, and then ended with a fruit tart. Evrything was tasty and portions were pretty large, especially considering the price. Made it to ZeroZero on Folsom in San Francisco and I'd happily return. A happening place with a busy bar scene, the food is better than it has to be. Excellent thin pizzas, fresh salads, and wonderful appetizers like their albacore crudo with tomatoes and stone fruit and incredible stuffed squash blossoms, made for a reasonably-priced, high-quality, delicious dinner. We recently returned to A16 in the Marina after a long absence. The pizza there is also truly great and it would be a mistake to go there and not order at least the Margherita. Starters of roasted and raw figs, arugula and frisee salad were perfect while lovely burrata was slightly overwhelmed by the sea salt on top. A piccheri pasta was also too salty from the mullet bottarga on top, but the interesting fregula,a couscous-like grain, was delicious. Wine choices are excellent, but service was a little unresponsive. The server gladly agreed to things, like bringing bread, but didn't! Dinner was followed by an evening of improv at BATS, always a pleasure even when perfection is not reached.

Return to New York and some great eating

noreply@blogger.com (Ned Himmel) — Fri, 17 Jun 2011 22:35:00 +0000

It had been too long, almost 2 years, since my last trip to New York. As soon as I finished my interim director gig in Palo Alto, Sheila and I did the redeye, arriving in NYC at 7 AM. First stop on way to our friends' apartment in Brooklyn was La Bagel Delight, a mini-chain, with good plump, nicely chewy bagels, albeit an awful name. We had arrived! Trying to discover the best Brooklyn bagels became a quest. Our favorite bagels and the ones we brought home were from Bergen Bagels, on Bergen at Flatbush, just a few degrees better than La Bagel Delight. Great scallion cream cheese too. A smaller, crispier crust bagel can be found at Bagel Hole, which many think is the best, but they don't last as well. I also had a decent pumpernickel bagel from a new place on De Kalb, Brooklyn Bagel Works. I missed all my favorite Manhattan bagels, except for a stop at Kossar's Bialy, where I was horrified by a stale and bready plain bagel (no pumpernickels available of which I have fond memories), and a lousy bialy, both ending up in a trash can. Quel horreur and shame on them.
I did have an admirable pastrami sandwich from the great Katz's after disposing of the Kossar's travesties, which put me in a better Lower East Side frame of mind. But I was disappointed in the pickles, either too well-done or not done enough.
My other ever-vigilant NYC search besides bagels is pizza and we had some great ones. A dependable slice from Joe's in Greenwich Village paled compared to the Regina Margherita from Keste's Pizza and Vino on Bleecker Street. A truly incredible Neopolitan masterpiece crust with buffalo mozzarella, simple tomato sauce, peeled tomatoes, and basil. Heavenly. A pizza insalata, a pizza dough roll filled with arugula with proscuitto and artichoke heart slices, was an excellent companion. They have an interesting wine list and are open for lunch.
A very, very fine pizza lunch was also had at Motorino in Williamsburg. A $12 prix fixe lunch inlcudes a lovely mixed salad and a pizza of your choice. We had the Margherita (regular but excellent mozzarella), and the soppressata, both good-sized, crispy, but chewy crust, and defintley worth a visit. There's a branch in the East Village. We also had a great slice of pizza bianco from Grandaisy Bakery on Sullivan Street, a simple focaccia with salt and rosemary. The bakery makes incredible lemon-ginger cookies. We had to visit Eataly, the new Italian food emporium, where we had the excellent daily pizza special, 2 slices of speck and mozz. calzone, 2 slices of buffalo mozz, and 2 of arugula, and a beautiful mixed salad.
A favorite NYC avocation is eating at fine restaurants at lunch, when prices are much lower. We always eat at Gotham Bar and Grill and are always satisfied. 3 courses are $31 includng their sublime and wonderful chocolate cake. Their salads are always freshly beautiful, on this day a mesclun for me and beet for Sheila. I had the hangar steak with fingerling potatoes and Sheila had the Finnian haddock with a citrus foam. What a delighful hunk of meat mine was! Besides the cake, we had a very nice yuzu meringue tart. Both desserts had a piece of basil which added a nice flavor to both. For $29, we had amazing 3 course lunches at Del Posto. I paid a $10 supplement for Lydia's lobster salad as a first course and there was like a whole tail of lobster meat with tomato and celery in a light oil that emphasized the lobster. Sheila had tuna and raw veal "cubito", a tartare, with a caper mustard sauce. For entrees, I had beautiful orcchiette with lamb sausage, minted soybeans, and crispy morels, a really fine dish. Sheila had a nice skate with squashes in a broth. She was the adventurous one for dessert, ordering a sfera with celery and figs and celery sorbetto. I had the chocolate tortino with olive oil gelato and pistachios. The meal started with 3 amuse bouches, continued with 3 kinds of bread with butter or wonder of wonders, whipped lardo (like a sublime schmaltz), and ended with mini cookies and chocolates. The restaurant is very beautiful with tables far enough away from each other so it's pretty quiet, a nice jazz pianist, stools for ladies' purses, excellent service, and truffles when you leave. I'd go back.
The soft shell crabs at Oriental Garden in Chinatown came highly recommended so we had to try them. We always end up being disappointed in NY Chinese restaurants and it happened once again. The crabs were good, not great, in a "country" sauce that our neighboring table was raving about with their lobster. We then each had a giant oyster that was very good and the tofu with shrimp, good but not up to some we get here in the Bay Area at dim sum places. I also felt they were fried in not the freshest of oil.
I also usually avoid Mexican places here, but friends highly recommended Rosa Mexicano near Lincoln Center and we were not disappointed. Their guacamole is freshly made tableside and is delicious with fresh, crispy chips. At $14 it better be good. We had a daily special appetizer of smoked cauliflower with goat cheese and 3 types of mini corn tortillas and the tuna and shrimp ceviche. Their roasted poblano salsa is terrific. A very nice lunch.
I have always wanted to eat at an Alain Ducasse restaurant, but being so cheap, I was not sure I would, until I found Benoit, which has a $38 prix fixe dinner. This midtown restaurant was not very crowded and the reviews weren't overly positive, but we had a very good meal. I started with a twice-baked Comte souffle with a parmesan sauce. Yummers. And then followed with the skate in a caper sauce, which was excellent, and finished with a nice raspberry tart. Sheila opted away from the 3 courses and had a delicious lardon salad followed by a classic French onion soup. Everything was classically good in a beautful brasserie setting.
Another place I had always wanted to eat at was Keen's Steakhouse on W. 36th. St. and try the mutton chop. By myself, I ate in the bar and had a classic Manhattan while waiting for my bistro chop served with braised escarole and fresh rolls with perfect sweet butter. The chop was magnificent, toothy lamb with great texture and cooked perfectly. For dessert, I stopped at a Junior's and had their classic cheesecake to round a out a cholesterol-filled but tasty meal.
Lastly, a real Brooklyn treat was had at Abistro, a Senegalese restaurant in Fort Greene. It's BYOB so the check was an amazing $44 for a great meal for 2. We had the fried chicken, a breast beautifully cooked served over a sweet potato cake and collard greens with a deep, spicy, balanced sauce and the spicy salad with trout, a great balance to the chicken. Both were preceded by cod fritters with black-eyed peas served with salad. Nice to have new and wonderful food. Back at the apartment, we shared a piece of red velvet cake I bought at Cake Man Raven's on Fulton Street, a good balance of moist cake and fluffy frosting.
My love affair with New York remains strong.

New Mexico marvels

noreply@blogger.com (Ned Himmel) — Sat, 11 Sep 2010 23:42:00 +0000

Just returned from a lovely few days in New Mexico. Saw old friends in remote Carrazozo and then met up with Sheila in Albuquerque and on to Santa Fe and Taos. Sheila was there for the Asso. of Food Journalists annual conference. It's green chile season so had to partake as often as I could. An amazing sight is in front of grocery stores where people stand in line with bags of chiles waiting to have them roasted in a rotating drum. Then I guess they rush them home, chop em up and freeze them for using during the year.

The real highlight of the food conference is the taste of the host city. 8-10 chefs from the best restaurants make one of their signature dishes and one table hops trying them all. Last year in New Orleans was incredible but Santa Fe was pretty damn good. Highlights were sopapillas with ether pork, chicken, or chile/cheese from Atrisco Cafe and Bar, roasted baby pig over fresh market pickled salad from Boca, hamachi-wrapped tuna from Restaurant Martin, and quesadillas from Zia Diner. The dessert from Terra at Encantado resort in Tusuque was sublime, a cherry compote on meringue. The night before we had dinner at Terra, a really beautiful restaurant in a beautiful resort, which ended with a cherry tart that blew my socks off. A top ten all-time dessert--wonderful crust with marinated cherries bursting with deep, rich flavor-- simple yet sublime. Sheila's scallops with pork belly was also terrific as were the fresh-made biscuits.
We had excellent breakfasts at Zia Diner and Tia Sophia and can recommend any dish with green chiles. I also returned to a breakfast favorite, Tecolate Cafe, while Sheila was at the conference. Huevos rancheros were great, altho the potatoes could have been crisper. They serve fresh made muffins including an excellent corn one. I also returned for the incredible green chile cheese burger at Bobcat Bites, my 3rd visit. What a great burger, 9 oz. of cooked to order freshly ground chuck! It's 10 miles south of town in a seemingly desolate spot, but once you taste the burger, you find yourself in burger heaven. It's very small so go at off hours. When I was driving from Southern NM up to Albuquerque I had a chile cheeseburger at Manny's Buckhorn Tavern in San Antonio, voted the 7th best burger in the US and winner of a throw down with Bobby Flay. Good it was but Bobcate Bites eats it alive.
Our favorite dinner was at Boca, a tapas place in Santa Fe, where we celebrated our anniversary. A daily special was grilled peaches wrapped in serrano ham with melted Mahon cheese, which was divine. Anchovies, superb fingerling potatoes, and skewered pork were also special. The chef gets his padrone peppers from Happy Quail Farms right here in East Palo Alto!
Other restaurant highlights were Orlando's in Taos, a low-key family-run enchilada palace north of town and the classic El Paragua in Espanola, another family-run excellent restaurant with a fantastic Enchilada Suprema, a giant chicken enchilada with red and green chile sauce, lots of cheese and sour cream and lovely sopapillas. And I could not leave Santa Fe without buying some red chile sauce from The Shed and bringing some healing dirt from Chimayo.

Feeling the bread between my teeth

noreply@blogger.com (Ned Himmel) — Fri, 14 May 2010 17:57:00 +0000

I would have to say I'm not a major sandwich person. Generally I can take 'em or leave 'em, but here are some examples of recent Bay Area sandwich explorations that are worth knowing about and taking. Ike's Place, the new and controversial extraordinarily popular SF sandwich place now has an outpost in Redwood Shores and soon at Stanford. Each sandwich is made to order so the lines are often due to people waiting for the sandwich they ordered to be ready. They come out warm on a just rightly crisp roll (your choice, but most prefer the Dutch crunch). I had the justifiably famous Menage-a-trois ($8.98), with Halal chicken breast, honey, honey mustard, BBQ, pepper Jack ( substituted regular jack), Swiss, Smoked Gouda. Great texture, flavors blending into a semi-messy whole. Sheila had the pizzle, chicken with bacon and cheddar, also terrific ($6.96). There's no place to sit right at Ike's located in a non-descript office building, but right outside is a pristine Shores park, perfect for a nice day picnic.

When I worked in San Francisco, a reliable treat was the roast chicken banh mi from Saigon Sandwiches on Larkin. Nine years later and it's still true. $3.50 buys a perfectly crispy French roll filled with nice chunks of flavorful chicken pieces, shredded carrots, cilantro, peppers if desired, and caressed with fish sauce. The roast pork and pate are also good. Often a line.

The Mexican torta is one great sandwich and two of the best are: La Casita Chilanga in Redwood City and Mexico Bakery in San Jose. Chilanga has a few more choices and other Mexico City specialties besides tortas. I had the tesorito ($6.25), smoked pork leg, which is like a combination of bacon and prosciutto, with lettuce, avocado, and other fixins, large and filling. Fresh thin chips and salsa are free. At Mexico Bakery, which also offers a very decent Oaxaca tamale and a great pound cake with chocloate frosting, I had the milanesa torta, thin slices of pan-fried beef with avocado, tomato, lettuce, chilies, and mayo. Freshly made and delicious. The chicken torta is similarly thin sliced and pan-fried.
A new place in Sunnyvale that looks like it's aiming to become a chain is Adamson's French Dip, that brings new appreciation to an old classic. The Prime Rib dip at $8.95 is nice-sized and filled with medium rare slices of real prime rib. It was better than the BBQ tri-tip at $6.95. A root beer float was the perfect accompaniment. It's a small menu, but everything is cooked with attention.
Lack of time kept me from retrying two all-time favorite sandwiches but I'll still mention them: The Italian meatball at Mario's Bohemian Cigar Store in Washington Square and the Godfather at Redwood City's Woodside Deli.

Oaxaca wonders and Portland ports in the storm

noreply@blogger.com (Ned Himmel) — Tue, 13 Apr 2010 04:23:00 +0000

Oh my, I found this is my half-written posts so finished up to post.

Portland, Oregon is a lovely city that seems to get better each time I go. I love the public transportation and the walkability. Where else can you get right from the airport door to the middle of downtown for $2.30? The food there is always improving too. I just was there for the Public Library Association conference and did not have all that much time to discover dining pleasures but I did manage to have a few good meals and treats.

Small treats: after a 35 minute wait I had the famous bacon and maple bar from Voodoo Donuts, the current must eat in Portland. I was not too impressed. Good, not great. A cinnamon crown from Pearl Bakery was a great way to start the day. I got there soon after they opened so smells and treats were fresh. I also had an excellent blueberry muffin from Great Harvest Bread Company.

Meals: An excellent lunch was had at Southpark Seafood Grill and Wine Bar. One of the fresh fishes of the day was sturgeon, beautifully grilled and served over a terrific bean puree with very fresh veggies ($16.50)The bread was great and excellent wines are to be had by the glass. I had a Loire white for $8.50 that was dry, loaded with flavor. As always, I had a terrific breakfast at Bijou Cafe, the oyster omelette, not cheap at $13.50 but superbly unusual. Potatoes were perfect and an apple cinnomon muffin was nice. Another homey star was Mother's where I indulged in a grilled gruyere and bacon sandwich with fries. Oh so good on the taste meter but maybe not on the cholesterol. Another not great on the cholesterol but nevertheless very enjoyable was a thick-sliced, nicely seasoned pastrami and chopped liver on rye at Kenny and Zuke's Delicatessen ($10.50)-- filling and surprisingly authentic for this pretty whitebread city. Another Portland treat, food for the mind over body is Powell's Bookstore; it's just a pleasure to be there. Kenny and Zuke's is just a block away. An excellent Bay Area kind of meal was dinner at Ping in Old Town, featuring modern takes on Southeast Asian. Starting with large well-filled Thai pork buns and moving on to green beans, salmon, and yam yai salad. The server forgot our fried little fish and grilled octopus skewers, but we left full and satisfied. I really would have loved to try the octopus but my other 3 companions were not, so just as well. Something to add to my list for my Portland visit.

OAXACA: Here are recommendations for the wonderful city and environs of Oaxaca. I went at the end of January so there may be some memory lapses but hopfully the sensory memories are still acccurate. Oaxaca is loaded with great food so every meal was good, but some stood out. Having exit visa problems I had to stay another night but that gave the opportunity to have breakfast at Itanoni in the Colonia Reforma, where I had the best hot chocolate and best chiliquiles of my trip. I'm not sure how you know about this place if a local didn't tell you, so I'm telling you, Go there.

Oaxaca is famous for their moles so I had to try them whenever possible. The best I had was in the weaving center of Teotitlan del Valle at Tlamanalli, which Rick Bayliss swooned over. So dark and rich and bursting with deep chili flavors. They also had the best guacamole. Prices are not cheap for Oaxaca, but worth the trip. We stopped there on the way back from the Sunday market in Tlacolula, a wonderful cornucopia of food, mescal, handicrafts and local people.

Someone gave us a tip to go for lunch at Los Danzantes, a really beautiful outdoor restaurant and considered one of the finest dining experience in Oaxaca city. Had a lovely tomato soup and fish entree at a very reasonable prix-fixe (about $15). Had a delicious dinner with very good drinks at another dining star, Biznaga, where the only menu is a large blackboard. Other highlights were several stops at street food places including incredible empanadas at the Merced Market.

European Ethnic Adventures

noreply@blogger.com (Ned Himmel) — Sat, 10 Apr 2010 03:59:00 +0000

When I first moved to the Bay Area in 1973, a reliable type of restaurant to get a large meal for a great price was Basque restaurants. San Francisco had quite a few offering 5 course meals for $5-6. Most have closed but there's still a fascinating example in South San Francisco, the Basque Cultural Center, where I recently had lunch. It's a huge place with banquet rooms and a pelota court and a big restaurant. A woman who looks like she's worked there for 50 years sat us down and gave us menus. The waiter brought fresh sourdough bread with sweet butter in little silver packages. The menu has both lunch and dinner on it and daily specials. We went for the specials. V. had pork loin with the daily soup (broccoli) at $11.95. The pork was lean and tender served with potatoes and veggies. I went for the veal short ribs served on polenta and the house salad. Both the veal and polenta were delicious, the veal tender as can be, balanced well with creamy polenta and a stewed tomato sauce. We both licked our plates clean. Most dinners are around $20 including soup and salad and vegetables and a starch and each night features a family style dinner(the classic Basque experience) with 2 entrees. It's not Piperade but it's a fun and fulfilling eating experience.

Have you ever noticed Russia House driving south on 101 on the hill opposite Candlestick? I've always been fascinated by the chandeliers and odd location and wondered who goes there? Now I know after a multi-course banquet with lots of vodka. Russians go there and they have a good time when there and seem to feel at home, whereas our group felt like we were visiting a foreign country. Which is exactly what I was hoping for. A Russian scholar friend made the reservation for 8 and was told when to come and how much it cost, but nothing more. We entered the huge, chandeliered dining room, past a long empty bar, and were directed to our table, totally covered with appetizer plates. The drooling began: fresh herring, smoked salmon, sturgeon, breaded shrimp, great chopped liver, potatoes, coppa, ham, tongue, eggplant. A nice bottle of Russian Standard vodka, soft drinks, and water. We ended up finishing one bottle of vodka and another was brought. Da, I was drunk but fortunately not the designated driver. Mushroom turnovers came fresh from the oven. We ate the appetizers for over an hour and a two-man modern folk Euro-Russian group played and sang.
People started to dance; we danced. Then a course of fresh pelmeni simply served with butter and dill. More music and dance. Main courses were rack of lamb and chicken with asparagus, roasted potatoes and onions. More music and dancing but much more difficult because we were so full. Fresh pineapple and strawberries for dessert. You have an odd view over 101 that feels like you're in a highrise overlooking a big city. One of the highlights of this Saturday night was when I went into the men's room, somewhat tipsy. There was a guy plastering the wall in the restroom! As I said, it was like being in a foreign country but that really did it. We left after 4 1/2 hours for $92 a person which ain't bad for all we got, besides assuaging my curiosity about the mystical Russia House. How great that we live in an area where this exists.

Indian lunch buffets and a few others

noreply@blogger.com (Ned Himmel) — Tue, 23 Mar 2010 05:36:00 +0000

My, the days pass quickly by and the blogging falls by the way side. I had a lovely week in Oaxaca and hope to write about the excellent eating there. But in the interim, here are some food notes on one of the great cultural eating experiences: Indian lunch buffets. I had been hankering for Indian buffets where I can fill up on lunch and not eat a whole dinner. I have notes on a few but will keep trying them so there will be additional posts in the future.

I just had an excellent meal at Turmeric in downtown Sunnyvale where $10.95 gets you great vegetarian and meat (mainly chicken) dishes and a few surprises. The menu says they have dinner buffet on Friday, Saturday, and Sunday for $12.95 which is really a great deal, if similar to lunch. The two most outstanding dishes were the pakoras (perfectly crisp) and the mango pudding for dessert (oh so smooth and tasty). Kadi pokadi (little dumplings in a fantastic yogurt sauce), stewed spinach and mustard greens, and chicken makhani were also wonderful, but nothing was bad and everything was plentiful.

Also excellent was Sakoon, one of the new fancy Indian places in downtown Mountain View. Beautiful furnishings and floors. I loved the floors! And a bounteous buffet for $12.95. Among the highlights were samosas, palak paneer, butter chicken, and an exquiste basil chicken. I love to at first try a little of evrything and then come back for the special dishes, but the offerings are so varied here that it's hard to have room to go back. It costs more than most buffets in the area but I thought it was worth it.

The cheapest but not the worst was Taj Palace on Blossom Hill Rd. in San Jose. $5!! No price posted so I was happily surprised to see the almost non-existent bill. They only offer about 8 dishes but a good balance of vegetables and chicken dishes. Nothing was outstanding but everything was decent. Decor is spare but all in all an incredible deal. It ws pretty full so it's no secret to budget-conscious families and others who realize they can have the big meal of the day so cheaply.

Darbar in downtown Palo Alto is reliably fine both for lunch and dinner. Their $9.95 lunch buffet has a good assortment of favorites, varying in spiciness. If the chicken vandaloo is offered, get some. Everything tastes fresh and usually refilled as needed. Janta, on the other hand, was a disappointment, with empty serving dishes and no refilling happening. The host said it had been especially busy and someone didn't show up for work, but I had much higher expectations and left very unsatisfied (full, of course, but unsatisfied) for my $9.95 lunch. The samosa was quite good.

New Saffron in Mountain View across from Lozano's Car Wash is worth a visit. It's been several different Indian restaurants in the past. Their $9.95 buffet is good, not great, but there's enough selection that everyone leaves satisfied. And there are meat as well as chicken dishes. A nothing decor but a good buzz in there. Across the street in the Village Court Center is Spicy Leaves with a $10.95 buffet. They also suffered from depleted serving platters that were slow to be refilled and a mediocre selection. They do offer a couple of Sri Lankan dishes, such as their dal, which makes it worth a try. They seem to not want to take a chance to put out food that won't be eaten but it makes the buffet look too meager for the price. Maybe it's a place better suited to ordering a la carte.

A month of eating notes

noreply@blogger.com (Ned Himmel) — Sat, 23 Jan 2010 22:19:00 +0000

Nothing ultra special since the last blog in early December except for another greal meal at Nopa for my son's birthday. But here are the highlights. Starting south, in San Jose, went to 2 Chinese places for lunch. One, Hong Kong Kitchen, on Monterey Road in the Edenvale Shopping Center, is incredibly cheap. A group of 9 went and each ordered a different lunch. Most were $3.60 with pretty generous portions. Honey Walnut Prawns were $6.50. Timing was not too good so we never got all the dishes but all left filled for $4 a person including tip. Food was really pretty decent. It recently changed hands and apparently was really good before.
Not too far away from there is Fat Wok, Snell and Santa Teresa, where I had the Tuesday lunch special of Honey Walnut Prawns for $6.50. Most lunches are $5.50-$6.25. The special included a wonton of crab ragoon besides egg roll. I really don't understand the attraction of crab ragoon but the prawns were very good. Atmosphere was pleasant and worth trying again. A third Chinese lunch experience took me to Jade Palace on California Avenue in Palo Alto, in a jinxed location near the Caltrain station. Nothing ever lasts there but I thought this had possibilities. They have a large menu and many items are available for lunch for $6.95 served with soup, rice and an appetizer, in my case a decent eggroll. I had the spicy fish filet with tofu and was able to take half of it home. Nicely spicy, delicate and fresh; a nice surprise since I assumed it would be a loser. They say they have dim sum too but didn't try and worry it's not busy enough to be really decent. But I'd go back to try more dishes.

In Campbell, I had a decent slice of pizza from Sal's Pizzeria on E. Campbell. Tasty, slightly crispy crust, good amount of cheese and just enough spinach (not soggy). One slice is 1/4 of a 19" pizza so it's huge and less than $6. It could feed 2 people. It's right by the entrance to Los Gatos Creek trail, so I happily walked and ate.

Finally made it to a couple of San Francisco places I've been wondering about for years. Cinderella Bakery on Balboa is a Russian icon. It's just been remodeled. It used to include a restaurant which isn't there any more. Not sure if it's coming but the remodeled bakery is open. They make Russian breads and pastry both savory and sweet. We tried a couple of sweet ones and I was not swept away. A cherry cheese roll was kind of blah, not enough of either and the pastry tasted a little too shortening-filled. A poppy seed sweet roll was better but nothing to shame the memory I have of my grandmother's baking. Near there on Geary is Brother's Korean BBQ, which is often the top rated BBQ in Zagat. I went for lunch where they do not offer the BBQ your own, but the food was quite tasty. My friend and I shared pork bulgogi and kim chee with beef and tofu, both $9.99 and including the usual Korean small plates. Both were nicely spicy with very different sauces. Simple decor and fast service. I think Santa Clara has better Korean food but worth a stop if you're in the area.

We had a really fine rainy day lunch at Fish in Sauselito. They serve only sustainable fish and organic vegetables. The white clam chowder was superb, one of the best I've had, and a tuna melt was great. They poach albacore from San Diego and serve a generous portion on grilled bread with a huge amount of really good fries. Prices are fairly high but you know the quality is high too. No frills but on a nice day, you would not only get top quality food but be at an amazing location right on the water. Service was friendly and efficient.

And to end with an excellent meal in San Francisco. First Crush on Cyril Magnin and Ellis, around the corner from the Hotel Nikko, home of the Rrazz Room where we saw Andrea Marcovicci, always a treat. A small place with an excellent wine list, offering 3 taste samplers of many interesting selections. Appetizers included very nice asparagus with Serrano ham and a stuffed delicata squash with fall vegetables. My coq au vin had some really terrific baby purple potatoes and cippolini onions. A generous portion of loch duart salmon was covered in a light horseradish sauce and served with chantarelles over potato gratin. Another great dish was the short ribs. It was part of Dine-Around so 3 courses were $35. Normally the appetizers run $9 and entrees $19-29. A great looking burger for $14 passed by. Spice cake and chocolate brownie were 2 really good desserts.

No hats off to Chapeau

noreply@blogger.com (Ned Himmel) — Wed, 16 Dec 2009 05:27:00 +0000

One of the most consistently satisfying dining experiences in SF has been at Chapeau. The restaurant was very small, very reasonably priced with excellent service and food. It was on Clement just west of Park Presidio and you could always get a parking space along the frontage road there. Chapeau recently moved to the former Clementine site on Clement and 2nd and we just had a disappointing dinner. The food was still great and prices remain most reasonable for the quality (3 course meal selected from the menu is $38), but basically the service stunk. The chef/owner was at the door to overly greet everyone. He shook my hand twice. When you leave, he bestows a kiss on the cheek of the ladies and heartily shakes the men's hands. What he wasn't doing was keeping an eye on the service and the movement of food. I was reminded of the old Le Cyrano on Geary where madame kept her eye on all aspects of the food and service. You felt you were in excellent hands. We did not feel the same at Chapeau. A majority of our party only ordered entrees so I expected the service to speed up for those of us ordering appetizers; it did not. Drinks were slow to come and it felt certain tables were getting better treatment. Once the food came, it was great, although I had to calm down a little from my waiting furor. The mussel soup was delicious, the skate wing beautifully presented with excellent flavors. Desserts are OK (we were comped a couple of desserts, which was nice but unfortunately did not make up for the evening's shortcomings). Monsieur deeply apologized for the lapses in service and said he would be talking to the staff the next day. I held back (until now) saying the problem was him since he was emphasizing affect over effect.

Palo Alto is now home to a Sancho's Taqueria and the world's best fish taco is right downtown. Sancho's started in Redwood City and became an instant success, soon moving to larger quarters. The owners also ran the taqueria in an East Palo Alto market, but have now switched to Lytton and Cowper in Palo Alto. Although they have most of the standard Mexican fare done satisfactorily, their fish tacos, either fried or grilled, are just superb ($3.95). 3 make a good meal for 2 people. The ceviche is also excellent and their chips and salsas are fresh and tasty. They use sustainable ingredients and biodegradable paper products, which is very commendable for their reasonable prices. I wish them lots of success.

A few more great San Francisco meals

noreply@blogger.com (Ned Himmel) — Tue, 01 Dec 2009 23:18:00 +0000

Had a rash (in a good way) of some fine SF eating. We had dinner last week at The Richmond, a small, chef-run dinner spot in guess where, the Richmond. On Balboa, near 7th, we met cousins for a 6 PM dinner and had no probem finding a parking space, although we hit lots of traffic getting there. Plus #1. A delicious amuse bouche of creamy leek soup left a nice mouth feel and opened the senses up for more. Plus #2. Shared appetizers of beet salad and ahi carpaccio were fresh and delicious and served with La Brea baquette and 3 kinds of butter. Bread was quickly replaced. Plus #3. Menu changes with what's fresh. Plus #4. Entrees included a chicken scallopini with chicken ravioli and a fresh Pacific cod with calamari. Entrees are all under $20 and just the right size. Plus#5. Service was excellent as were desserts, including an ethereal panna cotta. Plus#6. And a superb wine list, very reasonably priced. I want to come back and sit at the bar with a nice glass of red and order a burger with fries for $9.95!

We returned to Nopa Thanksgiving weekend and were thankful we did. Nopa is one of our favorite SF restaurants, reliably excellent and the service is always great. We know the owner- chef, but it's so great not to have to fake our enthusiasm for this restaurant. When we made our reservation we asked for a quiet table as it's noisy in there, but a few tables are under a balcony so you can hear your tablemates. Sheila calls it the senior section. We started with mussels (all open and very plump Penn Cove), flatbread with butternut squash, baked egg with tomato gratin, and litle fried fish. All superb. If you like pork, you must order their pork chop, consistently perfect, the best in the Bay Area. The lamb shank was also good but pales next to the pork; the swordfish was done perfectly. Warm chocolate cookies with sweet milk made a homey dessert and a thing I love about Nopa is you can get hot chocalate after dinner. I'm not a coffee drinker so it's quite a thrill having a rich, dark cup of cocoa. Vahlrona too! The wine list is superb, almost too long. Our server talked us into 2 great but for us pricey wines, an incredible white, Mathiessen sauvignon blanc-ribolla cialla-semillon, and an excellent red, a 1999 rioja from Lopez de Heredia. Both worth it and key parts of a great meal.

And now, presenting a fabulous breakfast, at Brenda's French Soul Food on Polk near Eddy. Small and mighty, Brenda's serves the best biscuit I have ever had and it came with a really fine hangtown fry(eggs, oysters, bacon), a daily special. The weakest part was a large serving of potato hash, but that would have been a star at another restaurant. Sheila had Bananas Fosters French Toast, another special, each under $10 (prices are great too), and it was wonderfully buttery and carmelly. I didn't try their beignets and hope to soon, although I may not be able to resist that incredible biscuit. A trip to the restroom takes you through the little kitchen, by Brenda cooking and past the biscuit and beignet stations. What a find!

And lastly, a good, cheap dinner in the Mission: Limon Peruvian Rotisserie, a sister to Limon which recently reopened on Valencia. This one's in a small corner buildng on So. Van Ness and 21st. The free-range rotisserie chicken is cooked perfectly and you know, there's nothing like a good roast chicken. A whole chicken is $16.95 including 2 large sides (we opted for excellent fried potatoes and sweet potatoes) and 2 dipping sauces. Our group of 4 also split a ceviche mixto, with prawns, halibut, and calamari (delicious) and an unusual but tasty ensalada de vegetales, cooked seasonal veggies in an orange/Dijon dressing. Also enjoyed the mango mojitos made with sake. We skipped dessert there and walked to Bi-Rite Ice Cream on 18th for my first taste of their famous ice creams. Wow! Salted caramel and brown sugar with ginger swirl both immediately entered my pantheon of great ice cream.

noreply@blogger.com (Ned Himmel) — Tue, 24 Nov 2009 03:18:00 +0000

I've been away now, but now I've come back home. A week in Japan with many culinary delights. Unfortunately I don't the name of most of them. We were lucky enough to go with friends who lived in Japan and knew places and we just followed and enjoyed. Here's what I remember. In Tokyo we had donburi from the restaurant that supposedly invented it in the late 18th century-- Tamahide! Fresh and delicious with only about 5 versions on the menu and only open for lunch. Great home-made noodles are to be had at Sanuki served with tasty appetizers like smoked tiny sardines and tofu salad. We went to the Tsujuki Market and had really incredible sushi at Daiwa at 6:30 in the morning with beer. I learned beer goes great with sushi. Our last dinner was at a wonderful kaiseki restaurant near Rappongi, Nanao. The first course of chawan (egg custard) with fish sperm sac was divine and each course after nicely balanced. The woman owner/chef was one of the first in Tokyo and has been in business 25 years.
In Kamakura, we had a delicous soba with tempura lunch at Nakamura-an. In Nara, we had terrific okonomiyaki, a new favorite dish, at Okaru. A homey pancake-omelet filled with seafood or assorted meat and vegetables is made on a tabletop griddle. In Kyoto, we had a nice meal in a private room at Mame-cha in the Gion district where we stayed in a lovely, small ryokan, Uemura. Mrs. Uemura serves a fantastic American or Japanese breakfast. We had lunch in Ryoan-Ji temple at a tofu restaurant, Yudofu Seigenin, beautiful setting, pure food.
Other food highlights were a great fish cake from the Kyoto market, roasted gingko nuts and chestnuts, yakatori, lots of miso soup. But I'm not wild about sitting on a tatami mat while eating-- so uncomfortable. At one restaurant we asked if they had chairs and they were so insulted, they turned us away. We also learned to love saki and the nice induced drunken state.

And now, back to home territory. A lovely day today to go to Half Moon Bay where I found myself returning to Mezzalune. Their Mezzalune Salad with home-made focaccia and a glass of wine makes a perfect lunch and I always find myself ordering it. Their pastas are nice too, but for $8.50, you get very fresh greens topped with lots of just cooked and cooled calamari, shrimp, salmon, and a scallop. A perfect seaside lunch.
I was very excited to take a walk around San Jose State and spot a Korean taco truck on 10th near San Carlos. They're the rage in LA. I had just bought a good lengua burrito from the old stand-by, Super Taqueria, but I knew I had to return to the truck and try it. So I did and got a bulgogi taco and one spicy chicken taco, each $2. Bulgogi BBQ has a sign that says 2 tacos for $4 (duh) or 3 for $5. They were both OK, no Wow factor and nothing to make me think what a great combination Korean and Mexican food make. The truck kitchen is very clean. They also serve burritos and burgers for $5. I enjoyed my lengua burrito more.

A breakfast to remember

noreply@blogger.com (Ned Himmel) — Sat, 31 Oct 2009 20:07:00 +0000

Whenever I have a really great breakfast, I want to immediately move to where that restaurant is. I want to be a regular so the staff know me and what I like and I know them. I just ate at Linda's Seabreeze Cafe on Seabright in Santa Cruz and I definitely want to move close to it. I had a perfect breakfast, the Scrambler for $7.50: 2 eggs scrambled with green onions, mushrooms, and cheese, served with home fries and a cinnamon roll (I chose that over a muffin). The eggs were done just right, ingredients balanced, not runny but a little soft. The potatoes, by which I always judge a breakfast place, were red potatoes cooked through and nicely crispy with lots of onion. I gobbled them up with the scramble and left the roll for dessert. It was filled with chopped pecans, very cinnamony but not over the top, layered and buttery and so satisfying. I also had a large glass of Odwalla orange juice for $2.50, pretty good these days. After this great breakfast I walked 2 blocks to the ocean where it was clear, sunny, but not too hot. Oh what a beautiful morning!

A few recent eatings

noreply@blogger.com (Ned Himmel) — Tue, 27 Oct 2009 00:12:00 +0000

I'm always looking for a place to shine in the Palo Alto-Mountain View area where mediocrity rules. Often the tops are Mexican places and I recently had a couple of excellent tacos at Mercado Marlen Taqueria, attached to a Mexican grocery on California near Showers. I only had $3 with me, but was able to get one tongue and one chili verde taco for $1.39 each. Both had lots of lean, tender, flavorful meat in 2 small corn tortillas with good texture. The place appears to be run by a mother and her 2 daughters and they keep everything clean and efficient. They have a fairly large menu for a small place. Burritos are $5. 50 and I'll have to come and try more. I did notice they have a breakfast burrito for $8.50 which seems pretty pricey.
I also recently stopped in at Dittmer's on San Antonio. I adore their paprika sausage and also like to get a couple of turkey, chicken, and/or duck legs which are nice to have around for a quick lunch or snack. Everything is of very high quality, it's family-run, and a food highlight of the mid-Peninsula.
Xanh's in Mountain View is a beautiful neo-Vietnamese restaurant on Castro that now has only a buffet at lunch, but it's one of the best deals around at $12. Almost all of the favorites from the dinner menu are there. Things are refreshed regularly and everything is good, some great, and it feels like healthy dining. Highlights were the fried chicken wings, 2 soups, short ribs, papaya salad, brown rice, catfish, and different rolls. Their excellent shaking beef and eggplant are not on the lunch buffet so it's worth coming back for dinner.
We met friends in San Francisco for a walk through the Presidio to take advantage of a beautiful day and see the Andy Goldsworthy tree tower. It and the view were really beautiful and the Presidio is a great place to explore. We wanted to stay near there for dinner and found a great Burmese/Chinese restaurant, Mandalay, on California. I had never been there but it's been around since 1984 and says it's the first Burmese restaurant in San Francisco. It's 2 blocks away from the wildly popular Burma Superstar, but service was friendlier and we found parking close by (maybe just lucky). Service was so friendly we felt like longtime patrons. We had excellent fish chowder, tea leaf salad, chicken with pumpkin (actually kambucha), eggplant in basil sauce and seafood in a basket. The last 2 were more Chinese than Burmese, but everything was fresh and delicious. For me a new discovery I'll go back to.

San Diego and Los Angeles remembrances and new roots

noreply@blogger.com (Ned Himmel) — Sat, 24 Oct 2009 20:31:00 +0000

The Hungry book tour took us to my hometown of San Diego and my school town of Los Angeles. Sampled old favorite haunts and new food discoveries. I love returning to Balboa Park and walking across the Spruce Street suspension bridge west of the park. We ate deep dish pizza slices from Lefty's Chicago Pizzeria in North Park. It's nice to be able to get slices of deep dish pizza and the sausage slice was very good. The spinach/mushroom less so, but 2 slices and a drink for $6 easily feeds 2. I've been hearing great things about Point Loma Seafoods for a long time and finally got there to enjoy a fresh fish sandwich, a delicious crab sandwich, and a soft-shell crab sandwich. The bun had too much bread for the soft-shell crab and I don't like red bell pepper in my cole slaw. It was a nice day so it's great to sit and watch the boats and enjoy fresh food. They have a great selection of smoked fish which we took to go. The other downside is they only take cash or checks.
We were going to go there one evening but they close at 6:30 and did not think we would make it, so we ended up at Cafe Athena in Pacific Beach with no regrets. Excellent Greek food in a pleasant setting with good service. Prices are very reasonable and portions are large. The fried calamari was excellent, the Greek salad fresh and satisfying with lovely pita (must be homemade). The moussaka's eggplant was well-cooked and the Bechamel sauce perfect. The Cretan Salmon was broiled just right and served with 2 incredible sides, spanaki lemonato (cold spinach) and skordalia (garlic with mashed potatoes). The Shrimp Scorpio, broiled large shrimp in a tomato-herb sauce, was delicious. For dessert we shared a perfect galacto-boureko, rolls of filo filled with custard and orange zest.
We had a good lunch at DZ Akins, a real delicatessan, which seems to expand each time I go. It's no Carnegie Deli, but it has very decent corned beef and brisket sandwiches and each table had a great bowl of pickles at different ripenesses. They have a huge menu so there's something for everybody. It's also fun to see the photos of what passes for celebrities in SD.
Before the book talk in La Jolla, we had an always delightful meal at George's Ocean Terrace. One feels on top of the world looking out over beautiful La Jolla Cove. We stick with appetizers and end up with a reasonably-priced, delicious meal. The chicken and bean soup has great depth of flavor, the roasted mussles are superb, the fish tacos are OK, and the salads are fresh and lovely. The cocktail and wine lists are good and service is pleasant,
The other fine meal we had was at Kensington Grill. It's in a part of town where I had several relatives living and always seemed dull, but now it's a great neighborhood. Their hamburger is about the best I've ever had and really puts the one at DB Bistro Moderne (see NY restaurants) to shame. Their macaroni and cheese is superb with just a hint of truffle oil, but richly cheesy wirh orchiette which provide the perfect vessel. Their bruschetta appetizer is a great idea-- your choice of 3 different global types served on baguettes, such as fresh mozzarella with tomatoes, smoked salmon, or pancetta and fava beans. The ribeye steak is perfect and all accompaniments are really good. Very nice wine list with an especially pleasant Vouvray by the glass.
We hit LA in time to have lunch at Tito's Tacos in Culver City, truly one of my all-time favorites. It has been the same since I first went there in like 1976 even though they moved 30 years ago. Always a line and most get tacos ($1.70 without cheese, which I prefer). They are fried and then filled with lettuce and yoou get a cup of this incredible salsa that just makes it come alive. I also love the meat only burrito with large chunks of tender meat in a rich chili sauce. They always give you lots of chips to dip in the salsa, but their guacamole is substandard.
After the booktalk in West Hollywood, a group of us went to Angeli Caffe on Melrose, owned by Evan Kleiman. We have her coobook, Mare. Their pizzas and pasta were great, especially the gnocchi. They serve an amazing pizza bread. That plus a salad would be a nice meal and I suspect their sandwiches must be great. We also had eggplant croquettes and aggplant rotinis, both excellent.
We cannot leave LA without stopping at Beverlywood Bakery on Pico. I adore their chocolate chip Danish, mandel brot, and corn rye. Their bagels, however, are awful, bready and dull. Sheila's gone there since childhood. We miss the old Jewish ladies who used to work there and always say, "What else? no matter how much you ordered.

New Orleans-- pig meets pig

noreply@blogger.com (Ned Himmel) — Tue, 13 Oct 2009 14:58:00 +0000

What a great place for the Assn. of Food Journalists conference, so I had to accompany Sheila to New Orleans. Early October is supposed to have the best weather, but alas, it sucked. Hot, hot, humid, rainy, humid, hot. Thank goodness for air conditioning as I did a lot of walking finding what I hoped would be an ultimate fried chicken. And that I did. Willie Mae's Scotch House is justifiably famous for their perfect, thick-crusted, tender-meated chicken. They have other things on the menu like fried pork chops, but everyone I saw was eating the chicken. It's $10 for 3 pieces and a side. I had a very fresh and welcome romaine salad. Not a lot of green greens in NO. The place which really looks like nothing from the outside is cheery and clean inside with very nice service. My first fried chicken was a walk to McHardy's, which is basically a to go place with only a bench to sit on, which I did. 5 pieces of nice, thin-coated, peppery chicken was $3.80. Brought some back to the hotel and Sheila had some after being refrigerated and it was still good. And it was just fine until I tasted Willie Mae's. Our last meal in NO was at Dooky Chase, a classic Creole institution, also creepily not much on the outside but elegant and tasteful on the inside. They have a buffet lunch for $17 that includes fried chicken so I had to do that. Chicken was a nice midpoint between the other 2, nicely peppery and nicely crispy. Again not as earthshaking as Willie Mae's, but very decent. The catfish, potato salad, gumbo, and okra were all delicious too. Some pretty large folks take advantage of this stylish buffet.

Several people recommended Stanley, right on Jackson Square, where we had eggs benedict with and without fried oysters. Very good, but not awe-inspriing. We did partake of the famous beignets at Cafe du Monde and there really is something special about eating there. We were on our way to try Elizabeth's which many say is the best Creole place in town and a 2 mile walk from our hotel so Cafe du Monde was a good stopping place. Alas when we finally arrived, Elizabeth's does not open until 11 AM and we were there at 9:30. Check the hours at New Orleans restaurants!

Our first dinner, after an 11 hour flight from New York (don't ask!) was at NOLA's, an Emeril restaurant that I've eaten at each of my trips to New Orleans and it is consistently good. Locals seem to sneer a little but food combinations are great, portions are large, prices reasonable, and service strives to be excellent. We shared appetizers of barbequed shrimp, flatbread with duck confit, an arugula salad, and an entree of smoked duck over grits. We took home about 1/3 of the duck to leave a little room for a wonderful chocolate pecan tart, each bite better than the last. I had screwed up our reservation but they were very accommodating.

While Sheila gave a booktalk through the Garden District Book Shop, I took advantage of the conference's A Taste of New Orleans. Large tastes from some of the finest NO chefs, such as pickled shrimp from Susan Spicer's Bayona, Pork cheeks over dirty rice from Emeril (himself was there), pork belly with a mint sauce from Donald Link's Cochon, seared ahi from del Porto, Drago's BBQ'd oysters, and my 2 favorites, sweetbreads with bacon jus over truffled grits from MiLa and short rib over sunchoke/cauliflower puree from Patois. Famous cocktails like the Sazerac were also served. And a lovely pear cake from Milette was for dessert. I was so full that when Sheila got back from the book talk and we walked to the Roosevelt Hotel to have a drink and get her some food, I could only have a small portion of lovely fresh cold heirloom tomato soup, while Sheila had bresaola with arugula and octopus carpaccio at Domenica, John Besh's latest restaurant.

Speaking of Besh, the awards dinner was at his flaghsip restaurant, Restaurant August, in a beautiful banquet room on the 3rd floor. We started with fried oysters and caviar served in a spoon French Laundry-style, Fricos (a light pastry cup) with andouille mousse (the best), and rabbit boudin. First course was white shrimp carpaccio with a remoulade sauce and mache (what a ton of work thinly slicing the shrimp, but a great way to spread a few shrimp over many plates). The next course was my favorite, featuring pumpkin agnolotti served in a roasted quail pho with porcini-- elegant contrast of textures and flavors. Main dish was slow cooked venison over grits wth elderberries and graine de paradis ( a flavorful pepper-like spice). No thrill but pleasant. Dessert was a brown butter quince tarte. I'm a sucker whenever I see those words "brown butter" together. It was tasty but the crust was so hard it was almost impossible to cut with a fork. Each course was served with a matching wine; we ended with a reserve Muscat de Beaumes Venise, which always leaves me very happy.

A last New Orleans treat was Angelo Borcato ice cream where I had a deliciously creamy panna cotta gelato. It's right off the Canal streetcar line and worth a little trek. One needs weeks to try all the great eating possibilities in this unique, recovering, and special city.

New York New York, what a wonderful town

noreply@blogger.com (Ned Himmel) — Wed, 07 Oct 2009 20:39:00 +0000

Sheila and I have had a whirlwind eating, walking, sightseeing tour of NYC including getting to know Brooklyn better. Our good friends M&R have moved there and there we mooched. We took a 2 1/2 respite in No. New Jersey to attend a wedding. Our kids' friends getting married; it's enough to make you weep. A fabulous wedding, altho NJ needs MANY more road sings. The rehearsal dinner was at Pourquoi Pas in Westwood. We took over the restaurant and the food was quite good and generously served. Nice to know there's a place in the wilds of NJ.

As far as New York, some great eating. We took a redeye and arrived early Wed. morning. After a nap, I took the subway to one of the holy grails of pizza, Di Faro's. One time I had a rental car and we went there but it was closed. This time it was open and not crowded. What luck! I had a square slice which is on a thicker base than the slice. Nice olive oil crust, a little crispy. Lovely tomato sauce, fresh mozzarella, fresh-cut basil, a little olive oil, some seasoning, all done by one guy who makes one pie at a time--no rushing. The more I ate the better it was, a great beginning to my days of NY repast. I can't say it's the best I've ever had, but worth the trip.

That night we went to see Hamlet with Jude Law, which was quite spectacular. He was great! Before the play, we and our friends went to db Bistro Moderne, a Daniel Boulud spinoff (I think the first). I had another of my "I have to try this before I die" dishes I've been reading about for years, their burger with foie gras and short rib. No socks knocked off, esp. for $32! The pommes souflees that came with the burger were a delight, crisp and puffy. Our party's favorite dishes were the coq au vin and the Moroccan tuna tartare. A very lovely room and good service, but not essential to return to.

But one that I did return to and would again is Jean-Georges, at least for lunch. Their $29 lunch is for any 2 courses. Each additional course is $14.50 and desserts are $8. The food and service are wonderful. Last time we went, I had the foie gras appetizer with roasted strawberries, one of the best dishes I have ever had anywhere. This time is had dried cherries and was delicious but not as spectacular as the strawberry. Sheila had their justly famous scallops with cauliflower in caper/raisin sauce, which I made once. Doesn't sound great, but it really shows what a great chef can do. It had a $8 supplement. Entrees were a spectacular rock cod crusted with nuts and seeds (made into a powder so it was light) in a broth with fresh vegetables and skate with Chalon sauce, marvelous. Desserts were fair, but they offer a lagniappe of fresh marshmallows and chocolates so I might skip dessert in future. The wine list has fantastic wines by the glass from $10-30. I'd go back.

Another New York lunch favorite is Gotham Bar and Grill, reliably excellent. They're celebrating their 25th anniversary and have a $25 3-course lunch special. The autumn squash soup was delicate and flavorful, watermelon and cherry tomato salad was refreshing, the Atlantic cod with chanterelles was perfectly cooked, as was the hangar steak. And for dessert, you can get their absolutely incredible chocolate cake. It's perfect, melt-in-your-mouth chocolateness. The sweet corn creme caramel was wonderful too, but I'll always take the cake.

And another NY favorite is Carnegie Deli. Their sandwiches are just so good and huge. Four of us ate 3 sandwiches and had lots of leftovers. I love their corn beef. Service is not great and I hate that they do not accept credit cards, but I still love it. We usually like to get a matza ball soup and sandwich and take to our hotel (no sharing charge!). Ate their before seeing Hair, which was also fantastic.

Besides Di Faro, the only pizza I tried was a slice from Sal and Carmine's which just got a great write-up on Sliceny.com. Feh, nothing great. Had a usually great lox and bagel from Ess-a-Bagel (although I prefer their 1st Ave. location), excellent bagels from Murray's, and very good bagels from La Bagel Delights and the Bagel Hole, the latter two in Brooklyn.

Our last dinner was at Scopello, a very good neighborhood place in Brooklyn. Excellent calamari salad and octopus appetizer, fresh pastas and a fine seafood risotto at reasonable prices.

Just a note on shows: Hair and Hamlet were both superb.

Seattle eats

noreply@blogger.com (Ned Himmel) — Sat, 26 Sep 2009 04:45:00 +0000

Just returned from a 4 day trip to Seattle to promote Hungry. And we did not go hungry. We found a Vietnamese place, Tamarind Tree, that rivals any in San Jose. We went for lunch and it was so good we returned with a group for dinner. The menu is the same but prices are about $2 more at dinner. It's a lovely room plus a really nice patio with a waterfall in a pretty rundown shopping strip on Jackson and 12th Ave. S. A fantastic banh xeo (Vietnamese crepe) with large shrimp and coconut milk in the batter, beautifully balanced green mango salad, and an anise infused pho at lunch. The highlight of dinner was Thanh Long yellow fish (tumeric seasoned catfish) to wrap in lettuce and herbs with peanuts and other goodies-- really amazing. The bon bon salad equalled the mango salad and shitake satay was very good. Any of the fresh rolls are recommended. Another amazing entree was the chicken ginger vodka, marinated in vodka overnight braised with ginger. Grilled beef short ribs were fine, but compared to the chicken and fish, don't bother. And their wine list is pretty good too. 8 people feasted for less than $30 each.

The other change-my-life find was the Cuban sandwich place, Paseo. I heard about this the last time I went to Seattle and was thrilled to try it this time. We went to the Ballard locks before we had to get back to the airport and fortunately there's one in Ballard on Seaview Avenue. OMG! We had to wait until we got on the plane to eat so they were a little soggy but the roasted pork sandwich is one of if not the best sandwich anywhere (gives the meatball sandwich at Mario's in SF a run for its money). Huge chunks of incredibly tender pork shoulder with a garlic aioli, carmelized onions, lettuce, jalapenos on a baguette roll. Also had their original grilled pork (very nice) and the seared scallop with a 3 out of 5 hotness request. Unique and very good but the pork shoulder was the clear winner. I want one now.

We also had a pleasant French meal at Le Pichet right near Pike's Place Market. Highlights were the roast chicken for 2, lentil salad, falafel, and sardines. The hazelnut-crusted fish was a real salty miss but they took it off the bill, a real service-focused thing to do. It's very French with an excellent apperitif and wine list and recommended. In Bellvue, we had a satisfying lunch at Tao on 110th Ave. NE, a block from the library. Good variety of Japanese food with a few Korean dishes. The bento boxes are a great deal for $8.50 and you get a little cup of frozen yogurt at the end of the meal, which was just perfect.

Breakfast at Jimmy's on 1st in the Silver Cloud Inn-Stadium (our hotel via Priceline) was better than one might expect. Bagel with smoked salmon was generously layered with wild salmon, tomatoes, capers and chives for $10. In Pioneer Square we discovered Grand Central Baking Company, which makes the excellent baguettes for Le Pichet, above. They have a daily coffee cake that was terrific as well as healthy tasting muffins and scones. Everything looks good and everything we tried had satisfying texture. We had an excellent, albeit a little pricey sandwich at the famous Salumi, run by Mario Batali's father. The meats were so flavorful complimented nicely by tapenade, although the rolls could have been better. I was walking along Broadway and saw a long line at Dick's, a classic looking drive-in. Tried a burger (OK) but thought the fries were really good. I wasn't hungry enough to try their 1/4 pounder, which most people were getting.

A Chinese feast

noreply@blogger.com (Ned Himmel) — Sun, 20 Sep 2009 23:01:00 +0000

I always enjoy Chinese banquet style eating. I usally ask to see the Chinese menu in "authentic" restuarants and have the waiter translate the courses. It's usually the best deal. Friends of ours have a tradition of going out to eat a Chinese meal before Rosh Hashana starts and asked us to join them this year. The choice was Joy Luck Place in the Cupertino Village shopping center on No. Wolfe Road (at Homestead), mainly known for their dim sum. What a great meal it was!
We got the lowest price family dinner, $268 for 10 people plus one other dish to make up for one of our party's being allergic to shrimp. The dinner consisted of generous portions of: a cold BBQ meat platter with jellyfish and seaweed too (pork very fresh), soup with seafood and tofu, glazed (giant) prawns with walnut, scallop and chicken in black bean sauce (scallops a little overcooked), braised broccoli and bok choy with black mushrooms, pepper fried whole crab (2), Peking duck (excellent), pan fried sea bass (very tender and fresh), seafood fried rice, and red bean soup. The added dish was beef tenderloin in capital sauce with lovely sauteed onions.
Their dinners for 10 are also available for 5, which is unusual and welcome. It was a great meal and a good start to a new year, albeit traif.

A couple of weeks ago, we went to the BATS (Bay Area Theatersports) Theater at Fort Mason for a terrifc night of improvisation, Jane Austen Unscripted, by Impro Theater of Los Angeles. Before the show, we went to Yukol Palace, at Lombard and Scott for some very fine and pretty inexpensive Thai food. We parked near Fort MAson and walked. It's nice to know about it as it is away from the Chestnut Street crowds and so reasonable. Their Yum Ma Keur, charbroiled japanese eggplant in lemon dressing topped with shrimp, chicken, and accompanied with slices of hard boiled egg is a wonderful way to start. We followed this up with beef larb, pad thai, Panang chicken curry, and brown rice. All dishes were under $10. Look for the daily specials. They also have some easy drinking cocktails.

Anniversary treats

noreply@blogger.com (Ned Himmel) — Fri, 04 Sep 2009 01:12:00 +0000

We spent our 30th anniversary in San Francisco with one truly great meal and a couple of new discoveries. The night was spent at the Clift which was too hip for our tastes. We got an upgrade to this oddly shaped studio with a small living room and then bedroom with another small room by its side. There are curtains and mirrors all over the place and "cool" but uncomofrtable furniture. The bed and sheets were very comfy tho. We had been to the old Clift and missed it. The Philippe Starck touch did not touch me.

But dinner at Ame in the St. Regis across from SFMOMA was sublime. I thought I would be disappointed after our great meal at Delfina but this was a totally different experience. I got the tasting menu, 5 courses for $85 with matching wines for $65-- worth every cent. Sheila got appetizers and dessert with 3 wines/sakes by the glass. First course was 3 sashimis--a fresh halibut crudo, a red ocean trout, and himachi. Each had its own tiny accompaniments. Sheila had Campechana, a ceviche-like assortment of seafood in an incredible tomato water gelee with hints of chile pepper. Sublime. My next course was a sweet corn soup with a lobster hushpuppy-- very fresh, inetense corn taste served with a lovely Foxen Chenin Blanc (I've got to buy some of that). Sheila then had ezo abalone with padrone peppers and mushrooms and other goodies--there were 5 small abalones, which I thougt wa spretty impressive for $17.
I then got the signature Broiled Sake Marinated Alaskan Black Cod and Shrimp Dumplings in Shiso Broth and it was fantastic. We had this years ago at Terra, their sister restaurant in St. Helena, and have fond memories now refreshed. Light with intense flavor served with a Volnay, surprisingly appropriate. My last entree was Kurabata pork chop with a foie gras sauce, very tender, very delicious. Sheila's last course was Chawan-Mushi, a Japanese custard with urchin and mushrooms and geoduck clam-- I believe one should never pass up an opportunity to try chawan-mushi-- texturally comforting but with wonderful flavors and this one is a must.
I had a peach hand pie with a vanilla shake for dessert and Sheila had green tea affogato poured over pistachio ice cream, both great. The affogato was refreshing and felt cleansing, a nice touch after an intense meal. The pie had a light, crispy buttery crust with many chunks of peach, yummy. My dessert wine was an Adelsheim late harvest Pinot Noir. Ahh, glorious dining and an apt celebration.

And speaking of peaches, the next morning we stopped by the Sentinel at 50 New Montgomery, a take-out counter run by Dennis Leary, owner-chef at Canteen, another great SF place. We had a terrific piece of cinamonny coffee cake while we waited for the peach muffins to come out of the oven. The lovely muffin was filled with chunks of fresh peach. Both were great comfort foods. We wanted to return for lunch but the line was too long and we had to get our car before I got a ticket. After breakfast we went to SFMOMA and really enjoyed the Avedon show. Also saw the Georgia O'Keefe and Ansel Adams. I know we're supposed to idolize O'Keefe but I don't. But Adams is always great.

Here's my SF parking secret. If you're coming after 2 PM, drive to Glen Park and find a 4 hour space then take BART into town. $3.50 round trip is a lot cheaper than parking if you're going to Union Square area. Since we were staying the night, we had to get back by 1 PM to take advantage of the 4 hour morning parking. It worked out great with easy freeway access. This time I took Bosworth to Mission and we stopped for lunch at Joe's Cable Car for an excellent burger and patty melt. The burger is $9 and melt is $12 so it ain't cheap, but the burgers are fresh-ground and organic so they are special. And Joe is right there as he has been for 40 years. I was watching the in-house butcher cut up beautiful beef to be ground up for our enjoyment. Nice.

Delfina and Luna Park

noreply@blogger.com (Ned Himmel) — Wed, 02 Sep 2009 15:18:00 +0000

At this moment at this time, life is great. Sheila and I are celebrating our 30th anniversary today, retirement is going well, and good things about the book keep happening. Both kids are in much improved situations and the dog is a delight. I got fitted for a demo hearing aid and the sounds are flowing in. Who could ask for anything more?
And life was made ever more grateful-inducing with a really terrific dinner at Delfina, the ever-popular Mission Italian on 18th near Gerrero. Dear, deeply dear friends Ellen and Neal took us there for retirement & anniversary celebration. Sevice is always perfect, everyone is nice, they serve Tartine bread (ask for it); it's just as a star restaurant should be. The food: Grilled calamari is their standard appetizer and it was terrific as ever with cannellini beans and the grilled sardines were plump and bursting with sea flavor. Too bad Neal doesn't like sardines so we had to eat his portion. A hand-stretched FRESH mozzarella with heirloom tomato salad was sublime, a perfect dish to share.
Then I had rosemary tagliatelle with a guinea hen ragu, like a lighter but more flavorful bolognese. It was great. The gnocchi were also lovely as was the fregnacce (strips of pasta) with Louisiana white shrimp. As an aniversary gift, they brought an order of the chicken tortellini, light and simply sauced. Again too bad that N&E don't eat meat so Sheila and I were forced to eat them. How we suffered!
We ordered the profiteroles to share and as a bonus they brought the lemon panna cotta which was sublimely wonderful. My mouth is watering writing about it. The profiteroles were very nice too, light but crispy shells filled with espresso ice cream.
And all accompanied by a smooth, fruity, yet dry Barbera d'Alba. Thank you E&N for a truly great meal and that wasn't all--a comfy terry cloth robe and slippers for my days of leisure.

A drinking note: Before dinner Sheila and I stopped at Luna Park (Valencia and 18th) for their justifiably famous mojito. I've been there 4-5 times and the mojito is always perfect. Well-balanced, lots of lime, mint, and just sweet enough. How do they do it. I asked. The lovely bartender said she muddles not only the mint but the lime. Could be the secret!

Banyan Tree-- deal of the week

noreply@blogger.com (Ned Himmel) — Sat, 29 Aug 2009 05:26:00 +0000

After meeting Andy for a hike around the Don Edwards National Wildlife Refuge in Fremont we had lunch at the Banyan Tree in Union City. The refuge, by the way, was fairly cool on a hot day with bay breezes and it's so wonderfully peaceful, even seeing the cars zoom by on 84. Continue on 84 East as it becomes Decoto Road and turn left just past Alvarado-Niles Road to a small shopping cenetr where Banyan Tree is (1771 Decoto, 510-324-8506). Sheila and I have been there for dinner and she reviewed it for the Merc. It's even talked about in Hungry. But I hadn't been there for lunch. They have an amazing assortment of $5 lunches. Wow. Soup, rice, choice of entree, and then sweet red bean soup. I had Singaporean fried pampano , a whole small fish in a chili, garlic, tomato sauce, so good. Andy had Thai salmon, which was not as good, although the sweet, sour, and spicy sauce was nice. These guys across the aisle had pork belly in taro sauce, which loked great and was as generous a portion as the entree portion at Flour + Water (see below) at $21. I've got to return to try more dishes; nothing to lose at $5. We also had their fine roti canai, crispy, wispy flat bread with a nice curry sauce at only $3.25.

Flour + Water

noreply@blogger.com (Ned Himmel) — Fri, 28 Aug 2009 05:04:00 +0000

Had a fine meal at Flour + Water a new in-place at Harrison and 20th deep in the Mission. They only take reservations for 1/2 the restaurant so you can take your chances without one. We got there at 6:15 and were told they just had the first sitting so it would probably be 45 minutes. There were 2 parties with kids so they might be quicker. Since A&S were not meeting us there until 6:30 it didn't seem bad. And the receptionist was really nice-- she called me Ned as she gace progress reports. We had nice glasses of wine and waited it out. What's nice is they just add the wine to the overall bill instead of having to pay twice. Very nice Italian wine list-- had a very pleasant Rosato for $6.50. When we got seated after 55 minutes, we had already studied the menu and knew what to order and everything was great. My favorite was lamb's tongue salad with slices of fingerling potatoes in a mustard sauce with poached egg. Also had fresh heirloom tomato salad with sweet corn and a ricotta-filled fried squash blossom with a bite for each of us.
We then stuck with primi and skipped secondi, saving room for dessert. The pizza bianco with speck and arugula was very nice with a crisp thin crust. Then 2 pastas, a papardelle with lamb sagu in a tomato-based sauce and a pesto corzetti pasta. And we got a side of the roasted tomoatoes which were sublime. We asked for bread to sop up all juices. I could have eaten the plates too. We had a reasonably priced Barbera d'Asti at the table.
And then dessert. An incredible chocolate budino sprinked with sea salt and topped with a big wallop of espresso whipped cream. Perfect texture with a deep chocolate flavor. And a nice berry crostado.
The menu changes constantly it seems but everything seemed at the height of its season. We thought the service was great, that our server loved the fact we loved the food. And we were seated towards the back so it was about the quietest of the new popular and noisy restaurants. We got one of the tables with a kid, but the other table didn't leave until 1/2 way through ours. How rude! (415) 826-7000, http://www.flourandwater.com/