Archive for January 2017
Rounding out the Holidays in SF
t says: Because we pre-Holiday’d on the east coast, g and I were prepared for a relaxed time here in SF for real-Christmas. Wanting to jazz it up and try something we had never made by ourself, I scoured the Safeway coupons until I landed on a one-day sale of NY Strip Roast. I was determined. We were going to roast a big-ass hunk of meat and not overcook it. Mission: Not-Overcooked commenced …
I realize now that I don’t have the typical blog-worthy extreme-close-up view of the roast. And while this herb-and-mayo-crusted Strip looks like medium-well here, it was a perfect medium in real life (I know, I know – blasphemy to have medium and not medium-rare!). Accompanied by some broccoli and parsnip as well as a parmesan-Brussels-sprouts stuffed baked potato, g put on a wonderful show, having cooked the entire meal by herself (I did pre-cut all the ingredients the night before so she could pretend she was on a cooking show – I worked during the day on Christmas). That meat with the 2010 Tor Rock Syrah that you see above (review here) was absolutely incredible. g and I have cooked a fair number of meals in our time, but only a handful of times have we stepped back and gone, “damn, that’s like restaurant-quality good”. This was one of those times.
We also did a dinner out at Nopa for our “splurge” Christmas meal (not on Christmas). Defrayed by j’s generosity, g and I were super-excited to finally make it there (I had to make a reservation at exactly when the reservation window opened). While normally we’d be happy to not BYO, we felt like for Christmas, it needed to be special. Additionally, it was our 9.5 year anniversary!!! So g and I pulled out our last bottle of Alexana Block 7 from our 2013 visit to OR, and the restaurant fairly charged us corkage. For the record, the wine was fabulous – drink it if you got it.
Brussels sprouts. The “it” food of 2010-2012. Fry it up, toss something salty on it, and boom: instant praise. Who knew? But now those venerable sprouts have lost their sex appeal – people prepare Brussels sprouts at home with little effort or thought, making it as commonplace as broccoli. Well these aren’t those sprouts. These are Sprouts 2.0. Persimmon and a slightly sweeter sauce with nutty (pecan?) accents for texture and savory, it was a celebration of the taste of the Brussels sprout, not a masking with bacon or soy sauce. Amazing!
A parade of dishes included a papparedelle (perfectly composed – every aspect), the best duck breast I’ve had in years, and, the surprising star of dinner: broccoli. Yes that’s right. They had the audacity to serve us broccoli (we had the audacity to order it). And out in came – these huge staves of broccoli that sang out kind of like how the Brussels sprouts did: celebrate me – I’m broccoli, damnit! I don’t know how they did it. The char was perfect, the breadcrumbs were perfect, and to this day, that lemon-anchovy sauce has mocked every next time I’ve made broccoli at home (they should bottle that sauce!). Nopa really nailed it – now I understand why the waitlist is full!
But wha would life be without another ramen post? Enter Waraku, a ramen joint in Japantown. With the tonkotsu deluxe in front of me, I dove into a creamy soup base. While the texture of the silky broth was great, I have to say that after having been to so many ramen joints, this bowl was a bit unremarkable. The veggies were of “meh” flavor/crunchiness. The meat was “fine”, with appropriate texture, but didn’t pack the punch I was expecting. The noodles were a bit bland. Now this is me being a bit nitpicky. If this was a nearby place, convenient to home, I’d eat there all the time – it’s not a bad bowl at all! It’s just not my favorite! I hear that Ramen Yamadaya, the newcomer around the corner, is also all-the-rage!! We’ll have to try it!
We did also venture some Korean shave ice at a next-door Korean cafe. It was a nice frozen treat, but could have used a bit more red bean to fix the proportion a bit. We’ll do some more shaved ice investigation.
g and I were gifted a Feastly meal featuring Shio ramen (thanks again, j!!). With two home-turned-professional cooks behind the helm (an adorable husband-and-wife team), we were excited to taste the “lighter” “subtle” ramen that is Shio (a first for me!)
There were a few introductions, including a torched Caesar salad – which added a nice charred flavor to the romaine. I might have to blow-torch all my salads.
This ramen was delicious. The highs include a wonderfully vivid broth, accented with a few pickles and scallions – quite nice. The ham and chicken slices (sous vide) were oh so buttery smooth. I think that really, the weakest component was the noodle – it was a bit thick and a bit bland.
East Coast Holiday Interlude
t says: g and I decided that the best time to run east for the holidays was the few weeks before Christmas – the flights were just so much cheaper! It was a great visit, with good times had with friends and family. Here are some food-related highlights:
Oh yes – here it is: Talula’s Table!! Now, we’ve been to the Table a few times before, each time enjoying the parade of farm-to-table dishes, beautifully composed and riding the balance of “homey” and “contemporary American”. This experience was no different. Now, there were a ton of courses, ranging from the three fabulous amouse bouche, a welcome gruyere gougere (still sooooo good), and those mentioned above. Each of us had our favorites (we went with a and v and a’s parents) … but because I’m in front of the computer, we’re going to focus on mine:
The sous-vide egg. By the Table’s standards, this dish is a bit more hoidy-toidy than their usual dishes, but it was totally worth it. The egg was custardy-creme-brulee smooth, accented with strong salty (bacon, chicken skin) and bitter (greens) flavors. It was incredibly simple but got the job done, setting us up for a fabulous meal. Sure, the rest of the meal was solid, but if I had to pick one of those to have again, it would be this one.
Although g and I have our faves in Philly, we had to tackle a few new[-to-us] restos as well. This one is only “kinda” new: Kanella Grill. Back in the day, the original Kanella was one of our favorite Philly BYOs – one of our “go-to’s” for anyone visiting the city who wanted to really experience the “Philly” we love. Well that Kanella moved, while the old location now houses “Kanella Grill”. Dedicated to a more casual lunch-ish kebab-centric menu, we were psyched to taste all that is Cypriot lunch … Above is g’s lamb shwarma hiding in pita, Greek salad, and some pickled vegetables. I went for the gyro. Let’s just say that both were delicious: tender meat, a bit of toasting on the pita, and great vegetables. Overall, I feel that it was on the order of greatness of Souvla in SF. Kanella Grill lightens it up with the bright crunchy veggies (i.e. afterwards, we could both still walk), whereas Souvla hits you heavy and hard (i.e. afterwards, we experience food coma). Both are smile-inducing …
But really, the star of Kanella Grill was the hummus. It was just so crazy. Now keep in mind: this is not Zahav hummus. This is not Dizengoff hummus. This is Kanella Grill hummus. It was unrefined, a bit chunky, and a bit of a mess in appearance, with roughly chopped parsley. But it was just so damn good – something in that mix of spices that I can’t even explain. That, mixed with the blistered pita was sublime.
The last resto worth mentioning on our visit with DuBu Tofu house up near Elkin’s Park / Cheltenham. Probably the best soondubu I’ve had yet, this kimchi stew was hot and spicy, with perfectly soft tofu and bits of meat. I was sweating like grandpa by the end of it, but with the spice-induced endorphins running through my brain, my euphoric grin brought out laughs from g: “you’re crazy”. The galbi was fine, the dolsot bibimbap was fine, but let’s face it: the soondubu was the star.
As you can tell, we had a lot of great food during our visit. I wish there was one more place I could mention, but I can’t … because they refused to serve us. Well – they refused to serve some of us. g, a, v and I wanted to go toHungry Pigeon. g and I had heard so many great things, and a is a Hungry Pigeon veteran. We (the four of us) rolled in at 10:51 (exactly), when the lady behind the counter, upon seeing us enter, announced that breakfast would be over at 11 (that’s why I know the time – I got scared and looked at my phone). Scared we’d miss breakfast, we immediately got in line behind a woman with a very convoluted drink order (it was 10:56 by the time she finished). I ordered for g and me and paid using my credit card and signed. I took one step to the side to allow a to the counter so he could order for himself and v. The woman announced that breakfast was over (it was 10:59 – I checked my phone). a was dumbstruck. He thought it was a joke, but the hipster-glass-wearing barista deadpanned. She offered up only silence and an empty stare. No “sorry”, no apologies, nothing. Not even a “you could buy something from our lunch menu” (actually I don’t know if we could or not – I don’t know when lunch officially starts) or “we have some yummy pastries” or anything. Just a robotic emptiness. We pleaded, as we had all come in together and were in line promptly, but nothing. I had no choice but to cancel my order (what was I going to do? eat my breakfast in front of a and v?). I actually wonder if she would have stopped me in mid-order had I attempted to order food for the four of us. Afterwards, I did tweet at them to see if such Seinfeldian-soup-nazi rule was a “real” thing, and got a response directly from @hungry_pigeon indicating that “she was right. Lunch starts at 11. Sorry, we make no exceptions”. Bummer. I hate it when that Cinderella-at-midnight moment happens and the carriage turns into a pumpkin and the cooks get amnesia and all the ingredients necessary to make a breakfast bowl and an avocado toast instantly spoil (that brown rice porridge must be very temperamental!). Although we left Hungry Pigeon still hungry, we were rescued by nearby South Street Philly Bagels and invited to enjoy them inside Ox Coffee – how civilized of them! Now, I’m not sure if I’m over-reacting by vowing to never go to Hungry Pigeon ever again, but being as we don’t live in Philly, I’m pretty sure it’s a vow I can keep.
after dinner sneeze 