Snippets

I've lived in SF for a long time, but here are some overdue firsts that I've had within the last month or so:

Sanddabs and cioppino at Tadich

Cap + NYT at farm:table, popovers and afternoon tea at Nieman's

Chicken pho at Turtle Tower, $45 porchetta prix fixe + wine pairing at Jardiniere (ok meal, incredible value)

Nopalito
Primo Patio
Liang Mama's House
Chinese banquet at Kirin
Drinks at Trad'r Sam
Emmy's Spaghetti Shack
Sandbox Bakery
Sightglass

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Rumpus!

Empanadas from El Porteno while waiting for wild things (chicken and cheese were our favorites)

Tanto, a nontraditional izakaya (I prefer Oyaji): simmered sea urchin w/ egg, roasted rice balls w/ roe

Chili/slaw burger at Five; bad choice of platter.


PI flood relief: Brazilian coconut stew that tasted like Thai curry, chicken + waffles from Little Skillet (I don't know what spices they used, but combined with the syrup, I swear this tasted like peanut butter).


Brisket from Bakesale Betty (pre-stuffed with chips), view of the bay

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The Dining Room

Every year after Thanksgiving, my family usually eats at a fine dining establishment to celebrate both my mom's and my birthdays. Last year it was Aqua, and this time, after recs from quite a few friends, we decided to venture to the Ritz Carlton. Our family is very talkative and loud, and although the restaurant scene is a bit more lax in the bay area than, say, nyc, I found the Dining Room really stuffy and a bit too fancy shmancy for my taste. The ambience felt stiff and embarassingly quiet, and I think half the room was listening to our inane conservations. Sure, the chairs were ridiculously throne-like and plush, but they were definitely comfortable seats for our 3-hr ride.

All that aside, we were all extremely impressed by our meal. We each got the "Salt and Pepper" tasting menu - eight courses of dishes spotlighting varieties of (you guessed it) special salts and peppers. With 3 delicious amuse bouches to start (chicken empanada, sea urchin panna cotta, and caviar + the most perfect quail egg ever), we were already wowed with what they had to offer.

Foie, Sea urchin panna cotta, and the Caviar + Quail Egg on a vessel full of smoke (there's a better picture of that here)

Every dish was executed almost perfectly. The poultry course was a poussin (young chicken) that was so Californian in its simplicity, but you could really taste all the ingredients in their own light. The only real disappointment was the wagyu that came with a $30 supplement. I asked for rare (my mom, medium rare), and I'm not sure how they cooked it, but it tasted like it was deep-fried and my cut tasted overcooked and really just like fat. I must've gotten a bad cut or something, because my mom's actually tasted like meat, although you wouldn't be able to tell it was wagyu. Regardless, not worth it. The ribeye with bone marrow was much tastier and overall had better complementary sides.

Wagyu, Ribeye, and the Poussin

Desserts weren't as impressive as the rest of the meal, but they were still done well. At the end of the meal, I decided that this was probably the best fine dining meal I've had in SF!

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Bar Crudo

I pass by this tiny nob hill "modern raw bar" every day on my way to work. It's been in the Chronicle's Top 100 for the last two years, and my friend suggested going there after reading some positive reviews. Taking some queues from yelpers (despite my disdain for yelp in general, I still skim reviews to see any ordering trends), we ordered the crudo sampler (left), the lobster + beet salad (right), and halibut cheeks (not pictured). They actually gave pretty fair pieces of fish in the sampler, but the flavor combinations weren't anything astounding. The halibut was quite impossible to eat - bones everywhere and barely any meat.

I think the only thing worth going back for would be the lobster and beet salad - light and refreshing, even with the chunks of buttery burrata. Sharing the salad between two people, with some $9 (seriously) Hitachinos would be a nice afternoon snack!

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Michael Mina: Proof That Breakfast is the Best Meal of the Day

335 Powell Street (& Geary, inside the Westin St. Francis hotel)
(415) 397-9222

Fine Dining, Contemporary American in Union Square

Located in Union Square's fancy shmancy Westin hotel, this restaurant is known for its trios. We went for my dad's birthday, and in true family fashion we tried to cover all our bases. Service was good, ambiance nice although loud since it's an open space to the hotel lobby, and the food was good. Ah, the food. I'd say it redeemed the more disappointing fine dining meals that I've had in the last year, thanks to the pastry department (even though their pastry chef is vegan...).

Amuse:
- sea urchin custard w/ dashi gelee + rice crispy ball things: buttery and smooth
- fried crab ball w/ pickled vegetables: nice chunk of crab, but mine was soggy
- eel on top of stuff I don't remember: fishy

Apps:
- (mine) American kobe + foie shabu shabu: I'm sick (I should really be asleep right now) so I wanted something soupy. It was aiiight
- scallops: small! my sister and aunt liked 2/3
- watercress stuff: my uncle said it was just ok
- foie: seemed like it was the winner at the table

Shabu shabu, halibut w/ lobster pot pie in the background

Entrees:
- duck: I was surprised that in all 3 parts the duck was cooked the same way (seared), although one of them did include a confit. It was cooked very nicely though - juicy and tender.
- halibut: big disappointment. I don't think fish should be poached! That reminds me of when Richard from Top Chef did his crappy sous vide salmon
- Beef: I didn't try it, but my dad said it was interesting
- Lobster pot pie: crowd-pleasing table-side presentation. Nice rustic copper pot with the pie crust, cut open, then plated meticulously in front of us. Compared to how it actually tasted... presentation wins out hands down
- Lamb: I didn't try it, but my uncle finished it before I was even done with the second portion of my duck!

breakfast for dessert, the "mission," frozen bon bons (hazelnut + chocolate, green tea + white chocolate)

Desserts: THE BIG WINNER (their website has the current menus with full detail)
- "Mission": the most incredibly silky flan, a tres leches guava cake, and a mole pudding (I could really only taste the Mexican chocolate so it didn't really feel like a mole to me)
- "Breakfast": a tangy yogurt mousse, a fun milk + cereal, and a french toast w/ maple syrup ice cream (my least favorite of the trio)
- "PB sandwich": There were a lot of components to this dish, but the most interesting was a sourdough ice cream, that didn't really taste like sourdough to me. Not sure how they made it
- "Chocolate + flowers": didn't try it

The creativity of this restaurant really shined through their dessert menu, regardless of how biased I might seem. That's probably the best dessert I've had in a long time!

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$20,000 cup of coffee x 2

Note: I wrote this the day the cafe opened (23Jan08), but I had to wait for the pictures to post. These were taken from Alice's camera phone! Such good quality for a phone. And here's a chat from today:

[13:34] alice: i went to blue bottle again
[13:34] alice: and had the kyoto iced coffee
[13:34] alice: I'M AN ADDICT
[13:34] katwork: are you serious??
[13:34] katwork: with who?
[13:34] alice: my friend
[13:34] alice: lalalalalalal
[13:34] alice: i love coffee

Spoken like a true crack fiend.

So today was the opening of the new Blue Bottle Cafe at the Mint Plaza. I normally wouldn't care that much, but there was a NYTimes article about their new machine, the "siphon," and it dramatically described their brewed coffee as the greatest thing next to sliced bread. I am not a coffee connoisseur whatsoever, so I was fully expecting to not even be able to tell the difference.

Alice and I trekked over to the shady Mint Plaza, and after a good 5 minutes of being confused, we finally found our way to the happenin new space that is no longer a kiosk. There were 3 roasts from the siphon bar that we could choose from, and each was served with a different treat. At roughly $10 each, I went for the $11 Nicaraguan brew, and Alice the Ethiopian. I really just chose mine based on the snack that was served with it (Miette toffee). Not until later did we realize that each pot can serve 3 cups. Whoops! But $20+ worth of coffee? We might as well try more than one. Also to our surprise, we HAD to drink it there - you can't take it to go. There wasn't an explanation as to why, but I can make up my own: drinking it 30 seconds after brewed in a glass cup enhances your experience, as opposed to drinking it all out of a paper cup. Am I right???



Since the siphon can only make 5 "pots" at a time, we had a little while to wait and take pictures. There was also a taller and more ostentatious display of a machine that made slow-drip [iced?] coffee that took about an 8-hr process according to one guy. I won't really go into detail about the machine itself since the article is pretty thorough. But yeah, those Japanese. "They must have nothing better to do," says Alice.

Iced coffee machine

So my pot was exactly as the article described - juicy and sweet. "Juicy" is probably the best description I can think of for this coffee experience. I'm also the type of person who adds a ton of cream and sugar to my coffee (I like to drink coffee as if it's melted coffee ice cream from Haagen Daz), but I was able to sip this brew black without making a face as if something died in my mouth. It also tasted pretty much the same after I added cream and sugar... and I don't know if it's because there might have been residual undissolved sugar at the bottom of the cup, but towards the end it lost its "juiciness" and felt more on the creamy side.

Alice's Ethiopian brew, on the other hand, was distinctly different in taste - very fruity with hints of blueberry, according to the menu. Unlike the Nicaraguan roast, this one lost its flavor once we added cream and sugar. Alice preferred this one, and ended up drinking more even after she started feeling dizzy. Anything with caffeine (e.g. coffee, soda, red bull, etc) usually has no effect whatsoever on me, but after 2 cups, I started feeling light-headed, and even as I'm writing this 4 hours and one bathroom visit later, my head still hurts. That must be some potent stuff!

Despite having to drink the coffee there, we were able to take the rest back with us. Now I'm not really sure what to do with it, since it gave me a headache... but it's $11 coffee! Sacrifices will have to made this time. My health (sanity??) is more important! You win this round, Blue Bottle!

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Masa's

648 Bush St. (between Powell & Stockton)
(415) 989-7154

French in Union Square area

When you first enter this restaurant, the decor is nice and warm, but something's a little off. The chairs are printed and the fresh roses add to the feminine touch, but the black drapes and the red modern lanterns don't quite fit in... it's like the room is having an identity crisis. Regardless, the chairs were really comfy =)

Food: they welcomed us with a warm mini cheese grougiere (cheese puff) accompanied with a cherry squash soup with brown butter - the first sip is all butter. Talk about heart attack waiting to happen. They have an interesting variety of breads - sourdough, olive, and raisin (the olive was good if you like salty foods). They also gave us another amuse bouche, which was a shrimp mousse (custard-like goodness).

You have the option of the 3-, 4-, 6- or 9-course menu, and we all opted for the 4-course. First course, we shared the crab louis (nothing special), hamachi sashimi, and the veal sweetbreads (glands... they had really good flavor, though some bites were a bit too reminiscent of liver, which i hate). Second course, we had sea bass (good, but lacked really strong flavor), celery ravioli (good, strong flavor), and the scallops. The scallops were by far the best dish in the entire meal - they were seared perfectly, and accompanied with a buttery risotto pancake (incredibly unhealthy but soo goooood). Frenchies really like their butter.

For main course, we had the beef short ribs, stuffed quail with truffles, and the lamb. The lamb was good but could have been more moist, and the short ribs were... gooey. It was weird. The quail was good, but difficult to eat because of all the small bones (maybe I just need to take a class on how to cut it up). For dessert, we had the lemon chiffon (flavorless and very disappointing), the "cracker jax" which was a popcorn and chocolate cake (good), the "coffee bar" which was a sponge cake with dollops of coffee-esque creams and foams (I only liked one of the foams), and the huckleberry blinis. The blinis (like mini pancakes) were divine, I must say. Light, fluffy, but bite-sized and contained. Mmmmmmm

Overall, this dining experience was enjoyable (good food and good company are always good. hehe), but I don't think I will ever come back. It just wasn't worth the money ($105/person). La Folie was a LOT better, and $20 cheaper. If you want classy French food, you should go there instead.

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