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"Ireland's proverb says- There are two things in the world that can't be joked: 1. Marriage 2. Potato"
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South San Francisco, CA
Yelping SinceSeptember 2006
Find Me Insoluble
My Hometownhas great hoochies
My Blog Or Website When I'm Not Yelping...I'm having a Madeline soaked with tea
Why You Should Read My Reviewsbecause I can cut exactly 17g of butter off of a stick in one try
My Second Favorite Websiteisn't updated enough
The Last Great Book I ReadAnyone Can Cook
My First ConcertUmm, Lea Salonga?
My Favorite MovieBeerfest, Le Mans, Hudson Hawk, Big Night
My Last Meal On Earthsteak frites, sauce bernaise, and a nebuchadnezzar of Krug '85
Most Recent DiscoveryElizabeth Cawdry Thomas
Current Crushsniff
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South San Francisco, CA…
(650) 873-9000
New England Lobster
Categories: Seafood, Seafood Markets
Who knew that *the* lobster importer was right in my backyard? If there's any doubt, you can even see the airplane containers sitting right outside the warehouse or take a peek at the massive tanks they have inside...they come in 3-4x a week so you know that the lobster you take home hasn't been sitting in a tank for a week or more. Just be sure you get there before 2pm...since this is a wholesale operation that happens to allow for retail sales.
Also, here's where I've learned that the best way to store lobster is not on ice, or submerged in water...they prefer to sit under wet newspaper with an ice pack on top. Keeps them happy for hours.
Definitely one of the best kept food secrets in the bay.
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New York, NY 10002
(212) 566-6933
Lan Zhou Handmade Noodle
Category: Chinese
Neighborhood: Manhattan/Chinatown
There's no question that these noodles are hand-pulled to order, as you can watch them thump, twist and pull your noodles right on the spot. They're tasty, with a very light amount of chew (or Q as many are apt to call it). I'm guessing that they do not use any alkali elements (kansui or lye water) in making their noodles. Alkali water is often what gives noodles chewiness...and is also responsible for truly great bagels, pretzels, as well as properly steamed char siu bao. It's also what gives West Coast noodle houses such as QQ in Fremont, CA or Four Seasons in San Jose, CA the current edge in this niche hand-pulled noodle market.
The dumplings were also quite tasty, and I still long to see a place on the West Coast that makes an NYC-style filling. I can't quite place my finger on it, but there's a distinct difference between SF bay area pork and chive filling and that of NYC. The east coast filling tends to be a bit more pink and is more likely to have "fresh pork" taste. And it's not just in my head, since I've smuggled some NYC dumplings all the way home to do some side-by-side comparisons. (yes, I know, full on, plastic on the carpet, cray-cray). In any case, I still prefer Fried Dumpling for their guotie, but LZ's are definitely no slouch.
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San Francisco, CA 94108
(415) 296-7465
The Dining Room
Category: American (New)
Neighborhood: Nob Hill
Four stars from Michael Bauer?
1 Michelin Star?
First and only American to beat an Iron Chef on the original show?
1999 Food & Wine Magazine Best New Chef?
Opening sous-chef of The French Laundry?
210 reviews, 4.5 star average, and 70% of the reviews 5 stars?
Forget all of that...
What he's doing today, the food he puts out each night...that is Ron Siegel's greatest achievement. (well alright, he's also got one of the best mustaches in the biz as well...but anyways)
This place is criminally underrated.
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From my perspective however, Slow Food Nation as a whole event turned out much better than I expected. Perhaps it was luck, perhaps it was because I was pretty focused in how I wanted to experience the event, but all in all I wasn't bothered in the least by the structure of the events or the crowds.
Going into things, I was certainly concerned about the cost of the event. I'm very willing to pay for the true value of an event and even more so for foods that are rare treats. But after spending $20 on the "Re-localizing food" panel, and an additional $65 on the Sunday AM taste pavilion...I was beginning to worry if I could ever re-coup the value of my ticket dollar. I would've loved to partake in more events...but I had definitely hit my budget limit.
My first encounter with SFN08, as I mentioned, above was the "re-localizing" food panel with Michael Pollan, Dan Barber, Gary Nabhan, and Winona LaDuke. Moderated by James Oseland (editor of Saveur, and author of the best Indonesian Cook book I've encoutered), it stayed lively throughout the almost 2 hour duration. Each panelist had distinct perspectives...and even though some had very strong personal agendas, there were some great stories told. (you've got to hear the one about Dan's new favorite foie gras)
After the panel I headed off to the Civic Center Plaza for the most accessible of the events. Strange as it may sound, I was at first somewhat dismayed that I was seeing mostly local participants. Many local restaurants and farms were represented, but I wasn't too excited to see many folks that I can visit at the Ferry Building Farmers Market. Yes, local and sustainable are important, but I had thought that Slow Food meant championing the local foods of every area. I simply would've liked to have seen representatives from more states in the Union. One of my favorite aspects of the Slow Food organization is its "Ark of Taste." I would have loved a greater focus on food from the ark. Sure, it would be ridiculous to ship fresh produce from all over the country, but in lieu of that, maybe there could've been more educational displays about the foods made outside of the SF bay area? Luckily though, there was one corner with Benton's ham, Salumi Artisan Cured Meats, and tastes of other parts of the country...and that for me was the highlight of the Civic Center plaza. More so than just consuming food because it's delicious...when it comes to some of the rarer slow foods, by choosing to eat them, we make sure that they will continue to be produced in the future.
Sunday, I headed to the Taste Pavilion at Fort Mason, and having been warned by a friend who went to the Sat PM session, I came prepared. And while I did encounter a few monster lines...they, for the most part, moved efficiently. The four block line to enter the pavilion went by in a flash, but I suppose it helped that I had everyone's favorite teachers to pass the time with. The cheese line going out of the venue doors had me nervous, but it too moved with uncanny swiftness. Real lines greeted me at the wine and ice cream pavilions...but I survived with tasty treats. Maybe my appetite is just smaller than others, but I had plenty of slowbucks leftover after having eaten more than enough food. We had plenty of time to go back to each pavilion just to take in the displays and gain some depth after having sampled the goods.
All this talk about value for the $$, crowds and quantity of food eaten is something I normally don't discuss since it's such an individual judgment. However, despite my desire for greater diversity in the offerings, Slow Food Nation delivered more than enough great food moments and on top of that I learned a ton.
All of that going on...and I didn't even get to talk about the food. Hopefully, that won't be the case with my next Slow Food Nation review...because that's what should've been center stage the whole time: slow food and the people who make it with real care.
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http://www.yelp.com/bi...
Old-school style restaurant with modern twists is how I'd characterize El Paseo. "flirts with classic and contemporary culinary trends" is Dan V's way of putting it. If I were trying to take it further, I'd say that it's a good classical French restaurant in Japan...but happens to be in Mill Valley. And while at first blush that might sound like a trainwreck, the result is a unique and wholly exciting place to enjoy a meal.
The setting and service definitely have an old-school French vibe to it. Servers are dressed in vests and aprons and move and fuss about like you might imagine the grandes dames de la cuisine of another era. In more recent terms, think Gary Danko without the camp. Everyone was friendly, helpful, professional and more than accommodating. And all seemed to have confidence that they were taking part in something special.
The preparations too are deeply rooted in classical french cuisine...glazed veggies, careful saucing, individual terrines for the soup and so on. However, the food isn't some sort of time-capsule as it readily employs modern ideals. The egg that Dan describes combines both the old-school japanese dish of an onsen tamago (hot spring egg), with the modern preparation favored by Juan Arzak (who many consider a father of modern Spanish cuisine). The seared foie and ahi tartare courses sound like throwaways by description alone...but hold interesting elements that keep them from being culinary cliches. The kakuni really does take the best of both old-school japan and modern refinement. Best of all, the chef is not a slave to technique, but has a strong sense of flavor and the balance to harness it.
All is not roses though in Mill Valley as is to be expected with such a challenging venture. Our first amuse, a salmon creme gougere, was a failed first shot across the bow. As the first bite you eat, it sets the tone for what is to come, and plays an essential role in the meal. In this case however, I fear that the dish was prepared too far in advance and the choux pastry had picked up some off flavors. There can certainly be some improvement in how they expedite as well. We were informed that the kitchen was a little behind due to a confluence of orders...something that happens to kitchens all the time and is certainly forgivable, but in this case seemed a little puzzling with empty tables around us. In any case, the owner was acutely aware of what's going on, and I'm sure that they'll continue the process of refinement. There is no rest for the ambitious.
All in all, El Paseo has a great vision, and brings some unique cross-cultural elements to the table, and best of all they do it with elegance. If you've ever watched Hiroyuki Sakai on Iron Chef and gotten excited...this might be your only opportunity to experience something similar in the US. The Japanese and the French have a uniquely symbiotic culinary relationship, and it's one worth experiencing. Yes there are other restaurants that operate in both cuisines, but El Paseo is something very different.
It's obvious that Chef Takahashi and her husband want to take us to someplace special, the question then is...will we be open enough to let them?
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03/14/2007
So, imagine yourself and a couple of friends on a deserted island with nothing but the sea and some perfect palm trees to keep you company. What do you do? Sure, you could try to get off...[the island! the island! Tsk, tsk, you perv...call me?]. Or you could try to make do with what you've got. So, you start off just by chopping open a coconut, drinking the water, and eating the flesh, plain as can be. It's good...even really good the first few days, but then, you start experimenting....wha t if I roast the coconut? What if fry it in palm oil? What if I grind it up and serve it on a stick? The possibilities start to hit like bolts of lightning.
Well....replace coconut in this case with chicken and you get Sumika! (Yeah, that makes about as much sense to me as it does to you, it's okay, really!) Anyway, this place is a temple of chicken....To start, a fantastic chicken stock only rivaled by the consomme over at Neiman-Marcus' Rotunda. It's not as finely worked over, reduced and clarified like its French cousin, but the chicken flavor is pure and only lightly adorned with salt, pepper and a few bits of green onion--homey and refined all at the same time. The theme continues with perfectly cooked chicken karaage, grilled chicken thighs-salted just right- and tsukune. Each preparation is very simple which only highlights the quality of the chicken itself.
I followed up the grilled items with the oyakodon. Again, even the first bite of rice lets you know that they pay very strict attention to their ingredients. It's a formula that works in so many settings: the freshest ingredients, simply prepared and done with care. What else do you need? Okay...so they also carry a solid range of sakes, but I got all kinds of giddy when I saw Koshihikari Echigo on the menu. It's one of my favorite beers, period. I certainly hope more spots start carrying it.
*And now for a little PSA*
The only tick in this otherwise wonderful meal arises with their star ingredient-the chicken itself. Yes, the Petaluma Farms chickens are absolutely tasty....but please do not go in thinking that you're eating open-pastured, sustainably farmed, ethically raised chickens or eggs. Sure, they're organic and free range (free range in this case meaning they get to run around inside a coop, it doesn't mean that they go outside)...but if you dig a little into the farm itself, you'll find chicken coops that more closely resemble their industrial counterparts. It looks nothing like the picture on the box of eggs with the farmer, his wife and happy chickens in the yard.
In the end though it's a small gripe considering how difficult it actually is to find ideally raised chickens. In any case, better to know where your food comes from rather than live in blissful ignorance right? If you do care about such things, then check out ethicurian.com where Bonnie Powell does a lot of snooping around to separate the marketing hype from the food you eat. Of if you don't care...no worries, you can still enjoy a wonderful meal, prepared with a deft and well practiced hand at Sumika.Was this review …?
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1. Sourcing: The Mozz is pulled on the premises from curds coming from 35 miles away...which is made from milk that comes from 110 miles away, by a cheese maker who's been making the curds for 26 years... who learned it from his father who made it for 60 years....you get the picture. And while age and cheese are usually a good thing...when you're talking Mozz, it lives and dies on how fresh it is.
I did a little comparison with a certain food super-freak friend of mine a while back, and we both agreed that we preferred a local water-buffalo Mozz freshly delivered from 150mi away to that of a flown-in-from-Campangia Mozz. Even though it was several weeks away from its printed expiration date... The further flung Mozz was tired, rubbery and had watered-out in comparison.
Back to Picco's Mozz...there's just no question that it's absolutely fresh. This cows milk Mozz has a light and somewhat atypical tang to it, and even on a pizza I could very much taste the milk from which it came. It's nothing like the rubbery, flavor-muted balls that you and I buy at the fancy schmancy grocery stores.
This is a place where having pizza in different seasons WILL matter. And that's something wonderful.
2. The crust: Picco has created it's own style of crust, and I enjoy it. It definitely has Neapolitan roots, but achieves a unique lightness. You can actually taste the flavors unlocked from the flour, and they put a good char on it. They may have compromised a little on crispness...but I personally don't think that a super crispy crust should be the top priority of a pizza maker... at least not to the detriment of flavor or baking balance (I'll go into that in a bit). I'm pretty confident that that this pizza is the result of hundreds of iterations and tweaking, so appreciate what went into it...even if it isn't your favorite pizza.
3. The skill: Combine skilled hands with the right tools and you'll finally understand what it means to be an artisan. As no stranger to the weirdly obsessive world of pizza making...I can definitely appreciate the craftsmanship at Picco. In terms of the obvious, yes they have a real, wood burning oven....with logs even. It's not just another "looks like a wood burning oven, but has blue flames coming from it" operation. Also, they perfectly time the pizza making, our Margherita coming out just after we'd finished our plate of salumi and pickles and not a moment before. The crust comes out with real char (an essential for neapolitan lovers, but might be off putting to left coasters). You can see them briefly lift the pies into the blazing hot upper section of the oven to achieve proper balance. Pizza, at it's most basic, is a race between the crust and toppings. If one arrives at the finish line before the other, you'll either get a soggy pizza (Pazzia, Delfina) or a cracker with some fun toppings (Pizetta 211, Gialina). I still adore 3/4 of those pizzerias...but Picco trumps them all for balance.
Outside of the pizzas, they also have wonderful salumi. And while it could use a bit more age and some thinner slicing (personal preferences more than anything else), they had great flavors, and I was all over their pickled veggies. Also, it seems they've found a solution to the "lardo problem," namely the fact that people are skittish when confronted with pure, lean-free, cured pig fat. They now make their lardo with some lean...so you can think of it as a long-cured, un-smoked bacon. And while I'm a fan of purity, their version makes sense, and I wouldn't be surprised to see it pop up elsewhere in the future. Just add some smartly and simply made soft serve...and your meal's complete.
And so, while we're inevitably drawn to figuring out who makes the "best" pizza, personal preferences will always have the final say. Rather than just trying to emulate the "best" pizza from somewhere else though, Picco defines its own pie. It is its own creation, captures the beauty of local ingredients and is an expression of care from the people who make it.
Five Stars. Thanks Arnold G.!
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Matin Eberhard, the founder of Tesla, and the person who was the reason for my original review has finally received his baby.
http://teslafounders.w...
His post captures what has been a significant journey...both for him and for all of us who have been drooling over his idea for the past 2-3 years. The story is an important one...speed bumps and all.
Also, to ring in the new era, Tesla Motors opened up its dealership in Menlo Park on July 19th:
http://www.yelp.com/bi...
Here's to hoping that Tesla's current leadership can deliver the best car that they can.
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10/26/2006
ROTD 10/27/2006
First to Review
If the Tesla Roadster isn't a car that you haven't heard of before, you will soon enough. To cut to the chase, the Tesla Roadster is a fully electric car...but instead of focusing strictly on the goal energy efficiency, Tesla of San Carlos has decided to create a hot little sports car that can hang with it's gas-powered super car brethren. Tesla often talks about previous electric powered or energy efficient cars as being "punishment" cars- cars built by folks who think that we really shouldn't be driving at all. As such we get electric cars with limited range and horrible styling. However, Tesla feels that the key to actually popularizing an electric car lies in making it a "hot" car...not just hot for an electric car. After partnering with Group Lotus plc in the UK (makers of the Lotus Elise and Esprit), they produced this little beauty.
After having a bit of lunch down California Ave., a buddy noticed a little flyer for an electric-car club meet happening just a few blocks away at Palo Alto High School. Since I missed out on Tesla's public debut at the Pebble Beach Concours, ain't no way I was going to pass up this one. After finally seeing it in person, it is indeed a sexy beast. Folks that already know me know that I've got a little thing for the Elise, and the core chassis of that car serves the Tesla quite well.
For an electric car, or any car for that matter, weight is the enemy of energy efficiency and performance. And since the car is already saddled with 900lbs of Li-ION batteries, they had to make everything else as light as possible. As a result, the Tesla Roadster sits on a Lotus chassis that weighs about 125 lbs. It's then clothed almost completely in dry carbon fiber.
The car goes like hell too, getting from naught to sixty in "about 4 seconds" and a top speed of 130mph. It also has an effective range of about 250 miles. I had a chance to bug, er, pick the brains of several employees, and found that the longest single charge distance that the car has done in the real world was a trip from San Carlos to San Luis Obispo. As only engineering prototypes exist currently, it's tough to say what the final range will be.
In addition to the sexy car in front of me, and all of it's nice performance specs, one thing I noticed was just how fiercely passionate these guys were about the car that they are building and about their vision for the company. And not in the all too typical money hungry entrepreneurial sense, but in an almost religious quest sense. From the engine guy, to the electronics guy, all the way to Martin Eberhard the CEO, all of the Tesla Folks I met were full of stories and more than happy to answer the thousands of questions that people asked. From their love/hate run ins with Lotus (Several key Lotus folks have jumped ship for Tesla), to their adventures with engine parts manufacturing in Asia to their defense of IP and their current challenge of safety testing, there's a ton going on all at once.
What caught me off guard when I first heard about them is that this isn't just some shiny concept car never to reach the masses. The first production cars are set to hit the road in the second half of next year, and they've already sold out their first run off 100 "signature" cars to folks who've dropped the full $100K deposit. All told, they've received about 170 deposits thus far. After the first 200 cars are sold, they expect to drop the price of the car to around $85K. Following that, their next big task is to create a car with more doors and at an even lower price point. Maybe I really should think about getting a 220v line in my new garage?Was this review …?
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San Francisco, CA 94102
(415) 864-7654
Frjtz
Categories: Sandwiches, Creperies
Neighborhood: Hayes Valley
Still, like most folks out there, I've had fries in innumerable places...including the mission location and I've never run into this phenomenon before. Just a quick search reveals 4 reviews (out of 305 total) mentioning hairy fries at the mission location, while there are 4 mentions of hairs just on this first page of reviews (10 total mentions out of 478 reviews, and no I didn't count the review of the girl who goes to frjtz after getting her hair cut in the neighborhood).
Sorting by time, it looks like this hairy phenomenon has been going on since June and is a much bigger issue at the Hayes Valley location. Yes, it is still possible that this incidence is related to the particular variety of potato now in use (only?) at the Hayes Valley location. However, it would be worth Frjtz's time to take a second look at their operations and make sure that the conclusion is correct.
And beyond the hairy fries, a second look at the food service operations would be in order as the fries that I received had the distinct taste of cold potato. Instead of fluffy white insides on the fries, I was confronted by a brownish interior and compacted texture. The fries were certainly crisped in oil prior to service, but the interior tasted very much like biting into a batch of fries that I had fully cooked up and kept in the refrigerator overnight. This might be due to a bad freezer, refrigerator or fryolator thermostat, but without knowing how they go about their fries, I really can't hazard a guess.
Similarly, I had a spinach, tomato, onion and chicken salad, and it too tasted somewhat off. The spinach tasted like "refridgerator" and the chicken was cooked dry as a bone and flavorless. Again, if this were happening to me, I'd recheck temperatures at all steps of the food handling process.
Whatever the cause(s), these results should not be showing up on the plate...and I hope that Frjtz quickly figures out what might be going on.
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Lists
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This list is for the individual people behind the businesses...those who push…
You are what what you eat…
It's a small list for now, but over time, I'll be making this a guide to better…
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Dedicated to Bucky, here are my shittiest reviews! Enjoy!
Events
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Yves Saint Laurent Exhibit @ the DeYoung…
November 1 9:30 AM
What is less obvious is just how different Japanese knives are from their western counterparts. With the increasing popularity of Japanese knives...there's actually been an increase in confusion. There are actually two major lines of division for kitchen knives, the shape of the knife and the edge of the knife. Most will think of only the former when comparing knives, but I'd say that the latter is just as important if not more so. By way of example, here's how I'd break it down:
1. Western-made, Western style knives (traditional chef's knife, blade sharpened to 50:50)
2*. Western-made, Japanese-style (santouku and deba shape, 50:50 blade)
3. Japanese-made, Western style knives (gyuto, petty, etc., 70:30 blade)
4. Japanese-made, Japanese-style knives (yanagi, deba, etc, another style of blade that's a bit more complicated than just a ratio)
Its the latter two that are Korin's specialties, but for the purposes of most pro and non-pro cooks in this country, it's the Japanese-made Western style knife that is the most interesting. In this category, East meets West in the most practical manner. You get the superior cutting performance of the asymmetric Japanese edge, but with knife shapes that are more practical for western cooking (cause, really, do you need a dedicated octopus knife?). Also, the full-on Japanese knives are a whole different ballgame when it comes to sharpening and care...so unless you're only going to be cooking Japanese food...i'd stick to the Japanese-made Western Style knives.
So now you've got that great Western style knife with a Japanese edge...but do you know how to sharpen it? That's where Korin earns its 5th star. There's a very simple, but specific procedure for caring for and sharpening these asymmetric edges. If you use standard western sharpening techniques, you're likely to ruin the blade, or at the very least end up destroying the edge, which is the whole reason for going with this type of knife. The bad news is that there are very few people in the US who know how to properly care for these kinds of knives. I know, as I searched the bay area for a good 6 months for help with my knives but to no avail. The good news is that Korin, and its founder, Chiharu Sugai are evangelical about spreading the knowledge...
I recently attended a free workshop hosted by Chris Cosentino with Sugai-san as the feature. His presentation on how to sharpen a Japanese knife was invaluable, but his personal attention was a welcome surprise. After the main class was finished, he took the time to observe my sharpening technique and provide me with tips. I'd done a good amount of research beforehand so I wasn't totally green, but it was a real eye-opener to have a master's guidance. Before the workshop, my biggest concern was figuring out the correct angle to sharpen my edges. There are tons of tutorials and all kinds of products out there meant to help a person find the correct edge angle. However, within 3 minutes of hands-on instruction, Sugai-san taught me how to find the perfect angle intuitively and without the need for any other guides....
So, while the adage is true that "it's the wizard, not the wand," and no matter how fancy or crappy the knife, it's the hand that makes the cooking...having a properly cared for knife is pretty important. Good thing Korin and Sugai-san are doing their best to keep the method from being an impenetrable Japanese secret.
****
*just to make things more confusing, a few japanese knife firms have started making japanese shaped knives but with western edges...For the sake of simplicity, I'm just lumping them in category 2 since most are partnered with a Western knife maker.