Delicious Dervish

Boulevard’s coconut noodles sing at SF Chefs 2011 Sunday finale

2011-08-08T09:28:00.000-07:00

Taste buds of those who love food never grow tired of new eating experiences, so we made a final lap at Sunday’s final day at SF Chefs 2011. We went on one more jaunt around the grand tasting tent in Union Square for a sip of Illy’s perfect cappuccinos. We stopped for a quick hello and how are you to Elizabeth Faulker of Citizen Cake. We took in one last moment of people watching while drinking pomegranate juice in the crimson POM lounge. We took some bites of an unusual edible flower topped marshmallow on a stick and a creamy buttermilk pannacotta with nectarines.

Then, of course, the best dish of all appeared before us like our final culinary reward. At the Boulevard table, golden haired Chef Nancy Oakes stood in front, siren-like, greeting tasters. Boulevard’s dish, like the Embarcadero’s French inspired restaurant itself, was an elegant and refined treasure. Plated on a pressed bamboo square, the delicate nest of coconut milk flavored noodles with fresh crab meat on top sung sweetly on our tongues. Light and heavenly, this was certainly one of the best things we tasted at SF Chefs 2011.

Top Dishes from SF Chefs 2011 Saturday Grand Tasting

2011-08-07T08:24:00.000-07:00

The food tasting at SF Chefs 2011 in Union Square continued, with some delicious showings from some of San Francisco's best restaurants and some confusing ones as well. Here are some highlights form Saturday's Grand Tasting events.

Dishes that Had It

Lovely Chocolate Ganache Squares by The Moss Room
The pastry chef from the Moss Room at the Academy of Sciences in Golden Gate Park created delicate and beautiful squares of chocolate ganache. Like little mini cakes for tiny mice, they were quaint and artfully done. Few high pastry skills seemed to be showcased at SF Chefs 2011, so it was nice to see that someone brought some sugar artistry to the mix.

Grilled Paneer with Watermelon from Dosa
The creative South Indian restaurant brought an unusual bite for summer. A square of Indian cow's milk cheese, more famously known as paneer, sitting atop a larger square of refreshing, seasonal watermelon with a little spicy sauce layered between.

Barbecue Chicken with Pesto and Grits from 1300 on Fillmore
Creamy grits, saucy barbecued chicken and bright pesto...what is not to love about that combination? The soulful American food dining spot in the Fillmore jazz district did the dang thing.

Totally Confusing Plates

Marinated Tripe and Cucumber Salad from Pizzeria Delfina?
Hip San Franciscans know that Pizzeria Delfina is one of the city's major destinations for fantastic oven fired artisan pizza. Imagine the surprise to fans, when the Pizzeria Delfina table was delving out trays of marinated tripe and shaved cucumbers. Representing a pizza haven with cow innards and a lemon wedge? Very confusing.

Best of the SF Chefs 2011 Friday Night Grand Tasting

2011-08-06T08:40:00.000-07:00

Dressed slick with taste buds ready, we walked into the tents at the SF Chefs 2011 Friday Night Grand Tasting at Union Square. Restaurants from San Francisco and beyond were nestled in the movie set foliage and ambient lights. Sponsors hosted stylish lounges off the main floor like the POM casbah complete with tempting, red fruit clad POM martini waitresses as well as the Italian mod espresso bar where one could stand to sip Illy coffee.

Highlights of Friday at SFChefs 2011

Octopus Hors D'Ouevre from Etoile
While some people were bringing our palettes down with heavy, boring pork sliders and greasy sloppy joes in a cup, Etoile presented clean triangles of green papaya fruit with octopus sashimi. Simple, elegant and fresh.

American Prosciutto from Tyler Florence's Wayfare Tavern
Of course, traffic bottlenecked when passing the intentionally spotlit Wayfare Tavern spot. Owner and celebrity television chef Tyler Florence had his sleeves rolled up to carve slices of prosciutto right off a local trotter's leg. Paired with basil and peach, this bite of cured local pork was a great summer flavor.

Lamb Boat from Foreign Cinema
Nothing like a cute little lamb riding in a Shanghai boat. Foreign Cinema presented perfectly spiced and tender lamb riblets with an Asian slaw and creamy sauce. Succulent.

SF Chefs Week is going to be delicious!

2011-08-04T09:57:00.000-07:00

SF Chefs Week is heating up as the weekend approaches in San Francisco. I am thrilled to be able to tag along with my favorite pastry chef from 1300 on Fillmore, Chef Curtis McDonald, who’s creations will be featured at tonight’s Sugar & Spice party along with talent from Absinthe, Slanted Door, Farallon and Michael Mina. That will be followed up by a Friday night culinary industry soirée and Saturday night foodie taste fest in the grand tents at San Francisco’s Union Square. I am hungry already!

Why Wait for Zazie

2011-04-15T10:50:00.000-07:00

Does a line of people spilling all over the sidewalk indicate a treasure cave within promising delicious food or merely a douchey scene with nothing yummy as reward for patience? A Sunday morning strolling up to the popular brunch-erie, Zazie in Cole Valley, showed signs of possibility. Hungry couples, small families, old friends and hung-over youngsters spilled all over the sidewalk eyeing the progress of crossed out names on the clipboard. We had time for a nice 45 minute stroll to look in hipster and hippy shops on Haight Street, and then we were led to a corner table in Zazie’s back garden. On a sunny spring day at Zazie under the heat lamps, life suddenly becomes like a wonderful day in the South of France. Van Gogh and Cezanne seem to be having French Toast nearby, and things are quaint and lovely. The big saucer bowl cups for milky lattes are a nice touch. Fresh baked rolls with raspberry jam and butter are brought to the table. The brunch menu offers Provencal and Yankee favorites together. Baking from scratch is a common theme with tartines and bagels topped with flavors like goat cheese, red peppers, salmon and capers. My eyebrow was raised by the French Toast Tahiti, which is made of fluffy challah stuffed with caramelized bananas and walnuts. Poached eggs come in ones, twos or threes with romantic names like Pierre Noir (bacon and tomatoes provencales), La Mer (Dungeness crab, green onions, avocados), Monaco (prosciutto) and San Trop (smoked salmon).

I chose one of my all time favorites, the Ahi Salade Nicoise. It was certainly like sitting on a deck chair overlooking the Mediterranean with fresh seared ahi tuna, crisply blanched green beans, tomato, hard boiled egg, roasted peppers and (my personal favorite) salty boquerones anchovies. My compatriot’s roasted white trout was light and topped with nicoise olives, roasted peppers, and goat cheese. As Edith Piaf would sing, Je ne regrette rien, I regret nothing. As is the beauty of Provencal French cuisine, there is so much flavor and richness while still being fresh and light. Zazie’s menu is absolutely worth the wait.

Neo-Pub 2011 at Hog and Rocks

2011-01-05T15:17:00.000-08:00

It is nice when the restaurant name tells you exactly what to expect. If you are a lover of delectable charcuterie or ocean fresh oysters, then Hog & Rocks deep in the San Francisco Mission neighborhood is a destination for you. On a crisp winter evening strolling along, Hog & Rock lured us to join a bubbling younger crowd inside its slick, darkly decorated interior. This is the new pub concept spiffed up for 2011 with its sexy black finishes, high community table and intimate candlelit dining spots.

The Hog & Rocks menu presents an equally sexified pub concept, as deemed on their website as “Fine Brine and Strong Drink.” First and foremost, there is a separate menu featuring oinks like Tennessee smoked hams, Spanish Jamon Serrano and Italian Proscuitto alongside West and East Coast oysters. We chose the barbeque oysters, which came grilled in their shells with a gorgeous smoky flavor and light touch of mignonette. I fully intend to return for a thorough exploration of those categories.

The dinner menu kicks off with Jars and Salads that present unpretentious concepts through quality ingredients. There is a Vallarta Bean and Olive dip, Pimento dip with white bread and Cherrystone Clam Dip with house made potato chips. Salads are Caesar, Tomato and Chopped.

From sea and farm come the main dishes. The seafood dishes are more hearty sea captain than delicate sea nymph, with items like Cast Iron Octopus, Roasted Mediterranean Mussels, Fish & Chips and Smoked Steel Trout Pie. We opted for the farm selections, which are similarly masculine and bold. I had a salty Lamb Belly served with spicy chick peas and house-made fromage blanc. My partner in crime enjoyed his Skillet Beef Melt with mushrooms, onions, emmenthaler and frisco sauce on rye bread.

I would say if you are looking for a dimly lit and hip haven to enjoy some well-crafted salty bites and strong drinks, Hog & Rocks a perfect spot. A 21st Century revamp of both gastro pub and seaside shanty, Hog & Rocks is a hang out with both notable style and flavor.

Community Confitures: Slow Jams in the Mission

2010-11-30T11:02:00.000-08:00

On the way from buying pumpkins at Bi-Rite market on the 18th Street strip near Delores Park, we ran into a cool girl in a pink hoodie pedaling Slow Jams. At her sidewalk table, Slow Jams proprietor, Shakirah Simley, was bringing small batch artisan jams to the people, one jar at a time.

With graphic labels that make you want join the revolution, Ms. Simley delivers spreadable goodness created from fresh, seasonal and local ingredients. The tangy Meyer Lemon Curd brings a fresh optimism to dessert and would be utopia paired with berries and pound cake. The Vanilla Pumpkin Butter offers rich, spicy substance for bread, pastries, fruit or ice cream. Other noteworthy preserves include an innovative Cranberry Balsamic Black Pepper Jam and legit Brown Sugar Pear Butter.

The deliciousness of Slow Jams is accessible to everyone. The Slow Jams philosophy remains centered on offering reasonably priced, high quality products that showcase the bounty of Bay Area urban and rural growers and fostering community through canning. These socially conscious confitures can be tasted in San Francisco’s Mission District and ordered online at www.eatslowjams.com. Raise your spoons to sweet social justice!

Pizza Cognition Theory and Pizzeria Delfina

2010-11-11T11:25:00.000-08:00

I came across some interesting theorizing attributed to Sam Sifton about “Pizza Cognition Theory”…the theory that the first pizza you encounter as a child forms your concept of what pizza is. This is supposedly the pizza by which you hold all other pizzas to as a standard. If this were true, I would think all pizza should be greasy, slabs of cheese and mass produced dough accompanied by ski ball, video games, soda and animatronic animals. Thankfully the pizza cognition theory is not entirely true, as evidenced by the true pizza perfection I have found since my early days at Chuck E. Cheese birthday parties.

Like people everywhere, I adore pizza. Folding a thin New York slice in a paper plate and eating it on the sidewalk at 12 AM is a delight. Swooning over a fork and knife California pizza topped in seasonal arugula, prosciutto and peaches brings tears of joy. My true pizza love admittedly is with traditional wood-fired Italy style pizza.

Maybe pizza cognition theory just took hold for me a little later on. At 19, I had the fortune of going to the Italian peninsula to study, where pizza is everywhere and nothing like its gooey, topping laden American cousins. True Italian pizza is about a good flour dough, not over worked and flattened thinly (thicker bread known as foccacia is treated almost as an entirely different category of eating). The shape is mostly an imperfect round circle, though I remember a few squares. Some are done with tomato sauce, others only cheese, but no Italian pizza is ever smothered in either. They are fired in brick ovens, where the crust quickly heats up and forms delicious bubbles of charred goodness from the heat. Pizza in Italy is ordered as a primo piatto (first course, often in place of pasta), and it is served in a size suitable for one person to eat the entire thing.

With only few minor California twists, this uncomplicated Old World style is what you will find at Pizzeria Delfina. Like the Delfina mothership next door that serves up regional Italian cuisine, Pizzeria Delfina brings authentic Italy to 18th and Valencia Streets in the San Francisco Mission. There is no toping list and no extravagance, the choices are like any trattoria menu, Quattro Formaggi, Salciccia, Fungi, etc.

On my most recent visit we ordered the Panna and “Clam Pie.” The Panna embodied simplicity, consisting of tomato sauce, cream, basil and shaved parmigiano. A variation of the typical Italian Frutti di Mare (seafood) pizza, the “Clam Pie” presented delicious cherrystone clams with tomato, oregano, pecorino, and hot peppers for kick. Both were quite good and crispy, with perfect bubbled char from the oven. Restraint with all ingredients was excercised, emphasizing all their flavors as opposed to overwhelming your tastebuds with a greasy, salty overload.

Pizzeria Delifina comes closer to my ideal pizza perfecto than most others. In short, it is the simple ingredients united on a crust charred in fire that make this kind of pizza my favorite.

Autumn Exotic: Thai Pumpkin Curry

2010-11-04T15:19:00.000-07:00

I do not know about you, but for many years of my life, pumpkins have been merely decorative objects. They sit on the kitchen counter until it is time to carve them up into jack-o-lanterns, or they give that autumn touch to the Human Resources lady’s desk at the office. For eating, pumpkin usually makes an annual appearance as whip cream topped pie. For the most part, that is the extent of it.

More recently pumpkin has been stirring my imagination as an ingredient. Familiar, but largely unexplored, I have been experimenting with new ways (new to me, at least) to cook with the big orange squash.

Pumpkins are believed to have originated in North America, but are now grown and used in dishes all over the world. One scrumptious dish is pumpkin curry, done in the style of Thailand. Something about the velvety texture of cooked pumpkin squash married with the savory, sweet, salty and sour of the Thai flavor palatte is absolutely fantastic. This exotic take definitely reinvents fall comfort food.

Thai Pumpkin Curry
1 lime
1 ½ cups coconut milk
2 tablespoons red Thai curry paste
2 tablespoons fish sauce
2 tablespoons granulated sugar
½ teaspoon yellow turmeric
1 fresh Serrano chili, diced
1 ½ cups chicken or vegetable broth
2 pounds of pumpkin, peeled and cubed
2 cups green peas, diced zucchini, wax beans or other vegetables
Handful fresh cilantro

In a spacious saucepan or pot, heat coconut milk on low flame. Stir in curry paste, fish sauce, turmeric, sugar, Serrano chili, lime juice and lime zest. Up heat to a slow simmer, add broth and pumpkin, and continue to simmer for 15 – 20 more minutes. When pumpkin is cooked enough to smash with a spoon, add peas and zucchini. Cook another 5-6 minutes. Diced grilled chicken or raw peeled shrimp could be thrown into the mix at the same time with the vegetables. Toss in cilantro at the end to give the creamy orange curry a bright accent of fresh green. Ladle into bowls and serve alongside steamed brown rice.

Fantastical Candy at Miette Confiserie in Hayes Valley

2010-10-27T11:06:00.000-07:00

When I was a kid, I looked forward all year to Halloween. My mom, a theater major with some handy costuming skills, always made me the coolest disguises ever. I was a pirate, wizard, cat, hobo, cowboy, magician, Bugs Bunny, Superman…and my all time favorite, Han Solo from Star Wars.

Almost more exciting than dressing up was the candy, a treasure earned going door to door with friends on a chilly Halloween night. At the end of the night, we would all dive into our Trick or Treat loot, and we would quickly devour ninety percent in a sugary feeding frenzy. We always went for the sour candy and miniature bars first, then on to Pixie Stix and caramels. Eventually we even got to the tasteless gum, candy corn and Tootsie Rolls.

Now that I am a grown up, my love for Halloween costumes and candy have not faded, merely evolved. In San Francisco, where playing dress up is a year round sport, Halloween is celebrated all week. Guys and girls, often in “sexy” versions of just about any costume, can be found in every San Francisco neighborhood reveling at bars and parties. Candy for many has now become cocktails, but still I can not let Halloween pass by without some good old fashioned sugary indulgence.

One fine autumn afternoon as we strolled through the quirky Hayes Valley district, we happened into the perfect curiosity shop of a candy store, Miette Confiserie. Many know of Miette Patisserie at the Ferry Building, with its perfectly iced cakes and dainty baked treats, but Miette’s Hayes Valley shop focuses on crafted candies and macaroons. Located on Octavia, Miette Confiserie is an imagination-come-true candy store with its marshmallow green, pink and white interior. Gumdrop topiaries and huge glass candy jars flank the frosting pink display table and minty green counter. It is the sort of retro stylish menagerie of sweet temptations that one might find in Tim Burton animated fantasy world.

Miette Confiserie offers interesting, crafted confections that thrill grown up and kid palettes with the variety of their colors, shapes and flavors. Almost as if in an Alice in Wonderland moment, they all seem to come to life with sickly sweet voices saying, "Eat me." Licorice, hard candies and chewy candies in every shade tempt from their glass jars. Fleur de sel caramels and chocolates enticingly call out. Pink meringue rosettes and house-made vanilla marshmallows work their magic charms.

It being Halloween time and all, I could not pass up a little cellophane bag of sour jelly pumpkins. The pumpkins were made of orange citron jelly, complete with green stems and dusted in a sour sugar – much more delicate than the mini Milky Ways and Tootsie Rolls of Halloween candy’s past. I did still eat the whole bag in less than twenty minutes. While some things evolve as we mature, others remain just the same as they were when we were kids.

Sunday Best: 1300 on Fillmore's Sunday Gospel Brunch

2010-10-04T15:39:00.000-07:00

On Sunday, the good lord made brunch. There are many places to brunch in San Francisco, but few will have you giving praise like 1300 on Fillmore. With its Fillmore Street jazz district address smack dab in the restaurant name itself, 1300 on Fillmore pays tribute to its historical neighborhood heritage with upscale retellings of "American soul food" classics served up with style and heart.
Being an early riser, I motivated our gang to meet up for the first gospel brunch seating at 11 AM (there is also another at 1 PM). As we browsed menus, the server brought us fresh coffee, mimosas and house made corn bread with jalapeno jelly and honey butter. 1300's elegant mahogany color scheme, high ceilings and spot lighting evoked the jazzy nighttime supper club feeling of the Fillmore district, but rays of sunshine flooded in through the big windows befitting the uplifting spirit of gospel brunch.
Michael Cheadle, the front man for Sunday's resident r&b/funk band named Future Perfect, welcomed the crowd. Along with bass guitar, drum set, keyboards and two lovely lady voices, he got us moving with a soulful opener of James Taylor's "You've Got a Friend." As the band jived and wailed though their set, patrons around the dining room sang along, chair danced and clapped their hands. One visiting Southern gentleman requested an Otis Redding tune, and he even inspired the band leader to do a special rendition of "Rainy Night in Georgia."

Even more legit than the live music is 1300 on Fillmore's soulful brunch food, which is designed by Chef Owner David Lawrence. I went for the Spicy Tasso Cajun Ham and Eggs Benedict with buttermilk chive biscuits and Tabasco hollandaise sauce. The biscuits were beautiful and flaky, and the Tabasco hollandaise added zip. I also got a chance to try the Black Skillet Fried Chicken with buttermilk whipped potatoes and pan gravy, a paired down version of the classic fried chicken from the dinner menu. They were perfectly executed and genuinely delicious. Also noteable were the Barbecue Shrimp N' Creamy Grits as well as the Ribeye Burger with bread and butter pickles, home made ketchup, Creole mustard and house-made brioche bun.
With all this knee slapping goodness, we had to top it off with a final sweet hallelujah. The desserts at 1300 on Fillmore are carefully prepared by the artistic hands of Pastry Chef Curtis McDonald. I have to say, the Lemon Pot de Creme was my absolute favorite...creamy, light, lemony perfection contrasted by a tangy blueberry compote and framed by the cutest micro mint sprigs. The Caramelized Apple Bread Pudding raised up granny smith apples to new heights with angelic notes of house made vanilla bean ice cream and candied pecans. Finally (just like one of those rousing gospel numbers that just will not quit), the house made Seasonal Sorbet Trio sang with notes of local peach, pomegranate and red grape.

Gospel brunch at 1300 on Fillmore left us with grateful bellies and songs in our heads, ready to go off into our Sunday afternoons to do the good work. If there is one thing you do for brunch this year, go to 1300 on Fillmore's gospel brunch. I testify.

On the Waterfornt: The Plant Cafe Organic

2010-09-27T10:26:00.000-07:00

Fresh, organic, eclectic and colorful...the plates and atmosphere at The Plant Cafe Organic bring a new sense of unfettered style to the heavily promenaded Embarcadero waterfront in San Francisco. The Executive Chef behind the cuisine is Sascha Weiss, who has served pastry and savory time at Bay Area venues like Millennium, Ravens, Mecca and even as private chef for George Lucas. His attention to the culinary creativity and honest ingredients that are revered by San Francisco eaters is evident in every part of the menu.

The Plant Cafe Organic is situated in a diagonal slice of the Embarcadero's newly renovated Pier 3 complex. On one side, a small dining room and bar open to a waterfront patio, and across the way there is a take out counter with a separate entrance. The feeling is modern and understated, allowing the organic cuisine to shine amidst the bay and city views.

One recent Indian summer night in San Francisco, we were lucky to be seated in the dining patio facing the water. We started with emerald glass tumblers filled with natural Zevia diet soda, which was uniquely zesty and cooling on a warm evening. As our first taste, the shiitake spring rolls were summery with their light rice wrappers and a tangy roasted onion peanut sauce. Next we dipped toasted crostini into a rich goat cheese fondue that was accompanied by the saltiness of fresh white anchovies and olives.

Our main courses were substantial and healthy....the ginger miso quinoa with seasonal local vegetables and roasted chicken as well as a fragrant green Thai curry with shrimp. Both dishes were intensely fresh and executed with great attention.

Chef Weiss' pastry background could be seen in the dessert menu. A raw raspberry cashew cheesecake came from the kitchen looking as delicate and perfect as if it had been flown in from a Parisian patisserie, but with a refreshing California organic aesthetic. Also intriguing were the house truffles and seasonal sorbets.

Expressing the simplicity of natural ingredients and creative culinary presentation, the Plant Cafe Organic is a unique flower on the Embarcadero. For its accessible cuisine, unfussy setting and central waterfront location, the Plant Cafe Organic has most definitely moved to the top of my go-to restaurants in the city.

SF Food Wars at the Ferry Building: Salsa Battle

2010-09-14T11:00:00.000-07:00

There is nothing like a bunch of young punks duking it out over salsa on a sunny Sunday afternoon. SF Food Wars hosted its latest recipe battle in front of the San Francisco's Ferry Building this past weekend, and the spirit of culinary competition was in full force.

There were two distinct schools of salsa represented: the traditionalists and the avant-guardians. On the traditional side, the emphasis was on classic Mexican salsa flavor combinations...chile, tomato, garlic, cilantro. A lovely sun kissed woman from the Soul Cocina team ladled Smoked Salsa de Cascabel into sample cups. She told me their special secret was in the chilies smoked on fig wood by her husband. In the avant-guard corner, competitors like Los Pocos Locos presented a bright peach and strawberry Peacho de Gallo, that would pair amazingly with a light dish like seared scallops. Pushing the envelope into dangerous territory was a team called A Fire Inside who presented their Ass Volcano salsa, a pineapple based salsa featuring the hottest of the hot ghost pepper. Other contenders experimented with innovations like red beets, black eyed peas and Thai fish sauce.

In the end, the classic flavors won out, with Soul Cocina's Smoked Salsa de Cascabel well deservedly taking the top prize.

A Really Delicious Fried Chicken Recipe Mashup

2010-07-05T19:47:00.000-07:00

Every Fourth of July I have the same craving for homemade fried chicken. I have attempted it many times over the years, and never quite got to the crispy, golden, fingerlickin' goodness that I was envisioning. Most always some disaster befalls...either the batter gets too clumpy, it falls off in the oil or burns too quick. Many attempts ended in an over-browned outside and pink, uncooked inside.

I am here to tell you in 2010, there was no fried chicken disaster this time. Southern fried gold was finally mine, thanks to my own mashup of best practices from two recipes. I credit the brine technique to Tyler Florence's recipe and the oven baking technique to Ina Garten.

Mashup Recipe: Perfect Fried Chicken
3 pounds chicken (about 16 thighs and/or drumsticks)
1 quart buttermilk
2 cups flour
2 tablespoons smoked paprika
1 tablespoon black pepper
1 teaspoon kosher salt for breading
2 tablespoons table salt for brine
zest of one lemon
3 cups vegetable oil

First put the chicken in a large bowl and cover over with about two quarts plus an inch of cold water and two tablespoons salt. Wrap the bowl with plastic and let the chicken soak in the refrigerator anywhere from two hours to overnight.

Now here comes the messy part. Set aside two shallow roasting pans. Fill the first one with buttermilk (you may end up needing more than a quart) and fill the second with the flour, paprika, pepper, kosher salt and lemon zest. Mix the dry ingredients together thoroughly. Turn each piece of chicken over in the buttermilk, then the dry ingredients, then again in the buttermilk, then once more in the dry ingredients. Your hands will be covered in batter rather quickly!

Meanwhile, heat the vegetable oil in a large skillet. You can test if it is hot enough by flicking a tiny bit of water into the oil, which should sizzle immediately. While the oil warms up, preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Line two baking trays with aluminum foil.

Frying time! Carefully fry the chicken in batches of four at a time for about three minutes on each side. Make sure they do not touch and watch carefully for the batter will crisp to a light blond color. Place the chicken on the baking sheets in a single layer, then pop into to oven to finish cooking for 30 to 40 minutes.

Golden fried chicken is now yours. Serve with lemons, barbeque sauce and tabasco.

Stawberry Salad for Breakfast

2010-07-01T08:14:00.000-07:00

I enjoy getting up early on Sunday mornings when the city is still sleeping in and the sun is barely rising. While my sweety is still snoring in bed, I pop down the street for a big cup of coffee and duck into the supermarket to buy something to whip up for breakfast. Usually I let my cravings dictate....sometimes it is brown sugar banana oatmeal, sometimes Mexican chilaquiles, sometimes classic eggs and bacon.

As we are in the middle of summer now, strawberries were all over the store, so I had to get some. Adding some extra flavor zip to wake up your sleepy Sunday taste buds is very simple.

Strawberry Salad

1 quart fresh, seasonal strawberries

zest and juice of one lemon

handful chopped mint leaves

splash of vanilla extract or orange juice

Wash and halve the strawberries. I like them halved because they have a sweet little heart shape that way...romantic, no? Use a microplane to zest an entire lemon, then half it and squeeze the juice over the berries. Finely chop and mix in a handful of mint. Give them a splash of vanilla extract or orange juice, stir and add to your Sunday morning breakfast.

The After-Dinner Party: Spicy Minty Citrusy Pesto

2010-06-28T20:52:00.000-07:00

On a recent Saturday night, my partner and I turned out a menu of home made Chinese deem sum dumplings that required a jungle of fresh ingredients. Our friends were delighted, the evening was lovely and every dish in my oversize San Francisco studio kitchen was dirtied. After spending Sunday cleaning up the aftermath, I had a ton of fresh citrus, herbs and other ingredients still hanging around. What better way to kick off Monday night dinner than with a little creativity and a food processor?

Spicy Minty Citrusy Pesto

Bunch fresh mint leaves
Handful fresh chives
Handful fresh basil
2 limes
1 knob fresh ginger
5 cloves garlic
1 tablespoon seasoned rice vinegar
1 jalapeno
Salt and pepper to taste

When I got home from work and gym that Monday, I was ready for food in a jiffy. Surrounded by bunches of left over mint, basil and chives I immediately got excited about pulling out the food processor to whip up a quick weeknight pesto. I gave them a rough chop and threw them into the food processor with one nub of chopped fresh ginger, one chopped jalapeno, five chopped garlic cloves, a tablespoon of seasoned rice vinegar and the juice of two limes. Whizz, whizz.....tasted, then added some sea salt and fresh cracked black pepper to finish off the bright green sauce.

The minty pesto was a fast way to put an exotic spin on the baked chicken that I usually make on Mondays to eat all week. To use up more ingredients and continue the fresh flavors, I covered the chicken with chopped fresh ginger, garlic and big slices of lemon peel before baking at 350 degrees for 35 minutes.

How to eat well at Slanted Door

2010-04-19T19:25:00.000-07:00

The modern Vietnamese cuisine at Slanted Door is a nouveau San Francisco institution. Sleekly outfitted with a waterfront view from the Northwest corner of the Ferry Building, their straight forward, modern and elevated take on Vietnamese cuisine is famous. Slanted Door's menu was crafted into well-known deliciousness by Executive Chef Charles Phan since the Phan Family originally opened the restaurant in the Mission 15 years ago. It even has spinoffs in Union Square's Westfield and Golden Gate Park's Academy of Sciences in addition to being reincarnated into the Chinese cuisine of SOMA's Heaven's Dog.

Given its star status as a dining spot, it is of course busy enough that you may not get in without advance preparation. Here is how I, with the help of a friend, recently made getting into the Slanted Door to feast like movie stars into an effortless experience.

Tip 1: Walk in with a pretty lady who is pregnant.
My friend Ann emailed me to tell me she was going to be in San Francisco on business and that we should meet up for dinner. Ann is pregnant with her second child. Nothing gets the host to find you a seat faster than that baby bulge when you ask how long the wait is going to be. We walked in and walked to our modern, finished wood, bench-style table without a pause. Thanks Ann for having children.

Tip 2: Order two appetizers and make sure one of them is the pork spareribs.
We eyed the menu, which has so many great rolls, salads and appetizers, we decided to to go for two. Dinner commenced with crispy imperial rolls with shrimp, pork, glass noodles and peanuts served with lettuce, basil, fish sauce and chili. The perfect bite of crunchy friedness, savory meatiness and garden lightness, they were all devoured in minutes.

Next we went no holds barred into the barbecued Willis Ranch pork spareribs with honey-hoisin sauce. I still dream about these ribs doused completely in that gorgeous honey-hoisin with its sweet, spicy, dark richness. Too good to care about how saucy our mouths and fingers were getting, we gnawed away every last bit.

Tip 3: Eat from a clay pot to go to heaven.
We kept with the family style for our main course, chicken claypot with caramel sauce, chilies and fresh ginger. The sweet, burnt sugar flavor spiced up with chilies and ginger was perfect. We accompanied with organic Star Route Farm baby spinach with caramelized shallots and brown rice. Little was left on our plates or in the serving dishes.

As the setting sun was reflecting on the San Francisco Bay view from the restaurant, we both were full with an amazing, little Vietnamese feast. Ann was eating for two. I think I was eating for three or four. The Clean Plate Club fared well at the Slanted Door that evening.

Starbellied

2010-03-26T12:34:00.000-07:00

The Castro district in San Francisco is widely know for its colorful energy. Also well known is its lack of legitimate restaurants despite a density of eateries in the neighborhood. A few Castro dining spots have been pulling most of the weight (Home, Catch, Chow) but finally in Starbelly an establishment has come along that offers the neighborhood hungry a creative and well-executed place to eat.

In 2009 the team behind the Mission's stylish Berretta opened Starbelly on 16th at Market. The atmosphere is relaxed, and, despite the mainly gay and lesbian traffic in the Castro, has a hip mixed crowd. The bar that anchors the room is actually a lane from a bowling alley, which underscores the the casual California food they serve.

Evenings from happy hour till late dinner draw crowds of people, which can seem like an impossible hastle at first glance. Unable to get a dinner reservation on a Friday night for four one night, the host staff optimistically told me I could put my name on the wait list over the phone. My friends and I did have to wait for a little while, but the host staff rewarded our vigilance with a flow of wine as well as chorizo mussels and french fries on the house.

Starbelly's menu offers a number of modular eating experiences. There are snacks like warm olives , crispy smelts with jalapeno and local artisan cheeses for a casual moment with a beer. Salads and small plates are perfect if you are in a tapas mood. The house made chicken liver pate with cherry-apricot-pistachio chutney is buttery and luxurious. There are also delights befitting the Northern California palette like grilled local sardines, dungeness crab hush puppies and wild mushrooms with duck egg.

The pizzas crafted by the Starbelly chefs are worthy of their own section of the menu. A crisp, thin, fire roasted crust is paired with fresh ingredients that change to reflect the seasons. Rich with tastes of springtime, on a recent visit we ordered the market pear and bleu cheese with spicy arugula. There are other taste sensations like bacon and jalapeno, squash and goat cheese, mushroom and Gruyere as well as chorizo and egg.

Plates continue the cared for, local California bistro flavors. The menu includes unpretentious dishes like a Prather Ranch burger with Point Reyes Bleu, Sonoma lamb chops with cheddar grits and fresh spaghetti with bacon and jalapeno.

With its full bodied but laid back offerings, Starbelly brings that happy, full feeling to eating out and enjoying the company of friends. No matter what neighborhood is yours, Starbelly is a destination for excellent neighborhood food and drink.

Love for Anchovies

2010-03-23T15:00:00.000-07:00

On Saturday mornings they would replay reruns of old Scooby Doo cartoons. If I recall, Scooby and Shaggy frequently referenced their enjoyment for pizza with anchovies. Anchovies sounded to me then like a joke that people made about pizza toppings, and that was about all I knew about those salty little fish. That is until later on in life when I learned to dine, travel and cook.

Anchovies are silver mini-torpedo shaped fish who hail from the salt waters of the Atlantic, Pacific and Indian Oceans. It is in the Mediterranean that these oily fish have been best appreciated for their flavorful potential. The Spanish, French and Italians have devised the three most delicious ways that I have personally experienced to enjoy anchovies, both fresh and preserved.

Boquerones (Spain)

Being lucky enough to have been shown them by a good friend on several grandes noches in the tavernas and bars of Madrid and Granada, I must celebrate the surprisingly refreshing delights of fresh boquerones. This is a dish of small, white Spanish anchovies served fresh with olive oil, garlic and parsley. They are filleted but not cooked, which makes them taste like popping little bursts of the ocean into your mouth. Accompanied by a cool glass of white wine, boquerones are widely popular in Spanish bars but not yet in popular rotation at American tapas restaurants. If you run into them on a menu and enjoy raw seafood, try them.

Provencal Salad with l'Anchoïade (France)

The French have a way of synthesizing a few ingredients into a work of elegant simplicity. The anchoïade is an anchovy spread or dressing that can be whipped up quickly and works well with artichoke hearts, salad greens or crusty bread. In this case, a tin of anchovies preserved in olive oil will do nicely, whizzed in a food processor with two cloves of garlic, one teaspoon of white wine vinegar, cracked pepper, drizzle of extra virgin olive oil and handful of fresh basil leaves.

Anchovy Sauce (Italy)

Italians, especially on the Southern end of the boot, have endless ways to celebrate the flavor of anchovies. Of course, incredibly well known is Puttanesca, the legendary tomato, basil, caper, olive and anchovy sauce created by the ladies of the night in Sicily and Naples. I adore those flavors, but when I am in the mood to keep my shopping list short and my cooking time quick, a simple anchovy sauce is amazing. All this requires is a drizzle of olive oil in a hot pan, a toss in of garlic and crushed pepper, followed by a tin of oil-preserved anchovies that have been chopped finely. After a few minutes, add a 32 ounce can of diced tomatoes and simmer for 12 minutes. Finishing with a splash of wine or chopped fresh parsley or basil is optional. Tossed with al dente cooked spaghetti or linguine, there is nothing better.

A Real San Francisco Treat

2010-03-09T10:34:00.000-08:00

Looking out at the San Francisco Bay watching ships sail under the bridges, I am reminded of our maritime culture and how lucky it is to be here when a seafood craving strikes. Sometimes fresh oysters, other times sashimi, occaisionally dungenous crab and often mussels with frites, no matter what ocean delicacy I have on my mind to devour, San Francisco is mermaid heaven in the seafood we have available.

As many know, a uniquely San Franciscan dish that celebrates the treasures of the sea is cioppino. According to the lore, it came about sometime in the 1800's when Italian immigrant fisherman chipped in some of their catches to make a spicy stew. The recipe itself plays on the fish stews of Italy, France and Spain, then takes its own California twist.

Last weekend my favorite chef in San Francisco, Curtis, whipped up a batch of his own delicious cioppino to satisfy our seafood cravings. He started the stew base by sizzling up a special blend of dried spices, including dried chilies and Old Bay seasoning, along with onions and garlic. Then he added chicken stock, tomato paste, diced tomatoes and green pepper, giving the cioppino its deep red hue. As is key with any seafood dish, for their freshness, textures and colors he selected shrimp, bay scallops, mussels and cod fish. Topped off with a chiffonade of basil and Italian parsley, we were enjoying our steamy hot bowls of this San Francisco treat in less than an hour.

It was a little bit like a shark feeding frenzy, that cioppino was so good. After indulging in two huge bowls, my seafood craving was satisfied and returned below the surface...for now. (Jaws theme music plays.)

Artichokes with Lemon and Chives

2010-02-21T17:59:00.001-08:00

The rain is pouring on the San Francisco streets this weekend, a damp reminder that winter has not finished its annual ravage of our spirits. As we head for March though, there are a few early signs that the warmer, lighter days of Spring are coming. One early arriving bloom is the appearance of fresh local California artichokes in the grocery store.

Artichokes are quite literally the blossoms of the thistle plant Cynara cardunculus, and have been cultivated in the Mediterranean since ancient times. We are lucky in Northern California to be in close proximity to Castroville, where the majority of the artichokes in the United States are grown. When they are coming into season, they are large, with a thick stem (the choke) and very green.

Italian, French, Greek, Spanish and California cuisines all have delicious ways of eating an artichoke. One of my favorite ways to enjoy this edible flower is the simplest.

Steamed Artichokes with Lemon and Chives
2 - 4 medium to large sized artichokes
3 cups water
2 lemons
4 tablespoons unsalted butter
2 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil
handful chopped fresh chives

Manicuring first is key to the simple elegance of steamed artichokes. With a knife, slice the stems so that each artichoke can sit up levelly on its own. Cut the tops off evenly with a knife, about halfway through the middle. The final step for a perfectly pruned artichoke is to take a pair of kitchen scissors and cut off the tips of all the thorny exterior leaves. Truly, they will begin to look like a thing from a 17th Century still life painting when done.

At this point, it is of the essence to have one of the lemons ready to rub over all the cuts you have made to the artichoke. Slice off a wedge of lemon, then rub the juice over the artichoke stems and leaves to prevent those beautiful leaves from turning brown.

To steam, simply place them in a tall pot containing 2 to 3 cups of water with the rest of the lemon. Bring the water to a simmer and steam them with a lid on the pot for 20 - 30 minutes. In order for the artichokes to be truly tender, you will want them to lose their brightness and turn that earthy green color that you usually don't want broccoli to turn.

As the artichokes finish, you will want to melt the butter and finely chop the chives for the dipping sauce. Portion into ramekins, squeeze half a lemon in each and finish with a tablespoon of extra virgin olive oil.

Then the amazing part begins. You start on the tougher outer leaves, eating off the tender bits of the choke on the bottom. You peel through the layers, each leave getting more and more tender, lathered in the buttery lemony goodness. You are fascinated, and your mouth is singing.

At last you get to the heart itself. You must first remove the hairy purple and white stamen in the middle by scraping it off with a spoon or knife. Once you do, you have found the holy grail. The heart of an artichoke is truly one of the most tender, delicious tastes of all the tastes available to the human mouth. The string quartet kicks into Vivaldi's Four Seasons, and you are sent into a classic moment of ecstatic pleasure savoring that early first taste of Spring.

Tea Time at Samovar Tea Lounge

2010-02-11T15:18:00.000-08:00

Samovar Tea Lounge is somewhere in between a tea house and a state of mind. There are three versions in San Francisco. There is the original Samovar that snuggles on the corner of Sanchez and 18th with its neighborhoody Castro/Mission coffee house vibe. There is the most recent Samovar outpost that is tucked into a quiet Victorian corner in hip Hayes Valley. For the perfect spot to bask in the Sunday sunshine however, I recently met a friend at the downtown version of Samovar that spills outside into the Yerba Buena Gardens.

The Samovar experience is all about celebrating the tea cultures of the world, as I overheard the lovely hipster waitress quoting to people sitting nearby. Interesting loose leaf varietals of black, red, white and green are served up by the pot. I can never resist the chai, which is mixed up properly with ginger, spices and milk and served in an earthenware cup. My friend found a seasonal tea made with spiced blood orange rinds and black tea. Very aromatic.

It would be easy to just sip a few cups of fragrant tea and enjoy conversation, but we were also hungry for brunch. Samovar's world of tea culture experience continues into its cuisine, covering tastes from zen monk sustenance to high tea pastries with the Queen. The are big bang tea services combining delicacies matched to the beverages including exotic Moorish, proper English, ancient Chinese, enlightened Japanese, decadent Russian and spicy Indian.

The Samovar brunch menu is a lovely and light tour of similar flavors. My friend got the raw honeycomb paired with bleu cheese and fresh fruits, which paired well with the energizing wavelength of his spiced blood orange tea. I went with the Houjicha green tea soup over rice, broccoli, wakame, shitake mushrooms and smoked salmon. This clear soup was incredible in the lightness of its flavors. I felt peaceful after I had eaten it, almost as if I had just been sitting in the grass meditating. I was not hungry any longer, but I was not weighed down with the heavy greasiness that sets in after a typical American brunch.

I urge any local or any visitor looking for a uniquely satisfying tea house experience to hit up one of the iterations of Samovar Tea Lounge. Whether conversing with friends or having quiet time reading in a cafe, Samovar is a delightful little cup of tea.

Respect for the Piggy

2010-01-19T14:36:00.000-08:00

Pigs are creatures of intelligence who also happen to taste very good. A stuffed pork loin represents a thing of beauty. Thick cut pork chops cooked with butter and fresh sage are heaven on earth. Fennel sausage is a taste of divinity, and bacon can be combined with anything to lead one down the path to true enlightenment.

I have often declared to others that my favorite meat is pork. How then could there be a cut of pork that could confound my highest esteem for all things piggy?

First we must go back to my purchase of a bag of green split peas, inspired by a craving for split pea soup. In past iterations, I usually cook up some split pea soup whenever I am trying to use up the rest of a bone-in ham. The peas always stay bright green with some little, innocent, hammy chunks to give it heartiness.

Enter the picture, smoked ham hocks. I am a broadminded fan of nearly all cuisines and ingredients, so I blame my inexperience with hocks for what was about to transpire. Opening the package revealed four little ham hocks with skin on. A ham hock is the area above a pig's ankles and below the calves. With that thick Miss Piggy skin right there in plain sight, it was difficult not to mentally dwell on those hooves standing cankle deep in dirty, muddy filth. Severe gross out ensued.

Thinking too specifically on the origins of foods, especially where animals are involved, can make anyone squeamish. I usually chalk it up to the natural order of things...animals eat other animals has always been my belief on the subject. I have never grossed out over eating the crispy skin of a roasted chicken, steaming a trout with its eyeballs looking back at me or slurping up a whole raw oyster in mignonette sauce. Something about the ham hocks was different.

Ask any German chef about sauerkraut soup or any Southern Soul Food cook about greens, and they will tell you just how a ham hock renders goodness to these dishes. It is precisely the fat, collagen, tendons, muscle and bone marrow that dissolve into the broth to impart that earthy pork flavor. Therein lies my mental dilemma, as I fish out bones and bits of skin from this batch of split pea soup.

In appearance, the soup turned out typical - pea green mush with meaty bits and a few bay leaves. Even though it tasted sumptuously rich, perfectly salty and smokey, the image of piggy flesh disintegrating and melting away in a cauldron of soup could not be shaken. I was grossed out.

I felt somewhat disappointed in ham hocks, which I had always been lead to believe are a historic flavoring gem of magical proportions. I also felt disappointed in myself for not opening my culinary mind to allow myself to appreciate and enjoy them as an ingredient yet. If I am going to continue my reverence of all things pork, I must find it in my being to give ham hocks another opportunity to win my understanding and admiration. This will take some more research and probably extensive sampling of the cooking of those who know best about matters ham hock-ian.

Jilted pork lover that I have become, I anticipate very soon relearning the ways of ham hocks and reunifying my respect for the delicious pig.

So you think you can naan?

2010-01-05T18:23:00.000-08:00

Cue the Bollywood dance number with more shiny and silky fabric than you can shake your bangles at....

One thing I have been lucky to have in my life is really, really good homemade Indian food. My longtime Indian princess pal, Trisha, opened that spicy door to me several years ago. Since she came into my life, I have received quite a schooling on Indian eating and customs. I have had chicken byriani so spicy it made me cry. I have had coconut prawns in the Bengali style of her family. I have had mango pickle, roti, aloo, chutney, samosa, raita, dosa and uttapam. I have learned the many incarnations of the staple lentil dish, daal. I have even eaten goat curry and drank authentic homemade chai.

Indian restaurants are still great, but now I have been spoiled with all these delicious home cooked Indian meals. Trisha gave me a cookbook with recipes by Ismail Merchant, the film collaborator of Merchant Ivory Productions who was also fond of throwing lavish dinner parties. She also gave me a spice tray with all the essentials, so I decided to kick off cooking in 2010 with my attempt at a homemade Indian meal.

I selected Ismail Merchant's Yogurt Curry Fish as my main dish. Collored bright yellow with the addition of turmeric and saffron, the curry sauce was sweet and lightly creamy in compliment to the firm fleshed Arctic Char that I fried up. To accompany, I simmered a pot of yellow lentils to make a Lemon Daal and continued the yellow theme with Saffron Rice.

By far the most fun was the naan which my favorite pastry chef Curtis whipped up by researching authentic Indian recipes. He brought over a tray with a simple rising dough including yogurt for us to grill into naan. I was so surprised how the result turned out impressively close to the real deal fired in a Tandoor oven. He rolled it out into oblong shapes and handed the thin dough to me to brush with homemade ghee butter before putting on the hot grill pan. It was really a home cook's thrill to see the naan, topped with ghee and chopped garlic, bubble up and char on the grill pan.

I am not sure if I would have gotten my Indian princess' stamp of authenticity, but the saucy, fragrant dishes and the hot, grilled naan really were amazing for a first try. I am already thinking about my next Indian cooking adventure. If I can just find a butcher around here who sells goat.

A Toast to the Top 10 Food and Drink Trends of the 2000's

2009-12-28T11:21:00.000-08:00

It is hard to believe another decade is turning into the next. The brave new future we called the 2000's has already played out it's course, as we flip through our iPhone touch screens. This decade popped its cork with people partying it up like it was 1999 during the swelling Dotcom boom and ends recovering from the hangover of global economic meltdown.

But what were we eating and drinking for the past ten years? People in the 1960's may have imagined our futuristic first 21st Century decade to be lived in Jetsons body suits swallowing entire 5 course meals in the form of a little pill. Instead it seems the people of the 2000's became more interested in real, good food with honest ingredients, flavors and origins than ever before.

Top 10 Food and Trends of the 2000's

1) Cosmos
This sophisticated take on vodka cranberry in a martini glass was being sipped on by cool fashion editors and city bar hoppers at the dawn of the century, but they became pop as soon as Sarah Jessica Parker and her Manolo clad crew got a hold of them on "Sex and the City." In 2010 they are still around, vacillating somewhere between new classic, girl power icon and sour has-been.

2) Miniature Versions of Entrees & Desserts as Hors D'Oeuvres
How many mini burgers, mini pulled pork sandwiches, mini mac n' cheeses, mini spare ribs, mini grilled cheeses, mini quiches, mini ahi tartares, mini pizzas and mini key lime pies have I eaten at cocktail parties and weddings? No catering menu in the 2000's would have been complete without miniature versions of entrees and desserts. Brides and event planners could hardly resist them, like Japanese school kids can hardly resist those little miniature plastic versions of hamburgers and bento boxes.

3) Comfort Food

All decade long the hottest restaurant chefs from New York to Miami have been serving up plates of reinvented American comfort food dishes like fried chicken, meatloaf, catfish strips and especially macaroni and cheese. Whether in a chic, trendy restaurant or a greasy spoon joint, comfort food may be in or out of fashion, but it will always hit the spot.

4) Fair Trade Coffee

So apparently way back in the 1980's, coffee supply had flooded the markets and prices were super cheap thanks to substandard trading practices and working conditions for growers. Some Dutch people decided to start up fair trade certification to artificially raise prices and improve grower wage conditions. Fast forward to the United States in the 2000's, and every coastal urban city dweller with a Macbook and a do-good conscience demands their fair trade latte in the morning. The button wearing appeal may fade, but at least some strides have been made for coffee growers globally.

5) Organic, Local and Sustainable Eating

From the first time food was machine sealed in cans through the Space Age evolution of natural ingredients into inventions like margarine and Twinkies, processed food was a momentously growing snowball. Greenhouse gas spewing airplanes and trucks allowed us to get food from any part of the world within a few days. National cravings and mass marketing made us mutate our livestock with supplements or over harvest them from the ocean. Then we realized that obesity and cancer had become an epidemic. The environment is feeling the effects of our greedy consumption in the air, water and land. In the 2000's we affirmed that our bodies really do look and feel better when we eat food in its natural form and in healthy proportion. We accepted the value of real produce and meats not grown or raised in toxic or inhumane circumstances. We realized that the less our food travels not only does it leave a smaller carbon footprint, but it tastes better too. We learned to choose seafood that we know is not in short supply. Organic, local and sustainable eating is not just a trend of the 2000's but the way of surviving the future.

5) Rise of Home Chefs & Foodies Thanks to Food TV and Blogging

Closet cooks and aspiring culinarians in every shape, size, age, gender and location have it better than ever in the 2000's thanks to the era of Food Network and the Internet. Whether you are a food television fanatic or not, what would our popular consciousness be now without Rachel Ray, Emeril Lagasse, Paula Deen, Iron Chef, Bobby Flay, Giada de Laurentis, Top Chef, Barefoot Contessa and Tyler Florence? Everyone can be a food critic or star home chef on their own now with Yelp, Youtube and blogs. Sure modern chefs have been inspired to cook and entertain since Julia Child and before, but no time before was there such a popular elevation of participating in the art of cuisine and showing that passion off to the world.

6) Spicy and Savory Desserts

A favorite with chefs in the 2000's is marrying spicy and savory flavors into desserts. The ancient Mayans and Aztecs knew long ago that chocolate tasted amazing with the hotness of chili in it, but now you can find chocolate matched successfully with bacon, sea salt, pink peppercorns, lavender, balsamic vinegar, goat cheese, wasabi and potato chips. Savory desserts have been explored by chefs' imaginations to chart new territory such as blue cheese panna cotta, pumpkin pie with caramel curry sauce, tomato granita and olive oil ice cream.

7) Pairings

Wine pairings. Chocolate pairings. Whiskey pairings. Absinthe pairings. Pairings are nothing new, but they have definitely enjoyed a renewed vogue on menus in the 2000's. Chefs and bartenders get creative exercising their chops, and we all leave the restaurant with a bigger, broader world of culinary experience.

8) Cupcakes
Babycakes and Magnolia in New York City....Kara's Cupcakes delivery truck in San Francisco....these pastry makers made them insanely popular. Cupcakes are the 2000's sweet, frosted fashion icon. They have become like the new version of people in the 80's wearing legwarmers drinking Tab soda. Girls love cupcakes, guys love cupcakes, gays love cupcakes, kids love cupcakes, brides love cupcakes, office workers love cupcakes, we all love cupcakes.

9) Street Food
The taco truck that downtowners go nuts for on Thursdays or the tamales lady who comes into dive bars on Saturday night are nothing new. Collectively we came out in the open to celebrate our love and admiration for the quick, delicious treats of the streets in the 2000's. Local list makers like the SF Weekly have whole categories on this every year. Anthony Bourdain and that other Zimmerman fellow televise weekly travels where they eat local fried crickets on the streets of Mexico City and organ meat from Saigon alley grills. Street food was a hot topic in the 2000's, and my guess will continue be close to our tummies and hearts as long as there are streets.

10) Updates on Outdated Classics

Everything comes back at some point, even cherries jubilee, bananas foster and beef wellington. The poor aspiring chefs on the last season of Top Chef even had a challenge on making TV dinners for Padma and the judges. Flaming desserts, casseroles and retro dishes will always make the rounds. Who knows....the trendy culinarians of 2035 may be looking back to the 2000's for inspiration someday, and those of us who lived through it will roll our old eyes and tell them just what it used to be like.

Fog City Diner on a Foggy Day

2009-12-07T20:06:00.000-08:00

Sunday fun day rolled around again, and Curtis and I went for a brunchtime stroll down to the Ferry Building. It was chilly and foggy, so first stop was for a warm cup of Peet's coffee. Then it was the usual. We commented on the uselessness of gimmicky cooking gadgets at Sur le Table. We eyed the beautiful pastries at Miette. Then we headed down along the piers.

In the shadow of Coit Tower on the Embaracadero past Pier 23, there is a little narrow club car with shiny metal trim and a big red sign that says "Fog City Diner." Fog City Diner feels like one of those landmarks that has been around since Woodrow Wilson was ordering soda malts, even though it is apparently not that old. Inside they played big band swing music. It had a softly lit, Edward Hopper painting feeling.

Curtis and I sat at the dark cherry wood bar sipping our local Anchor Steam beers to toast brunch. A hostess took us in to the add-on room facing the waterfront. The menu included the typical San Francisco brunch items.....chorizo scramble, eggs benedict, french toast. I ordered biscuits and gravy, Curtis ordered the benedict.

Next to us sat a pair of older married couples drinking mimosas. One of the husbands pulled out a piece of paper and began reading jokes about Tiger Woods to the table. We rolled our eyes, but listened anyway.

Our brunch plates were done with some thought. The gravy had the unexpected taste of sweet bell peppers, and the biscuits were the homemade, fluffy kind. The benedict looked fairly standard - English muffins, country ham, poached eggs, hollandaise.

All in all, our experience at Fog City Diner was that it is a nice little spot on the waterfront. Retro but not kitchy, it is a shiny little spot that delivers both fun for tourists and good food for locals.

Celebrating San Francisco Crab with Udon

2009-12-05T14:39:00.000-08:00

Back in the 1980's, there were Red Lobster and Long John Silvers. Fish was deep fried, shrimp was breaded for dipping in ketchup-y cocktail sauce and crab was drowned in drawn butter. I know that seafood was eaten in more sophisticated ways all over the world back then too, but I was a kid, so seafood was more like a Red Lobster jingle to me. Thank goodness that the fantastic world of all things delicious from the sea is so much bigger for me now.

Heading into December is the opening of local Dungeness Crab season in the San Francisco Bay Area. The seasonal craving was coming on, so I decided to make a light udon with mushroom broth topped with fresh Dungeness Crab.

Crab Udon
1 medium, fully cooked Dungeness Crab
1 tablespoon fresh ginger, finely chopped
2 garlic cloves, chopped
1 teaspoon chili flakes or powder
2 cups mushrooms, washed and sliced
3 tablespoons low sodium soy sauce
2 tablespoons rice vinegar
2 tablespoons sugar
8 cups water
handful of fresh spinach
1 pound fresh udon noodles

With a crab cracker or just your hands, crack all the joints of the crab legs and claws to pull out the meat with a fork. Set aside in a bowl. In a soup pot, drizzle a tiny bit of oil, turn the heat to medium, throw in the ginger, garlic and chili. Stir around, then throw in the mushrooms. After two or three minutes, add the soy sauce, vinegar and sugar. Pour in 8 cups of water. Simmer the broth for 20 minutes, then add the udon noodles. After a few minutes, the noodles will be done. Throw in a handful of spinach and remove from heat. Serve in steaming in bowls topped with the crab meat.

The Best Wurst

2009-12-02T13:40:00.000-08:00

On a chilly winter's night when you need something that sticks to your ribs, go for some hearty Deutsche Küche. German cuisine to me is an unexpected favorite, somewhat familiar but somewhat unknown. On most occasions I head over to Suppenküche in Hayes Valley or sometimes Walzwerk in the Mission. These places have fantastic menus, but sometimes making German dishes in your own kitchen can be just as nice.

Beer Bratwurst with Leek Mashed Potatoes and Caramelized Onion Gravy
4-6 pork bratwurst
1 white onion, sliced
1 cup good lager beer
1.5 cups beef or pork stock
4 russet potatoes, quartered
2 leeks, washed and finely chopped
2 tablespoons half & half cream
4 tablespoons flour
2 tablespoons butter
Tons of brown mustard

The word sausage is derived from Old French saussiche, from the Latin word salsus, meaning salted. In German it is wurst. Bratwurst comes in more than 40 regional variations in Germany and is frequently accompanied by mustard and bread.

For this dish, sauté sliced onions in a trickle of olive oil for a few minutes until beginning to caramelize. Pour in the beer and stock, bringing to a simmer. Add the bratwurst. It will take 18 to 20 minutes on a slow simmer to cook the meat thoroughly. Use a pair of tongs to turn them for even cooking.

Meanwhile, bring 2 quarts of salted water to a boil. Throw in the potatoes and cook until they are soft when you put a knife or fork through. While the potatoes cook, sauté the finely chopped leeks in a separate pan with a little olive oil. When the potatoes are fully cooked, drain the water, mash, then stir in the leeks and cream.

In a small pan, melt the butter and sprinkle in the flour. With a wooden spoon, stir the mixture over low heat until it becomes a bubbly, light colored roux. When the bratwurst are cooked, remove, then turn up the heat and scrape in the roux. Stir a few minutes until it thickens.

Finally, serve up the bratwurst on top of some leek mashed potatoes topped with caramelized onion gravy with plenty of brown mustard.

Becoming Ina Garten

2009-11-25T18:28:00.001-08:00

Good food, good friends...who doesn't love that? Ina Garten is an inspiration to so many American hosts who love entertaining their friends with beyond amateur dinner parties. I am no exception.

When you watch the Barefoot Contessa with popped collar driving to buy the best ingredients from expensive shops in the Hamptons, it makes you want to really do it right. The theme of her television shows and her books centers on gathering different mixes of her friends and acquaintances for savvy food experiences that look delicious and neat. She just always seems to know what would be a lot of fun for people to eat. She rolls up her sleeves to put in the effort while keeping a sense of humor. Then when it is time to serve it up, she really knows how to enjoy herself in the company of her guests.

For a Tuesday evening dinner party this week, I assumed the form of Ina Garten and pulled out a few hearty French country dishes. Though French food brings to mind a stereotype of fussiness, the menu was actually very simple. We started with a baguette and a warm Vichyssoise soup, then rich Beef Bourgingnon with noodles and finished up with chocolate pot de creme for dessert. While all of it was scrumptious, I have to hand it to Ina for her Vichyssoise recipe which I used. To the classic combination of leeks, potatoes, stock and creme, she added zucchini. Purréed and served with some bread, it was velvety soup heaven.....and who wouldn't love that?

They will eat brussels sprouts if you just add bacon

2009-11-23T19:34:00.000-08:00

The evil of Brussels Sprouts is a long running cliché. Despite this, a few culinary illuminati and converts know that these little green vegetables are actually particularly delicious in certain circumstances. The secret? Add some pig.

Braised Brussels Sprouts in Wine and Bacon
2 pounds Brussels sprouts, washed and halved
5 strips thick cut bacon
one shallot, finely chopped
1 teaspoon chili flakes
2 sprigs rosemary leaves
1 glass of white wine
1 1/2 cups chicken stock

Chop up your bacon and throw it in a wide pan with medium sides over medium heat. As it starts to render a bit, add the shallot, rosemary and chili flakes. When the bacon is getting browned and crispy on the edges, toss in the Brussels Sprouts, and stir to coat them in the bacon-y goodness.

Now comes the magic moment where you pour in the glass of white wine. Let the alcohol cook off a few minutes, then pour in the chicken broth. Let the Brussels Sprouts braise for 12 - 15 minutes in the liquid. By the end you will have a savory little bit of sauce left in the pan.

Pizza from scratch is secretly easy

2009-11-16T13:19:00.000-08:00

Everyone loves a moment with good pizza. Sometimes it is lovely to be out enjoying a wood fired, thin crust pizza with fresh mozzarella, prosciutto, arugula, and a glass of Italian wine. Other times it great curling up to a movie with a quirky delivery pizza with a spicy Indian curry sauce and tandoori chicken. It may be that slice of pizzeria pepperoni at 1 AM after a night out with friends that is so hot it burns the roof of your mouth while you happily devour it.

I love all occasions of pizza. One that is fun and easier than one would think is to make your own. I found this basic recipe for pizza dough when I was 15 years old in my mom's Sicilian Gentleman's Cookbook and have been making it ever since. Once you get this dough down, you will have the keys to the unlimited possibilities of pizza from scratch.

Pizza Margarita

3 cups flour

1 teaspoon (or 1 packet) active dry yeast

1/2 teaspoon salt

1 1/2 cups warm water

1 tablespoon extra virgin olive oil plus a drizzle for the top of the pizza

1 cup tomato sauce

black pepper and salt

1/2 teaspoon chili flakes

1 bunch basil

2 cups grated mix of mozzarella, provolone, parmigiano

First thing is to make the dough. Put all the flour in a large bowl. Form a well in the center, where you will place the yeast and salt. Set a glass with warm water to the side and pour a third of it in the flour well. Whisk with a fork, gradually mixing in bits of the flour from the sides. When all the water is absorbed and it begins to get pasty, add a third more water, repeat, add the rest of the water and repeat again.

This part will make you feel really Italian....take off any rings, make sure your hands are clean, then get your fingers in the dough. Knead it methodically with the palms of your hands to absorb any remaining bits of flour and form into an smooth, evenly colored ball of dough. Coat the dough ball in a tablespoon of extra virgin olive oil, then cover the bowl and let the dough rise for 20 minutes.

At this point you could do anything you liked...bake flat on a baking sheet, fold into stuffed calzones or crisp up on a pizza stone. I usually just go for my oven heated to 350 degrees on a square cookie sheet. Press the dough until it evenly fills out the sheet and is about 1/4 inch thick. Pour on the tomato sauce. Crank on black pepper, salt and chili flakes. Grab the bunch of basil, tear 2 or 3 times, then distribute all over the pizza. Spread cheese evenly and drizzle with a little extra virgin olive oil on top.

Pop the pizza into the oven for 20 minutes. You will see the edges of the crust get a little golden, and the cheese will be bubbly. Serve with a few more leaves of torn basil.

Filipino Food Adventure

2009-11-11T12:32:00.000-08:00

The San Francisco Bay Area is home to a large Filipino population. Until recently my experiences with Filipino cuisine have been limited to their highly popular finger food, lumpia. While these crispy fried pork and vegetable filled rolls are addictively delicious, there is a whole world of dishes from the Philippines that I found are also fantastic.

On a whim, my friend Trisha and I walked along the water one lunchtime to Carmen's Restaurant on the Embarcadero near AT&T Park. This was a total food adventure in that neither of us had been to this place or knew too much about what was on the menu. Of course, we first had a plate of crunchy, greasy lumpia filled with meat. They were accompanied by a sweet chili dipping sauce, but we were more fascinated by the "Liquid Seasoning" that Trisha found on the table. I think it was just a horrible sodium packed bottle of soy sauce and MSG, but somehow it just seemed right with the lumpia.

Trisha got a plate of chicken adobo and garlic rice. Thigh and drumstick meat had been stewed in the adobo spices, which in theory is tasty, but minus the inch of oil they in which they floated.

I ordered a sinigang, a brothy vegetable soup flavored with the sour tang of tamarind. Pork ribmeat had been simmered along with string beans, daikon radish, tomatoes and okra. This soup I would go back for...it had so much flavor and a lightness about it.

I also got a dish I am not too sure about, the ginisang ampalaya. Vegetables, eggs, onion, and garlic were sautéed with the featured ingredient, bitter melon. Perhaps my novice experience with bitter melons had not prepared me for them or perhaps this was just not a good one, but two bites of this dish tasted to me the way a zoo smells. I had to discontinue that part of the adventure quickly.

Overall, the thrill of tasting dishes mostly new to my palette made for a fabulous midday food adventure. I have certainly not had my last sinagang, definitely not my last lumpia and this is only the beginning of my exploration of Filipino eating.

Vignette with two men, fried goat cheese and roasted beets

2009-11-08T18:32:00.000-08:00

Picture it. San Francisco on a mild November evening in 2009. Two young men are out on the town for Friday entertainment. They weave through the crowded streets of Union Square on their way to dinner. One of them is a sociable restaurant chef who is fascinated with interesting ways to combine flavors and textures. The other one is fashionable dandy who is fascinated with eating interesting combinations of flavors and textures. The two enter into a restaurant and take a table in the back corner of the room. An elderly married couple sits a few tables away. The server can be heard describing the evening's dessert selections. There is a clinking of dishes in the background.

They make their selections from the menu. The server returns, bringing one a glass of Cabernet and the other a glass of Pinot Noir. A plate arrives with the salad course. This salad was not just any salad though, it is a special creation credited to our own sociable restaurant chef. Vibrant colored gold and red beets have been roasted. Creamy goat cheese has been breaded in panko crumbs and lightly fried. These elements have been arranged skillfully with curly mâché greens and dressed with a blood orange vinaigrette. The two men take their forks and take care to get a taste of each of the flavor elements in each bite. The earthiness of the beets and crunch of the greens are smoothed by the richness of the fried goat cheese and finished by the slight zing of the blood orange vinaigrette. The chef asks the other man what he thinks as the other man dabs the last bite of the goat cheese through the deep red vinaigrette. They discuss the flavor combinations, sip on wine and await their next course.

Kitchy Dive Cocktailing at Li-Po Lounge in Chinatown

2009-11-03T19:26:00.000-08:00

As a San Franciscan, you have to wonder how many tourist shots of the Chinatown gates in which you have coincidentally shown up on the sidelines. Slow moving hordes of gawking tourists, women shoving menus to bad restaurants in your face, noisy chirping cricket souvenirs outside every shop...these are the things that make a local avoid Chinatown on most days.

When I actually am out and about in that neck of the woods with a friend, there is a place to duck in for dive bar fun away from the camera neck sidewalk zombies. That dive bar is Li-Po Lounge located in the heart of the Chinatown grind on Grant between Washington and Jackson. A gold dragon with red eyes, sits outside like a cheesy prop against the facade which is more Kurt Russell movie set than authentic. Inside you find the bar slinking dragon-like to the back through a retro Chinese gangster hideout interior. You will usually find some Asian men playing dice with the female bartenders, a few pairs of Mission hipsters and probably a visiting couple from Ohio. Sunday nights they host a funk party, and they are also rumored to have unpublicized indie band shows downstairs.

The drink everyone talks about is the Chinese rice whiskey that they make into Mai Tai's. What else could you drink here but something sweet and kitchy? Well actually, you can go a little more urban hipster with the dry taste of a Chinese rice whiskey and ginger or be fine just skipping all that for a Tsing Tao beer.

Whatever libation you chose, it is essential to pull out a dollar to play some goofy 70's or 80's music. After your Donna Summer, Journey, Wham, Neil Diamond super set and a few Mai Tai's you will have dragon courage to brave the tourists out on the street again. If you are hungry, toddle over to Sam Wo's or House of Nanking for the best options in Chinatown eating.

Country Gravy Craving

2009-11-02T10:53:00.000-08:00

Growing up in Southern New Mexico in an oil town five miles from the Texas border, my childhood local food memories are not just of green chili and tortillas but also the twangy dishes more typically thought of as Southern cuisine. In a flat, mesquite brush covered landscape where most people greet you with a friendly drawl, the most iconic flavor is definitely country gravy.

Country gravy is a simple combination of animal fat, flour, milk, salt and a lot of pepper that can be put together faster than you can stir the sugar into your iced tea. Most often it makes its appearance smothering a plate of chicken fried steak with mashed potatoes and a good ole boy side dish like fried okra.

Though San Francisco has its own version of a Wild West heritage, country gravy is typically an ingredient I find on the menu at a late night diner in this town. No matter what eclectic cuisines I have come to make part of my daily life here, when I browse a diner menu I am unable to pass up that savory, creamy flavor from my childhood. With the country gravy craving on my mind, this past weekend I decided to make it the star of Sunday morning brunch.

Slap Your Mama Country Gravy and Biscuits Brunch

1 package fresh pork breakfast sausage (thick cut bacon is also delicious)

1/4 cup flour

1 1/2 cups buttermilk or whole milk

1/2 teaspoon salt

1 teaspoon black pepper

fresh baked biscuits

This is so simple and so good, it will make you want to jump up and slap your mama, to appropriate a quote from the Neelys on Food Network. Fry up the breakfast sausages in a large skillet until thoroughly cooked, then remove. On medium heat, add flour to the remaining pork grease, stirring with a wooden spoon till formed into a bubbly paste. Slowly add the milk while stirring to break down any lumps. Stir over heat for a few minutes until thickened, then add salt and pepper.

Meanwhile bake up the biscuits (if you made them from scratch, good for you). Pour the country gravy over biscuits and sausage and serve with scrambled eggs and/or country potatoes, y'all.

Lemony Chicken Soup

2009-10-30T10:16:00.000-07:00

The chill of Autumn air is becoming more frequent again and with that comes the inevitable first cold of the season. When I feel it coming on, I immediately crave a hot bowl of chicken soup with lots of lemon and garlic in it. It is easy to pick up a few ingredients, throw them in a pot and by the time you wake up from a nap, the soup is ready. Feel better.

Lemony Chicken Soup
1 teaspoon olive oil

1 pound boneless, skinless chicken thigh meat

5 garlic cloves, finely chopped

1/2 teaspoon chili flakes

3 sage leaves

zest and juice of 2 lemons

1 cup baby carrots

8 ounce can of diced tomatoes

sea salt & lots of pepper

half box of dried pasta shells or penne

Drizzle oil in a tall soup pot, throw in chicken and brown on all sides. Throw in garlic, chili flakes, sage, lemon zest/juice, carrots, tomatoes, salt and pepper. Add water till all ingredients are covered by about an inch of water. Bring to a boil, then reduce heat and let simmer for around 1.5 - 2 hours. Add the pasta and cook till al dente, just underdone since it will be soaking up the broth.

Exotic adventures in Japantown and Russian Hill

2009-10-26T20:52:00.000-07:00

Of all the days of the week, Sunday offers the most endless potential for adventure. As the grind of the work week and the revelry of Friday and Saturday bow out from their weekly performances, the curtain rises on Sunday morning with the scent of coffee and possibility in the air. This week's Sunday adventure centered on cooking a birthday dinner over in Russian Hill for our lovely friend Patti's birthday. The request was for Asian flavors, so Curtis and I set out for San Francisco's Japantown to shop for ingredients and eat along the way.

Japantown is basically a shopping mall anchored by the big pagoda in the Japantown Peace Plaza. Many shops peddle representative souvenirs like silk kimonos, Japanimé figurines and ceramic sake sets. As many times as I wonder through, I am always endlessly fascinated by that special Japanese blending of beautiful abstract aesthetics and quirky modern pop culture styles.

A special Japantown novelty is eating at Isobune Sushi, which is billed as the first sushi boat joint in the United States when it opened in Japan Center in 1982. We took our seats watching the little wooden boats sail around the sushi bar in the center, eying plates of nigiri, maki rolls and other fishy bites. We grabbed some himachi, seaweed salad, edamame and maguro. Our favorites though were some very fresh oysters with scallion, ponzu and lemon that the sushi chef set out. Perfectly cold and tasting like the ocean, they were absolutely delicious.

Inspired by our sushi brunch, we meandered to Nijiya Market to pick up our shopping list. The shelves of this Japanese grocery store are stocked with an amazing amount of imported items, many with labels completely in Japanese. It took us a while to figure out which bottle was the fish sauce, but eventually we got what we needed. A quick swing by another store for produce and we were ready to go home to become little Asian grandmothers for the afternoon.

Our special menu for Patti's birthday dinner was a miniature tour of the Far East. The plan included vegetable summer rolls, fried pork dumplings and a Thai herb broth with shrimp. Curtis got to work on the summer rolls, which are a variation on the rice paper rolls that are common to Chinese, Thai and Vietnamese menus. I felt like a little grandma, folding little tortellini shaped dumplings filled with a stuffing of lemongrass, ginger, cilantro and ground pork. We chopped up some fresh herbs and packed up everything for a trip over to Russian Hill to bring our Asian adventure to our lady friends....

This is the point in the show where some urban music plays and the scene cuts to us riding the 49 bus across town while people smile looking at our trays of handmade rolls and dumplings. Our beautiful friends, Patti and Paola, greeted us in their spacious Russian Hill flat with some special cocktails. Tangy martinis with lime juice, sweet Agave syrup and tequila, were fondly named by the birthday girl as "Margarinis."

Curtis served up the summer rolls while we all caught up. The bouquet of mint, red cabbage, carrot, cucumber and rice noodles made for a light appetizer served along side sriracha tahini and soy vinegar dipping sauces. I threw in the ingredients for the Thai broth and fried up the pork dumplings, while the girls snapped photos to post to Facebook.

Patti, Paola, Curtis and I devoured the fried pork dumplings quickly. Their crispy fried goodness was a good counter point to the savory Thai broth, which consisted of lemongrass, ginger, garlic, fish sauce, chicken stock, mushrooms, basil, cilantro, mint and shrimp. Paola and I fired ours up with some extra sriracha.

Buzzing with the fragrant flavors of our Pan-Asian feast, we concluded with some vanilla and strawberry mochi ice cream. All in all, the exotic adventures of the day from sushi boats to Japantown shopping to spontaneous Russian Hill dinner party were Sunday perfection.

Sunday kind of food at Chow

2009-10-21T15:14:00.000-07:00

Chow is nothing new to San Franciscans, serving up American comfort food since 1997. As with the familiar coziness of comfort food, Chow is like a warm, favorite hoodie that San Francisco hipsters and yupsters alike love to slip on, especially on a chilly autumn Sunday.

This past weekend we decided to go for the friendly neighborhood feeling at Chow on Church and Market Streets for our Sunday brunch. Snappy pop tunes like "Pretty Woman" played as we made our way to our table. Waitstaff in skinny jeans and t-shirts floated about the joint doing their restaurant tasks. To our left some smartly dressed lesbians ordered an iceberg wedge with blue cheese and sustainable fish tacos. Another table was anchored by a girl with green hair drinking Diet Coke. To the other side, three Mission-styled types in American Apparel dug into their organic chicken taquitos.

Ready for something deliciously cheesy to erase our Saturday night debauchery, we ordered the appetizer of warmed goat cheese, olives, tomatoes and walnut bread. Somewhere in between California picnic food, pizza and nachos, it was a completely delicious combination.

Sunday kind of food is all about eating what your really, truly think sounds good. Beef pot roast served on mashed potatoes and pork chops on polenta were our choices. Just like mom would make (if she is a good cook), the pot roast was perfectly tender, eaten in bites with bacon, petite carrots and mashed potato. The grilled pork chops took a slightly Italian flavor with a green olive tapenade and creamy polenta. Of course, any big Sunday meal has to have sides, and we selected the bacon green beans and garlic spinach.

Like a good mom, Chow always ensures you are well fed before you head out the door to play. We were well stuffed as we headed out for a Sunday stroll through Golden Gate Park and to buy new goldfish on Clement Street.

Jazz, cocktails and antipasti with old Lady Sutter at Hotel Rex

2009-10-19T11:28:00.000-07:00

Sutter Street in San Francisco is like a fancy lady who's husband ran away with the circus and left her to downsize into a small but savvy little city flat. Rows of Art Deco, Edwardian and Victorian hotels and apartment buildings give Lady Sutter her faded, sophisticated charm. What better way to celebrate her spirit than with cocktails, antipasti and live jazz in the bar at Hotel Rex.

This past Friday evening after terrorizing the boutiques of Union Square, my Lucy and Ethel partner in crime, Chris, and I slipped over to our favorite Sutter Street hideaway. Just down the hall past reception, we stepped into the parlor bar of Hotel Rex. Old wooden desks, round café tables, retro lamps and oil paintings of socialites take one back to the gilded Barbary Coast San Francisco before hippies or dot com-ers. When we arrived, the soft voice of a cute brunette vocalist was swinging so cool and swaying so gently over a guitarist's notes. We grabbed a spot and headed to the bar.

The bartender who usually works these live jazz evenings at Hotel Rex is a tall older gentleman who even pours a beer into a glass in a way that reminds you of an older time when fine service was a standard. Chris ordered a glass of Sangiovese wine and I a scotch and soda to sip at our table. We also ordered our favorite pick from their happy hour menu, the antipasti plate. Though the contents change slightly every time, it came out with some sopressata, salami, artichoke hearts, brie, herbed cheese, hard cheese, olives and toasted bread with olive oil. The lounge also serves items off the full dinner menu from the hotel's restaurant, Café Andrée.

Just like Lady Sutter, evening cocktails at Hotel Rex are all about the feeling that is evoked by the surroundings. Retro furnishing and cool jazzy sounds leave you sipping your drink while basking in an ambiance that lingers like the perfume of some beautiful woman from another time.

Chinese Pork Happiness at Heaven's Dog

2009-10-14T16:11:00.000-07:00

Dinner and the theatre is the essential city mouse night on the town. Given the theme of our evening, I will have to revise that to city pig night on the town. With tickets at will call for a local production at SOMA's Hypnodrome Theatre of "Pearls Over Shanghai," a flamboyant comic operetta set in 1930's China, my special someone and I embarked into a San Francisco Saturday evening for some pre-theatrics dining. We had considered other options, but suddenly a gong crash went off in our brains, and we knew we could not have chosen more wisely than with the stylish, scrumptious and cheeky spot that is Heaven's Dog.

The website for this cosmo cool Chinese flavored eatery even indicates that it is "perfect for pre-theatre." For reference, it is a few blocks in the south direction from the Orpheum and Golden Gate Theatres, just below the SOMA Grand Hotel in the architectural shadow of the Federal Building on 7th and Mission. A handsome, trendy crowd fills out the space of architecturally curved wood finishes, modern orange couches and Sixties globe light fixtures. There is a rumour that the chef is affiliated with upscale Vietnamese hot spot, Slanted Door.

Our fashion-forward hosts showed us to our favorite spot (where we had our very first date!)...one of the mod orange couches in the lounge space. We always laugh about the first time we went to Heaven's Dog, and our waiter asked if we like "spirit forward cocktails." It is funny because we do. The bar is a city sipper's dream, with classic American drinks that take you back to jazz age generations when they really appreciated unfrilly cocktails. We ordered a Cap Haitian Rum & Honey (Barbancourt, 15 year rum, organic honey, Angostura bitters with a hand cut ice cube) and a Remember the Maine (rye whiskey, Italian vermouth, brandy, absinthe). They were so "spirit forward" they lasted us the entire dinner.

We selected an all pork menu, starting with one of the tastiest things you could ever put in your mouth, braised pork belly in a clam shell bun with scallions. Completely savory wrapped in the sweet pillowy dough, these are a sexier version of the pork buns you get at Chinese deem sum. Next came the classic sweet and sour pork in pineapple and cranberry, which was just as luscious and meaty as any cut of beef. Not to keep it an exclusively Atkins diet menu, we finished off with the earthy vermicelli stir fry with Neiman Ranch pork shoulder, shrimp and yellow curry. Oink, oink, all the way!

Revved up by a few creatively modern Chinese plates and F. Scott Fitzgerald worthy cocktails, we were all set for a night of decadent cabaret at the Hypnodrome Theatre. (...end scene!)

Edith Piaf would eat this in her Fall fur...

2009-10-13T10:19:00.000-07:00

I am looking out the window at rain pouring over the San Francisco cityscape, with the scratchy phonograph sound of Edith Piaf singing "Autumn Leaves" playing in my head. Every season has its moods, and Fall brings on a rekindled desire for its warm, comforting flavors. Roasted vegetables and earthy spices come first to mind.

Roasted Butternut Squash Soup & Brie Croque Madame with Roasted Red Peppers

The Soup...
1 butternut squash (or other favorite large Fall squash)
1 teaspoon olive oil
sea salt & pepper
1 apple
1/2 onion
1/2 teaspoon cumin
1/2 teaspoon cinnamon

1 tablespoon butter
2 cups chicken or vegetable stock
1 cup milk
2-4 sage leaves
half roasted red pepper, julienned

Roasting a vegetable is absolutely the best way to pay tribute to it. No sugar and butter drowned squash here though. Half and seed the squash, then lightly brush on olive oil, sea salt and pepper. Place on a baking tray in a 350 degree oven for about 40 minutes, until the flesh is completely tender. Meanwhile melt that tablespoon of butter in a pan to make a little apple soffritto, throwing in diced onion, chopped apple, cumin, cinnamon, salt and pepper. Stir around until you have a nice nutty brown caramelization.

Remove the skin from the squash and roughly cube. Slide into a food processor with the little apple soffritto, and pulse untill they become a uniform orange purée. Pour the purée into a pot, then add the stock, milk and sage leaves. Incorporate into a smooth, yummy goodness and re-season as needed. I also put in a half a julienned, roasted red pepper at the end.

The Sandwich...
4 slices of Italian country bread
4 slices of brie
4 slices of roasted red pepper
French mustard
1 egg
1 tablespoon of butter

This is not a traditional croque madame, but just a creative interpretation. Knife some French mustard onto the country bread slices, then dip one side of each slice in a beaten egg. Layer the brie and red peppers between two slices, then place onto a grill pan that has been greased with a tablespoon of butter. Crisp up both sides of the sandwiches, French toast-style, and melt the cheese. C'est tout...

10 Ways to Decadence

2009-10-12T09:39:00.000-07:00

Flapper era smart ass Dorothy Parker once wrote, "Take care of the luxuries and the necessities will take care of themselves." Cheers to that, lady. A guy really can get used to the finer things in life. Fine wine, fine dining, fine wine...wait, I already said that, but just saying.

Thursday evening is the evening for hitting the town for some sort of cosmopolitan adventure. This past week's adventure was my best pal Chris and I being invited by Chef Curtis to dine as his personal guests. The venue was organic restaurant, Daffodil in the Orchard Hotel, just above San Francisco's tourist packed Union Square and just below pure bred dog packed Nob Hill.

We felt like famous socialites as soon as we walked in and were greeted by Daffodil's Chef de Cuisine, Jeremiah, who personally seated us at our special perch directly across from an enormous mirror. (It is always good to have a mirror close by. You never know when cameras are bound to appear!) Curtis, who aside from being Pastry Chef for Daffodil also makes the desserts for it's sister restaurant Roots, came out to to say good evening and get us ready for the delicious courses he was preparing for us. The server popped open a bottle of a nice syrah/grenache at our white linen table, and we settled in for the luxuries to come.

Opening the night's feast was Curtis' own corn bread recipe with vanilla cinnamon as well as roasted jalapeno cilantro butters. I could have eaten the corn bread on it's own as dinner. The sweet and savory flavors in the butters set a perfect mood for an October evening meal. This was followed by an amuse bouche of mussels with an heirloom tomato and white wine vinaigrette. Oui!

A long, slender white plate with hors d'oeuvres came out next carrying three tastes of fried pleasure. Croquettes filled with smokey bacon, spicy jalapeno and yummy white cheddar melted on our tongues. Sweet potato gnocchi where sinfully delicious topped with a bit of arugula. All three in this ménage à trois were perfect, but I have to admit the Panko dusted mac n' cheese with New York white cheddar and a dab of marinara sauce was my favorite little fried lover. I noticed the table near us ordered a full order of those decadent mac n'cheese squares, and I vow to endulge the same on my next visit.

More wine poured, then a lovely sweet potato purée soup came out. Silky and smooth, it was the sexy yin, to the bold flavored yang of the mixed greens with apple smoked bacon and Point Reyes blue cheese that escorted it. As if we had not already been feasting like the court of Louis XIV, Curtis next brought out a main course of beef two ways. On the left a perfectly medium rare, pan seared flat iron steak awaited our pleasure with its attendants of little fingerling potatoes and greens. On the right, red wine braised short ribs reclined seductively atop broccolini and mashed potatoes as light as clouds. (Maybe the wine was giving me delusions of Vivaldi and Molière by this point.)

As the crowning highlight of this autumnal food orgy, we finished with Curtis' own personal creation, an apple galette with house-made vanilla bean ice cream and caramel sauce. We were swirling in a perfect combination of the familiar and luxurious, delighting in bits of apple and pastry crust with the creamyness of ice cream and richness of caramel.

At the finish, Chris and I were both sprawled on our table like Ernest Hemingway after an eating and drinking binge on the Rive Gauche of Paris. Leaving us full, opulent and happy, Curtis and the kitchen treated us to a truly delicious experience. I recommend to anyone to kick up their flapper heels and head on over for some sumptuous eating at Daffodil.

Thai Basil Chicken Salad or 10 Minute Meals

2009-10-06T19:59:00.000-07:00

Okay, I admit it. I secretly love Rachel Ray. She takes the concept of a Moroccan tagine and somehow makes a bastardized version in 30 minutes with whitewashed chicken breasts, some deli olives, a box of couscous, lemons, "EVOO" and a shake of Lawry's all spice. Okay, I do not really love Rachel Ray, but the idea of quickly whipping up a mélange out of ingredients in your kitchen that interpret classic flavors in a new way is a good one.

With $2 worth of Thai basil from the farmers market and some left over roasted chicken, I decided to come up with this revamp of cold chicken salad (which frequently contains my only loathed ingredient on this planet, mayonnaise).

Thai Basil Chicken Salad
4 roasted chicken breasts shredded off the bone
1 bunch Thai basil (would be great with Italian, but I liked the lighter flavor in Thai)
2/3 cup white or white wine vinegar
1/2 cup extra virgin olive oil sea salt and pepper
1/2 teaspoon chili flakes or 2 teaspoons of sriracha sauce
1 clove garlic
2 diced tomatoes

Shred the roasted chicken and set aside in a large bowl (You could even get one of those whole roasted chickens from the grocery store). In food processor, pulse the basil, vinegar, olive oil, sea salt, pepper, chili and garlic. Spoon it into the bowl and mix thoroughly with the chicken. Stir in the diced tomatoes.

At this point it is up to you. I made a tortilla wrap with spinach. I am sure you could make a sandwich, throw over noodles or stir into an omelet. I think that was actually a 10 Minute Meal. How do you like the sound of that, Rachel Ray?

Auf Weidessen, Mein Herr Gourmet Magazine

2009-10-05T14:08:00.000-07:00

American food lovers, chefs, restaurateurs, cooks, artisans, writers and other culinary personalities no doubt are a little saddened by Condé Nast's announcement today that it will be be closing Gourmet Magazine after 70 years. Gourmet was a big inspiration over several generations in creating and innovating the modern American food, cooking and dining culture today.

Times change though, and if you are not changing with them then you are clinging to the past. Sometimes things that were important to us in the past become irrelevant. As much as glossy magazines are an art, print publishing is a diminishing, unprofitable communication format.

Gourmet was important because it was an innovative food world mercury, celebrating evolving food trends from cocktails to film. It was delivered with savvy, in the last 10 years under the editorship of iconic former NY Times restaurant critic, Ruth Reichel.

Smart perspectives on our food lives are not over, and we are not doomed to the banality of reruns of Rachel Ray's 30 Minute Meals either. The Internet is a galaxy of people photographing, writing and engaging in endless dialogue about food. There are mega-sites like Epicurius.com (which will continue to offer Gourmet's recipes) and Foodnetwork.com, and foodies social network in places like Foodbuzz and Facebook. Food blogs are among some of the most popular and diverse in the blogosphere. There are even subsections of Youtube posters who publish food and cooking clips, comedic to instructive.

Food entertainment in our era has morphed into an immense pavilion within popular culture, driven by a diverse range of personalities and specializations. Food experience crusaders like Anthony Bourdain and his No Reservations show on the Travel Channel stir up musings on society, art, literature and history with Anthony's fearless off-beat experiences of eating and boozing in every culture on the planet. Reality programs like Top Chef, Chopped and Iron Chef pit real culinary professionals and amateurs against each other to use their creative talents for competitive stakes. We are invited to participate in their emotional moments, relating to their passion for food and its association with all our individual identities.

Our era is fortunate in the interactive depth of its forums to celebrate our love for cooking, eating and drinking compared with the days of waiting for magazines in the mail. The space left in the food world by Gourmet Magazine's disappearance will not go unnoticed, but its replacement by other innovative communications vehicles has already lead us down many delicious adventures entirely new.

Cheap Thrills, San Francisco Style

2009-10-05T11:32:00.000-07:00

One of my past offices was near a Whole Foods. Great store, but it seems that you could never get out of there without spending at least $20, even if you only bought lip balm and water. The best cheap lunch I could manage there was a quesadilla slice, a little plastic container of seaweed salad and Whole Foods brand raspberry soda. Cheap eating is a special art form.

On this topic, San Francisco Chronicle's 2009 Bargain Bites list is out. Frjtz, Kasa Indian Eatery, Delessio, Shalomar...some of my favorites for frugal deliciousness made the list. This got me thinking about my own little bargain eating and drinking gems in town, so these are some of my top favorites.

Pagolac - Vietnamese Dinner Date Magic in the Tenderloin

If you want the drama of a seven course meal at $16 a person, Pagolac's 7 Flavors of Beef delivers on date night. Your accommodating hosts first bring out a beef carpaccio with red onion. Then come the rice paper wrappers that you steam yourself in a bowl of water, then compose your favored combinations of basil, mint, bean sprouts, lettuce, carrots, red chilies and fish sauce. Thin sliced beef comes out to be cooked yourself in a steamy hot pot and table top grill. Skewers of grilled beef wrapped around onion, satay style beef and sausages are courses 4, 5 and 6. The experience caps off with a hot little bowl of rice porridge with still more little bits of beef. Date magic.

Mission Beach Cafe - Creative Brunch off the Mission Hipster Path

The fact that you can meet your friends on the weekend (or if you are lucky to be off during the week when it is less crowded) for the most honest, creative plates of New American food with everything $15 or less, is amazing. The chef driven menu at Mission Beach Cafe shifts with what is going on through the seasons, with some standards as well. No choice can go wrong, but my short list includes the warm breakfast salad, dungeness crab benedict, pulled pork sandwich and grass fed burger with Gouda. Mmmmm.

Yank Sing 2 go - Downtown Deem Sum Quick Fix

My gal pal Karen and I can not eat anything else together for lunch but everything off the carts at Yank Sing in Rincon Center (especially the Shanghai "soup" dumplings with pork, scallion and ginger broth inside a little pocket of dough). That is a leisurely Saturday kind of thing though, so the quick fix, $4 - $10 option is to hit Yank Sing 2 go. This is their take out joint next door, open during the week. All I have to say is spring roll, steamed pork bun, sui mye, potstickers, shrimp dumpling, scallop/mushroom dumpling, chow mein, fried rice ....

Let's go get some fro-yo, yo

2009-10-01T15:31:00.000-07:00

A lovely, summery October 1st in San Francisco proper is here. The skies are clear. From the window I can see sailboats and cruise ships floating by Angel Island. We may be in the office, but it is Thursday, which is just like the pre-party to Friday, and everyone is in light spirits.

My dear friend Trisha, always one to instigate, tells our friend Warren, "Darling, it is too nice out today. You are buying us frozen yogurt." This has become a weekly tradition for us, so we round up a gang from the office and head down to this little frozen yogurt spot on Sansome and Clay called Yoppi.

It is frozen simplicity...you walk in the pink little space, grab a paper cup and chose one of the four flavors. There are the classics, chocolate and vanilla, as well as today's sour selections, blueberry and Yoppi tart. Then you move on to the toppings. They have all kinds of fruits (even mini lychees that pop in your mouth like eyeballs), cereals, nuts and other typical ice cream sweeties.

I was feeling a little on the wacky side, so I made a blueberry fro-yo with kiwi bits, mango and mini gummy bears. Everyone else did some delicious looking chocolate numbers with gooey and crunchy elements.

The trick is to put as little in your cup while also putting a lot of everything so you can have a your fro-yo treat for $2.50 or so. Of course, Warren was buying so it was that much more delicious.

A Better Fish and Chips, Mate

2009-09-30T14:53:00.000-07:00

When tourists pack the F Market streetcar like a bunch of buggy eyed sardines wearing fanny packs as they swim upstream to San Francisco's Fisherman's Wharf, you would think there must be something magical about what they are expecting to find there. I have been to Fisherman's Wharf countless times, and mostly I just try to avoid that place with its ugly souvenir shops, silver robot men dancing for change and Hooters restaurants. I think what the whole big deal was supposed to be is the fresh seafood....yummy cups of Dungeness crab, Bay shrimp, chowder and cioppino. Okay, when done right it is really good stuff.

The duty of a cosmopolitan local is to know what is off the beaten path, and if only the tourists knew that some of the yummiest Pacific Northwest style seafood is right along that F Market at Woodhouse Fish Company. This little joint is located right at the buzzing crossroads of Church Street where people pass by car, train, bike and foot (some with shopping carts) between the Castro, Mission and downtown.

Curtis and I ducked in one Sunday around sunset, starving from a day at the street fair with friends. Two amber Sierra Nevada beers got us ready from some really delicious seafood. Curtis had a fresh crab sandwich on a roll with melted cheddar. I got the Bay shrimp and avocado sandwich. The crab and shrimp were so fresh, you could taste them swimming in the sea. Two hungry men of course need french fries, and the ones at WFC that evening were fantastic, thin and perfectly crisp. Douse them (well, I like to douse mine) in malt vinegar, and nothing could be better.

For $9.95 each, beers and a tip, we would have made our Rachel Ray $40 A Day budget, with cash to spare for dessert and a few more beers at a karaoke bar. AWWEsome!

Tangerine Peel Love

2009-09-28T10:51:00.000-07:00

I am not sure if food makes love better or love makes food better, but nobody would doubt that the two are a famously delicious combination. Saturday night was cuddle fest on the couch watching Marie Antoinette, and I wanted to make something special for my special someone. In a moment of creativity, I was inspired by some bright orange tangerines and improvised this little recipe for a tangy, quasi-Chinese tangerine sauce with chicken and string beans.

Tangerine Peel Chicken with String Beans

2 tangerines

1/2 teaspoon chili flakes

3 garlic cloves

2/3 cup light soy sauce

2 tablespoons sugar

splash of white vinegar

cracked black pepper

2 pounds chicken thighs and/or legs

1 pound string beans

Grate the entire peel of both tangerines. Throw in a sauce pan with the chili flakes and a drizzle of oil over medium flame. After 45 seconds, squeeze in the tangerine juice, add the garlic and let the liquid reduce for a few minutes. Add the soy sauce, sugar and splash of white vinegar. Stir and reduce over medium flame, until the sauce starts to thicken into a honey-like consistency.

Brush 1/3 of the tangerine peel sauce onto the chicken and bake in the oven at 350 degrees until done (I bet it would be amazing on the grill too). While waiting, I sent funny text messages back and forth with my sweety and steamed the string beans. This time I had chicken on the bone, so I sliced the meat off into the pan with the remaining 2/3 of tangerine peel sauce. Turn on the flame to medium high, get those string beans in there and stir it up to get everything saucy. Crack in a lot of fresh ground pepper at the end, then serve up with some steamed rice and a kiss.

-XOXO

Grown up spaghetti in "this economy"

2009-09-24T19:12:00.000-07:00

Like everyone, I have had to scale back this year on my spending and come up with creative ways to feed myself while still making life worth living. The last time I was trying to eat cheaply I was a college kid, and a staple was pasta, almost always with a jar of brand name tomato sauce. It did the job then. Now I have a diet that supports my gym workouts, and my tastes have grown vastly over the last 10 plus years of dining at amazing restaurants and exploring cooking. Now I turn to what I have experienced and learned from one of my peoples, the Italians. The Italians are a people who know how to live life to its fullest and are no strangers to finding elaborate flavors in very simple combinations of ingredients. Once you commit some of the key Italian flavor combinations to memory, you are golden.

One such essential combination in the cuisine of Tuscany is pork sausage with white beans. This could play out a number of ways, but I like to make the most of a quick batch of whole wheat pasta that will last me a few meals, cost under $9 and deliver fiber and protein.

Spaghetti with pork sausage and ceci beans
1 box whole wheat spaghetti
1 lb. of pork sausages (garlic and basil or spicy Italian fennel are good)
1 can ceci beans (garbanzos or chick peas), drained and washed
1 cup frozen green peas
splash balsamic vinegar
splash Marsala wine (or any wine you have on hand, hell, use vodka)
sea salt and ground pepper

Salt your quart of pasta water and heat to a rolling boil. While this is happening, cut up the sausage and throw it into a large flat skillet over medium high flame to brown up thoroughly on the outside. Splash in the vinegar and wine and let cook off. Throw in the ceci beans, green peas, salt and pepper, then stir. When pasta is slightly undercooked, drain the water mainly out and toss into the rest of the ingredients with a little bit of the pasta water (probably 1/2 cup or less). Stir around on low heat until everything comes together into a nice coated pasta with chunks of everything distributed everywhere. Molto bene.

San Francisco Summer

2009-09-23T09:26:00.000-07:00

Almost every writer starting on the subject of weather in San Francisco must reference Mark Twain's famous old quote about his coldest winter being a summer in San Francisco. True, true, Mr. Twain, as anyone knows who has been here on a foggy 4th of July freezing in winter sweaters trying to grill a hot dog and watch fireworks.

However, we are now in full swing of September and October here by the Bay. While everyone else is thinking about winter clothes and dead leaves, now is the time that the natives call San Francisco Summer. The weather warms into the 80's. The chilly Pacific Ocean wind subsides. You can stay out at the beach, park or cafe without thinking about your (usually) ever present jacket too much.

In my 10 years here, I am well aware that this time must be lived to the fullest, and food and drink is essential to the San Francisco Summer experience. You meet a friend for a glass of rosé at the outside tables at Zuni Cafe. You grab some cinnamon ice cream from Bi-Rite Creamery and lay in the grass at Delores Park. You drive up to Hog Island and shuck a dozen raw oysters with lemon by the side of the road. You cut out work with your coworkers to have some Cabernet gelato from Ciao Bella and cruise around the Ferry Building. You duck out from screeching Blue Angels jets overhead and packed Columbus day tables at North Beach cafes for a cold beer in O'Reiley's Irish Pub.

Frankly, the beauty of this town is that we would do any of those things year round, regardless of the season and whether in flip flops or warm layers. San Francisco is good for that. There is just something slightly sweeter though about taking a bite or sip when you do it during San Francisco Summer.

Easy, Breezy, Lebanese-y Dinner Party

2009-09-21T10:59:00.000-07:00

Few things are more fun to me than inviting a mix of favorite friends and new faces over for an urban evening of laughing, eating and drinking. When any configuration of the personalities in my San Francisco friend family gathers together, the spirit of revelry, joking, story telling, photographing and love is always memorable. We are the real life version of those Olive Garden "When you are here, you are family" commercials, only no endless salad and breadsticks.

For last Saturday night's soirée, I decided to share with my friends the garlicky, lemony, spicy traditions of my own Lebanese side of the family. My best pal, Chris, volunteered his spacious Nob Hill apartment as our venue, and about 15 friends filled in his kitchen and living room for some Lebanese tapas style eating and lots of wine.

The six dishes I chose for this easy, breezy, Lebanese-y party were not as easy and breezy as I anticipated. How did my people back in desert manage to get all these ingredients pulverized into a delicious dip without the food processor? Giant mortars and pestles sound more fun than washing out the food processor every time I move on to a new dish, but I suppose I do have it easier.

I took my recipes from some of my food heroes. Garlicky chickpea hummus from Ina Garten. Smokey baba ghanoush from Tyler Florence. I added a Greek nod with Ina Garten's tangy yogurt tzatziki. It was actually a yummy accompaniment to recipes my mom gave me for spinach stuffed fatayer and meaty, baked kibbeh. I also made a lemony tabbouleh salad, and I set out some flatbread and olives with orange.

The evening did take on an easy, breezy vibe as friends gathered around sitting on the couch and floor, harem-style. Our friend Nathan who works in a wine shop brought us bottles of mellow but spicy red wine from Lebanon. Conversation, food and drink flowed. From his restaurant, Curtis brought us a hazelnut ice cream and his signature chocolate sorbet along with crumbled cookies, cranberries, chocolate and nuts.

When I was a kid going to parties that involved my Lebanese grandmother, aunts and cousins, there was this funny tradition of trying to balance a wine glass on their heads while waving around napkins to a hand clapped rhythm. We did not quite go to this length, but I am pretty sure we were doing something similar by the time we were ready to go out and hit the Saturday nightlife.

Vivent les cochons!

2009-09-20T16:07:00.000-07:00

I found out while browsing Gourmet Magazine's website last week about a food video contest being hosted by The Criterion Collection Online Cinematheque on Youtube. The contest is a celebration of Chantal Akerman’s classic 1970's French film, Jeanne Dielman, 23, quai du Commerce, 1080 Bruxelles.

Some of the most interesting moments in film are when the main character, a middle class widow, is shown going through the motions of shaping a meatloaf, breading cutlets and peeling potatoes. These moments are shot in a seamless, long, almost tedious take where you can hear the squishing of her delicate hands kneading the ground meat. She cracks an egg. She bumps over the milk. You can feel the buzz of the lights and imagine noise on the street. As the kneading of the meatloaf continues, you cannot help but think about what thoughts are going on behind her gray, expressionless face. Finally she shapes the meatloaf and washes her hands, leaving you questioning what the point was or if there really was any.

I got out my cam and enlisted my best friend Chris to take to my kitchen with some pork cutlets and a bottle du vin to ad lib our version of Jeanne Dielman. We have a nickname for each other of Piggy, which we use interchangeably. We are infamous for hosting Piggy Dinners, where we stand around my kitchen with friends or just ourselves to cook, drink wine and play music. Here is our petite vignette....

Pork carnitas, straight from the corazon

2009-09-17T15:46:00.000-07:00

There are two reasons why I am lucky in life. One is that my main man Curtis is a fantastic chef. The other is that he is a fantastic chef with a mmmm, mmmm delicioso family recipe for slow simmered pork carnitas.

Curtis is not Mexican himself, but he was given this spicy family secret by a former cook at his restaurant. When he made it as the center of the dinner party that he thew for his friend Nathan's birthday last night, there was something magic about it that brought out the familia feeling in everyone (with the added influence of margaritas, of course).

When I arrived at Curtis' West Portal apartment, I was greeted by a hip-hopping iPod playlist and an ice cold margarita on the rocks with salt. The focal point of the room was an impressive tablescape of white dishes filled with various little tesoros to accompany the savory carnitas, which was placed on a mini pedestal on the center of the table.

Again, I pinched myself with my luck, there was no trace of an open Pace Picante salsa jar, orange shredded cheddar or canned refried beans. Curtis got our eyes salivating with some fresh, creative twists.....heirloom tomato pico de gallo, bright green guacamole, marinated red cabbage, roasted jalepeños and spicy salsa made with three kinds of chili peppers. There were warm flour tortillas that Curtis made from scratch like a little abuelita. Black beans and pintos had been simmered from dry. A trio of cheeses - pepper jack, asiago and goat cheese - waited in bowls to melt themselves into the delicious carnitas. The main dish itself was a huge bowl of juicy, tender shredded pork that was dark with the braising liquid it had simmered in all day.

All was so delicious on its own and together that I devoured my first plate in minutes. I was particularly struck by the combination of goat cheese with roasted jalepeños and carnitas meat wrapped in my little hand-made tortilla.

We cocktailed. We ate more. We laughed. We sang. It was like one of those Ina Garten parties where she turns to the camera and says, "Good food. Good friends. Good drinks. How bad can that be?"

Insane lament of the genius grilled cheese

2009-09-16T10:28:00.000-07:00

The infinite possibilities of melting of cheese on bread are so insanely delicious that they were rumoured to have driven Rasputin mad and caused the Russian Revolution of 1917. Okay...the second part is a completely false statement, but what is true is that once a person starts craving a grilled cheese there is nothing that can quell his madman fiending until he finally holds that melted, crunchy, buttery, cheesy perfection in his own hands.

Just for entertainment's sake, let us torture ourselves with some of the possible iterations of the most perfect croques monsieurs that I have eaten first hand or in my mind....

...Gruyere and ham on baguette

...Provolone and basil pesto on cibatta

...Smoked Gouda on Italian country bread

...Pear and Gorgonzola on black olive bread

...Port Salut with cracked pepper on sourdough

...Brie and apricot jam on honey wheat

...Havarti, hot sauce and pickle on foccacia

...Monterrey Jack, shrimp and cilantro in tortilla

...Cheddar and heirloom tomato on whole wheat

I would love to go on longer about this, but in a moment of clarity, I realized that I must go to the grocery store immediately to buy some cheese and bread.

Meat Cones are not as good as on TV

2009-09-14T20:52:00.000-07:00

Tuesdays, for those who slave in the Microsoft Excel mines of the San Francisco Financial District, is Ferry Building Farmers Market day. This type of day is a delightful escape to sample seasonal slices of stone fruit and heirloom tomatoes in the sunshine, then you go browse the culinary treasure cave inside of the Ferry Building.

I salivate quite a bit when I am in this place. Pink peppercorn chocolates from Recchiuti. Chocolate orange tea scones at Miette Patisserie. The fruity Stonehouse olive oils. Texas Burgers at Taylor's Automatic Refresher. That cute place with the bear head and lobster mushrooms.

One idyllic Tuesday not long ago, I accompanied my workday gal pals on a Ferry Building trip. One of my lovely friends had been smitten by a clip of Chef-bro Tyler Florence on the Food Network's The Best Thing I Ever Ate. In the segment, he points to local Northern California salumi maker, Boccalone Salumeria. The girls and I headed in search of their noted salumi cone, a sno-cone cup that, instead of sugary ice, holds a miniature mount of cured pork products. My lovely friend put in her order for a slice of prosciutto, a slice of salame pepato and a slice of pancetta piana.

We all made the expected juvenile jokes about meat cones as she walked up with her cone of fleshy pink pig meats. The prosciutto looked delicious and delicate. From the looks you could immediately taste the salty and peppery flavor of the salame pepato. The pancetta piana, however, came as ribbons of pure white fat with a few trace stripes of meat - cured but not cooked. I have no doubt all these meats have amazing flavor that is delicious with a chewy, crusty Tuscan bread and some olive oil or fried up and added to a sauté of fresh green beans.

Needless to say this lost my lovely friend's admiration for the much anticipated meat cone. Big strips of raw fat just don't win a girl's heart like they used to, I suppose.

The Best Mexican Joint in Town

2009-09-13T18:47:00.000-07:00

As any San Francisco cad about town knows, only a precious few things are worth a trip out to "the Avenues"....a long stretch of grey blocks on the West Side of San Francisco. From Divisadero out to Ocean Beach on the North and South sides of Golden Gate Park, the Avenues sit most of the year in the looming fog that rolls in from the Pacific Ocean.

For years (since 1965), one joint has been a bright red fiesta in midst of all this gloom. That joint is Tommy's Mexican Restaurant and World's Best Tequila Bar. I discovered this place with a friend around 2004, and I have been a fan ever since. San Francisco is a town where transplants from states and countries with no decent Mexican food go ape over heavy taqueria burritos filled with sour cream and fake guacamole. So to have an authentic, sit down Mexican place with full plates of food and a-MAZ-ing (in Rachel Ray voice) fresh lime margaritas......let me just tell you...score.

It was an overcast September Sunday around late brunch, when Curtis and I made our way to Tommy's. He had not been before, and I wanted to share the magic of Tommy's. The sky was grey and threatening to rain. Old Chinese and Korean women prodded down the sidewalk with their shopping carts. The smell of Sunday afternoon dim sum wafted from dozens of packed restaurants on our walk. Then we got to that bright green sign, walked in the door and immediately the mood changed to a buzzingly warm, friendly atmosphere with people talking and enjoying themselves.

Part of the charm of Tommy's is that is occupies a space with wood paneling, red booths and kitch on the walls that make you realize they had no need to mess with much since 1965. They put down a spicy green salsa and milder, still spicy red version with warm chips. We ordered two of my favorite beers, Negra Modello. How much happier can you get eating chips and drinking beer with club mixes in Spanish playing in the background? They bring you a little iceberg lettuce salad, which given the 60's decor, seems fitting, but comes with a surprisingly yummy salsa vinaigrette which also revs up your tongue for some more heat.

Our food arrived. Curtis ordered one of my favorites, the carne asada. Grilled beef comes out with fresh guacamole, pico de gallo, grilled onion, lime wedges, black beans and warm corn tortillas. It is just the sort of simple, basic but manly Latin flavors that always satisfy. I ordered the Pollo Pibil, a chicken breast marinated in chilies and tomatoes then steam cooked in a banana leaf. Meaty, spicy and delicious every bite, but then....

I decided to take a bite of the grilled jalapeno on my plate. I am not one to shy away from spice, but Dios, Hijo y Santo Spirito....that was a hot pepper! We laughed and took photos, and I tried to move on quickly but...gee, Tommy...that smarted!

My lips hate that I would dare to say it, but I think I want another bite of the jalapeno.

Jack Tripper was a chef....

2009-09-12T18:25:00.000-07:00

Sometimes I find a special delicious relish in going back over my memories...the people, places and eras I knew...and, of course, food experiences are a huge part of those memories. Where did it all begin? Was it the first time I certified my Italian-ness by becoming addicted to the garlicky taste of my Sicilian Nanu's linguine and clams? My Lebanese grandma's special kibbeh recipe that I remember she made when we stopped by before trick-or-treating the year I dressed up as Han Solo? Maybe just when my mom would make me a peanut butter and jelly on wheat?

And this brings us to Jack Tripper. Yes, that swinging, tight polyester pants wearing love machine made his living by cooking culinary delights. Sometimes he cooked for dates, sometimes for his gal pal roomies Chrissy and Janet......sometimes he just had some cocktails with Larry at the Regal Beagle.

I do not really remember that they ever showed food or mentioned a dish that Jack actually prepared, but something about that goofy fun loving chef left an impression on me. Little did I know just how much watching his enthusiasm for life, friends, food and wacky situations would turn out to be what my life is all about. I guess I don't solve all my problems in 25 minutes, but I can show you pictures of a few Mr. Furleys and Mrs. Ropers I know from the restaurants, cabarets and bars I haunt.

Trying to get to a pithy Sarah Jessica Parker closer filled with humour and wisdom here, but I think all that I am trying to say is that food experiences and memories are the people and personalities who make them as interesting as the food and drink themselves.

Padma Lakshmi vs. Broccolini with Chili Flakes and Olive Oil

2009-09-10T21:41:00.002-07:00

This week, I was watching those poor kids on Top Chef Season 6 Las Vegas try to scamper through their Quick Fire Challenge whilst keeping their eyes from rolling whenever a lanky legged scowl or scathing sound bite comes from the lips of Ms. Glad Family of Products Promo-Model, Padma Lankshmi. While beard bear Steven was winning with a fricassee of snails with bacon and parsley, I had to make some dinner, and lucky for me I had one of my favorites, broccolini. I found out broccolini is some sort of commercial cross between broccoli and a Chinese variety called kai-lan. I also found out that Padma played a lipsyncing singer in the Mariah Carey memory, Glitter.....um, whaa?

While Padma puts on crisp and crunchy dialogue snippets to keep it interesting for the cameras, crisp and crunchy is exactly what makes broccolini an intrigue for me every time I eat it. There is a more savory, almost smokey flavor in broccolini over your standard American issue broccoli, and making it perfect in a mater of minutes is probably the most seductive thing of all. This is it, kids:

Broccolini with Chili Flakes and Olive Oil
1 bunch broccolini
1/2 tsp. of chili flakes or as much as you spice as you really like
1 tablespoon of olive oil
sea salt and pepper

You think this sounds too simple. Well, truth is it is elementary, but if you think you can get away with just steaming or boiling your broccolini (or plain old broccoli, which also does well with this treatment), you will never be as satisfied with yourself as you truly could be. Broccolini tends to be harder to steam quickly, so if you want a bright green, tender broccolini, plunge it into some boiling water for 6 to 7 minutes. When you first see it become bright, cartoon green...wait 1.5 minutes, then take it off the heat. Drain it, colander it...whatever you do to get rid of the water.

Heat up a drizzle of olive oil (in this case extra virgin is really nice) on your range over very high flame. Throw in the chili flakes and give it a quick stir for 30 seconds. (The longer you cook chili flakes or powder over heat in oil, the more potent the heat will be in any dish you make.) Dump in that broccolini, like Padma getting rid of a nasty bite of undercooked lamb shank, and then let it saute and soak up some glossy oily, spicy flavors. You will be able to tell when the broccolini is properly lubed up and wilting from the heat, which will only take 2 to 4 minutes. Take it off the heat, pour the rest of that tablespoon full of extra virgin olive oil on, crank some sea salt and pepper.......green heaven.

I know Padma wouldn't be able to say anything negative on this one. It is a classic that could sit along side a Chinese, Japanese, Italian, French and certainly tons of everyday American dishes. I don't know how well it would do alongside Mariah Carey in a movie though.

Open Sesame or How Gweneth Paltrow made me write a blog

2009-09-09T19:39:00.000-07:00

Let us just dig right in to the sweet, sweet delicious sesame coated center and think about why we gorged ourselves on deem sum and decided to start posting run-on sentences on a blog. Gweneth Paltrow. When did she start this Goop blog? Here we have an Oscar winning actress who hangs out with Madonna and apparently has a closet aspiration to become some sort of online Martha Stewart-Julia Child-French femme de cuisine?

So I thought to myself. I like beautiful food, overheard conversations, good cocktails, urban exploring and looking good in the ambiance of certain restaurants. If Gweneth Paltrow can upload videos about how to roast a chicken and wax about which seasonal flowers go with a Russian Dressing salad, then I can too. So here we are....Delicious Dervish, open for business. Thanks, Gweneth.