Fajitas- The Forgotten 80's Classic

There are few foods hotter these days than Texas Hill Country Barbecue specifically smoked brisket. People are waiting two hours early in the morning for Franklin Barbecue in Austin (which recently appeared in the movie Chef and Obama himself has stopped by). Shows on the Food Network and the Travel Channel are extolling generations of pit masters who have worked the legendary spots like Salt Lick, etc. New York City has no less than four restaurants devoted to Hill Country BBQ with places like Brisketown
But back in the 80's as a kid living in the Hill Country, BBQ was not a big deal. Don't get me wrong, I loved it. Instead of crappy deli meat, I got my mom to buy brisket by the pound and make my lunch with that. But it wasn't something made to worship, it just was part of everyday life. What was a big deal at that time was a sliced skirt steak dish served with peppers and onions on a sizzling hot plate- the Fajita.

Now this was special occasion food. During the early 80's we would trek all the way to Market Square in the heart of San Antonio to eat at La Margarita. There waiters jostled about with sizzling platters of fajitas that would be brought to your table with great fanfare. You assembled your own tacos with a myriad of ingredients brought to your table. Mariachis played in background, the location was historic, the food was good, the whole scene was magical. It was my understanding as a kid that the early Fajitas were an effective way to feed cattle ranch hands with a "throw away" cut of tough meat and that the dish was commercialized by La Margarita in the 1920's/1930's. From there it formed the centerpiece of the Tex-Mex menu throughout the remainder of the 20th century

La Margarita

Of course this was all complete bullshit. The "Fajita" didn't appear until the 1970's and those Fajitas were skirt steak cut up into strips and assembled into tacos. No sizzling plates here. It was a German head chef at the restaurant in the Austin Hyatt who came up with the sizzling steak concept in 1982 (for complete history see this excellent article here). Customer loved the theatrics of a sizzling plate arriving at their table with all of the fanfare that entailed. Soon he was moving 13,000 orders of this stuff a month. And soon more legit Tex-Mex restaurants picked up on this dish success and started replicating it at their own restaurants.

Unfortunately by the late 1980's, everyone was doing Fajitas and the dish was watered down. Skirt steak started to get expensive and restaurants started pitching shrimp and chicken fajitas. All of the Mexican chain restaurants(i.e. Chevy's, El Torrito, etc.) started serving the dish often cuts other than skirt. The final nail in the coffin was when fast food chains got in the game with the legendary Chicken Fajita Pita at Jack-in-the-Box and what Taco Bell called Fajita tacos. The once proud icon of 80's Tex-Mex cooking was now a fast food joke best represented in the first episode of Family Guy when Peter orders 6000 chicken "va-ji-tas" .

Ian's Fajitas

Well its time to take this dish back! You are going to have to make it yourself since finding a decent restaurant version is next to impossible outside of Texas. The key to a good plate of fajitas is a long marinade that tenderizes the meat and gives it that distinctive taste. Also use skirt steak! No sirloin, no tenderloin, and I wouldn't even use flank. The beefiness and fat content of skirt is key to the dish. Alternative cuts just don't have the same level of flavor or don't have the right fat content. Make sure you have a cast iron pan as a non sizzling plate of fajitas is just sad. Outside of those rules, feel free to make the dish your own. The dish was born as a hodge podge of more traditional ingredients, so there is not a longstanding tradition to follow here.

Here is how I make it:

Fajitas for Two
(will feed two Texans, four of anybody else)

Ingredients:
1 lbs of Skirt Steak
1  Onion cut into rings
1  Julienned Red Bell Pepper
1  Julienned Bell Pepper
2  tbs Minced Garlic
1/2 Cup Worcester Sauce
2 tbs Goya Adobo with Coriander
1 tbs Freshly Ground Pepper
1 Packet Goya Sazon
1 Tbs Canola Oil
1/2 tsp Cayenne (optional)

Additions:
2 Cups of Shredded Monterrey Jack
2 Cups Shredded Romaine Lettuce
1 Cup Minced Cilantro
Salsa
10 Flour Tortillas

1. Mix together the garlic, Worcester Sauce, Adobo, Sazon and pepper in small bowl
2. Combine spice mix with steak, onion and peppers in a gallon sized bag
3. Marinate in the refrigerator for 24 hours
5. Assemble your extra ingredients
4. Heat a gas grill up to 450 degrees

5. Heat oil in a cast iron pan
6. Place meat on the grill cooking each side for 2 or 3 minutes
7. Saute onions and peepers on the heated cast iron pan until peppers are slightly charred and onions are
    caramelized
8. Let the skirt steak sit for five minutes then slice into thin strips
9. Add skirt steak to the sizzling pan and saute with the peppers and onions
10. Serve the pan still sizzling to the table with all of the extras

Spanish Cuisine-Does It Translate?

In the late 1990's, I was planning a post-graduate backpacking trip to Europe. My route was going to take me from London to Paris to Spain. I had devoted two weeks out of my month long trip to exploring Spain for one reason only...it was cheap. I knew a smidgen of Spanish, a little about its history (mostly in relation to the Americas) and liked the movie Barcelona.  But as I did my research on Spain, I became more and more fascinated. More than anything I was intrigued by tapas-little plates that were individually described and photographed in my Eyewitness Guide. Back then there were few Spanish restaurants and very few tapas bars. The small plate trend was a couple of years away and I had never been to tapas bar (it sounded vaguely erotic). It was with great anticipation that I headed to Spain to try these tasty morsels.

Once I arrived in my first destination-Madrid I didn't have much success with the food. My companion was not much of adventurer so our dining options were fairly limited. Most the time what I discovered was that most restaurants didn't fall into the classic models described in my guidebooks. The tavern that I had lunch in served a large grilled pallard (chicken) with french fries and a  gazpacho starter. I was quickly learning that Spanish food was much more than the classic Patas Bravas, Albondigas, and Spanish Tortilla of the guide books. The places that served those dishes were for tourists. In Granada, I had a delicious mixed fried seafood plate-misto fritto and ham with the freshest tasting peas that I have ever enjoyed. Then in Barcelona, I ate at the legendary Cal Pep a seafood tavern where I dined on delicate fried baby squid, blistering padron peppers and clams that tasted better than any that I have had since. I can remember the look on my girlfriend's face when I told the bartender "Que Recomenda"and have never regretted that decision since. One of my great foodie moments.

     

Cal Pep's Clams

However, I have found that Spanish cuisine doesn't translate well in the United States. Too often Spanish restaurants serve the same dishes that you find at the tourist traps in Spain. The same dishes appeared at every Spanish joint I tried- Patas Bravas, Albondigas, and Paella(which would have its own type of restaurant devoted to it in Spain). It was like when Spaghetti and Meatballs, Chicken Parm and Raviolis dominated the menu of "Red Sauce" Italian restaurants for years. Luckily that is no longer the case for Italian restaurants have regionalized and absorbed local California ingredients into their menus. However, the same cannot be said for Spanish restaurants for the most part. Why don't we have Spanish restaurants that focus on one region or type of cooking? Even big name Spanish restaurants like Jaleo served all of the classics albeit delicious versions of them. Where were the daring regional or fusion Spanish restaurants that would transform the cuisine like we have seen with Italian and to a lesser degree Japanese cuisine.

In the Bay Area, a couple of big Spanish restaurants have opened up recently- Shakewell, Coqueta, and Duende. Shakewell is Spanish-inspired while Coqueta and Duende feature a few unique dishes mixed with the classics. Duende had several creative dishes that broke the traditional Spanish menu mold like Txipiones (fried baby squid with frisee) but featured standards like patatas bravas and paella. The space is beautiful with Art Deco flourishes and a fabulous bar centering the space. However the dish that I was ultimately the most excited (Txipiones-fried baby squid) to try was the most disappointing.  The baby squid were over cooked and paled comparison to the fried gossamer bites that I experienced at Cal Pep. The prices were high with most of the tapas being priced in the teens.  For the amount of money spent versus the middling quality of the dishes, better value/experience can be found at Shakewell and Coqueta.

Txipiones at Duende

Coqueta felt like a Disneyland version of a Spanish tapas bar with a beautiful setting on Pier 5 smack dab on center of the San Francisco Embarcadero. The space at first glance was stunning with a glassed in bar separate from the main restaurant and a big city brasserie meets rustic tavern look in the main restaurant. But upon closer inspection(and a trip to the bathroom) the buildings roots as a waterfront warehouse appear. The whole thing feels like you are on a sound stage or in Vegas. The service was excellent with a very attentive waitress who knew her stuff and wasn't afraid to direct you to the highlights of the menu. Even if I didn't always agree with her assessments, I appreciated her command of the menu. My wife and I started off with fantastic Rioja (Biga de Luberri) that got the evening started on the right note. There were plenty of (relatively) reasonable wines on the list which is a nice touch for a restaurant like this. We got some pinxtos(tapas on skewers) which were a mixed bag. Chorizo and Manchego made for a happy couple but the quail egg and jamon serrano didn't have chemistry. At $2.50 each these were not cheap bites. Next we got a Kale Salad with Strawberries($12) that I read was excellent. I am generally suspicious of all things kale but this has to be the best salad I have had all year. Everything in this dish worked together- the soft cheese bound the kale and strawberries together and the acidity of the dressing finished the dish off perfectly. The next dish was a "sunny side up" huevo ($13) that was the most intriguing item on the menu. It consisted of a sunny side up egg that was mixed tableside with fried potato matchsticks, shrimp, and chorizo infused dressing. While it looked and sounded spectacular the dish itself was slightly overpowered by the chorizo dressing. The wife thought it made the dish unappetizing but I believed if salinity was toned down slightly it would have been perfect. Finally we finished with the Seafood Paella which was technically perfect...good "la raspa" (burnt rice layer), quality ingredients, and decent flavoring. The ingredients were separated from the paella and then composed tableside with a lemon/garlic aioli. A very sophisticated Paella with a price tag to match($45). A strong meal but the cost and hassle of obtaining a reservation were big detractors from the overall experience at Coqueta. Coqueta was like a Las Vegas interpretation of Spanish cuisine-good, pricey, and somehow disingenuous.

"Sunny Side Huevos" uncomposed

Finally I made it to Shakewell, a Spanish inspired restaurant that just opened up on Lakeshore Ave in Oakland. I had high hopes for this restaurant as it was only two exits down from my house and could easily make my regular rotation. Upon a arrival, Shakewell has that look that most new Oakland restaurants posses....slick bar, loud, open kitchen in the back. Nice but nothing exceptional or noteworthy unlike Coqueta and Duende. We were last minute drop ins due to a severely delayed flight. Rather than subject ourselves to the horror of Oakland Airport food we decided to relax with a few cocktails and small dinner here at Shakewell. The menu consisted of small plates of varying sizes-with no patatas bravas or gambas al aijo to be found. They have section for rice dishes called Bombas(in honor of the grain that they use) that fill the gap for paella.  The prices were $5 dollars less than those at Coqueta on average. With many of the small plates and salads being under $10 dollars. We avoided the Bombas and ordered on the lighter side due to time concerns. First up came a quartet of melon/jamon serrano pixtos ($6 or $1.50 each) that made for a refreshing starter.  Also on the small plates menu we chose the Octopus/Olive cerviche-esque combo. The tartness of the olives formed a nice foil to buttery octopus. For mains we chose the Albacore($19) and Lamb Kefta ($17). While both of these dishes had a more of an Middle Eastern influence then embodied the spirit of spanish cuisine-great local ingredients and playful presentations. The Kefta was arranged as five "lollipops" with a tangy yogurt sauce. The lamb was well seasoned but would have benefited from a second element to the dish. The albacore was the star of the evening. The fish was cooked perfectly and paired well with a smoky eggplant spread and crispy sugar peas. We finished with the churros that were fresh from the fryer and a great way to finish the meal. While there were service miscues, overall this was the favorite of the three restaurants. In large part because Shakewell dishes broke the generic Spanish mold.

Lamb Kafta Lollipop

Seared albacore with charred eggplant

So has Spanish cuisine finally been translated in the Bay Area? I am not sure but things certainly have improved in the fifteen years since my meal at Cal Pep. Of course that meal becomes less real and more legendary as the years go by. Some recent reviews that I read talk about Cal Pep going downhill and becoming a tourist trap. Hopefully I will get to go back to Barcelona in the near future and find out for myself. But in the meantime I am more and more excited about what is available in the Bay Area.

Southern Fried

I am not a fan of the South. Well let me rephrase that...I am not a fan of the modern South with its endless sprawl and affinity for generic chain restaurants. Now there is the South of New Orleans, Charleston, and Savannah all beacons of how to properly fuse the old with the new. Charleston and New Orleans are world class food cities with great culture and history to match. Then there are cities like Charlotte and Atlanta with their massive metros, god awful traffic and generic eats. The restaurants worth eating at are few and far between in Atlanta where the dining scene is more geared to pleasing business travelers rather developing a unique food scene grounded in local culture. On a recent trip ATL, I got to witness this first hand as a semi national chain restaurant with frozen ingredients had a 40 minute waiting list while a reasonably priced local restaurant struggled to fill up their dinning room. However not all is lost as some restaurants have found a way to fuse traditional southern cuisine with modern food trends such local ingredients and head to tail eating. Here is a breakdown of my recent experiences in the "Dirty South"

Head to Tail at Holman and Finch:

I first went to Holman and Finch back in 2009 when the whole head to tail eating trend was hitting full steam. It featured dishes you just didn't see on menus like Fried Rocky Mountain Oysters (lamb testicles) and a lovely veal brains spread. But the cooking featured a distinct southern sensibility with emphasis on fried preparations and lots of pork. During our most recent visit we just tried three dishes as we knew we would be eating at a friend's (then) restaurant later that evening. We got the aforementioned lamb balls, a new dish which was a pork skin noodle/shiitake mushroom soup and a GA shrimp roll done in a lobster roll style.  All three were excellent. The lamb testicles were perfectly fried and came with a delicious mustard based sauce. They melted in your mouth just like a good ball should...(I tried to convince my wife that my testicles would be just as enjoyable later that evening to no avail...:) The GA Shrimp tasted just like a lobster roll but with fresh shrimp and as we know from my last post I love a good lobster roll.  The Pork Skin Noodle was the real winner in my book. I was initially wary as it sounded more Asian than southern with shiitake mushrooms. However the finished product was definitely a nice rift on a classic Japanese Ramen with the pork skin taking the place of the noodles and the pork broth featuring a smoky flavor that was invoked both the east and the west. A classic Asian fusion dish (maybe if all of those 90's Asian fusion dishes were as successful a few more those establishments would still be around...RIP Cafe KATI, Grasshopper, Eos..etc).  To me Holman and Finch is the quintessential restaurant that other Atlanta restaurants should be looking to. A must try for any foodie while visiting the ATL (probably on a god awful business trip).

Lamb Ball!!

Gastro Pubbin' at The Drafting Table:

The next stop on this tour was The Drafting Table where our friend was working at the time. Even though he no longer works there, we did get a comped meal and in my book that means a mention in my blog. The Drafting Table is in an odd part of town that is not downtown(though very close), not Little Five Points, not Grant Park, not Cabbagetown. You know one those niches between neighborhoods like the Upper Market stretch near the Octavia on-ramp..not the Castro, not Hayes Valley and not the Mission. Anyways the Drafting Table had a nice space in a new urban condo complex that used to be a pencil factory or something like that. The inside was a little sparse but did have an inviting vibe. The menu was less adventurous than Holman and Finch but featured some interesting choices. We went with the 50/50 burger and the Curried Oxtail for entrees plus the Beer Battered Cauliflower to start. The cauliflower featured a nice batter but the addition of the house made chouchou elevated the dish. The pickled mix was sweet and not too briny and made nice addition to the hot tender cauliflower. The 50/50 burger was good with a nice smokiness due to its better bacon half. The burger was a little over cooked but I guess with bacon you are not looking for a medium rare center. The Curried Oxtail was mammoth plate filled with a spicy curried oxtail that was tamed by the addition of bitter sauteed greens and wintery mashed sweet potatoes. The meat was tender and I found myself going to town on the bones to get as much as I could. Overall a good meal especially if you are staying downtown which is a food wasteland.

Curried Oxtail with Spiced Sweet Potato Mash

Good Country Cooking in 'burbs-the Chicken and the Egg

With the exception of Decatur, the food scene outside of Atlanta is hopeless. Chain restaurants rule the day with their similarly uninspired eats. However, my in-laws had eaten at a relatively new farm to table restaurant on the outskirts of west Marietta called the Chicken and the Egg. The space was in one of those unnecessary strip malls that they couldn't build enough of in the last decade. Smack dab in the middle was the Chicken and the Egg. The inside was much more impressive with a nice bar and large interior. The decor was a little Hiltonesque but given the setting I don't know if there was much more they could do with the space. The menu featured country classics with local ingredients and everything was made from scratch. The mother-in-law got the meatloaf, my wife got the flat iron or hanger steak (boring), and I got the country fried steak(which I can never resist) and we started with black eyed pea hummus. The black eyed pea hummus was delicious with smooth texture of good hummus but the kick of a black eyed pea. A another great example of fusion pulled off successfully. The meat loaf had a smokey taste and lush texture with no hint of dryness. My country fried steak was exactly what I was looking for with a loose crust, well seasoned non-collaguated gravy, and a tender steak. It's probably a good thing that I cannot find a suitable specimen here in California otherwise I would be 300lbs! Overall an excellent, well priced meal from a locally owned restaurant.    

Hand Crafted Country Fried Steak with Traditional Sides..Yum!

Now their are plenty of cities like Atlanta out there and spread of bad food is not just confined to the South (I am looking at you Ohio...). But by not eating at a chain restaurant and trying out that new farm to table place or a long time local holdout, you help reverse the trend. If you travel for work, I would recommend making the effort to search these places out. Otherwise, there will just be an Olive Garden and Applebees world in our future.

Lobster Madness

In the 1980's while other kids were delightfully digging into Happy Meals and boxes of Kraft Mac & Cheese, a little boy in central Texas was dreaming of lobster. Lobster was my favorite food up until the age of 11 or 12 and I consistently pestered my family for the pricey treat. More often than not that meant a broiled rubbery tail that had spent more of its life frozen than attached to a large bug walking the ocean floor. The options in San Antonio were limited to places like Red Lobster or my birthday favorite the Magic Time Machine(see link here). A few standouts were the grilled lobster tails that I enjoyed in Jamaica that were fresh from the ocean and imparted with smokiness missing from insipid chain versions that I normally enjoyed. However, I never came close to visiting the motherland of lobster, New England. 

As my tastes evolved my love for lobster diminished. I associated lobster with old school surf and turf places that delivered less than stellar eats. There were new frontiers to explore like Dim Sum, Japanese, Asian Fusion, Regional Italian, and every other food trend of the last 20 years. Lobster was now a menu item that I generally avoided in favor of something like prosciutto wrapped rabbit loin. 

Classic Surf and Turf

But like all things from the 80's, lobster is making a comeback in my diet. This has been largely driven my trips to the Boston area over the past five years. Deep in the crustacean motherland, I have had lobster dishes light years ahead of what I have experienced in the past. A few standouts include a phenomenal lemongrass fried rice stuffed lobster at Blue Ginger in Wellesley and the lobster bake at Legal Seafood. But I have really taken it to the next level with my most recent trips to MA. I had not one, not two ,but three different types of lobster rolls and the crown jewel of all surf and turfs-lobster roe noddles with short ribs at Island Creek Oyster House. So without further ado here is a list of the lobster dishes that I have enjoyed in the Boston area. 

1. Lobster Roll- Summer Shack Cambridge MA

For my first Lobster Roll, I hit up the Summer Shack with a couple of co-workers. I had been to Summer Shack years earlier during my first trip back east. It looked exactly the same after all these years. Everyone at the table ordered the lobster roll so I can't comment on the rest of the menu which featured your standard New England seafood options. The roll was a salad style roll versus the hot buttered type. The bun was a classic NE England hot dog bun. The chunks of lobster were glued together with mayo and cucumber (instead of celery). It included a bunch of standard fries for good measure. Overall it was the weakest roll that I tasted in these two trips to the Boston area but still better than any Lobster Roll you will ever get outside of New England. The lobster was plentiful and the cucumber added a unique element to the roll. The roll was also the cheapest I had at $20.00. 

2. Lobster Roe Noodles- Island Creek Oyster Bar Boston MA

My wife had gone to Island Creek early in 2012 and was a big fan. So when I had a free night from training, I convinced a couple of my fellow conscripts to make the trek out to the Back Bay for further lobster treats. Island Creek was nothing like the faux lobster shack environment of the Summer Shack. This was a large big city restaurant with a beautiful interior and stylish clientele from adjacent Commonwealth Hotel. The menu reflected that sophistication with upmarket seafood dishes like locally sourced Monkfish, Bay of Maine line caught Halibut and about 15 different types of oysters.  Everyone in the party was intent on having lobster rolls but the server tried to steer us away. He mentioned that their signature dish was Lobster Roe Noodles($27.00). These noodles where fettuccine with the lobster roe added to the pasta mix. The noodles were then topped with chunks of lobster and short rib. Well how could I say no to such a modern interpretation of surf and turf. The others stuck with the lobster roll. When our dishes arrived it was clear that I chose the winner. The lobster roll was fine but the noodles were out of this world. They melted in your mouth with a light lobster flavor that was enhanced by the chunks of tender short ribs and buttery lobster. The dish came together with a delicious gravy and earthy shiitake mushrooms. This has to be one of the top 3 lobster dishes that I have ever eaten. 

Lobster Roe Noodles at Island Creek Oyster House

3. Lobster Roll-Legal C Bar  Logan International Terminal B 

I wasn't expecting to be eating at Legal C Bar but thanks to an indefinite delay due to fog in San Francisco I spend the better part of an evening there. Outside of security at Terminal B, it is the only dining option for Virgin American flyers. I wasn't expecting that much at the airport but they actually produced a serious lobster roll(salad style). It was chock full of lobster and featured celery as a proper salad lobster roll should. It was the best meal one could ask for at an airport especially considering the lack of other options at Terminal B for Virgin Flyers. It almost made up for the 6 hour delay and the reverse red eye I had to endure...almost...

Legal's Lobster Roll...a classic rendition

4. Neptune Oyster Bar- Boston, MA

While I was enjoying all of these great lobster dishes, my colleague Norm was regaling me about his trip to Neptune Oyster Bar and the divine hot buttered lobster roll. Everyone at the Cambridge office that I was training at told me that Neptune was a challenging place to get into in the North End. Norm and I decided that we needed to go on the slowest night possible. So we chose September 11th a Monday, it seemed like it would be the slowest day possible. Well after a 60 minute wait (promised 20 minutes) we were squeezed in between two couples on the counter the pocket sized restaurant. The menu was short with several raw bar options along with a few hot favorites. We went with the hot buttered lobster rolls of course but also convinced ourselves that we could down the Trident Plateau a massive collection of raw bar classics($59). The Plateau was a sight to behold and could have been a meal onto itself. Filled with cooked chilled lobster meat, oysters, littleneck clams, mussels, and crab salad it was shellfish overload. Then the lobster rolls arrived($25).... A simple hot dog bun filled with giant chunks of buttered lobster..it was truly a thing of beauty. So simple yet so divine... While I enjoyed my dining experience more at Island Creek, it was hard to resist the raw carnal power of buttered lobster chucks and copious amounts of shellfish.    

Hot Buttered Lobster Roll..pure food porn...

After Neptune's I took a sabbatical from lobster and haven't had it since. But another trip to Boston looms on the horizon and I can not resist the siren song of the divine crustaceans forever...

Food Trucks or A Roach Coach Filled with Hipsters is still a Roach Coach

In the long ago, there were no food trucks. There were Roach Coaches. Generic lunch trucks that roamed light industrial parks and the financial districts of the United States offering a blah menu of pre-prepared sandwiches and sodas. They were the outcasts of the food world. The last resort of workers too busy to make the five block journey to a real restaurant. Out of this primordial food ooze arose the Taco Truck-an ideal marriage of the Roach Coach and the traditional but not USDA approved Mexican street cart . These trucks provided awesome tacos filled with a variety of meats for about half the cost of a traditional brick and mortar taqueria and with the advent of the internet quickly developed a foodie following.

Meanwhile a in cold and rainy place filled with well educated but impoverished hipsters called Portland, Oregon another movement was taking place. There locavores were establishing food carts throughout the city and specializing in a variety of different delights. The logos were hip and food was varied(and sometimes excellent) and soon the crowds showed up. These carts began to congregate together and formed pods (see my first post for more info!). Recognizing an opportunity but realizing that his own city was going to be less supportive than Portland to a semi-permanent food cart, some twenty something pseudo-entrepreneur decided to open the first hipster roach coach...I mean food truck.*

These trucks are decorated with cool characters (pandas, little monsters, giant metal pigs) and staffed with a solid line up of hipster order takers and "cooks". However, the one things these trucks have forgotten is value. For their too cool for school menus, these trucks turn out mediocre eats for surprisingly high prices. Having eaten at about two dozen of these trucks in both Seattle and San Francisco, I can say only two or three have delivered something worthwhile. Which is a shame because the concept of the food truck is really cool. You want that giant metal pig truck to deliver excellent eats but unfortunately it rarely does.

Looking at the lemmings standing in line for mediocre Vietnamese Food 

For a case study, I am going to compare celebrity food truck Nom Nom (the SF version) and the decidedly unglamorous Tu Tai III in the "transitional" Dimond neighborhood in Oakland. Both are Vietnamese focused with menus primarily devoted to dishes like Bahn Mi' and bun but that is where the similarities end. Nom Nom was founded by two hot panethnic twenty-something ladies in LA and featured on the Great Food Truck Race. They charge $6.95 for a Banh Mi, and $8.95 for a lemon grass pork bun(vermicelli noodle salad). To prove their hipster credentials they have Vietnamese taco on the menu. Their SF truck frequents the financial district and often has a long line. Their slogan is " Bringing Bahn Mi to the masses". Which makes no sense because the two markets that they operate in-SF and LA-have thousands of Bahn Mi options and in the case of the SF financial district a dozen or so within easy walking distance....but I digress...

Tu Tai III on the other hand is in storefront next to Cybelle's pizza that has housed several Chinese restaurants before becoming a part of the Tu Tai empire...(Tu Tai II is in Alameda and Tu Tai is in San Leandro). It is not a particularly noteworthy Vietnamese restaurant(only a few Yelp reviews) and is usually empty. Their menu is significantly longer than Nom Nom and features the standard Vietnamese options. The grilled pork Bahn Mi is $3.75 and their combination bun with grilled pork and an imperial roll is $7.95. I do not believe that Tu Tai III has a slogan but I could be mistaken.

Considering I have not had a Bahn Mi at either establishment I am going to focus on a comparison of their buns. Nom Nom produces a smallish bun with some minced pork combined with noodle salad. It looked like one of those prepared versions that you see at a Lee's Sandwich store for about $4 dollars. Considering the price tag, I thought it would more resemble one of the bun that you might find at Out the Door in the Ferry Building but no such luck. The bun itself was very run the mill and the meat was nothing special(FYI...there was no indication that the pork came from a humane/local/non-gestation create source). It could have been easily served at a generic Vietnamese sandwich shop.  You can make your own judgement based on the picture below(which looks nothing like the picture on their website):

Sad looking Lemongrass Pork Bun from Nom Nom sitting lonely on my desk at work

     At Tu Tai III, the combination Bun was different beast indeed. Here the bun was a towering bowl filled with vermicelli and veggies. The pork was in whole pieces and not minced. The bowl came with an imperial roll which in this case was a fried pork egg roll essentially. Overall the bun was good but nothing spectacular compared to dearly departed Tu Lan, Cordon Bleu, or the fancy versions at Slanted Door. However it did represent a considerable step up in flavor and value from the Nom Nom truck version shown above.

Grilled Pork Bun with Imperial Roll at Tu TaiIII

Now I don't want you thinking that I hate the whole mobile food movement. I have had excellent dishes from carts usually at events like Eat Real Oakland. But it looks like that the branded trucks favor flash over quality. The best trucks that I have eaten at focus more on doing a couple of dishes right in nondescript vehicles versus something that sports flashy graphics, cute cartoon characters and fancy taco's. Maybe once the whole hipster element moves on and the TV shows fade away we can have a truly mobile food culture here in the Bay Area that places substance above style.

FYI: There are a couple of food trucks that are actually worth a visit:

The Chairman-an extremely trendy truck but their specialty baked buns have a nice combination of flavors-especially the Coca Cola braised pork.

Skillet- the original Seattle truck has a fantastic Poutine

The Architect's Kitchen-fried chicken in the Financial District that is decent. They sell a massive Chicken Sandwich that is worth checking out.

That is about it. Let me know if there is a great food truck out there I am missing out on. I would love to put out another post out there rebuking this one.

* There is some debate who opened the first hipster food truck. Mission Street Food by Anthony Mynt which lasted four weeks  is considered to be the forerunner in Northern California. But Skillet in Seattle and Kobi in LA have also been around for a little while now.  

Seattle Final Thoughts

Living in my new house in the Oakland hills, my time in Seattle seem like a blur. An extended vacation that like all vacations had to end. I would be remiss not to mention a couple of places that I will miss from my time in Seattle.

1. Chuck's

When I first moved to Seattle, Chuck's was your standard convenience store. Somehow in the course of 18 months it turned into a temple of awesomeness. More and more space was devoted to a rich variety of NW microbrews, tables were added, and 30 taps were installed. While there are other beer store/bars in Seattle(see Bottleworks) none of those have ice cream for the kids! I could indulge my alcoholic tendencies while my children enjoyed a frozen treat...yeah!(Don't worry I lived walking distance from Chuck's) Then right before I left Chuck started having rotating food carts. Awesome! (Well I did get food poisoning from one of the carts but don't let that hold you back)

Yeah this is good stuff...

2. U:Don

Before the opening of U:Don in January of this year, Seattle was a noodle wasteland. There were a few mediocre Ramen places but not much else. Then there came U:Don...a cafeteria style establishment that crafts hand made udon noodles with a delicious broth. Once you select your noodle/broth combination, there is tempura bar of a fried goodies to choose from cafeteria style. My favorite combination was to get a large bowl of soup udon and then load it up with shrimp tempura, potato croquettes, and maybe some fried veggies. Then split the bowl up with the spawn. Total cost: $10.50 for three.

Udon!

3. Pike Place Market 

Yeah its touristy as hell but there is something awesome about the market. Unlike the Ferry Building there is no pretension with the Market. It is literally a maze of shops, produce markets, a cornucopia of food vendors , flowers peddlers, and of course seafood markets. I rarely shopped at the seafood markets given the cost of their wares. The produce markets were a better deal especially on veggies often carrying great local crops at lower than supermarket prices. The $5 dollar flower bouquets were also a great deal. But what I liked best were the random little shops. An outlet of the Spanish Table, the Bavarian Meat Market-a strangle little piece of Germany hiding in the recesses of one of the annex buildings, and the RR ranch outlet serving dry aged meat at a reasonable price.Is the Ferry Building cleaner, more foodie orientated, better organized...of course. But you will never get lost in the underwarrens in Ferry Building or find a 60's era German meat market there.

4. Whidbey Island

This is the West Marin of the Pacific Northwest. A foodies dream. Seafood trucks dotting the roads, ramshackle Farmer's Markets with truly local farmers selling just picked produce, and trendy little towns filled with establishments serving mussels and good micro-brews. It is an easy ferry ride from Mukilteo and the wandering road takes you near little villages like Coupeville and Langley. As you drive up to the top of the island make sure you stop by the seafood truck near the Goose market for great live seafood(spot prawns, clams, oysters, you name it). In the middle of the island you will uncover the Lavender Wind Farm nestled over a wind swept field exploding in purple. Ignore the ugly blip that is Oak Harbor and finish your trip at Deception Pass with awe inspiring views.

Whidbey Island

5. Salmon

In most corners of America, you have one choice in Salmon. A sickly orange piece of fish labeled Farm Raised Atlantic Salmon. This largely flavorless fish whose color is due to color pellets has nothing on the wild Salmon of the Pacific Northwest and Alaska. In Seattle, the great clearing house for the vast majority of wild salmon(and 70% of the domestic seafood catch), the choices are vast. You can select fish by type (Coho, Sockeye, and Chinook(or King), color(Ivory, Marbled, or Standard), and location (Copper River). The prices are not cheap for the premium king salmon, but for a couple of weeks in the late summer you can usually find it on sale in the $9.99 to $12.99 pound price range. Once you take a bite into any of these varietals, the difference between the farm raised stuff becomes apparent. The depth of flavor and richness of the flesh define this fish. Even in the off season you will rarely find farmed raised stuff in stores or in restaurants. So strong is everyone's devotion to the wild stuff that they will eat frozen salmon rather utilize the fresh farm raised stuff.

I would recommend purchasing and preparing your own salmon. The restaurants charge a fortune for salmon even in Seattle and the selection is often limited. On exception would be Ray's Boathouse which usually carries premium salmon from a marquee location like Cooper River. Their view of the Sound is phenomenal as well and the salmon is always prepared correctly. Nothing groundbreaking with their food but for a "view restaurant" they always deliver.

It is sad to leave the Pacific Northwest and Seattle, but ultimately the weather and phenomenal food scene in the Bay Area will help me forget Seattle soon enough.

Pan seared King Salmon with grilled peaches and heirloom tomatoes 

Appendix:

Chuck's is located at 656 NW 85th Ave Seattle WA
http://chucks85th.wordpress.com/

U:Don is located at 4515 University Ave NE Seattle WA
http://freshudon.com/

Miso Soup

Miso soup is one of those dishes that most people think about as an afterthought. The starter for your $8.95 lunch bento box at your local strip mall sushi joint that is owned by a lovely Chinese couple. Something to slurp down before you get to your Teriyaki Chicken, California Roll, and that weird salad they always include in those things. Now most of you have probably never tasted real miso soup. The miso soup at that strip mall is probably a pre-made mix that you just add water to. A real miso soup is satisfying mixture of miso and dashi that warms the heart and the belly. It is extremely easy to make. So easy in fact that my five year old daughter is going to demonstrate for you how to make miso soup. I utilize instant dashi in this recipe instead of crafting my own dashi broth (which isn't that easy). If you want to take this recipe to the next level make your own dashi broth, add clams, kombu(seaweed), or shiitake mushrooms.


Step 1:

Step 2:






                                   

Porcini!

You ever notice that everything sounds better when you say it like a Jawa? Alright, maybe I am the only one. But whenever I think of porcini mushrooms, I have to fight the urge to say in that high pitched Jawa voice-Por-cini!. At a recent Ballard Farmers Market I found myself looking at some mighty fine Porcini mushrooms at the Found and Foraged stall. Now I was hoping he would have Morels which should be everywhere now but for some reason are not available or ridiculously expensive ($50 a pound!). Now the porcini were not cheap but they never are and the price was reasonable enough compared to what I had seen in the past. I picked up one decent sized mushroom, whispered Por-cini! under my breath and headed out into the lovely rain drenched market looking for other goodies. To my surprise I found some perfectly formed squash blossoms with the baby squash still attached. These would have to be added to whatever dish I devised with the porcini.

When I got home I started to have to think about what I would do with this mushroom. It was a little bit of an investment and need to come up with something that would be worth of its stature and price. I wanted something that would reflect the earthiness of the porcini but was fancy of enough dish to justify the price. Thinking about what I had available, I came up with the idea for a pork tenderloin stuffed with garlic butter, basil, thinly sliced porcini, and local asparagus which is dirt cheap right now. To accompany the pork tenderloin I would tempura fry the squash blossoms with the their baby zucchini still attached.

First I preheated the oven to 400 degrees. While the oven preheated, I blanched the asparagus in boiling water for about three minutes to soften them and set their color at bright green. Then I used a mandolin to slice the porcini. This gave me thin slices at the thickness I wanted but the mandolin butchered the shape of the mushroom. To avoid this problem, I would recommend a mandolin with an adjustable blade or barring that just use a good knife to slice the fungi lengthwise.

For the pork, I butterflied the tenderloin and then covered it saran wrap flat side down. Welding my mighty mallet I proceeded to beat the hell out of it until it resembled a flat square about an 1/8 inch thick. I spread the flat side in garlic butter and layered basil and the porcini mushrooms slices about two inches away  from the bottom of the tenderloin. To create a more attractive appearance, I layered the asparagus spears in opposite directions with the cut stems overlapping in the center of the pork cutlet. As a final step, I rolled the whole thing up like a sushi roll and tied it together with string to ensure it didn't unravel during cooking. 

I browned the stuffed pork tenderloin in a 12in pan for about 3 minutes a side using about two tsp of olive oil. I rotated the tenderloin slowly in the pan to ensure even browning and prevent unnecessary spillage. Then I placed the whole thing in a roasting pan and basted it with some of the leftover butter garlic. After about 15 minutes I pulled it out and let it rest for an additional 5 minutes for the flavors to meld and the meat to set. Utilizing a carving knife, I sliced the entire tenderloin into 1" rounds. I plated four of the tenderloin rounds on a plate with two of my tempura fried squash blossoms which I created while the tenderloin was in the oven. Realizing it could probably use a sauce, I deglazed the pan with white wine and whipped up a quick and light au jus for the tenderloin. I have to say this was a very attractive plate: 

Overall the dish was a big success. The garlic butter kept the pork moist and flavorful. And the asparagus, mushrooms, and basil helped elevate the natural earthiness of the dish. The sweet floral notes of the squash blossoms rounded off the palate. It felt like I was eating spring which was my overall objective. However, the flavor of the mushrooms was muted which was a bit of a disappointment given that it was supposed to be the star ingredient. The couple of slices that slipped out and were fried in the olive oil along with the tenderloin were rich and flavorful with a pronounced mushroom taste. Next time I would probably forgot stuffing the tenderloin with the mushrooms and just fry them in olive oil and serve alongside the pork. 

After scraping off the last of the mushrooms slices from the remnants of the tenderloin, I let out a long Por-Cini! and thought about scavenging through next week farmers market like one of my little diminutive Tatooine friends.  

Mastering Paella

Paella is one of those iconic dishes that is relatively easy to make but difficult to master. I have been fascinated with this classic rice dish for years. I discovered it when researching Spain for the standard issue post college European backpacking trip. The giant pan, the beautiful assortment of seafood, and the yellowed hued rice made all the more magical by its front and center feature in every guide book that I owned on Spain. However, once I got to Spain, I realized that no one there really ate Paella. It filled the same niche as Sangria-a touristy dish that appeared on those multilingual menus (always the kiss of death) at the very generic looking cafes on the Las Ramblas in Barcelona. The real Spain was far more focused on pristine seafood, buttery cured ham (jamon iberico) and simple unfussy dishes with phenomenal ingredients.* Places like Cal Pep with its austere yet delicious seafood or that cafe whose name I have long forgotten in Granada that served a rudimentary dish of ham and peas that tasted better than any deconstructed masterpiece of molecular gastronomy. The one time that I actually had Paella in Barcelona it was quite a pedestrian affair consisting of little more than Arroz con Pollo (a bland Arroz con Pollo at that... nothing like the iconic version Mrs. Winner constructs) in a fancier pan.

*Note: This was in 1999 before molecular gastronomy took over the country and El Bulli was just beginning to change haute cusine. In any case I would not have been able to dine in those restaurants on my backpackers budget.

However, despite the disillusionment I suffered in Spain,  I was still entranced by the dish. Once I returned to the States, I sought it out on Spanish or I should say faux Spanish menus whenever it appeared. Most the versions I tasted were similar to what I experienced in Spain. Lackluster dishes that were not truly Paella and more like Arroz con whatever. Some were liquidity concoctions that more resembled bouilabasse than Paella and other were parched deserts of bland rice and overcooked seafood. Even the few good ones like the very impressive lobster Paella that I had at Jose Andres' Jaleo in Washington DC were not satisfying that craving for that imaginary Paella that appeared in the my monstrous tome of all Spanish gastronomy, Culinaria Spain. That all changed the day my wife surprised me with a Paella pan from Spanish Table in Mill Valley.    

Tired of always looking for Paella, my wife decided it was time for me to take the next step and actually make the dish at home. Now with a brand spanking new 18"carbon steel pan, I had no excuses. My first few attempts where fairly disastrous. The Paella was either soupy from too much broth or overly greasy from my addition of chorizo to the mix. After awhile I learned how to master the stock to rice ratio to ensure that I didn't get a soggy Paella and to use a cured Spanish style chorizo to limit the amount of residual grease. More confident in my abilities to make a serviceable version, I began making Paella for Spanish themed dinner parties complete with the requite Sangria. The Paella was a hit and my friends began requesting it when they came over. However, I was now essentially making the same Paella repeatedly .  Once, I posted a picture of my one Paellas on Facebook and a friend (being an ass) responded with a picture of a seafood studded Paella filled to the brim with  langoustines, clams, and mussels. That was the paella that I wanted to make but never had the time or resources to construct.

A standard Ian Paella with Shrimp, Chrozio, and Chicken

Stuck in a Paella rut, I had almost given up on the dish. However, I noticed at Uwajimaya ,our local Seattle Japanese grocery store, that head-on North American Prawns(CT-10) were on sale for $10.99 a pound. Looking at these magnificent sea monsters, I knew that I had one of my ingredients for a special seafood Paella. I decided to compliment the shrimp with a much cheaper ingredient, squid. At $1.99 a pound, squid is the cheapest(and sustainable) seafood option out there. Now the traditional way of adding squid(calamari) to Paella is to cut it into rings, but where's the excitement in that. Looking for a bolder flavor and a spectacular presentation, I decided to stuff the squid tubes with chorizo-a classic tapas dish on its own. I picked up some spicy fresh chroizo ($3.29 a pound) from my local Mexican grocer and began the grueling process of cleaning the squid and then stuffing the chorizo/pea mixture into the freshly cleaned calamari tubes. I completed this process the night before to give me more time to focus on the main event the next day.

Lazy Paella...not a real Paella pan and not the right rice. This is what you can expect to find in touristy Paella restaurants in Spain... Arroz con Crapo

Scrounging around my kitchen the next day, I managed to pull together the ingredients for the Paella only by making several modifications that any self respecting Valencian would find appalling. First off, I did not have enough risotto rice to complete the dish, so I found another almost empty bag of rice from Valencia and combined the two. I would never recommend doing this and only utilizing one type of rice preferably Bomba or an Italian risotto rice as different varieties absorb varying amounts of liquid and the cooking times can fluctuate. For my second transgression, I used chicken stock instead of seafood stock for the Paella. This was just a matter of laziness as I had no desire to craft a seafood stock out of shrimp shells. Besides I prefer a Paella that has elements of seafood in it but is not overwhelmed by those flavors. Finally the greatest heresy of all, I utilized Sazon instead of saffron to flavor the stock and add that distinctive yellow color to the dish. I like to think that this was a bold flight of whimsy that a fellow iconoclast like Ferran Adria would approve of. Much like Adria utilized potato chips to create a spanish tortilla, I was utilizing saffron's fast food equivalent to create my Paella.

Now this is an exciting Paella...just make sure to add the tentacles to the dish. 

I started the Paella by cooking the stuffed squid in the center of the pan and then moving them to the side once it was time to add my sofrito. For the sofrito, I simply utilized a combination of grated tomatoes, minced garlic and sweet paprika. Once the sofrito reduced to an aromatic jam, I added my rice mixture evenly across the pan to ensure proper cooking. Once the rice toasted slightly, I arranged the head-on prawns with their lower shells removed along with the cooked squid tubes in a circle pointing inward towards the center of the pan. After letting the seafood settle into the rice for a moment, I ladeled on about half of the stock. I turned the paella repeatedly across two gas burners to ensure even cooking of the dish. I then added the remaining stock and allowed that to absorb in the rice. It took about 15 minutes for the rice to cook. Once cooked, I added some chopped cilantro to brighten up the dish and introduce a herbal element that would be missing without the saffron. Finally I covered the whole pan in tinfoil and let sit for 45 minutes so the flavors could meld together.

After removing the tin foil, I was treated to a beautiful pan of Paella. The giant prawns added that exotic Spanish travel guide feel to the Paella that had been lacking before. The Sazon imparted a brilliant yellow hue onto the rice. The only thing that I would change would be to keep the tentacles for the squid and place them at the top of the stuffed tubes. Without the tentacles, the squid tubes closely resembled leeches or some other unappetizing parasite. You want your guests to feel like they are eating an exotic Paella at an imaginary Spanish coastal cafe not bugs in a jungle with Andrew Zimmern.  Appearances aside, the Paella was fantastic. The rice was cooked perfectly despites its mixed heritage. The chorizo from the squid added a smoky spiciness to the dish while the shrimp heads imparted a taste of the sea to the rice. While I could tell that the floral flavor of the saffron was missing, it did not hinder the dish. All of the seafood was cooked perfectly with the squid being exceptionally tender thanks to the fat in its chorizo stuffing. The heads came easily off of the shrimp thanks to the advanced deshelling which made for easier eating.

I finally had my (near) perfect Paella. Of course I will keep tinkering with this recipe to see how I can improve it. But this makes a pretty good Paella template. Please see the recipe below:


Paella Winneria

Ingredients:
8 cloves of garlic crushed
2 large tomatoes grated(discard skins)
1 tablespoon of mild(not smoked) paprika
1 packet of Goya Sazon (available at any Latin American Grocery Store)
5 cups of chicken stock
10 cleaned squid tubes
10 squid tentacles
1 lb of fresh unsmoked chorizo
6 Head on Prawns (10-12 CT) with shells removed from tails
1/2 Cup of Peas
2 Cups of Uncooked Risotto Rice
2 Tsp of Olive Oil

1. Mix the chorizo and peas together and stuff into the squid tubes. You can make these up to 24 hours in
    advance. Cover on a plate and refrigerate until ready to use.
2. Bring the chicken stock to a simmer in another pot. Once the stock comes to a simmer add the packet of
    sazon to broth. Leave at simmer for future use.
2. Heat oil in a large Paella pan (18" or larger) over a power gas burner(or a specialty Paella grill if you went
    all out) or an 18" pan.
3. Brown the squid tubes in the center of the pan about 3 minutes a side. Move the browned tubes to the
    outside of the pan.
4. Put the tomato, garlic and paprika mixture in the center of the pan. Reduce the mixture until it turns into a  
    jam.
5. Mix the rice into the tomato mixture and spread across the pan evenly. Turn on the second burner and
    place the pan in-between the two burners. Allow the rice to toast for 2-3 minutes.
6. Arrange the shrimp and the squid tubes in the rice. Place the tentacles in front of the squid tubes for a
    better presentation.
7. Pour half of the stock over the rice and seafood. Rotate the pan every two or three minutes so that the
    rice cooks evenly
8. Once the stock is absorbed into the rice, add an additional ladel of broth to the pan. Continue until the
    rice reaches a perfect al dente texture.
9. Turn the heat off and add any other optional garnishes like parsley or roasted bell peppers.
10. Tent the entire pan with tinfoil and let the Paella sit for an additional 45 minutes. This will allow the  
      flavors to meld better.

Egalitarian Dinning: My Dinner at Commonwealth

For my upcoming birthday, my parents offered to take me out to dinner when my family came to San Francisco. Now I had a big decision to make. This provided me with a chance to enjoy a nice meal on someone else's dime but I had to keep the costs in the realm of reason-i.e. no Michael Mina, no Coi. I wanted a place that utilized molecular gastronomy techniques rarely employed by local Seattle establishments or some crazy Japanese restaurant that dished up edgy foodie favorites like chicken tartare(i.e. Ippaku). I read that Commonwealth on Mission provided a cutting edge tasting menu for a reasonable price ($65 for five courses). Given that my parents were a little wary of my ethnic restaurant choices since the whole gelatinous blood cube incident, I decided that Commonwealth was the choice that would make both of us happy.

We had an early reservation of 5:30 and found parking right around the corner-a miracle in the Mission. However, Commonwealth does have a parking lot that you can pay $5 dollars to park in (not very egalitarian). The interior had that generic minimalist look that most restaurants of its ilk sport these days. You know the look-hard wood tables, open kitchen, etc. We were seated in a nice corner table and presented with bowl of house made chips and a sea salt/vinegar foam alolli dipping sauce. The chips were delicious and the foam had that proper vinegar/garlic tang without the richness of a traditional alolli. The foam theme would continue throughout the course of the evening. After pursuing both the tasting menu and the ala carte menu we decided to go for gusto- we chose the tasting menu($65-with $10 dollars given to charity-the egalitarian component) and the accompanying wine pairing($30). My parents decided to make a substitution of the fried game hen instead of the sweetbreads(even after I explained to them they were not brains but a rather a gland).

The first stop on the tasting menu was an amuse bouche of albacore sashimi accompanied by single slice of cucumber and a cucumber flavored gelatin strip (think breath strip). The wine pairing was a Spanish cava that made for a bubbly beginning of our meal. The cucumber and albacore worked together to cleanse the palate of the salty chips that we devoured earlier. No hint of that fishy taste that albacore so often has. My dad enjoyed it as well and then enjoyed my mother's who is no fan of raw fish.

Local Albacore Sashimi with Cucumber Gelatin

The next dish was the Foie Gras Mousse Cannoli accompanied by a side salad of wild greens and figs. I had high hopes for this dish and it was really the determiner of selecting the tasting menu instead of choosing dishes off the ala carte menu. While the structure was executed well, the brioche cannoli shell and its foie gras mousse filling did not have a lot of flavor. I was looking for the fatty richness of the foie gras to come through but instead the flavors were very muted. My favorite component was the accompanying fig salad that brought a welcome earthiness to the dish and help compensate for the lack of ummph in the "cannoli" itself. The wine pairing was a Chenin Blanc(Charles Bove '10 Vouvray, France) that was light and crisp and paired well with the dish.

Foie Gras Mousse 

Following the somewhat disappointing cannoli came the big surprise hit of the evening-the Pumpkin and Asian Pear Salad. The salad consisted of spherical pieces of both Pear and Pumpkin resting on a bed of chicory and idiazabal cheese. The pumpkin was warm and savory while the pear was cool and crisp. Combined with a decadent molten idiazabal cheese (which apparently is turned into a type of fondue...see here) and some bittersweet chocolate all of the flavors and textures of the dish came wonderfully.  The wine pairing was a white Rhone blend from the Sierra Foothills that balanced sweet and savor elements of the dish. (La Clarine Farm 10' Sierra Foothills )    

Pumpkin

The next dish was another intriguing combination of flavors and textures but did not come together as well as the pumpkin salad. It was an oyster stew of sorts that was a combination of potatoes, lettuce, freeze dried bacon, poached oysters swimming in a pea green turnip-borage soup. Certainly the most complex dish of the evening with crystals that exploded with bacon goodness and an accompanying lemon foam. But it didn't really work for me. The room temperature oysters and the hot potatoes just made for an odd combination. I appreciated the ambition of this dish, I just wished I enjoyed it more. The wine pairing was a Picpoul that like all of the pairings worked wonderfully with the dish. (Picpoul De Pinet Felines Jourdan '10 Langedoc France)

Oyster

After diving deep into molecular gastronomy ocean, the next course was a welcome more traditional offering. It was sweetbreads paired with a corn pudding and padron peppers which have been ubiquitous on menus this season. My parents substituted a game hen instead of the sweetbreads which had a similar rustic flavor profile and was a good substitution. The fried torchons of game hen that my parents had were flavorful morsels of juicy dark meat. The sweetbreads were nuggets of goodness, but the extremely small portion made it feel more like a first or second course than a main. Also, I keep thinking about how much better the sweetbreads were that I had at Bayona in New Orleans all those years ago. The wine pairing was the best of the night(and the first red). We had a lovely Monastrell that worked well with both dishes without being too jammy as this varietal can be. (Primitivo Quiles Raspay '04 Alicante Spain)

After a sorbet palate cleanser, we got to the real main event which was the peanut butter semifreddo with frozen popcorn. The frozen popcorn was nothing to write home about but the semifreddo was amazing. It was like a dove bar on steroids. Covered in a chocolate ganache that shattered to reveal a decadent peanut butter/ice cream mix that had the perfect semi-firm texture. There was no debate at the table about this one, we quickly devoured our plates despite all of the other dishes the preceded it. The wine pairing was a port that was not overly sweet and worked with the dish, but I wish they had thought of a more creative pairing for such a fun dessert. One of their specialty cocktails perhaps.

Semifreddo

Overall, the meal satisfied the craving I had for something more adventurous. The tasting menu was definitely hit or miss however. There are so many good restaurants in the Bay Area that Commonwealth will not be at the top of my list to revisit anytime soon.  But if you are in San Francisco, and don't live near a world class food city, then I recommend that you consider Commonwealth for a foray into molecular gastronomy.

Vancouver Day 3 or the Night of a 1,000 Izakaya

For our last full day in Vancouver, I decided to go all Asian. Dim Sum for lunch and not one, not two but three izakaya (Japanese Pub) for dinner. This was the part of the trip that I had been planning for months. I had gotten a recommendation from a co-worker for the Dim Sum restaurant and researched Vancouver's Izakaya by reading dozens of posts, blogs, and articles. We would eat extremely well on Day 3 but many of the highlights were not of the culinary variety. 

We started the day shopping for tourist swag such as a Canadian polo for the father in law. If we saw someone buying the American equivalent we would laugh at them, but if it has a maple leaf it is suddenly acceptable. As part of our journey, we came across the 2010 Olympic Torch which is far less impressive that you might imagine; a jagged pseudo crystalline structure with spires that resembled something you might find in Superman’s fortress of solitude. One thing I noticed while walking around the heart of downtown Vancouver was the plethora of food trucks offer a variety enticing eats.

Looks like something from Final Fantasy...

The carts would have to wait for another time, as I had my sights set on the legendary Dim Sum of Richmond, a city directly below Vancouver (and home to Vancouver's airport). Richmond is home base for the BC's sizable Cantonese population; refugees from Hong Kong in the 80's and 90's that weren't down with the People's Republic of China. As result of this mass infux, the number of Dim Sum restaurants in this area had exploded creating a real Chinatown. I had gotten a tip from a co-worker that Red Star on Granville close to the Richmond/Vancouver border was one of the best. It took a good 30 minutes to get from our apartment all the way to the other end of the city where Red Star was located. At first glance Red Star does not look like much, it was part of a late 1970's/early 1980's era mixed use office/retail building that over the decades had become "asianfied" with a variety of various far-east orientated establishments. After navigating through the clusterfuck that was their underground parking lot (a word of advice, never try parking in a lot devoted to a Dim Sum restaurant if at all possible) we headed in. It was almost 1:30pm on a Friday, but the place was still packed. I started wondering if I should have made a reservation, but luckily we were seated right away at the last table in the house. Unlike the Dim Sum Houses of San Francisco, Red Star utilzed a card based ordering systems instead of the familiar roaming carts, but with over a hundred options available I was still very impressed even if it lacked the visual stimulation of a pushy server trying to force their wares upon you ( I don't want chicken feet dammit..stop asking me).


We settled on six eclectic dishes (i.e. no shumai, no steamed pork buns). The first to arrive was the least interesting. The E-Fu Noodle Hot Pot with Seafood ($7.95) contained what appeared to be fresh house made noodles and a light assortment of shrimp and shellfish, but lacked any real flavor whatsoever. The kitchen really showed it stripes in the next dish that arrived-String Beans with Minced Pork and Dry Olive Sauce ($7.95) . If you have eaten at any anglofied chinese place in the last twenty five years you seen some bastardized version of a Szchewan Green Bean dish on the menu. Now imagine that dish taken to whole another level. This version had lightly wok fried green beans that maintained their structural integrity but were not underdone. Instead of being drowned in a starchy MSG laden sauce, these bean were infused with the flavors of the dried olives and adorned with camaralized nuggets of pork goodness. The steamed crystal prawn dumplings($5.25) were a big hit as well. A airy prawn filling within a light pillowy wrapper made for a clean tasting dumpling unlike the dense mealy shrimpish ones that your run of the mill Dim Sum house serves. These were so light that I could have eaten another dozen. Clean tastes and a lack of grease were trademarks of the remaining dishes that came out of the kitchen. A slightly spicy steamed sparerib dish($4.75) and an oddly gelatinous but tasty Beef Meatball dish($4.75) continued our glutinous lunch. After stuffing our faces for fifteen minutes, our last dish finally arrived-a fluffy rice roll with a generous portion of BBQ pork and greens($5.50). I managed to find that last ounce of room in my stomach to finish off the roll and waddled out of Red Star a happy but stuffed customer.



E-Fu Noodles...not that great



Green Beans with Dry Olive sauce and Minced Pork....nice.





 After Red Star, we wanted to take a nap but knew that a meal this big needed to be worked off before dinner and besides it was too beautiful of a day to be wasting indoors. I remembered from a trip to Vancouver in 2004 that the University of British Columbia had hiking trails and a beautiful campus near the beach. However, I didn't do any research on which beach was best or even really how to access them. So without any real sense of direction or purpose, we headed out north from Red Star along Harbor Drive to UBC. After passing some palatial estates, the terrain turned into forest and my wife caught a glimpse of a sign saying Wreck Beach Trail 7 buried amongst the foliage. We decided to head down the little one lane road into a deep forest. The road was fairly isolated with cars sporadically parked along the road. We came across a poorly identified trail head that said Trail 7 Wreck Beach and pointed down a forbidding set of stairs that stretched out into the infinite. Then we saw another intriguing sign stating "clothing optional". I knew that Vancouver was a pretty liberal place so we thought that this might not be anything unusual. Though we were not prepared to get naked...no sunblock for the genitals...we decided to head down and see what awaited us. As we descended down the stairs there was beautiful little manmade stream on the left side that created a magical forest environment. There were also solitary men that we encountered every three or four minutes heading up and down the stairs; sometimes naked, sometimes not. They were all giving us a “deathly you don’t belong here” stare. After about the fourth one that we encountered, I looked over at Lisa and said "I pretty sure we are heading down to a gay sex beach". Just then another solitary man (very naked) asked us if we were looking for the main beach. We said yes and he told us it was about 1/2 mile north of here. So with that we headed back up the stairs and got back into the car and looked for Trailhead 6.
 

A sign of things to come...



Only some of the wood we saw on the beach....





















The main beach was a circus. It was also clothing optional but with a mix of everybody (not just angry looking gay men wanting anonymous sex); a lot of naked old hippies, naked families, a couple of naked trustifarians and whole lot of fully clothed nerdy UBC students. In short there was sausage and muffin glore..and pervy college students. Deciding against a game of nude ultimate Frisbee with some granola types, we headed out towards the tide pools to take some pictures of the scenery (but not of the people...there were strict policies against that). There was also a group of heavily armed police officers patrolling the beach adorned with bullet proof vests. It seemed curious that such a show of force was necessary but I guess you need to be prepared when dealing with a belligerent naked hippie.

After the beach, we collapsed into a deep coma back at our apartment. However, we ended up taking too long of a nap and were in danger of endangering my plans that evening of visting three Izakaya. A little back story here: Izakaya in Japan are essentially bars that serve food. In North America they are more of small plates Japanese eateries that serve alchol. The Izakaya trend (which is big in cities like San Francisco, LA and New York) started in Vancouver when the Guu mini chain opened its first outpost in 1993. The Izakaya concept took off in Vancouver with dozens of new places opening up primarily around Robson street. One of these places, Hapa Izakaya, was my first experience with the concept when I came to Vancouver for my bachelor party in 2004. I remember stumbling in there after an exhausting day of air travel (we arrived in Vancouver about five hours later than we thought due to a flight cancellation) and being transported to a realm where the sake flowed freely and intriguing small dishes that I had never tasted before were plentiful and cheap. After that meal I was hooked on the concept. I would search out other Izakaya as they opened up in the states including places like Nombe and Ippaku in San Francisco and Musha in Torrance. I loved the mix of western and asian flavors and the inventive dishes (including Chicken Tartare, Japanese Cheese Risotto, lightly seared Beef Heart) that I had tasted at these establishments. However, Lisa was not a big fan. She had the misfortune of going to a very low rent, mediocre Izakaya in Portland (run by some well-meaning gringos) and did not like the greasiness of Musha in LA. I was sure that if she tasted the far superior dishes of the Vancouver Izakaya that she would be a convert. So the plan was to hit up Guu with Garlic at 6pm and enjoy the cheap beer and fill up on some garliciky treats then move on to Hapa Izakaya where I had a reservation at 8 am and then finish up the evening at Zakkushi (a skewer restaurant) with some yakitori and more libations. However, by time we woke up from our nap it was close to 6:30pm and we still needed to shower and get ready to go out. So I scrapped plans to go to Guu with Garlic, opened up a bottle of wine to get necessary buzz before heading out, and went to Hapa Izakaya about thirty minutes early.

Once we arrived it was clear that a reservation was not necessary. There were only about three or four tables filled and the place looked pretty dead; a far cry from the bustling establishment that I gone to years earlier. The pricing was similar to 2004 but of course with the current dismal exchange rate they essentially increased 20-25%. We started with the 500ml House Sake (not horrible at $18) and a large Sapparo (very expensive at $9.75) to keep the party rolling. To eat we ordered Spot Prawn Sashmi ($8.50), Kakuni ($8.99), a mixed martini glass of tuna and halibut ($10), and BC Albacore Sashimi($10.50). The Kakuni was a cubed roasted pork belly that came with chinese style buns (the type that typically accompany roasted duck). The pork belly sparkled with flavor but was a little dry which is a sin with an ingredient as fatty and luscious as this. The spot prawns fared better with a generous portion of five prawns still with the heads on. The wife was put off by this dish but I sucked down the little buggers. They had a very clean taste and were extremely fresh. Not as good as the live spot prawns I have had in the past, but for the price, quantity, and quality it was good pick. The martini glass mix of fish had an beguiling sweet sauce and once again the fish quality was excellent. The Albacore Bin-Toro was the agreed upon favorite with the proper melt in your mouth texture and none of the fishiness that you sometimes find with this type of tuna. With a good buzz going we decided to head out and try our luck at another establishment.




Spot Prawn Sashimi-the best part is the head!



Once we left at around 9pm, the atmosphere on Robson had become kinetic. People filled street and our next stop Guu with Garlic had a huge crowd waiting outside. Sensing that this was not going to work, we headed to Zarzaku on Denman to see what the situation was there. The frazzled hostess told me that it would be over an hour without a reservation. Clearly I made a tactical mistake by centering my evening around Hapa Izakaya instead of one of the other establishments. Not wanting to wait a hour for skewers, we headed a block down the street to Kingyo another well reviewed Izakaya. I had not initially considered Kingyo because of the perceived similarities with Hapa Izakaya, but the wait was only thirty minutes and we were far too intoxicated to head anywhere else. Kingyo turned out to be an excellent choice. The diversified menu had several intriguing options including a variety of tongue dishes. The wife decided to go with the Kobe Beef Special($22) that featured superbly marbled, thin slices of rib eye that you cooked on a smoldering rock; a variation of the standard tableside hibachi dish that you see at many izakaya. The beef was accompanied by a tangy wasabi infused mustard sauce and a cloyingly sweet steak sauce. For her second choice she wanted to choose the white king salmon carpaccio ($10) but they were unfortunately out. Instead she decided on the pressed toro sushi plate ($13). The plate contained five neatly layered blocks of rice and toro with a tangy slightly sweet sauce stringing the pieces together. This was my least favorite dish of the evening. The fish quality was questionable and the sweetness of sauce distracted the palate.

Let's get this party started!

For my dishes, I chose the Black Cod Kama Kaarage ($8.80) and the grilled Beef Tongue Steak ($12). The Black Cod came with three freshly fried collars containing a rich buttery flesh surrounded by a well-seasoned crust; imagine the best fried catfish you ever had and then imagine something tastier than that and you have this dish. This was perfect izakaya food, rich and filling and most importantly paired perfectly with the light Japanese lager I was drinking (Sapparo, Kirin, Asahi who knows …I was too drunk to remember). The Beef Tongue was a more challenging dish. Initially the fibrous texture of the thickly sliced steak was difficult to manage, but that simply proved to be a minor obstacle to enjoying the rich beefy flavor that was hiding in every bite. The greatest moment of evening came not from the food, but from Lisa who leaned over to me and drunkenly proclaimed,“ If it weren’t for you, I would never eat at restaurant like this, thank you.” Rush of joy overtook me upon hearing those words; has a spouse ever spoken a kinder phrase to their mate…I think not.           


On that note, we stumbled back to our domicile for the evening. Along the way we encountered a skunk scurrying across the sleepy but very urban residential street we were traveling upon. Without hesitation an extremely intoxicated Lisa chased after the skunk calling out, “Come here my stinky buddy”. Worried about the obvious consequences I convinced Lisa to leave our oderous friend alone. That seemed to be the perfect note to end our unusual day in Vancouver. It was one we will not soon forget...well except for the last couple of hours which were a drunken blur! 

With that our Vancouver culinary adventures came to end. I would go to local farmers market the next morning and the following evening we would have an excellent meal in Whistler but that story will have to wait for another time. Overall our trip was quite the success and I am looking forward to more culinary adventures with our northern neighbor.