RNM election night party
SF RNM election night party: Prix fixe menu, $30 for three courses, $26 if you have proof that you voted.
« September 2004 | Main | November 2004 »
October 29, 2004
SF: Review Roundup
Today's review roundup includes: Tartare, Ritz-Carlton Dining Room, Olema Inn.
SF Weekly Meredith Brody reviews Tartare (550 Washington; 415-434-3100):
. . . We were led to a table for two along the banquette and began perusing the deceptively short menu. I say "deceptively" because, although there were only 18 dishes with brief descriptions, the imaginary tastings they set off in my brain -- the part that decides what I'll be eating -- were complex. The menu has four categories: "raw and rare," comprising five tartares; "naked and natural," including two carpaccios, oysters, and a salad; "simply soup," with four offerings; and "old and new," five entrees. Classic hand-cut beef tartare -- well, the mind thinks it knows what that will be, but even if you've had numerous tartares, and I have, I've never had one with habanero-infused sesame oil, plums, and mint before. King salmon tartare with house-ground banana curry? Carpaccio of opakapaka with orange oil and toasted cumin? And the "simply soups" weren't simple at all: How about a garlic parsley bisque with black mussel flan?
Olema Inn makes diners feel that that they've enjoyed a reprieve from the rigors of urban life, without sacrificing the quality of food that a city has to offer.
. . . The soup was an ethereal yet deep-flavored cream of corn, with a dusting of smoky paprika and a knot of boned pork sparerib meat, infused with ginger, in its center. The cream of corn was genius on its own, and didn't quite seem to need the chewy meat, even as an interesting textural contrast.
The tuna tartare was a fresh take on a dish that has become a cliché -- heated with peppers, cooled with mint, and sweetened with diced plums. Chester adored it, as he did the ostrich tartare, wittily served in what I thought was an exceptionally thick-walled oval soup bowl, which turned out to be an actual ostrich egg shell. The beefy meat was well served by its chunky Roquefort vinaigrette and cracked pink peppercorns: a crunchy and creamy dish.
SF Examiner Patricia Unterman reviews Ritz-Carlton Dining Room (600 Stockton St.; 415-296-7465):
Traditionally, hotel dining rooms have suffered a bad rap for overpriced, fancy but soulless institutional cooking. The Dining Room at the Ritz-Carlton, however, is one of the best high-end restaurants in The City. Run almost like an independent -- except that it's subsidized by the hotel -- the Dining Room offers a $68 three-course menu with lots of choices, augmented by little surprises sent out by the kitchen.
Recently, after seven successful years, Sylvain Portay left the Dining Room and Ron Siegel moved over from Masa's to succeed him. Siegel became an international celebrity a few years ago by defeating the "Iron Chef" on Japanese, and then American, television. Now he offers Japanese-inspired dishes on the Dining Room menu and weaves Japanese ingredients into non-Asian dishes as well. Though you'll find plenty of western luxury items like caviar and foie gras, Siegel does some fairly austere presentations featuring Japanese luxury ingredients like coveted matsutake mushrooms and toro, the rich foie gras-like belly meat of the highest-grade yellowfin tuna.
SF Chronicle Michael Bauer revisits the Olema Inn (10000 Sir Francis Drake Blvd., Olema; 415-663-9559):
Vigil's food is the star. The chef takes one of West Marin's most important products -- oysters -- and spotlights them with eight different toppings ($14 for eight), four raw and four cooked. They're simply some of the best around, whether you choose the Flying Fish Roe version, with a Sauvignon Blanc mignonette, fresh scallions and tobiko; a la Russe, with caviar and a cool lemon cream fraiche; Royale, with lemon bearnaise and crisp shallots; or Dizzy, with warm bacon, garlic, fennel and the crunch of warm bread crumbs.
His seasonal menu consists of four salads, five appetizers and seven large plates, including a nightly fish special such as Kajiki ($23), a line- caught marlin from Hawaii. The rich meaty medallion sits atop a blend of fresh runner beans and strings of onions, thickened with flakes of crab and surrounded by a ring of pepper sauce with the smoky nuances of a well-made romesco.
. . . Olema Inn makes diners feel that that they've enjoyed a reprieve from the rigors of urban life, without sacrificing the quality of food that a city has to offer.
Weiner Farewell
SF: Golden Gate Park hot dog stand to close. Co-owner Cary Fong to thank city and customers by giving away 1,500 hot dogs this weekend.
October 28, 2004
Niman Ranch's fall Lamb Ranch Tour
SF Niman Ranch's fall Lamb Ranch Tour and picnic lunch is scheduled for Sunday, November 7th. The tour will be in Rio Vista, about an hour and half from San Francisco. They'll also be visiting California Vegetable Specialties, the "premier endive producer in the country." If you are interested in attending or would like more information, send them an email.
Ebisu SFO
If you've been to SFO recently, you probably noticed that almost all the terminals are in the midst of major renovations and construction in their food service areas (part of the airport's "food and beverage upgrade program"), which means the pickings are slimmer than ever. Your best bet for pre-security checkpoint eats is the International Terminal North Food Court, conveniently located between the BART/AirTrain connection and the United domestic terminal. Some of the restaurants located in the food court include Lori's Diner, Fung Lum (Chinese), Willow Street Woodfired Pizza, and Ebisu (Japanese).
Pictured above is a bowl of kimchi ramen I recently enjoyed at Ebisu's SFO location. Ebisu's original location at 9th Avenue and Irving is one of the more popular sushi restaurants in the city, known for its fresh fish and inventive rolls. The SFO location has a small sushi bar and a full menu of your standard Japanese fare. Certainly worth considering if you're at SFO and find yourself hungry and eager for something other than your typical airport food.
Ebisu
1283 Ninth Avenue
415-566-1770
Ebisu, SFO International Terminal
650-588-2549
October 27, 2004
Chow Mag
Chow magazine launches, touting itself as a "fun" and "messier" food magazine for people who don't read food magazines. Well o.k., but what I want to know is, where is Chow Blog? Does it exist? (See this page, or click on screen capture above)
MoMA Dining
NYC: The NYTimes explores the dining options that will be available at the new MoMA. "The art and the food are utterly complementary," said Glenn D. Lowry, the museum's director. "The better the food, the more intense the museum experience."
Smackdown!
NYC: You've gotta love Cynthia Kilian's Smackdown!
Per Se vs. Cafe Gray: "Cafe Gray, because patience has a limit."
Beard Papa's vs. Krispy Kreme: "Who's your sugar daddy? Beard Papa's."
Masa vs. Alain Ducasse at Essex House: "When money is no object, our money (better yet, someone else's) is on Masa."
Marcella Hazan teaches Master Class in Italian Cooking
NYC: Marcella Hazan, author of Essentials of Classic Italian Cooking, will be teaching "Master Class in Italian Cooking" starting November 8th and 15th at the French Culinary Institute. Students meet for three evening classes from 5:30 to 10:30 p.m. Class size is limited to 15 students. Cost is $2,150.
NYC: Review Roundup
Today's review roundup includes: Pace, Pho Tay Ho, The Blue Mill Tavern.
NYTimes Restaurants Frank Bruni gives Pace one star (121 Hudson Street; 212-965-9500):
In a city where so many restaurateurs vie showily to stand at the top of the culinary heap, Jimmy Bradley and Danny Abrams are refreshingly content with a lower, but just as worthy, patch of ground.
. . . Now comes Pace, the duo's fourth restaurant, following the Mermaid Inn. In many ways, Pace (pronounced PAH-chay) fits the Bradley-Abrams archetype to a T. It does not give diners something new. It gives them a compendium of what they have already indicated they want, in its case channeling inspiration and lifting ideas from the city's most popular Italian restaurants. It feels instantly familiar, abundantly friendly and immediately comfortable. From the moment you walk through the door at Pace, which means peace in Italian, and see all the happy, garrulous people around the long, handsome bar, you find yourself unwinding.
But Pace is by far the duo's most ambitious restaurant, as a glance at the menu reveals right away. That menu is divided into 10 categories, not counting dessert, with scores of dishes small and large. It offers salumi, crudi, vegetable antipasti, salads, panini, pasta, risotto, meat entrees, fish entrees and side dishes.
Mr. Abrams, who supervises the dining room, and Mr. Bradley, who supervises the kitchen with his executive chef, Joey Campanaro, are juggling a greater volume and array of food than they usually do. They are also tethering themselves for the most part to a given tradition, Italian, instead of working under the more forgiving banner of American or new American, the phrases sometimes used to define the cuisine at the Harrison and Red Cat.
Pace represents their greatest challenge. And for now at least the strain of rising to it shows in a few too many unremarkable dishes and a few too many disappointing ones.
RECOMMENDED DISHES Assortment of salumi; vegetable antipasti; spaghettini with anchovies; risotto bianco; seafood stew; lamb; vanilla gelato with espresso.
NY Mag also reviews Pace this week:
. . . Any one of these dishes might have tasted quite fine served in a tinier restaurant, on a smaller menu, but in the indistinct confines of Pace, their cumulative weight had a deadening effect. It didn’t help that most of the entrées seem designed almost exclusively for heft. There were big cigars of stuffed wild boar (leather-tough when I tried them), gristly, almost inedible slabs of pork liver, and fat sweetbreads rolled in blankets of prosciutto and seasoned like breakfast sausages, with too much sage. The meaty chicken fricassee was better (it’s served in a peasant’s pot), and so was the delicious veal chop, smothered in radicchio simmered with balsamic vinegar and pancetta, but the chicken breast I sampled appeared to be a heavy, Italianate version of chicken cordon bleu (it’s batter-fried, with cheese and prosciutto inside). Among seafood items, the cod and bass are served over vegetables in the standard restaurant way, the red mullet seemed overly mild despite a hearty olive-and-tomato sauce, and my fish stew was so loaded down with fishy items (lobster, seared scallops, etc.) that its soupy bouillabaisse element tasted less like nourishing broth than like watery gravy.
October 26, 2004
Grow your own wasabi
Grow your own wasabi: "Contrary to what you may have read, Wasabi is hardy and relatively easy to grow. You don’t need mountains or cold mountain streams, all you need is good soil, shade, and moist conditions."
SF: Wine for your vote
SF: Wine for your vote. November 2, $1 + proof you voted = 1 glass of wine at the Ferry Plaza Wine Merchants' Wine Bar.
October 25, 2004
NYC: Opening this week
NYC Opening this week: Gelotto, Sukhadia's, Ono, Dizzy's Club Coca-Cola, and Harlem Vintage.
Moveable Feast: Saigon
This week Noodlepie guides us through a Moveable Feast: Saigon.
Eat Barcelona
For all my friends thinking of (dreaming of?) relocating to Barcelona, a weblog to inform your dining experiences, Eat Barcelona.
October 21, 2004
SF: When you get to play tourist in your own hometown
SF When you get to play tourist in your own hometown. A few tasty Bay area recommendations, including some fine lookin' fried chicken at House of Chicken 'N' Waffles.
French Menu Cheat Sheet
French Menu Cheat Sheet: Patricia Wells' 40-page dictionary of French menu terms (word, .pdf) [via Right This Way]
October 20, 2004
SF: Review Roundup
Today's review roundup includes: Bocadillos, Midori Mushi, Frisson.
SF Chronicle's Michael Bauer gives Bocadillos three stars (710 Montgomery St.; 415-982-2622):
Bocadillos is owned by Gerald Hirigoyen, who became a local celebrity at Fringale, which he bowed out of a few months ago so he could concentrate on his native Basque cuisine at Piperade. In July he and his wife, Cameron Hirigoyen, opened Bocadillos, on Montgomery and Washington streets next door to the Bubble Lounge.
Together they have created the most captivating and authentic-feeling Spanish tapas-style restaurant in the city. Not that it's all about Spain; Hirigoyen throws in a few Basque and California twists as well. But the point is that he and chef de cuisine Robert Petzold understand tapas.
During the day, the menu is designed for workers on tight schedules; at night, it loosens up to offer more than 30 savory bites divided into 11 categories, including A la Plancha (grilled), Roasted, Fried and my favorite, Innard Circle. . .
Just about everything at Bocadillos explodes on the tongue, making for a very happy mouth. You can pick anything and it will be absolutely delicious: prawns sauteed with garlic flakes and a fresh lemon confit ($12), ground chicken skewers ($7) fried crisp and served with a yogurt mint sauce, or boquerones ($3), three skewers of anchovies, olives, artichokes and small button mushrooms. It's a traditional dish with a flavor that coaxes you to take another sip of wine, preferably one of the crisp Spanish selections.
Redundant Dining
NYC Frank Bruni on an increasingly redundant NYC dining experience (I blame "fusion"). This should prompt some interesting online discussions: "Behind a comforting illusion of diversity lies an even more comforting reality of sameness. In a city of supposedly inexhaustible options, there seems to be one meal, shaped by tyrannical culinary trends, pervasive nutritional fads and the economics of supply and demand."
NYC: Review Roundup
Today's review roundup includes: Cru, Kuma Inn, Kittichai, Dushanbe.
NYTimes Restaurants Frank Bruni gives Cru three stars (24 Fifth Avenue; 212-529-1700):
Up until dessert, most of the dishes at Cru are splendid. Tilting heavily toward Italy, nodding slightly toward Spain, the restaurant's chef, Shea Gallante, produces what he calls modern European food and walks a pitch-perfect line between precious and creative, busy and resourceful.
To read his menu is to feel an initial stab of alarm: do slivers of raw albacore tuna really stand to benefit from bits of caper and a sauce of black olive and espresso? Yes, it turns out, they do, because those flavors come and go: fully present one moment, less detectable the next. They give the tuna some salty, bracing character, but not too much. Mr. Gallante knows not to let the sidekicks steal the show.
If he were not on top of his game, the rieslings and Riberas del Duero would usurp him. To some extent, Cru was born from, and built on, wine. The restaurant's owner, Roy Welland, has a private collection of about 65,000 bottles. About 3,200 are on the regular list, which appears in gorgeously leatherbound, beautifully organized books, and on any given night, more than 50 wines are served by the glass and half-glass.
. . . Cru has placed itself at the crossroads of several restaurant trends. The availability of so many wines in small measures is just one example. The raw tuna appears on a section of the menu that is devoted to crudo, or slightly seasoned raw fish, which is becoming as ubiquitous in Manhattan restaurants as Jude Law is in Hollywood movies. And the first three of the four savory courses on the menu — crudo, appetizers and pastas — tap into the small-plates craze, because the pastas can be ordered in half portions.
RECOMMENDED DISHES Langoustine, Arctic char and bluefin crudo; skate wing; quail breast; gnocchi with oxtail; tagliolini with clams; lobster; turbot; veal.
NYPost Steve Cuozzo also reviews Cru this week, and gives it two and a half stars (". . . Cru deserves three stars — that is, until Will Goldfarb's smart-alecky, flavor-conflicted desserts"):
. . . It's a thrilling first taste from executive chef Shea Gallante, former chef de cuisine at Bouley. His style also reflects modern-American and northern Italian influences, with the odd squirt of foam as a nod to Spain's blender-mad Ferran Adria and his cutting-edge ilk.
Few kitchens lay on so many complimentary extras, like dreamy Kabocha squash soup with prune-puree tortellini. Equally winning is rabbit cotechino ($14), a twist on the traditional pork sausage; a trio of them perch atop a rustic quilt of Casteluccio lentils, diced liver and mustard emulsion.
Gallante's best entrees deliver flavor constellations that live up to the rich surroundings. Soft-shell (newly molted) lobster ($36), a rarity, was sweet, if slightly overdone, after slow-cooking with olive oil and butter. It was served with a complex but cohesive ensemble of garlic-braised escarole, corona beans and bacon embraced in lobster-sage sauce.
Luscious venison loin ($36) glistened under prune glaze, supported by wonderful baby beets, chestnut puree and black trumpet mushrooms — simple on the plate but by no means easy to pull off.
October 19, 2004
Evite launching bar and restaurant reviews
Evite.com is launching a service which will feature bar and restaurant reviews powered by social networking. A good idea, but perhaps the wrong company.
Souris interviews Heidi about Cook 1.0
My friend and Hustler of Culture, Souris, interviews Heidi about her new vegetarian cookbook, Cook 1.0: A Fresh Approach to the Vegetarian Kitchen.
Shacktoberfest
NYC Don't miss the Shake Shack's "Shacktoberfest". The Shake Shack closes up for winter on November 1.
October 18, 2004
When technology and food collide
Here's a concept I love: A USB key designed to look like sushi. Perfect for storing and carrying your sushi spreadsheet. (Via ShinyShiny)
2005 New York City Zagat Survey
NYC The 2005 New York City Restaurants Zagat Survey is out, and The Food Section has conveniently rounded up much of the related online analysis and opinion.
NYC: Opening this week
NYC Opening this week: Una Pizza Napoletana, Juan Valdez Cafe, Szechuan Gourmet.
Stinky tofu
SF "Stinky" does not begin to describe stinky tofu, a very popular Taiwanese dish made of fermented tofu,but this description comes awfully close.
October 15, 2004
Deep End Dining
Deep End Dining is a weblog, "dedicated to seeking and devouring the food uncommon, the cuisine exotic and the entrees less ordered."
Guardian UK's review of Per Se
NYC The Guardian UK is not entirely blown away by Thomas Keller's Per Se. "The truth is that not everything works. The 15-course dinner idea sounds great in principle but, in practice, creates an unmeetable challenge. It is impossible for every course to deliver, and so it proved with our meal. A dish of 'grouper cheek' in a chickpea crust was underwhelming - two so-what fragments of fish goujon. The 'salad' course was some pretty inconsequential ingredients, shepherded together for no good reason. And, as ever in the US, the cheese was just plain lousy."
October 14, 2004
October 13, 2004
Far West Fungi
SF Far West Fungi is a great resource for all your edible fungi needs.
Giant maitake
NYC Check out the giant maitake, or hen-of-woods mushrooms, from Honey Hollow Farm and available at the Union Square Green Market.
NYC: Review Roundup
Today's review roundup includes: Indochine, La Grenouille, Yakitori Totto, Nicky's Vietnamese Sandwiches, Cacio e Pepe.
NYTimes Restaurants Frank Bruni finds Indochine "satisfactory" (430 Lafayette Street; 212-505-5111):
Indochine is celebrating its 20th birthday this month, and it still flaunts a noisy and crowded dining room, a tropical-bordello décor and a gaunt, gorgeous crew of servers who look as if they have just tumbled out of beds in which sleeping was not a priority.
But Indochine as it once existed inevitably died (and not just because Brian McNally sold it in 1992). In its place stands a museum, more or less, that draws young people who clearly consider it an anachronistic hoot, patrons of the Joseph Papp Public Theater or the Blue Man Group who need a nearby trough, Midwestern and European tourists who do not know any better, and Iman.
"That's her," a server confided to a friend and me when we dined at Indochine on a recent night. "Over there, at that large table. She's in here all the time."
. . . During my recent visits to Indochine, the sauces tended to be too sweet. The meat and fish tended to be mistreated. I had overcooked duck, overdressed beef, rock-hard shrimp.
But here is the odd, crazy thing: I also had a decent time, and the main reason was not Indochine's delectable cocktails, especially the Indochine martini, made with pineapple, ginger, lime juice and Triple Sec. It was not the respectable desserts, especially the coconut crème brûlée.
It was the way the servers strutted and sidled as if the 1980's had never ended, as if the sexy beat went on. The Indochine dining room is usually that degree of dark that graciously air-brushes everyone's wrinkles and pores, and when I was there, the soundtrack was heavy with hits from the 1980's.
RECOMMENDED DISHES Cambodian carpaccio; spicy chicken breast; chicken breast with mushrooms; steamed rice noodles; coconut crème brûlée; Asian pear wontons
SF: Straus Family Creamery
SF Straus Family Creamery "Straus is a great example of a company that melds wonderful product and taste with ground-breaking organic and environmental practices."
Introducing A Full Belly
Since moving to San Francisco, the most frequently asked question regarding NYC Eats has been, "What are you going to do with the site now?" The answer is, NYC Eats is now A Full Belly, a weblog about eating well. In short:
What's new
- Coverage of the restaurant scenes in New York City AND San Francisco
- New website address and name: A Full Belly http://www.afullbelly.com
- Take Away links are now integrated into the main blog and XML feed
- A regularly updated event listing for NYC and SF/Bay Area.
Think of it as an expanded version of NYC Eats, now including great San Francisco eats (and whatever else I might be fixating on at the moment).
Like all web things, it's a work in progress... comments, suggestions, tips are always welcome!
Bon Appetit!
October 11, 2004
Mijita
Mijita
Ferry Terminal Building, San Francisco
(415) 399-0814
The Ferry Terminal is always packed on Saturdays for the Farmer's Market, but Sunday is a different story. A considerably thinner crowd means more reasonable waits (if any) at the Ferry Terminal's restaurants.
NYC: Opening this week
NYC Opening this week: Little Giant, Bonmarche, C, Nolita House, Sachi's On Clinton, Silverleaf Tavern, Almondine, Alfanoose, Hedeh.
Wrapped in Dough
Wrapped in Dough is a food weblog by a New Yorker on hiatus in China. This entry is mouth-watering good!
October 08, 2004
NYTimes Diner's Journal: Caiptal Grille
NYTimes Diner's Journal visits Capital Grille: "It will be interesting to see how the Capital Grille fares in Manhattan, where chain restaurants are not as prevalent as in other places. Many New Yorkers like to permit themselves at least the illusion of novelty: of inventing or discovering a formula, not merely buying into it. But there is also ample space and precedent on this island for the tried and true, and we live in times much more beefy than starchy. Despite its flaws, the Capital Grille could profit mightily from that."
SF: Review Roundup
Today's review roundup includes: Lime, Trattoria Vogalonga, Mijita.
SF Chronicle's Michael Bauer gives Lime two and a half stars (247 Market St. (between Noe and Sanchez), San Francisco; 415-621-5256):
. . . Early in the evening, the crowd is dressed for a party -- men in collared shirts with the tails fashionably askew and women in low-cut slinky dresses and killer pumps. As the evening goes on, the patrons seem to pair off into same-sex couples. It makes for great people-watching, which is about all you can do when the DJ blasts tunes through the speakers and the drinkers crank up their voices to compete. Unlike most of the lounge-restaurants that have proliferated in the past few months, Lime actually seems to have sustainable energy and a menu well-suited to the concept. The homey but worldly selections are grouped on the menu by price, ranging from $5 to $10.
Chef Sharon Ardiana has designed an eclectic menu that has loads of winning combinations in every price category. . .
. . .The menu travels the globe for inspiration, but the concept holds together because the food is familiar -- ricotta gnocchi ($8) with white corn and mushrooms; pork quesadillas ($7) in a rich mole sauce; tandoori chicken skewers ($7) accompanied by a yogurt dipping sauce spiked with cucumber, mint and onion; and Moroccan lamb chops ($10) that are spicy and salty enough to fuel another round of cocktails. However, the couscous underneath the lamb didn't really add much to the dish and defeats the idea of finger food, unless you're OK with eating Moroccan style.
October 07, 2004
$100 cheesesteak
$100 cheesesteak: "Served with a small bottle of champagne, Barclay Prime's cheesesteak is made of sliced Kobe beef, melted Taleggio cheese, shaved truffles, sauteed foie gras, caramelized onions and heirloom shaved tomatoes on a homemade brioche roll brushed with truffle butter and squirted with homemade mustard."
October 06, 2004
Maya Angelou
Maya Angelou's new book, Hallelujah! The Welcome Table: A Lifetime of Memories with Recipes ". . . is a book on food, not a cookbook."
Tutorial: Tasteful Food Photography
Tutorial: Tasteful Food Photography, tips for taking great digital food photos.
The debate over the origins of soul food
The NYTimes peers into the debate over the origins of soul food: "When you say black folks eat more chitlins, you start to get in trouble, because a food like that is totemic to white and black Southerners," he said. "Both see it as reaching back to the tough times they survived. Both see it as food imbued with meaning, and that doesn't go away."
Preparing toshomen
Video: Preparing toshomen. These noodles are a speciality of the Xian region of China. The Japanese pronounce it "to-sho-men" which means "knife-cut noodles."
NYC: Review Roundup
Today's review roundup includes: Convivium Osteria, Sweetwater, Kittichai, August.
NYTimes Restaurants Frank Bruni gives Park Slope's Convivium Osteria one star (68 Fifth Avenue, Park Slope, Brooklyn; 718-857-1833):
Convivium Osteria is primarily a neighborhood restaurant, of the kind and level that every neighborhood wants. It does not force you to splurge, but it allows you to. You can eat conventionally or graze. Convivium accommodates different moods, and it changes with the seasons, opening up a lovely back garden with a wisteria-covered trellis during warm months.
. . . The pleasures for a carnivore on the Convivium menu are many. Tender slices of pork loin are accompanied by small coins of chorizo, which are meant to join the loin in each forkful, bringing a crispiness and a saltiness to the fleshy fun. A roasted baby chicken — succulent on the night that a friend and I tried it — was splayed on the plate in a way that all but demanded that it be picked up. Or maybe we thought so and heeded that call simply because we wanted to get to the meat closest to the bone.
. . . Among entrees, the most disappointing was a rack of lamb with a pine nut crust that was too thick and too intrusive. The most satisfying, in addition to the steak and chicken, was a dish of half-moon pockets of pasta that had been filled with duck, topped with shredded radicchio and speck and placed on a tawny, shallow pond of porcini cream sauce. A filling and pleasing salted codfish casserole with mashed potatoes and spinach tasted like a Portuguese spin on shepherd's pie.
RECOMMENDED DISHES String bean salad with egg; platter of cured meats and cheese for two; pasta filled with duck; whole baby chicken; pork loin; Portuguese seafood stew; rib-eye steak for two; apple tart; chocolate cake.
October 05, 2004
Carbon monoxide in the preservation of tuna's bright red color
Increasingly, carbon monoxide is being sprayed on tuna to preserve its bright red color. Not necessarily a health hazard, unless it's used to mask spoiled fish.
October 04, 2004
NYC: Opening this week
NYC: Opening this week: Devi, EN Japanese Brasserie, Bar Tonno, Citron, Serafina Broadway, and The View.
October 01, 2004
SF Bargain Bites
SF: Bargain Bites, the Chronicle's new and improved guide to the Bay Area's best $10-and-under meals.
Peter Hertzman on purees
Peter Hertzman on purees: "A few hundred years ago, all types of dishes were served as purees. Today, other than purée de pommes de terre—mashed potatoes—purees are rarely seen on the average dinner table. The exception in France is high-end restaurants where purees are more likely to be included on the menu, but often as a decoration rather than an actual side dish."
