Monthly Archives: September 2009

Best Dishes in San Francisco, Part Four

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Funny how sometimes things that you haven’t thought about in a long time come back around and are ever present? Nopa is back on my radar this week and it reminds me that I didn’t include anything of theirs in my list. Last night I was eating there, sharing in the wonder of Nopa (I’ll write a post about it fully later because it is my opinion that Nopa epitomizes everything that dining in San Francisco should be) and realized that there is a clear entry for my list, in addition to today’s others. With that, I give you……

Nopa Pork Chop: How you been there? Have you done that? It’s obvious that Nopa has mastered this signature piece of swine from the confidence exuded by the waitstaff when you order. These people are foodies, exhibited by the way our server and I bored the hell of our my dinner companions last night talking about the innovation of Mission Burger, the reopening of Quince and how he must try Wexler’s soon. The pork itself is delicately fatty, so you are not gnawing but rather melting. The overall flavor reminds me of a heritage product, like something you might have eaten a 100 years ago. Very earthy, very brined, very tasty. There is a slight glaze and only a little puddle of jus. That’s all they need to make this chop tops.

Nopa Pork Chop

Nopa Pork Chop

Grand Pu Bah Khao Soi: If you read my blog, you know that I love this [LINK]. I even hosted a special event for 50 of you to try it [LINK]. But don’t take my word. I am going to out my friend, David Steele, the owner of Flour + Water, who claims “this could be the best tasting thing I ever ate”. There are some detractors. One of my readers grabbed me at the event and said “this isn’t like Khao Soi in Thailand. It’s really good, but not authentic”. While I agree it isn’t an exact copy of the roadside fare in Thailand, I actually think it is better. The broth and braised meats are a pow pow punch. The pickled veggies, wet noodles, dry noodles and roasted chili paste give it a little boom boom. So take it away Black Eyed Peas……

Khao Soi

Khao Soi

Pizzaiolo Pizza Margherita: It’s official. I’ve said it. I am declaring Pizzaiolo’s margherita the best pizza in the bay. The competition is so freaking close that it’s hard to do this, but I have to have a pizza on the list. You won’t be disappointed by Pizzeria Delfina, Tony’s, Ideale, A16, Bistro Aix, Pizza Nostra and Picco which are the other serious contenders, but Charlie gets the prize. First, it’s the wood. I like-a me some smokey flavor. The sauce and cheese are spot on and the rest of the menu is orgasmic. He also does his non-margherita pizzas as good (Delfina, Picco) or better (all the rest) than anybody. If I had to choose one place, my friends, this is it.

Pizzaiolo Margherita

Pizzaiolo Margherita

Bakesale Betty’s Fried Chicken Sandwich: While we’re in the East Bay (on the same block, in fact) I’m throwing in a last minute nod to BB. There’s a reason the lines are so long every day for lunch. Part of it is the over-crammed assembly line folly that creates the energy of the spot. But most of it is because they are kicking out some tasty crispy-fried chicken breasts. Slapping them on an homemade roll, piling on a mass of awesome cole-slaw and doing it all messy. They’ll often throw you a treat while you are waiting and you just feel like you’re part of something good. Don’t miss the brisket sandwich either, that adds horseradish and potato chips to the pile.

Bakesale Batty Chicken Sandwich

Bakesale Batty Chicken Sandwich

French Laundry Mac and Cheese: One could easily find a dozen things to add to a best-of list from the FL. They are iconic. Every meal is an experience (though last time I went, it was a mixed one). But the thing that gets me each time, and has emerged as the signature dish, is chef Keller’s deconstruction of macaroni and cheese. The truth is that this deconstruction is actually butter-poached Maine lobster with a creamy lobster broth and mascarpone-enriched orzo pasta. I think we can all agree that pulling this off takes some serious chops. To me it is near perfection in flavor, texture and presentation.

Thomas Keller

Thomas Keller

737 Bridgeway Hamburgers: While we’re out of town, let’s jump over to Sausalito. I might be alone on an island with this one but my favorite hamburger in the Bay Area is at a little rotisserie grill in a narrow shack of a burger joint. 737 Bridgeway’s only sign says “Hamburger”. You can smell the cooking down the street and across the block. Tourists line up on their day trips from San Francisco. It seems they have heard about this place, but most of us haven’t. They used to have a sign that read: “How Not to Make a Hamburger” that would detail out the fast food process and then “How to Make a Hamburger” describing their process, which is ultra-fresh ground chuck, fresh sponge-bread roll, rotisserie fire grill, turning the meat once, salt and pepper seasoning on the outside, lappi cheese and the requisite toppings. They also serve crinkle-cut fries, which I think is a perfect foil to the meat. All I can say is that you should try it. Everyone has their own opinion about burgers and it’s likely only some of you will agree. But for me, this is the place.

737 Bridgeway Hamburgers Rotisserie Grill

737 Bridgeway Hamburgers Rotisserie Grill

Last one tomorrow…….

Best Dishes in San Francisco, Part Three

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Now we’re gaining some momentum. Site traffic today was back to peak levels. Blogging as a modern medium still follows some old-school rules: specifically, publish or perish. There is clearly a direct correlation to new, good posts and blog traffic. Duh. I know that y’all likes you some recommendations. It’s clear people want to be told what to eat.

Today, it’s a hodge podge. I’ve got a bunch of favorites that don’t fit a category. So, let’s just let em all hang out.

Yank Sing House Special Soup Dumplings: Say what you will about Dim Sum in San Francisco and the battle between Yank Sing and Ton Kiang, the soup dumpling at the former is one of the best dishes in our fair city. What a surprise to find a glorious, savory broth magically swishing about inside a tender dumpling, floating in a bath of a sweet sauce and sliced ginger. It is so well crafted that I laughed smugly at Heaven’s Dog far inferior interpretation. You don’t mess with the Zohan.

Yank Sing Soup Dumplings

Yank Sing Soup Dumplings

Hayes Street Grill Crab Cake Sandwich: I cannot speak to the quality of this restaurant because I haven’t been there in nearly 15 years. It’s just not on the radar of your average SF foodie. But they do something at the Ferry Building Farmer’s Market on Saturday mornings that keeps me coming back again and again. The construct of the sandwich is perfect in many ways to my sensibilities. Let me deconstruct….. the bread is simple, white toasted on a fire to gain a lot of smokey flavor. This is critical. The crab cake is solid. Not the best crab cake I’ve ever had, but it’s a fine crab cake at that. It doesn’t need to be the best. Add to that a juicy, large slice of tomato. Sweet and cool meets crispy and savory. A little greens and tartar sauce round out the whole deal and man it just works. I get mine with a side of crispy bacon and it fuels me up for a market day.

Hayes Street Grill Crab Cake Sandwich

Hayes Street Grill Crab Cake Sandwich

Quince Ravioli: I’m not of the ilk that can afford to dine at Quince weekly. It’s a special occasion place. And it’s always special. I can confidently say that there is no pasta in our fair city that elevates the form like Quince (though Flour and Water is as close as close can get). Any pasta you eat at Quince could live on this list. There is simply too much care put into conceptualizing the preparations to not receive my praise. As I’ve said before, truly great pasta is about subtleties in textures and flavors that transcend the predispositions we hold. Ravioli is the purest example of how Quince can exceed any expectation. You’ll know it when you see it.

Quince

Quince

Nihon Tuna Carpaccio: Sushi is tough. Everyone has an opinion. The current darling, Sebo has everyone buzzing and I agree that they are pretty amazing. But I don’t want to get bogged down with identifying particular dishes in sushi joints. These seas are far too rough to navigate. Let’s leave them for my list of best restaurants. But……there is one dish that sticks in my mind as exemplary and worthy of joining this list. Nihon’s Tuna Carpaccio with white truffle oil, ponzu sauce & hawaiian sea salt is a crazy perfect blend of this and thats, these and those.

Gaspare’s Veal Milanese: This one is so out of place on any list, but what can I say – I love Gaspare’s. Everything is good and reminds me of my early years in New Jersey, eating late nights at Tony’s Baltimore Grill. The food is decidedly old-school AmerItalian. The lasagna is stunning. The pizza is greasy and flavorful. The chicken parmigiano is absolutely the real deal. But the dish that keeps calling me these days is the Veal Milanese. There is nothing particularly impressive about this except that it is exactly what it should be. A tender cutlet of veal, pounded thin and breaded (the breading is important and they get it right), fried and served with a little butter and lemon juice on top. I get it with a side of their spaghetti and meat sauce, which has a sweet, thick pile of sauce for sopping with bread when you’re done. Mamma mia.

I think I’ve got two or three more days in me of this. Frankly, it’s a hard exercise because I can barely narrow down the choices on some menus, let alone picking from the lineup of talent we have across the city.

Best Dishes in San Francisco, Part Two

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Ok, so admittedly yesterday’s post was kinda lame. If you’re a tourist and come to SF for the first time, they were the Mission-must-sees. There’s no doubt they are high on the list of best in the city, but the real foodies are looking for some more snobbish nods. I’m not going to get all private-dining-club on you here, but these require a little city knowledge to uncover. So, round two, in no particular order:

Salt House Poutine: If you read my post on this dish [LINK] you’ll know that this is WAY up on my list. In fact, if you don’t like it – I don’t like you. Because this has all the elements that a truly good person would like. Crispy, double-fried-fries – check. Artisan cheddar – check. Braised short ribs gravy – uh yeah. Can I has Poutine?

Salt House Poutine

Salt House Poutine

Meeting House Biscuits: Dropping old school on you. Apparently there used to be a Meetinghouse Restaurant of some sort. I don’t recall how I discovered them but it was an online thing and you can still order Joann’s un-fucking-believable flakey, buttery, crispy-yet-moist, airy biscuits here [LINK]. If you live in the city, I kid you not, Joann will hand deliver them to you. Elsewhere they are mailed. If you’re lazy, you can get them at the Elite Cafe on Fillmore. There is supposed to be a revival of the Meetinghouse in some food-court concept at the JCC, but I haven’t been. Needless, many a biscuits and gravy I’ve made with these lovely nuggets beneath.

Meetinghouse Biscuits

Meetinghouse Biscuits

Universal Cafe Chicken Under a Brick: What sucks about this town is that Universal Cafe doesn’t get it’s props. I’ll often mention it as one of my favorite restaurants and people will say “yeah, I love their brunch”. Yes, their brunch is probably the BEST in the city. There I said it. It rules. But, they also do one of the best lunch and DINNER services in the city. I’d put the place in my top 10 for all three. And the dish that gets me…. Chicken under a brick. Lot’s of restaurants try. Nobody else comes close (sorry Flour and Water and Pizzaiolo). Leslie Carr Avalos is genius in many ways, especially in her ability to brine a bird, crisp its skin and serve it with sauces and sides that bring out everything that is good.

Universal Cafe

Universal Cafe

B44 Paella: This one is about the entirety of the experience. The dish itself is, in my opinion, the best Paella in the city, when done properly (it can be very inconsistent). The flavor pops and the ingredients are spot on for most varieties. Where they often shine [and fail] is in creating the kick-ass crust that adds some smoke and sweet and takes it to another level. Ask them to make sure the Paella is well-done. But moreover, make the experience by eating a bunch of funky seafood starters and downing two bottles of Rosé (sparkling works great) on a sunny afternoon (a little late so the crowd dissipates) in the outdoor seats on Belden. Tony, are we ready for another??

B44 Paella

B44 Paella

Wexler’s 4505 Meats Mission Dog: Only on the lunch menu. I wrote a post about the entire meal [LINK], but this was the standout dish. How much can I say about a friggin hot dog? Well, I really like that this is treated with care and not a throwaway. 4505 has put a lot of though into creating a unique dog and this was the first (well, second, Pal’s Takeaway did a damn good job too) time it was treated with appropriate reverence. Get some.

4505 Meats Hot Dogs!

4505 Meats Hot Dogs!

More tomorrow……

Best Dishes in San Francisco, Part One

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Ok, I know you’re sick of the cleanse talk. Frankly, so am I. I’ve been saving up some posts that I know you will all love and revisit. I’m going to drop some of my favorite individual dishes in the city!

There was a survey going around facebook a while back that listed the 50 things you must eat in San Francisco. I had about 35 of them nailed. Some of them may overlap here, but for the most part, these are just the things I think you must eat. I’ll probably list about 20 or so over the course of the week, in no particular order.

Slanted Door Shaking Beef: I’ve heard mixed reviews from people about the consistency of SD these days. I’m drawing on my experiences from the early years, living down the street from the original on Valencia. I’ve had the dish in the Ferry Building and it held up as one of the finest pieces of meat I’ve put in my mouth. It even translates well in the Out the Door, prepare-at-home, variety. The meat they use is so tender, it nearly melts. The sauce of white onions, green onions, soy, a little butter – kissed with a salt, pepper and lime mixture – put a fork in me.

Slanted Door Shaking Beef

Slanted Door Shaking Beef

Slanted Door Half and Half Rolls: While we’re at SD, they capture another standout. If you’re dining with two and cannot decide on their exceptional fresh spring rolls or fried imperial rolls, use our trick and order half and half. I would say that both are equally tasty, but the fresh rolls are probably more of a standout versus other Vietnamese places. Tu Lan does a pretty damn good imperial roll. The peanut sauce is the kicker. Just enough spice and the perfect density to grab on to the yummy mint, pork, shrimp and rice noodles that fill the fresh roll. Of course the imperial rolls contrast a crispy fried treat with some cool fresh lettuce, noodles and a sweet sauce.

Delfina Spaghetti with Plum Tomatoes, Garlic, Extra Virgin Olive Oil and Peperoncini: Again, from the old neighborhood, Delfina has pleased me with this dish for years and years. It remains the best spaghetti in the city and the foundation for my perfect spaghetti recipe [LINK] which I have shared.

Delfina Spaghetti with Plum Tomatoes

Delfina Spaghetti with Plum Tomatoes

Delfina Panna Cotta: It’s two-for-Monday here. And Delfina takes the prize for my favorite dessert in the entire city. The flavors change seasonally, but their panna cotta is consistently one of the finest confections that will past your lips. It’s dense enough to hold it’s shape and coat the spoon, but so creamy that you’d be hard pressed to define what goes in it. Ethereal.

Delfina Grilled Fresh Calamari with Warm White Bean Salad: Ok, three-for. This isn’t for me – it was a favorite of Julie for years. I must admit, it’s pretty damn good. The squid is always fresh and tender – never chewy. The beans and herbs play so well off of the fruity olive oil – it is a perfect combination, often copied.

Tartine Morning Buns: Ok, we’ll round out the neighborhood. If Delfina’s panna cotta is one of the finest confections, Tartine’s morning bun is the finest confection. Words cannot describe the perfection achieved from the subtle combination of orange zest and a bready dough that retains it’s moisture on the inside and flakiness around the edges all day long. Though I strongly suggest getting some while they are hot. They will change your life, I promise.

Tartine Morning Buns

Tartine Morning Buns

Tartine Banana Cream Pie: Do I really need to give the details? Can you just trust me? Read and excerpt from my post about my birthday [LINK] this year:

The stand out of the evening was courtesy of my lovely wife……Banana Cream Tart from Tartine. This thing is off the charts. The texture of the cream reminds me of a merengue with the flavor of a custard. The bananas somehow remain fresh and crisp in all of the goop, the slivers of chocolate add even more pleasure and the crust is a tried and true winner (the same they use with their stellar quiche).

Admittedly this first list is nothing revelatory. If you’ve known me for any time or have been reading the blog these may have crossed your path. But what a start! Tomorrow we’ll start exploring the city a little deeper.

Eat Your Crusts

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Overheard at the Exploratorium cafeteria with my son (sternly, from an incredibly obese woman to her slim daughter, eating pizza): “Eat your crusts”.

It’s difficult to escape my obsession with food when I have none. I’m keenly aware of every person shoving heaps of pabulum into their gullets. It’s sublime. It’s also incredibly telling. We simply eat too much. This woman may be a victim of an awful set of genes or an unfortunate thyroid problem. But, more likely, she probably eats her crusts. I mean, what’s the point? In 99% of the pizza in this country (current Neapolitan craze excluded) the sauce and the cheese are where the action is. The crust is just dry bread with no real value, other than making us fat, right? Of course Pizza Hut will stuff your crusts with cheese if you’re so inclined.

Our portions are obscene. I remember coming back from a long trip in Asia with my wife years ago – stomach shrunk to a manageable size. We went to Park Chow and I ordered the cobb salad. There were two sizes and I chose the smaller one. I ate about half and was totally full. Nice meal. I said to myself, and Julie: “I feel great and I plan to reduce my consumption so that this is always just enough”. Yeah, nice try. I was back on the supersize mentality in a matter of days.

I dreamt a restaurant concept last night that involved only small portions. What a boon that would be! But wait, we have them, don’t we? In fact there was a “small plates” craze a few years ago (which quickly was gobbled up by the comfort food craze – now it’s street food). The problem was that we never ordered small plates to eat individually. They were just so you could try a little of everything. The waiters always would say “I recommend ordering 2-3 small plates per person”. Eat your crusts. (by the way, why is there no proper Pintxos – Basque Tapas – bars in San Francisco? I could easily copy any one of a hundred from San Sebastian and it would be a massive success!)

Another side effect of the cleanse is that I am the uncomfortable dinner-party guest. At least ten times last night I subjected my poor friends with my philosophies on the master cleanse. I’m a one-trick pony and these patient folks must have been ready to smack me in the face with their delicious gouda sausages. I come off as self-righteous, enlightened and holier-than-thou when I am cleansing, because there isn’t much else for me to talk about since my head is swimming with the thoughts of food. Note to self: don’t ruin other’s good times when cleansing. Stay home.

Which leads me to an update on things and some holier-than-thou speak: I am not hungry at all. I had a few pangs this morning that quickly dissipated. My allergies have been acting up and I had something in my eye last night. But those things aside, I feel great. Of course I cannot stop thinking about food, but this is a symptom of the conditioning we have (especially at meal time) and represent “cravings” and not real hunger.

When you embrace the cleanse, you quickly realize the vast difference between real hunger and craving. We are not hungry people. If you can afford to have a computer and run in the circles where you have discovered my blog, you are not hungry. We have cheap calories around us at all times. We are conditioned to feel the need to eat at specific times of the day but it has nothing to do with food-as-survival.

If I can impart any wisdom gained from this controlled starvation it is that it doesn’t take long to get in touch with this concept and it can be revelatory. I don’t think thinking about it is good enough. You have to stop eating for days to realize the true nature of hunger. It’s tangible and empirical. And if you do it, you may just decide not to eat your crusts.

Cleansing and Zealotry

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I woke up in a bit of a panic. The last time I cleansed was quite successful and really enjoyed the process of discovering the truth behind my relationship with food. I feared that this time it might be more of a chore. Will I miss food more? Since I’ve already had my realizations, will the novelty be supplanted by desperate pangs of hunger? If this going to be more difficult?

Also, I questioned my motivation. Truth be told, if I were stronger I could simply strike the balance and have more control with food. I mean, I’m not THAT bad. I’m only about 10-15lbs overweight (mostly in my gut and neck) but I still look damn good (thanks Mom and Dad for the genes). But this isn’t about the weight itself, it’s the psychology of this relationship. And I need a kick in the ass. Plus, what a better time to start? The last day of my cleanse I will be joined by millions of Jews fasting for atonement.

As a secular Jew (it’s a story for another post that I’ll happily explain) I am always looking for alternative ways to interpret and celebrate during our holidays (the humanist haggadah at passover for example). The high holidays always throw me for a loop, because they are heavy with the god stuff. But you’ve got to hand it to my people. Fasting to atone for your misgivings, which is followed by a celebratory feast isn’t so bad. It was designed to help us reconnect with our pure spirituality = clarity of mind without distractions. That seems to fit well into my discoveries with fasting.

If you know the story of the Zealots, the original ones, you’d know the extent to which they would go for their cause. Here’s the wiki on Masada:

After the destruction of Jerusalem and the Second Temple in AD 70, 960 Zealots took refuge by capturing the Roman fortress of Masada and taking no prisoners. Rome sent the TenthLegion to retake the stronghold, but it failed for three years. It is estimated that they took over 1,000 casualties in the process. The Zealots held the fortress even after the Romans invented new types of siege engines. Finally, in the third year of the siege, Rome, gave up on taking the fortress intact and burned down the walls. When the Romans stormed in to capture the Zealots, they found that the fighters and their families had nearly all committed suicide.

So, as the Epicurean Zealot, it would only make sense that my fast were a bit more extreme. If I hope to find true meaning, I will go deeper and finish on the same day as the others (maybe if they did 10 days they’d work-out this god nonsense?!). And that’s some heavy purpose to guide me.
For those following along, I am eating normally today and will take a senna tea before bed tonight. That will mean a significant evacuation tomorrow, particularly after the the first SWF. Also note that there is no book necessary to do this. I love this website [LINK] for all of the details of the cleanse. And you are welcome to ask me. I will continue to post the specifics of my process as the days go by.

Hi, My Name is Adam and I’m a Food Addict

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It’s been silent around here lately, eh? Quiet from the Zealot actually means that the wheels are turning even harder. I’ve been a busy boy. First, I was out of town for the annual trade show for my industry. I do home theater crap. It’s a big convention. I’m involved with the organization. I spoke to a banquet of 600 people, overcoming a lifelong fear of mine. It felt good. I’m pumped.

Julie took a job. It’s kinda of a grind. New technology stuff. Kicking her ass. Long commute. That means that I’m Mr. Mom these days. Drop the booger off at school, play dates in the afternoon. I actually love it. This kind of time with my little man is invaluable. We’re getting on the same page.

The economy finally caught up with me and lit a huge fire under my ass with my business. Quite frankly, as an entrepreneur for the past 15 years, I realized that the energy is constantly ebbing and flowing. The past year has been a real ebb for me. How can I get excited about selling stuff that people are struggling to justify. I’m not selling cancer cures – it’s just a freaking TVs. But I always come around to the fact that being an entrepreneur is not about the thing you do, it’s about the doing. Being successful at anything is more about how you go about what you do, rather than the thing itself. And I like that. So, I rededicated myself to playing the game and figuring out ways to do it better. I’ve been telling my friends for a long time, it’s not about working hard, it’s about working smarter.

So, with the food blog. I am not going away. I have way too much to say and from my stats, it looks like people enjoy reading it. But I’ve fallen in to a familiar rut. You see, I am a food addict. Many of us are and probably won’t admit it. It’s not that I am obsessed with food, it’s quality and all of the foodie nuances that I post about. That shit is fine. It’s the food for nurturing shit that is the problem. You can read my post [LINK] about the last time I did a food cleanse to really understand what this means to me. In fact, read it now before moving on. It’s important to understand what comes next.

So, I’m doing another master cleanse to kick start the next era in my relationship with food. I just had a conversation with my buddy who has half-heartedly done cleanses for a long time. While he agrees with me that it isn’t about the “cleansing characteristics” (because science is conflicted) or about “dieting” (because you WILL go back to the old habits) but it is about the psychological battle. As you read in that post, I believe that mankind is meant to be closer to starvation. My buddy suggested that the physical extremity of the master cleanse could be damaging to the body. I would argue that the physical extremity of the opposite is true. To my sensibilities, gluttony is probably worse for the body than controlled starvation, in the long run. Heart disease, diabetes, obesity – these are the real problems of our time.

The issue remains that once I finish the cleanse I will likely return to my old habits no long after. While I strongly believe this to be true, I also think that something significant changed in me the last time. I can only hope that each time I do it, I get a little closer to a balanced life, rather than constantly living in the extremes. The wake up call has the power to temper the status quo until there is some happy medium. Or not.

So, a lot of you have expressed interest in the master cleanse and some of you might want to join me in solidarity and share experiences. My last full meal will be on Friday evening and I will be drinking the senna tea that night, fully prepared for a salt-water-flush (herein SWF) on Saturday morning. I am going to do it for 10 full days, the last of which will be Monday the 28th. I will return to food, via broth on Tuesday and probably start solids again on Wednesday.

Of course I will be documenting my experiences, since I wasn’t writing the blog the last time and there were a lot of profound thoughts to be shared. I know this is controversial to many and I understand most of the arguments made against the cleanse. Let me restate: I don’t recognize the “cleansing” elements completely. I know the SWF is controversial and damn tough to stomach. I know that as a diet, this is not the best way to lose weight. If anyone is looking for anything other than a psychological way to perceive their relationship with food, I don’t recommend this. But, if you’re down with the experience, post in the comments and we’ll support each other though it.