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I figured it would take a while to post completely and I wasn't sure if I should break my meals up amongst other threads, but I decided to post everything here with the exception of my experience at The General's Daughter which I thought deserved its own thread here. We came back to San Francisco for the first time since we moved back east in 1998 in order to commemorate our 10th anniversary. We stayed in the city for a couple of days, moved up into Napa/Sonoma and then back down for 2 more days before returning home. I was reticent to use flash inside restaurants so in some places I did not photograph and some pictures reflect the low light environment. Such are the breaks I guess! To be continued......

Boy am I glad I had dinner at the General's Daughter. This place is not to be missed. Not only is the food terrific, but it is a screaming value. 3 Courses for $45, 4 for $55 and 6 for $65. The menu is divided into appetizers, fish, meat, cheese and dessert and the courses can come in any variation you choose. Someone thought of 5 desserts but we talked him out of it. In the end, we were all extremely pleased with our experience. This was the night after hitting the French Laundry too so we had our palates set on 'picky'. The restaurant is an old home so the premises have a cozy feeling. When we arrived at 8:30, it was packed. About halfway through, it was much less crowded so I got the OK to use a flash from the rest of the table as there was no one around us. A word of caution, all portions are entree size - these are not tasting plates! Honey glazed Black Cod, fried green tomatoes, crawfish and sweet corn Wild boar ragout over rigatoni, roasted tomato, garlic and sage Seared venison, butternut squash hash, huckleberry port wine jus Slow braised Wagyu short rib, potato puree, local green beans, natural jus Berkshire pork tenderloin, roasted apples, corn and bacon risotto, wilted chard Petite baked Alaska, chocolate, vanilla and mint gelato, chocolate cookie crust White chocolate bread pudding, brioche croutons, white chocolate sauce Other dishes eaten before flash photos and not post worthy..... Pan seared Columbia River sturgeon, "barley" risotto, apple cider butter West coast shrimp grits, andouillle sausage, tabasco butter Mushroom ragout, potato gnocchi, parmesan cream The menu was just enormous (8 dishes in each category except for 1 cheese plate offering!) and it was difficult to limit our choices to even 5 dishes. My favorite was the shrimp and grits, black cod and strugeon preparations. I would be remiss if I didn't mention the wine list. The prices are unfairly fair. I had an 03 Kosta Browne Cohn vineyard for $100. When I spoke to the Chef, Preston, after our meal, I mentioned that it would be OK to charge more as I felt so guilty. He stressed that he liked it just the way it is. I guess you don't mess with success. Preston is an affable guy and has done great things there. I will definitely come back here again and I highly recommend it. Evan

Has anyone been to Lacroix since the changes occured in the kitchen? I am considering taking my brother there in a few weeks and was curious..... Thanks Evan

Buddakan gets mixed comments but each time I go I come away happy. I went there yesterday for my 10th anniversary and we decided it was a good place to bring the kids for there first "real" restaurant experience. It was a big success. When someone came over to say how good the kids are at the table, I got all proud and squishy inside. Anyway, we ordered shotgun in an attempt to find something the kids would eat. We got the wasabi tuna pizza, pork dumplings, edamame, rice and tea smoked spareribs as apps. I really liked the ribs and have had them in the past. The mrs. scarfed down the pizza which was just OK in my book. For entrees, we had the short ribs upon mushroom chow fun, ponzu chicken and some sides. The chicken was a nod to the kids but I thought is simply prepared and just to my liking. After all the first plates, the short ribs were just too over the top heavy for any of us. Not a chance of taking pictures during this one. One interesting snafu. We had a gift card that we tried to use and after much ado by the manager, it turned out to have a zero balance. I paid without a fuss to deal with later but our server quietly told us on the way out that this is a glitz in the system and it happens not infrequently. That's too bad. My in laws have to straighten it out and I will not be pleased. I am a budda-phile still. Evan

Thanks for posting that, Daniel. I had a very average and so so meal there many years ago but recently thought I would try it again with the recent glorius publicity MV received. Daniel, your notes have put me back to square one. I am pretty sure it's just not for me and will leave my initial experience stand ..... Evan

"And I'll never forget that grim look on his face, when he heisted himself and took leave of this place, through a hole in the smog, without leaving a trace" Dr Seuss, The Lorax

I have made a reservation at the General's Daughter for our trip to Sonoma next month. I am looking forward to it. I haven't been in the area since I lived there in 98. It took our 10th wedding anniversary to get our butts back out West. The positive comments here are very reassuring. I have never been let down by fellow gulleteers. Evan

I do not recall getting prepared foods there. Do experiment and report back. Better yet, bring some over and we can try it together. Evan

Thanks for the Carlino's recommendation, David. I gave the tomato pie a try on my way home today, and it's pretty great. Very thick crust, great sauce-- I didn't taste anchovy, but there's a nice bite of rosemary. My only complaint is that the crust was a tiny bit gummy. That may be because it had been sitting around since the morning; or because it's kept at slightly below room temperature. It might benefit from a little spell in the oven once it gets home. If I can wait that long to eat it, that is. Carlino's seems like a neat place, by the way; I'd never heard of them (my ignorance; I don't know the Main Line at all), but they have a nice selection of prepared foods, good-looking breads, and lots of homemade pasta. I picked up some frozen tortellini which I intend to cook up in some brodo for a quick dinner one of these days... ← Professore. I am glad you discovered Carlino's. I have not had the tomato pie but no difference - I am just too close to Marchiano's. Welcome to the hood! Evan

yes, thanks Diann. It was an enormous variety of food in supra-gulleteer amounts. My personal favorites were the short rib flatbread and of course, the star of the show, Pedro's gal.

This was after a pitcher of Sangria. He thought it was a fox.

Apart from one trip to Joy Tsin Lau maaany years ago and a meal at Ocean Harbor, I always had my dim sum at Imperial Inn. It's been about 2-3 years, but we went back for dim sum to Imperial Inn today. It's as good as I remember it but I was thinking ... "Hmm, I wonder what's the latest word on Philly dim sum on egullet?" It's been a while since it was discussed here and with the comings and goings of restaurants in the area, I figured I would ask if anyone has other newer go-to places. Evan

Drawn by the siren's song of said powerbeet, I braved the craggy rocks to try it today. Just a touch of red color and the occassional quark sized beeticle to signal her presence but otherwise this is pure, light and fragrantly orange. It actually strangely tastes like the aroma of citrus rather than it's flesh. Perfect for the weather. Evan

I was fortunate enough to meet Matt here in Philadelphia on a couple of occassions and was struck by his passion for and knowledge of food at such a young age. When I was that young, my staple food was Domino's pizza and there he was talking to me about El Bulli's cookbook, at Studiokitchen no less. I imagine he brought this same passion and energy to other things in his life. I was so profoundly saddened and disheartened to hear of his loss. Gone too soon. Evan

I think people should say what you want, however they want in the interest of disseminating opinion to others. This assumes absence of malice. Having said that, there is a bias in this forum. In medicine, bias is a sneaky character and not a "bad" word. It just means you have to recognize it and understand the limitiations of results of a clinical study. We are ordinary folks with day jobs who love food and so do not have same standoffishness as a critic 100% of the time. I think that if the chef or restauranteur is a contributing member in here, there is less likely to be public criticism. I touched on that notion in the very first Amada post. I would doubt that someone raved about a lousy meal but I can definitely see people being mum. I wondered about that when I wrote my Gayle post yesterday - was I really the only one in here who has been there and disagreed with such a glowing thread?! Can't answer that but there are over 3,000 views and 25 posts The bigger the happier the thread, the louder the shot across its bow. Some people don't want to cause trouble. Ever go the the robert parker BB site and search on PA? Jonathan Newman is their personal voodoo doll in there. It's easy to tell another co-worker that someone in the office wears too much smelly cologne but you generally never tell the culprit to his face. It would certainly be constructive but it hurts feelings and we are trained by our mommies to be non confrontational. I am leery of the whispers of Laban and his relationship with the original Django owners and how that may have altered his initial and subsequent reviews of the restaurant after the sale. In that situation it would be distrubing if true. In here, it's different. It may not be always WYSIWYG. bottom line Vadouvan, you are totally 100% correct. Laban gave Amada 3 bells and the bullets flew. Imagine if had given SK 2? He would have to change his goddamn address! This is reality in the PA forum. This is human behavior - but most of all.... it's my humble opinion Evan

Well there's always a ying to every yang. Sorry for the downer. I went last night and was nowehere near bowled over. This place is really loud, first off. Really loud. Hard floors, no fabric anywhere - I assume the restauranteurs know its gonna be loud from the get go. The food wasn't bad but I came with higher hopes. I was able to try the gazpacho, risotto fingers, french fries and a sweetbread/frog leg combo to start. From there, I had the lamb preparation which consisted of lamb brisket (excellent) and a canneloni stuffed with lamb mousse that was so salty I couldn't eat it. Dessert was marred by the intense heat and all the frozen stuff was mushy so they didn't being it out of the kitchen. That is no fault of theirs, it was 100 degrees last night. The walnut apple pie was superb. Service was friendly if not a bit inattentive. The famed bread was kinda stale and not in anyway memorable. All four in the group concurred. Good but no need to run back. As we walked out, we planned to get together and return ... next door to Ansill. Who says we gulleteers are always positive? YMMV Evan

Clarfiying.... The osmotolerant yeast is not necessary, just works faster. I don't recall if BBA uses OT yeast and I can't offhand recall any recipe in there that specifically calls for it. The other issue of rising time differences from the book may be temperature. If you dough is cooler, and you room temp as well, expect a longer rise time. It's not a problem - it's generally a good thing to take longer as long as your schedule permits.

Thanks for the compliment and the suggestion. How much time will using this particular yeast cut off of the rising/proofing times? 50%? ← I am not sure exactly what quantitative impact it will have other than it does. I use OT yeast with holiday breads like pandoro and pannetone. I used regular instant for those once and noticed a considerable slowdown. If you think you will make it again a few times, it may be worth buying a bag and letting us know the difference. It should last a year or so in the freezer. Evan

Beautiful bread. I like that recipe myself. FYI - if you buy osmotolerant yeast like SAF gold , it will rise faster in an enriched environment. The regular yeasties get slowed down by all that good stuff in there. Evan

Vadouvan Do you froth your lecithin mixture in a contraption like an isi or is it done by hand? While on the subject of chemical manipulation, Alex mentioned the use ofmethylcellulose above. Can you clue us in when/why this substance is useful? I know you are not a fan of horseplay with alginates but it sounds like lecithin and methylcellulose are things that have a place in your kitchen. Thanks Evan

Alex Great blog. I signed up for the daily updates. Thanks to the preacher man for the link. Evan

I will try and head there on Friday. Corn soup may be in my future. Thanks for the bump. Do you know the hours offhand?

The food was such a great part of our week last year that we have decided to go back to the cape for my week off this summer. This year, I want to pay more attention to lobster rolls as I had only a couple of duds. I have read the lobster roll thread and, sadly, it appears I am in the wrong next of the woods for them. We are staying in the wellfleet area again. Having said that, I heard from an additional source that Bubalas' are good. I also read the Fried Clam thread and am curious even though I thought Arnold's was pretty awesome if there were other must tries in the area. Where we wound up going is a few posts above. If there are any other suggestions, can you mention them here? I may need 'em for next year too. Evan

Allow me to second that suggestion, PhilA. With emphasis on locally available ingredients, being able to efficiently transform what is at your local whole foods or market beyond the after work weekday basic techniques would be awesome. ie beyond the ubiquitous 9-5'er .... chicken ---> bake it fish ----> grill it steak ----> broil it vegetables ---->steam it starch ----> boil it Evan

Sometimes pictures can help so I photographed my latest bake. Sourdough can be good for difficult schedules because it lends well to retarding in the fridge. It began with a freshly fed and very active starter. "Wetter is better" is a phrase to keep in mind. When in doubt keep your dough more supple and moist rather than too dry. An 'autolyse' may help eager flour-adders. Mix you ingredients together without the salt, let stand 30 minutes and then add salt and mix as usual. The time allows the flour and water to incorporate. I autolyse all my breads. Note the dough is not standing up on its own. It's actually a bit sticky needing floured hands to handle it. It's not a runny mess either. This is the bread after a "fold" midway through fermentation. Can you see how much firmer it looks? Amazing. This is a method given by Jeffrey Hamelman - my hero. The idea is to under mix and then a series of turns/folds allows for further gluten development. Not to say you need to do this, but it is pretty cool to watch the dough transform. Here the dough, almost fully fermented. I was in a rush so I played some tricks to boost things along (lower salt %, a wee bit higher dough temp). It is shaped into a simple round boule and placed in a basket for proofing overnight in the fridge. I left it there for about 14 hours. Here is the bread after a long bake. Since I knew it was on the underfermented side if anything, I gave it extra steam to keep the surface moist longer. By the way, I baked it cold - right from the fridge. No worries. Notice the crumb is open with irregular holes. You don't want them big enough for a mouse to crawl in as Hamelman says! I really think a strong starter and keeping your dough wetter - within reason - is crucial. Your turn phlawless! Evan