annachan

Okay - it's off the list. Thanks! Frankly, the bay area doesn't have great dim sum places. Yank Sing is a place we went to when we want to entertain guests, especially non-Chinese ones. I never found Koi Palace to be worth the wait. I find the Northern Chinese cuisine to be better, especially in SF. None of them are fancy, but they make some solid dishes. Beijing Restaurant is one of them. You do have to know what to order. Go for dishes like: slice pork with preserved vegetable in warm pot, Beijing vegetable (Chinese chive) pie, special flour ball (this is a typical street food dish and it is meant to be very humble in ingredients), a bean sheet dish and the potato tower (not on menu). Another good place is Kingdom of Dumpling. The boiled dumplings are simple and satisfying. The radish cakes are good. Spiced beef tendon (only if you like really spicy food) is fantastic. Cold wide bean noodle is another good one. San Dong BBQ House has good hand pull noodles. The other items are good, but the noodle shines. The dan dan noodle is really simple, but it's really good. If you want, you can get fried stinky tofu there. Service can be really spotty so you have to keep track of what you ordered.

Good call on Zero Zero. Other than good pizzas, some of the brunch items are awesome. I have been to Flour + Water once but it's just ok. Tony's Pizza Napoletana is still my favorite out of the bunch.

I know I just wrote a disappointed comment about Benu and I don't want to bash restaurants in SF but we visited many restaurants in SF on our last two trips and had many outstanding meals but the two big disappointments were Benu and Dining Room at the Ritz (with Benu the bigger one). The cuisine/tasting menu at the Dining Room felt "old" and boring and was missing any creativity. The most interesting "dish" was the palate cleanser Like I said, we went 3 years ago so I don't know how the Dining Room is doing. I have noticed that it has fallen in reviews and guides. I think it lost a Michelin star. Shame, as the food we had were really good. Just thought of another place. Nothing fancy, just really excellent Japanese. Kappou Gomi does not serve sushi or combination meals, but you will find some amazing dishes there. One of my favorite is the salmon hotpot with miso butter broth. If you get that dish, you have to get some ramen at the end to be cooked in that beautiful broth. It's good to go with a group there as there are LOTS of good stuff to try.

One of the best tasting menu I've had was over at the Dining Room at the Ritz. You're not given a menu, but can let the server know what ingredients you don't like and the kitchen would work round it. I loved that we were served different dishes for several of our courses so we got to try more things. Everything that came out was wonderful That was almost 3 years ago so I don't know how it is now.

I used to always have them on hand in the pantry. How I miss them, and TJ....

What is even more ridiculous is that some restaurants claim they're serving Kobe (American) and you know they aren't. There is no way a Kobe burger would be dry when cooked to medium.

Farina - I haven't been since there was some changes in the kitchen but I love that place for brunch/lunch. After the meal, you can walk over one block and get some fabulous ice cream at Bi-Rite Creamery.

Coi and Quince are both divine, IMO. Of the list above, I've been to Prospect, Wayfare Tavern and Cotogna and they are all fantastic. For Wayfare and Cotogna - if you're having trouble getting reservations, they do have seats set aside for walk ins. The trick is go early and be the first ones to get those tables, or wait. Other places to consider: Baker and Banker Frances Morimoto Napa - it is worth the drive! Plum Bisou - you can get fantastic mussels there when they are available. La Mar - I love it for lunch, especially on a nice day and you can sit outside Il Cane Rosso - get breakfast there and you can also get some Blue Bottle coffee without having to stand it that ridiculous line. Haven't been but I heard lunch and dinner are fantastic there as well. Amelie - it's really a wine bar, but you can get some really great small plates there. Order a few of them and they make a nice dinner.

Oh, and worcester sauce....

Vegemite (Bovril when I can afford it), stock concentrates, sugar (I add them to savory dishes the way you add a pinch of salt to sweet things), porcini powder, shrimp paste, garlic powder, dried onion

Interesting you mentioned that. We had some at CUT several years ago. But I took a look at the menu recently and it's not there anymore. Wonder what's going on.

From what I saw at my farmer's market yesterday, I wonder if the farmers check supermarket prices when pricing their good. Last week, this one stand had cauliflower for $2 a head. I was the same week that a local supermarket has them on sale for the same price. That's been the cheapest I've seen for the past few months. I just thought that maybe cauliflower is coming into season (I have no idea) and the prices were going down. This week, no more sale at the supermarkets and this same stall is selling the cauliflower for $4.50 a head! No crazy weather, natural disaster or a hike in gas/energy prices this past week that should have affected the price that greatly. Was the farmer trying to be competitive with the supermarkets?

Having worked a schools for a number of years....make something with alcohol in it!

My favorite is a combination of orange and carrot juice. Orange and pineapple is good, too. I also love tangerine juice and limeade.

I'm big on zest. I would just add zest to the breading. For dipping, if you don't like creamy sauce (thinking of a lemon aioli), I would use lemon butter w/ some cayenne or hot sauce. Or maybe a spicy vinegar sauce.

I think it really depends on the market. In San Francisco for example, I often shopped at the Alemany market because it general, the prices are good. Many of the vegetables I got were cheaper than supermarkets. There were items that were more expensive, but they tend to be more specialized produce like Early Girl tomatoes that isn't easy to find at supermarkets. I also love the Ferry Building market but I purchase very few things from there. I know the farmer who charged $4-$6 a pint for berries barely make any profit, but I couldn't afford to pay that on a regular basis. Also, I could get the same berries from another local producer for half (or less) the price at the Alemany market. Now in Australia, I find that somethings are more than the supermarkets while others aren't. Generally, I'm able to get good prices on produce. Sometimes it's better than or same as regular supermarket prices (but not sale prices). Meat is usually more expensive (~double), but the quality is so much better than the supermarkets. Also, there are cuts of meat available at the markets that I have not seen at the supermarkets. Because there are only 2 of us, the unit price of the meat doesn't have as much impact. We're still able to stay within our weekly grocery budget. And folks, you really haven't seen ridiculous in the US. Banana prices as high as $9/lb and people still buy them here!

A friend of mine really likes candy cane pieces. Mixed dried berries would be good. Freeze dried whole raspberry or raspberry dust sounds good to me right now.

I will take websites that suck anytime over none at all. Since we moved to Australia, it's really been frustrating that many restaurants don't have websites. Forget menus, it's a pain when you can't even find the opening hours or current address and number. And yes, many of the restaurant websites (US and Australia) do suck.

S hook..... coat hanger and a pair of pliers. That may seem easy, but I have none of the above at the house right now. I'll see what I can get my hands on the next time I hit the local variety or hardware store.

I don't care for broccoli florets and prefer the stem. It's great in stir fry dishes.

While searching for recipes, I came across this one: http://www.carolinemiliartiss.com/wp/?p=459 It's BBQ crispy duck legs. I don't have a BBQ right now so I cooked it in the oven (45 minutes @ 150c then another 10 minutes @ 200c). The texture did not resemble Cantonese roast duck much but the flavor is similar. It went really well with the steamed buns. I might experiment with this recipe more to see if I can get the meat to be more tender. Any suggestions?

Thanks!

Dejah, can you post the link again. That one didn't work. I don't have any s-hooks or anything similar to that on hand. I'll see if I can pick some up somewhere.

I always use the leaves when I cook anything with celery in it. I got a bunch of celery not long ago that had an abundant of leaves, so I dried them. I throw them into whatever I use a mixture of herbs for.

It's a lot chunkier than that. A sauce really isn't a good way to describe it. The sausage, dried shrimp, etc. are about 1/4 in dice.