annachan
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Posts posted by annachan
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American, price not an issue - I would say Boulevard.
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So, hubby and I have reservations for our anniversary in June. It's our first time there.
Here are some questions I have:
1) Is it possible to substitute items on the tasting menu? I can eat oysters but I just don't enjoy them and hubby just won't touch them.
2) I notice the price is supposed to include service charge. Do we still leave a tip? If so, would it be the standard 20%?
3) I know jacket is required for men, what about for women? Would what I wear to the Dining Room be fine or would I have to be even more dressy, like a cocktail dress?
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Here are some lunch places that I love:
Ike's Place - really great sandwiches. It's a casual place where you order at the counter, grab a table outside and food is brought to you when done.
Hard Knox Cafe - wonderful Southern food.
Katana-Ya - Japanese with good ramen and fresh sushi.
Mandalay - Southeast Asian/Burmese food. The tea leaf salad is wonderful, just like the home made version a family friend used to make.
South Food + Wine - Australian food. I haven't been there for lunch, but have enjoyed brunch and dinner there.
Takara - very good traditional Japanese food.
Shanghai House - very good Shanghainese food. There is a Shanghainese menu and an Americanized Chinese food menu. I've tried food on both menus and they were all very good. The salt and pepper pork knuckle is really, really good, but must be ordered in advance. One day in advance is standard but if you want it the day of, it can happen if they have at least a two hour notice.
Bocadillos - wonderful Spanish sandwiches and tapas.
Pizzeria Delfina - Neapolitan style pizzas.
Eiji - traditional Japanese. Made-to-order tofu is a specialty.
B44 - great tapas and paellas. I'm a huge fan of the Fideuà Negre (noodle paella).
Mi Lindo Yucatan (24th St.) - really good and authentic ( I was told by folks who have been there) Yucatecan/Mayan food.
Kingdom of Dumpling - great dumplings as well as Northern Chinese dishes.
Also a big fan of A16 and Incanto (unfortunately not open for lunch).
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John - are you looking for any specific types of cuisine? I know you said no French, but that leaves a lot of other cuisines.
Also, will you be able to travel to any neighborhood for lunch or will you already be in specific areas?
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Ovens just haven't been standard in home kitchens in China. In Hong Kong, the size of kitchens are often tiny and there is just no space for it. We did have one in our kitchen, but it was an electric oven plugged into the wall and it was about the size of a toaster oven. It really wasn't good for baking....
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I thought it had to do with the quality of the egg and not how you cook it.
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Trader Joe's frozen French beans are really food. They are inexpensive and cooks up very nicely. I also always have spinach, corn and peas in the freezer.
To make simple pot pies, I keep puff pastry on hand. I like puff pastry as it's versatile and quick. I've even used it as a base for quiche.
Frozen meatballs are good to have on hands. They're not the healthiest, but it's still better than MacDonalds.
TJ's mandarin orange chicken is not bad in a pinch. Make sure to bake the chicken in the oven instead of microwave. Serve the sauce on the side. With a little rice, it's a decent meal.
Frozen shrimp and calamari are quick to defrost. I can make a curry with them in about 10 minutes.
Someone suggested Chinese dumplings. I always have them on hand. I usually like to get pot stickers as well as boiled dumplings. It's important to read labels when getting them as many brands use MSG.
In the pantry, I always have pasta, couscous, rice, pasta sauce, curry sauce, canned chicken/tuna and a variety of stocks on hand. I rely on them for quick entrees, sides and soups. I recently got some dehydrated onion flakes from Costco. I add some to soups and sauces when I don't have any onion on hand or don't want to just chop up a small amount.
Eggs are always in the fridge. Bacon and ham are good to have on hand. Always have some Chinese sausage as well.
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So, anyone here can post a tried and true recipe? Mom was talking about this dish the other night and how it may be good to make it at home. The fact is, she can't really cook. Instead of letting her experiment on me, I rather cook it myself.
Mom said something about using a mixture of pork and beef. Now, browsing this thread, it seems that pork is what I should be using. Any thought on this?
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I make a very simple chicken salad with celery. Chicken, sliced celery, sliced onion, seasoned rice vinegar, olive oil, salt and pepper.
I've made stuffed celery before and it turned out nicely. Cut celery into 3 inch sections. Stuff with ground meat (meat and seasoning of your choice, can add in some finely diced onion or celery), top with tomato/marinara sauce and bake. I imagine you can top with cheese if you like. Or, use a white sauce instead of tomato.
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It really is a textual thing. You either like it or you don't. Dad likes it so we sometimes freeze the tofu. One advantage is that frozen tofu does soak up soup/sauces well.
I think the tofu does need to spend some time in the freeze. Putting it in the freezer while you're prepping isn't long enough. We leave the tofu in the freeze for a few days. I would say you want to freeze the tofu at least the day before you plan to use it.
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At wagyu specialty restaurants, it is most common to see it cooked medium. The goal is to achieve a melting fat texture, like foie gras.
I guess the place I went to just didn't do a good job cooking it. It came out medium but was really chewy and the fat was completely melted so the grease was gushing out when I chew the beef. Somehow, I didn't think that was the way it's supposed to be.
There is a place locally were I can get Wagyu beef. However, no price was listed on the website and I have no idea how much it would cost. And I'm so afraid that I would ruin such an expensive piece of meat. Maybe I should just save my pennies and take a trip to Japan and taste it the way it should be done.
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It is very similar to shabu shabu. You can go fancy with the broth. But at home, we just use store bought chicken broth. We usually add a few slices of ginger and some vegetables like napa cabbage. You can now buy spicy broth and such at the Asian markets.
As for ingredients, you can use anything you like. We usually have a few choices of meat (chicken, pork, beef, lamb), some meat/fish balls, innards (tripe, intestine, liver, etc.), seafood (squid, shrimp, clam, scallop, mussel), vegetables (different varieties of mushroom, leafy greens, taro) and tofu. You can also cook different types of noodle and dumpling/wonton.
The other major component is the dipping sauce. You can make it any way you like it. We usually have the following ingredients out for folks to customize the sauce. Raw eggs, soy sauce, hot sauce/oil, garlic, ginger, sesame oil and satay sauce (not the peanut version - sometimes called BBQ sauce). Depending on your taste, you may have other condiments available.
The best part for me is always the soup at the end. All the flavor from the ingredients cooked in the broth are concentrated in it.
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I've had imported wagyu at a few places lately. I've had it raw and cooked. I tend to prefer it raw or cooked rare. I was at a top restaurant in San Francisco where the chef prefers to cook it medium. The server said that the chef likes to caramelized the fat or else (when cooked more rare) the meat would be gummy. Now, I did not find that to be the case when I had it rare. Also, the medium wagyu came out really chewy and greasy.
So, I'm just wondering how wagyu is cooked in Japan. What's the proper way to treat this fine piece of meat?
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Take the dark soy sauce (Cantonese "see yau", or "lo chou"), mix it with some hot water (1-2 parts of water, 1 part soy sauce). and add a few spoonful of sugar. Very simple.
Thanks! Will try it next time I get rice roll!
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I love the sweet soy sauce that comes with steamed rice rolls. What's in it exactly? I love to have that on hand when having rice roll at home.
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Put the bacon on a baking rack and then on the half sheet. That way, the fat has a place to drain.
For even better bacon, brush some maple syrup or sprinkle some brown sugar on top during the last 5 minutes or so of baking.
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Solo dining is not an issue in SF, even at the most upscale places. We were at the Dining Room at the Ritz last month and there was someone dining alone. The Dining Room is one of the top restaurant in SF. The 9 course tasting menu is just divine. The great thing about that is you can make special request and have the menu tailored to what you enjoy.
I'm not familiar with the restaurants you mentioned, so maybe give folks some ideas of what they are like. There are just so many restaurants in SF that it's hard to just recommend something. Perhaps some details in terms of cuisine, price and neighborhood.
Yelp is a useful website where you can read reviews from the locals. You can search by neighborhood, cuisine, price and more so that can help you narrow down your search.
Hope you enjoy your time here!
anna
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Cut it up into fillet pieces, put on top of seasoned ground pork and steam.
Dice it and you can make chicken and salted fish fried rice or claypot chicken with salted fish and tofu.
Or just simply steam the fillet with some ginger and a little oil.
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i lived there several years ago and often dream of the best ice cream i've ever had at Mitchell's Ice Cream on 29th and San Jose...
Mitchell is good....but if you want the best ice cream in SF, you got to try Bi-Rite Creamery.
The Ferry Building would be a fun place to visit where you can sample a variety of goods.
As for restaurants, there are just so many great ones. It all depends on what you're looking for. Yelp is a good place to read locals' reviews. You can search restaurants by price, cuisine, rating and neighborhood.
Have a great time when you're here!
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I roasted the beets whole with the skin on today. I just wrapped them in foil and toss them on a tray in the oven. After about an hour, I peeled them and cut into small cubes. I just tossed them with some extra virgin olive oil and a sprinkling of fleur de sel. It was mighty tasty!
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I have a totally trashy recipe that uses graham crackers - but I think you could substitute McV's. I think you would use the ones without the milk chocolate though.
Ice Box Cake - this recipe is totally scalable to however much you want to make.
First - make some milk chocolate flavored whipped cream. REAL whipped cream only. My family usually uses hershey's chocolate syrup, but I am sure there are other, better tasting products out there!
Next, layer the graham crackers or McV's with the whipped cream, standing the cookies on edge like this: lllllllll. Then cover the entire outside with additional whipped cream. Refridgerate overnight. You need to be very generous with the whipped cream so that it will soak into the crackers or cookies and kind of merge into one densely layered torte.
Trashy, but very good - it is a tradition at every holiday gathering in my family!
OMG! So very tempting!
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Definitely Ferry Building over Pier 39. You'll actually get good food there. I wold suggest calling up the Ferry Building and see what the hours are for tomorrow. http://www.ferrybuildingmarketplace.com/
If nothing is open over at the Ferry Building, maybe over at North Beach.
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I really do like them. I get the parsley and basil ones when they're available at Trader Joe's. It's convenient since I don't use herbs all the time and I always end up throwing out half of a fresh bunch because I only needed a little for a recipe.
So far, my biggest complaint is that my local TJs don't always have them in stock. As a matter of fact, I haven't seen the parsley ones for quite a while now.
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I recently had a book made a Blurb (non-cookbook) and the result is mixed. The book came out wonderful, when printed right. We had one book made and it was great. Got 10 more printed after a few more edits and that's when the problem started.
1st batch: had to return 9 out of 10 books due to streaks and ink blotches. Emailed Blurb and got a return label to send the defected ones back.
2nd batch: 7 out of the 9 had same problems as before. Return label once again.
3rd batch: 3 out of the 7 had problems. I didn't send them back as the problem were very minor and they gave us a refund on those 7.
Hubby did some research and apparently, these problems we had are not uncommon.
For 102 page hard-cover, the books were $37.95 each, which is not bad. You get 10% for ordering 10.
It's a nice idea to put your favorite recipes with pictures in a book. It makes a nice personal gift for friends and family.
The French Laundry 2006 -
in California: Dining
Posted
Well, if you're coming in July, you've missed the 2 months in advance reservations. If you can't get a hold of someone on the phone, then contact them from their website. There is an online form you can fill out to contact them. If your schedule is flexible, you may be able to snap up an opening. If not, maybe you can get on the waiting list.
If you can't get into FL at this time, another option is to go to one of his other restaurants.