melkor

Its mostly osmotic dehydration - the salt draws water out of the meat, maybe concentrating the flavour some. Don't cook your meat over 58C/135F internal temperature is the secret, unless its stews or BBQ in which case its 85C/185F. Brining has its place, if you like that sort of thing, but its not a substitute for quality meat, not overcooked. ← I'd still cook chicken past 135*F

Pat the meat dry, salt it, leave it on a rack in the fridge overnight to dry.

I completely agree with the pre-salting technique over brining. The only downside is that brined meat tastes better than unbrined meat if you overcook it until it looks like a meteorite - so you have to properly cook your meat, that doesn't seem unreasonable to me.

The Box in the East Bay and SF seems to get most of their produce from the wholesale produce market in SF. I wonder if Organic Abundance does the same.

Hi Melkor. Can you recall any more specifics of the places you liked and did not like? I'm down that way a few times a week and have had more medicre meals than I'd like to think about. Of all the places I've been, the places I've liked best are: Pho Ha - the best pho I've found in the bay area - the rice dishes are not good Nha Toi - excellent clay pot dishes, good salads, good bo luc lac Just Laziz - great Lebanese baked goods, good salads and better than average shawarma Falafel Drive In - fantastic falafel, horrible pita Palms Restaurant - better shawarma than Laziz has, less good falafel than the drive in, generally good I haven't had any Mexican that compares well with what you can get in Watsonville. None of the Italian, Japanese, French, Thai, or Chinese places I've been compare favorably to what can be found in the city. I keep hearing about good BBQ places in East Palo Alto, but I haven't managed to make the trek yet.

Not at all contrary. In cold weather you make a bigger fire to try and get the smoker up to temp and in the process you create more smoke. Also, there are a bunch of theories I've read suggesting that the smoke ring is created before the meat gets up to a specific temperature (I've read different things ranging from 120 to 150 degrees F) - in cold weather with a smoker that's running cold, you've got a lot more time for it to create the ring.

Ino is very good. The last two fish you had were most likely kohada (shad) and saba (mackerel) - both are oily silver-skinned fish like aji. Part of what makes me prefer Takara next door is that the deep-fried bones from the shiny fish are served following the nigiri. Takara also has hon wasabi at the sushi bar (Ino uses powdered) and for my taste, Ino uses too much wasabi in his nigiri.

Four people is fine for Old Mandarin Islamic. Be sure to try the 'extremely hot pepper' and one of the hot pots. A few of the tofu dishes are seriously good also. At Shalimar the tandoori chicken, nihari, goat curry, seekh kabab, and chicken karahi are my favorites. Given the choice, I'd take a bigger group to Shalimar. Like Ah Leung said earlier - for good Chinese skip Chinatown and head out to the Richmond or the Sunset (or down the peninsula). As far as Cilantro goes, it isn't used in all Vietnamese/Korean/Thai dishes. There are very few dishes with it at Pagolac or Bodega Bistro. It obviously wouldn't be in the fried chicken at Shin Toe Bul Yi. It does present a problem for bahn mi. Still, you should check out Baguette Express just for the sugarcane juice. The affinity for old restaurants is something I just don't get. There are lots of places all over the city serving horrible food that have been doing so for decades. The fact that they haven't gone out of business doesn't make me want to eat there. I'm not saying there aren't institutions that have been around forever and I'm certainly not saying that restaurants that have been in business for a long time can't be good - but in general I think restaurants tend to rest on their laurels after a while. Compare Trieste to Ritual for example, one has great coffee, a comfortable space, and people who care, the other has been there for 50 years and has horrible espresso.

I think it really is a mixed bag. In a lot of cases you're right - restaurants in wine country all seem to aim for that $50-$100/person price point that most wine country tourists are comfortable with. I wouldn't say that in general they aim higher, more that they all seem to aim for the same thing. SF restaurants cater to a much, much wider demographic. Saigon Sandwich, Baguette Express, etc wouldn't survive in Napa and they're thriving in SF selling delicious bahn mi for two bucks and change. There's basically no ethnic cuisine in Napa to speak of, aside from the taco trucks and the Mexican grocery store across the street from La Toque. Sure, but no one would suggest eating exclusively at places like that. So of the places you've been in the past year you'd recommend La Bergerie, Casablanca Cafe, Harry's, and Troya? How does Harry's burger compare with the other burgers around the city? The General's Daughter up in Sonoma has still got the best restaurant burger I've had. The real strength in SF at the lower price points are the incredible variety of Asian restaurants. Since you live in Japantown you obviously visit a fairly broad selection of Japanese restaurants. Have you checked out the Thai/Vietnamese/Korean/Chinese options around the city? Here are a few places I think are worth investigating; while some get more recognition than others, none will set you back more than $20 a person. In the Sunset: Old Mandarin Islamic for authentic Chinese Muslim cooking (order the Islamic dishes, not the generic Chinese food) King of Thai Noodles Shin Toe Bul Yi for Korean fried chicken - they have lots of other dishes but the fried chicken rocks and it comes with tofu soup In the Tenderloin: Baguette Express or Saigon Sandwich for bahn mi (lunch time only) Pagolac for 7 courses of beef (though we usually just order the raw beef salad, grilled beef, and beef with wild pepper leaf) Bodega Bistro for shaking beef, green papaya salad, and nems Shalimar for Pakistani - the tandoori chicken is the best in the city Thai House Express

With over 4,500 restaurants in the city, I am hard-pressed to want to go anyplace a second time. However, Bix, Piperade, Bushei-Tei, and Kiss are all restaurants I have returned to because of their quality. These are definitely worth both the return visits as well as going out of the way for... For convenience or relationships with staff and/or chefs, I have gone back to Osakaya, Fillmore Grill, Harry's, and (before it closed) Winterland. Much of the rationale on the thread is simply discovering restaurants which are seemingly flying under the radar which are more than worthy of attention. ← I understand the rationale - I was more curious about what places you've discovered that as you say are more than worthy of attention. There are lots of positive comments on eGullet and other food sites about Piperade and Kiss, Bix gets more mixed reviews and I've heard very little about Bushi-Tei though it seems to appeal to the Yelp demographic. It seems from a quick glance back through this topic that you find most of the places you end up to be disappointing - do you have a theory on why so many of your restaurant meals fall short of your expectations? There isn't any shortage of great places to eat in this city, at many price points (especially the low and mid range).

Of the places you've mentioned so far in this topic - are any worth a return visit? Any worth going out of the way for? Just out of curiosity, is 'du Pape' an as-yet unknown slang term for Chateauneuf du Pape?

You really should go to Manresa in Los Gatos. San Jose isn't exactly full of good places to eat - there are some good Indian and Vietnamese places, and a great Falafel place, most of the other places I've been in the area are mediocre.

If you'll be making multiple drinks at a time, get something with a heat-exchanger or dual boilers. The Silvia setup works well for straight espresso or single milk drinks, but it isn't ideal for multiple milk drinks. I'll second adegiulio's recommendation for Chris Coffee, I got my machine from them a few years ago and they've been great to work with.

Veal is available at most any butcher. I'm fairly certain the chain grocery stores carry it also. For Thai food you're best bet will be May Wah market on Clement. They have everything you list, kidney fat included.

Hype? Things calmed down a couple of days after they opened - the lines have been reasonable for a while.

Wild fennel is a very different plant, it doesn't bulb out and it has a stronger flavor. The large fennel plants you find everywhere this time of year are often sprouting smaller bulbs along the sides and base of the plant. Pick the new growth and young plants. They're excellent braised or grilled. Whole fish roasted or grilled with fennel tops stuffed in the cavity is always good also.

Dudes! Try ordering your In-n-Out's fries "well done". It makes a little difference. However, I agree with your assesment of their fries overall. I'd describe them as "they blow". ← I only order them well done, but that only makes them slightly better than an animal style diet coke.

A surprising number of high-end places serve frozen fries. In-n-Out's fresh fries taste awful, I agree with Eliot when he says that they need to be fried twice. What makes the St Helena location of Taylor's so good is that they offer simple honest food where no other similar options exist. I don't find the SF location very appealing because I've got a huge number of other options for a simple lunch.

My favorite neighborhood for food is the tenderloin, but it isn't exactly a tourist destination.

I was at Piperade a week or so ago and while the food was fine it wasn't anything to write home about and the service was rushed and unfriendly. I think I'd go with Zuni for casual and Quince for something a bit more formal without being stuffy. Zuni isn't a place I'd recommend if you had more meals in SF, but for a single casual San Francisco experience - Zuni is a good bet.

Incanto, Quince, A16, 1550 Hyde, and Delfina are all good choices at the mid-tier. Takara, Kiss, and Ino for sushi. At the lower end - Ali Baba for shawarma, the falafel is also very good. Pagolac for Vietnamese, the 7 course beef is delicious and a fun way to spend an hour playing with your food. Shalimar for Pakistani - the tandoori chicken is the best I've had anywhere. Baguette Express in the Tenderloin has good bahn mi and they've got a sugar cane juicer - it's hard to beat for a $5 lunch. Across the street is Gyro Kabob where the adonna kabob is quite good. At the high end, I'd head out of SF to the French Laundry, La Toque, and Manresa. While you're up in Napa, Terra and the Martini House are good bets. Stop at Taylor's Refresher in St Helena while you're at it. Bistro Don Giovanni is also good as are the pair of Yountville bistros - Jeanty and Bouchon.

Quince and Incanto are both in SF.

Gary Danko has excellent service and solid food, but the menu has been more or less the same for the past 3+ years. They've settled in to a style that works for business dinners and tourists. There are many other restaurants in the city worth checking out.

Not from what I've seen. The wine list isn't cheap but I've never had any trouble finding any number of interesting wines to drink with dinner without spending a fortune.

Pastrami from any good deli can be had 'fatty'. The difference between montreal smoked meat and pastrami is all in the spice rub.