SobaAddict70's San Francisco Saga

[Shelby]

Oh fiddleheads --on the west coast and the east coast......why can't they be in the middle too????  Jealous again.

Edited July 2, 2014 by Shelby (log)

[patrickamory]

So jealous, of everything.

 

(Though I don't need to be in the ferry building ever again. If ever there was ever a need for a personal shopper...)

[SobaAddict70]

We had dinner for four at Original Joe's SF tonight.

Original Joe's SF

601 Union Street (Stockton Street)

North Beach

Bay shrimp cocktail

Rapture, Cabernet, Lodi 2010

Caesar's salad

House salad

Kistler “Les Noisetiers,” Chardonnay, Sonoma Coast 2012

Veal parmigiana, side of spaghetti with meat sauce

Steamed mussels, side of mixed vegetables

Vanilla trifle, seasonal fruit

'

Key lime pie, whipped cream

Warm chocolate cake, pistachio gelato

Edited July 2, 2014 by SobaAddict70 (log)

[SobaAddict70]

egg in a pond (whole wheat toast, fried egg sunny-side up), tomato salsa; heirloom tomatoes, basil, sea salt, black pepper, extra-virgin olive oil; fruit cup; barley tea

this meal was prepped by B; I have an effect on people apparently.

Not much planned today -- later we're having lunch at Parada 22. dinner tonight is TBD. tomorrow we have a dinner party for 4; one of the guests will have his 50th birthday later in July that I won't be around for. tomorrow's dinner is my gift to him. he has specific likes when it comes to dessert: must be either "creamy" or contain "chocolate". So, an apple pie is out but a slice of Sachertorte would be acceptable. This particular guest doesn't care for fruit, which makes things a bit challenging, but that's okay, I like challenges.

More later.

[Shalmanese]

If you're having lunch in the Haight, it's a really nice walk from there to the Inner Richmond via Golden Gate Park. Inner Richmond is San Francisco's real Chinatown and it's fun just wandering around. Green Apple Books on Clement and 6th is the best bookstore in the city with a fantastic cookbook section and, if you're a fan of Sichuan food, Spices on 8th and Clement is legit (get the lamb hotpot if you're a fan of lamb. I don't know how they do it but the lamb tastes like the lamb from China, not American lamb).

 

Also, stop by Buyer's Best Friend on Haight and Cole in the Haight. It's this gorgeous little gourmet store run by some friends of mine!

[Smithy]

What glorious photos. I'm sure it isn't as good as being there in the flesh, but it's a nice treat for the rest of us. Thank you!

[SobaAddict70]

What glorious photos. I'm sure it isn't as good as being there in the flesh, but it's a nice treat for the rest of us. Thank you!

hehe

thanks.

originally this was going to be an eGullet Foodblog, but I changed my mind since this will be an ongoing thing for a while...

[SobaAddict70]

so, today we went to Parada 22 for lunch.

Parada 22

1805 Haight Street (Shrader Street)

Haight-Ashbury

It's this sweet little place that has barely 10 seats and serves Puerto Rican comfort food. I noticed it last year during my first visit to SF in 10 years and decided to check it out. We were glad we did.

Pernil asado, with Spanish rice, red beans (braised kidney beans, ham sofrito, green olives), side salad and maduros.

Pastelon (sweet plantains layered over spiced ground beef, with green olives, peppers, raisins and onion); Spanish rice; braised white beans with carrots, potatoes, green olives, sweet peppers and pumpkin; side salad and maduros. Not shown is the bottle of habañero sauce.

Flan

[SobaAddict70]

afterwards, we went to Whole Foods (*gag*) to shop for food for tomorrow's main event

(I personally would rather not shop at Whole Paycheck, but B doesn't mind; I recognize I'm fighting a losing battle here in that respect.)

prices seem to be comparable (+ $1 in some cases) to USGM and the Ferry Building.

[Shelby]

I have never been to a Whole Foods.  The produce looks lovely.

[Smithy]

The placards for selecting seafood and meat look like something more stores should use to educate customers. I can't make out enough to see whether they convey good and useful information, however, or are just overly-precious marketing ploys. What was your take on them?

[rotuts]

""  just overly-precious marketing ploys ""

 

that's their game, as any savvy business Mogul would understand.

 

remember the Lobsters in their own Condos ?

 

ie large PVC pipes ?

[Smithy]

"" just overly-precious marketing ploys ""

that's their game, as any savvy business Mogul would understand.

remember the Lobsters in their own Condos ?

ie large PVC pipes ?

No, that's why I wondered. I've never seen one of the stores, and I didn't pay much attention to the topic here.

Lobster condos. Huh.

[patrickamory]

I find that Whole Foods produce often looks better than it tastes - however I'm sure that a WF in California has better fruit and vegetables than one in NYC.

 

Soba, that Puerto Rican place looks amazing. I'm letting my prejudices show but I would have expected better in New York than in SF… that said, when my favorite Dominican spot in Manhattan closed a few years back, I haven't found anything better to replace it.

[SobaAddict70]

We didn't get much in the way of produce -- just a red onion the size of one of B's salad bowls (which you saw a pic of when I posted the apricot and date salad) and some Meyer lemons. I'll dig up the receipt later so you can try to guess how much all of what we bought cost.

I thought it was just a bunch of marketing gimmicks -- for instance, Whole Paycheck says their fish is rated #1 by Greenpeace. Well, that may be true but what if the fish was sourced from southeast Asia? Which might mean that WF is now a party to the issue of enslaved fishermen.

Most of their marketing stuff means nothing to me; as I said elsewhere, if you stopped buying from a supermarket, yes, even from a Whole Foods, none of them would notice that you were gone. If you spent a fraction of that money at a farmer's market, you might help a farmer pay his rent...you might even help save his farm. That's the difference in a nutshell.

[FauxPas]

originally this was going to be an eGullet Foodblog, but I changed my mind since this will be an ongoing thing for a while...

 

When you say 'ongoing', does that mean you will be spending lots of time in SF in the near future, by any chance?  

[FauxPas]

so, today we went to Parada 22 for lunch.

It's this sweet little place that has barely 10 seats and serves Puerto Rican comfort food. I noticed it last year during my first visit to SF in 10 years and decided to check it out. We were glad we did.

Pernil asado, with Spanish rice, red beans (braised kidney beans, ham sofrito, green olives), side salad and maduros.

Pastelon (sweet plantains layered over spiced ground beef, with green olives, peppers, raisins and onion); Spanish rice; braised white beans with carrots, potatoes, green olives, sweet peppers and pumpkin; side salad and maduros. Not shown is the bottle of habañero sauce.

 

So glad you visited this place, and the food looks lovely, as does the restaurant exterior and interior. Love that paint colour they used, so Caribbean in feel. (Though sometimes I see this shade used as a 'Taos blue' although I always think of that colour as having more blue in it, a bit less green.)

 

Is that the habanero sauce in your first pic - a couple of bottles on the counter table at the back/side wall and maybe another on the table in the foreground - yellowish-brown in colour? Was it hot? 

 

Is that a display cabinet along the sidewall or does it contain items for sale? Hard to see what is in there - spices, maybe? 

Edited July 5, 2014 by FauxPas (log)

[SobaAddict70]

I find that Whole Foods produce often looks better than it tastes - however I'm sure that a WF in California has better fruit and vegetables than one in NYC.

 

Soba, that Puerto Rican place looks amazing. I'm letting my prejudices show but I would have expected better in New York than in SF… that said, when my favorite Dominican spot in Manhattan closed a few years back, I haven't found anything better to replace it.

Apparently they also do a pop-up on the weekends in the Mission, at Boogaloos, and vice versa.

[SobaAddict70]

When you say 'ongoing', does that mean you will be spending lots of time in SF in the near future, by any chance?

Well, I have another trip here in December, and probably another one in March. Can't plan that far in advance.

[SobaAddict70]

So glad you visited this place, and the food looks lovely, as does the restaurant exterior and interior. Love that paint colour they used, so Caribbean in feel. (Though sometimes I see this shade used as a 'Taos blue' although I always think of that colour as having more blue in it, a bit less green.)

 

Is that the habanero sauce in your first pic - a couple of bottles on the counter table at the back/side wall and maybe another on the table in the foreground - yellowish-brown in colour? Was it hot? 

 

Is that a display cabinet along the sidewall or does it contain items for sale? Hard to see what is in there - spices, maybe?

The habanero sauce was described to us as a "vinaigrette". Yes, that's the yellow-brown sauce. Smelled like nothing. Tasted deceptive; the hotness bloomed on your tongue after about a couple of seconds. Wasn't very spicy to me, but B wimped out after a nibble. Could be because my tolerance has increased over time.

On the other hand, Kin Khao defeated us both in terms of spice tolerance. The chicken noodle curry made me break out in sweat. Even I have limits.

I think the cabinet had canned items, like Goya. Not for sale, more like decoration.

Edited July 5, 2014 by SobaAddict70 (log)

[SobaAddict70]

I have LOTS of pix to post later, but in the meantime I'll leave you with this teaser:

Dinner menu for four, for July 4, 2014:

Crostini with goat cheese and merlot-red onion jam

Spaghetti con vongole ("spaghetti with clams")

Fagiolini e pomodoro ("green beans and tomato")

Zabaglione

More later.

[SobaAddict70]

I also want to thank Shalmanese because now I have these two volumes, courtesy of Green Apple Books:

"Classic French Cooking", by Craig Claiborne, Pierre Franey and the Editors of Time-Life Books (1970)

"American Cooking: The Great West", by Jonathan Norton Leonard and the Editors of Time-Life Books (1971)

[rotuts]

remember when T-Bones had a tail !

 

[cyalexa]

Well, I have another trip here in December, and probably another one in March. Can't plan that far in advance.

 Artisan Cheese Festival is in Petaluma in March. It is a blast.

[SobaAddict70]

I spent all of yesterday traveling so I'm a bit behind on recapping things.

Six hours trapped in an airborne metal tube with a screaming infant makes for a cranky hobbit. +3 hours meant I got into JFK at 10 pm, then it took two hours just to get home. I was too tired to do any posts, much less cook dinner.

Pix from Friday morning coming up in a little bit....