Food Blog: Pim

[pim]

Dinner tonight was an Omakase at Kiss, with Melkor and Malik. It was fantastic, despite the company. I managed to take a picture of everything, with the bemused Naga-san looking on.

Unfortunately I left the connector cable for my digital camera at work, so I'll have to wait till I get to work tomorrow before I can post about them.

You'll just have to wait.

[melkor]

Bah. No pictures? The wine we had was a 1989 Dr. Wagner Ayler Kupp Riesling Kabinett.

[pim]

Dinner last night was Omakase at the tiny Kiss, in the company of the incomparable Malik and our dear old man Melkor.

The reservation was at 7.30. The only person that got there on time, Malik, was the one who’d never been there at all. Our Melkor, who, without the company of the directionally gifted Ms. Melkor, was woefully lost in the jungle that was SOMA. My lateness, how unlike me I might add, was rightfully blamed on Melkor, for derailing me by calling for directional guidance.

In any case, by the time we got there we were all famished, as evident by the look of our Amuse which looked like this

…after merely two seconds of landing in front of us hungry ghosts. Well, perhaps I should also show you what it looked like when it first arrived, yes?

It was fantastic, the chunks of octopus tentacles were slightly caramelized on the outside, but ever so tender, with a salty and every so slightly sweet shoyu sauce and a few pieces of scallions. There was a slight misunderstanding with Melkor’s dietary restriction of “no shellfish”. Naga-san didn’t think that squids belong in the Shellfish category. I almost agree with him. I mean, where’s the shell? Really?

Anyhow, the mistake was corrected and Melkor received an Amuse of seaweed and marinated tofu instead.

Our actual first course was a cold dish of spinach in slightly sweet tofu sauce with crispy tiny shrimps. Melkor got one without the tasty little crustaceans.

The next course was Hakusai, a layered terrine of cabbage and minced fish, in white soy bean sauce, topped with chives and a leaf of pickled ginger flower. The minced fish was quite tasty, and the sauce, again, exemplified the perfect interplay of sweet and salty in Japanese cuisine.

Next came the sashimi. Maguro (tuna), Marugai (clam), Hirame (halibut), Halibut fins, Aji (spanish mackerel) and Suzuki. My favorite tonight is the Suzuki, but everything was great as well.

Then the Chawanmushi, a silky smooth egg custard, with a piece of white fish, some crab meat, and garnished with snow peas, carrots, ginko nuts and lily bulbs.

The next course is sushi. One piece each of Toro, Suzuki, Salmon, and Hirame.

Sushi here is always fantastic. The rice is impeccably cooked and seasoned, and the fish pristine and tasty.

I ordered some uni, since it was not included in the Omakase. Naga-san broke out a new box for us, and they were supremely delicious.

The last savory course is Akadashi, a miso-based soup with mushrooms. The perfect and soothing ending to a fantastically restorative meal.

For a simple dessert, we had a perfect slice of melon. Simple, yet delicious, a fitting end to this meal.

Melkor brought a bottle of Riesling, since he’s not a fan of Sake. I will let the boys talk to you about the wine. Malik and I also shared three types of sake, Senshin, Tokugetsu, and Hekiiju. The subtle and dry Hekiiju is what I usually drink here, but my favorite last night was the Senshin Naga-san poured for us, off the menu. It was complex and floral, with a sweet finish. The Tokugetsu is a bit too strong for my taste, but Malik loved it.

How much I liked the sakes was quite evident in the declining quality of my photographs as the meal progressed.

Edited February 11, 2004 by pim (log)

[ludja]

Thank you very much for sharing your meal at Kiss; it looks incredible. I'm intrigued by the courses you had before the sushi. It is officially 'on my list'.

[alacarte]

I love the pictures with your weblog, Pim.

Question -- in the picture taken in your car, what is that sitting next to your sandwich? It looks like a mini chocolate Bundt cake, but it's hard to tell.

edited to add: oh, duh, I now see that you specify that it's a cannelé de bordeaux.

what's that, please?

Edited February 11, 2004 by alacarte (log)

[cheeseandchocolate]

Hi Pim--

Is the Boulangerie on Pine related to the one on Polk?

Great blog, by the way--the photos are terrific. And as someone who used to live in the Bay Area (1997-2001) and now misses it terribly (Seattle just ain't the same), I'm lapping up all the details!

[Malik]

Is the Boulangerie on Pine related to the one on Polk?

The Boulangerie on Pine (also known as Bay Bread) is indeed related to the one on Polk, it's part of the Pascal Rigo collection of boulangeries and restaurants: http://cortezrestaurant.com/lepanissimo.html.

[Malik]

The pictures turned out really well Pim, I think you may have a knack for food photography. My favorite dish of the night was the first course (Melkor, you missed out), followed by the sashimi and the nigiri. By the way, the sashimi course also included a couple of slices of kampachi.

[pim]

The pictures turned out really well Pim, I think you may have a knack for food photography.  My favorite dish of the night was the first course (Melkor, you missed out), followed by the sashimi and the nigiri.  By the way, the sashimi course also included a couple of slices of kampachi.

thanks.

I must admit though that you were right about the flash. The better ones were taken with the flash. That'll teach me not to listen to that Melkor again.

Edited February 11, 2004 by pim (log)

[melkor]

Feh. The flash sucks

[Rhea_S]

Thanks for the blog, Pim. It has been very enjoyable and I've also been browsing through "Chez Pim."

[pim]

edited to add: oh, duh, I now see that you specify that it's a cannelé de bordeaux.

what's that, please?

cannelés are little custardy cake from, you guess it, Bordeaux. The good ones have thick dark brown crust that are crispy the outside, with creamy and custardy inside.

It's really hard to explain what it is like unless you've had one. Look for them in your local patisseries, they are quite popular these days.

A few months ago I carried almost 2 dozens of those little copper cannelé molds back with me from France. One of these days I will be at home long enough to try them. I believe our Ms.Wolfert has a very detailed recipe in her book. I've also got Pierre Hermé's recipe if anyone is interested.

[pim]

Thanks for the blog, Pim. It has been very enjoyable and I've also been browsing through "Chez Pim."

thanks.

[Malik]

I must admit though that you were right about the flash.  The better ones were taken with the flash.

From what I saw briefly yesterday, it appeared that the non-flash pictures has slightly better color rendition, and the flash ones captured the details a lot better. Since you were taking pictures at such close range, the ones with the flash on were probably a bit overexposed. Next time, try to experiment with exposure compensation (the +/- EV setting in the manual setting menu in your camera). It's a bit of pain in the ass to use, but you can get better results that way. I'd try +1.0 without the flash and -1.0 with the flash for example and compare the results. For example, the food picture on this Canon site was taken with the flash off and the exposure compensation set to +1.

[bloviatrix]

So, what was on the menu today?

[melkor]

So, what was on the menu today?

A Pony!

[Squeat Mungry]

I think maybe Pim is en route to Heidelberg at the moment?

Edit: Er, not "Heidelburg"!

Edited February 12, 2004 by Squeat Mungry (log)

[Pan]

I'm enjoying reading this and looking at the pictures.

I do agree that octopus is not shellfish, though scallops are. But I wonder how many people would eat octopus but not scallops.

[pim]

I was so busy today as it was my last day at work this week, I hardly had anytime to get food. So, lunch was bought from the normally-not-to-be-found-dead-in cafeteria. The food lived up to my expectation. The salad I got today, southern fried chicken and organic greens with candied walnuts, was utterly vile. It looked inoffensive enough, but trust me, it tasted like the cook dipped each and everyone of those greens in syrup before tossing them in the dressing.

Adding insult to injury, the rice crispy treats were tainted the most repugnant shade of pink, in honor of Valentine's day, apparently. I don't know how anyone could mess up rice crispy treats, I mean, which part of "melt some marshmallows and add some Rice Crispies" did they not understand. Needless to say, it tasted even worse than it looked.

I just made it home after a very long day at the office. No time to make dinner, so I went to grab some quick things at Whole Foods. Well, those bits and pieces were inoffensive enough. Here's what they looked like.

Oh well, I guess even a food snob can have a low day, huh?

[pim]

I think maybe Pim is en route to Heidelberg at the moment?

Squeat,

That's tomorrow, flying into Frankfurt and driving to Heidelberg. I can't wait.

cheers,

Pim--off now to pack

[pim]

This has been quite a long day.

It began this morning with a mad rush to the airport. I was famished, so I stoped at Ebisu at SFO International Terminal and had a Tonkatsu Bento box. It was surprisingly inoffensive, and definitely much better than the other Japanese place (whose name I forgot) by Gate 94.

Then it was on to security check, where I had to take off my most impractical tall pointy-toed black leather boots. Oh well, at least I looked tres chic. I had a couple hours to wait at the United Lounge, with some light refreshments. A piece of cookie from the boulangerie on Pine st., a cup of Castleton Darjeeling, OJ, and tasty dried persimmons.

On the flight, I was lucky I scored an upgrade this time, apparently thanks to a cello! Some guy came on with a cello and needed a seat at bulk head to put it. United people scanned the list of passengers on that row, and found one Premier Executive, which was me, so they used my seat and put me on business class.

Unfortunately the food they served, though better presented, tasted pretty much as bad as what they serve in economy. The appetizer, a salad, some parma ham and smoked salmon was somewhat edible, but the entree of bacon wrapped shrimps, rice pilaf and tomato sauce was really bad. I left it prety much untouced.

Luckily, I brought along some Montgomery Cheddar and Pleasant Ridge Reserve I bought from Cowgirl Creamery the other day.

Now THESE are real food.

Those cheeses sent me happily slumbering pretty much until the plane arrived in Frankfurt. Right before we landed, while other passengers made do with icky breakfast (with particularly oily and yucky looking croissants), I was merrily munching on the rest of my cheese, and finished everything but the rind just in time for the landing.

Just a bit over and hour later, I was safely installed at a beautiful flat overlooking the river and the castle in Heidelberg. The fridge was filled to the brim with fantastic food, thanks to a certain German boy. Though I was quite full from the cheese breakfast on the plane, I just had to have another breakfast.

The bread is called Kürbiskernbrot, a lovely dense German bread. I had two slices with butter and an amazingly fragrant raw forest honey. It was fantastic. There were also some nice Prosciutto and Leberwurst (Liverwurst), so I had to have some of those too. Also, if you looked closely in the photo, you'd see a crumbled plastic wrapping, which was what remained of the Luc Perac Perail cheese after I had my way with it. And too keep me awake and half functioning through the day was a great mug of strong European coffee.

And, as if I hadn't had enough to eat already in the last 24 hour period, I'm off now to find some nice German food for dinner.

[Toliver]

Now this is another great food blog! I can almost taste the honey.

I am looking forward to dinner.

[Larry]

I second that. Eating in Germany is one of my all time favourite food experiences. Are you going to be in Dusseldorf or Cologne?

If in Strasbourg be sure to pick up some pain d'epice from the pain d'epice store, I still have dreams about how good it was.

I forget the exact location but it seems that everyone knows where it is. Just ask for the best pain d'epice.

[Pan]

Bon appetit, Pim!

I'm shocked that the food in First Class was lousy!

[hathor]

I would like to see the flight personnel's faces when you were taking the pictures. Very funny!

Wonderful blog, thanks for making the effort!