no bargains at flea street cafe

the weekend after i broke my thumb (and um, also gashed my chin), we went to dinner with our friends lyd and mikey venturson. they live in saratoga, we live in sf, so when we get together for "dinner out," we usually pick a restaurant that's somewhere in the middle-ish.

this go-round, lyd picked the place: flea street cafe in menlo park. i think it might actually have been technically my turn, but that week, between keeping my hand elevated 24/7, finding out i needed surgery, getting surgery, and then dealing with the kind of pain that only overmedicating will take care of, i was pretty much useless. thankfully, most of the pain subsided by saturday early afternoon, so dinner out was a go.

when we got to the restaurant, we were greeted by numerous copies of a cookbook - strangely, one that i actually owned: Simply Organic. in fact, it was the very first cookbook i went out and bought after i read Omnivore's Dilemma (no, not my first cookbook ever). turns out the author of Simply Organic lives in the area and owns flea street cafe. guess i need to read those book prefaces more often. oh well. lyd had told me she chose the restaurant b/c she read about how it supports sustainable, organic farmers/producers. all in all, pretty cool and random (although i guess it wouldn't have been random had i bothered to read the front of the cookbook).

for our first course, i chose the toybox squash fritters (i'm not a good judge of deep-fried food. i luv it all); kevin and mikey had the caesar salad (very tasty); and lyd had the raw beet "ravioli" (she liked it). pretty great start.

i then made the mistake of ordering the salmon. long ago, i decided i would never order salmon at restaurants b/c they always cook it past where i like it. well, my non ability to cut my food for the next 4 weeks was 100% the reason i ordered it. MISTAKE. not the restaurant's fault at all since no one can cook salmon the way i like it except me. mikey had the salmon, too, and seemed to really like it. it came with beet potato mash, early summer vegetables (broccoflower and baby carrots), and a trio of sauces (though i forget what they were. they were kind of like chutneys.) kevin enjoyed the steak (hearst farms grass-raised rib eye), which came with a blue cheese topping and scalloped potatoes. lydia had the short ribs, which came with horseradish cream and summer beans, organic tomatoes, roasted new potatoes as sides. she won the ordering award for the night. the short ribs were great.

for dessert, we all shared the basil lemon cake (very yummy) and the midnight chocolate cake (VERY chocolate-y!).

all in all, dinner is best described as solid - i'd say a 3 out of 5. service was solid, the food was solid (despite the rigmarole with the salmon). that said, it was somewhat pricey - and i say that even after accounting for the higher cost of the organic / sustainable ingredients - and this is excluding the alcohol (although for once, *I* didn't have any. i know, shocking. do you mind picking yourselves off the floor? THANK you.). so if you go there, know that you might feel a little sticker shock given the cost v. the overall food experience. bottom line is this is a place that while i won't be rushing back to, i'd certainly be open to going to again.

venerable veggie burgers

well, dudes, i broke my right thumb this weekend, so posts for the next few weeks are going to be a bit shorter than usual (or, at least take a LOT longer than usual), since i only have use of my left hand. (i guess this is when i'll find out if my nursery school teachers forced me to be right handed - i've been suspicious i was supposed to be a lefty for years.)

anyhoo, i'm making the effort to post tonight because i promised jsk i would share the veggie burger recipe i used this weekend for my contribution to the fultzes 4th of july bbq. i dunno about you, but most veggie burgers are pretty gross: discs of disgustingness, if you will. hence why i wasn't interested in buying any prepackaged ones for the shindig. there happened to be a very interesting quinoa burger recipe in the july issue of martha stewart magazine, so i knew this was my opportunity to try it out. i luv quinoa with as much passion as a person can feel towards a grain product without feeling deep shame, so any excuse to cook with it works for me.

well, it turns out that not only did the adults who tried them like them (vadim, katie, jsk, p, and mwah), but they were a hit with the little kiddies, too. both cammy and jaden ate them like they were candy. frankly, when a toddler loves your cooking, it doesn't get much better than that. ultimate compliment, 'cuz kiddies don't choke something down to be polite; they'll just spit it back out and scream. (hunh, what's that? cammy and jaden will eat anything? oh... [awkward, crushed pause])

well ah, moving on, the recipe (changed to my tastes) is very simple. the one thing i would say is these burgers are relatively fragile, so be careful as you flip them. enjoy!


Quinoa Burgers

8 oz portobello mushrooms, stems removed, coarsely chopped
1 small summer squash
1/4 cup finely minced onion
1/2 tsp red pepper flakes
1/3 cup finely grated Parmesan cheese
2 cups cooked quinoa
1 large egg, lightly beaten
1 1/2 cups fresh breadcrumbs
Salt and freshly ground pepper to taste
4 tbsps extra virgin olive oil
2 tbsps unsalted butter

In a food processor, pulse mushrooms until they resemble a coarse paste, and transfer to a bowl. Using fine shredding disk, shred zucchini, then using paper towels, squeeze several times to remove as much water as possible. Add zucchini to mushrooms.

Heat 2 tbsps olive oil in a large skillet over medium-high heat. Add onion and red pepper flakes, and cook until softened, about 2 minutes. Add mushrooms and zucchini, and cook until tender, another 2 minutes. Place mixture in a medium bowl, add Parmesan, quinoa, and salt and pepper to taste. Let mixture cool slightly, then stir in breadcrumbs and then egg. Cover, and refrigerate until cold and firm, about 1 hour.

Firmly shape quinoa mixture into 6 patties. Using a large nonstick skillet over medium heat, melt butter with 2 tbsps olive oil. Cook patties until golden brown, crispy, and cooked through, about 5-7 minutes per side. Serves 6.

4 down, 51 more to go

so before february of this year, kevin and i would go out to dinner. a lot. or order in. a lot. in other words, i wasn't cooking. very much. at all.

but all that changed once i read Omnivore's Dilemma; i started to cook almost every night, and somewhere along the way, we forgot that the bay area has a lot of great restaurants that subscribe to the sustainable ethos.

then, the sf chronicle's 2008 top-100 bay area restaurant list came out in april, and i realized there was some work i had to attend to. life can be so *difficult* sometimes, right?! well, it's now the beginning of july and i thought i would report back on the progress made.

the bad (horribly pathetic) news is i've only made headway on 4 of the 55. for those of you wondering, that's a totally lame-o 7.272727272727272727%. shameful. at that rate, i will definitely NOT accomplish my goal to try all 55 before the new list comes out. *sniffles. honnnnnnnnnnnk* like i said, life can be so difficult sometimes. and if i were being perfectly honest, "4" is actually "3" because i realized literally tonight i've already eaten at chow. oops. heehee.

AAAANYway, the good news is that of the 3 places i've bona-fide, brand-new been to, two of them were great, and one of them was solid.

the first place was kaygetsu in menlo park. we went with feller and suz fultz. jaden didn't come with; apparently he had better options that night. whatever. that dude thinks he's too cool for school or something. his loss anyway, because dinner - which was a multi-course tasting menu - was awesome. i highly recommend if you like japanese food; and make sure to get the sake pairing. everything was beautifully prepared, extremely fresh, and most importantly: tasty. it's definitely not cheap, so save this place for a special occasion (or not, if you're high-roller money bags). when you go, try to ignore that it's in a random strip mall. (for reals; but don't worry, you'll forget once you're inside the restaurant.) definitely will be going back to this place. someday.

the second place was incanto in noe valley. the service was a little spotty (took them about 15 minutes to even give us menus), but the food was pretty good. we stuck with pasta for our main dishes, so i have no idea how well they prepare their entrees. for appetizers, i had the pig's trotter with foie gras, bacon & roasted figs (extremely rich; i shouldn't have PIGGED OUT and eaten so much of it. get it?! PIGGED OUT? hahah-- *sigh* never mind.); kevin had the little gem salad with house vinaigrette and shaved parmesan cheese. for dinner, i had the bucatini with sardinian cured tuna heart, egg yolk & parsley; yi-wyn had the handkerchief pasta with rustic pork ragù; kevin had the rigatoni with an heirloom tomato sauce. yi-wyn's was the best out of the three; mine was definitely the most unusual, but solid. (we didn't stay for dessert and decided to go to mitchell's for ice cream instead.) basically, the restaurant was good enough that i'd go back if someone else said they wanted to try it, but i doubt i'll go again on my own.

the last place was pizzaiolo in oakland. to be honest with you, before this restaurant list came out, i had NO idea that there were so many great places to eat in the east bay, much less in oakland. the executive chef/owner of the restaurant used to cook at chez panisse, supposedly manning the pizza oven for 8 years and learning how to use local, seasonal ingredients from the master herself. i had the black mission figs with prosciutto, crème fraîche and mint; kevin had the little gem caesar salad (damn good croutons). for dinner, we shared a margherita pizza, which had this really great spicy tomato sauce (i'm very picky about tomato sauce) and a nice thin crust with perfectly charred and soft-yet-chewy edges. for dessert, i had the affogato made with a shot of blue bottle espresso [my absolute favorite coffee. *contented sigh*]; kevin had the dark chocolate pine nut tart. the whole meal was excellent and reasonably priced (and this includes the fact we both had proseccos, kevin had a chimay, and i had an old fashioned with bulleit bourbon. ...which also explains why i decided i needed a jigsaw puzzle afterwards. long story, don't worry about it.). i'll definitely be going back. (pizzaiolo, not jigsaw puzzle store. ok, maybe i'd go back there, too.)

so that's that for now. hopefully i'll be able to pick up the pace. in fact, on the docket are nopa and bar bambino in the next few weeks. i'll be sure to let you know how all of this goes. did i mention that life can be so *difficult* sometimes? no? well it can be. very.

using your noodle(s)

i've been kind of tired these last couple weeks, so i haven't had as much energy to cook dinner every night. still, a girl has to eat, so on one of the nights this week where i was just so not in the mood to stand over a hot stove, kevin and i went out to dinner instead.

i made reservations on opentable (luv it - suits my desire to not have to talk on the phone) at a place called circolo in our neighborhood. in hindsight, i should have realized the fact this joint offered 1K bonus points was a big red flag.

circolo is in the space that used to be home several years ago to tasty gordon's house of fine eats. do any of you remember it? that place rocked - good thing, too, with a name like that, otherwise: *awwwwkward*. especially loved their donuts. (mmmm, donuts) circolo has actually been around for about 4 years now, and frankly, i'm surprised b/c i can't figure out how it's lasted this long. maybe it used to be good, and something changed; whatever the case, i'm not sure for how much longer it's going to be around.

to make a long story short, circolo is pretty close to a disaster. (another red flag: when we got to the restaurant, there was a big banner hung outside the restaurant announcing it was now going to be open for lunch...bad sign.) the service was borderline (waiters were very friendly, but not around a whole lot, even though the place was pretty empty) and the food was mediocre - a direct result, i'm pretty sure, of the cooks not bothering to TASTE what they were making.

dudes, seriously, making delicious food isn't hard, but you can't do it unless you *taste* the dish as you cook it. if whatever you're making doesn't taste good enough for you to want to eat very much of it, then do what you need to do to fix it, and then taste it again (and do this again and again and again, if you have to). just don't go double dipping your tasting spoon into things, or, uhhhhh, go ahead and double dip, but just do it quickly before anyone SEES you. [i refuse to comment on whether i am guilty of the latter on the grounds that i may incriminate myself.]

anyway, i ordered the ahi tartare and garlic noodles. two extremely simple dishes to make - or so you would think. i can count on one hand the # of times i've actually sent something back and circolo has the dubious distinction of being one of them. i sent back the ahi tartare. seriously: yuck. the restaurant tried to make it up to us by 1) remaking it; 2) not charging us for it; and 3) giving us a complimentary dish (halibut ceviche). only problem is, when the food isn't good, you don't exactly want MORE of it ;) don't get me wrong, we appreciated that they actually cared (and yes, of course we tipped the waiter on what the bill would have actually been. i mean, come on, do i look like an ass? wait, don't answer that...).

the garlic noodles were also pretty disappointing - more like really bad chinese lo mein. where was the garlic? why was it oily not buttery? worse, there was going to be a lot left, b/c the portion was HUGE - enough for 4 people. i felt so badly about how much food was going to be wasted - especially since the restaurant was trying so hard to make it right - that i asked them to box up the noodles to take home. i figured this would be as good an excuse as any to experiment. would the noodles hold up under a "do over" the next night? i waited to see with bated breath (ok, not really; 24 hours is a long time to do that.)

the answer is: definitely yes. the next night, i made a really simple roast chicken (rinse and pat dry a 3 lb whole chicken; salt and pepper inside and generously salt outside; roast at 425 degrees until thigh reaches 170 degrees. rest for 10 minutes then carve and serve.) and served it with revised garlic noodles. turns out you CAN just rinse noodles a few times in hot water to remove any grossness. and turns out my hunch was correct: garlic noodles are freaking ridiculously easy to make. recipe below. enjoy!

(oh, and in case i wasn't clear before: don't go to circolo. i'd give it 1 star. kevin and i have an over/under bet going on when they'll close. we'll get back to you on who wins.)


Garlic Noodles

3 tbsps unsalted butter
3 cloves garlic, finely minced
2 tbsps soy sauce
2 tbsps brown sugar
12 oz lo mein noodles

Grated Parmesan cheese (optional)

Cook noodles according to package directions. Drain and set aside. In a large skillet over medium heat, melt butter and then add garlic. Saute for a few minutes, until softened and fragrant, then add soy sauce and sugar and stir until sugar dissolves. Add noodles and stir until evenly coated and heated through. Place in a large serving bowl, add - if you're into it - the grated Parmesan cheese (how much is up to you) and toss to combine. Serves 4.

happy as a clam

for most of the food i cook, i try to stick to the "locavore" philosophy that michael pollan advocates (in both of his books: Omnivore's Dilemma and In Defense of Food). that i live in northern california actually makes this extremely easy to do - there's an abundance of amazing seasonal produce (although i'll get back to you on that during the winter...).

but despite the ready availability of most foodstuffs, every now and again i get a hankering for something that isn't in season in the pacific northwest, and i break down.

this week, it was because of pasta with clam sauce. i saw a recipe in the june issue of bon appétit magazine that i really wanted to try. now, of course, there's nothing wrong about wanting to try a tasty clam recipe. that is, unless you live here, where clams aren't harvested until the winter months. last i checked, it was still june... darn.

i justified what i was about to do by telling myself that ordinarily i do a pretty decent job eating like a locavore. i know, this sort of reasoning can be a slippery slope - and i don't usually wear sneakers - so i vowed to make sure not to throw a bellyflop dive down said slope... but only provided i could get my grubby little paws on about a pound and a half of clams, and soon.

i made my "crime" less terrible by making sure to get them from the san francisco fish company - a store in the san francisco ferry building whose owner subscribes to the sustainable ethos. he also happens to have half-decent puns. (loda and skim, you ladies paying attention? you have some competition on your hands...) we had them tonight for dinner and they were fantastic! if you like clams, give this recipe a try - for me, it was well worth the "guilt" of not being a locavore for a night!


Spaghetti with Spicy Herbed Clam Sauce

1/2 stick unsalted butter (I like Straus Creamery)
2 tbsps olive oil (I like Stonehouse)
2 onions, finely chopped
6 garlic cloves, peeled and smashed
2 medium tomatoes, cored, chopped
2 cups dry white wine
2 cups water
3 pounds littleneck clams, scrubbed clean
1/3 cup chopped fresh basil
1/4 cup chopped fresh Italian parsley
1/4 cup chopped fresh oregano
1 tsp crushed red pepper flakes
8 ounces spaghetti

Melt butter with olive oil in heavy large pot over medium-high heat. Add onions and cook until soft, then add garlic and stir until fragrant. Add tomatoes, white wine, and water and bring to boil, then reduce heat to low, cover, and simmer 20 minutes. Add salt and pepper to taste.

Bring broth back to boil. Add clams, cover and cook until clams open, about 3 minutes (discard any that don't open). Remove clams to large bowl and tent with foil to keep warm.

Add herbs and crushed red pepper to pot. Add spaghetti and cook pasta until almost al dente. Place clams (and any liquid in bowl) back into pot. Cover and simmer until clams are heated through, about 3 minutes. Season to taste with salt and pepper.

Divide evenly into 4 pasta bowls. Serve with crusty bread, so you can mop up the yummy broth!! Serves 4.

instinctively flock like the salmon of capistrano

for those of you who didn't know, i'm korean american. (like for instance maybe vadim - i believe he thinks all asians are chinese. j/k!;) now, i'm the first to admit that i'm about as twinkie as they come (yellow on the outside, white on the inside, in case you were wondering). ...although in the last few years i've become good friends with LOTS of asian people that sometimes i look around at dinners and parties and think to myself that my parents would probably cry with happiness if they could see me now (that, or they would demand to know who the *fudge* i was and what had i done with their daughter?!).

i'm sure a lot of it has to do with having moved to northern california from nyc (the west coast is the only place i've been in the US where people aren't surprised i speak english fluently without an "asian" accent), but it still makes me laugh every now and then. (ok, always.)

anyway, even though i'm (now *mostly*) twinkie, this doesn't mean i don't love love love korean food. in fact, i grew up eating korean food pretty much every night for dinner (sometimes my mom would make random american dishes like burgers or corned beef... ok, so corned beef is an irish dish, but you get what i mean - it wasn't korean) and it's one of the only ways you can get me to eat heaps of vegetables. i'm not sure what it is, but with any other cuisine, i have to really make an effort to eat veggies; with korean food, i'll happily wolf down all the vegetable side dishes (banchan) i can get my grubby paw armed with chopsticks on. yum yum yum.

so remember how i told you a couple weeks ago about that fish stand called shogun fish at the saturday sf farmers' market? well i peek my head in now to see what they've got on tap. this past weekend, i saw some really nice wild alaskan salmon fillets and decided to incorporate them into this week's dinner menu.

i used a variation on the traditional korean galbi marinade (and observed in all "field tests" conducted by yours truly to be universally loved by the whitey folk i know) . the nice thing about fish in general is it doesn't take that long to, well, marinate, so it makes for a very easy and quick meal - perfect for a weeknight. this particular recipe takes about 45 minutes from prep to table, 30 minutes of which are for letting the fish just sit there so it can soak up the marinade.

my suggestion is to serve the salmon with creamy wasabi mashed potatoes and spicy stir-fried chinese long beans (yeah, you know what i'm talkin' about). of course, you can choose whatever you like... but, hello, WHY? this way is so deeeelish, you won't have to FISH for compliments from your guests because they'll be having a WHALE of a time! (get it? "FISH" and "WHALE"... because we're talking about SALMON?! hahahah-- *sigh* never mind...)


Korean-Style Broiled Salmon

1/2 cup soy sauce
2 tbsps rice vinegar
2 tbsps brown sugar
2 tbsps fresh orange juice
1 tbsp Korean red pepper paste
1 large garlic clove, minced
2 tsps toasted sesame oil
2 scallions, chopped

4 6 oz fresh salmon fillets
2 tbsps olive oil

Whisk first 8 ingredients in a small bowl until sugar dissolves. Place salmon fillets in a Ziploc bag and pour marinade over; marinate fish for half hour (or up to 1 hour).

Preheat broiler. Remove fillets from marinade, reserving marinade. Heat olive oil in a large, ovenproof skillet on high heat. Place salmon fillets skin side down and cook fish for 2 minutes, or until skin is browned. Spoon a little of the marinade over the fillets (discard marinade), and then place skillet in oven. Broil for about 5 minutes (inside will still be cool), or until cooked to desired doneness (is that a word?). Serves 4.

a bolt from the blue

blueberries are here! well, so they've actually been available at the sf farmers' market for the last few weeks, but i didn't pick any up for myself (or anyone else for that matter) until this past saturday.

last week's breakfast muffins worked out so well that i decided to make another batch for this week as well - but blueberry instead of carrot. there's a booth along the outside of the sf farmers' market called triple delight blueberries that i've seen for the last few weeks. i decided this was as good a place as any to buy the all-important ingredient to my precious blueberry muffins. i mean, really, how can you go wrong getting blueberries from a farm that feels it can name its prized crop "triple delight"? either they were delusional or spot on... and either situation would provide solid entertainment (although one in a sort of sad way).

i took them home and, er, conducted a couple quality-control tests. ok, maybe several tests... ok, ok, maybe it was so many "tests" that it was a good thing i bought an extra pack of them as insurance... against, ahem well, MYSELF. [*embarrassed pause*] anyway, it turns out that this particular farm's harvest lasts for only about a month and a half, so it's a good thing i stopped by this weekend to get my blueberries on. and actually, i haven't seen blueberries at other stands (raspberries and strawberries, yes. blueberries, no), so if you happen to know if there are any to be found elsewhere at the sf farmers' market on saturdays, let me know!

below is a blueberry muffin recipe i found on epicurious. i used dark brown sugar instead of the light brown in the recipe (and less than called for), which i think gave them a nice caramel-y / butterscotch-y taste - two of my favorite flavs - added some vanilla, and used a lot more blueberries.

these particular muffins were super easy to make - i think i mixed these up and had them in the oven in about 10 minutes. for reals! i wouldn't lie to you about that. they took a lot less time to bake up than the recipe would have you believe - yet another example for why you should always check on the progress of whatever you're baking. recipe reflects the changes i made and the time i ended up baking them. enjoy!

Blueberry Muffins

3/4 stick unsalted butter, melted and cooled (I prefer Straus Family Creamery)
3/4 cup packed dark brown sugar
1/2 cup whole milk
1 tsp vanilla
1 medium egg (I use pastured eggs from Marin Sun Farms)
1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
1 1/2 tsps baking powder
1 tsp cinnamon
1/2 tsp salt
10 oz blueberries

Preheat oven to 400°F. Place paper liners in a 12-cup muffin tin. In a small bowl, whisk first 5 ingredients until combined well. In a large bowl, whisk flour, baking powder, cinnamon, and salt in a large bowl. Add egg mixture to flour mixture and stir until just combined and then gently fold in blueberries.

Divide batter evenly among muffin cups; bake until golden brown and a wooden pick inserted into center of a muffin comes out clean, about 20 minutes. Cool muffins in tin for 5 minutes, then remove and cool completely on rack.