Dish on Dining: Genki Ramen

Tokyo Pop Ramen in the Richmond
3944 Geary Blvd., San Francisco
Richmond District (between 3rd and 4th Avenues.)
Hours: Daily, 11:30 a.m. to 11 p.m.
PH: 415.752.2663
Major credit cards accepted

This new ramen place opened up on Geary Boulevard about two months ago and the folks on the Chowhound board have been raving about it. I love ramen, the Japanese soup noodles playfully highlighted in the Japanese movie Tampopo. (It’s a lot like saimin that I ate growing up in Hawaii but with better broth.) But traveling all the way to the Richmond from the East Bay seemed a long way to go for a bowl of noodles.

Luckily for me (in a warped way, I guess), my acne started taking over my life recently and my dermatologist is located on Geary Boulevard, just two blocks from Genki Ramen. So Genki has become my post-acne visit treat.

When you walk into Genki Ramen’s tiny restaurant, you feel like you’re in some bad scene from Lost In Translation. Flat screen TVs are mounted around the wall blaring Japanese videos, mostly of young girls singing. When I first visited, I found it charming when they showed some TV show about ramen. But on a second visit, I could barely take the screeching teen-age sounds of this Japanese pop singer on a video that seemed like she was in a bubble gum factory that exploded.

So that’s the ambiance. Beyond the audio-visual, the rest of the furnishings are sleek and modern, with a lot of dark wood. But really, I’m just here for the ramen.

Genki Ramen offers a variety of ramen specials, appetizers, and robatayaki (grilled meats and vegetables sold by the skewer). In my first visit, I was enticed by the unagi tempura because I love unagi and never had it deep-fried in tempura. Even though I’m not a big fan of deep-fried eating, I ordered that along with the special Crab Leg Ramen. (Genki Ramen has beautifully photographed dishes in its menu and I loved the redness of the crab legs in the dish I ordered.)


My unagi tempura was fresh and hot, but the batter didn’t seem to stay on to the unagi. Must be that delicious unique unagi barbeque sauce playing havoc on the tempura batter. While the unagi was tender and delicious, I just didn’t get the tempura batter surrounding it and it didn’t enhance the eating experience.

Then came my ramen with the crab legs on one side. Remember how I thought the photo was all lovely with the redness of the cooked crab legs? Well, my crab legs were covered in tempura batter so all I saw were these golden puffed fingers instead of red crab legs. What they basically did was deep-fry the crab legs in tempura batter.

OK, I know those of you who love tempura probably thinks this is a good idea, just like shrimp tempura. Problem is, with shrimp tempura you can bite right into the batter and eat the shrimp. With this crab leg tempura at Genki Ramen, you bit into the tempura and got crab legs with the shell still on! That’s way too much crack for my crunch. The crab legs weren’t all shell; it was cut in half before it was fried in tempura batter. But still, you couldn’t enjoy the tempura batter because you had to break away the shell to get to the crab meat.

As I worked my way through the hot batter and equally hot crab legs, I kept thinking to myself, “Why would anyone think tempura crab shells would be fun to cover in batter?” It was so much work that I nearly drowned myself in the bowl of ramen afterwards. But after several minutes of being the sous chef at my table, I was able to get a nice mound of crab meat that I ate with the ramen.

Now the ramen. It was great. Firm but soft, filling and enjoyable. The broth was tasty and warm, filling my stomach with comfort and joy. It made up for the morsels of crab I sweated to get out.

Determined to get a real ramen experience, I came back a few weeks later with my nephew. We ordered a gyoza to start and he ordered the Chicken Karaaga Ramen. I should have stuck with something simple but got enticed again by the Spicy Mabo Tofu Ramen. I'd never had Mabo Tofu Ramen (although I love Mabo Tofu and make it often for myself at home) but my nephew says it's pretty common in Hawaii now. So I ordered it. At least it's not deep fried.

The gyoza was nice and tasty with a nice crunchiness on one side. (It was a bit too shiny from residual oil, however, even though you don't feel the greasiness. You do see it.) My nephew said he enjoyed his Chicken Karaaga Ramen (kids love the fried chicken) but he thought the broth was on the bland side. I, however, loved my broth. My bowl came out in this wonderful layer of soft tofu and juicy meat. It was definitely a dish you had to eat with your spoon to uncover the ramen underneath, which had the same firm but soft consistency from before. Without having to work this time for my meal, I totally was enraptured by the tofu, ramen and broth.

At its core, Genki Ramen offers excellent ramen noodles in a young environment. I have reservations about its deep-frying techniques, but everything else is satisfying and worth the trip to Geary Boulevard.

Single guy rating: 2 stars (a fancy introduction to ramen)

Explanation of the single guy's rating system:
1 star = perfect for college students
2 stars = perfect for new diners
3 stars = perfect for foodies
4 stars = perfect for expense accounts
5 stars = perfect for any guy's dream dinner

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The Art of the Artichoke

Looks like it's artichoke season in the Bay Area. I love artichokes, but I have to say they're one of the more difficult produce to work with next to beets. But like beets, when made fresh, they're great! When I eat artichokes fresh, I typically clean them up to the heart part and then thinly slice them and then add them to my recipes. Below, I made a pasta dish recently using globe artichokes I bought at my local Safeway. The photo doesn't really showcase the artichoke slices because they're barely visible mixed with the fettucine and covered with cheese, but you definitely taste them while eating. Yum. See the demo below too as I try to elegantly prep my artichoke for cooking. :)

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Artichoke Fettucine

Copyright 2007 by Cooking With The Single Guy

Ingredients:
1 Globe artichoke, cleaned and sliced thinly
1/2 cup crimini mushrooms, sliced
1 clove garlic, minced
1 bulb shallot, minced
1 T extra virgin olive oil
1/2 pint heavy cream
1/2 cup shredded Parmesan cheese
1/2 lb. fettucine
juice from one lemon
2 T chicken broth

In saucepan, boil water and then add fettucine, cooking it till it's al dente. Set aside.

In a large skillet, warm olive oil over medium high heat. Add garlic and shallot and saute for about a minute. Add mushroom and sweat the mushrooms with a sprinkling of salt for a minute to extract some of the moisture, then add artichoke slices (thinly slice the artichoke heart with a mandoline or something similar, see demo). Add chicken broth and season a bit more with a pinch of salt and squeeze of lemon juice. Saute for about a couple of minutes to let the artichoke get tender. Remove from heat and add heavy cream. Then add pasta and blend. Plate your pasta and garnish with Italian parsley.

Makes 2 servings.

Serve with a glass of crisp Pinot Grigio.

TIP: When adding citrus to dairy products, you run the risk of curdling the dairy into cheese with the citrus. So to avoid that, make sure you combine the citrus and dairy in low heat. In the recipe above, I suggest you add the heavy cream off the heat to avoid curdling with residual lemon juice.

EXTRA OIL: To touch up your pasta dish, you can also drizzle nice extra virgin olive oil over your pasta. This step is especially helpful with leftovers that you're warming up the next day.

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In the Kitchen: Prepping an Artichoke

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Enter to Win: How Salty Are You? Contest--CLOSED

A friend of mines tried my carrot ginger soup recipe awhile back. She was all excited by the picture I posted of my version using French carrots I’d gotten at the farmers market. She tried to be nice when she told me that it turned out OK.

I quizzed her about how she prepared it, trying to see whether I needed to tweak my recipe. She used regular carrots (which is fine, but I’ve come to realize that French carrots do make a difference—they’re more intense in taste) and she used chicken bouillon cubes to make her broth. I suspect that it might be that her broth base wasn’t enough to boost the flavor of the soup, but what I really suspected was that she needed a bit more salt.

When I asked her how she added salt to her soup, she said she sprinkled some from her salt shaker. I told her that I didn’t think she could get much salt into her pot of soup from a shaker, which is really designed for adding salt at the table. But I’ve found that many people are used to adding salt from their shaker. Sure, you don’t want to go crazy adding salt (especially if you have high blood pressure), but I believe salt is the flavor of life (Phoebe said that once on “Friends”) and you need a good amount to salt things like a pot of soup, bland mashed potatoes, or when roasting beef.

I love salt. I’m a very savory person. (When I was growing up, I used to love everything sour like vinagrettes.) And I recently checked to see how many types of salt I had in my pantry. Turns out I have seven different varieties. (Note to self: Remember to keep salt out in the open so I remember to use them.) I think salt can be very beautiful too, so I think that’s why I bought so many. The salt I use in my cooking are often natural sea salt because the coarseness feels nice when I grab the grains to toss them into my recipes. Also, natural sea salt doesn’t contain additives and is less processed (or is unprocessed) than Morton salt.

Below are photos of the different salt I have. I thought it might be fun to do a contest (my first!) to see who can match the varieties of salt with the photos. Below the photos are names and descriptions of the salt. Email me with your guesses and the first person to get a perfect score wins! (The prize is a sample kit of four different salts in this nice tin box I got at my recent visit to the Copia gift shop in Napa. It’s not big, but it’s pretty. Hey, I have no sponsors so the prize is what it is! Send me money and maybe I can have bigger prizes next time.) Contest closes on April 15, 2007 (tax day). At that time, I’ll see who got the perfect score. If there is more than one, then the winner will be the one who emailed me first with the right answers. If there’s no perfect score, it’ll go to the person with the closest number of guesses. Good luck! (Contest now closed. Thanks for playing. Go here for the answers.)
The How Salty Are You? Contest:
Match the letters of the photos with the numbers to the correct description below. Email your guesses to singleguychef@comcast.net before 6 p.m. (PDT), April 15. Be sure to include your mailing address so I know where to send the prize. (Click on the photo to enlarge the image to get a better view.)

1) Hawaiian Sea Salt—Made from evaporated sea water of the Hawaiian islands. I grew up with this salt, which is the key ingredient in roasting pig (or pork) to make kalua pig. (When I had a sore throat, my mom would make me gargle with salt water using Hawaiian sea salt because of its intensity. Eck! I rather cook with it.)

2) Fleur de Sel—Considered the Diamond standard of sea salt, this French sea salt means “flower of salt” and the particular version I have is from the Island of Re. I love its flakiness and I use it for roasting, like when I roast vegetables with Herbs de Provence and olive oil.

3) Murray River Pink Flake Salt—This might be obvious, but I thought this salt was so beautiful when I saw it at Dean & Deluca a few years back. It’s from Australia and has this light pink color. The variety at Dean & Deluca is more pink than what I’ve seen at other stores. It’s used primarily as a finishing salt added at the end of a dish or at the table. So pretty!

4) Kosher salt—This is my main everyday salt. It’s a little coarser than regular Morton salt and does not contain any additives. Kosher salt doesn’t get its name because it’s Kosher (virtually all salt is Kosher) but because it’s the type of salt often used to make things Kosher such as curing meats.

5) Lavender Sea Salt—OK, you guys who read this blog regularly should know by now that I love lavender, so of course I have to have lavender sea salt in my kitchen. The one I have on hand is from The Girl & The Fig and lavender salt is best used at the table side to accent a nice pork or lamb dish.

6) Alaea Sea Salt—Another salt from Hawaii, this one gained popularity over the last few years and has this beautiful color it gets from red clay, where the salt is dried and scraped off of. Because of the red clay influence, it’s a bit more earthy in taste. I gave it to a friend once in a bottle and she thought it was candy!

7) Sel Marin “Grey Salt”—This is naturally harvested unprocessed sea salt from Brittany, France. It’s a step below Fleur de Sel but is just as flavorful.

Disclaimer: No employees (yeah, like there really are) or family members of Cooking With The Single Guy may enter. All entrants must be over 18 years old and reside in the United States. Mailing of prizes will occur within 15 days of the announcement of the winner. Cooking With The Single Guy is not liable for damage of prize that may occur in transit (namely the postal service). All products and products name mentioned in this contest should not be considered a recommendation or endorsement but simply a recitation of what’s in the kitchen of the Single Guy Chef. Rules are clearly stated above and Cooking With The Single Guy is not liable for people who can’t read properly or have difficulty comprehending or even knowing what the word comprehend means.

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Business Lunch: Who Put The Unagi in the Microwave?

Here's another easy lunch idea that I sometimes do. It's quick and makes me feel like I'm at a sushi bar. When I go to get sushi, I often order unagi, or broiled eel. I think it's the unique barbeque sauce they slather onto the eel that makes it so yummy. And the eel is often cooked so a lot of people who are shy of raw fish often start with unagi (after graduating from the California roll).

You can buy unagi in the freezer section of any grocery stores in Japantown in San Francisco or San Jose, or at any Asian grocery store such as Ranch 99. Then I just keep it in my freezer and when I have the hankering for something sushi for my work lunch, this is what I put together. (Since this isn't really a recipe because it's so simple that you're not actually cooking anything, I thought I'd just walk you through the following steps.)
Rice is the base: Start by cooking a cup or so of sushi-grade rice. (Sushi rice is shorter grain, similar to arborio rice for risotto. So it's a bit stickier when cooked, but not the same as sticky rice.) Cook as much rice as you want. For me, I typically make two days' worth of this lunch so I don't have to prep more than once.
Seasoning the rice: When the rice is done, season it with rice vinegar. There are several varieties, so buy the one that says it's for sushi on the label. But if you just have regular rice vinegar, that's fine too. Like salt, drizzle a little in, mix the rice and taste. Then add to your taste. (Keep in mind that as the rice cools, the vinegar taste will get absorbed by the rice and is more subtle.) Make sure you do this when the rice is warm so it'll absorb the rice vinegar.
Dress it up: After I scoop the rice into my lunch container, I rip some nori or dried seaweed on top just to give it another flavor level. I always keep a packet of nori in my refrigerator just for these purposes.
Now for the star: Get your unagi from the freezer and then cut it into a smaller piece to fit nicely into your container. Now, the following is optional. You can simply put the unagi into your container and then you're all done. The unagi is basically cooked already, so that's why it's not necessary to cook it. And when you reheat your lunch in the microwave, it'll cook the unagi some more. However, if you feel the need to cook your unagi, you can warm it up quickly on a non-stick pan. But you only need to do it for a minute.
Ready for lunch: Garnish your unagi rice with some pickled ginger (yes, I always keep a container in my refrigerator as well) and then you're all set to go. Like I mentioned, you can reheat it in the microwave for about 3 minutes or you can also eat it cold since the unagi is pre-cooked. Either way, it's a nice lunch with little hassles.

(Tip: before you microwave your unagi, you might want to take out the pickled ginger if you don't like to eat it warm. If it doesn't matter, then there's no problem microwaving it along with your unagi.)

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Exploring Copia

During my recent day trip to Napa, I finally made a stop to Copia: The American Center for Wine Food and The Arts. I have to admit, I subconsciously avoided this massive homage to wine because it was backed and funded by Robert Mondavi, who I always consider more flash than substance. So despite the center opening in 2001, it took me nearly six years to finally step foot in it.

Despite my reservations, I found Copia to be a pleasant experience. It definitely is a beautifully designed building and there are interesting things to see. But I can't say it was enlightening or exhilarating. It was just a nice place to stroll if you're not into visiting wineries when in Napa. (That was my case since I was with my nephew who isn't of drinking age yet.) Here's a look at what you'll find when you visit Mondavi's Copia:

This statue was at the entrance. Any guess who it is? Yeah, I thought it would be Robert Mondavi as well, but it's actually Andre Tchelistecheff, who's touted as the "father of California winemaking." Apparently this Russian immigrant traveled many years ago to Napa before Napa was Napa and worked for Beaulieu Vineyards.

Like I said, the architecture of Copia is beautiful, very sweeping. Near this foyer they do have a wine tasting station, serving up free glasses for guests. They were serving Spanish wines on the day I visited.

On the second floor is a main exhibition area. I like how they focused on world food issues.

More scenes from the exhibition area. It was a quiet day.

There were several quizzes in the exhibit. I told my nephew that there were too many questions, or maybe it's because I have ADD. Still, this one particular quiz about food knowledge and safety at the grocery store was where I scored a perfect 10. Yes, I'm a "truly savvy shopper" according to Copia. (Hey, before you say it's easy, the woman before me scored just an 8.)

The bible of cooking: An original copy of "The Joy of Cooking."

One of the more interesting things at Copia is the garden with a variety of herbs and fruit trees. It's great to stroll on a beautiful day like the day we had.

My nephew taking pictures of some blooming rosemary. He loves taking picture with his digital camera, and does a pretty nice job at it too.

Apricot blossoms were in full bloom when we visited.

The restaurant at Copia is called Julia's Kitchen in honor of Julia Childs of course. I can't say what the food is like because we didn't eat lunch there, but it looked interesting.

Several people liked eating outdoors at Julia's Kitchen.

The bar leading up to Julia's Kitchen.

Yes, people do drink wine at this wine center. Apparently, these people really liked their wine since it looks like they totally drank every drip of it. (My guess is a delightful and amusing California merlot with a slight peppery note. ;-)

There's always shopping to do. Along with the gift store, there's also a food cafe selling food products.

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My New Toy: Chinese 5-Spice Grinder

Something about me: I love design. I'm very visual so I get sucked in with anything pretty. So when I saw a Williams-Sonoma ad for this new 5-spice grinder, I fell in love with the frosted glass and the idea of freshly ground 5-spice. Chinese 5-spice is like this mysterious spice that many people associate with hot Chinese food. I don't use it that often, but I liked the idea of freshly ground spice. (Yeah, I said that already.)

This product is from a South African company called So!Go! (Short for So Gourmet) It combines five spices that includes the signature tastes of star anise and cloves. After I bought it, I was inspired to make this very simple, clean grilled chicken dish. I've seen a lot of people make Chinese 5-spice chicken with soy sauce and other ingredients that cover up the 5-spice flavoring. This recipe showcases the spice (which can be a bit peppery) and I've dressed it up with a side of sauteed fennel.

So what do I think of my new toy? The top that you turn to grind feels a bit weak, made of plastic. And I'm wondering what I do when I run out of the spices inside since I didn't see any replacement bags when I bought it at Williams-Sonoma. And you know what? My hand did get tired of grinding after awhile. Sigh. But it's sooo pretty. :)

So!Gourmet! Chinese 5-Spice grinder. $12 at Williams-Sonoma stores.

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Five-Spice Grilled Chicken with Orange Fennel

Copyright 2007 by Cooking With The Single Guy

Ingredients:

1 lb. chicken breast, thinly sliced
3 T Chinese 5-spice
1 T sea salt
1 T extra virgin olive oil
juice from half an orange

Fennel side:
1 fennel bulb, thinly sliced (also known as "sweet anise")
juice from half an orange
salt to taste
1 T extra virgin olive oil

Prepare your chicken breast by flattening with a pounder (covering your chicken breast with plastic wrap) to make it evenly thin, about 1/2-inch thick. Season both sides with salt and Chinese 5-spice. Then drizzle with olive oil to coat.

Warm a grill skillet or outdoor grill, and cook chicken on both sides (about 6 minutes each side). When your chicken is almost done, squeeze orange juice over chicken and remove from heat. Let the chicken rest.

In a saute pan, warm olive oil over medium high heat. Add fennel that you've thinly sliced (using a mandoline slicing only the bulb part, leaving the stalk for garnish) and add salt and orange juice. Saute until soften, about 10-15 minutes. Place your fennel on a plate and lay your cut chicken breast on top. Garnish with some of the fennel leaves.

Makes 2 servings. Serve with roasted garlic mashed potatoes.

Serve with a glass of Chardonnay.

TIP: I love using fennel, which is sometimes called "sweet anise" at the grocery store. Cut off the top stalks. Then cut the bottom part off to make a flat surface so you can begin cutting thin slices using a mandoline or something similar. Put the stalk into a vase and add some flowers to create an interesting centerpiece for the table.

WHAT'S IN YOUR FIVE? If you don't have Chinese 5-spice readily mixed, then create your own by placing black pepper (preferably Szechuan peppercorns), cassia, cloves, fennel seed and star anise into a spice grinder.

THIN IS IN: Why do I emphasize thinly sliced chicken breast? Because I find them faster to cook on the grill without burning but still getting that nice grill marks. And I like them even so they cook evenly and I don't have to worry about one part being undercooked while the other side is burnt. I mention above how you should pound the breast thin, but some grocery stores (such as my local Safeway) now sell thinly sliced chicken breast steaks. Perfect!

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What's in my frig?

Where do you keep your nori sheets for your sushi? Well, I actually keep it in my refrigerator instead of just in the pantry. Nori is the essential Japanese seaweed used to make sushi. I always have a packet in my refrigerator. The cold keeps it crisp and dry, which is good for nori. I also keep it in a plastic baggy as an extra protection, but this particular brand I have now (right) comes with its own air-tight opening. I can keep them in my frig for months!

This nori I have is actually a smaller version of the typical squares used for sushi rolls. This one is used mostly for hand rolls but I like to have them ready to make musubi, which are the rice balls the working class made as an easy lunch. I make them sometimes (using a musubi mold) for a snack. I'll do a demo one day. I'm mentioning the nori because I'm going to use it next week for a recipe. So stay tuned.

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Dish on Dining: Belden Taverna

Youngest star on Belden Place looking for big break
52 Belden Place, San Francisco
Near Chinatown
Mon.–Fri., 11 a.m.–11 p.m., Sat., 5–11 p.m.
PH: 415.986.8887
Web site

With the weather getting warmer in the Bay Area, it’s always nice to find a good dinner with outdoor seating. I often forget about the charming scene at Belden Place, that tiny alley between Chinatown and the Financial District. I think it skips my mind because I often end up going to Belden Place when I have an out-of-town guest and want to act like I know a secret dining spot where people gather to eat on the street like some Italian neighborhood festival. Of course, it’s not a big secret.

But maybe the restaurant Belden Taverna remains the secret. The youngest member on the street that boasts such stars as B44, Café Tiramisu and Plouf, this sophisticated Mediterranean restaurant (it took over the spot that was once Café 52) doesn’t seem to be getting the same buzz despite its glamorous interiors and well-executed dishes.

I found myself on Belden Place when my nephew was visiting recently on his college spring break. We strolled passed the boisterous tables of each restaurant in the alley, eyeing their menus and checking out the scene. (I tried to edge my nephew toward B44, but he didn’t look like he was in the mood for tapas.) Despite the fact that the restaurants at Belden Place continue to draw both tourists and after-work business types, the hostesses at each establishment still feel the need to entice you to select their spot, like it’s some kind of beauty pageant and the winner gets dinner with Miss U.S.A.

We eventually settled on Belden Taverna because it was the most California of the bunch. (We had Italian the night before, and like I said, my nephew didn’t look like he was hungry for Spanish.) Sitting outside under the setting afternoon sun is a perfect way to start a meal, even though you have very little privacy with the tables set up like communal tables.

Belden Taverna calls itself a Mediterranean restaurant, but I felt like it was more an Italian-California restaurant when looking over the selection. The restaurant’s chef, Adam Hrebiniak, is quietly developing an appealing menu based on his experience working at such places as Zax Tavern in Berkeley and Boulevard in San Francisco.

Our server was very friendly and helpful. (Which is supposedly a vast improvement from when the San Francisco Chronicle reviewed it last year, dinging the restaurant for the awkward service and wine selection. The wine selection must have improved as well because the Russian River Sauvignon Blanc I ordered matched perfectly with my meal.)
I got the Sauvignon Blanc to pair with my starter, the Grilled Pear Salad with Prosciutto and Arugula. I loved the taste of the prosciutto married with a light vinaigrette. It was refreshing and filling, even though the pear slices were a tad too grilled.
My nephew had the wild mushroom risotto appetizer. How anyone would offer a rich dish like risotto as an appetizer, I’ll never understand. But all was forgiven when I tasted it. The risotto was warm, like it came straight from the pot to our table. It was pure Italian comfort food, with a distinctive broth taste and nice crispy garnish on top.
For our entrees, I had the fettuccini with crab (because I didn’t get to eat as much crab this season as I’d hope) and my nephew had the spicy Italian sausage penne. My fettuccini was a light dish, dressed simply with olive oil and fresh basil and cherry tomatoes. While there was a lot of crab to make me happy, the taste wasn’t as tantalizing as our starters. My nephew’s sausage penne definitely had more flavor, with a mild spicy flavor blended with the rich tomato sauce. I found the penne enjoyable but my nephew thought the pasta could have been cooked longer. I admonished him because he’s used to baked pasta that’s totally soft, but I told him that his penne was perfectly al dente, which is how it should be.
For dessert, we shared a banana bread pudding. When it came out, I was confused that maybe we had ordered some kind of chocolate cake because it really resembled that. My nephew loves bread pudding, but I’m not a big fan so I wasn’t all that thrilled about dessert. My nephew felt it needed more vanilla and less chocolate sauce.
Despite the lackluster ending to our meal, I felt the overall experience was extremely pleasant and satisfying. The dishes seemed fresh and well-executed and the service was well paced and friendly. And the advantage of eating outside on a beautiful San Francisco spring night is unmatched.

Single guy rating: 4 stars (expense it in the outdoors!)

Explanation of the single guy's rating system:
1 star = perfect for college students
2 stars = perfect for new diners
3 stars = perfect for foodies
4 stars = perfect for expense accounts
5 stars = perfect for any guy's dream dinner

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Lenten Tofu

During this season of lent, Fridays can be a challenge trying to think of dishes to avoid eating meat. Most people go with fish (and yes, I do love a good salmon), but after awhile you might crave for something different. Tofu makes a nice alternative. I especially like to make stir-fry tofu because it's quick and easy (the theme of this blog, who knew!), and for that I generally look for fried tofu at the grocery store. Fried tofu is different than regular tofu that's firm. It actually has a brown skin around the exterior because it's been deep-fried and then packaged. So it's ready to eat.

The version I found at my local grocery store says "Hawaiian style" so I bought that because it reminds me of my childhood in Hawaii. But you can get any kind of fried tofu. They're sometimes marked "smoked." They're a lot firmer than regular tofu, which makes it easier to handle in the wok. In the recipe below, I've combined it with Chinese long bean, another favorite ingredient of mines. First, because it's so interesting to see at the food counter with the deep-green color and long beans that make you want to weave it into a hair extension! But I'll resist the temptation and instead add it to the wok. And second, because it can keep up its firmness and adds a crunch to your dish. Enjoy!

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Tofu in Black Bean Sauce

Copyright 2007 by Cooking With The Single Guy

Ingredients:
7 oz. Fried tofu (Hawaiian style optional), cut into strips or cubed
½ lb. or 2 cups Chinese long bean cut into 3-inch long strips*
1 clove garlic, minced
1 T black bean sauce
1 T oyster sauce or fish sauce
1 T Canola oil
1 T cornstarch
¼ cup water

Heat oil in wok or large skillet over medium high heat. Add garlic and let it infuse the oil for a bit (but watch not to burn the garlic) then add the long beans. Stir-fry for about 30 seconds and then add the black bean sauce. Blend well with the beans for another minute. (If it looks like the sauce is drying out too quickly, add a sprinkle of water to your wok.)

Add your tofu and blend well with beans and black bean sauce to warm up the tofu. (Careful not to stir too much or you’ll break your tofu into bits.) In a small bowl, mix your cornstarch and water to create a slurry to help thicken your sauce. Add this to your wok on high heat to thicken to your taste. Finish dish off with either oyster sauce or fish sauce blended in and then plate.
Makes 2 to 3 servings. Serve with steamed jasmine rice.

Serve with a glass of riesling.

* You can substitute with green beans or string beans

TIP: I give you a choice of oyster sauce or fish sauce so you can decide where your dish leans in flavor. Oyster sauce will give your dish a Chinese flavor while fish sauce will make it more Vietnamese or Thai. Either way, both are pretty salty so use it like you’re adding salt; taste as you do it to see if you’ve added enough.

GIVE ME SOME HEAT: Another way to spice up this dish is to add one red chili to give it some heat. Be sure to seed the chili (unless you like it super hot) and then julienne it. Then add the same time you add the tofu.

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Travel Dish: Nam Phan (Vietnam)

This is my 15th and last post about my food adventures in Saigon/Ho Chi Minh City in Vietnam. Yes, after two months of blogging, we come to my final meal in the city. If you want to catch up on my previous posts, just check my archives under the Travel labels. Final Meal—Time to Splurge!
64 Le Thanh Ton, District 1
Saigon/HCMC
Ph: (84-8) 829-2757
Major credit cards accepted; 5% service charge, additional taxes

After nearly 10 days of spending just $5 to $7 for dinner, I decided to treat myself to a grand dining experience on my last night in Saigon/Ho Chi Minh City. I toyed with the idea of eating at a French restaurant because the French cooking style is reportedly still remarkable in this former French colony. But I scratched that idea when I thought of having to wear a tie or suit to dinner in my still very hot-and-humid state of being.

So that brought me to Nam Phan, this classic Vietnamese restaurant with a sophisticated flair. I’d read about Nam Phan prior to arriving in Saigon, and ran into it by accident one day while walking around the tourist area in District 1. The exterior is relatively simple—almost like a guarded wall to a secret garden inside—but you quickly see the restaurant’s name in lights and several large posters with beautifully photographed dishes. So I made a mental note and returned on my last night.

I first walked into the courtyard filled with bamboo trees strung up with Christmas lights. I half expected to see a karaoke singer nearby. The hostess asked if I wanted to sit outside but I explained to her my 10 days of battling the humidity and asked for a table inside.

You walk past the bar that looks like a chic club with dim lighting upstairs to the formal dining room. It was an elegant area that could easily compete with any fine dining French restaurant. Unfortunately for me, it had the attitude as well. Another server (not the hostess who showed me to the table) asked if I had reservations after giving me the once-over, and when I told him I didn’t, he disappeared and a minute later the hostess returned to escort me out to the courtyard. (By the way, the inside dining room was totally empty. Isn’t that always the case?)

Now seated outside with the city traffic honking out loud, I tried to transcend myself by focusing on the babbling man-made water pond nearby and focused on the menu. Just looking at the prices (ranging from D70,0000 to D235,000 or $4.35 to $14.60) made me fondly recap my previous dinners where all my meals cost about the price of one entrée at Nam Phan.

Still, it was my final meal (and probably a good transition back to the reality of Bay Area pricing). So I ordered the Asparagus and Crab Meat Soup (D70,000 or $4.35), Stewed Bellyfish in Pineapple (D105,000 or $6.56) and Grilled Duck Breast with Orange Sauce. (I was ready to eat some poultry after spending my whole trip avoiding chicken or other poultry because of reports of another bird flu death nearby.) Turned out they were out of the duck in orange sauce so I ordered Grilled Duck Breast with Five Tastes (D130,000 or $8.15) as my backup.

The soup is a traditional offering in Vietnam—a clear broth soup with crab meat and diced white asparagus spears. It was enjoyable. The crab was succulent and the asparagus was tender. A sprig of cilantro added the freshness found in all Vietnamese cooking. (I’m going to try to make this soup back home but puree the asparagus instead of just dicing it, making a creamy base instead. Oooh, I’m so radical, I know!)

Then came my two main dishes. The fish came in a claypot (I don’t know why, but for some reason I pictured it coming out in a pineapple boat) and my grilled duck looked tempting fanned out on a platter. I got some steamed rice and was ready to eat.
The fish was perfectly cook, like biting into soft pillows of sweet and sour goodness. Ironically, I didn’t see any bits of pineapple (after being disappointed that it wasn’t served in half a pineapple) despite the dish being called Stewed Bellyfish in Pineapple, or Ca Bong Lau Kho To. I guess it was just stewed in pineapple juice.

My duck was tender but during the whole time I was eating the pieces, I kept thinking, am I eating beef? Did they confuse my order and thought I ordered beef when I wanted duck? The duck meat didn’t have that familiar slightly rear redness of duck or the dark coloring. It was tender and tasted like well-cooked Mongolian beef. And I didn’t taste a variety of spices to create the five tastes. I just had one taste, albeit a good one. It was filling but far from tantalizing.

By the end of the meal, I was ready to leave with just a passing look at the dessert menu. (They had the typical sweet soups, baked apple pie and crème caramel.) While the execution of the dishes was spot on, they hardly pushed the nouveau lines like the restaurant posters’ claimed.

When my bill arrived, I was charged a service charge (5%) and some weird local tax (10%) that none of the other restaurants I ate in during my trip ever charged me. My total came out to D433,125 (or $27), easily the highest amount I paid for dinner for my entire trip. It's a decent tab for the United States but scandalous in Vietnam. I walked back to my hotel in the night and was jealous of all the diners sitting on plastic stools eating from street vendors.

Single guy rating: 3.5 stars (perfect for foodies looking for a luxury touch)

Explanation of the single guy's rating system:
1 star = perfect for college students
2 stars = perfect for new diners
3 stars = perfect for foodies
4 stars = perfect for expense accounts
5 stars = perfect for any guy's dream dinner

Postscript Saigon: My Plate is Too Full
I didn’t get a chance to write about all my eating adventures in Saigon/HCMC. I stuck with mostly the high points. Below is a quick look at some of my other meals, some hits and some misses, that rounded out my Vietnam culinary experience.
Singapore Fried Noodles at Kim Café, 270 De Tham, District 1 (near the so-called "backpackers district" because of the many youth hostels nearby). I ate at this café because it also has a travel agency right next door where I arranged my tour of the Mekong Delta. This place was like a dive, but the food was clean, hearty and cheap. This noodle dish, of course, is not Vietnamese but a traditional Singaporean dish that I order often back home. The base is thin vermicelli rice noodles and it’s often served with eggs and shrimp in a curry base. It was filling!
Seasoned Cold Noodles at Nha Hang Xinh Xinh, 106 Nguyen Thi Minh Khai St., District 3. This was one of my few non-Vietnamese dinners. I ate at this Korean restaurant because I was searching for a seafood restaurant recommended in Food and Wine Magazine, but the restaurant was closed (or Food and Wine got the address wrong!). I ordered up several dishes, including this cold noodle dish that I thought would be perfect in the hot weather. It was a bit gummy. Ironically, it tasted way better after I took it home and placed it in my hotel refrigerator for awhile. Then it was perfect! (By the way, this Korean restaurant just opened and the service was fantastic. Food is your standard Korean fare.)
Sauteed Frog Legs with Mushrooms at Phuong Nam in Can Tho. On my first night in the Mekong Delta, our tour guide took us to eat at this restaurant often recommended by tour guides. The food was mediocre and I was trying to find something unusual but the most exotic (other than the snake meat appetizers) was this dish of frog legs. While most of my fellow travelers (from Australia and Germany) thought I was weird, it was no biggie since I’ve eaten frog legs before in Paris, New York and the Bay Area. These were just OK, served up with simple button mushrooms.
Ca Kho To or Boneless Fish in Clay Pot at Nam Bo in Can Tho. On our second day in Can Tho, our tour guide took us back to Phuong Nam to eat at the restaurant right next door. The owners are friends and they share similar items on the menu. However, the cooking technique at this restaurant next door is far superior. This claypot dish was so fresh, tasty and fluffy (is that a culinary description?) that it turned me on to claypot cooking, which I plan to make soon.
Meat With Burnt Rice at Nha Hang, 242 Tran Bing Trong, District 5. After walking in this area known as the Chinatown of Saigon and not finding one dim sum restaurant, I wandered into this local dive that looked pretty crowded with Vietnamese people having an afternoon drink. I saw on the menu this dish called Meat with Burnt Rice and wondered what it could be. Ugh, the horror. It was rice from the bottom of the rice pot that had been puffed up into what resembled rice crackers. (All you dieters know what I mean.) And then grounded meat was poured over the rice pieces. Probably my worst meal in Vietnam, but luckily, only one or two mishaps in what was generally a wonderful culinary experience.

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Travel Snacks: The Banh Mi

Today and tomorrow will be my last reports from Vietnam. :( Yes, this special series is coming to an end. This is my 14th report on my recent trip to Saigon/Ho Chi Minh City. Return tomorrow for my final report and, as always, check my archives under the Travel labels for past reports.As I wind down my special reports from Saigon/Ho Chi Minh City, I can't go without talking about the banh mi, the ubiquitous sandwich that's found all over the streets and inside restaurants trying to imitate the street vendors.

I get the Vietnamese sandwich (that's what they're called outside Vietnam and in the Bay Area) often for lunch because of the low price, only $2.50 in Oakland. And the characteristics are always crunchy French baguette, meat pieces, pickled vegetables, and spicy mayonnaise sauce. And also something hot like jalapeno slices and something cool like cilantro.
In Vietnam, I found that the original didn't sway too far from what I get in California. But it was different on some fronts. For example, while the bread was extremely crusty and consistently good at virtually every street seller (they must all buy from the same bakery), it was a bit shorter than what's used in the Bay Area. I'd say it's maybe about 2 to 3 inches shorter. Also, the banh mi I got in Saigon/HCMC was a lot more spicier! Everyone made their sandwiches slightly different. Some used a mayonnaise that's sweetened and spicy, but most people used what looked like a vinagrette that they slathered on and it was very spicy. What's funny is that they don't ask if you want it spicy or not, apparently everyone likes it that way. (Or, maybe they figured out I was a tourist and thought, hmmm, let's give this American something to remember.)
The banh mi sellers can be found in the morning to night. But primarily they're sold in the afternoon as an after work snack as people ate them to tie them over until dinner. They were life savers for me when I spent all day walking around and needed a quick bite but didn't know where to go. I could always count on a banh mi that'll only cost me between 50 cents to $1. I'd often buy one and take it back to my hotel to eat. In the Mekong Delta, you can even find them at the floating markets!
The making of the banh mi is pretty simple. They'll start by slicing the bread, and then giving you a choice of meat or pate. (They'd always push the pate because it's a bit more expensive but I can't stand the idea of grounded meat.) Then they add some pickled vegetables and herbs (not as much as the ones in the states I noticed) and then added the spicy sauce. All the banh mi sellers were always very friendly. They post what they're selling on signs on their stands. So just point to the one that you want. If you don't recognize any of the words for beef, chicken or pork, then just point to the ingredients in front of you. It's the perfect fast-food.

Postscript Saigon: Fruits of Vietnam
It was fun exploring the many markets of Vietnam and seeing the fruits, even during what I thought was their winter. Because of the warm (oh so warm) weather, you see a lot of tropical fruits. Some of them reminded me of my childhood in Hawaii, including papayas, pineapples and mountain apples. But there were far more exotic fruits such as mangosteen (primarily from Thailand), dragon fruit (tastes like a kiwi) and durian. But my favorite looking fruit that I thought was so beautiful and unusual was the rambutan. This fruit looked like a spiky golf ball, more like something you'd see in the sea (yeah, like a sea urchin). But it is actually more like the lychee fruit, with a hard red shell but inside is a pure white meaty fruit that's sweet. I vote for the rambuntan as the most exotic and beautiful fruit around.

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Food Nirvana That Is Dean & Deluca

I don't get a chance to head up to Napa Valley that often since I don't own a car anymore. But whenever I do, I have to make a stop at my church, which is the Dean & Deluca store in St. Helena.

Dean & Deluca is my dream gourmet store. I just love exploring the various food products and fresh foods that they sell. I admit, I probably have a bias for D&D because of my love of New York. When I was living back east, I just loved spending a Sunday afternoon exploring Dean & Deluca's SOHO store.

During my recent visit, it was crowded as usual. I got myself a freshly made sandwich for lunch (it was huge and filling!) and picked myself a cannister of Herbs de Provence (I love their house blend!) and a jar of black currant jam. (It's hard to find black currant because everyone makes generally red currant. But black currant is especially common in Great Britain, so I always look for a British imported jam at gourmet stores.) That was it, not a big bag of supplies since I'm trying to stick to my budget.

I read on a discussion board how one person said stores like Dean & Deluca is just fooling people into buying the Napa country living ideal at a high price. I admit there's much truth to that, but sometimes I feel it's worth the price to get the sense you're enjoying food in a relaxing lifestyle that combines living well with nature. Even if it comes packaged in a black and white D&D bag. :)
The first thing you see when you enter Dean & Deluca is a mini produce area that sells a lot of Napa-grown produce and a few unusual items. Of course, they are generally overpriced but still fun to check out.
I love cheese and you can find a lot of California and imported cheese at the D&D counter. Grab a loaf of bread and a nice smooth cheese and sit out in the vineyards to snack with a glass of wine. Now that's Napa Valley living!
The deli counter has a nice array of special salads and meats. I love anything with beets or artichoke.
They make your sandwiches while you wait now instead of pre-made sandwiches. You can just from a variety of breads. I love the pig display block. :)
I haven't really bought any of the baked goods or sweets at Dean & Deluca, but it's still free to look!
These coconut and lemongrass cupcakes looked especially beautiful.
Many of Dean & Deluca house products are displayed in its signature tin cans. These cans are filled with nuts for snacking.
These days, everything is focused on the charcuterie. This is D&D's charcuterie counter that's expanded over the years with local and imported cured meats.
Of course, you can't have a store in the heart of Napa Valley with a nice wine selection. D&D has a "wine hall" that's almost half the size of the store. Here's their selections for Sauvignon Blanc.
Being in marketing, I respect when a company is successful in branding. The simplicity of Dean & Deluca's design reflects that sophisticated style that has totally hooked people like me into their brand. I'm not going to fight it. :)

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Mustard Season in Napa

OK, so this post isn't really a food post, but it's indirectly so. Oh hell, it's just a nice photo, all right. As I mentioned earlier, I went to Napa Valley last weekend with my nephew who's visiting from Chicago on his spring break. One of the nice thing about visiting Napa around this time is it's mustard season. So certain places around the valley you'll see these burst of golden yellow with these fields inundated with mustard plants. Here in this field in Rutherford, a bunch of tourist waded into this mustard field to snap that classic Napa Valley photo during mustard season. But speaking of food, here's a classic mustard recipe from my archives. It's my quick and easy Honey Mustard Salmon. See, I did bring it back to food! :)

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Cooking With Purple Potatoes

I bought a bag of purple potatoes recently and was inspired to make the following soup recipe. The purple of the potatoes made me think of the lavender herbs I still have in my pantry that I bought at the Portland farmers' market. So since the purple also has the same color of lavender, I thought it'll be an interesting soup to make.

Purple potatoes pop up sometimes in the market, and they're generally pretty small but creamy. (I got it at my local Safeways, and you can find it regularly at this one particular farmer stand at the Ferry Building Farmers Market in San Francisco every Saturday.) I made them into mashed potatoes once and they were a bit thicker than regular potatoes. For this soup, it'll make your soup pretty thick, that's why it's nice to add some creme fraiche or heavy cream to make it more silky. The lavender, as always, is a very subtle flavoring. If your herbs are really fresh, then you don't need much. But if you've had your lavender around for awhile, it may have lost some punch, so add more. This is a fun dish to make if you have a color-themed dinner to make. Enjoy!

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Lavender Potato Soup

Copyright 2007 by Cooking With The Single Guy

Ingredients:
1 lb. purple potatoes, peeled and sliced
1 sweet onion, diced
2 T lavender flowers for cooking
1 T extra virgin olive oil
1 can (14 oz.) chicken broth (or 1 1/2 cups)
1 cup water
2 to 3 oz. creme fraiche or heavy cream
salt to taste

Warm oil in a large saucepan or pot over medium high heat and then add onions. Saute until translucent (about 1 minute) and then add broth and water. Add potatoes and bring to a boil, then reduce to a simmer. Place lavender herbs into a mesh cooking sock or tea bag and then place it into the pot to simmer with the potatoes.

Cook the potatoes until very soft, about 15 to 20 minutes (depends how thick you sliced the potatoes). When done, remove pot from heat. Take out the bag of lavender. With a hand blender, pulse the potatoes into a creamy mixture. (You can also put the potatoes and broth into a blender or food processor to puree.*)

When you have a nice smooth texture, salt to taste and then add either the creme fraiche or heavy cream to make it even smoother.

Makes 2 to 3 servings. Serve with Herbs de Provence crostini.

* When using a blender or food processor, never put hot liquid or fill to the top. Let the broth cool and put small batches to puree.

TIP: Funny thing about the purple potatoes is that if you cool it (such as putting it in the refrigerator to reheat to eat later), they'll turn blue. So don't be surprised if you see a blue pot of liquid. Don't worry, it'll turn back to purple when warmed. If you want to have fun, you can serve it cold to freak people out if you ever have a blue-themed dinner.

EATING LAVENDER: Don't forget that using lavender herbs for this dish to use lavender specifically made for cooking. You can't just use bunch of lavender you find in the aromatherapy section like lavender satchels or potpourri. Those have been chemically treated. Look for cooking lavender in the gourmet cooking or kitchen stores.

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Is It Soup or Art?

I went to dinner at Dopo near my neighborhood tonight and they were serving this chilled soup. When it came out, I had to take a picture because it was like some weird art deco soup on acid. It was actually their fennel soup with blood oranges. It had this luscious olive oil with basil like a pesto oil. With the warm weather lately, and my penchant for making soup, I wanted to be inspired to make some chilled soup. So this has got me thinking. Hmmmm.

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Dish on Dining: Ad Hoc

Keller’s Family-Style Spot Is No Passing Fancy
6476 Washington St., Yountville
Napa Valley
Ph: 707.944.2487
Web site
Pre-fixe dinner Thursday to Monday (UPDATE 9/13/08: Ad Hoc now serves dinner nightly and Sunday brunch)
Reservations, major credit cards accepted

This week my nephew from college came to visit me for his spring break. While there weren’t a bevy of bikini babes around, we did our share of celebrating with a warm early spring weekend in Napa Valley.

When in Napa, you can’t go wrong with dinner at any of the fine establishments on Washington Street in Yountville. A couple of those establishments, of course, belongs to the renown Thomas Keller of The French Laundry and Bouchon. And now there’s a third option, the “temporary” casual family-style restaurant called Ad Hoc.

So the story goes that Keller opened Ad Hoc last November with the idea that it would be open for just six months as he develops his more permanent concept for a rustic burger joint. But like all things Keller touches, the restaurant has been another golden success and word has it that the restaurant will be open indefinitely.

Walking into the cozy room brightly painted in Napa colors, you get a sense that someone purposely tried to make the place seem temporary. It’s as if temporary was the design theme, starting with the “name tag” stickers as a look for the restaurant sign and the words “for temporary relief from hunger” throughout. By the bar, a wall hanging says simply “Restaurant” and the knives come from “Christofle Hotel” almost like it was bought in bulk at a restaurant consignment store.

But the temporary feel does not flow into the service and food. Like all Keller’s other restaurants, Ad Hoc runs like a well-oiled machine. Dinner seating and reservations are paced nicely so that people aren’t crowded at the door waiting and the servers (with the exception of one who greeted us at the door) were friendly and attentive.

Along with the casual setting (the receptionist responded, when asked about the dress code on the phone, “we wear jeans so you can too”), Ad Hoc offers the concept of family meals with a fixed four-course menu for dinner, similar to Chez Panisse. I like the idea of having the menu set by the chef, based on what’s fresh at the market that day, and that I won’t be overwhelmed by many choices. And it’s also a neat sense of camaraderie knowing that everyone else is eating the same thing. So there’s not a lot of peeking at other tables to see if others were smarter in their menu selection.

On the night I went with my nephew, the four courses included Roasted Beet & Chickpea Salad, Braised Snake River Farm’s Kurobuta Pork Short Ribs, Cana de Cabra (a cheese course) and a Warm Basque Cake for dessert.
Because it’s family style, the dishes are brought out on a single platter and diners serve themselves, passing the big plate around the table. Since it was just the two of us, it was easy to serve and the portions were very generous.
The salad was a beautiful boat of red and golden beets with julienned endives and many, many chickpeas. It was well done, but that’s because beet salad is not very complicated to make. (You can even see the recipe that I make on my own.) Still, it was a nice start to the dinner reflecting the season.
Our main entree of braised pork short ribs looked mouthwatering. I could just see the sea salt still crystalized on the top of the pork. It was a moist, soft adventure in eating. My educated guess is that the pork was prepared using the plastic bag technique where moisture is locked in but the meat is cooked in a plastic bag. I say this because the meat was sooo tender but the fat was not rendered off at all. The fatty portions of the pork was just as soft as the meat. For my personal taste, I’m no fan of fat (which is why I don’t eat foie gras), so having to maneuver around chunks of pork fat was not appealing.

What was amazing, however, was the bed of roasted Yukon gold potatoes and the apples that topped the pork. Both were cooked just right. In fact, my nephew and I loved the potatoes so much that I asked for another serving, which we ate with our next course, the cheese plate.
The cheese plate was an interesting grouping of a Spanish goat cheese, almonds and a quince paste. They all looked very appealing, but I didn’t understand how we were supposed to eat this dish easily. I basically grabbed a tiny almond, scooped up a bit of cheese and dipped it in the paste. It was a nice combination, but a lot of work. Our server thought we didn’t like the cheese because we only ate a quarter of the cheese despite using all the almond pieces. The cheese was excellent, but I asked the server how we were supposed to eat it (I really was looking for some crackers). He said some people just got their fork and dug right in. Just the thought of that made my arteries harden at the image.

Our final course was dessert and keeping with the Spanish theme, we were served an individual size Basque cake topped with dried fruit compote. I was looking forward to a warm cake, but after having a life-changing warm cake in Vietnam recently, my standards for warm cake is very high. The cake at Ad Hoc was tasty, but it was slightly dry and the exterior was a bit tough. The fruits selected for the toppings could have been more interesting, but it was uneventful dried fruits. It was an OK ending to what started off as a promising dinner.

A minor note: I had two glasses of wine (my nephew wasn’t drinking). I started with a white Riesling to pair with the beet salad and moved on to a Napa Valley Cabernet Franc to go with the pork. Both were marginal and quite forgettable, which is disappointing for a restaurant in the heart of wine country.

Despite some missteps in the dinner menu, the overall experience of Ad Hoc was relaxing and fun. The casual setting made it easy for one to relax and enjoy the food, and the food did provide a few highlights. It’ll be interesting to go back to Ad Hoc when it serves something other than short ribs (apparently the pork short ribs is a popular entree because I’ve heard of others being served this entree item on other nights).

Ad Hoc is also a nice price point to expose yourself to the Keller experience without getting a line of credit to dine at The French Laundry. Because of Keller’s reputation, the location on Washington Street, and what will probably be an increasing level of menu creations, I’m sure this temporary restaurant will be around for some time.

Single guy rating: 4 stars (perfect for families with an expense account)

Explanation of the single guy's rating system:
1 star = perfect for college students
2 stars = perfect for new diners
3 stars = perfect for foodies
4 stars = perfect for expense accounts
5 stars = perfect for any guy's dream dinner

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Business Lunch: Rice and Beans

Where I work, there aren't many options for lunch. So most days I bring my lunch from home. Not only do I save money, but I feel like I'm eating healthier than grabbing the overly salted chicken or greasy hamburgers around my office. This is a new feature I'm calling "Business Lunch" where I'll share some of my ideas for brown bagging at work.

Because I have a microwave at my office's break room, I have more flexibility in bringing in leftovers to warm up. This particular dish always gets people's noses sniffing whenever I cook this in the office. (Mostly because of the sausages.) I saw this recipe many years ago in a newspaper food section and over the years have altered it to add my favorite ingredients and dropping some of the frivolous parts. What I like about this recipe is you can chop up all the ingredients and basically dump them into your rice cooker. Then you get enough to last you about three days of lunches! It's a hearty dish with a savory touch. Have a nice lunch break!

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Rice and Beans with Kielbasa Sausage

Copyright 2007 by Cooking With The Single Guy

Ingredients:
1½ cups* brown rice (or substitute with your favorite long grain rice)
3 oz. turkey kielbasa sausage**, chopped
1 15-oz. can kidney beans
1 14-oz. can chicken broth or 1-2/3 cups chicken broth
1 green bell pepper, diced
1 leek (white part only), small dices
1 shallot, minced
½ t white pepper
½ t dried thyme
1 T extra virgin olive oil
1 cup cilantro, chopped (optional)
pinch of salt

* If using the plastic cup that came with the rice cooker, use two cups full.

** Fully cooked sausages make it easier for this recipe. But if you use raw, boil your sausage for about 20 minutes before pan searing it with the vegetables.

Rinse rice and then place in rice cooker or medium saucepan with broth. Start to cook rice. (If you’re not using a rice cooker, bring rice and broth to a boil and then reduce to simmer.)

In a saute pan, warm olive oil over medium high heat. Add shallot and saute until translucent (about 1 minute) and then add bell pepper and leek and season with salt. Continue cooking for another minute and then add sausages. Let the juices from the sausages blend with the vegetables and season with pepper and thyme. Turn off heat and set aside.

When your rice starts to boil, add the vegetables and sausages from your saute pan into rice cooker. Mix well; cover and continue cooking.

Rinse your beans and cilantro (optional) and set aside to drain. About 10 minutes before your rice is done, mix in the beans and cilantro to the rice cooker to finish the dish.

When your rice is done (check to see if rice kernel is plump and soft), turn off heat and serve.
Makes 6 servings.

Serve with a glass of Shiraz (unless you’re at work, then stick with iced tea).

TIP: It’s ideal to cook with a rice cooker since it’s simple and doesn’t need constant attention. But if you don’t have a rice cooker, you can use a pot or saucepan that’ll fit all the ingredients. To cook rice in a pan, bring the rice to a boil (making sure the broth covers the rice about a half-inch over) and then simmer until done. This varies but should take about 25 to 35 minutes. (Longer for brown rice.) But when you add other ingredients to the rice, the cooking time may take a bit longer (maybe an additional 10 minutes). Check to see if the rice is done when the broth is virtually evaporated and absorbed into the rice, making it plump.

AROMATHERAPY: Cilantro has an incredibly fresh aroma that makes any dish more enticing, in my opinion. However, I know some people who are extremely turned off by the smell of cilantro. If you’re one of them, just substitute with another fresh herb like basil or Italian parsley. Also, if you want to retain more of the scent of the cilantro or herb, mix it in after the dish is done instead of with the beans. When it’s cooked with the beans, the herb gets absorbed into the rice but loses its punch. You decide how much aroma you want your rice and bean dish to pack.

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Travel Dish: Wrap & Roll

This is the 13th in a special series of food reports from my recent trip to Saigon/Ho Chi Minh City in Vietnam. Return every Sunday and Monday for the latest postings.It’s Got Spring Roll Franchise Written All Over It
62 Hai Ba Trung St., District 1
Saigon/HCMC
Major credit cards accepted; 5 percent service charge
Open daily, 7:30 a.m. to 10:30 p.m.

When you walk through the clear doors of the lime green-and-yellow decorated Wrap & Roll, you can almost close your eyes and imagine that you’re in Manhattan instead of Ho Chi Minh City.

With its contemporary, hipster design and servers dressed in store-branded T-shirts, Wrap & Roll could be replicated easily as a franchise. Fortunately for me, there was just one to try out after walking around the tourist area in District 1.

The tiny restaurant looks almost like a smoothie shop, with an emphasis on healthy ingredients. But the star showcased on the menu is definitely the Vietnamese spring rolls, or cha gio. Serving both lunch and dinner, Wrap & Roll list more than 16 styles of rolls, ranging in price from D18,000 to D35,000 (or $1.10 to $2.18). They also offer salads, hot pots and desserts. And yes, a list of fruit smoothies.
I came in for dinner and started with the Goi Xoai or mango salad. It came nicely presented with the typical shrimp chips on the sides. Like most salads I’ve eaten in Vietnam, it was light and crunchy, with the julienned unripen mango tasting very similar to green papaya, except thicker.

For my entrée, I ordered the Ca Chinh Mong Nghe, or Grilled Sea Eel with Tumeric and Calanga. I have to admit, I was intrigued by the idea of tumeric and calanga. Even though I can’t recall if I ate anything with these ingredients, they sounded exotic enough to pair up with grilled sea eel, which I imagined to be like unagi (the Japanese barbeque eel popular at sushi bars).
My eel came out in a platter with my various ingredients ready for me to assemble. There was the fresh greens, rice noodles, the rice paper wraps, and the grilled eel. I couldn’t wait to get started. If you’ve ever assembled a spring roll, you know you have to lightly wet the rice papers to soften them. At Wrap & Roll, they bring the rice wraps pre-moistened. You can guess what this meant. Yep, my rice papers stuck to each other or had dried out to be hard. It was difficult maneuvering all the ingredients into the stiff wrapper. And on top of that, I don’t think I really tasted a distinct tumeric spice in the eel (although it was moist).

I probably should have ordered the pre-made rolls, which come out to you already assembled. The entire assembling at your table is a nice idea if they provide a dish of liquid to help you moisten the wrappers.

My highlight at Wrap & Roll, however, was the lychee smoothie I ordered to drink with my meal. It was amazingly tasty in a not-so-sweet but delicate manner that makes you want to bottle it up and take several home with you back to the United States. I would go back just for the smoothies.

While Wrap & Roll is a fun place to visit, I would recommend it more as a fun lunch spot or afternoon snack hang out after a day of strolling Saigon. I wouldn’t recommend it for dinner unless you’re on a smoothie-only diet!

Single guy rating: 3 stars (perfect for foodies looking for an afternoon snack)

Explanation of the single guy's rating system:
1 star = perfect for college students
2 stars = perfect for new diners
3 stars = perfect for foodies
4 stars = perfect for expense accounts
5 stars = perfect for any guy's dream dinner

Postscript Saigon: The Coop
Shopping in Vietnam happens entirely on the streets from markets like farmers markets here or street vendors and even hawkers that basically just set up shop anywhere they like. But like all cities moving toward modernization, there are a few stores opening up that resemble the grocery stores of the West. One of them was called the Coop (which I assumed was short for co-operative) and this was just at the end of the block of my hotel. It looks huge outside and inside it's this two-story department store with food products on the ground floor and clothing on the second floor. The food products was a nice assortment of things to buy, but I have to say that the produce didn't match the fresh quality of those found on the streets. It's a great place to buy bottled water, though.

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Travel Dish: Bun Viet (Vietnam)

This is the 12th in a special series of food reports from my recent trip to Saigon/Ho Chi Minh City in Vietnam. Return every Sunday and Monday for the latest postings.
Refreshing Delights In a Bowl
14 Le Quy Don, District 3
Saigon/HCMC
PH: (08) 9303.153
www.bunviethaisan.com
Major credit cards, reservations accepted

During my pre-reading for my trip to Saigon/Ho Chi Minh City, a blogger mentioned how Bun Viet had the best noodles in town. The blogger is known as “Noodlepie” so I figured he must have some experience with noodles.

I have to give my props to Noodlepie. He sure knows his noodles.

The noodles at Bun Viet were fine and thin. It was the perfect accent to the traditional Vietnamese dish known as bun — rice vermicelli noodles topped with meat and herbs and dressed with fish sauce. Unlike the soup noodle pho, bun is ideal for hot weather because of the light feel of the thin vermicelli and the cool freshness of the herbs and fish sauce. And my bowl of bun at Bun Viet didn’t disappoint.

Just a couple of blocks from the War Remnant Museum in District 3, Bun Viet is an elegant restaurant with a casual sense. The shaded outdoor seating framed with bamboo trees signals a relaxing setting to enjoying a bowl of bun. (A warning: this block’s addresses are typical of some Vietnamese roads where the numbers don’t go in sequence; so you may feel you passed 14 Le Quy when you actually didn’t. Just look for Bun Viet’s two-story structure.)

The restaurant plays to the tourist with the photo menu/bulletin board at the entrance, but when I visited there seemed to be just as many locals enjoying the restaurant’s cuisine.
The friendly service was far from casual. It reminded me of a French restaurant with the attention to details. For example, I sat and watched a server meticulously wrap a wine bottle in a white napkin before pouring it for guests at a nearby table.

Along with the restaurant’s namesake, Bun Viet also serves seafood dishes, hot pots, spring rolls and salads. I ordered a dish of grilled squid to start and the Saigon Grilled Pork and Vermicelli Noodles.
The calamari came first in a light spicy sauce served with chilies and sweet sauce on the side. They were more tender than the squid I had earlier in my trip at Quan An Ngon, and just as tasty.

Then the star attraction, my bun, the Saigon Grilled Pork. Once I took my first bite of noodles with a bit of pork and herbs, the freshness came over me and I felt a few degrees cooler despite the humidity outside. I realized that the Vietnamese’s trick to beating the heat was to eat all their meals with fresh herbs. Who am I to argue? My bun’s freshness came from the array of shredded carrots, cucumber, bean sprouts, cabbage, fresh basil and peanuts. They all blended nicely with the slight drizzle of fish sauce I poured on top and was fully complemented by the fine, thin vermicelli.

As a nice finish to this delightful meal, the staff brings you a refreshing glass of green iced tea in probably one of the most beautiful glasses I’ve seen at a Saigon restaurant. It was a perfect end to a memorable meal, and all for only D95,000 (or $5.93).

Single guy rating: 4 stars (perfect for travelers who want to treat their whole tour group)

Explanation of the single guy's rating system:
1 star = perfect for college students
2 stars = perfect for new diners
3 stars = perfect for foodies
4 stars = perfect for expense accounts
5 stars = perfect for any guy's dream dinner

Postscript Saigon: No Lotto Winners Here
Exploring the city, I noticed all these places called Lotteria. They were all brightly lit and had the modern-plastic sign of a Walgreens or Rite Aid. Because of its name, I thought it might have been the locations to buy lottery tickets. Turns out, Lotteria is the main fast-food chain in Vietnam, and instead of the change for millions, you just get the chance to order a burger. (But I didn’t, because I didn’t travel to Vietnam to eat burgers.)

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Quick and Easy Chicken

So I did my taxes awhile back and even though I'm getting a refund, it wasn't as big a refund I had hoped. Which means more scrimping and saving paycheck to paycheck.

Whenever I feel like I'm in a financial crunch, dinner gets scaled back to the basics. And one of my standby recipes is something I created in graduate school at Columbia in New York. In the dorm I lived in, there was this beautiful young woman who had a Caucasian dad and a Japanese mom. So the mix was this sweet, beautiful girl who always cooked with soy sauce and made everyone jealous during dinner time.

She was the one who introduced me to Mirin. No, that wasn't her roommate. It's the often-used rice cooking wine in many Japanese recipes. The following recipe is your typical teriyaki-style chicken, but with an extra emphasis on ginger and that sweet taste of Mirin. It's easy, uses very little ingredients, and is a hardy dish on a budget. Enjoy!

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Ginger Chicken

Copyright 2007 by Cooking With The Single Guy

Ingredients:
6 oz. chicken breast, cut into cubes or strips
1 T sesame oil
1 T plus 2 t Mirin (sweet cooking rice wine)
1 T plus 2 t soy sauce
1 T fresh ginger, minced
¼ t white pepper

Combine all the ingredients together with the chicken and let marinade for at least 10 minutes. Warm a little bit of oil in a wok or large skillet over medium high heat and add chicken. Stir-fry until golden brown (about 3 minutes each side). Garnish with green onions.

Makes two servings. Serve with steamed rice and seasonal greens.

TIP: The caramelization of the chicken is done with the high heat of your wok and the sugar content in the Mirin. After some practice, you’ll get a hang of knowing how much liquid and space you need in your wok to ensure a nice browning without burning your chicken. The trick with stir-frying is to not overcrowding your wok with chicken pieces (you may need to cook in batches if you have a small wok) and to not drown your chicken (too much liquid will take longer to create the caramelization effect). To avoid drowning your chicken in liquid, add the chicken pieces with just a little bit of marinade, and then add more liquid gradually as your wok dries out during the cooking process.

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In Line at Tartine Bakery

I'm surprised that while I was living in San Francisco, I never went to the Tartine Bakery. I guess maybe it was because it's on Guerrero Street, which to me is like in between the Mission and Castro and no where near the bus line. But when I saw the beautiful cookbook that came out around Christmastime, my interest was piqued to find out what this bakery had to offer.

So this past Saturday, I went over to the Mission to visit this popular bakery. I arrived to see a line snaking out around the entrance of the tiny bakery. OK, really. Do I have to stand in line for just a slice of passion fruit lime bavarian cake!? Since I didn't have anything better to do and I caught the BART all the way to the city from Rockridge, stand in line I did. Below is my recap of how I spent 25 minutes of my life this past Saturday at the Tartine Bakery.

By the way, I got a slice of the bavarian cake (pictured above) along with a slice of the almond lemon pound cake, and yes, it was soooo worth standing in line for 25 minutes. The passion fruit cake was so moist and gave this slightly tart kick that was so original, it was amazing. (I could have done without the coconut flakes on the exterior, though. I just don't get it.) And the almond pound cake was soooo almond-tasting I felt like I was eating a Chinese almond cookie, but in a flaky bread form. So luscious. Tartine Bakery is definitely a place to visit, MUNI lines be damned!

12:55 p.m.-- I arrive at Tartine Bakery and Cafe to find this line already forming outside. What? Is everyone having a late lunch?

1 p.m. -- This is when I finally inch toward the front sign where I can now find out that, yes, the bakery is open. Also, they make their bread Wednesdays through Sundays but they don't come out of the oven until after 5 p.m. Hmmm, I guess no bread for me.

Who's Carl? I saw this right at the entrance. I wonder if there used to be a diner here before the bakery named Carl's Diner? I like how they've kept up the past decor.

1:05 p.m.-- Yes, I finally get inside the cafe and bakery, where there are just a few tables of people enjoying lunch and baked goods. Cool art.

1:08 p.m. -- I reach the counter where I can begin to contemplate what I want to purchase. The first thing I see are these Scharffen Berger Chocolate puddings. Everyone loves to cook with Scharffen Berger chocolate, huh?

These "rochers" are meringues with coco ribs. They're only 40 cents each. Not bad pricing, but I have to admit they look a bit odd. Like droppings, if you know what I mean.

More from the glass counter, these are the refrigerated items like lemon tarts and coconut creme tarts. I have to decide soon!
The cafe sells pressed sandwiches that looked de-leee-cious! They were grilled and pressed and panini-style that was so tempting. Unfortunately, I already ate lunch before I got to the bakery so... have...to...stay...focused.

1:11 p.m. -- I put in my order for my passion fruit lime bavarian cake (just a slice because I'm the single guy) and I go for a slice of almond lemon pound cake. No cookies for me.

1:14 p.m. -- I reach the register and pay about $7 for my two items. Where's the tip jar?

1:16 p.m. -- It takes me a good two minutes just to weave myself through the maze of customers inside to finally get outside with my slice of cake (one boxed and one packaged). It's off to the BART for me and home where I can enjoy these treats sitting down. The line disappeared while I was standing in it, but then a second wave came around by the time I left. Everyone wants their Tartine treats!

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The Birth of the Tortata

OK, I'm laying claims to the term I'm creating today: the Tortata. What is that, you say? (Or if you're too lazy to look at the posted recipe below.) It's my name for a cross between a Spanish tortilla and an Italian frittata.

I love brunch because just the idea of it conjurs up images of a slow meal on a beautiful Sunday with friends. One of my standby orders is always eggs (or omelettes). When I was traveling in Barcelona with my sister and brother-in-law, we loved going into the Spanish breakfast joints and ordering a tortilla. Just the combination of eggs and potatoes was a winner with me. (It was also interesting to me how a tortilla in Mexico means that thin pancake for wraps while in Spain it's an egg dish.)

But of course, when I looked at tortilla recipes, I just couldn't bear the idea of all the oil used to fry up the potatoes and creating the egg mixture. Also, the traditional tortilla involves the flipping of the egg creation in the pan over and over until you have this rounded nice golden brown pancake that you slice up and serve at room temperature for breakfast. I didn't like the idea of flipping over and over, but I liked the technique often used to make frittatas where you place your pan under the broiler to cook the top (or bottom, depending on how you serve it). The frittatas are generally slipped onto a platter from the pan to serve, but I like the clean look of the bottom when flipped over and revealing the smooth surface created against the pan. You can be creative and make patterns with your ingredients so you can have an interesting artwork for brunch!

So here's my tortata. If you like it, order it at your favorite restaurant next time for brunch. When they look at you with that confused, what-the-heck-is-a-tortata look, send them to my blog! :)

Photo above is my tortata as it comes from under the broiler with the sides just slightly golden brown. Hmmmm.

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Single Guy's Tortata

Copyright 2007 by Cooking With The Single Guy

Ingredients:
5 eggs
1 red bell pepper
4-5 fresh basil leaves
4-5 red potatoes, thinly sliced
6-8 oz. crème fraiche (or sour cream)
¼ cup Parmesan cheese
1 clove garlic, minced
2 T extra virgin olive oil
salt and pepper

Start by roasting your red bellpepper, remove skin, cut into 5 to 6 strips, and then set aside with basil leaves.

Thinly slice your potatoes and place them in a large saucepan filled with water to pre-cook. Bring the water to a boil and cook potatoes covered until tender (about 12-15 minutes). Be sure to add salt to the water. Drain and set aside.

In a large bowl, mix your eggs with the crème fraiche and cheese. Add the potatoes to the egg mixture, making sure all the slices are coated. Add salt and pepper for taste (about 2 teaspoon of each or how you usually salt your eggs).

In a 10-inch non-stick saute pan or skillet, heat the olive oil and garlic over medium high (making sure not to burn your garlic). Then arrange your red bell pepper slices and basil leaves into a pattern of your choice. Pour in your egg and potato mixture, using a spatula or wooden spoon to make sure the potatoes are evenly distributed throughout the pan. Cook for about a minute on medium high heat before reducing it to low medium heat. Cook for another 12-15 minutes until the egg mixture seems firm when you shake the pan. (It should have a slight jiggle but shouldn’t be like Jello nor stiff like a cake.)

Then place entire pan under the broiler for about 10 minutes to complete the cooking. When done, let cool for about a minute. When ready to serve, place a plate over the pan and flip it over to release your tortata.

Makes four to six servings. Serve with a mixed green salad.

Serve with a mimosa or other Champagne cocktail.

TIP: When slicing your potatoes, you want them really thin because as they’re layered in your pan, you want to be able to cut through them easily with your fork. Use a mandoline if you have one or a sharp chef’s knife to slice your potatoes. (You can peel your potatoes or not, depending on your preference. The skins of red potatoes are usually thin so I don’t mind eating them, but if you don’t like the look, you can peel your potatoes first.) Traditionally, the potatoes are cooked in the pan to brown it slightly and then the egg is added to the pan. But because I’m creating a pattern with the basil and red bell pepper on the bottom, I pre-cook my potatoes separately because cooking them in the pan would mean removing them in order to lay your pattern down. When you’re pouring the eggs and potatoes into the pan and on top of the pattern, you might want to place a few potato slices on top of your design first to make sure the egg liquid won’t mess up your pattern as you do the pour.

SEAL IT: Even though you’re using a non-stick pan, you want to make sure your eggs don’t stick to the bottom when you flip the pan. That’s why I suggest using some olive oil and why it’s important to pour your eggs into a hot pan. The heat will create that initial seal that will keep your eggs from sticking. But only leave it on high for a minute or so because any longer will start to burn the bottom of the pan and you’ll find a dark brown mess when you flip your tortata onto a plate. You know best the temperature of your stove top, so you want it initially high enough to create the seal but then low or medium low to cook the eggs without scorching the bottom.

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Cha Gio (Vietnamese Spring Rolls)

This is the 11th in a special series of food reports from my recent trip to Saigon/Ho Chi Minh City in Vietnam. Return every Sunday and Monday for the latest postings.
The following recipe is from the Vietnam Cookery Center in Saigon/HCMC. It was one of three dishes I learned in a cooking class I took. I tweaked the recipe to include ingredients that you can find in the United States, or at least California. (See yesterday's post below.)

Ingredients:
3 oz. minced pork
2 oz. crab meat
3 oz. minced shrimp
2 shiitake mushrooms, minced
3 oz. shredded or finely julienned taro or turnip
1/2 t powdered chicken boullion
1 t sugar
1 t white pepper
1/2 T chopped spring onions
1 egg yolk
1/2 T chopped shallots
rice paper sheets

In a bowl, mix pork, crab, shrimp, taro (or turnip) and mushroom. Then add shallots, spring onions, sugar, chicken powder, pepper and egg yolk. Mash everything together until they are well combined and become a paste.

Mix a little bit of sugar in a small bowl of water. Using this sugar water, spread a little on the surface of the rice paper evenly (starting from the outside to the inside). Fold the bottom edge of the paper about 2 inches toward the center. Then place 1 tablespoon of the stuffing on the space folded. Fold in the left and right sides and then roll forward toward center, tightly tucking as you roll. Place a little of the sugar water at the edge of the final fold to seal your roll.
Deep fry the spring rolls in a large saucepan with Canola oil or other vegetable oil over medium heat until golden brown. Keep stirring your spring rolls as you fry them to brown them evenly. (Do not crowd your pan. You may need to cook your spring rolls in more than one batch.)

Makes about six rolls. Serve with lettuce, herbs such as basil leaves, and fresh rice noodles and dipping sauce.

Nuoc Mam Cham (Dipping Fish Sauce)

Ingredients:
2 T sugar
2 T lemon juice
2 T fish sauce
1 t chopped garlic
1 t chopped chili, seeded

In a small bowl, add lemon juice, sugar and then fish sauce. Whisk until the sugar is dissolved completely. Then add garlic and chilies. Stir again and taste. Adjust as needed.

Here's a quick demo of how to roll a spring roll by Chef Yun from the Vietnam Cookery Center. He was a very soft-spoken instructor when I took his class, so you might not be able to hear him clearly. But hopefully you can get the idea of how to roll by watching the video:

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What’s Cooking In Vietnam

This is the tenth in a special series of food reports from my recent trip to Saigon/Ho Chi Minh City in Vietnam. Return every Sunday and Monday for the latest postings.I may be a bit harsh on Vietnam when I say there is nothing to do there, other than tasting the culinary delights (which, don’t get me wrong, is quite worth traveling 17 hours by plane to do).

In Saigon/HCMC, the country’s largest city, you’d think they’d at least have a first-rate museum or opera house. But during my recent trip, the museums were poorly kept and the opera house had some weird musical group performing. This island is no Manhattan.

So other than hours of strolling the local markets or taking day trips to the countryside, I found very little to kill the time other than to try different restaurants or spend afternoons in a café reading. But a few smart Vietnamese who recognize the international appeal of their country’s cuisine have started up cooking schools that are popular among tourists. There’s probably a cooking program in most major city in Vietnam. And even if they don’t have a formal program, some restaurant chefs might be willing to even let you watch them cook in the kitchen. (Again, that goes back to the people’s reputation for being friendly.)

In Saigon, I signed up for a cooking class at the Vietnam Cookery Center, a quaint, polished school that’s only about 4 years old. This has to be among the highlights of my trip. Run by friendly English-speaking staff, the Cookery Center is located just north of District 1 (the tourist area) in the neighborhood known as Binh Thanh District. You’ll have to catch a taxi to get there, and many cab drivers may not be familiar with the area so it helps to carry directions to the school (available from the Web site).

Half-day classes are available daily. The cost of $33 (U.S.) includes a meal. (If you take a morning class, you learn to make three dishes that you eat for lunch. The afternoon class ends up making dinner.) You can pay ahead via their Web site by wiring funds to their bank account. But I didn’t feel comfortable sending money beforehand, so I just went early one morning and pleaded to sign up for that day’s class. (Luckily that morning’s class only had four people signed up. If I went the next day, I probably would have been turned away because I learned they had a Japanese tour group of 30 people reserved.) If you don’t get in for that day, you can make a reservation for a future date.

The school is also a functioning restaurant, serving lunch and dinner. I didn’t try the restaurant, though, because I was already pegged to making my own lunch for class. I was excited to cook for myself after days of eating out.
My other classmates included a couple from Canada who travels often to Vietnam. (The woman, when finding out I was from the United States, was quick to question why I was so eager to send people off to war without questioning where the WMDs were. I reminded her that I live near Berkeley, Calif., hoping that city’s anti-war sentiment will win me back some favors with her.) The other two students were old buddies traveling together from Australia.

Our instructor was this soft-spoken man called Chef Yun. We were told that he had a French culinary training and had worked at various restaurants in Vietnam. Chef Yun directed us to our work stations and gave a brief descriptions of the ingredients we were about to use. Some of them I was familiar with back here in the states, but I didn’t recognize others. For example, the Vietnamese use something called “chicken powder,” which looked like a powdered form of chicken bouillon. They also use coconut juice in their cooking (the clear liquid, not to be confused with the white coconut milk substance).

At our little cooking stations, we used a small hot plate with a clay pot on top. I thought this looked like cooking in college, but what we eventually made was nothing like what you make in dorm rooms.

We made three dishes: Cha Gio (deep-fried spring rolls), Ca Kho To (caramel fish in clay pot) and Canh Chua Ca Loc (sour snake fish soup).

We started with the spring rolls. What surprised me were all the ingredients inside, including crab meat (which I love). We also used shredded taro and dried ear mushroom. All the ingredients were mixed into a big clump in our bowls and Chef Yun demonstrated the basic way to fold a spring roll before deep-frying. (I’m going to give the complete recipe and demonstration for spring rolls in tomorrow’s post.)

I was also amazed at the rice wrapper Chef Yun gave us to use. Instead of the typical translucent rice wrappers, this was made from shredded rice noodles, creating an almost mesh-like patterned wrapper. Chef Yun said this particular wrapper (which I still have to hunt for here in the states) makes the rolls crispier.

My spring rolls looked overweight after I loosely wrapped them. But after deep-frying them, we all went over to the table to enjoy this snack, eating them the Vietnamese way of placing them with rice noodles inside a lettuce leaf and served with the dipping sauce we made featuring, of course, fish sauce.
Next was caramel fish. I was excited about this too because I ate a fantastic version of this common Vietnamese dish the night before at a restaurant in the Mekong Delta, and now I’ll be learning how to make it myself. We used a steak-cut of a fish called snake fish, which seems to be popular on the menus of Vietnamese restaurants. In the Bay Area, I’m thinking I could substitute with something like catfish or snapper. Chef Yun said it was important to have the fish cut cross-wise into steaks because that was easier to work with in the clay pot.

Chef Yun also pre-made a caramel sauce, which is basically condensed sugar with oil. He drizzled some into each of our clay pot as we let the fish marinate. After about 30 minutes, we started cooking our fish by sautéing it in the claypot on medium high heat. Chef Yun pointed out that the Vietnamese cook mostly using medium high heat and Chinese cuisine often calls for a hot wok. I have to admit, I was so tempted to sear my fish to give it more color, but I didn’t want to start a fire and get on Chef Yun’s bad side.

After just a few minutes of cooking, we set the fish aside and left it to rest covered in the clay pot.

The final dish was a sour fish soup, again made in a clay pot. This was the first time I had this soup, which gets its main sour taste from the fresh pineapples and tamarind sauce. It had the same sour taste of Chinese hot and sour soup, but without the “hot.” We basically added all the ingredients together in a fish broth and thickened our soup with cornstarch. Super easy.
After a couple of hours of cooking, we ate our dishes. Chef Yun served up some steamed rice scented with pandan leaves. It was a real feast with so much to eat. I was pleased that my dishes turned out great and was surprised at how easy it was to make.

After a brief “ceremony” where we all got our certificates, I left inspired to make these simple dishes back home. I’ll be posting these recipes soon once I get find myself a clay pot!

Vietnam Cookery School, M1 Cu Xa Tan Cang, Ward 25, Binh Thanh District, Saigon/HCMC. Tip: When your taxi drops you off, ask him to return when your class is done so that you don’t have to worry about hunting for a taxi in the neighborhood. (I just asked the school’s receptionist to go out and talk to the taxi driver to ensure that he understood what time to pick me up.)

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Seen At The Market: Swiss Chard

Today was such a beautiful day to be at the farmers market. After a wet week, the sun is out all over the Bay Area and it really makes these yellow swiss chard look especially beautiful. I spotted them at the Capay farmers booth at the Ferry Building farmers market. It's like sun rays in a basket.

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Dish on Dining: Modern Tea--CLOSED (9/9/08)

Defining a new way to serve tea in Hayes Valley
602 Hayes St. (at Laguna), San Francisco
Hayes Valley neighborhood
Hours: Tue.–Fri., 11:30 a.m.–9 p.m., Sat., 10:30 a.m.–9 p.m.; Sun., 10:30 a.m.–6 p.m.
PH: 415.626.5406
http://www.moderntea.com/
Major credit cards, reservations accepted
UPDATE: (9/9/08) The owners put up a sign saying the restaurant is closed to be transformed into a working/classroom kitchen. No reports on when it'll reopen.

Tea is an afternoon affair. Whether in a tea room, tea house, or tea lounge. We’ve been trained (probably by the British) that an afternoon escape for a perfectly brewed pot of tea and some savory and sweet delights is the highest form of civility.

But maybe the modern sense of tea is that it should be enjoyed not just in the afternoon but all day and night, as it is at the Modern Tea in Hayes Valley.

Taking over the spot of what was once a Latin restaurant (I think it was Brazilian), Modern Tea has quickly become a comfortable friend in this neighborhood of high-end boutiques and restaurants serving the ballet/opera/symphony crowd.

Entering the brightly lit dining area, your eyes are bound to catch the colorful ceiling art that seems to playfully circle the room. The light and airy look is carried over into the service and food. Modern Tea is the brainchild of Alice Cravens, a tea lover who in the last few years have consulted with restaurants such as Chez Panisse and Delfina about their tea offerings. Now she’s created her own showcase for tea.

You can’t really call Modern Tea a tea house or tea lounge in the traditional sense because they serve tea and food all day and night (except Mondays). So in a way, it’s like a regular restaurant, with an extensive tea selection. Cravens—who you’ll often see buzzing around the restaurant checking on details while her husband, Greg Dunham, often works the tea bar—emphasizes sustainable food in planning the menu and tea offerings. The menu notes that meals are prepared with as much organic and locally grown produce they can find and that their teas come from fair-trade suppliers.

The menu changes daily and there’s a different menu for each service of the day (weekend brunch, lunch, afternoon and dinner).

I visited Modern Tea with a friend for afternoon tea. (I guess I’m still a traditionalist.) We sat close to the mini store near the back of the dining area, and I could see a wall of tin containers filled with what I assumed was tea. Our server was pleasant and friendly, and definitely engaged us in a discussion about the tea selection Cravens has put together and our particular tastes for that day.

We decided to get the “Nibble Plate,” which featured goat cheese with thistle honey, crostini, mizuna greens with orange citronette, toasted walnuts, watermelon radish (seasonal) and sea salt. My friend ordered a simple black tea, while I ordered a pot of persimmon leaf tea from Japan.

The first test came when the tea was served. It was brought to our table in white porcelain pots, and our server poured our first cup. The tea was perfectly warm and a check in the pot found that the tea leaves were removed, which means my tea would stay consistent in flavor and not darken like it would if the leaves were left to sit in the pot. (At other tea places, I’ve had to take out the tea bag or tea container to make sure my tea doesn’t get any darker or bitter.)

My cup of persimmon leaf was light and refreshing. That first sip made me a happy camper, and I became more entranced by our nibbling plate. All the ingredients were fresh and beautifully laid out. I felt like I was having afternoon tea at the backyard of a farmer friend. The goat cheese with honey was especially intoxicating. We had to ask for extra pieces of crostini to be sure we ate every bit of the cheese.

After such a refreshing afternoon experience, I wanted to see if this translated to the other meals. So I came back for dinner and was seated at the tea bar near the entrance, where I got to see the tea maker (bartender?) brew several pots of tea. He was precise about the timing, using a beeper to let him know when his tea was ready to be poured into a serving pot.

The dinner menu (similar to lunch and weekend brunch) is straightforward, with just a few choice items. (Side note: I read in the San Francisco Chronicle review that the soups were especially good, but I don’t really see how soup goes with tea. So I didn’t feel it was that important to test the soups when I really wanted to see how the tea was featured.)

I ordered the braised chicken served with mushroom gravy over rosemary mashed potatoes and an herbed biscuit and sautéed broccoli di cicco. For my tea, I ordered the Special Linden Tea, an herbal tea from Armenia.

The chicken looked like perfect comfort food, but it was bathed in the gravy that was overly salty. Other than the gravy, I couldn’t really detect any other significant flavors in the chicken or even the potatoes. The broccoli (kind of like broccoli rabe) was overcooked.
My tea was bitter and tasted like medicine.

This day and night experience in eating at the Modern Tea seemed to highlight the divergent images of this restaurant. Is it a restaurant featuring American California cuisine or is it a tea lounge showcasing organic teas? Sure, it’ll be great if it could succeed in both, but the harmony was just not there.

At times I felt the tea selection wasn’t extensive enough. I’ve been to tea lounges where you had several pages of tea offerings, compared to the one page at Modern Tea.

The attempt to try to be two things in one place may be the reason why Modern Tea isn’t extremely successful in either one. Still, it’s a nice casual dining alternative for the neighborhood and I do want to give them a chance. The owners seem dedicated and the rest of the servers are friendly and engaging. Hopefully, Modern Tea’s offerings can be more full-body with practice.

Single guy rating: 2.5 stars (perfect place to zen out)

Explanation of the single guy's rating system:
1 star = perfect for college students
2 stars = perfect for new diners
3 stars = perfect for foodies
4 stars = perfect for expense accounts
5 stars = perfect for any guy's dream dinner

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When Life Gives You Lemons ...

Whenever I need a pick me up, the freshness of a lemon always does the trick. (I mean, really, just look at my banner.) But why do they have to be so expensive? Lately my Safeway is selling it for 99 cents each! Yep, that's right. One itty bitty lemon for nearly a dah-lah. Whenever regular lemons get so pricey, I say go all the way and spend just a bit more for some Meyer lemons. I recently bought some from my favorite Fresno farmer who sets up a booth at the San Francisco Ferry Building farmers market. Then I used the Meyer lemons to create the pie below. This is a standby recipe I found on the Internet awhile back. It's an interesting combination of lemon bar and custard pie. And it's so good with fresh lemons (and all you really need is two or three large lemons). Of course, I added a teaspoon of vanilla extract to the recipe (I put a dash of vanilla in virtually all my sweet cooking) and I used a frozen pie crust. I don't really have room on my kitchen countertop to be spreading out dough and making crust. So I just buy the pre-made frozen crust. (OK, before you start calling me Sandra Lee, just remember that this blog is all about quick and easy. If you feel up to making your own crust, the recipe is included below. Go for it!) Enjoy!

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Zesty Lemon Custard Pie

The following recipe is copyrighted by www.recipeland.com and Sean Wenzel.

Ingredients:

Cookie pastry
1 stick unsalted butter at room temperature
1/4 cup sugar
1 egg
1-1/2 cup flour

Filling
1/2 stick unsalted butter
4 eggs
1 cup sugar
1 t grated lemon zest
2/3 cup fresh lemon juice

powdered sugar for garnish

For cookie pastry, beat butter and sugar until light and fluffy, about 2 minutes. Add egg and flour and mix until smooth dough is formed. With hands, shape into a ball and flatten into a disc. Wrap in plastic wrap and refrigerate until chilled.

Preheat oven to 350 degrees

Make pastry and roll or press dough evenly over bottom and up sides of 9-inch pie pan.

Melt butter in microwave; set aside. Whisk eggs and sugar in medium-size bowl until blended. Add zest and slowly stir in butter and lemon juice until incorporated. Pour into crust. Bake for 30 to 40 minutes or until top of custard is lightly brown. It will not test clean and will look underdone, but will set as it cools. When cool, refrigerate. Before serving, sprinkle powdered sugar on top.

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