I call this "Tomatoes In The Summer Sun."
COMING UP THIS WEEK: I'm feeling Italian this week, so drop by for my recipe for lamb meatballs and see how I make a Caprese risotto. I also do a little photo spread on heirloom tomatoes at the farmers market and see what I think about brunching at Maverick in the Mission. Gosh, I've been hanging out at the Mission a lot recently. ;-)
The Club Vibe in Old Oakland
(UPDATE 07/07/11: This restaurant is now closed.)
827 Washington St. (at 9th Street), Oakland
Old Downtown District
PH: 510.835.5585
Open for lunch, Mon.–Fri., 11:30 a.m.–2:30 p.m.; dinner, Mon.–Sat., 5 –11 p.m.
www.levendeeast.com
Is it a bad sign if a bar serves you a hand-me-down drink? That’s what happened to me while I was waiting for a friend before dinner at the new Levende East restaurant and club in Historic Old Oakland near downtown. Luckily, things can only go up from there.
Levende East is the East Bay offshoot of Levende Lounge in San Francisco. I’ve actually never eaten at the original Levende (although I’ve been in that spot when it was previously the home of Butterfly Lounge and back in the days when I had to dodge homeless people walking from my nearby apartment to the restaurant kitty corner to the Mission Street off-ramp), but apparently it’s successful enough for the owners to branch out into Oakland.
Levende East definitely has that city vibe, from the tall ceilings to the brick walls to the slick, dark tables. But in many ways, it’s grown up a bit from the club scene and seems to have less emphasis on the lounge part and more on the food. On the menu, chef Arren Caccamo has added more large plates to feature his French-California cuisine with Mediterranean and Asian influences.
But first, back to my drink. So I got to the restaurant early, and it was already filling up for a weeknight. I was meeting my friend Laurie, who I’ve known since we were both industrious business reporters for a San Francisco newspaper. Since Laurie hadn't arrived yet, I found the only spot at the large bar area and decided to try one of Levende’s specialty drinks.
I ordered the Barcelona, just because I like to reminisce about my trip to that city more than three years ago. The drink was a simple Ketel One Citreon vodka with cherry liqueur and soda. When I ordered it from the bartender, it magically appeared within a few seconds. I thought, wow, extra points for quick service. Then she fessed up and said she had made the drink just a couple of minutes earlier and the patron decided he didn’t want it. So I can’t give a fair review to the Barcelona. I imagine it could be refreshing and sparkling. But this glass tasted flat and watered down.
Despite the drink, I had a nice chat with a woman next to me visiting from Boston, and then moved on to dinner when Laurie arrived. Oh, I forgot to mention that right next to the bar was the ubiquitous communal table that looked like it could fit quite a few people. It was nearly packed when I was there.
Laurie and I decided to have a light dinner, so we ordered a few dishes to share from the appetizer section. I would describe the dishes as they came out, but they all came out at the same time so here’s the rundown:
Fried Calamari Salad with soy dressing ($11). It looked huge with the calamari rings sitting on top a pile of frissee, radicchio, mizuna and shaved carrots. (I know I’ve said I generally don’t eat fried foods, but seems like deep-frying is the only way Americans know how to prepare calamari. In Spain, they often grill them, which is very nice—and much healthier!) Despite being fried, I loved this dish. The dressing had hints of miso and was creamy to bind all the greens and the calamari. My only tip if you order this is to eat it right away because the calamari will start separating from the fried dough if it sits too long.
Mini Lamb Burgers ($9). Mini burgers are so cute and so hot these days. They’re perfect to share with two people. And I love lamb. The burgers were supposedly Indian spiced, and you could tell it had some spice because the diced onions had a golden hue to them. However, I didn’t get an Indian flavor at all. The lamb was cooked well and it tasted fine, but it didn’t transport me to Delhi with each bite. Just 9th Street Oakland.
Maine Lobster and Shrimp Cakes ($12). The cakes were placed over roasted corn with a jalapeno and lemon vinaigrette. This is where Laurie and I had varying taste reactions. She thought the cakes were a bit salty and spicy while I thought it was just fine and could use a bit more jalapeno. Still, it was enjoyable and filling.
Since Levende East has high ceilings and a club vibe, you can guess that as the evening moved on, the sound level in the restaurant got higher and higher. So it’s very difficult to hold a conversation, and probably impossible to talk later in the evening when the live music and DJ play. Side note: Our server was competent and pleasant but a bit rushed. She seemed overwhelmed. I don’t know if it was because she had to rush to work, or she couldn’t deal with the crowded room.
Still, with the steady flow of people coming in for dinner, it looks like the neighborhood is primed for a hybrid restaurant and club. And with other restaurants in the area (such as B Restaurant and Bar across the way), it looks like Historic Old Downtown Oakland won’t be as ghost quiet at nights anymore. And that can only be a good thing.
Single guy rating: 3 stars (get down with some cool food)
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
This is the second part of a two-part post about the “Bi-Rite Experience” in San Francisco’s Mission neighborhood. Yesterday I featured the Bi-Rite Creamery, and today I shop at the grocery store across the street.
Walking into this neighborhood grocery store on 18th Street, you’d think the neighbors are North Beach yuppies or Marina professionals. Everything is so quaintly displayed with a mix of high sticker prices. But this is the Mission, where you can probably get a burrito for less than $5 around the corner.
The Bi-Rite Market, which opened in 1998, has the charm and tight quarters of a corner grocer in New York but the gourmet look and feel of an Andronico’s or Whole Foods. It drops all the right catch words like “organic,” “sustainable,” and “locally produced.” It’s also an expert in creating a brand, with its definite retro “old school” grocery décor. Here’s a look at my visit this past weekend:
When you walk in, you get a burst of color from the small produce section, which is overflowing with richly colored summer tomatoes and fresh fruits across the way. Bi-Rite creates a nice organic charm with its hand-written signage.
Here are more colorful fruits in the produce section. Hey look, they sure have a lot of figs! Yum.
The deli section seems to be the heart of the market. People were clamoring for cuts of meats or an order of soup or sandwiches, probably to munch over at nearby Dolores Park. The store has its own charcuterie section and a whole bunch of prepared foods.
The line to the checkout stands crawled along the tiny store and at times butted up against the people in line at the deli. Despite the line being long, it did seem to move pretty fast.
Bi-Rite is all about branding, which was obvious when I visited the creamery for some ice cream. Throughout the market, there were a lot of Bi-Rite branded products, including pasta sauces and even its own Napa Valley wine. Here are some strawberry shortcakes in the refrigerated section.
Of course, there were tons of Bi-Rite ice cream. The popular flavor is salted caramel. Too bad I live in the East Bay. I don’t think the pint of ice cream would last the BART ride home.
Here’s the wine section of the store, which took up a small wall past the cheese section. They had a variety of wines, and the clerk nearby was very helpful describing to me what wines were good after I told him what I was interested in. I wasn’t planning on buying any wines, but after having such an informative conversation with him, I ended up getting a red wine from Spain and a Pinot Gris from Oregon.
More Bi-Rite branded products. Here’s some dream bars in the “impulse shopping” section right before the checkout.
I loved the fresh flowers on display outside. It was a heavy emphasis on wildflowers as opposed to expensive, chi chi flowers. They looked beautiful in the San Francisco sun.
Bi-Rite seems to be a very popular spot to shop, judging from the line and the shoppers inside. I can’t vouch for the quality of the products but they all looked first-rate, and the clerks are very friendly and helpful. I wouldn’t mind one opening in Oakland. ;-)
Bi-Rite Market, 3639 18th St., San Francisco. Open Mon.–Fri., 9 a.m.–9 p.m.; and Sat.–Sun., 9 a.m.–8 p.m.
I’m doing a two-part post this week on the “Bi-Rite Experience” in San Francisco’s Mission District. On a block of 18th Street, it’s like Bi-Rite is taking over the neighborhood, first with its grocery store selling fresh fruits and gourmet meats and now its ice cream destination, which I’m featuring today. Come back tomorrow for a tour of the Bi-Rite Market.
Artisan Ice Cream with a Fifties Flair
Recently I got my cholesterol checked again because it was high last year, and now my doctor says I’m back in the normal range! So I went out to celebrate by checking out the Bi-Rite Creamery in San Francisco. ;-)
Opened a year ago, the tiny ice cream spot is right across the street from the Bi-Rite Market on 18th near Dolores. It’s known for its creamy, fresh ice cream made from mostly organic dairy products (primarily from Straus Organic Dairy). They say they make their ice cream in small batches, supposedly emphasizing the home-made aspect and giving a dig to the mass produced ice creams like Haagen-Dazs.
Here’s my visit from this past weekend. I actually went twice—on Saturday on my own and then again on Sunday afternoon after the Giants baseball game with my friends David and Ann. The sacrifices I make for research.
Because I’m in marketing and do graphic design on the side, I’m always impressed by good branding. Bi-Rite does this well with its whimsical signage, including the hand-written notes all over the place. I have to note that the line didn’t seem as long and as slow as it is at my other favorite ice cream destination spot, Ici in Berkeley. Another difference? More single people in line, and not a kid in sight. There’s always an advantage to living in the city.
As you enter, there’s a ton of chocolate sauces and other items for sale along the wall. But hardly anyone was browsing. Everyone seemed focused on what to order.
Here are more organic chocolate sauces and a stack of David Leibowitz’s “The Perfect Scoop.” This book is in virtually every artisan ice cream shop. Gosh, he has a good publisher.
There’s a small refrigerator below all the chocolate sauces where you can find a drink. I love the old-time ‘50s look to all the appliances. Again, great job with creating the brand feel. You just know you can get a good bottle of Pop here.
The freezer to the side offers ice cream by the pint and a whole bunch of other things, including ice cream pies, ice cream sandwiches and coconut macaroons.
The moment of truth: Time to decide what to get. Again, love the hand-written displays—so organic and natural. Many of the flavors were focused on sweet candy inspirations, like mint chip, coffee toffee and butter pecan. Bi-Rite has less of the innovative fruit and spice flavors of Ici. It also has some odd flavors like roasted banana. I wasn’t that adventurous to try it.
The place is sooo small, but it has maybe three barstools on the side if you want to eat in. But it was such a beautiful day, I ate outside where there are a few tiny benches around the trees.
Here’s what I went with on my first visit—two scoops in a cup ($4.25). The top flavor is balsamic strawberry and underneath it is the famous salted caramel. I thought the strawberry tasted fresh, but it was just like strawberry ice cream you get at the store. Plus it had a few pieces of ice, which I thought showed a lack of perfection in technique. But the salted caramel was fantastic. It had a creamy texture similar to gelato and the flavoring was rich and deep. If I drank coffee, this would be a nice flavor to pair with a good cup of Joe.
On Sunday with David and Ann, I decided to go with my favorite flavors of lemon and ginger. So I got a scoop of each and I had them sprinkle the cookie of the day, which was a lemon-ginger snap. Yep, it was lemon-ginger overload. I liked both the lemon and ginger flavors of the ice cream, but I wasn’t a fan of the cookie. Some parts were crispy while others were stale. And I think the guy was a bit too generous on the sprinkling, if that’s possible.
This is what David and Ann went with. On the bottom is the salted caramel, of course, but on top was a new flavor: peanut butter with Fleur de Sel nuggets. Fleur de Sel, the fancy sea salt from France, is being generously used as toppings in a lot of confections these days. And why not? It’s a great contrasting flavor. The nuggets were like chocolate bits with the sea salt mixed in, and the combination with the ice cream was an amazing trick.
Bi-Rite is a fun and delicious destination for ice cream in the city, especially being near Dolores Park on a warm weekend (which will only be for the next two months in the Bay Area). It sells more variety of ice cream products, including three flavors of popsicles (pineapple, mango and kiwi for $1.95 each). The palette of flavors lean heavily on the candy (which is what my friend Ann likes) compared to the seasonal fruits and spices at Ici (which is what I like). So I say Ici is still my favorite for innovative ice cream flavors, but I wouldn’t turn down an offer to drop by Bi-Rite when in San Francisco. Especially since my cholesterol is back to normal. :)
Bi-Rite Creamery and Bakeshop, 3692 18th St. at Dolores, San Francisco. Summer hours: Sunday–Thursday, 11 a.m.–9 p.m.; Friday–Saturday, 11 a.m.–10 p.m.
I was recently having a debate with a friend about which onions were the sweetest. We talked about the Vidalia and the Walla Walla, but I told him hands-down the sweetest onions are from Maui. For awhile I saw Maui onions sold in gourmet packets at my Safeway, but then they stopped carrying them. So I had to tell my sister in Hawaii to pack some in her suitcase whenever she traveled to the Bay Area for business. (Of course, she didn’t like the idea of smuggling onions into California and getting caught by some overzealous Homeland Security officer.)
Well, my friend found Maui onions sold at his Andronico’s, so he gave me some recently. Now with too many onions on my hand, the only thing I did was to make soup! Below is my recipe for French onion soup. This is one of my favorite soups and it’s also really easy to make. But doesn’t it look classic? The recipe is, of course, reduced a bit for one or two people and I added some depth with the Worcestershire sauce, which I love for anything meaty. The Maui onions made this soup taste wonderful, and I didn’t even mind that it was hot outside. (Luckily, we’re starting to get cooler evenings in the Bay Area—that typical San Francisco summer weather pattern!) Enjoy!
Copyright 2007 by Cooking With The Single Guy
Ingredients:
3 Maui sweet onions or 2 regular yellow onions, sliced
1 garlic clove, minced
1 T Worcestershire sauce
1 T extra virgin olive oil
1 T butter
½ cup dry white wine
1 14-oz. can of beef broth or 2 cups homemade beef or veal broth
1 cup water
2 T flour
1 t dried thyme
1 bay leaf
2-3 oz. Gruyere cheese
slices of French baguette
Warm olive oil and butter in a saucepan or pot. Add onions and garlic and saute for about two minutes to soften the onions (they should look translucent). Sprinkle flour over the onions and cook for a minute to get rid of the flour taste, then add white wine and cook for another minute to burn off some of the alcohol. Add broth, water, thyme and bay leaf and bring to a boil. Then reduce to simmer for about 30 to 35 minutes under the onions are tender.
Cut your baguette into bite-size pieces to create croutons. Place on baking sheet and drizzle with extra virgin olive oil then place under broiler for a minute to get a golden brown color.
When your soup is done, remove the bay leaf and then laddle the soup into oven-proof soup bowls. Float pieces of your croutons on top to cover the top layer and then grate the cheese over the croutons and bowl. Place under broiler until the cheese melts. (If not using broiler, place in oven at 400 degrees until cheese melts, about 2 to 5 minutes.)
Makes 2 to 3 servings. Makes a nice starter for a beef dinner.
TIP: I suggest cutting your baguette into smaller pieces because it makes it easier to eat. Some people like to slice the baguette and place one big piece of toast on top of the soup bowl. It looks more dramatic, but I think it’s not very considerate to your guest who has to deal with that big piece of toast on top. Also, I like to place at least one piece on top of the initial layer, sitting almost in its own layer, so that you’ll get at least one cheese crouton that’s crunchy and dry and not soaking in the soup.
SERVE IT UP: You can make the soup ahead of time and just warm it up before placing in the bowl and adding the croutons and cheese. You can even make it ahead of time and have a bowl a night for the next three nights as a quick starter to dinner or snack. But I think it helps to warm the soup up on the stovetop instead of just pouring cold soup in the bowls and hoping the broiling or oven will warm it up. It won’t thoroughly warm up before your croutons and cheese burn. So take that extra step to warm up the soup before serving.
Next time you fire up your grill this summer, consider throwing on a few halves of avocados. In California, we're finally seeing locally grown avocados, instead of the ones from Chile, so I've been enjoying eating them, especially since they're good for you. But as a fun party starter for a picnic, you can grill them just for less than a minute (the natural fat helps with the grilling, but you can also spray it lightly with an olive oil spray) and top them with my mango salsa recipe. It gives it a slight smokey taste, but really it's just to get those cool grill marks! Enjoy!
Is that bulgogi in your burrito?
UPDATE (4/7/08): Don Day has reopened under new management. The interiors still look the same but the menu is now traditional Korean cuisine. No burritos!
UPDATE (3/03/08): This tiny restaurant closed in late 2007 and a sign says a new owner will take over. No word if they will continue with the Korean burritos.
Where I work in the Oakland-Lake Merritt area, there’s not a lot of lunch options, which is why I typically pack my own lunch and eat at my desk. But when the weather is so beautiful, like it was today, I had to step out and enjoy the sun—and hunt for some quick lunch.
That’s when I saw this sign for Korean burritos. It was outside the Don Day Korean restaurant at the corner of 14th and Webster Streets on the way to Oakland’s Chinatown.
Oakland has a very prominent Korean community, and I’ve noticed more and more Korean restaurants opening near Chinatown. Don Day is actually a place I’ve eaten before awhile back, when it was just a regular Korean barbeque joint. But in the last year, I’ve noticed that it’s gotten a new look, with new signs and a hipper, youthful appeal. It’s almost like the older Korean couple who was running the place recently retired and turned the business over to the kids.
Along with the new look, Don Day recently changed its offerings from the traditional Korean barbeque to a lunch-friendly burrito menu during the days. (You can still get the traditional barbeque dishes, with its accompanying soups and side dishes, for dinner. But only the burritos are sold during the weekday lunch.) Intrigued by the idea of a Korean burrito, I decided to check it out.
For now, Don Day offers six varieties of burritos for $4.99 (with the exception of the salmon teriyaki, which goes for $6.99). The choices include bulgogi, chicken bulgogi, spicy pork, spicy chicken, chicken teriyaki and the aforementioned salmon teriyaki.
You order at the counter (cash only) and then you can sit in the refurbished area to eat your burrito. Bulgogi is one of the more well-known Korean dishes, next to kim chee. It’s basically very thin beef marinated with soy sauce and sesame oil and has a sweet and spicy undertone. Because I didn’t want to load up on my red meat for the week, I stuck with the chicken bulgogi. I ordered my chicken bulgogi burrito, and then since it was a nice day, I took it to go and ate at a nearby park.
Here’s a shot of my chicken bulgogi burrito. It looked like any other burrito, and it’s pretty huge for $4.99.
You can’t get a real idea of the burrito unless you look inside. So here’s a shot of my Korean burrito after I took a few bites. It had the basic ingredients of a burrito: the tortilla wrap, naturally, and lettuce, some tomatoes, bean paste and meat. Overall, it tasted like a chicken burrito. There was just a very subtle sweet and tangy Korean taste that was in the sauce.
What really made my chicken burrito turn Korean was the side sauce that came with it. I’m assuming this is the bulgogi dipping sauce, which traditionally is very spicy. This sauce was just that. It was thick like hot sauce and had the underlying spicy Korean taste like what’s found in kim chee. It really made my burrito taste like a Korean burrito. But if you get this, I recommend that you just drizzle a little bit of the spicy sauce with every few bites.
Overall, it was a filling and interesting lunch at the park with my Korean burrito from Don Day. I can’t say it was necessarily anything that tasted revolutionary, but it’s a nice option to have for a quick lunch and definitely broadens my choices for the work week.
Since this is a mini review, I’m not giving it a rating. Don Day is located at 346 14th St. at Webster in Oakland. PH: 510.444.7755.
Some of my friends ask me how I come up with recipes for this blog, and most times I'm playing around with things I've made before and switching out ingredients, or I'll get inspired by something I see in another cookbook and take it in another direction. So the weekends at my place is pretty much "test kitchen" central.
Well, I regularly post my recipes but rarely do I post the duds in the test kitchen, until now. The above is a photo of my chilled cantaloupe soup. I know, sounds great, huh? Looked even better after I photographed it. But when I tasted...eh. It was just OK. It lacked another depth in flavor. There was a very subtle cantaloupe sweetness, and I barely made out the leeks and fennel that I boiled and pureed with the cantaloupe. I had made it without any broth because I thought the sweetness of the cantaloupe would be enough. And don't get me wrong, it smelled fantastic as I was boiling the cantaloupe to soften it so I can puree it with my hand blender.
So you see, sometimes The Single Guy Chef test kitchen works. Sometimes it doesn't. I'm going to have to keep testing this chilled cantaloupe recipe. Maybe one hot summer I'll get it right. Anywho, it was just soooo pretty that I didn't want to waste this photo. If you can't taste it, at least it can maybe make you feel relaxed. That's how I feel when I look at it. Now isn't that a nice way to start the weekend? :)
Rustic Italian fare in the heart of Rockridge
5655 College Ave., Oakland
Rockridge
PH: 510.547.5356
Reservations, major credit cards accepted
www.oliveto.com
On nice summer days, people like to flock to the outdoor seating area at Oliveto Café, sipping a glass of wine with their pizzas or pasta dishes. And with a prime spot at the base of the Market Hall clock tower, you’re sure to do a lot of people watching as well.
Oliveto has been around for many years, and the upstairs dining room is the standard-bearer for fine dining in Rockridge (along with the other longtime restaurant Citron down the road). Created along the lines of Chez Panisse—that means an emphasis on fresh, local ingredients—Oliveto in recent years has been under the guidance of Executive Chef Paul Canales, who worked many years before as the restaurant’s chef de cuisine.
Similar to Chez Panisse, Oliveto offers formal dining on one level (upstairs) and a casual café with a wood-fire brick oven (downstairs). Last weekend, I decided to have an early dinner at the café with my friends John and Jessie. (Some of you may recall that I’ve been designing John’s Web site. And I’m almost done!)
All the outdoor tables were filled, so we settled for a table near the sun and decided to drown our disappointment with a round of dry martinis. (Yum) The café has a clean, elegant look often accented by a beautiful floral arrangement. The service when we were there were friendly and not at all standoffish.
The café has a limited menu compared to the upstairs dining room (prices also about $5-6 cheaper), and it focuses primarily on simple, Italian dishes. It’s also very kid-friendly with at least a pasta and pizza selection.
We decided to start with the antipasto misto, which was a mixed plate of golden beets, purslane, buffalo mozzarella, toasted almonds and marinated olives. The platter looked beautiful, and everything was simply dressed with either vinegar and olive oil or served naturally. Jessie commented that his yard in San Jose is overrun by purslane, considered a weed and sometimes used as landscaping. So it was interesting to see it being served at Oliveto. (And I’m noticing it on a few other menus around town as well—maybe because it’s so easy to get!)
For our meals, Jessie had the albacore tuna, which was lightly dressed with cherry tomatoes and arugula. John eyed a nearby table’s pasta dish and ordered something similar, the pasta al forno trompetti al ragu. Both of their dishes were perfectly cooked, although Jessie’s tuna dish reminded me of a similar simple tuna dish at Perbacco. (BTW, I learned that Italians like to eat their tuna more on the well done side than rare like the Japanese. Jessie’s tuna was somewhere in between.)
I ordered the arrosto del giorno, or roast of the day, which was a Hoffman Farm hen served with dandelion greens and crispy potatoes. The hen was also perfectly cooked (that became a recurring theme for the expert hand of the chef working that day) with a wonderfully golden brown skin and tender, scrumptious white meat. This was also my first time tasting a Hoffman Farm hen, and I highly recommend you ordering this if you ever see Hoffman Farm as the source for poultry on a menu. I wasn’t a fan of the dandelion greens, however, which were a bit more tough and bitter for my tastes (I would have preferred arugula or even fresh spinach). But I was an instant fan of the crispy potatoes. They were tiny, dice-sized golden brown nuggets of crunch. Again, perfectly cooked.
We ended our meal with a chocolate dessert. It was called a tartufatti with amarena cherry pieces around it. It was chocolate ice cream encased in some kind of chocolate shell that was pretty darn hard to break into. Plus, it didn’t look very appetizing. (There’s always a risk, IMHO, of making chocolate balls with little bumps around it. Eeeww.)
Oliveto Café is a beautiful dining area with expertly executed dishes. The choices are simple and basic—more rustic than refine. So don’t come expecting to be wowed with innovative combinations of ingredients or fancy plating. Simplicity is the key here. It’s a great place to have a casual dinner while still feeling like you’re getting the special treatment.
Single guy rating: 3.5 stars (quality ingredients showcased simply)
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
I just realized okra, one of my favorite southern vegetables, sounds a lot like Oprah, who sometimes talk with a Southern accent. Anywho, today I’m cooking with okra because I saw this beautiful basket of fresh okra at the farmers market this weekend and had to buy them.
Now you’re probably wondering how a boy from Hawaii developed a taste for okra? My mom used to cook with it, making a beef stir-fry. I remember the gooey, sticky okra looking like slugs, but I just gravitated to the hearty, thick skin. And since then I’ve enjoyed it in the more traditional form as the base of gumbo, one of the more festive comfort food dishes I know.
So below is my quick recipe for okra stir-fry with beef, playing off the traditional pairing my mom used to make. It might take some getting used to the odd gooey nature of okra, but it’s definitely something different for the dinner table. Enjoy!
Copyright 2007 by Cooking With The Single Guy
Ingredients:
6-8 oz. good cut of beef (such as New York or sirloin), cut into bite-sized slices
2 cups okra, cut diagonally
1 yellow bellpepper, cut into cubes
1 shallot, finely diced
1 garlic clove, minced
1 t fresh ginger, grated
1 t white pepper
1 T soy sauce
1 T xiao-shing wine (cooking rice wine) or sherry
1 T sesame oil
1 T oyster sauce
2 T canola oil
1/2 T cornstarch
salt
Marinate your beef in a small bowl with white pepper, soy sauce, xiao-shing wine, sesame oil, ginger and garlic. Set aside for at least 10 minutes.
In a wok or large skillet, warm oil over high heat. Add shallots and stir-fry for about 30 seconds and then add beef. Brown both sides, about 1 minute each, and then remove from wok. (Remove the beef after it’s brown but still red inside.)
Add more oil into the wok if needed and then add bellpepper and okra. Stir-fry for about 2 minutes. Season with salt (about a teaspoon). If your wok is getting too dry, add some of the marinade sauce leftover from your meat. Just as the okra looks like it’s tender, add back in the beef and blend all the ingredients with a drizzle of oyster sauce. Then create a slurry with the cornstarch and some water (about ¼ cup) and then add slowly to your stir-fry to create a sauce. Add only enough to make as much sauce as you like.
Makes 2 to 3 servings. Serve with steamed rice.
Pair with a glass of pinot noir.
TIP: If you have really good beef, you don’t really need to cook it all the way through. Some pink inside will be nice. That’s why I recommend taking the beef out of the wok while you’re cooking the vegetables and then adding it back in the end. Also, when adding the beef to the wok for the first time, don’t add all the marinade with it or else you’ll have soup. Add just enough to create a sizzle but don’t drown your meat. You can add more marinade as you’re cooking whenever your wok looks like it’s drying out.
After just eight episodes (gosh, didn’t it seem longer?), tonight we finally find out who will be The Next Food Network Star. We cut to a shot of the Statue of Liberty at night and then we’re told by the mysterious voice that it’s a live show from the Food Network’s Manhattan studios, but it’s really not live because it’s probably taped delay here in California where everyone probably already knows who’s the Next Food Network star but I was too lazy to Google it.
So it’s either going to Rory, who cooks “real food for real people” (which is always better than fake food for fake people), or Amy, the “gourmet next door” (as opposed to one that’s galloping).
We get the opening scenes of the show (didn’t Rory look weird with that pseudo military cap trying to look all tough in the hood?) and then we cut to the live studio audience. Damn, they all look so old. Is this the typical Food Network demographic? Where’s the little girl crying for Sanjaya? Out comes Marc Summers, who they dragged out from Season 1. (Every year Marc’s role in the show gets less and less. Next year they’re probably just going to have him come out to deliver the envelope with the winner’s name.)
Marc says someone is going to get their own food show, just in case some of you forgot why you tuned in. Then he asks the audience who’s it going to be? Of course, I hear mostly people yelling “Amy,” but Marc, trying to keep up some semblance of mystery, says “it’s split down the middle.” (Hey, how come the audience doesn’t have any signs with their favorite’s names like American Idol? And did you notice they never really reveal the gazillion number of votes received, if even. But I’m getting ahead of myself. First, let’s see how we can bore viewers for the next 55 minutes.)
Marc introduces a taped segment reviewing the past season. And really, I don’t need to recap the recap when you can just read my previous recaps of Episodes 1 through 7. We do get to remind ourselves of some of the rejects, like Patrick from Seattle, who probably had the best cooking skills but has the honor of being one of the first two to leave the show. What’s interesting is some of these people are talking about their cooking vision, and it totally doesn’t sound like what they demonstrated on the show. Ooops, my screen just went black for a bit. Did that happen to you guys? I hate cable. Oh, there’s that clip of Paul talking about the country of “Plummy.” (Told you they would show that again. )
Geesh, finally. That was a long segment. OK, they bring out the two finalists and they’re both wearing black and white. (I’m not going to discuss the style of the clothing because I think it’s sexist to describe what women are wearing unless it’s relevant to the topic. So since this is not Project Runway, let’s move on.) Amy and Rory talks about “their journey” to this point together. You can tell Rory is more nervous than Amy. Amy’s cool like a cucumber. Rory’s from Texas, so she’s probably cool like a cactus, which really isn’t that cool. More prickly. And then Marc does the thing Ryan Seacrest always does on AI, which is tease that we’re going to find out who wins this, but of course they never ann ounce that right after the break and we know it, so why tease that fact people?
Commercials. Memo to Crystal Light. I like my water plain, thank you very much. Please don’t pump it up. Sincerely, Single Guy Chef.
Marc asks Amy and Rory if their lives have changed because of their new found celebrity. Amy’s talking about being recognized grocery shopping for a big bag of gummy bears. She’s such a mom. Rory says her small town couldn’t get the Food Network, so the town banded together and called the local cable network and now the Food Network is on Channel 99 in Vega, Texas. I’m sure the Food Network is excited to pick up the 936 additional viewers (no kidding, that really is the population of the entire town).
That’s the segue to the taped segment of Rory back in her little town of Vega. We finally see her cowboy boyfriend, who really looks more nerdy than rugged. He’s saying something about how the town is so small that when someone sneezes, it gets down to the other side of town in 10 minutes. All I can think of is, gawd, didn’t you learn any manners? Please cover your mouth when you sneeze! Rory reveals that she’s from New Jersey but went to Texas on another reality show where they took city slickers and put them in a rural town. Huh? Never heard of that show, but I bet it would have been fun. Or was that the “Simple Life”? Hmmm, Rory could be Paris. Not.
Since returning home after taping the show, Rory has opened a restaurant called Boot Hill Bar and Grill. It looks like some old town saloon. I expect Marshal Dillon to come get a drink and then beat up some bad guys who were pimping poor Miss Kitty. In Rory’s world, she’s having a private opening of her place and she’s cooking everything. The food looks pretty good and everyone’s loving it, of course. What’s weird is she’s wearing this bright red bandana and at the end of her opening, she’s talking in a black cocktail dress but still wearing that weird red bandana. She is so blue collar. (I know I contradicted myself about not talking about what women wear, but that black cocktail dress-red bandana combo couldn’t be ignored.)
Rory says after the segment that she learned a lot about patience and to be proud of herself. In the crowd are her divorced parents who are both remarried and her cowboy boyfriend.
They go to commercials, and see, Marc Summers does that stupid Ryan Seacrest thing where he teases about announcing the winner. Marc, we know we have 45 minutes of filler still to go. Commercials. Hey, have you all listened to Michael Tolcher’s “Voila” song on the Hilton commercial? I haven’t seen it on any other shows, so I’ll be sad to not hear it anymore. Ugh, Daddy Day Care movie preview. Cuba Gooding Jr. has really picked bad movies since he won an Oscar. So sad.
Marc reminds us that this season a woman will win this series, just in case anyone was confused of Amy or Rory’s gender. (It is actually nice to have a girl winner after two seasons of guys.) Then we see the taped segment of Amy back home in San Diego, where she grew up and is a third-generation San Diegan. She has a son with a pretentious name (“Indiana”), and her daughter, Scarlett, is the typical high-pitched screaming 1 year old.
It sounds like she lives in a compound with her parents in one house and her own family nearby, including a whole bunch of siblings. She’s preparing a barbeque for the whole family. Amy says she never used to grill until she got on the show and now she says she grills almost every night. She’s going to be the female Bobby Flay. It looks like a really big family and you know what? All the women in the family have big black hair. What’s weird is she doesn’t talk about her French husband. In the clip she’s sitting on the couch next to some guy, but I’m not sure if that’s her husband. It’s really weird she doesn’t mention him or show footage of him. And when she introduces who’s in the live audience rooting for her, it’s her mother, aunt, and two sisters. But not her hubby? Hmmm, odd.
Now it’s reunion time and they bring back all the other contestants. Everyone’s dressed really nice, except JAG (hisss) who comes in wearing a big white shirt and jeans. He does look like he lost some weight. Must have been the stress of lying. See, it never pays to fib, unless you want to lose weight. It’s the lying diet.
They show a taped segment about the 11 contestants living together. It’s soooo boring. They talk about snoring and Amy talking in her sleep. Gosh, can we see clips of people flossing their teeth? Maybe that’ll be more interesting. Oh, there’s a segment of the guys without their shirts. Hey, maybe this segment is starting to look up. Paul has the best body, I say. Oh no, Michael Salmon shirtless! OK, end this already.
Now they talk about the challenges and they show a segment about the wedding challenge and the “controversy” of Tommy making a vegetarian polenta with chicken broth. They ask Nikki why she didn’t say anything when she knew Tommy was using chicken broth. She says Paul told her not to. Paul’s laughing but you know in his head he’s thinking how to get back at her.
The other controversy is Colombe and the whole shopping bag being left behind that belonged to Paul. They show the clip of Amy fighting with Colombe, and that was definitely a drag out, knock down fight. But in the end Colombe, of course, says they’re all fine now. I’m so relieved.
Other boring reviews include the “meatloaf frying” incident from the military challenge. And now Marc asks JAG if he has something to say. He just thanks the fans and says “it ain’t over.” Um, I’m pretty sure it is in just 30 minutes.
Then the blooper reel, and basically they’re just showing people laughing. There’s just only a few bloopers like when Guy Fieri says New Jersey Nicks instead of Nets, and Paula Deen points out that Miss Everyday Italian Giada has spinach in her teeth. There’s this one scene where JAG slips some ice cubes down Paul’s pants. And I’m really surprised he could get any down there because those pants looked pretty tight. Tommy is seen dancing often in the clips, which prompts Marc Summers to do an impromptu “So You Think You Can Dance.” This is going to be so sad. Adrien comes out in support of his buddy Tommy, and they both do this weird robot-like dancing. Sigh, this moment probably best sums up this entire season! Forced and robotic!
More boring recaps: Nikki dropping her dessert on Bobby Flay’s suit during the wedding challenge. (Again, she says Paul made her do it.) Commercials. Design Star is back on HGTV. You know I’ll be watching that after this.
Now they talk about how they hated the elimination round. Nobody liked going home (except I bet Tommy). A few tears were shed. We’re reminded that Amy almost dropped out two episodes ago. She’s so lucky the producers knew better. They bring out the judging panel of Bob Tuschman, Susie Fogelson and Bobby Flay. Bob Tuschman says the judges may have come off mean but it was all “tough love.” Nobody has the guts to bitch about the judges. They know better. Bobby Flay says that if he were a finalist, he would have come in seventh because he probably wouldn’t be able to do the Iron Chef commentary and he’s only done one wedding cake. Thanks for sharing, Bobby.
There’s Bob Tushchman trying to make amends now by kissing up to Vivien and Patrick, saying they deserved so much better and are very talented. Oh Bob, unless you’re trying to sign them to their own shows, they don’t care what you think anymore. Patrick informs everyone that soon after he got kicked off, his wife gave birth to their son. So I bet his wife was glad that he got kicked off early.
There’s more boring banter between the contestants and the judges. Paul gets one last attempt to put the spotlight on him by asking Susie what he should do to become the next Food Network star, and she says to cook better food. Bobby does say something profound about how you should be nervous about your passion, because then that means it’s real. I believe that’s true, because I’m nervous every day.
They show a segment about how everyone got sad whenever someone left the show. This is the tear-jerker taped segment. And it seems like most of the crying were done by the guys. Paul and JAG are continuously talking about their close bond, and all I can say is “get a room.” JAG is constantly touching Paul’s left thigh, and even I get uncomfortable.
Finally, they’re about to announce the winner. And I can’t fast-forward any faster just to get this over with. They introduce Emeril Lagasse, who seems to be given the honor of announcing the winner every year. Emeril’s like the grandfather of the Food Network, even though he didn’t create it. Emeril says it was the most exciting season ever, and I am so not buying it. He reminds Amy and Rory that the winner will also get that big honking hybrid Mercury Mariner. (Memo to auto industry: Just because you make an SUV a hybrid doesn’t mean it’s still good for the environment. It still sucks up more fuel than other hybrids.)
They introduce the president of the Food Network who does the perfunctory congratulations. Bobby Flay hands the “magical” envelope to Emeril, who then asks the two ladies if they have any last-minute thoughts. Amy says she’s proud she made it this far; Rory gets all flekempt and says she can’t really talk. Emeril asks Bobby for help to open a simple envelope, and then he says in such an anti-climatic and quiet tone, “Amy.” Almost like he’s saying, “Amy, could you move down just a bit. Thanks. Rory, you’re the winner!” But of course, it is Amy who wins because we all know she’s the one with the poise to have her own show. But I have to say, Rory did put up a good battle and did show she could probably hold her own. So there you have it. Catch the Gourmet Next Door on the Food Network early Saturday mornings this October.
Thanks everyone for reading my recaps and for your encouraging comments. If you can’t get enough of my recaps, then be sure to check back in a couple of months when I start recapping the show, “The Next Iron Chef,” when real celebrity chefs (including San Francisco’s own Chris Cosentino of Incanto and Traci des Jardins of Jardiniere) compete to become an Iron Chef, joining the ranks of Masaharu Morimoto, Bobby Flay, Mario Batali and Cat Cora. Now that’s going to be an exciting food show to recap. Check back in October.
