It’s summer, so bring on the ice cream! I bet the lines at my favorites Ici and Bi-Rite Creamery are pretty long this hot weekend. But last weekend I discovered something different at the Temescal Farmers’ Market in the ‘hood.
This was the first time I spotted the Scream Sorbet tent at the Sunday market (which is in the parking lot of the Clairemont DMV in Oakland). This fairly new company was started by a couple of guys in Emeryville, and they’ve only been selling at farmers markets in the Bay Area. (There have been reports that they’ve been spotted at Alameda and Jack London Square. But you can find out where they’ll be by checking their Web site.)
So far their hand-made sorbets of seasonal, organic fruit have created a lot of positive buzz. Their flavors change often (again, check the Web site) but last weekend they were selling Maple-Walnut, Lemon-Buttermilk, Peach-Raspberry, Cherry-Lime, Carrot-Ginger and Strawberry-Rhubard.
They’re really good about letting you taste test their flavors, and I pretty much tried them all. There were definitely some nice ones (Peach-Raspberry was my favorite) and the oddities (Carrot-Ginger is great as soup but not so much as ice cream unless this is an Iron Chef challenge). What struck me as interesting were all the raves I was hearing from people around me. Almost everyone loved the sorbet, even though I didn’t think every flavor was a home-run.
The sorbet itself is definitely a plus. The texture is silky and gooey, resembling very much the house-made sorbets at fancy restaurants. It’s so thick that it really felt like eating ice cream. While there’s a definite sweetness, the girl behind the counter says it all comes from the natural fruits.
And now, the price. You know, I think I’m the only food person that’s so concerned about pricing because most critiques I read never seem to point out when they think pricing may be too high. Not me. I believe in paying for quality food, but sometimes it can be over the border. I’m ambivalent about Scream Sorbet so I’d be interested to hear what others think.
Scream Sorbet sells their sorbets by the single scoop or double scoop, and it costs $3 for a single. (I forgot the price for the double.) $3 might not sound too bad, but the scoop really looked kind of small. It’s in a really small, white paper cup and the scooping isn’t very generous. Sometimes you’re at Ici and you might get a really big scoop of ice cream to make paying that much worth it. And I know Bi-Rite goes crazy scooping large portions, even for the kid size I typically order! I can’t say the same for Scream.
I was at the Temescal market early in the morning and I wasn’t in the mood for sorbet for breakfast, so I decided to buy some to try later at home. The small plastic container, which is about a pint, sells for $10. Am I crazy but isn’t that a bit much? The girl at the counter (who actually was the girlfriend of one of the partners) says it’s equivalent to six scoops, and that I could mix flavors if I wanted.
I ended up getting the Peach-Raspberry and the Strawberry-Rhubard. But as I stood there I was getting buyer’s remorse, so I asked if I could just get two scoops of each flavor instead of three. The girl agreed and charged me only $7 instead of $10.
I enjoyed my sorbet later that night after dinner, and again the next night and it was a really luxurious experience. The Strawberry-Rhubard was sweeter than the Peach-Raspberry but still good. And I liked the Peach-Raspberry because it was subtle in flavor.
So if you spot the Scream Sorbet tent at your local farmers market, give it a try. It definitely is a treat. But let me know if you think it’s worth the price.
Scream Sorbet, currently available only at farmers markets in the East Bay. screamsorbet.com
Big Bowls of Noodles for Easy Satisfaction 2426 Telegraph Ave. (between Channing and Haste), Berkeley Near the UC-Berkeley campus PH: 510.644.9292 Open Tue.–Sat., 11 a.m. to 9 p.m.; Sun., noon to 9 p.m., closed Mondays No reservations, major credit cards accepted
Continuing my theme this week of eating in this down economy, I thought I’d go where most cheap foods can be found—near the college students. For me, the closest college campus is the University of California at Berkeley and the funky Telegraph Avenue.
Of course, there are many ethnic food places to choose from. But one of my regular standbys in the area is Slurp, a fun and casual noodle shop who’s Asian-ness is not very apparent. Is it Chinese? Is it Japanese? Hmm, the cook looks Korean? I can’t really tell. I just know it’s a good place for a cheap bowl of noodles.
You walk in and order at the counter, and the menu contains a variety of noodles, both soup noodles and fried. After you pay, you get a number and when they call it, you go get your food. It’s very much self-serve in that way. (And please be nice and bus your table afterwards for others.)
There’s a lot of counter space surrounding the narrow dining room and a few tables in the center. I thought I’d see a lot of Berkeley students at the times I visited, but mostly it was a mix of ages and not strictly the college crowd.
My first trip I ordered the Soup Noodles with Pork and Chinese Pickled Vegetables ($5.50). This is a Northern-style dish with the thicker noodles and the preserved cabbage. I think everyone who’s been to Slurp will agree that the portions are huge, so my bowl was filled with noodles and dark pork strips, the preserved cabbage, celery, onions and sprouts. The soup was nice and rich, but I wasn’t a fan of the pork. Still, it kind of hit the spot for me and I definitely didn’t leave hungry.
On another trip I went for the Dan Dan Noodles ($5.50) (sometimes seen as Tan Tan noodles). This is a noodle dish with minced beef sauce that’s mixed with cold cucumber slices. Again, a very Northern Chinese-style dish. (BTW, the menu does have Japanese noodles like udon. I just wasn’t feeling like udon on my trips to Slurp.)
Slurp’s version of Dan Dan looked a bit pedestrian, almost crude. The sauce had an odd orange color and the cucumbers didn’t seem fresh. This wasn’t as successful as my first visit, although once you mixed the sauce with the noodles it was still oddly comforting to eat.
While Slurp isn’t a place you’ll go run and tell friends about, it is a decent place for a cheap bowl of noodles. You get a lot of food and it’s a way better alternative to the fast-food joints. The dining area is well-kept and the counter help is generally friendly. And when you don’t want to make the trek to Chinatown, there’s no beating the price.
Single guy rating: 2.5 stars (bowl of savings)
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
Continuing where I left off yesterday about stretching your meals, today I’m posting a very basic recipe for chicken salad. I used half of the roasted chicken I made on the weekend and created chicken salad to take to lunch for work.
I kept this recipe pretty simple because the whole idea is not to spend a lot of money on ingredients with prices going sky high every day. But if you want to dress up your chicken salad, you can get ideas from an earlier post I did on curry chicken salad here.
So with my roasted chicken that I split into two dinners and the chicken salad, which I ate over two days at work, this is how much I spent for four meals:
Whole fryer chicken: $7.18 Broccoli (for a green side at dinner): $1.02 One orange (stuffed in the chicken): 85 cents One lemon (why are they so expensive?): $1.29 Celery (to stuff in chicken and mixed with salad): $2.49 Red potatoes (roasted for dinner): $1.04 Carrots (for salad): 57 cents Rosemary (to stuff in chicken and roasted with potatoes): $1.99 Acme Walnut Levain bread loaf (for chicken salad sandwiches): $3.95
Total: $20.38
That works out to be about $5.09 per meal, or the equivalent of roughly 1.25 gallons of gas.
Ingredients: 6-8 oz. chicken meat (about 2 chicken breasts or half a roasted chicken) ¾ cup celery (2 stalks), finely diced ¾ cup carrots (2 carrots), finely diced ½ cup mayonnaise 1 T dijon mustard 1 t sugar 1 t champagne vinegar salt and pepper
This recipe is great for using leftover chicken meat from a roasted chicken. But if you don’t have that, then roast two pieces of chicken breast in the over at 400 degrees for about 20 minutes until cooked. Let cool and shred the meat into pieces. Add carrots and celery.
In small bowl, mix mayonnaise, mustard, sugar and vinegar and season with salt and pepper. Fold the mixture with your chicken, carrots and celery until you get the consistency you prefer. If it looks to dry, add more mayonnaise. Be sure to taste afterwards and season with more salt and pepper if needed.
Serve as sandwiches or on a bed of lettuce.
Makes 2 to 3 servings.
Pair with a glass of Chardonnay.
TIP: Don’t let your cooked chicken stay out too long before putting it in the refrigerator. You don’t want any bacteria to grow. But at the same time, if you put it in the refrigerator covered, the heat can create moisture and make your salad runny. It’s all a balancing trick, you know?
CRUNCH IT UP: If you want to add texture to this basic chicken salad recipe, a lot of people throw in chopped walnuts. In the summertime, it’s nice to add fresh grapes sliced in half. Be creative!
With the economy the way it is these days and prices going up everywhere, I thought I’d do a post about one of my favorite “stretch-the-dollar” meals. And that’s a whole roasted chicken.
A whole chicken works out cheaper than buying boneless breasts fillets. You get more meat and the satisfaction of getting a variety of meat instead of just plain white meat. And as a Single Guy, I stretch a whole roasted chicken over several meals, chopping up half for two nights of dinner and using the other half to make chicken salad for lunch. (I’ll be posting my chicken salad recipe next.)
Below are the simple, basic steps to roasting a chicken. It’s a combination of techniques I’ve learned from watching my favorite chefs like Ina Garten and Jamie Oliver and from what I read in cookbooks like the award-winning Zuni Café Cookbook.
I start with a whole chicken that I’ve rinsed and pat dry. (Be sure to remove all the giblets and junk inside the cavity. You can use them to make stock or gravy later.) I salt my chicken 24 hours before I plan to roast it, which is the highly quoted recommendation from Chef Judy Rodgers of the Zuni Café Cookbook. Salting it this early helps seal the flesh so that it’ll stay moist when cooking. I use about 3 teaspoons of coarse sea salt for this chicken that weighed about 4.5 lbs. I made sure to rub the salt underneath the skin to make sure it has contact with the meat. Then I cover it and place it in the refrigerator for the next day.
Before I’m about to cook my chicken, I preheat my oven to 425 degrees. The high heat is another recommendation from Chef Rodgers to help brown the skin. Above is a look at what I plan to stuff inside the cavity. These are ideas I got from Ina Garten who likes to use citrus when roasting her chicken. I love citrus so I put in a mix of orange and lemon quarters along with the traditional celery sticks and some rosemary. As the chicken cooks, the citrus juices infuse into the meat for a really subtle taste. Other things you can add in the cavity include half an onion and a couple of garlic cloves. But really, there’s only so much you can shove in there. (That’s why I cut up the citrus into small quarters to make it easy to fit.)
Bring your chicken out of the refrigerator and let it sit at room temperature so that it’s not super cold when going into the oven. After filling the cavity with the items above, then I also squeeze in rosemary twigs and nubs of butter (that’s a Jamie Oliver trick), about 2 to 3 tablespoons, under the skin on both the breast side and the back. I even squeeze in any extra orange segments I might have. As the chicken cooks, the butter melts and in a way acts like a self-basting technique. You see I also trussed the chicken (tied up the legs), but there’s a lot of chefs who recommend not worrying about it. I do it so that the oranges and lemons don’t fall out. You can check out my video on how to truss a chicken. When your chicken’s all ready, pat it dry again and place it in a roasting pan and into the oven to cook at 425 degrees for about 30 minutes.
After 30 minutes, I bring out the chicken and flip it over because I want to make sure it cooks golden all around. Here it is with its back to me. I grind some fresh sea salt on top so that the skin will have some nice saltiness for those who like to eat the skin, and then put it back in the oven to cook for another 20-25 minutes. Then I flip it back with the breast up, sprinkle some salt on the breast side and let it finish cooking for another 15 minutes. The cooking time really depends on your chicken, but I’ve found that this 4.5 pound chicken usually cooks between 1 to 1.5 hours, depending on your heat. You can use an internal thermometer to test how done the chicken meat is, but I use the old fashion technique of inserting a small knife between the thigh and checking to see that the liquid flowing out is clear. That’s when I know it’s done.
You want to have a nice golden brown skin for your chicken. (Actually, I think mines turned out a bit dark because of the butter.) When done cooking, let it rest for about 15-25 minutes so the juices will settle. Then remove the twine if you trussed your chicken and toss out everything in the cavity and under the skin. You can use any of the drippings from your roasting pan as a base for gravy.
So a whole roasted chicken can serve about four people, or if you’re cooking for yourself you can split it into several dinners. Here I have a quarter of my roasted chicken along with some roasted rosemary potatoes and sautéed broccoli. Enjoy!
Previously: The contestants cook on a train and many were off track, including some raw eggs. Nipa walked out but not out the door. That was reserved for Kevin, who was eliminated because he was generic. Tonight: The Dallas Diva is frantic when she cooks, everyone goes ga-ga over Ms. Martha, and more contestants cry.
We open with scenes of Manhattan and those ugly double-decker buses carrying tourists. In the Carriage House, Adam says he has to be perfect after serving undercooked food two weeks in a row. People are still talking about the warning Nipa got for her prima donna fit last week. Even Nipa’s talking about it, saying it would be easy to have quit, but now she knows she really really wants it. OK, if you say so.
They go to the Food Network studios and they’re greeted by Bobby Flay, who’s standing in front of those silver trays with the coverings to unveil some fancy food at those fancy restaurants. Do people use those things anymore? Everyone knows the next challenge is underneath it so they’re all speculating what it could be.
Bobby says he wants to see more of their culinary point of view translated to food, and he’s found the perfect canvas—the plain, generic russet potato. Everyone’s excited about the potato, especially Nipa who goes all Bollywood with ideas for curried potatoes. I have a feeling all her dishes will involve some kind of curry. Not to generalize, but I’m just saying she should call herself the Curry Queen instead of the Spice Queen.
The contestants have 30 minutes to create something and then do a 1-minute presentation on tape for the judges. Go!
Everyone’s frantically cooking and talking about their plans for the potato. BTW, did you ever notice that Jennifer, the mom, talks like a baby when she’s on air? When she does her interviews, she’s fine. But I notice when she’s in front of the judges or speaking to the camera while cooking, she talks like a baby. Grow up already!
Dallas Diva Lisa is really frenetic in the kitchen. I wouldn’t want to be near her when she’s chopping vegetables, like right now. She’s a human food processor. Jennifer is adding a big plop of goo onto a pizza she’s making. It doesn’t look appetizing at all. Just all white. Curry Queen is standing around as the 30 minutes wind down. You know, she always looks so low-key during these challenges. Either Nipa’s dishes are so easy to make, or she has someone else cooking for her backstage because we all know the Food Network is hungry for an Indian food show.
Time’s up and they do their presentations in front of the camera. In comes Bob Tuschman and Susie Folgelson, and Bob tells them to be sure to tell a story about themselves.
Adam’s up first and he’s serving up cheese fries because he’s all about the comfort food. He does a good job talking about eating comfort food when you’re breaking up with your girlfriend and it’s actually quite funny. No surprise since he’s an actor. And the judges’ seem to like the bacon and fries, which Bobby notes are not raw.
With Kelsey, she’s like sunshine walking into a room. But with the judges, they all feel like she’s shining too bright. They’re like, where’s my sunglasses because this girl is too sunny? Susie actually calls her phony and her dish of potato au gratin is undercooked.
Jeffrey and Aaron both give similar presentations, meaning they both either stuttered their way through it all or really showed their nerves. While the judges’ felt Jeffrey’s home fries were bland, they really love Aaron’s bacon-wrapped potato. In fact, they always seem to like Aaron’s food, so I get a feeling that he must make some tasty dishes.
Then we have Nipa, who always seem to be sleep-walking IMHO. I have to say, her make up and hair looks pretty nice right now, giving her a really soft look. And her presentation is not bad. She’s talking about her Indian potato dish, some long-ass name that I can’t pronounce and were too many words to type in a few seconds. Tuschman says she needs to smile more because “she has a lot going for her.”
Shane is kind of boring and his dish tasted like paste, according to Bob. But not as bad as Jennifer’s grilled pizza with mashed potatoes which she says will be easy for kids to make to load up on carbs if they’re running a marathon the next day. (She actually didn’t say that; I made it up for her because that really is a lot of carbs.)
Finally, there’s Lisa. She’s all worried because everyone coming back from doing their presentations have been saying how the minute goes by fast, so she keeps her presentation short and sweet. Well, maybe too short because she’s all done talking about her crème fraiche and fresh asparagus dish when the floor director tells her to stretch it out. Lisa’s confused because she’s done and doesn’t have more to say, so we just see the time clicking away and the judges watching to see if the Dallas Diva is going to say anything else. She doesn’t and it’s all very awkward. Lisa is upset with herself and cries saying she doesn’t want 30 seconds of dead air to take away her dream. Dead air has killed a lot of people’s dreams and careers, baby. This is TV.
Commercials. Ugh, you know these commercials are always the same. It’s like the Food Network sold commercial blocks for the whole series to the same companies. They’re so repetitive, all you have to do is read my last two recaps and you’ll get the idea about the commercials.
The contestants walk into a room where Bobby Flay is standing in front of all these products. Jars of sauce and stuff from the likes of Paula Deen, Emeril Legasse and Giada DeLaurentiis. Bobby tells the group that their challenge is to come up with a food product that they can brand and sell. Then they have to demonstrate its use with a dish for a group of 50 buyers from food stores all across the country … and a special guest. (But since we’ve seen the previews already, we know the special guest is Ms. Martha Stewart.)
They have 30 minutes to shop for ingredients, and I’m kind of shocked at how little time they’re given to conceive a packaged product and then think up a recipe to serve it with. I’m starting to think the Food Network just wants to see who fails more than they want to see who can excel. The evil bastards!
Adam is going for a smoking rub, but can’t find any wood chips. So instead he uses a trick he saw on the Food Network (see what you’ve spawned!) of smoking corn husks. Nipa, of course, is making a sweet and spicy peanut seasoning and apparently the main ingredient is cayenne because she talks about buying up all the bottles of cayenne in the store. Then strolls in Aaron who wants to make his apple-cider vinaigrette. He says his secret ingredient is … cayenne. Wait! Where’s all the cayenne? Aaron can’t believe the store is out of cayenne. This is like a really sick version of “Who Moved the Cayenne Pepper?”
Back in the Food Network kitchens, the contestants start cooking up their product selection of sauces, marmalade and such. Most of them seem pretty confident about this challenge, which is surprising given that none of them currently have a product on store shelves. Oh look, there’s Nipa looking bored again while cooking. Yawn.
Commercials. OK, these commercials are sooo boring, I want to talk about a really funny commercial. Have you guys seen the recent E*Trade commercial with the baby on the computer? It’s He-LARRY-ous! He’s talking about trading stocks and gets a text message and then a call from his girlfriend. The dialog is so funny and the baby is spot on cute! I love these commercials, but I saw them earlier on another station. The Food Network should get E*Trade as a sponsor so I can have some fun during commercial breaks. Can you get on that, FN?
Bobby is in the studio again. You know, Bobby Flay is really working this episode, unlike the first two. He’s been in every segment so far. Good hosting work, Bobby! Then the crowd of buyers strolls into the room where each contestant has set up a little table to do a food demo, like walking around Costco.
The buyers and judges walk to the various contestants. A buyer from Whole Foods thinks Nipa’s sweet and spicy sauce is too simple because it’s just sugar and cayenne, which anyone can mix together at home despite Nipa’s assurance that it’s a trick to get that “proper balance.”
Over at Kelsey’s table of All-in-1 sauce, she’s cooking up Sloppy Joe’s, or what she calls, Sloppy Jane. (Get it?) And Susie and Bob Tuschman are again overwhelmed by her sunshine. They think she’s overselling.
For Shane, a buyer tells him he needs to work on his product’s name, which has this stupid Cherri-Gac name but the g is silent (like gag, oh, not like gag, but should be). Lisa made an orange-basil marmalade and it looks delicious spread on those chunks of cheese.
Jeffrey sells his soul-food salt and when the judges try the fried fish that he sprinkled it on, they don’t say a word. But Jeffrey is selling up a storm, saying how even after they walk away, the flavor will sneak up on them again and say “Jeffrey” in this really creepy whisper. Can you see Bobby Flay waking up at night screaming because he heard someone whisper in his ear “Jeffrey. Jeff-reeeeey.” Scary.
The buyers leave, and everyone’s trying to guess who will be the special guest. Then in walks Ms. Martha and Lisa and Kelsey are having an OMG shitfest.
Ms. Martha walks around like she’s inspecting the troops, with her little plastic clipboard. She starts with Shane and his poorly named Cherri-gac, but thankfully for him Martha gets that it’s supposed to be a play on cognac. Still, she felt Shane’s dish needed a bit more salt.
With Nipa, she asked if there were peanuts in her sweet and spicy peanut seasoning, and Curry Queen says no. Ms. Martha thinks that’s misleading. Nipa is so overconfident that she interviews that she thinks Martha loved her presentation when it was so obvious that she didn’t.
For the rest, Ms. Martha thinks Jeffrey is a good salesman, Jennifer is boring and she loves Aaron’s apple-cider vinaigrette, mostly because she loves apple-cider.
Then she meets Lisa, who looks like she’s going to go into convulsions at any moment. She says she’s Martha’s biggest fan, and I believe her. Ms. Martha tries a bit of the orange marmalade and talks to Lisa about sourcing and organic food. Martha doesn’t say much and she makes me nervous how she dabs her lips with her napkin in that slow way like she’s planning how she can get out of this conversation without killing Lisa.
Kelsey, who’s also a fan but not as convulsive as Lisa, is worried because if she knew Martha was coming she would have made Beef Willington or a fancy pasta instead of her stupidly named Sloppy Jane’s. Again, Martha tries it and doesn’t say much, other than saying she doesn’t eat Sloppy Joe’s typically. (I don’t see why, Martha, they’re so comforting!)
The last is Adam, and he asks if it’s all right for him to sing to her? Huh? I didn’t know Martha was taking requests? Adam pulls out a harmonica and does this blues song about meeting Martha. He falls on his knees at the end, and I have to say it did make Martha giggle, so there’s that.
Ms. Martha is now in the roundtable with the judges and she gives short reviews on everyone. Mostly she’s saying “not bad” a lot. She doesn’t rave about anyone in particular. It was a very short critique I think. But you can tell she’s like Oprah of the food world because Bobby Flay can’t stop thanking her and touching her arm.
Commercials. I switched to the Tony Awards on CBS and they’re doing a tribute to Rent, which ended its long run on Broadway this past season. I. Love. That. Musical. Especially that song, “Seasons of Love.” Thankfully I taped the tribute and will watch it again tonight.
Judgment. The contestants are tense and all of them think they’re going home as they walk down the stairs to the judges’ room. They get their critiques and this is how it went:
Tuschman tells Shane that the soup tasted wrong and he needs to show more passion. He’s too careful and thoughtful for the Food Network.
Bobby tells Adam that he liked that he didn’t cook anything raw this time and that his BBQ rub was OK but nothing he hadn’t tasted before.
Susie tells Jennifer that her mashed potato grilled pizza wasn’t working. She also thinks Jennifer is a little self-conscious and is always apologizing about her food. Tuschman says a Food Network star has to be authoritative.
Bobby tells Lisa that her presentation in the first challenge was too short but buyers liked her marmalade. Then she gets all teary eyed thinking about meeting Ms. Martha. Oh, PUH-lease, someone hand the girl a tissue.
Bob gets Nipa, and she asks her first whether she’s up for a critique or if she’s going to go ballistic and storm out of the room like last time? She says she’s going to stay, and Bob tells her that her potato dish was delicious but her product was too simple. He also says she has low-energy. (See, I told you.)
Susie tells Aaron that his honey scallion bacon-wrapped potato could be his signature dish, but his presentation lacked any personal stories.
Jeffrey looks like he’s wearing black lipstick. I’m not kidding. His lips look so perfectly dark and smooth. Anywho, Tuschman tells Jeffrey that he seems to shrink in a crowd and he needs Jeffrey to be Jeffrey. And Jeffrey concurs.
Susie tells Kelsey that her potato au gratin wasn’t very good and Ms. Martha didn’t like her Sloppy Jane’s. But she hits Kelsey hard by telling her to be less Miss Sunshine because she’s coming off too rehearsed and verging on being annoying. Ouch!
Commercials. Patty Lapone just won a Tony for her reprisal role in Gypsy. She’s giving this hilarious speech about how it’s been almost 30 years since her last win (for Evita, of course). She’s so great.
Decision time. Adam wins the potato-presentation challenge (he was smooth). The buyers chose Lisa as the winner with the best product. And Martha chose her personal favorite and that’s Aaron’s apple-cider vinaigrette. All three are safe and are excused. Then Nipa and Shane are declared safe and they leave too, leaving Kelsey, Jeffrey and Jennifer.
Kelsey looks down, and Bobby asks her what’s wrong? She talks about how she’s passionate about food and food television and how she applied for The Next Food Network Star after seeing season 1, and how she applied every year. (Tuschman says in his blog that they basically took her in this year because she kept applying. I guess that’s the trick, wear ‘em down!) Then she starts crying because it breaks her heart to think that she’s coming off forced and unnatural. I feel kind of bad for her because she does seem really sincere. And can she help it if she radiates the sun? I think not.
Bobby tells her that she has raw talent and if he were her producer, he’d work with her so he asks her to stay. Which of course makes her cry more and she promises to work harder, and then goes upstairs and cries some more because she was called annoying by Susie. The others give her a group hug and say, “you’re not annoying.” That’s so sweet. They lie, but that’s still sweet.
That just leaves the two Js—Jennifer and Jeffrey—and I could tell at this point that Jeffrey is going home. Because even though he seems really nice, he is pretty boring. And you know how the Food Network loves the mom cooks! I’m right as Susie tells Jennifer she’s staying. She also breaks into tears, probably from all the pent up frustration and tension, and Jeffrey has to end up comforting her.
Jeffrey leaves graciously, telling everyone it was an awesome experience. He later interviews that if you get beaten down in life, you grow stronger and taller. That says a lot because he’s pretty tall already so he must have been beaten up a lot as a kid.
Jennifer goes upstairs and runs immediately to her bed to pull out a photo of her daughter and starts bawling. Wow, did the Food Network forget to run psychological analysis on the contestants before they arrived in New York? Because these people are on the verge of nervous breakdowns.
Next week: Tyler Florence is the guest and he’s going to teach them some basics, Iron Chef Michael Simon is also going to get them to cook for the Coast Guard, and looks like we’re going to finally see Lisa’s infamous preview fall in the kitchen. It’s a doozie. If you don’t believe me, you can watch it in this preview video:
The Next Food Network Star airs at 10 p.m. Sundays and repeats at 9 p.m. Thursdays. Photos courtesy of the Food Network Web site.
This weekend I traveled outside my food blogging safety zone of San Francisco, Oakland and Berkeley and trekked all the way down to Palo Alto’s University Avenue. What would make me travel more than an hour on train to this part of the Peninsula? Frozen yogurt.
Sure, you’re probably thinking there are a variety of new frozen yogurt stores that I can blog about right in San Francisco. In fact, I think there are probably four new fro-yo shops that opened up in the last month that I still haven’t tried. But in the tree-lined blocks of University Avenue is the grand-daddy of all frozen yogurt shops, Red Mango.
When the fro-yo trend started in Los Angeles a few years ago, it was Pinkberry that got people lined up for the tart original flavor or green tea. But many people were quick to point out that Pinkberry was just a knock-off of the Korean chain Red Mango.
Last year, Red Mango came to the United States to reclaim its title as the favorite fro-yo and the U.S. division has been opening stores like crazy. And while Pinkberry has yet to open a store in the Bay Area, Red Mango came to town last month with its first store in Palo Alto. (Other stores are planned for San Jose, Cupertino and San Carlos.)
But this isn’t just a visit to Red Mango. I decided to do a taste-test of Red Mango’s yogurt compared to local favorite Fraiche Yogurt, who could probably be credited with starting the local version of the fro-yo craze when it opened a few years ago and became one of the first frozen-yogurt spots in the Bay Area.
So my first stop was Fraiche, since it’s the closest to the Caltrain Palo Alto station.
Just off University Avenue on Emerson, Fraiche is a cute little shop that sells both fresh and frozen yogurt. It also sells oatmeal and baked goods and serves Blue Bottle Organic Coffee.
Started by two friends, Fraiche’s yogurt is made just like they do it in Europe. But they use local ingredients (Clover organic milk) and it’s made on site. They have a nice selection of fresh fruits along with the crunchy stuff. The sizes include Junior (4 oz.) for $2.95, Regular (6 oz.) for $3.95 and Large (9 oz.) for $5.25. The fro-yo flavors are natural, soy and chocolate. Then there are extra costs for the number of toppings you choose.
Fraiche décor is very Swedish with a lot of white, brown and orange accents. I really liked the wall texture that looked like a wave but probably is supposed to represent the swirls of frozen yogurt. While the décor was contemporary and nice, it did feel a bit tired. Like the brown pillows on the side just seemed well-worn.
I got the natural flavor frozen yogurt in the regular size cup with two toppings: strawberries and blackberries. Total cost was $4.95.
The cup looked like a lot of fro-yo, and it looked milky white. While it was pleasant, it did have a slight icy texture to it. You know what I mean? Like tiny bits of ice granules were mixed in when making the yogurt. The flavor of the fro-yo was subtle, with a very slight vanilla hint but mostly the flavor of milk.
The fruits were incredibly fresh. Strawberries were great since they’re in season, but the blackberries were especially good. They were firm and sweet. Overall, it was an enjoyable cup of fro-yo and I liked the fact that they used compostible spoons. Service was friendly, and you could probably meet and chat with one of the two owners behind the counter.
I walked a few blocks up University Avenue to Red Mango, which definitely has a more high-profile location right on University Avenue.
This particular Red Mango was opened with a famous partner, Bay Area’s Yul Kwon who won Survivor a few years ago. I’m guessing he’s using some of his $1 million in this business venture. Kwon was supposedly spotted at the store when it opened but now makes only a few rare appearances.
The store has a bright, open feel with a lot of red accents, of course. Red Mango sells only two flavors of fro-yo: original and green tea. It also sells what they call frozen yogurt blenders, which I’m guessing is like a smoothie.
The fro-yo sizes are Small (4 oz.), Medium (8 oz.) and Large (12 oz.). The prices for original flavor are $2.95, $3.95 and $6.45; and the green tea prices are a $1 additional. Toppings are extra.
I ended up getting the medium original fro-yo. They had strawberries but no blackberries, so I couldn’t get an identical match for comparative purposes to Fraiche, so I went with mango and raspberries. My total was $5.20.
The medium is 2 ounces larger than Fraiche, and cost a bit more. But once I started eating the yogurt, I could tell a marked difference. The yogurt was creamier and had no icy texture like Fraiche. And it had the distinctive tart flavor I’ve heard people talk about when describing yogurt.
The mango chunks were especially good because they tasted really fresh and sweet. So overall, it was a really worthwhile cup of fro-yo.
I think there are going to be loyalists who will continue to patronize Fraiche because they’re local and it is made of quality ingredients. Both Fraiche and Red Mango have contemporary, clean environments but I have to say Red Mango wins for texture and taste. I would take a 1-hour train ride just to get a cup (but I’m hoping they’ll eventually open one closer to me). I can’t wait to try the green tea! Fraiche Yogurt, 644 Emerson St., Palo Alto. PH: 650.566.0055. www.fraicheyogurt.com. Open Mon.-Thu., 7 a.m.-10:30 p.m.; Fri., 7 a.m.-11 p.m.; Sat., 9 a.m.-11 p.m.; and Sun., 9 a.m.-10:30 p.m.
Red Mango, 429 University Ave., Palo Alto. PH: 650.324.1811. www.redmangousa.com. Open Sun.-Thu., 11 a.m.-11:30 p.m.; Fri.-Sat., 11 a.m.-12:30 a.m.
The warm weather in the Bay Area lately has reminded me of Hawaii again. Don’t worry, I’m not going to dredge up more photos of my recent vacation. But it did get me thinking of plate lunches, and more specifically macaroni salads.
The plate lunch is the standard lunchtime meal in Hawaii. We don’t go for no simple sandwich. It’s always a protein like teriyaki beef or chicken, or maybe the Hawaiian favorite kalua pork, and then the ubiquitous two scoops of rice and a scoop of macaroni salad.
And while this isn’t necessarily the most healthy of meals, it is the most comforting. I especially enjoy the macaroni salad because there’s something about the creamy dressing and the soft macaroni that made it all special. The macaroni salad always look so simple too because they are mostly just pasta and maybe some carrot strips. Some people take it up a notch with tuna and peas, but I say it taste great just with the pure simplicity of pasta and dressing.
Below is my attempt to make a home version of macaroni salad. I’ve found that places on the mainland don’t seem to make macaroni salad the same way as in Hawaii (unless you go specifically to a Hawaiian-style restaurant). The macaroni salads here are more like pasta salad with so many ingredients the pasta just fades to the background. But I say make the macaroni the star, maybe at your next grill party or summer picnic. Enjoy!
Ingredients 8 0z. Elbow pasta (about 2 cups), overcooked 1/4 cup red bellpepper, finely diced ½ cup mayonnaise 1½ T Dijon mustard 2 T Sweet relish 1 T sugar 1 t salt 1 t white pepper
Boil pasta per box instructions, but overcook it by two minutes to make it extra soft. (Be sure to salt the water to season your pasta.) Drain and set aside. In bowl, mix mayonnaise, mustard, sweet relish, sugar, salt and white pepper. Add bell pepper pieces to the pasta, then gradually toss a little of the mayonnaise mixture in at a time with pasta until you get the consistency that you prefer. Place in refrigerator. Serve cool.
Makes 4 servings. Serve with any grilled meat.
TIP: I recommend that you overcook your pasta because it’s better to eat the macaroni salad soft than hard. When you refrigerate the pasta, it’ll start to harden again from the cold, that’s why you want to overcook it to make sure it stays soft. You want to cook it so it’s floppy when taken out of the water.
WATCH THE MOISTURE: Make sure your pasta is cool before you start mixing it with the mayonnaise mixture. If you mix it when warm, the heat will make your mayonnaise runny. When you place the warm pasta in the refrigerator, it’ll also create condensation that will bring more moisture into your salad, giving you the dreaded runny version.
It’s the last show and a long road to get to where we are … Puerto Rico. But before we get the tropical scenes, we get a review of Chicago and how this all began with 16 cheftestants, Pizzeria Uno, munchkins in the kitchen, a wedding to cater, Stephanie’s shaky hands, Lisa’s rice problems, and Dale’s screaming and yelling. Now, three cheftestants, Richard, Lisa and Stephanie, cook the meal of their lives. And we don’t get to try any of it. :(
Tonight we find out who gets the title of … TOP CHEF.
Hey, what happened to the theme song? I miss all the dancing. No last dance? Instead, we go straight to scenes of San Juan and the three cheftestants having breakfast at the hotel. Richard sniffs his egg. It must be hard eating as a chef because I bet you spend so much time inspecting the food before actually chowing down. Just like eating with a food blogger who needs to photograph all the food before chowing down. ;-)
They all interview about how they want to win. Stephanie brings up the fact again that it would be the first time a woman wins if she takes it (or Lisa, I guess). Lisa is so confident it’s crazy, but she does admit that she got to the finals “by the skin of her teeth.”
They arrive at the courtyard and waiting for them are Padma and Chef Tom Colicchio. Also we see three chefs standing behind individual round tables with a bunch of food on top. The guest chefs are the dashing Eric Ripert, the celebrity French chef of Le Benardin in New York, the kind-of-geeky Dan Barber of Blue Hill, also of New York, and April Bloomfield of the Spotted Pig of (guess where?) New York.
Richard calls Ripert a “culinary god” and with his now almost white hair, he is kind of Zeus-like. Chef Tom says the final challenge is to create a four-course tasting menu starting with fish, then poultry, red meat and finally dessert. Stephanie’s shocked that dessert is a requirement and not left up to the cheftestant to decide. Yeah, life has rules that way.
The three guest chefs are also going to play the role of sous chefs, which is what happened in last year’s season finale. Padma says the cheftestant with the most challenge wins will get to pick first, but there’s a tie between Richard and Stephanie with four each. So they draw knives and Richard lets Stephanie draw first. And she draws the knife with the No. 1. Richard looks like he just gave away the title.
Stephanie chooses Chef Ripert while Richard picks Chef Barber. So that leaves Chef Bloomfield with Lisa. So of course Lisa’s all “girl power.” This is not the Spice Girls Tour, Lisa.
More scenes of the forts around Puerto Rico and then we’re in the kitchen and the cheftestants start prepping their ingredients with their sous chefs. Lisa says she’s going to go back to her Asian style and doing Thai and Vietnamese dishes instead of last week’s failed Latin flavors. April feels a bit uncomfortable since she’s never cooked Asian, but Lisa chats the chef up like long lost friends and they’re all chatty in the kitchen.
Richard is doing a reflecting of his journey as a chef, which will include molecular gastronomy. He looks a bit stress and frantic. Stephanie, on the other hand, is watching over Chef Ripert, making sure he fillets the red snapper to her liking. HEL-lo? This is the same chef who wrote an entire cookbook about bringing the sea into the kitchen.
There’s actually a lot of cooking going on at this time, and some of the food looks amazing. And all this kitchen scene with the fun Latin music in the background reminds me of those food movies such as “Like Water for Chocolate” or “Eat Man Drink Woman.”
Richard busts out his liquid nitrogen, which he says is the one ingredient that he was allowed to bring with him. He’s thinking of making a tobasco sauce ice cream by quick freezing it with the liquid nitrogen. All the other chefs, especially Ripert, are all curious about it and watches Richard like he’s some kind of wizard. Lisa, of course, says she keeps her food simple. What’s odd is we never hear Lisa or Stephanie talk about what their secret ingredient is that they brought along. I’m not sure they even used it.
So far everyone seems pretty calm in the kitchen, especially buddies Lisa and April who, like I said, are just chatting away. And so far this is the most boring season finale of Top Chef with no twists or surprises. Just cooking. Which is nice if we get to eat, but short of that, I want some drama!
Commercials. A free commercial for Puerto Rico, of course.
The next morning, the cheftestants arrive in the kitchen and it’s pretty quiet. Their sous chefs aren’t there. Chef Tom comes in and informs the three that their sous chefs won’t be showing up for work today. (You know, this was the same routine last year. This finale is so predictable.)
The cheftestants seem a bit stress but all handle the news well. I mean, they probably knew they had to make their own dishes by themselves. This is when we get an idea of their individual menus. Here they are:
Lisa: Grilled prawns, Tom Kha Gai soup with dumplings, Wagyu beef and black rice Thai pudding.
Richard: Scallops, guinea hen and foie gras, pork belly and banana “scallops” with bacon ice cream. (Richard, again with the banana scallops? If you recall, this is the dessert he made that’s going to be in the Top Chef cook book when he won the dessert challenge. Except that time he made it with a big slab of avocado and chocolate. Hopefully he won’t do that again.)
Stephanie: Seared red snapper, quail with lobster ravioli, medallions of lamb and ricotta pound cake. (Hmm, that sounds good. I love pound cake, but it’s been a long time since I ate one.)
Chef Tom comes back to the kitchen to do his typical chef chats with each cheftestants. Richard seems a bit stressed of all the three and tells Tom that his menu so far is “abstract.” I’ve always found abstract food to be so vague. Tom finds Lisa really calm and Stephanie worried about her dessert. Again, I never really get anything from Tom’s visits. Are we near the half-way mark yet?
Back in the kitchen, Richard says he’s not going to make his tobasco sauce ice cream, and instead will just make bacon ice cream with his liquid nitrogen. Stephanie is indeed stressing over her cake after taking a bite, and Lisa tells her to be more confident like her.
Night arrives and they’re in a beautiful formal dining room. They’re probably still at the Governor’s Mansion. Padma looks hot in that red dress and I love how they did her hair. It’s a bit more breezy.
Commercials. Yuck, I hate mosquitoes.
Padma talks to the sous chefs. Ripert felt relaxed working with Stephanie, but Barber felt anxious with stressed out Richard. April felt humble in the role of sous chef. The cheftestants come out and meet the other guests, including Chef Alfredo Ayala of Puerto Rico and Tim Zagat, CEO of Zagat. Of course, there are Gail, Ted and Tom.
The cheftestants each give a brief description of their approach. Richard is talking again about his journey, Lisa is all about Southeast Asia and Stephanie wants to hit all the flavor points in their mouths. (I didn’t realize you had different flavors on your mouth. Interesting.)
They go back and they make their final preps. I’m still waiting for the curve ball, but nothing yet. Just fancy dishes and pretty food. They serve, and here’s how it went down.
First course: Lisa’s Grilled Prawns with Chili Basil Sauce and Crab with homemade potato chips, Stephanie’s Seared Red Snapper in Truffle Oil Clam and Asparagus Broth (in a cute cup) and Richard’s barely cooked Scallops with mango and pineapple.
Mr. Zagat felt Richard’s scallop dish was a bit too complicated, and Chef Ayala felt Lisa’s prawns were too spicy. Eric like the infusion of the truffle oil in Stephanie’s broth and Chef Ayala declares it the best of all three.
Second course: Lisa’s Tom Kha Gai with Dumplings, Stephanie’s Seared Quail Breast over Lobster Ravioli and Quail Eggs and Richard’s Which Came First dish with guinea hen, foie gras and sous vide cooked chicken eggs.
Chef Eric likes the complexity and earthiness of Richard’s dish but found it hard to figure out the ingredients. Everyone loves Lisa’s soup, and Gail says she could eat a whole bowl. Tom is bothered by the leeks in Stephanie’s dish. (It’s odd how one ingredient can throw off a dish for Tom, and then he obsesses about it. Don’t worry, he brings this up again later.)
Third course: Lisa’s Wagyu beef, Stephanie’s Medallions of Lamb with Maitake Mushrooms and Braised Pistachios and Blackberries, and Richard’s Be The Bacon with pickled radish, miron broth and pork belly.
Chef Ripert is surprised at how Richard’s food lacks seasoning, but he says the pickled radish on the pork belly is “bordering on genius.” Barber wanted the pork belly to be more crispy on the side (which is why I don’t like sous vide style cooking). Lisa’s dish was just OK although people thought the sweet sauce on the meat was the same as the prawn dish. Gail thought Stephanie was going to crash and burn with her concept but she totally loves it and Chef Ripert points out that this is the first time people have been throwing the word “love” when describing a dish tonight. Tom summarizes the three cheftestants so far, saying Richard’s dish needs work, Lisa is pedestrian and Stephanie is full of surprises.
Dessert course: Lisa’s black rice pudding, Stephanie’s ricotta pound cake with tropical fruit, and Richard’s banana scallop and bacon ice cream.
Chef Barber thinks Richard’s dessert is exciting. Mr. Zagat likes the rice pudding. People agree that Stephanie’s cake was just, meh.
The judges chat a bit at the end of the meal, and it’s really the typical glowing compliments you hear from like Paula Abdul on the finale of American Idol. You know, things like “they’re all winners” and “they’ve all grown since they started this journey” blah blah blah. Did I say earlier that this was the most boring finale of Top Chef history? There was no crisis in the kitchen. No missing ingredients. No curve ball. And Puerto Rico was barely featured. Can we just name Dale Top Chef and end the misery right now?
Commercials. I can’t believe there are so many car commercials. Who’s buying a car these days?
Judges’ Table. Everyone seems excited about the meal. Tom feels they delivered. The cheftestants come in. Has Richard been wearing those military shorts all this time? I didn’t notice it before. It must have looked weird when he entered the formal dining room dressed like that.
Padma asks how each cheftestant felt they did and they get some previews of the critique from the judges. Richard is taken aback by some of the comments, like how they felt his scallops were under-seasoned. Tom tells Lisa her prawns were too spicy and she says she was just representing her spicy self. I say Stephanie won this round.
For the second course, Gail tells Richard his foie gras and eggs dish was a bit muddled. Again, he looks taken aback by the reaction. But everyone loves Lisa’s Thai soup. And again, Tom brings up the leeks in Stephanie’s dish, telling her that they were uncooked and she’s shocked that they weren’t. I say Lisa won this round.
For the meat course, Ted asks Richard why he didn’t sear his pork belly and he says something about the integrity of the meat. Tom tells Lisa that Kobe beef shouldn’t really be served so rare like regular American beef because of all the fat. And just the thought of all that raw fat is making me kind of queasy right now. But everyone loved the surprises, especially braised pistachios, of Stephanie’s dish. I say Stephanie won this round.
For dessert, Richard says he eats banana every day for breakfast so that’s why he did that dessert, but Padma does call him out and says he’s done it before earlier this season. They says Lisa’s rice pudding was delicious and Tom says Stephanie’s banana cream was unidentifiable on her cake. So looks like a tie between Richard and Lisa for this round.
So if you go round by round, looks like Stephanie took two rounds and a split between Richard and Lisa. So I say Stephanie’s going to be named Top Chef.
Padma asks if the cheftestants have any last words, and there’s an awkward pause before Stephanie speaks up about how she second-guessed her dessert and that’s why it wasn’t successful but she learns from her experience and that’s why she’s Top Chef. Lisa and her bravado basically tells the judges to give her the title of Top Chef now. Richard shocks the judges by saying he felt he fucked up and gave up his opportunity to be Top Chef by overthinking his dishes. He’s totally really honest or A GENIUS trying to get the sympathy vote.
The three go to the stew room and Gail’s all shocked by what she just heard from Richard. Although Tom’s all like “I can see where he’s coming from.” They talk about the courses again and Tom does a poll, but you know what? I just did that above so Tom, all you need to do is just read my notes above. The judges comments are so repetitive.
We hear the birds chirping as a new morning arrives and I’m shocked that they filmed so long. I feel like the sun’s about to rise out my window now as I try to finish this recap so I can post it early because tonight I’ll be at the Yankees game in Oakland. (Go Yankees!)
Commercials. Get Smart, I loved that show growing up. Who didn’t?
The three come back to hear the decision. Tom says they cooked tremendous meals and were amazing competitors. He says Richard’s food is whimsical, playful and outrageous. Lisa is big, bold and all about her. Stephanie is surprising. He says the decision was made on which meal they would have gone back and eat again. And Padma says that meal would be the one cooked by one Stephanie. Stephanie is named Top Chef, the first female winner and the first one who I believe is from the host city (Chicago).
Stephanie’s surprised, of course, and the other rejected cheftestants sneak up from the back to give hugs. Lisa interviews that she’s all fuck that she didn’t win because she should have, and Richard is disappointed and near tears. He feels he gave up on himself at the last minute. He directs the show to cut so he can cry alone.
Stephanie doesn’t care about crying on Tv because she’s won the big money so she can cry all she wants. She says this is a reaffirmation that she is meant to be a chef. This from a woman who opened her own successful restaurant and closed it to reevaluate her future. So I guess the future is another restaurant, and I would definitely try it if I’m in Chicago.
Whetting My Appetite on Chef Kamio’s Genius 1330 Fillmore St. (between Eddy and Ellis), San Francisco Fillmore Jazz Preservation District PH: 415.655.5600 Dinner, Mon.–Wed., 5:30–10:30 p.m.; Thu.–Sat., until 11 p.m.,; Sun., 5–11 p.m. Reservations, major credit cards accepted sf.yoshis.com/sf/restaurant
Dine About Town is back for an encore this month, so last night I ventured with fellow food blogger Foodhoe to one of the more exciting new restaurants on the list of participating locales … Yoshi’s Jazz Club and Restaurant.
The original Yoshi’s is this unique and historical restaurant in Oakland’s Jack London Square that’s a combination jazz venue and Japanese restaurant. Last year, the owners created a spectacular San Francisco counterpart in that city’s historic jazz district known as the Fillmore. Its opening last fall was long awaited as a revitalization of the area.
There’s no denying that Yoshi’s San Francisco is the centerpiece now of the neighborhood. Just the sign itself can be seen for several blocks. And when you walk inside, it’s like walking into a theme park devoted to jazz and fine dining.
Jazz performers are scheduled for almost every night of the week, so many people come for dinner and a show. But Foodhoe and I were there just for the food, and there were a lot of it.
Yoshi’s menu under Executive Chef Shotaro “Sho” Kamio includes an innovative list of small plates and entrees as well as sushi and grilled selections. Just sitting down you’re inundated with pieces of papers containing the menus for the main dishes, sushi and drinks.
But we came for Dine About Town, which is a promotion to get people to taste the various offerings from San Francisco restaurants with a 3-course prix fixe dinner menu of $31.95. Most restaurants’ Dine About Town offerings are a choice of two options for each course. With Yoshi’s, I was impressed that they offered three choices for the starter and entrée (but stuck with two for dessert).
With our DAT dinner selected, Foodhoe and I toasted on Japanese beer and sake and snuck in a starter from Chef Kamio’s Sousaku section of the regular menu, which is his list of small plates he calls “original creations.” The original creation we wanted to try was his Yari Ika “Somen” ($11) or squid thinly sliced to resemble somen (the Japanese cold noodles) and served with uni and lime.
The squid “somen” came out so beautifully presented as five little dollops of squid topped with the uni (or sea urchin). I loved these little bites, which combined the crunchy texture of raw squid with the savory taste of the uni.
For our DAT starter, Foodhoe got the Sashimi Morikomi or raw fish plate consisting of maguro, hamachi, salmon and scallops. Foodhoe says the fish were all fresh, and she especially liked the scallops. She let me try a piece of her hamachi, and it was so tender and yummy it felt like it was melting in my mouth.
I chose the Saikyo Miso Caesar, which is a Caesar salad but with a creamy Caesar dressing infused with miso. Again, the plate came out looking beautiful, light and refreshing. It had hints of a creamy Caesar with the look and taste of Parmesan, but it also reflected an Asian touch with the daikon sprouts and bits of color from the radish. While it was enjoyable (maybe a bit heavy on the dressing) I didn’t necessarily get any miso flavor. It was overwhelmingly Parmesan, which isn’t bad, just not as promised.
BTW, both our starters came out surprisingly quick. Granted, the raw fish is easy to prepare, but I almost had the feeling that my salad was also pre-plated and sitting in the refrigerator because it was crispy cold. The other starter option on Yoshi’s DAT menu is Kakiage, or seasonal vegetables tempura fritters.
For our entrees, Foodhoe chose the Grilled Organic Chicken with an ume-shiso glaze. Ume is the preserved plum that’s the size of a dime and often inserted in rice balls known as musubi. I love eating ume, but you can only eat so much of them before getting sick from all the tartness. Shiso is the leaves often served with sashimi. Together, it created a sweet-tangy glaze on Foodhoe’s chicken that was perfectly cooked to accentuate the tenderness and freshness of the meat, both white and dark that came on the plate.
I got the Kurobuta Prime Pork Loin, which were medallions of pork loin with a lemon thyme jus. The pork loin is grilled to order and it offered a nice smoky flavor combined with the soy glaze, which reminded me a lot of yakitori, which is grilled foods. The pork came with a nice side of crunchy Napa cabbage shreds and dried tofu pieces with a tangy dressing. I loved everything on the plate, even the small pearl onions that were braised until they were tender so that each bite was a subtle sweetness.
(The third option on the DAT menu was Spicy Dragon and Spicy Tuna rolls.)
Finally came dessert. Yoshi’s dessert menu was created by opening pastry chef, Marisa Churchill, who was a cheftestant on Bravo’s Top Chef. Churchill left the restaurant recently (she had always been hired as a consultant) but her creative offerings continue to be dutifully made by the kitchen staff. For the DAT desserts, Foodhoe got the Okinawan Doughnuts. Okinawa is an island of Japan that’s gotten a lot of Western influences, so some think these doughnuts are similar to those made in Portugal. Three little doughnuts covered in cinnamon sugar and sitting on a spear are served with chocolate sauce. The doughnuts are more cake than dough, and they were wonderfully light but substantial at the same time.
I chose the Frozen Apricot Mousse, which was served with a cherry consommé and accented with fresh pieces of apricot and cherries, which are all in season right now. The mousse was very much like ice cream, and it was a nice flavor that was cooling on a hot day. I didn’t get a strong apricot flavor, but you could get that from the fresh apricots on the beautiful plate.
The dining room is an expansive space with a view of the kitchen behind glass. Standing front and center was Chef Kamio, who was probably working on the special omakase orders that night. (Omakase is similar to a chef’s menu.) I was impressed to see him cooking on a Tuesday night. I’m sure he wasn’t spending his time on the DAT offerings, but I believe his presence kept everyone else on top of their game as the kitchen worked efficiently to keep the plates rolling out.
The wait staff is also extremely knowledgeable and friendly. From our waitress to the bus boys, everyone could answer questions about the food that’s on the menu or items on the plate brought to our table. While a few seemed rushed, most were cool and calm.
And of course, there's the music. Jazz sounds are pumped in through the restaurant's extensive sound system. When the dining room is nearly empty, the sound is quite loud like you're at a live performance. But when the restaurant starts to fill out, the soothing jazz falls into the background and is barely noticeable.
Dine About Town runs until June 15, and if you’ve been trying to decide which restaurants to try, definitely run to Yoshi’s in San Francisco. A DAT menu is supposed to give you a taste of a restaurant at a reasonable price so you’re tempted to come back for more. After trying Yoshi’s DAT menu, I say mission accomplished because I am definitely coming back to try more dishes from Chef Kamio’s regular menu.
Single guy rating: 4.25 stars (zen-like cuisine)
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
Read Foodhoe's take on our DAT dinner at Yoshi's here at her site.
All photography on this blog are original photos of Benjamin Seto unless noted otherwise. All photos are copyrighted and may not be used without permission. Contact owner for licensing rates.
If you'd like to hire Benjamin to photograph your food, check out benjaminseto.com for samples and more information.
It’s summer, so bring on the ice cream! I bet the lines at my favorites Ici and Bi-Rite Creamery are pretty long this hot weekend. But last weekend I discovered something different at the Temescal Farmers’ Market in the ‘hood.
The sorbet itself is definitely a plus. The texture is silky and gooey, resembling very much the house-made sorbets at fancy restaurants. It’s so thick that it really felt like eating ice cream. While there’s a definite sweetness, the girl behind the counter says it all comes from the natural fruits.
I ended up getting the Peach-Raspberry and the Strawberry-Rhubard. But as I stood there I was getting buyer’s remorse, so I asked if I could just get two scoops of each flavor instead of three. The girl agreed and charged me only $7 instead of $10.
