by Sam Tackeff | Aug 19, 2010 | Asian, Books, omnivore books, Restaurants
Summer isn’t over yet! (Really, it’s just beginning here in San Francisco). For anyone looking for some good summer food reading – look no further! There is still time to hit the beaches and don your sunhat with a good book! Here is the official Omnivore Books Summer Reading List – for those of you who haven’t seen the newsletter – here is the list (I have in fact, read every single one of these books, and enjoyed them myself):
OMNIVORE’S 2010 BEACH READS
By far, one of my favorite books on this list is Fuchsia Dunlop’s ‘Shark’s Fin and Sichuan Pepper: A Sweet-Sour Memoir of Eating in China‘. Perhaps I’m biased because one of my oldest childhood friends lives in Shanghai, and I feel a kinship to those who write about China, and perhaps my bias extends from my love of Chinese food instilled from my father’s very good Chinese cooking skills (he learned from an Asian grandmother whom he exchanged grocery shopping for her for cooking lessons), but nevertheless there is something visceral that comes up every time I get to recommend this book to someone.
When people come into Omnivore asking for their next good read, I usually direct them towards this book and start waxing poetic and verging on desperation. You MUST read this book. I’m not sure how I would even describe this woman without babbling about how cool she is and how much I admire her tenacity and how much I want to be like her. Here I am doing it again.
Above all, I love reading books by smart, motivated, strong women. There, I said it. Some of my biggest role models are writers such as M.F.K. Fisher, Elizabeth David, and Judith Jones. These women inspire me every day. In brief, Fuchsia Dunlop is certainly one of these women I admire: a witty and persistent Englishwoman, who rather than taking the safe and comfortable route, decided to study abroad in China during her University years. People just didn’t do that in the 90’s. Her brief stint led to a lifelong passion – she went back to live there, and ultimately managed to stumble her way into becoming the first westerner ever to attend the Sichuan Institute of Higher Cuisine.
Ultimately she went on to write two cookbooks, ‘Land of Plenty: A Treasury of Authentic Sichuan Cooking‘ and the ‘Revolutionary Chinese Cookbook: Recipes from Hunan Province‘ which are both excellent resources for Sichuan and Hunanese cooking. Beyond the cookbooks, it was a good thing she went ahead and wrote her memoir. Her voice on the page is clearly one of a woman I’d love to go gallivanting off to the ends of the earth with.
Throughout the book, Dunlop has this wonderful way of describing the tastes and the essence of food, and ‘Shark’s Fin and Sichuan Pepper: A Sweet-Sour Memoir of Eating in China‘ is full of amazing, bizarre, and sometimes even shocking tales. I found myself reading through this book – giggling, getting hungry, and experiencing her remarkable journey as a vicarious travel partner.
The Bottom Line: I highly recommend this book.
And then, of course, once you read it, you too can join the ‘Fuchsia Dunlop Admiration Society’ (OK, so I made that up) and can follow her on twitter! Now if only we could get her to come on vacation and speak at Omnivore! We’ll have a party!
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And now, while we are on the topic, here are a few photos from a dinner I had with fellow food bloggers quite some time ago at Sichuan restaurant Z+Y in San Francisco’s Chinatown. Totally Authentic? Not quite, but it was delicious nonetheless.
I’ve had a soft spot for Sichuan since I was a child, mostly because one of the better Chinese restaurants in our slightly sleepy corner of New Hampshire was called Szechuan Taste. There was one in Portsmouth, and then they opened another one in Exeter conveniently located blocks away from my high school. I can’t really vouch for the authenticity of the food, as they became very Americanized over the years, but I loved the place and have fond memories that guided my pursuit of knowledge into Chinese cooking, so I have to give them credit where credit is due.
At Z+ Y, we ate (somewhat gluttonously, between eight of us): Scallion Pancakes, Spicy Numbing Beef Tendon, Yunnan Style Steamed Chicken Soup in Clay Pot, Peking Duck, Pea Sprouts with Garlic, Special Pork Belly (not on the menu), Chicken with Explosive Chili Peppers and Hot Braised Sea Bass, Cured Beef Wrapped In Scallion Pancake, and Red Bean Buns for dessert.
There is something really reassuring about eating dinner with food bloggers. For one, you don’t have to feel any embarrassment about taking photos of the food, and really the phrase “WAIT – let me just snap a few photos please!” even remains unsaid. Although, to be fair, Devon is very good about waiting patiently for me to take my photos at dinner.
Bloggers in attendance: @cookingwithamy @chefjen, @urbanstomach, @summertomato, @alphaprep (yep that’s me), @divinacucina, @heatherhal and @Jeters.
Another thing about eating with food bloggers is that you can order half of the menu and not skip over the bits and pieces of the animal for fear that your dining partners will not be so keen on your choice. And so here, a dish that we all (or mostly all) enjoyed: Tendon. It’s not just for pho! I can’t get over the fact that it looks like I’m being served food on an easel. I really got a kick out of this dish. The beef tendon was shaved thinly, and served with a tingly numbing sauce.
We food bloggers also really appreciate highly photogenic foods, such as this Chicken with Explosive Chili Peppers. Massive piles of fiery peppers in contrasting red and green! I’m fairly sure this had more peppers than would be needed or wanted in the home, but it made for an exciting presentation.
And then there was the duck. Apologies to @jeters for the “in the moment eating shot”, but I had to put this in as it was the only shot of the duck I managed to take. I’ve been a devotee of duck since my childhood where my favorite memories of Chinatown were the ducks hanging in the windows. I’m sure my parents were slightly concerned about my excitement – I was at that point fully aware of the live happy farm duck being the same, in theory, as the dessicated hanging duck in the window – and I still would ask to eat it pleadingly.
A great part about the food blogging community is that you can eat with people that you greatly respect and admire, and even if their work is heralded across the globe, perhaps in bookstores, or written about in famous magazines, even the best food writers will gather to share a meal – food is something we all have in common. The lovely and talented Divina Cucina in the background (for whom this dinner was in honor of), and quick pickled cucumbers in the foreground.
Food bloggers also have gumption and forethought to order in advance, and throw their hands into the air and say feed me the best you can! The Japanese have a word Omakase, or Chef’s Tasting Menu, that is in the spirit that I like to eat – allowing the chef to choose the best, the freshest, the most interesting foods, and as a rule, I always defer to their suggestions for which I’m often highly rewarded. The pork belly – not on the menu, but at the recommendation of the chef was delightful – a current food trend, pork belly has been a delicacy for hundreds, if not thousands? of years, and prepared simply, this was one of the better experiences with pork belly I have had to date.
And then there is that moment in many a meal, where sometimes, even seasoned food bloggers are slightly perplexed. In this case, the moment was when we were served the cured meat wrapped in scallion pancake – Chinese-Jewish fusion food? I wasn’t able to grasp the influence, but I liked it!
Finally, we ended with red bean buns, and slices of orange, which, although I do have some fabulous photos of friends making awkward orange smiles, I’ve held back at posting them, perhaps though, they’ll serve as future blackmail.
For more perspective, check out Alex’s write-up (same dinner, lens across the table). And for even more convincing, Marcia (The Tablehopper) also had a great writeup of her dinner a month ago.
Z&Y Restaurant, 655 Jackson St, between Grant & Kearny
415-981-8988
Monday-Sunday 11 AM-10 PM
Pre-Ordered Nine Course Meal For Eight: $200 after tax and tip (sans beverage)
by Sam Tackeff | Jul 15, 2010 | Cookies, Restaurants, Shopping
Over the past few nights I’ve been going to bed with a spoonful of Biscoff Spread. I know, I know, you dentists out there are cringing. I sit there, savoring it for minutes. Devon has joked that it is my crack spoon. Here is the back story:
Almost a decade ago, I was traveling internationally on Delta Airlines when I was first introduced to Lotus Bakeries’ Biscoff cookies. Biscoff are Belgian spice cookies, known in Europe as Speculoos, traditionally a holiday cookie. Now ubiquitous year round, they are the perfect accompaniment to a cup of afternoon coffee.
At first bite, I marveled at these crunchy caramelized spice cookies, which tasted similar to a gingersnap. I was so smitten in fact, that on our return trip, I begged the stewards to give me an extra supply as I exited the aircraft. For years I hoarded these cookies, requesting all traveling friends to bring them back for me.
The Biscoff was originally developed by the Boone family in Belgium in 1932, and sold as Lotus Speculoos. In 1984, Lotus partnered with The Gourmet Center in San Francisco, and introduced the cookie to the United States as “Biscoff”, an amalgamation of the words ‘Biscuit + Coffee’. Delta began serving Biscoff cookies on their flights in the 1980’s, and since then they have been sold to a growing fan base through mail order catalogue, on their website, and just recently popping up in retailers across the country.
In addition to their cookies, the new Biscoff Spread is a food revelation. A few months ago, David Lebovitz raved about it on his blog, and I knew I had to get my hands on some. A similar consistency to peanut butter, it is a smooth spread made of blended Biscoff cookies. (Think Nutella, except tasting like Biscoff). The spread is perfect on toast, stirred into oatmeal, warmed and drizzled over vanilla ice cream, or, as I do most frequently, eaten directly from the jar.
I’ve been ordering the spread from the internet, but for the first time, it is available for purchase in San Francisco. Lotus Bakeries, and the Simmons Family, owners of Simco Restaurants’ PIER 39 establishments on Fisherman’s Wharf have partnered to open the Biscoff Coffee Corner and Coffee Cart, the first retail store of Biscoff products in the United States.
As a local, I don’t often find myself down by Pier 39, but it’s only a quick walk away from the Embarcadero, and well worth the trip in order to get yourself some Biscoff.
The Biscoff Coffee Corner opened last Thursday with free samples of Biscoff cookies, Biscoff cookie jugglers on stilts, a ribbon cutting ceremony with the Boone family, trivia, and giveaways. One hundred percent of sales were donated to The Marine Mammal Center, which rehabilitates seals and sea lions. In the future, 1% percent of all cookie sales will be donated to The Marine Mammal Center.
The Biscoff Coffee corner gives a free Biscoff cookie with the sale of each cup of coffee. The shop retails Biscoff cookies, Biscoff spread, as well as features menu items such as toasted bagels with cream cheese and Biscoff spread, and coffee with Biscoff flavoring and Biscoff crumbles (probably my entire calories for the day, but it was delicious!!). Additionally, Simco Restaurants will be featuring Biscoff cookies in dessert creations in their restaurants. Next time I head down there, I think I’m going to get some more Biscoff to make into ice cream.
Biscoff Spread is available at the Biscoff Coffee Corner for $5.50 for a 14 ounce jar. Biscoff Cookies are $3.50 for an 8.8 ounce loose package. Coffee with Biscoff flavoring and Biscoff crumbles is also on the menu at the Biscoff Coffee Corner. I highly recommend the trip out there.
by Sam Tackeff | Jul 9, 2010 | Restaurants
Sometimes we are creatures of habit.
We don’t go out to dinner very often, but when we do, we tend to go back to Ad Hoc, Thomas Keller’s down home establishment in Yountville, right down the street from the French Laundry. This time, we were there to celebrate – both the 4th of July, and Devon’s graduation – a gift from my family in his honor. Lobster rolls were on the menu, and we were not prepared to pass these up.
We headed down without a reservation, and so we made a pit stop to Bouchon Bakery while we waited. Yes, imaging that – enforced waiting means that you have to walk down the street in the beautiful weather and gorge yourselves in a sugar rush “amuse-bouche”.
A TKO (Thomas Keller Oreo).
And a Bouchon:
By the time we came back from our little stroll, Julia, the ever lovely beverage manager had scored us a spot at a table in the dining room. She gets so many bonus points in life for remembering my name, having not seen us since March. With a cursory glance at the menu, and assurance to our server that we indeed had no dietary restrictions, we held up our hands and said “Feed Us!!”.
A small amuse arrived from the kitchen: fresh nectarine wrapped in a cured pork product. Can you think of a better way to start?
The first course was a Frisee and Melon Salad, made with yellow and red watermelon, sharlyn, galia melon, d’avignon radish, black olives, and a tondo balsamic vinaigrette. At some point, I tasted some gelatinous morsel of goodness, and the melons, I believe, were compressed? In any case, it was so refreshing to have melon served in a nice savory salad. And I must say that I was just as entranced by the Heath Ceramic bowl it was brought to us in. Covet!
It looked like something from Michel Bras’ Essential Cuisine.
The main course were Maine Lobster Rolls, possibly my favorite food in the world. The generous lobster was nestled in these beautifully crispy buttered rolls from Bouchon bakery, and topped with pickled red onions and shaved celery. They were served with a side of refreshing savoy cabbage cole slaw, and a dish of new potatoes which had been cooked sous vide, and Brentwood corn on the cob with an outrageous amount of butter slathered on.
I was tempted to eat the entire contents of our table – the lobster rolls were sure to go bad if we didn’t eat them right away, right? But under the sage advice of Julia, we ended up saving half of our dinner for midnight when we came home. (This is a brilliant tactic.)
And so we still had some room for the cheese course:
A slice of Wisconsin Sheep Dairy Co-op’s ‘Dante’, served with a little salad of white nectarines, shaved endive, and toasted marcona almonds.
And a close-up of those nectarines.
As we sat for a while to digest, I ordered a pot of my favorite Jasmine tea, and sat, blissfully, until we ended up sitting agog (yes, agog I tell you) as we listened to the table of city folks next to us argue with the server about the lack of meat option on the menu. Really folks? It’s Fourth of July! The ultimate summer food, the lobster roll is on the menu! There is one menu, every day, and you are not vegetarian, or even, in this case, allergic to sea food!! It reminded me, just briefly, of the fact that I wish that I could own a rambling farm in Napa and avoid the city in it’s entirety. Fortunately, dessert brought me back to my fantasy world.
Red Velvet cupcakes, served with a bowl of strawberries, blueberries, and buttermilk sorbet. We ate our sorbet and fruit, and saved the cupcakes for our impending second dinner at midnight. (Again, thanks to Julia for her wisdom and forethought!)
It was an agonizing wait as these babies sat in the car with us on the drive back.
But it was worth it.
Cue up a mental image here of me stuffing this thing in my face at midnight in a gleeful frenzy.
Oh Ad Hoc, how I love thee.
Ad Hoc Restaurant
6476 Washington Street, Yountville, CA
707-944-2487
Ad Hoc has a daily pre-fixe menu, which is updated in the morning on their website.
by Sam Tackeff | Apr 21, 2010 | Restaurants
To be honest, I’m not sure why I’ve become so obsessed with pizza. It has recently replaced sushi as food that I crave practically all the time. Perhaps it’s nostalgia hitting at the very same time that the food has become a city wide trend here in San Francisco. Seriously, everywhere you look here there is pizza – Flour + Water was nominated for a James Beard, Gialina is practically around the corner, Delfina is less than a mile from my house, and apparently my neighborhood is about to get a new Deep Dish Chicago style joint. In the city Piccino in Dogpatch is one of my favorites, but I still find myself going back to Cheeseboard in Berkeley on a regular basis. It is consistently the best.
Now, I have another pie under my belt.
A few weeks ago I went to Larkspur to try Pizzeria Picco. I had never been to Larkspur (or really heard anything about it), and after strolling through the neighborhood, determined it to be a haven of nature, small shops and restaurants: what could be called “quaint”, although really it’s more of a composed environment. At 6 pm in the evening the town was filled with older parents and kids on bicycles, extended families, mid-twenties kids with their visiting parents, and what appeared to be the Palm Beach crowd of the Bay Area – the only time I’ve seen Lilly Pulitzer on more than one person in one place. The houses were beautiful, and I doubt that I’d mind living out there.
To be honest, it wasn’t a true quest – we landed at Pizzeria Picco fairly accidentally. I pulled out my Tablehopper guide after several hours of aimless wandering landed us in Larkspur. Pizzeria Picco was right there on the list, and after I recalled Peter Reinhart waxing poetically about it, we decided to park and wait in line for some good eats. It was about a 15 minute wait, but glorious weather. We glanced in at the bar around the pizza ovens, but ultimately waited for an outside table. Above, my dining partner, making a funny face.
The first course we ordered was a special – little toasts topped with bright green chickpea puree, hidden in the photo by the sopressata and a little salad of crisp arugula and aged balsamic. ($3.50 each) It was a pleasant first bite – a combination of textures – crunchy, soft, creamy, chewy, and tastes – sweet, salty, and a little bit of bitter. I could have easily polished off a few of these, the caveat being that they were slightly difficult to eat.
We then split the green garlic – potato soup with red currants and country ham (cup $4.00, bowl, $6.95). It was possibly my favorite dish of the evening – the soup was nicely seasoned, and the currants and slightly crunchy ham bits offered just the right amount of excitement.
And then finally the pizza:
Look at that crust!
After browsing the menu and debating pizzas such as the marin (roasted garlic, young organic potato, mozzarella, parmesan, and rosemary oil – $11.95), and the surly (hog island clams, tomato sauce, garlic, sopressata, pecorino, parsley, calabrian chile – $15.95), eventually we decided on a cannondale (house made sausage, roasted peppers, roasted onion, mozzarella and basil – $13.50). I think I just liked that my pizza was named after a bicycle.
The portion was fairly good to split between two people, although hungrier folks might prefer ordering one pizza per person and taking home any leftovers. The pizza was good example of this type of woodfired neapolitan style, but my personal preference is a little bit of a thicker crust ala Cheeseboard. I’d say that ultimately I liked it, but didn’t love it.
I was craving a salad at the end of the meal, and I should have listened to my gut and gotten their picco caesar (romaine hearts with farm egg, anchovy, lemon and parmesan – $9.50) rather than ordering dessert. I had seen several go past during dinner, and they looked absolutely delicious.
The Straus chocolate soft serve – they only had chocolate when we were there- with caramel sauce was a little bit disappointing. They do however serve vanilla soft serve with olive oil and sea salt, which is a combination that I like. Don’t get me wrong, I LOVE Straus products in every shape and form, but I think I prefer ice cream rather than soft serve. After trying the Straus soft serve at Bi-rite this week, I have to say I came to the same conclusion.
Bottom Line: Tasty affordable pizza with fresh local ingredients in an idyllic setting. Not the best I’ve ever eaten, but exciting enough that I’ll be back.
Pizzeria Picco
316 Magnolia Avenue
Larkspur, CA 94939
(415) 945-8900
Open Mon-Thu 5pm-9:30pm; Fri 5pm-10:30pm; Sat 12pm-10:30pm; Sun 12pm-9:30pm
by Sam Tackeff | Mar 7, 2010 | Books, Restaurants
Before I even moved to San Francisco, I started plotting where I would eat. I picked up (and annotated) a Zagat guide, I read through a copy of ‘The Cheap Bastard’s Guide to San Francisco’, I started reading Yelp reviews, all in addition to the 30 or so San Francisco bloggers I was relying on to steer me in the right direction. I was armed with a long list before I ever stepped foot on California soil.
And then, as soon as I got here, I discovered a great new addition to my growing arsenal: ‘The Tablehopper’ newsletter, written by the ever charming Marcia Gagliardi. First of all, I should start by saying that this woman knows how to eat.
Her weekly newsletters are a combination of local reviews, restaurant news, food news, food gossip and events, and numerous ideas to fill your calendar and to-do list. I read it partially because it gives great advice, partially because it makes me giggle, and partially because I’m a masochist and it’s impossible not to be completely jealous of her gastronomic adventures.
And now she’s in print!
Enter Marcia Gagliardi’s new book: ‘The Tablehopper’s Guide to Dining and Drinking in San Francisco – Find the Right Spot for Every Occasion’. Thanks to Ten Speed Press, I got my hands on an early copy of this book, and it became immediately clear how useful it is.
For anyone (like myself) who decides on restaurants specifically based on emotions or occasions, this book is organized by particularly useful sections including:
- Dinner with Your Parents (Conservative or Cool Ones)
- Offbeat or Ethic Group Dinner Locations
- Hip, but not a Total Scene (Slightly Spendy)
- Co-worker Birthday Lunch
- Good (or Hip) Spots for Solo Dining
- Hungover (Can’t Leave Bed)
- There are also 1, 2, and 3-day Itineraries for those visiting the city, and sections organized by food type, such as Pho or Dim Sum
Now, when I’m looking for inexpensive vegetarian, gluten-free, a place to take my grandmother, or the perfect burger, I have all the information right at my fingertips, and it fits easily in my bag. This is a great gift for anyone living in San Francisco, or anyone planning a gastronomic trip to San Francisco.
Follow Marcia on Twitter (while you are at it, follow me on twitter) or subscribe to the Tablehopper newsletter to get tasty ideas for bay area dining every week in your inbox.
Or come visit Marcia, (and me!) in a few weeks here at Omnivore books:
Wednesday March 24th, 6pm, free Book Signing at Omnivore Books 3885 Cesar Chavez St. at Church, San Francisco. Andrew Mariani of Scribe will be pouring his delicious 2008 Pinot Noir, Carneros, Sonoma. Yes, there will be free wine. Who doesn’t love free wine?
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The Tablehopper’s Guide to Dining and Drinking in San Francisco: Find the Right Spot for Every Occasion by Marcia Gagliardi; Chronicle Books, 230 pages.
by Sam Tackeff | Feb 25, 2010 | Pantry Staples, Restaurants
I’ve been spending a little bit more time over at www.healthylunchidea.com in the past few weeks, because I’ve newly committed myself to the ultimate health accountability – blogging my every meal, and documenting my exercise as well. I’m beginning to suspect that this will be a crazy adventure, but so far I have been having fun with it. If you have any inclination of following the efforts of a looney woman, I encourage you to head over there or subscribe to my RSS!
The Second Lunch is going to still be devoted to the city, restaurants, travel, and where I will post most of my recipes.
Here are some shots from my other site, and some others from the city that I haven’t posted anywhere:
Today’s breakfast hack: Oatmeal in a Nutella Jar! (more photos of this delicious nutella oatmeal in a jar here)
Last night I attended a study group for my Integrative Nutrition program at Cafe du Soleil on Fillmore – for some reason I’ve never walked over that way, but it’s less than two miles from my house. I had a glass of mint tea with some steamed soy, and it seems like a nice place to meet a friend for a beer or a cup of coffee:
A Rocher from Tartine (meringue filled with cacao nibs) :
Veggie Delight sandwich from Dolores Park Cafe:
The San Francisco view from the top of Dolores Park:
Ritual Roasters:
and some coffee from Ritual:
Kermit Lynch, the wine aficionado came to visit us Omnivore Books:
This is about half of the corks from the free wine tasting! We had a lovely 2007 Meyer-FonneMuscat Katzenthal, and a bold Côtes du Rhône.
A Chicken and Chicken Pate Banh Mi from Bi-Rite:
Lisa Schwartz from Rainbeau Ridge Farm discussing her new book/cookbook about sustainable farming (over some snacks of some local bay area cheeses) :
As you can see I’ve been busy!
I’m also going to be posting some cookbook reviews over at the Good Taste Review, and I’ll keep you all posted.
More to come!!
