Back to San Francisco

Yes, I made it back to San Francisco not only for work, but also for a much needed visit with friends and family. A rundown of culinary adventures and other stuff follows...

Alexis turned Thursday night at Zeitgeist into part 2 of Al,Aeos farewell. The evening was great ,Aei lots of kickballers showed up, most of whom didn,Aeot know I was in town. Food highlight: the tamale lady was in. I ordered two, one pork and one beef, which she scooped out of her ice chest, squirted some red sauce on top and served on a paper towel. Wow. The masa was the perfect consistency ,Aei greasy enough to soak up the beer and firm enough to hold the roasted meat and sauce inside. And speaking of which, the cow and pig were both excellent, cooked, shredded and cooked in more sauce to perfect tenderness.

Emil, Carrie and I met Suzette and Drew at Fiesta del Mar in Mountain View for lunch (Shoreline location, in case any of you are interested). I became a little misty eyed when they brought a large side of guacamole ,Aei fresh, thick and creamy, tasting of ripe avocados, cilantro, onion and garlic. This, in combination with the three different types of salsa and copious amounts of chips, filled me up,AePand then my main course arrived, the camerones charlee, a sight that practically reduced me to tears. I made everyone let me take pictures of their assorted burrito and camarones plates, too. It was perfect, the huge shrimp cooked in the spicy green sauce and accompanied by rice (covered in cheese, of course) and refried beans. Sooo good,AePand I ponder, where are the decent taquerias in the Seattle area? Taco del mar, Guyamos and Baja Fresh just do not work for me.

We went wine tasting at Ridge http://www.ridgewine.com/ and Pichetti. Ridge is one of my favorite wines, although for some reason, those that we tasted didn,Aeot do much to impress me, with the exception of the always excellent Lytton Springs Zin. That may have been the effect of the margaritas at lunch. Or not. The pourer was super friendly, knowledgeable and comped us the tastes, always nice (our situation was probably helped by the drunk and very obnoxious group that came in at the same time). Pichetti was fairly unimpressive, although it was oddly amusing to taste surrounded by squawking peacocks.

Suzette and Drew have a few favorite haunts in Sunnyvale. First stop was soju mixed with yogurt and various fruits. Potent. The restaurant also sported tables and chairs made of logs. We theorized that it may have been a pizza place in a previous life. We followed cocktails up with Korean bbq for dinner. Even though I lived in Sunnyvale for two and a half years, I never realized just how diverse the food selection is ,Aei everything is there, with an emphasis on Indian and Korean. Of course, I didn,Aeot get out much while living in Sunnyvale either.

On Sunday, I met Mom and Dad at the Ferry Building. Mijita for brunch, another excellent taqueria. This time, I branched out and had not only a vegetarian taco, but a mijita, similar to a quesadilla, made with masa, filled with queso cheese and chiles, then fried and served with cooked salsa and guacamole. So great. I also picked up a loaf of Acme sourdough (Acme has a permanent shop at the market), plus an olive roll and sourdough cheese roll. While I,Aeove found great bread in Seattle (especially Macrina), the sourdough pales in comparison to that produced in San Francisco, a factor likely due to the climate.

After walking through SF Pride in the Civic Center (best not to describe what I saw, which in hindsight, not as scarring as what I saw at Pride 2005), I met up with Carrie in Hayes Valley. She wisely liquored me up before taking me to the airport with a Sangiovese tasting at Arlequin Wine Shop http://www.arlequinwine.com. Josh was fabulous, Carrie claims he was flirting with me although I guess I was too deep into my wine (and some of Carrie,Aeos) to notice. We each walked away with a bottle of Unti, our favorite of the tastes. I,Aeom considering joining their wine club; the quality of Arlequin,Aeos selection and the fact that they go for small runs (that I,Aeoll never likely find in Whole Foods or QFC) has always impressed me. While $70 monthly for six bottles may seem like a lot of money and wine, I probably purchase 4-5 bottles in Whole Foods/Trader Joe,Aeos/QFC each month, spending at least, if not more than the monthly fee. And that,Aeos in addition to my 2 bottles every four weeks membership with 1-800 Wine Shop.

I was soooo happy to make it back to my former home ,Aei my eyes were a bit misty as the taxi approached the city, revealing the amazing skyline view. The weather was perfect my entire trip, foggy in the mornings and evenings, breaking up for sunny afternoons. When my flight left early Sunday evening, fog blanketed the entire city. It was as if someone had spread thick whipped cream over San Francisco. It was a beautiful and amazing sight, and for the first time since moving to Seattle, I felt the first real pangs of homesickness. There are many parts of my Bay Area life that I don,Aeot miss, but it hurts not to have those things that I really miss with me every day.

Conference Food...

I was in San Francisco for the Supernova conference, held at the Palace Hotel. While I don,Aeot have much to say about the conference (I penned some ,Aeuwork" thoughts for an internal work blog), it is worth mentioning that the food was quite delicious for hotel conference food.

Usually, I don,Aeot even think about mentioning hotel conference food on this blog ,Aei wilted salads with bad dressing, dry chicken, bland rice and a sugary slice of pre-packaged cake is about the extent of the offerings. I was completely taken aback when I sat down to a lunch that began with nice, crispy greens and roasted veggies, over which a server poured garlicky creamy dressing. Vegetable lasagna, loaded with more roasted veggies, lots of cheese and a decent red sauce, was the entr/(c)e. And just when I thought it was over, the waitstaff produced ice cream sandwiches, vanilla soft serve sandwiched between two oatmeal-raisin cookies and accompanied by a drizzle of both chocolate and vanilla bean sauce.

While evening appetizers were the usual fare (some fried stuff, sushi), I did enjoy the martini glass entr/(c)e filled with mashed potatoes and topped with chicken fritters (fried bits of chicken), fava beans and some sauce. Excellent, especially as fava beans are at their summer peak of goodness. (Which reminds me, I cooked some up the other night, saut/(c)ing the fresh beans in olive oil, then adding a dressing of yogurt, lemon juice, olive oil and dill. Mmmm.)

Ooba's - A Promising Taqueria

A casual dinner a few weeks ago with colleagues at Ooba,Aeos, a taqueria in the middle of a Redmond office park. Had I been with a different group of people, I may have cried. Instead, I thought, ,Aeuwow, this is the best Mexican I,Aeove had since arriving in Seattle.

My steak burrito was mucho excellent. The flank steak was marinated in something delicious. And the burrito was the right size with the correct bean-rice-cheese-sour cream-salsa ratio. The only oddness (because you knew it was coming) was the use of white navy beans rather than the traditional pinto, black or refried. The other dishes, in particular the steak tacos, looked delicious as well. Oh, and it,Aeos worth mentioning that the guacamole was quite good.

Connectivity Problems

Over the past few days, I've added a few back dated entries, with possibly a few more to follow. Sadly, Comcast had troubles setting up my broadband connection, which meant that I'm getting several weeks of free service and because they don't train their technicians properly, they dropped several hundred dollars on service calls.

The upshot - I wasn't able to post as often as I would have liked.

Chicago, the Windy City

I was in Chicago last week for business. Jeff, a fellow foodie, suggested that I try deep dish pizza. Considering that I've spent a lot of time in Chicago over the past several years, it's surprising to realize that I've never had deep dish pizza in the windy city. Marty and I came close once, but decided on something else as it was a hot and sticky and humid July day.

I took Jeff's suggestion. Twice.

We ordered in Lou Manelli's for lunch, a spinach and mushroom deep dish pie. And dinner at Une, a vegetarian pie. My only comparison is a deep dish that I'd made about 15 years ago (too much dough, as I recall, or that could be my family's criticism towards an unfamiliar food concept) and several meals at Zachary's in Berkeley/Oakland (always excellent and decadent). Of the two tried, Lou Manelli's was my favorite. Fresh tomatoes, fresh sauce, a bit spicy but not overwhelming and with a healthy dose of cheese (including cheddar, yum). The dough was chewey, dense, much different than Zachary's, which tends to be on the lighter and fluffier end.

Just as an aside, I love hotels that supply bathrobes - I'm not quite sure why, but I've always considered it to be a nice touch. Over the past few years, every time I've stayed at a bathrobe appointed hotel, I've thought, "hmm...this is so much nicer than my ratty bathrobes at home. I really need to buy one", but always balk at paying over $100. The Amalfi Hotel, which is perfect all on its own, actually has the most amazing bathrobes that I've seen in a hotel. So much so that I just bought one for myself (plus, it was less than $100, a nice surprise). Business travel can be good, in so many ways.

Memorial Day Decadence

Tony was my first overnight Seattle visitor, orchestrating a rather decadent weekend. Not only did I feel the need to dry out after he left, but also the need to cleanse my system from gastronomic indulgence.

A quick rundown:

-Salade Nicoise: Completely delicious, with a fresh herb dressing and the requisite tuna, hard boiled eggs, haricot verts (pronounced in whichever way you think is correct), tomatoes and red onions. Note, nicoise olives are missing from the list, just as they were missing from the finished salad.

-Matt's in the Market: Another delicious dining experience in what has been established as one of my favorite Seattle restaurants. Duck pate and mussels as starters, mac and cheese with wild mushrooms for Tony and mahi mahi for me. Matt's earned major points - I didn't really care for the fish and left half uneaten (note, everything else was consumed, including amazing chick peas). Concerned, Matt removed the charge from the bill. A nice gesture, ensuring that I'll happily return.

-Mae's Phinney Ridge: Excellent chicken fried steak. Hearty gravy. Big fluffy biscuits. So similar to San Francisco's Pork Store Cafe. Only without the alcohol.

-Vietnamese style crab: Tony caramelized an onion, tossed segmented and cracked crab with red wine vinegar, garlic, sugar, olive oil, salt and pepper and sauteed with the onions. Fabulous and delicious and an amazing treat. We drank Peju Provence, a light red wine (almost like fruit punch) with the crab.

-Bumble Berry Pie. Finally - pie makings from Pike Place market. Strawberries, blueberries, raspberries and blackberries were the primary ingredients. The crust wasn't perfect (used an untested recipe from Pie) but it still came together. Bonny Doon's monkey dessert wine went quite well with the berry pie.

-Sofia. Tony brought Sofia, a sparkling wine from Niebaum-Coppola. It came in four pink cans, with tiny straws attached. I enjoyed the kitsch factor, especially working well while we watched old episodes of Sex and the City.