Rant of the Week: Do You Really Want Your Steak Well Done? The Horror!

I'm currently reading a great book called Art of Choosing and it brought up some interesting points about choice that got me thinking about choice in how you eat.

More specifically, choosing to eat something a certain way, as the author herself experienced when trying to add sugar to her green tea when visiting Japan (her request was politely declined).


I realized I've had plenty of moments like those and find myself torn. You know I'm a steak and burger lover, so when I see someone ordering their steak or burger well done, I gasp in horror and do everything I can to stop them or change their minds with limited success. Do I need to let go? Am I obstructing their exercising freedom of choice? Or am I guiding them to make a "better choice," as I'm deluding myself to believe?

I recall going to have sukiyaki, one of my favorite hot pot dishes when it's cold outside, and seeing a friend dip the sukiyaki vegetables in soy sauce and being horrified.

So I ask: is it that bad to consume things in ways different from the way they were meant to be consumed? What is the line between fun improvising and faux pas?

Here's another one. I once brought some kimbab, Korean rolls, to a dinner party and got super annoyed when a friend asked if I had soy sauce she could dip them in. "You don't dip this in soy sauce because they're not like Japanese rolls where you dip them in soy sauce and wasabi!" I thought to myself. Besides, everything in kimbab is well seasoned so there's actually no need to dip them in any sauce, maybe except for kimchi juice?! Was I depriving her or guiding her? I, of course, saw it as the latter since it may have tasted too salty if she had dipped them, given the seasoning.

The point is, some hard core sushi chefs insist we should consume their sushi exactly as they meant it to be consumed. Some steak houses would balk at well-done requests. I remember feeling a rush of victory when I managed to get an acquaintance to try a burger cooked medium (rather than well done) that he liked. Woo hoo! One down!

Have you ever had this dilemma?

La Mar Cebicheria in SF: Causas, Cebiche, Empanadas & Picarones -- I Want One in LA!

I had heard a lot about Gaston Acurio, Peru's superstaf chef who built a global empire around exquisite Peruvian that goes beyond lomo saltado. Don't get me wrong. I love me a juicy lomo saltado. But my dear friend and superstar chef himself, MO, first introduced me to this guy and his type of cuisine.


Even better, I learned so much about Peruvian cuisine thanks to MO's amazing cooking. Even before I tried Acurio's dishes, my friend's cooking set the bar, very high at that. He made us a fantastic array of causas and cebiches with the most fascinating sauces that tasted great and whose vibrant colors looked even better.

My verdict for Acurio's SF location, La Mar Cebicheria: Very good albeit overpriced.

The causa limena looked and tasted great. Imagine a mound of mashed yellow (more yellow than a standard Idaho variety) potatoes, topped with some crab meat, tomato and finished off with some huancaina sauce and a hard boiled quail egg wedge.

It was an awesome combination -- the mild, soft potatoes with wonderful crab meat, which was fresh -- all with a mild kick provided by the sauce that is made from yellow Peruvian pepper and fresh white cheese, among other ingredients.

I love pisco sour, so an Andean cocktail was a must to get started. I opted for a passion secreta, which included pisco, passion fruit, lime juice, egg whites and some other things. I'm always lured by the idea of passion fruit because of its name and then am reminded I'm not a big fan of the flavor upon consuming it. Silly, I know. Note to self: Make sure to stick to the classic pisco sour next time or at least avoid passion fruit. I love that it also offers Hitachino White Ale, one of my fave beers, and has a great sake selection, presumably as an accompaniment for the cebiche.

Before I get into the cebiche, let me say the complimentary yucca and plaintain chips that came with two sauces, one spicier than the other but not much different otherwise, were good. Crunchy and not too oily despite being deep fried.

The only complaint was that they were a bit fatty rather than watery (high fat content) and they could have used more kick. Ok, those are two complaints but who said I was easy to please?

So the cebiche: we got a mixed one that had yellowtail, squid and shrimp with some red onions and corn in a citrus marinade dubbed "leche de tigre," which literally translates to tiger's milk but really refers to the decidedly un-milky marinade that the cebiche quickly "cooks" the raw fish.

The fish and shellfish were both fresh and again, I could have used more kick but the cebiche was good enough, mixed together with the crunchy vegetables that complemented the softer seafood.

Another standout was the empanada. We got the empanada de tamalito verde, which was a deep fried turnover filled with sweet corn, cilantro, and queso fresco and topped with a salsa criolla and came with a dipping sauce of Huancaina Rocoto (a chili) sauce.

I usually prefer baked but this fried empanada wasn't too heavy. What I loved most was the flavor of the filling that was sweet with hints of cilantro, not to mention a beautiful shade of green. It was very unique in a good way.

The salsa criolla, which consists of the onions and other toppings, was ok. The huancaina rocoto sauce could have used more kick. I detect a pattern here. I think this place needs more kick. I suspect it was to accommodate "milder" palates and I strongly object!

The one thing that was average to below average was the anticucho, the beef skewer that came with cubed potatoes and some other vegetables. The beef was a bit tough and overcooked and the potatoes were nothing special.

I also didn't appreciate the service, which was on the slow side and one of the servers ignored our request for more plaintain chips. I reflect that in the tip I leave.

The view was fantastic. It's right by the Ferry Building so I highly recommend you go for lunch to soak in the scenery.

The saving grace toward the end was the dessert. The pie didn't look good so we went for the picarones, which are basically like doughnuts except they're made from squash and sweet potatoes.

WOW. I thought they'd be super heavy since they're deep fried but they weren't. They were lightly fried, if that's possible, and I really liked the hints of squash and sweet potato flavors that came through. They were so crunchy and the honey it came with was almost unnecessary. I think I had most of the bites by themselves without dipping.

I'm not usually a dessert person but when the opportunity arises to have such delectable sweets that aren't overly so, I'm so there. Check out my contributions to the emerging field of food porn below.

Cooking: Pimp My Brown Rice -- With Fish Roe, That Is

I had leftover fish roe and didn't know what to do with them. Then fellow food lover TJ showed me to just top it over rice, so I did. I didn't think I'd like it but it was great over brown rice (which means it can only be better over white rice).

"Is it masago?" TJ cried when I told her about it. They were regular (bright orange) and wasabi masago that was a bright green. Because they're salty to begin with (although not as bad as caviar, which I'm not a huge fan of -- except maybe with some blinis and creme fraiche?), they go very well with the mild rice.

What I also loved about the fish roe was the gorgeous crystal-like colors in my otherwise drab-looking brown rice. Who knew brown rice could be blinged like this?!

Some may question its high cholesterol levels but everything in moderation, right? It's the perfect accompaniment to perk up some boring old rice. I would have only thought of having them with sushi but I can't believe it just dawned on me to have it with regular rice as a rice bowl too. Do it!

Experiment with different kinds of fish roe but they're readily available in Asian markets. Go crazy!

101 Noodle Express in Alhambra: Noodles, Beef Rolls and Dumplings, What's Not to Like?

It's always a treat to venture out to San Gabriel Valley to have some seriously good Chinese food. So it was with much anticipation that we nabbed a shared table, dimsum parlor-style, at 101 Noodle Express in Alhambra (it opened a location in Culver City but as this review of Yamadaya shows, it may not be the same as its original location).


We got the dan dan mian, which was very similar to jjanjangmyun, the black bean noodles that is the classic Korean Chinese dish, except its sauce is a lighter brown color rather than jet black. It was topped with cucumber strips, just like the Korean Chinese version.

The noodles that are handmade were thick and chewy. But the kicker was the sauce. Yes, it was greasy, as you can see in the picture. But so much flavor. It had ground pork in a sesame-like, nutty flavored sauce that was so comforting. It's probably too greasy to consume by itself. The fresh cucumber slices on top helped to balance out the heaviness from the fat.

That's the beauty of the menu here -- we also got the famous beef rolls, greens, dumplings and some spicy greens mixed with peanuts, edamame and tofu cubes, but more on that later.

The beef rolls: an amazing array of deli-like beef slices, fresh cilantro smothered with some sweet and salty sauce, all rolled into a thin, flaky scallion pancake-like wrap. It's like nothing I've tasted before -- salty, sweet and crunchy from the cilantro and the warm, toasted skin.





It was very good and interesting but got a bit salty after a few bites. I couldn't wait to pair it with other things in the wrap, like, yes, you guessed it, a fried egg to balance out the saltiness, or some (gasp) shredded cheese mix. The re-purposed roll was a bit better for me as they weren't as salty.

The restaurant specializes in cuisine from the Shandong region. Other things we had included steamed pork and leek dumplings, which were excellent. No weird porky smell or overly doughy skins.


To round off all the meat and fat, we balanced it out with some greens stir-fried with garlic, which were the perfect accompaniment to the greasy fare we had.

The chopped steamed greens with peanuts, tofu cubes and soy beans seasoned with a bit of spice was another healthy side with some kick. I could have that solo for lunch and some brown rice for lunch for a high protein, low-fat alternative.

The green chili sauce that the lady we shared the table with warned me was spicy wasn't too bad. It went well with the beef roll initially but then it got too salty and spicy.

Rant of the Week: What's the Deal with the Uber Dense Buns at High-end Burger Shops? Short Order -- I'm Talking About You

I get that buns can be dense in places that don't purport to be the end-all, be-all burger joints. But any self-respecting, self-proclaimed "burger joint" that calls itself Short Order should take care to ensure the buns are NOT dense and in perfect harmony with the patty and the works.


As I've said over and over again to the point of sounding like a broken record, the perfect burger is the sum of all its great parts. The patty was cooked medium rare but it wasn't particularly flavorful.

Burgeries take note: do not overdo any part of the bun, whether the upper or lower half. This was especially disturbing for a place owned by none other than the queen of breads, Nancy Silverton, of La Brea Bakery and Pizzeria Mozza fame. Not to mention the wait.

Yes, the bottom line is, Houston's burgers are the best, including their buns.

Full review coming soon...

Soban in Koreatown: Raw Garlicky Marinated Crab + Rice to Soak Up the Salt

I've always been a big fan of kanjang kyejang, or raw crab marinated in garlic and soy sauce. It's a pain to eat but well worth it. I'm pretty picky about my raw crab so I hadn't had it in LA, especially after having such good versions in Korea on a recent trip.

But I had heard about Soban from a fellow foodie friend who raved about it. So I checked it out and was pleasantly surprised.

Kyejang should be garlicky and meaty, with plenty of sodium to go around so you crave rice - a lot of rice. Soban's wasn't as meaty as the ones in Korea but perhaps it's unfair to compare it to the OG, so to speak. Ok, the Korean version in America was not bad. The crab was fresh and it was plenty salty.

I liked that the banchan, or side dishes, were just as plentiful. They didn't blow me away but they were, for the most part, mild, simple and complemented the strong flavors of the crab well. None of them was particularly memorable.

The brown rice with grains was a nice touch and we also ordered the fish soup, which was just ok. I heard some talk about the galbi jjim, or braised ribs, but frankly my dear, I've never had galbi jjim at a restaurant that was better than home-cooked ones, but I do give a damn about this dish (you're my generation if you get the reference) so I usually just make a mean one at home.

The bottom line is, go for the crab if you want to try something new or you're just a plain old crab fiend because it's definitely not cheap.

For the finale, make sure you add some of the rice onto the crab carcass and mix it in with the juices. It's probably the best part of the meal after you've totaled the fleshiest part of the crab.

Cooking: What Does Slovenian Prosciutto Taste Like?

If you've been following my blog for some time, you probably know that I'm big on ham, especially cured like prosciutto or Jamon Iberico de Bellota. It was such a treat trying prosciutto from none other than Slovenia thanks to VT, a colleague who brought it from her trip back home.

She was nice enough to bring some crusty bread and gouda cheese with it. I promptly made myself a nice afternoon snack by heating up the bread, slicing the cheese and peeling one layer (ok, maybe two) of the prosciutto. I didn't even know Slovenians ate prosciutto.

She brought one fatty kind and one drier kind that she liked. I, being the fat-lover that I am, preferred the fatty one over the dry one.

The quality was really good and I basically couldn't stop eating it. At one point, it didn't even matter that there weren't any of the fatty ones left. I'll take the dry ones, I found myself saying, and gobbled up four prosciutto and cheese sandwiches, back-to-back, without taking any breaks in between.

And then I felt sick from so much porky goodness and couldn't stomach anything else for the rest of the day. But I was still happy because I can't get enough of the salty and fatty aspects of the cured meat. I craved oatmeal after this pork fest but it was worth every bite.