I Left My Stomach in San Francisco

I had a whole list of eats in mind when I arrived in San Francisco, pondering that eternal question of whether to go for the excitement of possibly discovering a new gem or go to an old standard with the comfort of knowing I'll have a good meal.

Here I share the gems, since I've already reviewed the old favorites (Shabu-sen, etc).



I was fortunate enough to have a very nice dinner at Fringale, a tiny restaurant serving "Basque-inspired" cuisine. Having a large group gave us the advantage of trying many things on the menu.

We shared appetizers, including beef carpaccio with a Szechuan pepper mayonnaise and crispy horseradish (pictured), which looked beautiful but lacked punch in its flavor as I couldn't taste the Szechuan pepper or the horseradish; spicy monterey calamari "a la plancha" with jalapeños and chorizo, which was the clear favorite of mine and the group, with its perfectly-cooked squid that was soft and chewy enhanced with the kick of both the pepper and chorizo (what's not to like?); and butter lettuce with sweet anchovies served with mustard vinaigrette, which was nothing special.



The roast rack of lamb with pesto and Emmental potato gratin I ordered was the most expensive item on the menu at $25, and at least the meat was worth it. The lamb was cooked medium-rare as requested and melted in my mouth like buttah (red wine helped). The pesto seemed almost superfluous given the freshness of the meat that could hold its own flavor. I'm a huge fan of both Emmental (Swiss cheese) and potato gratin, and thought the combination of the two would be a no-brainer. The melted cheese on top, however, was hard by the time the dish made it to the table and the gratin was a bit too mild.

The steak was decent but not anything spectacular. Desserts were good but we were too full to enjoy them. They were creme brulee, hazelnut and roasted almond mousse cake and warm chocolate gourmand, which were rich, dense and a bit too sweet for my taste.

Overall a good experience with attentive service by a waiter with a French accent so thick that he made me wonder whether he was really from the Midwest.

I also liked Flytrap, where I had very good French bread and a prawn salad that was very refreshing but the service was slow, in part due to our large party.

The next stop was Out The Door, the casual sibling of the much-hyped and beloved Slanted Door in the Westfield mall located within walking distance from the hotel. It was very convenient and I vowed to explore that food court more next time.



Out The Door serves Vietnamese food, or rather, Americanized versions of the venerated cuisine. Don't get me wrong. I liked my chicken thigh curry with tiny grains of rice. It hit the spot after days of consuming bland and heavy soups and sauces. The dark meat was juicy and the spices made me sweat but I was happy.



We also had the vegetarian fresh rolls made with tofu, shiitakes, cabbage, mint and peanut sauce, which were bland. My companions had the grilled lemongrass pork over rice noodles with imperial rolls, cucumber and mint, which was meant to be bun with BBQ pork, but turned out to be a watered down version of the real deal with dry, overly sweet meat. Another had the lemongrass chicken with red onions, jalapeños, roasted chili paste and peanuts with rice. The red onion was the star of this dish -- crispy and slightly sweet with a hint of spice. A vegetarian ordered baby spinach sauteed with garlic and caramelized shallots, which reminded me of spinach namul, a Korean side-dish of steamed spinach seasoned with garlic, salt and green onions. It was good but not substantial enough to base an entire meal around.

I've had good food at Slanted Door, but am turned off by the way it charges $24 for its shaking beef, or bo luc lac. Maybe Slanted Door uses extra-good quality free-range beef and adds a modern twist to it, but it tastes similar to (but not as good as) the bo luc lac I've had in Little Saigon -- that splendid Vietnamese dish of stir-fried filet mignon cubes accompanied by watercress and a lemony dipping sauce. Maybe Slanted Door made Vietnamese food more accessible to the masses but I look forward to exploring Little Saigon more than I do going to SD. I have nothing against it, but am convinced I could find so much better for so much less in Westminster where the largest population of Vietnamese Americans live.



Now for the best part: Beard Papa cream puffs in not one but two shops within walking distance from the hotel. After lunching at Out The Door, I picked up a pumpkin cream puff, a flavor I had never had before, and saved it for my late afternoon snack. One could say I'm a fiercely loyal devotee of these puffs and am usually partial to vanilla but this puff's rich pumpkin flavor with a hint of cinnamon was strangely comforting as it reminded me of fall and mentally prepared me for a Thanksgiving feast.

I'd like to thank my new food stylist-cum-photographer, CC (you know who you are, but I'll call her Catherine the Great), for these amazing shots.

All restaurants reviewed here are within walking distance from the Powell St. Bart Station area with lots of hotels.

Fringale
570 Fourth St.
San Francisco, CA 94107
(415) 543-0573

Flytrap
606 Folsom St.
San Francisco, CA 94107
(415) 243-0580

Out The Door
Concourse Level
Westfield Shopping Center
865 Market St.
San Francisco CA 94103
(415) 512-6776

Beard Papa
Multiple Locations
Concourse Level
Westfield Shopping Center
865 Market St.
San Francisco CA 94103
(415) 512-6776

Canada Report: Afternoon Tea in Vancouver

I was fully ready to indulge in some serious dimsum and other Cantonese chow, armed with recommendations from an employee of the City of Vancouver. I am disappointed to report that I didn't have great Chinese food or any great food in Vancouver, but it's less a reflection on the quality of the restaurants than it is the restrictions and finicky tastes my travel mates had.

Besides the gelato place posted below, my only real recommendation would be the afternoon tea at the Dining Room inside the Butchart Gardens in Victoria. At $25 a pop, it's a bargain compared to the Fairmont Empress Hotel located on the waterfront, which charges a whopping $55. And the three-tiered spread is not bad, including hot, cold, sweet and savory goodies to munch on while sipping ultra-rich tea (I had the "Teaberry Blend," which I recommend for berry-lovers.)



The seasonal fruit cup with yogurt citrus dressing was nothing to write home about. The hot and savory things included a quiche with dried-up shrimp and Gruyère
and a sausage roll that could have come from a box. You can't miss those delicate little tea sandwiches, of course. We had smoked salmon with maple Dijon cream cheese, egg salad and watercress (standard), mango-curry chicken salad with toasted cashews (my personal favorite), smoked ham with sweet grainy mustard (blah) and cucumber with fresh ginger (could hardly taste the ginger) cream cheese.

Top it off with sweets like chocolate Grand Marnier truffle (too sweet for me), orange apricot loaf, chocolate brandy Napoleon slice, shortbread cookie, a fresh fruit tart (which was bad, bad, bad), candied ginger scone (rock-hard) and a traditional black currant scone with strawberry jam and whipped Devon-style cream.

You may be wondering why I bothered to review this place if I didn't think much of its food. Two words: the view.



I mean, how can you go wrong with such a killer view? This confirms my theory that all restaurants with a great view don't have good food. I usually avoid these like the plague but it's hard to pass up such a nice ambience and view from your window.

I should also add that the pasta one of my companions ordered from the lunch menu was superb. It was pappardelle pasta with grilled oyster mushrooms, pine nuts, roasted garlic, cherry tomatoes and watercress in an olive oil sauce.



Service was good but a tad slow, like in most fancy restaurants. Another reason to come here is that afternoon tea is a treat and seems to be the thing to do to experience the Commonwealth-ness of this country (and you get to nibble on a variety of things).

Yes, as pretty as the flowers were, the Gardens felt like Disneyland, so I appreciated a moment of peace from the throngs of tourists. Although the dining room was full of tourists like myself, it felt more mellow.

Here are a few restaurants to avoid: Seoul House Royal Korean Restaurant on Broadway near the airport unless you're absolutely desperate for Korean (don't ask why we went); Fish House in Stanley Park, which had great salt cod fritters but the day's special of three types of salmon was dry and the salmon didn't even taste very fresh. And it was very expensive.



In Victoria, we went to Pagliacci's, which seems to be immensely popular with locals and tourists alike. It's a charming Italian place (right) with very warm service. Unfortunately, the food didn't quite measure up. We had smoked salmon salad with avocado, roasted red peppers, artichokes and greens, which was good, but when it came to the pastas, it flopped. My massive lasagna smelled like it had mixed ground beef with spicy Italian sausage, which I dislike, so couldn't eat it. I really wanted to like it, but the food didn't deliver. If you decide to go, however, make sure you get there at 5:30 p.m. sharp for dinner, as lines form even before the restaurant opens and only get longer as the evening progresses into peak dinner time.



I was amazed at how nice and efficient the wait staff managed to be at Pagliacci's. Despite the chaos of people lining up outside, tons of hungry eaters asking for things, our waitress never failed to check in on us and respond to our multiple requests for water, more bread, etc., with a friendly, "for sure," or "certainly." I quickly realized that Canadians say "that's for sure" a lot. Not sure what it is but Canadians were generally a lot nicer than people in any other English-speaking tourist hot-spot I've been to. Is it the water?

Besides sampling good Chinese food in Vancouver, one thing I wish I had done is eat at Granville Island's market, which boasts myriad of food stalls and fresh fruits and vegetables. Check out the varieties of Canadian bacon and salmon displayed below. Sheer pleasure. In case you can't tell, that is a real lemon meringue pie. Tell me about your fave Vancouver spots. Finally, a plug for Pacific Palisades Hotel, which was conveniently located on Robson Street, close to shops and restaurants, and mostly importantly for us, a Japanese market that had good green tea and red bean pancakes. My only complaint about the hotel is that it charges $25 a day for parking in its garage.







Dining Room
The Butchart Gardens
800 Benvenuto Avenue
Brentwood Bay, BC V8M 1J8
(866) 652-4422 (within North America)
(250) 652-4422 (outside of North America)

Canada Report: Molto Gelato

Some may suspect I have been rather lax with the postings, but alas, I have been doing my fair share of food hunting in Vancouver and the Canadian Rockies and I kick off my first update with something to cool off from the current heat wave in LA.

I could hardly contain myself when I ran into Mondo Gelato, my favorite gelato shop this side of the world (meaning not Italy), on Robson Street in Vancouver.

I had first run into a Mondo Gelato in Berkeley a few years ago and it was truly love at first bite. It helped that Mondo carried multiple variations of chocolate and hazelnut that I have a soft spot for, including gianduia (chocolate blended with hazelnut), gianduia riso (Gianduia with rice crispies) and Ferrero Rocher (yes, the delectable sphere-shaped chocolate in gelato form), to name a few. It has over 100 flavors.



Mondo beats Pazzo Gelato in Silver Lake hands down, not to mention Angelato Cafe in Santa Monica. I have yet to visit Scoops and other much-hyped gelaterias in LA, but who needs black sesame-flavored gelato when you can have Nutella in all its creamy gelato glory? Better yet, who needs Pinkberry or Red Mango when the more health-conscious have a choice of sorbetto, soy gelato or yogurt?

I relished every morsel of my gelato -- on this particularly serendipitous day, it was two scoops of gianduia in a cup. I happily sampled my companions' flavors, which included vanilla (tasted the wonderfully pure and deep flavor of real vanilla beans, no artificial flavors here), green tea (refreshing and just the right aftertaste that good quality green tea offers) and maple walnut (naturally, I had to try this since we were in Canada and it was perfectly sweet without being overpowering with the right crunchiness of walnut).



I had no idea Mondo's reach extended all the way to Beijing, Rome, Hawaii and three Canadian shops. The closest one to LA is in San Diego (In the historic Gas Lamp District: 435 10th Avenue, San Diego, CA 92101), which I haven't yet visited. Maybe it's time for me to trek down to San Diego. How I wish Mondo would land in LA.

Mondo Gelato
1222 Robson Street
Vancouver, British Columbia
Canada V6E 1C1

(604)694-0108

Makings of the Best Kimchi Fried Rice

Whenever I get a hankering for perfectly seasoned kimchi fried rice with a crispy crust on the bottom, I head straight to Dong Il Jang, a BBQ-cum-sushi place (but the sushi part you can ignore) in Koreatown that serves positively the best kimchi fried rice around with just the right level of spiciness, glossiness (read: grease) and chewiness.



The fried rice is like a surprise present that comes at the end of the BBQ fest, and clearly the star of this meal. Order the "rosu gooey," which includes thick slabs of unmarinated ribeye pieces the size of sushi. The meat is cooked at the table with some butter spread onto the grill, alongside sliced onions that are placed at the center as if to keep the balance.



Because the meat is not marinated, the flavors come through by way of the salt, pepper and sesame oil dipping sauce and the fresh green onions to wrap the meat with. Optional add-ons include the wide array of banchan, or side dishes, that come with the meal. On any given day, the side dishes include at least two different kinds of kimchi, loosely defined as the "fiery Korean national dish usually consisting of fermented cabbage or radish, garlic and lots of chile powder." As you can see, I prefer to mix my meat with the kimchi and green onion.



Other side dishes include kongnamul namul, steamed bean sprouts seasoned with salt and garlic; gamja jorim, sweet and salty braised potatoes; oiji moochim, spiced pickled cucumbers; odeng moochim, spiced fish cakes; moo-u moochim, pickled radish strips; and a "New Korean" concoction -- chopped romaine lettuce salad in a spicy dressing with sesame seeds. My favorite side dishes are the potatoes and salad, and I usually add the bokchoy red kimchi into my green onion wrap for the meat. Don't worry if you don't finish some of them. They will become useful later in your meal.



The meat wrapped in any of these combinations is good, but nothing beats the anticipation of what is about to come down when the waitress brings a small steel bowl of chopped kimchi and bits of meat to be used to make the fried rice, along with a dollup of kochujang, Korean chili paste. "Will it be standard spicy?" "Yes!" we exclaim gleefully, recalling the just-right spiciness of our last experience that did anything but overpower.



What happens next is sheer magic. The waitress pours the contents of the bowl onto the same grill the meat had been cooked on, which in turn makes a delightful sizzling sound. This may not be for everybody, but the waitress also collects leftover banchan dishes from the table and piles them onto the grill. Bean sprouts, green onions -- it's all good.

Then she adds the chili paste depending on the spice level requested and cooks the kimchi and meat some more. Then comes the three bowls of rice, which the waitress so adroitly incorporates into the kimchi mixture that all of us at the table can't help but stare in awe of her super-fast hand movements.






No matter how many times I go, it never ceases to amaze me how well (and quickly) she mixes the rice evenly so that the snow white rice becomes fully tinged with the deep red color of the kimchi and chili paste, glistening from the butter and fat from the meat. The result is a heavenly bowl full of red jewels peppered with seared pieces of meat and soft kimchi pieces with a hint of sesame oil. If you like to scrape the rice crust from the bottom of the pan, you must be patient and wait for about 3 minutes before digging into the rice, or else you will have no crust, or nooroongji, as Koreans call it. It's simply the best part, but you have to work for it.



I recommend ordering the rosu gooey for 2 (minimum portion you can order) for up to a party of 3, as it's a lot of food and can get pricey. Don't forget to wash it all down with some shik-he, a refreshing Korean dessert drink of ice-cold water, rice and sugar, that is complimentary after a meal.





For homecooks, this dish is extremely easy to make. Sautee chopped store-bought cabbage kimchi on a pan with one teaspoon of sesame oil, add meat (or not if you're a veggie) and use day-old rice ideally, as it's drier than just-made rice. If you're a spice hound, mix in some of the hot paste and add some butter or vegetable oil to facilitate mixing. When fully incorporated, sprinkle with sesame seeds and/or green onions and voila.

Dong Il Jang Restaurant
3455 W 8th St. (at Hobart)
Los Angeles, CA
90005-2517
(213) 383-5757

King of the Taco World?

I finally tried King Taco and it didn't disappoint. I can't say it was the best I've ever had, but its al pastor version definitely got me hooked on this barbecued pork that is slightly charred on the edges with a slightly pinkish color.

King Taco is almost like a fast food chain, boasting 16 locations throughout Southern California. I realized when I went that I had much to learn about the humble taco. I had prided myself in being somewhat of a connoisseur of this Mexican classic. I fondly recalled the carne asada tacos I had during a road trip to Baja California where I drove all the way to La Paz over the course of several days, stopping by little known towns on the way such as Ciudad Constitucion and Guerrero Negro, and sampling different varieties of tacos in each city. The folks in these towns weren't used to people stopping by and it didn't take long for us to find a favorite taco stand in Ciudad Constitucion run by a very nice lady who made everything from scratch. Needless to say, we made sure to stop by her stand on the way back up to L.A..



Back to King Taco. Upon entering, I saw a very long counter that divided the customer and the cooks/assemblers. After seeing the wide array of filling choices, I had to annoy the lady behind the counter by asking her gringa questions like, "What is buche, molleja, and suadero?" Just so you don't have to hold everyone up at the line, here's the lowdown.

Buche is pig's stomach. Molleja are sweetbreads, those thymus glands of veal, young beef, lamb and pork. I'm not sure which animal's sweetbreads King Taco uses, but I'm going to assume they use the pig's. Suadero is a thin cut of beef from the meat that hangs from the breast bone on a cow.

I tried the Suadero, which had an interesting texture that I didn't love. My favorite was al pastor, perhaps reflected in the photo above that focuses on the top left taco. The bottom left was the carne asada that was nothing to write home about. And the bottom right is the suadero, which I wouldn't get again. The combination of the meats, raw chopped onions and fresh cilantro topped with fiery red salsa was pretty good. You could also ask for salsa verde.



King Taco also offers carnitas (shredded pork), lengua (cow tongue), cabeza (cow head) and chicken. We also got rice, beans and guacamole on the side, all of which were decent but nothing special.

Factoid: I was surprised to find that King Taco owns El Taurino on Hoover and Olympic in Koreatown, which serves famed burritos with very spicy salsa that you want to make sure to get on the side. This is the joint that gets extremely crowded on weekend evenings, so much that they have a truck in the parking lot behind the actual restaurant that caters to late-night workers or club-crawlers until the wee hours.

King Taco
645 E. Washington Blvd.
Los Angeles, CA 90015
(213) 747-9915

Dim Sum: Mission Impossible

I've been in a quest for good dim sum ever since I moved here about five years ago, and sadly, I have yet to find that perfectly steamed har gow in razor thin rice paper filled with plump shrimps -- yes, the kind served in those huge, bustling halls in Hong Kong.

True, I haven't looked that hard and barely made it to a few San Gabriel Valley favorites, but none has impressed me so far. Lately I have motivated myself to trek out there on a regular basis to check out various dim sum joints, including Triumphal Palace recommended by a trusted source for all things Chinese and auto-related, and The Kitchen recommended by J. Gold.



The first thing I liked about Triumphal Palace was the short wait and its manageable size. No throngs of large parties waiting outside for hours on end. This place doesn't do carts, and as much as I like to chase down the cart ladies while trying to understand what they describe is in the dim sum, no cart means it's all made to order -- hence, more fresh.



We ordered the usual suspects, such as shrimp dumpling, pea-tips and seafood dumpling, vegetarian dumpling, shanghai dumpling, BBQ pork buns and sticky rice in lotus leaf. They were acceptable, but the best was something new we tried, grandiosely called House Special Dumpling in Supreme Soup Stock. It is a deep-fried bean curd roll with a mix of carrots, bamboo shoots and green onions inside that comes in a surprisingly refreshing, clear broth (aka Supreme Stock).



My second favorite was the pea-tips and seafood dumpling, mostly because I happen to like the combination of shrimp and greens and the shrimp was fresh. In the same vein, the basic har gow shrimp dumpling was good but not fantastic. The steamed baby broccoli provided some much-needed fiber.



The shanghai dumplings were too dense and didn't have enough soup inside. There's a reason they are called soup dumplings. These didn't even give me the pleasure of poking a hole to let the hot steam out before biting into them. The BBQ pork buns were a bit too porky and fatty. I got the sense that the pork wasn't the best quality.



As for the Kitchen, it has some cart service but we mostly ordered off the menu. The only two standouts were the noodle dish with lobster that we ordered after our neighboring table started devouring its own; and the sweet green tea concoctions with red bean inside that I couldn't stop popping into my mouth.

The noodle dish seemed luxurious with its glistening lobster pieces in the shell and colorful vegetables sewn throughout the large plate. To be brutally honest, the dish looked better than it actually tasted, but that didn't stop me from deriving satisfaction whenever I scooped out a large piece of lobster meat from the shell.



The green tea rice cakes tasted like they were deep fried or maybe baked, but were perfectly soft and addictively just sweet enough. I couldn't stop eating them despite having reached my capacity for the day. It made me forget about my favorite dessert at dim sum joints -- the mini-custard pies.

One thing I noticed about both these places is that service was unusually courteous and attentive. I wasn't sure whether to be sorry the dim sum experience had become less authentic or glad I was finally getting refills of my chrysanthemum tea without having to chase down the wait staff. Whatever you do, try to get there before noon to avoid a wait. I would probably try them out for their regular menus as well.

Factoid: Dim sum literally means "touch the heart," or "order to your heart's content," but meaning "morsel/snack".

Triumphal Palace
500 W Main St Ste A
Alhambra, CA 91801
(626) 308-3222

The Kitchen
203 W. Valley Blvd.
Alhambra, CA 91801
(626) 289-4828

From Beirut with Love: Care for a Kefta?

I've never had Lebanese food until as luck would have it, I ended up living very close to a Lebanese restaurant -- and a good one at that. Sunnin Cafe is a great neighborhood haunt -- it's affordable, has reasonably healthy and good-tasting food and is a family-run hole in the wall.

Walk in to Sunnin on a Saturday morning and you'll see delectably plumb eggplants crowded onto the grill, getting prepared to let out all their great smoky flavors.

My favorite appetizers are rekakat, which are rolls made out of filo dough stuffed with feta cheese, onions and parsley; spicy potatoes flavored with cilantro, garlic and spices; and babaganouj, the always-popular grilled eggplant dip.



The falafels aren't bad but what I really like is the refreshing "Lebanese salad" that comes with most entrees. The salad, consisting of chopped romaine lettuce, cucumber and tomatoes, is dressed with a super light combination of oil, lemon and parsley. There may well be some other secret ingredient that I don't know about, but these are the ingredients I can taste.

The salad almost makes the other deep-fried appetizers guilt-free. Bite into a rekakat and the crispy filo dough comes crumbling down, only to find a burst of creamy feta goodness inside. Because it is rather strong, I wouldn't want to have more than one rekakat. One is enough to awaken your appetite and have you look forward to the main dish.



I am partial to the spicy kefta, which is grilled skewers of ground beef with chopped onions, parsley and spices, baked in a spicy tomato sauce. Despite its moniker, it's not overly spicy and the fluffy rice mixed with short strands of brown noodle-like garnishes is the perfect accompaniment. If you fancy some balance to the tomato-y sauce, top it off with some yogurt salad, which is a mix of yogurt and cucumber slices seasoned with garlic and mint.

If I'm feeling like something a tad healthier, I get the chicken kebab, a plate of grilled chicken skewers that comes with the Lebanese salad and the same rice. I generally avoid chicken skewers for fear of being disappointed by dry blobs of chicken breast, but Sunnin's are moist and juicy with just the right hint of the burnt grilled flavor on the edges of the chicken cubes.



I consider the spicy potatoes to be a side more than an appetizer, as I like to have the cilantro-tinged potatoes -- that have been deep-fried and smothered in garlic and other spices -- in between bites of the spicy kefta, rather than before. The potatoes could be a little less oily, but the chopped fresh cilantro adds a slightly citrus-like flavor that make the potatoes taste less heavy.

As for the babaganouj, what's not to like? I will say, however, that I prefer the mutabbal, the Armenian equivalent, at Zankou from my previous posting.

My companion is a fan of sfiha, baked dumplings stuffed with ground beef, tomatoes, onions and pine nuts, but I find the dough of the dumplings, well, too doughy. If you must try one of these, I recommend fatayer, which is a vegetarian one with spinach, onions and pine nuts that is a bit less doughy. The tabouleh salad, burgul with tomatoes, onions, parsley and lemon juice, is another favorite of my usual dinner companion because of its refreshing qualities. I can live without it.



I didn't care for the various sausage varieties touted by the friendly owner, the mousakaa despite my love of eggplant, or that Mediterranean favorite, grape leaves stuffed with rice and vegetables, which are called warak enab.

For on-the-go lunch-seekers, most of the entrees can be had in a pita as a sandwich with the notable exception of the spicy kefta.

There is also a Long Beach branch.

Sunnin Cafe
1779 Westwood Blvd
Los Angeles, CA 90024
(310) 477-2358