Fri, 20 Jun 2008

Boccalone Open

New Boccalone place in ferry bldg I went to get a sandwich for lunch at the Ferry Building. I wanted to try the new Boccalone place since I saw something about it opening recently (although I can't find where I read that originally now).

Some quick thoughts:

It was packed and not very organized. They had two lines, but they weren't doing a good job of herding people along - they'll get better at it though.

They seem to be overpriced. $9 for a Lonza sandwich that didn't have a ton of meat on it? Well, ok, I'll forgive you since you're in the Ferry Building, but for now, Luca's on Valencia has nothing to worry about. . .

I see on my receipt they snuck in a $1 breadstick (I had also ordered a salumi sampler) .. . very sneaky sis . . .

The meat's pretty good. . . my sandwich is a nice stack of contrasting but complimentary flavors - I should try it again sometime when the peaches are more ripe. . . .

Not sure I'd stock up on meats there- again, I'll hit up my fave- Luca's in the Mission . . . Meats @ boccalone

Out of 5, I'll give them a 3 for now on my "meat-ho"™ scale. I'll try them again when they have the kinks worked out. Don't get me wrong though- the meat's good stuff.

One other thought on the herding people along thing- I had to wait for my sandwich, so they gave me a receipt and a number, so I stood there and waited- but they don't call out numbers. They just put the sandwiches in these basket things for the counter staff. One of the guys there had seen me waiting and asked what my order was and took care of me. But it took a while. They should either not use the numbers, or stick to it. . . .

20 Jun 15:17 | /food_and_drink | 2 comment(s)


Mon, 16 Jun 2008

Some Quick White Wine Recs

I went to a nice wine tasting (and olive oil tasting) on Saturday night in Austin.

I just wanted to post what I thought some of the standouts were.

These are pretty affordable too. All 4 of the ones below should beare readily available in Texas.

Albert Mann Vielle Vignes 2004 (Auxerrois), Alsace, France

Praxis (Viognier), Lodi, California - although I think I liked the next one more-- buy this if you can't find the Pere Anselme.

Pere Anselme 2007 (Viognier), Languedoc, France

Craggy Range 2006 Te Muna Road Vineyard (Sauvignon Blanc), Martinborough, New Zealand

There were some others that I liked as well, but I think I'll buy the three imported ones listed above as soon as I get back to SF. Although . . . SF's not 100 degrees right now so I'll try not to stock up too much.

Thanks again for the party invite Megan, Cory, and Kevin; and the hosts S&R!

16 Jun 16:12 | /food_and_drink | 0 comment(s)


Sun, 08 Jun 2008

Savage Espresso

Nespresso le cube I think I've changed my mind on the Nespresso Machines- and pod machines in general.

I used to hate the pod machines when I first tried them out long ago, but I was playing with my dad's newer Le Cube (from Nespresso) and realized it makes a consitently nice shot of espresso with a super thick crema. It may not be right for me, but they're better now that I thought they were. Now if Illy would just get their overdue machine to market, I'd like to try that one out as well.

There's no way in hell I'm trading in my Rocky and Silvia, but I agree with my mom that it's nice to not be rudely awakened at 5am by the sound of a grinder.

The real reason my mom likes the machine:

08 Jun 18:43 | /food_and_drink | 1 comment(s)


Tue, 27 May 2008

Improving the Risotto

Mise en place As a follow up to my previous post How to *not* cook risotto I'd like to present you with some corrections/steps to make it better.

1) invite 3 really cool people over for dinner (this is key)

2) open up 3 or 4 bottles of wine to try a bunch- we had 3 different Eagle Point Ranch Syrahs (05 Stefania, 06 Stefania, 05 Copain) and a viognier from Cooper Garrod.

3) Go check out Far West Fungi in the Ferry Building and pick up some fresh brown butons, crimini and some dried italian or domestic porcinis A trio of eaglepoint ranch syrahs

Use the fresh shrooms like I said in the previous post- but use the dried earthy porcinis as well. When you reconstitute them, keep the liquid and add it back to your stock when you're ready to start putting it all together. It really makes the stock (and later dish) much better and with more complex flavors.

4) serve dinner, serve the wine, chill out and have some fun . . . As I've said before, it's good craic

5) bonus: get really lucky because the girls friends you invited over brought some addiction forming chocolate pot-de-creme and parisian macarons from . Damn I wish I had taken a pic of them. I mean the desserts, not the ladies. . . or do I?

27 May 22:15 | /food_and_drink | 0 comment(s)


Mon, 26 May 2008

BBQ Comment

Embracing my inner snob I'd just like to say:

Lighter fluid is the smell of ignorance.

I'll give you points for trying to use charcoal but . . .

Serioulsy people, get a cheap chimney starter.

26 May 21:04 | /food_and_drink | 5 comment(s)


Wed, 21 May 2008

How To Not Cook Risotto

Tagged as: ,

risotto makin' Here's how to not make risotto.

(I'll have a 2nd part to this on Saturday)

Step 2: Get all of your ingredients together, your mise en placccccccccccce if you will:

What I used this time: arborio rice, chicken stock, some sausage, about a pound of mushrooms (I did a rough chop/slice), a cup of peas, butter, parmesan (shred it up!), nice olive oil, about 1/2 an onion (diced, or fine chop), some leftover prosciutto, white wine, red wine . . .

Step 3: Start to sweat the onions over medium heat with just a bit of olive oil (or a bit of olive oil and butter), after a few minutes add some chopped up prosciutto for flavor. As they are about halfway through sweating, add the sausauge (mine was already cooked, so I was just browning it). Keep cooking those over medium heat while you do steps 4 & 5

Step 4: Put your chicken stock in a 2nd pan to heat up (get it to just under a boil and then lower it to a simmer)

... there's more to read here ...

21 May 21:40 | /food_and_drink | 0 comment(s)


Sun, 18 May 2008

Chilaquiles in MV

You know how to start off your lazy Sunday right?

That's right, some Chilaquiles in Mountain View (or wherever you are)
chilaquiles

Cory and I went to Tapatio Grill again so I could try the Tapatio Grill chilaquiles. Quite nice.

He got the red ones, and I wanted my verdes. The cashier told me that the red may be better. I'll have to get those next time.

I wanted to try their Birria too but they said they didn't have any left today. So that will require another visit soon.

Just as an aside, you know what kills the nice buzz of a 80F+ afternoon? Coming North on Caltrain in shorts to SF, getting off the train and wishing you had your jacket as you head to your foggy neighborhood. I'm not hatin' I'm just sayin . . .

18 May 21:19 | /food_and_drink | 0 comment(s)


Fri, 11 Apr 2008

Wine Blog Recommendations

Santa Cruz Mountains and Santa Clara Valley Wines. Dave Tong, who I met through Paul, writes this blog. Add it to your RSS Reader. He updates it pretty regularly and has really insightful posts on some of the places you South Bay Kids love. Case in point: A post about tasting at Cinnabar

Good Wine Under $20 has been another one I've been keeping up with in ye olde Google Reader. I haven't made any purchases recommended by Dr. Debs yet, but I've been ready. Maybe once my cold goes away and if we get a quarterly bonus at work . . . .

11 Apr 23:55 | /food_and_drink | 0 comment(s)


Mmm Queso

Damn this girl has a good blog-- Chuck pointed out that The Homesick Texan has a post up about queso. Mmmm Queso. I should try her recipe and do a side-by-side taste test against my standard "ro*tel n velveeta" method.

11 Apr 14:37 | /food_and_drink | 2 comment(s)


Sat, 05 Apr 2008

Gross?

One of those "ritual hipsters" won a SCAA Barista award (sfist.com) but check out this "signature drink":

a three-tiered liquid cherry-lime cheesecake concoction.
The bottom layer of the drink included a strained and chilled cherry-lime reduction with a mixture of cream cheese, milk and a dusting of powdered sugar comprising the middle layer.

The beverage's top portion featured a cheesecake mix blended with a rich Fazenda Sao Joao coffee.

I dunno, that drink sounds kind of nasty, but perhaps I should try it before casting stones.

I went to Ritual recently (on Easter Sunday) with some out of town guests. It was okay, it's not great. I can pull great shots from my machine just as easily. And I don't require that my guests who visit for an espresso have to bring in a mac laptop and ride a fixie. Oooh, snarky!

full press release (despite my snarkiness, the scaa is pretty important in my eyes)

05 Apr 20:05 | /food_and_drink | 2 comment(s)


Clicky Web Analytics