Month: October 2007

A great thing to do when in a foreign city is to visit the farmer’s market.  The Borough Market in London is great, and the Saturday one at the Ferry Building in downtown San Francisco.  I put together two picnics on two consecutive sundays.  This being the beginning of October the produce available was tomatoes, pluots, peaches and apples. 

my first picnic consisted of a french baguette and sticky bun (like a sweet bread) from a bakery in healdsburg ca, assorted cherry tomatoes (nice and juciy), green zebras (nice lemony, citrus flavor), yellow heirloom tomatoes (yay clare!), amazing pluots and some triple cream cheese (think brie but milder) from cowgirl creamery.  all enjoyed at the gardens of yuerba buena park behind the metreon.

my second picnic was a tomato focaccia pizza fromt he same bakery, another sticky bun, green zebra tomatoes, a white nectarine (a natural sweetness), and the most amazing thing in october–farmer’s market strawberries.  they weren’t quite as good as the ones from april, but they were within 90% of that mark and worlds better then the junk sold at the grocery store.  i had resigned myself in may that i’d have to wait a whole year before strawberries again, i ate the strawberries in one sitting!

the house san francisco

Before i talk about my most recent visits to the house, a short story.  When i came to San Francisco for the first time in 2000, i just started working out of school and my new company was flying me in for two weeks of orientation.  On the flight out i chatted up an attractive woman sitting next to me (in retrospect i didn’t really close the conversation 🙂 ) and we discussed possible dinner suggestions.  I mumbled something about Fisherman’s Wharf (give me a break i was pretty green then…err still) and she graciously suggested a restaurant called ‘the house’ in north beach, but with no address, phone number.  Keep in mind this was 2000, before google sms (and really early google) and i had never been to San Francisco, but when i got off the plane that was the plan. 

I hopped into the rental car and drove into downtown san francisco, i parked the car in a garage north of market and began walking around.  I had lunch in chinatown (yeah, i was that green) and continued walking around, following the signs to north beach.  i found city lights bookstore (which i still go to every trip), vesuvios (which is next door to city lights), etc.  Well as i walked up columbus i turned up what i later realized was grant heading towards Caffe Trieste for a espresso, and as a came upon an alley i turned to look in the window of a non-descript restaurant, i looked up and i had found ‘the house’ through serendipity.  

i still remember that first meal, steamed mussels (which i believe is off the menu now) and the grilled sea bass (which is justly still the most popular on the menu).  A funny follow-up story is that the next day i walked into the office and chatted up a colleague about my evening.  He sat flabbergasted as i described how i found my dinner location, it’s a mildly kept secret for locals in town, and somewhere he eats frequently as well. 

now back to my most recent visit.  if you look at the menu, you get a sense what the food is like.  i believe the two most popular items on the menu are the deep fried salmon roll (with hot chinese mustard dipping sauce) and the sea bass.  I would describe it as pan-asian, which is to say lots of asian flavors, mainly chinese and japanese.  in recent visits i’ve seen some branching out with more classical french overtones.  the approach is more subtle then the only other comparable restaurant i’ve eat at–which is Momofuku in NYC.  There David Chang combines modern french and korean and i think the flavors are more assertive whereas the house tips the line.  There are a few stronger flavors like the chinese mustard, the miso soy but they still try to keep things delicate too.

This visit I ate here twice, once with some work folks and once by myself.  A list of what i sampled with short descriptions:

(with group)

• deep fried salmon roll (a hit with everyone, nice and spicy sauce, a little over-done for me though)
• braised pork with cream sauce ziti (i had this, and it was a definite departure from normal for them, but it was also satisfying which some of the light seafood dishes are not)
• diver boat sea scallops (cooked well, but the more interesting thing was the sauce, which hinted of lemon sherbert)
• one person tried the sea bass for the first time which he loved
• one person tried the ahi tuna, also a big hit (as it usually is)

(alone)

• fried smelt over wax beans with avocado and red onions in a cream (?) wasabi oil dressing (this was extremely interesting, the fried smelt was panko covered, deep fried with no fishiness.  the dressing was a touch heavy, and i shouldn’t have eaten the whole thing
• tuna two ways, a small filet of albacore tuna cooked rare (well seasoned too) and red eye tuna sashimi, with rice.   (this was nice a light compared to the salad, and although they do sushi/sashimi on par with good sushi places)

Overall i left satisfied after both visits, i’m not sure what it is about this place.  When i compare to Momofuku, i always eat there and leave a little confused, as if i’m not sure it was good, it’s always interesting, but when you aim for the fringes, sometimes you miss.  With the house, it’s a better combination of experimental and solid dishes, perhaps it’s a little unfair as i’ve eaten at the house 2-3 times a year over the last 7 and only at Momofuku 3-4 in the last 18 months. 

Clearly i like this restaurant and cannot suggest it enough.  On the weekends you’ll need a reservation, if you eat right at 5 you might be seated, but even then there most likely will be a time limit.  They do serve lunch most days, so that’s an option as well. 

An awkward situation when traveling alone; it’s a sunday morning, you really want some brunch food, an omelette, maybe some pancakes, what do you do? Go to brunch alone and weather the storm of couples, or even worse the parents and their kids if you’re near a university? I don’t mind eating alone, there’s the bar, there’s the two-top tucked away for privacy, but brunch is a bit more difficult, it’s the quintessential couple/group event.

So this was my problem on a recent sunday in california. I had a few options, Hobees which is fine but near Stanford so lots of parents, there’s a number of places on University Ave also near Stanford. I could drive a little further away to California Ave in Palo Alto but there’s a Sunday farmer’s market so it too will be crowded.

The thing that saved me is something you should always do while traveling, when visiting one place always keep an eye out for somewhere else. Earlier in the week i ate the vietnamese beef noodle soup (pho) shop next door to an interesting looking cafe. I was rewarded for remembering it today.

‘a good morning’ is an unpretentious cafe that serves breakfast to some stanford locals willing to drive 15 minutes from campus. you have the basic brunch type things, a capable espresso bar and fast, attentive service. it’s the type of place where they can undercharge you and they don’t really much care, which is exactly what happened to me.

the server said something about discounting my meal (no charge for the americano or hash browns) for the long wait–which i didn’t feel was long at all. my bill was $7, i think it should’ve been $12, so i left her a $7 tip, which may prove difficult to expense but when getting discounts on food, i don’t see a reason to penalize the server by paying the same percentage. In that case their tips would be reduced for doing the same amount of work. I guess the proper tip in this case was $3 ( 25% of $12), but the additional $4 was already spent in my mind, so i’d rather give it to the server then claim it myself, especially when i didn’t think it necc. anyway.

Sorry for the rant, it’s a great place, i hope it sticks around as i will definately return for breakfast. If i had to complain the sign-in process for a table is a little chaotic, the trick is walk up to the register, grab the clip-board and add your name to the list.  ‘a good morning’ is at the intersection of san antonio road and el camino road.

This most recent trip was for work, and the company asks us to stay at certain hotels.  This time it was the courtyard in Newark CA.  I’ve stayed at this hotel at least once a year for the last 3-4, the first year it was pretty desolate for dining options.  It’s steadily improved, and i knew the area had made it when i saw the newly opened Chipotle in the parking lot next door to the hotel.  Franchises aside there are other options next door to the hotel, a reasonable thai place, a few divey but honest chinese places (crazy cheap, $6 entrees at dinner), a passable if unsteady italian place.   We did venture further into Fremont to a part of Fremont Blvd which i discovered is home to a large Afghan population, and called Little Kabul. 

Salang Pass is in a non-descript building shared with a Round Top Pizza and Persian Rug store.  It’s on the end with a sign and entrance obscured by a tree, the closest cross street is Central Ave, if you get lost just ask for directions to the Round Top.  Inside the decor is basic, with one exception, there is a tented area to one side of the dining room with low tables and pillow seating for the romantic types, since i was eating with 3 guys from work we opted for tables. 

I’ve had afghan food a few times, and i always describe it as indian but just milder, not indian lite as the flavors are still there just more delicate.   I don’t know all the names but we had the roasted pumpkin, eggplant with tomato, hummus, lamb curry (with huge lamb shank), chicken curry, and the ground lamb simmered in tomatoes (a complex blend of delicate spiciness, got better the more you at it).  The meals come with salad (very passable) and bread/naan.  I think the total for all of us was $20 a head and we were all quite happy at this point. 

I don’t claim to be an expert in Afghan food (or any food for that matter), but i was satisfied with this meal and would happily return.

Blogged with Flock

Two weeks in San Francisco has given me a lot of time to eat out. Tonite was one of my favorite personal traditions, dinner at the House and pastries at Stella Pastry for dessert. I ate one of the always great cannolis, which i love because the shells are properly crispy, the filling not too sweet. I also had one of these sacrapantina cakes.

It’s a whip cream layered rum infused sponge cake, it’s light, fluffy, airy, quite good but a touch expensive at $4.50, but then the prices there tend to be higher, so it’s unfair to call it expensive. I’m reading the two Michael Pollan books and i realize food can be too cheap. More on my trip over the next few days.