2010 Big Eat SF List: #12 RoliRoti, #36 San Tung, #37 Limon & #49 Miette

#12: Porchetta Sandwich at RoliRoti

Went to the Farmer's Market on an early Saturday morning with a bad cold & cough just to line up for this...and I am glad I did. It was so good and juicy! Oh my gosh, one bite and the softness of the bread, the juice from the porchetta, the crunch of the pork skin, the sweetness of the onion marmalade, the fresh of the cress brought me to paradise. You have to try this!!! I am definitely going back to get more of this sandwich!

Porchetta Sandwich - Traditional Italian farmers market meat, pork loin rolled into the belly with crispy skin and spiced with fresh organic herbs and garnished with onion marmalade and curly cress.

#36: Dry-fried chicken wings at San Tung

My family loves going to San Tung for dinner, especially my little brother. He loves this chicken wings dish so much that he can finish one plate himself. Ask for me, I am usually not a fried chicken fan, but I ate so many of this because the sauce makes this dish so good! Spicy, sweet, and garlic-ky....also, it's not super oily like most fried chicken or chicken wings. Eat them while they're hot!

 Dried-fried Chicken Wings - Crispy exterior glazed with a spicy and sweet sauce.

37. Rotisserie chicken at Limón Rotisserie

My friends and I came here before a concert. I also blogged about this before, and you can find my review for this restaurant here. It's so tender and juicy! We ordered one and ended up ordering another one. Definitely worth making onto the list.

Pollo a la Brasa - Chicken marinated the “traditional way” and slowly cooked in the rotisserie.

#49: Ginger snaps at Miette

I love Miette so much because they make good dessert, and they make them not super sweet. I have tried their macarons, their cakes, and their cupcakes but never have I tried their cookies...oh wait, now I have! Oh yeah, you can find my Miette's macaron review here.

Anyhow, A container of 12 gingersnaps costs $7, but it's so worth it! It is so rich in ginger flavor and so crisp and crunchy. It also contains a rich ginger aroma. Hmm hmm! It's a little embarrassing but I am going to say this anyways, I ate 7 of them in one sitting and called it my lunch for the day. It was that good!

Miette Gingersnaps
[Photo Courtesy of Victor Duan]

Mission Impossible? The 7x7.com 2010 Big Eat SF List!

So recently I watched the movie "Julie and Julia", which is about a girl name Julie trying to make every single recipe in one of Julia Child's cookbooks in 365 days. Well, I don't think I have that much time to cook a meal, so instead, I am going to attempt to do the 7x7.com's 2010 Big Eat List in San Francisco.

Well, it's February already, so I have 11 more months to go. I am going to post every so often and use pictures as a document. This will be hard, and I am going to get fatter, but I am going to try! (Gosh, I'll be happy if I go through 50 of them). Oh yes, did I mention I already tried like a couple on this list before the 2010 list was even up. Yay to a head start! But still a lot to go! Wish me luck! =)

The 2010 Big Eat SF List

1. Roast chicken and bread salad at Zuni

2. Coffee-rubbed pork shoulder at Range

3. Carnitas taco at La Taqueria

Photo by: Ed Anderson

4. Fried chicken and waffles at Little Skillet

5. Chasu ramen at Katana-Ya

6. Basil gimlet at Rye

7. Crab with cellophane noodles at the Slanted Door

Photo by: Stefanie Michejda

8. Morning bun at Tartine Bakery

9. Tofu soup with kimchi at My Tofu House

10. Nick’s Baja-style fish tacos at The Taco Shop at Underdogs

11. Pork sugo with pappardelle at Delfina

12. Porchetta sandwich at RoliRoti

13. Soup dumplings at Shanghai Dumpling King

14. Beef brisket sandwich at Il Cane Rosso

15. Any seasonal flavor at Scream Sorbet

16. Katsu curry from Muracci’s Japanese Curry & Grill

17. Samusa soup at Burma Superstar

18. Oysters on the half shell at Swan Oyster Depot

Photo by: Stefanie Michejda

19. Lobster pot pie at Michael Mina

20. Salumi misti plate at Perbacco

21. Pizza margherita at Pizzeria Delfina

22. Vietnamese roasted pork sandwich at Saigon Sandwich

23. Beer sausage with sauerkraut and grilled onions at Rosamunde Sausage Grill
(Bonus: Bring it Toronado next door and grab a beer to go with it.)

24. Blue Bell Bitter from the cask at Magnolia Pub

25. Loaf of bread straight out of the oven at Tartine

26. A bottle of Burgundy at RN74

27. Papaya salad with salty crab at Sai Jai Thai

28. A Gibraltar at Blue Bottle Café

29. Tuna tartare and a gin martini at Bix

30. Burger at Fish & Farm

31. Tuna Tostada at Tacolicious

32. Pupusas at Balompie Café

33. Prime rib at House of Prime Rib

34. Way too much cold sake at Oyaji

35. Salted-caramel ice cream at Bi-Rite Creamery

36. Dry-fried chicken wings at San Tung

37. Rotisserie chicken at Limón Rotisserie

38. Burger and fries at the bar at Spruce

39. Pierna enchilada torta at La Torta Gorda

40. Cheeseburger with sweet potato fries at Taylor’s Automatic Refresher

41. Pho ga at Turtle Tower

Photo by: Chris Andre

42. Fried-shrimp po’boy at Brenda’s French Soul Food

43. An Old Fashioned at Alembic

44. One of Neyah White’s shrubs at Nopa

45. Secret Breakfast from Humphry Slocombe

46. Chips and salsa at Papalote

47. Ceviche and a pisco sour on the patio at La Mar Cebichería Peruana

48. Angels on horseback at Anchor & Hope

Photo by: Joe Budd

49. Ginger snaps at Miette

50. An obscure Belgian beer at The Monk’s Kettle

51. Maccaronara with ricotta salata at A16

Photo by: Ed Anderson

52. Coconut buns from King’s Bakery

53. Carnitas at Nopalito

54. Spiced-chocolate doughnut at Dynamo Donut with a Four Barrel coffee

55. Chicken porridge for breakfast at the Bush Street Out the Door

56. Nuestra Paloma at Beretta

57. Agnolotti at Quince

58. Chicharrones from 4505 Meats

59. Huarache with cactus salad at El Huarache Loco
(Saturdays at the Alemany Farmers Market)

60. The Little Star at Little Star Pizza

61. Egg custard tart at Golden Gate Bakery

62. Dim sum at Ton Kiang

63. Meatballs with grapes at Aziza

64. Sand dabs at Tadich Grill

65. Cookies-and-cream cookie and milk at Anthony’s Cookies

66. Pig parts at Incanto

67. Paper masala dosa at Dosa

68. The housemade hot dog at Absinthe

69. Foccacia at Liguria Bakery

70. Omakase menu at Sebo

71. Scotch egg at Wexler’s

Photo by: Ed Anderson

72. Shanghai Buck at Heaven’s Dog

73. Popovers with strawberry butter at the Rotunda

74. Corned-beef sandwich with Gruyère at The Sentinel

75. Fried green beans at Coco500

76. Chicken hash at Ella’s

77. Eggs benedict on the back patio at Zazie

78. Super burrito at El Farolito

79. Onion strings at Alfred’s Steakhouse

80. Apple fritter at Bob’s Donuts

81. Chicken curry lunch special at Punjab Kabab House

82. Fried chickpeas at Piqueo’s

83. French fries at Universal Cafe

84. A margarita at Tommy’s Mexican Restaurant

85. Pulled-pork sandwich at Roadside BBQ

86. A cheese slice at Arinell Pizza

87. Sesame balls at Yank Sing

88. Buckwheat crepe and a French cider at Ti Couz

89. Lettuce cups at Betelnut

90. Korean taco at Namu’s market stand

91. Albondigas soup at Mijita

92. Bacon-wrapped hot dog from a cart in the Mission
(preferably when you’re drunk)

93. Seven courses of beef at Pagolac

94. The house cappuccino at Tosca Café

95. 3 a.m. bowl of caldo verde soup at Grubstake

96. Ube ice cream from Mitchell’s

97. Lamb schawerma at Truly Mediterranean

98. Bloody Mary with brunch at Foreign Cinema

99. Clam chowder at Hog Island Oyster Co.
(ok, get some oysters too)

Photo by: Ed Anderson

100. Menage a Trois at Ike’s Place

Swish Swish! Japanese Beef Fondue

First off...Happy Anniversary My Dear Boyfriend!

My boyfriend and I celebrated the weekend before already, but on the exact date, my boyfriend and I celebrated it again at nonetheless, one of our favorite go-to restaurant, Shabu House, in San Francisco.

I started shabu-ing Japanese style and had my first taste of kobe beef back in 2005, at the only kobe beef serving shabu restaurant in San Mateo, Shabuway. Ever since then, I am in love with this style of cooking because it retains the natural juicy and tenderness and taste of kobe beef.

I realized I been to both Shabuway and Shabu House so many times already, but never once did I review it except on Yelp. Anyhow, I decided to copy and paste my Yelp review here because I still somewhat stand by it. I will point out some more of what I excluded before and how I feel about it now since about a year ago, I think they changed the owner.

Shabu House
5158 Geary Blvd, San Francisco, CA
(415) 933-8600
http://www.myshabuhouse.com/

Review on 03/07/2008 on Yelp!
"Wow, finally a shabu shabu place in SF with good Kobe beef!
I ordered the ginger chicken soup base with large Kobe beef plate. The portion is good--a bowl of rice, a rectangular plate filled with beef, another rectangular plate filled with veggies (which consists of napa cabbage, spinach, udon, inoki, fresh shitake, corn, 2 carrot sticks, and 3 cubes of tofu) and a scoop of green tea or red bean ice cream. I left with a full belly.
I went during lunch, and a large is about $12.99, which is pretty decent! The waiter was very nice, he let my friend and I change the channel on the television, and replaced my ponzu sauce when it got watery. The restaurant is very clean looking too. All in all, it was a good shabu experience.

edit:// I also went there for dinner a week later, and oh my gosh, the spicy miso soup base rocks my tummy! The beef tastes so good even without the ponzu sauce with that soup base. It tastes so fresh! There are more workers working at night, and they are just as nice!

edit #2:// The fourth time I was there, the beef was cut differently, therefore, it lacks the marbled patterns. It wasn't as tender as before, but it's still one of the best shabu I had. The service was extraordinary though. =)"

Shabu House Regular Kobe Beef Meal- A plate of kobe beef, a plate of vegetable, which includes spinach, napa cabbage, a shiitake mushroom, a bundle of inoki mushrroom, 3 cubes of tofu, 2 baby carrots, and some udon and ponzu and sesame dipping suace. It also comes with a bowl of rice and with a scoop of ice cream. The large cube of tofu in the front is from their appetizer--adegashi tofu.

So as of today, Shabu House still serves American kobe beef, but it wasn't as nicely marble as before. Also, they still serve traditional broth with water, ginger chicken and spicy miso. But to me the spicy miso is not as rich as when it first open--it seems a little bit water down now. Other than that, the beef and vegetable portion is still pretty large. Oh, but the price increased a bit now.

Shiitake Potstickers

So as  mentioned on my previous entry, I will post the recipe to the Shiitake potstickers. For this vegetarian potsticker, I replaced the meat component with mushrooms and tofu. I use shiitake that I harvested from my mini mushroom farm and white button mushroom. For tofu, I used a firm one. The softer the texture of the tofu, the watery the gyoza filling will get, because soft tofu contains more water. For the wrappers, I just used store bought ones. A wrapper package is very  cheap and very convienent. I also added some cabbages for flavor. This is a very quick and easy, and healthy recipe for an appetizer dish as well as entree.

Ingredients:
~about 20

6 medium Shiitake Mushrooms, sliced

6 medium White Button Mushroom, sliced

1/3 package (10 oz) of Firm Tofu

1/4 head of Green Cabbage

1 package of Potstickers Wrapper

2 tsp of Sesame Oil

Dash of Salt
Dash of White Pepper Powder
Dash of Chili Powder (optional)
Red or Black Vinegar for dipping

Instruction:
1. In a food processor, finely chopped the Shiitake and white button mushroom. Scoop them out into a mixing bowl.

2. Place tofu and cabbage into the food processer and coarsely chop them. The cabbage adds some texture to the fillings. Scoop them out into the same mixing bowl.
3. Mix in sesame oil, salt and pepper until everything is well blended.
4. With dry hands, hold potsticker wrapper on one while scooping some mixture onto the wrapper with the other hand.
5. With a finger, dap some water on half of the wrapper edge. Fold the wrapper together, and tuck in the wrapper on one side to form crease. Press them together.
6. Place all potstickers on a plate, and when done, place them into the freezer for 5 minutes, or store them in freezer.
7. Add a little bit of oil to a frying pan, just enough so the potsticker won't stick. When hot, place the potstickers with the flat sides down.

8. Gently lift one to see if the bottom is brown. It should just take about 2 minutes or so.
9. When brown, add enough water to cover half the height of the potsticker. Place a clear lid over.
10. When you see that there is only about a tablespoon of water left, add some more oil to the frying pan.
11. Again, fry until the bottom of the gyoza is golden brown. Flip over if you want the top to be crispy too, otherwise, place them on a plate and serve with red or black vinegar.

Tips: Cook a few at a time, so it is easier to handle and flip.

Shiitake Harvest Take Two!

So continued from "Shiitake Harvest Take One", more shiitake mushroom sprouted out a weekend later. There were about 15 mushrooms total in all, not a lot, but enough to give some away and make a few dishes out of them.

This time, I want to use these mushroom to make healthy and vegetarian dishes.

I notice a lot of American or Asian fusion restaurants offer mushroom risotto of some sort, and so, I wanted to try making some. I didn't have any Aborio rice at home, so instead of using Aborio rice , I used brown rice instead, hoping it'll turn out somewhat similiar. I just want a creamy texture, but not neccessary the mushy feel of the rice.

Shiitake Brown Rice "Risotto" - Shiitake Mushroom, long grain brown rice, swiss cheese, garnished with diced tomato

I browned some garlic and 1/4 cup of brown rice, and then let them simmered in half cup of chicken broth for awhile. I then added the shittake mushroom and let the mixture simmered until about two tablespoon of water was left. Lastly, I mixed in some swiss cheese. This makes one serving. The whole dish was creamy, but not mushy. Since brown rice consisted of the hulk, it is quite chewy. The rice absorbed the shiitake flavor, so the rice turned out exactly how I wanted it to taste.

Next I wanted to make some curry stir-fry. The shiitake will not add to the flavor of the curry too much, instead the mushroom itself will retain its own flavor on top of  curry flavor. I threw in all the vegetables I can find in my fridge. Cabbage, spinach, tomato, button mushroom, shiitake and tofu all together.

Stir Fry Vegetables in Panang Curry - Cabbage, spinach, tomato, button mushroom, shiitake mushroom and tofu stir fried with Panang Curry

Brown some garlic with a little bit of oil. Add in napa cabbage and 2 tablespoons of water. Add in button mushroom and shiitake, then tomato, spinach and tofu. When everything is semi-cooked, add in panang curry paste, salt and pepper. Stir fry everything together. Adding corn starch to thicken the sauce is optional. Since I didn't add any coconut milk in this, the sauce loses its taste after chewing on the vegetable. The vegetables tasted very good combined with the curry though. This dish is pretty healthy since it's high in fiber, vitamins and low in fat and oil.

The last thing I decided to make with the shiitake mushroom is a vegetarian Shiitake gyoza/potstickers. This potstickers consisted of similar ingredients as the stir fry above.

Recipe and instruction for Vegetarian Shiitake Gyoza will be in the next post, stay tune!