Saturday, September 26, 2009

Sticky Rice Thai BBQ

I love BYOB places.  Even if the food is just north of edible, I'd still eat it because heck, I can drink my own booze to dull those taste buds.  So my delight was multiplied to the 100th power when J-me and I ate at Sticky Rice Thai BBQ - a BYOB place where the food was pretty good.  We have been intrigued by Sticky Rice for awhile now, but after they denied us delivery once, we forgot all about it.  But one weekend, we had half a bottle of sake left from the night before and angrily growling stomaches, we decided to check it out.


We wanted every appetizer on the menu so when we found that Sticky Rice offered a sampler, we praised the lord.  Not really, but we did yip in joy.  The sampler came with Crisp Prawn Roll, Steamed Thai Dumpling, Beggar's Pouch, Steamed Vegetables Dumpling, Duck Roll. I liked them all, especially the beggar's pouch, stuffed with shrimp and chicken then fried to a crisp. All of the fried stuff had a satisfying light crunch. The steamed stuff were all nice and moist. Apps are probably my favorite part of any meal.





To add some healthful greens to our diet, we ordered the Spicy Duck Salad tossed shredded duck meat, apple, cashew nuts, pineapple, cilantro, roasted chili vinaigrette. I don't think I tasted any roasted chili. But the duck and apple combo was tasty. I love cashews. All restaurants should ceased to use peanuts and go with cashews instead. I mean, I like peanuts too, but they're no cashews. Am I right?



tasty, tasty cashews


Since BBQ is in their namesake, we felt that it was the right thing to do to consume some charred meat, in the form of Grilled Marinated Short Ribs marinated with ginger, scallion & sesame seeds (yes, I copy the online menu. Every chance I get. Trust me, you don't want to depend on my memory to recall food. It would have been "glistening meat with 3 sauces",) This was basically Korean kalbi with different dipping sauces. It was good, tender and flavorful, but a bit too sweet for my taste. Plus, I was disappointed that it wasn't Thai BBQ. I felt like I missed out by ordering the wrong thing. boo.





The last plate was a special, so no online menu. Darn it! I shall call it "scrambled meat in brown sauce with egg on top". See, I need the menus. This is one of those very homey dishes that everyone has eaten before. Minced chicken stir-fried with peppers in that lightly sweet soy sauce. I love coating the rice with the meat and sauce. Just like what I used to eat when I was young. mmm...





Overall, I enjoyed the meal. It was fun to eat Thai food that is a little more imaginative. I'm definitely going back to try some of their other dishes. The paella is next on my list.

Wednesday, September 23, 2009

My Favorite Cure

One of my favorite meals is also the simplest - a bowl of hot noodle soup, some fried stuff, and a good strong coffee. This meal is especially appreciated after a night of debauchery.  For the most of my adult life, I've depended on a nourishing combo to revive me. Pho, spring rolls, and vietnamese iced coffee, you guys have never failed me.


I've been going to Pho Grand forever.  Granted, it may not be the best pho spot.  But I like its consistency, cleanliness, and the fact that it delivers.  I always get the same darn thing, a regular #2, spring rolls, and cafe sua da (Vietnamese iced coffee).


Pho is a fragrant clear broth rice noodle soup, usually made with beef and usually eaten as breakfast in Vietnam.  Well, I suppose it can still be considered breakfast if you wake up at 1:00 and eat pho at 2.  The pho broth is complex yet light, flavored with kafir lime, lemongrass, and star anise.  It's at the same time citrucy bright with dark meaty licorice notes.  YUM.  





The #2 comes with all kinds of goodies - fresh eye of round, brisket, tendon, and omosa.  I told you i love the funky parts.  My favorite is the tendon, melts in your mouth.  I throw in as much of the veggie accompaniments as the bowl can contain - thai basil, bean sprouts, and a generous squeeze of lemon.  










Everyone has their own way of eating pho.  I like to squirt a little sriracha and hoisen sauce onto my soup spoon, mix the sauces up, and dip my noodles in them.  I do that with every bite.  Yes, it takes me about a year to eat pho.  


Vietnamese spring rolls are awesome.  Fried to a blistering crisp.  The uber-friedness is somehow less heart attack inducing because you wrap them in nice healthy lettuce leaves topped with mint.  They cancel each other, I swear.  Then the whole thing is dipped into a yummy fish sauce.  I like mine with another squirt of sriracha, of course.  










Cafe sua da is the reason J-me and I will always have a soft place for Vietnam.  Dark, rich, bitter coffee sweetened by a swirl of condensed milk.  The perfect way to start a day or end a meal.  Le sigh....



Sunday, September 13, 2009

Dinner at Sho Shaun Hergatt

Another birthday dinner with the girls, another crazy extravaganza. This time, it was lovely Hidy's birthday at the beyond flashy Sho Shaun Hergatt. Bling to the third degree. Gorgeous in an 80's big shoulders kind a way.


After squealing excitedly over our hostess (OMG ANTM's Sheena), we settled into our super comfy seats and dove into our pre-amuse - duck terrine, goat cheese sandwiched in wafers, and lobster bisque. I LOVED THEM ALL. Duck terrine was ducky. Goat cheese was goaty. And lobster bisque was lobstery. Yep.


The goat cheese seemed to be whipped since it was this frothy melt-in-you-mouth texture with that pleasant gaminess that only goat cheese can have. The bisque was my favorite. It was pure concentrated ocean/lobster brain flavor in a custardy texture. I nom.


Then came the amuse bouche, a kampachi thing. I think. Some sort of raw yellowtail-like fish that was delicate and delicious.


Our breads were the losers of the night. Both the olive and the regular french were dense and chewy, without that awesome crunchy outside and fluffy inside that you crave from a good french bread. It always baffled me when good restaurants fail at bread. Why?! I implore. This question keeps me up at night. But I supposed the bread was just a vehicle for us to devour the truffle butter.   So we each ate two pieces of the failed bread despite all their faultiness. We consumed two dishes of the butter and scoffed at hypertension. Scoff.


For my first course, I followed up the foie gras with more foie gras. Too much of a good thing is good. The millefeuille of foie gras with pain d’epices tuiles and banyuls reduction was awesome. Creamy foie sandwiched between spiced pistachio crackers. According to online sources, banyuls is a wine vinegar. Foie always tastes better with a cut of acid. So I welcomed banyuls to my belly.


Hidy had the house specialty, slow poached egg, cauliflower purée, caviar, gold leaf. The purée was so creamy, silky and nuanced, made even more so by the poach egg. The popped yolk swirled into the purée ever so slowly and the caviar gave it a contrast in texture and umami. I couldn't really taste the gold leaf, but it was pretty!


Cheryl's zucchini blossoms filled with blue prawns with lemongrass, kaffir lime leaf scented sambal had some of my favorite ingredients - zucchini blossoms, prawns, lemongrass, kaffir lime leaf, and sambal. Hmm, I guess that's all of them. I love the use of lemongrass and kaffir lime leaf instead of lemon to brighten the fried blossoms. I also love sambal, but wished it was a bit spicier. The blossoms were perfectly fried. It was light and fragrant. More! I want more!


Jenn's hand picked peekytoe crab with galangal gelée, and santa barbara uni would seem like my favorite dish since my love affair with crab and uni goes back to my past lives. I thought it was tasty but the flavors were a bit too subtle and familiar for such a stunning dish.


My second course was the fennel spiced Chatham cod with beet puree, orange and kaffir lime scented crème. I really enjoyed my fish. The fennel flavor was not shy and added a sweet licorice flavor to the flaky fish. I love cod because it's buttery but has a tasty firm texture.


Hidy's Maine lobster poêlé with English peas, saffron, verjus emulsion was as pretty as it was tasty. The lobster was buttery but had that firm lobster-y texture that show offed the kitchen's awesome skills. I liked the happy brightness of the peas against this very happy bright dish.


Rabbit isn't usually my very favorite protein, but Cheryl's River and Glenn rabbit loins with coco beans, parsnip roesti, natural sauce was cooked well. The rabbit meat almost tasted like it was milk fed. It was silky and moist. I loved the parsnip roesti. I think everyone should replace potato in recipes with parsnip.


Jenn ordered the slow poached halibut with silky celeriac, white asparagus, black truffle. The silky celeriac was awesome. Celeriac has a celery flavor but a starchy texture. So it was as if a whipped mashed potato flavored with celery was plopped on top of a mild and tender fish.


We ended with a cheese course and three desserts. My favorite was the citrus palette with milk chocolate ganache and passion fruit ice cream.




I think I would have loved summer peach soup more if the sorbet didn't completely melt by the time I ate it.


The rest of table thought the chocolate and jasmine inspiration was the best. I thought it was good, but wasn't sure how it was to inspire me.


The cheeses were fine. I never complain about cheese. They came with a honeycomb that was SO tasty. Where have you been all my life, honeycomb!


Before we were rolled out of the restaurant, they bestowed upon us a bunch of petit fours, the best being the salty caramel truffles. Melt in your mouth yummy.


I wasn't too impressed with the macarons and financiers though. Both were suffering from draught.


Surprisingly, I really loved the jellies. They were super soft, not too sweet, and flavorful.


Overall, I really liked Sho Shaun Hergatt. The service was great. The food was beautiful to look at and delicious. Sure, there was pretension abound. But I like the new take on Asian inspired French. I hope they do well and keep up the good work.

Raw Vegan

If you can't tell already, I'm an eater. I enjoy multi course meals. With lots of wine. I love butter, offal, and bacon. And yes, I clean my plate more often than not. But I don't always eat like that.

When I'm not eating out or ordering in, I eat raw vegan. This works out to about 3 non-raw vegan meals a week and the rest are raw vegan, sometimes more, sometimes less. Yeah, I know that makes very little sense. How does one go from bbq short rib cheeseburgers from one meal to rabbit food the next. But there you go. I've been eating raw vegan for a few months now and truthfully, I love it. I'm happy, energetic, and blissful when I eat RV. I love food, but I also love feeling good.

My usual breakfast is a green smoothie. I basically blend two bananas with a bunch of spinach. Sometimes mangoes takes place of the naners. Sometimes romaine takes place of the spinach. Basically anything that is about to go bad goes into my blender. A smoothie and a coffee = my liquid breakfast. I can't quit you, coffee!


Lunch is usually lots and lots of fruit. Like 10 cups of honeydew. Yes, it takes patience and a stretchy stomach to succeed. Snacks are usually dates (omgtheyaresoyummy), goji berries (omgtheyaresoyummy), and some more fruit. I heart fruit, especially watermelons. I can eat 2 large watermelons in one week by myself. Probably more if they weren't so damn heavy and so damn hard for me to bring them back to my apt. The only time I wish I had a car is when I grocery shop.


For dinner, I usually eat lettuce wraps. A lot of them. Like 1/2 to 1 head of lettuce. I'll eat that with salsa (usually homemade, about 1 huge bowl worth) and 1/2 of an avocado. Below you will see my SPREAD. Don't worry, I don't eat all of that in on night. I do clean the bowl of salsa. But the rest, I eat until I'm full and pack it up for the next night.


Sometimes, I'll make a raw soup to eat with my lettuce and crudites stuff. My favorite is Choosing Raw's carrot/avo/ginger soup. So easy to make, so friggin good.


I'm too lazy to attempt all the gourmet raw recipes out there. Sometimes I get fancy and add some fresh herbs. But that's the extent of my un-cooking.

One night I got really fancy and made myself a fennel, avocado, romaine, tomato, corn, and watermelon rind salad topped with more watermelon chunks (did I not tell you I'm obsessed?). The recipe was adapted from a non-vegan dish at a restaurant I ate at recently. My salad was dressed simply with lemon juice and salt. I added dill and cilantro to the salad. Fancy right? dill and cilantro. That's two herbs! TWO! It was sooo good. I'm probably going to eat more tomorrow.


So there you go. A day in the life of me. I eat raw vegan because I choose to eat simply. I don't include meat in my meals because I don't want to, not because I "can't". It's not a deprivation diet. It's vibrant, colorful, juicy, sweet, sour, spicy, crunchy, creamy. It nourishes.

We will return to our regular programming for the next post with Sho Shaun Hergatt.

Monday, September 07, 2009

Dinner at Hakata Ton Ton

Labor Day weekend was pretty gluttonous, like more so than other weekends. Case in point, more than 1 waitress at Hakata Ton Ton commented on the amount of food J-me and I ordered, and then proceeded to consume. In its entirety. We win, again. Don't try this at home people.

The best gift the Japanese bestowed to us, besides sushi, is Japanese mayo. Slightly tangy and sweet, that stuff goes with everything. It also makes Japanese potato salad a million times tastier than your every day potato salad. Hakata Ton Ton multiplied that tastiness by another million times by plopping a pound of mentaiko (spicy cod roe) on top.


We followed up the ton of mayo and potato with the most obvious choice, foie gras inari sushi. I think foie gras sushi works well because the slightly acidity of the sushi rice cuts the sweet and creamy foie. I love inari (fried tofu), but didn't think it was necessary. Also, I thought that there could have been less rice or more foie. But I guess that was why it was wrapped in inari - to balance the rice and accompaniment ratio.


So then we moved on to ingest additional cholesterol molecules, this time in the form of chicken, fried that is. Fried chicken, if you didn't know already, is one of my favorite food. As in EVER. I've never met a Japanese fried chicken I didn't like. I think it's because there's minimal breading, just lots of crispy skin and juicy meat.


We also got a seaweed salad. Yay for health and green stuff!


Then we canceled that out by ordering the okonomiyaki. Okonomiyaki is a squishy Japanese pancake, stuffed with cabbage and seafood, topped with okonomiyaki sauce and bonito flakes. Finally, blanketed with more of that tasty Japanese mayo. The ultimate street food.


We should have stopped there, the waitresses certainly thought so. At the start of the night, one waitress volunteered that the restaurant can pack up whatever we don't finish after we turned down the other waitress's suggestion that we rethink the volume of our order. If we did cut down on our dishes, how would we have had the pleasure of acquainting ourselves with the Hakata Ton Ton hot pot?


Hakata Ton Ton is famous for their tonsoku, or pig feet. I grew up eating pig feet, prepared by my grandmothers. Stewed pig feet is delicious, there is lip-smacking collagen and tender fall-off-the-bone meat. The hot pot had collagen broth, tofu, dumplings, veggies, and pork belly. This is my comfort food. My warm and fuzzies. I love this stuff. Next time, I will make sure to save belly room so that we can add ramen to the broth.


I can't wait to go back to Hakata Ton Ton and try all the other stuff on their menu!