homefood

Did I show you this before? Polenta and pork picnic roast....yummy. With some squarshes from Sage Mountain Farm and some other veggies. I love pork! I'm sad for Kevin that he didn't win Top Chef last night, but he seemed to have sabatoged himself by stewing over Preeti's lack of help. That Michael Voltaggio was kinda one of the dicks through the whole competition... but I think this finale had the best competition ever as far as all three deserved to be there, and if they redid the competition several times over a different guy would probably win every time.

Stop Me Oh Ho Ho Stop Me If You Think That You've Heard This One Before

So, I am so backed up (on the food blog...not in the bathroom, silly)that I can't believe some of the posts that I have missed. So instead of laying around or doing important work or Christmas shopping, I'm going to try to do some old posts. I just feel like I might have already done some of these before...


What the hell is that, you ask? I don't know! Any guesses out there?

Here's some food from a mystery Japanese restaurant on Convoy.





I remember everything being...okay. Not spectacular, but not gross. Okay. The little dumplings kinda seemed like they were packaged premade frozen deals. Maybe they weren't but, that's what they tasted like. The Hamachi Kama was pretty good, but small. We could eat two really big yellowtail collars and probably not be satisfied!




The Original Pancake House. We had been talking about going there for years, but it's always busy when we want to, and the rest of the time when we're on Convoy street we want asian food. So we finally went there a couple times. Really good pancakes. Big interesting menu - I'd like to try the crepes and that one big blown up pancake or omelette or whatever it is. The poached eggs were really nice. I love poached eggs, but I don't order them as often as I would like to. Don't they seem like an old person thing? I bet the older I get the more I'll order them.



Junz Island Style or Teriyaki & BBQ or whatever it's called. It's on University Avenue right by 30th street. This was...okay. I've only had food from there twice, but I really like that L&L place better. The macaroni salad at Junz was just like macaroni and mayo...no salt, no crunchies or anything.


Bean curd and short rib or pork (man, I am really informative today!) at Convoy Noodle House 4647 Convoy Street. This is our default pho shop. The bean curd is really good there! I think that's all for now folks....

A Sunny Tijuana Afternoon

Wow, I can't believe that I didn't post about this. I think what happened was, I started to use it for an article for a certain online publication that did not post it, and I forgot that I never posted it on this here sorely neglected food blog. If you follow this blog regularly, you must think that we are stick figures...on the contrary. I feel like I just don't have enough time...I was too busy reclining on the couch all day yesterday...all day. I left the house once with the FP to get beer.

Anyhoo, about 2 months ago maybe, we went to TJ for a food excursion. This time we were going to hit up Zona Rio, which was said to have good restaurants.

So we walked down to the trolley station and went south. I kinda wrote down restaurants, addresses, and I had directions to zona rio in my mind. Walk on the near side of the river and take the third bridge or something. As soon as we got to TJ, when you go through the revolving fence thing, we saw 2 dogs just laying in the middle of the sidewalk. I love that! We were in Mexico. So then we were accosted by all the cab drivers. Taxi, taxi, taxi, take you on a tour, where you going, you needa taxi, taxi? So that was very annoying. Any desire for a taxi was dashed immediately. So we walked. We walked across the bridge we were not supposed to. But somehow we found the right street, and we walked. And walked. And it was sketchy. And I thought about how everyone is scared to go to TJ, and I was thinking how the Food Pimp's family would probably freak out if they knew. So we walked. We were in the run down area. Then we saw interesting restaurants...bbq and such. But it was pretty early, and we had this one restaurant I wanted to go to. So I kinda had a crappy map. The area we were in was off the map, so it was useless. I really felt like we were in another country. I tried not to stop in plain view and look at the map because taxis would slow down and beep. It's very nerve racking to hear the taxis every couple minutes. So it looked desolate. Lots of empty buildings. Then there was a Costco and a mall and stuff. So I knew it had to be the right direction because I read about a mall. And it was hot. We were both on the verge of jumping in a taxi, but not yet. So I kept track of the street numbers. But then I realized they were in no order. It went from like 266889 to 1838887! I was so frustrated!

Then we saw a kinda upscale Brazillian place! So we had to be near. It was hot though, and street numbers were useless. So finally, we relented. We jumped in a taxi. The guy didn't speak english of course. So I said the name of the restaurant, but no comprende - so I handed him the paper and pointed to the first place. No clue. He flagged someone down on the side of the street and asked. They said turn around, go that way...blah blah. So he drove up the street, and asked someone else. They said go that way. Then I saw it across the street. A half a block from where the cabbie had picked us up! So we handed him a five and jumped out. We walked up... and it was closed. Only open for dinner on Sundays. I don't know if I read the times right or if they changed.

So we didn't know what to do. I had names and addresses of places, but no map! If only we had an iphone! So there was this shopping center area behind Cien Anos, and I saw margarita on a sign - it looked a little like an upscale run of the mill mexican place. So we cut through to look at the restaurant. It looked open. Then on the right - saw Villa Saverios. It rang a bell. Sure enough, it was the restaurant on the bottom of my list! It was Mexican food with a Mediterranean spin. My last choice, but it had made the list and there we were. So it opened at 12. And it was 11:50. It looked dead inside. We stood outside for a bit, then we walked in. They said something in Spanish and then led us to a booth. This was a very large restaurant. It was decorated in this kinda cheesy older Italian restaurant theme style, but with expensive looking decor, except for some weird pieces that you would find at those bargain closeout stores - the one in New Orleans I would go to was called Stein Mart. And it was huge! There must have been at least a hundred seats in the main room, 30 - 40 in a side room, 30 - 40 in the bar, and then there might have been an upstairs area too. And there seemed to be a lot of staff.

So the waiter said something to us. I have no idea what. It's sad that I have been here for so many years and I know little Spanish still. He brought us water, and I tried to order a margarita. It never came. So I drank a lot of water because I was very thirsty. The FP didn't drink the water, even though he was parched. He was scared of Montezuma's revenge. We looked at the menu, and my mind was going crazy! It was too much to process. The Food Pimp got a Negro Modelo and I tried to order a margarita again. He seemed to understand me. So he was gone forever. I heard the blender going. I was worried. I wanted one on the rocks with fresh lime, but he was blending it. I hoped it wasn't one of those border ones made with bottled margarita mix! So finally he came back, and it looked beautiful!




And it tasted so fresh and refreshing and balanced and just yummy! Boy was I wrong!

They brought whipped butter and a bread basket with several different breads – focaccia, olive bread, and parmesan bread. These were delicious, very fresh and fragrant breads - all really good. And I have to say, I love whipped butter. It just is all the more yummy when it's been fluffed up!

So around this time, another couple came in. They wanted to go down to look at the wine cellar. Then they sat in the middle of the restaurant. Also from the US. I wonder if any locals go to this restaurant?

So after a bit of deliberation, we decided on some things.





This was a very delicious smoked marlin tiradito with a habanero and mango vinaigrette, avocado and radish, and crispy grilled flour tortilla. I've never had smoked marlin. I still have not had the smoked marlin tacos at Mariscos German. I know... what's wrong with me. One day I will. But this first dish was amazing! And this was the restaurant on the bottom of the list! It was fresh and beautiful and several flavors in my mouth! It was like in the movie ratatouille when he eats the cheese and the blackberry at the same time!





Second course - beef tongue cazuelita. I've never had such good tongue. Maybe the best tongue I've ever had. Tender braised meat in a luscious brown mole, with a smoky spicy emulsified salsa, minced onions and cilantro with fresh made corn tortillas. God, this was so good. It was like a mole, but very refined and delicately made. It doesn't make sense, but it did in my mouth!







Third course was earthy, rich oyster mushrooms with an olive and soft farm cheese mix and more crispy tortillas. This mushroom dish was very simple yet complex. Although the FP thought the cheese was totally unnecessary. It was strong, and it kind of did not match the mushrooms, but it wasn't bad together.







We had eaten all the bread at this point, so they brought us more.






This was a braised beef short rib and panela cheese appetizer topped with a tomato pico de gallo and fried tortilla strip salad. Ok, in another restaurant, this might be good. But in the context of what we had already eaten, this blew! The short ribs were strips cut off the bone... and it was just kinda a glorified Chili's dish. But we were kinda getting full anyway, so we weren't too worried that this dish didn't live up to the standards of the previous dishes. So after 2 or 3 negro modelos, one margarita and four upscale appetizers the bill was $47. Gotta love TJ! So we happily skipped out.

We were hoping to hit another restaurant on the way. I was keeping a look out for the cross street or the name of the restaurant, but we missed it. So we kept walking. We had already hit Hotel Lucerna, so we went in. We went to the courtyard, and it was like an oasis.




We went into the bar. There were TVs with football games on. The door to the courtyard was open and a cool breeze was blowing. It was perfect. The FP was so happy to be able to watch football. And I wanted to be kinda outside. So we had margaritas on the rocks. It didn't look as good as the one at the restaurant, but it still tasted really good. The bartender had a simple syrup bottle, but I guess he made fresh lime juice and put it in the bottle. That was one of those perfect moments that you can't recreate. The bartender was cool. He was working on being a party promoter. He wanted to eventually move to Puerto Vallerta, I think, but he was currently trying establish a rep in TJ first. He offered us some marinated spicy olives. They were in bloody mary mix. Yummy. The FP got another margarita with a better tequila. I'm not sure which one. But it was definitely better than the first. So then we left and were hoping to hit one more nice spot before getting back to the border.

But we didn't see any more cool places. And then we were back. We wanted one more drink and maybe food. So we had to settle for Nelson Restaurant. This was the first place we ever ate at in TJ. We really liked it back then, when just crossing the border and eating any cheap mexican food was a novelty. So we went in and sat at the bar. The whole place is so dirty. We were in two very lovely spots that were clean, that being in there was a culture shock. We had Negro Modelos. The FP wanted a seafood cocktail, which I thought was a weird choice, but I really didn't care. I have and iron stomach compared to him. So we got the small, thank god.


So I believe it was shrimp and octopus. And the marinade is like the bloody mary sauce, which I really like. I tasted a shrimp. It was okay. Then I tasted an octopus - not a big fan. It was...slimy. So I had a few more bite, but I didn't want to eat it. The FP pretty much ate around the octopus. I went to the bathroom, and it was cleaner than I remember, which isn't saying much. I went to the sink, and the water was shut off. There were rat turds on the counter behind the faucet!!! Ew! I could help but imagine big scary Tijuana rats, so I got out of there. There was a sink outside the bathroom that worked. I scrubbed my hands good, then I scrubbed the faucet with soap and rinsed it and scrubbed my hands again then turned it off. Does anyone else do that? Cause you don't want to wash then touch the dirty handle, right? So we got the fuck outta there and headed to the border.




On the way, we stopped and got 2 orders of churros. They were good, but they had been sitting for a while, so not as good as the freshly made ones. But I was happy. We ate them while we stood in line - the shortest line we ever had to wait in crossing back... maybe 30 - 40 minutes at the most? Anyway, it was a great day, whoever says that TJ sucks hasn't found the diamonds in the rough, the coffee beans in the civet poop, the mushrooms growing around the cow shit.

The Lost Email Files

So, as others can attest to, I have a very old shitty falling apart camera. It's a Kodak from the year we got married... so the picture quality is good, but it takes about 1.5 seconds for the picture to snap after you push the button. So anyhoo, it's big and bulky and I don't carry it around everywhere. So sometimes I have to rely on my crappy cellphone camera. And it costs money to email the pictures to myself. Anyway, I always forget to download these pictures. So intermittently some of the next few blogs will be from the cellphone archives. I emphasize how my cellphone takes very low quality photos.

Here's food from Taste of Polynesia. 6937 Federal Blvd in Lemon Grove.

We go to the Walmart and Target nearby, so this is right off the 94. I've seen it for a while, so one day we finally went in. Yeah, we do shop at Walmart and Target. No, I'm not embarassed. A lot of people go to those stores! If I were rich enough to buy all hemp clothing and hippie soap, I'd probably still go to Walmart and Target.

Anyhoo, let's get back to the food blog!






Turkey tail and corned beef and cabbage. Yeah, really, at a Polynesian place. It was good though! The portions didn't look too big in the section container, but they were big enough in the stomach.


So...lamb ribs and that stuff...kelaguen? Someone please correct me if I'm wrong. Not very familiar with this food...yeah, I know this is a food blog, but it's not like a factual type of food blog, it's my view of stuff and stuff....man.

So what else can I dig up?

Oh... here's some terrible pictures that I shouldn't even post. But since it costs like .50 to email them, I might as well post them anyway to exhibit how shitty my cellphone camera can be without lighting.






So this is gross Thai food from Hillcrest. I won't even bother to tell you from what restaurant. These horrible places are open late on University Avenue, and people go to them because they are open. If someone would give me money, I would open a place with palatable food, open late. But these Thai places... I can't believe that is what thai food tastes like in any region of Thailand...I don't know who's in the kitchen, but surely these are not homeland recipes? But it's not even what I would think of americanized Thai - just... grossized.



Let's end on a nicer note, shall we? Here is a cold salad from...House of Orchid. I don't know the name. Again...uninformed blogger here! But the lady explained to me that it was usually a banchan dish that they turned into a bigger dish because people liked it. She kept saying pine cone...but there were no pine nuts or anything resembling that...once again, cultural communication breakdown. But anyway, I liked the salad. Service was very slow...but I gotta say, the sushi guy was very particular and the chirashi looked beautiful.

San Fran part 5

So, Tuesday night, we decided to blow more money. We went to Wine Steals, then we went to Bite. This place has been off my radar since a few months after it opened, but there we were. We sat outside on the patio. So did almost everyone else that went there to eat.

So we had a cute little stylish boppy gay waiter. He pretty much addressed everything he said to the Food Pimp. Didn't really make eye contact with me. That is disconcerting. I'm not sure why. I guess because I expect a homosexual to think of gender as being equal? But, maybe he just thought the FP was cute and he'd rather look at him than me. He does have that bit of fem in him that the guys go crazy for....



This was our amuse bouche. I haven't been to a restaurant in a looooonnng time that served those. Those is fo fancy places we cain't ford! So this was like a smoked salmon spread or something equally exciting.



Okay. I'm going to be honest. This was not good. Squid steak skewers. They were tough, not chewy. Give me a lightly grilled squid steak anytime. All that panko and garnish...too much. And I think it really needed the lemon too.


Duck liver pate. Now this was some good shit! It had like dried cherries and pistachios in it, with traditional condiments - caperberries, and capers AND pickles! I liked that. I love me some pickled shit! I probably might even like "pickled shit"!


This was the lamb meatballs with polenta, arugula and tomato sauce. I love polenta. It's one of my favorite starches in the world, next to rice, potatoes and pasta.... in fact, there is polenta and rice in the fridge right now. So I think it was good. I really don't remember how we liked the meatballs. I want to say they were a little tough, but I don't remember so I'm not going to speculatively (is that a word?) badmouth something I don't remember. I do remember digging the polenta, arugula and tomato sauce combo though. Sad that I don't remember the star of the show. The meatballs are like Winona Ryder in Girl Interrupted. Poor Winona.


Sweetbreads with onion jam and pancetta. So the pancetta was supposed to be wrapped around it, but it kinda wasn't, and it wasn't as crispy as it could have been. But the sweetbreads were...sweet. Not in the literal sense. But they were nice and creamy and savory and pleasant in the mouth. They were nicely cooked. All that glaze all over the plate was kinda unnecessary though.


creme brulee. Pretty. Kinda like a dumb blond chick. Nice to look at,but when you crack it open not as attractive, not all there. It was a little runny. And the problem with creme brulee is that when you have had that perfect one, it's hard to accept anything less after that. And I know I've made countless subpar creme brulees, but it isn't as easy as it seems to make. But there you have it... Bite, it didn't by any means completely bite, but I'm not biting.

God, can you tell I'm PMSing?

San Fran part 4

So, we technically were back in SD on Tuesday, but we were still on that vacation frame of mind. So we got up and had lunch. We wanted to try somewhere new, so we went to Salazars Taco Shop. I had previously only eaten there by myself when the Food Pimp was out of town.

So we went. I had high hopes. Okay, maybe I just had decent hopes. Something good please. Or interesting?


Interesting...certainly. This was lentil soup. Yeah, lentil soup. I don't know why it looked like that. It only tasted half as bad as it looked though. Not saying much.


Carne con chili colorado. Okay, so it was like beef chopped up and like sauteed in the "chili colorado" sauce. It was... kinda gross. Like something you'd make when you are really broke and you throw together stuff you have to get rid of. But wait... there's more.


Okay... 2 tamales smothered with chili beans, cheese and rice. It was like canned chili... not like mexican chili beans. Gross, gross and gross. I ate some of it cause I gotta eat...but I felt sick the more I ate. So... maybe we'll go sometime and just try some margaritas and maybe a very simple... taco or something safe? I just want to find something good there, because I like the building, and the interior. It's such a cool old space!

San Fran Part 3

So, we drove around the city a bit on the way out. Here's some more random photos.








Then we headed back south. We stopped at one point along the way and got some beef jerky. Whenever the Food Pimp is on a road trip, he has to eat beef jerky. That's just his thing. For me, I must always have a bottle of water and at least one other drink in the car at all time - or I get anxious. Although, this time, we thought ahead because we really had to watch our money, so we brought like 2 gallons of water and 2 gallons of gatorade and a 2 liter of diet coke and a cooler - so I was pretty secure with my beverage situation.


Here's the packaging.



Here's the product. I believe we both like the stuff in the smaller bag better (I almost wrote "smaller package" but that sounded funny to me, and it's 6:31 am, too early to be cracking dirty jokes. Anyhoo, we both like the dryer beef jerky. I think it's much more... pleasurable in the mouth (damnit - there I go again).

Moving forward. We drove back through LA. Here's some smoke pictures





So we don't really know our way around LA too well, but we exited and drove around to find somewhere to eat for dinner. Guess where we ended up? Little Tokyo. So we parked and went menu reading. We looked at a couple places, but they just weren't what we wanted. The FP was on the phone on a business call, kinda just following me. Then I spotted a place across the street - exactly what I wanted. Izakaya Haru Ulala. So I ushered the FP across the street. He didn't know why, but he followed.

So, it's relatively small. It's got a long curved sushi/bar area and then a few tables. The sushi bar and grill is very open, and they have a pretty display area with seafood and stuff. And then the menu - it's written in crayon. The two Japanese women that were serving were so... Japanese. Teeny, skinny skinny supermodel skinny chicks. One was hanging out at the bar talking to one customer a lot. I seem to recall him buying a pitcher and sharing it with her. So I made up a story about how he was in love with her and went in there every night to talk to her. She obviously has a boyfriend, but she doesn't discourage, cause a loyal customer is like money in the bank. Do other people make up backstories for strangers in restaurants?

Anyhoo, we were pretty hungry for a good meal.

We got pickles! I love pickles. And I know you can get the pickles in all varieties vacuum packed at Mitsuwa, but it was fun to get them at a restaurant.


Spicy roll and salmon nigiri. Both fresh tasting and yummy.


BBQ shortrib? Nice and tender and... small. But that's how portions are supposed to be at an izakaya place, right?

Anyway, that concludes Part 3 of our odyssey. More to come.




Ohhhhhhhh....hamachi kama. They didn't have the large, so this was the medium, which to me was small. It was good though. It's the simple things in life. All you need is a yellowtail collar with the skin all browned and crisp and the meat in the collar all tender and succulent. Succulent. I can't think of a more appropriate word to describe it. Now, I'm going to delve in to racial stereotyping, but that's allowed because I'm not white - right? Anyhoo, mexican cooks that I've observed tend to cook and often overcook meat and fish. They have a lot of braised and roasted meats, and deep fried fish and stuff, which is good really cooked. But then, when we've had hamachi kama cooked by a mexican cook, it's not really cooked as crispy and dark as we like it. It's usually barely brown, and a good portion of the skin is soft. What is the deal with that?

San Fran Part 2

So, we headed to the venue - the Hemlock Tavern. That was fun loading out. Double parking in an alley, blocking traffic, then driving around and around looking for a parking space. Finally we found a space several blocks away in a sketchy alley. I almost stepped on a needle walking down the sidewalk, for realsies!

So we played to a typical crowd of about 20 - 30 people, all standing or sitting at the back of the room. It was okay. The FP and I both had our volume too loud. Anyway, after that, we hung out with friends. We went to Japantown after and parked the car on the street. Then we went to a nearby bar with Gapguy. It was one of those karaoke bars. Everyone was smoking when we walked in, then a few minutes later all the ashtrays were gone. I'm not sure what the zoning and laws are like in San Francisco, but that was interesting. It sucked because the FP and I had envisioned getting some Japanese food at some late night noodle house. It was a Sunday and everything seemed dead. Gapguy informed us that nothing was open. We should have done the research earlier.

So the next morning, we got up, checked out and headed to Chinatown. We parked down the street at a meter lot. Holy shit those meter spaces are X Pen Sieve! We put all the change we could in the meter - which got us 1 hour. So I said, is that going to be enough? The Food Pimp said, yeah, if not, we'll put more change in. Yeah right. I've heard that before. So we went to get coffee. Starbucks. God, I just hate Starbucks for no other reason then that the roasted coffee smells like ass. There, I said it. The corporate bullshit is ridiculous as well, and the prices suck. Sure, I like frappacinos, though. But I can't afford them like I used to.

So then we walk into Chinatown.

I love it. So many sights and sounds and smells. Junk shops. Antique shops. herbal shops. Lots of them. Then we start getting to the food. Restaurants. Bakeries. We are looking for a more underground low profile place. We didn't research it, but my buddy Macadamia Pie told me to go to one of the basement restaurants. We pass the big places with the fancy signs and big showy balconies, but we're not taken in. They might as well have signs that say american tourists welcome. So we look and look and we don't really know what we are looking for. Roast duck. Razor clam. Roast pork. Pickled vegetable. Clay pot. Oxtail. Just looking for catch phrases that we like. Then after walking around desparately, racing the meter and passing out from starvation, we settle on New Woey Loy Goey Restaurant. The name just has a ring to it...

So we walk down. There's like only one table of two chinese men there. It's a very strange setup with the diner stools and counter, then the large round tables with the lazy susans. My mom always wanted a lazy susan when I was a kid. She would say it over and over. But we never got one. It would have been useful, because it was not unusual to have a chicken dish, a pork dish, a fish dish, a vegetable dish (often flavored with meat), rice, patis and vinegar on the table. So passing dishes around was always kind of like playing tetris.

Anyhoo, New Woey Loy Goey. Some people came in. It seems that some of them just went into the place in the morning to chat. One lady had her dog in her lap.

So we studied the menu. I love the way there are pictures of the animal next to the column. Although the pig looks like a cow or buffalo, and the cow looks like a gazelle. But whatever.


We got a nice plate of bok choy. It was bright green and crisp, yet cooked and tender enough. Very nice. Good chinese restaurants make something as boring as a plate of vegetables very exciting.


Roast Duck. It looked beautiful. It was pretty good. Lukewarm temperature, but that's just what I come to expect of roast duck. It was very...five spicy from what I remember. Very...Christmasy. It was good though, not great. Not old school Ding How in Metairie - those of you who know what I mean...know what I mean.


Oxtail stew. Now, it looks all light and not very impressive. But it was actually quite good. It was like pot roast style with root veggies - potato,carrot, sweet potato. And rice, of course. Meat and four starch. A complete meal. It was really good though. Tender and saucy. Tender and Saucy - maybe that's my new restaurant name for the imaginary restaurant that I had hoped to one day own.....

It was really good for a shot in the dark, although I'm sure there's other way better restaurants. But so what. I had never been there and I was perfectly satiated. Except for coconut bun....

So we walked back to the car.... and a few minutes too late. We got a fucking ticket!! I was very unhappy. $53. Boo!!!!!!! But I had to get over it. We got in the car and moved to a spot closer to the bakeries and restaurants. More change. But way closer. We spent what felt like hours looking for coconut bun. It was hard to find. Pork bun, custard bun, red bean, but no coconut!


Then we found these. Disappointing. The one was with like sweet shortening cream on the inside - no coconut flavor - with just coconut flake on the outside. The other was like a yeast roll with coconut paste on it, not so much like the sweet custard filling we were looking for. So we had to go on. There were one or two more places that we had to check, then we were going to give up. So we had about all lost hope. We went into this relatively busy place, and I didn't see any in the display. But I asked. Coconut bun? Yes. She pointed to the speed rack behind the counter. I lit up. How much? It was like 35 cents. So I got two. We sat at a table.


We laid them out with wide eyes. They weren't much to look at. We broke one open.



It didn't look like much. Then we took bites.



Can you see the pleasure on the FP's face? It was pretty damn good. Sweet and custardy, but not over the top sweet. I really liked the sesame seeds instead of coconut shred. They were a pretty damn good close to our venture into Chinatown. I wanted to get 6 or 12 more to take home, but the line at that point was long...and slow, and our meter was running out. So we went back to the car... and yea! no ticket. So we started to make our way out of San Fran.... TBC

San Francisco Treats

So, we went to San Fran ages ago. So it sucks cause I have a terrible memory. We went on a 41 hour trip. We left on a Sunday morning at 4:45 am. It was the weekend of the LA fires, and it was just so smokey driving through there - but no traffic. The least amount of traffic ever. Of course, with the time and all...

So we were trying to get to San Fran for a show. The FP is in a second band, and they were playing there that night. The bass player could not make the trip, so I was subbing for her. So we drove and drove. Actually the FP drove all the way there. We finally got tired and hungry and had to stop. We got through all the cow shit smell, and then we stopped at Harris Ranch - the almond place. God, you get sick of looking at all those almond trees after a while. So we got breakies.


Here's the FP's food. Corned beef hash and eggs, home fries. 3 eggs. Really, is that necessary? Nah. But that's how it comes. It was okay. Bit on the pricey side, but it was 3 eggs! The eggs were nicely cooked too.

I don't know why I don't have a picture of my food. I think I got biscuits and gravy. Why? Just because they were on the menu. I don't really recall enjoying them. Not that I'm a big fan of biscuits and gravy. I think it's just a novelty to try this kind of down home southern food on the west coast because they don't know how to make that stuff here - generally speaking. But I'm kind of demented I guess, trying shit that I figure I won't like.

So we drove.

And drove.

And drove.

Then we got to Oakland. And it was beautiful. And then as soon as we were driving across the bridge it got foggy. We got to our hotel - it was just completely overcast. But pretty, still.

So, our hotel was in Japantown - Hotel Tomo. It was a Best Western, but it had been recently remodelled to be a cool japanime theme. Here's the mural in our hotel room





Here's the view:


So we were pretty tired. We needed a nap. We got into the very comfy bed. I was about to fall into sleep. Then Prof J called. The rest of the band was in Japantown and just wondered if we wanted to hang out. I didn't. But what are you gonna do? So I took a shower. They were there about 2 minutes after I got out of the shower. So we didn't even know what we were going to do. So we drove to some park.

This park. The one that is filmed in the opening to Full House. So we sat there. Just kinda looked. It was nice. Then we walked to a nearby bar. This was one of the hoods that Prof J lived in when he lived there. Just a random bar. Dark painted walls, art on the walls - lots of little decorative mirrors. We got some beers. Blue Raven just drank water. There was food, but I didn't want pizza or sandwiches. The FP actually ended up getting like a mezze plate or something. I don't think I have a picture, but you know - hummus, eggplant dip, olives and feta with lots of warm pita. That was nice - the warm pita. Soft and yummy. Actually, I think we might have had to ask for more pita? I can't remember. But don't you hate when the dip is not proportionate to the dipping vehicle? I guess at my restaurant - god, no - not my restaurant - I would never claim that - at the restaurant where I work, our lobster dip comes with tortilla chips, but there's not enough space on the plate for enough tortilla chips, so they often come back to ask for more. Why don't we put it on a bigger plate? I don't know. Because we are dumb? Maybe we will start putting it on a square plate which might have more area for chips - but then there will be a whole discussion about why we are using a different plate and which plate it looks better on and which plate shape makes it easier for sharing. Really. I'm not exaggerating.

Getting back to hummus. We hung out at the bar for about an hour, then we headed back to the hotel. The FP and I got ready, then we went down to the hotel bar. Blue Raven got ready while we were gone - she's a makeup artist, so you know she takes a while. The other two crashed out on the floor. The drummer was out...snoring and all. Prof J didn't really sleep, he joined us later downstairs.

So the FP and I got two plates:

pike mackerel - oily, rich yummy fishy - in a good way


octopus and cucumber salad. Way too chewy. I have had in my life such tender octopus, that I can't deal with big pieces of tough octopus. I've tasted heaven, and now I yearn for more...

I had a diet coke. The FP had a beer. I believe Prof J had 2 jacks on the rocks. 2. Jacks. Then we went upstairs and collected the rest of the crew and got in our respective cars and drove to the venue.

ketsup, catsup, catch up

Here's some randomness:




Strawberry Mango Shortcake. Store bought angel foood cake and whip cream. How lazy are we?



Sea Bass. Someone from one of the Food Pimp's cooking classes brought it to him. Cooked with ginger and garlic, on a soy sauce slaw. Really tasty fresh caught fish.




One of our comfort food breakfasseses... Emerald dim sum... chicken feet, braised pork knuckle, pork shu mai, bean curd sheet



Beef with snow peas at Sam Woo BBQ in 99 Ranch Market.


Sea Bass with black bean sauce at Sam Woo BBQ in 99 Ranch Market.



And... my new favorite samich at Giorgino's... the Godfather. It's like a souped up italian. Really good. Get it with fries, cuz they got malt vinegar, yo.