Crab Season

Oliveto Oceanic Dinner 2011 ****

This year Oliveto did two Oceanic dinners one sourced from California and the other from the Mid-Atlantic.  At each dinner we had the majority of the menu.  Here were the highlights:

California Coast

Oyster Shooter nice and briny though bitter finish I still liked the texture.

Halibut crudo great balance texture perfectly seasoned.

Sea Urchin panna cotta crostino w/ vanilla sea salt, awesome creamy texture deep urchin flavor.

Trompetti w/ clams, I liked this very much, the texture of the trompetti very nice and the wheat worked well with the clam.

Steamed petrale sole w spumato a delicious delicate sauce over a great piece of fish.

Sand Dabs stuffed with fregula was also excellent, the savory fregula adding a meatiness to the sand dabs and the heat from Calabrian pepper.

Mid Atlaantic

Crudo of fluke with roasted Gypsy peppers, fried shallots and Piccolo Fino basil - nice though slightly underseasoned.

Lobster roll on house-made brioche - good filling, though the brioche was a bit too sweet and flavorful distracting us from the sweetness of the lobster.

Cold-smoked salt-cured striped bass with horseradish crema, oil-poached Yellow Finn potatoes and arugula - we loved these sashimi sized pieces of fish.

Three large razor clams in a umami packed sauce with octopus tentacles.

Tajarin with butter poached lobster - this was a beautiful pinkish colored sauce with chuncks of lobster on a tender noodle.

Lumache with house-smoked green eel and summer savory crema - the meat in the sauce had a delicate clammy flavor with a clam texture, perhaps we had a clam version of the dish.

Spit-roasted bluefish with creamed corn and crab stuffing - we liked this but it was a little overwhelmed by the bacon wrapping, overall meaty and flavorful.

Crab Season

Izakayas, Shave Ice and Salmon Skin

Gazen Izakaya Tofu: Sweet sesame miso sauce (Saikyo), plain w/ sea salt and tea leaves, black sesame seed (Kurogoma)

Gazen Izakaya 2840 Kapiolani Blvd - tofu specialist, a dark club/bar atmosphere -- Tofu sampler and the Daikon Salad.  The other items on the menu are hit or miss.  The fried squid (or octopus?) and standard izakaya small dishes were decent.

Tokkuri Tei - salmon skin salad is great - crispy salmon skin, crunchy fish roe, greens in a nutty miso dressing, and creamy tofu. Squid pancake hearty and interesting sea flavor.  Mid range sushi also very good.


Salmon Skin Salad

Maguro Ya - sushi/sashimi.  The fish is good here. They specialize in salmon, but we have not been disappointed by anything we've ordered here.  I get the teishoku for variety.

KCC Farmer's Market - I like the stand with the kalua pork cooked in an Imu - you have to ask them b/c they don't always cook it Imu style.  The bbq'd abalone is fine, though not worth waiting in a long line.  The spicy ausage on a stick is also worthwhile.

Tanioka's - out of the way, but a good poke spot.  Tako, spicy marlin and Japan clam.

Ginza Bairin - a tonkatsu specialist with a booth in Shirokiya.  Be sure to ask him to cook one for you rather than grabbing a pre-made bento.  Simple dish with the fried pork and spicy curry.  I also like the rice specialist in Shirokiya which is near this booth.
 
Goma Tei - not destination worthy but an option in Ala Moana Center - tan tan ramen, the soup is a little salty but good if you like sesame flavor.
 
YuChun - mool naem myun specialist.  Not exceptional but it's nice to have cold noodles in the hot weather.

Ailana Shave Ice - much more natural flavored syrups, mild.  A good option near Ala Moana Mall.

Tenkaippen - Their Kotteri Ramen is pretty good, though Yotteko Ya paitan spicy is still my favorite.

Fall in New York

Highlights: Eleven Madison Park, Xian Famous Foods, Soba Nippon, Lucky Eight. 


Culture Espresso - chocolate chip cookie which was gooey at the beginning of October but suddenly become small and crispy by the end of the month. Rumor is that they changed bakers -- too bad!  A side note, there seems to be a fair number of Australian people running coffee shops in NY or perhaps I just happened upon a couple of them.

Taim - Great hummus, super light falafel, slightly smaller balls than what I'm used to nice flavor.   I prefer Azuri.                        

   
Joe's Shanghai   - Crab XLB a bit flatter taste than I remember and the skins seemed a bit loose (too big for the filling), but still very juicy.  We ordered the Shanghai flat noodles w/ pork -- they were greasy but the noodles had a nice spring to them, I'd get them again.

Just Sweets - I got the patbingsu and G got the bean something. The shave ice was really coarse, but the toppings were fine.                      

Artichoke - Sicilian slice, crunchy crust, nice tangy sauce.  This is a highly seasoned very oily slice crispy and almost fried on the bottom. Love the combination of the crunchy rich bottom and the fresh tomato flavor of their sauce.  The natural acidity of the tomatoes works well.          

Don's Bogam BBQ - Pork belly - just o.k. the PB was sliced too thick and into little pieces; Kalbi was good but again the pieces were too small; I liked the hamul soon dobu good balanced flavor, and the banchan were good though they were a little skimpy with them.  Overall good bbq.                               

Katz's Deli - Pastrami - too salty – disappointing should’ve gone to Torrisi instead.                

BCD Tofu House - Seafood Soon Dobu - overseasoned, but decent tofu.  Lots of clams in the stew, only one shrimp.   The same as the one in LA.              

Fatty Que @ Madison Park Tent - Beef Brisket Sandwich - pretty good brisket lots of fatty bits and nicely charred, though not as tender as I expected.                        

Shilla - Yue Kae Jang - really beefy broth and lots of meat, pretty good rendition - I'd get it again. KimChi was a little on the acidic side.                  

Momofuku Ssam Bar - Tripe and Special Pork Bun - tripe was good, a cold vinaigrette salad spiked with some chili peppers. The pork bun was a play on a blt, it was a pork belly patty crisped up on smokey mayo with pickled radishes on a pillowy white duck bun.  The bun was super soft but a bit too big for the fillings. Overall very good, this place has always impressed me.
                  

New Green Bo  -Crab XLB, pretty good, the skins are thicker than Joe's Shanghai, but there is more filling and the same amount of soup so it balances out.  The scallion pancake is just o.k. even though everyone seemed to be ordering that and the fried pork dumplings.
                  

Degustation - Had about eight items from the menu, just o.k. Food not particularly impressive, somewhat overseasoned and the textures of the octopus and squid were a bit tough.  Some items, such as the fish, were lukewarm temp. If they were intended to be so, they could’ve benefited from being hotter.  If not, there was an issue there.  Even L who travels to Spain frequently for work, thought that the meal at Degustation was middling at best.  I’m not sure if the place has gone downhill or I caught them on an off night.

Il Pesce - Eataly - Antipasti, excellent.  Monkfish Liver - huge piece well seasoned and seared sitting on top of celery root and cubes of apple in a sherry vinaigrette, topped w/ sweet little dabs of apple jam; King Crab Salad - huge portion super fresh, bitter greens, grapefruit, really nice topped off with large grains of sea salt.  

Bleeker Street Pizza - Not good. Crisp crust but dried out cheese and hardly any tomato sauce on my Nonna Slice.                          

Gahm Mi Ok - Sul Long Tang, nice and homey, rice at the bottom rather than on the side.  About the same as the one in Oakland.                             

Ma Peche - Lunch take out: Banh Mi Maison - very good pate and meats well balanced, good crunchy baguette. Squid salad was drenched in fish sauce, so salty and over marinated I could not eat it, not sure if it was because it sat in a container for 20 minutes but I would not get that again and am not in a rush to return to the place.  Peanut Butter cookie from Milk Bar not bad, a little sweet to my tastes but good texture and crumb.               

Wondee Siam 792 9th Ave - Thai dinner.  Nice dried pork salad, the rest was o.k. Out of the special menu, I liked the snapper and the crispy pork with chinese watercress.  Other dishes were a little too sweet for my tastes.                            

Popover Cafe    - Popeye Popover - popover w/ strawberry butter.  Then popover stuffed w/ Norwegian Salmon, creamed spinach fried eggs and hollandaise.  good holandaise, spinach way too thick and did not eat it.  Salmon fine.  I think I'd get the plain benedict next time.  Overall the food here is just o.k. and priced for the neighborhood rather than for the food.

Di Fara  - Arrived at opening, still waited forty mins for three slices. Prefer the square to the regular slice.

 

Aldea    - Had about half of the menu.  Each course got progressively worse, but overall the food was o.k., possibly overshadowed by our experience at EMP the night before, but still I have no desire to return.

General Greene - good coffee, mediocre eggs, grits, candied bacon (two huge pieces).  The people are nice and I guess that’s all you need to have a neighborhood restaurant.

The Meatball Shop - Really cheap for a sit down restaurant in NY, enjoyed the special of the day, buffalo chicken meatball in blue cheese sauce, good kick, tender meatballs nice flavor but perhaps more breadcrumb in the filling than necessary.  Chicken meatball w/mushroom sauce good sauce and the chicken was surprisingly flavorful.                      

Momofuku Noodle - Group fried chicken dinner.  Disappointing fried chicken, roasted rice cakes good nicely balanced sauce, all sides: cauliflower, potatoes, and something else were good, the Southern style chicken had an over fried exterior, dark brown, slightly bitter burnt taste and smell, though it was moist inside. Moo shoo pancakes and accompanying sauces fine.  The Korean style wings were fine, juicy crispy and spicy but not particularly special.  Stopped by Milk and had a taste of the black sesame soft serve, way too strong a flavor, no balance or subtlety.                         

Marea   - Nice lunch, some good dishes and some ok items.  Liked the lobster with burrata and passion fruit, and the grilled octopus (nice smokey flavor and tenderness), The uni spaghetti was just ok, the pasta was good but the sauce lacked punch, the branzino was very nice, a large juicy piece, the signature octopus fusili dish was just o.k. the fusili detracted a bit from the excellent octopus. Seafood risotto was nice but not particularly exciting.  We hear that Alto is better.               

Great NY Noodletown   - Excellent shrimp dumplings in soup, nice fresh shrimp flavor with wood ear mushroom and some little kick, seafood fried noodles good though I did not like the scallops in the seafood, they tasted like they had been injected with something artificial, roast duck was just o.k., greasy and lacking crispy skin, no suckling pig available, flowering chive with sea bass, good, nice herbacious chive with sea bass chunks, probably would get the flowering chive with squid next time.                     

Matsugen - Lunch of Soba noodles.  Three ways, one cold sesame in the coarsest grain, very good, Second cold uni mix with finest grain and a bit of cold jus - good though probably not worth the high price, nice pieces of uni.  Third hot soba in a duck broth, the coarsest grain, this wasn't a good showcase of the soba as the noodles couldn't stand up to the hot broth and became a bit too soft.  The prix fixe lunch is a good deal.

Jacques Torres  - Chocolate chip cookie.  This is basically chocolate wrapped in a bit of cookie.  The cookie from here was 10x better than the crispy overcooked one at Chelsea Market, someone needs to tell Jacques that he needs to do quality control at the market. 

Xian Famous Foods – Liang Pi is as good as I remember, chewy noodles with a spicy sauce, so good.  Lamb face is a specific flavor profile for those that enjoy fatty bits, this one had a lot of greens and then just a bit of the fatty lamb face.  I think could be better if the ratio of vegetables, face and spice was balanced out by less veg or  some noodles.  “A” loved it.  The meat in the lamb burger is has a fair amount of gristle.  I like lamb and lamb fat, but gristle isn’t my favorite. I wish they used more choice pieces of meat, though I like the seasoning.  Perhaps I’m getting spoiled from the cumin lamb at Mission Street Food.

Al di La - Tripe - excellent, cuttlefish w/ oxtail over polenta - creamy polenta but sauce was a little one note, though the textures were nice. Brussel sprouts still not my favorite veg, the preparation was ok, but nothing special; tagliatelle w/ ragu was just o.k. pasta was fine though sauce was really lacking, the other pasta was a little too chewy though the sauce was fine, whole fish was really good, liked the agrodolce sweet and sour flavors with the moist juicy fish, loved the crispy skin on the sliced duck.                         

Del Posto - Lobster fra diavolo - very good, roasted vegetables w/ truffle oil - nice, cotechino over lentils, just o.k. sort of spammish, beef tartare was excellent, Orechetti pasta - good porky sauce, Garganelle quills - also nice, both sauce and pasta excellent, Arctic Char - beautiful piece of fish perfectly cooked and presented, seafood stew - also good, but could've used some more spice, the seafood in it was excellent, wheat pasta with bonito flakes, weird dish. Desserts - tartufo of espresso - strong coffee flavor, some chocolatey dessert, their signature - great, goat cheese balls covered in something sweet and served w/ celery ice cream, some cake was just o.k.  This was a good showing, but the service was a little awkward at times.  I’d come again for lunch.                    

El Quinto Pino    - Uni Panini - excellent, more wasabi flavor than I was expecting, but still very satisfying. Cute place excellent service.   

Kun Jip  - Yue Kae Jang - o.k. Jjul Myun - not the best I've ever had, the noodles were a bit soft. Hae Mul Pajeon - soggy and greasy. Service very good and the place is clean and reasonably priced.  The people running are very friendly and aim to please.

Soba Nippon - Excellent soba, they own their own buckwheat farm in Canada and use it to make the soba, they have a lunch deal if you order before noon.  I tried the traditional cold soba.  Definitely worth returning, perhaps try one of the soba salads in the future.   

Kang Suh - Kalbi Tang a fine version.  The kimchi is pretty good the soup is what it should be. 

 

Porchetta - just o.k. the service at the spot on 6th is good, the guy at the Brooklyn Flea projects the sense that he is doing you a favor by selling you a sandwich. Attitude could be forgiven if the sandwich was better, unfortunately it’s not so you don’t get a good sandwich or service that would make me want to return.

Ayada - whole fish w/ mango more tart than sweet, raw shrimp thing, taro pudding, jungle curry not great.  Favorites were sour curry w/ the egg pancake, sausage, crispy pork w/ chinese broccoli, larb!!

Red Hook Lobster Pound - Great lobster roll, plenty of fresh lobster and a nicely toasted bun.  This is the way the roll should be made.             
 

Brooklyn Soda Co. – interesting homemade sodas.  I like the tart brightness of the cranberry spiced soda. I would definitely have more of their sodas if I see them at restaurants.
                          

Pizza Moto – at the Brooklyn Flea. Mushroom slice, very good not crispy but well balanced.                        

Lucky Eight - Crab good and huge, pride of lucky eight stir fry nice, beef ho fun wet very good.  I’d like to spend more time exploring Sunset Park.         

Chikalicious - green tea shave ice, the ice is very finely shaven, but all the azuki and ice cream amounts are inconsistent from visit to visit.

Momofuku Milk - pork bun, good though I prefer the daily special BLT style pork bun I had at Ssam.  The pork belly is a bit too thickly sliced but I like the good layer of fat included in each bun.                      

6th Street Kitchen - liked the curried carrot salad, the ceasar and the truffled deviled eggs. The rest of the menu didn't live up to the descriptions.  Though I could see potential in the place.  If they lowered prices or increased portion size, I’d return.

Motorino - lunch deal $12 for a salad plus a whole pizza! Spicy sopressata. Nice blistered cornicione puffed up. Thin though sturdy enough to hold up. Nicechew, though on the thinner crispier side.

Recipe - another lunch deal at this tony place only $12 for two courses. Decent foie gras terrine, though it was a little chilly like it was taken straight out of the fridge.  It would've been better served slightly below room temp.

Absolute Bagels - sesame w/ lox smear. Good bagel, not bready - decent chew.  I wouldn’t go out of my way but good if you are eating around Columbia.

Donatella -  Donatella pizza, Diavola pizza, uni spaghettini and salads.  Impressed with the pizza, very thin low collar Neapolitan style w/o the wet center. Crust is tasty and had a bit of char.  Straciatella very decadent and works well. Diavola is only for a real sopresatta lover chopped up into matchsticks so you get it on every bite. The crust is seasoned enough so the sausage takes the salt level over the top. Pepperoni lovers would definitely enjoy it though. The salads were good and they have a very reasonable wine list.  Sfoglia for dessert- nice candied quince accents.

Motorino compared to Donatella - Moto is more NY Neapolitan - crispier and with a higher cornicione, the dough is tasty though not was well seasoned as Donatella's.  D's crust is very well seasoned maybe a bit too much so for the spicy sausage preparation.  Not as much of a cornicione, but chewy despite its thinness.  Reminded me most of a traditional Neapolitan pie without the wet center.  As I recall Numero 28 has the traditional Neapolitan style with the softer center, I actually prefer the NY Neapolitan, but I want to return to No. 28 next time in town.  I like all three of these places and would be happy to return.

Brooklyn Fare – after failing to get a reservation for dinner, I was curious to see the store.  I was close by so I walked over.  It’s just a typical gourmet grocery store. Nothing special in the prepared foods section.  The staff is nice and friendly however the Intelligentsia coffee served in the cafe is a little watered down, good thing they also sell the beans.

Mile End - Classic Poutine and Stumptown coffee.  Poutine as good as last time. Nice chicken gravy and soft gooey cheese curds.  The whole thing is a bit of a gut buster, perfect to eat right before a long flight.  Very conducive to sleeping for hours without having to eat airline food. 

Kee's - bought some chocolates to take back to SF.  I had to stop myself from eating all of them.  This one is my favorite out the chocolate shops I've tried in NY. 

Hawaii

KCC FARMER'S MARKET

SLIDESHOW


Hawaii Eats March 2010



KCC Farmer's Market - bbq abalone, delicious abalone bbq'd on the half shell. One stand had - excellent kalua pork, smokey and moist without being over cooked and stringy. The vendor said that it was done traditional emu style (by burying it), it was definitely better than a lot of the KP I've tried.


Kaka'ako Kitchen - the shoyu chicken is the best, the mahi is fine, but the chicken is delicious.


Side Street Inn - the fried pork chop is delicious though fatty and I'm not sure it's worth the price tag, the spicy chicken is boneless pieces of skin on chicken fried and topped with a salty spicy sweet sauce - these are really lack luster, far too much breading and not enough meat and the sauce is not very good.

Wailoa Bakery - best shave ice, finely shaved until it becomes the texture of ice cream. The Azuki bowl and the green tea flavor are my favorites.


Million - the pork neck soup is delicious, not too spicy and full of flavor, the pan chan are good and the service is very friendly. I also loved the homey comforting beef brisket and tendon soup. The broth is a white pork bone based broth with a straightforward clean flavor. Good when punched up with a bit of salt and dunked in rice.


Leonard's - the li hing sugar malasada was new to me, I think between the original, cinnamon and li hing, the cinnamon is the best.

Hank's Haute Dogs - they had a Monday special of Italian Beef. I got it spicy, it was fine, the meat could've been less cooked, but they definitely got the jus and bread right. I also liked the hibiscus lemonade a nice acid punch to cut the richness of the sandwich.

Tanioka's - got the spicy ahi, spicy marlin and giant clam pokes.  The poke here is excellent.  This time I noticed the simple clean flavors in the spicy marlin.  My companion loved the giant clam poke and I agree that it's one to get again.  The spicy ahi was good, though perhaps over marinated because I felt the spices overwhelmed the ahi, it was just a bit too strong.

Champion Malasadas - these were really good and in just one visit, I prefer them to Leonards.  The plain sugar malasada had an eggy almost custard like tender interior while the custard filled malasada was more standard, though I appreciated the fact that the custard was tasty and not too sweet.


Shrimp Trucks

Romy's - exactly as I remembered it. Super juicy and fresh prawns are the thing to get, I got the garlic preparation which is o.k. if you like toasted garlic flavor, though I thought the spicy shoyu dip that accompanied it was a good counterpoint.  Next time, get the steamed prawns with cocktail or shoyu on the side.

Fumi's - they didn't actually have a shack the last time I was in the area. They have a lot of different preparations and they recommended the garlic prep.  The spicy shrimp looked firey red, a little too red, while there was also a butter garlic spicy which added garlic to the mix.  I went for that and was pleasantly surprised by the slightly tart garlic and red pepper sauce.  The shrimps were very fresh and I would come back.

Giovanni's - I remembered really loving the scampi sauce here.  This time, it was just o.k. I think what sets it apart is the cooked garlic.  The garlic is cooked so that it is soft and has that roasted garlic flavor, there also appears to be plenty of olive oil in the sauce.  I found it a bit rich so I squeezed plenty of lemon onto it and added the hot sauce.  The hot sauce is probably the best thing at Giovanni's, probably a combination of butter and red chili.  The shrimp themselves were the least impressive of the three places, but with such a powerful sauce you didn't taste much of the shrimp anyway.

Read More

Crab Dinner

Taking advantage of the bountiful crab season, we had a crab dinner and watched the TC Finale.  We had a E's beautiful salad with pumpkin seeds, persimmons and pomagranate, and polished off five crabs, but not without some difficulty earlier that day.

EL DELFIN **'

Looking for soup and menudo, so we ended up at El Delfin.  The menudo was full of tripe in a thick and deeply flavored red broth.  The tendon and tripe were prepared so that each piece was thin and tender.  My only issue with the dish was that the stew broth was too thick and strong, almost a stew. 

The chicken soup was more of a soup with good chicken flavor and chock full of vegetables.  One of the better chicken soups I've had in the Mission.  Perhaps it was because they were busy, but I recall that they used to serve freshly fried tortilla chips.  No such chips on this occasion.  In any case I'll trade the fresh tortilla chips for the comfort that they'll be in business for a while.  I was glad to see that they were busy, I used to worry about them a little when I so often found the place empty.

Everytime I dine at El Delfin I get either the prawns with chile de arbol or with chile chipotle.  Yes, I know, a foolish consistency is the hobgoblin of little minds.  I just can't help myself, I'm a chile head.  This time I went for the chile de arbol which was exactly as I remembered it, buttery, garlicky and addictively spicy.

Previous Post on El Delfin

OLIVETO Oceanic Dinner ****

Annual Oceanic Dinner at Oliveto, a seafood menu offered for three days. All the fish is wild caught or trapped. We focused on the antipasto and pasta with a whole black bass as the finale. As usual the service was excellent.

First Course: Chilled ocotopus "soppressata" with Catelvetrano olives, celery heart, and Monte Iblei olive oil; and Green sea urchin flan with old aceto balsamico. Greek trap caught octopus, Southern California diver caught sea urchin. The octopus was thinly sliced and perhaps pressed into strips and dotted with chopped olives -- good texture soft with a slight bite to it. The standout was the sea urchin flan, as one that has both enjoyed and disliked uni, I thought this was wonderful, the flan's creaminess balanced the sea urchin flavor and spread it out so that it had a smooth sea urchin flavor rather than a concentrated punch. I would definitely order this again.

Second Course: Crudo Study I: local halibut with paddle fish caviar, spicy razor clams, yellowtail jack with peach mostarda, salted and marinated king salmon, smoked bluefish with rouille, marinated anchovies with Espelette peppers, tai snapper with summer truffles, American mackerel with salted Bing cherry preserve. I was excited to see the spicy razor clams on the half shell, briny bright flavor with a spicy kick, my other favorite was the mackerel with cherry preserve, the sweet preserve punctuated the mackerel's flavor. I also thought the smoked bluefish was distinctive, strong smoke flavor good for a bite, but probably too powerful to have more than that.

Crudo Study II: tombo with oenogarum, striped bass with candied lemon, blood clam with bay olio santa, salted and marinated king salmon, marinated anchovies with Espelette peppers, squid in its ink with golden caviar, myagi oyster with rose vinegar. This was a well composed plate, spanning a variety of flavor combinations: spiced anchovies, salty salmon, slightly bitter squid ink and lemony bass. Standouts on this study were striped bass with candied lemon, the blood clam which had a highly concentrated clam flavor and the squid which was about the creamy texture of its ink against the crunchy thin ribbons of squid. Also enjoyed the oenogarum sauce on the tombo tuna.

Third Course: Mostaccioli rossi with shaved tuna "bloodline" and zuchini crema, Wild nettle tagliolini with geoduck clams and Nocellino olive oil. The bloodline is the darker part of the tuna, they took it out and cured it. It tasted much like cured tuna heart and was excellent with the perfect mostaccioli. I have yet to have a pasta at Oliveto that I didn't like. The wild nettle taliolini was dark green from the nettle. I couldn't taste the nettle because the pasta and the sauce had a delicious deep clam flavor. The pasta took on so much geoduck flavor the clam itself added a textural contrast.

Fourth Course: Spit-roasted black bass stuffed with dried Italian sausage. This was a whole fish with a savory stuffing. The dish was hearty, rustic and a good way to fill any of the remaining space in our bellies. I would definitely eat this again, though overall it was less interesting than the other dishes.

Nothing on the dessert menu jumped out at us, and to be honest, I am still thinking about the incredible desserts we had at Babbo. We ended the night with a walk down to Tara's for ice cream, full, happy and making plans for our next visit to Oliveto.

BAR CRUDO****

June 2009
Bar Crudo moved to a new location on Divisadero in a long somewhat narrow space with high ceilings. The decor is modern and less cozy that the original spot. The food is the same, though the pacing of the meal was very slow. The lobster salad had a generous portion of lobster meat, but the tomatoes were a bit bland and tart (it's too early in the season). I liked several of the items on the crudo platter, but the seafood chowder was the standout. Next time: try some of their hot items, skip San Sebastian.

August 2007
Bar Crudo is a great San Francisco seafood restaurant with crudo served with fresh and interesting accompaniments as well as beautifully executed hot seafood dishes. In order from great to good:
Lobster Salad
San Sebastian
Seafood Chowder - excellent though on the salty side
Arctic Char* - served too cold
Crudo for Two/2 of each crudo
Small seafood platter

The table beside us had a delicious looking whole fish.

Bush and Stockton

CONTIGO**'

Pulpo - tender nicely cooked octopus with fingerling potatoes, dusted with a nice hit of spice.
Calamares a la plancha - another good rendition of this dish, loved the harissa kick.
Clams - too salty and the broth lacked flavor.
Fried Sardines - medium sized sardines with delicious thin pieces of fried meyer lemon
Oxtail Croquettes - the fried outer shell was a nice crunchy compliment to the slow cooked oxtail.
Callos - tripe, reminded me of trippa a la fiorentina at Delifina, the tripe was well cooked though the sauce was a bit one note.
Butter Beans w/ trotter - bacony beans with chorizo, didn't get a bit of the trotter
Papas Bravas - this was a decent recital of this dish, crunchy potatoes. The smokey spanish paprika was familiar, but I would've liked some spiciness.

Halibut with peas and romesco sauce was somewhat bland. The fish was steamed and the romesco sauce lacked flavor to carry the dish.

Catalan musician's tart with vanilla ice cream - definitely get this again. pecan pie with mixed nuts, buttery flakey tart crust and a perfect balance of savory nuts on the sweet filling.

Overall, the quality of the food is high, though the value is questionable due to the portion size. While I appreciate their expertise, time, sourcing, overhead etc, it's a challenge not to feel a bit foolish for paying $7 for three little sardines the size of my pinky finger, or some fried potatoes equivalent to about half a potato. Particularly when the ingredients aren't so precious that such spending feels decadent.

The atmosphere was nice and the service efficient. Something about this place reminded me of Nopa (which I like better). I'd probably go to La Ciccia or Incanto instead where I might spend more but get a better value. That said, it's nice to have a good Spanish place nearby. It's a good place for someone on a diet. If I did return, I might get: pulpo, calamares and butter beans again. Also good were the tripe and oxtail croquettes. Next time try some of the beet salad.

Mona Lisa, Bonaire

Best Fish on the Island.

Tastes of Hawaii

Shrimp Trucks of Oahu

Near the town of Kahuku on the North Shore of Oahu, there are quite a few shrimp farms. Some of them allow you to fish for your own shrimp from their ponds, but most are closed to the public. An attraction for surfers and tourists alike are the shrimp trucks around the North Shore and even in Honolulu that serve several variations of shrimp dishes usually with two scoops of rice some greens or cabbage and that wonderful feeling of goodness you get from eating fresh seafood outside on picnic tables after a day at the beach. Every truck has its own recipes but all serve some version of shrimp with a garlic sauce. Several months ago, I sampled the two best known: Giovanni's and Romy's. This time I made it a point to try different trucks.

There are two primary components of shrimp truck dishes, one is the quality and taste of the shrimp themselves and the other is the sauce or preparation of the shrimp. In terms of the quality of shrimp my order of preference: Romy's, Macky's, Hono's, Blue Water Shrimp, Giovanni's. For sauce and preparation my preference is: Giovanni's, Blue Water Shrimp, Hono's, Romy's, Macky's.

Romy's Kahuku Prawns & Shrimp
As I mentioned in my previous roundup of Romy's versus Giovanni's the quality of the shrimp here is very high, perhaps it is because they get their shrimp and prawns from their own farm. The shrimp are larger than shrimp at other farms and the prawns are huge perhaps twice the size of the shrimp. Unfortunately, four out of the six times I've ever been here they have not had prawns. The shrimp tastes very fresh has a nice snap when you bite in and is served shell completely on with part of the head on, no butterflying or deveining. Serving the shrimp this way shows off it's freshness and lack of processing. As far as the sauces, the shrimp can be ordered steamed with a side sauce of shoyu, spicy shoyu, butter and some others. Most people seem to go for the garlic shrimp, which is the shrimp stir fried with copious amounts of chopped garlic. This straightforward preparation is good for showing off the shrimp because it doesn't add an independent sauce flavor as found at other trucks. Photo from last time:



The other popular preparation is the spicy and sweet sauce which is more sweet than spicy. I did not like this at all, strong and sugary red sauce. Like a Chinese sweet and sour sauce with a bit of chili added -- not my taste at all.



Giovanni's Original Shrimp
My opinion of Giovanni's has changed since the first few times I ate here. After having tried the shrimp at other trucks, I found the quality of the shrimp at Giovanni's lower than the rest. The shrimp tastes fine is nicely deveined, but is small and I didn't find a huge taste difference between this shrimp and the frozen shrimp I bought at the supermarket. The strength of Giovanni's is the scampi preparation: a butter garlic sauce with garlic cooked until it is tender in a blend of olive oil, butter, lemon, and spices. I would guess that the shrimp is marinated in the sauce and there seems to be some other ingredient that adds some body to the sauce (or it could just be the softened garlic). It's good enough to eat on top of rice without the shrimp. When served with the shrimp it is good but overpowers the shrimp taste. Even so, I liked mixing in some of the hot sauce which you can get on the side and liked the spicy hot scampi. I wouldn't order the hot sauce preparation, it's not as good as the scampi, but the mix of the two is quite tasty. There's no denying that the scampi here is delicious, but it could as easily be served on pasta or rice as on shrimp, so shrimp is not the star. In fact they serve a garlic hot dog, which is a hot dog that has been cooked in the scampi sauce. Photo from last time:



Macky's Original Shrimp
I tried the Haleiwa outpost of Macky's Original Shrimp truck which was near the end of town. They had several picnic tables with a shade above them. I was surprised by the flavor of their garlic butter shrimp. The shrimp were larger than Giovanni's but smaller than Romy's, served cleaned and deveined. They had a very fresh taste and even a natural sweetness to the meat. This sweetness showed through the light garlic butter sauce. I would've liked a bit of acid to the sauce, but liked the fact that it didn't overpower the dish. Overall, Macky's garlic butter shrimp was a good balance between fresh shrimp and a light sauce to compliment the shrimp.



Hono's ShrimpThis truck is located in the corral of food trucks in Haleiwa. The quality of the shrimp here was good, slightly larger than those at Macky's, though not deveined. The garlic sauce was similar to that of Romy's, a simple saute of chopped garlic with a bit of butter, but lighter on the garlic. Another good compliment to the shrimp. Eating this side by side with Giovanni's shrimp scampi, it was clear that Giovanni's sauce is excellent over rice but overpowering on the shrimp.



The spicy shrimp was sweet and spicy without being sugary. Again, not to my taste, but better than that at Romy's. Fans of this flavor might like it.



Blue Water Shrimp
I went to the Honolulu outpost of this truck located on Kuhio in the empty half of a lot under construction. Sharing a covered picnic area with another food truck is the brightly painted Blue Water Shrimp, serving the typical shrimp dishes as well as clams, king crab and seared ahi. This truck has a larger seafood menu than most and coupons can be found in the Japanese Kau Kau shopping flyer. We sampled the very garlic shrimp (spicy), shrimp scampi, clams, and seared ahi. I was not impressed by most of these items.

The saving grace is the very garlic shrimp, which I ordered spicy. The shrimp was good quality, eight to ten shrimp on a plate, some of them deveined. It was, however, the sauce that was the most prominent flavor in the dish. It was a thick, buttery sauce balanced with lemon and mixed with some chili pepper. It was so tasty that one of us mixed in the rice and saved his shrimp to eat later. I agree the very garlic sauce is powerful, more buttery than Giovanni's, but less salty. The combination of the spice and butter made me return twice for more.



Last notes, I would not order the scampi or clams again, they had similar thick sauces of butter and parmesan. The sauce was bland and completely coated the shrimp and clams. It reminded me of soup served at a cafeteria. I actually wanted to rinse off the seafood to eat it without the sauce. The Furikake Ahi is just o.k., a huge portion enough for two. Would order that again if not in the mood for shrimp. Beware of the parking, I suspect that the apparently unattended parking lot actually has an attendant lying in wait.

SEA SALT Lunch**'

Back to Sea Salt, this time for lunch. Started with some cold items, Hawaiian Blue Prawns, Kumamoto, Kushi (?), and Luna Oysters. The Kumamoto had a lightly sea flavored brine with a sweet finish, the kushi had a very salty brine and a creamy texture a little more substantial than the kumi, the luna was creamy and had a neutral brine taste. The kumamotos are still my favorite. The prawns were fresh and cooked well and chilled. A good start. For our mains we tried the BLT (bacon lettuce and trout) sandwich and the salmon and goat cheese terrine.

The trout was pan fried with a nice crispy skin, full trout flavor and topped with two slices of smokey bacon. The portion was substantial even without bread. The accompanying greens were fine, but the coleslaw was a little disappointing. The slaw did not have much flavor and lacked crunchiness. This is something to order again just for the delicious trout.



The terrine of salmon and goat cheese was also disappointing. The smoked salmon was good, but served too cold to show off salmon flavor. The amount of goat cheese was a bit overwhelming and overall the texture of the dish was soft and mushy, it could've done better with a crunchy starch element.



Service was fine and the restaurant is comfortable, light and airy. After an excellent dinner at there, it was nice to find that it also worked well for a casual lunch. I'll definitely return to sample more of the interesting lunch offerings.

Previous Sea Salt Post

Berkeley, San Pablo at Dwight

FRESCA**

Lunch at Fresca in Noe Valley. Best items were the Toro Steak Salad and the Ceviche. The chupe de mariscos was on the creamy side and the other dishes were fair, but not particularly outstanding. The potato in the causa washed out the flavor of the ahi. Otherwise service was attentive and the atmosphere comfortable.

PESCE***

A birthday celebration for J at Pesce in Russian Hill. He loves seafood and variety so the small plate style fit perfectly. We were immediately impressed with the warmth of the restaurant's decor and service, a nice long bar dominating the restaurant giving it a cozy neighborhood feel. We started with the Merluzzo Mantecato a grilled buckwheat polenta with cod brandade. The flavor of the salt cod matched well with the grilled polenta and was devoured quickly. The texture of the polenta was stiffened by the grilling and use of buckwheat, but we wished there was less softness and more contrast in texture between the cod and the polenta.



Next came the Polpo a warm octopus, potato and celery antipasta in a garlic vinaigrette. The braised octopus was full of a garlicky briney sea flavor which was also incorporated in the soft potato. The combination of the soft potato the braised octopus, the crunch of the celery and the savory sea flavor made this my favorite dish of the evening.



The Roasted Whole Tai Snapper was fresh and came in a simple tomato based sauce allowing the fish to shine. The fish was filet and deboned at the table which made for a nice presentation. Though dish itself was upstaged by the juicy Merlot braised lamb shank. Our mouths watered as the dark red lamb fall off the bone with the first gentle touch of the fork. I thought the lamb was excellent, but would've like more spice to the sauce. J felt the simple sauce was a good foil to the rich render meat and was the highlight of the meal.



Cioppino and squid ink risotto with grilled calamari were among the other items we sampled. I particularly liked the squid ink risotto which was thick and had a deep squid ink flavor. I understand that the restaurant is related to Antica Trattoria, which was one of my favorites when I lived in nearby. Happy to find that they've applied much of the same qualities to Pesce.

Polk near Green

KOI PALACE***'

Duck Dinner

WEIRD FISH*

Dinner at Weird Fish, with some weird service. After waiting quite a while, we were hoping for a good meal. We started with the fried calamari and Yo-Yo's. The calamari had a typical cornmeal crust and had a good ratio of ring pieces to the tentacle pieces to which I am partial. Yo-Yo's were pickles battered and fried with two dipping sauces, one yogurty cream tasting and one tomato based sauce. The batter was tasty and the pickles were good, we polished them off quickly. Good start.



Fish and chips is a deceptively simple dish to cook and one that Weird Fish claims as a signature dish. We had two servings of this and both came out looking quite brown, as if they were overcooked. In fact, they were perfectly cooked, the batter was crisp and not greasy, the tilapia was tender and moist. The batter had good flavor and I suspect that the dark color was due to the batter mixture rather than over frying. Are these the best? It has been a while since I had the fish and chips at Edinburgh Castle (prepared by the neighboring shop), but I think they were better than this version. The one's at Martin Macks and the Pig and Whistle are greasier than these, but a larger portion due to their use of cod fillets.

Chips-wise, I was disappointed, these chips were greasy and not very crispy. To their credit they were the shape and size of the chips served in England. The sweet potato chips were fine, though nothing special.



The grilled tilapia and the sweet potato taco were fine. The sweet potato was the better of the two tacos and had some seed (sunflower?) that gave it a nice crunch. The rice had cilantro mixed in and the beans were nothing worth noting. Overall it was a middling effort, but o.k. for the price.



The trout dishes were recommended by our server, the cornmeal crusted tilapia was reported to be o.k. though the noodles accompanying it were not to my companion's taste.



After enjoying the batter on the fried pickles, we tried for a strong finish with the fried banana dessert. We were unsuccessful. Between the four of us we were unable to eat even two of the little bananas. They were coated with something that was not batter and the consistency of the banana was actually chalky. The cookie in the middle had no flavor and just tasted of sugar, but the soy ice cream was pretty good.



I appreciate that the prices are reasonable, the menu is vegetarian friendly and that the place has its neighborhood fans. Overall, I was underwhelmed by the preparations. The ingredients seemed good, but the finished dishes unremarkable and even bland. The Yo-Yo's and Sweet Potato Taco were unique and the fried fish was decent. These items are probably not enough to make me return for more, but I'll still have breakfast at Boogaloos its sister restaurant.

A side note about the service, we waited about forty minutes on a weeknight for a four top and we saw no other people waiting before or after us. After watching a party enter and get seated before us, we came in to discover that the servers didn't communicate to each other we had been put on a wait list and were waiting outside. Disorganized service or perhaps our bad luck.

Mission at 18th

EL DELFIN***

In search of a place to sit down and enjoy a long meal, we headed to El Delfin on 24th Street. The service was very homey and we were immediately given freshly fried tortilla chips. The two rounds of sangria were reported as excellent. We had the molcajete volcano as a starter then two types of shrimp, enchiladas and fajitas. The molcajete (mortar) volcano was bubbling red mortar full of spicy red sauce, fresh cheese, green onions, nopales, and beef accompanied by tortillas. The sauce was spicy and was supposed to be balanced by the cheese, but the cheese was a plain farm cheese which did not add or reveal any depth to the sauce. The nopales and meat were good wrapped in the tortillas, but overall the interesting presentation overshadowed the one dimensional taste of the red sauce.

The restaurant offers several different preparations of shrimp. We chose the camarones de arbol chile and the camarones de chile chipotle. De arbol chile originated in Mexcico and is popoular in Western Mexican cooking. It tastes similar to it's cousin the cayenne pepper, but had more depth than cayenne. The pepper was cooked with a cream resulting in a creamy red-orange colored sauce. The shrimp were perfectly cooked and complimented by the spicy sauce. The camarones de chile chipotle was also excellent and had the bold flavor of chipotle chilis, milder and more smokey than the de arbol sauce.

The enchiladas are a favorite of the one El Delfin regular at the table. He felt that the red enchilada sauce was more flavorful than the other places on Mission and would definitely order this dish again.

Next time, the camarones de chili arbol and sample a dish that uses the enchilada sauce.



24th and Folsom