KITCHENETTE**'

Korean Tacos - sweet thinly sliced bulgogi in a corn tortilla with the usual taco fixings.




May 2009

Fried Fish Roll with avocado, slaw, fried peppers, lemon mayonnaise. Great combo, nice bright slaw with a spicy kick from the peppers.


More Kitchenette

PICAN ***

Who knew that so many restaurants in Oakland are closed on Sunday? Lucky for us, Pican is the exception. We sampled Southern Foie Gras - fried chicken livers with a nice bright slaw to counterbalance the crunchy fried goodness. Even Brett who normally doesn't prefer chicken livers, enjoyed them. Our second starter was Heirloom Tomato and Nectarine Panzanella another well dressed and balanced dish. Shrimp and Grits starter was also tasty, a few large shrimp and some very good grits. We moved on the Fried Chicken accompanied by a Mac n' Cheese. The fried chicken was well seasoned and delicious, with a thick crunchy crust. I think I prefer the slightly less thick crust at BSK, but I have plenty of room in my stomach for all styles of fried chicken! They brought us some of their house chili vinegar which was an innocent looking pale yellow vinegar with a hidden super punch of spicy chili. It was so good that we could not stop dipping pieces of chicken into it. The Mac n' Cheese was particularly good with the slight tang of the gouda cheese and a perfect sauce that was smooth and creamy without being overwhelmingly thick and cheesy. The Laquered Duck was excellent as were the light fluffy mashed potatoes. The decor and the atmosphere of Pican is upscale but not stuffy. The service was friendly and the courses well timed. We had a good view of the kitchen and it was very clear that it is a well run efficient operation. Dish after dish of picture perfect food coming out very quickly.


Photo by Rebecca

It was nice to see so many people enjoying Sunday dinner in downtown Oakland. The menu is fairly large and I'll definitely return to try some more, definitely the ribs and a few more of the starters.

LUSH GELATO ***

I might take breaks from making ice cream, but I never take a break from eating it. To update my specific ice cream rankings, I'll need to add Tara's and Lush Gelato.

At the top of my list is Lush Gelato. I was hesitant when I was told that it was Argentine style gelato, I found many of the gelatos in Buenos Aires flavorful but too sweet for my palette. The dulce de leche at Lush was perfect for me. Excellent texture with very strong flavor. I sampled a few of the other flavors and found them just as appealing.

Tara's had interesting flavors, all of them deeply infused into the ice cream. It's an altogether different style than Ici, less sweet with more interesting 'savory' types of flavors. The only minor detraction is the texture of the ice cream which could be more dense. With that said, if I could blink my eyes and land on the doorstep of any shop in the bay area here is my current preference:

Lush Gelato - dulce de leche, basil
Tara's
Humphry Slocombe - kumquat poppyseed, sesame or Vietnamese coffee
Bi-Rite Creamery - Salted Caramel with almonds, Cookies n' Cream, Lemon
Ici - the cone! lemon, any of their nut flavors
Mitchell's - lucuma, ube, coconut

Previous: Ice Cream Rankings April 2009

BAKESALE BETTY **

Fried chicken sandwich, crispy, spicy, vinegary slaw, wish it had different bread. Nice outdoor seating using ironing boards as tables.

WOOD TAVERN ***

Sunday supper with J, A, and Jay. Wood Tavern has excellent food, generous portions and friendly service -- the makings of a great neighborhood restaurant, if I lived in that hood. Cutting board of pates and charcuterie was delicious, a nice variety of salty, pungent, sweet and savory flavors. Both the Burrata with heirloom tomatoes and the Pork Belly starters were good but very standard. The strength of this place was in the meat entrees. My favorite dish of the evening was Duck with cherries and a slaw with hazelnuts. The sweet tart cherry sauce complimented the duck and the finely shaved slaw was light and crunchy offsetting the richness of the duck.

The second entree of Rib Eye Steak was surprisingly good. I rarely order steak at restaurants because I'm happy with the steak I prepare at home. This rib eye was cooked to a perfect medium rare, nicely charred on the exterior, extremely tender and dressed with a red wine reduction. The sauce was good, but the tenderness of the steak was surprising. I have prime cut rib eye at home, but this was one very well marbled piece of meat. Again, portions large enough for two. The only miss was the halibut. The fish was a little dry, though the dish was somewhat saved by the creamy corn accompaniment. I would not hesitate to return to this place for some of its high quality meat dishes.