Oysters grow in sea water, but require relatively still water rather than crashing ocean waves to mature. Luckily we live only an hour's drive from Tomales Bay, an inlet protected by the Point Reyes Peninsula, perfect for raising fine oysters. Heading straight to the source on a gorgeous day, we sampled three types, Hog Island Kumamotos, Hog Island Small Sweetwaters, and Tomales Bay Oyster Co's Medium Pacifics. The Kumamotos are a specialty of the Hog Island Oyster Company, small, about four can fit in the palm of an average hand, with a creamy flavor, slight sweetness and a neutral brine in each little shell. I've never tried to bbq these as they are just too small and delicate tasting for the grill. They are great with a little bit of mignonette sauce or just plain. We also enjoyed the Small Sweetwater Oysters from Hog Island, these are about twice the size of the Kumi's, filled with a saltier brine, but the oyster meat itself is sweeter. Again, the smalls are also too small for bbq'ing.
Left are small and extra small sweetwaters, Right is a bag of fifty kumamotos.
Barbequing at Tomales Bay provides some hot food to balance the chilled raw oysters. Tomales Bay Co's Pacific Oysters are great for grilling. The medium is just the right size, enough for one big bite. They are large and meaty enough to stand up to a fire, but not so gigantic that they are fleshy and flavorless. A few minutes on the grill and they pop open, a minute more and the meat is juicy and tender cooked in its own brine.
Nothing beats eating oysters at the source and shucking them yourself while enjoying a view of Tomales Bay with other oyster fans.
Left is a Hog Island Small Sweetwater and Right are five Hog Island Kumamotos.
I brought home some kumamotos and had them the next day. They can be stored in a cooler on ice so long as they are not sitting in melt water.
Shalizaar has been open at this new location in Belmont for less than two weeks. The building seems entirely brand new, the floor, the bar and furniture is upscale and that's also reflected in the menu prices. At lunch hour, the dress was business casual to semi-formal and the service was excellent. Every table was taken and the bar was only place to eat without a reservation.Once seated, I received a basket of good quality walnuts, with a slice of feta and a mix of mint and basil. Soon thereafter warm pita bread from the wood fired oven arrived. According to the host the most popular starter is the Kashk-e-Bademjan, pureed eggplant and garlic, topped with mint and kashk. A huge serving of this came out and struck me as good, but nothing particularly special. On the other hand the Shishlik, marinated lamb chops were excellent, the marinade gave the meat a slight sourness which matched well against the salty caramelized edges of the chops. Dispensing with formality, I ate them like lamb lollipops. The meat was juicy and soft, though it still required a knife to cut rather than falling off the bone. The rice was particularly good. Later, I noticed that the menu offered several variations of rice, so rice is something they pay attention to, rather than just a plate filler. I'd come back again for a nice dinner, though I can't say that it's the best quality to price values out there.
Harmony in San Carlos is yet another yogurt place to jump on the Pinkberry craze. They use Straus Organic Yogurt and you can really taste the difference in the quality. It is thick and creamy. It tastes very natural and somewhat like sweetened sour cream, but not as tangy. The toppings are similar to those at the other Pinkberry knockoffs, but I noticed that several of the fruits are fruit in a syrup rather than just chopped up fresh fruit. For example, Yogurt Bar has fresh raspberries, while Harmony has a raspberries in syrup that looks like a chunky sauce. Don't know how it tastes, because I went with the classic plain yogurt and strawberry.
Comparing Pinkberry and its local descendents, Harmony is the thickest and creamiest, but also has the most neutral yogurt flavor of the three. Next comes Yogurt Bar which is also in the neutral yogurt flavor category, but is slightly more tangy and less thick than Harmony. Finally, Pinkberry is the iciest and most tangy with a lemony yogurt flavoring. It is probably the most artificial. At the moment, Yogurt Bar is my fave because it is natural and creamy, yet has some tang.
I've had four different pies at Mission Pie: the Strawberry Galette, Giant Berry Galette, Walnut, and Banana Cream. All were good, with the walnut being my favorite. The strawberry is a great combo of sweet and tart with a good crust that is not too buttery and compliments the whole thing very nicely. The walnut is like a pecan pie flavor with the sweet gelatinous layer holding the walnuts to the pie crust. The crust on the walnut tartlette is a little thicker than the galette and works really well against the sweet layer. Banana cream is nice as well. Even though banana is not a fruit I particularly like, I happily finished off a slice. It is very banana tasting and has a nice thin layer of cream on top of the banana custard layer. I'm sure it would be a winner for banana fans. Personally, I think it could use a little crunch to it, perhaps adding some nuts on top -- so that it would have a similar flavor to banana nut ice cream. I wouldn't say that this is great pie, but it's good. Let's face it, SF isn't exactly brimming with pie shops. This shop is unique both for its focus on pie and for its social mission.
El TonayenseTaco Truck on Harrison and 22nd. When you haven't eaten all day and have barely a jingle worth of change in your pocket, taco trucks are the way to go. This is one of at least four in the Mission, all of them scattered on or around Harrison Street south of Division. Though it makes no sense, the food at the trucks is better than their bricks and mortar taqueria on 24th Street.
For $7, I ordered two Tacos al Pastor and two Tacos Tripitas, with the spicy sauce and extra jalapenos on top. Even though I ordered them with single rather than double tortillas, I could not finish more than three of these bundles of meat, onions, cilantro and sauce. The al Pastor is very juicy pork cut into tiny pieces and heavily seasoned so that the meat is red all the way through. In fact, the meat with the spicy sauce was slightly overwhelming. My favorite was the Tripitas. The tripe is cut into small pieces and crisped up on the grill so that it is crunchy on the edges, yet has a nice chewiness to it. I suspect they are crisped up with lard or some other pork fat because I could detect a little baconiness to them, but that might've just been the salty fatty flavor. The al Pastor is better than the one at Taqueria San Jose, but I would probably have it with no sauce or inside a quesadilla or burrito - something with cheese to balance the seasoning. The nice thing about the 22nd Street location is that there are a couple of tables with chairs that look like they belong to the corner cafe. Fortunately, they don't seem to mind that patrons of the truck are always using them.
Oysters grow in sea water, but require relatively still water rather than crashing ocean waves to mature. Luckily we live only an hour's drive from Tomales Bay, an inlet protected by the Point Reyes Peninsula, perfect for raising fine oysters. Heading straight to the source on a gorgeous day, we sampled three types, Hog Island Kumamotos, Hog Island Small Sweetwaters, and Tomales Bay Oyster Co's Medium Pacifics. The Kumamotos are a specialty of the Hog Island Oyster Company, small, about four can fit in the palm of an average hand, with a creamy flavor, slight sweetness and a neutral brine in each little shell. I've never tried to bbq these as they are just too small and delicate tasting for the grill. They are great with a little bit of mignonette sauce or just plain. We also enjoyed the Small Sweetwater Oysters from Hog Island, these are about twice the size of the Kumi's, filled with a saltier brine, but the oyster meat itself is sweeter. Again, the smalls are also too small for bbq'ing.
