What Are My “Must Eats”?

Posted on 26 August 2009 by christao408

Sorry to report, but I’m suffering from a bit of post-vacation depression. Okay, maybe “depression” is a bit too strong a word, but in the nine days I’ve been back, I have had more than my fair share of “Oh, this isn’t any fun… I wish I were still back in New York on holiday” thoughts.

Deciding to not be gripped by this emotions, I tried to take the detached, Buddhist approach and examine it. What was at the root of these feelings? The answer, I realized, was food.

Above, Sukhumvit Soi 38, the nighttime “Food Street” near my house.

Upon examination, I concluded that one of the things I like most about any place is the food. I could write a lot more about this (and possibly will in a future entry) but I think that food is really the tent pole of a culture to which I tether my experience and perceptions.

As I think about places I’ve lived and places I’ve loved (to visit), specific food memories come to mind. These usually revolve around not just certain dishes, but even specific restaurants or vendors where I had especially good versions of those dishes. The sauteed mushrooms with garlic at Cha Cha Cha in San Francisco. The gyoza at Rising Dragon in Ueno district, Tokyo. The bistecca alla fiorentina at Ristorane del Fegioli in Florence. The bánh xèo at that little outdoor restaurant in Saigon, the name of which I now forget and would have to look up. The truffled egg toast at ‘ino in New York.

See? Specific food memories. Things that, if I’m back in that town, I feel that I absolutely must eat them again. But when it comes to life here in Krungthep, I’m at a loss to name any specific “must eats”. Please understand, I really enjoy Thai food and, as Tawn put it, when I’m away, I miss eating Thai food when I am away from Thailand. But other than the sticky rice and mango place at the corner of Thong Lor and Sukhumvit (the best in town, I assure you), northing immediately pops into my mind.

This strikes me as a problem, a problem which may actually go a long way towards explaining why, when I have guests in town, I struggle to figure out the best places to bring them to eat. There isn’t anything that jumps to the top of my mind, shouting “Must eat!”

This also strikes me as an opportunity, a task to which I must devote at least some of my attention in the days and weeks to come. I need to brainstorm and if necessary, explore some more, in order to start building my list. I may already know of some places and all that is required is some gentle nudging to my memory. But I may need to start looking and tasting to see if I can build that list of “must eat” places here in the Big Mango.

What about you? What foods and places are on your “must eat” list?

Back in the Kitchen

Posted on 24 August 2009 by christao408

Oh, the pressure of returning from holiday! Not only do I have to get back into the habit of cooking again (instead of just eating wonderful food prepared by others) but I also have to get back into the habit of finding interesting things to write about again, instead of just encountering a parade of them on a daily basis.

It was nice to be back in my own kitchen, though. Admiring the efficiently compact kitchen at ‘ino in Greenwich Village, I returned home with visions of how I could add some stainless steel shelving, fit in a panini grill, and up my production capacity. Tawn probably wouldn’t appreciate my “function over form” remodel, though!

Joanne Choi is a friend of a high school friend’s younger sister. She keeps a wonderful food blog called “Week of Menus” over at Blogger. The subtitle of her blog is “Good cooking for moms who have too much on their plate” and, as you can imagine, the emphasis is on healthy, whole foods combined with simple preparation. There is also a bit of a Korean overtone to many recipes, since that’s her heritage.

A recent recipe that caught my attention was Turkey and Green Beans in Lettuce or Over Rice. Now, as is often my wont, I begin to tinker with recipes before I’ve even cooked them. Ground turkey is an impossibility here in Thailand, but ground pork is readily available and tastier. And since she offered the option of serving the dish either in lettuce cups (ala P.F. Chang) or over rice, I decided to combine the dish with a whole grain rice and serve them together in the lettuce cups.

The results were fantastic. The combination of ground pork, green beans, ginger, garlic, soy sauce and hoisin sauce (with some chopped cilantro on top) is just super-tasty in a massively “umami” sort of way. Combine it with whole grain rice, which is nutty and satisfying, and it really was a whole meal in a leaf.

I’ll have to try these again soon. Another option is to use water chestnuts instead of (or in addition to) the green beans. I couldn’t find them at the market, but I’m sure if I ask Tawn what they are called in Thai, I’d be able to run them down.

One of my purchases in the US was the book “Kneadlessly Simple“, Nancy Baggett’s book of recipes for no-knead breads. I like baking my own bread and find that these kneadless options produce much tastier, “artisanal” style breads. So far I’ve made one loaf that was quite nice, although I botched the shaping and it came out lumpy. I’ll do another loaf today and see how it turns out.

Le Bernardin

Posted on 19 August 2009 by christao408

Of all the thoughtful wedding gifts we received from our friends and family as part of the “New York City Honeymoon” package, the gift certificate and reservations to Le Bernardin was the one about which I was most excited. As a certified foodie, the opportunity to dine at a three-star Michelin restaurant was one not to be missed. Now that I know what those three stars mean, I can define what food heaven must be like.

We modified our reservations – originally, dinner, “Billy Elliot” and the hotel were all scheduled for Thursday night – and chose 9:30 Wednesday for this gastronomic adventure. We also invited my cousin Brad, so there would be a representative of the family to witness this event.

A little bit of background: Le Bernardin is a seafood restaurant started in Paris in 1972 by siblings Maguy and Gilbert Le Coze. They moved it to New York City in 1986.

After Gilbert died in 1995, Eric Ripert succeeded him as head chef. Ripert, a 44-year old Frenchman pictured to the right, learned to cook in his grandmother’s kitchen and, unlike many celebrity chefs, still regularly works in his own kitchens.

In fact, you may recall an early episode of Anthony Bourdain’s “No Reservations” in which he and Ripert, a chef he has long admired, work a full shift in the Bourdain’s former kitchen at Les Halles, to see who has the stamina to still work in an everyday kitchen. Ripert breezes through the evening while Bourdain is breathless and achey by the end.

Le Bernardin is located on 51st Street between Sixth and Seventh Avenues, just on the north side of Times Square. The dining room has a clean, contemporary design that looks a bit like a fusion of a French dining room and a Japanese sushi bar. Jackets are required for gentlemen diners, something I rarely experience.

The menu has three options: Two tasting menus, which are $135 or $185 per person (seven or eight courses, respectively, $220/325 with wine pairing), and a four-course menu which is $109 per person. With three of us dining, we went for the four-course option, which would allow us to sample up to twelve dishes.

The four-course menu verges on the overwhelming. It has three all-seafood sections: “Almost Raw”, “Barely Touched”, and “Lightly Cooked”, which correspond to the degree of preparation. Basically, you choose one course from each section, plus a dessert. There were also four non-seafood items that could be substituted as requested.

Some examples of dishes we didn’t choose in each area:

Almost Raw

Oyster – Progressive tasting of Kumamoto oyster “en gelee”; from light and refreshing to complex and spicy.
Salmon – Yuzu cured Wild Alaskan Salmon; endive and shaved red beet; coriander infused verjus.
Scallop – Carpaccio of scallop; ginger; shiso-infused shitake broth.

Barely Touched

Sea Urchin – Sea Urchin risotto; toasted nori; urchin-citrus emulsion.
Soft Shell – Peppered Soft Shell Crab; avocado-coconut cream; sunflower sprout salad; lime sauce vierge.
Mackerel – Seared Spanish Mackerel; parmesan crisp and sun-dried tomato; black olive oil.

Lightly Cooked

Skate – Skate “au bambou”; cellophane noodle and wood ear mushroom; spiced bamboo broth.
Monkfish – Pan roasted Monkfish; Israeli couscous tabbouleh; black garlic and Persian lemon sauce.
Codfish – Sauteed Codfish; stuffed sweet peppers; octopus-red wine sauce and Basquaise emulsion.

As you can see, Ripert’s combinations are pretty fuss-free. Usually, the main dish will have two or three complementary flavors, leaving the main ingredient’s flavors free to be explored.

Service during ordering could best be described as “unintrusive”, to the extent that I wish the person taking the orders had been a little more assertive in helping us navigate the menu. I realize that for people who can afford to eat at these sorts of restaurants on a regular basis, such help may be unnecessary, but I found myself struggling with a third course that would follow nicely after the previous two. When he came back and asked if we had any questions, I responded with a desperate, “Yes!”

Let’s take a look at what we ordered. Lighting was subdued so even with my gorilla tripod, pictures came out a little dark.

Amuse-bouche: a small portion of tuna tartare served with a citrus vinaigrette and micro greens. Refreshing flavor really cleansed the palatte for the meal to come.

My first course was marinated Hamachi done Vietnamese style with a Nuoc Mam vinaigrette. Truthfully, it tasted more Thai style. The vinaigrette had a lot of lime juice in it, effectively “cooking” the meat with the acid. This was very nicely prepared, although if the vinaigrette had been slightly less acidic, it would have been more pleasant.

Tawn had the Black Bass tartare served with a mint and ice plant salad and chilled lemon nage (poaching broth). This was a very nice dish, perfectly balanced flavors.

Brad enjoyed a starter of layers of thinly pounded Yellowfin Tuna, foie gras and toasted baguette with shaved chives and extra virgin olive oil. This was another lovely dish that really showed off the flavors of the fish nicely.

For the second course, both Tawn and I had seared Langoustine (a type of slim lobster) with mache and wild mushroom salad, shaved foie fras and a white balsamic vinaigrette. This was a pretty hearty dish and was very nicely done. The langoustine was perfectly cooked – not overdone or tough at all – and the salad’s eathiness went nicely with the rich flavor of the meat.

Brad’s second course was a curried Crab and zucchini panna cotta (being married to an Italian, Brad loves panna cotta), with vadouvan spiced broth. (Want to know what vadouvan is? Click here.) This was really tasty, too. The crab flavor stood up nicely to the more assertive notes of the curry seasoning.

For the main course, I had a crispy Black Bass with braised celery and parsnip custard, served with an Iberico ham and green peppercorn sauce. I had asked for a recommendation of a third course, not sure what would go nicely after the langoustine. I had debated between this dish and a poached Halibut, and the order-taker steered me towards this. It was also very nice, although the sauce cooled quickly in the air conditioned room and began to gel, creating an unpleasant texture.

Tawn had the barely cooked Wild King Salmon with sweet pea and wasabi puree, spring vegetables and a citrus-yuzu emulsion. I love my salmon a bit rare so I found this a really lovely dish. Tawn, however, prefers his meat drier so for him, it was way undercooked.

Brad, not a huge seafood fan, departed to the “Upon Request” section for his main, enjoying a buffalo mozarella tortellini with wild mushroom consomme, nettle and a parmesan emulsion. This was really good. The consomme was really salty but very flavorful.

With our meal, we enjoyed a $50 bottle of Long Island rose recommended by Aldo Sohm, chef sommelier of Le Bernardin. In fact, he’s been named the best sommelier in America and won several awards. This is the first time I’ve been to a restaurant where the wine was tasted (using a little silver cup attached by chain to the sommelier’s waist) before being poured. Sadly, I didn’t make note of the winery from which the bottle came, but I’ve enjoyed many Long Island wines during other meals in New York City. One of these days I’ll have to travel out to Long Island again, this time for the purpose of wine tasting.

For dessert, Tawn had the chocolate-chicory, a chocolate cremeux, pain de genes, orange “meringue” and chicory ice cream.

Brad continued the panna cotta theme, having a grapefruit panna cotta with vanilla cream, grapefruit sorbet, tarragon coulis and a crisp merringue.

I had the vanilla poached apricot, with apricot cream and coulis wrapped in white chocolate, with noyau ice cream. (Noyau being a French liqueur made from brandy and apricot kernels.)

Additionally, having been informed when the original reservation was made that this was a special occassion, the kitchen sent out a complimentary “happy anniversry” cheesecake. Yes, our fifth day anniversary, I suppose.

After it all, some petits-fours were served. These were actually better than the desserts themselves, if you want my opinion. Four little bites, each different, each wonderfully done. The desserts seemed a little fussy, compared with the meal itself.

All in all, it was a pretty amazing meal experience. The fish dishes were really well-prepared and very enjoyable. The service throughout the evening was of the highest calibre. We went through more silverware, and more differently designed silverware, than I ever knew existed. Did you know that there are a half-dozen different types of fish forks, depending on the type of fish being served?

If I may make an observation, though: my experience at Le Bernardin reinforces my opinion that “fine dining” is in the eye of the beholder. You don’t necessarily need to spend a ton of money in order to eat very well-prepared food. Thinking back to the dinner I had at Orris in Los Angeles, I’d say I enjoyed that dining experience every bit as much as I enjoyed this dinner at Le Bernardin, when it comes strictly to the food itself. Sure, the service and atmosphere at Le Bernardin were ten times more sophisticated than at Orris, but when it comes down to the most fundamental thing – the food – both were very good.

That’s not to say I didn’t enjoy Le Bernardin – it was a fantastic dining experience and a spectacular way to celebrate our marriage. But for those of you who may feel like you’ll never be able to afford to eat well, I would stress that eating expensively isn’t a prerequisite for eating well. Many of my readers are foodies, too, and I’m sure they’ll agree.

So that’s a wrap on the New York entries. We returned Monday morning to Krungthep and are settling back into work and our regular routine.

New York Bites

Posted on 15 August 2009 by christao408

May I tell you about my ideal New York vacation? If I could have any type of vacation in New York, it would be a strictly food vacation. I’ve loved seeing my friends and meeting Xangans, but the absolute best New York vacation would be going from place to fantastic place, trying all the great food that is available in this city.

The highlight of the trip was our dinner at Le Bernardin, which I’ll write about in the next few days. That wasn’t our only good eat, though. Here are some other places we went:

John’s Pizza – three locations in the city, this one in Greenwich Village – has been widely hailed as the best pizza in NY. This is a matter of opinion, of course, as everyone has their favorite place for pizza pie. John’s coal-fired ovens are something of a dying breed and lightly char the thin crust. We ate here with Malcolm, Sally and Biing and really enjoyed it.

The better of the two pies was this bianco – no sauce, just mozzarella, tomatoes, basil and ricotta. The crust is a little thicker than the Italian style pies I’m familiar with, but still thing with just a little chewiness. Excellent pizza.

We actually spent a lot of time down in the Village and the surrounding neighborhoods. This little street was very cute. It reminds me of the “New York Street” on the Universal Studios backlot. Something about it doesn’t quite look real.

After the pizza, Biing took Tawn shopping. Knowing he would enjoy it better without me, I headed off with Malcolm and we hung out at a coffee shop, browsed for books at Strand Bookstore (“18 Miles of Books!”), and stopped by Otto Enoteca Pizzeria, Mario Batali’s foray into family dining to try his olive oil ice cream.

Yeah, it may sound a little strange, but there is an olive oil ice cream as well as a salty caramel ice cream on the dessert menu.

I know what you’re going to ask: What did it taste like?

As much as I don’t want to answer, Like olive oil, that’s the best answer I can give. It wasn’t super sweet, but the predominate flavor was of very good quality olive oil.

It was very interesting to try and I enjoyed it, but I don’t know if I’d be running out to eat more of it anytime soon.

The salty caramel was notable because, unlike “salted” caramel, which implies a little bit of salt flavor added to the caramel, this ice cream truly was “salty” caramel, something overly salty. It went beyond complementing the caramel flavor and ended up overwhelming it.

Above, olive oil and salty caramel ice creams, along with a scoop of Santa Rosa plum sorbetto. The plum was really the winner of the three, tasting just like a big bit of ripe plum. Reminds me of the creative seasonal ice creams I enjoyed in July 2008 at Ici in Berkeley. More about that here.

Thursday evening we headed to Grand Central Station (below) for a pre-show dinner at Grand Central Oyster Bar, with my college classmate Steven. The Oyster Bar dates from 1913 and is an institution that still earns its reputation. The seafood here is really fresh – they run out of many things later in the day because they only stock one day’s worth of inventory.

I haven’t seen Steven in the 15 years since I graduated university. Not only were we classmates, we actually worked together (along with Andrew) on our senior research thesis and were also disc jockeys at our school’s radio station, KSCU. He’s been in New York for many years and married just this past year. It was really nice to catch up with him and see him again.

Preparing to get a little messy, Tawn dons a bib.

The Grand Central Oyster Bar is, not surprisingly, known for their fresh oysters. There were more than a dozen types on the menu Thursday evening and we ordered two samples plates, each with two types of oysters from each coast. From the West Coast we had Carlsbad Blonde (Baja, Mexico) and Chef Creek (Washington). East Coast options (smooth edges versus rocky ones on the left coast) were the Tatamagouche (Nova Scotia) and Wellfleet (Massachusetts).

The flavors were very distinct: sweet versus briny, fruity versus metallic. All were wonderful. Sadly, I became confused about what was what and so couldn’t provide any more specific tasting notes.

Tawn and Steven had the bouillabaisse, one of their classics, with a rich tomato broth filled with lots of fresh seafood. The quality of the seafood was excellent.

I was looking for some crab crakes, but they only have those on Wednesday. For some reason, I took the waiter’s suggestion of deep fried softshell crab, which are in season.

The two crabs were very tasty and not oily at all. But the side of waffle fries was just too heavy. Something lighter – maybe a vegetable? – would have gone with the crabs much better.

We weren’t able to linger and visit over dinner as we had tickets – also part of our wedding gift from friends and family – to see Billy Elliot at the Imperial Theatre. The show was nice, with superb dancing by the young boy playing Billy (David Alvarez, one of three boys who rotate the role). The language was quite salty, especially given the number of young people in the audience.

Above, two days after the show, Tawn is still inspired.

The music (Elton John) and books and lyrics (Lee Hall) weren’t catchy. Fifteen minutes after the show, I couldn’t hum a single tune. The dramatic flow was also a bit stilted; had I not seen the movie, I wouldn’t have been able to clearly follow everything that was happening. Still, we had excellent seats and from and entertainment value perspective, we had a great time.

Friday for brunch we followed the recommendation of one of Tawn’s friends and headed back to the same corner of the Village where we’d enjoyed John’s Pizza. This time we ate at ‘ino, an Italian wine bar that serves excellent bruschetta and panini.

This restaurant, at 21 Bedford Street, is a tiny hole in the wall. We saddled up to the bar and had an excellent culinary experience. Our server was a friendly lady named Annie and another guy – maybe he was the owner – came over and spoke with us very knowledgably about Italian wines. Since Brad lived in the Milano area, he had some specific questions about varietals from that area. The man helping us really knew his stuff.

Four types of bruschetta from back left: Sweet corn and ricotta; sweet onion; artichokes and peccorino cheese; white beans, tomato and basil.

Four types of panini from back left: Pork loin with spicy mayo and fontina cheese; summer squash; prosciutto, bel paese and sweet onion; and bresaola (beef prosciutto), asparagus and pecorino peppato.

The real highlight – and I want you to understand how amazing this was – was the truffled egg toast. A thick slice of bread, hollowed out in the center, filled with fontina cheese, two eggs, and black truffle olive oil, then baked. The eggs are still soft, fresh black pepper is cracked on top, and lightly sauteed asparagus are the perfect foil to the truffle flavor. This is heavenly!

Tawn and I in the bar mirror.

We concluded the meal with an affogato – gelato with two shots of espresso poured over it. Yummy.

The truffled egg toast was so good I came back for another on Sunday morning when Tawn wanted to sleep in an extra hour. He wasn’t happy to hear I had gone without him.

I’m sitting at Newark Liberty International Airport as I write this. We’re on our way back to Bangkok. I’ve been in the US for 24 days, my longest trip back since I moved. It has been a lot of fun and I still have more to share about the trip, so I’ll be back on in a few days!

The Egg and I

Posted on 14 August 2009 by christao408

We arrived without incident at New York LaGuardia airport on Tuesday evening, taking an approach path that brought us right over midtown Manhattan. I shot some video, which didn’t turn out perfect, but which is worth seeing. Will try to get that together soon, although no promises as I’ve been pretty busy.

While we were waiting for our plane in Kansas City, Tawn discovered that his camera has a feature that combines multiple images. He played around with several interesting ones, including this comparison of our travel outfits:

We are staying with my cousins Bradley and Silvia in the Bedford-Stuyvesant neighborhood in Brooklyn. I’ve not spent any time in Brooklyn before, so it is nice to explore another borough. Sadly, Silvia is back in Italy this week visiting her parents, so no opportunity to see her.

Brad and Silvia have a trio of cats, two of which came from Italy when they moved back here a few years ago. The third cat, which they adopted from the shelter, has one eye and is named Willy.

The cats seem to be everywhere, all the time!

Thursday morning, Brad had to go into town to work, so Tawn and I started our morning with breakfast at Egg, a southern style breakfast place in the Williamsburg neighborhood. Above, cousin Brad waiting for the train on the opposite platform.

While not much to look at from the outside, the little patio area was pleasant and the service was friendly. Oh, and the locally roasted coffee was fantastic!

We sat outdoors and since the table was covered with butcher paper, started putting it to use. Tawn remembered that today was Mother’s Day in Thailand (which coincides with Her Majesty the Queen’s birthday – August 12th). After unsuccessfully trying to reach his mother by phone to wish her a happy Mother’s Day, he settled for drawing something for her and taking a picture of it, which he can show her upon his return.

I added my own wishes. I’ll let the Thai readers evaluate my penmanship or, as the case may be, crayonmanship.

Of course, all this doodling led Tawn to start sketching ideas for our house, based on things he had seen that inspired him:

The food at Egg is really good. They are known for their buttermilk biscuits, which happen to be a specialty of mine. I tried them with pork sausage gravy and a side of scrapple.

The biscuits were flaky, but also pretty dense and tough even with the flavorful gravy smothering them. Points for flavor but points taken away for texture.

Scrapple is a breakfast meat with German/Amish country origins. It is made by boiling the scrap meat and bones left after butchering a hog, then combining the meat with oatmeal, cornmeal or another thickening grain, and seasoning it. It doesn’t sound good, perhaps, but it is very tasty. My mother makes a batch every Christmas and gives it to family members as a gift. The scrapple at Egg was especially well-seasoned, with some chili powder and anise seeds adding a kick to it.

Tawn had a cheese omelet, bacon, hash browns and a tomato compote. The eggs were beautifully done and the hash browns were deep-fried and yummy. The common theme for all their food was that things were well-seasoned.

After lunch, we headed into Manhattan and the Metropolitan Museum of Art. More about that soon.

Bluestem Kansas City

Posted on 4 August 2009 by christao408

Two summers ago, the New York Times wrote an article about how smaller cities in the Midwest are starting to sustain not just good individual restaurants but whole groups of them, a sign of a foodie culture that is not just centered on the large coastal cities. Two of the chefs profiled were husband-wife team Colby and Megan Garrelts (below), whose restaurant bluestem opened five years ago.

Bluestem is self-described as “progressive American cuisine” and based on the Times’ article, I decided it was worth a visit. My friend Jack agreed to join me for this exploratory quest into the heart of Kansas City fooddom, which has long been perceived as beginning at steak and ending at potatoes.

Bluestem is a cozy, masculine, and somewhat under-lit place on Westport Road, on the edge of the local midtown entertainment district. Next door is a Sonic hamburger drive-in, which seems about right for what you would expect.

The bar area is loungey, with leather chairs and comfortable places to sit. The dining area is in the adjacent storefront, three floors down. There are only about a dozen tables so it doesn’t feel too loud, although I wouldn’t describe the volume as “hushed”.

Bluestem’s menu is divided into two pages. The left page has appetizers, starters, salads and soups. The right page has proteins. While you can order alacarte, fixed-price tasting menus are their specialty, with 3, 5, 7 and 12-course menus including dessert.

Jack opted for the 3-course menu and I, unable to decide on only one item from each side of the menu, went for the 5-course tasting menu. Here’s a look at what we are – sorry for the poor picture quality as I had to use a flash.

The amuse-bouche. A sweet corn panna cotta with a rock shrimp and sliver of frisee.

My first appetizer: Wagyu tartare, giardiniera (an Italian-American relish of pickled peppers and other vegetables in oils), black olive caramel and potato crisps.

My second appetizer: Orchiette pasta, bacon, peas, spinach, Parmigiano Reggiano, lemon.

Jack’s appetizer: Bay scallops, summer beets, wild arugula, corriander-champagne vinaigrette.

My first main: Seared scallop, braised bacon, bok choy, soy caramel, red miso emulsion (the foam).

My second main: Piedmontese strip steak, horseradish potato, asparagus, rapini, la quercia coppa (ham).

Jack’s main: Berkshire porkloin, smoked tomato, sweet and sour peach, vanilla jus.

My dessert: cheese plate featuring local cheeses.

Jack’s dessert: two types of chocolate mousse with spearmint ice cream.

We also enjoyed petit fours – graham cracker pound cake with toasted marshmallow and passion fruit gelee.

The food was well-prepared, quality ingredients and all. Service was attentive and the servers knowledgable. Truly, this restaurant could be located in New York, San Francisco or another major city. But my problem is with the price. While the food is very good, the price is just too high. $50 for the 3-course meal, $70 for the 5-course meal.

One thing that occurred to me is that many of the ingredients seem to be brought in from far away. On the way out, the manager asked us how things were and I asked him about this. He assured me that most of their ingredients come from five farmers within about 100 miles, but I’m skeptical. The seafood items were all from the coasts. The beef was from Texas. The passion fruit was from somewhere far away. My point is, being in the heart of the nation’s breadbasket in the midst of the summer, I’m sorry to see that there isn’t more emphasis on locality. Perhaps that would help drive the price down a bit.

Still, it was an interesting culinary adventure.

Middleaged Muscleman Mexican Mason

Posted on 26 July 2009 by christao408

Los Angeles is nothing if not diverse. Driving back from Long Beach this morning we traveled alongside a convertible Corvette blasting a song in Spanish, a beefy middleaged man with a sunburned scalp showing through his thinning black hair sitting behind the wheel, singing along. His vanity license plate read MSL MSTR and the frame explained: “Muscle Masters, Inc.” Above the plate, the logo of the fraternal order of the Freemasons. Where else but LA would you see this?

After dropping my boss at John Wayne Airport at 4:00 Friday, I met fellow Xangan Kenny at Starbucks and then we continued to Fashion Island in Newport Beach for an early dinner.

Since he doesn’t include an actual picture of himself on his site, I’ll respect that and show only the caricature he uses. Suffice it to say that he closely resembles this cartoon.

We went to Cafe R+D (as in “research and development”) which is part of Hillstone Restaurant Group, the same chain that owns Houston’s restaurant. The concept here is that Cafe R+D creates and tries dishes that will appear at other restaurants in the chain. Based on their menu, I couldn’t identify anything that seemed like a trial dish. Grilled fish, sandwiches, chops… nothing researched or developed.

Nonetheless, the food was tasty and, nicely, the portions weren’t obscenely large.

Appetizer of heirloom tomatoes and roasted golden beets served in a light vinaigrette. A tasty, summery combination, I found the tomatoes a little mushy. When the waiter enquired about the food, I told him this, resulting in a bit of an over-reaction. He apologized profusely and said he would let the kitchen know.

A few minutes later the chef came out. “I understand you were disappointed with the appetizer.” he said. He apologized again and said he had taken the item off the bill. I responded that I wasn’t disappointed but was only providing some feedback about the ingredients. In fact, I said, it was neither expected or necessary to not charge us for the dish. In either case, it was good that the staff takes customer feedback seriously.

My entree was grilled Copper River salmon served on mashed potatoes with a slice of baked tomato. It was tasty enough but was uninspiring.

The dessert: fresh berries with whipped cream. Very simple and very flavorful. The whipped cream was a little too sweet but other than that, a winner.

The best part of the meal was the opportunity to meet Kenny. Lots to talk about and always interesting to learn more about someone you only know virtually. Let’s hope that he and his boyfriend, who do a lot of traveling around the world, will make a stop in Bangkok one of these days soon.

Dining on Sukhumvit Soi 38

Posted on 1 July 2009 by christao408

Our friend Jackson is in town from San Francisco, his first time back since late 2006. The other evening we took him for dinner to Sukhumvit Soi 38, a side street near the Thong Lo BTS station known for its nighttime eateries.

Both sides of this Bangkok soi are lined with food shops that spill onto the streets, offering nearly every type of Thai food you can imagine. The food is very fresh, very cheap and very authentic. Because of the location – lots of expats live nearby – some concessions have been made to non-Thais for everyone’s convenience. For example, it is increasingly common to find laminated menus that have some of the more popular items with both English and Japanese names. If you want some of the more obscure items, though, you have to read and speak Thai.

Regardless of your Thai literacy, no corners are cut when it comes to preparing the food! This is the real deal.

Fatty pork (roasted then fried in oil for an extra-crispy skin) served over rice with a Hoisin-type sauce.

A “red soup” with various pork parts including cubes of boiled blood.

Borrowed from Malaysia and Singapore: chicken and oily rice.

Wide rice noodles stir fried with egg and shrimp – kind of like pad thai but without the tamarind sauce.

Everyone’s favorite – and also a Malaysian import – chicken satay with peanut dipping sauce.

One of the nice features of Soi 38 is that if you are sitting in one vendor’s building, you can still order form other vendors elsewhere on the soi. They will deliver the food to you, collecting the money and then returning for the utensils and plates later on. Each vendor uses a different type of plate, so it is easier to identify what belongs to whom.

Here’s a little video:

While eating, the rain started to pour outside. After several hot days with no rain, we seem to be back into the typical rainy season cycle. Building humidity and clouds throughout the day, giving way to intense storms for thirty minutes or an hour in the late afternoon or early evening.

Above, Jackson dodges the rain.

Since there was nowhere to go and no way to get home without getting soaked, we stopped in at a massage parlor around the corner for a 90-minute foot massage. This was a very “old school” parlor, Chinese owned with the menthol smell of balm thick in the air. My masseuse was a blind man who was surprisingly in tune with the knots in my feet and lower legs. What the parlor lacked in ambience, the masseuse more than made up for with skill.

Top Secret Mission to KL

Posted on 14 June 2009 by christao408

I’ve been away for two days and apologize for not writing. Would you believe I left town for the weekend and didn’t bring my computer with me? To top it off, I couldn’t tell you where we were going beforehand because someone whose surprise 40th birthday party was in Kuala Lumpur this weekend, reads this blog.

Tawn and I arrived at the Grand Millennium Hotel on Jalan Bukit Bintang just before 1:00 am Saturday. This old hotel was bought and remodeled just a few years ago and is very centrally located to much of the action in downtown KL. Here’s the view from our room the following morning, looking down at the year-old Pavilion Mall.

We enjoyed some relaxing time in the afternoon after sleeping in late, spending a few hours by the pool on a relatively cool tropical afternoon. After confirming details with the party’s host, one of the older sisters of the birthday girl, we walked to Le Bouchon, a French restaurant just a few minutes from the hotel.

Our party was held in a small back room, more like a cellar, that was a really nice setting. Stephanie, who was my colleague when I worked in Hong Kong and then was later our roommate in San Francisco for the better part of a year, was shocked that we were there. She was expecting just her family members.

Above: Tawn, Stephanie and Chris at Le Bouchon.

We were there from 6:30 until about 11:30, a proper Parisian-length meal! The food was very tasty. The owner and head chef is French and stopped in to see us. Entrees were as follows:

Mixed seafood salad

Escargots (snails)

Foie Gras (goose liver)

These were fantastic, especially the foie gras. Not to get animal rights activists riled up but I firmly believe that government regulation against the production of foie gras is foolhardy. If you don’t like it, don’t eat it. If you like, get the word out to as many people as you can about how it is produced, and then let us decide of our own conscience whether or not to eat it.

We enjoyed a pair of soups, a wild mushroom and a prawn bisque. These were good, although nothing particularly unique about them.

Everyone was able to choose a main course from the menu, which gave us a lot of variety.

I enjoyed a rack of lamb ribs with a mustard and bread crumb crust. Very tasty although maybe just a little too much mustard.

A very nice sea bass and linguini.

Venison stew. Didn’t have a chance to try this.

Duck confit with more foie gras on top. This was lovely. Confit is such a nice food.

For dessert, we had a bee cake that was surprisingly moist. Drinks included several bottles of champagne including a Moet et Chandon I picked up at the airport duty free. I probably had a bit too much to drink… becoming such a moderate drinker in my advanced age.

The whole evening was like a Chinese Malaysian version of My Big Fat Greek Wedding, a very warm and boisterous group. We really enjoyed being a part of it and were glad we could be there to help Stephanie, in pink on the left above, celebrate this milestone. Here’s to many more years of good health and great happiness!

And the beet goes on

Posted on 9 June 2009 by christao408

Continuing (and concluding) with my theme vegetable, the beet root, I made a recipe suggested in my comments by Zakiah. Kheema Shulgum, or Ground Meat and Beet Root, has definite Indian flavors, is really easy to make, and is healthy to boot.

I’m going to share the recipe here as I suspect that Zakiah wouldn’t have written it in the comments section if she wanted to keep it secret. I cut back on the oil and butter as our lamb here has a pretty good fat content.

1 Tsp each oil and butter
1/2 cup sliced onions (I used a whole medium sized onion)
1 Tbsp paste of ginger and garlic
1 Lb ground beef or lamb (I used lamb)
1 Tsp chili powder
1 Tsp turmeric
3/4 Tsp salt
1 cup beet root, cut into matchstick-sized pieces (I added about 2 cups)
1 Tbsp shredded coconut
1 Tbsp sour cream

Start by heating the oil and butter, sauteing the onion till golden brown. Add the ginger/garlic paste and fry till fragrant.

Add the meat and brown well. There will be some liquid from the meat, so try and dry that a little. I unded up having to spoon out some of the liquid.

Add the chili powder, turmeric and the salt and continue to cook for about five minutes or until the spices’ aroma has blossomed.

Add the sliced beetroot pieces and cover the dish with a tight-fitting lid for five minutes, stirrring every so often. I improvised and added three small roma tomatos, seeded and diced.

Cook until the beet root is fork-tender but not mushy, then add the coconut and the sour cream. The sour cream I added was mixed with some shredded Granny Smith apple, left over from the borscht recipe.

Serve warm, garnished with mint and cilantro, neither of which I had handy.

It turned out very nicely, a squeeze of lime substituted for the missing herbs. I also added a sprinkle of some more coconut just for visual appeal.

To accompany this meal I baked pita bread, some of which actually puffed up this time. Last time, you might recall, they turned out mighty flat. Letting the dough rest for a few days definitely improved it.

Thanks again to Zakiah for that wonderful recipe. Reading the entry, I realize it just has my improvisational marks all over it. Can’t just follow the recipe the way it is written, can I?

As for the beets, I think I’m ready to move on to another vegetable!

christao408

The adventures of an expat American who moved to Bangkok for his husband.

Tag Archives: cuisine