What Makes for a Good Restaurant Review?

Posted on 13 September 2012 by christao408

After my recent entry about Quince restaurant in Bangkok, Nathanael (NVPhotography) asked my advice on writing restaurant reviews, since a local paper had asked him to review on new restaurant in town. Never having given it much thought, I asked for a few days to consider my response.

Let me say that I don’t consider most of my entries about restaurants to be true reviews. I just share some pictures of the food and offer some comments. A proper review is more in depth and thoughtful than my musings normally are. That said, let me share five thoughts about what makes for a good restaurant review.

Tawn selects bread at Pollen restaurant at Gardens by the Bay in Singapore.

First, have no conflicts of interest. You cannot offer an objective review if you have been paid by the restaurant, have received any complimentary dishes, or have any financial stake in the restaurant. It is customary for some restaurants to send an amuse bouche, a tiny bite before you dine, to whet your appetite. This does not count as a complimentary dish, as it is given to all diners.

Second, provide a context. This means explaining a bit of the history of the restaurant and/or the background of the chef. Now, this may be more applicable to a higher-end restaurant than to a local diner, but even in the later case, the fact that it is a local diner owned by a family of Greek vegetarians might help us understand what they are trying to accomplish. Think of it this way: when you watch a local high school drama department’s production of “Anything Goes,” you have very different expectations than when seeing the debut of a new opera by a professional company.

Third, explore the menu, especially specials. A good reviewer will either dine with a group or will return to the restaurant several times, in order to sample a wide range of dishes. It isn’t just the number of dishes that is important, though. What also matters is the type of dishes. If a chef is known for his charcuterie (prepared meats) then be sure to order the tripe, the head cheese, and the blood sausage. If the restaurant specializes in seafood, order a lot of fish and not much steak. Most of all, be sure to try any specials. These are meant to reflect the chef’s talent and creativity, often using seasonal ingredients. This gives the restaurant a chance to shine in the area they claim to be their best.

Fourth, be fair in your review. Everyone has their bad days and your dining experience can be influenced by factors that are out of the control of the chef or the restaurant staff. A table of rowdy drunks may ruin the ambience, but it isn’t fair to criticize the restaurant for their behavior. Even poor service from a waiter should be put into context. If possible, make a follow-up visit to see whether the poor service persists or was possibly unusual.

Finally, when you write, try to be as specific as possible. Instead of simply saying that a dish was good, try to explain what you enjoyed about it. This fifth point has helped me pay more attention and be more thoughtful when I eat. When I think about the flavors and notice how they contrast or complement each other, I get more out of the dining experience. If you can convey that thoughtfulness in your review, your readers will get more out of the review.

Of course, I’m sure that if we poked around in my previous entries about restaurants, we could find plenty of times when I’ve broken one or more of these guidelines. As they say, do as I say, not as I do!

What are your thoughts about what makes a good restaurant review?

Dining in Bangkok: Quince

Posted on 9 September 2012 by christao408

“Quince” is the name of a new restaurant that recently opened, after a lengthy soft opening, on Bangkok’s Sukhumvit Soi 45. Named after a fruit that is generally astringent and sour, but which yields delicious results with attentive preparation, the restaurant is meant to convey the idea that there is substance beyond the surface, a celebration of food and friendship that is about more than initial impressions. With that in mind, I dined at Quince three times over the last month and found a restaurant that, despite a few initial hiccups, seems to be ready to make a unique mark on the local dining scene.

Located in a three-story renovated home tucked behind home decor shop Casa Pagoda (the owners of which are also involved in the restaurant), Quince features different dining areas with distinct atmospheres: the front room, which faces the bar, has high ceilings and a lively vibe. It fits in well with the “see and be seen” aspect of upper-end Bangkok dining culture. The back room is a more intimate space with a softer ambience and a lower volume. When I dined there, I found it very easy for a table of four to carry on a conversation at a civilized volume. The restaurant also has a trio of private dining rooms that allow various sized groups to enjoy privacy and quiet while they have their meal.

The chef consultant is Jess Barnes, pictured below slicing blood sausage at a recent Big Bite Bangkok event. I first met Jess in March at the Lard-o-Licious pop-up restaurant at Opposite. Jess, who hails from the Barossa Valley in South Australia, has a professional background strongly rooted in Italian food and butchery. His cooking, though, runs the gamut from classical to modern, and his emphasis is on whole-animal cooking and local/seasonal ingredients.

As such, the menu changes frequently, which makes multiple visits interesting but also seems to be a little challenging for the staff. The menu is divided into small dishes, salads and veggies, and more substantial plates. Prices for the first two groupings seem a bit lower than I would expects while the more substantial plates have more substantial, although still reasonable, prices. There is also an extensive, well built wine list that feature good values – something you can’t often say in Thailand.

Let me share some pictures from the variety of dishes I tried in my three visits, along with some notes about them. All in all, I really enjoyed the food and found it tasty, well-prepared, and often creative. There were a few dishes that didn’t seem to fully come together, but that is common when a restaurant is in its soft opening phase. I would expect that in the coming months, the menu will grow stronger as winning dishes earn a regular place and weaker dishes undergo some tweaking.

Most restaurants in Thailand serve food family style and Quince follows this custom with lots of smaller plates that are perfect for sharing. On the left are roast potatoes with garlic and rosemary. On the right, sautéed mushrooms with tarragon, garlic, and sherry vinegar. Both these dishes were well-executed although both would benefit from a more assertive use of herbs.

Jess’ background is butchery and his skills particularly shine in dishes like this pig cheek rillette, served with quince jam and pickles. A rillette is a poor-man’s pâté, with meat (usually pork) chopped, salted, and cooked in fat until it achieves a spreadable consistency. This particular rillette tasted slightly underseasoned when eaten on its own, but when paired with the homemade quince jam, it came to life. This is a dish I would buy to keep in my refrigerator for late-night snacking.

The fried squid with romesco sauce and ham powder was a tasty menu item. The squid itself is faultless although doesn’t stand apart from similar dishes at other restaurants. It is the romesco sauce, a Spanish nut and red pepper sauce that appears several times on the menu, that is the star of the dish. Jess’ romesco sauce is fiery and rich, with a combination of flavors that compel you to eat more and more of it.

The roast bone marrow with parsley and capers, served with toast, is a dish I first tried at the Lard-o-Licious event. I really enjoy bone marrow and appreciate it being on the menu. In this preparation, the Italian parsley, with its characteristic bitter earthiness, seems overpowering. Perhaps if it were minced more finely with the capers, it would be an easier condiment for the marrow.

The menu contains a lot of items that are vegetarian (10 out of 26 dishes on one of my three visits), perhaps a testament to a period of his life when Jess was into veganism and first discovered cooking. This dish of roast carrots, poppy seeds, shallots, and honey is not only gorgeous to look at, it is a delight to eat and it says a lot that a chef with a butchery background is able to create so much flavor without the use of meat.

Another example of this skill, and a dish that is one of my favorites on the menu, is a plate of smokey eggplant, labne, sweet onions, romesco, and edamame. There is surprising depth of flavor in this dish, which will trick you if you don’t get a bit of all the ingredients in your first bite. The eggplant itself has a rich smokiness, almost a meaty quality, but is under-salted on its own. But when you include the labne, onions, and romesco, whole dimensions of flavor are unlocked. This is a standout dish.

On two visits, I tried the ricotta gnocchi with parmigiano, vegetables, mint, and chilli. The first time, the vegetable was zucchini, which went really well with the mint. The second time the dish had broccoli instead of zucchini, which was less successful. In both cases, though, the chilli was not noticeable and the dish would have benefitted from it being spicier. The gnocchi, though, were tender and perfectly cooked.

Visiting the “more substantial” portion of the menu, I tried the grilled wild tiger prawns with prawn mayo and leeks. The prawns were fresh, cooked very well, and had a nice char on them.

The fish of the day was different each time I was there. Or, rather, the preparations were different as on two visits the fish was sea bass. On my second visit to the restaurant, I tried the poached sea bass with a chorizo, crab, and seaweed broth. The fish was cooked well but the broth didn’t work for me. Despite the color, I didn’t detect any flavor of chorizo sausage, an ingredient that would have paired nicely with the meatiness of the fish. To top it off, the seaweed overpowered the broth, giving it a fishy flavor that was unpleasant. Of the six diners in our group, only one enjoyed this preparation.

On my third visit to Quince, I tried the poached sea bass again, this time with a caponata, a Sicilian cooked eggplant salad that also had green tomatoes and clam. The vegetables were nice, but I found the fish undercooked and there were several scales on the piece that was served.

The fourth seafood dish I tried, a crab omelette with chives, sweetcorn, and lime, was a tastier option than the sea bass. The preparation and flavors were good. The dish seemed a bit out of place on the menu, though. Crab omelette is a Thai staple and while it wasn’t prepared specifically in a Thai style, it seemed to be the only dish on the menu referencing Thailand. While the dish was tasty, it seemed not to fit the rest of the menu and I don’t know if I would order it again unless I was eating it as a one-dish meal, in which case it would be just about right.

The “more substantial” plates from land-based proteins were more successful than the sea-based ones. One of Quince’s signature dishes (which was sold out on my second visit so I had to try it on my third), was wet roasted chicken served with saffron and almond broth, barley and harissa. This dish is very tasty and the chicken has a lot of flavor. It would be perfect on a cold, rainy night or – since we have no cold nights in Bangkok – just a rainy one. The barley was a nice choice and a good match to the chicken. My only criticism: the harissa listed on the menu, a Tunisian chili sauce, seemed largely absent in flavor. For being in Bangkok and having a primarily Thai clientele, the food at Quince seems very shy when it comes to spice.

The hanger steak, sliced medium rare, and served with rocket with anchovy mayo, was a well-preapred classic. The steak was flavorful and nicely cooked. The peppery rocket was a good choice to accompany the dish and the anchovy mayo was nice, too.

One standout main course was the pork shoulder braised in milk and herbs, served with cauliflower purée. This is another dish (minus the cauliflower) that I first encountered at Lard-o-Licious, one of what I am coming to consider as “Jess Barnes staples.” In this case, the preparation at Quince was better than at Lard-o-Licious and it was a favorite of the diners who joined me on this visit to the restaurant.

The final meat dish, one I tried on my first visit to the restaurant, was a grilled lamb loin chop served simply with romesco sauce. The chops were well-seasoned but seemed inconsistent in size and shape, not looking like they were the same cut of meat. Nonetheless, the lamb paired well with the romesco sauce. I haven’t seen this particular dish on the menu in subsequent visits, although there seems to usually be some cut of lamb available.

The dessert selection on the Quince menu is limited and seems to usually have three items plus a trio of gelati. On my third visit, I tried the lemon tart served with salted caramel, peanut brittle, and dulce de leche sorbet. I found it very refreshing and the peanut brittle was particularly interesting.

This chocolate tart may be the signature dessert as I have seen it on the menu all three times I’ve visited Quince, although each time it is dressed up differently. This was my favorite of the three ways, served with fresh fig and a bitter orange sauce that complimented the chocolate. On the other visits, the tart was served with salted caramel, peanuts, and vanilla ice cream (okay) and then rose sorbet, fig, and orange (somewhat more interesting).

On my second visit, I tried this orange and almond torte served with milk jam, muesli, and pistachio. This dessert provoked mixed reactions: one fellow diner had some sharp words to say about its appearance, finding it messy to the point of revulsion. I returned to the dish for several bites and while I agreed that it looked a mess, the torte was very moist and I like the orange and almond flavors. Maybe a rework of presentation would make it a winner.

Based on three visits, I am pleased with Quince. The atmosphere is pleasant, especially the fact that the different dining spaces provide different types of ambience, so where you sit can be matched to your preference. The service, which has admittedly been hit-and-miss, will likely improve as the staff becomes more familiar and routines are developed. The food is creative and well-executed and, most importantly, there is a clear sense that Jess and his kitchen team are exploring. Food lovers will appreciate the thoughtfully-prepared menus, particularly as the dishes continue to be refined and improved over time.

Breakfast or Dessert?

Posted on 28 August 2012 by christao408

Recently had brunch at Gastro 1/6, a small cafe at the RMA Institute deep in Sukhumvit Soi 22. When I ordered the following, they asked if I wanted a scoop of ice cream with it.

I guess I thought of French toast with fresh fruit as more of a breakfast dish than a dessert, but when the fruit is this sweet and it is drizzled with maple syrup, I guess it isn’t that far from a dessert, is it?

Saturday Dinner Party

Posted on 20 August 2012 by christao408

This past Saturday, Tawn and I had two couples over for dinner. All four of them are foodies, so I made a special effort to cook an elegant meal but something that wouldn’t require a great deal of last-minute attention. There are few things worse for a dinner party than having to be in the kitchen while your guests are sitting at the table.

Amuse-bouche: To wake up the taste buds, I served a tomato water gelée topped with a tomato coulis. The tomato water, which is a bit cloudy because I rushed it along rather than waiting the twelve hours called for in the recipe, is made by blending fresh tomatoes and then straining them through cheesecloth. What happens is that the water in the tomato slowly drips out, full of tomato flavor but without any color. Of course, by squeezing the cheesecloth, I extracted a bit of the red coloring, clouding the water.

I added some gelatin to the tomato water and let it set in colorful shot glasses. I passed the remaining tomato pulp through a sieve to make coulis, flavoring it with some salt, sugar, and a little bit of balsamic vinegar. Not sure if it was the most exciting amuse-bouche ever, but I was pleased with it.

I made two salads, both of which were based on dishes I had at Orris, a Los Angeles small plates restaurant that I’ve been to a few times. The first dish was thinly sliced roast beets topped with cheese and dressed with balsamic vinegar, extra virgin olive oil, and dill. The original version of the dish is supposed to have manchego or another similar Spanish cheese. I ran out of time while shopping and had to settle for edam, which wasn’t nearly as good.

Another Orris-inspired dish was an asparagus salad with a tarragon dressing, tomatoes, and pecans. I assembled it a bit differently than the original dish, but it came out very nicely. Visually, it is very appealing, and the taste was nice, too.

To accompany the meal, I prepared a loaf of rosemary and black olive bread. This is one of my favorites and always turns out well.

The pasta course (which I didn’t get a picture of!) was a roasted vegetable lasagna with homemade pesto sauce. If I had had my way, I would have made individual servings of this. In the interest of minimizing time spent in the kitchen, I made a single batch and just served it at the table, family style. This dish was so tasty – the roasted veggies had lots of flavor – and I think I will make it my new standard lasagna recipe.

For the main course, I prepared basil marinated snow fish en papillote. Steaming the fish and vegetables in their own individual parchment paper packets is easy, convenient, fancy, and produces excellent results. In this case, I marinated the snow fish in an olive oil, white wine vinegar, and basil mixture for 30 minutes, then steamed the fish with carrots, turnips, zucchini, and bell peppers. The fish was seasoned with a small bit of butter, a strip of lemon peel, and a kaffir lime leaf.

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I was able to cook the packets while we were eating the lasagna, so the fish was hot out of the oven when served. The picture doesn’t really do it justice, but it turned out very nicely. Snow fish has a high oil content, so it stays moist. Next time, I think I would cut the turnips a bit thicker and instead of including zucchini and peppers in the packet, I would serve them on the side.

To celebrate the end of summer, I prepared a duo of cherry desserts. In the larger ramekin is a cherry clafoutis, which is a pancake like batter baked with a dish of fresh cherries. The smaller ramekin has cherries covered with a chilled sabayon, a frothy mixture of egg yolks, sugar, and amaretto liqueur. The sabayon is heated in a bowl placed over a steaming pot of water. It is whipped continuously, cooking the eggs and incorporating air. Once the mixture has cooled, I folded in some whipped cream. Finally, before serving the dessert I used a butane torch to brûlée the top. On the side is some more whipped cream and a cherry reduction sauce.

What I liked about these desserts is that I did not make them too sweet. Instead, they were satisfying without being sickeningly sweet. All in all, a meal well done.

While cleaning the dishes afterwards, I was struck by the pattern the beets had left on the serving plate, so had to take a picture.

Chow at Chow San Francisco

Posted on 23 July 2012 by christao408

The afternoon that we departed San Francisco, our cousins from Salt Lake City flew in to see us. We had time for lunch at Chow restaurant on Church Street, right around the corner from where we were staying and where we used to live. Still one of our favorite restaurants. I didn’t take pictures of everything, but there are a few shots that turned out nicely and are worth sharing.

Chow has been around since 1997 and its premise is simple: high-quality, healthy, affordable comfort food. Its menu reflects the Italian and Asian immigrant heritage of San Francisco.

Hangar steak, grilled to a perfect rare and sliced thin. Served with mashed potatoes and a cherry tomato confit.

Rigatoni of spring lamb sugo. Simple, hearty, perfect for lunch before a long plane ride.

Home made peach pie with vanilla ice cream. Summer in a slice.

Classic menu item: ginger cake with pumpkin ice cream. Yum!

My cousin Alex with her son Tommy. Tommy looks mighty happy about his suacerful of ice cream!

Romantic Dinner at Cafe Jacqueline

Posted on 18 July 2012 by christao408

For our final dinner in San Francisco, Tawn and I returned to Cafe Jacqueline, a charming restaurant in North Beach that specializes in soufflés, both savory and sweet. We first went here a dozen years ago and the place remains as charming as ever.

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The restaurant is not very large – a dozen tables, perhaps – and reservations are strongly encouraged. Reviews on yelp.com and other sites sometimes complain that the staff is rude to walk-in customers, but I think that perception is understandable when you consider that their style of restaurant is very different from the average well-reviewed restaurant. They serve only one thing (soufflés) made by one person (Jacqueline) and so the pace of service is very leisurely. People – especially foreign tourists toting their guide books – arrive without reservations and confrontations ensue when their expectations differ from reality. Because of this, the wait staff interrogate walk-in customers in a brusque manner: “Do you know what kind of restaurant this is?”

If you have reservations – or if you are a walk-in and pass the interrogation – you are treated with old world courtesy by friendly, professional waiters who have worked at the cafe for years. It is an old-fashioned kind of place, in the best meaning of that term.

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This is a restaurant made for romance. Next to several tables are small plaques commemorating special occasions that happened there. Our table had two such plaques: “George & Laura Vidalia – First Date… Married…” and the more interesting “Dav and Kate – Handshake of Monogamy, MLK Day 1997 – Proposal, MLK Day 2001”.

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There is a small selection of soups, salads, and appetizers, all of which are very French. Escargots, onion soup, caviar, and our choice: a spinach and bacon salad.

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It took some forty minutes for our savory soufflé to arrive, but this was totally expected and we kept ourselves occupied with an amazing bottle of old vine Zinfandel from Lodi, California. We had the prosciutto and cheese soufflé, which was a thing of beauty.

So that you don’t muss it up, the waiter serves the first portion for you.

Truly, the soufflé is a dish whose tremendous beauty is dashed just as soon as you cut into it. But despite its deflated appearance, the taste is tremendous and the textural contrasts energizing: rich and light, salty and eggy, crispy and smooth – all at the same time.

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For dessert, we took advantage of the season and enjoyed a fresh strawberry soufflé. This, of course, was another forty minute wait or so, but that meant that by the time it arrived, we actually had some room in our bellies to enjoy it. I’d say that this soufflé was ever so slightly undercooked, but to such a minor degree that it remained very enjoyable.

Cafe Jacqueline is one of those restaurants that is a must-visit and very appropriate for a special occasion. I hope we’ll make a return visit sooner than another dozen years from now, for I fear that once Mme Jacqueline reaches a certain age, she will decide to retire. As the cafe is a one-woman show, her retirement would likely mean the end of an era, and that would be a truly sad thing.

Dining in SF: Zarzuela

Posted on 12 July 2012 by christao408

While in SF, I had the opportunity to meet up with a trio of Xangans (two of whom are AWOL from the site – ahem!) for dinner at Zarzuela, a Spanish restaurant on Russian Hill. The conversation was excellent and the food very good.

Located on the corner of Union and Hyde Streets, the cable cars climb the hill outside Zarzuela’s front door. The room is cozy and the service friendly.

Jamon Serrano con Pan e Tomate – Serrano ham with toasted bread and tomato sauce. The ham was tasty, the bread was nice, the tomato sauce was weak and watery.

Gambas Ajillo – shrimp sauteed with garlic and olive oil. Very tasty but the portion was very small – this was the entire serving before any of us helped ourselves.

Mejillones Vinagretta – A specialty is the cold mussels served with chopped veggies and a sherry vinaigrette. Cold mussels seem less common than warm ones, but this dish is a good argument why cold mussels should be more comon.

Calamares a la Plancha con Aioli – Grilled calamari shells with a garlic mayonnaise sauce. The taste was fine but the presentation was awful. It looks like a three-year old just squiggled some mayo on top with a squeeze bottle.

Pollo con Setas – Sauteed chicken with mixed mushrooms and sherry wine sauce. This was tasty but not particularlly inspiring.

Pescado del Dia – Fish of the day, in this case salmon, served with a red tomato sauce and a side of green beans. Again, tasty but not very inspired. The type of dish that I feel most home cooks could easily create, which makes me wonder why I’m going to a restaurant to eat it.

Fideos con Marisco – Vermicelli and seafood tossed with white wine and saffron. This had a bit of a “boxed mac and cheese” quality to it. Again, tasty food but not very refined. Having not been to Spain, perhaps you can argue that the food there is rustic but for a restaurant in San Francisco, I’m expecting a little sophistication for $14.95.

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Trio of desserts. I didn’t catch what they were (other than the middle one, which is an almond cake kind of like an Italian Torta del Nonna). Actually, the one on the right might be a rice pudding.

The two AWOL Xangans, Jason and Sheening. Didn’t catch a good picture of the third Xangan joining us, Piyapong. Even if they have largely abandoned blogging on Xanga, it is always a pleasure to catch up with them in person.

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Fantastic view of North Beach and Telegraph Hill (and Lombard Street) just a few blocks north of the restaurant.

Chloe, Ella, and Savor – A Trio of San Francisco Breakfasts

Posted on 9 July 2012 by christao408

During our final pass through San Francisco, we set out on a small project to revisit a trio of our favorite breakfast restaurants from when we lived there. San Francisco is a great city for breakfasts – the same cannot be said for Bangkok, at least for Western style breakfasts – and we were excited to indulge in some early morning reminiscing with a few cups of coffee and plates of eggs, pastries, and meat products.

Savor

Our first breakfast was at Savor, a southwestern themed restaurant located on 24th Street in Noe Valley. In addition to Miss Millie’s, a now-defunct restaurant that was located on 24th at Castro Street, Savor was a frequent stop for breakfast when I first moved to San Francsico in the late 1990s.

The interior space is pleasant. You walk past the kitchen at the front of the restaurant and find a large dining room and a bright but shaded patio behind the restaurant. The interior is, as mentioned, southwestern and a fireplace lends a cozy atmosphere to the high-ceilinged space. We visited on a weekday morning and the restaurant wasn’t crowded. A friendly bear was our server and he had an amiable, almost maternal manner.

Tawn ordered the Coronado frittata. Years ago, frittatas were on the menu but have been removed and only omelettes remain. Tawn enquired with the waiter, though, and he said they’d be happy to make any of the omelettes as a frittata. This was a nice touch. The Coronado has avocado, sharp cheddar cheese, and onions and is topped with black bean chili, salsa fresca, and sour cream.

I ordered the Santa Fe, one of Savor’s many crepe selections. The Santa Fe has grilled chicken apple sausage with scrambled eggs, green onions, provolone cheese, and salsa fresca. The side of home fried potatoes was disappointing as they are under seasoned and would benefit from the use of some herbs.

One treat at Savor is their spicy cornbread, which is toasted and served with jalapeno jelly. This is what I remembered about the restaurant and was eager to try it again. Like the potatoes, I found the cornbread underseasoned, begging for a little more salt.

Overall conclusion was that Savor remains a comfortable place with friendly service and decent food, but the food seems more about quantity than quality. The quality isn’t bad, mind you, but it doesn’t stand out from the crowd. If they could reduce portion sizes slightly and improve the flavors, then they would have something really special.

Ella’s

The second of the trio is Ella’s, a self-described “neo-classical American” restaurant located on Presidio Avenue where Laurel Heights meets Lower Pacific Heights. More upscale, Ella’s has a sophisticated but inviting look. Waits can be long on weekends but on a weekday morning, we were seated immediately.

One of the two dining areas. Banquettes line the windows and tables are tightly spaced. On a busy morning, there is an energetic vibe and service is very prompt, encouraging a quick turnover. Service was detached and while employees were not outwardly rude, they also weren’t very friendly.

We started by sharing one of Ella’s famous cinnamon pecan rolls. These gooey delights are generous enough for a quartet to share but not as overwhelmingly sweet as, say, the rolls from Cinnabon.

Perhaps the most famous item on the menu is the chicken hash. (Which, unfortunately, is hidden under the eggs so you can’t see it!) Made with a combination of Russet and Yukon Gold potatoes, their hash is an immensely satisfying breakfast. The lumpy mashed potatoes are combined with sage, thyme, parsley, sauteed onions, and mustard, then formed into a patty and fried. My only complaint with this dish is that they garnish it with a heap of raw green onions, which give it a “grassy” feel. I just brush them to the side and enjoy the hash ungarnished.

Tawn tried some French Toast, which was nicely battered and cooked to that perfect point where the bread is rich with the eggy custard but not soggy. Portion sizes are more moderate than at Savor, leaving you feeling satisfied but not stuffed.

One of Ella’s charms is that they bake their own, very good bread. The entry area shows off their baked goods, which are available for takeaway purchase. Overall, Ella’s hasn’t changed in the years since I left and remains a nice place for a special breakfast.

Chloe’s

My final morning in San Francisco, I headed down Church Street to Chloe’s while Tawn slept in. Arriving a few minutes before the restaurant opened, I browsed the newspaper and waited on the seats outside. A long-time neighborhood attraction that occupies a small space, Chloe’s quickly has a queue and waits can be long on weekends.

Not fifteen minutes after they opened, most of the inside tables were full. The space is cozy and the staff is buzzing about, refilling coffee, taking orders, and keeping things moving without ever making you feel rushed. Only open for breakfast and lunch, the restaurant’s daily specials are written on the chalkboard and always include a scramble of some kind as well as a soup of the day.

I decided on buttermilk blueberry pancakes with scrambled eggs. Most breakfasts come with the option of toast, a pastry, or a bowl of fresh fruit. Obviously, I took the healthier option. While simple, the food is made with top-notch ingredients and is well-prepared. Your cup of coffee never gets cold thanks to the attentive employees who keep filling it up.

An F-Market car passes Chloe’s, heading up Church Street to start its day. There’s enough housing the in neighborhood to support a restaurant twice Chloe’s size, but they keep it small and are able to stay on top of the details. Chloe’s really has a neighborhood charm to it.

Conclusions:

Of the three restaurants, Chloe’s remains my favorite. While the food at Ella’s is a little fancier, Chloe’s has the scale and charm of a true neighborhood restaurant. Ella’s, located on a busy corner, seems more isolated. Although not a bad choice, Savor is a distant third when compared with the other two restaurants. Its service is friendly but its food isn’t as good as at the other two restaurants.

Food in SF: Wise Sons Deli

Posted on 30 June 2012 by christao408

East Coast transplants to Baghdad by the Bay long bemoaned the City’s lack of good pastrami. Over the years, the deli scene has scarcely improved. Good news has arrived: Located on 24th Street near South Van Ness, Wise Sons Deli brings San Francisco an authentic Jewish deli, ironically in a corner of the Mission district where tacquerias are more common.

Owners Evan Bloom and Leo Beckerman had been serving their deli food for more than a year at pop-up restaurants and from a cart at the San Francisco Ferry Building. This spring they opened a storefront of their own and have quickly gained a lot of publicity. While in the City in May, Tawn and I stopped by for an early lunch.

The interior is homey and comfortable. There is a line out the door throughout lunch and popular items do sell out. Service is friendly and efficient, which makes you feel welcome.

Something you don’t see often enough on the West Coast: New Jersey based Boylan Bottling Company’s Black Cherry soda. Tasty!

Waiting patiently for our food. You place orders at the register behind me. Food is then delivered to your table.

Matzo ball soup with a tender but not mushy matzo ball and a broth so rich and satisfying that you could easily ascribe to it all sorts of magical healing powers.

Pastrami on rye with a side of potato salad and homemade pickle spears. This is the true test of any deli, right? The good news: it exceeded expectations. The pastrami, sliced just a bit thick for my tastes, is moist and flavorful. The pickles are fantastic and make you wonder why more people don’t make their own pickles.

Close up on the meat.

Tawn had a special, a chicken cutlet pounded thin, breaded, and fried in a Schnitzel style. It was very tasty, too. Fries were nice, although nothing substantially different.

Conclusion: Wise Sons is the type of place that, if I lived in San Francisco, I’d visit regularly. The ambience and service are pleasant and the food is top-notch. Will definitely put it on the list to revisit next time I’m in town.

Breakfast and Lunch in Honolulu

Posted on 26 June 2012 by christao408

One corner of Honolulu that we found ourselves returning to throughout our two-day visit was Kapahulu Avenue. This neighborhood runs from the north side of the Honolulu Zoo (which is at the south end of Waikiki) to the H1 freeway near Chaminade University of Honolulu. The approximately two-kilometer distance is gentrifying nicely, with lots of long-time shops rubbing shoulders with a new Safeway supermarket. On our visits there, we ate a breakfast and a dinner.

Breakfast: Sweet E’s Cafe

Located in a small shopping complex kind of hidden off Kapahulu Avenue near the H1 freeway, Sweet E’s Cafe is one of the higher-rated breakfast places on Yelp.com. To be certain, I take Yelp reviews with a few large grains of salt. That said, it looked like a good bet for a decent Saturday breakfast before we started driving around the island.

Arriving early, we found the dining room less than half full. From the reviews, I get the impression that the restaurant is very crowded later in the morning. The interior is pleasant and the servers were helpful, if not exactly warm.

Poached eggs with Kalua pork. My big beef with lots of places is that their poached eggs are overcooked. This time, the problem was that the eggs were undercooked. In my mind, the perfect poached egg has solid but not rubbery whites, with runny yolks. When I cut into the first egg, the whites were still watery inside. It was right on the line between “worth sending them back” and “not worth sending them back,” so I didn’t. As the watery whites soaked my English muffins, though, I regretted my decision. The pork and the sauce were tasty, so points there, but the potatoes were bland and would have benefitted from some herbs or spices.

Tawn ordered a basic waffle with maple syrup. It was pleasantly crisp, cooked to just the right point.

We also ordered French toast stuffed with cream cheese and blueberries. The toast itself was nicely done but the blueberries inside the toast were tough, leading me to conclude that they use frozen blueberries for the stuffing and only place fresh berries as garnish for the plate.

Overall conclusion: Sweet E’s didn’t show such a sweet face for us, at least as far as quality. It has the potential to be very good and if we lived there, we would give it another chance to redeem itself. But if you are just visiting, I would suggest you search out Boot’s & Kimo’s in Kailua.

Dinner: Sam’s Kitchen

On Friday evening, we found ourselves looking for a tasty dinner that didn’t involve a lot of expense or effort on our part. Turning to Yelp.com, I searched for “cheap seafood dinner” in Honolulu. Sure, that’s probably the last place you want to eat – somewhere serving cheap seafood – but we got a result whose high ratings were accompanied by thoughtful reviews: Sam’s Kitchen.

Located on Kapahulu Avenue right across from a new Safeway shopping center, Sam’s has a slightly retro dive bar appearance. When we arrived about 8:00, we were charmed by its exterior but baffled (and slightly worried) by its almost vacant state.

We entered and found only a half-dozen customers (if that) listening to live Hawaiian music. I felt a little conspicuous walking in during their performance – after all, it wasn’t like we could sneak in unnoticed. The lady behind the counter was welcoming, though, so we figured out the menu and placed our order.

Sam’s is about as “Hawaiian” as you can get, a fusion of flavors that represent the different cultures that make up the local population. There is a heavy Japanese bent (and it seems that their original Waikiki location is wildly popular with Japanese guide books), but other cultures are represented, too. Dishes are mostly either rice bowls or bento boxes and their garlic sauce is apparently “famous.”

Tawn tried the spicy garlic shrimp rice plate, which came with a salad and a half-ear of corn. This was good food – the shrimp is tender and sweet and the garlic packed a punch – and stayed with us for the next day.

I had the fried mahi mahi with macadamia nuts. The fish was very fresh, lightly breaded, and the sauce was tasty. Both dishes were simple, inexpensive, huge, and excellent. So much so that on Saturday night, our second and final night on Oahu, we decided to visit Sam’s again.

This time we stopped at the original location on Royal Hawaiian Avenue in Waikiki. This location is take-out only, although it does offer some self-service tables if you can’t wait to get back home to eat. The menu is the same and the customers were mostly Japanese.

Tawn ordered a combo plate (left) with the same two items we had the night before, but half a portion each. On the right, I ordered a garlic steak plate. The steak was tasty, although pretty tough.

With two small bottles of wine from the convenience store downstairs, we celebrated our last night on Oahu with a sunset dinner on our balcony.

christao408

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

Tag Archives: Dining