Sooo…I’ve got a friend who would like to visit the Delta. Got another with an SUV. Got a free Sunday with nothing major planned. So…time to move tables and bookshelves and kitchen appliances to the Delta. We’re all getting up and leaving The City early to avoid the traffic and the forecasted 91F (33C) high. Because of the “getting up early” part of this endeavor, I’m actually home at midnight. ON A SATURDAY! Sheesh.
On the plus side, since we’re going to be passing the Brentwood Costco, hopefully USDA Prime New York Steaks are in order! Since the “recession”, big shot steak houses haven’t been as busy as before. There’s lots of USDA Prime that hasn’t been picked up by steak houses and as a result, picked up by Costco, to be picked up by me! This IS a big deal if you like to eat real food. The WSJ even wrote about it back in July.
And once we get this fantastic meat, there’s only ONE way to prepare it. Some sea salt and freshly cracked pepper. And then…FIRE!
This is the enviro way to fire up coals. No lighter fluid here!
SF North Beach Festival 2009
I made a brief visit to the North Beach Festival last Sunday.
Washington Square all crowded
The North Beach Festival is one of the mainstays of San Francisco summer fair season where Washington Square and part of Grant Avenue is taken over by musicians, food, art and product vendors. The same vendors who are also at the Chestnut Street, Castro and Fillmore Street fairs, in case you missed them there. The North Beach Festival is different. Unlike the Chestnut Street Fair, you’re not confined to a corral if you wish to indulge in an adult beverage. Of course, maybe it was logistically impossible because of the density of the crowd. Problem is that when you have a crowd like this, this is what happens to your AT&T signal.
Notice the upper left corner of my iPhone? It says “searching”. And that’s all.
Of course, it’s not all smug and maturity. It’s an opportunity for local merchants (who are hurting due to the City’s policies) to attract customers too.
Why visit this place?
Because of its creative advertising!
The times are a changin’
A total bummer if you’re a foodie that likes chocky. The corporate owner of Scharffen Berger and Joseph Schmidt chocolates will be closing their original factories in Northern California and will be consolidating their production outside the state. Link here.
Although the official reason was to consolidate production at their Illinois plant, one can’t help but wonder, could the cost of doing business here in California have something to do with it? It costs too much to run production here so the Hershey company moved production to a state that wants jobs from a state that feels entitled to them (and all the tax revenue they can squeeze)?
An unfortunate side effect is that there’s a high probability that ingredients will be replaced by cheaper substitutes and the quality of the product (chocky, which is a serious thing!) will go down, thus cheapening the brand. Bummer. Totally.
WTF?? Whaddya mean it’s “late”??
Since when did 20:00 become “late” for a meal??
The last time I experienced this was when I was 10 years old OR…whenever I’m home in San Francisco.
I mean, there’s clues abounds. The dearth of good late night (or horrible) late night places to eat. When even dives like the Grubstake have queues on the deck, down the stairs and onto the Pine street sidewalk, replete with bums and gusty westerly winds. Its 4-star rating on Yelp BTW is for being open late more than anything else.
I guess it’s this. Either its “ignorance is bliss” or I’m not dead old enough to be here in ess eff. For the former, since I’ve been to a lot of Asia, LA and New York, I’ve gotten used to living life and being sociable. If I never left San Francisco, I may have thought that running home before the sun went down and not staying out past 20:00 was normal too. For the latter, it seems like people can be full of life when they’re elsewhere. Once they’re in SF however, they mutate into TV watching homebodies with no souls. Bah!
This blows! Time to get back to Asia! Anyone hiring out there?
Won Ton King
Actually, that sounds like a Stephen Chow movie. Like God of Cooking. But unlike his movies, Won Ton King is a serious thing…
Serious Wontonmein. Seriously good…
San Francisco, which is still lacking good quality ramen, also lacks good proper Hong Kong style wontonmein. Well, it did until King Won Ton opened in the Sunset. When you first walk into the restaurant, you see a photo of a bamboo pole and noodle dough. They say that they make their noodles by using the pole, much like the celebrated shops in Hong Kong and Macau. The noodles come out springy and delicious. Besides the noodles, the rest of the restaurant also reminds one of Hong Kong. The entire place is fluorescent lit, the menu is on colored copy paper and the service is brusque and curt.
In other words, just like Hong Kong!! YAY!
The one area that’s hit or miss is the wontons. On my first visit, the wontons were almost good enough for me to reduce my HKG trips to annual instead of biannual. The prawns tasted fresh. My second trip, the wontons weren’t quite as tasty (frozen?) but the beef stew was very good. It practically fell apart when it was lifted from the bowl with chopsticks.
Mmmm…beef stew. With mein. And wontons!
So, what’s the verdict? Is it the best in San Francisco? I think so. What to order? Anything that has the mein in it. But i’d go for any of the wontonmein variants. Order some Gai Lon and get some dong ling cha. Try to imagine being in Central just getting off of work. The illusion almost works until you receive your bill, which may as well be in Central because for what you’re eating, it’s expensive. It’s a cheap meal here in SFO but it costs a lot more than it does in Central…
Guess I’ll be still be traveling biannually to HKG, but Won Ton King will make the months I’m stuck here bearable. Like right now.
Won Ton King
1936 Irving Street (between 20th & 21st Aves)
San Francisco CA 94122
+14156829813
Geisha Spotting!!!
At least I think she’s a geisha (or geiko in Kyoto-Ben)
So so HUNGRY??
It looked like they all were having fun eating. Naturally!!
Dinner in Kyoto. Fun had by all!
After settling in at the hostel, the next order of business was finding a place to eat.
I do have priorities you know!
I went to the room next door and met two more backpackers who were also hungry. On the way out the door, we picked up one more for a total of four. Makes it easier to get a table.
We wound up in Kyoto’s Terimachi Arcade at a beer hall called Ichiba Coji. There’s also another location in the Kyoto Station building. Look at how this place is designed. Definitely does not scream “beer hall”. I thought it was a “Kyoto Cuisine” place.
We also ordered some bibimbap and some grilled beef with sauce.
Naturally at the end of a good meal, it’s time for camwhoring.
I found out after the fact that they also have a “free flow drinks” option where you pay Y1200 and for 90 minutes, you get all the booze you can drink. I’m sure there’s SOME limits, but I would have liked to try that!
Ichiba Coji
Terimachi Arcade, Bottom Floor
Kyoto
京都市中京区寺町錦上ル
ウイズユービル BF
TEL 075-252-2008
Bourdain’s Advice taken in Shinjuku
On the first episode of No Reservations titled “why the French don’t suck”, Anthony Bourdain devotes part of the show to the simple joy of sticking your head into the door of a strange restaurant and finding bliss.
Of course, as it is with all TV shows, this segment was scripted. However, it still made the point of leaving your culinary comfort zone to try and find new places that can eventually become old places (and a new part of your comfort zone) and then you can continue the search for new places. It never ends, unless they outlaw good tasting reasonably priced food (like they seem like they’re trying to do back home in SF, NYC and other places).
My first visit to Tokyo and my indoctrination into the ramen world took place a few years back at a small ramen shop off of Koshu-Kaido dori, across from a Citibank down the hill from the south exit of JR Shinjuku-eki. The place is still there and I’ve made my usual visit.
But the other night, I was hungry and decided to expand my horizons. I noticed a small shop across the way from one of the many small computer shops that populate this part of Shinjuku.
It has the usual flags up, but none of them said “ramen” in katakana (which is the kana I can SORT OF read). Looking inside, there were lots of people and it LOOKED like a ramen place, but I wasn’t sure. So I continued to walk around, passing the mysterious place every 5 to 10 minutes, sneaking peeks through the wooden slats that cover the windows.
After 30 minutes of window shopping and indecision (and stomach grumbling), I walked in and took a seat and tried to figure out the elegant looking menu. Thankfully they had an english menu that was not as elegant looking and I was able to place an order for a bowl of shio ramen.
After the beer and the water, comes the shio!
It was a delicious broth, light and flavourful with just a touch of oil with the slices of toriniku and negi sitting majestically on the top with a sour plum.
So now this is one of my “must go” places now. And they play real jazz inside!
Ramen Santouka Shinjuku Minamiguchi
1st Floor, Nakaoki Building
1-18-5, Nishi-Shinjuku, Shinjuku-ku, Tokyo
Big Brekkie
The day before a trip, it’s good to have a proper brekkie before having your body all messed up by time change, jet lag and horrible airplane food.
This is the first real meal after getting off a transpacific flight where she experienced time change, jet lag and horrible airplane food
Stacks
361 California Drive
Burlingame, CA 94010
650-579-1384
Not Enough Coffee
Personally, I think, “not enough coffee”!
I mean, this is how I am after I take a shower!!
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