I’ve been spending some time working in CHicago, and recently Suzanne joined me for a weekend. In coming posts I’ll be writing about some of the restaurants we went to.

• Star of Siam
• Xoco
• The Melting Pot
• The Bourgeois Pig
• Jam
• Fogo de Chao
• Big Bowl

While I’ll be focusing on the food we encountered during her visit, You can read more generally (and more NSFW) about Suzanne’s visit on her blog: 17th, 18th, 19th, 20th, and 21st.

El Majahual on Valencia just north of 24th is a quinticencial hole in the wall. It has absolutely no ambiance. But The food will keep me going back. I went in for lunch on a Wednesday and the place was busy, with people eating at the mishmash of tables as well as getting food to go. The menu is split between Salvadorian and Columbian. I had noted previously that this place served pupusas, so I ignored the Columbian section this time.

I ordered the 2 pupusa combo lunch: 2 pupusas, rice, and beans. There was a selection of pupusas available, and I opted for a pork and a pork/bean/cheese. I thoroughly enjoyed them. While I didn’t have any personal frame of reference (this being my first pupusa experience), I had done some research on Yelp of some other pupusa options in the area. These didn’t have any of the shortcomings I saw in some of Yelp!. These were hot, well cooked, and flavorful. I thought they were delightful.

The rice was plain white rice. It provided a good palette cleanser. The beans were pretty standard refritos. The slaw, on the other hand, was quite surprisingly good, as was the salsa.

The food was good, and the prices were reasonable. Not a place to go to for atmosphere, but definitely a place to go for food.

Opening night. Always an exciting time for, and at, a restaurant. The staff is nervous. I imagine it can feel a little overwhelming when the doors finally open and the public floods in.

And flood in they did; the place was jumping. Even with what appeared to be plenty of staff on hand, things seems to run slowly, and less than smoothly. We chalked that up to it being early on opening night.

Lafitte is the creation of SubCulture Dining’s “dissident chef” Russell Jackson, and is named for a successful 19th century pirate off the coast of Louisiana, Jean Baptista Lafitte. The restaurant decor is reminiscent of a pirate ship galley, with communal seating in addition to two and four seater tables. Wood beams and decorative shipping crates complete the look.

In stark contrast is the modern stainless steel kitchen.

The descriptions of the site claimed the dress code was biz casual, which we pretty much adhered to (although in my line of work, biz-casual is pretty much shorts, t-shirt, and flip-flops). I took advantage of the occasion to don a fresh dress shirt and snappy tie. Suzanne was looking devastatingly awesome, as usual. Beyond that, the clientele had a wide range of dress that went from jeans and a hoodie to jacket and a tie. The usual suspects were out, it being the highly anticipated opening of a hot new restaurant by a known chef:  There were plenty of lawyers and even former San Francisco mayor Willie Brown, looking dapper, as usual.

We were seated immediately and brought our choice of still or sparkling water quickly. We perused the cocktail menu and made or selections.

We ordered our drinks.  Then we waited for our drinks. And waited. Eventually, after far too long, they arrived. We were told it was because they had to remake them until they were right. Opening night.

Because we had to wait so long for our drinks, we had plenty of time to peruse the abbreviated menu; there were a total of eight items from which to choose.  Not eight entrées, but eight items:  Three appetizers, one pasta dish, two main dishes, and two desserts.  We figured out that we wanted almost everything within five minutes; however, we waited a lot longer for our drinks. This was our first taste of the delays and glitches experienced throughout the rest of the evening. By the time the waiter (well, we think he was our waiter, but that’s another story) came by to apologize for our drinks taking so long we were ready to order our meal.

Once they showed up, our drinks were good. I had a Smoke Screen (Old Overholt Rye, Benedictine, Lapsong Souchong tea, & kumquat), Suzanne had a Concubine (Death’s Door white whiskey, jasmine tea, meyer lemon, & egg white). We both really liked the Smoke Screen. Nice and bright with the citrus.

There was a selection of non-alcoholic cocktails available which, while we didn’t have any, Suzanne and I thought was a nice touch.

Compared to the menu, the wine list was extensive with a wide range of styles and prices. Many selections are available by the glass as well as by the bottle. As I’ve really been enjoying Spanish reds lately, I opted for a bottle of Siete 7 Tinto, Navarra, Spain 2008. We were not disappointed. It should be noted that unlike our cocktails the wine arrived quickly and the wine service was exemplary.

With the preliminaries taken care of, it was time for the food.

As is our usual approach when dining out, we ordered different things that we both like, and swapped part way through. For appetizers we had Cold Asparagus and Foie Gras Torchon, Grilled Bitter Lemon and Pepper Aspic Cream, and the Fried Artichoke with Spicy Dijonaise.

The asparagus was perfectly cooked, then chilled. It was bright green with a pleasant crunch. The thick slice of smooth and creamy foie gras was almost orgasm-inducingly good. Someone in the kitchen was showing off his mad mandoline skillz by making a bed of lengthwise-sliced asparagus for the foie to rest on. A slice of grilled bitter lemon completed the plate.

The artichoke was simply wonderful. A whole artichoke, steamed, deep fried (we think), and cut in half. Beautifully tender inside with browned, crisp outer leaves that crunched like potato chips. It was complimented very nicely by the dijonaise.

Next up were pasta and entrées: Zitoni Tagliati with Fennel, Green Garlic & Guanciale; Pork Sausage with Flageolet Beans, Tsoi Rabe & Mustard Sauce; and Sturgeon with braised Baby Leeks & Marjoram.

The pork sausage was somewhat forgetable. The beans were nicely done and tasty. The presence of a piece of pork belly was a surprise, seeing as it wasn’t in the description of the dish that appeared on the menu. It was, however, delightful, and probably single handedly rescued the dish from mediocrity.

The fish was tasty enough, and the baby leeks were perfect. However, marring an otherwise great dish was the dryness of the fish

Overall, we liked the entrée sides/garnishes more than the cores, other than the unexpected pork belly. Presentation and plating were expertly done.

Now we come to an interesting glitch. I had ordered the pasta as well, so as to have a wide sampling of what was coming out of the kitchen. I had expected it before our entrées, as it would be in a classic Italian service. I mentioned this to our waiter when he arrived to clear away the entrées. He was taken aback but quickly recovered and asked if it would be ok now. Sure, I’m here to sample your food. Bring it.

Now another oddity. A busser (maybe) arrived with silverware for the pasta, a fork and a spoon. He made a comment about the spoon for our soup. “We’re having the pasta … and … there isn’t any soup on the menu.” He went on to question the need of a spoon with Zitoni Tagliati (as opposed to spaghetti or such). “Well, it’s for the sauce,” I pointed out. Backpedaling and sucking up ensued. Rather surprising and disappointing. To compound things, these were not soup spoons. But as I said earlier: New staff, opening night.

The pasta (which we gobbled up before we remembered to take a picture) was cooked just right, with a sauce filled with smoky, piggy goodness. Another oddity was the presence of escarole which, like the pork belly, was good, but not on the menu.

I chalk those discrepancies up to the dynamic nature of the menu, which I’m sure will often change slightly between when they are printed and when the doors open for dinner service.

As you can see on the menu, there were a couple of dessert options, which we opted to skip since we were happily sated.

The overall noise level was reasonable (other than a child at the next table and some loud, obnoxious lawyers), with soft background music. We had no problem carrying on a conversation.

The meal as described above rang in at $160 plus tax and tip: cocktails, wine, appetizers, pasta, entrées. Skipping the pasta course would have dropped $22 off the price. The wine we had was toward the lower end of the price range and we could have easily doubled or tripled the bottom line based on wine selection. This is probably not a regular dinner stop for most of us, but I think it will be a fine place for a special evening out. I’m looking forward to going back in a few months to see how they settle in.

Lafitte is located on Embarcadero at the north end of the Pier 5 building. Perfectly situated for a romantic after-dinner stroll on the pier.

We recently had dinner at Algrias before our monthly visit to The Exploritorium After Dark.

Alegrias describes itself as being inspired by Grandma’s kitchen and serving authentic Spanish tapas and paellas. They’ve been in operation in San Francisco for 13 years.

The decor was all about bullfighting. Classically Spanish I guess. I’m not so sure about the slipcovers on the chairs, though. They seemed tacky. As expected for a dinner service, the lighting was subdued, so the pictures are not great.

I don’t have significant experience with Spanish cuisine to comment on the authenticity of what we had, but it was good and we left with our hungry sated.

We decided to have some sangria with our meal. It took quite a while for someone to come for our drink order, despite the restaurant not being busy yet. In fact, by the time someone attended to us we had settled on our entire order.

Then we were told that it would take a bit of time as they had to make the sangria. Excuse me? Spanish restaurant. Thursday. Just as dinner service begins. Caught without sangria?! Not good.

So we ordered our meal: a selection of tapas. Not being intimately familiar with the serving sizes, wanting to sample a variety of dishes, and wanting to have plenty to write about, we (ok, I) were somewhat overzealous. Ok, so there’d be food left. That’s not unexpected. What is unexpected is the waiter chastising you for ordering “too much” food.

So the food began. First out was Escalivada (Grilled eggplant, peppers & onions drizzled with a Spanish sherry vinegar reduction) and Chorizos Españoles (Assorted cured Spanish style sausages).

Both of these dishes were extremely tasty. The eggplant, onion, and peppers were very nice, in a delicious reduction. The sausage plate contained thin slices of four different types of sausages; all very nice.

Next up were the Patatas Alioli (Crisp fried potatoes tossed with a traditional alioli sauce) and Gambas al Ajillo (Prawns sauteed with garlic, parsley and white Rioja wine).

Before they served these two dishes, an interesting thing happened. The waiter whisked away our plates. He returned promptly with clean ones. Why? It’s not like we were switching courses as we had ordered a variety of tapas. Odd. Next, when he placed the clean plates before us, he did it with such flair and flourish that we were somewhat nonplussed.

The two dishes themselves were fine. Crispy fried potato cubes in a nice alioli. Suzanne was right when I ordered them: they were much like fries/hashbrowns. The sauce was really nice though, which elevated them from mere fry-dom. The prawns were prawns, a touch overcooked I thought, and only mildly garlicky.

Next up (with no changing of the plates) was Empanadillas de Carne (Spanish style turnovers stuffed with beef, green onions, olives, raisins, and herbs). These were quite tasty. Hot and crisp.

We finished off with Mejillones Alegrias (Steamed mussels in a white Rioja wine, garlic, and parsley sauce). I’m not a great fan of mussels, finding them to taste too much of the ocean. I had a few, though, and Suzanne enjoyed them.

So in all, not a horrible meal, having definite high points (the Escalivada in particular). However, between the service oddities, and some lackluster dishes, and general low value for the cost, I can’t see us bothering to return any time soon. Not for tapas, anyway. I might be interested in trying their Paella, though. For vegetarians, it’s worth noting that their menu flags dishes that have no meat of fish.

We went to Blowfish Sushi for dinner recently. Suzanne had been there before but I hadn’t … and I’ve been jonsing for some sushi for a while.

I was not disappointed. We started out with drinks. A Lychee Sidecar (kan no ko Japanese whiskey, orange liqueur, fresh lychee & lemon juice) for Suzanne and a Hitachino Red Rice Ale for myself. The Ale was nice, not too beery tasting, and pleasantly creamy:

We started the meal with Seaweed Salad (mixed greens, marinated seaweed & cherry tomatoes with a creamy carrot dressing) and tempura. Alas there is no pic of the tempura. But it was tempura, it looked like any other tempura I’ve had.

The salad was nicely done. The tempura, however, was a bit heavy & greasy. It lacked the light pleasantness that tempura aspires to.

Having finished our cocktail & beer, we had saki. Specifically, Murai Family Nigori — Genshu (tones of pineapple, coconut & vanilla). This was a very nice cloudy sake, served cold. Very refreshing.

Next up was the Sushi! A Dragon Roll (tempura shrimp, cucumber topped with unagi & avocado) and Spider maki (soft-shell crab, masago, shiso, avocado, sprouts).

Also up was a plate of various nigiri sushi.

Clockwise from the top left: Inari (sweet tofu wrap), Yaki Hotate (seared scallop), Hamachi (yellow tail), Tamago (egg cake), Uni (sea urchin), Tobiko (flying fish roe), Maguro (tuna).

All the sushi was just great. I will go back on the strength of their sushi. I probably won’t bother with the tempura next time, and I’d probably got straight into the sake, but I’ll certainly dig into the sushi. Staff was friendly. Service was good. You won’t get out with a cheap meal, but sushi isn’t cheap to start with and this was good sushi.

After the Starter Lab Suzanne and I attended at Local: Mission Eatery, we were eager to actually go there to eat. We dropped in for brunch today.

But first a bit about Local.

Local: Mission Eatery is a new place to eat in the Mission, on 24th Street. In fact the owner Yaron Milgrom takes inspiration from 24 St., including having a collage of the intersections of 24th along one wall.

Located between Folsom and Shotwell, it’s just a couple blocks from The 24th & Mission BART station and just down the block from Philz Coffee. You might not need to go to Philz for after-lunch coffee, however: Local (more accurately Knead) brews a very fine cup of FourBarrel.

The focus is on fresh, local, seasonal ingredients. The menu changes daily to reflect this focus. From their site:

All of our vegetables and fruit, all of our meat and fish, all of our dairy and eggs, all of our olive oil and rice, are sourced from the astounding bounty of California.

From this bounty, we craft the elements of the sandwiches, soups, salads, sodas, and dinners. Our sauces, spreads, preserves, fresh cheeses, and more will be housemade. It’s about quality and transparency. It’s about real food.

The menu (which can be found on their landing page at www.localmissioneatery.com is simple, with typically 5 items on it, plus a few daily specials. The pricing structure so far is clean and simple, reflecting the menu’s contents: $3 for drinks and simple plates (e.g. the Pickle Plate), $6 for soups, salads, and the cheese plate, and $9 for the entrée style dishes (sandwiches and brunch specials).

The place is nicely appointed as well, and very comfortable to eat at. As you walk in, the wall to your right is covered by a couple of planter hangings: flowers and herbs.

The decor is a combination of rustic and modern, with materials ranging from natural wood to brushed stainless steel.

The kitchen is open. You order at the counter and they call you when your order is ready. You bus your own table when you’re done. Very casual, very low overhead. Focus is firmly on the food. Where it should be.

Brunch

With two things on the menu for brunch, and wanting to do a fairly thorough review, we got one of each to share (which we usually do: we’re cute that way, as well as both wanting to try everything), and a couple of the drinks.

The Asparagus Sandwich (slow-poached egg, meyer lemon mousseline, open-faced on knead’s brioche) was very nice.

The eggs poached just right with nice runny yolks. The asparagus was tender, but with just enough crunch. We both love asparagus, and this delivered.

We had the Grits (grits from ridgecut gristmills, 4505 meats breakfast sausage, smoky greens, ricotta) as well.

I’ve always avoided grits in the past (I’ve spent some time working in North Carolina and Georgia where such things are staples at breakfast buffets) but decided to give it a try today. I’m glad I did. Creamy with a bit of texture. Very tasty as well. The sausages (from 4505, as noted) were fabulous. The greens gave a nice edge to grits.

The dishes were well designed for a couple to share (keep that in mind if you’re thinking of a brunch date) having 2 eggs and 2 sausages, respectively.

For drinks, Suzanne got the Tangelo Cream Soda which was very good. I opted for the Iced Sun Tea. It was nice enough, but not spectacular in the way the Soda was.

Knead

What about breads, pastries, and (most importantly at brunch) coffee? At the back of the restaurant, directly behind you when you are ordering, is Knead Patisserie.

Wanting to see what they could do we had one of the morning’s specials: a Rum-Raisin Cinnamon Roll. As mentioned above they brew FourBarrel coffee. I ordered a mug and was pleased when it was just what I like as a breakfast coffee.

To top it all off, Local has a cookbook lending library. These folks are serious about food and the sharing of it.

I’m all for supporting local restaurants, and this one is only a few blocks away. Given that, I expect to drop in occasionally. Monday I’ll be checking out their lunch offerings. You should check them out as well.

Suzanne and I went to the first “Lab” (aka class) at Local: Mission Eatery. They had a guest presenter from Sour Flour in to tell us *ALL* about natural starters. There’s way more to know about starters than I was aware. Way more.

Class started off by the instructor putting a couple loaves of bread in the oven and describing what went into each.

He spent some time talking about the oven and it’s effects on the bread (temperature, humidity, the baking stone, etc.).

He talked a lot about care of starters. There’s so much to it: hydration ratios, feeding schedules, type of flour. It seems to be as big an undertaking and effort as a child or puppy. These folks even have names for their starters. Frankly it was getting a little creepy how they were anthropomorphizing them!

This loaf was interesting.  It had been touching the other in the oven at first and he pulled them apart the first time he checked them. This resulted in it “oozing out” (That’s a technical bread baking term?) resulting in a loaf that looked something like a turtle.

And the final result.  Turtle-looking or not, it turned out well.

Despite hearing far more about starters than I wanted to know or even thought possible, the class was fun. We did learn some interesting things, and got to sample some yummy bread. My biggest takeaway was that I should continue buying bread at a bakery, made by people who take it seriously. Like the folks at Sour Flour.

I’ll be eating at Local soon. The menu looks good and I’ll post my impressions of the food here.

Suzanne wrote a humorous account of the class based on our discussion afterwards. Go read it.

As a followup point, the guy who taught the class runs Sour Flour, which will be setting up retail operations. Check them out.

Local: Mission Eatery is located in the Mission, on 24th St. between Folsom and Shotwell.

This post was originally going to be about the Ferry Building Farmer’s Market which is restarting on Tuesday & Thursday. Suzanne and I caught the bus into downtown and made our way to the Ferry Building. Alas, it was pretty lame. A few booths around the front door (and nothing in behind). Most of those were selling prepared foods. So we started home, walking down Market Street.

It was late morning by now and getting near time for lunch, so we started brainstorming as to where we should stop to eat. We eventually decided to visit Split Pea Seduction, a small place run by a friend of Suzanne’s.

Alas I have no picture of the food. I find that the food arrives, the food looks good, the food gets eaten, “Oh shit! I didn’t take a pic.” I do however have a collage shot of the interior. Very minimal, very to the point.

Likewise the menu is spare and to the point. It changes daily based on what’s available as they strive to base the menu on “seasonal ingredients purchased directly from small farms”.

We had similar leanings with regard to the menu so decided to split a salad and sandwich. For the salad we had the “Baby Spinach with Pickled Vegetables, Pecans, Sieved Egg and Green Garlic Vinaigrette“, and the sandwich we chose was the “Roast Spiced Natural Chicken, Avocado, Feta, Chimichurri, Aioli and Lettuce on a House Bun“. Both were very nicely done and tasty. The salad was plentiful, and served in a takeaway container for no-fuss handling of any leftovers, of which we had none.

Suzanne and I went out for dinner tonight. We’d heard people say that Aslam’s Rasoi.

When we peeked in we saw that it was busy but not full. Good sign. So we went in. We were shown to a cozy corner table … so cozy that we were almost blocked in by the surrounding tables later on. There was a feeling of trying to pack a few too many diners into the dining room.

The menu was reasonable, both in terms of variety and price, with the usual selection of North Indian dishes.

We got started with drinks and Assorted Pakoras (Vegetable Pakoras, Gobi Pakoras and Began Pakoras). The pakoras were nicely done. Whether it was Aslam’s practice, or specifically as we were there as a couple, I don’t know, but the selection of pakora were paired, two of each type. A nice touch in my opinion.

For the meal we ordered Lamb Vindaloo (Lamb curry cooked with potatoes and herbs in a hot curry sauce), Bengan Bartha (Freshly roasted eggplant sauteed with chopped onion, garlic, ginger, and spices), Chana Masala (Garbanzo beans cooked with onions, fresh tomatoes, and spices North Indian style, Aloo Gobi (Cauliflower and potatoes cooked with a hint of garlic and spices), rice, and Naan.

Serving sizes were good, providing a sumptuous meal and leftovers for another.

I’m not the world’s greatest lamb fan (yet) but I enjoyed the vindaloo. Tender and tasty with a nice level of heat. The bartha was ok … a little bland maybe. I would have liked it a bit more of a smoky flavor. The chana was very nice; good flavor and quite spicy. The aloo gobi was as expected, not exceptional, but certainly not a disappointment. The naan was quite nice, soft, with a touch of char.

Our waitress left a little to be desired, seeming to be somewhat ill at ease. Also, I didn’t think we were getting quite as much attention as we should have.

After the LARubyConf wrapped up this evening, a large group of us headed over to Gordon Biersch for dinner.

For beer I had the Schwarzbier (Literally “black beer” in German. Schwarzbier has a fairly light body with a delicious dry, roasted coffee like finish.). Dark, smooth, and tasty.

I started off with the “Old Fashioned Chopped Salad” (Chopped salad with chicken, pepperoni, pepper jack cheese, onions, tomatoes and a variety of fresh vegetables, tossed in an Olive Lemon Vinaigrette). This was good, down to the artichoke hearts and olives, big cubes of cheese. Yummy.

For main course I gave their Beer Battered Fish & Chips a try.

OK, I didn’t think to take a pic until well into it. My first impression was “Oh Fish sticks.”. First impressions were misleading as the fish turned out to be quite good. Happily it came with malt vinegar by default. It also, however, came with garlic fries. Um… WTF?! Fish & chips with garlic fries? Really strong garlic fries. While they were tasty enough, they definitely were not mean to go with fish & chips. Bad call Gordon Biersch.