Bushi-Tei

Bushi-Tei continues to be one of our favorite restaurants in SF. We don't go for dinner because we can't afford it, but we have been twice for lunch/brunch and plan to go a lot more! It's pricey, but a great value for the overall experience.

First off, the space and service are both lovely. The restaurant is a combination of sleek modern furniture and rustic traditional wooden Japanese walls. The servers are all incredibly knowledgeable and very nice.

Brunch comes with an assortment of fresh baked goods from the house oven. From the left: something that tasted like a regelach, a berry pound cake, chocolate croissants, and little almond and marzipan tarts.

Here are my four treats along with my fresh grapefruit "mimosa." The drink was lovely, but not something I'd necessarily order again.

Soup of the day: Yukon potatoes and corn chowder. It's so creamy you won't believe there's no dairy in it! The flavors really pop, just like they do in almost every Bushi-Tei dish.

Arctic char salad. If you want something light and refreshing, this is your dish. Cold, sweet slices of fish and a lightly dressed mix of delicate greens.
Maison salad with bacon and a poached egg. This is more like a Cobb salad, but less heavy-handed.
The winning entree of the day: red crabcakes! I couldn't believe how big these patties were. They were probably the size of a small fast food burger, and had very little filling. The crab flavor was so intense my mouth started watering at first bite. The perfectly poached farm fresh eggs and Hollandaise only heightened the experience.

A second look at that egg: WOW! Deep orange, thick, creamy, delicious. And since there were two, this dish was really filling.

I had the fish of the day, which was seared amberjack. Beautifully done, slightly reminiscent of mackerel, but not on the same level as the crabcakes. What I did notice was that the vegetables were super sweet. The polenta on the side was just okay.

Scallops and spaghettini in a broth with mushrooms and chrysanthemum leaves. Yum! The dish looks run of the mill, but the homemade pasta and richly flavorful broth were not something that can be achieved at home. I firmly believe Bushi-Tei has earned it's Michelin star because its best dishes have the most mundane descriptions.

We barely had room for dessert, but we had to make an effort. This is the apple dumpling wrapped in pasry dough and topped with vanilla ice cream. The best part, in my opinion, is the pool of burnt caramel at the bottom.

Our favorite dessert is the black sesame blancmange. The texture is like that of panna cotta, but slightly more grainy because of the tiny bits of sesame still visible in the sesame powder used to make it. They top it with a thin layer of coconut reduction and a strawberry and pineapple "salsa" with tiny bits of jalepeno and a mint garnish. Not only is it beautiful, the strawberries today were intensely sweet.

In addition to being hands down one of the best tasting lunch spots in San Francisco, Bushi-Tei is quite reasonably priced compared to the other hard-hitters on the dining scene. Lunch entrees are about $!15, and brunch is $25 for your choice of soup/salad and entree. And if you're armed with a $50 restaurant.com coupon, choosing Bushi-Tei becomes a real no-brainer.

Stella Pastry

What's a birthday without at least two cakes? After dinner, we swung by Stella Pastry. I'm telling you, this is one popular bakery. They were sold out of slices of my favorite, the sacripantina!

Thus, I was "forced" to buy a whole mini cake. I think it's a steal at about $19. It's probably enough to feed eight people small after dinner portions, or six people a very hefty portion. Definitely more cost effective than a $4.50 slice! What can I say about the sacripantina: it's delicious layers of slightly boozy Italian cream and fluffy white cake, topped with whipped cream and dusted with cake crumbs (do I detect a faint whiff of fennel/anise?). Eat this and you'll never crave that oh so cliched tiramisu again.

Lynmar

This picture pretty much sums up why I love Sonoma. Imagine birds chirping and the occasional eagle or horse passing by.

We discovered Lynmar Estate and fell completely in love with the winery. I had a lovely chardonnay and several nice pinot noirs. And that's saying a lot, because I'm not usually a pinot noir fan. There was also a rich syrah that's more similar to what I usually drink.

But mostly, the people and space won us over 100%. At Lynmar, when you purchase a tasting, you aren't forced to stand at a bar and make small talk with the employees while you try to down one wine after another. Instead, you place your order, then you pick a seat outside and the wines are brought to you, poured, described, and left for you to enjoy at your own pace. You are also welcome to bring whatever food you would like, or purchase amuse bouches that are paired with the wine.

Some of the outdoor tables are nestled in the middle of a flourishing herb and flower garden. We saw huge bushes of oregano, thyme, chives, asparagus, lettuce, basil, strawberries, sweet peas, posies, poppies, and a lot more. We even saw a birds' nest built into the side of the building, and the mother bird was flying back and forth with beetles for her babies. Ah, nature!

So if you find yourself in the Santa Rosa/Sebastopol area, do not miss a chance to visit Lynmar. Tastings are $10-25 instead of $5 or free, but it's a much more leisurely experience and you actually get to sip and enjoy your wine instead of feeling like someone's breathing down your neck waiting for you to drink your wine, swish it around in your mouth, pour out the rest, and then buy.

King's Hawaiian

The King's Hawaiian Paradise cake, one of the best desserts on earth. Which makes the sister who brought it the best sister on earth.

Just kidding. She's only one of the two best sisters on earth. Anyway, not to make other desserts feel bad, but my favorite sweets usually involve fluffy cake. And King's takes it to a whole new level with colorful layers of guava, passionfruit, and lime cake. The whipped cream around the sides is rich but not too sweet, and the marshmallow topping is gooey and delicious.

The colors are a little psychedelic for some, but it's one of the most popular cakes in LA for a reason!

Blue Bottle

Ah, the things I do for family:

The Gibraltar, a Blue Bottle specialty that's basically an extra short cappuccino (translation: less milk than a regular cappuccino). The minimal amount of milk allows the coffee flavor to come through more. An even shorter drink would be a macchiato. There's not much to say here: Blue Bottle roasts great coffee, buys top of the line machines, and hires people who know what they're doing. The result is consistently fantastic.

What was more surprising was the up and coming Mint Plaza! Just a few years ago, the only two reasons I knew of to walk into this dank alley were for a tostada bowl or to hop on the old person's bus to Reno. Now there's Blue Bottle, 54Mint, Chez Papa, and an abundance of neon orange chairs and tables for public use.

BLT

A BLT: possibly my favorite sandwich. I think everything's pretty self explanatory here.

Zha Jiang Mien

Would you believe dinner tonight is vegan? I don't always follow my own rules, but I try to eat meat only once a day. Today, I succeeded.


This is my first attempt at zha jiang mien, a Chinese noodle dish that's usually a mix of vegetables atop a meat and tofu sauce. It's Chinese spaghetti, if you will. Today, I used a mix of wood ear mushrooms, shitake mushrooms, and pressed tofu in lieu of pork. Since the meat version doesn't require much pork to begin with, the difference in taste is not unbearable even to meat lovers.

The biggest pain in the you-know-where about Chinese cooking is finely slicing so many vegetables. This is after already dicing up tofu, mushrooms, onions, and garlic for the sauce!

But it's worth it. The noodles are topped with sauce, then vegetables, and everything is mixed together while the noodles and sauce are still hot. The result is a big variety of colors, flavors, and textures.

Tuna Melt

I try not to buy plain white bread. It's starchy, full of hidden sugar, has no nutrients, and doesn't contain much protein. But J bought a loaf while I wasn't looking, and I remembered that white bread does fry up more evenly golden than any whole wheat.


But I was right; it doesn't make you full. One whole tuna melt in my stomach and I'm ready for another one. That doesn't usually happen after two slices of Orowheat whole wheat bread!

Stuffed Bean Curd Sheets

It's not much to look at, but it was a pretty good first attempt. Stuffed bean curd sheets are a crowd favorite at dim sum restaurants. At home, I finally tried to make a healthier version of this dish, which is usually deep fried and then braised.


The process is simple. Stir fry a combined three cups of shredded vegetables. There are always bamboo and shitake mushrooms, but you can add woodear mushrooms, carrots, bean sprouts, Chinese celery, or whatever you like. It's sort of like a lumpia filling. I also added chopped dried shrimp and a small amount of ground pork. I sauteed all the filling ingredients in sesame oil, adding some soy sauce, white pepper, and hondashi to the mid. Then I rinsed the bean curd sheets under hot water to soften them and wrapped a small handful of filling in each sheet. There are no rules here, you decide what ratio of filling to wrapper you want. Then I braised everything in a mix of soy sauce, water, sesame oil, and a little sugar, adding a cornstarch slurry right before serving to thicken the sauce.

Aji de Gallina

The desire to make this dish came from a meal over a year ago at Fresca. I won't say my version is anywhere near as good as theirs, but it was a nice homey meal at the end of a fantastic holiday Monday! We went to the shooting range with W, had lunch at La Cumbre, went grocery shopping, and stopped by Mitchell's for a snack before coming home and spending the entire afternoon cooking. Good times!

The recipe needs tweaking, but you can click here for the recipe I followed.

Ro Zao Over Rice

A simple, hearty meal tonight. "Poor people's food," as J calls it. But dangit if it's not delicious.

Ro zao, or braised ground pork, is great because it's cheap, easy to make, freezes well, and makes a fantastic addition to almost any meal. You can eat it over rice, pour it over dry noodles, add it to noodle soup, or use it as a filling for any number of things. Here's a basic recipe to get you started:

• 1 pound ground pork
• 1/2 cup soy sauce (I like Kimlan Super Special)
• 1/2 cup rice wine
  
• 1 cup water
• 1 heaping tablespoon sugar (any kind)
  
• 2-3 whole star anise, depending how fresh yours are
• 1 tablespoon lard (optional, but this is one of those small things that makes a huge difference in flavor and mouthfeel)
• 1/2 teaspoon five spice powder (to taste)
• 1/2 to 1 cup chopped green onions
• 3-5 chopped shitake mushrooms, fresh or reconstituted dry

Heat up a tablespoon of oil in a small pot over medium high flame. Cook the ground pork, breaking up the meat into small pieces. When it's cooked through, add all the other ingredients and stir well to combine. You might need to add more water to cover the pork. However, rememberyou are aiming for a gravy-like consistency, not a soup. Simmer over low heat for at least half an hour up to an hour, until the ro zao thickens and your mouth starts watering in the other room.

Cafe Zitouna

We found a new neighborhood gem tonight. And cheap too! Cafe Zitouna is an unassuming corner cafe, the kind of place that looks like it has a 50/50 chance of either selling burnt coffee and stale pastries or being an ethnic gem. Luckily for us, Zitouna turned out to be the latter.

Not being terribly hungry, we settled for one entree and the hummus with warmed pita bread ($4). The hummus was very creamy, had a nice garlic flavor, and was topped with fragrantly grassy Tunisian olive oil.

Then we shared one of the lamb tajines ($10). The dish was nicely done, but I wouldn't order it again because I just don't like artichoke hearts, green olives, or frozen peas very much (at least not when I'm paying to dine out). The broth of the tajine was really tasty though, and I could have had a bowl of it as a soup. Which reminds me that next time I'd go for a bowl of lentil soup and half a lamb shawarma sandwich, or a cous cous topped with one of several stews. I can't wait to go back and sample more goodies.

The menu shows a nice variety of items (including mint tea and what is rumored to be good coffee) without being dauntingly long, and the service is friendly. One downside of their being devout Muslims is that the restaurant closes at 9:00 p.m. daily so that those who need to can get to prayer. Too bad for us diners, but I admire their commitment.

Pho Tan Hoa

Friday night = no cooking! Okay, not always, but this Friday night we went to Pho Tan Hoa just a few blocks away because J was craving pho. I rarely crave pho, so I had a bowl of marinated beef and spring rolls over vermicelli and romaine lettuce. It was simultaneously bright and refreshing while great for my intense beef cravings. There's something about red meat and salad that usually hits the spot for me. Vietnamese fish sauce never hurts, either.

Random Food Photos

We ate a lot of random food for dinner today. You know how it is; end of the week, gotta get rid of leftovers.

For what I suppose is called our entree, I pulled some aushak out of the freezer. Aushak are Afghan dumplings filled with a variety of herbs. For ours I used mint, cilantro, green onions, salt, pepper flakes, and an egg.

The finished product wasn't nearly as beautiful as my last version, but it was fine. One can't always care a lot about presentation.

For dessert, we were just going to have cherries, but N came over with cupcakes! I scarfed down the German chocolate, which was really moist and dense with a great nutty coconut frosting. I forgot all about my camera until it was 100% in my stomach. This is the red velvet, which N and her sister said was tasty. They are from That Takes the Cake in the Marina.

And, a preview of coming attractions. J's lunch tomorrow is a potato salad sandwich gussied up with red onions, cucumbers, and a few stray pieces of leftover salami. Like I said, at the end of the week anything goes together.

La Altena Taqueria

A flash from the past: this is one of the things we at this weekend. It's called a burrito mojado, and it's a super burrito drowned in red enchilada sauce,cheese, guacamole, and sour cream. It's definitely big enough to share, and it's a Mission taqueria standard.

Four Barrel

I don't believe in giving away something for nothing, even to myself. So instead of just bussing down to the Mission to satisfy my curiosity about the newish Four Barrel Coffee store, I made myself jog the two miles there before indulging in a creamy hot latte.

Nothing in SF can yet compare to a single shot latte from Victrola in Seattle, but this came pretty close. Tight, dense foam partnered with a smooth, deep coffee with hints of burnt sugar.

I'm digging the interior, too. Coffee beans are sold in no-nonsense brown bags, and the menu includes 8 ways to have your coffee and an option to use soy instead of dairy. No tea, no soda, no hot chocolate--just coffee!

Broccoli and Bean Salad

Haha, chicken, I speared you! Yup, gotta check to make sure the meat's cooked before we dig in.

The broccoli salad was inspired by something I saw in the deli counter at a Middle Eastern restaurant. I'm not sure what exactly is in their version, but mine is as follows:

• 3 cups broccoli, crown broken into bite sized pieces and stem peeled and cubed
• 1 carrot, diced
• 2 cups whole wheat pasta (leftovers, in this case)
  
• 1/2 red onion, diced
• 1 cup cooked mixed beans
• 3 tablespoons (to taste) garlic balsamic vinaigrette (homemade)
• juice of 1/2 a lime
• salt and pepper to taste

Bring a pot of water to a boil and put in the carrots. After a minute, put in the broccoli. Boil for a minute to a minute and a half, depending how you like your vegetables. Drain and toss with the other ingredients. The beauty of this salad is that it's good warm, cold, or anywhere in between.

Nara and Stella

Like everyone else, J and I are trying to be more careful with money. Being who we are and living where we live, it's impossible to completely eliminate dining out. What we've done is opt for a combination of lower end dining and dining out for lunch, happy hour, or snacks instead of dinner.

This Saturday, we stopped in at Nara Sushi on Polk for $1 happy hour sushi after getting a haircut down the street. The quality was fine for everything, and the salmon was quite good. The $1 pricing is per piece, runs 3-6pm every day, and includes about ten of the most basic nigiri choices. $2 hot sake is also available.

Today, we took a walk through Chinatown and North Beach and stopped at Stella Pastry for a sacripantina ($4.78), one of my favorite desserts in SF. I think Stella has the best tiramisu in the city, but for my money I usually order the sacripantina because I don't want coffee or chocolate competing with the fluffy cake and lightly boozey Italian cream. To take home, I got four Italian cookies ($1.48).

Black Cod (aka. Butterfish)

I know there are a lot of more exotic, more expensive seafood selections in the world, but for my money I like a piece of simply prepared flakey fish. I'm not particular about what type of fish, but tonight we had an especially delicious variety called butterfish.

J, master of all things from the ocean, remembered that butterfish is great with a miso glaze. We combined two tablespoons of light soy sauce, a teaspoon of rice wine vinegar, a teaspoon of sugar,and a teaspoon of grated ginger to make a simple marinade for the fish. We let the fish sit in it for thirty minutes, and then put the two pieces in the toaster oven at about 200 degrees. Twenty minutes later, we glazed the top with more marinade and turned the toaster to broil for ten minutes. the fish turned out perfect. J had his on a bed of arugula.

I'm not a big arugula fan, so I had mine with cabbage, celery, and carrot slaw instead. We both had fragrant sushi rice and furikake on the side.

Conduit (SF Cocktail Week)

For some reason, Conduit Restaurant has never made it onto my radar screen. But after the SF Cocktail Week event they hosted last night, they are smack flat in the middle of my consciousness. Kudos to all the people who put on the Gin and Gen event last night; it was a fantastic evening all around.

The concept behind the event was a free ladies' night. I guess they wanted the women to feel free to get sloshed and to concentrate on what was being promoted: new gins and a Dutch liquor called Genever.

The darling of the evening was Bols Genever. Genever is the predecessor to gin; in addition to the usual aromatics in gin it includes a malt wine made of grains. Therefore, it has a whiskey/anejo tequila aroma that gin lacks. For my money, genever is the better product. It's traditionally served neat in these fun little glasses.

Everywhere I looked, bartenders were muddling this and squeezing that. Here is the setup for both the Poisoned Rose cocktail and Green Party champagne cocktail (both from Range).

Ah, Poisoned Rose. Simultaneously rosey and lemony, without too much flower flavor. I should have done a better job photographing the over dozen cocktails I sampled, but it was tough! Not only were my hands full, every time cocktails were placed on the table they were snatched up by thirsty women within ten seconds! I couldn't get a shot in edgewise. After awhile I just decided to enjoy myself. But I did get the names (in rough order of favorites):

• Hot Mama
• Wanderlust
• Siren
• Poisoned Rose
• Green Party
• Basil Gimlet
• some kind of punch
  

And there was food! My favorite was the carpaccio with truffle oil and roasted peppers. The bread it was served on was incredibly buttery, cheesy, and melt-in-your-mouth. One woman joked that the chef must have called the Devil for the recipe.
Spring peas were featured both inside and on top of these ravioli.
Dungeness crab with pickled cucumbers and red onions, on top of mini biscuits. The food at Conduit was all incredible. There were also meatballs dipped in yogurt sauce, and the staff was quick and friendly while putting out as much food as we could swallow.

Needless to say, I came home deliriously happy and am hoping to see more publicity for these kinds of events in my future. Plus, I was given a goodie bag! Yay for San Francisco. I love this town.

Lamb Ragu

Dental work is never fun, but I'm making it better by treating myself to some homey soft food.

Tonight we're eating a simple slow-cooked lamb ragu on top of whole wheat pasta and topped with arugula, pepper, and pecorino. My recipe changes all the time, but here's what I did today:

• 1 pound ground lamb
• 1 very large onion, finely diced
• 2 medium carrots, finely diced
• 3 large stalks celery, finely diced
• 3 cloves garlic, chopped
  
• 1 can tomato paste
• 1 can diced tomatoes or chunky tomato sauce (I used Muir Glen)
  
• 1 cup red wine
• salt and pepper to taste
• shallot salt (optional, I have some great shallot salt from Penzey's)

In a wide pot with a heavy bottom, warm three tablespoons of olive oil. Sautee the onions for a minute, then add the carrots, celery, and garlic. Stir occassionally for five minutes, or until the onions are translucent but not browning. Add the lamb, a lot of pepper, and a large pinch of salt, and sautee until browned. Add the tomato paste, then tomato sauce, then red wine and bring to a simmer.

Reduce the flame and cook for at least an hour, stirring occasionally. If you have the time, you can cook this for several hours so the meat really softens and the flavors truly meld. Add more salt and pepper to taste, and eat over your favorite pasta or use as a base for more complicated pasta creations. I'll probably be using this sauce in a very different recipe tomorrow night; stay tuned!

Chicken Wrap with Yogurt Sauce

This is what J had for lunch today.

Remember when I said I'm trying harder to remember to grill up a chicken breast and use it creatively throughout the week? This is four slices of breast meat, or about half of an average sized chicken breast. That's less than half of what most Americans would consider an entree size, but it's more than enough for a big chicken wrap. I added sliced cucumbers, sliced romaine lettuce, and a helping of yogurt that had been mixed with garlic, onions, cucumber, and salt.

Potstickers and Cherries

Ah, potstickers, how I love you. These came out perfectly crisped on the bottom.
This time around my homemade dumplings are filled with about a pound each of ground pork and chopped shrimp, a generous bundle of chopped up Chinese leeks, two chopped green onions, three tablespoons of ground ginger, and some soy sauce, sesame oil, and salt to taste. And while dumplings of all sorts are usually served with dipping sauce on the side, I like to pour a little sauce over my dumplings and top with a generous handful of cilantro and green onions. It brings the presentation up a few levels and adds a brightness to what might otherwise be an oily dish.

And for a side/dessert, cherries! Giant cherries are on sale all over Chinatown for 89 cents a pound. Some of these cherries are approaching the size of small walnuts, and most of them are quite sweet. This variety, which I believe is called the Brook cherry, is more varied in color than the black-red Bing, and has a milder flavor. As with the Bing, I could easily eat a bowl a day.

Celery Root Cucumber Salad

A perfectly balanced meal: four kinds of vegetables, red beans with rice (plain, no lard), and piece of grilled fish with a little salt and pepper.


I'm trying to take advantage of celery root while I can, since they don't always appear at the farmers market. This week I roasted them, then tossed them with cucumbers, romaine lettuce, and carrots in a mustard garlic vinaigrette. Next time I might try them raw in a slaw. I'm not sure they're worth the trouble, though. They do just kind of taste like celery. Where I really see them pulling their weight is in a puree or soup, where celery fibers are completely undesirable.

Pachamama and Everett and Jones

We did a little house shopping in out near Jack London Square in lieu of Mother's Day this weekend. The weather was gorgeous, but I think we've both decided if we have to live in the East Bay we like Emeryville a lot more than Jack London Square.

It was a fun day, though, and I got to try a new coffee place. Pachamama! Fun name.

I opted for a drip-to-order Peru, which was light with a little of what I call a "paper" flavor. For those who like black coffee that's mild enough to be almost a tea, this is great.

After walking all over half a dozen properties in over two hours, we were starving! Sadly, waterfront dining on Jack London is really pathetic. We were going to walk back towards Lake Merritt BART and see what we found along the way when we stumbled right into Everett and Jones. I had the ribs.

J had the brisket! Both of these huge plates of food were lunch specials for about $9. The only downside is that we didn't get to pick our sides; all lunch specials come with (mediocre) wheat bread and (quite good) potato salad.

We opted for hot sauce on the side.

Consensus: as delicious as ever. E&J excels at getting a smokey flavor into their meat. If it were up to me, the meat itself would be a touch more fall off the bone. However, as a whole package it was really fantastic. So fantastic that I fell into a 90 minute food coma as soon as I got home. Thank goodness the gym didn't close before I could get in a protein-fueled workout.

Pork Patty Spring Rolls

I'm on a roll with the healthy food this week.

Spring rolls are refreshing and delicious, though a big labor intensive. If you have the chops for it, here goes:

Pork Patties

• 1 lb ground pork
• 1 egg
• several tablespoons of fish sauce

Combine ingredients and taste. Yes, I said taste. You can cook a small piece first and see if it needs more fish sauce, but I just lick a little and spit it into the sink. Pan fry large spoonfuls of this mixture in a pan to create small, flat patties. Uniformity of size and shape don't matter here, but flatter patties will cook more quickly.

Vegetables for filling (proportions are really up to you)

• 2 cups bean sprouts
• 2 slivered carrots
• 2 slivered cucumbers
• 1 cup shredded mint

Peanut sauce

• 1 tablespoon hoisin sauce
• 2 tablespoons peanut butter, creamy or chunky depending on your preference
• juice of a quarter or a half lime, to taste
• 1 teaspoon sugar

Combine the ingredients and taste. Add more sugar or lime if necessary, and water as needed to create the consistency of gravy.

Assemble: following package instructions, moisten Vietnamese rice paper wrappers in warm water and place on a damp plate. Crumble a pork patty and spread on bottom third of the wrapper, top with peanut sauce and as much vegetables as you can neatly manage. Roll up and place on a second warm plate. Repeat until you are done.

Wrap in a leaf of romaine lettuce (optional) and chow down!

It's a Wrap!

Another simple meal tonight. I brushed a third of a whole wheat lavash with cream garlic salad dressing and topped it with chopped romaine, sliced red onions, and grated carrots. Then I added some grilled chicken breast slices and rolled it up. Easy, balanced, healthy, and not too shabby in the taste department either. Some yogurt sauce would have made it perfect.

I always forget how nice it is to have a few sliced up grilled chicken breasts in a container. It's the perfect quick topping for a salad, pasta, soup, or rice dish. Having it around actually makes me eat less meat because I know I won't need to cook up a whole meat dish to get some lean protein.

My usual M.O. for a chicken breast is to pound it to about half an inch thick, sprinkle with salt and pepper, and sear for about three minutes a side on medium high heat in a lightly oiled pan. Cool, slice, and put in a plastic container to use for the week.

Amsterdam Falafel (DC)

I've been having a slew of bad luck with falafel in SF, but lucky for me my long distance personal trainer knew just the place in DC to set me back on the track to falafel joy (and french fry joy, since no falafel joint worth its salt doesn't also serve stellar fries; in this case with choice of ketchup, peanut sauce, and Dutch mayo.)

The strategy: order a toasted whole wheat pita filled with three piping hot falafel. Then take the falafel out of the pita and fill the pita pocket with toppings from the extensive topping bar. Why is all this necessary, you ask?

Because Amsterdam Falafel is insane! Look at all the things you're allowed to put in your falafel! The one condition is that you're allowed to fill your pita once and only once, so you have to decide very quickly what you want and don't want. It's really tough. Luckily, there are pump machines of tahini and garlic cream sauce that you can get unlimited amounts of.

Balsamic Chicken and Broccoli

Dinner tonight was one of those simple affairs that comes together as more than the sum of its parts.

I salt and peppered one drumstick and one thigh for each of us, then pan fried the four pieces for at least six minutes per side over medium heat until they were cooked through and had crispy skin. During the cooking of the second side I added broccoli to the pan so it would cook in the chicken fat.

After removing both the chicken and the broccoli, I hit the pan with a splash of balsamic vinegar, scraped all the cooked bits off the bottom of the pan, added a splash of vodka, and stood back as the flames raged. The reduction was sweet and tangy, a really nice addition to an otherwise simple meal. We also ate the rest of the bean and cous cous salad we had yesterday.

Mitsitam Cafe (Washington, DC)

Museum food gets a bad rap, but I think new museums are really catching on to the fact that people want an enjoyable break in the middle of their cultural experience.

Case in point: Mitsitam Natural Food Cafe in the National Museum of the American Indian. They have four or five food stations divided by geographic region, and all the food looks good.

I had a fantastic lamb shank and mixed salad with mango bits. The shank was pretty stellar by even restaurant standards, and definitely not what I expected in a museum. The cornbread was huge and dry, but I'll cut them some slack for getting two out of three.

Calorie Break

I wouldn't say I overate this trip, and I even made it to the gym with C and J, my weightlifting role models. However, it's nice to be able to sit back and enjoy something like this instead of looking forward to restaurant food:

This is very improvised. I boiled a mix of beans and a half cup of Israeli cous cous in separate pans. When both were cooked, I drained them and mixed everything together with salt, pepper, paprika, parsley, chopped red onions, and some dijon mustard. Then I added some frozen peas and carrots for color and let everything mellow together in the fridge. When I was ready to eat I lightly tossed some chopped romaine with a storebought creamy garlic dressing, then topped with my grain salad. A squeeze of lime and a crack of pepper brighten this dish and bring it up to restaurant quality.

Matchbox (DC)

I'm back in SF! It's nice to be home, and now I have time to post all the delicious things I ate in DC. You've already seen a few of the things from my trip, but now there will be better photos. I have to say, DC surprised me more than a few times this trip. Here's what I ate on 4/30:

M suggested we to go matchbox, and my first thought was "I like pizza, but how good could it be?"

OMG--THIS GOOD. This is their Fire and Smoke pizza ($15), which includes fontina, basil, and chipotle sauce. It's hard to describe why this pizza was so enjoyable. The combination of the charred cracker thin crust, smokey flavors from both the chipotle and wood oven, the particular texture of melted fontina, and the fact that the oven was twenty feet away really came together in pizza perfection. I would not be far amiss if I said it was the most impressive pizza I've ever had. That's right, A16, I would fly across the country for this before eating your pizza again.

To top that off, the spinach salad ($9?) was also delicious. It doesn't look like much, but the light dressing and slightly sugary toasted crushed nuts was really nice. The fried ball on top is goat cheese.

Later that night, we met H for drinks and wings at guess where. Obviously nothing of particular culinary interest here, but we watched some basketball and saw a drunk girl stand up on a chair and hula hoop. Stay tuned for my next day's adventure...

Crouching Spider

Seriously? I came to the other side of the country just to see this guy? He just left SF last week!! The Bay Bridge was a much prettier back drop for him than a boring old Fed Building.

Peregrine (redux)

I could not stay away. Today, I got a hilariously whimsical drink called the Larry David. The spoon holds basil pop rocks, which you hold in your mouth as you sip the espresso, which has a milk and coconut milk base. I wish they'd made the milk hot, but overall a very tasty experience. And this whole getup vosts no more than a latte, which I appreciated.