Suzuki & Maguro nigiri – Crazy Sushi

Posted on September 18, 2011 by vicentesf

Slice of sea bass on a mound of rice with a dab of wasabi and garnished with sliced scallions. $3.99 for two pieces

Slice of tuna. $3.99 for two pieces
Crazy Sushi, San Francisco

Both these nigiri have such a beautiful pink color. I loved the maguro, and I recommend maguro nigiri to all the novice sushi eaters out there since I think it’s one of the least fishy tasting. Maguro is readily available at sushi places and is more forgiving on a squeamish palette. I’m definitely no sushi expert, but I try to eat out of my comfort zone. That’s why I tried the suzuki, and I’ll say that I’m not a fan. Perhaps Crazy Sushi’s cut wasn’t fresh, but it had an odd flavor that did not agree with me. I had to dunk that piece mulitple times into the soy sauce to get it down.

I love the free side salad at Japanese restaurants with the familiar sesame, ginger dressing. Yum!

And what’s a sushi dinner without some Japanese beer? Sapporo is my prefered choice, hehe!

Tocilog – Kuya’s Asian Cuisine

Posted on September 16, 2011 by vicentesf

Sweet marinated pork tocino with garlic fried rice and eggs over medium. The rice is garnished with more fried garlic pieces and chopped scallions. Cucumber and tomato slices are thrown in for good measure.
Kuya’s Asian Cuisine, San Bruno CA

This is a classic Filipino breakfast! Tocilog comes from combining the Filipino words for sweet marinated pork (tocino) and egg (itlog). We didn’t have tocino very often growing up, but it was one of my favorite breakfast items along with longanisa. Probably because they are both so flavorful and fatty, a common thread in Filipino food, lol! I have to say that Kuya’s tocina was a bit on the hard and dry side for me, but it still tasted great. There are some amazing flavors in this dish: the sweet and salty from the tocino and the intense garlic from the fried rice. The runny egg (and you have to order it runny!) blends everything together. So familiar, so delicious!

Rock ‘n Roll – Crazy Sushi

Posted on September 14, 2011 by vicentesf

Sushi roll with bbq eel, avocado, and topped with tobiko and unagi sauce.
Crazy Sushi, San Francisco

Like most people, when I first started eating sushi I tended to stick with the rolls containing cooked items like rock ‘n rolls and California rolls because they were easier to stomach than the crazy, raw nigiri or sashimi (it doesn’t even have rice!). And I continue to say, “There’s nothing wrong with that.” I still enjoy ordering rock ‘n rolls because I simply love unagi! I also order unagi nigiri because bbq eel is delicious and the unagi sauce is an added bonus. I’ve since become more adventurous in sushi land – ordering more and more raw items, but I still take comfort and enjoy my inauthentic rolls. A word of advice: Nobody likes a sushi snob!

Braised rabbit leg and saddle – Bar Agricole

Posted on September 14, 2011 by vicentesf

Rabbit two ways – braised leg and a roasted saddle wrapped in pancetta. Served with Jimmy Nardello peppers, Romano beans, and farro. $30
Bar Agricole, San Francisco

This dish was just OK for me. I thoroughly enjoyed the pancetta wrapped saddle – it was cooked perfectly and tasted amazing! However, the braised leg in combination with the sauce was SO salty! And that says a lot coming from me, a salt monger. I did love the Jimmy Nardellos – they looked great and tasted even better. I’ve recently noticed more restaurants using these lately, as well as shishito and padron peppers. I won’t complain because I love them all. The remainder of the plate was forgettable…

Xiao long bao – Shanghai Dumpling King

Posted on September 12, 2011 by vicentesf

Steamed soup dumplings with a pork filling atop a napa cabbage leaf. $5.50
Shanghai Dumpling King, San Francisco

These dumplings were SO delicious! I only ripped one or two while trying to eat them with chopsticks so I was particularly proud of myself. When I first had these, I wondered how they got the soup inside the dumplings. Apparently, the dumplings are made with a pork filling and a gelatin aspic. The aspic melts into a “soup” when the dumplings are steamed – genius! These are very fun to eat and Shanghai Dumpling King’s are some of the best in San Francisco.

7×7 Magazine’s The Big Eat San Francisco: 100 Things to Eat + Drink Before You Die – 2010, 2011, 2012

Xiao long bao - Shanghai Dumpling King
November 17, 2013. So I guess they’re not using the napa cabbage on the bottom anymore. That’s a shame.

White sea bass – Bar Agricole

Posted on September 9, 2011 by vicentesf

Tender white sea bass with summer squash, plum tomatoes, purslane(?), saffron and aioli. $29
Bar Agricole, San Francisco

The fish was cooked perfectly, but I must say that the broth stole the show. It was so flavorful and refined. The chunky cuts of plum tomatoes and squash were perfectly proportioned and provided great color. What I didn’t like was the purslane. It looked cool as a garnish, but it was too slimy and the fleshy texture was off-putting. Maybe I wasn’t supposed to eat it, lol!

Chioggia beet salad – Bar Agricole

Posted on September 9, 2011 by vicentesf

Mixed lettuces with Chioggia beets, avocado, toast and a tarragon vinaigrette. $13
Bar Agricole, San Francisco

This dish was absolutely beautiful with the pinkish red beets, green lettuces and avocado, pale vinaigrette, and dark toast. I didn’t know what a Chioggia beet was, but apparently Chioggia is a coastal town near Venice and the beets have concentric white and pink stripes before they’re cooked. They tasted great! Not sure where the mixed lettuces were though. There was only one type of green, and it appeared to be some type of cress.

San Francisco roll – Crazy Sushi

Posted on September 1, 2011 by vicentesf

8 piece roll with spicy tuna, avocado, and topped with a seaweed salad.
Crazy Sushi, San Francisco

When a sushi joint names a roll after San Francisco, I expect it to be amazing. This one didn’t blow my mind, but I did enjoy it. What can I say, I’m a sucker for spicy tuna, and the seaweed salad on top freshened it up and had a nice texture. I’ve been to Crazy Sushi before and I wasn’t impressed, but this time around they surprised me. All the sushi we had was fresh and distinct. And you can’t beat the price! Will definitely return if the quality remains high.

Here’s the assorted sushi we ordered. It not only tasted good, but I think that it looks good too.

Lumpia Shanghai – Kuya’s Asian Cuisine

Posted on August 30, 2011 by vicentesf

Filling of seasoned pork and beef, minced onions and carrots, and beaten eggs in a lumpia wrapper, deep fried, and cut into bite sized pieces.
Kuya’s Asian Cuisine, San Bruno CA

I grew up eating lumpia prito (fried lumpia) which are much larger and have more vegetables: sprouts, carrots, string beans, peas, onion, and sometimes potatoes. My family always used ground beef in our lumpia, and it was great sitting around the table wrapping them to be stored in the freezer. I’m sure my parents still have trays of it in their freezer, ready to be given to guests to take home.

As a kid I only had lumpia Shanghai at parties and, later on, at Filipino restaurants in the city. Both lumpia varieties have their advantages, but lumpia Shanghai are less labor intensive to make and because of their small size, make excellent finger food at parties. I’ve been known to order trays of it to serve at my house. You can get a traditional “lumpia” sauce at Asian markets, but I prefer a regular sweet chili sauce because it has more flavor. Beware, lumpia is VERY addictive!

Country style pork pate – Bar Agricole

Posted on August 26, 2011 by vicentesf

Slice of pork pate served with toast, aspic, mustard and caper berries. $10
Bar Agricole, San Francisco

The server explained that the pate was “country style” since it consisted of chunkier pieces, not the smoother pates you usually see. This pork pate was absolutely delicious and filling! I just wish it came with more bread because the pate slice was pretty sizable. I’m guessing that the aspic was also from pork, but I’m not sure. Regardless, everything tasted great together!

Someone at the table didn’t know what aspic was, and I smiled because I remembered having to look it up while reading Anthony Bourdain’s “Kitchen Confidential”, lol! I was happy to explain that it’s a jelly made from a stock (usually meat or fish) and gelatin.

Corn soup – Bar Agricole

Posted on August 25, 2011 by vicentesf

Large bowl of warm corn soup with aleppo pepper, creme fraiche, and chopped serpolette. $14
Bar Agricole, San Francisco

This soup was absolutely heavenly! The flavors were great and the texture was awesome. The corn was coarsely pureed so you could still feel pieces of kernel in your mouth. The garnishes looked great against the soft yellow color of the corn soup. I didn’t get much of a kick from the crushed and ground aleppo flakes and the serpolette was completely lost flavor-wise. It didn’t matter though, the soup was tasty enough to stand on its own. The portion was a generous one, which was great since everyone at the table wanted to taste it!

Serpolette (Thymus serphyllum), more commonly spelled “serpolet”, is a wild thyme. I learned something new, haha!

Pan fried pork buns – Shanghai Dumpling King

Posted on August 24, 2011 by vicentesf

Oil steamed and fried buns with a pork filling and garnished with sesame seeds and scallions. $5.25
Shanghai Dumpling King, San Francisco

I consider my co-worker, Alan, to be a Chinese food expert since he’s a native San Franciscan/Chinese American and I’ve learned quite a few things from him. I sometimes wish he doesn’t tell me certain things, like how these pork buns are cooked, lol! This was the first time I’ve tried these pan fried pork buns and I naively assumed they were first steamed, then fried since they are brown on the bottom. The dough has a different consistency than other buns so I also assumed that they used a special dough batter. I was wrong! It’s the same dough batter is used as in other pork buns, then the buns are steamed and fried simultaneously in a pool of oil! The hot oil sears the bottoms while the steam cooks the rest of the buns to a soft, squishy consistency. No wonder they’re so flavorful! Even knowing how they’re made now, I will order these again in a heartbeat since they are addictingly delicious!

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