Fava beans, piquillo peppers, braised pine nuts and serrano ham vinaigrette. Chef’s Tasting Menu $270
The French Laundry, Yountville CA
Hmm, compared to the rest of the meal this was probably one of my less(er) favorites. There was an unpleasant bitterness from the combination of pine nuts, scallop, and vinaigrette. It didn’t all taste bad, but it was too sharp on my palate. The scallop was super soft and tender though!
Project 365: Day 119
It was so weird being back at work today. I guess I wasn’t in Europe for very long, but I feel like I need a few days to get back into the groove. I tried out the new-ish restaurant The Dancing Pig tonight with David against advice from friends, and the reviews I’ve heard were correct – it’s not very good! The service was HORRENDOUS (it was super slow and sporadic and the server forgot our drink order) and the food was just ok. Don’t think I’ll go back.
Fried egg noodles topped with beef, chicken, shrimp, scallops, bok choy, carrots, and mushrooms.
Xiao Long Bao Kitchen, South San Francisco CA
I read somewhere that using egg noodles in a dish like this actually makes it Cantonese instead of Shanghainese. I learned something new! You really need lots of sauce in this dish to help soften the fried noodles. This tasted pretty good and I’m glad they don’t skimp on the proteins.
Project 365: Day 85
Another ho-hum day at work. I had a great workout afterward, then swung by Dinosaurs for a banh mi sandwich before grabbing the J Muni back home. The prices were SO cheap there that I bought an extra sandwich to bring to lunch tomorrow. They were very tasty! Pics to come once I’m caught up, lol!
Shrimp and scallops with water chestnuts and scallions (4 pieces). Served with a ginger soy dipping sauce. $10
Wang’s in the Desert, Palm Springs CA
These pot stickers looked promising on the menu, but they were a little dry and dense. I really wasn’t all that impress with the food at Wang’s overall. Their happy hour is a lot more fun and a better value than their actual dinner.
A group of us from work went to this yakitori restaurant to celebrate Huff’s birthday. I’d tell you what age he was turning, but I don’t know that information. Huff is good at keeping a tight lip about his age. Such a girl, lol!
I can’t remember if I’ve ever eaten at a yakitori restaurant where you take your shoes off outside of your table area and step down to sit below the level of the floor. It was kinda cool!
What wasn’t cool was when the host came by and “entertained” our table with some card tricks and a few jokes. It was OK, but it seemed forced and I felt a little uncomfortable, like I was trapped in my below-ground table while he stood above us performing for his captive audience.
The dinner went great and the food was pretty good. Apparently the noodles were really good – I didn’t have any though. I like my work group and dinner always flies by. At the end of dinner, splitting the bill was a headache, again! I think we all expect Papa Chang to take care of the check and let everyone know how much they owe, yay!
Mokutanya, Burlingame CA
Hotate yakitori. Sea scallops grilled with pepper. $4
Spicy kurobuta sausage yakitori. Made with Berkshire pork. $2
Kawa yakitori. Chicken skin. $2
Butabara yakitori. Pork belly. $3
Wagyu beef yakitori. $3.50
Croquettes. Deep fried panko-breaded mashed potatoes, served with tonkatsu sauce. $6
Lychee with shochu cocktail. $10 for bottle
Steamed dumplings filled with shrimp and scallops. $3.20
Grand Palace Restaurant, South San Francisco
I think these are called phoenix dumplings because it’s supposed to look like a phoenix’s eye when you look down at the dumpling from above. It’s a bit of a stretch, but I get it. I’m not sure that the stringy starchy stuff is that they put on top. Maybe some kind of then noodles? These were delicious though with large chunks of shrimp and scallops inside!
This place is awesome for happy hour! The prices are great and the sushi doesn’t suck. You always have to be a little weary of super cheap sushi, but this place serves above decent sushi at rock bottom prices. That’s awesome in my book! You can get a nice large meal for only a few bucks. Of the sushi below, the scallop nigiri was my favorite!
Tenka Japanese Restaurant, San Mateo
Hotatagai nigiri (scallop). $1.25 happy hour
Unagi nigiri (fresh water eel). $1.25 happy hour
Hamachi nigiri (yellow tail). $1.25 happy hour
4 pieces of steamed dumplings filled with chopped scallops and garlic. $3.60
Hung To Seafood, South San Francisco
These delicate dumplings were pretty and pretty tasty! Again, the large pieces of scallops were a nice touch. Another winner from Hung To Seafood!
Prawns, calamari and scallops in a yellow curry with coconut milk, potatoes, bell peppers, onions and peanuts. $14
Krua Thai, San Francisco
I didn’t try this dish, but I’m sure it was delicious! The only complaint at the table was that there wasn’t a lot of seafood in the curry, only a couple pieces of each kind. So that’s kinda lame.
With uni butter and baby beets. $15
Nombe, San Francisco
Omg, this was such a rich dish! And perhaps, not in a good way. The uni butter, while delicious, was SO heavy. There’s not a lot of it on the plate, but it completely overpowered everything else. To be fair the beets were delicious and the scallops were cooked well.
This dinner was very disappointing. The service was horrendous and the timing between dishes was atrocious! The food was just ok overall and not really worth the price. I don’t think I’ll go back.
It was very dark in the restaurant and halfway through, they decided to turn the lights even lower. Therefore, I wasn’t able to photograph everything but here are the remaining pics I was able to snap before it the darkness made it impossible to take more.
Grilled Kurobuta pork belly, mizuna, jicama, yuzo kosho dressing. $10
This was the best dish of the night (although it’s very hard to see, lol). The meat was tender, flavorful and perfectly cooked. I also loved the mizuna salad on the side!
Persimmon cosmo shochu cocktail. $5 happy hour
This was ok. I’m glad it was discounted for happy hour otherwise I would have been more disappointed.
Nipponito – mint, lime, rice shochu. $8
Very sour!
With citrus soy butter sauce, tobiko, and wasabi oil. $14
Tokyo Go-Go, San Francisco
This was such a beautiful dish! It’s hard to see the grilled scallops beneath all that foamy sauce and tobiko, but it’s there and it’s delicious! A bit on the small side, but you do get five them. I’m not sure what the leafy green garnish was, but like most random garnishes, it neither added nor detracted from the overall flavor. I did like the pop of green, though. I also wish I could have tasted the wasabi oil more because that would’ve added a nice punch to everything. The scallops were cooked perfectly and had such a soft buttery texture. A winning dish!
This presentation was very beautiful. The bright pink from the Hawaiian salt played off the yellow and red watermelon slices and the cream colored scallops. The flavors, however, seemed unfocused. Between all the different flavors and textures, the scallops were lost.
Vittle Monster 