Tag Archives: sesame

Prather Ranch beef carpaccio – The Slanted Door

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Prather Ranch beef carpaccio The Slanted Door

Served with roasted peanuts, rau ram (Vietnamese coriander), fresh lime juice and rice crackers with black sesame.  $12
The Slanted Door, San Francisco

This dish was tasty and very fun to eat!  The large rice crackers were great to break apart and eat with the beef.  They provided a nice crunch and didn’t take away from the carpaccio flavor.  I loved how they dressed the beef.  I don’t think I’ve ever had rau ram in this way.  I couldn’t quite tell what it was while I was eating it.  It didn’t have a lot of flavor, maybe a slight bitterness, but it was a pretty sturdy leaf.  I loved the texture combined with the roasted peanuts.  The color of the carpaccio was a little off-putting because the lime juice had begun to cook the beef and made it a weird grey flesh color.  Regardless, it tasted amazing!  Noms!

Rau rum (Persicaria odorata) is commonly called Vietnamese coriander, Vietnamese mint, Vietnamese cilantro, Cambodian mint, and hot mint.

Pan fried pork buns – Shanghai Dumpling King

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Pan fried pork buns Shanghai Dumpling King

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!

Miso glazed sea bass – Andalu

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Miso glazed sea bass Andalu
Bite sized pieces of grilled sea bass served in lettuce cups with sweet soy and black sesame seeds.
Andalu, San Francisco

The miso glaze and sweet soy were wonderfully delicious in this dish.  Unfortunately, the sea bass was overcooked so it was on the hard and dry side.  Otherwise, Andalu serves up another simple and delicious dish!

Kung pao pastrami – Mission Chinese Food

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Kung pao pastrami Mission Chinese Food
Tender pastrami with explosive chilies, celery, potato, green onions, roasted peanuts, and garnished with sesame seeds. $11
Mission Chinese Food, San Francisco

This dish is even hotter than their Ma Po Tofu!  Perhaps it’s all the dried chili flakes that practically coat every piece in the dish.  But it is VERY delicious.  It has a wonderful smokiness and the variety in textures is absolutely fabulous.  Another go-to dish of mine from Mission Chinese Food.

7×7 Magazine’s The Big Eat San Francisco: 100 Things to Eat + Drink Before You Die – 2014

Kung pao pastrami - Mission Chinese Food
February 1, 2014
You can really see how this dish has changed since my original post. Personally, I liked the original.