karendipity cooks: black bean orecchiette with spicy pork and broccoli

this is one of derek's favorites. another recipe from ming tsai's cookbook. this one is super easy to make. one thing to keep in mind is that you should chop up the broccoli into bite-sized pieces, otherwise it can become unwieldy.

not going to post the recipe, but i will explain my modification. the recipe calls for fermented black beans. as they do not sell fermented black beans in our whole foods, i had to go with the garlic black bean sauce. this sauce does not have as strong of a flavor as straight black beans, so i use more than the recipe calls for.

cafe encore

millbrae, ca

link to yelp

derek picked me up from SFO after a very long cross-country flight from JFK. not feeling all that great, i was craving solid chinese food, perhaps a bowl of noodle soup. just a hop and a skip away from the airport, we found a small strip-mall-food-court-thing that is so common in california.

derek wanted in-n-out, but i convinced him to try cafe encore. hong kong style cafe food. kind of greasy, but it hit the spot after such a long flight. i ordered a large bowl of noodle soup topped with saucy pork. derek had the same saucy pork over rice. solid chinese food near the airport, good to know.

bonfire @ jfk

queens, ny

link to yelp

i had to make a few work calls while at the airport, so i decided to settle into a quiet corner of todd english's bonfire restaurant at the united terminal at JFK. waitstaff was very polite and left me alone while i finished up my calls, except to refill my soda.

i was craving a hot dog ever since i made the tactical error back at la silhouette, so i ordered the hot dog and fries with coleslaw. expensive. greasy. heavy. the bread was too thick and dry. but the fries were good. typical airport food, but i was hoping for something better from a restaurant with a famous chef's name attached to it.

la silhouette

new york, ny

website

it is always a treat to eat with y&a. they know good food and they know good restaurants. and in the case of la silhouette, they also know the owners. which translates into excellent and attentive service (and free freshly baked cookies!) one of the great things about nyc is that there are always new restaurants popping up everywhere and this one happened to pop up right in their hood. convenient. convivial. what's not to love?

i joined y&a for brunch, for which silhouette has an entire section devoted to "hangover sandwiches." i made the dumb decision of ordering a more healthy option (eggs benedict with spinach and salmon, sauce on the side) which was decent, but nothing compared to y's "hot duck" (hot dog with duck sausage - get it?) or a's "short rib brisket burger queen" which were both amazing. even baby n's scrambled eggs (more like scrambled butter) and fries was a better choice. i've learned my lesson for next time.

sakagura

new york, ny

website

CR is queen of finding hidden little japanese gems in midtown east. this time, jenny and i joined her at a difficult-to-find restaurant with a tiny little sign outside. walk a few flights down to the basement and you are transported to japan. the decor, complete with a wall stacked with sake bottles, reminds me of restaurants i visited in kyoto. love it. menu reads somewhat like a standard izakaya menu, but with a few more entree-like choices. the sake menu is massive and a little overwhelming. CR, jenny, and i decided to go with the daily special, advertised to taste like "snow" - and it was bright, fresh, and crisp, all the things clean snow should taste like. both bottles. or did we get three? i don't remember.

i do remember that the food was amazing. pictured are the soba noodles soaked in a uni broth topped with huge pieces of uni. uni-tastic. uni-licious. it's really a miracle that i didn't immediately dunk my head into the bowl, but managed to let jenny and CR try some before devouring the rest. uni-rrific. one note - if the waitress recommends that you each order a "buta kakuni" - do not believe her. order one to share for the table. it's incredible stewed fatty pork and it's delicious. but eating an entire portion by yourself might kill you.

karendipity cooks: asian spaghetti

it's been quite a while since i've posted about something that i've cooked. i do cook, especially now that i don't live in the land of seamlessweb -- but it's rarely something post-worthy. (lots of quesadillas ...) this dish, however, is definitely post-worthy. asian spaghetti! my brother chris bought me ming tsai's latest cook book simply ming one pot meals for christmas. this book is perfect for people who like to eat asian food, but need very simple recipes that don't take a lot of ingredients, precision, or time.

i'm not going to post the recipe because presumably there's copyright and whatnot involved, but i will hint that there's canned tomatoes, soy sauce, beef, and pork. a lot of beef and pork. the recipe calls for spaghetti, but i prefer to use capellini pasta which gives the dish more of a mai fun feel. the flavors are a strange hybrid of italian and asian, but it works perfectly. yum.

marnee thai

san francisco, ca

website

wow. amazing thai food. i now understand why it is such an effort to get a table here. we went on a saturday night and it was completely packed. april and lennon had managed to get reservations for 5, but when we got there, we all had to squeeze into the very narrow entrance area and wait about a half hour past our reservation before we actually got seated. even then, c had to sit in the path between tables and kept getting jostled by the waitstaff.

but it was worth it. started with the delicious sticky spicy chicken wings (pictured) with a dark soy chili sauce. love love love the fried corn cakes (very indonesian). it's been so long i forgot what we ordered for our entrees, but i remember being very impressed. however i can't forget the dessert - roti with ice cream. sounds strange, i know, but it's sensational. will definitely be back in the outer sunset soon to try this spot again.

jeffery's

menlo park, ca

website

about a week or so after we first moved to the south bay, derek and i got lost trying to find 101-north. in fact, we got lost several times. and each time we got lost, we drove by a classic-looking diner called jeffrey's, a burger joint. desperate to find a great burger spot in the south bay, we made a mental note to stop by later when we weren't trying to get to the freeway.

the interior mirrors the exterior - reminsicent of a 1950s diner. but shiny and new. very shiny. i really liked the burger here. the patty has a nice salty crust that reminds me of the shake shack. the rest of the ingredients are less spectacular - the bun is just okay, the condiment bar (iceberg lettuce and unripe tomatoes) is just alright. but let's not be too picky. order a big basket of their excellent onion rings and enjoy.

prospect

san francisco, ca

website

derek and i made it up to SF to join tina, vanita and rajesh for dinner at prospect a few months ago. yes, i'm that far behind. excellent decor and atmosphere. extremely high ceilings, dark wood interior, roomy comfortable booths. in fact, my firm had an event here a few weeks later - the back room was perfect for a gathering of about 40 of us. the bar area and cocktail list looked pretty good as well, but tina had brought a fantastic bottle of wine from rochioli vineyards to share.

my favorite dish is pictured - the uni risotto with tiny seared scallops. amazing. buttery and rich uni in buttery and rich risotto. although it was unfortunately only a starter, so the portion was small. next time i might order two because i wasn't that impressed with my main course. the desserts were fantastic, though -- loved the fancy smores.

mayfield bakery & cafe

palo alto, ca

website

i'm sure you're starting to see a pattern in my south bay posts. lowering my dining expectations. hampered by geographical limitations. being surprised when food is actually good. having wine with every possible meal. well, here's another one. derek and i had been to calafia way too many times at this point, so we decided to try its neighbor - mayfield bakery & cafe.

the waitress really knew her wines and recommended an excellent white to go with my roast chicken. i was pleasantly surprised by the quality of the chicken - juicy meat, crispy skin, and a tasty risotto on the side. as we were leaving, the manager thanked us for coming, then called us over to the corner of the restaurant. there, he invited us to choose a loaf of bread from their basket. maybe they had leftover bread? maybe we looked like we needed more sustenance? i chose a large round loaf of olive bread. since we didn't have a toaster yet, i heated up slices in a pan and drizzled a little olive oil over them. a delicious snack that lasted us all week.