Chinese Valentine's Day

Photo credit:Vanessa Karlsson 

Do you know about Chinese Valentine's Day?  It is August 2, and Fang Restaurant in San Francisco is celebrating with a special one night only dish for romantics. Chef Kathy Fang is cooking up Heart-Warming Spicy Beef Noodle Soup for Two ($15).  The noodle dish features a rich, flavorful broth made from beef bones, short rib, aromatics, and peppercorns, and is served with rice noodles and succulent pork wontons. Couples who order the special dish to share will also receive two sets of beautiful, satin-wrapped chopsticks which symbolize romantic love and are often gifted to newlyweds in the Chinese culture to encourage fertility. 

The background to this day is a love story between the Weaver girl (symbolizing Vega) and the Cowherd (symbolizing Altair).  They were in love but because their love was not allowed, they were banished to opposite sides of the Silver River (Milky Way), but once a year, on the 7th day of the 7th lunar month, a flock of magpies form a bridge to reunite the lovers for one day. Thus a pair of magpies came to symbolize marital happiness and faithfulness. Currently in urban China people take the opportunity to buy flowers, especially blue roses symbolizing hopeful love as well as chocolates to gift their sweethearts.

Chef Kathy Fang is the daughter of Peter Fang, chef/owner of the famed House of Nanking. Growing up in House of Nanking's kitchen, Kathy found her passion for cooking and received her formal training at  Le Cordon Bleu Culinary School.  Blending her schooling, Cantonese heritage and cooking style with her own native San Franciscan perspective, as well as her global travels she has created a menu with equal parts tradition and inspiration.

Fang Restaurant

660 Howard St.

San Francisco, CA 94105

(415) 777-8580

www.fangrestaurant.com

https://www.facebook.com/FangRestaurant

Right now at Ghirardelli Square

Well this is up to the minute writing, I took this photo just a minute ago with my cell camera. Did you know that Ghirardelli Square has public WiFi throughout? And that there is a sign behind me announcing that Gary Danko is opening "An American Brasserie" here soon?

I am musing as I wait for my former host sister, Mika and her family to join me here. I dropped them off on Leavenworth, just below the famous crooked hill which they wanted to walk UP (oh my) and take a cable car to Fisherman's Wharf, join me here at Ghirardelli to see how chocolate is made (10 year old Shohei will love this), then on to City View for some dim sum. Later we're meeting up with friends at Marin's Wipeout Bar and Grill, voted 2nd best restaurant for kids in Marin. What do you like to do with guests that have children?

Matches the memories

I had a special reason to meet my friends Michael and Karen at Crustacean in San Francisco the other day. It was Michael's birthday! The request was to recommend a French/Vietnamese restaurant that was special. I remembered a number of happy meals at the Crustacean, and thought it also wasn't too far from the Orpheum, where Michael and Karen were going to see "Wicked" afterwards.

The neon crab on the building is actually a better beacon than the restaurant signage. An old friend of mine, Yves, dropped into town to say hi some years ago, and he was effusive in his praise of this restaurant and introduced me to it. I've been back many times since that first visit where I tasted their famous crab and garlic noodles.

We had a couple appetizers, the first which was the Steamed Seafood Dumplings. These were stuffed with black cod, prawn and eggplant. These were delicious!

We also tried an appetizer special that night, a Hot and Peppered Calamari dish. We thoroughly enjoyed these as well.

Karen had the special fish of the day, Basa, over garlic noodles. She was positive in her comments about this dish.

Michael insisted we each taste his Pan Roasted Halibut. It was wonderful! It was in a toasted sesame miso vinegrette with shitake and corn, accompanied by baby bok choy. This all was atop white cheddar Asian basil mashed potatoes. We all enjoyed our meal and the good atmosphere (not too noisy) where we could have a good dinner conversation. The service was attentive as well.

Note: My friend Zoomie pointed out that I hadn't included my dish! Here it is:

The Egg Noodles with Vegetables and Prawns was delightful! Plump shrimp with fresh vegetables and noodles - it's hard to beat!

Good for you, good for the earth

Last time I was near San Francisco's Mission district, I stopped by the Universal Cafe for brunch. It was very busy, and seems to have a lot of fans. The staff was friendly even while the place was slammed. The restaurant emphasized local and organic, so I felt right at home. I also noted that the silverware was actually silver, a nice touch.

I enjoyed soft scrambled eggs with new-crop local asparagus and ricotta, toast and mixed greens. It was perfectly prepared, soft yet cooked and the salad was very fresh tasting as well. It would be remiss not to mention that the bread was uncommonly good too. The menu stated that "most of our products come from environmentally sustainable farms and ranches" which is also attractive to a lot of locals. I would definitely recommend this place if you are prepared for a bit of noise due to the popularity.

Japanese Chocolates

Aren't these flavors fun? Well Strawberry is a fairly usual flavor to pair with chocolate, however I think it's the first time I tasted chocolate that tastes like grape soda. Kind of like your chocolate fell into one. I have to try the Lemon version next. These Meiji chocolates can be found at Nijiya Market in Japantown.

Affirmations Abound

I went to CodeCon to enjoy fresh new ideas, minds, and especially to listen to a couple friends' talks at the conference. One of my friends, Simon, also likes veggie fare so we convinced our other friend Daniel to enjoy lunch two days in a row at the nearby Cafe Gratitude in the SOMA area of San Francisco. It is a raw foods restaurant. We were greeted and sat more quickly on the second day than the first, and it was fine. I was assured the first day that we were eating at the 'mother ship' so to speak when the waitress found that Simon & I had each eaten at Berkeley and San Rafael Cafe Gratitude's respectively.

I had a "I Am Present" a mushroom bruschetta. The Sourdough buckwheat flatbread topped with creamy cashew mozzarella, marinated mushroom confit, and fresh herbs was excellent.

Daniel was 'Plenty Great' with live granola and fresh fruit topped with almond milk. It looked beautiful and he said it was good. He just wished it was less expensive.

Simon's Yo Soy Mucho looked pretty nice and he loved the drink "I Am Grace" made with young coconut milk, almond butter, dates & vanilla. The Yo Soy Mucho was made with quinoa, and shredded kale, topped with salsa fresca and sprouts. He enjoyed that as well.

The next day, Daniel enjoyed "I Am Bright Eyed", which had almond milk substituted for the coconut milk in the daily porridge special. It also included nuts, fruit, vanilla and cinnamon.

Simon also had a breakfast dish, the "Yo Soy Bonita" with added black beans. It also included steamed Bhutanese red rice with avocado, salsa, cilantro and pepitas with lime slices on the side. It smelled great! And Simon said it tasted good as well.

I went for a small "I Am Festive" salad. It was really a raw-style taco salad consisting of shredded romaine lettuce with crumbled walnut-seed taco filling, guacamole, salsa and cashew nacho cheese, topped with flax chips. It was very refreshing, and very filling. I really enjoy the unique alternatives that Cafe Gratitude, in all its locations, offer.

I had really great time at CodeCon this year. Of course it's always nice to celebrate the successes of your friends, and watch them give their presentations. Daniel and Simon gave two presentations this year, and another presentation was based on some of their earlier work. CodeCon 2009 was held in CELLSpace, in the SOMA area of San Francisco this year from this last Friday ending yesterday evening. I had some fun twittering updates from the conference as well. Although my 'reporting' was as complete, it was fun to think I was getting my notes in 'live', before Le Monde or the other major rags wrote up a complete story.

CodeCon is very unique in that the focus is all on the actual achievement of a concept/code that works, and that you can demonstrate live on stage. Also this year there was a DIYbio track that was lots of fun -- hack your own genome! It was a great weekend all around!

Firefly squid

Jo-Ann and I celebrated her birthday at Oyaji yesterday evening. We had a lovely time chatting and enjoying small, flavorful dishes. Hide, the owner, came over with a special treat. He told us "These are not baby squid! These are called firefly squid and are fully adult - try them." We did and they were amazing. A soft and tasty bite they left no fishy aftertaste. The sauce was a miso-mustard with perhaps a dash of mirin. I hadn't planned to blog the meal, but decided to take a photo of the last couple of these most unsual bites. Aparently, these squids glow and can see in color.

Earlier in the week I visited AME with some former colleagues with whom I've keep in contact. I had the best cod dish I think I've ever eaten there, the Broiled Sake Marinated Alaskan Black Cod and Shrimp Dumplings in Shiso Broth. I highly recommend it!

PS - This is not an April Fool's joke!

Simple, elegant and raw

Paul dropped into the Bay area last weekend, and we got together for lunch one day in San Francisco at Alive!, a restaurant I've been drooling over every time I pass it on Lombard. It was small, quiet and quite elegant. And the specialty is RAW food, beautifully presented.

I adored my bowl of sunshine, or otherwise known as Pumpkin Shitake soup. This was my favorite dish there. It was full of flavor and warm.

Paul love shitake, so he was immediately drawn to the Shitake Burger on the menu. Paul liked it so much he said he'd come again just for it. The 'bun' was formed quinoa to the best we could tell.

I had a hummus wrap, which was wrapped in what I believe was a slightly vinegared kale leaf. It was a fresh and crisp - smooth taste with hummus surrounding carrots and avocado and other seasonal vegetables.

We had to have dessert when we saw the inventive dessert menu, and of course we felt so 'good' having the light vegan fare that we felt justified. I was astonished to see "Candy Cap Mushrooms" on the menu as an ingredient in a cheesecake, so that's what I ordered. And as a vegan 'cheesecake' it was made with cashew butter. Oh, it was so good, and the taste of the candy caps minced and distributed inside reminded me of the flavor of the ones I picked in the forest one year with a friend. I would recommend this dessert highly.

Paul chose the tangerine cake. It looked like quinoa mixed with cashew cream topped with the ripe perfection of tangerine slices. We shared bites of each, and his was amazing as well. Alive! was welcoming, comfortable and their food was a treat for the eye as well as the taste buds.

Chinese Heaven

I returned after a someone long absence to visit Shangri-la Vegetarian restaurant in San Francisco, with friend and fellow Marin food blogger, Catherine of Albion Cooks. Shangri-la is not only a mostly vegan restaurant, it is also certified kosher.

Catherine and I immersed ourselves in the extensive menu, and looked up to decide that we'd just have to order a feast there were so many things we'd like to try, and take home leftovers. The first dish to come out was Mongolian "Beef", with a taste and texture startlingly close to the real thing. It was one of our favorites of the evening.

I pointed out the rather medicinal sounding group on the first page, which had letter/number combination rather than dish names. B4 is supposed to provide 'mental clarity' among other things. I liked it better than Catherine who thought it tasted rather floral.

We had some brown/red rice to accompany the dishes.

The Lemon "Chicken" came out next. The 'chicken' meat was softer that the others in this dish.

Although the menu said Lotus "Fruit", I belive the main ingredient in this dish is Lotus Root. The lotus root was mixed with carrots and snow peas and tasted delightful.

The Vegetable Chow Mein was the other standout dish of the evening. The savory noodles were mixed with a variety of vegetables in a nice proportion. Catherine and I enjoyed ourselves throughly and I'm not going to wait so long until the next visit.

South of the Border Bistro

Seems the upscale Mexican/Latin Bistro type eatery is a new trend (or an old one my friends are starting to turn to). My friend Sachiko had a quick trip back from Japan a bit ago and she invited a few friends to Colibri in San Francisco. It was conveniently near Union Square, just a couple blocks from where she was staying. The interior was warm and welcoming and it was fun to be out with the 'girls'.

I heard that their sangria ia to die for, and they are as good as advertised. We immediately ordered some Guacamole to be have something to nosh on while we enjoyed our drinks and decided on other dishes to come. The Guacamole was particularly good slathered on the warm house made corn tortillas.

Three unique and delicious salsas came with the guacamole and tortillas.

Colibri is a small-plates type bistro where all is shared. That suited us perfectly. The first dish out was a platter of Quesidillas. These consist of hand made corn tortillas and Oaxaca cheese, with a couple of choices for the vegetables inside. We chose the fire-roasted poblano chile strips. These were soft and cheesy and incredible.

Next up was Sopes Suridos, a sope assortment, with beans, chicken, shredded pork and sautéed vegetables; with crumbled queso fresco, onion and sour cream. We all enjoyed these tender and different bites.

We were particularly anticipating the Cheviche Veracruzano, fresh lime marinated white fish, green olives, jalapeño, onion, cilantro, tomato, avocado and olive oil. Our taste buds were rewarded for the wait! The melding of the lime with the fish, herbs and avocado piled on crisp tortilla triangles received our full approval.

I've noticed that most of my Japanese friends have a real soft spot for slowly stewed or roasted pork dishes, so naturally Carnitas was on our small plates list. I took a small bite had have to admit it was tender and flavorful, and the sauce on the side gave it a nice kick. The description on the menu read: Michoacan style marinated tender chunks of pork, served with guajillo and chile de arbol salsa.

And we all wanted to try an unusual vegetable dish, Nopales Asados. Nopales in the name indicates it has cactus in its ingredients, and the dish was described as grilled young cactus leaves and portobello mushroom strips, marinated in fresh herbs, roasted garlic, oregano and olive oil. A great side, it was not only good, it paired well with the fish, meat and vegetable dishes we enjoyed.

Our last savory dish was Papas al Gratin, potatoes au gratin with poblano chile cream. This was enthusiastically complimented for being creamy and yet letting the taste of the potatoes shine through.

Finally we ordered one dessert with four spoons, the Mango crème brulée. We all approved of the creamy mango custard with a bottom layer of fresh mango pieces. Sweet yet not overpowering, it was the perfect end to a fun evening trying new things with friends. This is a great place to meet friends and have an evening of catch up over tasty morsels.

Delicious hand made noodles in Japantown

A new noodle house making handmade udon has sprung up in San Francisco's Japantown. It is in the building near Ichiban Kan. It's called Sanuki Udon.

It's so new it only has handmade signage as well. One sign reads "Genuine Sanuki Noodles are delicious!"

And indeed these noodles are delicious! I ordered their special 'Chef's Choice' noodle dish. I asked if the chef might choose other than meat, seafood and vegetables would be fine. And so my dish came out with mussels, clams, shrimp and lost of veggies! The broth was flavorful and hot and the udon noodles were handmade perfection. The menu is very simple, but this is a place meant to showcase the noodles. I will be back!

Night out with friends

Oyaji is a very happening izakaya style restaurant in San Francisco. Oyaji is an informal Japanese word meaning "Dad", and is almost exclusively used by men. It also describes a 'rugged' type Japanese male, sometimes emphasizing the humorous aspects, akin to calling someone an 'old fart'.

I was at Oyaji with some Japanese friends, so I knew we'd be having a wonderfully unusual and leisurely meal. While we were waiting for one of our friends, the others insisted I try a Japanese shochu drink that is made with oolang tea and the high-alcohol shochu. It was rather good actually.

We also munched on edamame while waiting.

Next up we had a special treat, tarabagani, and the fourth friend showed up just in time. This dish in English is grilled Alaska King crab. The Japanese said it was special, and because it lives in northern waters, it has a naturally salty taste. I never thought of Alaska King crab as particularly salty, but when I was told about it, it seemed I could then detect it.

Then a succession of delicious dishes followed, the next being a very fresh assorted sashimi plate.

Next up came some mozuku, or seaweed in vinegar dressing.

My Japanese friends always swoon over the tender butano-kakuni at Oyaji. In English, that's stewed pork belly meat served with Karashi mustard.

The standard goma-ae, is anything but standard here. Fresh spinach, quickly steamed and tossed in a sesame sauce is so good!

This hiryu-zu was one of my personal favorites of the evening. Deep-fried tofu & vegetable dumpling served in tempura sauce is the description.

Do you know what Motsuni is? It's Pork intestine simmered in miso based sauce. And despite that description it was tender and delicious!

And you can't call this lacy tender vegetable tempura 'standard', it's a cut above most in the city.

And I find shiokara a bit challenging for my taste, but it's quite popular in Japan. Shiokara is marinated raw squid.

And here we have some tasty grilled fish, yakizakana. With so many treats, it doesn't matter if you like some more than others. I liked this one.

And in Japan, the arrival of the miso soup signals you are near the end of the meal rather than the beginning.

And you know rice isn't far behind when the oshinko pickle plate comes. Oyaji's pickle plate has a good variety.

And we ended the meal with yaki onigiri, or grilled rice in triangular shape.

Previously reviewed:
July 19, 2006