Category: Food

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Sweet Cup – Vietnamese Dessert Cafe, Milpitas

 

Dropped by Sweet Cup Cafe in Milpitas for dessert after a Friday dinner. The cafe serves up  Vietnamese style dessert drinks.

Think of the drinks that are served along side steaming bowls of pho, but with a lot more variety.  They have the standard drinks but you can also customize your drink.  The options are quire extensive and it took some time for us to take in all the choices and to make our selections. You can get the “default” drinks, but for a $1 more, you can customize your drink with a whole menu of ingredients, like jellies, fruit (lychee, longan, etc), puddings, sweet beans. You put in your order using the form below by circling what you want and drinks are made to order.

Some of the ingredients available are: lychee, 4 varieties of sweet beans, colored jellies, coconut, tapioca, jackfruit, and even durian. You can specify up to 7 ingredients, sweetness level, and  which “topper” (coconut milk, coconut juice, longan juice) you want in your drink. For $2 extra, you can even make it a “che” drink by having them put a scoop of ice cream on top (they use Double Rainbow brand). If you become a regular, they will even keep your preferred drink on file.

Drinks are fairly large and come layered with whatever ingredients you chose,  topped with a scoop of shaved ice, a spoon for scooping and a large straw should you choose that route of consumption.  Mixing is the normal route, but you can consume it layer by layer if you wish.

Perfect on a hot summer evening and to satisfy your sweet tooth.  Or perhaps after a large bowl of pho you had down the street. Given the dearth of dedicated dessert places near us, this will definitely be on our short list when we are craving something sweet after dinner.

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Tong Soon Garden’s Hot and Sour Soup

Discovered Tong Soon Garden over 15 years ago when a co-worker from Applied brought me there for lunch.  Located in the “Little Seoul  section of Santa Clara along El Camino Real, the owners are Korean Chinese, and serve up spicy Chinese food.  Their home made noodles make their noodle soups and chow mein very tasty. One of their signature dishes, in my mind, is the Hot and Sour soup.  Normally a soup that is little more than broth laced with some vinegar, pepper, and soy sauce at other Chinese restaurants and something that I don’t even consider ordering, Tong Soon’s version is well stocked with pork, shrimp, tofu, wood ear fungus, bamboo, and “egg flowers” with the right balance of sourness and heat from lots of pepper.

Everyone that I have introduced Tong Soon to has loved it. If ordering for just yourself, like for lunch, order the hot and sour noodle soup, which is just the soup with their homemade noodles added.  If you are doing family style, order some other dishes and perhaps a chow mein. Most everything is good there, but definitely don’t skip the soup.

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Ice Cream Nostalgia – Foster’s Freeze and Rite-Aid

Taking a trip of nostalgia recently. Ice cream cones served up “old style”

As a kid, there was nothing better than an ice cream cone after dinner, especially when your parents took you out to a place that had ice cream treats.  While I enjoy places that serve up “premium” ice creams and fancy fro-yo, sometimes I hearken back  to “old school” ice cream.   We have a Foster’s Freeze fairly close to our house, and not having grown up in the Bay Area,  I would describe it as a local version of a Dairy Queen. They offer soft serve ice milk which can be made into shakes or dispensed into cones.  They also offer a chocolate dipped version which coats the ice cream in a semi-hard chocolate shell.  And it’s ice milk, so it’s not as bad as other soft serve ice cream, right?

Theresa has tried to get me to try ice cream by the scoop from Rite-Aid, which she has had since her childhood. I’m thinking, it’s probably just ice cream made on contract by a company like Dreyers that someone digs out of a large container in a store freezer case, What’s so special about that? She finally convinced me to try it tonight. While I was somewhat right about the ice cream itself, (tasted like something I could get out of a Dreyer’s or Breyer’s ice cream box), what stood out is the way the ice cream is put atop the cake cone.  Rite-Aid has a proprietary ice cream scooper contraption that reminds me of a caulk gun or extruder except without the narrow applicator tip, similar to the tool that scientists use to take core samples of ice,. snow, or soil, but without the jagged teeth.  The form that the ice cream takes upon extrusion is that of the cake cone, except inverted. What this means in practice is it eliminates the variability between different employees, effectively packs the ice cream so you don’t have any air pockets,  and results in  a single “scoop” that equates to 2 scoops at your local Baskin Robbins or Swensons (for those of you from the South). At under $2, you definitely get your money’s worth.

 We opted for Cookies and Cream and Malted Chocolate Crunch.  They have about 10 flavors in total when we went there, but they were out of Theresa’s favorite, Mocha Almond Fudge.  Who knew Rite-Aid Ice Cream was so popular? Great value and they carry on the tradition of drug store ice cream.  Reminds me of the old K&Bs in New Orleans.

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Little Lucca, South San Francisco

On our way up to San Francisco, we decided to stop by the Little Lucca Sandwich Shop and Deli, which was recommended by one of Theresa’s co-workers.  The shop looks like a tiny converted house.

2-3 sandwich makers man the service counter, which is just inside the door. Coolers with drinks and racks of chips line the tiny room, with specials posted on the wall. Sandwiches come in only one size and you can choose the type of bread along with the filling.

When I saw the prices, they seemed high to me, but Theresa mentioned that based on all the reviews on Yelp, the size of the sandwiches are large.  We opted for the rotisserie chicken bacon provolone ranch sandwich on dutch crunch and is served hot. Additional options included lettuce, tomato, mayo, Little Lucca’s Original Garlic Sauce,  hot sauce, pickles, and mustard.

Constructed and layered properly, it comes wrapped tight in deli paper.  This sandwich is large and substantial. Definitely share, or expect to take about half of it home. Meat portions are fairly generous. making the sandwich rather thick  and it’s pretty difficult to put all the layers in your mouth, unless you have Dagwood’s jaw.  What separates Little Lucca sandwiches are the 2 sauces/spreads that they use.  Makes for a nice Italian twist on whatever sandwich you decide to get.  The bread is fresh and holds up well to our very “juicy” sandwich by not falling apart, being too spongy nor so chewy as to require violently yanking at the sandwich with your teeth coupled with a violent jerk and pull with your hands.

There is no indoor seating, but there are tables set up in the “alley” along the side, which opens up to a small back yard with more tables.  The day we went was very sunny, relatively warm, and not that windy, which is unusual for the area. On a typical bay area day or a rainy day, I would advise taking the sandwich to go or eating in your vehicle. Also, the shop only gets a set number of bread loaves each day, and because of the popularity, your choice might run out if you get there later in the day.

Verdict:
While the sandwiches are very tasty, a good value, and judging by the fairly long line, even during the mid afternoon when we went, extremely popular, I think not living close to the shop would deter us from going up to South San Francisco just for the sandwich. However,  I would put this on the top of my list for a hearty lunch if we happen to be in the area. Just remember that these sandwiches are for sharing.

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Anchor Oyster Bar, San Francisco

inspired by our friends, Irene and Ray, who went here last week for Ray’s b-day, Theresa and I  decided to try out Anchor Oyster Bar in the Castro to celebrate our 5th wedding anniversary.

The place is very small, with only 5 tables (3 four toppers and 2 two/three toppers) plus 8 stools at the bar.

It was a  Friday (we both took time off of work)  and arrived around noon for lunch.  We were lucky in that we grabbed the last available table, else we would have to put our name up on the board.


The specialty of the house is, of course, oysters. A white board behind the bar listed oysters available that day as well as daily specials.  We opted for the “Anchor Special” on the menu that offered a dozen oysters on the half shell (you can mix and match based on what is available that day), 8 steamed clams and 4 chilled, boiled shrimp.   Kumamotos, Sweetwaters, and Effinghams were available that day, but we decided to skip the Kumamatos and got 6 each of the Sweetwaters and Effinghams.  The chowder also got good reviews on Yelp, so we opted to share a bowl.  After ordering, Theresa did further research on her phone and found out that Anchor also has cioppino available, but you have to ask for it since it is not listed on the menu, and comes in full and half orders. We opted for the half order since we already got the Anchor Special.

Bread was served and then chowder came shortly after .  Creamy, not too thick, and not overly chunky with the right amount of clammy goodness.  While it is not the best chowder I have had, it’s defintely above average.

 

The Anchor Special came next. Oysters freshly shucked accompanied by lemon wedges and minuet. Briny and fresh with a hint of the sea. The Sweetwaters (from Hogg Island)were, as the name suggests, slightly more sweet than the Effinghams (from near Vancouver).  Four boiled, shelled, de-veined jumbo shrimp  and some cocktail sauce with fresh horseradish were in the center of the platter.  The steamed clams came in a separate bowl and were bathed in a  garlic laden broth perfect for sopping up with the complementary bread. My conservative estimate is the bowl had 1/2 a bulb of garlic in it, and was not overly salty nor heavily seasoned with white wine like the French or Belgian method of steaming clams.

The cioppino arrived next. Wonderfully garlic-y and not overly salty or tomato-y (e.g. over acidic).  The half portion was very generous, with PEI mussels, dungeness crab, shrimp, clams, and white fish (not sure what type, but could have been trout or cod). Two pieces of parmesan topped garlic bread and more lemon wedges accompanied the large bowl. Unless you are a big eater, I would recommend sharing the half portion with a friend after a round of oysters.  My guess is the full order alone could easily feed 2 large eaters and perhaps up to 4 lighter eaters.

All in all a great culinary experience. I would describe Anchor like going to an amusement park. If forced to wait, will do so because there is a good payoff at the end. But not something that I would go do again and again in a short period of time.  I can see why Zagat and Michellin both recommend this place.

Recommendations:
– if you don’t like waiting, I would go during off peak hours like we did or plan accordingly. According to Yelp, hour plus waits are common.  They do not take reservations or seat incomplete parties. Make sure you are there when they call your name, else they move onto the next person. Bring a warm jacket if you are going in the evenings, as SF nights tend to be cold.
-Service was decent, although if you are expecting to get in and out in a hurry, this is not the place. There was a single waiter covering all the tables with three busboy/runner types in support and all were scrambling the entire time we were there. I don’t fault the staff, as it’s not because of lack of effort, just so much to do all within a tight space. Not sure if adding staff would help, as the place is so small and more people would probably just get in the way.  Probably explains why wait times are long during busy hours.
– Parking can be an issue as with most places in San Francisco. Metered parking on  Castro helps turnover during the day. Parking is tight in the surrounding neighborhood and limited to 2 hrs during biz hours if you don’t have a permit. Evenings are probably worse as more residents return from work and others come in for dining and nightlife, so expect to circle a few times before snagging a space
– This is not a place for large parties. I would recommend no more than 4 people at a time, else you will probably have to wait a long long time for a table.
– For first timers, the Anchor Special is probably a good way to sample both the hot and cold dishes of the restaurant. But I think on our next visit I would just order oysters and the cioppino or oysters and steamed clams and skip the shrimp and chowder. Finishing off all the food we ordered this time was quite challenging, although we managed to do it.

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Bristol Farms Cupcakes and City Target in the Metreon

Went to San Francisco Centre to drop off a watch for repair and decided to walk around the SOMA/Union Square Area and take advantage of the rare 60 degree F weather.

Dropped by Bristiol Farms market in the basement of the SF Centre.  They had a large selection of gourmet foods. Saw the soda below in their cold drinks and soda section called “China Cola”. Hmm… not sure what “Asian herbs” are. Read the ingredients and I imagine it would taste like carbonated Chinese medicine.  The only thing it had going for it was it used sugar rather than high fructose corn syrup.  I was not willing to pay the $2.29 to try a bottle though.

Walked by the bakery cases and saw some cupcakes.  Theresa wanted to try one, but we ended up getting 2 – Tiramisu and Chocolate Banana – bringing it home for dessert. The choco-banana one has real bits of banana in the cake part and icing. Very tasty, and we finished that one off.

Also had some time to check out City Target in the Metreon, the small format store sibling of the Target and Super Targets that dot our fair land.

While the store is smaller, it had all the essentials stocked.  I would say it contains probably half the selection of a regular Target, and a lack of the larger, jumbo, family size packages.  Perfect for city dwellers, especially in the SOMA area where grocery and sundry selection is limited.  They even have smaller carts.

When we stepped out the door, there was even a Target employee helping a couple try and hail a cab because their purchases were too much to carry on the streets of SF. Always tempting to overbuy at Target.   This format is perfect for dense urban areas like SF, DC, NYC, and Chicago.

 

 

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Loco Moco, My Style

My take on the classic Hawaiian dish of Loco Moco, which is hamburger patty over rices with gravy.

LocoMoco – NK Style
Hamburger patty of organic ground beef over a bed of steamed Japanese medium grain rice, topped with garlic sauteed pea sprouts, salt and pepper soft set egg, garlic infused “gravy”, and accompanied by butter sauteed mushrooms

 

 

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Cocola – Santana Row

Had afternoon coffee at Cocola on Santana Row, which is a French style cafe and patiserrie.    We tried three pastries and the house mocha.

The pastries were not overly sweet as is typical of American style bakeries. The strudel was filled with custard cream filling with the “shell” having a nice  buttery and airy mouth feel, similar to a croissant.    The cake in the background had a caramelized, semi crispy topping with embedded almonds. The chocolate mousse cake on the left consisted of hemisphere of chocolate banana mousse atop a sliver of chocolate layer cake, which was then encased in a thin chocolate coating, which was then dusted in cocoa powder.  While I expected it to be heavy, it was quite light, as the coating was super thin, the mousse nicely whipped, and the layer cake resembling more of a sponge cake in consistency. The mocha was smooth and a notch above what you would typically get at Starbucks. A great compliment to their pastries.  Cocola is also a great place to just sit, have coffee, and people watch on Santana Row.

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Christmas Dinner 2012

Cooked Christmas dinner with Theresa and my Mom.

Braised spicy beef shank with braised eggs, Thousand Year old egg with tofu, braised daikon, steamed striped black bass with ginger and green onion, black bean and garlic spare ribs with taro, spicy cucumber salad, sweet and sour cucumber salad, napa cabbaga stir fried with dried shrimp.

Our friends Albert and Clarrisa brought over Chinese meatballs with glutinous rice and a very nice David Bruce Pinot Noir..

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Review – Raku Restaurant Las Vegas

My friend Jessica suggested Raku as a place to go off the strip in Vegas. Raku is a very authentic Japanese yakitori located on Spring Mountain Road in the “Chinatown” area of Vegas.  The restaurant itself  is pretty small, consisting of two small rooms with perhaps 10 tables and 40 diners max, so reservations are a must as doing a walk in might not yield you a table.  Only open for dinner from 6pm, but open late until 2 or 3am, so definitely a place to grab a late night bite to eat. We got a reservation at 9:30pm and were told we had to be finished by 11:30. While this seems strange to me at first because 2 hours is more than enough time for a meal, after I dined there I understood, as the food comes out slowly and you are encouraged to enjoy each course rather than just wolf it down like at a Vegas buffet.

Fish and dinner specials are written on a chalk board located near the hostess stand, and that changes daily depending on what they get that day.

Tofu 2 Ways

We ordered half a tofu fresh and half agadashi style.  The fresh tofu came garnished with bonito flakes, sliced green onion and freshly grated ginger.   The waitress suggested we use the home made condiments on our table, which were the green tea salt and their home brewed plum infused soy sauce,  The soy sauce had a great plum fragrance and complimented the freshly made tofu very well.  The green tea flavor in the salt was subtle, letting the salt part season the tofu, but finish with a hint of tea and seaweed flavor.

Agadashi Tofu – Used the same homemade tofu, and while tasty, was probably nothing special compared to other food we had that night.  I prefer the fresh tofu over this.

Fish 2 Ways

Fresh fish can prepared in three ways: sashimi, grilled, and fried.   You can choose one, two, or all three ways.  We did sashimi  and grilled. If you choose all three, I  believe they filet both sides of the fish and the fried part is the bones and head, allowing you to eat it whole. That is the default in traditional yakitori restaurants.  After perusing the chalkboard and consulting with our waitress, we chose the  itoyori (threadfin bream), which happened to be the last one of the night.  Sashimi was very well prepared and sliced, and the grilled portion had the requisite salty and slightly charred exterior. Something to note about the garnish for the sashimi dishes. In place of the normal shredded daikon, Raku uses glassy noodles made of seaweed agar, pickled chrysanthemum instead of ginger, and freshly ground wasabi root as opposed to powder. The last one of which can be very potent. The fish was very fresh, not really needing any extra soy or salt.

Sashimi

Shiokko (amberjack) – clean with a bit of fatty texture, medium firm texture, clean flavor

Bluefin tuna sashimi – rich and fatty, almost  but not quite as rich as toro (fatty tuna) with a soft, pillowy mouth feel.  This plate came courtesy of Antonio Esfandiari, who happened to be at the table next to us. (story in another blog post)

 Yakitori


Kobe/beef skewer with wasabi – rich and fatty as you might expect. Cooked medium and topped with a wasabi sauce. Wasabi was subtle, not overpowering, a Japanese version of western steak and horseradish.

Grilled beef tendon – By far the best thing we had out of the cooked dishes. It had the texture of silky tofy with a melt in your mouth quality when you bit into it. Not chewy at all, and can best be described as chewing creamy beef flavored mousse coated in a rich beefy au jus type of reduction.

Small plates – From the top, grilled asparagus with bacon, Salmon with daikon and ikura garnish, and enoki wrapped in bacon.  Bacon was crisp, not too crunchy and not over salty, a perfect compliment for the grilled veggies.  Salmon was just average, although not dried out like some skewers I have had in the past.

TIps

– You could take a cab, but chances are the round trip fare would cost about the same as a single day for a rental car, so rent a car. Most casinos on the Strip have a rental car counter within the resort.  And you can always drive your car to the airport and drop it off there,  saving even more cab fare.

– Raku is open late, so you can do an after-show dinner here.  Just make sure you have reservations. Bear in mind that the later you go, the fewer chalkboard selections will remain. We got the last itoyori, and as we left there were a couple other line items missing.

–  Prices are about what you would expect for Japanese sashimi, but always ask the pricing before ordering off the chalkboard because prices are not posted. You don’t want to be caught by surprise when you find out what the “market price” for that sashimi platter is .

Conclusion

A great overall dining experience and a good break from the flashy, celebrity chef, and steak restaurants and buffet de casino’s on the Vegas Strip.  Authentic and very well executed.  Definitely worth a trip out.