Posted by Anita on 09.06.06 9:43 AM
Pardon my tardiness with the next couple of posts… I’m clearing out a post-holiday backlog. (Or is that back-blog?)
If I hadn’t seen it with my own two eyes, I might not believe there really is a restaurant called El Jefe’s. It made me want to walk right up to the hostess desk and ask, in my best Chevy Chase voice: “Do you have anything here besides… Mexican food?”
But the place is indeed real, and, in fact, they do have plenty of things on the menu that would confuse the heck out of the denizens of San Poco. The decor‘s your first clue that perhaps this isn’t your typical combo-plate shack. Obviously, these guys have pretentions, and it shows in the menu.
Now, I’m no purist when it comes to my comida: I love my gringified Mexican places as much as the next SoCal emigrant, and I’m even pretty fond of Mexican fusion, when it’s done right. But even given the fact that they’re obviously shooting straight for my demographic, I couldn’t find anything to latch onto at El Jefe’s. The chips and salsa they brought to the table didn’t give me much hope: The chips were made from a strange combination of flour and corn masa, giving the impression of eating the wrapping from a greasy chimichanga, and both green and red salsas were obviously sweetened.
Even though I wasn’t particularly hungry, I ordered a “Mexican chopped salad” to hedge my bets. The spicy mix of chicken, lettuce, poblanos, pepitas, hominy, and apples wasn’t bad, although, again, someone in the kitchen used a very heavy hand with the sugar when mixing the dressing. For my main, I went with mole chicken enchiladas. They arrived in a soup plate, swimming in sauce and “artfully” drizzled with crema. The chicken was good, if not particularly interesting; the sauce would have been a perfect balance of smoky, spicy and rich, if it hadn’t been marred by an odd fruity sweetness. Accompanying pintos were bland, and white rice was waterlogged… and unnecessary.
The whole experience made me want to go back into the kitchen and ask: “Could it be that you are angry for something else, and you are taking it out on me?”
El Jefe’s Mexican Restaurant & Cantina
9925 S. Eastern Avenue
Las Vegas, NV 89123
702.453.JEFE
Mexican, restaurants, Vegas
1 Comment »
Posted by Anita on 09.05.06 8:29 PM
To a friend’s new job, after a long search.
To my dad being out of the hospital.
To spending time with family.
To my wonderful husband, who takes care of me when I am beyond taking care of myself.
And, last but certainly not least, to finally deciding to quit my job…
Life’s too short — drink bubbly on a weeknight.
family, wine & bubbly
3 Comments »
Posted by Anita on 09.01.06 9:03 PM
I’m visiting my folks in Henderson, just outside of Vegas, where the temperature — at almost 9pm –Â is currently 88.2 degrees. Eesh! Mom says it’s gorgeous out and perfect weather for a walk; I think it sounds like a recipe for a sweat overdose. My preference: A nice sit-down in front of the computer, under the ceiling fan, with a cool bottle of Rolling Rock… ahh.
Even though this heat is nothing surprising given the location and time of year, I still felt like I was walking into a furnace when I stepped off the plane. (It was only 105 then, at 6pm.) Not really feeling like turning on the oven, or even firing up the grill, we made a nice dinner out of a rotisserie chicken from the market, and a bowl full of orzo salad Mom had whipped up from a Giada DeLaurentiis recipe off of the Food Network site. It was the perfect antidote to the heat — crisp, cool, and satisfying without being too much.Â
Giada’s Orzo Salad
4 cups chicken broth
1 1/2 cups orzoÂ
2 cups garbanzo beans, drained and rinsed
1 1/2 cups teardrop or grape tomatoes, halved
3/4 cup chopped red onion
1/2 cup chopped fresh basil
1/4 cup chopped fresh mint (or flat-leaf parsley)
About 3/4 cup Red Wine Vinaigrette (recipe follows)
Salt and freshly ground black pepper
Pour the broth into a heavy large saucepan. Cover the pan and bring the broth to a boil over high heat. Stir in the orzo. Cover partially and cook until the orzo is tender but still firm to the bite, stirring frequently, about 7 minutes. Drain the orzo through a strainer.
Transfer the orzo to a large wide bowl and toss until the orzo cools slightly. Set aside to cool completely. Toss the orzo with the beans, tomatoes, onion, basil, mint, and enough vinaigrette to coat (about half of recipe below). Season the salad, to taste, with salt and pepper, and serve at cool, or at room temperature.
Vinaigrette Dressing
1/2 cup red wine vinegar
1/4 cup fresh lemon juice
2 teaspoons honey
2 teaspoons salt
3/4 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
1 cup extra-virgin olive oil
Mix the vinegar, lemon juice, honey, salt, and pepper in a blender. With the machine running, gradually blend in the oil. Season the vinaigrette, to taste, with more salt and pepper, if desired.
cooking, family, recipes
Comments Off on It’s a dry heat
Posted by Anita on 09.01.06 6:02 AM
Flashback: Just as spring ended, we garnished this sangria with pears and citrus for our garden-warming party. It seems only fitting that we bid adÃos to summer with a peachy version.
Both the syrup and the fruit need to be made up ahead of time, so this is a perfect recipe to start today with an eye toward the long holiday weekend.
This recipe is based on Katie Loeb’s version.
Spicy Sangria
750ml bottle of neutral red wine
4oz orange liqueur, preferrably Cointreau
4oz brandy — we use E&J XO
4oz spiced simple syrup (recipe follows)
chopped fruit macerated in additional brandy and/or liqueur
club soda or sparkling water
Make the simple syrup the night before you plan to drink the sangria. If using hardy fruit — such as citrus, apples or pears — macerate the fruit overnight as well; summer fruits like peaches and berries only need a few minutes’ soaking time or they’ll turn to mush.The morning you plan to serve the sangria, mix the alcohols and syrup, and adjust for sweetness and booziness. Chill thoroughly until ready to serve.
Place LOTS of ice in a glass, and add some of the boozy fruit. Nearly fill the glass with sangria — leaving about an inch of head room — and then top with a glug of club soda.
Spiced Simple Syrup
2-3 sticks of Mexican canela (or 1 stick regular cinnamon)
4 full pieces star anise
1-1/2 tsp. cloves
1-1/2 tsp. black peppercorns
1/2 tsp. red chile flakes
one pint of 1:1 simple syrup
Boil the spices in the syrup for 5 minutes, then cool overnight. Strain, then use as desired.
Drink of the Week, drinks, entertaining, food boards, Mixology Monday, recipes, wine & bubbly
1 Comment »
Posted by Anita on 08.31.06 3:50 PM
As I’ve mentioned before, the lunch options near my office are pretty grim. But even though I’ve known about Cafe Madeleine since late last year, for some reason I never seem to remember it when hunger strikes.
I’m officially resolving to remember.
Today’s lunch was a gorgeous slice of ham-and-asparagus quiche. Serviceable asparagus meets chunks of good ham, all bound up in a creamy custard and surrounded by a better-than-decent crust. The side salad’s good too… mixed greens tossed in a nice mustardy vinaigrette. All this for $4.50.
Add another couple bucks and you get a Pellegrino soda, or a French lemonade. If you can manage to resist the gravitational pull of the dessert case — and really, I promise not to mock if you can’t… those pastries are almost pornographic in their glossy perfection — you’ll be scrumptiously lunched for about $7.
Cafe Madeleine
300 California Street (x Battery)
San Francisco, CA 94104
415.362.3332
downtown SF, lunch
2 Comments »
Posted by Anita on 08.31.06 10:45 AM
In addition to being my dad’s birthday (Happy B-Day, Pops!), August 31 is also BlogDay 2006. What’s that, you ask? I’m so glad you did! Here’s a clip from the BlogDay site (which seems to be overwhelmed with traffic at the moment):
What will happen on BlogDay?
In one long moment In August 31st, bloggers from all over the world will post a recommendation of 5 new Blogs, Preferably, Blogs different from their own culture, point of view and attitude. On this day, blog surfers will find themselves leaping and discovering new, unknown Blogs, celebrating the discovery of new people and new bloggers.
BlogDay posting instructions:
- Find 5 new Blogs that you find interesting
- Notify the 5 bloggers that you are recommending on them on BlogDay 2006
- Write a short description of the Blogs and place a link to the recommended Blogs
- Post the BlogDay Post (on August 31st) and
- Add the BlogDay tag using this link: BlogDay2006 and a link to BlogDay web site at http://www.blogday.org
Given that the only blogs I read until recently were Hedonia and SFHomeBlog, I’m basically thinking that any blog is pretty much fair game as “new” in my book.
As most everyone else who’s participating has said, it’s hard to pick just five. But here, in no particular order, are the five new-to-me food blogs I’ve put at the top of the pile, the ones that I read on my Treo on the way in to work.
- Anyone who’s already reading food blogs knows about Becks & Posh. Sam’s a fellow Bay-Area gal (albeit a transplant from England) and those who know tell me that I am rightly very sad that I missed my chance to shake her hand at the Bay Area Food Bloggers’ Picnic last weekend (which we had to back out of attending at the last minute).
- After rekindling our romance with cocktails during the Seattle Experiment, we found ourselves a bit adrift when we moved back to San Francisco: Where were all the decent watering holes? We should have gone trawling for a site like Cocktails with Camper English a long time ago. Love it.
- One of our friends from the Seattle food crew, Matthew Amster-Burton is also a food writer of local reknown. He’s also dad to one of Seattle’s cutest toddlers, Iris. In Roots & Grubs, Mamster chronicles his often hilarious interactions with his budding foodie of a daughter.
- Speaking of Seattlites… during the course of a shared dinner at Union, Molly struck me as someone who I’d be reading about some day. Little surprise to catch up with her, a couple of years later, and find that her Orangette has become one of the stars of the food-blog world.
- I always knew Shuna Fish Lydon was a blogger: her review of Range for the KQED blog got caught up in a (ahem) spirited debate over on MouthfulsFood last fall. But I didn’t know she solo-blogged until I met her at a June Taylor marmalade class earlier this year. When I put out my call for blog recommendations earlier this month, multiple people suggested eggbeater …and I could no longer keep my head in the sand. Now I am hooked on this quirky little slice of Shuna’s brain.
ps: Thanks for the link, Sean. 😀
bar culture, drinks, food boards, geekery, other blogs, Seattle
2 Comments »
Posted by Anita on 08.28.06 11:15 AM
If you’re looking for a review of Perbacco restaurant in the Financial District, we’ve got one of those, too. (Psst, click HERE.) But below you’ll find a review of Bacco in Noe Valley.
Cameron’s sister and brother-in-law were visiting last week, taking a slightly circuituitous route from their old home in London to their new one in NYC. Since we’d had a bit of a delay rounding up a babysitter for our favorite niece, all of the city hotspots were long since booked for a Friday-night celebration at anything resembling a decent dinner hour.
And so, like we’ve done so many times before, we turned to Ristorante Bacco, another one of our perennial faves. We’ve said it before and we’ll say it again: We can never understand why we’re able to walk in without reservations on weeknights, and snag prime-time seats on OpenTable even at the last minute.
It may be a cliché, but Bacco really does feel like a neighborhood restaurant in Italy: great European-style service, well-prepared food with a seasonal vibe, and warm ambiance without a hint of pretension. All of the waiters are Italian, and their European approach is evident: they’re not just here while they write their screenplay or find their next tech job; they’re professional waiters who know a lot about food (and wine) in general, and Bacco’s menu in particular.
The decor is cozy and Tuscan-ish in a manner that verges on caricature: Large smooth terracotta tiles set on a diagonal covering the floor, color-washed walls, long/heavy curtains, and bas-relief sculptures of Bacchus and his nymphs.
The menu changes seasonally, but many items remain year-round. Unless you’ve spent your life eating at Olive Garden, Bacco’s not going to change the way you think about Italian food. But that’s not really the issue: We come here — as you should — expecting good food, simply prepared.
Appetizers cover a wide range: there’s usually a soup (often bland and forgettable), a special salad (usually one of the best choices; they sound more boring than they turn out), and some seasonal small plate.
In the pasta section, our old favorites include a rigatoni dish with lamb ragu and tiny peas. The usual assortments of meat-centric entrees are workmanlike (and more expensive) and generally not quite as interesting as the pastas. But if you see something that catches your eye, go for it: all of them use top-notch ingredients and are prepared just as they should be.
Desserts — panna cotta, affogato, tiramisu and the like — are satisfying, if neither particularly innovative nor seasonally inspired. The wine list offers a small assortment of California reds and whites, plus a larger selection of Italian varietals; all are reasonably priced.
Ristorante Bacco
737 Diamond Street
San Francisco, CA 94114
415.282.4969
Italian, Noe Valley, restaurants
1 Comment »
Posted by Anita on 08.25.06 6:56 AM
This Drink of the Week is trés simple:
Le Poire Royale
– 1 oz. Belle de Brillet (pear cognac liqueur)
– sparkling wine
Place the liqueur in a champagne flute and top with champagne or other sparkling wine. Garnish with a raspberry.
C’est bon!
I haven’t tested it, but if you don’t feel like hunting down Belle de Brillet — which I recommend that you do eventually, as it’s a nice thing to sip all on its own — you could probably substitute 2/3 oz. pear eau-de-vie (like the Clear Creek Pear that I know many of you have on hand for Falling Leaves) and 1/3 oz. cognac or other good-quality brandy.
Drink of the Week, drinks, recipes, wine & bubbly
1 Comment »
Posted by Anita on 08.24.06 5:47 PM
In the pantheon of old standbys, San Tung ranks among the venerable elders. We’ve been eating there since one of Cameron’s roommates — ironically, a vegetarian — recommended it to us, back in the days when we were just a-courtin’. I can’t even begin to count the number of friends we’ve turned on to the pleasures of dry-fried chicken and other San Tung delights in the years since.
As with any long-standing friend, we’ve collected plenty of lore about ol’ San Tung, most of it based on stuff that’s no longer entirely accurate. Example: It’s still formally known as “San Tung Chinese Restaurant #2”, although there’s no longer is a #1 to be found. And ’round our house, we affectionately refer to ST as “closed on every wednesdays” in deference to the chinglish sign that used to grace the door. (It’s long been replaced by a just-slightly ungrammatical “wednesdays closed”).
You’ll see dry-fried chicken on almost every table at San Tung, for good reason: it rocks! (For those keeping score at home, we prefer the diced version to the wings, and alternate between the “wet” and “dry” variants.) If you’re a fan of the hot, you’ll love the little dish of kimchee that you get while perusing the menu.
We can also recommend spicy soup noodles, spicy peanut noodles, potstickers, pork dumplings, mu-shu whatever — if it’s got noodles or a dumpling wrapper, it’s going to be good — and the hot-and-sour soup is pretty respectable.
Service is brusque, as you’d expect from a restaurant in this particular genre — cheap Chinese, sans atmosphere — and you should be prepared to wait anywhere from 5 to 20 minutes, or share a banquet-size table with other parties. But what it lacks in charm, San Tung most decidedly makes up for in deliciousness. We’re always happy when the craving strikes on a day that isn’t a “wednesdays”.
San Tung Chinese Restaurant #2
1031 Irving Street (at 11th)
San Francisco, CA 94122
415.242.0828
– 11am to 9:30pm; closed [on every] Wednesdays
restaurants
4 Comments »
Posted by Anita on 08.24.06 7:53 AM
Last Saturday at the market, Steve gave us a copy of a recipe for Carne en su Jugo — a traditional dish from Jalisco — that he said was indescribably delicious.
We finally got around to making it last night… and he’s right. It’s a gorgeous soupy, spicy dish that’s somehow hearty and light at the same time. If you’ve already got the beans cooked, it’s even quick enough to make on a weeknight after work.
Carne en su Jugo, Estilo TapatÃo
Adapted from Savoring Mexico
1/2 pound good-quality bacon, cut into small sticks
1 pound beef sirloin tip, thinly sliced on the diagonal and then coarsely chopped
4 cups rich beef broth or stock
2 chiles chipotles en adobo
2 small bay leaves
2 tsp. sea salt
1 tsp. ground pepper
1/2 pound dried beans – soaked, cooked and drained (we used Red Nightfall)
1/2 cup chopped cilantro
8 large spring onions, grilled
4 serrano (or 2 jalapeño) chiles, minced
2 limes, quartered
In a frying pan, slowly fry the chopped bacon over medium-low heat until crisp, then drain on paper towels. Raise the heat to med-high and cook the beef in the bacon drippings for about 2 minutes. Remove the beef with a slotted spoon, and place in a large, heavy pot.
Put chipotles in a blender with about 1 cup of the beef broth, and blend until smooth. Add the chile-beef liquid to the large pot, along with the remaining beef broth, the bay leaves, salt and pepper. Bring to a boil, then reduce heat to low. Cover and simmer until the meat is tender, approximately 20 minutes.
Warm the beans over med-low heat. When meat is cooked, divide the beans among 4 bowls, then ladle the meat and the broth over the beans. Garnish with the bacon and cilantro, and lay 2 onions along the rim of each bowl. Pass the diced serranos and limes at the table, and enjoy with good-quality tortilla chips.
cooking, meat, Mexican, recipes
Comments Off on Me gusta mucho
