5 Star Foodie on the road: Ethnic eats in SF

Whenever I travel somewhere, I like to try ethnic foods that I can't easily find in Chicago. This has led to meals such as Cambodian food in Cleveland (of all places).

San Francisco is a treasure trove of ethnic cuisine. The various Asian and Latin influences gave an exploring foodie many options.

Contras? Sandinistas? I don't know...I just want some food!

First, I headed down to the Mission District to try some Nicaraguan food. There are several Nicaraguan restaurants there, but I went to El Trebol Restauraut, which got nice reviews on Yelp.

The place is VERY no frills and half the menu is Mexican food, with half Nicarguan. I ordered the fried pork dish, which came on a heaping plate with plantains, beans, salad, and rice.

Other than being colorful and plentiful, the food was extremely tasty. I expected it to taste like a variation of Mexican food, but that was not really the case. There was really not much spice used and the flavors were much more subtle than I anticipated. In this case "subtle" is a good thing, as with such a mix of options, everything goes together well. A bit of pork and a plantain with some rice blended together perfectly.

No Coke for me. For $1 each, I got a cup of a cocoa drink and a tamarind drink. The former tasted like Yoo-Hoo, while the latter was a very sweet juice drink. It was interesting that with the flavors of the food being so subtle, neither of the drinks really was.

The cost for my large meal and 2 drinks, including tax and tip, ended up being barely over $10. If this place was in Chicago, I'd go often. (Am open to suggestions of similar Mexican or other Latin places though.)

Bombs over Baghdad

A few days later, I found an Iraqi place in the Lower Haight district. I've had Persian food and Turkish food at various times, so expected similar. As you can see from the menu, there are some similarities, but also differences. They have the hummus, babaghanoush, and kebabs of other Middle Eastern places, but also many dishes made with yogurt that are more similar to Indian entrees.

I went off the radar some and ordered the Quzi ("boneless lamb shank cooked in an aged yogurt sauce, served with rice and served with toasted almonds").

This was NOT what I was expecting. The lamb and spices (and mushrooms apparently) are the top and outside, covering the hockey puck of white rice, an island in a sea of yogurt.

I wanted to like it much more than I did. There weren't many almonds, too many mushrooms, and the yogurt sauce just didn't go so well with the lamb I thought. It tasted different than any Indian yogurt sauce I've had in the past, as it was a bit tangier. I wish I had ordered something else.

The place has only been open a few months and is nicely decorated with Iraqi artifacts and drawings. To my annoyance, they adjusted the lights 4-5 times throughout my meal, making it progressively darker. I'm not really sure why.

Had a dessert dish, which was even less notable. It was a warm cooked cheese dish on some sort of "nest" type thing with various spices and other stuff. Just didn't work for me. Part of the nest was slightly burnt.

The cost ended up being around $25, and I didn't order any drinks.

So one hit and one miss. I'm looking forward to going back to the City by the Bay and exploring some more. There are several notable Burmese restaurants in the area, along with cuisines from other Latin countries.

5 Star Foodie on the Road: NYC ice cream

Being New York born and bred (save your scorn for later), whenever I go home, the first place I go to is the Chinatown Ice Cream Factory.



To understand this place, you only need to look at the list of flavors. Focus on the "regular flavors". Chances are that you're not going to find almond cookie or durian or pandan at your local ice cream shop. Here's the thing: the flavors aren't just exotic, but they're really tasty. Lychee has a mild almost melony flavor.

On a recent visit, I had 1/2 scoop almond cookie and 1/2 scoop black sesame.

The almond cookie (the yellowish mass on the left) has finely chopped or smashed tiny bits of cookie in it and has a definite almond flavor to it. It's very creamy and smooth. And addictive.

Meanwhile, the black sesame (the darker mass on the right) is even creamier. When you bite into it, it has a flavor similar to peanut butter. Still, it's smooth and extremely tasty.

You can get cones or cups. They sell merchandise as well (my t-shirt with the dragon eating ice cream logo always draws comments).

While it's often crowded, usually you'll be served within 5 minutes. There's nowhere to sit, but that's fine. It's in the middle of Chinatown and you can walk and eat.

The one thing I beg of you if you go, dear reader: even though I'm sure it's very good, PLEASE PLEASE don't order vanilla or chocolate.

I'll have a glass of salad, please.

Hey, Internet, do you know what this picture is?



Take a guess. Seriously, guess what this is. Go ahead. Guess. REALLY, give it a go!

Give up? Annoyed? Both?

It's salad, I'm not kidding. In fact, moto called it "Greek salad, again," and it was my favorite of the ten courses we ate at that little hipster hangout, although the S'mores was a close second (the S'mores course sparked a somewhat heated discussion of the relative im/politeness of bowl-licking).

But I digress.

The Greek salad, again was just a shot of clear liquid, and that dot in the middle was (methinks) olive oil. The idea was to shoot it (or maybe sip and I was just really thirsty at the time and didn't understand the directions). I let it sit in my mouth for a while, and I can honestly say that I was surprised by a beverage. Because that beverage didn't look anything like V8, but it sure did taste like tomatoes and cucumbers and a little bit of saltiness and, well, like salad.

Pretty cool for a salad course. And pretty nifty for a restaurant whose laser was out of season. I mean, really: How can a CLASS 4 LASER be out of season? It was, unfortunately, so we didn't get to eat food cooked with a laser (but I did get a picture of the laser - check out my photostream on flickr). We did, however, eat food frozen with liquid nitrogen. So, ok, bonus points shall be awarded. For more pics, check out the moto section of my flickr pics.

In a word: Yum. In two words: But pricey.

What’s in my pantry: Black goo

This little glass jar packs the tastiest black goo you’ll ever eat: Wari goma. Wari goma is sesame paste, basically the same concept as tahini. The goopy mess in question is made with black sesame seeds, and so has a gorgeous sheen and a slightly earthier taste. I bought this jar (Kadoya brand) at Mitsuwa, although it can be found in pretty much any grocery store that carries a decent variety of Japanese victuals. It’s worth every penny of its exorbitant price.

A little goes a long way, and makes for a very easy, sophisticated-looking Japanese side dish. I learned the following sauce from a friend in Japan, and have never had any complaints. Note that all amounts are eyeballed; taste as you go along:

Mix a teaspoon of wari goma with two tablespoons of soy sauce, one tablespoon each of rice vinegar and sake (or mirin if you want a sweeter taste and less bite), and one teaspoon of black sesame seeds. You may want to throw some kombu dashi in there for a bit of savory or wasabi if pungent is more your gig. If you can buy or make suri goma (crushed sesame seeds), its addition will improve matters.

This goes well on asparagus, spinach boiled in kombu dashi, fresh tomatoes (use sake instead of mirin and consider adding the wasabi), and wakame. I’ve also used it as a dipping sauce for soba, although I prefer it watery and sans suri goma when used with noodles.

Review: Lao Sze Chuan

2172 S. Archer Ave. Chicago, IL 60616

312-326-5040

http://www.laoszechuan.com/

Have you eaten the hot pot at Lao Sze Chuan? Have you? Because if you haven't, then you should. In fact, you should reevaluate your New Year's resolutions to include "Eat the hot pot at Lao Sze Chuan." I mean it. It's that good.

Even the picture is a feast for the eyes...

It's the kind of tasty goodness that makes me want to wait until the wind builds to a scream and icicles form in my nose before I make the trek to the land down under Madison Street. Then, when the Weather Channel confirms it's the month of February, I plan for a late lunch and don't eat breakfast because I want to be good and empty so that 1) I can eat more and 2) it just tastes better when I have earned it, say through short bouts of hot-pot-inspired fasting and the extreme endurance sport that is called February in Chicago. It really is that good, I'm not kidding.

There are three choices of broth, but I've only had two: The consommé and the hot spicy. The consommé is neutral, while the hot spicy broth provides just the right amount of heat, reaching that sublime balance between pleasure and sadism that is found only in Asian cuisine. Yum. Yum, yum, yum. Oh, and, um, yum.

The list of ingredient options, much like my dating history, has great variety, is at times confusing, and has several choices of meat. (And vegetables.) I can't even begin to say, "Choose X." Once I try them all (including the pork blood cake, yippee!!!) I'll make some recommendations. So far, everything I've sampled has merited worshiping Chef Tony Hu as a demigod of hot-pot-o'liciousness. I've even considered rushing home and building a shrine.

Well, after I take a nap, of course. All that hot pot makes me warmy-swarmy inside and the only cure is a leisurely nap with the cats, so the altar will just have to wait awhile.