BAKESALE BETTY'S

Fried chicken sandwiches with spicy coleslaw. Need I say more? I was excited to go to Bakesale Betty before I'd even moved out here. And I'd even told Leah about it and showed her the pics. So since I happened to be in that part of Berkeley, I dropped by with my mom and aunt after our trip to Berkeley Bowl. There was a small line out the door, but it was moving fast. They had lots of cookies, but I knew what I wanted. I ordered two fried chicken sandwiches, an egg salad sandwich (for my mom) and a cookie. They had my order ready in like 2 minutes.

We ended up taking them home for lunch. I left one sandwich with Tom, who was working at home, and took the other one to my cousin's house. Here's the fried chicken one:

Well, what can I say, this could have been so much better. Maybe if it'd still been hot, but I doubt the ones at the store were even hot since they were frying the chicken in advance to make. It ended up being super greasy, under seasoned and that coleslaw? Not so spicy. Overall, it was eh. Perhaps it'd be different if I'd actually had one there.

And here's the egg salad.

I didn't have any, but it was the eggiest egg salad sandwich I'd ever seen. It was like all egg, no filler. There must've been 4-5 eggs per sandwich.

I guess that not all things can live up to the hype. I'll just make my own fried chicken sandwich at home.

BERKELEY BOWL

Wow. I haven't blogged in a long time. But these last weeks have been really busy, both at work and at home. The final guests (my parents) finally left yesterday, so it should be relatively quite for the next few weeks (at home, not at work. Work is busy busy). In fact, this post is from my mom's last visit, 2 weeks ago. But better late than never.

My aunt wanted to buy someone hormone, anti biotic free chicken for my cousin, Cindy. So I took this as a great opportunity to check out Berkeley Bowl, a super famous supermarket that specializes in a ton of fresh produce. It's a Bay Area institution and is always packed. When we arrived, it was around 11 in the morning and the parking lot was already full.

When you step in, you realize it's a lot like Whole Foods, except the produce section takes up like 2/3 of the store. Here's a pic of something I'd never seen before. It's called Buddha's hand, apparently it's some type of citrus.

Here some shots of some pretty produce:

Brussell sprouts still on the stalk. You see this pretty often, and I haven't quite figured out what the benefit is. Can you eat the stalk? If not, then why go through the extra work of picking them off?

And here's a shot of the poultry section. I was FINALLY able to buy some duck legs (something I couldn't find in Boston), so now I can make Mario Batali's duck ragu. And my aunt was able to get the chicken that she wanted.

Overall, I was glad that I was finally able to go to Berkeley Bowl. They had a wonderful selection of fresh produce and other products. But I don't think I'll be back any time soon. Shopping for groceries just shouldn't be so stressful.

OUR FIRST MEAL IN SAN FRANCISCO...

sucked. Ok, well it's not the first time I've eaten in SF. Nor Tom's. It was just the first time we'd eaten there together after our move here. And it was completely unplanned. We were driving back to the East Bay through SF when we hit a huge amount of traffic. The option was to sit in traffic or grab something to eat and head back a bit later. I made the ultimate decision to head into the city.

I figured we could go to Chinatown and there would be plenty of places to find a cheap meal. I'd been there before and wandered the streets and found lots of restaurants. So we parked our car in a lot, got out and started wandering around. We ended up on a street filled with kitschy tourist souvenier stores. Accept they were more like megastores than little shops. We had fun wandering around, and even bought Kitty a kitty shaped food bowl. But when it was time to find a place to eat, there really weren't any on this street.

I'm not that familiar with Chinatown, but I now know that we were in the super tourist section. Had we headed a bit more north, we would have found more restaurants, but it was getting dark and we were hungry. So after wandering a few more blocks, we decided to go to a Rock n Roll Sushi restaurant. Yes, the fact that a Japanese restaurant was located in Chinatown should've been the first warning. The name should've been the second warning. But the restaurant was pretty packed, so I figured we'd give it a shot.

We were seated quickly and given enormous menus to order from. And we were served some free miso soup and this cucumber salad. The miso soup was standard, though the tofu was weird. The cucumber salad below was crappy:

Normally the cucumber salad is seasoned in rice wine vinegar and sugar. This was just raw cucumbers with some nori and soy sauce sprinkled on top. It was pretty terrible.

Tom then ordered some fried chicken and a roll. Meanwhile, I got tempura dinner. The portion was quite generous and it was OK. The same could be said for Tom's dinner.

I guess the one good thing is that the bill wasn't sky high. But I've learned my lesson about eating Japanese food in Chinatown. We'll be heading back into the city tomorrow- Tom wants to go back to Chinatown to buy souveniers for family and co-workers, but I've done my research this time, and I'm sure our second meal in SF will be much better.

A VISITOR FROM THE EAST COAST

Two weeks ago Sue Min was in town for her dental school interviews. It was fun seeing a friend from Boston- the very first one to visit us from the East Coast. And of course, this gave us the perfect opportunity to go check out a new restaurant. Since Sue Min had missed her flight the previous evening- she arrived right before our lunch reservations at Chez Panisse, so that was the first stop we made after she had landed.

As many of you may already know, Chez Panisse is the highly influential restaurant in North Berkeley founded by Alice Waters. It is the cornerstone of an area that's now known as the Gourmet Ghetto and Alice Waters effectively established California cuisine- the use of fresh, local, organic, seasonal ingredients. We had lunch in the upstairs part of the restaurant, which is also known as the cafe. (The bottom part is only open for dinner). After being seated in the wooden and brass accented dining room, I realized that I'd been here before. 10 years ago when I was still deciding on what college to attend, I had visited Berkeley and my cousin had brought me here for dinner. I still remember that fava bean salad we had from that night.

After taking a look at the menu, Sue Min and I ended up ordering the same thing while Tom got the prix fixe menu, which was actually a pretty good deal. The menu really did feature a lot of local growers and ingredients. Sue Min and I started with what ended up being our favorite dish of the day, a little gems salad with anchovies, egg and I forget what else.

The salad dressing on this was perfect. I wish I could figure out how to make it myself. Actually, I'm sure it's in Alice Waters' new cook book. At any rate, I quickly gobbled it up and could have eaten more.

Next came our main course. I actually forget what kind of fish it is now, but both Sue Min and I found it a bit overcooked. It was simply poached and dressed with a good olive oil and fresh herbs. However, Sue Min really like the turnips that were served on the side, while I enjoyed the fresh, flavorful potatoes.

Here's Tom's calamari spaghetti. He also enjoyed this, and I liked the smokiness of that the grilled calamari brought to the spaghetti.

Of course, we had to have dessert. This is Tom's dessert. It a huckleberry and pear sorbet sitting in a pool of muscat. I actually ended up trading desserts with him. He didn't like the muscat, but I think it paired perfectly with the sorbets.

Meanwhile, I ordered this chocolate cake, which ended up tasting a bit like an overcooked chocolate brownie. It wasn't chocolatey enough for me and I think I could've done a better job at home.

Overall our lunch was good, but really pricey. I can see how this restaurant was revolutionary when it started, especially after the excess of the 80s, but the principles of Alice Waters are now very well established. When I know that I can go down the street to the farmer's market and buy the exact same produce, that I get veggies just as fresh in my CSA box every week, that I can drive over to Acme bakery and buy the same bread, it just doesn't seem like a meal here is worth the high price tag. But I'm glad that we were able to try it and figure that out.

A GREAT DINNER A GREAT CHINA

My Aunt Sherida's in town to help take care of my soon to be born baby cousin and her friend had told her about a Chinese restaurant in Berkeley that's famous for its Peking duck. She didn't know the name, but a quick search on Google and we found out that the restaurant is called Great China and it's located in the heart of downtown Berkeley. So while my mom was visiting last weekend, we decided to check it out.

Unfortunately, parking is really hard to find in downtown Berkeley on a Friday night around dinner time, so it took me a while to find a spot. By the time I arrived, I was cold and hungry, but luckily, all the ordering had been taken care of.

We started off with a very good seafood soup. It was perfect for me, cause I'm coming down with another cold (as is Tom- I'm telling you, little kids are germ factories.)

Next, we were served this lovely Peking duck. On the side were these super thin pancakes, but what made the duck so special was two fold. First, they had removed all the fat off the super crispy skin. The other thing was that they had removed all the meat from the duck, so that was served in the pile under the skin. It was really great and my aunt kept saying this was the best duck she'd ever had.

My mom and aunt had done some major over ordering, though. So the food kept coming. Luckily, it was all really great. A lof less greasy and oily than some of the Chinese food I've become accustomed to. And the flavors were a bit different. Here's some ground chicken in lettuce cups:

Another one of our favorites were these freshly made steamed buns with crab. The buns were really delicious, and even though we were stuffed, we couldn't help be eat more of them.

Lastly, my mom had specially ordered lobster. It was something the restaurant didn't normally serve, and they had to order the lobsters especially for us. Even though I've had lots of lobster with ginger and green onion, but this one was unique due to the rice wine they used. Also, the lobster was exceptionally fresh and sweet tasting. I really enjoyed this dish a lot.

So dinner at Great China ended up bring really great. Though the service wasn't so wonderful, I wouldn't mind going back for some more of the delicious duck and lobster.

A QUICK TRIP TO LA LA LAND

Last week Tom and I made a quick trip down to LA so we could pick up all the boxes that we had shipped back to my parents' house. Of course for me, any opportunity to go back to LA is an opportunity to fill my bell and make me happy.

Since we landed in the morning, our first stop of the day was breakfast. We decided to go to the Literati Cafe, which is close to my parents' office. I'm pretty sure I've written about the cafe here before, since I seem to make a trip there every time I'm back at home, but food there remind me just why I love being back in CA.

Here's my breakfast sandwich and it's extra special for two reasons:

As you can see, it's got avocado. AND I got have it with turkey bacon. It was yummy and fresh and very filling. I enjoyed in immensely. Meanwhile, Tom ordered this massive breakfast quesadilla.

He also enjoyed it, and amazingly enough, actually finished off the whole thing (which he would regret doing 15 minutes later). Sigh.

After breakfast, we went to my favorite local farmer's market. We didn't stay too long though, because as you all know, there were some wildfires last week and it wasn't too pleasant staying outdoors. Also, it was over 95F, so we ended up going home and resting.

For dinner that evening, we met my parents and the rest of the family at Nanbankan, a local Japanese restaurant that specializes in roboto grilling. We got pretty lost getting there, since the traffic was quite heavy, and the exterior of the restaurant was under construction, so we couldn't find it. By the time we made our way there, my om had already ordered for everyone, which was totally fine with me.

They start you off with some raw veggies that you dip into a homemade miso dressing, which is quite good.

And here's a list of a few of the dishes we had. All were quite good and I really enjoyed eating there. Here's a chicken meatball:

Here's some chicken thigh meat:
These are grilled rice balls. The ones in back are a house specialty and have seaweed and seasonings mixed in.
Chicken wings (my favorite)
Chicken skin:
I'm not quite sure what this is, but it is a part of a chicken:
Chicken gizzards (another one of my favorites)
Mini zucchinis:
Shishamo (aka smelt)- This was Tom's favorite dish of the night.
Agedashi tofu:

Like I said, everything was super tasty and we were all stuffed when we left the restaurant.

After dinner, we went to Katie and Dustin's house, so Tom could meet their new kitty. My friend Raj, and his wife, Naina, were also there watching Game 1 of the World Series. (of course, by now you all know that my team won. Go Sox!). By the end of the fifth inning, the Sox were up 13-1, so we thought it was a good time to get some gelato.

A new place had opened just a few block from Katie's house in downtown Culver City, so we walked over there. It was pretty packed when we arrived, but they were quite obliging in putting a couple tables together for us so we could sit down. Here's a pic of the gelato case.As you can see, they were running low on just about everything. It'd been a warm day, so they unexpectedly sold out of almost every flavor.

I ended up ordering strawberry and pink lemon.
The strawberry was pretty good, though not my favorite. I preferred the pink lemon, but I enjoyed both and if I had a gelato place like this near me, I would certainly be going more often.

This place was more of a restaurant, though, and they served other desserts. Both Tom and Katie ordered the tiramisu, served in this little chocolate cupThe tiramisu was surprisingly good- not all mascarpone like many tiramisus tend to be. The chocolate cup, however, wasn't very yummy, though Tom still managed to finish his off.

It was getting late and we had a long drive back to the Bay Area the next day. So after we finished off dessert, we said good bye to my friends and headed home.

MORE BREAKFAST OPTIONS

I'm sure you guys are getting sick of reading about breakfast posts, and believe me, I do have other things to write about. But Tom and I continue to look for different breakfast options in our area. One place just 3 blocks from out apartment that Tom wanted to try out is a place called Nations. It's a burger place, but it's open 24 hours a day and everytime we drive by it in the morning, the parking lot is packed with cars.

So we figured we'd give it a try. The minute you walk in, you realize you're not in for a fancy meal. You don't have many options for breakfast, but they're all cheap. No wonder this place is so popular. Tom and I ordered our breakfast, and paid around $11 for the two of us.

Here's a shot of the seating area.

As you can see, it's nothing fancy. And kinda bordering on ghetto. Here's a pic of
Tom's Giant two egger:

You get double portions of eggs, bread, bacon and hash browns. Meanwhile, I ordered just toast and hash browns.

Ahhh, take a look at my fancy plastic cutlery. The hash browns weren't bad, but I don't think we'll be coming back. When I mentioned to my coworker that we'd gone to Nation's for breakfast, he mentioned that a teenager had been shot there recently....great...

Another one of our local and favorite breakfast places is Daimo. It's a great casual Chinese restaurant in the Ranch 99 complex near our house and we like going here in the mornings for some simple dim sum and congee. Here's a typical samples of what we get:

In front you can see my order of duck congee. Mmmm, my favorite. and Tom also got some different varieties of ride noodles- one with shrimp and the other with roast pork. We actually just had breakfast there yesterday and Tom got a bunch of dumplings.

Lastly, I haven't mentioned my CSA membership at all, but I'm pretty happy with it. I'm a member of the Fully Belly Farm CSA and I pick up my order every Friday morning about a half mile from our house. It's a little different from our CSA in Boston in that our boxes are smaller, but we also pay less. The selection has been quite good and I actually pick up my box in front of someone's house, so it's kinda sad that I don't have any real person to person contact with the actual farm members. But every week that I go, I see all these boxes piled up at the pick up point, and it's great knowing that so many other people are also supporting local farms.

Here's a picture of a typical box: You'll see radishes, corn, Komatsu (a type of green), squashes, green beans and a few other things. I hope that this will inspire some of you to join a local CSA in your area.

A DAY IN BERKELEY

As I type this, I'm watching the Sox on the verge of winning the World Series. (maybe) This entire series has made me miss Boston, but to make myself feel a little better, I'll remind you of why I live in the Bay Area.

As you know, now that I'm working again, I don't have "normal" days off. My days off are now on Wednesday and Thursdays, and with Tom having Saturday and Sundays off, we never get to spend a full day together. But we do spend our half days together. So one Thursday, we decided to meet my old college friend, Eileen, for lunch in Berkeley. However, since we weren't having lunch until 1, and we get up pretty early, we decided to get a snack at our local Vietnamese sandwich shop, Bah Le (just 3 block from home).

I love going here to get a quick lunch to take to work. I don't know what it is about Vietnamese sandwiches that makes them so great, maybe the pickled veggies, the crunchy cucumber, spicy jalapenos or soft, crunchy roll, I guess the combination of it all makes them extra yummy. Plus at $2.50, it's always an excellent deal. Tom and I are both fans of the bbq chicken sandwich, which is what you see below.

A couple of hours after our snack, we headed out to downtown Berkeley we went looking for Cafe Panini, a small sandwich shop tucked away in a courtyard. You wouldn't know from the outside that it's there, but since we had looked up the information on their website, it wasn't too hard to find. It was a beautiful sunny day and there was a bunch of outdoor seating, so we grabbed a table outside.

I decided to order a soup and half sandwich combo. To be honest, I'm really not sure what I ordered anymore (this was two weeks ago), but I do remember that the soup was pretty good, and the sandwich was kinda small. (though also good and made with very fresh ingredients). Also, when they say panini, what they really mean is a toasted sandwich, since when I think of panini, I'm thinking of something placed on a panini press and squished flat.

Meanwhile, here's Tom's sandwich. It was a pork loin sandwich and he thought it was ok. Again, it was surprisingly small, so he was still hungry afterwards. Luckily, Eileen is more familiar with Berkeley and suggested that we visit a gelato shop afterwards. (I guess it's common knowledge that I love gelato).

Here are some shots of the gelato case. They all looked very good and they were quite willing to give out samples. However, I ordered my usual- chocolate and strawberry.

I thought the flavors were quite good and I enjoyed the chocolate quite a lot. After lunch, Tom and I decided to head up to North Berkeley for their weekly farmer's market. Ever Thursday, the farmer's market in North Berkeley feature only organic farmers. And we already have our favorite stalls at the farmer's market.

We're big fans of pretzel man who makes these German style pretzels, but better.
We also like getting bites at Flacos, the vegan, vegetarian Mexican stall. Here's tom standing next to the sign. Yeah, it doesn't sound very good, but it really is. You can hardly notice that the taquitos are filled with tempeh rather than chicken. Ahhh, the miracles of frying. And here are some more pics from the market. Overall, it's great to spend an afternoon sitting the sun and enjoying some yummy snacks. I guess this California living isn't so bad afterall.