Back in April I headed up to San Francisco to witness Boy and Girl tie the knot. Boy and Girl's wedding theme was For Love and Adventure, a very fitting theme considering that Boy and Girl love to travel, love food, and of course, love each other very much. I thought it would be creative to put a little wedding spin on this post and dedicate it to Boy and Girl. Here are something old, something new, something borrowed, and something blue that I came across on my adventure through San Fran.
It's not that the chicken is stale or that the noodles are old... in fact, the chicken is juicy and tender, and the noodles are picked up by the owner fresh each day. Chicken pho is old in the sense that it's something familiar, something homey, something comforting. Speaking of comforting, this big bowl of chicken noodle soup was what cured six Saturday morning hangovers. And what better way to cure a hangover with a steaming bowl of clear broth made from organic, free range chicken? Only in San Francisco will you find the chicken used in pho to be good not only for man but for the animal as well. Think chicken pho is good? The server says, "pho ga long is better!" If you're alright with giblets, you'll certainly agree.
The first dish I order at Indian restaurants is usually chicken tikka masala. The creamy yet spicy curry dish is simply irresistible. This time, however, I went for something new. The first dish that I ordered was the house recommended badami chicken, a dish prepared by adding tandoori chicken to creamy curry with ground pistachios and cashews. Grinding up the pistachios and cashews contribute a depth of flavor to the curry so that it's not just spicy but a bit nutty tasting too. It went great with the garlic naan, and it tasted even better as a dipping sauce for the samosas too. Even Kevin, who wanted nothing other than garlic naan, helped himself to a few extra spoonfuls of this exotically fragrance dish. Badami chicken was definitely something new for me. If only more Indian restaurants served this dish along with the other items on the menu.
Something borrowed - Sticky rice wrapped in lotus leaf (秘制果蒸粽)
I'm not sure what inspired Hong Kong Lounge to create an enormous, eight dollar, Chinese sticky rice wrap at dim sum, but I wouldn't be surprised if they borrowed the idea of super sizing everything from the land that's known for foot-long sandwiches, double-decker burgers, and extra large slurpees. Often times dishes that are made to gargantuan proportions are somehow neglected if not by health, then by flavor or by lack of quality ingredients. This sticky rice wrap is not the case. It's full of savory pork, flavorful Shiitake mushrooms, roasted peanuts, fresh egg yolk, and saucy sticky rice. Check out how big the wrap is sitting next to the tea cup. That's some heavy duty Chinese flavor, for real.
Something blue - Boy and Girl's wedding (SF: SFO Intl Airport)
If I were to really highlight something blue that I ate, it would just be the bleu cheese from the salad at the wedding. But how far would I get talking about the bleu cheese in a salad? What was truly blue (in color not emotion) was the wedding itself. From the Pan Am stewardess outfits on display to the creatively packaged Hershey's chocolate bars to the handmade table decorations to the groom's tie and the M&M's, there were vibrant shades of blue everywhere. A beautiful color... a beautiful wedding theme... a beautiful couple.
Cheers to the happy couple, Moritaka and Cheryl. I wish you a lifetime of happiness, much love and much adventure! I can't wait to hear more stories of food and travel. Until next time let's get S.O.F.A.T.
When I told Janet about my plans to visit the Bay Area, she wanted to take me to her favorite Vietnamese restaurant in town. Scratch that. She wanted to take me to her favorite restaurant in town. It just happens to be Vietnamese. She messaged me and said that I HAD TO try it. And yes, it was in ALL CAPS.
So as the last meal before I left (my heart in) San Francisco, we stopped by Yummy Yummy in the Sunset District, where the Asian food is still authentic and hasn't yet been toursited out like it has been in other parts of town (namely, Chinatown).
Janet took charge of the menu and showed us some of her favorites:
Raw beef salad. The paper-thin slices of beef (from which part I have no idea) looked just a bit like hot pot beef from the yellow styrofoam tray at 99 Ranch. But the basil, onions (both fried and raw), and peanuts helped disguise it.
Rare steak? Not a problem. Raw beef? Eeek. I squeezed a good amount of lemon on the beef hoping that the acid would cook the beef fast enough so it didn't look so red. But as the second hand on my watch ticked away and as Janet, Grace and Alex ate away, I decided to suck it up and just inhale it. Look, I'm still here. Blogging, no less. Ergo, the raw beef salad is safe. Oh, and I forgot to mention... it was bomb diggity delicious. A punch from the peanuts, a bite frm the basil, and a kick from the onions made the raw beef salad somethin' spectacular. I was ready for another roll of beef.
Fish sauce marinated butter fried chicken wings. Like whoa. These little deep-fried wings and drumettes come out with fish sauce, strands of raw onions and carrots, and pieces of raw garlic poured over the top. This item is not on the menu (just yet) and was suggested (more like pushed) to us by the boss. (Janet, Grace and others on Yelp think that it's Yummy Yummy's counter to the amazing-delicious chicken wings from San Tung next door.)
The sauce over the top makes for the kind of crispy batter that begins to soften as time goes on, so eating quickly is a necessity. The only problem is that the chicken wings are fried to a point so hot that my fingers felt a bit smoldered just from the steaming heat. Damn. Catch 22. It's like trying to eat the most delicious ice cream cone outdoors in the hot summer heat. It's panic trying to get through the entire cone before it melts, but it's pleasure with every successful bite.
Crab with spicy onion seasoning. What it really should be called is crab with spicy onion, garlic, pepper, green onion, ginger, everything seasoning. That's what it is, and that's what it tastes like. It's a fresh whole crab in all its glory. Although I'm a little sad that this crab had to die for this meal, I'm glad knowing that the crab died to make four hungry people happy.
Everyone gets their own shell cracking tool, which is great because otherwise, we'd never be able to get inside to experience the pillow-soft sinews of the martyred crustacean. And I'm not joking about the crab meat being pillow-soft. If seafood stink and sanitation weren't such major factors, I'd take the sinews of the crab and stuff me a pillow! What a wonderful night's sleep I'd get... but seafood stink and sanitation are major factors, so... crab pillow I shall not make.
Spicy beef pho. This pho wasn't your typical pho from ordinary Vietnamese restaurants. The beef was sliced thicker... the soup had a spicy kick... and if you couldn't tell already, the color was a boiling red. Oooh. But the additions were the same as any: bean sprouts, basil leaves, citrus squeeze (lemon instead of lime here), and green chili peppers.
We ordered the pho with thicker, white flour noodles as opposed to the traditional thinner, clear rice noodles. They were just as springy and elastic as expected from the typical pho noodle. The best part? The soup, of course. I didn't feel like I was slurping up an MSG-infested, sinkwater-colored bowl of denatured enzymatic proteins. This... was just simply Vietnamese beef noodle soup. I like.
Hear that Janet? I like. Thanks, Janetabulous for introducing me to this Yummy Yummy-ness. Next door to San Tung next time?
After relishing in hot bowls of congee, we retreated back to some very comfortable couches to watch a certain favorite comedy of mine. Hint: it involves a giant purple plane on hydraulics, Snoop Dogg as Capt. Mack... and M'onique terrorizing travelers at the metal detector of Terminal Malcolm X. If you know this movie and can recite lines from it like I can, I think we can be very good friends.
But as soon as the plot (is there even a plot to this movie?) unfolded, my stomach started growling again. No, congee is not a very sustaining kind of food... so it was time for a rejuvenation of protein and carbohydrates in the form of pho.
Afterwards, Amanda took me to Burnaby Mountain for some beautiful sights, fresh smells, and entertaining stories about the history of the Canadian natives. (Amanda, you're welcome to leave a comment to let everyone know about the natives of Canada.)
The sun had been out earlier in the weekend. If the sun wasn't so shy, the views would extend to the far reaches of British Columbia's lower mainland. Too bad!
And we paid a little visit to the massive totem poles. Well, I paid a visit to the totem poles while Amanda scrambled to take pictures before the battery ran out... and before water started falling from the sky. How quickly it turned from sunny to gloomy to raindrops... it must be because I was heading back home the next day. Hah.
If it wasn't so gloomy, I would spend hours here just soaking up the peace and calm (just tune out the dozens of tourists) and perhaps bring up a special someone... but it was gloomy, and I didn't hear anything but families with screaming babies in strollers... DTP! Time to go!
