146. Bay Area - Foreign Cinema Rolls Out the Red Carpet (SF: Mission)

Last month I spent about 10 days in the Bay Area seeing old friends, meeting new ones, and stuffing myself silly.  Once of the first restaurants I visited in San Francisco was Foreign Cinema.  Diana and I chose this popular culinary destination to experience their brunch menu.  Here is what we ordered.

Smoked salmon, ruby red grapefruit with creme fraiche and black tobiko.  Gorgeous.

Sea bass tartare with wasabi tobiko.  The lime juice combined with olive oil made for a light, fresh taste.

Poached eggs with proscuitto ragu.  The runny yolk made for glorious food porn.

Croque Madame with toasted ham, Gruyere and some of the best béchamel sauce I've ever had.


After starting off with some raw dishes, we worked our way to hot dishes that were centered around eggs.  Apparently the co-owners Gayle Pirie and John Clark love eggs and have written a cookbook featuring recipes using eggs called Country Egg, City Egg.  We also order some cocktails, Love in the Afternoon as recommended by Chef Gayle and a Bellini, to go with everything.  It isn't Sunday brunch if there aren't any drinks involved, right?

The excellent service made us feel like the red carpet was really rolled out for us.  The food was done well and presented beautifully.  We would definitely come back again... perhaps to experience the much talked about dinner service.

Check out the Tastemade video above for some mouthwatering shots of our brunch.  Also, see my Flickr set for some images from our meal.  Until next time, let's all get S.O.F.A.T.

Foreign Cinema
2534 Mission Street
Mission District
San Francisco, CA 94110
BART: 24th St Mission

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Post 106: ScotsFest at the Queen Mary (LA: Long Beach)

Awrite! This past weekend the Queen Mary in Long Beach hosted the 20th anniversary of ScotsFest, a weekend celebration of Scottish cuisine and culture.  In regards to the culture, the festival featured a bag piping competition, Highland athletic games, dancing, a Rock Yer Kilt concert, and other live entertainment.  In the culinary realm, there was much food to be had... the highlights of which included beer and whiskey tastings.  There was, of course, an obligatory parade and... sheep herding! Whit? Whaur?

Thanks to Johanna Felix of the PR firm Freeman/McCue, I was invited to attend the exclusive media event "A Taste of ScotsFest" before the weekend festivities began.  On board the R.M.S. Queen Mary, Head Chef Todd Henderson presented us with some traditional Scottish fare.  We were also treated to bag pipe performances and sword dancing. 

The shining star of the meal may also be described as the black sheep by some.  It was haggis.  In a sense, it is literally black sheep.  Considered a savory pudding, it is really a combination of minced sheep heart, liver and lungs.  Mixed in with onion, oatmeal, fat (suet) and other spices, it is encased in a stomach lining and then cooked through.  The color of it is slightly darker than sepia, and the look of it reminds me of the outside of a dirty conch shell.  But once it is opened it just looks like fully cooked ground beef... if you can get past the idea that haggis contains heart, liver and lungs, that is.

Well, good thing internal organs don't phase me.  The minced meat was quite flavorful.  Chef Henderson served the haggis with the traditional accompaniments of neeps and tatties, which is the Scots way of having mashed turnip and potatoes.  It was my first time having this traditional Scottish food, and it was delicious.  Who doesn't like meat and potatoes?

Other complements included Scotch pie, biscuits and smoked salmon.  The Scotch pie and biscuits were on par with the haggis, neeps and tatties... really comforting and flavorful.  Scotch pie is basically a meat pie, a flaky pastry filled with meat and baked to golden perfection.  The biscuits were moist and easy to break apart.  They had the slight peanut butter stickiness, which is a sign of a well made biscuit.  At the end we had a dessert made with cream and berries called cranachan.

The beverage of choice while eating haggis is whiskey, which we had plenty of.  The media guests tasted five different whiskeys, from a blended and smokey The Black Grouse to a 10 and intense 15 year Macallan to the special 12 and 18 year Highland Park.  The whiskeys, and many beers, were also in attendance at the weekend's ScotsFest.  Thanks to John King of Rémy Cointreau USA for the tasting.

I invited a true blooded Scotsman and his fiancé to partake in the festivities this past weekend.  They noted that the line for the Scotch pies was long (rightfully so) and that the shortbread was "really good."  The Strongbow cider quenched the Mulholland thirst from the unusually hot winter weather.  After 20 solid years in Long Beach, next year's festivities are bound to be bigger and even better.  I am looking forward to another culinary celebration of Scottish culture.  The next ScotsFest will be held over Memorial Day weekend in Orange County.  See ye efter! Until then, let's all get S.O.F.A.T.

At the end of the media event, Captain Will Kayne led us on a full tour of the majestic ship.  Many thanks for the very informative and exciting tour, Captain.

An interview with Chef Todd Henderson in OC Weekly by Orange County food writer Anne Marie Panoringan can be read here. The Scotch meat pies were seriously good.  Good job, Chef.

This post features photography by Kieran Mulholland and Catherine Tung.  Hope you guys had a fun taste of home this past weekend!

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Post 81: By Invitation: Tasting Menu at Maximiliano (LA: Highland Park)

I got a chance to meet Marian the Foodie when she joined the Six Taste team last year.  Lucky for me (and all of us at Six Taste) Marian is an extreme foodie who has many culinary connects across town.  Even luckier for me... she was kind enough to invite me and Ken to attend a private tasting menu that Chef Andre Guerrero of The Oinkster put together.  This nine course dinner took place with Marian and her foodie friends at Chef Guerrero's latest restaurant called Maximiliano.  I got a chance to see Chef Guerrero's passion for cooking, talk to him about his love for Chinese food... and drink a lot of wine.  Oh, and I met OG food blogger kevinEats too.  Worth the two hour drive up from Orange County? I'd say.

We sat down to a house smoked salmon pizza served with a glass of Prosecco.  The thin crust was warm, and the smoked salmon was the right amount of salty.  The pesto gave me a world of happiness, but my favorite part was the dollop of Burrata right on top of my slice.  That topping, along with the chopped scallions, gave a freshness to every bite and complemented the saltiness of the smoked salmon so well.  Best pizza I've had in a long time.

Our next plate was a faux gras mousse, chicken liver mousse, croustades, house mad pickles, and crisp chicken bacon.  Yep, you read that right... faux gras not foie gras, and thankfully because I embarked on an eight course foie gras dinner in the week prior, and I was not ready for another taste of foie.  The spreadable mousses on the crisp croustades made for an unbeatable texture contrast.  The house mad pickles were ever so slightly spicy yet full of lip puckering sourness... absolutely delightful.  Perfect for cutting the richness of the liver mousse.  And the chicken bacon? Can't... deny... bacon.

Next up was a highlight of dinner... asparagus, bacon confit, and soft scrambled egg topped with bread crumbs and served with a 2004 Domaine Berthet-Bondet Cotes du Jura from France.  Everyone agreed that this was the most comforting of all the dishes, especially with the pork belly bacon confit at the center of the dish.  The asparagus was tender yet not overcooked or too soft.  The soft scrambled eggs reminded me of a soft cheese or almost like the slightly burned top of a potatoes au gratin.  It was just so homey and innocent... nothing could taint the purity of this dish.

The next four courses were all different pasta dishes that hit more to the core of Italian home cooking.  The porcini mushrooms really came through in the chicken ravioli topped with truffle oil and reggiano cheese.  The cream sauce really allowed me to savor the flavor of the pasta.  It was served with a 2009 Beaujolais by Henry Fessy "Fleurie" of France.

The baked polenta was unlike anything I've ever tasted.  Prepared with pomodoro and creamy gorgonzola, the polenta was truly rich in flavor.  I scooped the pomodoro over the square of polenta repeatedly hoping to recreate the last bite I took.  This, and the next dish, were served with a 2009 Sangiovese by Cecchi "Bonizio" of Tuscany.

Course number six featured a classic Italian pasta.  A capellini with pancetta, pomodoro, and reggiano really captured my heart.  The noodles were perfectly al dente, and the pancetta popped with every bite.  I loved that the pasta was swirled in an updo and that it was dotted with pancetta confetti.  It seemed like this dish oozed with love and passion.  If I didn't already know Chef Guerrero was in the kitchen, I could have sworn an Italian nonna prepared this dish.

Our final pasta dish was an orecchiete.  It had fennel sausage, cavolo nero, chile, heirloom cherry tomatoes, and pecorino romano in it.  Orecchiete has never been a favorite of mine, so what really stood out for me in this dish was the fennel sausage and the cavolo nero.  This meat and vegetable combination really play well against each other, one with the more savory umami flavor and the other with the more cleansing touch.  This was paired with the Monkey See Monkey Do, a double IPA from Craftsman.

The last entree to arrive was short ribs prepared sous vide with red wine sauce, spaetzle, and fava beans.  Even though we were given serrated knives, there were not necessary because the short ribs were ridiculously tender.  I could slice through it like butter.  The red wine sauce really made this dish though.  A combination of savory, salty and sweet clung onto the short ribs like paint on canvas.  The spaetzle really sealed the deal for me.  I swiveled the spaetzle around on my plate until it was completely coated with the red wine sauce before eating it.  I could have closed my eyes and died right then and there.  This final entree was served with a 2005 "Pandora," by Peter Waygardt Mas de la Devez in France.

But no time to die just yet... eight courses completed and only dessert to go.  Everyone's got a second stomach for dessert, right? What was listed on the menu was a mini lemon tart, but what was placed in front of me was nowhere close to being mini... not that I'm complaining. 

The lemon cream had just enough citrus to cause a tart tingle but not enough to cause squealing of any kind.  Its creaminess could not be described in any way other than heavenly.  The coif of cream at the top was almost like a cute Asian cartoon poop.  It was light, airy and fluffy... and the highlight of burned brown on just one side made for a picturesque garnish that was almost too beautiful to break with a fork. 

Surrounding the lemon tart was a trio of ice cream: a lavender ice cream, olive oil ice cream, strawberry sorbet.  The lavender ice cream was rightfully floral, a giddy girl's dream.  The olive oil ice cream was remarkably refreshing, a smart way to cleanse the palate.  The strawberry sorbet was perky and foreshadowed the coming summer harvest.  Served with a Moscato d' Asti, the lemon tart was a great way to end a nine course meal.

A big thank you goes out to Marian for the invite to dine with kevinEats and to partake in Chef Guerrero's old school Italian dishes.  It was definitely a fun experience.  Until next time, let's all get S.O.F.A.T.

This post features photography by Ken Lee.

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Post 40: Club 33 and Disneyland (OC: Anaheim)

My actual birthday had finally arrived, and some very good friends of mine kidnapped me to the Happiest Place on Earth... somewhere I haven't been since high school.  The churros were as expensive as I had remembered... the Dole pineapple whip soft-serve was completely new to me... and the satay skewers from Bengal were simply awesome... but Club 33 trumped all.

Club 33 is located at 33 Royal Street just a few doors down from the Pirates of the Caribbean ride exit.  We found the buzzer (there are two... the lower one leads nowhere) next to the pale green door hidden between 31 and 35 Royal Street.  A receptionist answered, welcomed us in from the freezing cold, took our jackets and put us through the lift (she corrected me and said it wasn't an elevator) to the second floor.

The inside was a world apart from the hustle and bustle of New Orleans Square.  Ornate decorations adorned the walls... props from Disney movies stood in the walkways... Mickey's ears formed the finger grip of the martini swizzle sticks... there were no screaming children here, but it was still definitively Disney.

Never mind that the chicken was a bit dry or that the salmon tasted more like the char than the fish itself... the chateaubriand was awesome, and the risotto made me think twice about rice.  Mickey and Pluto were there to celebrate with me and the dozens of other birthday boys and girls in the restaurant.  I was just happy to be there with some of my favorite people in the world...

We rode our favorites, had lunch at a hidden restaurant and watched World of Color on the California Adventure side of the park.  It was absolutely freezing, which implied that it was a bad idea to ride Splash Mountain... but the absolute lack of a line beckoned us.  Three of us are now sniffling, sneezing, and hacking our lives away (someone may even have a sinus infection), but it was all worth it.

The weather forecast called for rain, but there was no rain.  Just a few clouds skipping across the sky... on the run to Space Mountain, we caught a glimpse of the full moon hiding behind the clouds.  If it hadn't been there, the smiles from the sea of children were enough to light up the night sky.

The fountains at Bellagio in Vegas were the first to inspire my return to an organically constructed body of water, but the World of Color will guarantee my return.  Apparently the World of Color gets updated every so often... will this motivate me to buy an annual pass? Smart move, Disney...

The day started off with a bit of confusion... where was I to spend the day? Clues: outdoors, need comfortable walking shoes, somewhere between LA and San Diego... there was only one place in my mind.  And it ended with nothing but certainty for me... I have the best friends in the world.

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