Gastronomie

Naan-Va - aka, a Persian Bakery

This, my dears, is a bread bakery. It happens to be at the back of Mt. Damavand grocery store in Fremont, right next to the Halal butcher counter.

As you cantell from the sign, one pays for their bread at the counter at the front of the store and is issued a token (a few sitting on the ledge, above) for each loaf. The bread is baked fresh to order while you do the rest of your shopping.

On this particular day, they were baking Barbari bread, which is a bit more leavened than most of our breads, with a more open but slightly drier texture. These 2+ foot loaves, like most fresh bread, really ought to be eaten within a few days.

Of course, C and I had polished off a third of the loaf before we pulled in to our garage. Another third was eaten that night with panir-o-sabzi (French feta, basil, mint, scallions and/or tarragon, wrapped in the bread).

The next morning, I made my breakfast of the remaining bread, lightly toasted and smeared with sweet cream butter and moraaba (preserves/jams) or asaal (honey). Washed down with a cup of hot Persian tea, this was a breakfast from heaven.

 

Technorati Tags: Food | Food & Drink | Persian | San Francisco | Fremont

What Is It #9

I've been waiting a while to post this one - that's your first clue.

So tell me, WHAT is this place, and where might you find one?

 

Technorati Tags: Food | Food & Drink | Trivia | San Francisco | Oakland

A Kinder, Gentler Chowhound?

What do you do when you get an email from CNET, the new owners of Chowhound, asking you to come back?

First, you anxiously check the new site:

Hmmm... not bad, though the typeface is most definitely that of Chow Magazine. Interesting, since in fact, CNET also purchased the assets of Instant Comma, Inc., the publishers of Chow. Hmmm... which came first in THAT "chicken-or-egg" equation, I wonder?

The architecture isn't ideal, in my opinion, but I think it's actually pretty user friendly, and probably works for both the novice and more advanced users of the old site.

So, I went ahead and registered Gastronomie as a user name. I'll check things out, treading very lightly and very slowly as I explore the new and improved Chowhound.

 

Technorati Tags: Food | Food & Drink | Chowhound | San Francisco | Oakland

Waiter, There's a Fruit in My Beer

Yes. Well. It's summer again, isn't it?

Do you know how I know this? It's certainly NOT because of the weather (70-ish today, in the sun, with very little actual fog - confused yet?). And really, it's not because of the produce at the market, because everything has been slowed down by the torrential rains of the past winter.

No, it's because of this stuff, that I once wrote about a few years ago: Watermelon Wheat.

21st Amendment's ode to the juiciest, slurpiest fruit of summer. We've done a bit of damage already this year: 2 Growlers, 2 six packs (they're canning the stuff now!), and I don't know how many pints at the bar.

But then, something happened. I took our Growlers in to be refilled today, and imagine my surprise when I looked up at the chalkboard and saw "Pomegranate Cider" written up there. It's possible that my pretty little Manolos carried me faster than they ever had, around the bar and practically leaping across it, to stop the bartendress from starting to fill that 2nd Growler.

"Wait, please", I said. "Can I get the Cider in that Growler, to go?" (as though I could possibly drink 64 ounces of cider in the bar!).

Five minutes later, I was prancing up 2nd Street to the car, two Growlers and one six-pack in tow. I called C to tell him what a sweet wife I was to pick up that six-pack of Watermelon Wheat (so that he'd have "fresh" beer in my absence later this week, natch), never alluding to the fact that the real reason had more to with my insatiable appetite for anything pomegranate.

So, how was it all?

The Watermelon Wheat is as thirst-quenchingly delicious as ever. I highly recommend serving it ice cold with a wedge of fresh watermelon. Dropping the melon into the glass gives you something slightly sweet and delightfully effervescent to nibble on once you've drained your glass. Oh, and in case you were wondering? It takes 400 POUNDS of watermelon to make each batch.

The Cider? Well. It was perhaps the most balanced cider I've had from a keg in a long time. The fragrance and essence of pomegranate is alive, with an acidity that reminds me of really beautiful rosés. Not too sweet, this stuff was incredibly well-suited to food, neither overpowering nor being overpowered.

21st Amendment's brewer, Shaun O'Sullivan, is really a gifted guy. In some ways, he reminds me of another one of my favorite mad scientists in that they both have an enormous appreciation for the the craft of creating a superior product, and aren't just slaves to what they think the masses want.

21st Amendment Brewery
563 2nd St
San Francisco, CA
415.369.0900

 

Technorati Tags: Food | Food & Drink | Beer | San Francisco

Sometimes, you just can't be bothered

I love traveling for work, I really do. Even when it takes me away from the three most favorite creatures in my life, I'm invigorated by it and I get to spend time with lots of interesting people.  But sometimes, I land in my hotel room, totally wiped out and with several hours of work ahead of me.

Such was the case tonight, as I checked in to the MagMile Marriott in Chicago. So although there were several restaurants stumbling distance, and I could easily have convinced myself to head to Blackbird or Avec or Avenues (reviews for the latter two are forthcoming), I just knew it wasn't a good idea.

So, I threw caution to the wind and ordered from the restaurant downstairs, Viand.  The thought of going downstairs to the achingly hip, excruciatingly loud room was anathema, and the room service menu was exactly the same as the restaurant's.

Three Cheese Flatbread ($8) was delicious and cheesy, sweet and savory all at one. The crust was a bit thicker than I would have liked, but had a nice texture, so that was forgivable. It was an enormously large portion for the price.

I also ordered Smoked Paprika Seared Tuna (Fried green tomatoes, sofrito, orange glaze & plantains) $24. Yea, I know. Why order tuna in Chicago, right? Call it a craving. This was a mish-mash of a dish, but it was, hands down, one of the best pieces of tuna I've had in a very long time. Rubbed with smoked paprika, this had a depth of flavor and uniqueness that really surprised me. Nearly everything else on the plate was negligible, and was left behind when room service came to pick up my tray, but that tuna. Oy, was that good.

The one really great thing about ordering room service is that I rarely order dessert, which means that I rarely overeat. I hopped downstairs for a Makers, neat, and finished up my work.

Viand American Bistro
155 E. Ontario
Chicago, IL
312.255.8505

Alinea - the Final Countdown... 5 Kinds of Dessert

So, it's come to this. Dessert. Five desserts, in fact. And I have to do all of them at once, lest I lose myself as I replay them for five days straight.

Shall we begin?

Applewood (muscovado, fenugreek)

That looks like a marshmallow, doesn't it? Well, of course it ISN'T.

It's actually a dense little cylinder of applewood ice cream, rolled in muscovado sugar with a bit of caramelized fenugreek. Another triumph of texture, temperature and flavor.

COI... Daniel Patterson's new coup

As I mentioned in an earlier post, C and I celebrated our 3rd wedding anniversary last week. So, I hope you'll excuse the break in Alinea posts as I wax poetic about the lovely meal we had at COI on Thursday night.

A certain lovely lady had mentioned to Chef that it was our anniversary, and managed to make it an even more special evening for us.

As you enter this unobtrusive space in North Beach, you walk through a sexy lounge with lots of wood and raw materials. It's impossible NOT to feel a few inches taller as you walk through the gorgeous space. The lounge is where you will find both the 4-course tasting menu and the a la carte menu.

Just beyond the lounge is a doorway that opens into the softest, prettiest, most intimate dining room I've seen in San Francisco. Grasscloth wallpaper, natural paper diffusing the overhead light, muted tones of taupe and green. As C put it, "this feels a million miles away from downtown San Francisco".

The dining room accomodates 30 diners, and the kitchen doesn't expect many turns. Additionally, we were told that Chef wants to keep a couple of walk-in tables available every night, that he really does want COI to be accessible and a "neighborhood" restaurant.

About a boy...

Since my opening post on Alinea, my appearance is not much of a secret to you all. Nor is it a secret how lucky I am to be married to the guy I'm married to.

But, I guess there is a little bit of anonymity on this site, with regard to who I am. And, well, maybe I'm just a little bit ready to celebrate my marriage publicly. 'Cos last week, we had a GREAT, AMAZING anniversary dinner at COI which I'm not allowed to write about (per C), until I finish my Alinea posts. That dinner reminded me so much of our wedding night, in ways I could never explain without sounding like a weird "girl".

So, to tide you all over, and to give you a sense of the magic that started my marriage to this incredible guy, I am sharing a few pictures of our wedding (a mostly-traditional Persian wedding, complete with the Persian chef at the former Pan Pacific hotel).

Holy crap, we DID IT!