Raduno

Photo by Jasmine

Raduno Brick Oven & Barroom, Brunch, Little Rock
July 30, 2016

P:
BISCUITS AND GRAVY - Housemade fennel sausage gravy over a fluffy buttermilk biscuit topped with two sunny-side up eggs
Honey rosemary iced tea

J:
TOMATO MAYO - Two pieces of Boulevard Bread Co. sourdough, a garlic aioli spread topped with heirloom tomato slices, two sunny-side eggs and goat cheese crumbles; served open face


Notes:
Our original destination, a restaurant with a reputation for some of my favorite buzzwords (local, sustainable, community, biscuits and gravy), turned out to be a nonstarter.  The line to order didn't budge in 20 minutes and most of the seating was outdoor, which normally I'd love except we're talking high noon in Arkansas, in July.  Uh-uh.  By this time, however, Patrick had his mind set on biscuits and gravy - thankfully there was a place nearby that could help with that.

Gus's Fried Chicken

photo - Yelp, Gary S.

Gus's Fried Chicken, Dinner, Little Rock
July 28, 2016

P:
2 piece: Thigh and Leg
Some unknown side (greens?  baked beans?)

J:
2 piece: Breast and Wing
Mashed Potatoes and Gravy


Notes:
We arrived in Little Rock late on a Thursday evening.  (Well, late enough that our food options were limited.)  Gus's Fried Chicken is a "hot and spicy" chicken place (that's a thing), a growing chain born out of Mason, Tennessee.  After having some of New Orleans' best, we decided it couldn't hurt to give some Tennessee chicken a try.

Noci Gelato

Noci Gelato, Dessert, Mill Valley
May 28, 2016

P:
Sweet cream and black cherry

J:
Milk chocolate and salted almond


Notes:
Where do you go on a hot, sunny day in Mill Valley?  Plenty of places, I'm sure, but we stumbled across this gelato place and had to give it a try.

The first time I ever had gelato, I was in Italy with my family.  It was very warm, we were there in late spring, I believe, and we came across an ice cream a gelato shop.  I was drawn to the hazelnut flavor, nocciola, over a more familiar one like chocolate or vanilla; perhaps I liked the challenge of a foreign word, or maybe I had Nutella in mind at the time, who knows.  But, when I took that first bite, ice cream frozen dessert as I knew it changed forever.  This was richer, creamier, and more full-flavored than any ice cream I'd ever had - and I knew good ice cream - I grew up eating fresh strawberry ice cream right out of the churn during hot Kansas summers.  After returning from Italy, I was on a mission to find gelato, but couldn't.  It wasn't until I moved to California about 10 years (?) later that I found anything that came close (at Gelateria Naia).

Surprisingly, gelato is actually less rich in fat than ice cream.  It uses more milk than cream, but it's churned at a slower speed resulting in a less airy, more dense texture.  Because it's lower in fat, it's served at a warmer temperature, ready to melt in your mouth.  When it does, the flavor is more intense, since there's less butterfat to coat your palate and interfere with your taster.  Don't get me wrong, ice cream is still an amazing thing, but gelato can beat it at its own game.

Except this stuff at Noci; I was pretty disappointed with this place.  They did not have hazelnut flavor (WHA?!), so I settled for salted almond (which sounded perfectly delicious) and milk chocolate.  The salted almond had an unpleasant, grainy texture and no discernible salt or almond flavor; the milk chocolate tasted like frozen chocolate milk, lacking body and richness.  Patrick's choices were more successful; both the sweet cream and black cherry had a nice flavor and texture, though in my view, it still didn't compare to what I know it can be.  And surprise, it was expensive.


Next time we're in Mill Valley on a beautiful, hot, sunny day, we'll probably try to find an ice cream shop (or..?) before we'd come back here.

Mourad

photo - Yelp, Tony L.

Mourad, Drinks, SOMA

P&J:
OLIVES  preserved lemon . marash 7
PECANS  harissa

P:
VERVE ‘STREET LEVEL’ ROAST small pour over

J:
COCONUT | LEMONGRASS tequila . lemon . coconut . lemongrass . egg white . maraschino . lemon tonic


Notes:
We walked over to Mourad with our friends after having dinner at The Cavalier.  A mutual friend works there, so we stopped in to have a drink and say hello before going our separate ways and heading home.

Shortly after taking seats at the large communal table in the bar area, we were treated to some warm, marinated olives and spiced pecans.  Patrick was in love with the pecans - we'll need to figure out how to make them.  He was equally happy with his coffee.  My drink was citrusy, coconutty, and very pretty, the ice to drink ratio was a little off, but I was happy nonetheless.

Why am I even mentioning this place when I have so little to say about it?  Well, because maybe it's something that should be on our list, but I'm not sure I can bear to put it there. It's yet another overpriced, fancy-pants dining experience in San Francisco.  Mourad is the eponymous restaurant by the same man who is responsible for Aziza, a once-favorite of mine.  Like Mourad (the restaraunt and the man), Aziza is Moroccan.  I've had some of the most delicious food I've ever known at this lovely gem of a restaurant, which just happened to be in my neighborhood (and still is).  But once the restaurant gained notice, and accolades along with it, it started to change.  The food got smaller, more contrived, less real.  The cozy, calm atmosphere was lost, traded for communal tables and the fevered glow of red lighting.  It just wasn't what I fell in love with.  And now, there's Mourad.  Take the modernity of Aziza, add a healthy dose of investment dollars and contemporary design, and voila, uber-expensive, plated-with-tweezers Moroccan food.  I just don't know if I can do it.  But if anyone could convince me otherwise, it would be Patrick.  He likes Aziza, even as it is now.  Maybe he'd like Mourad, too.

Cavalier, Part II

The Cavalier, Dinner, SOMA
May 20, 2016

P&J:
Quail Egg Mayonnaise - celery salt and crispy shallot
Crispy Brussels Sprout Chips - vadouvan and lemon zest
Lamb Scrumpets - pickled chile and mint sauce
Baked Sweet Potato and Spring Vegetables - beets, heirloom carrots and apples, tumeric, yogurt, pumpkin seeds
Shepherd's Pie - minced leg of lamb, carrots, peas and curried mash
Fish and Chips - thrice cooked fries, minted peas, and malt vinegar aioli


Notes:
I know, I know.  I complained about this place the first time.  And the only reason I'm writing about this a second time (ordinarily, I'd keep these entries limited to a single visit) is because Patrick and I were together on this occasion.  How we ended up here so soon after I was traumatized by a Scotch egg, well...

So, the situation here is that we were meeting some friends, and food was ordered.  We didn't choose any of the food (except for the Shepherd's Pie), but it was brought to the table and we ate it.  And we didn't pay for it.  We did a good old fashioned dine and dash, you know, where you create a distraction at the end of the meal and just make a run for it?  I'm kidding.  We don't do that; I saw it in a movie once.  But we didn't pay, and I'm only putting that out there because I think it's relevant.

The quail egg mayonnaise...where do I begin.  Apparently, there is some "story" behind their eggs (that I missed), but to me, that translates into this-is-why-we-charge-you-2-dollars-for-half-a-quail-egg.  It's ridiculous.  I feel the same way about their $15 Scotch egg, so what this says to me is that I should never order egg-anything from The Cavalier because it gets me all worked up.  Here we had half a quail egg perched on a teeny dollop of mayonnaise with shallot and some chervil if I remember correctly.  It's their take on a deviled egg, except it's nothing at all like one.  Moving on.  The Brussels sprout chips were very good.  They must have one poor (literally), naive culinary student in the kitchen, peeling apart Brussels sprouts leaf by leaf so they can be flash fried and tossed with curry spices and lemon zest.  Well, great job, kid, they're delicious!  Lamb scrumpets were succulent little bits of lamb left on the bone, lightly coated and fried and served with a thin but flavor-packed mint sauce.  The meat was unbelievably tender and just the right amount of fatty; I ate these with my fingers and cleaned the bones.

The Sheperd's pie was served so hot it could barely be eaten.  But once we could, we found it savory and appealing, though nothing extraordinary.  The sweet potatoes were slender and creamy white and garnished with shredded raw beet, apple, and carrot; the turmeric yogurt sauce on the plate seemed out of place with everything else.  All very tasty, but again, nothing extraordinary.  The fish and chips I liked very much, though the rest of the table wasn't as taken.  For me, it was that the fish was nicely battered, crispy and not the least bit greasy, and I do like their thrice cooked fries.  (If there's one thing this restaurant knows, it's how to operate a fryer.)  For everyone else, it was just fish and chips, nothing to get excited about.

We didn't have dessert.


So, now would we go back?  It's leaning "no".  Aside from that ridiculous egg thing, everything was good, or very good, but nothing was truly amazing.  And because we didn't pay for anything, we have no idea what the bill should have been, so we didn't leave offended; but "it wasn't offensive" is not a feeling that would make us return.

Namu Gaji

photo - Yelp, Ann. L

Namu Gaji, Dinner, The Mission
May 6, 2016

P&J:
assorted pickles
kimchee
dumplings - shiitake, dashi, butter, nori
lamb tsukune - avocado, brûlée yolk, dill, cumin, calabrian chili
stonepot - market vegetables, kimchee, egg, koshihikari rice, gochujang, steak


Notes:
This was the last of the three dinner reservations I made during my friend's visit to San Francisco.  He's a restaurateur and was interested in catching one of the latest in food trends, "new" Korean; Namu Gaji seemed the perfect choice.  Unfortunately, it wasn't what I thought it was.  Their focus seems to be on Asian flavors generally, leaning more towards Japanese than Korean it seems.

Most of the food was good, but it wasn't particularly exciting, and generally we were put off by the everything else (more on that later).  The assorted pickles were a mess - little honshimeji mushrooms, red cabbage, and bean sprouts -  each tasted like they had been soaked in straight vinegar.  The napa cabbage kimchee on the other hand was top notch, and I'd love to know their secret.  It was supple but still a little crunchy, hot and sour and just a little fizzy on the tongue, just how it should be.  The dumplings were very good: mushroom filling stuffed inside thin wonton-type wrappers cooked until just tender and served in a rich, buttery broth.  The lamb tsukune, a skewer of ground lamb seasoned heavily with cumin and Calabrian chili was grilled until lightly charred but still juicy.  It was served with a brûléed yolk - raw egg yolk with a thin coat of sugar so as to be scorched, just as you would the dessert - topped with a heavy dose of finely chopped dill.  Potentially phenomenal (seriously - we're talkin' egg yolk), but it had no flavor to speak of.  Finally, the stonepot - a take on the Korean dish bibimbap.  Cooked white rice is layered in a giant, blistering hot stone pot with vegetables, kimchee, thinly sliced raw beef and a fried egg.  We were instructed to allow the pot to sit for at least 5 minutes, during which time the rice at the bottom of the pot would crisp, and the sliced beef would warm through.  When it was time, we stirred in the accompanying gochujang (Korean chili paste), mixing everything together while scraping up the crunchy rice and whacking the egg and beef into smaller pieces.  This was really tasty; the dish was well prepared and nicely proportioned between the rice and toppings, but it wasn't anything new, it was just really good bibimbap.

Sure, it was disappointing that the food wasn't what I expected, but I had only myself to blame.  The restaurant has a website, they have their menu posted, it shouldn't have been such a surprise to me.  But the real problem here was the experience itself.  When we walked into the tiny restaurant it was completely full but for the end of the bar seating which ran the length of the room against the windows.  There, in a space large enough for two people, were three bar stools.  We all knew - that was where they intended to seat us.  We should have said something, but we didn't.  Maybe we should have left, but we didn't.  Instead we sat, three people to a space built for two.  It was awful.  And did I mention the noise?  Restaurants these days are being designed for the modern aesthetic with little attention paid to the acoustics.  I know this.  I have been to countless restaurants which suffer from this affliction.  But this one was so bad, we gave up on trying to talk to one another.  There we sat, crammed together at the end of a sad little bar, left to stare out the window in between courses.

We cut the meal a little short that night and went for ice cream next door.  I doubt we'd go back.

The Progress

photo - Yelp, Andrew H.

The Progress, Dinner, Fillmore
May 5, 2016

P&J:
A few things for the table:
roasted brooks cherries with almond cream
buttermilk biscuit with apple bourbon black butter
ginger-chickpea hummus on seven pepper cracker
lettuce hearts with smoked paprika tonnato
tofu with sunflower seed pesto

Courses:
taylor bay scallop with white ponzu (add-on)
BN Ranch beef tartare - smoked oyster-ramp aioli, kohlrabi & puffed rice
black cod "toast" - maitakes, buttery favas, fermented turnips & lemon oil
So-Cal swordfish - pistachio "crema", fennel-blood orange relish & flowering kale
lamb shank-flat noodle "stir fry" - seasoned with ground 7  pepper, wild ramps & snow peas
rhubarb compote with cornmeal crumble (add-on)

Cocktails:
Martini - vodka, vermouth, smoked castelvetrano olive juice, rosemary oil
Sunny Jim - gin, lemon, vanilla, pineapple, kaffir lime leaf, soda
Black Metal - lemon-verbena infused tequila, fino sherry, swedish punsch, strawberry, lemon, grapefruit bitters
Great Mana - mezcal, aged rum, banana, coconut, lime, bitters


Notes:
The Progress was the second planned restaurant visit during our friend's stay in town.  This is the sister restaurant to the joint next door called State Bird Provisions.  I've been wanting to go to State Bird forever, but it's (still) impossible to get a reservation, and we really don't like long waits, so we've just never gone.  And since we could get a reservation at The Progress, and since it seems to be equally well-loved, I thought it a win.

The other draw (for me) was the concept, it's different - think tasting menu served family style.  Diners are charged per person, 4 courses are served to the table on large plates (versus plated for each individual) and little bites start off the meal.  It's an interesting take if you ask me, and I was excited to give it a shot.

As we were brought into the restaurant, we're once again met with modern aesthetic so popular in restaurants today: the soaring ceilings, exposed concrete and steel.  But here, thin slats of raw wood lined an entire wall, warming the room and dampening some of the noise.  The dining room was a little crowded, though, we were at the table that always seemed to be in the way.  On the other hand, this didn't feel out of place; the restaurant had a casual, communal vibe, so what's the harm in making room for a few friends?  Except I don't like people.  Kidding!  I do like people.  I also like cocktails.

We started with a round; all of their cocktails sounded appealing, so we each ordered something different.  Mine was the winner - the Sunny Jim - tart, not too sweet, and refreshing.  But we were all off to a good start, frankly.  We sipped our drinks, the server handed us a pencil and a menu, and we went to town, marking off the items we wanted to have by filling in little bubbles next to each.  It was like a test you're happy to take.  Shortly thereafter, we were brought little snacks from the kitchen.  The winners for Patrick were the roasted brooks cherry (roasted just long enough to maintain its integrity, stem and all, but the flesh inside was warm, soft and juicy) and the buttermilk biscuits - he's a biscuit man, and these were proper - tender and buttery.  (But tiny!  One bite!)  I couldn't believe how good the hummus tasted; was it just the ginger that made the difference?  The little lettuce hearts with smoked paprika tonnato were delightful - cold and crispy lettuce with a dab of unctuous, savory sauce (tonnato is essentially a tuna mayonnaise).  The tofu didn't win any favor - it was good but on the bland side and came off as "healthy" more than anything else.  (Ptooey!  Nah, I thought it was fine.)

Next came the little bay scallops.  These were a joke; they were tiny (I mean, TINY) and the white ponzu only served to mask their flavor.  But, we soon forgot the letdown once the beef tartare came along, a truly lovely dish.  Curls of paper thin kohlrabi and a generous smattering of herbs were laid over a small dice of deep-burgundy colored beef, tossed with crisped grains of rice and the pungent, umami-heavy oyster-ramp aioli.  I could have eaten just this, and I would have been in heaven.  It was full of flavor, the textures were complimentary and playful, the seasoning was perfect, everything was in balance.  The black cod "toast" arrived next, another winner.  Large pieces of lightly seared, succulent cod were placed over thin rectangles of toasted house-made bread.   Tender fava beans, earthy maitake mushrooms, and piquant turnips were scattered across the top; the pool of smoky, buttery, citrusy sauce soaked into the toasts and brought it all home.  This was a great dish, but this is where the excitement ended.

The flat noodle "stir fry" was more redolent of an Italian dish than the Asian-influence suggested by the menu.  (I'm not sure they know how to use air quotes.)  The noodles were a wide-cut fresh pasta and rested on the plate in a tangled lump.  The lamb was seasoned nicely, but so meager in proportion it was hard to get a proper taste, and the garnish of cucumber spears, sharp with vinegar, were a distraction.  This dish had potential, but it wasn't executed very well.  Finally, the swordfish; this was the most disappointing for me.  The swordfish was a thin, bordering on overcooked.  The pistachio "crema" (there are those air quotes again) at the base of the plate had little to no discernible pistachio flavor.  The "fennel-blood orange relish" (please note the proper use of air quotes, here) was actually just slices of fennel and blood orange, and the flowering kale was little more than pretty.  That's all this dish was - pretty.  And that's if you like deliberately plated food, where the plate is the blank canvas, the food is the artist's medium, and tweezers are involved.  I'm being overly dramatic; maybe they didn't use tweezers.

Dessert could turn this all around, right?  Well, no.  Dessert is not part of the deal, it's an additional charge.   But I was looking to end the meal on a positive note, so I pushed for it. There were three choices offered, and none really grabbed us, so we asked the server to choose for us.  He wouldn't tell us which he'd picked, but when he set forks on the table, it became clear, we were not getting either of the ice cream desserts.  Because who (willingly) eats ice cream with a fork?  No one, ever, and that's a fact.  Nevertheless, our dessert was sad and disappointing: cooked until just soft rhubarb with rock hard crumbles of cornmeal cookie and the tiniest dollop of fresh whipped cream.  In an effort to let the rhubarb sing, they forgot to add (enough) sugar; it was entirely too tart.  The crumble served as an example of why people don't like cornmeal (and I am not one of those people); it was like eating gravel.  Sadly, the best part was the thimbleful of cream.


I don't know that we'd go back.  It was a lovely restaurant with an interesting concept, but only half of what we ate was worth raving about and the total bill was outrageous.  I'm still not sure how everything added up to be so expensive, but it did.  We are happy to pay (very well) for good food, but this just wasn't that good, and we left pretty disappointed.

India Clay Oven

Photo by Patrick

India Clay Oven, Dinner, Outer Richmond
April 27, 2016

P&J:
Mattar Paneer - green peas and homemade cheese cooked with spicy gravy
Vegetable Korma - fresh-cut vegetables, cooked in creamy sauce with almonds, nuts and raisins
Chicken Tikka Masala - clay oven roasted chicken in spicy sauce
Raita - homemade yogurt with carrot and spices


Notes:
Here we are at another neighborhood spot.  It's a pretty sizable space, but almost always empty when we walk by.  I generally think of that sort of thing as a sign (and avoid), but we wanted Indian food, dammit!

So, I have a thing I always order (Mattar Paneer) and Patrick has a thing that he always orders (Chicken Tikka Masala).  We rounded the meal out with the Vegetable Korma, an unexpected favorite of Patrick's but something I hadn't tried before, and the Raita, a yogurt condiment of sorts that I consider a requirement with Indian food.

I'm going to get ahead of things and say that we don't know what good Indian food should be.  I say that because I'm pretty sure we've had good Indian food, and I'm pretty sure we've had much better Indian food than this, but I'm also pretty sure we didn't think the food here was that bad.

Sure, the tandoori chicken in the tikka masala was cooked to death, but we don't know much better, and Patrick enjoyed the sauce with his naan.  The paneer was rubbery, but not uncommonly so in my experience, though I can say with certainty the sauce was much less flavorful than I've had at other restaurants.  The korma tasted of over-reduced cream, but we still ate most of it.  And, the raita was too thin and not very flavorful, but it provided the cool tang I love so much.

Then again, I haven't yet mentioned the off-putting aroma of pine-scented cleaning products wafting throughout the restaurant.  And yes, afterwards (unfortunately) we learned of their low scores with the Health Department (which may have explained the pine products).  And no, I didn't want to eat the leftovers once I this found out, even though I was happy enough to take them home in the first place.


I guess all I can say is that this experience has inspired me to find good Indian food in the Bay Area, because I really do love the cuisine, and I know it's out there, somewhere.