Kirimachi Ramen-San Francisco, CA

February 27, 2013 admin Leave a comment

So whenever I travel I am always down to try new Ramen places. I am always in search of the best ramen. I still think in the states Southern California has the best ramen hands down. I wanted to try Kirimachi Ramen because it was rated one of the top 7 ramen spots in SF. This is a family owned place with only one cook and one waitress when we visited. The Ramen was good, nice broth and very good soft boiled egg. The noodles tasted mediocre to me. I did enjoy the chicken karage. I still say SoCal has a lot of better ramen spots, but that is just me. Love, Peace and Tonkatsu Ramen Grease.

Commonwealth-San Francisco

February 20, 2013 admin 1 Comment

Commonwealth-San Francisco. So this weekend I went on a road trip to the Bay Area. One of my friends really wanted to try this restaurant and was denied the chance last visit. So we decided to try Chef Jason Fox’s Modern Progressive American restaurant. Commonwealth provides a fine dining experience at a rather affordable price. The quality of food and service is very high at a fraction of the price of most high end restaurants in San Francisco. One unique thing is he donates $10.00 for every tasting menu that is ordered. This was a great dining experience with some unique and creative items and flavor combinations that you won’t see anywhere else. His presentation is also very beautiful and refined. This was a great dining experience for a fun impromptu trip to Frisco. If you love unique food experiences Commonwealth won’t disappoint. Love Peace and Pork Jowl grease!

Homemade Potato Chips with a malt vinegar mousse

Japanese Rice Beer

Black Cod steamed over ginger snaps, parsnips, charred rapini, mint and rau ram

Pickled Herring, chicken skin bread crumbs, fennel, currant, beet miso puree and dill

Root vegetables cooked in ash, brussel sprouts, shittake onion jus and truffle froth

Cedar grilled mussels, pork belly, broccoli bread pudding, celery root, saffron and cured egg-the broccoli bread pudding was very interesting this dish was very good.

warm oxtail terrine, whipped bone marrow, shaved root vegetable and arugula emulsion-This was my favorite dish presentation wise and that whipped bone marrow was amazing. I wanted a bowl of it to just eat it as a soup.

Pork Jowl, Blood Orange, Rutabaga, Sweet potato cooked in duck fat and tarragon

Peanut Butter Semifreddo with frozen popcorn- which I would describe as an Ice Cream Chocolate bar with a Popcorn cottage cheese. The dish sounds weird and I am not a big fan of peanut butter but it was delicious. The frozen pop corn which has the consistency of a cottage cheese was also very interesting but also worked together with the other flavor components. A very unique dish!

Tea

Sugar

Bay Cities Italian Deli

February 17, 2013 admin Leave a comment

Bay Cities Italian Deli and Bakery-Santa Monica. Bay Cities is a must have when traveling to Santa Monica. They have a famous sandwich called the Godmother which consists of genoa salami, coppacolla, ham, mortadella and prosciutto and provolone with Italian dressing and hot or mild pepper salad. It is to die for. They have a full Italian market and bakery with hot food ranging from pastas, marinated olives, salads antipasti, Mac & cheese, meats and cheese.

Picca-High End Peruvian

February 5, 2013 admin 20 Comments

Picca-Los Angeles, CA is a high end Peruvian restaurant with Japanese flair. Picca which means “to nibble” is owned by Chef Ricardo Zarate. Ricardo won Food & Wine magazine’s best new chef award. Picca’s menu is tapas style which is small dishes that are meant to be shared. When you enter Picca you immediately see the open aired kitchen and two level restaurant with a large amount of seating. They seem to pretty much fill up every night. Ricardo has a very innovative and creative menu reinventing many Peruvian favorites and mixing them with elements never seen before. Almost every dish I tried was delicious. Their menu is so extensive, I would definitely want to go back to try many of Picca’s other offerings. I cheers to you Ricardo Zarate for your fearless ambition towards innovation. Love Peace and Quinoa Fried Chicken Grease.

Outside view of restaurant

Open Air Kitchen

Chicharron de Costillas-Crispy Pork Ribs Crostini, Sweet Potato Puree, huancaina and salsa

Yellowtail Tiradito-rocota ponzu, Japanese cucumber and crispy garlic-very good had a spice with great acidic balance

Zapallo Gnocchi-kabocha squash, parmesan aji amarillo brown butter-the softest gnocchi I have ever had, they were like potato pillows.

Chupe Gratinado-lobster and scallop gratin, potato, sea urchin ceviche sauce

Estofado de Carne-Braised Shortrib, barley risotto, hucancaina, salsa criolla

Quinoa Fried Chicken-anticucho buttermilk, twice cooked potato and rocato aioli-Surprise dish of the night, very unique and the chicken was so juicy.

Anticuho Camarones-black tiger shrimp, garlic yuzu kosho and micro greens

Pescado Frito-Black cod robata, yucca, tomato and pepian sauce

Tres Leches Cake-Pretty Amazing

Chocolate Cake

85 Degrees Bakery

February 3, 2013 admin 3 Comments

85 Degrees Bakery in Irvine. 85 Degrees is a Taiwanese Bakery with locations in Alhambra and Irvine but also worldwide in Taiwan, China and Australia. They have multiple award winning pastry chefs creating different concoctions for your sweet tooth. I am not a big sweets person but I would have to say 85 degrees is my favorite bakery with Portos coming a close 2nd. 85 Degrees is number one in my book because of their diverse selection. They have all kinds of different baked goods ranging from pastries, bread, savory selections, cakes, tarts, and sandwiches as well as teas and coffees. Everyday they carry different items so you can go there and try something new almost every time you go. I love their different savory items as well including a really unique Garlic Squid ink roll made with real squid ink, Garlic roll with cheese and ham and cheese sticks. Some sweet favorites are the Rose Flavored Pastry, Mochi Egg Tart, Cheese Cake Bites, blueberry cream cheese and cream cheese brioche. They are also well known for their sea salt drinks including their sea salt iced coffee which has been featured on Time and Oprah and sea salt green tea. This is not a place to go if you are trying to cut carbs. Until next time Love Peace and cheese tart grease.