Sunday, October 29, 2006

watermelon redux

yesterday i took a good long look at the watermelon sitting on my cutting board, and nothing came to me (even though i got a great suggestion for a watermelon relish). i decided to cut it up, separate the rind, and think on it some more. after tasting how good it was, it hit me - i'll celebrate the indian summer in san francisco with watermelon sorbet. it's a pretty easy process (as long as you have a ice cream maker):

1) work the pieces of watermelon (about a 5lb melon) over a large bowl to remove the seeds - make sure to catch all the juices in the large bowl and keep your de-seeded melon there.

2) measure out 1/2 cup of light corn syrup, 1/2 cup of sugar, the juice of two limes, and two tbsp. grenadine.

3) get your blender out and liquefy 1/2 the watermelon and juice with the corn syrup, then pour through a sieve or chinois into a large bowl.

4) add the remaining watermelon and juice into the blender along with the sugar and liquefy then pour through a large sieve or chinois into the same large bowl as before.

5) add the lime juice and grenadine, then stir. cover bowl and refrigerate overnight or until cold (4-5 hours).

6) remove from refrigerator and follow the instructions on your ice cream machine. . .

so simple and soooo good. the resounding opinion was that it was pretty refreshing. i jazzed mine up a bit by throwing a splash of balsamic vinegar on top and it had a great interplay of flavor. this would be a great amuse bouche or in-between course palette cleanser, combined with a balsamic vinegar reduction. . . or by itself on a hot summer day.

Thursday, October 26, 2006

watermelon

last night we divvied up our weekly box o' produce with our friends, and we were the lucky winners of a rather large watermelon. as much as i like to cook, i must admit my exposure to watermelon has been limited to parties i used to go to in college, where i was the king of filling it full of vodka (the secret is to use a syringe, and to be drunk). i have a feeling this recipe won't work for the 9 months pregnant wife. any thoughts? leave me a comment below with any great ideas. . . .

Wednesday, October 25, 2006

wild game week (or, 'the best week ever')

any email whose subject line starts with 'wild game week' is most likely an announcement for the discovery channel or pbs, but sometimes, it's even better. today was one of those times. yummmmmmmm!waiting in my inbox this morning was the email i look forward to every year, like christmas morning but with more elk steak - the big four restaurant’s line up for their yearly wild game week.

the wife, my dad, and i all went last year and it was quite an experience. the restaurant itself, located in the huntington hotel on nob hill, is worth going to just for a drink if nothing else. it's has a beautiful interior (designed by the late great tony hail), a fantastic bar with someone tinkering away on the piano, and good food with great service. i hesitate to use the term 'old school,' but with dark hardwood and leather that makes up a big part of the decor, it's hard not too. . .that and the fact that my grandparents were regulars in the 60's. they must be doing something right, since they are still an institution, and part of that something is wild game week. for the week (novemeber 7th-11th) the menu is singularly focused on wild game, and it is fantastic!

some highlights from last year: buffalo hash, kangaroo sliders, ostrich tar tar with quail egg, tenderloin of llama, and ribeye of yak (one of the best steaks i have ever eaten). if that doesn't qualify as wild game, then i don't know what does. we're going to miss this years event (there is a baby on the way in the codcheeks household), but if you have a chance, and like to live a little, check it out. You can find the menu here along with a bunch of other relevant info.

My Minty Fresh Lobotomy

Someone, Confucius, I think, once said "If someone offers you a breath mint, take it."

Today, someone at work just gave me some Starbucks mints. My God. I feel like I've had a nasal abortion. These things should come with a warning stating 'Caution: These mints will cause temporary blindness. Upon eating, your nasal cavity will be pried open with an invisible pepperminty crowbar and your brain will try to seep out of the newly created hole.'

These things are so gnarly that Starbucks doesn't put them on their website. They are damn good, though, and, like a crack addict, I'm craving some more. They are minty enough to clear up your stank breath after the rare rib eye you just scrafed, but watch out. You might want to remove your contacts before popping a few of these.

Monday, October 23, 2006

our new bounty

last wednesday marked week 2 of our csa adventure, and i actually remembered to bring the camera and take a picture or two. also, i got around to uploading the pics my meal from the previous week using a good amount of our farmer fresh bounty. i've been particularly bad about getting pictures on-line in a reasonable time, but in my defense, the codcheeks household is about to get a new infant member any moment, and the camera had stayed packed away in the bag by the door for the immanent rush to the hospital, so if there is a sudden lack of posts from yours truly, you will know why. hopefully the other contributors will fill in the gaps. . .

also, we have someone new who will hopefully be posting soon - her name is ande and she shares our weekly csa box with us. her husband came up with a great idea for us - we document the ingredients on the weekly box, then document and photograph the meals we make in our respective households from those ingredients, and post the results here on codcheeks.....brilliant! i'll see if i can get that off the ground. . .

as promised, here is a picture (i'm still getting the hang of photographing food, so bear with me) of one of the meals from two weeks ago using the veggies from the farm: pork tenderloin on a bed of roasted zucchini with an arugula, carrot, and heirloom tomato salad with oil and vinegar dressing.

The Most Fattening Foods

From Forbes, the most fattening foods. Thankfully, my simpleton tastes don't permit me to chow down on this stuff too often, but when I go to Brendan's house this winter, I'll see lots of running in my future.

http://biz.yahoo.com/special/luxury101206_article5.html

Thursday, October 19, 2006

Ace Wasabi's - San Francisco

So were sitting around having cocktails at Jacks at Fishermans Wharf when my boss asks do you guys like sushi? Hells yes says I and off me and 4 of my new team mates head into the Mission.

Everyone bags on the Mission because it is too yuppie. It is totally my type of neighborhood. I love the Mission. I also happen to love Sushi, per my previous posts, so a yuppie sushi place was awesome. Even better, seriously, the icing on the cake, was that they play BINGO at Ace Wasabi.

Ace Wasabi is awesome. My boss is like Norm there, so we were ahead of the game going into the place. He was welcomed with open arms and we were treated to sake. While I don't crave sake, I love Sapparo and fresh fish. All three of which run aplenty at Ace.

The place is full of Mission locals. You are treated as a local when you go in there. It is great stuff. Plus, my boss won at Bingo and wen got $20 off on our tab. It was great. What can you not love about sushi, sake, Sapparo & Bingo?

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Parcel 104 - Santa Clara

The problem with being in sales and writing for a food blog is that I tend to eat at a lot of hotel restaurants. For the most part, these places suck. The food is pretty average at best and tends to be the same faire. Never the less, I tend to continue to arrive at these places because of client or co-worker recommendations.

Yesterday, I had my traditional, first day at work managers lunch at Parcel 104 in Santa Clara. While Parcel 104 has the usual hotel restaurant type of environment, the food is pretty kick ass. I know that it's white trash, but so am I and I got the cheese burger. I wish that they had a description on their website cause it was yummy. It was on some fancy roll made with fancy meat and cheese. I don't think that it was Nieman, but it could have been. In the end, it was goooooood.

I've been to Parcel 104 a number of times in the past and I'm always very happy with the results. it can be a bit expensives, but hey, it's Silicon Valley, what else do you expect? More from the man on the street looking for something to eat shortly.

Gary Danko and Messing with Tourists

Okay, so this isn't the best idea nor do I condone this type of behavior. However, it was a long day. I woke up at 4:30 so that I could be in the city by 7 for a training. By noon, I was crabbier than a cheap hooker on an old mattress. So come 10:00, after uncountable cocktails, the fact that some yokel from Tennessee is holding up my check in at the infamous Tuscan Inn, what else am I going to suggest when they ask where they can get a good bite to eat. I recommended Gary Danko, only about 3 blocks from my hotel.

For those not familiar with Gary Danko, it is one of the top restaurants in San Francisco. It is very snooty and everyone wears black. I've never been there because, per my previous posts, any place that has a brand name chef isn't my kind of place. Is it the right place to send Billie Mae and Joe Bob, nope, but is it the only place near the hotel that serves food past 10:00, yep. Hopefully, it is a great experience for them.

Wednesday, October 18, 2006

mustard

i was pretty excited to open the sf chronicle this morning and see the food section was about mustard - as strange as it sounds i have been thinking a lot about mustard lately (i guess this makes me a food nerd, or just a nerd in general?). we had a really great meal at coco500 last week (which i have yet to write about. . . it's coming) - it's one of my favorite restaurants in the city, and conveniently, it's less than a block from our house. one of our many appetizers was the duck pate, which comes with all the usual extras, cornichons, toast points, onions, and of course, mustard. in this case it was a creamy dijon and a very tangy stone ground mustard. we've had this dish before, and every time we do, i comment on how good the mustard is, and how i want to make my own. unfortunately, there weren't any recipes on how to make mustard, but the article was still interesting and comprehensive, and makes you realize how much a big part mustard like concoctions are to every culture. plus, it has some links to some sites that have every mustard imaginable. ok - enough of me talking about - just check it out here, and remember, dijon, german, or yellow, mustard is your friend. . . .


on another note, this desire to make everything from scratch has been an ongoing theme for me the past year (the clerk at whole foods yesterday told me how to make vanilla extract from scratch, my next project)and mustard is still on the list - now i am inspired to find some recipes. . .stay tuned.

Monday, October 16, 2006

a blt to remember a blt by

i just want to mention that christmas is coming up and my birthday is in april, and if anyone is really struggling with an idea, can i suggest the blt ring? can i also say this is probably the greatest single piece of jewelry ever made? if i had known this was around i would have made it my wedding band, and every time i looked at it i would think of my eternal commitment and love for my wife and bacon!

free wine!

winespectator.com is getting ready to celebrate it's 10th anniversary, and they are giving folks free access to their site until the end of the month. if you're cheap like me, it's your chance to get some good reviews, ratings, and suggestions for free - i'd rather spend the money on the wine than on a magazine telline me if it's good or not. . . check it out here.

Thursday, October 12, 2006

fried everything

the term 'good food' is pretty far reaching - for me, it is anything that tastes good the moment i am eating it, whether it is an uber refined meal at a four star restaurant or the churro i bought off that guy on the corner last week (true story - a guy selling churros on the corner in san francisco - how often does that happen?? i had to buy one. in this case, it sucked, but i will continue my quest for the perfect street churro).

even the county fair is a source of endless delight and pain (the bomb that goes off in my stomach hurts a litte more every year) as i make my way through corn dogs, pizza, candy apples, cotton candy, that pink popcorn suff, and the ultimate prize, the deep fried twinkie. i tell you this so you don't think i am some kind of food elitist when i say, the people who came up with fried coke are friggin crazy and should be forced to eat their own concoction for eternity. on the other hand, i am oddly drawn to it, like a fly to honey, or whitney houston to crack. . . put it in front of me, and i will eat it, cringing and smiling with every delicious/awful bite.

eating seasonally and locally for $14 a week

for about the past six months i've been thinking hard about taking part in a local community supported agriculture (csa) program. the csa program basically means thay i buy monthly, quarterly, or yearly share in a local organic farm, and on a weekly basis, the farmer drops off a box of fruits and vegetables at a pickup spot in the city, and i go pick up this box, which will make up the bulk of my produce for the week. we were waiting for some friends to move into the city and get settled before we signed up, and with the settling complete, we finally picked a farm and signed up. we decided to go with terra firma farms in winters, ca - i've heard some good things about them, they deliver food all year, and it is in the area of the farm my mom grew up on. we decided on the larger box and will see how that works out. the cost? $27 a week for enough vegetables to feed 4 for a week. when sharing with two couples, that ends up being $14 a week for the majority of your fruits and vegetables, which is a bargain itself, as well as the fact that you are promoting sustainability, supporting local farmers, and eating organically and seasonally. . . yeah, $14 sounds good to me.

so last night we picked up 1/2 of the other family who is sharing the box with us, and drove to the very close by drop-off spot, followed the instructions to look behind the gate, and lo and behold, a few pallets stacked high with boxes! we found the one with our name on it, brought it back to car, and took stock of the bounty (as well as divided the food): garlic, potatoes, heirloom tomatoes, sweet peppers, zucchini, arugala, a nice salad mix, beets, carrots, green beans, honeydew melon, and a watermelon - a great haul. we divided everything as best we could and we decided on the honeydew and our friends took the watermelon.

when we got home, i was eager to try some of these new veggies, and threw together a quick meal of pork tenderloin with zucchini and an arugala, carrot, and heirloom tomato salad with an olive oil and balsamic vinegar dressing (will write about that more later) - the veggies tasted great - our first experience with the csa program was a success, and we look forward to our weekly wednesday night surprise.

oh, and i am fully aware that this puts us on the road to being hippes or uber yuppies. . . i'll let you know how that one turns out.

Tuesday, October 10, 2006

a mortal food writing sin: no pictures

while i am not totally new to writing on-line, writing about food on-line is still a bit new, and i keep forgetting to take pictures of everything i make, because just talking about it isn't enough. so, my hope to post another detailed dispatch from the codcheeks test kitchen about my sunday meal is being junked due to lack of pretty pictures. of course, i'll still tell you what i made, and forever beg your forgiveness for not taking pictures.

so what was this pictureless meal? beef cheeks braised in san marzano tomatoes with sautéed spinach and rigatoni in tomato sauce, and the general consensus was: tasty! the recipe was given to me by a friend who owns an italian restaurant in san francisco, telling me it would make any italian mother proud - it's rustic and easy. for those of you who haven't had beef cheeks, you are missing out - it's a cut you usually have to special order, and you don't commonly find it on a menu, but cooked correctly, they are amazing. this recipe was also helped by the fact that at the end of the day, the tomatoes the cheeks have been braising in, turn into the perfect sauce for the accompanying pasta - a one pot meal, perfect for a busy day. plus, on day 2, beef cheek sandwiches. . .how can you complain about that?

want to make them? here's the recipe - as easy as they come:

1) make sure you trim all the fat off the beef cheeks (4) (get your butcher to do it if possible), then salt and pepper both sides.

2) in a braising pot, warm some olive oil over medium heat until hot, then brown both sides of the beef cheeks in batches. set aside.

3) add more olive oil to your pot and turn heat to low - add 1 diced carrot, 4 diced ribs of celery, 1 diced onion, and 4 diced cloves of garlic to pot, and cook on low, stirring, about 20-25 minutes until all the vegetables caramelize - add some chili flakes to test if you wish to add a little pop. preheat the oven to 190 degrees.

4) depending on how many beef cheeks you have, add the san marzano tomatoes - for this step, find a good italian deli which sells san marzano tomatoes in a can (if they don't say DOP on the side, don't buy them) - you want to have enough liquid to cover the beef cheeks by a few inches, since the sauce will reduce when cooking. in this recipe, i used two 28 ounce cans of tomatoes (with juices) where i crushed the tomatoes by hand. once you add the tomatoes, stir the pot a bit to make sure everything mixes.

5) add the beef cheeks and make sure the tomato sauce covers the cheeks by a few inches. take the pot from the stove and put into the oven uncovered for about 7 hours

6) remove the pot from the oven, and remove the cheeks from the sauce.

7) thinly slice the beef cheeks and serve with pasta using the tomato braising liquid.

so simple, so good, and next time, pictures, i promise!

Arcadia - San Jose

Some friends told me how great Arcadia in the Marriott is. Apparently, when some place has the Michael Mina named attached to it, it is supposed to be good or something. Let me just say that this place isn't good.

It's been a few weeks since we were there, but I got the Visa bill this morning and I got the bad taste in my mouth all over again. I wish I could recall why I hated it so much, but the food wasn't good, the service was only halfway decent, and it was insanely expensive. Not what I would note as a positive dining experience. My wife hated it more than I did. Her baked potato wasn't even cooked.

I understand that at one point, it was very good, it just is no longer the case.

Paragon - San Jose

Last night, my lovely bride and I celebrated a.) my birthday, b.) our 7th wedding anniversary and c.) the fact that we have now signed our lives away and are more in debt that I could ever imagine to build our dream house by going to Paragon in San Jose (word of note: their website is pretty crappy in terms of speed and navigation).

Do I realize that this is a chain restaurant and that the readers for Cod Cheeks will turn up their noses in our direction? Of course. However, we had a dining certificate (read: coupon) and our traditional standard, Vin Santo, is closed on Mondays. Paragon has always been a very reliable back-up for us. The food is good, the ambiance is quite nice and the parking is free. For me, the restaurant equivalent to a hat trick.

My wife never eats traditional meals when we go out. Like me, she is really cheap in a lot of areas and the idea of spending a ton of money on food pains her to no end. A few hundy on a nice pair of shoes? No problem. $16 on an entree? No f'ing way. So she eats appetizer and judges all restaurants on the quality of their apps. Last night, she had asparagus and french fries. She loved both, but only ate a few of the fries. She commented to the server that I don't really let her eat and I think that he believed her.

Meanwhile, the evil ogre that I am, skipped the appetizer and went right for the entree; Pan seared Chilean sea bass (yes, I know it's toothfish, what can I say? I'm white trash). It was really good. If I had a straw, I would have slurped up the juice that was left over on the plate. It was served over a bed of baby potatoes and topped with diced olives, capers, and sprouts. Really amazing stuff. Hopefully, when I have a good range, I will be able to make something like this too. I had a glass of Hess Select Cab to go with it.

The atmosphere at Paragon is bordering on XYZ annoying, but they are just chill enough (I wore flip flops) that you don't feel like a big tool if you wear jeans. They have a full bar and small TV's with sports on them. I'm sure that, if San Jose had a more hipster & bustling down town, that this place would be jumping. Unfortunately, the affluent people that live in San Jose also don't like to dress all in black and drink to techno music.

That's the word from the man on the street looking for a bite to eat.

Monday, October 09, 2006

michelin guide. . . for the last time

people are still talking about the michelin guide here in san francisco, many articles in the paper, some spirited on-line discussions (including one at e-gullet that i've been posting to here and again), and fervent dinner table discussions, including in my kitchen last night, where we dined on beef cheeks braised in san marzano tomatoes (that’s fodder for another post). the verdict: everyone disagrees on everything. no shocker there, but the one thing we all agree on is that we love good food, no matter where it comes from. so, it seemed fitting that i should end my commentary (for now at least) on the san francisco michelin ratings with a quote from leah garchick from her column in today's sf chronicle:

"Michelin director Jean-Luc Naret participated in two events Wednesday promoting the new guide: one early in the day at Book Passage in the Ferry Building and one later at Williams-Sonoma. His lunch was at the Slanted Door, and dinner was at B44 (Patty Unterman says a plan to go to the Hayes Street Grill was thwarted by the rain). None of the restaurants received any stars."

you see, the stars really don't matter!

Thursday, October 05, 2006

more lists! the roundup

this seems to be the month for lists and ratings - the two most recent that i haven't had a chance to write about are the gourmet top 50 restaurant list and the sf chronicle's 20th anniversary list of the best recipe from each of the last 20 years - it's like christmas came early!


so let's start with the gourmet list (check out the full list) - to start, of course homage must be paid to the #1 restaurant on the list, alinea in chicago. a dish from alineai've reading about it quite a bit, my most recent exposure being this article from the nytimes sunday magazine. the head chef is grant achatz, one of new breed of chefs being practicing molecular gastronomy, bringing science into the kitchen. this has been a growing trend, and from everything i have been reading and hearing, one that is allowing some chefs to make some amazing dishes. personally, i am all for pushing the boundaries in the kitchen and seeing what happens, and hopefully i will get the opportunity to taste the results at alinea soon.


as for the rest of the list, no major shocks here. i have to imagine that putting together a list of the best restaurants in a region is tough enough, but the whole country? what a job - a job i want of course - but a tough job nonetheless (did i mention i mention it was a job i want?). being from san francisco, the first thing i do is scan for restaurants in the bay area, and we had some good representation in the top five with chez panisse coming in at the #2 slot and the french laundry at #3. i did a double take when i saw that, especially since the french laundry recently received 3 stars from the folks at michelin and chez panisse only got one. again, it depends on the people doing the judging and what you are looking for - if it is refinement, perfect flavoring, perfect plating, perfect service, basically perfect everything, then the french laundry will win over chez panisse every time. if it's about simple foods and flavors and you're not worried about how it sits on the plate, then chez panisse will win that battle. again, it's a tough job comparing apples to oranges. other bay area picks: cyrus in healdsburg at #15, l'auberge carmel in carmel at #20, and zuni cafe in san francisco at #37.

now on to the chronicle. . . since i live in sf, much of my food media news is west coast, and more specifically, sf bay area, centric. that's just the way it be. . .and i must say even though the chronicle is a terrible paper for the most part (this is coming from a sf native, i hate to say it, but i'll take the ny times any day), three things stand out, the food section, the datebook (daily sf gossip and a crossword puzzle, um...heaven), and the food section. i rarely disagree with the reviews of michael bauer, the head reviewer, and i've made quite a few recipes from the food section, and they are spot on. so without further ado, check out the listhere and tell me what you think, and more importantly, what you made! for my money, the twice baked goat cheese soufflé looks like the early winner as my personal favorite.

Wednesday, October 04, 2006

the michelin guide and me

monday was a big day for foodies in san francisco - the michelin guide published their first ever guide to the san francisco bay area (check out the sf chronicle coverage here). it was no surprise that the french laundry was given the highest honor of a three star ranking (and making thomas keller the first person to have two restaurants with three star ratings, as per se in new york received the same accolades), but it was a bit surprising that nobody else did - restaurants like the ritz carlton dining room, chez panisse, and fluer de lys were grouped in the one star category, and in case you were wondering, a one star restaurant is defined as "a very good restaurant in its category." wow - that's a pretty harsh blow to some restaurants and the foodie population of the bay area who look on many of the restaurants in the one star category with high esteem and consider them very good in any category.

michael bauer had an interesting take in a recent blog posting, basically saying that because the french laundry is so far above every other restaurant, it handicaps everyone else - it's an interesting point. is the french laundry so good that by giving it a 3 star rating, every other restaurant that would have gotten a 3 in a french laundry-less world (ie: hell) is relegated to the fate of a mere one star? that has to be a tough world to live in for restaurant owners in san francisco . . .

personally, i think a restaurant owner friend of mine (i won't name names, but can tell you that the restaurant this person owns is mentioned in both the chronicle's article and bauer's blog as a restaurant that didn't make the list and should have. also, i am trying desperately to get this person to contribute to this blog) said it best - "it doesn't make sense and i am happy we are not in it." we both agreed that the michelin guide rates the restaurants in france almost perfectly, but that they come up short everywhere else - it's set up to judge refined french cuisine, but it's rating system seems to fall apart when it is applied to an eclectic blend of cuisine like we have in san francisco.

the bottom line? ratings are ratings. personally speaking, my palette seems to always agree with michael bauer from the sf chronicle as well as some of the seasoned vets over at gourmet, so when they give something a great review, i know that there is a good chance i will be pleased when i eat there. as far as guides go, for my money i think the slow food guide is the way to go - i know they have them for san francisco, chicago, new york, and italy, and you can feel confident that going to one of those restaurants you will be eating fresh food from a chef who respects, and cares deeply for, the ingredients he is working with. . . what rating is better than knowing that?

Monday, October 02, 2006

salami, sausage, and pickles - oh my!

recently i've been looking to expand my kitchen knowledge into some other culinary fields. i embarked on the great cheddar cheese experiment about six months ago - an experiment that failed in it's first attempt, and has made me scared of cheese ever since (i get over my fear by eating cheese, so it's worked out ok). i plan to get back on that horse soon, though preferably with something like cottage cheese, where i don't have to wait 3 months to see if i fouled it up or made something heavenly (anything in between would be fine too).

in the meantime, a hankering for pickling, smoking, preserving, and stuffing has been welling up inside me, so after doing some research, i went ahead and bought charcuterie: the craft of salting, smoking, and curing by michael ruhlman and brian polcyn with a foreword by thomas keller. after looking through the book, reading the recipes, and generally absorbing all the techniques and tricks, all i can say i wow. . .and then one more time, wow. i'm planning on doing some pickles this week, sausage next week, and then trying a terrine as well as curing something. i don't know what i will cure, but it will be meaty (i must add that my wife is very pregnant, so this plan may get derailed). the one thing i will probably have to hold off on for now is smoking something, since we live in an apartment without a porch or backyard, and i am not sure how much the neighbors or my wife will enjoy the place smelling like a bbq joint. i know i would love it. . .

so, to make a long story short, if you've ever wanted to cure, salt, pickle, smoke, or learn the art of forcemeats, this is the book for you. and since i am giving you the recommendation, you are required to give me 10% of all your cured meats from this point on.