From Mexico, with love

People in San Francisco love their Mexican food. Luckily for me, they were also more than happy to tell me of their favourite place and what they recommend.

However, be warned - if you are asking a group of people where to find the best taco/burrito etc shit could get nasty.

People will fight to the death about crispy vs. soft tacos, where has the best salsa, the pros and cons of rice in your burrito and where to get the best frescas (don't even get started on which flavour). I feel confident that with my thoroughly enjoyable research 'field trips' during my time in San Francisco can now at least offer some semi-informed opinions on these very important topics.

Topic of hot debate #1 - The Fish Taco

After much research I decided on El Metate (Bryant & 22nd) and had a fish taco and a prawn taco.

While the fish taco was good, it was the prawn taco that was the real winner (and not just because they called it prawn rather than shrimp on the menu). The fat, juicy prawns combined with a squeeze of fresh lime and jalapeno all wrapped up in a soft taco was just perfect.

Topic of hot debate #2 - the quintessential quesadilla

This one was unplanned. I'd had no time to check on chowhound, yelp or consult the quesadilla oracle for advice. After an evening of open-air ice skating with the delightful Ben Barry we were absolutely starving and in need of a little warmth in the form of alcohol. Pancho Villa (16th & Valencia) conveniently delivered both.

The prawn quesadilla was two toasted, crispy tortillas around prawns, salsa, salad, guacamole and cheese. Teamed with a few selections from the salsa bar and all washed down with a Mexican beer and I was one happy camper.

Oh, and here are my skate clad feet shortly before Ben and I recreated Torvil and Dean's 1984 Winter Olympics Bolero routine.

Topic of hot debate #3 - the biggest and best burrito

Taqueria La Cumbre (Valencia between 16th & 17th) is home to the 2 pound 'Mission Burrito'. Not only large, but rumoured to be pretty damn good as well. Once again, Mexican Food Wing Man Ben accompanied me for dinner. To be honest, we didn't give any thought to the 'Mission Burrito', since both of us have been horrified a number of times by the massive portion sizes over here. We opted to share a regular sized burrito and a couple of tacos.

This place has been around since 1967 and I'm pretty sure the decor has not been updated since then, but that is part of the charm of Taqueria La Cumbre. Our burrito did not disappoint.

This is also the night I say 'adios' to the lovely Ben. He's heading east for a Christmas adventure in New York and in a few days my San Francisco experience will come to and end and I'll head to Toronto. Not wanting to say goodbye just yet we head to a local bar for a couple of margaritas.

Benu Restaurant, San Francisco

On my second last night in awesome San Francisco I had one of the best dining experiences of my life.

Benu is a relatively new restaurant on the San Francisco scene. The chef is Corey Lee, previously of 3 Michelin Star restaurant ‘French Laundry’.

I was joined by two lovely girls from Houston that I had met through the bread course I was taking at the San Francisco Baking Institute. Both girls were fellow food lovers and one had a knowledge of wine so impressive that I think even the sommelier was a little floored.

The interior of the restaurant is great – it’s very open and the tables are spaced far enough apart with some structural partitions here and there that you actually sort of feel like you are in your own private dining room. We were able to carry on a conversation and not feel like we had to raise our voices to compete with the noise from the surrounding diners.

Within seconds of being seated our lovely waitress came over and introduced herself and arranged for water to be brought to our table. Throughout the night the waitstaff are attentive, making sure our water and wine was never lacking. They were able to do this while remaining pretty much invisible, I never once felt like they were hovering right behind me, ready to pounce, yet anytime I might have thought about reaching for the wine bottle they were there topping me up before I could.

We had already agreed that we were all going to have the 16 course degustation. I’ve never had a degustation menu before and there were many things on the menu that I hadn’t tried before and I knew were going to be a little outside my comfort zone – this was going to be fun!

After we have ordered with our waitress she sends over the restaurants sommelier, Yoon Ha, to help us with the wine list. My dining companion proceeded to surprise him and I with her knowledge of the wines and together they decided on a bottle of white to start and a bottle of red to switch to about half way through when the courses started to get a little richer.

**Note: Sorry about some of the photos, it was quite dark in the restaurant, so I had to use a flash, which against some white plates caused a "white out" effect. Also, the framing of some is appalling - I'll blame the wine for that.

~ The first course: Thousand-year-old quail egg, cabbage, ginger

The first thing that comes to mind is there is no way in the world I will be anywhere near full at the end of this if everything that comes out is this small (boy, was I wrong).

Second thought, after actually taking a bite, was that they have really come out of the gate strong. It’s absolutely delicious.

~ The second course: Oyster, apple, horseradish

This is an interesting one. Its two oysters in a horseradish sauce and it’s all covered with a green apple snow. The horseradish is mild, with just a little bite to it, the oysters are, well… oysters and the apple snow is fruit and icy. It is a strange flavour and texture combination. Up until this point I had always said I didn’t like oysters. After eating this I can now honestly say that I don’t mind them. Oh, and sorry about the photo – I got a bit carried away and started eating before I remember to take a photo. Ooops.

~ The third course: Sesame tofu with marinated salmon roe

This was one of the prettiest dishes of the night. It’s a little ball of tofu with salmon roe tucked into it. The salmon roe inside are each about the size of a pea and they burst in your mouth.

~ The fourth course: Abalone grenobloise, cauliflower, caper, lemon

So, this was my favourite dish of the night. I’ve never had abalone before and now I want more! The abalone is sliced thinly and has a spicy thin, crispy crust around it. It sort of has the texture of a scallop, though maybe a little bit firmer. It is freaking delicious.

~ The fifth, sixth and seventh course:

Eel, feuille de brick, crème fraiche

Caramelized anchovy, peanut, lily bulb

Mountain yam and shrimp soufflé

These three dishes come out together.

The eel is wrapped in the feuille de brick and you dip it in the crème fraiche.

The little anchovies are so tiny and a great combination with the peanut and crunchy lily bulb.

The mountain yam and shrimp soufflé doesn’t really do anything for me. A great texture, but flavourwise I found it a little bland.

~ The eighth course: Monkfish liver torchon, cucumber, turnip, salted plum, brioche

Another favourite. It’s like having the world’s best pate on brioche. What’s not to love? Oh, and it looks absolutely beautiful on the plate.

**Oh, and have I mentioned by this stage I’m starting to get quite full!**

~ The ninth course: Crispy cod milt, pickles, mustard

The description pretty much says it all. Cod is not my favourite fish, I find it quite heavy, oily and fishy. Not this one, though. It’s light and has a thin crispy batter and the pickled vegetables and mustard go so well with it. I love the presentation of this dish in particular.

~ The tenth course: “Shark’s fin” soup, Dungeness crab, jinhua ham, black truffle custard

This one is very cool visually. It comes out with a bowl with a layer of black goo on the bottom (black truffle custard) and then the soup is poured over the top by our waiter. The custard comes away from the bottom of the bowl, but doesn’t really mix in with the soup, so you get a couple of different textures in your mouth while you’re slurping away. Another great dish.

~ The eleventh course: Pumpkin porridge, lobster, black truffle

So, this one was our only choice on the menu. We all chose this one over the risotto with white truffle from alba. I love pumpkin, so it was an easy choice. This dish did not let me down. Creamy and delicious.

~ The twelfth course: Chicken Cecilia

To be honest, I don’t remember much about this particular dish. I know that I didn’t dislike it, but it didn’t stand out amongst the others.

~ The thirteenth course: Beef rib cap, matsutake mushroom, pine needle honey, pear, mitsuba

This one I do remember. I want all pieces of steak I eat to be accompanied by these ingredients in the future. Oh, and I want the person who cooked this piece of meat to tender perfection to come live with me.

~ The fourteenth course: White chocolate, olive, yuzu, cilantro

Apart from the white chocolate, you wouldn’t know it, but we’ve hit dessert. Um… yum. Oh, and I had to google yuzu - it's an East Asian citrus fruit.

~ The fifteenth course: Persimmon pudding, burnt acorn ice-cream, mace

This is my favourite of the two plated desserts. The waiter tells us that the burnt acorn ice-cream was a delicious accident (one of the chefs burnt the acorns but not wanting to tell the head chef just went ahead and used them anyway, and now, they do it this way intentionally). Also, another plate that is just so pretty to look at.

~ The sixteenth course: chocolate, coffee, tea

We made it! I’m ridiculously full at this stage, but I made a commitment and I’m going to see it through to the end. I order the white tea, which I’ve never had before. This tea rocked my world. And as for the chocolates, we’re not talking some crappy after dinner mint here, we’re given a box of 8 gorgeous truffles. We didn’t make it through many, not because they weren’t great, but because we were stuffed. We had the rest packed up to take with us and one of the girls took them home to Houston as a treat for her husband.

During out meal we had overheard one thing from a nearby table. It was one lady at a table of four raving about having been given a tour of the kitchen while the others sat around the table talking and finishing their drinks.

Well, we wanted a tour of the kitchen too. Benu happily granted us our wish. Since our reservation was for 8:45pm by the time we had finished eating and were ready for our tour it was around 11:30pm and the kitchen was winding down. All the action was over and the staff were cleaning and putting things away. I would imagine that they probably wouldn’t want people traipsing through there in the middle of dinner service anyway.

A couple of minutes after being in there and the chef himself, Corey Lee, came up and introduced himself and chatted with us for a few minutes. That was a real treat, since he was really lovely and without a hint of the pretentiousness that you sometimes come to expect with that level of talent.

Once outside and on our way back to the BART station we’re back in the real world and there is a rowdy bar a few door down and there is a girl passed out drunk on the pavement with another girl kneeling down next to her going through her handbag. I asked if she was OK and the conscious one replied “yes’, but who knows. We walked on and had a bit of a giggle about how horrible she was going to feel tomorrow and how almost certainly between vomits she would be uttering those time honoured words “I’m never drinking again”.

A few stops on the BART and I said goodbye to the lovely Houston girls and was home and so happy that I had such a wonderful Benu experience.

An open letter to Darren Hayes (yes, the one from Savage Garden) OR My Return to Sausalito

Dear Mr. Hayes,

Allow me to introduce myself. My name is Alex and I'm also from Australia. I have visited Sausalito twice now and I'm truly madly deeply in love with it. I want to live on a houseboat and bake bread to sell in my Sausalito bakery.

So, what does this have to do with you? Well, according to the Sausalito wikipedia page (and we all know, wikipedia never lies) you are a resident of this magical place. The place:

~ with the beautiful sky

~ where Fleetwood Mac's 'Rumours' was recorded

~ at the end of a beautiful ferry ride

~ with awesome fish and chips and view to match

~ where people say 'hello' to one another walking down the street.

Anyway, I really need not convince you. I'm sure you moved there for these exact same reasons.

I know it is a lot to ask since you barely know me, but I was hoping you might consider buying me a houseboat and a bakery and having a chat with immigration about getting me in on a more permanent basis (I'm sure they'd listen to you). In exchange I will always give you free bread, you can crash on the houseboat any time you like and I wouldn't be opposed to doing some light housework at your place (which I'm sure is lovely). Oh, and I'll totally buy all the albums you put out in the future (gotta keep those royalties coming in).

Anyhoo, let me know what you think or if there are any points you'd like to discuss.

Thanks Dazza.

Big hugs,

Alex

The Mission is sweeeeeeeeeet

Last week I went in search of a place I'd read about online called 'Mission Pie'.

These guys are seriously cool. They have an seasonal menu, baking their sweet and savory goodies using organic produce from nearby farms. Their kitchen is energy-efficient, their tea and coffee is fair trade and the cafe is decked out using reclaimed and recycled materials. I think the coolest thing of all is that they work with the local youth organisations to provide work experience and job training to at-risk San Francisco youth.

You are hit by the smell of buttery baked pastry the minute you walk through the door. Behind the counter there is a lot going on. To the right there is a huge deck oven, with a 6ft trolley stacked with racks of cooling pies in front of it. To the left there is a huge window that allows you to see all the action going on in the kitchen. The huge display case houses a selection of the days pies and pastries.

They all look so good, but I must pick only one. I settle on the pear and cranberry pie with a crumble topping (I would marry the person that invented crumble in a heartbeat). Would I like a scoop of ice-cream with my pie? Why, yes... That would be delightful.

I sit at one of the communal tables facing the street. Forgetting my pie for a second, I notice how great this place is for people watching. It's on the corner of a bustling intersection and the whole front of the cafe is floor to ceiling windows. You could sit for hours just watching the world go right on by.

The smell of what is in front of me brings me back.

My first bite confirms that these people really know what they are doing when it comes to pie. The pears are soft but not at all mushy. They really taste like pears, which is not necessarily a given with fruit these days. I don't think I've ever had a cranberry in a pie before, so I can't really say either way what they do for the pie. The crumble topping with oats, butter, brown sugar and cinnamon is crunchy, sweet and so delicious. The pastry is flaky with a toasty flavour. All topped off with vanilla bean ice-cream and I have died and gone to pie heaven. It's a happy place.

On a 'Mission'

So the Mission reminds me quite a bit of my favourite Sydney suburb, Marrickville. During the 1940-1960's big numbers of Mexican immigrants moved to the area, bringing with them their culture and food. You can walk whole blocks around the Mission and only hear Spanish spoken by those around you. Then, in the 1990's the hipsters moved in and now the area is a mixture of the old and the new.

The food here is awesome. I think, like me, most Australians encounters with Mexican food growing up were Old El Paso tacos and corn chips and salsa. In the last few years more Mexican has been popping up around Sydney and I've tried a few, but haven't been overly impressed.

My last trip to San Francisco I ate at Mijita in the Ferry Building. Mijita is a little more fancy than your average Mexican restaurant that you would find in the Mission. The chef, Traci Des Jardins, is a James Beard Award-Winner. Here, I was introduced to the concept that tacos was a soft corn tortilla with filling, not a giant 'U' shaped corn chip. The meat came from a larger cut that had been seasoned and slow cooked and was so tender it just fell apart. On my 'Taco de Carnitas' toppings were a simple (fresh) salsa, coriander and onions. No ground meat, sour cream or grated cheese. Totally delicious.

Since this trip to San Francisco I was going to be living in the Mission, armed with my Zagat guide, google and new friends willing to share their experiences, I was going to find the best the Mission had to offer.

My first stop on what I have labelled the 'Taco Tour' is La Taqueria. This joint gets the highest Zagat rating with "killer burritos" and "extraordinary" tacos.

I ordered the taco carnitas (pork), chips with salsa and strawberry fresca.

The taco comes is pork, beans and salsa wrapped in 2 soft tortillas.

The chips and salsa are thick corn chips (the corn chips over here are about double the thickness of the ones we get from a bag back home) covered in a fresh salsa of tomato, onion, coriander and a bit of lime juice. I didn't even eat get through half of this since the taco was a pretty good size (apparently most people eat a few of these, I'm not quite sure how they do it).

Now, I'm not one to get super excited about drinks (especially non-alcoholic ones), but the strawberry fresca was awesome. I'm not quite sure what it is, but I think it must be a basic sugar syrup with strawberries blended into it, but left quite chunky.

I enjoyed it so much I marched myself to Borders the very next day and sat in front of the Mexican cookbook section for some time looking through them all. I left with a book that I hope will help my do something similar back home.

I really, really heart San Francisco

So, today was a wonderful day.

1. I got to talk to someone for longer than the 30 second - 2 minute transaction you have with someone in a store when making a purchase.

This morning I met my friend and fellow Aussie residing (I've decided if it is longer than a month, you are a resident) in San Francisco, Ben. We met at a cute little place in the Castro called Jumpin' Java which has done some awesome stuff with their ample footpath space and some planters, making it a little outdoor green room sort of thing. Anyway, it was great to see Ben again after so long. We both have a serious enthusiasm for San Francisco. Fingers crossed that we both get plucked out of the Diversity Lottery Barrel this year.

Ben lives in an apartment that:

a) you have to walk up the 3rd steepest hill in San Francisco to get to (well, from the angle we were coming from) and as a result,

b) has the most awesome view from his balcony

2. Someone mistook me for a San Franciscan and asked me directions... And, I was able to answer them!

I was hanging out on the corner 18th & Guerrero (it is probably the only part of the city I know like the back of my hand so far, Tartine and Bi-Rite are there, they feed me, so we're familiar) and a lady with a dog said to me "Is there a grocery store around here, one that has really nice stuff?". I was so happy I didn't have play the dumb tourist and pointed her in the right direction (or should I say Bi-rite direction).

3. TARTINE BREAD

OK, so I think that most of you that will read this have heard me crap on about Tartine. Tartine is a bakery that I conveniently live around the corner from. It's owned by husband and wife team, Chad Robertson and Elisabeth Prueitt. He's a baker, she a pastry chef. They met at the Culinary Institute of America and have since travelled far and wide in order to learn everything they possible can about their craft. If you want to learn more about them, go here:

http://www.tartinebakery.com/about_the_chef.html

I tried to get a loaf of the famous bread (of which they turn out only 175 loaves per day) on my first evening here, but I missed out. The bread starts coming out of the oven at 5pm each and every day, and if you aren't there then, you're probably going to walk away disappointed.

Today, I was prepared. I was not leaving without a loaf. I started hovering around the front of the store at around 4:55pm. Luckily, there were only about 10 people ahead of me, so unless one of them intended to buy 170 loaves, I was golden.

Today there were offering a plain or a walnut sourdough loaf. I thought it best to go with the basic for my first turn, so I got the plain. At about 5:05pm, in exchange for $7.00, the loaf was handed over to me in a brown paper bag and it was still so hot that I couldn't actually hold it. I was excited. I walked home as quickly as I could so I could have my first taste.

I didn't think this bread could possibly live up to my expectations, but it has. It is so freakin' good. The crust of the bread is really crispy, but not too hard. Some breads I've had back home taste great, but they have such a hard crust that I wince with every bite as I'm doing some serious damage to my gums. None of that here. The 'crumb' (I feel like a wanker using that word, but it is technically what the middle bit of the bread is called) is soft and a little chewy and the flavour doesn't hit you at first, but when it does it is just a little sour.

Oh happy day.

I heart San Francisco

So, the flight was not fun. It was only 13 hours, but the lady next to me made sure she did everything in her power to make it feel like a lifetime. What is it with me managing to always sit next to the person who wants to make the very most out of the cabin service and make sure they get their money's worth by trying to drink the plane out of booze? Then the dude next to her downed several wines and then several spirits and at last glance, I believe he'd moved on to Bailey's. Now, don't get me wrong - I like a drink, but I really don't believe anyone's experience in extremely cramped plane quarters is heightened by getting shitfaced.

Once I was finally off the flight from hell, I jumped into my shuttle eager to get to my new temporary home. Let's just say the driver was a little challenged and I ended up being 1.5 hours late to meet the building manager. Shit. I was stuck out on the sidewalk with no mobile phone and about 20kgs of luggage. The nearest pay phone was out of order (well, I'm sure it would have worked perfectly well had the handset actually been attached to the phone). So, I did the only thing I could do - I stood out the front of the building hoping something would happen. After about 10 minutes, a man came out of the security gate and was looking up and down the street. It was then or never, so I asked him for help. I explained my situation and he said he could help. Another guy came up, turned out it was his friend who had just arrived from New York for the weekend.

Guy One: "Why don't we get off the street. Come inside and I'll try and get a hold of the building managers."

Me: "Um, OK." I'm thinking 'just stay in the lobby'.

Guy One: "So, come up to my place and I'll make a call."

Me: "Yeah, OK." I'm thinking 'what options do I have here? The possibility of having to sleep out on the street, or the possibility that this guy is an axe murderer and his axe collection is up in his apartment'.

So, we all get in the lift and the axe murderer introduces himself to me as Eli and his friend is Jonathan. Neither of these names sound like the names of an axe murderer. Still, after getting out of the lift and walking to Eli's apartment I'm thinking of how this story would play out on the news. We get inside the apartment and I hover close to the door while Eli makes some calls. Finally, he gets hold of someone from the building management and they promise to meet me in the lobby in 15 minutes. Surely Eli can't dismember me in 15 minutes. I start to calm down. I'm offered something to drink and I accept a glass of water and look around the apartment. I start to forget about being chopped up into little pieces and begin to hope that my apartment is as nice as this one. It's got a fantastic view, a well equipped kitchen and it doesn't at all look like it is the meeting place for the San Francisco bed bug union.

15 or so minutes later I'm in the lobby meeting Andrea, the lovely German building manager with one hell of a handshake. We head up to my apartment and I almost do a little dance when I get inside and realise that it is actually nicer than Eli's. After Andrea has shown me all the in's and out's she asks what brings me to San Francisco. I tell her I'm doing an artisan bread course in a couple of weeks and it turns out she's a bit of a foodie too. I mention Tartine and she draws me a map of how to get there and a few other great places nearby.

After Andrea leaves and I've finished doing my little 'this place is awesome' dance, I know that I want to sleep (since it has been about 36 hours since I have done so), but it's 2:00pm and that would be very bad. So, instead I decide to acquaint myself with my new hood. It's an area of San Francisco called 'the Mission'. It's named after Mission San Francisco de Asis, which is San Francisco's oldest building. The area is home to a large Mexican population and you can see this everywhere you turn. Just in my block alone there must be least 4 taqueria's and 3 grocery stores specialising in Latino goods (I walked past one today that was selling cactus leaves).

I end up at a place that Andrea recommended called 'Bi-rite Market'. The place is packed with people and I can see why. You walk in and on the right is the fruit and veggie section (all organic produce), then as you make your way to the back of the store you pass a wall of cheese, wine, dairy (they have their own creamery), fresh fish and meat, pre-packaged meals and heaps more. I've just found my grocery store, I'm elated and I fill up my basket with everything except for bread, since Tartine is just a couple of doors down and I can't wait for my first loaf.

Well, me and everyone else in San Francisco, apparently. By the time I get to Tartine there is a small sign posted at the entrance saying 'Bread is sold out for today'. I head home to eat and sleep. Tomorrow will be a big day. It will be the day I finally get to eat a Tartine morning bun.