stacks

Hayes Valley is one of our favorite neighborhoods to explore; some of our most loved eateries are here... Absinthe, Suppenkuche, Stacks, and Christopher Elbow for chocolates and hot cocoa so thick and creamy (it is pretty much liquefied chocolate).

I love a good, hearty brunch, the kind where mimosas and bloody Mary's flow freely, and eggs are always fluffy and smothered with cheese. Is there any other kind? Stacks is one such hotspot serving up hefty portions of fresh, traditional brunch dishes, famous for their, what else... pancakes.


One of my brunch go-to's is huevos rancheros, and Stack's version does not disappoint. I think the thick layer of melted cheese really helps.... and I'm a big sucker for canned black olives... mmmm.


Mr. S had a short stack (2) of the pancakes with wheat germ. There's even a version with banana macadamia nut and coconut! Just to show how generous the size was, I had him put his hand next to them to compare.... They were good, light and fluffy, with specks of wheat germ for a nice texture.


Our friends had another order of the huevos and the crab crepe, with melted Jack, avocado and hollandaise. All that food, and a whole bagel, plus hash!

No pictures of this, but Mr.S also had a fresh fruit smoothie: the Jitter Bug, made super thick with espresso, vanilla yogurt, bananas, cream, and hazelnut syrup.

The prices are appropriate here, and the portions are more than overwhelming. Stacks is the real deal. No messing around here.

bong su

The mouth-watering smells that float up to our apartment from Bong Su every night had us thinking...why hadn't we eaten there yet?? So Mr.S and I scrambled downstairs last week for a little Vietnamese pick-me-up of "shaking beef", and all kinds of delicious fare.

Bong Su feels like a lounge; there was no shortage of servers and hostesses walking around in backless tops. (I felt overdressed in a sweater and jeans!) It was a predominantly older crowd that night...a possible sign of wisdom and experience when it comes to knowing good food? Who knows, but I was ready to dig into one of the restaurant's famous appetizers, the Duck Mustard Wraps.


For an app, these rolls were a hefty size, filled with lean and flavorful shredded duck meat, alongside strips of mango and cucumber. And all wrapped up neatly in a leaf of mustard green.

It was served chilled, but now I'm wondering if it would have been better warm... The dipping sauce was certainly a crowd pleaser.

Mr.S's Hoi An Chicken arrived much to my confusion. It looked like a chicken melt (with cheese) which upon tasting, we found it to be a delicious coconut sauce. The mashed plantains were greasy, but had great flavor.


I came for the Shaking Beef, to compare it with the version at the Slanted Door.

Verdict? Definitely less sweet and the portion was more generous here. The flavor was spot on. What it lacked was the char on the meat, that crispy caramelization that occurs when meat hit an insanely hot wok. The version at the SD had this which imparted a great smoky flavor to the dish. Here, I really enjoyed the heavy seasoning on the beef, especially the black pepper, fish sauce and lime juice.

Bong Su's a bit on the pricey side, but you get what you pay for. All the dishes are served family style, so there's no room to skimp. And the flavors are a homerun. Before I forget... my Mekong Martini sealed the deal for me. It was playful, delicious, and not overly sweet like many Jolly Rancher-style cocktails are now. It was a combination of lychee vodka, mango puree, pandan syrup, and what do you think is there a the bottom of the glass?

That's right, boba! Black tea tapioca pearls.

I'd come back for this alone....

the elusive sticky bun

Yes, this sticky bun was 1)sticky and 2)came in the form of a bun, but any reasonable breakfast pastry eating person knows that a good sticky bun is, but not limited to, all these things. They should also be large (in my opinion), somewhat soft yet chewy, and slathered in gooey caramel. My favorite are the ones that use a flaky croissant dough instead of a yeasted bread dough, but that's sometimes hard to find.


I dropped by Citizen Cake patisserie this morning for some sweet treats after brunching at Absinthe in Hayes. I suppose my first deterrent should have been the sheer size of the sticky bun. It was puny, but my craving was anything less, so I gave in and bought one. (It was about the size of a tennis ball.) I have to say, it was an overall disappointing experience. The dough was overly dense and meaty, like it hadn't risen properly, and maybe had just been sitting there all night and morning. The caramel was nice and sticky and rich. However, it left me wanting more. (My fingers were no where near sticky and messy enough after eating it!) At $3 a pop, I felt a bit pastry-cheated. Even my cherry ginger scone, at $3, was on the underdeveloped side.

Lately, I've been finding that the sticky buns and cinnamon rolls at Whole Foods are quite tasty. At only $2.19 apiece, they're right up my alley.

dessert update!

Mr.S and I don't usually order dessert when out. We are more appetizers folk. By the end of dinner, we hardly have room for the now-all-too-common chocolate pot-de-creme that sits as the first option on dessert menus all across the U.S. On a whim, after our entrees this past weekend while dining at Bong Su, we decided to rediscover our sweet tooths. And we were not disappointed.

Suffice it to say, we were more than impressed with the novelty, pairing, and flavors of this truly excellent dessert. A quenelle of toasted rice rice cream sat atop a sesame shortbread, with candied pralines, and served with a side of stone-fruit salad and toasted pinenuts. All this finished off with a drizzle of dulce de leche. Damn. Just writing that felt good.

The toasted rice ice cream was ingenious. It was mildly reminiscent of Korean toasted barley tea and rice pudding. The seasonality of the ripe plums and pluots was a wonderful addition. The perfect ending.

blue bottle coffee

We walked over to the Ferry Building Farmer's Market this morning, unbenownstly unprepared, with only one cloth bag in hand, ready to face the seductive lures of summer ripe peaches, flour-dusted golden loaves, and deeply violet-hued fingerlings. On top of all these temptations, Mr.S and I, for the almighty love of the bean (the coffee bean, that is), stood in line for over 30 minutes at the Blue Bottle Coffee Company cart. Throughout our wait, I looked at the people around me, standing around patiently for $3 cups of lattes and $2 cups of made-to-order drip coffee. I couldn't help but wonder, is this all really worth it? Is the length of a line directly proportional to the quality of the product being waited on to be consumed? Why were we punishing ourselves by standing on a queue that had hardly budged in 20 minutes? Ahh, too many questions from a caffeine-starved brain...

When Mr.S handed over my cappuccino, I yelped (yes, like a terrier) a small "Oh!" of pleasant surprise at the brilliant coffee art.

And then I sipped. Very nutty, pleasant and smooth were some of the first thoughts that came to mind. All of Blue Bottle's espresso drinks use a ristretto, double shot and steamed Clover milk. The had nuances of hazelnuts and a subtle sweetness that was enhanced by the milk. I reveled in my delightful morning cup while snacking on their complimentary almond macarons (flavors vary weekly).

We watched the barista for awhile as he prepared custom made drip coffee for customers. He reminded me of a DJ, spinning, with all his tech-y equipment and layout.
He uses a filter drip system, a rather rudimentary one in this case of paper filters and cups, to essentially make coffee extractions. (The original technique uses bunsen burners, glass tubes and flasks for an extremely scientific and exacting process.) The grind and weight of the beans, volume of water, temperature of water, timing of extraction are all key components to a single cup of brew. No wonder people are consistently lining up week after week. This is definitely not your cup of Sanka.

Currently Blue Bottle operates a small cafe on Mint Street over Mission and 5th, as well as a kiosk in Hayes Valley. And of course you can find them Saturday mornings at the Farmer's Market, just be prepared for long lines. (Bring a book!)

dim sum!

The conveniences of living in a diverse, multicultural city- within half a block from my apartment, there's a cheap Indian chaat eatery, a Thai, Vietnamese, and Cantonese restaurants, a pizza place, a Japanese sushi joint, a Mexican chain restaurant, and of course, a Starbucks. I think I shall never go hungry again.

Lucky for me, the Cantonese dim sum place is one of the higher rated ones in SF. It's appropriately called Canton Dim Sum & Seafood, and though it sits far out of Chinatown, it still manages to draw a significantly authentic Chinese crowd consistently. Little old grandmothers throwing elbows and canes around trying to get a better look at carts full of chicken's feet and shumai- that's what I call a good time, and a safe bet that you're getting the real stuff.

The roast pork was well seasoned, thinly sliced, porky deliciousness. Maybe a bit on the fatty side, but if you're into that, then it's really quite good.


The fried tofu squares with soy sauce and scallions was nicely fried- not at all greasy, but crispy and light. This is a hard dish to mess up.


This was the only dish of the morning that none of us liked- the steamed pork spareribs with black bean sauce. The cuts of meat were way too large (they are usually only bite-size and very tender). And there was hardly any black bean flavor to the sauce (there were carrots though, somewhat odd...). Oh yes, and a grease trap of a dish. Bleh.


One of my favorites: Xia chang feng, or steamed rice roll with shrimp and soy sauce. It was perfect- soft and chewy rice texture, plump shrimp and a savory sauce poured on top.

A vegetarian delight, and another of my favorites of the morning: Su ji dou fu, dried tofu sheets wrapped to form a roll, stuffed with shitake mushrooms. It's brilliantly chewy, and the name translates to "vegetarian chicken tofu" or mock chicken tofu because the texture resembles eating chicken meat. Be aware though, as it may not completely be vegetarian since it's oftentimes braised in chicken or beef stock.
The stir fried pea shoots were a lovely shade of verdant green, and tender but still crisp at the same time. There were also huge chunks of garlic in there too. Mmmm... lethal!


My mum and dad got bowls of congee and silken tofu, both very traditional, though a tad on the bland side for me. The congee had chunks of hundred year old egg and preserved pickles, but was missing the fried red-skin peanuts that is the usual accompaniment. I enjoyed the tofu better, as it was incredibly soft and light, with a delicately sweet broth poured on top.


Though I had to loosen my belt at this point in the meal, I still made room for the steamed shrimp dumplings. Dim sum is not dim sum without shrimp dumplings. They had a good amount of ginger, and the wrappers were nicely chewy (I hate when they are over-steamed and mushy).


Canton's dishes definitely delivered and did not disappoint, with the exception of the spareribs. I found the menu to be slightly pricier than most dim sum places, but they also serve a high quality of dishes, with very fresh ingredients. I will more than likely frequent this restaurant, as I love dim sum carting, and I dim alot! (That'll be my only comedic contribution to this post.)

drool worthy

I have a dark and shameful past. A period of my former life in which I could barely make rice in the electric rice cooker, consistently turned out rubbery tough scrambled eggs for Sunday's breakfast, and served guests frozen meals from a box and called it my own homecooking. This latter practice, however shameful and unspeakable it may be now, actually helped me to throw some of my most successful dinner parties. The first of Mr.S's birthdays that we celebrated together, I pulled one over on him with one of my slaved-over-a-hot-stove "home cooked" meal.

The menu consisted of braised lamb shanks in a rosemary-mint sauce, oat blinis with creme fraiche, and roasted root vegetables. I don't know if Mr.S fell for me that night or for the lamb, but he decided to stick around.
Luckily for him, I learned how to cook. Eventually I revealed my secret to him years later, that my fork-tender lamb shanks were actually store bought, precooked and frozen, from Costco.

These lamb shanks are some of the most delicious and succulent pieces I've ever had because they truly taste like they've been cooking away for hours. The meat is rich and tender, without the least bit of game, falling off the bone as you gently pry your fork into it.
The sauce is like a thickened au jus, sweet and intense, flavored with rosemary. I can never really fully taste the mint, but it's there, a soft nuance to balance out the richness of the sauce. After you pull away the meat, the invitingly attractive bone implores you to gnaw away at it; it's difficult not to give in.


These lamb shanks are made by a company called Cuisine Solutions, which specializes in a method of cooking called sous-vide.
In recent years, it's become a term more popularized thanks to shows like Top Chef and actual top chefs like Thomas Keller, Wylie Dufresne, and Ferran Adrià. Essentially, it's a purely scientific approach to cooking. Based on the molecular makeup of the food to be cooked, a combination of heat, timing, and cooling is used. All this, and a hermetically-sealed plastic pouch. The food is sealed in such a package, and cooks for hours, sometimes even a day, over the lowest heat possible, basically in its own juices. This is achieved by heating the pouch in a temperature-controlled water bath, then cooling it gradually. Accordingly, the flavors remain concentrated. They completely saturate the food, usually a protein, which maintains its structural integrity and keeps nice and tender because it retains all of its original juices.

Reheating is a breeze. For smaller servings, I heat up a large pot of water over medium-low heat and simply place the pouch, frozen, into the water. It will gradually heat up over 10-15 minutes or so. This is like a mock sous-vide setup in your home kitchen. Because of the low heat, the meat will heat up evenly and not seize up. For larger batches, say 3 or more large pouches (for a group of guests), I unwrap the frozen meat from the pouches, place them in a shallow pan, and bake at 375 degrees for 45 minutes or so. The lamb will form a nice crust from the dry heat, and the sauce will reduce down a bit.

You'd never expect a frozen meal to be much palatable, let alone mouth watering. But I've certainly discovered one that is all this and quite versatile. I usually always have a box of these sitting in my freezer on hand, ready for surprise guest visits, a quick weeknight dinner for Mr.S and me, or an upscale meal for myself and a group of discerning dinner companions.

Cuisine Solutions lamb shanks are available at Costco, Wegman's, and online through Peapod.

ninja express sushi

Brillat-Savarin once said "Tell me what you eat and I will tell you what you are." Well if this is true, then I should be a 5'2" walking slab of raw fish. I've been eating a lot of carry-out sashimi and sushi lately. If anything, this new diet has only increased my craving for the raw stuff, not quell it.


My sushi supplier is currently at the top of my all-time-favorite people list. Soft-spoken and kind, he believes in high quality ingredients. No, this is not an upscale Japanese restaurant, but a small "sushi corner" located in the prepared foods area of Lotte supermarket. The small venue is called Ninja Sushi. Operated at most by 2 chefs at a time, the small 3-seater restaurant is easy to miss. There's an easy to follow order-by-picture menu posted above the wall, but since the chef is so accomodating, he can usually make whatever you want, depending on the availability of his ingredients, of course.

We ordered carryout last week for dinner- the 18 piece sashimi entree ($14.99) with salmon, tuna, and white tuna (escolar).

We were happily surprised to find not 18, but 25 glistening pieces of sashimi in our box! The chef had thrown in a few extra slices of salmon and hamachi, and seaweed salad. The rolls are standard fare, but very good, and again, he doesn't skimp on the ingredients. (My mom always orders a special warm and crispy salmon skin roll.)

My favorite is the white tuna sashimi, though that is a misnomer, since the fish is actually escolar. It is extremely buttery, yet clean tasting, supple and soft on the palate.

Interestingly, escolar has been banned in Japan since 1977 because in some individuals, it has been known to cause bad digestive issues and diarrhea. There's a high level of wax esters in escolar flesh, very much like Olean (in fat free Pringles) that just passes right through you. In some people though, it can cause some transient, but nonetheless, nasty GI issues. Luckily, not me!

There's no website for Ninja Sushi, but I have posted their menu here. (click on the image below)

2941 restaurant

This is the story of an oasis. An oasis within an office building in suburban northern VA. Wherein, a classically trained French chef, who's previously worked with Daniel Boulud, now serves up innovative dishes using seasonal ingredients. I suppose I've lived in the city for too long. I've been under the false impression that any restaurant with valet parking and a thoughtful tasting menu couldn't possible be found in suburbia. I stand corrected.

Despite its odd location, 2941 Restaurant provides a serene and gorgeous backdrop to an upscale dinner experience. Easily a favorite with wedding parties, there are waterfalls, gardens, and koi ponds that help to create nice photo-ops.


We started with a salad of local baby beets, goat cheese, endive and chives. I enjoyed the addition of the chives, both for color and flavor. Beets are one of those foods that really sells itself- deeply rich in colors and earthy sweet.


The next course was a lMaine lobster claw, served two ways- poached, and chopped in a loster cake/nugget. It was served with a long bean and bibb lettuce salad with tamarind-anise vinaigrette. Amazing is really all I can say about this dish. I love long beans; they tend to be used more in home-style cooking and rather underused in restaurants. The lobster meat was sweet and supple.


The main course was a pan-seared halibut filet with braised baby carrots and sugar snap peas (from California), in a light sabayon sauce with morels. The sabayon was wonderful- light as air, and simply melted on your tongue. I've never seen morels paired with fish, but it works beautifully, like a double dose of umami for the tastebuds.


For dessert, a pear-almond cake, with a frangipane base, served with almond cream. The buttery crumb of the cake was delectable. My mom ordered the molten chocolate cake with vanilla bean ice-cream and a dark chocolate tuile. In general, the desserts were less impressive than everything else; they lacked a certain edge and creativity.


We ended our meal with coffee and the house's complimentary serving of citrus beignets, which were glazed (!), light, and just the right size. What I really miss is the ethereally light, cotton candy that 2941 used to serve to all its guests after dinner. Tall, freshly-spun, light blue mounds of fluffy cotton candy used to be a fun and whimsical part of the dining experience here, but not anymore.

2941 is a great special-occasion restaurant (my parents take me here for my birthdays), as well as an escape for a seriously nice lunch or a weekend brunch. The service gets slow on weekends when the place is usually quite busy. Reservations, as well as a jacket for the gents, are highly recommended.

Update: A new pastry chef was brought on in June 2008, and upon inspection of the new dessert menu, it looks to be a much more impressive selection of sweets. However, the cotton candy is still nowhere to be found. Please bring it back!

Note: The menu items from this review are from April 2008, and thus reflect the seasonal selections at that time.