Cafe Bunn Mi
After returning to San Francisco, CA after a 1.5 week hiatus overseas, we decided to go to Cafe Bunn Mi for a quick bite on a Sunday morning per the recommendation of our friends Scott and Carmen. Our diet overseas had consisted of a variety of foods, many of which were fried and heavier, so we were looking for some light, comfort food. We walked into Cafe Bunn Mi soon after they had opened (November 4, 2012) so it wasn’t a problem to place our order, get seated, and get served our meals. The menu was written on 4 chalkboards but was extensive enough to have a good variety of foods to cover the gamut of Vietnamese sandwiches, rice plates, noodles, and pho.
A lot of things on the menu looked tasty but we knew we could only eat a couple of dishes by ourselves. In the end we ordered:
- Grilled Pork Saigon Noodles with Imperial Rolls
- Crab Noodle Soup Pho
There was a slight mixup of our order as a Chicken Noodle Soup Pho came out from the kitchen. We realized soon after taking a picture of it, and then sent it back. I had meant to ask the server if they were just going to toss it if they could just leave it for us to try but I was too slow . . . I blame it on the lack of sleep from spending the night at Newark International Airport, the early flight back to SF, and the lack of coffee! It’s too bad we didn’t get to try any of it but it did look tasty.
The good thing with pho is that it doesn’t take too long to prepare so it wasn’t long after that the correct order of Crab Noodle Soup Pho came out. From the picture below you might think that the crab noodle soup pho is a little spicy but that’s deceiving. The fresh tomatoes used in the dish made the soup seem spicier than it really was. There was also an ample amount of crab in the dish which was presented as an egg-crab mixture. The scrambled egg-crab mix had the texture of the brains of the crabs. Some people might not like that texture but I don’t mind it one bit – I’m usually the one clamoring for the crab heads!
The Grilled Pork Saigon Noodles with Imperial Rolls were great. The rolls, stuffed with pork, carrots, taro and clear noodles, were fried perfectly and were nice and crispy. There was also no oily feeling to the fried rolls which was great. The pork was well made and not too dry. The noodle bowl consisted of vermicelli noodles with pickled carrots and daikon topped with peanuts and green onions. Once the noodle bowl was mixed together with the pork and accompanying homemade fish sauce it was simply time to just sample the delicious flavors and enjoy our meal.
All of the dishes tasted great and the meal definitely hit the spot. The portion sizes were generous; some of us even had some leftovers to take home for an afternoon snack. I definitely recommend Cafe Bunn Mi and plan on hitting it up again in the future for more pho or to try their sandwiches.
Cafe Bunn Mi
417 Clement St
San Francisco, CA 94118
(415) 668-8908
Noodle Theory
Looking for a quick bite for dinner in Rockridge, CA on Sunday night (February 26, 2012), a group of us decided to go to Noodle Theory. Everybody in the group had been there before so we knew we would be having some yummy noodles on a brisk night. Much like many other restaurants in the area, seating is limited due to the small size of the restaurant. Thus, rather than wait for a large enough table spot to open up, the five of us opted to take the bar/ledge spots.
While we considered the menu options, we got to munch on edamame topped with sesame seeds and sauce. After some discussion, my wife (Connie) and I selected the Grilled Niman Ranch Spicy Loin of Pork Ramen and the Grilled Niman Ranch Beef Udon respectively. Connie had recently undergone a tonsillectomy so her diet was still very limited to softer foods that were not very spicy. Connie’s spicy pork loin selection, served in a peanut lime cilantro broth, wasn’t exactly aligned with her prescribed diet but she was attempting to diversify her diet from the apple sauce, juice boxes, and bland soft foods that I had made over the last few days. In case her dish was too spicy, I chose the beef udon dish as a backup although I had a feeling that it may also be a little too spicy too since the beef udon was served in a coconut lime curry broth. There were other choices on the menu that probably would have been better aligned for Connie’s diet as a backup for her but the coconut curry was calling out to me.
Noodle Theory's edamame appetizer
Our dishes came out after a short wait and were as delicious as we expected. The broths all packed a lot of flavor. The meats were tender and the noodles in both dishes were nicely made and soft enough so Connie could eat them. However, our suspicions on the spiciness were confirmed as both dishes were just a touch too spicy for Connie’s recovering palate. On any other day, Connie would not have had any issues with the spices in the dishes and would have easily polished off her portion but instead I got to be the lucky recipient of the spicy pork, peanuts, and eventually her leftovers :).
Noodle Theory's grilled Niman Ranch beef udon in coconut lime curry broth (with some additional pieces of grilled Niman Ranch spicy pork loin and peanuts)
On a previous trip to Noodle Theory, I had tried the Slow Roasted Niman Ranch Pork Belly Ramen served in a savory pork miso broth. Comparisons between dishes are always a little like comparing apples and oranges since the ingredients are different. Hence rather than compare, I’ll provide my preference list for the 3 dishes that I’ve tried at Noodle Theory, which would be:
- Slow Roasted Niman Ranch Pork Belly Ramen
- Grilled Niman Ranch Spicy Loin of Pork Ramen
- Grilled Niman Ranch Beef Udon
Looking at my list and attempting to rationalize my choices, I think the reasons for my ranking preference are due to the meats and noodles in the dishes. The pork belly is just so soft and melts in your mouth, whereas the loin and beef require more chewing effort. Similarly, ramen is softer and easier to work with than the larger udon noodles. For me, I guess I would typically consider the protein the more differentiating factor so formulaically, protein > noodles. I don’t necessarily have a preference for the actual meat type (pork vs beef) but I think the cut can make quite a difference (eg belly vs loin). Also, the weighting gets fuzzy if I’m not feeling a big preference for one type of meat vs one type of noodles vs one type of broth.
Next time you’re in Rockridge and feeling like some noodles, check out Noodle Theory. All of the dishes pack a lot of flavor so you really cannot go wrong – it just really depends on what you’re feeling!
Noodle Theory
6099 Claremont Ave
Oakland, CA 94620
(510) 595-6988
Bandolero Pop-up Restaurant Preview
LivingSocial voucher
After purchasing two tickets for the LivingSocial deal, I followed the instructions that I received and made dinner reservations for 7:15pm on Saturday February 18th for the pop-up preview of Bandolero Restaurant. Basically, LivingSocial, a Washington DC-headquartered online coupon company, was hosting Chef Mike Isabella’s preview of his upcoming restaurant venture in Georgetown to help kick off LivingSocial’s newly leased building in Penn Quarter where LivingSocial will host pop-ups, cooking classes, and all sorts of other activities in their new space.
I guess I don’t typically get to the Penn Quarter area at prime dinner time as I have never had any problems finding street parking in the area but this time we circled around the area a few times and could not find any street parking. So, as we were running out of time and wanted to make our reservation time on time, we bit the $16 parking tab and decided to park within two blocks at the E Street Cinema parking garage.
We walked into the LivingSocial building space (918 F St NW, Washington, DC) right at 7:15pm, had our IDs checked, and checked in at the lobby downstairs. We then headed up to the 2nd floor reception area where we each got a glass of champagne. Our table was already ready so we had only just sat down on the couches in the living area when our name was called to follow somebody up to the restaurant area on the 4th floor where we were promptly seated.
Michelada
Once seated at our table, before we had had a chance to get halfway through our glass of champagne, the accompanying first course drinks were served. The drink was the Michelada – milagro blanco, tomato lime, mole bitters, corona – essentially a tequila version of a Bloody Mary. The drink definitely served as a good appetizing drink. The first course came out shortly thereafter – warm chips and chicharrones served with:
- Guacamole – classic
- Sikil Pak – pumpkin seeds, jalapeno orange
- Salsa Roja – guajillo, tomato, garlic
The chips and dips were all very good but the chicharrones were definitely the highlight of this course. Light and crispy deep fried goodness just tastes so good!
Mmmmm . . . chicharrones
For our second course we went with:
- Albondigas – spicy pork meatballs, sofrito
- Sopes – lamb picadillo, chipotle goat cheese
This course was paired with a Margarita – milagro blanco, patron citronage, agave, grand marnier, lime, blood orange. I was tempted to select the blue crab taquito, but based on our server’s recommendation and the fact that I have Kiwi roots, I went with the lamb dish. For those who aren’t big lamb fans, the lamb was well made and did not taste very lamby. The sopes were delightful little pockets of flavor with the lamb topped with chipotle goat cheese and a little pepper slice. The spicy pork meatballs were also very good. Four of them came in a little bowl topped with some chopped veggies. The meatballs had good flavor but for my palate they could have had just a little more spice to them. In my opinion, the sopes edged out the albondigas.
Sopes – lamb picadillo, chipotle goat cheese
The third course was a selection betwen various tacos. We went with:
- Mahi Mahi – served with chipotle, avocado and lime
- Spicy Chicken – served with avocado, relish
At first we were a little surprised when the mahi mahi was presented – were we being served fried fish sticks?! However, after biting into the taco, it was apparent that we were having a delicious version of the classic “fish taco”. The mahi mahi was cooked perfectly with a lightly fried batter and flaky innards. My wife commented that perhaps the mahi mahi dish could have been better with corn tortillas instead of flour tortillas. I thought the flour tortillas were actually just right since the corn tortillas may have overpowered the mahi mahi. The spicy chicken dish, served on corn tortillas, was also very good. The shredded chicken had a great flavor profile in itself and went wonderfully with the topped lettuce, avocado relish, and little bits of cheese. I would say this round was a tie between both dishes. This course was paired with City of Gold – milagro reposado, cardmaro, St Germain, lemon.
Spicy chicken taco with avocado and relish
For our fourth course we selected the:
- Alahambres – hangar steak, chimichurri
- Mole Negro – pork ribs, sesame seeds
In comparing which dish was better in this round, the pork ribs definitely won. The tender meat slid off the bone with ease and tasted absolutely delicious with the sesame seeds and sauce. The hangar steak portions were extremely generous but perhaps this was the downfall of the dish. The hangar steak was served in a manner that almost made it look like three pieces of sushi/tuna sashimi on the plate with Chef Mike’s famous pizza sauce drizzled around it. The hangar steak was well cooked – I’d estimate they made it to be medium rare as it had a good dark sear on the outside with a reddish center. However, it just seemed the meat cubes were just a tad too large so it did take a little bit of chewing effort to polish off each piece of meat, even when cut into smaller manageable pieces.
Mole Negro - pork ribs, sesame seeds
The accompanying drink for the fourth course, Malverde, was comprised of sombra mezcal, cucumber, cilantro, agave, hellfire bitters. The drink definitely tasted cucumber-ry. Not being people that typically have such drinks, the drinks just tasted different. Perhaps it was due to the bitters in the drink that made it seem odd to the taste buds? The drink also seemed like an odd combination with the dishes in this course.
For our fifth course, aka dessert, we got to have both the Flan and Mexican Chocolate Pudding. The flan had canella and orange and was served with pickled mangoes, while the Mexican Chocolate Pudding was served with mezcal crema. Both desserts were good. The flan had a unique flavor profile, probably due to the canella. As such, the chocolate pudding edged out the flan in this round for me. Dessert was paired with a Sparkling Cocktail – el jimador blanco, prickly pear, and sparkling wine – a nice finish to a great meal.
Flan with canella and orange
At the end of the our evening, we didn’t see Chef Mike Isabella in the dining area chatting with folks like we had seen earlier in the evening so we asked somebody about it and instead we got to head down to the kitchen on the third floor to chit chat with Chef Mike Isabella for a bit.
Meet and greet with Chef Mike Isabella
What was our damage at the end of the night? Well, the tab came out and our sum was $0! Technically, that’s not quite true as I had been paid $119 apiece when I had purchased our tickets from LivingSocial. Was it worth it? Definitely! We ate and drank extremely well and we got to meet Chef Mike Isabella. Not only that but during dinner my wife and I both felt like we were on Top Chef during restaurant wars. The only thing missing from our popup restaurant experience was a feedback card! Thanks LivingSocial for a wonderful experience and I look forward to enjoying more such evenings in the future!
Overall, we had a wonderful dinner experience. If our preview is indicative of the dining experience at Bandolero, Bandolero will no doubt be a big hit. I don’t know what the final prices for the various courses will be, but the portion sizes were generous and if that carries over, I don’t see anybody complaining about Bandolero not being a good bang for the buck, or leaving hungry/thirsty! I must admit that I’m typically not the biggest fan of tequila but all of the drinks were good. I particularly enjoyed the Michelada and would definitely recommend that to start off your Bandolero experience. If I do make it to Bandolero after it opens, I’ll probably be trying the other dishes that I didn’t get to try but if I were going to have some of the dishes again, I would go for the sopes, mahi mahi, spicy chicken, mole negro, finishing it off with the Mexican chocolate pudding.
Below is a more comprehensive photo documentary of our experience:
The quest for the perfect pot roast
With my previous attempt at making a pot roast being relatively successful, I wanted to try to do better. On this second attempt to make the perfect pot roast with the newly acquired All-Clad slow cooker from Williams-Sonoma, I did do a few things differently. In this attempt, the modifications were:
1) switching up my protein and using a pork shoulder instead of beef. Although the truely scientific method would be to keep my protein the same for taste comparison purposes, Safeway had a nice special on pork shoulder, and I had seen some good recipes using pork shoulder so I decided to go with it for this attempt.
1) changing the positioning in which I placed some of the vegetables. In my last attempt, I found out that vegetable placement in the slow cooker was also important if one wants certain vegetables to be desired textures. That is, the celery and brussel sprouts that I had placed atop everything and thought might still be fairly green and crispy once cooked were not so.
2) adding more chicken stock. The last time I made a pot roast, I could tell I did not have enough liquid. Why do I say so? Well, once cooked the pot roast should be partly submerged in liquid to keep it moist and provide more flavor. However, I was a little too stingy with the amount of chicken stock that I added last time so my meat was sitting atop my liquid vegetable bed. This time I made sure to add enough liquid (deglaze + stock) so as to cover about half of the pot roast. As juices will come out from the meat, and veggies, you don’t want to fill up the slow cooker completely with liquid.
For this blog entry, I’ve decided to provide a photodocumentary so as not to bore you with all the specifics. Pictures speak a thousand words anyways so please enjoy!
-
- Washed fresh vegetables
-
- Chopped yellow onions
-
- Olive oil for the aromatics
-
- Sauteeing garlic cloves
-
- Sauteeing chopped onions
-
- Onions getting some color
-
- Nicely browned onions
-
- Empty slow cooker ceramic insert
-
- A bed of onions
-
- A layer of carrots
-
- Interspersing celery
-
- The massic pork shoulder cut
-
- Pork shoulder side profile
-
- Lightly seasoned pork shoulder
-
- Olive oil to brown the pot roast
-
- Sizzling pork shoulder closeup
-
- Browning the pork shoulder
-
- Turning to brown all sides
-
- Browning all sides
-
- Meat on layer of onions, carrots and celery
-
- Potatoes on the side
-
- Brussel sprouts on the side
-
- Cherry tomatoes on the side
-
- Deglazing the meat browning pan with chicken stock
-
- Adding a can of diced tomatoes and some cajun/taco seasoning to top off the pot roast
-
- All ingredients in the slow cooker and ready to go
-
- Slow cooker set 8 hr cook time
-
- After 4 hr of cooking
-
- The completed pot roast after 8 hr of slow cooking
-
- Cooked pot roast closeup
So, what were the results of this pot roast attempt? Compared to the previous attempt, this pot roast definitely turned out much better. With the meat still submerged in the juices once cooked, the pork shoulder remained nice and moist unlike my previous beef pot roast. The vegetables also turned out better.
However, the quest for the perfect roast is not complete and I shall continue attempting to perfect my pot roasts . . .
Foodie Forays 