>chochoyote and epazote

Topolobampo restaurant's Seafood Menu tasting, course # 4

Vitaminas al Vapor ("Steamed vitamins"?)

Rustic red chile seafood soup of grilled baby octopus, Hawaiian blue prawns, epazote-flecked chochoyotes and poached egg

"Chochoyote" doesn't appear often on Mexican food glossaries. It is corn (masa) dumpling or pressed dough, and it seems to hail from Oaxaca.

Epazote: "A jagged leafed herb, popular in Mexican cooking, that is considered to be a weed in many regions. It provides a pungent pine-like odor and a similarly strong, unique flavor, similar to licorice or mint. It is sold fresh, dried or ground and because of its unique flavor no other herb can be used as a substitution. Popular in bean and tortilla dishes, epazote is also known as Mexican tea, wormwood, goosefoot, and Jerusalem oak." (Recipetips.com)

Comfort food with all the trimmings.
(Paired with 2005 Luca Syrah, Altos De Mendoza, Argentina)

>guero and serrano

Now we are talking (moderate) fire. I am also realizing all three tasting menus at Topolobampo restaurant could be called "Chili Tasting Menu", a la Ritz-Carlton Dining Room's "Salt and Pepper Tasting Menu".

So far mentioned are poblano, ancho, guajillo, guero (güero) and serrano. For fun, let's compare their Scoville units. (The number varies depending on whom you ask - here's one table.)

ancho (1000 - 2000), poblano (2500 - 3000), guero (2000 - 5000), guajillo (5000 - 10000), serrano (7000 - 25000)

Let's not get distracted, though... Topolobampo's Seafood Menu course #3

Mone de Pescado

Garlic-marinated Alaskan black cod roasted in banana leaves with guero chile rajas, Spence Farm blue potatoes, local tomatoes and sweet plantains; roasted serrano-lime salsa

According to GourmetSleuth, "the word "rajas" just means "strips" but in Mexican cooking it refers to strips of chiles. The chiles are roasted, peeled, and cut into strips. After that the recipe can vary but normally they are sautéed with onions, herbs and seasonings. The cooked mixture is used as a condiment with meats or as a vegetable side dish."

Paired with 2003 Ici / La-Bas "Les Reveles" Pinot Noir, Anderson Valley, Mendocino County, California.

Sizzle and substance.

>manzana rellena

Apple stuffed with melted cheese. Sounds like dessert, but it is the second course on the Seafood tasting menu at Topolobampo.

Manzana Rellena

Crab apple combo; roasted Michigan "honey crisp apple" filled with "queso fundido" of goat cheese, poblano chile and dungeness crab, grilled frisee salad

Paired with 2005 Eric Bordelet Sidre Doux, Normandy, France

All the flavor combinations are here. Savory crab and cheese, tart and sweet apples. Chili heat. It makes a fantastic "salad" course.

>tiradito and pipian

Did I rush through the first tasting menu?

I will break the next one down to show more details. The second tasting menu option at Topolobampo was "Seafood Menu".

Here's Seafood tasting menu course #1.

Tiraditos de Kampachi

Thin slices of buttery sashimi-grade Kona Kampachi tossed with cilantro green chile "chimichurri", Three Sister's Garden greens with pinenut pipian dressing

Pipian is a "sauce containing ground nuts or seeds and spices; Indian stew or fricassee thickened by its ingredients rather than by flour" (recipegoldmine.com).

According to a Peruvian food dictionary, tiradito is "similar to ceviche, but differs in cut and presentation. The fish is sliced into fine, long pieces, without onions. The evolution of the dish has likely been influenced by the Japanese immigration into Peru during the late 1800’s."

Recipetips.com explains chimichurri. "A spicy herb sauce or marinade that is served with grilled and roasted meats. With orgins credited to Argentina and their use of the sauce, Chimichurri Sauce generally consists of water, salt, garlic, parsley, oregano, pepper, red chile peppers, lemon zest, red or white-wine vinegar, and extra-virgin olive oil. However, there are numerous versions of this sauce that range from tangy and spicy to tart or somewhat sweet flavored. It is a food item that can be used as a basting sauce on fish, shellfish, poultry, beef, and pork or as a dipping sauce after the food has been cooked. Chimichurri may also be used as a term to reference a hamburger that is popular in the Dominican Republic."

A refreshing first course, voted winner among the three at my table, paired with 2006 Knappstein Riesling, Clare Valley, Australia.

>Napa Valley Journal - "Kitchen Conventional"

Sorry, folks.

Yes, I've been suffering from food fatigue. I am not a foodie, per se, rather a non-foodie looking for something exciting, and there hasn't been earth-shaking excitement, food-wise, lately.

To quote Milan Kundera, "happiness is the longing for repetition" (The Unbearable Lightness of Being). Meant for a dog, really, but don't we want to be one sometimes? I have been quite all right with the same old roll in my mouth.

***
Wine Country is always great the first day. (The French Laundry! Cyrus! So many vineyards to choose from!) The second day, winery fatigue starts to set in. Not as quickly as mall fatigue, but there it is. For those of you who can do more than 3 days - well, my straw hat's off to you.

***
Had a really nice meal at Redd in Yountville. This sounds oxymoronic, but they do it well here -informal fine dining. Big portions, little fuss, perfect techniques. Two-person 7-course tasting menu turned up 14 dishes total, in the following order.

1a. Yellowfin tuna and hamachi tartare cubes, avocado, chili oil, fried rice

1b. Sashimi of hamachi, sticky rice, edamame, lime ginger sauce, seaweed

2a. Chilled calamari salad, marinated daikon and carrot, lettuce, toasted peanuts, Vietnamese sauce

2b. Heirloom tomato and bread salad, red onions, arugula, baby basil, grated parmegiano

3a. Petrale sole, creamy jasmine rice, mussels, crispy chorizo, saffron curry nage (foam)

3b. Caramelized diver scallops, roasted cauliflower puree, golden raisins, almonds, capers, balsamic reduction

4a. Foie gras 2 ways, stone fruit, pistachios, brioche

4b. Glazed pork belly, fig puree, burdock, soy caramel

5a. Wolfe Ranch quail, soft polenta, chanterelles, smoked ham

5b. Braised beef shortrib, horseradish crust, potato puree, summer vegetables

6a. 2 slices of Pecorino Toscano, lettuce, honeycomb

6b. 1 slice of "Sophia" from Illinois (resembling Humboldt Fog), lettuce, honeycomb

7a. Deep fried corn fritters with sour cherries, sauteed corn pops, apricot sauce, Tahitian vanilla bean ice cream, micro basil

7b. Peanut butter milk chocolate giandujia, peanut honey parfait, chocolate sorbet with candied peanut butter

***
I enjoyed my entire meal with a glass of my favorite Crozes-Hermitage, but I passed on their interesting cocktail menu. "Strawberry Blonde" with strawberry infused vodka, "The Green Monster" with lemongrass syrup, "C-Scape" with Tanqueray rangpur gin, tangerine syrup, angostura bitters, "Niwa" with vodka, sake, lemon juice, cucumber...

>Margaret's Hope Estate Darjeeling at the Ritz-Carlton Half Moon Bay

A stroll along Half Moon Bay and an afternoon tea in the Ritz-Carlton's cozy library with mom and dad.

<- mom

The menu introduces the general history of tea ("...It has been said that in 2737 BC, Sheng Nung, the Chinese Emperor, was banished to a remote part of Southern China. Poverty forced him to drink only boiled water. One day, when some leaves fell from a nearby tree into the saucepan he was heating, he was pleasantly surprised. The resulting infusion cleared his mind and relaxed him. He often drank it, naming it Tai (peace)...") and describes each tea in detail. (Margaret's Hope Estate Darjeeling, "the Champagne of teas with subtle Muscatel flavor and a wonderful aroma".)

Here's their "Royal Tea" menu.

Champagne, Laurent Perrier, "L-P", Brut, Tours sur Marne
===
Your choice of tea (see below)
===
Smoked Salmon with Saffron Cream, Salmon Caviar and Dill on Dark Rye Bread
Cucumber and Crushed Pink Peppercorns, Dill Cream Cheese on Whole Wheat Bread
Sesame Chicken Salad, Apple and Currant Relish on White Bread
Egg Wedge with Paprika Mayonnaise, Onion Sprouts on White Bread
===
Caramelized Cashew, Cherry & Coconut Scone
===
Seasonal Fruit Tart
French Macaroon
Earl Grey & Raspberry Diamant
Olive Oil Cake with Apricot Confiture
Chocolate Fondant, Salted Caramel Ganache
Eclair Praline
===
California Strawberries served with Vanilla Whipped Cream and Grand Marnier

Fifty-Eight Dollars

The tea choices were: (unrelated links)
Yorkshire Gold
Scottish Breakfast
English Breakfast
Blue Sapphire
Afternoon Darjeeling
"Special Rare" Darjeeling, Margaret's Hope Estate
Earl Grey
China Rose Petal
Japanese Green Tea Whole Leaf "Imperial Gunpowder"
Vanilla
Mango
Jasmine Blossom Green Tea
Spiced Orange
Chamomile Flowers
Peppermint
===

"There are few hours in life more agreeable than the hour dedicated to the ceremony known as afternoon tea."
-The Portrait of a Lady, Henry James

>disposable hot towels / icy cold napkins

Why don't we see this at every restaurant?

The server brings out a teapot and a little nubbin on a plate. What sits on this small plate is a white cylinder stub resembling a marshmallow, the size of five stacked nickels.

She pours steaming hot water onto this paper nubbin lying on its side, and voila, it expands tenfold lengthwise, the incredible Hulk-like, ready for you to unfold it.

Ooh, a hot napkin... and icy cold versions in summer.

>dragon beard candy

Koi Palace just south of San Francisco often features dragon beard candy demonstrations. Here are some still shots (taken on May 12th) of this fascinating craft. Notice the transformation from doughy-looking sugar paste to silken threads resembling silvery strands of hair.

>live sweet shrimp

Will I eat something on my plate which arrives at the table, um, still wiggling?

I will, and I have.

On our way to Sequoia National Park, we stopped for lunch at a sushi restaurant called MaRoo. (2075 W. Bullard Ave., Fresno, CA)

Apparently, Fresno is no culinary backwater.

The amaebi (ama "sweet" + ebi "shrimp") came with a severed, but still moving, head. I imagined the two pieces of sushi topped with orange tobiko to be still throbbing with life.

The unmistakably fresh flavor and texture of the sweet shrimp (often called spot prawn) sushi was almost enough to swear off 'dead seafood'.

Okay, I didn't eat the impressive garnish while it was still kicking - the shrimp head was destined to be returned to the kitchen to become crisp tempura.

And okay, I didn't eat the deep-fried head either. Since I was cautioned not to go around eating shrimp heads, I donated it to my dad, and it was savored with gusto.

>Botan ebi - large sweet shrimp, heads deep-fried, Benkay restaurant, 2 India St. Portland, ME

>Sweet shrimp ceviche - ginger yuzu marinated raw sweet shrimp with avocado mousse and fried taro chips, Japonais, 111 E. 18th Street, New York, NY

***
So, having no reply to give
To what the old man said,

I cried, "Come, tell me how you live!"
And thumped him on the head.

--Haddocks' Eyes, Lewis Carroll

>salmon caviar vs. trout caviar

If rarity makes a product more distinguished, trout roe seems doomed to be run-of-the-mill from the start.

Considering how familiar salmon roe -'salmon caviar'- is in sushi joints (ikura), trout roe or 'trout caviar' seems somewhat of a novelty, yet it crops up from a bountiful source.

Just like its fellow roe-harvestees (sturgeon, paddlefish, whitefish...), a trout can be bursting with eggs. The trout roe looks like mini salmon roe, similar in color and and bubble wrap texture.

Already widely enjoyed in Scandinavia and elsewhere in Europe, trout caviar is increasingly mass-produced in farms. Caviar extracted from farmed trouts may not be killed for the eggs, unlike "the iconic caviar producers" which "must be killed to extract their caviar, and are becoming increasingly rare in their native Russian waterways" according to abc.net.au.

>Toast with fried quail eggs, trout caviar and butter, El Lliure, Barcelona, Spain
>Artic char tartare with basil and trout caviar, Bar Room at The Modern, New York, NY
>Poached lobster Russian salad, water vinaigrette & ocean trout caviar, Village East, London, UK

>affordable set menu banquets

At Chinese restaurants, ordering one of the set menus -the ones without English translation- for the entire table can be somewhat exciting. I don't mind a few misses - this particular banquet happened to be ten times cheaper than a chef's tasting menu at a typical top-tier restaurant.

A multi-course meal served family-style - it can be a very happy experience indeed, as this one turned out to be. Pictures are from Wednesday's 9-course dinner at Gourmet Delight in Oakland, CA. (The last item on the menu, a sweet bean dessert, is not pictured.)

>thymus sweetbread vs. pancreas sweetbread

We made it to a family dinner at Incanto last Saturday after an unexpected delay.We toured the nearby old church of Mission Dolores (Mission San Francisco de Asis) and came back to the car to find the rear left tire flat. My very first. After a helpful visit from AAA, we were on our way, hungry and half an hour late.

I opted for sanguinaccio (fine-textured blood sausage) and the chef's special sweetbread. Mom is the only one who can't stand 'offal', so she went for house-marinated olives and halibut with greens. I now put 'offal' in quotes. Not only are these parts edible, they are increasingly prized by ordinary restaurants and diners. Incanto is known for plentiful offerings of uncommon cuts, and I was surprised to find only a couple of 'offal' options Saturday evening.
As I stretched my neck and belly to attempt to point to different types of 'sweetbreads', I became unsure of the exact locations of each. I had to come home to look them up.

Which sweetbread do you prefer? I think the name should be more specific, and I don't just mean the veal/lamb distinction. We think nothing of graphic-sounding names when we are used to them. 'Liver', 'pork belly', 'fish cheeks'... we might start calling sweetbreads by their real name - pancreas and thymus glands. 

...  (um) ...

Maybe not. 

>chashu vs. char siu

Char siu is a familiar word, even in America.

Char siu bao, the steamed pork buns on dim sum carts,
Char siu (barbecued) pork at Chinese mom-and-pop restaurants,
BBQ char siu chicken at many mainstream restaurants...

Char siu literally means fork-roast (you know, not roasted fork, but roasted on forks).

<--photo by "the food pornographer" (flickr)

Even the Japanese call their version of this pork chashu, taken directly from Chinese, rather than calling it, say, matayaki, or sasho. Invariably in Japan, chashu means pork slices topping ramen noodles.

Which version is better, Chinese or Japanese?

For me, nothing beats a good char siew mee from a Singaporean hawker stall, commonly accompanied by wontons (wantans).

>buttery chardonnay vs. perfumey chardonnay

Even I, not the sharpest wine taster in the world, have tasted the distinct difference.

Some chardonnays are "butter-bombs" - smooth like butter, smell like butter, taste like butter. Less outrageous wine notes include "sweet corn", "popcorn", "cream"...

-Marcassin Chardonnay 1998, Lorenzo Vineyard, Sonoma Coast

Rather than being buttery, some chardonnays are sharper, more perfumey, rosy, lemony.

-Blason de Bourgogne 2004, Saint-Veran (a "chardonnay" or white Burgundy)

Scientists are able to isolate the chemical compounds responsible for these different taste sensations.

The chemical responsible for the buttery taste is diacetyl, the cute puppylike compound on the left.

One of the chemicals responsible for the perfumey, citrusy sensation is linalool on the right.

>quinoa chirashi

The "hot" new Conde Nast business magazine "Portfolio" doesn't appear so hot, yet.

When I do a search, this magazine comes up first.

Anyway, the NEW Portfolio does have a website.

In one of their videos -and it does have a Food & Drink page- a Gourmet magazine columnist tours and samples the Hearst Tower cafeteria food at Cafe57.

Here's a screen shot of one of those dishes. (Notice the misspelling of chirashi? It should be quinoa chirashi, not quinoa "chirachi".) For the full video, go to Hearst.

We've seen chirashi sushi. Cafe 57's version looks like its veggie cousin, with quinoa "rice".

So what does chirashi actually mean?
It's uncaked sushi, and comes from a word meaning loose or scattered.

Untidy, in other words.
But colorful, I have to say.