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GREAT FOOD AND CHINESE OPERA 5/16

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GREAT FOOD & CHINESE OPERA   I’ve known Marisa Tam, the co-owner of the Great Eastern restaurant, for several years. Recently, I had a Tuesday tour and after everyone left, Tam invited me to hear her practice Chinese Opera in her nearby studio.   What an amazing experience!The musicians were playing instruments unique to this music: [...]

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COOKBOOKS 5/16

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COOKBOOKS My favorite Napa correspondent, Betty Teller, hits the nail on the head again, this time with her woes about writing a cookbook. Unhyphenated By Betty Teller Folks often ask me when I’m going to write a cookbook. I’ve thought about it, but I always run into the same problem. How would I focus it? [...]

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TOURS 5/16

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Yesterday, I led a tour of 16 folks from the Franklin Templeton Corp on a fun Chinatown tour. It was a team- building group – something that most companies would find fun. Dinner at Great Eastern was, as usual, delish!

North Beach tour        5/19, 5/26, 6/16, 6/23

Eve Chinatown tour        6/30

Mission tour                6/9

Nob Hill tour                6/2

CONTEST 5/16

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Contest 5/2

Well, almost no one wanted to see Whores’ Glory, a serious film about global prostitution. When Joan Elola of Fremont wanted two tickets, I awarded her all six.

This issue’s CONTEST:

Do lobsters have teeth? Briefly explain.

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The first person with the correct answer, before midnight 5/18 wins a gift certificate for my North Beach tour for one. You may use it for any June (and on) scheduled tour. This is an $80 value. 

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DINE 5/16

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DINE: Sam’s Chowder House and El Bacalhau Grill  Overview:  Sam’s Chowder House4210 Highway One, Half Moon Bay (650-712-0245)   Open 7 daysThe Shenkmans, who own Sam’s, have been advertising in this Report for many months. I met them after I visited their wonderful San Mateo restaurant, Osteria Coppa. Their chef, Chanan Kamen makes his own porchetta, pasta, [...]

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5/16 BLOGGERS

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BLOGGER SPOTLIGHT New Feature: Spotlight on a Food Blogger: Michael Procopio    I recently discovered there are 13,000 people in the world blogging about food. Some bloggers write every day and dream of publishing a cookbook or writing magazine articles. Others are just having a lot of fun and pursue it to entertain their friends [...]

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5/16 Intro Yummy Report

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Dear Friends,

Lobster and Mom

   I grew up in Newark in a cold-water flat with my single mother. It was not a horror because I didn’t know anything else. Besides, I had nice clothes, we ate well and my cultural education was broad.

Despite our modest means, we went to Manhattan (10 miles away) several times a year for a show (usually Radio City Music Hall) and dinner at Child’s.

In Newark we went out to Chinese American restaurants for Chop Suey and also for what my mother called: the pizza pie.

At Childs, I usually ordered the open-faced hot turkey sandwich. I always looked forward to the mound of mashed potatoes with an indented interior holding light brown gravy. Talk about fancy-schmancy!

As a little kid, I went to an opera, the Museum of Metropolitan Art, the Bronx Zoo and my first Broadway play.

That same year, my new step father and my mother and I took a trip to see my French Canadian relatives in Holyoke. But my mother knew once we landed there all our time would be taken up with visiting, so we went first to New London and stayed at a nice hotel for a few days.

We went to dinner in the hotel, which was a block from the water. Mom had the duck; dad the steak and I wanted a whole Maine lobster.

I was eight and had to sit on a phone book to reach the table. The waitress said it was a large order for a kid and tried to talk us out of it. But my mother said, we’ll help her out if she needs it.

The ritual began with the waitress tying a cloth bib around my neck. Then a large red, steaming lobster was set before me. I spent the next hour, methodically cracking the lobster, spritzing the meat with lemon and then dipping the luscious morsels in the melted butter.

I shared the lobster with my parents, but as my mother said, “You did a great job on your first lobster.”

The day before Mother’s Day, Ray and I traveled down the coast to Sam’s Chowder House (http://www.samschowderhouse.com). I thought of my mother, when I ordered the Maine lobster. It would have made her smile.

All the best,

GraceAnn and the creatures

 
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FOIE GRAS UPDATE 5/2

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FOIE GRAS UPDATE Legislature Says Shove it. Background: As chef unrest builds leading up to the  July 1 ban of foie gras, the Golden Gate Restaurant Association has formed a new coalition in a last ditch repeal effort. C.H.E.F.S., the Coalition for Humane and Ethical Farming Standards, has drafted up a charter that will be [...]

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DINE 5-2

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DINE Overview: La Mar (http://lamarsf.blogspot.com) A couple of years ago, I dined at La Mar, and despite the fact I liked the food, the dining room felt like a big warehouse – the noise level was deafening. I knew it was chef Gaston Acurio’s multi-unit chain of Peruvian restaurants offering Peruvian-Japanese food with panache. At [...]

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COOK 5-2

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COOK Mrs. Much whips up a Favorite ALL TIME FAVORITE: Caramel Cream Cheese Custard By Dianne Boate I come from a long line of custard appreciators. My mother had a very special flavor twist to hers, to the point of my adopting it in certain cake recipes with “Custard Flavor.” It is a combination of [...]

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