San Jalisco

Not being a drama queen by nature, it was shocking that I felt heart palpitations and a lump in my throat the minute I walked into Los Jarritos and was handed the menu. The name of the restaurant had been changed to San Jalisco. Could my long beloved Los Jarritos be gone forever, having been sold by the family with the wonderful mole recipe? Where could I ever find another Enchiladas Deanna, or goat, for that matter? It was my fault for not going there more often.

 

Shortly after reading the menu, I calmed down a bit seeing that they still had the nopale quesadilla, so I ordered it. Enchiladas Deanna was nowhere to be seen, but after inquiring, the waitress assured me that it could be made as a special order, but more importantly told me that the original family still owned the restaurant. The presentation on the quesadilla was nicer and they had added a side of guacamole that I dipped into with the quesadilla in hand.

My culinary partner in crime ordered the Milanesa, not surprising, since we had recently returned from a trip to Austria, where he consumed schnitzel as often as possible. As usual, the plate was generously loaded with food and there were actually two large pieces of the breadcrumb encrusted meat. Rather than chicken or pork, this was made with beef.

Never before had I noticed burritos on the menu, but then, I had never before seen this menu. I noticed them this time as I perused the list looking for the word mole. For an extra $3 you could have any burrito smothered in mole sauce, which makes it a Wet Burrito. They can also be made with a Colorado or tomatillo sauce. I selected the Grande that included guacamole, but not cheese. It was magical. Since my first time at San Jalisco, I have tried both chicken and carnitas and still can't decide which is best. I have yet to revisit the Enchiladas Deanna, so my new "favorite" choice has been established.
 
San Jalisco Website 

901 South Van Ness Ave.

San Francisco CA 94110

Poggio in Sausalito

For authenticity, an Italian restaurant can't go wrong with an Italian chef and development by Italian partners, but this is not the case for Poggio, one of Northern California's best Italian restaurants. With a love for Italian cuisine and culture, managing partner Larry Mindel, no stranger to fine Italian restaurants in California, and Peter McNee, the executive chef who forages in Italy for his own white truffles, Poggio has managed to surpass many fine Italian restaurants with better credentials and bloodlines. Their passion for the food shows in just about every dish they present for our dining pleasure. Peter has even brought over an authentic meat cart from Italy for serving Bollito Misto, the Piemonte boiled meat dinner, consisting of 7 kinds of meat and sausage, vegetables and condiments.

One notable dinner at Poggio was on a very cold evening and we were delighted to discover that although they did not serve hot buttered rum, they did serve hot brandy with a twist of lemon. Perfetto. The bread basket is always full of the freshest, house made rolls and it has been our experience that it always has a rosemary roll and a sesame roll. They are generous with the refills too.

For starters we selected lamb meatballs and a crab topped sformato di parmigiano. The meatballs were served in a spicy tomato sauce, covered with thin layers of ricotta salata and served with bruschetta. The meatballs were wood fired, which would make them "great balls from fire" in my opinion. Perfectly cooked and tender, they soaked up the tomato sauce and were enhanced by the salty ricotta. This starter was very filling and satisfying.

The sformata, a souffle of sorts, was rich with the taste of parmigiano, but delicate and light in texture. The crab was dressed like a salad which made the combined dish refreshing. I recall lingering over this appetizer, only taking small bites so it would last longer. That doesn't happen often, so it is a testament to the exceptional taste of this particular menu item.

On another occasion we decided on lighter starters. The salad of arugula, strawberries and goat cheese tasted better than it looked. I thought it would have looked mmore appealing with red onions, but the intrusion of purple would have destroyed the composition that must have been put together in honor of the Italian flag, in all its red, white and green glory. The bruschetta being offered on this particular afternoon happened to be made with our favorite Italian sausage, Nduja, a Calabrese, very spicy, spreadable sausage. For all I know it's raw too, but we love it, so order it we did.

 

Agnolotti is by any other name a ravioli, but in Tuscany they are now and will always be called agnolotti. These delicate little pillows of pasta covered a veal filling and were smothered in a veal and mushroom sauce. Delectable is the word that comes to mind to describe them. Perfectly al dente, they just begged to be chewed slowly and savored and it was my privilege to oblige.

Porchetta, the slow roasted Tuscan pork dish was well worth making a special trip to Poggio. While porchetta appears on the menu occasionally, it isn't offered for more than a few days and always in Winter. Very slow roasting is responsible for the success of this menu item. Herb laden, this pork roast is delicious and very tender, accompanied by slow simmered fagioli.

The pasta in the photo above was outstanding, but I have yet to try an unsuccessful pasta offering from Poggio. All hand made, the tubular pasta, just soaked up the rabbit ragu like a sponge, but there was still sauce on the plate, so they must have been cooked together before plating. Mushrooms punctuated the sauce with their earthy taste and completed the subtle flavor profile. Pasta this good didn't need cheese.

I am usually so satisfied with my meals at Poggio that I don't order dessert, but when I heard that they were serving rosemary gelato, I opted to try it. Very sweet, but with an obvious, yet delicate rosemary taste, it came as an unexpected pleasurable end to a meal of very high standards. Poggio is a small treasure and we hope to support it for many years to come.

Poggio's Website

777 Bridgeway Sausalito CA (415) 332-7771

Wood Tavern

Wood Tavern is a comfortable neighborhood restaurant that grew into a destination restaurant in its first month,  due to the fine reputation of its owners and chef. Read about their culinary chops on their website listed below. It must be exactly as they envisioned it with a great menu, a broad wine list, and a reputable bar. With a cracker jack crew it had to work.

My friend and I started out with drinks, something I don't do regularly, and they were well made. She had a Manhattan and I opted for one of the proprietary drinks, since I like to try something new each time; I'm still searching for a "favorite" libation. The bread was delicious with  rustic loafs of white and wheat mixed in the basket. If my friend hadn't really liked the white so much, we may have been fighting over the wheat, it was that good. Sweet butter only added favorably to it. I have suddenly realized that most fine restaurants in America have finally eliminated salted butter; a fine improvement.

When I dine out I go for broke, ordering what I cannot make myself, but fortunately my friend is more prudent and ordered the simple arugula salad, the light and refreshing salad. My order was the pork belly and figs. Luscious from top to bottom, down to the balsamic glaze, very little of which remained on the plate when I was done.

It was so good in fact, that I feel a closer look is necessary. The pork belly had a nice sear and was rested on the figs that had been sauteed with shallots. A dressed water cress was then applied and it was bordered by the sweet and sour balsamic glaze, then sprinkled with toasted hazelnuts. The plating was outstanding and had I not known any of the ingredients, I would have wanted to try it based on eye appeal alone.

The potato gnocchi was well made and light. Although I had never before seen it pan seared, it was a very good move that added more depth of flavor to the dish in general. Good thing too because the fresh vegetables needed a little something. As usual, freshly grated cheese came to the rescue and added the needed salty element to this culinary composition.

The double cut pork chop was the only failure of the evening and I will say that the restaurant was willing to remake it for me and actually took it off the tab, when I thanked them but refused a new plate. As you can see by the bone, this little piggy was over cooked, indeed burned to the bone. Since the pan juices were used for the sauce, every element in the dish was unpleasant. So much so that I didn't want another go at it. I felt very uncomfortable not paying anything for it, so I left a very large tip and wrote that I wanted to pay for the pork chop. Either the waiter went home a very happy camper, or the restaurant was paid. I'll never know but I felt I did the right thing. Still, I would not order that dish again as it literally left a "bad taste in my mouth".

Wood Tavern Website

6317 College Ave Oakland CA 94618 (510) 654-6607

Trattoria Corso in Berkeley

 

Someone once told me that sitting at a counter overlooking a restaurant kitchen was an enviable position. I'd have to disagree after sitting in one such position at Trattoria Corso. It was there that I witnessed one of the line cooks wiping down dishes with a dirty towel, time and time again. I told management about it and I'm certain it hasn't happened since, but I may check that by sitting there again. Yes, I would go back to Trattoria Corso, even though there was another mishap that same evening, because the food is excellent.

The second mishap was being served a house made burrata that was decidedly over the hill in terms of its age. Burrata is a cheese that has a very short shelf life due to its very nature. A true burrata is made from water buffalo milk, but I don't expect to find that being made here. It is a mozzarella type cheese that is made by creating a pocket in the cheese ball and filling it with smaller pieces of the cheese and fresh cream, then tying it off and preserving it in water like fresh mozzarella is preserved. In Italy it is wrapped in leek leaves, in the US it is made with cow's milk and is stored in a plastic container. It is quite a production and a wonderful experience to cut into the cheese and see the cream oozing out. It is indescribable and really needs to be tried. When the cheese is more than a few days old the interior cheese pieces start to coagulate into the cream and the texture, though still soft, changes completely and solidifies. The burrata served at Trattoria Corso was already solidified and was developing a sour taste. However, the idea of combining it with cooked peaches, mint, and hazelnuts was a great call, so I have to give them points for being inventive. Still...no cigar. Okay, now that I've come out and said that, it's smooth sailing from this point forward.

My dinner companion decided not to order an entree, but went with the charcuterie plate and a basket of bread. Good call because the house made and cured meats were wonderful, starting with the coppa to the far right of this photo and ending with the lardo in the center. The Calabrese salami with the red chili pepper was especially tasty. But if you give me lardo, it has to be on toasted bread, so it will melt.

Ask me and I'll tell you that I hate tripe, but I ordered it at Corso. When I was younger, I spent a lot of time with my grandparents and as they started needing help I was happy to do grocery shopping for them. Occasionally I was asked to pick up tripe. My grandmother taught me to look for the whitest piece possible and it had to have a very small honeycomb texture. She would be pleased when I found exactly what she had requested. I knew she was a wonderful cook, but still, I couldn't bring myself to try her "trippa". After trying Corso's  I regret that this was my first taste of this popular offal. The tomato sauce was rich, the beans, although too big for cannellini as stated on the menu, were fork tender and so was the tripe. Adding mint was a great touch as were the toasted bread crumbs. I thought I'd be tasting it but never expected to eat the entire bowl, a generous serving. Yes, I'd definitely go back to Trattoria Corso.

Trattoria Corso's Menu

1788 Shattuck Ave Berkeley CA 94709 (510) 704-8004 5pm - 9pm Sunday 5pm - 9:30pm Monday - Thursday 5pm - 10pm Friday - Saturday

Pizzaiolo Oakland

It certainly didn't hurt this Telegraph Avenue eatery that it was Charlie Hallowell, a Chez Panisse alum, who decided to open it, but I believe it did get him noticed. His hard work and imagination did the rest. Pizzaiolo makes a good pie. Wood fired pizza is very popular these days and we have many exceptional pizza establishments in the Bay Area, so this one does not stand out as much as it did originally. It's a great boon to the East Bay, but with Una Pizza Napoletana, Tony's Pizzeria Napoletana and Ragazza in San Francisco, I would be hard pressed to make the drive to Oakland for a pizza here. Still I'm very pleased to have tried it.

This photo of the Stinging Nettle Pizza reveals a light, flakey crust and grated Romano on top. The Romano added just enough salty taste to enhance the nettles. There was an opportunity to add more toppings, so I opted for Italian sausage that was also house made. The few ingredients worked so well, the idea of tomato sauce and mozzarella seemed foreign and would have actually detracted from the overall taste. Nice job.

Pizzaiolo Oakland Website

5008 Telegraph Ave Oakland CA 94609 (510) 652-4888 Open: Mon - Thurs 5:30 pm - 10 pm            Fri - Sat 5:00pm - 10:30pm

Sushi Tomo

 

Sushi restaurants are not hard to come by in the Bay Area, so in order to get my business, they need to distinguish themselves in some way. Sushi Tomo managed to do that the minute we sat down. Extra pickled ginger made an immediate impression, because my experience has always been that there was never enough served when I ordered sushi. This was the only time I have not had to ask for more.

  

My niece, who was visiting from UC Santa Cruz, and I made 4 selections, each of us selecting one sushi from the more usual offerings, ($5.95 - $6.95) and another from their specials ($9.95). Looking at the photo above, it is difficult to imagine any of them being less than special. If we look at the far left and work our way clockwise, the selection starts with the Hawaiian, then the Waking Tiger, the Viper and finally the Crispy Salmon. Each one was well thought out and very good.

 

On the top photo, the Hawaiian roll is distinguished by a wrapping of white and red tuna with a thin sprinkling of Tobiko. On the lower left you can easily see the spicy tuna of the interior wrapped around a small amount of cream cheese. This made for a nice rich tasting sushi that was further enhanced with soy sauce mixed with a little wasabi paste and the pickled ginger. Waking Tiger Roll, seen more closely in the photo to the right, was a good adaptation of a sushi made with tempura shrimp. The crab salad on top would have been much better had it been made with real crab instead of imitation crab. Personally, I'd gladly pay the higher price for the real thing. Even the better quality imitation versions always have a sweet taste that just annoys the "crab" out of me. It doesn't belong in sushi, but that didn't stop me from eating it.

The Viper Roll may have seemed the most unusual to me because of its topping of small bay scallops mixed with mayonnaise and tobiko. The chives were a good compliment  to the mild scallop taste. Again, had the filling been made with real crab, this would have been a superior item on the menu. I'd certainly order it again.

The Crispy Salmon proved to be the most photogenic of all the sushi we ordered, but it also proved to be our least favorite in taste. Something about cooking the salmon, even for a short time to crisp up the tempura batter, just did not work. The salmon became overly "fishy" in aroma as well as taste. The idea of it was far better than the execution, so we ended up leaving a few pieces on the plate. I still say that the combination of sauce, tobiko and chive makes this one of the most appealing looking sushi rolls I have ever seen.

Sushi Tomo Menu From allmenus.com

201 University Ave Palo Alto CA 94301 (650) 324-3300

Bay Wolf

I'm not certain, but the charming surroundings of the Craftsman style home, where the restaurant resides, were even more pleasurable than the meal itself. Having purchased the Bay Wolf cookbook, I felt compelled  to try this Oakland institution.

Excellent baguettes and creamery sweet butter are a great way to start. Bay Wolf sets itself apart from many other restaurants by also offering sea salt for those people who find unsalted butter bland. An acquaintance of mine, who was raised on a dairy farm, once told me that  inferior cream is used to make salted butter and the best, with the highest butterfat content, is reserved for unsalted butter. For starters my dining companion selected the bruschetta set on a bed of salad greens and slathered in an aioli laden tuna. A tuna sandwich was never so good.

 

Spring peas and mint caught my attention so I opted for the soup. It was flavorful, but the color put me off. That was because for some reason I was expecting it to be a raw soup, or barely cooked, so the bright green color of both the peas and mint would show off against the white plate. Bringing very specific expectations to a meal is not the best course of action. In this case it diminished my enjoyment of a perfectly decent soup, because I kept thinking it was overcooked. My friend selected the duck liver mousse that really delivered a pleasant combination of flavor, texture and eye appeal. But how can you go wrong with pate? For a restaurant known for duck, it was a slam dunk.

Speaking of duck, my dinner companion and I decided to split an order of the duck entree. The menu description of it being served with fennel and pink grapefruit was intriguing, so we added it to our order. It arrived sans the pink grapefruit. I asked the waiter about it and he said that they will substitute ingredients depending on what is available at the market. Shouldn't that be mentioned when someone is ordering it? Apparently not. I expressed a disappointment, because I was specifically interested in trying the duck because of the pink grapefruit, so the waiter walked away and brought back a bowl of fresh grapefruit segments. No apology for the kitchen having missed plating it, no cooking it, nothing. Wasn't it supposed to be cooked? When I inquired, the waiter said that it always goes on raw.  Seriously? I doubted that, so I left it in the bowl. Something seemed seriously wrong with the entire transaction and it was disturbing. We received an apology after we paid the tab, on our way out the door. This was a case of "too little, too late".

Ah, but there was one bright spot, enough to get me back in the door. Their duck ravioli was superb. It didn't need the escarole on the plate, but the fave were delightful and a lovely reminder that this was a Spring meal. The duck filling was so good, I'd like to try making my own. Did they make the sauce with a duck stock, veal stock, chicken soup from a can? I have no idea, but it was luscious with the ravioli and the color was very appealing on the plate. This was a dish worth ordering again, some time in the distant future after I've forgotten about the pink grapefruit.

Bay Wolf Menu

3853 Piedmont Ave Oakland CA 94611 510-655-6004 Open nightly at 5:30pm