Beretta makes a beretter pizza than...I don't know, I love pizza!

Every few months my old Google girlfriends and I get together for dinner. This time we went to Beretta, which is at 22nd and Valencia in San Francisco. It was my second time there as I had gone another time with my friends Todd and Jeff a while back. However, this time I stuck to the traditional Beretta items of pizza, risotto, and meatballs!

I got drinks with my friend John beforehand at this dive bar right on 22nd between Mission and Valencia and really should not have eaten all the chips and salsa in front of me, but I was starving! I also coerced John to join us gals for dinner. Good thing I did eat those chips though because despite our 8pm reservations, we didn't get seated until 8:45pm.

We started out with cocktails and meatballs. The meatballs are very very good. Not humongous and not tiny, but moist, hearty, and just the right amount of herbs and salt.

We then moved on to get two pizzas: the spicy italian sausage, panna & green onions pizza and the funghi misti, tomato, fontina & thyme with buratta on top. Buratta is basically a fancy mozarella that is extra creamy and buttery- really good. It's the top pizza (pictured below) with all the white blobs on it below- mmmmm love buratta.

The pizza is really good here. Thin crust, reminds me of eating pizza in Italy with really fresh ingredients and the right balance of sweet and salty tomato sauce. We also ordered the squid ink risotto and the kale and prosciutto risotto. The squid ink was better (in my opinion) than the prosciutto.

Overall, Beretta is a great dining experience. It can get a bit crowded so I'd recommend making reservations ahead of time or going earlier. They have a great cocktail menu as well: if you're a girl (or guy) and like drinks that are sweet but not overly sweet and fresh, I recommend the lonsdale made up of gin, apple, lemon, basil, honey.

More to come! This Friday I'll be dining at Incanto with Chef Josef and some friends to eat the Leg of Beast and other delicious goodies! Note: the food served at Incanto is not for the faint of heart when it comes to eating all parts of an animal.

Cooking in La Honda

The other night Jeff and I cooked Jeff's famous honey ginger pork burger. It was DAMN good. I didn't really do much of the cooking, except assisting and watching but it was pretty simple putting it all together. It just takes some creativity and good ingredients.

We headed to Robert's Market down by Woodside and got some ground pork, honey, french bread, spinach, coconut, ginger and pear. Jeff sauteed coconut milk, ginger, and garlic in a pan and then used that to marinate the pork. He then added the honey and then started grilling the pork. It smelled good and the honey glazes and chars the outside of the meat really nicely.

I helped chop some things and toast the bread =). Not a big feat, but someone needed to do it! Then we sliced the pears and put them on the toasted bread, along with fresh spinach. I added mayonnaise to mine since I love mayonnaise, but it tastes just fine without it as well! The burger is perfect. Crunchy bun, flavorful meat, crisp spinach and the pear adds a bit of creamy goodness. So does the mayonnaise! You can substitute the bread with normal buns or any other type of your favorite bread. The key to this sandwich/burger is namely in the meat flavors and the pear.

Anyway, finished product is depicted above. YUM. I highly recommend you try this sometime because it's delicious and relatively easy to make.

Nopalito

Greetings from Dublin, Ireland! As I sit here waiting for my room to be ready (since I'm checking in at 8am) I am going to update this blog!

The night before my flight, Jeff and I headed to Nopalito, a Mexican restaurant that is a sister restaurant to Nopa. Hands down, really really great food and very well done. The wait was a bit long, but no big deal. We just got some drinks beforehand. Anyway, if you haven't yet tried Nopalito, I highly recommend it. The food there is incredibly well flavored and the dishes are unique. The prices are also very reasonable and the portions are a good size.

We got 4 dishes. Two smaller ones, and 2 larger ones. We went with the Taco pescado, Quesadilla azul, Albondigas, and Braised pork shoulder stew. My favorite was the stew or the Albondigas. Kinda a toss in the air for me since they were both really yummy. In the stew, they put cabbage, the pork shoulder bits, and also large corn pieces. The stew was a smokey, rich flavor and really hearty. I also think it made me fall asleep since when I got home, I passed out on the bed for a while. Here is a photo of it! A bit blurry since I took it with my bberry.

 

The Albondigas were beef meatballs that were covered in a dark mole type sauce. They were really delicate and light and there was a beef taste, but also a taste of vegetables (like a really well-cooked chard). They served it on top of a pile of spanish rice and it was really yummy! Picture is below.

 

All in all, a great night with great company and great food! Also a good meal to have right before I depart the country! I want to go back and plan to in the future at some point.

Cheers!

I haven't posted because I've been too busy eating

Yes, it's true. I haven't posted in about a month now because I've been too busy eating my face off. Maybe not the best excuse, because it's not like I'm eating 24 hours in the day, but basically life caught up with me and so did dinners galore. Here are some highlights of the last 4 weeks:

My good friend and roommate's home cooked indian dinner - amazing and pretty dang spicy. I'm not the best with spicy food, but everything looked and smelled so good that I ate it even though my mouth felt like it was on fire.  Vik's mom, Mrs. Thairani, knows how to cook!

Dine about town in SF started. For those of you that aren't familiar with what this is, it's a 2 week period in January where most of the fine restaurants in SF create prix fixed menus for $35 dinners that include an appetizer, entree, and dessert. Depending on the restaurants, certain dine about town menus are better than others. But it's a great time to check out new places and it's an excuse to eat...A LOT =)

Below was a kobe beef dish from Supper Club. I have got to say that I'm not the hugest fan of Supper Club, but this specific dish was really good. Supper Club has only one dinner a night and it's usually around $100 per person or so. Everybody gets the same dishes and there is entertainment to accompany the dinner- usually singers, acrobats, dancers, etc. Definitely an interesting concept and great idea, but not always well executed and I don't think the food is worth the $100 tab.

This dish below was a dinner I had with girlfriends at Ruth's Chris steakhouse. Now they have a great dine about town menu. You get a steak, side dish, salad, and dessert for $35. Pretty amazing. The food was awesome. I got a shrimp and steak combo, which is what you see below. Very yummy and great steak.

More recently, last night my coworkers and I went to Salt House. Salt House is owned by the same owner as Town Hall, another restaurant in SF. The ambience was pretty cool- exposed brick, dim lighting, and an urban space. I thought Salt House was a dine about town participant, but it turns out they only had a lunch menu. Oh well, no big deal. The food was still delicious. I must say that their appetizers are better than the entrees. The restaurant is known for their fish, which is definitely light and moist, but it's not that flavorful. I tried some of my friends' petra sole and cod. I felt like chicken and that's what I got (pictured below). It was damn good. Chicken breast pieces that were moist and had nice pieces of crisp skin on top of them. It was served on a bed of a pasta, leeks, and some bacon. YUMMY. We got some pinot noir to go with it and a few appetizers. My favorite was the foie gras. So good. The scallops were also excellent.

Lastly, I celebrated by birthday a week or so ago. Went to Roy's for dinner with my parents and my aunt and uncle who were visiting from Michigan. I've been to Roy's a few times already, but I really love the way they do their seafood and they have one of the best chocolate souffles. We all did their dine about town menu, which is phenomenol. I got an appetizer sampler, butterfish, and the souffle. The butterfish was amazing. Juicy, tender, and tasted like butter. They also didn't just give one piece of the fish, they gave three! Pictured below was their special bday present to me. More food! :)

 

Until next time.... =)

Dinner with mommies and karaoke

Over the break, my family friends and I got together. With people home for the holidays, (some of them live in NY currently) we decided, as daughters, to take our moms out to dinner and a night out on the town in SF. It isn't too often that we can wine and dine our mothers. Best. Idea. Ever. Or, one of the best ideas ever. And some of the best money I've ever spent on somebody :)

First, our moms are completely traditional and old fashioned. None of them come to SF often at all, even though they live a mere 40-45 minutes away in the east bay. All were immigrants into the US and can be a bit embarrassing and "fobby" than your normal embarrassing mother. For example, at dinner, every single one of them whipped out their cameras and took pictures (with flash) of all the dishes. The restaurant was dimly lit and people stared at us. And yes they all took the same pictures...multiple times. Nonetheless, we love them and chuckled at how cute they were amidst rolling our eyes and taking some more sips of our drinks.

Above is all of us at dinner. Look how cute the moms are! Can you guess the mom and daughter pairs?

This past Sunday, we took them to dine at RN74. I picked up some rose boquets for each of them on the way over, just as a special thank you. The last time they got flowers from someone was probably a while ago- and the dads definitely haven't gotten flowers in a while. So we wanted to spruce things up a bit :). Anyway, RN74 is the new Michael Minna restaurant in SOMA. The Yelp reviews of this place weren't the best- 3.5/5 stars. However, the food was actually really good. Main courses were definitely good. Not too big a fan of the swordfish, but the pork, chicken, and scallops were good. We got a bunch of appetizers to share and I just got to say that the Hamachi Sashimi and the Maitake Mushroom Tempura was yummy.

Pictured below is the Beef Carpaccio and Butternut Squash Agnolotti. Delectable.

The main course I got was bacon wrapped pork loin over a bed of spinach with this cornbread wheat bread. So good. I've realized that I love pork and pork on pork. YUM again.

I should have taken cocktail pictures as cocktails are important to the meal. Our moms don't drink too much normally so each of them felt "dizzy" and "lightheaded" after a few sips of a cocktail. Precious. My mom got a margarita, which she didn't quite finish. We also got a bottle of wine for the table and tried our best to encourage the moms to finish their drinks to get them liquored up for karaoke. Don't worry, the daughters were responsible and became the DD's for the evening.

The desserts at RN74 weren't to die for. I wouldn't really recommend getting desserts there. They all were very unique and different tasting. We did get their beignets, which were probably the best thing on the dessert menu. But again, not my favorite place for dessert.

And then we headed to Karaoke. Amazing night. Singing in chinese, singing 80's songs and old classics was a lot of fun with the moms and they had a great time together. The night will need to be repeated again in the future. Maybe we'll add the dads in next time.

This will probably be my last post of the year. Here's to wishing you and your loved ones a very safe, healthy, and happy new year. Cheers!

500K dinner. Droooollllll

I've been bad and haven't been writing so I will revive my absence with a very worthy post. I work at Facebook. I have tried to not mention this before because I feel like anytime I say I work there, people either ask me for a job, or they freak out. Sometimes, they don't care, which I kind of appreciate now and then. Nonetheless, I am very proud and happy to work for such an amazing company that invests in its employees, and whose employees always put their best foot forward.

Our cafe, headed by Chef Josef Desimone, has a tradition of offering a custom- made five course meal to one lucky winner when the number of people coming through the cafe hits a specific number. This time around, it was me and the winning number was 500K. 500,000 people have gone through the amazing Facebook cafe and I was number 500,000. Surprisingly, as big of a foodie I am, I didn't even know that they were counting winners the day I won. My coworker, Jon, came by and told me that they were getting close so my other coworker and I, Marisa, made a pact that if one of us won, we'd take the other. (If you win, you can take 5 people with you). So we walk in, and Josef looks at me and says "you are soooo close." Sooooo Marisa and I decide to walk around a bit and go back in line. And then....I won!!!! It was amazing. I jumped up and down like a little schoolgirl and received what looked like a huge publishers clearing house million dollar check. Except mine was a large congratulatory sign (you can see pictured). I felt like I had just won the lottery. =)

So I took 4 friends/coworkers and my roommate, Vik. It was VERY hard to decide who to bring. And you might be wondering why I am pictured with all dudes. I am wondering the same thing. I didn't even realize I would be eating with all boys until the day of the event. Some of my original guests got sick or were out that day so I substituted with the next people in line. They called themselves "Team B and Team C" haha. But everyone is Team A in my book! And yes, I do have female friends at work. I just happened to somehow decide to invite boys. Oh well. Their company was good and the food still tasted scrumptious!

Anyway, below are pictures of a very hearty and satisfying meal. Five courses. All made for me. All paired with a different glass of wine. I sat down with Josef a few weeks prior to discuss my likes and dislikes (mostly my likes since I eat mostly anything) and then he devised the menu. And here were the winners:

Amuse: Micro crab cake

Course 1: Hamachi carpaccio with yuzu, thai basil, fleur de sel, olive oil and cucumber, carrot and daikon noodles

Course 2: Seared butterfish with chanterelle and morel mushroom ravioli with a black truffle broth and crispy leeks (I started getting drunk right about...now).

Course 3: Seared foie gras and confit duck atop a black pepper biscuit and wild huckleberry compote and point reyes bleu cheese fondue 

Intermezzo: Blood orange champagne granita

Course 4:  Apple braised pork belly with vanilla pecan sweet potato puree

Course 5: Braised short rib with caramelized brussel sprouts and pancetta and roasted veal bone marrow

Dessert: Chocolate caramel pot de creme and a dark chocolate mint truffle

At the end of the meal, I was very very happy. Not only did I have about 7 glasses of wine by the end of the night, I was with friends and was surrounded by good food. Was there food there? YES...a ton of it. Definitely a night to remember. Thanks Josef and the Facebook culinary team!

 Me and Josef

Happy Belated Thanksgiving!

Ok folks, this post is well-delayed. I guess my excuse is that I've been too busy stuffing my face since before Thanksgiving. First, a picture of our family turkey...all 19 pounds of it!

I thought I'd start out by giving everyone a run-down of the history of Thanksgiving. The credit for this info doesn't go to my elementary school teachers, but to the History Channel. Yes, from time to time, I do watch the History Channel. Hey, you actually can learn something on TV!

Abe Lincoln was the President to declare the first official Thanksgiving in 1863, however, Thanksgiving started long before that.

1619- Virginia settlers say thanks when they arrive at the Berkeley plantation.
1620- English settlers wahsed up to Plymouth, Massachusetts and gave thanks to God. Unprepared for the harsh winter, only 52 settlers survived with the help of Squanto, a Native American man.
1621- Fall settlers invited the Natives to New World Harvest Home. It was a party of Thanksgiving prepared by the only 5 surviving English women.
1777- George Washington declared the first Thanksgiving across all territories and it became the tradition to delcare Thanksgiving Days whenever something great happened. (I still think this should happen so that we have multiple Thanksgivings throughout the year. The downfall? I guess we'd all be a lot fatter.)

Sarah Hale (the very first Martha Stewart) was an editor of Godley's Lady's Book, which was the most widely circulated publication at the time. She encouraged everyone to unite their efforts and asked the state governor to delcare Thanksgiving Day on the last Thursday of November. After all her efforts, Abe Lincoln finally declared the first official national Thanksgiving Day.

Above, homemade apple cider wasail.


Ok so, now onto 2009. I celebrated Thanksgiving with my family in the East Bay. My grandparents and cousins came over, and it was great to have everyone together, smiling, and spending time together. There was a lot of food- turkey, mashed potatoes, yams (which I made), homemade pumpkin pies, brussel sprouts, chinese sticky rice, vegetables, etc. I even rolled spring rolls from scratch! It took me a while to get the hang of it, but I did it successfully after a few broken rice skins and mutilated shrimp.

Below, my Vietnamese spring rolls that I so proudly rolled after 10 initial failures.

  To the left, the feast.

Playing mah-jong

 

My brother, Michael's, homemade ratatouille from the movie "Ratatouille"

 

I hope everyone had a wonderful Thanksgiving holiday! Hopefully you got to eat yummy food and got to spend some good time with your loved ones. And, as previous settlers used to do, let's all celebrate Thanksgiving not just once a year, but everyday, as there is always something to be thankful for.