United Airplane Food, US to Paris

Believe it or not, flying to France in 2015 was the first time I had actually taken long haul on United. The horror stories of United plane food are plentiful, so after having been spoiled by ANA, I braced myself for the worst...

Dinner is a pretty standard meal ofering - rice or pasta, a side salad, bread, cheese and crackers, and a dessert cake. I thought the rice dish was actually not bad - kind of a lemony sauce. FT thought it was disgusting though. He thought the pasta was okay, which I thought was terrible and tasted like sludge on soggy noodles, so we're 50/50 on this.

I do appreciate the actual chunks of parmesan that were in the side salad though, and the lettuce was crisp. 

The breakfast is not actually a meal and is offered in a "box"...

...which to my surprise, was actually filled with a decent amount of goodies. Granola and yogurt, cranberry and orange muffin top cake thing, and a bag of dried fruit. As I was going backpacking, I actually stashed the muffin and fruit for future snacking... otherwise, it'd be a carb filled sugar bomb. But definitely a pleasant surprise at the amount and quality of this box.

(And I always give + points for having dried cranberries and not raisins.)

Return meal from France similarly had cheese wedges. Food was okay.

Return "box" was slightly more disappointing though:

Black bean empanada was chalky and dry. Sponge cake was not bad, though kind of a weird combination together.

Compared to my meals on ANA, these are definitely not as impressive, but they're not all that bad. (Or maybe my standards are just artificially low from having eaten a meal on an Air China flight... never again.) I can see why if you're a business traveler you might want to avoid eating this for the upteenth time, but if it's your vacation meal this really is doable. 

ANA In-Flight Meals, Again

It's been literally more than a year since my last post, partly due to a lot of life changes in the meantime and partly due to negligence on my part. I thought I would just let this blog die in peace, but you can only stay away from self-satisfying ranting about the bougetastic moments of your life for so long... while scouring my photos for another blog project (tbd!), I found a lot of  archived material and I'm itching to post.

So to start with, here's some archive from another few long haul ANA trips taken in 2014!

Long haul always means decent food. Biggest shocker is that it came with white wine that was not bad.

I'm usually pretty self conscious drinking on flights (no to the glow!), but I believe this was the flight where the salaryman next to me downed two beers and a mini bottle of white wine within the first hour then passed out right after eating, so I went all out wino this trip.

I thought this was actually kinda disappointing, although the shrimp was much more edible than I'd have expected from airplane food.

Sadly, I missed the meal on the next flight because sleep > food in the hiearchy of needs apparently. But here's the following flight. Always like the snack mix ANA has.

I'm a much bigger fan of those little servings of cold soba than I should be.

And wrapping up the last meals on this trip - I thought that kaiseki lunch box was so cute.

Refuge

FT had been bringing up some place for reuben sandwiches that finally, we hit up Refuge in San Carlos. I had been putting it off because it seemed like such a long drive for just sandwiches - why bother, when there's so many place nearby?

We ordered a reuben sandwich, garlic fries, and brussels sprouts with bacon.

And here is where I will proclaim FT to be correct. I like pastrami. I've had pastrami, some okay, some good. I LOVE this pastrami - so tender, juicy, and flavorful. The reuben itself has generous portions of pastrami, crusty bread, and lots of tangy goodness. 

Brussel sprouts were okay - the flavor is good, but I think I like my brussel sprouts with a bit of char, and these were a bit soft and boring to me. 

A good helping of fries. We didn't order the special fries that would have all sorts of toppings on it, but the garlic fries themselves were fresh and hit the spot. They do offer fries that have pastrami topping it which, in retrospect, I would have loved to order.

Since it was noon and we had driven, alcohol was out of the question, but Refuge had a very good offering of beers on tap and wines as well.

I wouldn't normally recommend driving out of your way for a sandwich of all things, but the pastrami here is amazing. I'll be back. And when I am back, I'll be having pastrami on top of my fries, in between bread... on everything.

The Refuge

The Refuge Yelp

San Carlos, CA

Petit Trois

A long hiatus later, during which there were some technical difficulties, I'm back with another LA eatery - this time, Petit Trois.

I feel like Petit Trois kind of summarizes LA pretentiousness - this French joint is a hip, pricey place ($$$) located in a more run-down corner of Hollywood, sharing its parking lot with a Dunkin Donuts (gentrification!) and still operating under the previous tenant's Thai sign (much unique, such insider cred, wow foodies). Snark aside though, as a occasionally pretentious food person myself, I readily agreed to this place when JH suggested it for a lunch date.

The place itself was tiny and adorable - two counters, one against the kitchen and one against a mirrored bar table decorated in an old-timey style. Clean branded plates lined the counter and, at our seat, we were sometimes served by the chefs themselves. It felt intimate (and, to a not-fancy person like myself, somewhat intimidating at times too!)

Bread service - AMAZING soft and salty butter, I could slurp that stuff by the spoonful. The bread was crusty but fairly ordinary.

Relevant anecdote here - we were dining next to a father-daughter duo and briefly chatted with them about the meal. When they asked us about the bread, we raved about the butter and completely glossed over the bread. Then the daughter revealed that her mother was the one who bakes all Petit Trois' bread... OOPS. Cue awkward, delayed compliments about the bread.

We shared the terrine as an appetizer - tasty, salty, on warm and greasy grilled bread. Love that we had some mustard and pickles too to help cut through the richness of the terrine.

I ordered the croque monsieur and was absolutely unprepared for what I saw the chef preparing: cheese, butter, more cheese, tons of white sauce. The resulting sandwich was actually fairly small looking but so decadently rich and filling. Some pickles as a side, which although I enjoyed as a sour bite through all the cheese and richness, seemed a little thrown on for the price I was paying for the dish.

JH ordered the chicken leg which was prepared with as much greasy goodness as my croque monsieur. The good thing about sitting at this counter is that you can prepare your arteries for what to come. I tasted a bite and it was good - crispy skin and moist meat.

We finished off with a napoleon, and got an unusual treat - since we were the first napoleon order of the day, we watched one of the chefs craft the napoleon from scratch. This added a good half hour to our dining time, but there's a certain satisfaction of knowing you had the absolute first slice of the days' dessert. Flaky pastry and sweet airy cream, nothing particularly special about this but a well done dessert.

Petit Trois had a good selection of wines and liquers as well, which unfortunately as drivers we did not sample.

Our dining neighbors raved that this was "true French style food" that no one else in the states does, and since I have not (yet!) been to France, I will take his word for it. Everything on the menu is a classic by-the-books French dish and extremely decadent. I  had never had no-frills French food like this, and enjoyed trying this style for the first time.

To be honest though, I think the experience is the part that actually makes Petit Trois - if at anywhere else I was served a $20 sandwich on a plain plate with three pickles haphazardly thrown on, or had to wait a half hour for dessert, I'd probably never return no matter how tasty the food was. But watching the chefs create these classic dishes is fun, entertaining, educational, and gives you a different kind of perspective on your food.

Petit Trois

Petit Trois Yelp

Hollywood, Los Angeles, CA

Broder

Summer time means being lazy, neglecting blogging (having the computer on is too hot... is my excuse), and traveling! FT and I joined two of our fellow bay area friends for a short trip to Portland, OR. On one of the mornings, after reading glowing reviews from many places, we opted to try Broder for brunch.

Despite going fairly early at ~10:30, there was already a fairly sizeable wait. Luckily, you can have all the locally roasted Stumptown coffee as your caffeine addled veins desire. Do arrive early though - by the time we left, the crowd waiting had more than tripled.

The restaurant was small, with a few tables and a bar inside; as it was a nice day, we had one of the outdoor seats. I thought the place was charming, in a this-could-be-an-anthropologie-catalog kind of decorative scheme.

Our sad, liver-compromised table opted for just two peach bellinis - refreshing and not too sweet, but not anything particularly special.

FT and CS both ordered the broder house sandwich, which is a Swedish take on an open faced breakfast sandwich with ham, eggs, and Swedish cheese. Simple but tasty.

I went for their swedish potato pancakes, which I thought were FANTASTIC. Thin, crepe-like pancakes with savory breakfast fillings and topped with a lightly tossed arugula salad yielded just the right combination of a filling breakfast with light fresh flavors. This was probably one of my favorite dishes of the entire Portland trip.

EW went for the lost eggs, which was much heavier compared to the other lighter fare of lunch. Two eggs baked with ham and spinach with a parmesan and panko crust... heavy, cheesy, salty, and bubbling as they bring it to you in a tiny little skillet.

Although it wasn't on the menu, I asked for a plate of their house cured gravlax as well. enjoyed this - I find a lot of similarly cured fishes to be too salty and one toned, but theirs was only slightly salted. I would've loved to be able to have this as part of a dish as well.

Although the pictures look simple, the taste is there - clean, well balanced, and just delicious! Note that for the price the portions are quite small though, so order accordingly. If I lived in the area I would definitely try to sample their normal Swedish fares as well. 

Broder

Broder Yelp

Portland, OR

Zuzu

After a long day wine tasting (a classy way of saying unrestrainedly day drinking), a nice, tasty meal helps settle the stomach. Since we were in downtown Napa, we stopped by Zuzu under the recommendation of AW. The six of us cramped into a tiny table in the middle of the dining floor.

Boquerones: anchovies, egg, and remoulade on bread. I didn't feel like the egg added anything as it was literally mounds of egg white on bread.

Their shrimp was delicious, and we got two portions! This is the Gambas al Ajillo and it's huge shrimp in a garlicky, flavorful sauce. Do not let anyone clear your plate before you've sopped up all the sauce in these, or you might end up like me, wanting to order another plate just for the sauce.

I believe this was the braised pork cheeks with watermelon. The pork cheeks were very fatty; I personally didn't see a point to the watermelon as the pork cheeks were so flavorful and soft that the watermelon didn't add much for flavor or texture.

Zuzu offered two types of paella. This is the arros negra: a black paella filled with seafood. I thought it was good, very generous helpings of seafood in this, though I preferred...

...the house paella, which has chorizo in it - because chorizo always wins.

Cheesy, meaty nachos with an egg on top! It's not bad, but eat it quickly because it gets soggy from the runny yolk quickly.

Steak with jalapeno chimichurri. The chimichurri was weakly flavored, but steak was tender and melt in your mouth soft.

The lamb chops were great - cooked just right, tender, with a very flavorful sweet glaze. 

I'm a little conflicted on Zuzu - some of the dishes were absolutely fantastic (shrimp, lamb chops), but others were extremely disappointing and weak (the boquerones, nachos). I think they do simple proteins well, but fall a little short on the more adventurous dishes. The portions of this place are probably better suited for a date rather than a large group of 6 as well. We unfortunately were wined-out from a long day of wine tasting, but they did have a large selection of wines and beers.

My personal peeve was that I found the restaurant to be too dark to have any ambiance at all - the pictures I posted were enhanced to the max and you could barely make out what it is. At one point, the staff had to bring out a high powered LED flashlight to help another guest look for something on the floor. AW does say that the upstairs has a good view, so your experience here may vary depending on your seat.

If I'm in downtown Napa again I might stop by for some of the star dishes of the night as a light tapas bite, but would be hesitant to try some of their experimental, fusion-y dishes.

Zuzu

Zuzu Yelp

Napa, CA

Tofu-an Kondou

So here's a bit of a unusual post for this blog - a restaurant experience from Nara, Japan!

For my travels in Japan, I used many travel blogs to help me find some interesting things to do, especially Paul's Travel Pics. His introduction of a reasonably priced option for trying some interesting tofu dishes hit the spot, so we decided to give it a shot!

We didn't make reservations as we didn't make concrete plans during our Nara daytrip but it turns out we had enough time to try to make it. The place is in old town Nara (Naramachi) and is extremely difficult to find - but with asking some kind local ladies for instructions and piecing together my terrible Japanese, we were able to make it.

We made it here slightly late - maybe around 1pm? - but luckily it was a weekday and were seated immediately without a reservation. (I would recommend you get a reservation though - the place could seat maybe 10 parties or so? and this meal is a two hour long affair.) I'm pretty sure international reviews have been highly beneficial and helpful towards their business, because more than half of the people in the small restaurant were speaking non-Japanese languages.

We opted for the smaller, fourteen course set. First three courses came out together: soymilk, boiled soybeans in soy sauce, and oboro tofu. You'll get right off the bat that this isn't like the stuff you get in supermarkets - the soymilk itself has a strong, fresh soy flavor.

Oboro tofu was this great bowl of soft, creamy tofu. It was recommeded that we try it in different ways: little bites plain, with salt, with soy sauce, or with their yuzu and kosho chili paste.

The Yudofu, which is tofu continuously boiled in soymilk - like soyception, if you will. Very soft and flavorful. When you get to the end, let the tofu keep boiling and "skinning" over, and it's kind of a poor-man's version of the tofu skin pot you would get with the larger set.

But while you still have tofu in there, cut off pieces with some soy milk and eat with the flavoring of choice. I personally liked a combo of salt and the yuzu kosho paste, since I am a sodium fiend.

Soy milk skin on shiso.

One the left is grilled wheat gluten topped with miso sauce - very tasty, and nice to get some firm bite in after a few rounds of soft tofu only. The two on the right I can't recall which is which, but one is a boiled bean curd, and one is a mashed tofu.

Deep fried tofu ball with fried, tempura veggies.

A piece of deep fried tofu with some stewed veggies - mild flavored.

A clear saltysoup, with some chunks of tofu thrown in because at this point, WHY NOT.

Along with some rice and pickles to signal the end of the meal.

For dessert: an icy, citrusy soymilk jelly with sweet bean paste. Very tasty and refreshing!

Overall, it was a terrific experience! I would consider myself a little more experienced in tofu consumption already than the general populace, but this was highly eye opening with the different amounts of way tofu could be presented, especially in a 14 course vegetarian all-soy based menu. It was a refreshingly light but stomach filling meal, and is great if you've been sampling the salty and deep fried street foods along the streets for a few days (guilty of that). 

We spent two hours in this beautiful restaurant slowly sampling the different tofu dishes, and it was a highlight of the trip. It is also a tofu shop, so if convenient, you can purchase some delicious tofu to take with you.

The place is pretty difficult to find, so if using the map on the Tofu-an Kondou website doesn't help, just look for the monkey shrine called koshin-do (which is a cute stop in and of itself.) 

And now, the oro-I-failed-at-life-so-you-can-win protip: when I asked the local retired ladies out for a stroll using my highly rehearsed and terrible Japanese where Koshin-Do was, they didn't know... but they all knew there was the one in town with monkeys. So if everyone you stopped looks confused and pitying just say or listen for the word "saru" (monkey), nod eagerly like the tourist you are, and bumble your way to it! 

Tofu-an Kondou
Tofu-an Kondou TripAdvisor
Nara, Japan