Chapeau!

Chapeau! is a French bistro located in the Inner Richmond neighborhood of San Francisco. FT and I went here for a special occasion under the recommendation of a friend. It is located on a fairly nondescript location - street parking by meter only nearby, so come a little early.

The placed was packed within an hour of opening - so definitely make a reservation!

They have a sort of prix-fixe menu where you choose three courses from their normal menu for a reduced price. Well, since it WAS a special occasion... if you insist...

They had a fairly extensive wine list as well, alas only for those who don't run into the drove-can't-drink-but-want-to dilemma of the ages like we did.

Amuse-bouche of smoked trout and fingerling potato. Love smoked fish in general, so no complaints!

My appetizer was the goat cheese napoleon, which I absolutely LOVED. Zucchini, tomatoes, and goat cheese on top of a polenta cake, flavored with pesto. Fresh and light tasting but with enough bite from the tangy goat cheese.

FT got veal sweetbreads as his appetizer - a delicious and heavy dish with a great sauce.

For my main course, I went classic and got the filet mignon with a side order of bone marrow added on. No complaints on the steak: gorgeously medium rare and a deliciously rich sauce.

The bone marrow wasn't as exciting... granted, I had only had bone marrow once before, but this seemed really bland? Not sure if it was an unseasoned bone marrow or if I am not appreciating it correctly by smearing chunks of it on bread... if anyone has suggestions, please let me know!

FT went all ~special~ and opted for the rabbit. I quite enjoyed the flavor of the rabbit, though the sauce wasn't as flavorful as that of the filet mignon's. (Though our palettes could have just been ruined as we both soaked bites of steak in sauce...)

Dessert number one was the tarte du jour, a classic lemon tart with raspberry cream. This tart was TART! I love sour things so this works great for me, but I can understand if some may want a more sweet dessert.

And lastly, a basil napoleon - possibly my favorite of the night. Fruit and crispy wafers in a napoleon, topped with a basil sauce. Super refreshing and light, and a great end after a heavy meal.

And they live up to their namesake by giving the check in a hat (for those of us not francophiles, chapeau means hat)!

All the food was amazing and the portions almost too large - the table next to us got the same prix-fixe plan and ordered some heartier dishes, and actually had to stop halfway through the main course to pack them up because they were so large! The place is loud and fairly casual, but the service remains top notch. For someone who is intimidated by hip or upscale dining, I did enjoy being able to relax while enjoying good food.The chef is super friendly and came over twice in our short meal to ask how we liked our food - and we couldn't grin any wider to show him how much we loved it.

Chapeau! had delicious French bistro food, and a friendly and comfortable place that I will likely start visiting even when it's not a special occasion. 

Chapeau!

Chapeau! Yelp

San Francisco, CA

Red Hot Wok

Red Hot Wok is a Taiwanese joint in Cupertino, CA. It seems to be really popular because when we went, there was an hour long line. Inside, the place looks like a cross between a Chinese restaurant and a bar, with wooden plank tables and benches.

We had a group of six that had helped NN move into his new apartment that day. Since we had been stuffed full at IKEA earlier in the day (dem unlimited amounts of meatballs when you buy enough furniture...) we were just peckish, so we shared a few dishes.

Eggplant was nice and spicy - very tasty!

The squid, however, was a bit more questionable... we weren't expecting complete squid so some at the table were a little put off. Those who didn't mind, like myself, were uninspired by the flavor... it was supposed to be gingery and spicy, but the squid themselves were just bland. Not a fan.

They had a kungpao stir fried century old egg which sounded interesting and we just had to try. It is has the sweet and spicy flavor that you would associate with kung pao - generally, very good! Though, it is a bit difficult to eat without enough rice to help it along, since it is very salty.

And the stone plate pepper beef which was strongly mediocre.

And lastly, we had their signature dessert - shaved ice! I believe it was shaved snow... We opted for the green tea.

It comes with a heaping of red beans on top...

The shaved ice itself is very tasty! It's creamy but icy and comes out in amazingly flavorful flakes. They melt very quickly, so eat fast!

Food-wise, Red Hot Wok is bipolar - they have some hits (AMAZING shaved ice, nice quirky dishes like the kung pao egg) but some of their other dishes are mediocre or even just bad. For the south bay, which is filled with excellent Chinese restaurants, I think you can do better if you are looking for a full meal.

That said, I would definitely stop by for a beer and some salty side dishes, and to try more shaved snow. Mango shaved snow, I have my eye on you.

Red Hot Wok

Red Hot Wok Yelp

Cupertino, CA

Extra Feature: ANA In-Flight Meals

In spring 2013 I took a vacation to Japan in which I had splurged on traveling with ANA for the first time. I have been on many flights and had my share of poking forlornly at in-flight meals, but what I had this time shocked me - in a good way!

On ANA flights, meals are actually preceded by a snack. From the looks of the package it looked like a standard mix of salty peanuts and pretzels, but to my surprise it was actually a tasty mix of nuts, soft sweet pretzels, and a sweet rice cracker mix.

ANA's dinner choice option 1, which was obviously the more "western" choice. The main dish was some kind of beef and mushroom with rice, which was not bad. The side dish was some sort of crab salad with chicken strips and a caprese (!) salad. I usually shy away from seafood and cheese on airplanes like the plague but it was shockingly fresh and good.

My travel companion FT had the curry rice (good!), and a side dish of cold soba with hijiki (the black seaweed you see there). 

The next meal "lunch" was a chicken pasta dish... also shockingly tasty! It looks like some creamy fettuccine but is actually a more Asian style chicken and gravy sauce.

And on my next ANA flight, the in flight meal was crab rice which, to my shock, had chunks of real crab along with various mushrooms, lotus root, and egg. 

I took some subsequent domestic flights from another airline that had the standard mushy food and unpalatable cold cuts - blegh. However, a next flight on ANA again helped reassure me about airplane food. A stewed beef dish paired with some cold cuts, pickles, and a small amount of noodles. 

On my returning flight, dinner was a donburi meal. 

And the very last "lunch" (and I'll figure out how to rotate this photo... eventually...) before returning home was an oden meal with stewed fishcakes and veggies. There was also fruit that had an apple rabbit, peach, and kiwi. 

Best of all, after all meals, you also get a little haagen-daaz individual portion ice cream.

I had balked a little on the price I had paid for flying with ANA, but was so pleasantly surprised by the experience, especially the food! It was probably the first time I actually looked forward to the meals while flying and helped make my long haul flights seem so short. I hope that this brings good tidings to weary travelers that yes - good meals in the sky do exist.

Shiro's

If you have Netflix or friends who are sushi lovers, it's likely you have heard of the film Jiro Dreams of Sushi and of the amazing dedication to sushi Jiro and his apprentices have. Shiro's is owned by Shiro Kashiba, who was actually one of Jiro's apprentices. We couldn't get a reservation and despite showing up at opening time (!), we were told we wouldn't get a table until after 9pm... worth it to wait!

For four people we ordered two of Shiro's omakase meals as well as a few additional dishes. I will say it now that every course in the meal was delicious - so you'll excuse me for not raving about what I ate from each course, or else I'd just be copy pasting "amazing! delicious! yum!" multiple times here.

Appetizer was an oyster with some lemon/ponzu, and two small dishes I can't for the life of me recall but did enjoy. Notable here is that I generally HATE raw oysters, but I didn't mind this. The ponzu sauce poured on the oyster takes away the briny sea flavor that just squeezing lemon doesn't get out.

Sashimi course.

Black cod with miso glazed eggplant. And I will take a breather now to say that this cod is the best thing ever. It has a kasuzake based marinade giving it a sweet and miso based flavor that is hard to find elsewhere, and the fish is so tender that it melts in your mouth.

Tempura with a piece of sea bass marinated the same way as the black cod.

Nigiri and sushi. 

Clam miso soup. Very nice, clams were still tender.

Chawanmushi was delicious! There was a lot of vegetables and shrimp in this, more I would usually see in chawanmushi, but it all worked and was very delicious.

Hamachi collar. 

Shiro's roll, which had pickled mackrel, ginger, and shiso leaf. I enjoy the flavor of shiso when its lightly included in my sushi rolls, but I know some people are not as fond of it, so your mileage may vary. Also some tobiko, because why not?

If you watched the Jiro Dreams of Sushi film, you might remember one apprentice who worked for years to perfect his egg - that was Daisuke Nakazawa. And though Nakazawa now has his own store in NYC, at the time we visited, he was still working at Shiro's. We ordered the tamago... and was it amazing.

It was rich and sweet, almost like castella, but not cloyingly so. Despite looking like a nigiri, it was essentially a dessert dish and unlike any other tamagoyaki I have ever tasted before. It was mindblowing that this was egg and not a piece of cake! Hopefully the next time I go to New York I can have a chance to taste this egg again.

And tempura ice cream from our omakase rounded off this amazing meal.

Dinner at Shiro's was an amazing experience. The fish was all fresh and expertly prepared, but I think what truly shined this night were the cooked dishes. I had never before tasted something like the broiled black cod and the sweet tamagoyaki dishes and the opportunity to taste them was definitely worth the four hour wait. Shiro's is a splurge worth taking.

Shiro's 

Shiro'sYelp

Seattle, WA

Serious Biscuit

On my last day in Seattle, we took a stop by Serious Biscuit. The restaurant is actually "two" restaurants: Serious Biscuit for brunch and Serious Pie for dinner.

There was quite a bit of wait, so we browsed the in-store wine selection. There were quite a few local Washington varieties and I would have gladly tried if I wasn't flying out.

When we finally got seated upstairs, we realized we could overlook the workfloor below where there was a rush of people prepping doughs and pastries! It was fun to watch as we waited for our food.

The wood fire skillet baked eggs with fried chicken, bacon, and kale. It's a rich breakfast skillet mish mashed all together and paired with biscuits on the side. And those biscuits were amazing! Buttery, flaky, and rich - its no wonder their biscuit is their namesake.

And this was the fried chicken buttermilk sandwich - essentially just fried chicken, biscuits, and tons of gravy. The chicken and gravy were just ok on their own, while the biscuit was great. Despite its name as having tabasco black pepper gravy, it didn't really taste spicy to me.

Note that four of us got the above two dishes, and we were more than satiated. Those buttery biscuits and heavy gravy packs a punch!

FT got the root beer, which came in a little mason jar. (Strange brunch fare, but to each their hangover cure.)

I got my morning lifeline aka coffee, which Serious Biscuit proudly advertised as Starbucks. Ah, Seattle.

AK was brave and got the bloody mary, which was quite nice and spicy here!

Alas, I was fooled by the name of "Serious Pie", for when we asked for a slice of pie, we were told there was none and that it was seasonal dessert. Seasonal? But isn't this also a pie shop?... And that was when I found out the pie was for pizza pie. Oops.

Serious biscuit lives up to its name and has seriously delicious biscuits, but while delicious, the other things we had were too heavy for my taste, though granted we did order all things that have fried chicken. Definitely bring an empty stomach or a friend to share - even though the portions look small, they're really filling.

Serious Biscuit
Serious Biscuit Yelp
Seattle, WA

Portage Bay

Portage Bay Cafe has three locations in the Seattle area. Upon recommendations from friends during my Seattle trip, we made it here for a Brunch. We went to the South Lake Union location and, despite going at 1, the place was still jam packed and super busy - always a good sign for the food (though not for our achingly hungry bellies).

We opted for the special pear mimosas of the day - cheers to that. I also always appreciate brunch joints offering mimosas that aren't orange based, and really enjoyed these. 

AK and DV got the Migas, which is essentially a big breakfast quesadilla. Delicious and I can see why they zoned in on ordering this by name. 

They also got one of the special items of the day, which was some sort of steak scramble with cauliflower. I didn't get to taste much of it, but judging from the speed at which it disappeared from the plate, I assume it was amazing... 

FT got this dish which I believe was their pork brunch special, the name of which escapes me. It's essentially a pork and veggies stir fry with poached egg and toast. Simple but tasty, and quite filling.

I held down the fort with the sole sweet item at our table, the french toast. I believe this was the oatmeal cobbler french toast. It looks delicious, doesn't it? Well, one of the great things about Portage Bay is that for sweet items, you get a trip to the toppings bar...

...which essentially, is a table filled with berries, sliced fruits, and creams to top off your plate with! Drunk off of mimosas by now (it was very busy and my toast came last) and instructed by my equally tipsy table to "load it up as much as you can! Get yer money's worth!", I returned with...

This amazing masterpiece. And it was delicious - the challah bread was delicious, and it was not overly coyingly sweet. I also enjoy a lot of freshness and acidity on my french toast, and being able to load up at the toppings bar definitely helped.

Portage Bay was one hit after another - great drinks, great dishes, and the toppings bar is a fun addition adding a certain amount of DIY to brunch. Perhaps we had good dishes, perhaps the mimosas were super effective? If in town again, I will definitely make the effort to take a brunch pit stop here.

Portage Bay Cafe

Portage Bay Cafe Yelp (South Lake Union location)

Seattle, WA