Je t'aime Oui Oui

... especially the pear tatin that came late to our table, but only because Oui Oui (in Palermo Soho, BA) had run out of its first batch and was baking off another. We were happy to wait another 15 minutes after polishing off our asparagus soup and veggie lasagne for this super-warm, uber-luscious fruity dessert. I love Oui Oui's prix fixe lunch—for its very nice price (35 pesos, or ~$9, wine included) and wonderfully bright flavors.

Awesome Pasta in Buenos Aires

The homemade pasta is absolutely delicious in Buenos Aires. And no wonder, considering the heavy Italian influence on the population there. At one point in recent history, Italians even outnumbered Spaniards settling in this sprawling city.

JA and I had a wonderful medley of roasted pumpkin, portobello mushroom and spinach stuffed into layers of lasagne with a creamy bechamel sauce and a crispy parmesan crust at Oui Oui.


One toasty afternoon at Amici Miei in San Telmo, I enjoyed a lovely handmade squid ink pasta in a spicy tomato sauce served with shrimp, calamari, scallops and mussels all cooked to perfection.

And at Sobrera in Palermo Soho, I devoured a honkin' plateful of airy potato dumplings (aka gnochhi) with bolognese sauce ... on two different occasions.

Adding to Cart: The Meatball Shop

It's always fun getting together with my pals from the Martha (as in Stewart) days, especially since we always find something good to eat. This time, we hit relative newcomer The Meatball Shop in the Lower East Side, and we chowed down on what was to become my 2nd fave meal during my 9-day visit to NYC.

Undeterred by the frosty hostess who told us the wait for a table would be an hour and a half, we 3 gave her our name and number, then strolled next door to sip on some vino. Lo and behold, she rang us up not 20 minutes later. We knocked back our drinks, popped on over and sat at the long farm table inside (after giving up our seats outside—gusty winds were not conducive to relaxed noshing).

The place was noisy, the people around us boisterous. But no matter. The music floating through the resto was the best of the '80s—it was as if we were in the middle of a John Hughes flick. Pretty in Pink, anyone? And our bright, no-nonsense waitress showed us the ropes with the big mix-and-match menu of all kinds of meatballs—from beef to veggie and that night's special, lamb—with varying sauces—like tomato and parmesan cream—not to mention sides and so on and so forth.

Along with a side of mashed potatoes for the table, I ordered the uber-savory meatball smash: 2 pork balls smashed between fluffy brioche buns, oozing zesty spicy meat sauce and melted mozzarella cheese, served with a side of arugula salad.

Holy meatballs, were they delicious, well-seasoned with a really nice, crumbly texture. The Meatball Shop has most certainly made my short list of places to go whenever I visit NYC.

A Walk Down Butter Lane

Butter Lane's cuppers will definitely do in a pinch when Sugar Sweet Sunshine is just a few blocks too far to schlep to for a post-dinner splurge. This here's the yummy salted caramel frosting on mini choco cake.

Ode to Ippudo

The poem is in the picture (actually, it's in the bowl): tsuke ramen, Ippudo's summer special of cold noodles and salty, hot pork broth to dip 'em into. Mmmmmm.

Loverly Locanda Verde

My fave meal during my recent NY stay was at Tribeca hotspot Locanda Verde (and I'm not just saying that because MK's the sous chef ... heyyyyyy girl). My dining mate, a hedon/glutton in her own right, was also super thrilled with the dazzling array of deliciously delightful dishes that came our way. That said, I think I'll leave it to the pictures to tell the story ...

Just above: two kinds of crostini—sweet corn with smoked shiitake and prosciutto (in front) and creamy bacalao (aka salted cod, in back).


Home-made, al dente orecchiette with crumbly, home-made duck sausage, crisp-tender broccoli rabe and piave, a nutty cow's milk cheese.


More home-made pasta: Trofie with fresh basil pesto, toasted pine nuts, green beans, gaeta olives and plenty of parmigiano-reggiano.


The fire-roasted rosemary, garlic chicken is meant for two, but I gotta say an entire chicken with a pile of roasted veg will feed four folks easily. It's also the most succulent roast chicken I've ever had the pleasure of devouring.

We made heavy inroads into all of the above along with a fresh arugula salad with black mission figs, shavings of asiago cheese and American speck. By the end, we were thinking we could maybe work in one dessert ... And of course MK sent out 4. Holy cow.

Pastry Chef Karen DeMasco has won awards for her creations. Suffice it to say we were in heaven. What we inhaled: peach and blackberry crostada with peach swirl gelato; sweet corn budino with blueberry sorbetto and caramel popcorn; chocolate-pistachio tart with raspberries and pistachio gelato; and the la fantasia di fragola with fior di latte gelato, strawberry-prosecco sorbetto, sbrisolona (aka crumbly cake) with a white balsamic meringue.

Nom Nom Num Pang

I'd been jonesing for good banh mi, so when I was to meet a friend for lunch one day near Union Square, off we went to Num Pang on 12th and University. Thanks to DY for giving me the heads up on this Cambodian sandwich shop (num pang means sandwich in Khmer). Yes, the meat fillings aren't quite the same, but the toasted baguette, cilantro, cucumber and pickled carrots are like any really tasty banh mi I've ever had.

As it is, the filling I did try—the pulled duroc pork with spiced honey—was super satisfying, tender and full of flavor, and nicely set off by Num Pang's home-made chile mayo. My main regret is that I didn't have time to go back and try a few other sandos—like the coconut tiger shrimp or the hoisin veal meatballs. Well, I guess it'll have to wait til the next time I'm in New York.

Going Local Mission Eatery

"entirely local, humane and housemade."

Plain and simply written in the bottom left corner of the menu. What Local Mission Eatery neglected to add are other key things like: "exceptionally fine, inventive and well-made."

We 3 dropped in for dinner at this Outer Mission establishment a couple of weeks back, thanks to a Blackboard Eats special I'd signed up for giving us a free bottle of wine with our meal (and a nice one to boot). And we were pleased that we had. A lot of what we tried was bursting with flavor, well-seasoned and cleverly paired. I'm told Local's only been serving dinner for 6 months now. Here's hoping folks come out to support their fab work.


The gnocchi had a nice, airy consistency but were a tad underseasoned. The tomato water, however, was divine—the best kind of savory-sweet agua fresca (slurp-worthy to be sure) with juicy stewed heirloom tomatoes bobbing about along with a good helping of mozzarella and basil leaves.


I've grown to love sardines, and this is the reason why: Local Mission Eatery's ginormous rendition were marinated and then grilled, giving them a really fine flavor and texture. They came piled on a plate with crisp-tender cranberry beans, braised fennel and fresh greens, drizzled with a sweet-tart romesco sauce and crowned by strands of saffron.

Kudos to JG for being a good sport and trying the lamb tongue. When we asked how the tongue had been prepared, our server told us the offal had been confited (braised in fat). We thought, hmmm, sounds pretty good, especially when paired with roasted peaches and nectarines, toasted walnuts and bitter greens. Well ... let's just say the lamb tongues (yes, plural) came out looking exactly as you'd imagine: a bunch of tongues curling this way and that on the plate. JG could barely stomach even half of one. They were pretty spongy and not terribly flavorful. But wow, the accompaniments were so good and went so well with the lamby that I found myself eating not one tongue but two. Let's just say they grew on me.

I didn't have a whole lot of the chicken roulade, but what I did have impressed me. Usually I avoid chicken on a menu, as it seems it's often poorly done, dried out, uninspired. Not so in this case. The crispy skin housed an incredibly moist and juicy interior. The sauteed tokyo turnips with bacon sitting on a lovely puree of parsley root in a pool of chicken jus made for the perfect complement to the bird.

I've had goat before and not particularly liked it. But this dish has changed my mind—Local's cooks had braised the rich, dark meat til it was falling off the bone. A tangy tomatillo salsa kept the dish from getting too heavy. I loved every bite.

It seems everything on the menu came with a little twist, even the plum tart with creme fraiche—it arrived with a sprinkling of fennel seeds, some fennel fronds, plus a scoop of celery relish on top.

Pitstop at Pica Pica

I'd been telling folks how much I missed the incredible accessibility of cuisines that I once enjoyed when living in downtown Manhattan—not just your usual Italian, Chinese and Japanese fare, but also Venezuelan, Russian, Filipino, Puerto Rican, Caribbean, Cuban and more. One of my absolute faves was and still is East Village hole-in-the-wall Caracas, which puts out the best empanadas and arepas I've ever had; plenty of others agree—often the wait to get in can stretch for an hour and a half or more (luckily, there's takeout). Whenever I'm in town, I always try to pick up one of the deep-fried sweet corn hot pockets (aka empanadas) stuffed with shredded beef, sweet plantains, black beans and cheese (called the de pabellon) as well as one of the spongy pita-pocket-type arepas, packed full of another delightful meat and cheese combo. It's something I wish we had in SF.

So when I heard that Pica Pica Maize Kitchen was opening in the Mission, I was psyched. Finally. Venezuelan-style arepas and empanadas conveniently located nearby. Sadly, the empanadas don't hold a candle to the ones at Caracas. But the Pabellon maize'wich (pictured above) comes damn close ... at least in flavor and appeal. This is true comfort food. And at a pretty good price. Welcome to the neighborhood, Pica Pica.

A Spot of Italy at Darwin Cafe

Thank you, SS, for the heads up on newly opened Darwin Cafe, a tiny spot tucked away on Ritch street serving up hot pressed sandwiches that made us daydream of lazy food forays in Italy. We loved the bresaola and blue cheese packed with plenty of sharp watercress on fresh Acme bread. The sando with slices of salami paired with huge wheels of heirloom tomato and oozing mozzarella cheese was also quite divine. Who knew a sammy could sate us so?

Celebrating in style at RN74

A few of us went for a long and leisurely lunch at Michael Mina's RN74 not too long ago to celebrate VB's birthday, and a fine choice it turned out to be.

Everything we ordered from the modern American menu was seasoned so well, the flavor combinations skillfully balanced. VB's oh-so-juicy grilled kurobata pork loin with crumbly cornbread financier, roasted licorice-y endive and juicy bing cherries in a nutty brown butter jus was the hands-down winner.


We also liked RN74's luscious hunk of creamy burrata ringed by a garland of marinated veg, and served with a big bowl of grilled bread.


I was happy as a clam with my al dente hand-cut tagliatelle with sweet corn, leeks, fresh basil, pistachio and castlemagno cheese.


JL's grilled Mediterranean sea bass was light and flakey, accompanied by a medley of fingerling potatoes, cauliflower, artichokes, capers and a tongue-tingling lemony sauce.

Sunday Izakaya at Sebo

A meal at Sebo will easily set you back a couple of benjamins per 2 top, what with the finest-grade sashimi being flown in straight from Japan. But if Izakaya is more your thing, then Sundays at Sebo will do you right. We ordered almost everything on the weekly changing menu, plus some cocktails and a few extra-large beers, and couldn't quite polish it all off. And yet the damage totaled a mere $45 a head. Pretty much all of what we ordered (maybe 12-15 small plates) got high marks from the 4 of us, except for a couple of outliers.

Here follows a selection of Sebo's scrummy dishes:


Deep-fried, extra crispy okra and boiled egg, drizzled with a special sauce (aka zesty thousand island)


Eggplant in soy with a chiff of nori


Spicy, peppery mac n cheese (ah-mazing, we ordered 2); sweet yam, cooked al dente (I liked it; others, not so much)


Little fishy swimming in rice soup with a whopping dollop of salty roe sitting on a shiso leaf—this one grew on me; I liked it the more I ate it. The Koreans take these li'l fish and deep fry them in soy sauce, sesame oil, sugar and garlic, making 'em the crispiest, crunchiest nuggets of goodness you'll ever have with your bowl o' rice.


Shrimp with winter melon (BLERG—overcooked and mealy, bland and sad, I found this dish extremely disappointing); dried squid with herring roe and konbu (bottom left; loved the squid; the hardened cubes of herring roe didn't add anything to the plate—"lowtide" as NJ put it in a not-so-complimentary way; I agree); woodear with tofu and lotsa sesame (bottom right; mmmm, good)


Lovely mussels in a tomato broth; tuna melt with quail eggs (from the folks at Farm Table who were guest cheffing that night); dried squid