COCO500's Wicked Fried Green Beans

Loretta Keller knows that, come hell or high water, her green beans have got to stay on the menu. They were on when the resto was formerly known as Bizou and made it through the transition to COCO500 several years ago. Deep-fried in a light batter, the pile o' beans come out super crisp and piping hot with an ever-changing dip that's typically mayo-based but sometimes made of chickpea or mustard.

With summer in full swing, zucchini blossoms are in season, so we were lucky enough to get a version of COCO500's flatbread incorporating these fragrant flowers, seasoned with truffle oil and parmesan. Ever so light and delicate, it—along with the green beans and a little vino of course—made for a great ending to the day.

Weird Fish Is Green

AF and I went to Weird Fish for her birthday dinner, and had a pretty good meal. Neither of us were feeling adventurous enough to try the "suspicious fish dish," which leaves it up to the chef to deliver you the fish of the day with 2 accompanying sides, no questions asked. So, AF went for the dijon-almond encrusted rainbow trout with mashed yams and sauteed spinach while I decided on the shrimp taco with rice and beans. Of the two, the trout was the standout dish, while mine was just fine.


What I really like about Weird Fish is that it's a green business. According to its website, the resto serves locally grown vegetables and prepares fish that's primarily farmed and sustainable. "Thank you for supporting us," it says. "Together we can make a difference."

And how.

Pizzeria Delfina is pretty good

Yep. You heard me. Pizzera Delfina's Neapolitan-style pies aren't the best I've had, but a pretty nice meal nonetheless. SS had the clam and tomatoes, subbing arugula for the cheese (sadly SS and fromage don't mix), while I went for the broccoli raab with bufala mozzarella, extra-salty cured olives, and hot peppers. I still think Pizzetta 211 makes the best thin-crust pizza in the city, while Pauline's comes in a close second. All three offer the freshest (local, seasonal, organic when possible) toppings. But it just seems that Pizzetta 211 and Pauline's do a better job of getting that crust super thin and crisping it up well and good.

Recently, Little Star's thin crust broke back into the top 3. I'd kicked it out a couple of years ago—for the same reason why top honors can't go to Delfina: a not-so-stellar crust—when I'd gone with my Lonely Planet writer friend to check out a few pies for her SF reviews. But I tried it again a couple of weeks ago, and found myself delightfully surprised—and revising my previous note to self to only go to Little Star for the deep dish pie and nothing else.

Finally! Dosa

It's now going on more than 2-and-a-half years since I've been back from New York, and yet it took me that long to finally make it out to Dosa. Chalk it up to getting a mixed bag of reviews—some fantastic, others not so much—thrown at me from different sets of friends. Well, the visit was way overdue, and thanks to my cousin, MC, I hit the South Indian eatery on Valencia a couple of weeks ago ... and I liked it a whole heckuvalot.

The theme: Fried.

* Fried sliced onions seasoned in chickpea batter, garnished with cilantro and flash-fried curry leaves
* Fried prawns dry-rubbed in ground chickpea, chiles and other spices, sitting on organic micro greens


* Dosa's cod special, also fried I think. Super flakey and moist, bathed as it was in a zesty green cilantro curry.


And of course, the fried breads:

* A dosa, similar to a crepe, but about 7 times the size; it came with helpings of tomato and coconut chutney, and sambar (a lentil-based soup you dip the dosa into)
* Poori, deep-fried disks of bread made from whole grain durum wheat that puff up when they hit the hot oil.

Heaven.

Bienvenue Paulette

I'm hoping there's a place for Paulette in the SF food scene, because its pastel-hued macarons are a really sweet addition to Hayes Valley. The passionfruit was to-die-for ... so much so, that I had to go back for seconds. Course, the coconut, pistachio, raspberry and lemon were also calling my name. Oh well, there's always next time ...

El Tovar at the Grand Canyon

After our epic 18-mile hike down South Kaibab to Phantom Ranch and then back up Bright Angel trail (oy), we hobbled on over for a well-deserved feeding at century-old El Tovar Restaurant that eve.


Though I remain mystified by the bizarre ritual of stuffing animal heads and mounting them up on the walls—a good 7 or 8 of them were cluttering El Tovar's lounge, I never say no to a tasty set of venison rib chops (which my sister ordered) or a fat New York strip crowned with a generous handful of buttermilk-cornmeal onion rings (my dad's pick).


Lucky for me, they shared some of their spoils, because my dinner—a gnocchi primavera—was sadly forgettable. I know, I know. What was I thinking bypassing a meaty main in favor of pasta and veg? The beady eyes of the massive moosehead looking down at me in the lounge should have clued me in to the fact that protein is El Tovar's specialty. Oh well, chalk it up to one part exhaustion and another part hunger, plus a large dose of altitude hangover thrown in.

Sizzling Hot Szechuan

We sweat a whole lot while we ate lunch at this lovely Szechuan resto in Nanluoguxiang, one of Beijing's trendy hutongs. And we drank a fair amount of beer. And it wasn't because we were feeling the heat from outside, but rather from a few of the dishes we'd picked from the wide array of entrees on the menu.

OK, the fragrant wonton soup was perfectly mild ...


... as were the traditionally spiced (not chile spice but more like a five-spice .... I detected a hint of anise in there among others) Szechuan ribs that came suspended on calligraphy brush handles.


These were the super hotties: a pork and celery combo (top left) cooked in chile oil, whose heat was only slightly eased by its vinegary component; mabo tofu—cubes of tofu stir-fried with a dice of hot chiles, more chile flakes and a fine grind of pork meat (top right); and dry-fried green beans tossed up with large cuts of blow-your-ears-out chiles.


All were really wonderfully delightful—well-seasoned and spiced, and just on the right (or would that be left?) side of so-hot-you-can't-taste-a-damn-thing-anymore. Thank god for white rice ... and ice cold beer.

Dali Courtyard — My Fave Meal in China

Thanks to LC (my Beijing-dwelling WSJ pal) for picking Dali Courtyard—which we got to by taxi and then by foot down a dark alley (or hutong) where we found the entrance marked by a single red lantern—to end the long work week in China. It was the highlight of our food forays, hands down.

Writes Travel + Leisure, "Dali’s owners, a group of young Chinese art-world types, have stuffed an old courtyard home with contemporary Chinese art and put tables in the quirky little rooms and the lovely central garden. There’s no menu here; guests choose a price level and servers bring out plates of modern pan-Asian dishes, like mushrooms roasted in banana leaves and sweet-and-sour dried beef infused with lemon juice. The chefs age the beef by hanging strips of it on trees in the courtyard."


LC explains that this cuisine comes out of the southeast province of Yunnan close to Thailand, so mint and basil are in a fair number of the often-spicy dishes. To the left there are salty squares of fried cheese (cheese in China? who knew?!), super-fine tofu noodle strips above, and a tangle of mushrooms and mint sitting just below it.


I slurped down this lovely little pot of spicy veggy noodles tout suite.

At the very top there is a basil chicken number, with shrimp and mint taking center stage. Light, fresh and lively, the dishes matched the ambience of Dali Courtyard to a T.

Wahaha's Desserts

Of course, every good dinner must end with a (couple of) good desserts, albeit these two came out interspersed between a few final savory dishes.

Nevertheless, thumbs up for both of 'em.


Hot, flakey, eggy pastries, dipped partially in sesame seeds and filled with sweet papaya—I'm not a fan of the fruit, but I gotta say, served up this way, I liked it. A lot.


Mochi-like balls filled with airy whipped cream. Sounds weird, but MN ranked it as her number one of the 15 to 20-some-odd dishes that came out of the kitchen ...


Hmmm, maybe it was because they were not only tasty but fun(ny) to look at ... TL thought so too.

Beijing's Wahaha Delights

MN and I partook in an over-the-top opulent dinner with the China edit team in one of Wahaha restaurant's uber-plush private dining suites—think massive tapestries, velvet chairs and walls, and ceilings dripping with chandeliers—while in Beijing. Following are some of the parade of Hangzhou-style dishes that came out with calculated precision over the course of two or more hours.


Crispified duck ... with head included, just in case you felt like gnawing on it, which some are wont to do ...


Lightly breaded and fried cubes of the most buttery foie gras tossed with mushrooms, sesame-encrusted cashews and an assortment of fresh veg ... OK, so this is not your traditional Chinese cuisine, but it was a very welcome and refreshing injection of Western flavors and textures.


A mighty purty and tasty architectural foray into turnips with a kind of plum sauce.


Baby cucumbers these were ... their piquancy was a welcome contrast to the savory dishes flanking it.


Duck liver ... MN had no love for it. I gave it a go, but can't say I was a fan either ... it didn't have much of a flavor, and had an odd crunch to it.


One of my fave dishes: delicate noodles made of tofu sitting in a pool of the most fragrant chicken and shrimp broth and accompanied by crisp-fresh baby bok choy. I could eat this dish every week. Heck, maybe every day even.


A Hangzhou specialty: super moist and tender tiger-striped fish, smothered with tons of julienned ginger. It was a tad too fishy for my taste, but I could appreciate the love that had gone into its preparation.


Another top contender: the fab fork-tender pork belly ... heart and belly-warming.... perfectly seasoned in a soy sauce marinade, the fat pretty much melted on your tongue.

Welcome Lunch in Beijing

Our China colleagues took us to a neighboring restaurant to welcome us on our first day in Beijing. For the most part, I liked all of the dozen or so dishes that came streaming out of the kitchen and onto our lazy Susan.


All except for this preparation: an oh-so-slippery (forget using the chopsticks; only a spoon would do) pumpkin jello drizzled with strawberry jelly. Hmmmm ....


The wood-ear mushrooms, slightly vinegary in flavor, however, were light and lovely.


One of the editors had the same idea as I did: Snap a bunch of pics of the food, rather than the folks sitting around the table.

This pork, camouflaged in minced scallions, was delightful—juicy, tender and highly spiced.

Absolutely loved the pan-fried pork dumplings plus the hot-out-of-the-oven papaya pastries.

Shanghai Good Eats

Ex-coworker and fellow foodie SM told me that Nanxiang Steamed Bun Restaurant was a must-try for its xiao long bao (steamed pork dumplings), so off we went to the old part of Shanghai after a long day of work. But alas, we arrived too late—the place had shut down at 8 pm, and we'd arrived close to 9 ... who knew?

Oh well, after a few minutes of whinging and moaning, we got over it and went across the square to what seemed to be the only restaurant still left open.


What we found was a huge variety dishes, some like sauce-cooked buck's tongue and spicy flavor membrand of soft shelled turtle soy that we quickly passed on, while others like the steamed pork buns and the chive dumplings that we ordered tout suite.


We also picked up a few more super tasty mains like the crisp-tender baby bokchoy with mushrooms and the fried noodles and veggies along with a huge plate of tender greens sauteed in chicken broth that our Chinese colleague could not translate for us as she says she's never seen this veg in the States.


No matter. It was a promising start to the week's good eats in China ...