I actually want this silver-lined copper fry pan and this fait tout pot. They look really cool. Silver lining is not cheap.
tea shops
Good places to buy tea:
- Kettl for matcha (Hukuju and more)
- Fortnum and Mason (Earl Grey, Rose Pouchong, Lapsang Souchong)
New to me:
- Ippodo tea for matcha (Ummon and Ikuyo and Sayaka)
- Red Blossom Tea
- Treasure Green
rice and pasta
Luna Koshihikari is the it rice for Northern California/Bay Area restaurants and foodies. You can read about it in Eater and can buy it from Berkeley Bowl, Umami Mart, and several other specialty grocery stores. It actually is really good, fluffy, neutral and I'd recommend buying it.
Otherwise, the Tamaki haiga is the one to get. I use the gaba, quick, or white rice regular setting on the Zojirushi but the gaba setting is the right one to make it perfect. It just takes forever.
Other rice: Anson Mill's Carolina Gold Rice is good but it's crazy expensive. Carnaroli for risotto, bomba for paella, and Kodafarms (going out of business soon) has good sweet sticky rice, rice flour, and Kokuho rose. I've made but I don't really fool around too much with jasmine, basmati, or long grain rice. I don't like brown rice.
For pasta go with Rustichella D'Abruzzo for spaghetti, bucatini, mezze maniche, farfalloni, and orecchiette. There's a couple bulk sales a year at Market Hall for this pasta and I grab some when it happens. Otherwise, fresh, home made pasta is easy enough.
Related for rice: Also get shichimi togarashi, Queen's gochujang, and Huy Fong chili garlic sauce.
Related for pasta: Rao's marinara and vodka sauce are really good. Bianco DiNapoli canned tomatoes are good and this tomato paste from Mutti.
matcha, steak, bacon, honey, and more
- Kettl Hukuju matcha
- Flannery's ribeye steaks
- Benton's country bacon (and ham)
- MtnHoney Sourwood honey
- Dandelion's Camino Verde chocolate
- INNA jams: Seascape strawberry and Blenheim apricot, Obsidian blackberry, Josephine raspberry too
return to work SF restaurant list
Running list of restaurants/bars I want to check out for lunch/snack/after work and dinner.
2021 food/restaurant list to try
- quesabirria at El Garage
crab louie and Sicilian sashimi from Swan Oyster Depotnigiri or sashimi combofrom Mujiri- chicken curry, seafood nabe, duck confit from Fish & Bird
anythingfrom KirakuHotboys chicken sandwichbrisket, ribs, pulled pork, collard greens, mac & cheesefrom Horn BBQ
a couple favorite dishes
Here's a white truffle risotto recipe from the French Laundry cookbook. It was a lot easier to make than I thought. Folding in whipped cream and letting the white wine actually get absorbed into the rice seems to be a couple of the tricks.
Hokkaido snow beef from Chateau Uenae is the beefy looking thing. I put some black truffles on it. It was good too.
my cookware recommendations
Go with Mafter Bourgeat and get one of their black steel pans (the 11 7/8" one) and get the remainder from their stainless steel collection: the 9-1/2" and 11" fry pans, the 1-3/4 quart and 4 quart sauce pans, the 7-1/2 quart stock pot, and optionally the 4 quart saute pan. Altogether, these should run you about $500-$600.
There's a small detail with these Mafter pots and pans that's not in most cookware. The handles are attached in a way where the rivets don't go through so the interior is clean.
Also:
- This copper/induction ready Hestan set I guess if you want to splurge
- Grab these Mac knives – 9" chef (or alternate), slicer, utility, paring
- Grab this spatula, microplane, Hi-soft cutting board
- 12" cast iron skillet (for fried chicken) and 10.5" cast iron griddle (for pancakes) are also nice and have been put to good use
online food purchases – running list
Food I've been getting online (can't get from the store):
- Benton's country ham and bacon
- Bernachon chocolates
- Haydel's Bakery King cake
- Sourwood and Tupelo honey but usually we get gifted some local honey, our beekeeper friend's mentor sells local (Oakland) honey from Bee Healthy our neighbor down the street
Not sure what other food products to buy online though. If you've got recommendations, let me know.
slice of chocolate cake
Thomas Keller's chocolate cake via Instagram. Looks about as perfect as can be and I'm sure it tastes delicious. I'd consider framing this photo and hanging it up somewhere.
I guess this is Bouchon's Bakery K&M chocolate gateau. Yum!