I’d heard about Avec quite a while ago and have been thinking of checking it out sometime. I finally had the opportunity, though by a somewhat circuitous route. A foodie friend and I had planned to have dinner at Frontera. However they were closed while Rick Bayless had his staff in Mexico, so we thought we’d check out the new Girl and the Goat, Stephaine Izard’s new restaurant. Stephanie was winner of season 4 of Top Chef and has just recently opened Girl and the Goat. But it was not to be. They were closed for a private event that evening. And so we decided to go to Avec, which we knew was open as we’d walked past it on the way.

Avec is long and narrow, extending from the street back, into the the building. the walls, floor, and ceiling are paneled with a rich, brown wood. Dining is either at the counter or an communal tables.

We decided to share a selection of small plates to maximize our experience. We selected four dishes, all of which were a complete WOW!

Tuna tartare with housemade squid ink and olive pasta, house giardinara and sesame bottarga vinaigrette

The giardiniera was brilliant combined with the tuna. The heat and the crunch from the vegetables combined with the silky smoothness of the raw tuna to very nice effect. And the tang from the vinaigrette complimented the fish perfectly. The pasta filled out the dish nicely. Squid ink pasta is always cool.

Couscous salad with Werp Farms mustard greens, grilled eggplant and asparagus

Nicely browned cheese and beautifully roasted eggplant: smoky and creamy. I love Israeli couscous, and this was done to perfection.

Beet crustini

One word: Yum. I’m a huge fan of the beet. If you, too, are a beet lover be sure to read Jitterbug Perfume by Tom Robbins, if you haven’t already.

This dish included a mix of red and yellow beets as well as a beet puree. This was heaped on top of crunchy bread, topped with some kohlrabi shreds for a nice crunch. A touch of black pepper gave the dish a bit of zing.

Chorizo-stuffed Medjool dates with smoked bacon and piquillo pepper-tomato sauce

This was a run away hit. Definitely the star of the evening. No wonder it’s a favorite of several foodie friends.

The sauce was sweet and smoky. Date, chorizo, bacon: a brilliant mélange of flavor, sweetness and heat. Let’s get serious: chorizo and bacon in the same dish … how could it not be amazing. I’ll be trying to replicate this in my own kitchen.

Finally, some of the dishes came with a delicious warm fresh bread for cleansing the palette and, maybe more importantly, soaking up sauces.

I was impressed: woodsy decor, great service, good wine & beer selection, and awesome food. I’ll be back for sure.

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After taking in some of the San Francisco Pride parade, Suzanne and I headed home. We we getting quite hungry by that point and our first destination, Tu Lon, was closed. We thought Basil might be a good choice, but alas, they were also closed. Now that we were on Folsom we decided to head back into SOMA and find something that was open. We happened upon Triptych, which neither of us had been to before. That and the fact that they were advertising brunch was plenty for us to decide to give it a try.

We settled into a bright window table and Suzanne went in search of the restroom. When she came back she suggested we reseat ourselves on the patio in the back. And we did. The walk to the back of the restaurant had a bit of a “cutting through the kitchen” feel to it, but there was some interesting art on the wall to be perused on the way.

While the main dining room looked fine, the “patio” left something to be desired. It looked like they ran out of funds when they got to the back of the restaurant. The “patio” was a fenced off area with a raw concrete floor, and a standard blue plastic tarp stretched overhead. The steps down to the patio were a couple of pallets with loosely covered with plywood. Other than a nice selection of plants along the walls, the overall effect did little to make the space cozy or inspire confidence. That said, the effect on that afternoon was nice, the plants, the shade from the tarp, and the quiet from being away from the street did make it a pleasant enough space in which to share brunch. It could be a really pleasant space with a bit more money and work.

Service, however was not great at all. There was an overall feeling of haphazardness to it. We noticed that we had received different menus than the next table, and they soon had their menus replaced. Also, it had taken far too long for us to receive our menus. Then it took far too long for someone to come along to bring us water, or take our order. While we were waiting, Suzanne suggested I check out the restroom. I did. It was a homage to the 80s & the disco era:

We eventually had our orders taken. We asked for the crab cake (mini crab cake with spicy dipping sauce) as an appitizer. I ordered a Club Sandwich (grilled chicken breast, bacon, lettuce, tomato and avocado) with a side salad, and Suzanne had the Fritatta Blanc (egg whites, mushrooms, roasted tomato and onions, spinach & avocado cream). In time the entrees arrived. When the server returned (eventually) we commented that our appitizer was missing. It eventually (notice that word seems to be a theme) arrived, after we had finished the rest of the food. Since I’m talking about the crabcake now, I’ll comment on it here. It was too greasy, and the serving size was barely enough as an appetizer for one. I was not impressed, but to be fair, my initiation into crabcakes was in D.C. at the famous Market Lunch.

The entrees were passable. My sandwich was fine, with a nice side salad or mixed greens. One thing I found odd was that in contained only two slices of bread, whereas a club sandwich, by definition, involves 3 slices. Suzanne’s “Fritatta” was more like an open-faced omelet: essentially some fried egg white with sauteed vegies and such piled on top. Like my sandwich (which I shall refrain from referring to as a “club”), it was tasty enough, but was not quite what was expected from the description on the menu.This kind of bullshit really bothers me at a restaurant. It makes me think that they simply don’t know what they are doing.

In summary, the place was physically sloppy, service was very poor, and the food was mediocre and didn’t well match what was on the menu. I doubt very much that we’ll be back, given that there are so many better places in the area, and in the city in general. It’s definitely not worth going for the food, though maybe to check out the 80s restroom.

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Friday morning of Suzanne’s visit to Chicago we went to Xoco for brunch. We didn’t get there for their breakfast service, and arrived early in the lunch service. There was already a long line, which we joined, giving us time to puruse the menu.

Xoco is one of Rick Bayless’s trio of Mexican styled restaurants at the corner of Clark and Illinois, the other two being Frontera Grill and Topolobampo. Xoco is billed as focusing on “contemporary expressions of Mexico’s most beloved street food”.

As is our habit when dining out, we picked a couple things that we would both like to try. One of Xoco’s specialities is tortas (Mexican sandwiches). There was a nice variety to choose from, but we finally settled on a Choriqueso (Homemade chorizo sausage, roasted poblano, artisan jack cheese, tomatillo salsa) and a Pepito (Braised Tallgrass shortribs, caramelized onion, artisan Jack cheese, black beans, pickled jalapenos). Both sandwiches came with a small dish of tomatillo salsa that was very tasty. The rolls they used for the tortas were great, crunchy and tasty.

Choriqueso

Classic chorizo, spicy, greasy, red, and yummy. Suzanne liked this one, though I thought it lacked character. It tasted like chorizo. ‘nuf said.

Pepito

I really liked this one. Shortrib meat, reminiscent of pulled pork: tender and delicious. The peppers and onions were mindblowingly good when you got them in a bite.

In summary, we were very pleased with our meal at Xoco. I look forward to dinner at Frontera on my next visit to Chicago. I also want to make a point of getting there for breakfast and some of their great sounding hot chocolate.

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I’ve been spending some time working in CHicago, and recently Suzanne joined me for a weekend. In coming posts I’ll be writing about some of the restaurants we went to.

• Star of Siam
• Xoco
• The Melting Pot
• The Bourgeois Pig
• Jam
• Fogo de Chao
• Big Bowl

While I’ll be focusing on the food we encountered during her visit, You can read more generally (and more NSFW) about Suzanne’s visit on her blog: 17th, 18th, 19th, 20th, and 21st.

El Majahual on Valencia just north of 24th is a quinticencial hole in the wall. It has absolutely no ambiance. But The food will keep me going back. I went in for lunch on a Wednesday and the place was busy, with people eating at the mishmash of tables as well as getting food to go. The menu is split between Salvadorian and Columbian. I had noted previously that this place served pupusas, so I ignored the Columbian section this time.

I ordered the 2 pupusa combo lunch: 2 pupusas, rice, and beans. There was a selection of pupusas available, and I opted for a pork and a pork/bean/cheese. I thoroughly enjoyed them. While I didn’t have any personal frame of reference (this being my first pupusa experience), I had done some research on Yelp of some other pupusa options in the area. These didn’t have any of the shortcomings I saw in some of Yelp!. These were hot, well cooked, and flavorful. I thought they were delightful.

The rice was plain white rice. It provided a good palette cleanser. The beans were pretty standard refritos. The slaw, on the other hand, was quite surprisingly good, as was the salsa.

The food was good, and the prices were reasonable. Not a place to go to for atmosphere, but definitely a place to go for food.

For our April dinner party (yes, it’s officially “our” dinner party now) Suzanne made Tortilla Soup.

Compared to our previous dinner parties, this was cheap and simple. I believe the ingrediants came to around $30 at the corner Mexican market (one of the many advantages of living in The Mission). It did take Suzanne all afternoon to prepare everything, though.

The idea is that you make a simple broth, and an assortment of things for the diners to put in their bowls. We had plenty of options, including:

- passila chilis (julienned and fried)
- jalapenos (julienne and fried)
- corn on the cob (boiled and sliced into rounds)
- cilantro (coarsely chopped)
- tomatoes (chopped)
- tortilla strips (fresh fried)
- queso fresco (crumbled)
- white onion (finely chopped)

Start by making a simple broth however you like. Ours was a vegi broth. Be to throw in some Epazote.

Here are a couple of the results:

Suzanne has been looking for an excuse to use the mandoline. It came in to form of a handful of sweet potatoes from our produce delivery.

Wash them well, cut in two across (to give a circular cross section) and slice them really thin (I.e. less than 1/16″ thick). Then deep fry them and sprinkle with salt … Yum!

I first tried making this meal after consulting with Chef Billy Krupp at Google a couple years ago. I wanted to do a seared tuna steak and was casting about for ideas of sides. Rice or potatoes, a vegetable, that sort of thing. Chef Krupp made the suggestion of doing wasabi mashers. He also suggested asparagus with red thai chili peppers (which I did at the time, but it was asparagus season then).

When I made it this time I used swiss chard as the side, as we had some from our produce delivery.

Chard

• Wash, trim, and chop into thin ribbons (the stems into small chunks).
• Quickly sauté until just tender
• season with sesame oil

Tuna

• Coat the steaks in sesame seeds: white, black, or a mix.
• Quickly sear each side in a bit of oil in a hot pan. A cast iron (plain or enameled) pan works great for this.
• Be careful not to overcook, it should still be pink/raw in the middle.

Potatoes

• Make mashed potatoes.
• Mix in wasabi paste. If you’re mixed the paste from powder, you probably want to make more than you think you might need. It takes quite a bit to give these a nice kick.

That’s all there is to it. And here it is plated and ready to eat.

Suzanne’s been in a smoothie making mood. Maybe because I’ve been buying mangos & bananas.

The latest was especially tasty, and deserving of mention. Mostly it was like the past incarnations: yogurt, banana, mango, ice. Blend until smooth. But today, instead of the usual dollop of honey, she tossed in some dried dates. Not only did it taste good, but it looked great, with flecks of dark brown date giving it a very nice visual texture.

(Thanks to Dave for letting me moonlight on his blog – now my pictures of cooking have a place to live)

I made my first attempt at carnitas in 2006. Seems the traditional method involves a large copper cauldron filled with lard, so that wasn’t going to be practical. While slowly deep frying a giant hunk of pork sounds delightful, my kitchen was not going to accommodate such an undertaking. My approximation was to slow cook a pork shoulder in butter, oranges, sugar, and some spices. After a few hours I cut off the fat and reduced the liquid to a sauce (adding a bit more sugar) After glazing the hunks of meat I threw them into a very hot oven. The result was crusty on the outside, moist on the inside, and all-around a source of delight. I’ve used this basic technique a few times since, varying the spices along the way. The results have always been excellent.

Lately I have tended to avoid the “butter step”: as it seemed superfluous to add a few sticks of butter to an already fatty cut of meat. I haven’t missed it. I also don’t really consider what I make to be carnitas, though it continues to be inspired by those flavors.

Ingredients

• 1 large pork shoulder (I usually use the “picnic shoulder”, about 5lbs raw)
• 1 yellow onion
• 2-4 oranges (or more, to taste — I used about 6 clementines last time I did this)
• 3 cups broth (I usually use chicken, but any tasty broth will do)
• 1/2 cup brown sugar (or I like to use jaggery when I have it around)
• 1/2 cup Dry Rub (or more, to taste) — you can make up your own, buy one, or use something like what I did in the pictures (all amounts are approximate):
  • 1/4 cup smoked salt
  • 3 TB garlic powder (or even better: use fresh, minced garlic)
  • 3 TB Oregano
  • 2 TB Cumin
  • 2 TB Thyme
  • 1 TB Black Pepper
  • 1 TB White Pepper
  • 1 TB sugar (brown or white)
  • 2 tsp Cinnamon
  • Zest of 1-2 oranges (I used the zest from 5 clementines in these pictures)

Prep Work

1. Zest the oranges, set zest aside to use in your dry rub or to add to the broth
2. Juice the oranges, saving both the juice and the juiced orange carcasses
   
3. (if necessary) mix your dry rub
   
4. Cut the onion into small pieces — I usually quarter it then run through a food processor slicer blade.
5. Dry the meat and, if possible, bring to room temperature

Phase I: Get the Meat Ready To Hang Out

1. Pre-heat the oven to 250°
2. In a heavy dutch oven, heat a couple tablespoons of high heat oil with a bit of salt (I like to use smoked salt for this). Once the oil is just starting to smoke, place the meat in with the fattier side down. Brown it for about 5 minutes, until the fat is nicely browned.
   

   Turn it over and brown the other side for another 3-5 minutes (optionally, brown the other outside edges, but you are just looking to get some nice browning going to flavor your onions and the broth). Once browned, remove the meat and set aside.

   
3. Immediately throw the onions in to brown in the fat that melted off the meat. Stir occasionally until translucent. This should take about 5-7 minutes, but you can let it go for quite a while, as long you don’t burn the onions.
   
4. While the onions are browning, rub the meat with the Dry Rub all over. Be sure the fattier side gets a nice coating, as that will be the side not in the liquid, but save about 1TB of the rub to sprinkle on right before you put the meat in the oven.
5. Once your onions are the way you want them, put the meat in with the fattier side facing up (which allows the fat to drip down over the meat as it melts).
6. Pour in broth to a depth of about 1-2 inches, being careful not to submerge too much of the meat. Then, pour the orange juice over the meat. Sprinkle the remaining TB of Dry Rub on the top of the meat.
7. (optional) Put the juiced orange carcasses on the top of the meat to help everything stay moist.
   
8. Cover the dutch oven and place it in the oven. Let it cook for at least 3 hours, probably 4-5 hours. I sometimes leave as long as 8 hours, though at that point the meat will completely fall apart. About 3/4 of the way through you can remove the orange carcasses and turn the meat over. I like to put a few of the onions on the top of the meat after turning it to be sure it doesn’t dry out.

Phase II: From Tasty to Sublime

1. Remove the meat from the dutch oven and place on a shallow baking pan. Turn your oven to 500° (or as hot as it gets) – you can also use the broiler, but that must be done with great caution, as it’s easy to burn the glaze and get too much of a charred flavor.
   
2. Pour the liquid from the dutch oven into a separator (or just remove the oily top layer yourself), then pour the non-oily bottom layer into a small sauce pan. At this point I like to add the brown sugar or jaggery and/or more orange juice (and sometimes more cinnamon or other spices, depending on the flavor I want for the glaze), but that’s optional. Reduce the liquid over medium heat until it becomes viscous enough to stick to the meat, about the consistency of a gravy.
   
3. While the sauce is reducing, cut the meat into large chunks, removing the larger pieces of fat (unless you love to eat hunks of fat). I usually just discard the fat at this point, but you can save it to cook with beans or whatever turns you on.
   
4. When the sauce is reduced to a glaze, use a basting brush or just spoon it over the meat, coating it as much as possible. If the meat isn’t falling apart (which it usually is) you can try dipping the pieces of meat into the glaze using a slotted spoon. Reserve the rest of the sauce to use over the finished meat as a gravy.
   
5. Put the glazed meat in the 500° oven for about 3-5 minutes. Watch is closely, as the time will vary depending on how much sugar is in the sauce and the moisture content. You want to see just a hint of blackening at the edges, at which point you want to remove it immediately or risk having hunks of char. You can’t really go wrong, so if you get impatient just take it out.

You can serve this meat with tortillas and taco fixings. I also like to serve it over polenta or rice, depending on the spice mix. If you cooked the meat enough, you could probably just go right to “pulled pork” (with or without the glazing step) if you prefer. Ideally, the meat should have a nice crust on the outside and be succulent inside. This meat should keep well for a day or two in the fridge (or even longer).