San Francisco

I've been a resident of San Francisco for two and a half years now, and given the number of other food bloggers and free time spent doing so many other things, I have not wanted to do a half-start of this blog again every time I cooked a great recipe or encountered a noteworthy restaurant. Which, if you've been to San Francisco, you know are aplenty.

I still think of many of Bethlehem and the Lehigh Valley Area restaurants fondly and look forward to returning at some point, especially to see the changes I hear of on the South Side.
For now, I am developing some writing around the fascinating changes occurring on San Francisco's Market Street. There's a bit of closure for the time being.

I'll end with a food-related catalyst for anyone who encounters this post expecting that:
sweet potato-parsnip latkes with homemade applesauce.

We've made them a couple of times lately, and it feels appropriate, perhaps more so for those of you who are Jewish, in anticipation of the upcoming Hannukah/Thanksgiving coincidence.

We've used a few recipes, I encourage you to find the one you like best. Enjoy!

Meals on Wheels: The Food Truck Movement

My experience with the Chairman Bao Food-Truck at an intersection in San Francisco was all too memorable and delicious to be omitted from my food-related accounts of the past week. (pictured above- both from Chairman Bao's Facebook page)

We happened upon the Chairman Bao food truck amongst a cluster of others, occupying a small intersection at McCoppin and Valencia Streets in San Francisco. Other trucks in the market offered Indian cuisine, Vietnamese sandwiches, Mexican food, and ice cream from a local dairy. The area between the ring of trucks was filled with plastic folding chairs, continually re-arranged in new clusters by each set of patrons. 

Similar scenes are part of a growing food-truck phenomenon, found in cities and neighborhoods nationwide. I have seen them crop up in my hometown in Durham, North Carolina and countless places in San Francisco, where they appear to have particularly strong patronage and good organization. 

These mobile restaurants have actually chosen to serve their foods from a truck and travel between several local locations, in this story, within the Bay Area. Who knows the real motive, but I'm guessing the investment in out-fitting a truck versus opening a restaurant is lower, and changing locations to follow demand allows for a more consistent stream of customers.

The ability for these restaurants to move is also their Achilles' heel. To help with the reliability of their availability, most trucks have Facebook profiles and/or websites to catalog their upcoming schedule including the intersections at you can find them and menu offerings.

The most important point to make is that the food is actually good. By no means has quality been compromised by the fact that the kitchen fits in a truck. In fact, in San Francisco in particular, most trucks consider their food gourmet. Serving good food is essential to attract loyal diners who either follow the truck's whereabouts or return to a regularly scheduled spot.

Chairman Bao's Asian-inspired dim sum sandwiches, available on either baked or steamed rolls, were absolutely incredible. We tried the authentic steamed rolls, which look like a small dough-y pita and taste somewhat like a sweeter pancake. The food and flavor combinations were like nothing I've ever had before and couldn't have been more (as their Facebook says) "savory and addictive." Five star meal.

We tried four little sandwiches: the steamed pork belly with pickled daikon (my favorite), Sesame Chicken with Scallion and Bok Choy, Chinese Spiced Duck Confit with Fresh Mango Salad, and another pulled pork sandwich not listed on the menu below. As a girl from North Carolina to whom pulled pork equals flavors of Carolina Barbecue, I could not have been more pleasantly surprised with how good pulled pork can taste with entirely different, asian-inspired flavors. 

Bottom line: YUM. Don't be afraid to try your local food truck, great surprises may await. If you want more assurance, look into it first! Many food trucks have an online presence, and most likely, online reviews to point you in the right direction. 

Check out Chairman Bao Food Truck's Facebook Profile for more information.

Dining Out: Exotic Ethiopian Cuisine at New Eritrea

http://www.opride.com

Dear Adventurous Diners,
You must try Ethiopian. It has the allure of an exotic, mysterious, spicy, and a unique dining experience because the typical meal is only eaten with your hands. While some flavors are similar to Indian foods, Ethiopian is a more meat-and-vegetable focused meal without the yogurts and custards. A soft pancake-like bread called injera comes on the side of all dishes, pieces of which you tear off to use as your utensil to scoop from the main platter.

Still confused? As always, Wikipedia will break Ethiopian cuisine into a simplified, digestible summary: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ethiopian_cuisine.

I have been in San Francisco this week and was treated to apparently, the best around at the New Eritrea Restaurant at 10th and Irving. As at most Ethiopian restaurants, our main dish was one large injera pancake platter topped with little portions of the meat or vegetable type dish that you specify: as novices at New Eritrea, we elected to try the Meat and Vegetable Sampler.

We also ordered a meat Sambusa appetizer, which we decided is like the Ethiopian version of a taco. Ground beef, caramelized onions, and spices, wrapped in a little fried envelope accompanied by a deceivingly spicy olive tapenade-type sauce. This sauce had the same kind of surprise kick factor as your first wasabi bite.

Our entree platter included:

1. Alicha Begee, "mildly seasoned cubes of lamb mixed with potatoes, carrots, peppers, curry, and Eritrean spices."
2. Zigni, "squares of lean beef, simmered in red pepper sauce with Eritrean spices" 
3. Zebhi Dorho, "Marinated chicken drumsticks simmered in onion, tomatoes, clarified butter, and red pepper sauce."
4. Tumtumo "Lentil beans pureed and simmered with Eritrean spices, tomatoes, onions, and herbs."
5. Hamli "Collard greens and spinach simmered in authentic Eritrean spices"
6. Vegetarian Allicha, essentially #1 minus the lamb.
7. Alicha-Ater, "Chickpea pureed and simmered in onion, garlic, and authentic Eritrean spices."

Alright so the main ingredients are nothing we haven't seen before, but I'm sure I'm not the only one wondering about these so-called "Eritrean spices." With a little investigation I found that these typically include:

Red chili pepper, onion powder, garlic powder, ground ginger, salt, and ground spices: cardamom, cloves, cumin, cinnamon, fenugreek, and black pepper.

As a note, we found there to be little warning of the spicyness of the food, fortunately didn't mind, and even more fortunately had honey wine (tej), which is an essential complement to the meal. Honey wine is an ambrosial "nectar of the gods" kind of drink and really contrasts the cooked, spicy, heat of the food perfectly.

Second note: the injera beneath the various entree dishes becomes saturated with the flavors of the meats and vegetable spices above it and is also a tasty little treat.

If you're in San Francisco, five stars to New Eritrea, I would definitely give it my recommendation.
I looked up Ethiopian cuisine local to Bethlehem, Pennsylvania where I am currently based and found the closest: Dahlak Restaurant in Germantown (near Philadelphia) and Abyssinia in Philadelphia.
I can speak for the experience yet not specifically for the food, but that is what Yelp is for. Let other people's reviews help you decide.
If you have a smart phone, get the AroundMe app, which does the search I just did according to your specified criteria: restaurants, stores, etc.