Upscale Puerto Rican fast food

As I mentioned in my last post, my attitudes toward food changed recently. I’ve gradually become less interested in cooking, so you will see fewer cooking posts on this blog. Instead, I plan to write about trends or issues around food more often. Don’t worry: it’s not going to be all serious though!

La Bodega’s eye-catching storefront

The Bay Area is a hotbed of culinary innovations from urban farms to street food. It also excels in repackaging ethnic food to make it mainstream while still authentic. The clean, modern taquerias in San Francisco’s Mission District that appeal to Latino and non-Latino customers alike are a great example. They are run more like Chipotle than traditional taquerias, but their food is real Mexican fare and not some watered-down, Americanized version.

Another successful case I came across recently is La Bodega, the take-out joint of popular Puerto Rican Sol Food Restaurant in San Rafael. The food was delicious, and although I’ve never been to Puerto Rico and know little about its food, I am confident that it is at least close to the real deal.

I went into La Bodega without doing any prior research (which is rare for me). Several weeks ago, I was looking for a lunch spot in San Rafael, and La Bodega’s lime green glass doors caught my eye. The store has an open layout in which the kitchen is right behind the take-out counter, so you can see chefs working at the back as you order your food.

The kitchen was clean, bright, and shiny because stainless steel was everywhere. The staff wore chef’s uniforms. The menu highlighted natural, organic ingredients. The whole set-up instilled confidence into potential customers.

Service was incredibly efficient. Maybe there weren’t many people, I got my food neatly packed in a brown paper bag several minutes after ordering. It was faster than what I experienced at most non-chain take-out restaurants.

I ate at a nearby square. I was lazy and picked a vegetarian platter that had a bit of everything. It included pink bean stew, mixed green salad, one half of an avocado, white rice, and fried plantains.

Combinacione Vegetariano

Given it was fast food, the quality was great. The plantains were the best. There were two types: testones con mojo (fried green plantains served with crushed garlic and olive oil) and maduros (fried yellow plantains). They were crisp but not greasy. The hot stew was perfect for a chilly day.

Reflecting the Bay Area’s ec0-friendly credo, all containers were compostable. The affable woman who took my order took time to ask whether I needed utensils, instead of shoving them into the bag automatically like at most places.

I later walked past Sol Food, La Bodega’s parent, and saw a line outside snaking around the street corner. I was not surprised.

Make no mistake: La Bodega is upscale fast food, so it’s pricier than its traditional counterparts. But the food quality and service are worth the higher price.

Read more about La Bodega on Bay Area Bites.

Finally wrapping up the (2010) holidays

I know your reaction: why am I writing this when February is around the corner?

Happy Holidays…are you serious?

Blame it on some psychological need. I want to round out 2010 with an end-of-the-year post, like what I did for 2009. Plus, at least in the Chinese lunar calendar, we are still in the old year (Year of the Tiger).

I will focus on the holidays.

Our office threw a holiday party just before Christmas. The highlight was paella cooked from scratch on the spot. The chef prepared two versions: traditional seafood and vegetarian. The vegetarian version contained chickpeas, spinach, tomato paste, etc. with a hint of heat from pimentón (Spanish paprika). When the chef was done, he brought the two huge, steaming pans of paella to the center of the office. It was a spectacular sight, and the aroma was irresistible. Everyone gravitated to it.

Vegetarian paella at office’s holiday party

Those who tasted both versions said the vegetarian version was better. I only had the vegetarian one and was very happy with it. The texture of the rice was just right: it still had some form and wasn’t mushy. The ingredients complemented each other nicely.

At home I tried Seattle’s Field Roast’s vegan stuffed hazelnut cranberry roast – vegan sausage stuffed with hazelnuts, cranberries, apples, and crystallized ginger and enclosed in a layer of puff pastry. A very fall-like recipe. The roast was available over the holidays only and ideal as a centerpiece.

Field Roast’s Hazelnut Cranberry Roast

Vegan sausage roast with sautéed spinach and roasted vegetables

I heated the roast along with some diced squash and carrots in the oven, then served it with sautéed spinach. It was incredibly flavorful and substantial. I loved sausages before turning vegetarian. Field Roast’s vegan sausages are excellent and even better than the real thing.

On New Year’s Eve I visited the Ferry Building in San Francisco and had lunch at Il Cane Rosso, a quick-service Italian joint run by famed San Francisco chef Daniel Patterson. I got an avocado sandwich layered with crescenza cheese, sunchokes, and walnut-mint pesto. Staying true to the Bay Area’s food culture, the ingredients were locally produced.

Il Cane Rosso at the Ferry Building

Good but expensive avocado sandwich

While the sandwich was delicious with sophisticated flavors, it was pricey ($9) for a small portion size.

The holidays provided an excuse for indulgence and I certainly had my share of sweets. Of all the cakes, cookies, and treats I had, the best was something simple and cheap: my old favorite Trader Joe's Fruit and Nut Brittle ($3.99).

Addictive Trader Joe’s Fruit and Nut Brittle

It was a killer combination of sweet and salty: cranberries, peanuts, almonds, and cashews. I couldn’t help finishing the whole package once I started.

This year, I am serious about eating less sugar. While I set out to do the same last year and failed, things have been going quite well this time.  Wish me luck!

Have a prosperous Year of the Rabbit!

A tale of three cities

Earlier this month I took a weeklong trip to China. I visited its three most prosperous cities: Beijing, Shanghai, and Hong Kong. The trip was eye-opening as both Beijing and Shanghai have changed immensely since I visited almost a decade ago. I could feel the booming Chinese economy while I was there.

Striking architecture: future CCTV Tower in Beijing, construction has resumed after a serious fire last year

In Beijing, huge plots of land downtown have been transformed into glistening shopping malls and office towers. I reckoned none of the buildings on the street where I stayed was more than ten years old. Keep in mind Beijing is an ancient city, then you recognize the scale of the changes. These can be good or bad, depending on your perspective. The question lingering in my mind: what sacrifices ordinary citizens had to make for them to happen?

Not interested in international brands that filled downtown to the brim, I ventured out to find remnants of old Beijing. My find? A century-old pastry shop dated back to the Qing Dynasty called Daoxiangcun (稻香村;  roughly translated into “Village of Fragrant Rice”). I liked it so much that I went there multiple times during my stay, and brought some of its products back to the US as gifts.

Daoxiangcun started as a single store but has now grown into hundreds of outlets across China. There are tens of outlets in Beijing alone. It sells all kinds of sweet and salty, probably bad-for-you snacks. Most of them are uniquely Chinese, but there are also many Western items. It allows you to buy only one piece of an item so I got to try MANY things.

Some sweets I tried: traditional pastries with fillings of adzuki bean paste, mung bean paste, red date paste, black sesame seed paste, osmanthus paste, pineapple paste; walnut and honey cakes; wafers with peanut paste; fried dough in twists (mahua). Savories: ready-t0-eat shredded tofu sheets, marinated tofu nuggets and mock meat.

Daoxiangcun treats VIEW SLIDE SHOW DOWNLOAD ALL

Almost everything tasted great and was good value. I knew I wouldn’t go wrong as many locals buy Daoxiangcun products for themselves or as gifts. The cost of living in Beijing is surprisingly high (many categories are on par with Hong Kong), so Daoxiangcun is a relative bargain.

I spent two days in Shanghai with my parents. My dad was kind enough to suggest going to a vegetarian restaurant for dinner because both my mom and I are vegetarians. I found Jichancao (吉祥草; roughly translated into “Auspicious Grass”) on Dianping, China’s version of Yelp.

Jichancao’s storefront

Located in the leafy former French Concession, Jichancao has a modern, Zen-style décor with a small Buddhist bookstore appended to it. We ordered savory dishes (pumpkin stew, braised tofu, etc.), Northern dim-sums (steamed dumplings, Chinese flatbread/shaobing), noodles, and sweet rice dumplings to round out the meal. Overall the food was delicious in a Shanghainese way (greasy with a hint of sweetness). The meal was not expensive either given Shanghai’s living standards.

Braised tofu with tomatoes, mushrooms, napa cabbage, Chinese celery

(From left) Pumpkin stew, sweet rice dumplings, Chinese flatbread with diced dill fillings

The most elaborate meal I had during my trip was in Hong Kong. My mom managed to book a table at the talk-of-the-town Amy’s House (愛美素食坊), a vegetarian “private kitchen” in a residential building that serves only one table during each meal period. We had lunch there, and chef Amy presented eight courses typical of a Cantonese dinner banquet. Completely self-taught and now in her late 50s or even 60s, Amy created an innovative feast of different flavors and textures from appetizers to desserts.

The best course was the coral seaweed salad appetizer with shredded carrots, cucumbers, tomatoes, and guavas. Then there were imitations of Cantonese classics such as pan-fried shark’s fin, steamed chicken, and braised pork belly. Amy gave each dish a poetic name and asked us to guess its ingredients before putting it onto the table. The entire experience was like a show.

Best in show: coral seaweed salad with wasabi soy sauce

More appetizers: spring rolls and fried Chinese squash

Pan-fried imitation shark’s fin topped with braised pumpkin and snow peas

Imitation steamed chicken (tofu sheets) topped with bok choy, minced ginger and spring onions

No doubt Amy is a masterful cook given the complexity of each dish, but the cooking sometimes masked the original flavors of the ingredients. I found the imitation braised beef taste too much like real beef too. Don’t get me wrong: the meal was wonderful, and I appreciated that my mom arranged it for me.

Back in the US, I felt even more grateful to be living in the Bay Area. Although Amy bought her ingredients fresh from the market daily, the quality of the produce here seems better.

Like the last time I was in Hong Kong, I enjoyed eating at home with my family the most though. Too bad I only had time to do this once on the trip.

To my family and friends, happy 2011 wherever you are!

Sweets in Portland

Yummy fresh mint flake and banana cream pie ice cream from Ruby Jewel

You don’t think I would miss out on sweets during my trip to Portland, OR, do you? I need a separate post on all the ones I tried.

As a foodie city, Portland has great dessert options, especially on the vegan front. Like savories, some of the most interesting sweets are from food carts.

Along Mississippi Avenue I found Flavorspot, a long-standing waffle sandwich cart. I ordered a sweet cream and jam waffle. Because the waffle was made on the spot, it was warm and crisp. The fillings were not cloyingly sweet. It was a simple yet satisfying sandwich.

Flavorspot “food cart,” though it’s really a stand

Freshly made sweet cream and jam waffle

In the Hawthorne cart pod, Perierra Crêperie offers a wide variety of savory and sweet crêpes. I got something simple here too: a lemon and sugar crêpe. The girl who took my order zested the lemons, poured the batter onto the crêpe pan, then finished the crêpe in a couple of minutes.

A taste of France: Perierra Crêperie

My lemon and sugar crêpe

The crêpe was fresh (half of what makes a good crêpe) but bland-tasting. Luckily, the vibe of the cart made up for it. The two girls running the cart wore retro-style aprons and played French-sounding songs in the background. They were cheerful, full of energy, and having fun. It’d be a stretch to say I felt I were in Paris, but they put me in a groovy mood.

Portland was hot when I was there, so ice cream immediately came to mind. I read a Portland Monthly Magazine article on the best ice cream in Portland, and managed to try one of the places featured. Lovely’s Fifty-Fifty on Mississippi Avenue (yes, this street has a lot of great food) is a pizzeria that also sells house-made ice cream. I tried the cherry and salted caramel flavors. Both were rich and intense and I even bit into chunks of cherries. It certainly didn’t skimp on ingredients.

Excellent cherry and salted caramel ice cream from Lovely’s Fifty-Fifty

Just a couple blocks down from Lovely’s Fifty-Fifty is Ruby Jewel, a local ice cream producer known for its ice cream sandwiches. The store is a cavernous space with a nostalgic, diner-style décor meant for people to linger. It has a larger menu than Lovely’s Fifty-Fifty, and even several vegan flavors. However, the vegan blueberry lavender flavor I tasted didn’t impress me, so I went with fresh mint flake and banana cream pie.

Welcoming Ruby Jewel ice cream store

The ice cream was excellent. As American-style ice cream, it was almost as good as San Francisco’s favorite Bi-Rite Creamery. But I liked the lighter, gelato-like variant at Lovely’s Fifty-Fifty better.

Well, I had dessert for breakfast too. The vegan Black Sheep Bakery has a stand in the mainstream PSU Farmers' Market – another proof that Portland is vegan haven. My huge apple-spice crumb cake was wonderfully moist, and didn’t have the off-taste often found in vegan cakes that contain no eggs.

Black Sheep Bakery’s apple-spice crumb cake

The best dessert that I had? A slice of vegan hazelnut cake with strawberry frosting from the vegan Back to Eden Bakery in the Alberta Arts District.  My cake was perfect, especially its slightly coarse texture due to the ground hazelnuts in the batter. The frosting was at just the right level of sweetness.

Perfect vegan hazelnut cake with strawberry frosting

All-vegan Back to Eden Bakery

I also spoke to the two owners of the bakery. They were young, charming, or even innocent-looking. The bakery’s website says it is committed to “a love for the animals, and a love for this planet,” and this is evident from the artwork lining the walls and the carefully picked green merchandise. They really put their heart into the store.

Perhaps this is the best part of Portland: young people following their ideals and trying out ideas, be they a food cart or vegan bakery, which might otherwise be impossible in more expensive cities such as New York and San Francisco.

Sweetpea Baking Company in Portland’s “vegan mall” complex

I was disappointed with Sweetpea Baking Company though - the vegan bakery supposed to represent Portland’s vegan scene. I might have gone there too late in the afternoon; there wasn’t much to buy. Maybe the staff were being laid-back, but they seemed too hip or busy with whatever they were doing to talk to me.

Redwoods in Portland’s beautiful Hoyt Arboretum

Portland’s International Rose Test Garden in full bloom

With its beautiful outdoors, youthful spirit, offbeat yet authentic character, Portland is a great place to visit, whether you’re vegan or not. I left Portland with a full stomach and hoped I would soon return.

Veg and hip: not SF

Yes, you read right.

Portland, Oregon consistently ranks as one of the most vegetarian-friendly cities in the U.S, even ahead of San Francisco. It’s also known for being hip and progressive. During my stay there over Labor Day weekend, I experienced all these and more.

Bustling Portland Saturday Farmers’ Market

Nowhere I’ve been takes vegetarians and vegans more seriously than Portland. I rarely have problems finding things to eat at restaurants in the U.S., but in many cases I need to ask whether a dish contains meat. In Portland, restaurants indicate vegetarian and vegan options clearly, not to mention the large number of vegetarian spots, given Portland’s small size. You won’t draw a blank look if you tell people you’re a vegan.

Vegetarian food in Portland is not only abundant, but also creative and affordable. This is most evident from its 500+ food cart scene. While some carts serve regular fast food, many pride themselves on artisan/gourmet/one-of-a-kind offerings normally found (or not found) in restaurants. My most interesting meals in Portland were all from the carts.

The carts are clustered in “pods” scattered across the city. There is usually a communal dining area with picnic tables in each pod. I checked out various pods, and liked the two in the residential area where I stayed in northeastern Portland the most.

In the Mississippi Marketplace pod, I tried the chickpea sandwich ($6.5) from the Garden State cart. The made-t0-order sandwich consisted of a fried chickpea patty, shredded carrots, radishes, lettuces, and lemon aioli layered between ciabatta bread. The sandwich had a great bite, the fillings were warm and crunchy, and the crispy bread soaked up the creamy aioli sauce. It was the first thing I ate in Portland and I was blown away.

Garden State food cart

Warm, made-to-order chickpea sandwich

Then I had the quinoa pancake ($4.5) from the organic, all-vegan Ruby Dragon cart. The cart owner wore a thick beard and dreadlocks – probably what a visitor expects Portland’s hippies to look like. But Ruby Dragon puts out seriously good food. The “Tiger’s Paw” pancake is made from fresh ground quinoa flour and hempseeds, with blueberries and walnuts mixed into the batter.  Also made-to-order then topped with maple syrup, it had a fragrant, nutty flavor and complex texture. One of the best pancakes I’ve ever had.

Ruby Dragon food cart

One of the best I’ve ever had: quinoa and hempseed pancake

For dinner, how about a Venezuelan platter from the Fuego de Lotus (literally fire of lotus) food cart in the Alberta Arts District? This was the first time I had Venezuelan food and I loved it. The “Revolutionaries Plate” ($7) included arepas (masa cakes), cilantro rice, black beans topped with cotija (a sharp, white cheese of Mexican origin), and cabbage salad. The warm, homey food was the perfect antidote to a breezy night.

Venezuelan “Revolutionaries Plate”

Another upside of this pod: diners eat under a cabana-like structure with decorative light strings dangling over the beams. It felt DIY yet elegant. I could see the sky and a few lonesome stars when I ate. With music blaring in the background, this would be a wonderful date spot.

Fuego de Lotus food cart

The other night I got a slice of vegan pizza ($3.5) at Bella Faccia Pizzeria on Alberta Street. The pizza was decent: tempeh crumbles, onions, bell peppers, tomatoes on top of a “cashew/roasted pepper/tomato base” and thin crust. A very small but growing number of pizzerias now offer vegan pizzas, but you usually have to order an entire pie. I was impressed that Bella Faccia had vegan slices readily available.

Vegan pizza slice from Bella Faccia Pizzeria

But there were misses too. One was the vegan poutine ($4.5) from the popular Potato Champion cart in the offbeat Hawthorne District. Poutine is a classic Quebec dish of Belgian frites and cheese curds doused in gravy. Maybe I should have tried the regular version, but the gravy smothering the frites and tofu (instead of cheese) in my vegan version was too thick. I could almost taste the cornstarch in it.

Potato Champion food cart specializing in fried potato

Vegan poutine from Potato Champion

Most food carts in Portland are run by young people about my age. I wondered whether they did this as a career, or a stepping stone to something else, like becoming a chef at a restaurant. I felt it’s the former.

Running a food cart is tough – almost like running an outdoor restaurant – but the cart owners seemed content with it. They chatted with one another in the pod over cigarettes and beer during downtime. Their life looked carefree to an outsider. Is this what being a hippie in Portland means?

My best food experience in Portland, however, didn’t require psychoanalysis and was strikingly simple. I came across Freddy Guys Hazelnuts at the Portland State University Saturday Market, the city’s flagship farmers’ market. The dry roasted hazelnuts ($5) I bought there were heaven.

Best of Portland: farm-fresh dry roasted hazelnuts

The hazelnuts had a fresh, intense, slightly sweet flavor, and were super-crunchy after they were roasted. Salt was unnecessary. After I opened the package, I couldn’t stop eating. (Well, this happens whenever I eat nuts.) California produces top-quality almonds and walnuts – but no hazelnuts. I will probably order from Freddy Guys in the future.

Stay tuned for my second post on my trip to Portland. You might have noticed that a whole category of food is conspicuously missing from this post…

Refreshing Saturday hike, vegan lunch, and more

After a busy week at work, I was frazzled and desperately needed some fresh air. So I went hiking over the weekend.

San Andreas Reservoir after the rain

My destination was San Andreas Trail along the ridge separating San Francisco Bay and the Pacific Ocean. I was drawn to it by its views and this was my first time there. The weather was dreary with some drizzles, so there were fewer people than usual. All the better because I can’t stand crowds.

The hike was short but rejuvenating. The sun re-emerged after the rain and bounced off the water in the tranquil San Andreas Reservoir. The air was clean and crisp. I even saw deer along the trail. My composure returned.

Not in a zoo…deer grazing along the trail

What’d be better than a raw, vegan lunch after a refreshing hike? I picked the interestingly named Que SeRaw SeRaw in Burlingame, which I’ve meant to try for a long time.

The store was small and all its products were in a refrigerated case for take-out. Knowing it’s my first visit, the cheerful storeowner recommended the mock tuna pate, a white mixture made from ground almonds, sunflower seeds, tahini, celery, and other ingredients. At $7, it was quite pricey for two small mounds of pate.

Que SeRaw SeRaw storefront in Burlingame

I was pretty hungry so I also grabbed a packet of Judy’s Breadsticks dipping sticks from the natural food store next door. Then I sat outside and enjoyed my lunch.

Perfect match:  Judy’s Breadsticks and mock tuna pate

The pate was remarkably fresh and had a toothsome texture. It tasted a bit like tuna salad (probably from the kelp powder), but without the fishy smell. It complemented the crunchy dipping sticks perfectly. I’d love to try other products from the store in the future.

Although the sun came out, it was still breezy. I rounded out my lunch with a steaming cup of cafe au lait. It’s amazing how simple things like this satisfied me.

After the hike and a healthy lunch, I felt I had a good excuse to indulge myself in the evening. I wanted to use up a can of sweet adzuki bean paste that had been standing in my pantry for months. I made a vegan adzuki bean paste cake.

I spread the bean paste on top of a cake base made from a recipe in Dreena Burton’s Eat Drink and Be Vegan. To give the cake a more mochi-like texture, I substituted some of the wheat flour with glutinous rice flour.

Sweet ending: adzuki bean cake

The bean paste turned out to be too sweet for my taste. Nonetheless, the cake was a great end for the day.

My best friend in weight control

Fire-roasted tomato soup with rainbow chards, black-eyed peas, and Tofurky vegetarian sausages

Almost all of the food media I’ve read recently had a feature on soups. This is hardly surprising since eating soups is a great way to stay warm during the winter. How can I offer a fresh take on a much-written topic? 

While I am not on a diet to lose weight, I’ve found soups to be very effective in making me feel full with relatively few calories. Obviously I’m not a dietician, but I feel confident to share my experience because I’ve read a lot and tried different things to maintain my weight successfully.

The high water content of soups is key. I drink a lot of water at work not only because doctors tell us to do so, but it also helps me stave off hunger, especially on a drowsy afternoon. I am able to resist junk food most of the time because of this. The same applies to soups, and thank god, they are a lot more flavorful.

The other point about soups is more subtle. I strongly believe we eat with our eyes – figuratively, not literally of course. I am intrigued by the findings by Prof. Brian Wanshik, bestselling author of Mindless Eating and founder of Cornell’s Food and Brand Lab. His research reveals that we respond to visual cues when eating, so we subconsciously eat more if we have a bigger plate, for instance.

Soups “trick” us in believing that we’ve had a lot of food by their sheer volume. Whereas the ingredients in one serving of soup may take up a small plate only. When I eat soup at home, I deliberately use smaller bowls so I can have multiple helpings to reinforce this “illusion.” You think it’s BS? It works.

Then there are practical reasons for having soups. I cook soups over weekends to use up ingredients in my fridge. Soups are forgiving so less-than-perfect ingredients do not affect the outcome noticeably. Even when a recipe calls for broth, I just use water without losing much flavor.

As always, my soups are easy to put together, usually in less than an hour. I don’t have a blender so pureed soups are out of my league. Because I often work after I return home now, I haven’t tackled time-consuming soups as much as I want.

Easy miso-soup with spinach,  tofu, and enoki mushrooms topped with nori seaweeds

Two things the more weight-conscious of you probably know already: soups made with a lot of cream, potatoes, etc. probably won’t help you with your weight. Same if you eat a lot of bread with your soup, as I tend to do.

Losing weight is hard.

Not exactly a diet recipe but good for a cold night: rice noodles with mixed vegetables in spicy broth

Enjoy the three soups I bring you today at least: fire-roasted tomato soup with rainbow chard, black-eyed peas, and Tofurky vegetarian sausages (probably my most favorite fake meat); miso soup with spinach, tofu, and enoki mushrooms; and rice noodles with mixed vegetables in spicy broth.