TrelayneNYC

Sunday dinner: In case you're wondering, that's 1 tbsp. lard and 2 tbsp. olive oil. I prefer cooking with lard whenever possible because (1) it's an ingredient that's gone out of style, and (2) it lends so much richness to dishes that you really don't need much to add flavor. A little goes a long way. I know you're wondering, is there a point to all of these photographs of vegetables? Well, the point is: even though this is a pot of soup, there is a technique. You're basically adding the vegetables in a certain order - the aromatics first, followed by the hard vegetables, then the not-as-hard vegetables, all the way to the delicate greens and tomato. You're also sautéing the vegetables in the fats and seasoning in layers so that each addition builds on the progression of ingredients that came before. Add 5 cups cold water. Bring this mixture to a boil, then reduce heat to low and simmer for two hours. Taste for salt if necessary. About 1 hour into the process, I then added 2 cups cooked chickpeas and the remaining parsley. Ceci are not traditional, but I happen to like them over the usual cannellini beans. Since this pot was made in advance, I puréed 2 ladlefuls in a blender, then added it back to the pot, then heated it until warmed through. You don't have to purée the soup, but I find that it helps to thicken it. I prefer to purée instead of adding pasta. Minestrone, served with freshly grated Parmigiano-Reggiano cheese and extra-virgin olive oil Bananas for dessert

Italian for dinner on Saturday and Sunday. Saturday first: Cozze in tegame ("mussels with onion, garlic and wine"), served with sourdough toast Frutta di macedonia (Italian fruit salad - literally diced mixed fruit macerated in lemon juice and sugar) for dessert

Scenes from this weekend: Enchiladas con mole de pollo - sauce of chiles, chocolate, nuts, shredded chicken, tortillas, onion and queso fresco. Tacos de carnitas - two tacos of braised pork, orange, bay leaf, milk, cinnamon, beer, jalapeño, onion, cilantro and tomatillo salsa. Nopalito 306 Broderick Street (Oak Street) http://www.nopalitosf.com/

Spaghetti con aglio, bottarga e prezzemolo (spaghetti with garlic, bottarga and parsley) Watermelon for dessert

We went to Prospect for dinner on Saturday. Prospect 300 Spear Street (Folsom Street) Embarcadero http://www.prospectsf.com/ I want to say that we loved it. Well, it's probably more accurate to say that my partner likes it. It was just "ok" for me. We might return for lunch, but I think there are better in SF. Thoughts and impressions: * When you come by within literally 1 minute after your guests are seated and ask them if they want anything to drink (other than water), WE HAVEN'T HAD TIME TO LOOK AT THE MENU OR THE WINE LIST!!! And then, you compound that by vanishing into the ether and not coming by to take our orders for 10 more minutes. * I had heard of restaurants not giving out bread and butter as you would normally expect them to do. We had to eventually ask for some. Always an adventure dining out in San Francisco. * Would someone please tell FOH staff everywhere that reciting specials without telling your guests how much they cost is a turn-off? It makes you seem uninformed and disorganized. * A girl sitting at the table next to us managed to break the glassware within 5 minutes of being seated. That's a first, at least for me. * Prospect is another restaurant that has minimal sound absorption. True, there is a carpet on the floor which does absorb some noise, but when you couple that with plentiful wooden surfaces, square tables with no tablecloths, wooden benches with suede cushions, etc., the result is that it can be impossible to carry on a conversation without shouting. The room emptied out about two-thirds of the way through our dinner after which the difference in loudness was quite noticeable. We paid $260 for the pleasure of dining there (includes a 20% tip). At least the food was ok and saved the evening. Seared sea scallops, smoked clams, celtuce purée, chowder broth. Foie gras, pear butter, Bartlett pear, black sesame brioche. Berkshire pork chop, cacio e pepe potatoes, broccoli di cicco. Halibut, brown butter cauliflower, chard, grapes. I'm reminded of "the parade of brown food" which is a line from Ruth Reichl's review of Le Cirque back in the mid-1990s, and is equally applicable here. Lemon sour cream pie, caramel sauce. Almond frangipane cake, burrata ice cream, corn flakes, blackberries.

@DaveO - thanks! Clockwise from top left: 1 whole chicken, cut up by our butcher into nine pieces (two breasts, two legs, two wings, two thighs and the backbone); chopped parsley and chopped dill; 1 lb. chicken feet, trimmed of its nails and hacked apart by a Japanese chef's knife; 2 large onions, unpeeled and diced; parsley stems; 1 tbsp. salt; 1 tbsp. black peppercorns; 4 celery stalks, chopped; 8 carrots, peeled and chopped; 2 parsnips, peeled and chopped.

buttered toast topped with gribenes hard-boiled eggs mango lassi @DonRocks - the chicken skin becomes schmaltz once the fat is rendered and then eventually gribenes. I like to combine it with onion. gribenes is a traditional seasoning for chopped liver, from what I understand. and is great on just about any savory thing. the matzo ball batter had 4 tbsp. schmaltz which I had subbed in place of the usual vegetable oil. that ramped up the flavor by a factor of ten and made them that much richer. three balls were sufficient for last night's dinner. if anyone wants to fly to San Francisco and take the extra off of our hands, you'll be more than welcome.

for schmaltz and gribenes guess what I'm having for breakfast today

Chicken soup with matzo balls. B raved about it and declared the matzo balls "the best I've ever had!". Well now, I'll have to remember this recipe for the future. And start saving more chicken skin too. Fresh cantaloupe for dessert.

Matzo balls, just for Don I'll start on the soup tomorrow. Incidentally, we bought to go along with the usual chicken soup ingredients. To be continued....

We went to Frances for dinner tonight. I can see why this restaurant is consistently ranked in the top 10 establishments in San Francisco. Perhaps we need another visit to compare notes but having said that, neither B nor myself were impressed enough to return right away. The company was wonderful though, and that saved the evening. Applewood smoked bacon beignets, with maple chive crème fraîche.Nice "snack" to start. Light, airy and there was just enough maple in the crème fraîche to be of interest. Watermelon and Early Girl tomato gazpacho, with Gulf shrimp, English cucumber and shiso. Little Gem salad, with heirloom tomatoes, avocado, smoked bacon, pecorino and balsamic vinaigrette. Sounded wonderful on paper, but not in execution. Too much dressing on the lettuce - if I can see it and it's pooling on the bottom of the plate, then someone had better restrain their hand in the kitchen. Croutons were tough. And the balance of flavors clashed against the wine we were drinking. Seared snapper, with fregola, Castelvetrano olives, pistachio fennel slaw. Duck confit, with habañero stone fruit jam, ricotta dumplings, and grilled broccolini. The duck was dry and a touch overcooked, the jam of little interest (barely spicy and nearly sweet enough to be ketchup). The dumplings were just "ok" and the broccolini might as well have been raw. If they were grilled, I didn't detect anything that tasted as if they were cooked that way. And yes, those are also grilled turnips. At least those were prepared well. Roasted cauliflower and Gala apple fondue, Nicasio reserve, pickled grape. The English language has only so many ways to write "mediocrity". Clearly prepared well, but totally uninteresting to me. As if roasted cauliflower needed a cheese sauce. The grapes which were clearly there to lend acidity/contrast were just an afterthought. BTW this "side" which consists of maybe 5 tablespoons of food, cost $10. WTF?!? Blistered Romano beans, pepita and nigella crunch, arugula and sunflower pesto. We were comped this side by the kitchen. I hated the pesto, the crunch didn't contribute anything, and the beans were "ok". There are four elements in that bowl that don't belong there IMHO. Warm apple crumble cake, with butterscotch and cinnamon brittle ice cream. Somewhat better, although B remarked that the cake reminded him of a muffin. He could've been eating breakfast. Lumberjack cake with Medjool dates, Yali pear, apple and muscovado ice cream. Dense, flavorful but not moist cake saved by intensely flavored ice cream. The dates were "fine". They also contributed nothing IMHO. You can detect a trend - too many ingredients that don't make sense together and aren't interesting. But lots of folks like this place so maybe it's just me. My main criticism is - if you're going to charge top dollar with your two most expensive dishes on the menu in the mid-$30s, then you had better damn well make sure that what you're serving is perfect. I wanted to like Frances. I really do. Their style of cooking is market-driven and it's what moves me, but all the little things add up and based on this experience, it'll be a while before we return. Other observations: there is very little sound absorption in the restaurant. In fact, it might be more accurate to say that there is none. It's all wooden surfaces with square tables and wooden benches. Even with the restaurant half full and windows/doors open, prepare to be swallowed up by a wall of sound. We had to lean in against each other in order to be able to make ourselves heard. Frances3870 17th Street (Pond Street)The Castro http://www.frances-sf.com/

B and I have dinner at a restaurant in San Francisco that's nearly impossible to get into - at least for us, anyway - so I decided to start on tomorrow night's dinner in advance. I whipped up a batch of schmaltz and gribenes. Then: I prepared some matzo ball batter which will be finished tomorrow. This mixture needs to rest in the fridge for at least one hour. I suppose I can cook the balls tonight too. Actually, now that I think about it, that's probably better.

Hm, I don't think I posted in this thread. A few of you know me from eGullet and Mouthfulsfood. These days I spend most of my time on Facebook and Twitter. This board is the only food board I engage with, probably because the folks who are behind the scenes run a tight ship. My name is Stan (my friends call me Stash), I'm in my late 40s, and I live in San Francisco. I cook and I know things.

That happened last week to us. We were in the middle of the first course when the kitchen sent out the meatloaf. Now, I'm a fast eater, but I wasn't up to my usual standard because it was also date night for my partner and I. But we didn't mind, esp. since the restaurant we were at bills itself as an "upscale diner".

B and I had our weekly date night Friday night - first at a kind of an "upscale diner", then at a performance of Hamlet at the American Conservatory Theater. I found out later that the SF Chronicle had rated it a 3 out of 5 which was in line with our assessment afterwards. Some great soliloquies but overall quite lacking in the passion department. Oh, but you're here for the food pix. Daily Grill 347 Geary (Powell Street) Union Square Crab cake, beurre blanc. For $17. Mostly lump meat crab, very little filler. Next time I'll make my own. Gazpacho. A mediocre version - the green thing you see in there is avocado. I'm not picky about what we eat AS LONG AS IT'S MADE CORRECTLY. If it's not made correctly, why is it on the menu? Meatloaf and creamed spinach. Very good. We should have stuck with this instead but I was starving by the time we got to the restaurant. And speaking of which, now I have a craving for meatloaf so maybe that will be for dinner sometime this week. Worst strawberry shortcake ever. B tried to steer me to the key lime pie or banana cream pie instead but unfortunately my eyes had different ideas. I guess I ordered wrong. Oh well, strike another restaurant off the list.

We had French for dinner last night. Roast chicken was the entrée. The bird was seasoned with salt and pepper inside and out several hours ahead. Prior to roasting, I stuffed the cavity with lemon wedges, rosemary and thyme sprigs, and garlic cloves, then trussed it. Roasted for 15 minutes at 450 F, then for 1 hour and 20 minutes at 350 F per the 1997 edition of Joy of Cooking. And for our side, I made a batch of ratatouille from Volume 1 of Mastering the Art of French Cooking by Julia Child, pages 503-504. Not a bad way to start the week, don't you think?

$10-$20 for chardonnay or riesling is not expensive. Or even $5 bottles of chardonnay. That's what we use to cook with. Two-Buck Chuck is perfectly fine. $100 bottles of champagne is a different story. For me, there's a difference between $5 chardonnay and a $5 bottle of "cooking wine" which has salt and other crap added into it. Choose the wine instead.

Orecchiette with sausage and broccoli Next time, I will have to be more specific and tell my partner to get RAW UNCOOKED Italian sausage instead of simply "a package of Italian sausage". Oh well. Turned out ok in the end, made possible by a tablespoon of lard and some Parmigiano-Reggiano.

Since @Pat liked my figs so much, here's round 2: Roasted pluots and plums with honey and Marsala Pluots are a hybrid of plums and apricots. If you don't have any, substitute plums. Pre-heat oven to 400 F. Slice fruit in half. Twist apart and remove pits. Slice into wedges. Transfer fruit to a small bowl and add: 2 tbsp. honey, rosemary needles from one sprig and 1/4 tsp. crushed fennel seeds. Transfer to a baking dish, cut side down, and pour over 1/4 cup Marsala wine and 1 tbsp. extra-virgin olive oil. Season to taste with salt and black pepper. Roast for 15 minutes. At the end of that time, remove from oven and flip the wedges over. Spoon juices atop fruit, then return to the oven and roast for 5 more minutes. When done, plate and serve immediately. Fried egg served atop tomato salad (diced tomato, 1 tbsp. minced Italian parsley, 2 tbsp. minced cilantro, 1 tbsp. minced scallions, 1/2 tsp. lime juice, salt, black pepper, extra-virgin olive oil) and crispy garlic toast (sliced country-style bread rubbed with a crushed garlic clove and olive oil, seasoned with salt and pepper, and toasted for 2-3 minutes). I prefer serving eggs this way so that as you cut into the egg, the yolk drips into the tomato salad and makes a fabulous and delicious mess. As you can tell, I don't believe in serving traditional breakfasts or brunch. Actually, I think the traditional American breakfast of eggs, bacon (or other meat) and potatoes (or other starch) is really boring. And as I remarked to B yesterday, if I'm going to have eggs for breakfast or brunch, I'll do it on my own terms.

Glad you liked them. We're having roasted plums with honey and Marsala for brunch tomorrow, and a few other things. Will post a pictorial so stay tuned for that. Baked chicken with olives and tomato Pearl couscous with onion, cumin and golden raisins

Brunch for September 16, 2017: Frisée salad with duck fat croutons, guanciale and soft-boiled egg Leftover zucchini parmigiana Melon and peach fruit salad

This effect is even more pronounced at the Oculus Eataly. Lots more schlock prominently placed in an area that's inescapable.

Steamed red snapper, Cantonese style Steamed brown rice Cardamom currant snickerdoodles for dessert

Apparently there is now a second location in NYC, in the Oculus. Here are some pix from earlier this year. It's MUCH bigger than the 23rd Street locale, and a pleasure to walk through. Less crowded too, which cannot be said for the former.

Spicy cauliflower braised with tomato Poached eggs