TrelayneNYC

I like photos that are 640x580 in size, approx. They're halfway between full size and thumbnail size and are large enough for people to see without their having to click on the thumbnail. I waver between the two as you can see.

House salad with soy and ume vinaigrette. I'm so glad it's something other than the ubiquitous carrot-ginger dressing that seems to be universally shared at other Japanese restaurants elsewhere in this country. Japanese-style fried chicken, served with lemon and hot mustard. Greaseless and expertly fried, but you can get better elsewhere in San Francisco. Chicken ramen with paitan broth, chicken chashu, soft-boiled egg, negi, kikurage mushrooms and bean sprouts. In a word: awesome. Hakata tonkotsu (Hakata-style ramen with rich pork broth, simmered pork belly, soft-boiled egg, negi, kikurage mushrooms and bean sprouts). Marufuku 1581 Webster Street (Geary Blvd.) Japantown

Asparagus, carrots, potatoes, shallots, herbs (parsley, thyme, rosemary), chicken, eggs, strawberries, leeks.

Brunch menu for April 15, 2017: Roasted asparagus, hard-cooked egg, summer truffle vinaigrette Radicchio and spring lettuce salad with fava beans and ham

Sunday dinner (April 16, 2017): Striped sea bass with celery-lemon salsa and celery root purée Green salad, shallot vinaigrette Fresh fruit

Saturday dinner (April 15, 2017): Roast chicken with summer truffles Broccoli rabe, peas and spinach with ponzu and furikake Roasted vegetables, summer truffle vinaigrette Strawberries macerated in lemon juice and sugar

Clockwise from top left: unsalted butter; blanched asparagus that was sliced on a bias; eggs; pea shoot flowers. Lightly grease two ramekins with butter, then add asparagus. Season with salt and black pepper. Add eggs, then a little more salt and black pepper. Place ramekins in a baking dish and add enough boiling water so that the water comes half-way up their sides. Bake for 15 minutes in a pre-heated 400 F oven or until whites are set and yolks are starting to firm up. When done, remove. Top with pea shoot flowers and minced chives. Serve immediately. Baked eggs with asparagus. Chicken hash. Last week we had bai qie ji (poached chicken, Cantonese style) if you remember. We had a nearly picked clean chicken carcass that had some breast and wing meat leftover. I took the breast meat, diced it, then combined with shallots, butter, olive oil, pancetta, pinot gris, chicken stock, salt, black pepper; peeled, seeded and diced tomatoes; oregano and Italian parsley. I feel that chicken breast is one of the most boring cuts of meat ever invented or created, and I say that as someone who used to eat a lot of it. It really needs something to spruce it up. BTW if you're wondering, I'm not a trained cook. I taught myself how to cook over the years, and a lot of my inspiration comes from reading cookbooks, dining out, reading restaurant menus, seeing what other people have for dinner on Facebook, Twitter and on this site, and from other places. When I was living in New York, I would go to restaurants and try to sit at the pass just so I could watch chefs cook, take notes and attempt to replicate their efforts later. It's been a worthwhile education.

Roasted asparagus topped with a fried egg. No pic of the fried egg unfortunately. Tokyo turnips and turnip greens, with pistachio and Indian spices.

We had dinner at Petit Crenn tonight. House-made brioche, butter, sea salt. Trio of canapes. Top: French breakfast radishes, herb butter. Middle: Gruyere gougères, Bottom: Oysters with shallot and samphire; tuna crudo, radish, shrimp cracker; cured trout, trout roe. Seafood bouillabaisse, with clams, mussels, potato and fennel. Sourdough bread, with butter, crème fraîche and espelette pepper. Pan-seared turbot, celeriac mousseline, pea shoot, with beurre blanc and herb oil. Gnocchi à la Parisienne, beurre noisette, mushrooms. Whole-roasted cauliflower, almond crumble. Endive salad with green goddess dressing, shaved beets and Comté cheese. Valhrona Manjari chocolate ganache, brown butter crumble, grapefruit and orange, lime curd, buttermilk snow. Mignardises. Background: strawberry chambord gelée. Middle: salted caramels. Foreground: strawberry macaron. It was awesome. We'll be back; count on it. If I had a criticism, I would say that the middle course was too monochromatic. And I'm not exactly a fan of whole-roasted cauliflower; the top gets crispy but the middle is decidedly a bit too crunchy for my palate. Service charge is included. With two glasses of wine, tax and additional gratuity, it came out to $125 per person. Petit Crenn 609 Hayes Street (Laguna Street) Hayes Valley

PS. The amount of food I shot pictures of is about 1/4 of the entire brunch buffet just to give you an example of the scale that we're discussing.

Left to right: vegan chocolate chip cookies; snickerdoodle cookies; magic bar (round and square); warm chocolate cake; strawberry rhubarb crisp. Pretzels, candied apples, cake pops. This was the only buffet we ate during our trip. It's supposedly one of the better buffets in Las Vegas for that price point.

Left to right: roast turkey; roast pork; roast ham (?) Left to right: pierogies in cream sauce; vegetable tamales; Spanish rice; minestrone. Left to right: nori pork rinds; marinated olives with herbs and poached garlic; edamame seasoned with sea salt and sesame oil. Left to right: cheesecake bites; yuzu lime bar; creme brulee; Thai iced tea custard cups; carrot cake; lime cones; coffee custard cake; strawberry cake; miniature cupcakes. I don't remember what these were, only that they're sugar-free.

Marinated artichokes. Caponata. Grilled head-on shrimp with fennel and lemon. Crepe stuffed with banana and hazelnut. Hazelnut gelato. Excellent from what little I tasted. Da Flora (inside the Venetian hotel and casino). Lobster eggs benedict, potato cake. This was from one of the restaurants at the Encore. I don't remember which one. Huevos rancheros, crema, avocado and black corn tortilla. Deceptively substantial. Foie gras, bourbon bread pudding, orange cherry salad Porterhouse steak with onions and carrots. We couldn't finish it and took it back to our room. We ended up tossing it out -- the hotel staff aren't allowed to accept gratuities from the guests and that includes food. On our first night in Vegas, the room next to us had leftover Champagne which was offered to us by the cleaning lady. (No, we didn't take it -- my partner and I are very cheap dates light drinkers.) Brown butter cake, blueberry compote, Meyer lemon curd, corn ice cream Pork khao soi at Lotus of Siam In my next post, I'll show you pix of the buffet menu at the Encore. To be clear, the first five pictures are from a lunch at Da Flora; the lobster eggs benedict and the foie gras, steak and dessert are from two different restaurants in the Encore. I thought I'd toss some of the food-related pictures in Vegas that I took into one post. The first pic is an interior of Wazuzu, the Encore's pan-Asian restaurant. It's predictable Asian food cooked by (presumably) non-Asians and catered to mostly non-Asians -- somewhat acceptable while simultaneously managing to be devoid of interest. Sorry if that offends but I'd rather be honest than sugar coat. The meal we had there was mostly forgettable. The second pic is an interior of Costa di Mare, a mostly fish-based Italian restaurant inside the connecting corridor between the Wynn and the Encore. Maybe we'll go there next time we're in Vegas. The last interior is a shot inside the open kitchen at Da Flora.

Part of it was originally based on a Heritage Foundation idea (i.e., a conservative think tank). Oct 20, 2011 - "How the Heritage Foundation, a Conservative Think Tank, Promoted the Individual Mandate" by Avik Roy on forbes.com Feb 8, 2012 - "Heritage Rewrites History" by James Taranto on wsj.com Nov 15, 2013 - "Is the ACA the GOP Health Care Plan from 1993?" by Jon Greenberg on politifact.com It's the height of supreme irony that we are here at this particular juncture in our nation's history.

Lotus of Siam was amazing during our visit to LV last August. I had my first and last introduction to a Vegas buffet at our hotel, the Encore. Good value for $50, but one thing I will never forget was seeing the lines of tourists queue up for scrambled eggs, bacon and toast instead of the sushi, congree and dim sum that were on offer. I have pix in my archives that I'll upload when I get home. I was thinking to myself, "this is the Vegas equivalent of tourists going to Olive Garden in New York; so depressing".

Bai qie ji (Cantonese poached chicken), served with ginger-scallion sauce and steamed brown rice. Cara Cara oranges for dessert.

Salad greens with asparagus, homemade salt-and-vinegar potato chips and hard-cooked egg.

Chioggia beet and Cara Cara orange salad with shallot vinaigrette and mint crème fraîche. Leek ravioli with ricotta cheese and pancetta, served with Meyer lemon-butter sauce and Parmigiano-Reggiano cheese. First time making ravioli too. The ones in the background were my first attempt, and I discovered that a teaspoonful of filling per raviolo was too much. The dough was also too thick. You can see how much thinner and smaller the successive ones are as you proceed to the foreground. B pronounced the pasta a success and we'll be making them again. I can see wontons in my future.

Arugula Salad with Roasted Asparagus and Egg 1/4 lb. pencil-thin asparagus, trimmed of their woody ends and sliced on a bias 2 tsp. olive oil salt black pepper mixed salad greens (mesclun, arugula) 2 eggs Combine asparagus and oil in a bowl. Season to taste with salt and pepper. Transfer to a roasting pan or Pyrex baking dish and roast in a 350 F oven for 15 minutes. Cook the eggs by slipping them into boiling water. Boil for 9-10 minutes, then plunge eggs in ice water and peel. When asparagus is done, transfer to a salad bowl. Toss with salad greens. Transfer to a plate. Quarter the eggs and top salad with them. Drizzle with 1 tsp. dressing (recipe follows), then serve immediately. This recipe is sized for two people. ========================== This is our template recipe for salad dressing. Macerating the shallots in salt and vinegar helps take off any harsh edges off of the shallots. We'll vary this template occasionally by adding herbs (thyme and Italian parsley are favorites), substituting white wine vinegar or sherry vinegar for the red wine vinegar, or a very small pinch of sugar which helps round flavors. What typically happens is that as our batch is running low, I'll make a fresh batch and add it to the pre-existing one so that the jar of dressing never completely empties. Shallot Vinaigrette 1 shallot, finely minced pinch of salt 1 tbsp. red wine vinegar 1 oil-packed anchovy fillet 1/2 cup extra-virgin olive oil Combine shallot with salt and red wine vinegar in a small bowl. Stir a couple of times. Macerate shallots for 5 minutes. Mash anchovy fillet into a paste. Transfer to a small bowl or glass mixing cup. Add shallot mixture. Whisk in olive oil until ingredients are well-combined and emulsified. =========================== 8 chicken thighs, seasoned generously with salt and black pepper. Clockwise from bottom: three carrots, trimmed, peeled and sliced on a bias; 3 celery stalks, trimmed and cut into 2" lengths; 2 onions, trimmed and peeled, then cut into chunks. 10 peeled garlic cloves; thyme sprigs; bay leaves. 4 cups homemade chicken stock; dried porcini mushrooms soaking in 3/4 cup boiling water. Soak the mushrooms for 15 minutes, then strain out and reserve both the soaked mushrooms and porcini soaking water. 1 cup pinot gris. I'm a big believer in cooking with wine you would normally drink. If you don't have any pinot gris, chardonnay could work. Sauté the vegetables in a little bit of olive oil or until they begin to soften and take on a little color. Remove the pan from heat, then add the garlic, thyme and bay leaves. Add the porcini mushrooms. Mix well. Heat a skillet until hot but not smoking. Add 1 tbsp. oil. Swirl pan until oil coats the bottom of the pan with a thin film. Pour off excess oil. Add 4-5 chicken thighs to the pan, skin side down. Reduce heat to medium-high. Brown chicken until skin is well-browned, about 15 minutes, then transfer to a plate. Add remaining chicken thighs, then repeat browning process. When chicken thighs are done, transfer chicken and vegetable mixture to a roasting pan, ensuring that the chicken lies atop the vegetables, skin-side up. Pour off most of the fat from the pan you cooked the chicken in, then deglaze with white wine making sure you scrape up all the browned bits. Add chicken stock and porcini soaking water. Bring to a boil, then reduce heat and simmer for five minutes. Remove from heat and pour stock mixture atop chicken. Liquid should come up halfway; the chicken shouldn't be submerged. Cover with foil, then braise for 90 minutes in a pre-heated 375 F oven. Remove foil from pan, then raise heat to 400 F and braise for 15 minutes or until chicken skin is crisped. Oven-braised chicken thighs with porcini mushrooms and vegetables.

Beef tartare with Dijon mustard, shallots, quail egg and toast points. A very good rendition. Lamb and vegetable brochettes, with couscous and mint coulis. If there was mint coulis, I didn't taste any. Couscous was buttered and lovely; the brochettes were "all right". Way too much sauce which needed a touch of salt. Eggs Benedict, side salad Cinnamon pain perdu, mixed berries, chantilly cream. I'd go back just for the dessert alone. Chez Maman 401 Gough Street (Hayes Street) Hayes Valley

Combine 6 tablespoons all-purpose flour and 6 tablespoons vegetable oil in a skillet. Stir constantly or until flour and oil become a smooth paste. Cook over low heat for 45 minutes to one hour, stirring slowly and constantly. This picture was shot after 10 minutes. Brown roux after 20 minutes stirring. The roux will progressively become darker and darker as you stir. If it ever burns, you'll have to discard and start over. The key to prevent burning is careful attention, a low heat and constant stirring. You'll know that the color is right when it becomes a rich shade of dark brown that's the color of deep honey. The color lasts for only a handful of seconds before it starts to blacken. That's when you'll take the pan off heat. Clockwise from upper left: 3 onions, diced; 1/2 lb. okra, trimmed and sliced into 1" lengths; 2 quarts shrimp stock; 2 bay leaves; a pinch of cayenne pepper; 1 green bell pepper, chopped; 5 tbsp. brown roux; 1/2 lb. Dungeness crab meat; 1 tsp. finely chopped garlic; 1 lb. peeled shrimp. Warm roux over low heat in a heavy stockpot or soup pot. Add onion and garlic. Sauté until vegetables are softened, about 15 minutes. Add okra and green bell pepper. Sauté for a few more minutes, then add the shrimp stock, bay leaves, cayenne pepper, 2 tsp. dried thyme and 1 tsp. salt. Bring to a boil, then reduce to a simmer. Add crab meat to the pot. Stir. Simmer for one hour, partly covered. Add the shrimp in the last 2-3 minutes of cooking. Taste for salt, then serve immediately. Crab, shrimp and okra gumbo, from "American Cooking: Creole and Acadian" by Peter S. Feibleman and the Editors of Time-Life Books (1971), page 66. We served that with brown rice (leftover rice from takeout Chinese the night before) and beet greens with onion and anchovy. Prunes poached in red wine with cinnamon and Meyer lemon zest for dessert.

The other thing that I forgot to mention that really ticked us off was the fact that from the moment we sat down to when we left, FOH staff kept upselling and they were not subtle.

Michael Bauer says that Plaj is a "focused" restaurant of interest for folks who like Scandinavian food with a California sensibility. He gave it 2 1/2 stars. I hadn't checked to see if he had reviewed it prior to going. I wonder if I'm being unrealistic in my expectations. I've heard so much about San Francisco being a foodie wonderland over the years...and now that I live here, it's been one disappointment after another. Freshly baked bread, sweet butter, leek "dust", Maldon sea salt. For $3. Since when did restaurants start charging for bread and butter? Smoked fish croquettes, horseradish cream, smoked trout roe. B remarked that there was too much sauce. The croquettes were average. Whitefish roe, miniature potato pancakes, anchovies, sour cream, red onion, herbs. The menu sounded better than the actual plate. Think I ordered wrong. Lamb shoulder, fava beans, green peas, potato, nettles, horseradish foam. Didn't foam stop being a thing five years ago? It was alright although there were (1) too many potatoes and (2) the sauce was on the edge of being too salty. Remember: if you can taste it, it's too much. Cardamom bun, almond cream. Sounded good on paper and it tasted like nothing, literally. Chocolate cake, blueberry ice cream, creme anglaise. What cardamom was supposed to be in the bun ended up in the blueberry ice cream. Oh well, $158 (with tax and 20% tip) down the drain. We won't be back, for sure. Plaj 333 Fulton Street (Gough Street) Civic Center

Moroccan carrot salad, garnished with cilantro, lime juice and Castelvetrano olives Clockwise from center: one 3 lb. chicken cut into pieces, washed and patted dry; bay leaves; salt; 16 shallots, peeled and trimmed; black peppercorns; canned artichoke hearts, drained; 4 tbsp. unsalted butter. Melt butter and 2 tbsp. vegetable oil in a skillet over medium-high heat. Working in batches, brown chicken, then transfer to a plate. This is a step you can't rush because if you do, then the color will wash out in the braise. After the chicken has been browned, add the shallots to the pan and cook, shaking the pan occasionally, or until the shallots are all lightly colored. Transfer chicken and shallots to a Dutch oven. Pour off all but a thin layer of fat and add to the Dutch oven, along with 1/4 cup white wine. Season with salt and black pepper and add the bay leaves. Cook over low heat, covered, making sure to baste the chicken with the collected juices every 7-8 minutes. Add the artichoke hearts about 15 minutes through. Chicken should be done after approx. 30 minutes, when a fork or knife pierced through the thickest part of the thigh causes the juice to run clear. In the pan you used to sauté the chicken, add 1/2 cup chicken stock and bring that to a boil over medium heat. Scrape up all the browned bits with a spoon, then reduce the stock to 1/2 its original volume. Pour that over the chicken, then plate and serve at once. The chopped parsley is my addition, mostly for color. Poulet sauté à la Bordelaise ("sautéed chicken with shallots and artichoke hearts"), adapted from "The Cooking of Provincial France" by M.F.K. Fisher and the Editors of Time-Life Books (1968), page 123.

We've been going to Rintaro for a while now and are considered regulars. They've been serving lunch for several months. B and I had put that on our list but for some reason, plans kept going awry....that is, until today. Japanese fried chicken wings with smokey tare, sansho pepper and wasabi arugula. There is some really stellar, excellent frying in the kitchen. The chicken was marinated and coated in a crispy, flavorful shell that literally melted in our mouths. Berkshire pork gyoza, chicken foot jelly. The "lace" shows you how light the batter is. Hand-rolled udon, with two fishes broth, tenkasu (deep-fried flour batter) and hot spring egg. The covered pot contains togarashi pepper and gomashio (sesame salt). Kaisen mori-don. Clockwise from center: chopped California big eye tuna, wild striped bass and kombu-cured halibut over Japanese rice with nori, tamago (egg omelette) and shiso; soy sauce; wasabi leaf pickle, narazuke (traditional pickles from the Nara region of Japan) and senmaizuke (a traditional pickle originally from Kyoto, made from turnips); carrot and daikon radish pickle; Tokyo turnips and scallions in mustard-miso; marinated cucumbers in rice vinegar with black cod; miso soup with shimeji and maitake mushrooms. Total bill came out to $95 (with 20% tax and tip). Rintaro82 14th Street (Folsom Street)South of Market http://izakayarintaro.com/ Medium article from April 2015 SF Chronicle reviews (for those of you who like Michael Bauer; personally I detest him, but variety is what makes the world go round): Original Review and Follow-Up Review from Last Year