Craving crabs in San Francisco
I I( I treasure memories of enMoyable food e peri ences whenever we’re in an ) rancisco. ost memorable is the reputable Thanh ong crab baked in butter and secret spices it’s always a must on every trip.
I’m a big crab fan. ntil a couple of years ago, .arla never really used to eat crabs and would Must watch me enMoy myself. I remember when I was infanticipating, I would crave crabs and my mom would always warn me that my baby might have claws. a ha
:hen .arla and I were in an )ran cisco recently, my friends Nancy Tso olando and elen Tsui took me out for a delicious crab dinner at & in Chinatown. Too bad .arla had a date with her friend, because she didn’t get to try the yummy crabs at this res taurant. The restaurant was full when we got there but elen, who is with the an )rancisco Travel Association as director for International Tourism, Asia/Pacific, was given a priority table and we didn’t have to wait at all. elen ordered dried scallops with melon and steamed spinach, fried tofu cubes with shrimp balls and tasty soy chicken and, of course, the house specialty salt and pepper crab The crab was very fresh and the flesh so sweet and tender that I couldn’t help licking my fingers with delight I would have ordered seconds but was too shy to ask.
. A A ungeness crab is a spe cies of crab that is native to the ( ast Coast in the 8nited States. Commonly called the market crab in California prior to 19 , you’ll find lots of stalls selling ungeness crab while walk ing around ) isherman’s Wharf in San ) rancisco. While it is a fact that only one half of the crab’s weight is actual meat, it is also low in fat and calories, a good source of protein, calcium, iron, magnesium and essential amino acids. Although I missed the crab din ner with auntie Nancy and my aunt elen, I had an interesting evening of my own. 2ne thing to remember about the dining scene in San ) rancisco is to always make a reservation. Since we had no definite plans, we ended up taking a walk through the neighbor hood while waiting for a table. My friend took me to this restaurant along ivisadero Street called La 8rbana, which features sophisticated Mexican food. We had a light seafood and salad dinner but definitely did not miss out on the cocktails. After that we moved across the street to another restaurant called Nopa for dessert and more cock tails. We were lucky to have found a spot by the bar as the place was packed on a late Tuesday evening.
The next day, after an entire day in Napa 9alley, Auntie Nancy brought us to Red Crawfish on Larkin Street. She ordered the salt and pepper crab with butter garlic noodles on the side, which was absolutely delicious! The noodles were so simple yet so good. I practically finished the whole order — both the noodles and the crab!
I I( ne evening, Nancy took us to Belden ane in the financial district near her office at the California Bank & Trust, where she’s first vice president and senior relationship manager.
:e chose an Italian restaurant called Tiramisu, famous for its cioppino, which is similar to )rench bouillabaisse, and I remembered it was one of my dad’s favorite dishes. .arla had her eyes set on the burrata and prosciutto crudo salad with toasted grapes and melon balls, which was abso lutely delicious and the gnocchi with parmigiano reggiano sauce and black truffle. Nancy ordered a pappardelle with wild boar meat sauce and artichokes. A perfect way to end the dinner, we ordered a tiramisu which was so light and moist. :e also met the owner, iuseppe coppetta, who is apparently married to a )ilipina.
.A A 2n our last day, we went to the )erry Building to meet my former schoolmate from oveda, .atherine Loh, for lunch. Arriving Tuite early, my mouth was watering as we walked around the various food stalls. Mom instantly went for the first stall she found which was a hotdog stand. She ordered the world famous all beef hot dog served on a steamed acme bun. Since I took a bite of it myself, she actually wanted another one but decided to steer us towards another food stall. I immedi ately saw an interesting food stall called Cap’n Mike’s oly Smoke, wherein they actually catch their own fish and process or smoke it themselves. Some of their products are smoked salmon, Albacore tuna lox, white salmon lox, Alderwood smoked white salmon and salmon candy. up, that’s right salmon candy! It even carries a warning saying, “This stuff is dangerous!” I I( ne food stall that definitely caught my eye was the ( l Porteno ( m panadas Argentinas. .arla and I ordered a ) ru ato empanada. It’s filled with aged cheddar cheese, shaved onions and oregano and it was so yummy ther variants of the empanada were Carne beef with ol ives and raisins , Pollo chicken with olives and raisins , - amon ueso with prosciutto and fontina cheese, Champixones or mushrooms with shallots, parmesan cheese and cr me fraiche and acelga with chard, ruyere cheese and pine nuts. ur eyes popped when we saw the selection of alfaMor, including caramel, chocolate, lemon and more.
.A A We shared a F FK alfaMor, which was certainly not enough for the both of us. Thick caramel sand wiched in between Argentine cookies you can’t go wrong with that. Therefore, Mom bought a couple more for later. We actually wanted to bring home a whole box but there’s no way it would make it back to Manila. The shelf life is prob ably only less than a week and we were still going to be in Los Angeles for a few days. lus, of course, the obvious the supply would never really last a week with us. The box would be empty even before our flight back home to Manila! 2ur next stop was the in line store Boccalone that serves cold cuts, cured meats, etc. Mom was intrigued by the salumi cones filled with mortadella, prosciutto crudo and salami. Then we met . atherine Loh at Boui Bar and shared a lamb pi a and chicken salad because we were too full from all the items we ate along the way.
) or dinner, my foodie friend Amir Baker recommended that we try el fina. Together with Aunt Nancy, Aunt elen, my cousin Lydia Reyes, her boy friend 4uino )ernande and Mom, we decided to check it out and, indeed, en Moyed everything we ordered. Mom had the salted cod and pasta with sardine, Aunt Nancy and Lydia ordered an olive oil based linguine dish, Aunt elen had the Tuail while 4uino )ernande and I ordered the lamb osso bucco.
Since my cousin Lydia treated us to dinner, for dessert we walked over to Bi Rite ice cream to return the favor. Mom ordered salted caramel ice cream and coffee while I was too full to even grab a scoop. After all, we had been literally eating the whole day!
R RR R KR K FR R FR R F RR F R K K RR R KR K .