Donato Enoteca

I love happy accident discoveries! We were on our way to another restaurant... when we found out it was closed on Sundays (why do restaurants do that? They're just killing their business). We were determined to eat ASAP, so we Yelped furiously and found a place nearby.

Our first appetizer was grilled calamari--remember, if you want fried calamari, it's "calamari fritti" in Italian. I really liked this--it's so tender--but they cooked it so that the calamari's juices stay inside. This makes it taste like the ocean, which I love, but it can be really fishy.

Our second appetizer was braised wild boar bruschetta, which was basically a really gamey pulled pork. The boar was really cooked really simply--with a lot of tomato--and it was very tender, but I wish the bread was thicker and a little bit charred, so it would be a little tougher. The bread was slightly toasted but way too soft, and got really soggy from the boar.

I got the bigoli pasta with oxtail. I love the texture of this pasta--it's like tagliatelle, but thicker and coarser. This super dense texture is so unusual, but I wish more restaurants would use it! The oxtail was really tender, but it was all in shreds, so you get smatterings of its flavor throughout the pasta. Although it might not be as satisfying without big chunks of meat, it makes the dish a lot lighter, but you still get just as much flavor.

My boyfriend got the buckwheat pasta with mushrooms. The pasta is in large ribbons, which really accentuates the grittiness of the buckwheat--it's hard to grind buckwheat very finely, but the grit wouldn't be very apparent in thinner noodles, like soba. The mushroom flavor was good, but I didn't find that it was really different from that of other mushroom pastas.

Apparently this is how my boyfriend takes food photographs.
It's "artistic."

I was really torn between two desserts... the tiramisu and chocolate fondant. I think I made the right choice! All tiramisus are really flavorful, but a big problem I have with a lot of them is that the cake gets really soggy from sitting in the espresso all day and then it all becomes all one moist, too-soft texture. This one, though, wasn't soaked through with espresso, and each layer was nice and separated.

Donato Enoteca
1041 Middlefield Rd
http://www.donatoenoteca.com/

Beef noodles at Queen House

I really have a high standard where beef noodles are concerned--I'm actually Taiwanese, not just born to Taiwanese parents and went to Taipei once for Loveboat--so almost all beef noodles in America have been disappointing :/ However, the one at Queen House is not bad at all! The broth is really nice and rich, the beef is tender, and the noodles are the perfect, dense texture.

So much fat!

However,  the broth is not very clear. I feel like it was a bit of a rushed job. Even though the flavor is really beefy and savory, they really should've strained it. You cook the broth for a pretty long time, so bits of green onion, fat, and other solids from the braising liquid become mushy and cloud the broth. All the particles make the soup really sticky :(

So much grease!

Although this dish is not perfect, this is as close as I've gotten in America. I have to stop having expectations--then I'll never be disappointed!

Queen House
273 Castro Street

Sushi omakase at Sushi Tomi

Tuesday was Chinese Valentine's Day, so my boyfriend took me out for fancy sushi!

Our appetizer was beef tataki--kind of like a seared beef sashimi--with red onions. The beef was very, very tender, but because it's half seared and half raw, it can get a little gamey. The red onions were probably run under hot water, because it was very mild. The beef comes with a yuzu-shoyu type sauce, which I wish the onions were dressed in, because they felt a little "separated" from the rest of the dish. But, overall, the dish was very well-balanced and was acidic enough to still be light.

We ordered the sushi omakase, which is a chef's selection of onigiri. The only other sushi omakase I've had was at Sushi Sam's in San Mateo, so that's what I'm comparing it to.

We got a good mix of fatty and lean fish, like toro (fatty tuna), salmon, shrimp, and uni (sea urchin). However, I wish our server had told us what each fish was, because there are only a few that we could recognize.

At Sushi Sam's, all the sushi is already seasoned and "done" for you--for example, some of the fatty fish comes with yuzu rice--and they ask you to not eat it with additional soy sauce and wasabi, which prevents you from ruining the flavor of the fish with the wrong seasoning. At Tomi, on the other hand, all the fish just comes with plain sushi rice and wasabi, so you season it to your taste--which I think some people would like, because a complaint I've heard about Sushi Sam's is that it's not customizable. My one big fault with Tomi's onigiri, however, is that they put a decent chunk of too-fresh wasabi between the rice and the fish. I can handle some wasabi, but this came out of my nose and ruined a few pieces of fish for me. I ended up having to pinch off the wasabi before eating the sushi.

I think it's also notable that at least three pieces of fish were very fishy, which made it almost inedible for my boyfriend (which means I got more--yay :)

Overall, Tomi has great stuff, but just for personal preference, I like Sushi Sam's better. Both sushi omakase sets are about the same price, so it really depends on whether you want sushi that's tailored for each kind of fish (Sushi Sam's) or simple, customizable onigiri (Tomi).

Sushi Tomi
635 W Dana St
http://www.sushitomi.com/

Banh mi at Lee's Sandwiches

If you've ever eaten with me, you would know that it's very difficult to choose a place where I am willing to eat, because I have an immense fear of anything pickled. Since I was a small child, I have never eaten kimchi, pickles, or sauerkraut. I've recently realized it's because of the idea of eating something cold, soggy, and moist--I imagine it's like eating a very sour wet sponge. However, as I've tried more and more foods that I've disliked as a child and discovered that they're delicious (like eggplant), I decided to suck it up and try banh mi.

The take-out bag has a list of things you can
do with the bag, which I thought was really cute

Banh mi is a Vietnamese sandwich: a baguette with pickled carrots and radish, jalapeno, cilantro, and some kind of meat--I got grilled pork (I also recommend the barbecue pork). The carrots and radish were not soggy at all--they were still really crisp, but the pickling just adds a bit of briny flavor. The pork was really good as well; it's really tender--almost creamy--and very intensely savory. The best flavor, though, is the raw jalapeno. Besides the intense heat of the seeds, the pepper itself has so much kick and flavor. Overall, it was such a well-balanced, refreshing sandwich.

So I learned that pickled things can be good. Life is full of surprises.

Also, I've just launched my new beauty blog, Victoria C. Beauty! Please check it out if you're interested in makeup and beauty tips :)

Lee's Sandwiches
939 W El Camino Real #108, Sunnyvale, CA
http://www.leesandwiches.com/

Double lunch day: Pho Garden and Asian Box

I wanted both pho and Asian Box for lunch, so I decided not to choose. (My boyfriend asked me what I had for lunch, and I asked him not to call me fat).

My first stop was Pho Garden. Look how beautiful the vegetables are! When I get pho in New York, the basil is always rotten, the lime is dry, and they only give me two bean sprouts.

The broth is a little bland, but it's nothing that can't be fixed with a little lime and hoisin sauce. Apparently, Pho Garden is the home of the "Pho Challenge"; two pounds of meat and two pounds of pho, which can be yours for free if you finish it (if not, it costs $25).

A lot of Chipotle-inspired restaurants have been popping up--like Asian Box. You choose from carbs like rice and rice noodles, proteins like beef, chicken, shrimp, and tofu, and various toppings. Like Chipotle, the price is determined by your protein and other add-ons.

I got rice noodles, shrimp, all the toppings, and the Hot Box It sauce (a strong hot sauce). The shrimp is tossed in lime and basil, which I really like! It's not too firm, and has a lot of flavor. Unlike Chipotle, though, Asian Box's bowl just feels more like a salad--it's very light, but not filling (maybe because of all the raw vegetables). However, they do have a lot of great elements; I highly recommend the shrimp, pork (which is like chasiu pork), crispy shallots, and rice noodles--and the Hot Box It sauce if you can take it.

Pho Garden
246 Castro Street, Mountain View
http://phogardensf.com/page.php?Page=home

Asian Box
142 Castro Street, Mountain View
http://asianboxpaloalto.com/

Hot or Not: Green tea Kit Kats

Everyone has been going crazy over green tea-flavored Kit Kats lately, so I had to pick up a bag.

Instead of chocolate, it's a green tea-flavored coating. However, I find these so much sweeter than I'd expected; they're more of a white chocolate (which means a lot of sugar) with green tea essence. You don't really get that great aroma and slight bitterness of green tea, which really disappointed me. I just wish they would've stuck to a more true green tea flavor, instead of ruining it with a ton of sugar.

Also... the price. I got mine at my local Nijiya (a chain of Japanese supermarkets; http://www.nijiya.com/) for $5.99 (12 mini bars per bag). I'm not really one to skimp on food, but I feel like that's a little much for 24 bites of sugar. However, if there aren't any stores around you that carry it, you can buy it online for much, much more--Amazon sells it for up to $45 (!!!).

Hot or Not: NOT
I just feel like these are a little gimmicky, and not as well done as green tea snacks should be--especially for the price. I really don't think there's any reason to go out of your way to find these. If I had to recommend a green tea-flavored snack, it would be the limited-edition Pockys--they're much less sweet, cheaper, and more easily found in stores at reasonable prices.

Victoria C. Kitchen: Braised short ribs

This recipe isn't for everyone, because you need to cook for over four hours... but if you're like me and you have nothing to do at home all day, this is super easy.

Ingredients:

3 tablespoons olive oil

2 pounds short ribs, cut into 2-inch pieces

3 cloves garlic, chopped

2 ribs celery, roughly chopped

1 medium carrot, roughly chopped

1 medium onion, roughly chopped

2 medium tomatoes, roughly chopped

1 cup red wine

3 cups chicken stock

1 teaspoon dried thyme (fresh is better, but they always sell it in such large bundles...)

Salt and black pepper, to taste

*I find that the celery, carrot, and tomatoes become almost inedible because they become too bitter, sour, and soft, so find other vegetables to serve with the short ribs

Directions:

In a pot over medium-high heat, heat oil and sear short ribs until well browned on all sides (do this in small batches so they don't crowd--if they're crowded, they won't brown properly). Remove short ribs, then in the same pot saute garlic, celery, carrot, onion, and tomatoes until browned. Put short ribs back into the pot, then add red wine and chicken stock to cover. Bring to a boil, add thyme, salt, and pepper, then cover and let simmer for four hours.

Serve over a grain; I like orzo, risotto, or polenta