Pizzaiolo

One of my very last meals before I came back to school was at Pizzaiolo, Chez Panisse alum Charlie Hallowell's relatively new restaurant in Berkeley. I had been wanting to try it over the course of the summer, but everytime I went, they were closed. I never quite got down their hours.


The store has no signage, so just look out for the place with a bunch of people waiting outside. They now take limited reservations, so be sure to make them.


Wild rocket & frisee salad with hazelnuts, saba and grana 8.50

We started off with a refreshing salad, which was super fresh and perfectly underdressed. I loved the hazelnuts, which were slightly sweet and crunchy. Freshest salad I've had in a while.


Spaghetti alla Norma 14

There were a few pastas on the menu that night, but the spaghetti alla norma was the natural choice, after my server informed us that the dish was meant to resemble Mt. Vesuvius. I rushed to take the photo right when it arrived; with the shaved ricotta and rising steam, the resemblance was uncanny. Of course, it tasted good too. The spaghetti was a perfect al dente, the eggplant was carmelized and slightly soft, and the tomato sauce captured the epitome of tomato season.


Gypsy peppers and housemade sausage 15

I was very excited to taste the restaurant's famous pizzas, but I was a little disappointed. The toppings were great -- fresh red peppers and onions and delicious sausage -- but the crust was too burnt, dry, and bland. It couldn't live up to the great pizza I had at Picco.


Margherita di bufula 15

The crust on the margherita suffered the same burnt downfall. I did, however, love the fresh tomato sauce and cheese. The fresh mozzarella was probably the best thing I ate that night -- I just wish there were more!


A Blossom Bluff Summer lady from the wood oven with vanilla ice cream 8

Reading the menu, I had no clue what a "Blossom Bluff Summer lady" was. But it sounded provocative, and anything from the wood oven couldn't be bad right? Much to my delight, a baked peach arrived; a ripe, juicy, height-of-summer peach, at that. Once again, I found it way too burnt, but that was easily overlooked with the wonderful peach juices swimming in the bowl, and the rich, creamy vanilla ice cream that accompanied.


Bakesale Betty’s plum pie a la mode 8

Bakesale Betty founder Alison Barakat is another Chez Panisse alum, and she recently opened a retail location right down the block from Pizzaiolo. Fortunately, I got to taste her goods even though her store had closed for the day. The pie was wonderful; the plum filling was juicy and tart, and the pie crust was flaky and light. However, some of the more flaky pieces and the rim suffered the same burnt fate, which rendered my favorite crusty parts inedible. What a shame.


I knew bringing my camera into restrooms would pay off one day; here, I've captured the great Chez Panisse seal of quality.

Pizzaiolo offers fresh, lovingly-prepared food at great prices, but it really needs to watch the temperature in that oven. Service was efficient, and atmosphere was warm and crowd-friendly.

Pizzaiolo
5008 Telegraph Ave.
Oakland, CA
(510) 652-4888

Wine Country Shenanigans Pt. 5 - Highway 1, Pizzeria Picco

Well, as I was saying, we were feeling particularly scene-ic that day, so we decided to embark on Highway 1 to head back to Marin. That is, after we drove through hipster-hangout Santa Rosa, which was quite the journey indeed. The drive on the Shoreline Highway sure was beautiful as we went the length of Tomales Bay and passed by many an oyster farm. The novelty wore off after the first two hours, and we both started getting sick. The roads became treacherous and difficult to navigate, and 102.1's Viking tunes just made it more of a losing battle against the neverending roads.

At long last, we did arrive in the beloved Marin. We had initially intended to go to Fish in Sausalito, but we were too sick for more gifts from the sea. I then remembered that I had wanted to try Picco Pizzeria in Larkspur for some time.




Even when we arrived at 9:15, there was a line. Fortunately, two bar seats near the wood burning oven welcomed us to rest our tired hides. It was smoldering hot sitting so near all the action, but at least we got to witness some substantial crust-puffing.


Della santa - broccoli de ciccio, cherry tomatoes, torpedo onion, roasted garlic, mozzarella 11.95

It was a tough choice between the della santa and the seven, which consisted of seasonal mushrooms. So we struck a compromise and added mushrooms to the della santa, which was a "good call," as reaffirmed by our helpful server. The toppings were excellent, with sweet and juicy cherry tomatoes and great hand-pulled mozarella. The crust was slightly sweet and smoky, with a chewy, yeasty character. And even after we had suppressed our inner gluttons, we still had half of the foot-long-diameter pie to spare.


Straus dairy soft serve with Da Vero extra virgin olive oil & sea salt

Well, we had decided to pass up dessert and go on our merry way, when I pulled out my camera and started shooting up the place. Owner Bruce Hill of Bix fame stopped me in my tracks as he exclaimed, "I've busted a blogger!" He found out that we had passed up dessert--and insisted that we try the softserve with olive oil and salt. After hearing about the olive oil ice cream at Babbo (which is next on my NY list), I knew this was a must when I saw it on the menu.

So Bruce offered us a taste (which was really a bowl as you can see), and it was some of the richest, creamiest soft-serve I've ever had. My palate protested, "But this isn't softserve! It's usually watered down and never contains this much milkfat!" What an eye opener. The olive oil and sea salt brought out textures and flavors one never thought possible in a vanilla softserve. This is definitely one to crave (which I am!).


It was nearly empty by the time we left, but I imagine it would be pretty hard to get a seat during normal dining hours. So head over for some good pizza, or at least to taste some exceptional softserve.

Pizzeria Picco
320 Magnolia Ave
Larkspur, CA 94939

And so this concludes the wine country series of posts. Except it really didn't end here because we went back a few days later to crash a picnic held by a certain man of urgency.

If you care to relive the geriatric wine country series:
Part 1
Part 2
Part 3
Part 4

Sino Restaurant & Lounge

In San Jose, Calif., Silicon Valley types will be able to dig into $48 porterhouses served with a dipping sauce of Chinese five-spice powder and honey mustard at Chris Yeo's Sino (Sept. 25; entrées $10 to $48). Mr. Yeo is behind the popular pan-Asian Straits chain in the Bay Area..

- Katy McLaughlin, WSJ

I've always associated restaurants in certain areas in the Peninsula (Palo Alto, Santana Row, etc) to be akin to those in Manhattan and Los Angeles: featuring stylish, swanky interiors and offering aesthetically- (but certainly not always palate-) dazzling plates. With the advent of the dot-com boom, many of these Vegas-type restaurants had come to populate the Peninsula, while San Francisco's restaurants have remained, for the most part, substance over style.

While I primarily choose restaurants based on the food, I believe that atmosphere contributes a great deal to the dining experience. I have a certain appreciation for nice interior design, and when a hang-out place is what I'm looking for, elegant lounges are my thing. That said, I've been wanting to check out Sino (pronounced Sigh-No) Restaurant and Lounge, Chris Yeo of Straights Cafe's latest see-and-be-seen hotspot on Santana Row. I see Santana Row as San Jose's own Vegas strip; it's fake as hell but it's fun.

I love the authenticity of the eating implements in this place setting.

I rarely stray from my mainstay for good dim sum, Koi Palace. While the prices are higher than your average dim sum joint, I find it extremely reasonable for the quality you get. Sino's prices are considerably higher, with cheapest items starting at 3.75; I think Koi starts at 2.50? In any case, it's still cheap compared with western style tapas, but this is Asian food we're talking about, and generally, it's cheap. But then again, when was the last time you had dim sum in the States in this setting?

Oh, I enjoy bathroom decor too.

And ominous corridors.

Char Siu Bao - bbq pork, oyster sauce, soy sauce and sugar in a cornstarch and cake flour bun ($3.75)
The bun was decent, but not as fluffy and light as Koi. The innards were a bit too salty, and the pork wasn't as delicate or lean either.

Scallop Mushroom Dumpling - scallop, carrot and shrimp in a rice flour wrapper ($4.25)

It beats me why the creative folks at Sino would include "mushroom" in the name of the dumpling if it, ingeniously, contains no mushroom! The shrimp and scallop, accented with bamboo shoots, were fresh and had a nice bounce. The wrapper, though, was way too soft and broke apart very easily.

Stuffed Mushroom - fresh mushroom, ground shrimp, black bean sauce and chicken stock ($4.25)

I enjoyed this quite a bit. The stuffed mushrooms were lightly panned fried, slightly browned without being too greasy. The ground shrimp stuffing was quite good, and was well complimented with the sweet and savory black bean sauce.

Crab dumplings - not on menu ($4.75)

The perfectly-seasoned stuffing was generous in crab meat with whole chunks of shrimp. However, it suffered the same fate as the scallop dumplings with the utterly weak wrapper.

Siu Mai - pork, mushroom, shrimp and tobiko in an egg and flour (wonton skin) wrapper

I thought Sino's siu mai was pretty decent too. The pork was wonderfully juicy yet lean, and the wrapper was thin and delicate. I am often wary of siu mai since they are usually heavy, but that was not the case with these.

Curry Chicken Puff - dark meat, curry powder, coconut milk, butter and egg in a cake flour wrapper ($4.75)

This was my favorite dim sum item. The crust was wonderfully buttery and crumbly, and the top crust lended a slight flakiness. The curry chicken insides were lean and aromatic, more on the sweet than savory side (typical of Chinese and Japanese curries). I daresay their meat-filled puffs are stronger than Kois.

Vegetarian Dumpling - bamboo shoots, water chestnuts, carrot and shiitake mushrooms in a rice flour wrapper

This was another weak dumpling. The innards were bland and made even more boring with such a thick wrapper, which is typically used with the Chiu-Chow style dumplings. They seriously need to work on their wrappers.

Snow Crab Fried Rice with Toasted Pine Nuts ($15)

This was a very mediocre fried rice. It wasn't greasy, I'll give them that, but it was so bland I wondered if they were using a weak range. It also tasted as if if the snow crab were mixed in at the end, since the rice tasted exclusively like soy sauce and out-of-the-bag mixed vegetables. The rice was also way too soft, missing the slight chewiness that comes from a well-executed fried rice.

Overall, Sino's dim sum is passable if you are really craving dim sum and happen to be strolling on Santana Row. It is extremely overpriced for what you get, but it really isn't bad for what I expected to be a "style over substance" type place like Sino. I'd skip the food and go for drinks and lounging.

Sino Restaurant and Lounge
377 Santana Row, STE 1000
San Jose, CA 95128
(408) 247-8880

The Great China

One of my favorite restaurants in Berkeley (and the Bay Area for that matter) is the Great China on Shattuck and Kittredge. It's well known for its awesome Peking duck, but all other entrees are excellent too.

They offer a lot of specialty dishes that aren't as easy to find. Such as this "crunchy rice" soup.

I love rice made out of a traditional clay pot. Here they have taken the crispy, slightly burnt rice at the bottom and put it into a seafood soup. Interesting combo, though I think I still prefer their mussel soup.

Double skin

This is another one of their famous entrees. The double skin is made out of mung bean and are silky and chewy, kind of like jellyfish but to a lesser extent. They throw in all the ingredients on the side, including cucumber, shrimp, black fungus, scrambled egg, carrots, and toss it together with soy sauce and a tangy mustard sauce. The flavors kind of remind me of cold ramen, but the sauce is def a lot more spicy. Our server got mad at me for taking the photo since he was so eager to serve it and go to other tables.

Stir fried dungeness crab meat and egg whites

This is a pretty classic Shanghainese dish, except here they use real crab meat. Usually places just scramble the egg whites so that they resemble crab meat. Anyway, the crab flesh is fresh and sweet, with the accent of sour and spicy vinegar. They also place a raw yolk on top and then mix it. The texture is smooth and silky.

Glorious BUNS

Northern Chinese cuisine is great in that you don't eat rice, but these sweet buns. They are kind of like the bun in cha xiu baos, except less sweet. Fluffy and soft, you stick the crab meat in these and it makes for an awesome crab sandwich.

Now for the star of the show. The duck is really comparable to great places in Beijing and better than a lot of places in Hong Kong. They scrape off all the fat off of the skin, making for some crispy crisp skin to put in the thin wrappers (not pictured). I really hate fatty skin since it becomes too soggy and greasy. They also give you a hearty amount of scallions, which I love.

You can see that the meat is really lean. Generally, I feel that goose and duck in the US is much leaner than in Asia. The duck meat here is really tender and lean.

The Great China has really great food, but the service isn't something to rave about. Wait times can be pretty long, so make a reservation.

Chez Panisse

I'm embarassed to say that I had never been to Chez Panisse, which is credited for not only creating California cuisine, but also starting the trend toward eating only fresh, seasonal produce. Because I couldn't book spots for dinner, I decided to go in for lunch in the cafe upstairs instead. We were seated in a little heated covered patio, hence the good lighting.

The bread was pretty good, with a crispy crust. I was disappointed to find that it wasn't freshly baked in CP, but by Acme Bread.

Avocado and grapefruit salad with chervil, picholine olives, and olio nuovo

The avocado was creamy, and the grapefruit was juicy and ripe, but let's face it, this is just avocado and grapefruit. It's awesome that the ingredients come from local farms, which in turn support sustainable agriculture, but this was a bit bland and not too exciting.

Sardinian wild fennel soup with ricotta toast

The soup was quite good! Very brothy, perfectly seasoned, and you could literally taste the freshness. This is the Chez Panisse I came to taste. The cheese wasn't overly salty and went well with the toast. This was a clean and cleansing soup, unlike the thick and starchy vegetable soups I have come to despise.

Pizza with tomato sauce, brandade, and parsley

I was very excited to taste the famed Chez Panisse pizza, as I have been craving good pizza for a while. I am disappointed to say that this was my least favorite dish of the meal. I understand that the topping is brandade, but it was still overly salty--I couldn't even finish it. I tried brushing off most of the fish, but the pizza was salty on its own. The crust was thin and crispy, but it was so salty I could hardly taste the dough. Even when I got to the crust, I could see many salt crystals on the crust. This was intensely overseasoned; what a waste of good pizza dough.

A bowl of Jim Churchill's Kishu tangerines and Barhi dates

Good and juicy. Not really worth the $8 though..

Lindsey's bittersweet chocolate cake and hazelnut praline cream

At the mention of the words "bittersweet" and "hazelnut praline," I became quite excited. The cake had excellent chocolate flavor, bitter but not acidic, with a gentle hint of sweetness. The crusty part was dusted with cocoa powder, which was delicious, and the inside was rich and dense. The chocolate sauce was strong and bitter (85%?), just the way I like my chocolate. Though the cake was good, I enjoyed the hazelnut cream even more. This had just a pinch of sweetness, and I could really taste the hazelnut--no artificial flavors here. The cream was light and smooth, a perfect accompaniment for the rich, bitter cake.

My meal at Chez Panisse didn't live up to my expectations. Oh god, how dare I criticize the name of Alice Waters and Chez Panisse? I almost feel guilty for not loving my meal there, given its great history and fame. There were definitely some great dishes, but overall I must say it is quite overrated. And believe me, I do understand the great revolutions in food this "institution" brought about, not only changing restaurants but also the taste of Americans. I know when I order vegetables, they will be the freshest possible vegetables, and everything is organic and free-range. But just having fresh ingredients is not enough--the flavor has to match as well. I found my meal a bit underwhelming and disappointing.