Plantain Chips from Turbana

I'm sitting on an airplane right now, snacking away.  What else is there to do?  Thus it seems fitting to post about one of my more recent snack food finds these days, plantain chips, from Turbana.

I think this is the only product they make, available in a slew of flavors.  They are all fairly starchy like a potato chip, but have a slightly more interesting texture and flavor.

• Chili Lime: The lime flavor is interesting, but I don’t particularly like it.  I don’t really get much chili flavor, and I wonder how they compare to the plain lime or plain chili flavors they also make.  I want to like these, but don’t due to the strange lime.  Perhaps I needed a margarita or guac with these …
• Lightly salted: Salty, starchy.  Not particularly great, but an interesting cross between a potato chip and a banana chip. ] [ More interesting than a standard potato chip, good when craving some salt. ] [ Not that salty, not that interesting, good dipped in stuff … like salsa or peanut butter ] [ I really like these dipped in peanut butter, sorta like the classic combo of bananas and peanut butter, in an easy snackable format ]
• Sweet: Definitely sweet.  Almost too sweet.  You can taste the plantain though. [ Sweetness definitely strange, not a huge fan ] [ Very sweet, also good with peanut butter, but the salty ones were a better match with that ] [ Very sweet, seems strange to think of them as a chip since they are so sweet,  but I enjoy them more as a dessert. ]

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Donuts from Henry's Cafe and Deli

Whenever GoPago runs a promotion, I tend to wind up with ~$1 in remaining credits after my main purchase.  I have a new favorite way to spend them: donuts!

You may recall that I indulged in these a few months ago when Ojan had some leftover credits, and I got a donut from Rolling Pin.  I wasn't very satisfied with that donut, but mostly because I picked a kind I didn't want, due to limited availability.  I was determined to set out earlier in the day this time, for better selection.  Unfortunately, I didn't go early enough.  What time do you donut-eaters get up, anyway?

This time I went to Henry's Cafe and Deli, as their donuts get very good reviews.  I'm not sure where they source them from, I asked, but the woman did not know.  I had only three choices: a cruller, which after the Rolling Pin cruller didn't sound all that appealing, a chocolate covered donut, and a glazed donut.  Hmm, still not really my top choices.

Again, I loved using GoPago.  I walked in the door and was greeted by a friendly smile and by name.  I can't get over how great it feels to be warmly welcomed like this at a business I've never been to before.    So personal, and I got to feel like a regular!  I'll definitely go back another time, hopefully when the selection is larger.

Glazed Donut.  $1.

This was a pretty classic glazed donut.  It was big, puffy, fairly light.  It was perfectly glazed, a ridiculous sugar bomb.  Basically, exactly what you'd expect for a decent simple glazed donut.  It tasted too much like oil for my taste though.

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Tres

A few weeks ago, I went to an event at Tres, a casual "Tequila Lounge & Mexican Kitchen" in SOMA.  We sat in the bar area, and ordered off the bar menu for food and drinks (and, of course, since I was there, some desserts!).  I haven't been to many casual bars lately, so I don't have a lot of comparison points, but this was not a good experience.  My opinion may be also slightly skewed by the fact that they served me watermelon, which I'm deathly allergic to, and when questioned, told me it was persimmon.  Yikes! We weren't provided with any serving utensils, nor an adequate number of small plates.  The food was pretty bad, had no flavor, and was all very oily and fried.  On the upside, the bathroom was nice.  I see no reason to ever return.

I was there as part of a large group, and didn't feel like I could hold everyone back in order to take photos, so I apologize in advance for the poor photos.

Chips and salsa,  complimentary.

We were provided with a continuous stream of chips and salsa.  The chips were very generic, thin style, not warm, not salted.

The red salsa had a slight amount of heat to it, but not much.  The green was watery and not very flavorful.  This was all very unremarkable, but at least better than Nick's Crispy Tacos.

Calamares: Chile jalapeño, crispy onions, roasted jalapeño aioli.  $10.

Fried, battered calamari, red onion, and jalapeño, served in a iceberg lettuce leaf.  The calamari was mostly rings, with a few tentacles   It was pretty tender, and not fishy.  Better than most.  I liked the addition of the onion and jalapeño as well, basicallly fried onion strings and a tiny bit spicy jalapeños.  The best part was of course the jalapeño aioli.  Creamy, slightly spicy, pretty good.  My best bites of the night were the crispy onions dunked in the aioli.

No serving utensils were provided, which made for awkward grabbing of bits of calamari.  The serving vessel was an iceberg lettuce leaf.  For reals?  They still make that stuff?  I kinda doubt we were expected to eat it.

This was by far my favorite of the dishes of the night, and the only one I remotely enjoyed.  I'm not sure I'd order it again, and $10 seemed a tiny bit pricy given the portion size, but it wasn't bad.

Taquitoes Vegetarianos: Potato-filled & topped with chile poblano crema, lettuce & queso fresco.  $6.

Fried shells filled with mushy potato.  The filling had no flavor, and the shells were overly oily.

Also on the plate was some forgettable shredded iceberg lettuce, mild flavorless queso fresco, and the chile poblano creme, that was completely flavorless.  No idea where the chile poblano was!  The pico de gallo, not listed on the menu, was the best part.  Fairly fresh tasting tomato, with a bit of flavor.  And again, more iceberg.

I like fried, and I love mashed potatoes, but this just did nothing for me.  Meh.  My least favorite of the dishes.

I only got a photo of the edge of the dish, but I think there were 5? on the plate originally.  $6 was a good price for so many tacquitoes.

Papas Rellanas: potato croquettes filled with house chorizo, criolla salsa.  $8.50.

These were fried mashed potato balls, filled with chorizo.  The outside was crispy, but like the tacquitoes, overly oily, in a way that took over the flavor.  The potato, again like the tacquitoes, was just mushy and flavorless.  Even the chorizo was really lacking any flavor.  And what was with all the red onion on the plate?  Would anyone really just eat that much raw red onion?

Of the 5 savory dishes, this one ranked third for me.  I would not get it again.

There were two of these on the plate, but someone grabbed one before I could snap a photo.  $8.50 for two of these seemed pretty pricy.

Empanadas: epazote & cheese. $8.50.

These were perhaps the least flavorful dish of the night.  The dough was flavorless, at least this time, it didn't taste like oil like the rest of the shells.  The filling seemed to just be generic cheese, I didn't find any epazote.  There was seriously just nothing going on with these.  And again, a bunch more red onion garnish.

They also don't win any presentation points, although they were clearly trying.  The sauce was in the middle, the empanadas faned out, but they were totally off center.  If you are going to try to make things look good, please follow through!

Second to least favorite, would not get again.  $8.50 price for 3 seemed about fitting.

Queso fundido: red chorizo, chile anaheim, roasted corn.  $13.

Cheese with some slices of anaheim chile and corn kernels embedded in it.  There is normally chorizo, but I didn't find any, and I think we might have ordered this vegetarian to accomodate some vegetarians in the group.

It was hot and fresh, the cheese was enjoyable in the way that molton cheese is.  I found the very small amount of corn and chili annoying, and wished there was more of those components.  Maybe when it has chorizo in it that completes it better?

It was served with a side of tortillas, which I didn't get a photo of.  There were only a few tortillas, not nearly enough for all of the queso.  This was ok, as we had chips we could dip in it instead, but the ratio was definitely off.  The tortillas was warm, but unremarkable.

This was my second favorite dish, and was almost decent, but I would not get again. $13 seemed pretty pricy.

Churros con Chocolate: homemade churros, calle 23 reposado caramel sauce, mexican hot chocolate.  $7.

The churros were hot and fresh, but very doughy inside.  Coated with a decent amount of cinnamon and sugar.  The caramel dipping sauce was entirely flavorless.  It didn't taste like tequila or caramel or anything.  Maybe a little bit sweet.

On the side was a mug of mexican hot chocolate.  It had some slight cinnamon flavor, but was very watery, and not very chocolately.

$7 was a fine price for a dessert, but this wasn't very good, and I wouldn't get again.

Flan de Elote: caramel, blackberry, mexican wedding cookie.  $7.

You may notice that the description said "blackberry", as that is what the menu said, but there is no blackberry in this photo.  Instead, there is WATERMELON.  You may recall that I have a severe watermelon allergy.  Epi pen carrying severe.

Whenever I go to a restaurant, I always read the menus online first, to make sure there is no watermelon.  If there is any, I let them know when I make my reservations, and again when I'm seated, about my allergy.  I also scan the entire menu when I arrive to double check, and usually mention my allergy even if I don't see watermelon on the menu.  My allergy is severe to the point where using the same knife and cutting board would send me into anaphylaxis.

As always, I read the online menus.  I read the menus at the restaurant.  No watermelon.  And since it was a big group event, and in a bar area, I decided not to bother them with telling them about my allergy, it didn't seem worth the complication.

When this arrived, I had forgotten what the description said came on the side with the flan, besides the cookie.  I took a bite of the flan, and then skewered a piece of the fruit with my fork.  I couldn't quite tell what it was, as it was dark in the room, but it seemed very melon like.  Sirens went off in my head.  I pulled out the menu, and saw "blackberry" listed.  Clearly this was not blackberry.  More sirens went off.  I quickly called over our server, and she said "oh, yeah, they were out of berries, I think it is persimmon".  Persimmon would make sense, as it is peak persimmon season right now.  And it almost looked like persimmon, but even in the dim lighting, the color seemed off.  I told her about my allergy, and asked her to double check.  She came rushing back out a few minutes later, telling me that yes, it was watermelon.

AHHH!  This is the closest encounter I have had in years.  I even had a bite of flan off of this plate.  My throat did feel funny, but it never closed up.  I blame myself for not mentioning my allergy, but I was also pretty annoyed that they made that substitution, and that she told me it was persimmon when I asked.  I understand running out of ingredients and switching something else in, so I don't really blame the restaurant, but this was pretty scary.  She brought out a replacement without the melon.

The cookie was dry and flavorless.  The flan was pretty unremarkable, the caramel not very strong.  Meh.  Definitely not worth an ER visit.  $7 price was again decent for a dessert.

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Genuto

It is no secret that I like frozen treats.  Ice cream, frozen yogurt, I enjoy them all.  A few weeks ago, I was shopping at Whole Foods, and ran into a station sampling Genuto, a local vegan gelato line.  It is nut based, has no dairy, and is loaded with probiotics.  The ingredient lists are impressively short.  The "Simply Pistachio" flavor lives up to its name, containing only water, pistachios, sugar, and salt.  That is it.  The other flavors are all made from cashews, almonds, water, sugar, and a few spices.

The woman giving the samples, one of the founders, was really friendly, and truly believed in her product.  If I needed to avoid dairy, I'd certainly consider these, as they were fairly creamy and flavorful.

• Crystallized Ginger: Tasting notes: nice chunks of crystalized ginger throughout, fairly refreshing and light. [ Really good ginger flavor, large chunks of ginger, fairly refreshing.  Not very creamy though. ]
• Madagascar Vanilla: Tasting notes: subtle vanilla flavor, decently creamy for nut based product.  I wish the vanilla flavor was stronger.
• Chai Latte: Tasting notes: Chai flavor too subtle, meh.  Least favorite.
• Chocolate Cardamon: Tasting notes: Good cardamon flavor, chocolate not very intense, fairly creamy.

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Crab Night @ Camino!

[ Originally posted January 16, 2012.  Moving to blog in anticipation of crab season! ]

Every Monday night in January, Camino in Oakland does a special crab night.  For $34, you get a starter, half a roast crab, sides, and dessert.  $12 more gets you a full crab.   The starter, sides, and desserts change weekly, but the roast crab is always the star.  We went last year, and couldn't wait to return this year.  With so many fantastic restaurants in San Francisco, there are few reasons to cross the bridge into Oakland, but this is one of them!

The restaurant features an open kitchen with a huge fireplace in the center.  Most everything is cooked on the fireplace, and it is really fun to walk back there and watch.  The restaurant is mostly all giant communal tables, but they do put space between people, so it isn't like you are bumping into your neighbors.  The entire space is open and comfortable.  Eating there was a really relaxing experience, almost like being in a friend's home.  Service was sufficient and unobtrusive.  They provide complimentary house filtered sparkling or still water, which is always nice.  The cocktails and champagne my dining companions ordered were all tasty.

Tonight's dinner review is pretty much exactly the same as it was a year ago: appetizers are forgettable, crab and the salad it comes with are amazing, and dessert is bad.  But the crab, oh the crab.  Amazing.

This is probably my favorite of all Monday night specials I've ever had.  It certainly does not fall in the category of places running specials in order to get people in on Monday nights when they are using subpar ingredients or staff.  This is just ... special.  I'd go back again, any night!

Pickled carrots, celery.

Complimentary starter.  Just random pickled stuff.  Fairly uninteresting to me, but I eat pickled stuff pretty much daily, so I think I'm kinda spoiled and it takes a lot for me to find pickled veggies particularly interesting.  They are never/rarely as good as the "famous" ones my great aunt makes!

Epi, slabs of butter.

Complimentary bread, but you have to ask for it.  Served cold (boo) with giant slabs of hard butter (double boo) that was hard to spread on the bread.

That said, I enjoyed dipping it in sauces later on in the meal, so I'm glad we had it.

Wood oven-roasted local oysters with absinthe, breadcrumbs and yacón salad.  $13.

Not part of the Monday night special, we added this on.

The oysters were pretty forgettable.  No interesting flavors at all, lots of breadcrumb.  I'd definitely skip this in the future.

The yacon salad that came with it was delicious!  Crisp and the dressing on it was addictive.  I don't really understand why it was served as an accompaniment to the oysters though.

Spicy crab broth with leeks, parsley root and wild nettles.

First course of the Monday crab special.


I'm not really a soup person, so this wasn't all that interesting to me.  The veggies were cooked well (not too mushy, not too crisp), and it was impressive how much crab flavor they were able to impart into the soup, but I found it a little too salty.

The aforementioned bread dipped in the broth was nice.

Full Dungeness crab grilled in the fireplace with farro, chicory salad and mint.

And finally, what we were there for!  Grilled crab!

The crab itself was seasoned wonderfully and the fireplace gives it an amazing smokey flavor.  So, so flavorful!  There is a hollandaise sauce hiding on the plate as well, that wasn't really needed because the crab had so much flavor on its own (particularly when still warm), but as the crab cooled, having some bites with the hollendaise worked really well too, the flavors from the crab seasoning mixed nicely with it.

Hiding under the crab was a really nice farro, the grains perfectly cooked with a nice crunch to them, and very flavorful and well seasoned.  The chicory salad was a mix of both bitter chicory and other greens.  This combined well with the farro and with the hollendaise.

I managed to make up a few "perfect bites" that included farro, greens, crab meat, and hollandaise   A bite with all of that in it was pretty much amazing and had such great flavors that worked together sensationally!

The leftover bread dipped in the hollendaise was also quite nice (yes, I'm a sauce person ... I love everything with sauces!)

The aftermath!

After all that hard work, here is the leftover carnage.  Not a drop of crab meat remaining, I promise.

Cara cara orange sorbet with pomegranate granita and citrus.

This was the included dessert, not something I'd ever order.  It was incredibly meh to me.

The citrus was fine, but I have better citrus at the farmer's market 3 times a week.  The sorbet was fine, but sorbet is just kinda boring, and I have better sorbet at the farmer's market (Scream) every week.  The pomegrante was a nice tart component.  I guess if you like fruity, light desserts this was good.

Rice pudding with mastika and cardamom.  $9.

Since I wasn't satisfied with the previous dessert, I added on one of my favorites: rice pudding.

It came with some almonds, topped with whipped cream.  It was not particularly flavorful, very goopey, the rice cooked inconsistently, and served cold.  Disappointing.

I can really enjoy rice pudding, but I like it to have some defining characteristic: nice flavors, warm, custardy ... something. This was really just sorta there and not very good at all.  I should have just had another crab for dessert :)

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Crab and Dessert @ Absinthe

[ Originally posted January 8, 2012.  Moving to blog now in honor of crab season! ]

Trying to make up for a crappy meal at Destino, we headed to the lounge at Absinthe, for dessert.  Adding to our night of failures, they were out of our #1 dessert choice.  So, we somehow ended up getting a whole crab instead (and a dessert of course).  It was crab season after all!

Overall it was all good, but nothing special.  But keep in mind that I'm spoiled because I've been feasting on crab every weekend at home with pretty much this same preparation for a fraction of the cost.  And the desserts I eat daily at work are better than this, particularly the chocolate mousses and German chocolate cakes.  So ... this just didn't strike me as worth it.

The lounge area was a nice mix of formal but comfortable, lively but quiet enough to hold a conversation, and offered the bar menu, the full menu, and dessert menu, so we could easily create our ridiculous "dessert" courses.  A nice mix, but as it is out of the way from places I normally frequent, I'm not sure when I'd really find myself back there.

Chilled Whole Dungeness Crab.  $30.

So we went for dessert.  And then when they were out of what we wanted, we had to improvise.  So ... we started with a whole crab, served with some delicious butter sauces and lemon wedges.

The crab was good, but at the end of the day, it was just a plain cooked crab, not really any different than what I get for 1/3 the price at the farmer's market every week. The warm butter sauce was fine, but again, I can have that at home. The other sauce (some kind of Béarnaise perhaps?) was pretty delicious and definitely a value add.

My favorite was the body meat, nice and sweet and delicious even without the sauce.  Mmm, crab!

German chocolate cake: milk chocolate mousse, pressed coconut, coconut whipped cream, candied pecans, caramel sauce.  $10.

This was listed on the menu as "German Chocolate Cake", but was totally not what we expected.  Sorry for the poor photo, we were too eager to dig into it for me to slow down and take a proper photo!

The white stuff is coconut whipped cream, and it was delicious.  The candied pecans were a nice touch,  as I'm a sucker for pecans.  And it is hard to see, but there is a delicious caramel sauce drizzled over it.

The main dessert was a layer of sweetened, pressed coconut, topped with a layer of chocolate cake, all generously enrobed in chocolate mousse.  The cake itself was forgettable, but the mousse was pretty awesome.

A very different take on German chocolate cake for sure, but all of the key flavors were still highlighted, and this was enjoyable.  But as I said, I'm spoiled, and get better chocolate cake and chocolate mousse at work pretty regularly.

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Langostino Lobster @ Rubio's

Yes, I've got a thing for Rubio's.  Yes, it is out of character, as it is cheap, casual, Mexican food.  But not entirely out of character, as what I love is the sauces and the seafood.

Anyway, around this time of year every year, they have a limited time special: the Langostino Lobster taco (or burrito).  Since only discovered Rubio's a few months ago, I hadn't ever experienced it before, but had heard about it.  So when it came back on the menu, I had to try it out.

The first thing I noticed was the branding.  Everywhere it clearly said "Langostino Lobster".  I just figured it was a special type of lobster, but looked it up online to be sure.  Turns out ... not lobster at all.  They are tiny little crustaceans more closely related to hermit crabs.  And, Rubio's had a class action lawsuit filed against them a few years ago for marketing them as "lobster", hence, the excessive labeling now.

I didn't really care if it was real lobster or not, as I actually don't love lobster.  I greatly prefer local crab.  Or even shrimp or prawns if well prepared.  But ... it wasn't that great.

Since I've reviewed Rubio's so many times before, I'm skipping all the details on the establishment, and just reviewing this single dish.

Langostino Lobster Taco, Chips, "No Fried" Pinto Beans.  $4.29.

The langostino lobster taco is described as "Tender Langostino Lobster served with handmade guacamole, creamy chipotle sauce, salsa fresca, red and green cabbage, and a cilantro/onion mix.  Served on a warm stone-ground corn torilla and garnished with a slice of lime."

Of course, since I am allergic to avocado, I had to leave a major component out: the guacamole   When I asked to have it left out, the woman taking my order asked what I'd like instead.  She suggested cheese or sour cream.  I didn't really want to add cheese to my lobster (seafood and cheese don't seem to be a great pairing most of the time), and since there was already the creamy chipotle sauce I didn't want to add the sour cream.  So I said that it was fine to just leave it out and not substitute anything.  She then suggested rice.  I said sure.  In retrospect  this was not a good idea, since I don't really like rice, but I was caught off guard and just went along with it.  When she brought me my order, she also added on a side of the beans and chips, since they felt bad that I didn't have the guacamole, which is normally an expensive component (apparently, you can always add rice in for free).

Anyway.  The tortilla was the same corn tortilla shell I've had on previous visits, but this time, it was much crispier.  It had the same great corn flavor, and at first I didn't like the crispness as I thought it was stale, but it grew on me, and I ended up liking this crunchier version.  Not really sure why it was so different this time, normally it is soft and moist, seemingly steamed rather than grilled.  I enjoyed the tortilla, and used the extra pieces to dunk into salsa.

The "lobster" came in little pieces.  They were tender, well cooked, with a slightly grilled flavor. One or two of them seemed a little fishy.  Of all of the proteins I've tried at Rubio's, this was the least remarkable.  I greatly preferred the shrimp, the talapia, the mahi, even the fried pollock.  I think part of the problem was that the lobster was lost in all of the rice.  The rice was moist, flavorful, but there was a lot of it, and it doesn't normally belong in a taco.  It turned it more into a burrito.  But even without the rice, the lobster just wasn't anything special.

The creamy chipotle sauce, like every other time I've tried it, was amazing.  Creamy, with a nice kick.  It again made the entire thing delicious.  The salsa fresca was not as good as in past visits, the tomato cubes seemed less ripe, less flavorful.  This makes sense, as it is no longer tomato season.  The cabbages, cilantro, and onion filled out the taco, were fresh and crisp, but not remarkable.  I've been spoiled from trying some of their other tacos that have the serrano slaw instead, which is far more flavorful.

It was garnished with a juicy lime, which added a nice acidity and citrus note.  Additional limes were available in the condiments bar.  This time, I also tried some of the pickled carrots from the bar.  They were crunchy and insanely spicy.  I'd definitely add these in again.

This is their most expensive taco, at $4.29.  I'm assuming this is due to the guacamole and the lobster.  It didn't really seem worth that, but again, I didn't have the guac.  It was my least favorite of all of the tacos I've tried so far, and I wouldn't get it again.

As I mentioned, I also received a side of beans.  Not something I'd normally order, and I'd tried them on my first visit and wasn't all that impressed, but I tried them again.  Described as "made fresh daily from scratch, seasoned with a dash of garlic and black pepper, and topped with cotija cheese."  They were creamy, mostly mushy beans, with a few whole beans remaining.  There just wasn't much flavor to them, I didn't taste garlic at all.  Like before, I liked the cheese on top.

I also received some chips.  I hadn't yet tried these out, and I was excited to, mostly because I really like their chipotle salsa, and wanted something to dip into it.  The chips are also prepared fresh daily.  They were a thin style, slightly salty, not really remarkable.  Better than store bought chips, but not as good as  Tropisueño.

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