Lorelai "Wei-Ling" W.'s Profile

I have a friend who loves cheap japanese food. So, when Miyake on De Anza closed down, he was VERY UPSET and declared he needed a new place to get his bento and sushi fix. (Upset over Miyake closing? Really? I said.)

Nevertheless, he looked, and then he told me one day HEY! There's this place called Harumi Sushi, it's really close to where we both live, you should try it!

I was the last one on to try it, but I'm very glad I did. I haven't had a bad roll yet, and the atmosphere is fun. It's not as cheap as Miyake was, but...er...I think that's because it's better than Miyake was :)

Highlight of one of my trips was definitely the Greg roll. It was monstrous, and it was delicious. Plus, the waiter tapped me on the shoulder and said, "You see that guy sitting at the bar?" and pointed to a guy not two feet away from me. "That's Greg."

I simply had to thank him for the delicious roll :)

I thought this place was great! It was totally empty on a Saturday at 11:30 AM, so I drove right in and he started the test. The price was exactly as quoted on the coupon (which I printed out and gave to him), $29.95 plus the cert fee/taxes came out to $39.95 total. FYI, I drive a Toyota Solara convertible. I wouldn't be surprised if SUVs/trucks/sportier cars cost more. He was very polite and it was completely painless! I admit I was 100% on guard after reading some bad reviews, but it went fine for me and I suspect if you drive a car like mine and aren't an asshole, you'll be fine too.

I'm very excited to be blogging about the next restaurant I want to share: Crustacean, in San Francisco. The story of Crustacean is a very unique and heartwarming one, and can be found on their website. It's a win-win situation: my heart is happy to support a restaurant that has such a rich history and happy story of determined women succeeding against all odds, and my tummy is happy to support their food - again, and again, and again!

On the dollar scale, from fast food to once-in-a-lifetime, I would say Crustacean rates "special occasion" - However, since discovering it last year, I've been there three times already and would not hesitate to go again tomorrow. To start, we ordered several appetizers, called "Small Plates" and costing around $10.00.

First we had the Papaya Salad with Calamari, "lightly marinated calamari tossed in spicy Vietnamese vinaigrette with green papaya, rau ram and fresh Asian basil." I'm not even sure what a natural papaya looks like - such an uncultured foodie - however, I do know that it was amazing, and am now a permanent papaya salad fan and will order it wherever else I see it, just so I can compare them and see who makes it the best!

Next we had the Vietnamese Carpaccio, "thinly sliced raw beef with a spicy lemon vinaigrette, Asian basil, sliced red onions and roasted peppers." My last trip to Crustacean, and the Salmon Carpaccio small plate that I ordered, had made me a carpaccio fan, but something about this dish just wasn't as stunning as the last one I tried. I would definitely re-order the salmon carpaccio next time, or try one of their many other small plates.

Crustacean Shrimp Toast. This was actually really delicious! I was wary about the idea of minced shrimp on bread, but it was executed wonderfully. It was lightly broiled so that it was a tiny bit crunchy and toasty on the outside, but soft on the inside. They only serve three pieces, though, so if you go with a party of six like we did, you must be prepared to share. I would probably try something else next time.

Main Course Time! We ordered everything that Crustacean is famous for: first, the Roasted Dungeoness Crab. This is widely, widely recommended on blogs and review sites everywhere, and for a reason. The crab is perfectly roasted, and so savory that you have to try very hard to refrain from licking the shell! It's easy to crack (and it snaps crisply, not soggy and bendy like cheap crab does), and each bite of the tender meat inside reminds you why Crustacean is one of San Francisco's best seafood restaurants.

Second, and absolutely crucial for every visit, is the famous An's Garlic Noodles. I knew about these garlic noodles way, way before I ever set foot in Crustacean itself. The first time I had it, I was hooked. Second time I had it, I was still hooked. Third time....yep, still hooked. :) I can't emphasize how much I recommend these garlic noodles. TIP: If you're not feeling spendy enough for a restaurant that's "special occasion" priced, though, you can get a very good alternative garlic noodle dish at Unicorn that I heartily recommend. It's lighter, and still very delicious.

Dessert! Most of us were tempted into the fried banana and ice cream, which is delicious and a must-have if you've never tried it. However, if you have had it, Crustacean's take on it is not particularly special - but it's not bad at all. But, the best of the night was definitely the Baked Alaska. Now, I am not a big fan of bananas. However, the sauce on the banana slices was divine - sweet without overpowering. I seriously respect any restaurant that can prepare a food I don't particularly like into a dish that I could die for, and this was definitely it!

With the dessert still on my mind hours later, I looked up Baked Alaska on the interwebs, and I can't say that the description of the dessert sounded like what we ate - so I'll have to order it at the next restaurant that offers it, for the sake of comparison.

Yeah...obviously, I am a huge fan of this restaurant and it has not failed to impress me even upon my return trips. I am always recommending this restaurant to friends and/or taking them there personally so I can get another meal in!

Full review with photos here:
http://lorelai.vox.com...

We got off to a rocky start - the resort is located in some mysterious nowhere land and our Prius's navigational system could not find it at all. We ended up having to pull up Google Maps on our mobile phones and visually comparing it to the car's map.

For my first time in Napa, I couldn't have stayed at a better resort! However, I fully acknowledge I have nothing else to compare it to, so do read this review with a grain of salt!

A friend of mine owns a timeshare here, so my perception of price here is probably very skewed and not worth mentioning. As for accomodations, we got a divided suite with a shared front door - once in the front door there were two separate front doors, each keycarded.

Our room was a mini studio, with a kitchenette and lovely bathroom; their one bedroom was one of the most phenomenal suites I've ever seen, with a fireplace in a plush sitting room, full kitchen and breakfast bar, an expansive balcony overlooking the pool, a humongous, canopied king size bed, in-room jacuzzi tub, and huge marble bathroom attached. There was a washer and dryer set in both of our rooms, and each room came with a complementary bottle of red wine to welcome us!

I also have nothing but good things to say about their spa, Spa Terra, which is located within their impressive wine cave in the back. The facilities are a bit more modest compared to some other full-service spas (as in saunas and steam rooms, not happy endings) that you can find around the SF Bay Area, but to their credit, the 50 min. deep tissue massage I got was one of the best I've ever had!

It was pretty bad weather for a weekend in Napa, so I'm glad that Vino Bello was one of the most enjoyable timeshare/resorts that I've had the pleasure of staying at. I was going to give it 4 stars due to the fact that I don't have anything to compare it to, but then figured that wouldn't be fair, so 5 out of 5 it is!

It's nice not to be in college anymore, where I would snarf down anything put in front of me on a plate, or eat leftovers from a $5.00 lunch for two days because I needed the money for something else. Now I work in the heart of San Francisco and make some nice pocket change to spend on some of the best restaurants in the world. So I know I've become somewhat of a snob about eating out, dinnertime foods, and restaurants.

But enough of that! Today I'm blogging about being a snob about dessert! :)

I was introduced to BonBonBar by a friend recently. Nina Wanat, the founder of BonBonBar LLC, hand-makes chocolate candy bars and marshmallows. (And she blogs about desserts!) My friend had ordered a sample pack, which included a package of 4 vanilla marshmallows, a package of 4 passionfruit marshmallows, a dark chocolate caramel nut bar, and...well, to be honest, I get fuzzy on what else was in the sample pack because I was sort of occupied with the first three. :)

The chocolate bar was absolutely amazing. The ingredients are top of the line: Mixed Nuts, Cacao Nibs, and Buttery Salted Caramel make up the gooey center of a modest bar of Dark Chocolate. I was absolutely amazed by the salted caramel! It had some of that French Laundry butter with fleur-de-sel magic - natural, expected caramel goodness with just a tiiiny tang of something else that keeps your tongue stay alert and your taste buds say WHOA.

And then I had the marshmallows....duuuude, they were good. (I can say dude, damnit. I live in California and so does Nina.) I absolutely loved the vanilla marshmallow - surprisingly dense and flavorful, yet with a melt-in-your-mouth, light texture. But oh man, then came the passionfruit marshmallow. JenC has a picture of my face when I bit into the passionfruit marshmallow: it's not a very photogenic moment of mine, but you can sure tell I'm really enjoying that marshmallow.

Price-wise, yes, these bars are considerably more expensive than those bars you grab on your way through the checkout stand. These are probably even a tad more expensive than the factory direct bars like Scharrfen Berger and Ghiradelli. As for the marshmallows, definitely the most expensive marshmallows I've ever had. But I would put in writing that these are so very worth ordering! I didn't even LIKE marshmallows before BonBonBar's marshmallows - unless they came with lots of chocolate sandwiched between graham crackers. I'll definitely be ordering more BonBonBar chocolate and marshmallows - but I'll be snarfing them down one by one.

BonBonBar currently doesn't have a home store, but it can be located at select retail outlets. For their locations and ordering, check out http://www.bonbonbar.com!

Full review with pictures here:
http://lorelai.vox.com...

I am a huge fan of Dine About Town as an idea. It gives people an opportunity to sample some of the best restaurants San Francisco has to offer. Unfortunately, I think Dine About Town creates a lot of strain for the staff and chefs of their respective restaurants, as they get a lot more people coming in for lunch and dinner and probably have to make some sacrifices in order to reduce wait times for everyone.

This is somewhat the reputation that preceded supperclub in San Francisco when I went during DaT in January. Ordinarily, supperclub is a fairly pricey, 5-course pre-fixe experience - $60-80 average a head. I won't presume to guess how busy they are on a typical night, but during Dine About Town, it was absolutely packed and unpleasantly crowded, and there were only three courses served. As a result, the whole experience - though original, exotic and quirky - felt like it was dragging on a little (We all shared the semi-joking opinion that it would've been a whole lot more fun if we were all high.)

The fun part about supperclub was that it felt very exclusive and exotic, as the 'club' in 'supperclub' suggests. The lobby is alive, plush, exciting and sexy, and so are the bartenders. Unfortunately, waiting for seating (they seat you all at once in the main "dining hall") with the other bazillion patrons feels rather like cows being herded towards their enclosure.

The main dining room is fantastic. bold, cold and white, with splashes of silky red cloth across the walls and ceiling. It's an open two-level single room, filled with snazzy lights and beating club music, with white platform beds and large white pillows extending along three walls. They serve your food over a span of three-ish hours, so it's nice to be lounging/reclining/lying down during the slightly boring down-time in between.

The first course was a salad. it was quite a decent portion, served on a rather strangely long dish, with mystery bits (carrots? beets? nuts? hey, it was dark!) topped with bleu cheese, wonton crunchies, and a tangy vinaigrette. I was pleasantly surprised that I liked the bleu cheese. It tasted like feta. Er...maybe it was feta?

Apparently the second course was kobe beef, complemented by a mix of what Yelpers say was polenta and/or ratatouille. This was probably my favorite course of the night. I've had kobe beef once before in my life, but unfortunately they came in the form of raw medallions I had to grill myself, so I probably messed it up. Supperclub's kobe beef was 95% delicious, melt-in-your-mouth, grade-A quality beef; and 5% sort of rubbery chewy weirdness. I guess my quest for the real mind-blowing kobe beef experience continues.

The brownie and ice cream dessert was served in a silver dogbowl and refused to be photogenic - something about a dogbowl just renders it visually unappetizing, maybe. Entree-wise, it was tasty, but a little boring.

I have strangely low blood pressure, so after a meal I tend to crash hard into a food coma unless I remain active. Large platform beds and lounge pillows are not conducive to activity, so by the end of dessert I was wanting to lie down and nap. There was just so much downtime between each dish, and we didn't feel like racking up a huge drink tab, so by the end of the night hanging out at someone's place with wine and cheese sounded a lot more fun. Don't get me wrong, I did enjoy supperclub's overall awesome concept of eating in bed, but three hours of it is definitely more than enough.

f I had come with just my boyfriend for a romantic experience, we probably would have gotten bored or irritated sooner - but luckily I came with a large group, which prompted them to seat us in a semi-secluded corner instead of along the wall, which plops you shoulder-to-shoulder with noisy people on both sides. The disavantage was that we couldn't see the looping movie of a swimming naked woman projected on the front wall, but I can live with that. Seven of us was more than enough to make for endless lively conversation, so we had a fantastic time overall.

Would I go again? Once, perhaps, on a non Dine About Town night just to see what it's like - because I think it was definitely watered-down for us cheaper masses. But if I ever have a guest from out-of-town that wants a quirky SF experience, I'd probably just head over to AsiaSF!

Full review with food pr0n photos here:
http://lorelai.vox.com...

Sunday morning in Napa Valley - day 2 of our weekend stint -  found us standing line nice and early(ish) at the Bouchon Bakery. As another Thomas Keller restaurant, Bouchon's reputation also precedes itself, but I figured that since this weekend was my date with The French Laundry (yep, I reviewed this too on Yelp), adding Bouchon to the list was probably a bit excessive (on the wallet). But a few bucks for Bouchon Bakery sweets? What the heck, I'm on vacation!

The wait in line was considerable but pleasant, similar to my regular jaunts to Tartine Bakery in San Francisco (where I work). The people are friendly and excited, and the eye and nose candy is just unbelievable. @_@ I picked out treats for the boyfriend and me, and settled down with some friends at a table in the small courtyard adjacent.

Our lewts from Bouchon Bakery:

The sticky bun, topped with sweet pecans, was heavenly and reminded me a lot of the morning buns at Tartine (I mean that as the greatest of compliments). The eclair was decent, the signature Bouchon sweets were memorably rich and chocolatey, and the pan chocolat (chocolate croissant) was unanimously the least impressive (but still not bad). I also pilfered bites of a to-die-for bacon and cheese scone off my friends.

After stuffing our faces, we sat around for a while, frantically digesting, and absentmindedly commenting on how the birds that were scavenging crumbs off of us were rather fat, and were probably the most well fed birds in the world.

Then we exercised off our subsequent sugar rush with a lengthy shopping trip at the Napa outlet mall. :)

Complete review with food pr0n photo tour here (I also review The French Laundry!):
http://lorelai.vox.com...

I've got nothing but smiles when I remember this place. It was the first restaurant I went to on my first trip to Napa!

Our waitress was a very pleasant and sociable lady, and either she or the chefs were very efficient - in no time delicious appetizers and entrees were set out in front of us.

BarBersQ appetizer: Oysters on 1/2Shell

My favorite part of the meal had to have been the Grilled West Coast oysters. There were 6 for the 5 of us, and I pilfered the last one. :] My boyfriend, being extra hungry, ordered an amazing pulled pork sandwich, and it was gone in about 30 seconds. I managed to sneak one bite out of it, and it was fanTAStic, on the same level of the best pulled pork I've ever had (which is from Daisy May's in New York City).

Full Rack of Ribs (house special)

The full rack of ribs we ordered to share were pretty good - I always find ribs that have been dry-cooked lacking in juiciness, which makes me sad - but the BarBersQ special sauce rack made them absolutely delicious. Our waitress made a point to explain which sauce was which - they were all color coded from mild to spicy.

The chili side we ordered was good, but not special, until we added a drop of the specially made, organic hot sauce (also suggested by our waitress). The hot sauce was called Frog's Leap, made specially for the restaurant - which makes me sad because I'll never find it in any local store.

BarBersQ Dessert: Key Lime Pie

Dessert was also especially good - I got the key lime pie. The graham cracker crust was extremely good, but the pie was a bit tart - for genuine key lime I'd probably still recommend getting them in their native state of Florida. The pecan pie was wonderful,  especially with the chocolate and caramel mixed in.

Three guys at the table next to us started to take interest in our constant yammer about setting up macro food shots and taking pictures of every dish that came out way. Eventually they struck up conversation with us, and lo and behold, the guy was the OWNER of the restaurant we were sitting in! His name was Jean (spelling?) and he was a very nice guy who was very interested in what we thought of the place (and very curious of our gorillapods on our cameras). We ended up spending two hours eating, chatting, and taking pictures. All in all, an awesome evening - even with the pouring rain outside. I'll be back!

Full review with pictures here:
http://lorelai.vox.com...

The waiters and waitresses all spoke with the same soothing, pleasantly modulated, low voice that impeccably described every single dish placed before us. They noticed every piece of tableware/silverware accidentally knocked out of place or dirtied, every half-empty wine glass or water glass, every dropped napkin, every crumb on the table that needed dusting off. They were so attentive it was almost a dance routine.

We knew that we wanted (1) a kitchen tour after our meal, and (2) a special request of "coffee and donuts," another famous creation. Not only did they fill both requests without hesitation, they added 3 other dishes into our presentation, knocking up our Chef's 9-course tasting menu to a whopping 11 or so courses, spanning over 4 hours of eating time!

We paired our meal with a nice, (relatively) inexpensive bottle of 2005 Zmos, a $70 bottle of fruity, bubbly, and light white wine.

Some of my favorites (Alas, I've written a review and taken a photo of every single dish in my blog, but Yelp limits my ramblings to 5,000 characters!):

Oysters and Pearls - Sabayon of the evening. Every last detail regarding the dish's "debut" was finely tuned and coordinated. For Oysters and Pearls, two waiters bring the four little covered dishes - the interior of which is no larger than a personal sized ramekin - and set them down across from each other, simultaneously. This proved to be exceedingly difficult with three obsessive women, three cameras and two gorillapods mucking about the table.  As the camera noob, there would be many hisses of "Wei-Ling! Wei-Ling!" as I messed up their routine while trying to get a good manual macro shot in low lighting.

The Bread Interludes - Most other restaurants treat bread as cheap filler, but The French Laundry uses it as a seamless transition between meals. We completely obliterated the generous container of butter topped with fleur de sel - it was, without exaggeration, the best I have ever tasted in my life. I could not help myself and heartily slathered all the bread I ate with the stuff. They served 6-8 other types of bread two more times during the meal - currant bread, mini baguettes, multigrain, on and on - and each time, we all reached for the same butter.

Moulard Duck "Foie Gras En Terrine" - As much as I don't like foie gras, and don't believe in cruel treatment of animals for food, I can't lie, it was delicious. But, the 100-year-old balsamic vinegar absolutely stole the show. The foie gras was served with a silver tray with three types of salt - each type rarer, harder to obtain, and more exotic than the last. Unfortunately, since foie gras is inherently salty, there was much not use for it - we ended up just sampling the salt with the subsequent dishes and even just subsequent bread/butter :)

Elysian Fields Farm Lamb Rib-Eye - it was as soft and tasty as Kobe beef. (now that's an awesome thought - Kobe beef done French Laundry style. Salivary glands are activating at the thought of it). The sauce was delightful, and I even liked/ate the mushrooms - and I HATE mushrooms. In fact, I normally don't eat about half the things I enjoyed this evening.

Sweet Butter-poached Maine Lobster "mitts" - I'm a sucker for seafood. The "melted" garlic's recipe is a completely mystery, but it was the most delicious garlic-in-paste-form I've had since my college days at Berkeley - a modestly popular Italian place called Gypsy.

Four Story Hill Farm Milk-fed "Poularde" - Most perfectly cooked chicken ever. And I thought only m&ms melted in your mouth. I was sorry to have to share this one with the table.

Bluefin Tuna "Confit  la Minute" - I ate too much tuna as a kid, enough to jumpstart that part of your body that makes you start fearing  certain tastes when one becomes older. But the bluefin tuna serving was perfectly tender, not sushi nor overdone, and the accompanying almonds and mini cauliflower florets were perfect little jewels of explosive taste that went well with the milder tuna flavor.

By the 10th plate set before, me, I was finally fully appreciating the pattern: every dish that we sampled has a combination of incredibly strength and a grounding mildness that go perfectly with each other. The pear sorbet with its panna cotta and ginger snap, the explosive passionfruit gelee with its modest chocolate cake, the chocolate "dobos" and its brown bread ice cream a la mode. The food was blatantly trying to tease, dare, seduce my tastebuds - and well, it worked!

Overall, The French Laundry was definitely the most amazing dining experience I have ever had. When I can, I will definitely be back, though it will have to be an occasion worthy of the bill!

Thorough, unabridged review with food pr0n photo tour here:
http://lorelai.vox.com...

I love Susie :) I was recommended to her by a co-worker, who has been getting her hair done there for almost 20 years!!! Susie takes great care to make sure you are getting exactly what you want, is supremely fair priced, and a delight to chat with. I've always been extremely happy with her work.

Be prepared to book your appointments weeks ahead of time, but it's really no wonder she's so extremely busy! ;)