SF Food blog

My trip to San Francisco with Courtney, Derek and Chris was so cool. We also ate a lot. Here are two dishes from Tee Off Bar and Grill http://www.teeoffbarandgrill.com/ This restaurant was on an episode of diners, drive in-s and dives

The grilled double cut pork chop with achiote & apricot relish over garlic mash and deep fried sweet corn. It was a good dish but way too big. Double cut pork chop means it's twice as thick. It was juicy and flavorful. Too much for me.





Paul's Crafty Mac & Cheese
Mac and cheese with 4 cheeses, pancetta, ziti as pasta (I guess it isn't MAC & cheese) with salad. Quite possbily the best Mac and cheese I ever had. I would highly go back just for that dish.


One of the specials was the Crab empanadas. It was good (probably because it was deep fried). Nothing too special although the sauce has very sweet but not overly sweet.



Crabcake sandwich from Boudin's. Very good but not very crabcake like. Nice avocado pesto and very italian tasting. Very tasty in general.

New England Clam chowder in a sour dough bowl from Boudin's. San Fran makes amazing clam chowder. I think they add clam juice in it. At another place, I saw a guy pouring in a half gallon of half and half. I think that's why it tasted good too.

In & out burger ANIMAL STYLE. My goodness, I hope this would put McDonald's out of business. Very yummy. The animal style adds bacon and sauteed onions to the basic cheeseburger. You have to ask for it animal style, it's not a listed option on the menu

In & out french fries animal style. I had to request both animal style. Same topping as the burger. In all honesty, the fries stink, but the toppings make it taste so much better.

Happy Birthday to me

We went to Fette Sau in Williamsburg part of Brooklyn. It's located at 354 Metropolitan Avenue.



Here is today's menu. Apparently, the menu changes every day. Pork belly, beef rib, brisket.....OH YEA!!



This was our back wall. This goes to show that meat = education



This is my meal: .5lb pork belly, .25lb brisket, .5lb boneless pork rib, bottle of orange soda, 2 bread buns. (I asked the guy if the boneless rib was the same meat from the short rib. He says this is actually not as dry as the short rib. Jackpot!!! .5lb for me.)



This is Hei's meal: brisket, pork belly and sweet sausage with lemon lime soda and bread.



And this is the birthday party. I don't think we could have fit any more people. It was tight sitting in there.



Result: At first, I was disappointed the menu was so small. On the website, they have options of pork cheek and other stuff but only had a few items here today. I had high expectations of the pork belly. It seemed that we got a very lean piece of pork belly. The meat wasn't as pink as with other smoked pork meats you might have. It was very white. The boneless rib was the best dish. At some bbq places, they charge the same price WITH the bone. I probably could have eaten the boneless rib without a knife since it was so tender. The sausage was ok. The brisket was good in my opinion because it's hard to get good, soft, and juicy brisket. Most of the meats were somewhat under-seasoned. That's ok if you truly enjoy the pure meat flavor. But this was a problem in the pork belly as well. It was a good try. I prefer Hillcountry USA better. Next post will compare the two when David joins Hei and I in 2 weeks at Hillcountry (ok, maybe more than two weeks).

Side note: thanks to Libby for the yummy homemade dessert.

Babyback ribs!!

Every time I post, it seems like it's the return of the food blog. Hei and I (mostly Hei) found a great recipe for baby back ribs. It is fall off the bone goodness. It is so tender and so juicy. My mom doesn't however like this recipe because it doesn't retain the pork flavor well enough. You be the judge and the only way you can do that is to try cooking it yourself.

The great thing about this recipe is that it is incredibly easy. Here are the ingredients:
-1 or more racks of Baby Back ribs. (Hei and I share one rack. Also, don't get the spare ribs or the country ribs. You can if you want but it isn't as juicy and fatty as baby back ribs.)
-salt and pepper
-Bottled bbq sauce (If you are adventurous, go make your own sauce.)
-Foil (NO YOU DON'T EAT THIS!!!!)
-Oven with broiler (NO, YOU DON'T EAT THIS EITHER)

1) Preheat oven to 400 degrees F.
2) Generously salt and pepper the entire rack of ribs (If you have any type of cajun or hickory spice, that would work great too)
3) Completely wrap the ribs with 2 or more pieces of big aluminum foil.
4) Place foil wrapped ribs in on oven safe tray and place in 400 degree oven for 90 MINUTES!!! (yes it's a long time. Make sure you don't start cooking this too late in the evening) This is a great time to go for a jog, cook your other food, feed the dog, practice guitar, do your laundry, place "words with friends" on your phone, etc....)
5) Take ribs out of oven and remove foil from ribs. (I told you that "YOU DON'T EAT THIS!!!")
6) Turn off oven and turn on broiler on high
7) Turn ribs upside down where the meat is on the bottom. Brush bbq sauce on bottom of ribs.
8) Put ribs in broiler for about 4 minutes or until sauce starts to bubble nicely.
9) Take ribs out and flip over with meat side up. Brush on sauce on meat side and then put in broiler again with meat side up (until it bubbles and browns slightly)
10) Take ribs out. Brush on sauce on meat side AGAIN!!
11) Let ribs rest for 4-7 minutes (You should really wait for it to cool a little. You don't want the steam to release too quickly making the ribs dry)
12) Cut ribs and attempt to eat slowly and savor the flavor. (Notice I said "attempt" to eat slowly. This is where my patience is tested.)

And here is the end result: