Lemongrass Thai Cuisine
109 N McDowell Ave, Petaluma, CA 94954
(707) 789-9777

As we perused the menu, the waitress brought us a bowl of styrofoam.  I mean shrimp chips.  In pretty colors.  With dip.  I asked if there was egg (my daughter is quite allergic) and she was sure there was not but offered to show us the box.  She was right but, given they were from a box and the list of artificial food dyes in them was longer than the list of the other ingredients, we asked her to take it away.

We started with the coconut soup, or at least we tried to.

Tom Kha, “coconut soup based seasoned with lime juice, kaffir lime leaves, mushrooms, onions, and carrots.”  $8.50 for a large (ordered with 3 bowls) plus $2 for “prawns.”  It was served with the rest of the meal, not in the 15 minutes or so while we were waiting.  It came with no bowls and the only spoon was a soup spoon, nothing to serve with.

I love coconut soup and order it whenever I get the chance.  Picking out all the pieces of roots and leaves that make up the complex flavors is part of the fun.  Except there weren’t any.  No flavors from them either.  The mushrooms were white button, cut in half, the onions were undercooked slices of plain yellow onion, and the carrots were flavorless and too uniformly cut (with scallops) to be house prepped.  There were at least a fair number of shrimp (does keeping the tails on turn them into prawns?) for the $2.

How do you make coconut soup?  I imagine fresh coconut milk seeped in herbs and spices and tangy from lime.  I don’t know what recipe Lemongrass used but it was something like: open cans of coconut milk, add to pot with several cups of sugar, add vegetables, cook until light gel stage.  I make coconut ice cream with canned coconut milk and the soup was actually sweeter.  Finally, I gave up and asked for fish sauce (which came in a small bowl, tasting mostly of water and salt)  and dumped it, plus the “hot” sauce from Michael’s dish into my soup bowl, but nothing cut through all that sugar.

Unfortunately, I also ordered a peanut sauce dish.  I expect this to be sweet, but it should fundamentally be savory, with complex flavors.  Like the soup, it felt more like dessert.

Pad Peanut Sauce, “stir fried mixed vegetables and fried tofu with peanut sauce.”  $8.50.

More of the same mushrooms, carrots, and onions, plus some welcome nicely cooked green beans, red bell pepper, pod peas, and a bit of raw cabbage.  No sprouts, no chopped peanuts, just some cilantro and a slice of orange.  We knew this version didn’t come with noodles and we asked for all our dishes to be egg free. The sauce was not thick or cloying, like I feared, but the overwhelming flavor was sugar.

We fared a bit better with the other two dishes.  Miriam of course wanted some chicken.

Barbecue Chicken Rice Pot, “vegetarian fried rice, with sliced barbecue chicken on top.”  $10.50.

Miriam loved the soup and tofu (such a sad comparison to when she was a toddler sucking on a piece of ginger pulled from a bowl of soup at a different, better, Thai restaurant) and ate plenty.  She claimed to enjoy this dish but barely touched it.  Michael says the chicken was pretty good, though a little bit–surprise–sweet.

The oddity was the rice.  Since we saw brown rice on the menu we asked if they could use it here, done with no egg.  Yes, we’ll give you steamed brown rice.  We don’t want steamed rice, we said, the menu says stir fried.  They promised they would do it, in a freshly washed pan.  So what did we get? steamed white rice with raisins.  I’m not joking…raisins.  Had I noticed this early enough I would have sent it back.

Michael’s dish was the best of the night, though not for him.

Prig Pow Seafood, “prawns, calamari, mussels, scallops, and sole.  Sauteed with vegetables in dry chili paste.”  $12.95.

Since it was Father’s Day, I encouraged him to order the dish the way he liked it, even if no one else would touch it.  So he asked the waitress (a different one from above) to make it extremely hot.  What followed was a comedy of sorts.  So no spice? she asked.  No, I want spice, make it the way you would for a Thai person, not an American.  So do you want spice or no spice?  Very spicy, he insisted.  He ended up with a nice bowl of seafood, some beans, peas, carrot, and cilantro, in a sweet mildly spicy sauce.  Mild enough for me to pour into my soup and onto my plate.  At least it had a flavor beyond sugar.

Most of the reviews I’ve seen talk about the wonderful friendly service.  Again, I have to wonder if we went to the same restaurant.  The waitresses were nice enough, and always topped up our water, but they messed up the soup and didn’t provide serving utensils for all the dishes (plus included a steak knife with the already sliced chicken). There were no condiments and it took some doing just to get fish sauce.

Our primary waitress laughed, actually laughed, each time we asked for something or made a comment.  I am sure it was just a nervous titter over her English being so poor she didn’t understand us, but my mind couldn’t help interpreting it as rude.  This is how we ended up with things like mild vs hot spices or the disaster which they called rice.  Instead of telling us she didn’t understand, or grabbing the other waitress (which she did at times), she nodded and told us it was fine.

My guess is that other reviewers have both a higher sugar tolerance than we do (it’s the next day and my head is still buzzing) and happened to hit the better dishes but miss the awful ones.  In fairness, it’s a huge menu and we only had 4 dishes.  If we hadn’t had the soup, we probably wouldn’t be panning the place so badly.  The food was cooked well.  The problem was the ingredients.

Menu Pages:

Page 1 – Page 2 – Page 3 – Page 4 – Page 5 – Page 6 – Page 7 – Wine

©2010 Norwitz Notions. All Rights Reserved.

So this year we decided to go to Gourmet Garden, a non-chain Japanese/Chinese/American buffet with a smaller selection at half the price.  The real plus? it’s 3 miles from our house.

Gourmet Garden Buffet
100 S. McDowell Blvd., Petaluma, CA 94954
(707) 778-3899
http://www.gourmetgardenbuffet.com/
Open: 7 days, Lunch 11am-4pm, Dinner 4pm-9pm
Party room, party trays, and takeout available
Lunch $8.29 (kids 6-10 $5.79, kids 2-5 $3.79)
Dinner (M-Th) $11.99 (kids 6-10 $7.79, kids 2-5 $4.79)
Dinner (F 4-9pm, Sat, Sun, Holiday all day) $12.49 (kids 6-10 $7.79, kids 2-5 $4.79)
Kids under 2 free, Seniors over 65 10% off

We went once before and I came away disappointed, so was reluctant to go again.  On this trip, I realized I had misremembered.  The food is actually pretty good.  Everything is made fresh and tastes like something you’d get in a home kitchen.  The disappointment was simply that most of the food has meat or egg or both and that doesn’t leave much I can eat.  There are several safe dishes to be sure, but not the full variety you expect from a buffet.

Let’s start with the sushi.  At Gourmet Garden, the sushi station is the heart and soul of the place.

Raymond the sushi chef

A young smiling man (his picture doesn’t do him justice) named Raymond creates both standard and masterful sushi and sashimi dishes with the few ingredients he has in front of him. Unfortunately, each and every one of the sushi pieces has wasabi mayonnaise, which means Miriam poison (eggs).

Raymond though is more than happy to make sushi to order.  He offered Miriam a vegetable maki roll but she said nope, she wanted one with raw fish, and chose the salmon.  He also made me a maki roll with eel and pickled turnip and some salmon nigiri (there’s a sushi FAQ with pictures so you can sound as educated as I do).

Salmon nigiri sushi and shrimp dumplings

Sushi is my favorite part of these buffets and it’s hard not to just be able to choose what I want and put it on my plate (some of the creations were just gorgeous too).  So I limited myself to 3 special orders (16 small pieces, which Miriam ate several of) and enjoyed the rest of the food offerings.

My usual way of working a buffet is to grab an employee (not a server, as they rarely know anything about the food) and get a rundown of what is and isn’t safe for me to eat.  Unfortunately, not a single one of the buffet workers I asked spoke English.  Several of them spoke Spanish (which I also speak) but were only guessing about the food ingredients.

Raymond to the rescue again.  He knew how every dish was made.  He was so knowledgeable, in fact, that I asked if he owned the restaurant.  No, he’s just the sushi chef, but he goes through the kitchen to see how all the food is made and then retains it all somehow.  After I got permission to take his picture for my review, he asked me to tell my readers that he’s looking to find a young American girlfriend.  A sweet man who knows how to cook, not a bad catch.

Plate of sushi and hot foods

I ended up with several plates of good food.  Above we have (from top and clockwise): salt & pepper shrimp (very good but messy), green beans (moderately spiced), seaweed salad (one of my favorites), family style tofu (I had a craving for braised cabbage as we drove to the restaurant and this dish satisfied it, the tofu was cooked perfectly too), eel maki, and shrimp with vegetables.

On the plate below we have: steamed cod (the only miss of the night…it was cooked adequately but was too bland, it would have be good with a spicy sauce or mixed into another dish), broiled oysters (delicious if you get them fresh and choose the bigger juicier ones), and more family style tofu.

Plate of oysters, fish, and tofu

Miriam asked for, surprise surprise, chicken and I found two she could eat: teriyaki and 5 spice. She also had noodles, sushi, fruit, and several pieces of marinated sashimi, before deciding it was too spicy.

Miriam polishing off several plates of food

I didn’t ask about dairy but I suspect most of the dishes were dairy-free.  There was cheese in the salad bar and butter in some of the American dishes. I didn’t bother to ask about gluten either.  Though, except for the noodles and dumplings, I would guess that the only gluten we ate was soy sauce (which was in almost every hot dish).  A few choices were breaded but they all had egg in them so we didn’t eat them anyway.

Because it’s a buffet and you can ignore rice and other starches, you can eat here lowcarb.  Sashimi, seaweed, vegetables, tofu, a salad bar, meat, and soups.  Some of the sauces might be a bit on the carby side for those who need to keep their carb counts way down. Vegetarians have good choices too with a lot of the lowcarb items plus rice, noodles, vegetable sushi, and bread.

All of the desserts appeared to have dairy and eggs and wheat.  They had some (out of season) fresh fruit and several canned fruits including lychees.

Fruit bowls

The restaurant is all on one level with easy wheelchair access to tables an the buffet area.  The buffet stations themselves are a bit hard to reach from a sitting position, but no worse than any salad bar.  Nothing was burning inside and there was no noticeable propane or other smells, aside from the yummy food.  We did not check out the bathrooms.

With some careful navigation, Gourmet Garden can accommodate a variety of dietary restrictions.  For those with none, you’ll find a decent variety of hot and cold dishes, all fresh and inviting.

(Note: Prices & website updated as of 9/18/09.)

©2010 Norwitz Notions. All Rights Reserved.

Namaste Cafe
1390 No McDowell Blvd., Ste, A
Petaluma CA 94954
(707) 664-9245

Open Monday through Saturday – Lunch 11:30 am – 2:30 pm, Dinner 5:00 pm to 9:00 pm. Lunch buffet is $8.95 ($5 for kids) and dinner entrees run around $9-14.  Lunch buffet $8.95 ($5 for children).

My brother and his girlfriend got two chicken dishes, tandoori and tikka masala ($14), both of which they liked very much.  Miriam had some too and kept asking for more of the masala sauce spooned over rice.

Chicken Tandoori

Tikka masala is a protein of choice buried in a fragrant fenugreek sauce.  Tandoori has no sauce at all and the protein is baked in a clay oven then served on a sizzling hot platter with some vegetables.  Michael and I got the mahi mahi tandoori and the fish was ever so slightly underdone, but still flaky and flavorful.  That iron platter stayed hot for the entire meal and the vegetables left behind burned.  At that point it occurred to me is what we should have done is to have let it cook for a couple more minutes then quickly transferred it all to our plates.

Mahi Mahi Tandoori

I asked the staff about egg in their food and, fortunately for us, they don’t use very much.  Only in the naan (bread).  They told me most of their dishes have cream added and all of their breads are wheat-based.  Because Miriam and I can both get away with occasional dairy and gluten, I didn’t worry about it.  But another reviewer mentioned getting dishes made without cream, so it seems dairy-free is possible.

We started off with complementary crackers and a tamarind dipping sauce.  They were light and crispy but had little flavor, despite being studded with spices.

Cousins eating crackers

We got ourselves some roti, which is a plain wheat grilled bread (we ordered it without butter, which is how it usually comes) but that turned out to be a mistake.  It was rather plain but hardened up just enough so you couldn’t soak up sauces with it.  The basmati rice with peas ($1.50) was delicious.  My brother’s family ordered aloo paratha ($3) which was a baked flatbread with potatoes and spices and raved about it all night.

Michael’s and my other dish was channa amchaur, a beautifully spiced chickpea dish with enough sauce to justify eating the perfect (but carby) rice.  I could have easily finished the bowl of it myself.

Chickpeas, rice, and bread

Michael had an Indian beer and my brother some chai tea.  We all skipped dessert.

The inside of the restaurant is warm and inviting with no scents except for the lovely ones coming from the kitchen.  Because the place is small, there is a single door to the outside and no way to sit away from the drafts.  It was cold outside and we had to wear our jackets during the meal to stay warm.  In summer it wouldn’t matter, and it has been unseasonably cold here (30′s and 40′s at night).  I didn’t check out the restroom.  The dining area is wheelchair accessible.

I do look forward to coming again but next time I want to try the lunch buffet.  Hopefully it will have more of those chickpeas.

Namaste Dinner

Other Reviews:

Chowhound Places
Chowhound Review Dec 2007
Chowhound Review May 2008

©2010 Norwitz Notions. All Rights Reserved.

Kalga Kafe
4147 SE Division St
Portland, OR 97202
Phone: (503) 236-4770
Hours: Daily 5pm-12am

Kalga Kafe exterior

Despite what some reviews I read say about slow or indifferent service, ours was excellent.  Our young pierced server was friendly (without being intrusive), knowledgeable about the food, and more than willing to deal with our various food restrictions.  Actually, the restaurant is used to those: nearly any dish can be made vegan (most are already) and they’re good with gluten-free.

Kalga Kafe food

We started with a couple of young coconuts.  I buy them to open at home, which is quite an undertaking.  Getting the coconut water out is easy (hammer and screwdriver) but getting at the meat is harder, especially if you don’t empty the water first.   Kalga’s were very fresh and filled to the brim with water.  I remarked to the server that these must have been topped off but she said no.  She just whacks off the top and sticks a straw in (use a spoon for the meat).  I was impressed.

Our friend had a gluten-free vegetable-based dish (if I have any hopes of being a good restaurant reviewer, I’m going to have to bring home menus or at least take pictures of it; I couldn’t find one online) and Michael had a curry.

Our friend’s son and I both had Pad Thai with tofu, which is one of the restaurant’s most popular dishes, and for good reason.  It was fresh and tasty and a large serving.  The noodles are rice but there is wheat in the soy sauce.  They can make the dish gluten-free but, for some reason, don’t have a gluten-free sauce to use.  The dish was already vegan so no worries about egg.

Miriam had some brown rice and tastes of other dishes.

The atmosphere was calming and peaceful.  Pleasant decor and no annoying new age touches.  The bathrooms were unscented.  All one level with easy wheelchair access (can not recall about the bathrooms).

Links:

• Portland Citysearch (reviews & basic information)
• VegGuide (reviews)
• Yelp (reviews)
• Portland Business Journal (2002 article)

©2010 Norwitz Notions. All Rights Reserved.

Finding a restaurant was no easy feat.  Mine and Miriam’s allergies were the least of it (all British Columbia restaurant are nonsmoking (indoors anyway) so that wasn’t a problem for any place without a patio).  Our Burnaby host has celiac and can’t have dairy or eggs and our New Brunswick friend can’t have a long list of items, the worst of which is peanuts (any trace of which could kill her).  Cooking for all of us was fairly easy (well, I like a challenge) but restaurants are a different matter.

Fortunately, I found Food Vancouver, a great listing of area restaurants, including checkboxes for different dietary restrictions, which you can add to a search by location or cuisine.  Unfortunately, it’s clear that some of the restaurants who added themselves (or patrons who added them) didn’t understand the meaning of the checkboxes.  We had a long back and forth with a supposedly gluten-free-friendly Chinese restaurant and decided not to bother.

So we went to an Indian place that sounded promising and was an easy walk from the hotel.

India Bistro
1157 Davie Street, Vancouver, BC
604-684-INDIA (6342)
http://www.indiabistro.ca/
http://www.foodvancouver.com/restaurant.php?restaurant=137

Davie Street is filled with restaurants and people but India Bistro was calm and quiet once we passed through the doors.  No patio, no incense, no peanut oil, no problem getting a table.

Our server Steve was so knowledgeable we assumed he must be an owner, and perhaps he is. He was amazing and really got our needs (aside from one common blip of saying a dish didn’t have any gluten because it was made with white flour).  Four out of the six of us had strict dietary restrictions that only partially overlapped, yet he managed to keep it all in his head and warn us whenever one of us expressed interest in a dish that contained a potentially forbidden ingredient.

Unfortunately, our New Brunswick friend did have an allergic reaction, but it was to some obscure spice she didn’t know she reacted to and it was not the restaurant’s fault in the slightest. But even she says, if she were local, she’d “go back there in a heartbeat,” with some precautions about which dishes she ordered of course.

They don’t use eggs at all (the cheesecake, which is made off site, is the only dish with eggs).  All of their breading is vegan chickpea flour and the fryers aren’t used for anything containing gluten, dairy, or eggs.

But this wasn’t just a safe meal, it was delicious.  Some of the best Indian food I’ve had in a long time.  We started off with two chickpea-battered appetizers, both gluten-free by default: fried calamari ($6.95) and chicken pakoras ($5.95).

I don’t eat meat (I do eat seafood) and have been raising Miriam the same.  Michael eats meat (no pork and very little red meat) and we agreed Miriam could have turkey this Thanksgiving with the condition that she understand where the meat comes from.  At the tender age of three, she has demonstrated that she understands death and that animals used for meat need to be killed.

Recently, she has been asking “am I allergic to chicken?”  I had to tell her no.  At the restaurant, she asked again, and Michael and I decided she could have her first taste of it.  She was so excited she told the server and everyone else within earshot, multiple times, “I’m having chicken! I’m not allergic to chicken!”  Well, she loved it.  She ate about half the pakoras by herself.  The rest of us devoured what was left.  I only had the calamari and it was tender and delicious.

We ate so quickly I didn’t get a picture until the very end.

Miriam after her first taste of chicken

For my entree, I chose the Tandoori Trout (trout marinated in fresh ginger, garlic and spices & char-broiled. $13.95).  Although the websites say it’s marinated in youghart, if memory serves me, it was actually nondairy (I can cheat with dairy and gluten once in a while).  Cooked perfectly with a crispy skin and tender meat.  Although the accompanying mint sauce was wonderful, the fish didn’t need anything.

Tandoori Trout

The table shared papadum (lentil crackers, $1.50 times 3), which were the only bread not made with wheat, rice Pulao (basmati rice cooked with cumin, onions & aromatic spices.  $3.95 times 2.  Vegan and delicate and great for soaking up those marvelous sauces), and cucumber salad ($3.95).

Lamb Palak

The other adults ordered Chicken Jalfrazi (chicken cooked with onion, bell peppers, tomato in a light curry sauce. $10.95), Lamb Palak (lamb cooked with spinach & Indian spices. $10.95), Murgh Coconut (boneless chicken cooked in a unique combination of coriander & coconut curry. $10.95, and Lamb Rogan Josh (lamb cooked with onions, garlic, ginger and traditional Indian herbs & spices. $10.95).  I tasted some of the chicken sauces and they plus some rice would have made a meal by themselves.

We were in the process of ordering dessert when our friend (who left early to get some air) became ill and we had to rush out (her husband went on ahead so the rest of us could deal with the bill).  Our server was preparing some samples so we could decide what to order and he sweetly packed them up with our leftovers as we paid.

We ate the desserts the next day.  The rice pudding (kheer) was good but the Gulabjamun (dark brown round shaped cheese balls in a honey syrup) were my favorite.

The prices were excellent.  Our meal for 6 people (5 adults) had two beers, 2 appetizers, 5 entrees, rice, and salad and came to $100 including tax (but not tip).  Parking is a nightmare; take the Skytrain if  you can.

If I were local, India Bistro would be one of my regular haunts.

©2010 Norwitz Notions. All Rights Reserved.

A few days later, all was calm and we opted for something closer to where we were staying.  The place we chose turned out to be perfect.

The Xiang Cuisine
aka Alvin Garden
4850 Imperial Street, Burnaby, BC Canada
604-437-0828
Credit and debit cards accepted but only if your bill is over a certain amount ($30?).
Reviews at Chowhound, DineHere, EatVancouver (with photos of the menu (old version)), and some lovely pictures (pre and post-renovation but with the newer menu).

Xiang is this hole in the wall just east of Vancouver.  They renovated a few months ago (based on the pictures I’ve seen, it’s looking much better) and changed their name to Alvin Garden, though they seem to use both names.  We walked in to find a pleasant interior with two rooms of tables and no white faces (a good sign).  There were some larger groups as well as couples there, and both fit in well.

I wouldn’t call it particularly romantic, but it had the right feel to it for an anniversary (or even a date) and you could easily carry on a conversation.

Our waitress was nice and knowledgeable about the food.  Despite warnings from other reviewers about poor English skills, we had no trouble communicating.  She seemed perplexed though when we asked for no meat (in particular, no pork).  Other reviewers report similar experiences: they ask for no meat and are told it won’t be as good, but it turns out to be excellent.  We had no trouble finding several dishes to try and going egg-free was easy too (she just steered us away from a couple of dishes).  Dairy-free is pretty much a given in Chinese restaurants (authentic ones anyway).  Forget about gluten-free; we didn’t even try.  I can eat gluten once in a while, so I didn’t worry about it (but I avoided the leftovers so I wouldn’t have gluten two days in a row).

Not being familiar with Hunan cuisine, aside from knowing it’s the hottest food in China, we didn’t order correctly.  We should have had a raw (or at least cold) salad to balance out the heat.  And we got way too much food.  Our dishes could have easily fed four.  Nor did we eat it right.  You’re supposed to put some rice in the little bowl they give you and then put food on top, eating the rice as it gets soaked with sauce.  Since our bowls still had soup, we used the plates.  If anyone laughed at us, they were discrete.

We started with soup, broiled fish with chili.

Broiled fish with chili soup

At $18.98, this seemed like quite an extravagance, until we saw the pot.  We could have served 8, as part of a larger meal, and it had a fair bit of firm white fish.  Our waitress warned us this one would be hot, and it was blistering.  I had trouble eating it, though I kept doing it since it was so good.  Michael wasn’t fond of the style of putting dried chilies on top as he prefers his heat more integrated.

Our other dishes were fried eggplant with black bean sauce (top left of picture, $8.90); Hunan style shrimp (bottom right of picture, $14.90); steamed dried tofu with special chili (bottom left of picture, $9.90); and a pot of rice.  We both prefer our food lowcarb, which everything was, but wanted the rice to soak up the amazing sauces and, in my case, reduce the heat level.  I can’t recall which of the dishes normally have pork in them, but ours came meat-free.

Michael enjoying Xiang's offerings

The eggplant was like silk and melted in our mouths.  It was the only dish we managed to finish.  It and the shrimp were our favorites.  The chili sauce on the shrimp was similar to the soup’s but the heat was more a part of the dish and wasn’t as intense.  We loved the crispy edible shells.  I ate the tofu without the sliced jalapenos and found it to be a nice contrast to the tomato/chili based dishes.  It had some heat but was fairly mild.  The chewiness of the tofu was also a good counter to the softness of most of the ingredients in the other dishes.

Xiang passed the girlfriend-cry-test, which is now the wife-cry-test.  That’s where if I take a single bite of something and tears start rolling down my face, then it’s hot enough for Michael.  Part of my anniversary gift to him was choosing a restaurant where I knew he’d have the heat he craved, and the joy of watching me suffer with delight.

Michael had a Chinese beer ($4.50) and I had a glass of sweetened and chalky soymilk ($1.50), mostly because I needed something to dial down the heat.  Dessert was pumpkin cake (egg-free) which turned out to be 4 large glutenous pies, filled with a bit of pumpkin and fried.  They had a mild flavor, not as sweet as most Westerners would expect of a dessert, but complemented the meal and had a definite addictive property.

So this turned out to be a fairly pricey meal for us, but worth it due to the special occasion and the massive amount of leftovers we carted home.  Although any size group (or solo diner) can get a great meal, Xiang seems best geared for large groups who will share the oversized plates and get the opportunity to enjoy a wide variety of dishes.

©2010 Norwitz Notions. All Rights Reserved.

Challenge #1: Prepare a 30 second promo for what could be their new show. Unlike in previous versions of this, each promo was carefully scripted (including wardrobe) by the Food Network and the contestant had a fair amount of time to do it, with multiple takes, a director, and rehearsals. Each promo was broken up into 2 or more mini-scenes.

Unfortunately, it wasn’t done completely fairly. Aaron just had to walk down a hallway then he had to say something before throwing dice down a craps table. Adam had to stroll along a stage with a showgirl on each arm, with some closeups. But Lisa was harnessed to a rig where she went up a couple of stories, grabbed a bottle of wine from a shelf, and had to say her lines in multiple locations along the way. Needless to say, the quality of the promos was inverse to the difficulty.

Challenge #2: Prepare a buffet for 50 guests (the selection committee, hotel chefs, and Vegas performers). They had a reasonable 6 hours to cook and a $1000 budget. The buffet was supposed to be “over the top, Vegas style” and they had to do an “entertaining” intro before the service. Although they didn’t state any rules for the foods, each contestant appeared to have 3 main courses, one vegetable side dish, and a dessert.

How did things go? My favorite, Aaron, did the best with his promo but totally bombed at the buffet. His intro was embarrassingly bad and all three of his main courses were pasta (the reviews of the food were that it was okay but not great). Lisa did so-so with the promo (hard to do when dangling 15 feet in the air), fabulous with the buffet intro, and well with the food. Adam did decently with the promo, well with the buffet intro, and was the runaway favorite with the food.

It’s been obvious that the selection committee loves Aaron, likes Lisa but has reservations, and isn’t too fond of Adam. But because they traditionally gave immunity to the person who won a particular challenge, they couldn’t get rid of Adam. And they didn’t want to dump Aaron for having one bad week. So they wimped out and are bringing all 3 contestants to the final episode this Sunday. At least it’s in New York.

So, enough of that, what the heck would I make if I were feeding 50 people? The budget isn’t an issue, even with expensive items, because everyone ate all 3 buffets, so portions were small. $1000 is $20/person and you can do a lot with that (catering budgets include labor, not just ingredients, and they weren’t serving alcohol). I’d want to be true to my personal food restrictions, at least the basic ones.

Main Courses:

Sweet peppers stuffed with shrimp paste with a hoisin sauce (hot)
Grape leaves stuffed with fish (cold)
Vegan soup, maybe chickpea with Georgian Walnut paste (hot)

Vegetable/Side:

A beautiful raw salad (cold)

Dessert:

Mango sorbet topped with pine nut cream and toasted almonds (cold, but with hot almonds if possible)

The shrimp I envision is the kind you get in dim sum restaurants stuffed into tofu. You take raw shrimp and process it with some other ingredients. I’ve made it before but it was years ago. I’d add spice and something to bind it, egg or flax goo. Maybe peas or something like that for texture and a fresh flavor. Stuff into those gorgeous colored sweet peppers that are 1-2 bites each. Roast. Serve with a salty intense dipping sauce based on hoisin.

The grape leaves came to me as a great choice but, if I were really in a competition, I might swap them out since I don’t have much experience with grape leaves. I’d cook a mild white fish like halibut and mince (not process) it well with a lot of fresh flavors like parsley then either add chutney or use similar flavors.

I’ve made the soup before from one of my favorite cookbooks, Olive Trees & Honey: A Treasury of Vegetarian Recipes from Jewish Communities Around the World, and it’s simple but really good. The walnut paste has a unique flavor and is used regularly within the country of Georgia.

The raw salad would have no lettuce but lots of carefully cut items to make it special. Lots of long thin strips like noodles. Avocado, some more of the sweet peppers, pea pods, bean sprouts, specialty mushrooms. I’d have to see what looked good in the store and went together. A variety of colors. Served either with a chimichurri sauce (lime juice, parsley, mint, cilantro, very good olive oil, and garlic) or something else with an intense flavor that would pull all the other ingredients together.

Mango sorbet is very simple, which is the best way to do it. Take very ripe mangoes, remove the skin and pits, and puree them. A touch of salt, a squeeze of lime, some vanilla is all you need. It’s plenty sweet enough. Most people would add simple syrup but mango doesn’t need more sugar and all that water will just dilute the flavor.

I’d serve it with some vanilla bean pine nut cream (because you don’t have to soak pine nuts) and some toasted almond slices on top. If the kitchen didn’t have an ice cream maker, I could freeze half the puree in ice cube trays and then blend it up and then freeze again (watching it carefully so it doesn’t get too hard).

My meal could be done by 2 people (each contestant got a former contestant as a sous chef) in 6 hours with no problems. Granted, it did take me a few days to come up with the dishes, instead of near instanteneously like the contestants are forced to do. And I might not be able to get every ingredient I needed (in January, in the middle of the desert…oh, they’d all be in the store, just not at their peak). But hey, I’m a blogger in front of a computer, not a trained cook trying to smile for the camera. I get to imagine success.

©2010 Norwitz Notions. All Rights Reserved.

It’s an international list, with most subscribers living in the US. Monica lives in Los Angeles, and I got to meet her when I was in LA for Expo West last year. This year, we planned a potluck and invited all local Foodlab members. Unfortunately, there were some last minute cancellations, but we had a lot of fun.

(Miriam, Cyndi, Jessica, Monica)

Monica and Matt, and 3.5 year old son Donovan, hosted the event. Jessica came with 2 year old daughter Roxie. And Michael and I (Cyndi) were there with barely 3 year old Miriam.

(Monica & Jessica)

(Cyndi & Monica)

Our first order of business was to go through the several supermarket-sized bags of samples and literature I’d brought from Expo West to share.

(Jessica, Roxie, Monica)

Next we started cooking.

(Jessica making vegan curry)

(Jessica & Cyndi making tortillas)

And then we ate.

(Miriam, Donovan, & Roxie ready to eat, with Michael in the background)

All of the food was amazing. We banned any ingredient that none of us could eat (dairy, gluten) and anything that would cause a problem for someone if they got a trace (soy, canola, orange, egg, chocolate). We allowed but discouraged foods that one or more people had a problem with (reaction or a choice) but where a trace wouldn’t matter (meat, corn). And it was a given in this group that everything would be fresh and free of food additives.

(Jessica’s vegan curry)

Here’s what we ate:

Monica:

Olive bread
Crab cakes
Misc pre-dinner snacks (veggies & chips)

Jessica:

Keifer (non-dairy keifer grains fermenting apple juice)
Curry
Hummus with eggplant
Cashew cream with fresh strawberries (similar to my recipe)

Cyndi:

Pickled red onions
Corn tortillas (made on site with Jessica)
Halibut ceviche

©2010 Norwitz Notions. All Rights Reserved.

Recipe:

Napa cabbage (aka Chinese cabbage), 1 head chopped
Daikon radish, 3
Leeks, 2
Dried chile pepper, 3
Ginger (I used frozen that I had grated from fresh root), a couple tablespoons
Celtic salt

Prep all the ingredients into a large bowl. I chopped the cabbage by hand and used my mandolin on the leek bottoms and daikon radish. I decided not to use the attachment to julienne. I just sliced. So the radish pieces are thin but large. In retrospect, I should have cut them in half or fourths. I used all the extra veggie bits to make a lovely fish stock.

Add salt and knead the mixture (or let it sit) to release the juices.

Next, pack the veggies tightly into a clean glass jar or other container. Pour the juice into the jar. Put a weight into the jar to keep the veggies submerged (I used a clean jar with water in it). Cover the whole thing with a towel and check it the next day. If there isn’t enough liquid, add some salt water.

Kim Chee, Red Onions, and Turnips
The pan of soapy water is to keep out ants

Then let it sit for a week, two, three, or as long as you like. If there is mold, just wipe/spoon it away and clean the weight too. When you are ready to decant, work carefully so that you keep any mold on top where it is easy to get rid of it. This batch had a little bit of mold on top so I removed those bits that were affected. Don’t be afraid of mold; there is so much good bacteria in the mix that the mold isn’t going to hurt you, it just can add an off taste.

The kim chee came out great. I left it to ferment for 3 weeks. The veggies are still reasonably crisp and they have a fabulous sour ginger flavor. Not much heat but you can taste it.

This picture is of the kim chee I made (on left) and the turnip pickles (on right).

©2010 Norwitz Notions. All Rights Reserved.

I can tell you straight out that I used the wrong kind of turnip. What I had was ordinary purple top, but the ones at the restaurant were a different variety (the waitstaff didn’t know which). I also didn’t get the seasonings right.

The recipe for this or any other fermented vegetable is very easy. Wash and cut your vegetable(s). I used turnips and some dried chile peppers I removed the seeds from and broke up with my hands. Put in a bowl with some salt (I used kosher, to taste). Knead it all a bit so the juices release, or just let it sit.

Next, pack the veggies tightly into a clean glass jar or other container. Pour the juice into the jar. Put a weight into the jar to keep the veggies submerged (I used a clean soy sauce jar with water in it). Cover the whole thing with a towel and check it the next day. If there isn’t enough liquid, add some salt water.

Kim Chee, Red Onions, and Turnips
The pan of soapy water is to keep out ants

Then let it sit for a week, two, three, or as long as you like. If there is mold, just wipe/spoon it away and clean the weight too. When you are ready to decant, work carefully so that you keep any mold on top where it is easy to get rid of it. This batch had plenty on top but I spooned it out then poured the top bit of liquid in the sink. Don’t be afraid of mold; there is so much good bacteria in the mix that the mold isn’t going to hurt you, it just can add an off taste.

Now you’re ready to eat. This picture is of the kim chee I made (on left) and the turnip pickles (on right). I tried the turnip pickles after a week of fermenting and they had very little flavor and were quite boring. I finally decanted them after 6 weeks. The flavor is good (though not at all spicy) but the texture is too soft. They’re still quite edible but nothing like the restaurant pickles. Now I have an excuse to make more.

©2010 Norwitz Notions. All Rights Reserved.

CHEAP EATS
Authentic means good
Here’s what I look for in a Thai restaurant: reasonable (read: cheap) prices, good-sized portions, organic ingredients whenever possible, friendly folks, and an authentic way with Thai specialties like Pad Thai. That’s what you’ll find at Thai Hut Valley, 8492 Highway 116 South, #M,Cotati; (707) 665-0186.

Dear Mr. Cox,

Last night my husband and I, along with our 11 month old daughter, went to Thai Hut Valley based on your mini-review. We were disappointed. The food was mixed though and I wonder if you just got lucky and hit the few good dishes.

You claim the place is cheap, with big servings, organic ingredients, friendly service, and authentic tastes. Well, it was inexpensive, though the plates were about average or even small. If there were organic ingredients used, I couldn’t tell. The service was friendly but incompetent. And the flavors were Americanized.

One thing I loved about Thai Hut is that when we asked if we could get the coconut soup without chicken, the waiter replied, “would you like to see our vegetarian menu?” Music to our ears! We ordered vegetarian and seafood dishes, including coconut soup with tofu.

The soup base was delicious. A mix of Thai flavors that went very well together. But the tofu was bland and the vegetables were the usual “Asian” mix. What’s an “Asian” mix? it’s that ubiquitous blend of boring Middle America vegetables cooked to minimize flavor. White onion, green cabbage, carrot, zucchini, and white button mushrooms. These excuses for vegetables were not only in the soup but another dish we ordered, in a slightly different combination. The soup was salvaged by a meaty slice of ginger root (which my daughter spent a good 10 minutes chewing on), Thai basil, and what appeared to be a kaffir lime leaf. My daughter adored this soup and my husband and I enjoyed it as well, once we’d passed the vegetables along to our daughter.

We had freshly poured water and menus at our table when we sat down, but nothing else. We had to ask for a highchair. When the soup came, the waiter asked if we’d like rice with it. “No,” I replied, “just bowls.” He looked down at the table, registered some shock, and left to bring us bowls and spoons. A couple minutes later, he brought plates. We had to remind him to bring us napkins. When the plated dishes came, we had to ask for silverware. We also had to ask for a plate and napkin for our daughter.

The first of two plated dishes we ordered came soon after starting our soup. The other came about 15 minutes later, after we’d finished the first dish. The first dish was a seafood combination with sauteed eggplant. The shellfish (mussels, scallops, and shrimp) were cooked the right amount of time, the eggplant was perfectly creamy (my husband called it mushy and tasteless but I thought it was just right), and the sauce was wonderful.

My biggest problem with that dish was that it was advertised as hot. We asked the waiter to bring it medium and, when he heard how blistering my husband liked his food, volunteered to bring some spicy sauce on the side. Well, the dish had no heat whatsoever. It tasted fine but it wasn’t what we were promised. No extra sauce appeared. My daughter enjoyed the sauce as she isn’t yet appreciative of heat.

The last dish was a disaster. Mixed vegetables with tofu and a peanut sauce. The vegetables were all the “Asian” mix I describe above and they were bland as could be. The tofu had no flavor at all (tofu is supposed to be mild but, when it’s cooked properly, it should convey the seasoning, not just add to the mush factor).

And the sauce…probably the worst peanut sauce I’ve ever had. It tasted like cheap crunchy peanut butter with a lot of sugar. There was no heat, no seasoning, no subtlety of flavors. Just sweetness and a cloying chemical flavor. Shortly after my first bite, I got a tell-tale headache that let me know I’d ingested a preservative (potassium sorbate, sodium benzoate, or something like that). While I suspect the peanut sauce, it could have been anything. So much for homemade.

If we had gone there and had nothing but coconut soup and seafood combination, I’d probably consider the place a nice little find, worth going to again if we were already in Cotati. But given the full experience, it was less than noteworthy.

Good Thai restaurants are so hard to find. We haven’t had any luck in Sonoma County, though I admit only trying a couple. Our favorite in the Bay Area is Phuping Thai in Richmond (next to 99 Ranch–they also have one in San Francisco) [note: the place has new owners and the food has suffered]. Unfortunately, Thai Hut Valley was far from the mark.

©2010 Norwitz Notions. All Rights Reserved.

I mostly eat at their Daly City (just south of San Francisco) location but have been several times to Concord, CA and a couple locations north of San Jose. I have eaten once in Los Angeles. We generally go three times a year: on each of our birthdays and on Christmas.

Prices, hours, and specials vary some depending on location. Here is the current information for our closest location, subject to change:

Daly City, CA Pacific Plaza 1901 Junipero Serra Blvd. #A Daly City, CA 94014 Tel: 650-997-0882 Fax: 650-997-0822

Restaurant Hours Lunch 11:30am – 2:30pm (Mon – Fri) 11:30am – 3:00pm (Sat, Sun & Holidays) Dinner 5:30pm – 9:00pm (Mon-Thurs) 5:30pm – 9:30pm (Fri-Sat) 5:00pm – 9:00pm (Sun & Holidays)

Price <effective from August 1, 2007> Adult Lunch $14.95 (Mon-Fri) $16.95 (Sat, Sun, Holidays) Dinner $24.95 (Mon-Thurs) $26.95 (Fri, Sat, Sun, Holidays) Children(Under 12 yrs. Old) Lunch 5 feet & under 1/2 Price 4 feet & under $ 5.95 3 feet & under Free Dinner 5 feet & under 1/2 Price 4 feet & under $ 6.95 3 feet & under Free

*20%Off – Seniors 65 or Older (Dinner only) *Soft drinks included

Specials: A complimentary half shell Lobster per adult buffet ( Added value, Fri-Sun Dinner only)Birthday Promotion – Free Birthday Meal on your birthday Valid Photo I.D./ Must be accompanied by at least one paying adult

Promotions: KIDS EAT FREE- MONDAY THRU FRIDAY (Limited Time Offer) Children under 12 years old and under 5ft./ Must be accompanied by one paying adult per child“Christmas Special“* (Tuesday,December 25th,2007 ) - Open All Day 11:30am – 9:00pm / All Day Serving Dinner & Special Menu : $26.95 per person - Special Menu:Turkey, Prime Rib, Lamb Chop, A complimentary half shell Lobster per adult & much more… – Special Promotion - Kids eat FREE with one paying adult. - Buy one Beer, Get second one for $1.00 (S) & $2.00 (L)

There is enough there that people eating only sushi will have plenty to choose from, and friends who hate both sushi and seafood can also be satisfied. It’s kid friendly (be sure to ask for a balloon!) and they’ll sing happy birthday to you (also free on your birthday if you come with a paying adult).

We discovered this place when living on the San Francisco peninsula. A friend and I had a habit of eating at a Palo Alto sushi buffet on Christmas day (thus keeping alive the rule that Jews eat Asian food on Christian holidays…Chinese (and in areas that have them, other Asian) places tend to be all that’s open). All of a sudden, our regular spot started closing on Christmas and we drove around looking for an alternative, and found Todai. Now it’s Michael’s and my tradition, and one we’re teaching our daughter.

It used to be that Todai, and other open restaurants, were a haven from Christmas madness. They were their ordinary selves, filled with fellow Jews, Asian immigrants, and others who either weren’t Christian or chose not to celebrate. Now, Todai plays Christmas music, decorates the place, has special “American” food, and warmly greets customers with “Merry Christmas.” Fortunately, the food is still good enough to make up for those changes.

You can look at their menu online, but the offerings change frequently, and no location has everything at once. They have sushi and sashimi, cold salads, raw and cooked cold seafood, fresh cut fruit, various hot entrees and side dishes, soup and udon, and desserts.

They make most of their foods on site, which makes it a lot easier to navigate dietary restrictions. Although some of the components for their food arepre-made (and many are frozen), they cut up their own fruit, put together their toppings, and make the sushi. I’ve found the staff to be very helpful and kind. They offer to special order foods if they’re not horribly busy and the staff who doesn’t speak English (perhaps half, in my experience) takes the time to bring you someone who can.

If you’re used to paying top dollar for high quality sushi, this is not the place for you. The food is good but it’s not great and you will likely be disappointed. Still, it has a homemade flair to it, is mostly fresh (with some frozen elements), and isn’t nearly as junky as most restaurant food of its class. I react badly to preservatives and such, but always do fine there.

If you’re gluten sensitive, beware. Many dishes have soy sauce added. The sushi is pretty safe (avoid the one with tempura batter) and the staff will tell you which one or two (if any) have a soy sauce topping. The hot foods often have soy sauce and of course some are breaded. They don’t blink an eye though to your bringing outside foods, so go ahead and bring some wheat-free tamari and enjoy your sushi. I asked about the tempura once and it is possible it is gluten-free, but I can’t remember for sure. The batter has egg so I couldn’t eat it anyway.

A surprising number of foods there have egg. The fried rice and the Thai noodles both did but there was another noodle dish that was safe, along with the plain rice. My favorite offering there is the lobster, which is only available for dinner on weekends and holidays. I gave it up a while ago when I discovered the topping was a mixture of miso and egg yolk. But this last Christmas I asked if they’d be willing to make some without the topping and they did. It tends to be a bit dry, so it needs something, but it was still good. And Miriam didn’t get sick from that meal (she will if there is the slightest trace of egg in anything). I don’t know if their miso is gluten-free…Miriam and I both can cheat with gluten and dairy once in a while, just not orange or egg.

This floored me, and will turn away any serious sushi fan, but many of the rolled sushis have mayonnaise in them. The plain fish over rice kind are safe, but maybe 2/3 of the rolled ones have mayonnaise. Some have cooked egg as a filling too. And watch out for fake crab which has egg. Again, the staff is great and, since they made these themselves, they know what is in them. Fortunately, the selection is large enough that I had at least a dozen kinds I could eat. Some of the Todai locations have a smaller sushi area than Daly City and there are only 4-6 kinds I can eat.

Being an Asian restaurant, there isn’t a lot of dairy, but you will need to ask. The crab legs (the warm ones, not the cold ones) were swimming in butter and there is cream cheese in a couple of the sushis . Sometimes one of the cold salads has cheese in it. Most of the dishes are okay; it’s the more American ones that generally have butter or cheese.

If you eat seafood but not meat, or if you’re avoiding raw seafood, or perhaps just shellfish, you will have no problems finding a good selection of foods. There may be some cross-contamination with shellfish, so be careful if that is a concern.

Now, if you are avoiding all animal foods, you’ll have less to choose from. There will still be a couple of sushis. They always have the rice in the tofu skin and one or two purely vegetable rolls. You can ask them to make you some fish-free rolls too and they probably will if you explain why (they don’t do foods to order there like a sit-down restaurant, but they’ve been very accommodating of allergies and other food restrictions). There will be rice and noodles and salads (not just basic lettuce, but some delicious and interesting ones like seaweed) and probably soups (I haven’t asked about stock). If you eat egg, there is vegetable tempura too.

Lowcarb is quite possible here too. Sashimi and raw shellfish, some of the cooked meats and fish, seaweed or cucumber salad, green salad, stirfry vegetables, edamane, and melon for dessert.

Drinks there are basic. Soft drinks, coffee, and tea come with the meal but I don’t drink any of those so I can’t review them. For an extra price, there is juice, beer, sake, and some other things. They usually have a special on one or more alcohol.

Then there is dessert. The fresh fruit is usually near the sushi, not the dessert area. Unfortunately, they choose the same set of fruits over and over so they’re not always in season. You can see them cut them up from a whole piece of fruit but that doesn’t mean they are any good. The watermelon I had on Christmas was so bad I nearly spit it out, but my daughter loved it and asked for more. The honeydew was barely tolerable. But if you get these in the summer, they’re fine. They often have a cooked banana and cream dish.

Watch out for shared tongs if you react to any of the fruit. Some places are more separate than others. For the Los Angeles Todai, I didn’t feel comfortable with any of the fruit because of shared tongs near the orange slices. But the staff brought my daughter a big plate of freshly cut melon from the kitchen.

They usually have a crepe area and they are good (but not for us anymore due to the eggs, and wheat). They cook them to order and add whipped cream and/or fresh or canned fruit.

There is generally also an ice cream dispenser. They used to have a green tea ice cream (possibly it’s still in some locations) that was not only good but vegan too. I really miss it. Now they have nonfat (lowfat?) vanilla and chocolate ice cream that has milk but no eggs. We had some vanilla on Michael’s birthday last September because we wanted something to stick a candle in that Miriam could eat. It was watery and overly sweet and tasted like chemicals. Miriam enjoyed it but Michael and I thought it was pretty nasty. Do ask at your location because you might have something different.

The standard dessert display is really nice. Many cakes and tarts all in bite-sized pieces so you can have several without filling up. They are frozen and the restaurant cuts them up. They generally have cookies and often creme brule and white chocolate. We have checked a couple of times and every last one of these things has egg in it. I haven’t asked about gluten or dairy. My guess is that there will be several choices for those restrictions. Okay, on Christmas they did have one egg-free dessert: tapioca pudding. Which would have been fine except it was bright green-blue and I wouldn’t let Miriam so much as see it. Fortunately, she’s happy with fruit.

All in all, I enjoy my outings there and always have a huge variety to fill up on. My favorites are lobster, broiled oysters, sushi, sashimi if they have the seared ahi which is amazing, and cold salads, especially the seaweed and cucumber. I look forward to being able to eat eggs again some day (I’m not allergic to them myself) so I can have more sushi and tempura.

I couldn’t eat there too often, but it is a fun three time a year treat.

©2010 Norwitz Notions. All Rights Reserved.

We had an appointment in San Francisco last Wednesday and got together with friends at a Korean restaurant I’d read good things about on the net. It did not disappoint.

Han Il Kwan
1802 Balboa Street, San Francisco, CA 94118
(Outer Richmond neighborhood)
(415) 752-4447

Review & Menu

Our party consisted of me (no eggs, dairy, gluten (some soy sauce ok), oranges, or meat), my husband (no pork, prefers no dairy or red meat), my 2.5 year old daughter (same restrictions as me plus no chocolate), a friend from Canada (celiac–no traces of gluten, no traces of dairy or egg, nothing spicy), her husband (no restrictions), and a local friend (no scallops).

Korean food is a bit more complicated than other cuisines for groups likeours. If we all ate the same things, it wouldn’t be a problem, but with several folks unable to tolerate even trace amounts of certain foods, sharing bowls and cooking space was difficult, but we made it work.

Han Il Kwan follows the Korean tradition of cooking at your table, on a grill mounted in the middle. Some Korean places also have hot pots, others have staff cook your food in front of you, and then there are many that don’t do tableside cooking at all. You order the meat or fish of your choice and then you get soup and about a dozen different side dishes, which vary. You don’t order these extras, you simply get what they have, and you can have refills as needed.

Since we arrived early (before 6pm) we were the only customers in the restaurant. Oddly though, the staff treated us like the restaurant was doing a good business. Not like it was full and busy, but certainly not the attentiveness you’d except being the sole table. As the restaurant filled up (including a Korean tour bus that parked out front and sent a couple dozen people to the back room), the service levels didn’t change at all.

The staff was accommodating, with moderate English, and worked with us to keep the allergic among us safe. They did a good job and the meal came off well.

When my friend with celiac phoned them earlier in the day, they said the only meat that was premarinated was the beef. But it turned out that all the meat and fish was marinated. The basic one was soy sauce and sugar. It wasn’t clear if there were others but the waitress confirmed that all of them had soy sauce (which has wheat in it). Fortunately, it wasn’t a problem to get some of our dishes without the marinade.

We ordered Bul Go Gi (“tender BBQ beef marinates in house special sauce” $17.95), BBQ chicken minus the marinade ($15.95), Seafood mix (“grilled octopus, squid, scallops, prawn with special sauce”; we got oysters instead of scallops; they were marinated separately, $16.95), Broiled marinated mackerel (no marinade), and a large container of soup (hot pot). The soup on the menu was $7.95 but they said it came with the meal, so I’m not sure how they billed us, since we only had 4 main dishes for 5 adults. The soup is “soft bean curd, meat, & vegetable in hot sauce” or so I believe. They made ours with no meat or soy sauce and it contained about 10 small bowls worth.

The fish was cooked in the kitchen but the beef, chicken, and seafood mix were served raw, to be cooked on the gas grill in the middle of our table. Lifting out the cover reduced our usable eating space to very little and it was quite crowded, even though the booth easily sat 6. The grill’s cooking space was perhaps 14″x14″ and each dish was large enough to cover the grill twice.

I can imagine how this is supposed to work, with a table sharing everything. You put a little of each dish on the grill and serve it immediately when it is cooked. Each person gets a couple bites of each dish and, by the time they are finished, the next batch is ready. Unfortunately, we didn’t have that luxury. We had to cook the chicken first, so as not to contaminate the grill with marinade, then all the seafood, then the beef. The grill isn’t particularly hot and the food cooks slowly. I didn’t time it but I would guess a half hour passed between starting the chicken and finishing grilling the beef. The grill had many holes in it but was not mesh. There was no visible oil or grease used. It appeared to be either cast iron or cast aluminum.

We weren’t hungry while waiting though. Not only did we have the soup, but we had side dishes. A good dozen or so of them. The staff helpfully pointed out which ones contained forbidden ingredients. There were some pancakes with pork and egg (and probably wheat but we didn’t bother to ask since non of the gluten-free folks ate egg) but no other meat or egg. Four of the dishes had soy sauce in them, so we kept them all together and we instituted a “clean chopsticks” rule where we took some extra chopsticks and kept them with the no-soy sauce dishes for putting more on our plates.

Soy sauce dishes: There was a fish dish that must have been a paste molded into a block, then sliced. Some crunchy dried anchovies. A cubic rectangle of something that was a cross between jello and soft tofu and was quite good. And a root vegetable.

I can’t remember all the non-soy sauce side dishes but they included 2 kinds of pickled radish. One thick strips of daikon and the other was cubes which the staff said was radish but not daikon. These were my favorites, but I’m a sucker for radish. There was a basic kim chee, pickled bean sprouts, pickled cucumber, and a couple others. Nothing was spicy, though occasionally one of us would get a burst of hotness from the pieces of chili that flavored many of the dishes. Even the simple dishes were full of flavor. Either from the very fresh vegetables or from the sauces, mostly vinegar and tomato. I loved them all (tried all but the pancake).

There was a plate of lettuce but it was too bulky and a bit wet. I love lettuce wraps but the flavors of the other foods were subtle enough that the lettuce just diluted it. The beef dish came with a paste which I didn’t try. And each of us got a bowl of white sticky rice (which went very well with the side dish juices).

I just drank water, which was hard to get and in small glasses. Two of the adults shared Korean beer ($6 for a bottle easily the size of 2 regular beers) and one had a sake, served very hot. I tasted the sake and it was amazing. Smooth. I’m fairly clueless about sake but even I could tell this was worlds beyond what I’ve had before. It was nice at room temperature too, but much better when hot.

For dessert, they brought us bowls of sweetened rice water, which was nice. I thought I saw cookies going to another table, so they may have changed it to accommodate our allergies, which was thoughtful of them.

When I looked up reviews of the various Korean restaurants in San Francisco, the ones with tableside cooking got bad reviews for air quality. This one got raves. There are large vent fans over each table and they are very effective. I barely smelled a thing besides the food. The fans were quiet too…I’m not even sure ours was on.

I was quite pleasantly surprised at the ease at which we negotiated the allergy situation. Had the entire group chosen to share all the foods, it would have been even easier. Eggs are used a lot in Korean food, but we only encountered one dish with it (they may have held some back). The only wheat seemed to be in the soy sauce (and maybe the pancake…there were some noodle dishes too but I don’t know which kind). There was no dairy anywhere as far as I could tell. I believe the only soy was in the tofu
and soy sauce.

We all had a great time. They didn’t mind that we stayed for quite some time chatting. And the overall cost was pretty reasonable considering what you get.

I would definitely return if I had the chance.

Although the restaurant had a variety of foods, I’m tagging it for lowcarb (easy to avoid the rice) and for the various allergens we didn’t have trouble navigating). If this were a full list, I’d add in the meats, but it’s not, so I won’t. A vegetarian could eat there (and would enjoy many of the side dishes and the soup) but I can’t guarentee the vegetable dishes were in fact 100% vegetarian and that’s not the focus of the restaurant.

©2010 Norwitz Notions. All Rights Reserved.