D is for Dosa...

Date: Monday, October 20, 2008

Udupi Palace

1007 Valencia Street (21st & Valencia)
San Francisco, CA
Udupi Palace Menu (courtesy of Menu Pages.com)

Udupi Palace Yelp Review

As predicted D was a tough one. After spending numerous hours on Yelp and Google searching for an ethnic cuisine in San Francisco that starts with the letter D, patience gave way to desperation, which led to our first mulligan of this A to Z adventure. Quickly, we found out that San Francisco has no Dominican food, no Dhekelia, and no Djibouti (maybe tucked somewhere in a nook in the Tenderloin or something, but seriously we found nothing). We decided to pass on such classics as Dutch and Danish food as these two options were also non-existant in San Francisco and frankly not super interesting (no offense!). After pondering for quite some time on what other "ethnic" oriented dishes begin with the letter D, we settled on the tasty South Indian staple, the infamous Dosa!

Dosa is a South Indian crepe made from rice and skinned black lentils. The rice and lentils are blended with water and fermented overnight to form a pancake-like batter. This batter is then cooked to be super-thin and filled with basically whatever you want (potatoes, spinach, cheese, okra, lamb, lentils, etc...).

Classic Dosa

If there is one thing the Bay Area is not short on it is South Indian restaurants. The most famous in San Francisco is DOSA, which must rank as one of the best Indian restaurants in the city. As tempting as it was to head on out to DOSA and deal with the hour plus wait, we decided to go for value and instead check out the cheaper clone across the street, Udupi Palace. Udupi Palace is one of San Francisco's best kept secrets and one of the Mission's newest restaurants (it opened in Summer 2008). The restaurant is frequented by those who a) get frustrated with DOSA's wait, b) are looking for South Indian grub for under $15 per person, or c) looking for authentic South Indian food with none of the frills and fluff. With affirmation that Udupi Palace would be a great choice, we booked a flight from Cambodia to South India and off we were to our next A to Z stop.

Map of India - Udupi is located at mid-point between Panaji & Cochin

Udupi Palace gets its name from the well known city of Udupi in the southwestern coast of India. The cuisine of Udupi is actually known to adhere strictly to an ancient Indian vegeterian tradition of cooking that actually involves no onions or garlic and obviously excludes meats, fish, or shellfish. The cuisine is comprised of meals cooked with grains, beans, vegetables, and fruits. The dosa (our dinner club theme for the evening!) originated in Udupi and as you well know is a staple food in South Indian cooking.

Entrance to Udupi Krishna Temple - Famous Hindu Temple in Udupi

Udupi Palace was a riot. Although the restaurant does not typically take reservations, they made an exception for our group. As we walk in to see if our table was ready, our first thought of the place was how the hell are they going to accommodate 12 people here. The tables were all crowded, the restaurant was relatively small, all tables were occupied by distinct groups of two to three people, and on top of that more than 70% of the tables were unserved when we got there. Unless all stars align, there was no way they would time the turnover to guarantee we'd be seated in 5 minutes (best case scenario seemed like 40 minutes). Worried about how long we'd be starving outside, I calmly walked in and noted our arrival to one of the head servers, who noticed the dumbfounded look on my face that screamed "so 12 people are going to fit where?" The server offered a warm smile, wiped the sweat off his forehead from his recent trek to the kitchen, and asked if our whole party was here. I told him we were still waiting on a few more people and he said no problem as I made my way back outside.

As we waited outside for about 10 minutes, the fog slowly started to seep into the Mission. Taking that as a sign, I headed back inside to check on the status. Inside, I noticed a delicate jenga like balancing act by the waiters that involved shifting seats and tables as guests finished their meals. The process was surprisingly quick as I started to see our long table take shape. With our table close to being set (we were waiting for a group of four to finish eating), I asked if we could sit down and like that our group slowly flooded the restaurant. Our group of 12 was in a position to occupy close to a quarter of the real estate (ok, maybe an exaggeration, but it was impressive that they were able to find room for us all!).

Using lessons learned from prior dinner clubs, we knew, especially given how busy it was that night, that we needed to be aggressive with ordering the appetizers. In rapid fire motion, we ordered a few Samosa Chaats (a delicious juicy samosa bathed in chana masala, yogurt, condiments, and chutney), some traditional Samosas, as well as some kind of lentil and yogurt based appetizer. Within a few minutes of ordering, the appetizers were out on our tables. The turnaround at Udupi was pretty phenomenal (getting the check at the end of the night on the other hand was a different story).

Samosa Chaat (image courtesy of this website)

For entrees, we decided to choose four dishes x 2 for each side of the table. With so many good Dosa options to choose from, it was a tough decision, but at the end of the day we ended up ordering: the Mysore Masala Dosa (spiced crepe with potatoes smeared with spicy chutney), a Spinach Masala Dosa, Udupi Special Spring Dosa (Dosa stuffed with fresh vegetables), and an Onion Masala Dosa. Each of the Dosa plates were served with a trio of sauces with Christmas-like colors of red, green, and white. The red sauce was a spicy sambhar sauce (a sweet, tart, and sour sauce with Tamarind juice, mashed lentils, and a small amount of chili heat. A few sites online called this sauce South India's "lentil gravy"). The white sauce was a coconut chutney that was remarkably sweet (a good compliment to the spicy sambhar). The third sauce, the green sauce, (still a big question mark) must have been some kind of cilantro and mint based yogurt dipping sauce. Each of the sauces were fairly rich in taste and all around pretty damn good.

Trio of South Indian Dipping Sauces at Udupi Palace

Although some called "D" for Dosa a stretch, the restaurant was well received and a hit among the group. Definitely a place I'd go back to again. Much like the other restaurants we've been to this one was pretty cheap too. With drinks, appetizers, and a large number of entrees, the bill per person came out to just under $18. Next up on the A to Z train is Ethiopian cuisine. After spending some time in the Middle East and then Southeast Asia looks like we're finally breaking free and headed towards Africa. Where to for good Ethiopian food? Stay tuned....

C is for Cambodian

Date: Monday, October 6, 2008

Angkor Borei

3471 Mission St (30th St. & Cortland Ave.)
San Francisco
http://www.cambodiankitchen.com/index.html

Two letters down and now only twenty four to go! For C, our journey has led us on a 773 mile trek (essentially a round trip drive from San Francisco to LA) through thick jungle and rainforest to one of Burma's neighbors, Cambodia. Like Burma, Cambodia is centrally located in Southeast Asia, bordering Thailand to the west, Laos to the northeast, and Vietman to the east. The country is large, but relatively small when compared to Burma, which has a population 4x the size of Cambodia (Cambodia has around 15 million people).

Cambodian culture and cuisine (also referred to as Khmer cuisine) was influenced dramatically by the largest neighbor in the region, India. Indian art, culture, and language first made an appearance in Cambodia during the 1st century A.D. For many years, Cambodia's strategic location near the Pacific and the Gulf of Thailand made it an important pitstop for Pacific trading between India and China and as a result Cambodia absorbed a lot from its neighbors. Cambodian culture took in not only Indian influences (tumeric and ginger), but also those of China (stir fries, rice noodles, soy sauces), Thailand (galangal roots, kaffir limes, curries, fish sauces), and influences from other neighboring countries such as Laos, Vietnam, and Indonesia. Similar to Thai cuisine, Cambodian meals are comprised of four basic elements: sweet, sour, salty, or bitter. What's interesting though is that unlike Thai cuisine, an element that's visibly missing in Cambodian food is the "heat" (you know that crazy spicyness that leaves your lips burning, your eyes boiling, your cheeks red, and your forehead sweating up a fiery storm). The heat/chili part is usually something that's served on the side during meal time vs. something that's infused in the dish. This is why you usually don't see spicy dish warnings (you know that spicy chili pepper symbol next to the food item on the menu) at Cambodian eateries. There are always exceptions, of course!

Angkor Mat (photo courtesy of this site)

Now to the restaurant. Unlike Burma Superstar, Angkor Borei did take reservations and there was no waitlist. In fact, the restaurant was the complete reverse of what we experienced at Burma Superstar, where the venue was loud, trendy, and somewhat frenzied. This restaurant was pretty low key (granted it was a Monday night) and contrary to Burma Superstar our expectations were not very high. The food though turned out to be pretty damn good. Angkor Borei is located in Bernal Heights (really more like the outskirts of the Mission) and derives its name from the golden age of Cambodian history (the Angkor period between the 9th and 14th centuries), where Cambodia was a prosperous and powerful empire that dominated much of inland Southeast Asia. Angkor is also the conventional name for the region that held the seat for the Khmer rulers during this time period. At one point Angkor housed over 100 majestic temples (the most famous is the temple of Angkor Wat - considered to be the world's largest single religious monument). Today, much of the great capital lies in ruins from ravenous wars of the past. Much of Angkor now remains hidden beneath rain forest canopies and the Cambodian landscape. Interesting note: Recently (in 2007), researchers declared Angkor to be the largest pre-industrial city in the world (the Mayan city of Tikal is now considered the second largest).

Fresh Spinach Leaves

Cambodian Crepe

Let's talk food. The food at the restaurant was actually quite yummy. After much deliberation, we finally settled on our appetizers. The dishes we ordered to start included a beef salad (pretty decent, but needed to be a little bit spicier. This dish included spearmint, bean sprouts, cucumber, scallions, peppers, carrots, and lime juice), squid salad (not for the squeemish, but highly praised and offered a great blend of spices), fresh spinach leaves (a simple, tasty, finger food dish. It's served on a large plate with spinach leaves at the center and small serving bowls around it. Each bowl is filled with a unique ingrediant including ginger, peanuts, lime wedges, red onion, chili, dried shrimp, toasted cocunut, and a special Angkor Borei dipping sauce. You essentially make a small, healthy taco out of it), and crispy cambodian crepes (filled with tofu and served with ground peanuts and a lemon-garlic sauce).

Ahmonk

Now the entrees. Our indecisiveness led to a lot of waiter based recommendations, but combined with the few dishes we wanted to order, we had an arsenal of delectable plates meticulously chosen to satisfy our varied palates. Our choices for the night were: Pineapple Fried Rice (this dish by far wins the top prize for showiest presentation. The rice goodies were stuffed inside a whole pineapple shell!), Clay Pot Mock Duck (vegeterian dish simmered with a lot of veggies and spices), Clay Pot Shrimp (shrimp dish with lemongrass, sweet basil, shallots, and a spicy garlic-lime sauce. The sauce here is key. Without it the shrimp were honestly pretty bland), Ahmonk (mild red curry fish mousse wrapped in a banana leaf basket), Spicy Green Tofu Curry (a very traditional curry dish, although it lacked the heat commonly found in comparable Thai dishes), and Pumpkin Curry (we ordered a tofu and chicken version. This dish was beautifully served atop an edible pumpkin half. Very creamy and rich in taste, similar to what we had ordered at the Afghan restaurant). The most popular dish of the night had to be the pumpkin curry as it left everyone in the group giddy with satisfied and stuffed smiles.

Pumpkin Curry

Cambodian food proved to be another successful A to Z choice. Angkor Borei was really a nice find with friendly service and overall decent dishes. The big plus is that the food was very cheap! For the quantity of food we had ordered, we were pleasantly surprised by the bill, where the cost per person came in under $20! Anyways, off we go to the next stop on our A to Z train. D is a tough one and in this case should stand for "dearth", as in a dearth of options. Obvious choices are Dominican, Danish, Dutch, Dhekelia, and Djibouti. Hmmmmm...... Seems like the group may need to get creative with this one. Stay tuned.

B is for Burmese...

Tuesday, September 24, 2008


Burma Superstar
309 Clement St. (between 5th & 6th Ave.)
San Francisco
http://www.burmasuperstar.com/

Surprisingly, the decision for B was simple and the obvious choice became Burmese! The discussion on what we were going to do next came up at the first dinner club and more than 40% of the group recommended Burma Superstar. The other 60% of us had no clue what we'd be getting ourselves into, but knew by the glittering eyes and ravenous smiles of those that had been to this trendy spot in the Inner Richmond that we'd be in for something special. And like that the choice had been made and we were off on a more than 2,500 mile journey from Afghanistan to Burma.

Before we get into details of our dining adventure, we should talk cuisine and culture. Burma (also known as Myanmar) is the largest country in mainland Southeast Asia occupying more than 261,970 square miles (roughly the size of Texas) with more than 55 million inhabitants. Burma is bordered by the People's Republic of China and India to the north, Laos to the east, Thailand and the Bay of Bengal to the south, and Bangladesh to the west. Similar to Afghan cuisine, Burmese food incorporates the best its neighbors have to offer, heavily influenced by the cuisines of China, India, and Thailand. This melange of cuisines is what makes Burmese food so great (especially if you like spicy food with lots of complicated flavors and textures)! Indian influences include samosas, biryani, Indian curries, and nans; Chinese influences include noodles, stir-frying techniques, bean curds, and soya sauce; while Thai influences include curries, chiles, coconut, and delicate spices. Yum!

Now back to the restaurant and the food. Burma Superstar is one of those places that's ALWAYS busy. In fact, the restaurant is so popular that they don't even bother with reservations. Instead, the way Burma Superstar operates is that they have a waiting list which you can call in (awesome idea). They take down your phone number and essentially give you a call when your table is ready. The wait tends to be fairly long so be prepared for a +45 min wait (because of the size of our group our table was ready 1.5 hours after we called in. Pretty insane for a Tuesday night!). Luckily, we knew the wait would be long so we had a plan and parked ourselves at Plough & the Stars (local Irish Bar) until our table got called. Burma Superstar must do the wait thing on purpose cause once you get through those velvet curtains and you're inside smelling the food, you can't help but try and convince yourself to order as much food as humanly possible (at this point we were beyond starving).

Samosa Soup

Although the wait took forever, the food came out in droves and very quickly. As soon as we sat down, the group quickly peered through the menu, grabbed the waiter's attention, and ordered some classic and highly recommended dishes for appetizers that included: Vegetarian Burmese Samosas (slightly different than Indian Samosas in that the texture is similar to Thai spring rolls and served with a side of special sweet red sauce instead of tamarind), the Rainbow Salad (a salad made with four types of noodles, tamarind dressing, green papayas, and 22 other ingredients!!), and lastly, the Mighty Tea Leaf Salad (a must order! that includes Burmese tea leaves, tomatoes, fried garlic, yellow split peas, sesame seeds, and peanuts). The beautifully presented dishes were placed atop a rotating plate at the center of the table that made it easy for us to maneuver food from one side to the other. The Rainbow and Tea Leaf salads were introduced to the group by a waiter who meticulously described every single ingredient in the dish (you can only imagine how lost we were after the waiter walked us through ingredient #6 of 22 in the Rainbow Salad). After the "what's in your food today lesson", the waiter proceeded to toss and mix the salads with laser-like precision and delicateness. The tossing and turning reminded us of trained card dealers and their approach when working the 3am shift at a Las Vegas Casino. Within 5 minutes of being served our appetizers, the food was gone. Delish! (Speaking of Rachel Ray did you know that at least three Burma Superstar dishes made an appearance on the Food Network's "Sizzling Summer Destination" series. Each dish prominently gloated in italics on the menu). Now off to the entrees?

Rainbow Salad (photo courtesy of this blog)

Burma Superstar has so many great options for entrees. They have a large menu of seafood, meats, and vegeterian dishes. The long wait outside forced the group to ensure they all had orders in mind prior to sitting at the table. So one by one the group began blurting out their favorites and the dishes they wanted to try. To start, we knew we needed to try the Vegetarian Samosa Soup. Boy was this dish hearty, but full of flavor. We loved it. At first, when you think Samosa soup you probably think of an unappetizing soggy Indian Samosa that's been dipped in hot water for a short while. This was different. The Samosa chunks were a mix of both crunchy and soft samosa pieces and the soup was full of spices that made each bite a tongue pleaser. Next on the order was the Classic Burmese Chicken Casserole and the Burmese Style Curry Shrimp, which both included a nice palette of unique sweet and spicy Southeast Asian flavors. Other dishes ordered that evening included Shan Noodles (rice noodles in spicy tomato sauce with cilantro and peanuts), Pea Shoots (staff recommended), and this spicy lamb dish (quite spicy! some of us were in heaven with this one, others were chasing down the sweat beads that ferociously manifested themselves after every bite. This one was a hot one.).

Spicy Chili Lamb Dish

Burma Superstar proved to be a great choice for B and a remarkably great value play (we were surprised at how reasonably priced it was especially given the glutenous amount of food we had all ordered). So far 2 for 2 on this A to Z adventure. Next stop on the train, Columbian? Cuban? Cantonese? Cambodian? Stay tuned... :-)

A is for Afghan

Date: Tuesday, September 9th, 2008

Helmand Palace
2424 Van Ness Avenue
San Francisco
http://www.helmandpalace.com/

So marks the beginning of what we're hoping to be a spectacular run of restaurants. The first spot in the A to Z dinner club series was a success. Tucked away at a busy intersection on Van Ness Avenue in Russian Hill, Helmand Palace treated us to remarkable food at surprisingly reasonable prices. For most of us, it was our first experience with Afghan cuisine and apparently our first geography lesson on Afghanistan (a number of us actually wondered whether or not Afghanistan was landlocked). Here's a quick Afghanistan geography question: what four countries ending in "stan" border Afghanistan: 1) Pakistan, 2) Turkmenistan, 3) Uzbekistan, and 4) Tajikistan. Who knew? And yes, Afghanistan is landlocked and aside from the "stans" listed above it borders China and Iran.

Now to the food. As with many other countries, Afghanistan was influenced heavily by its neighbors and by the fact that it lay in between important and ancient trade routes between Central Asia and India. As a result, Afghan food has strong ties with Persian, Mongolian, and Indian cuisines. Indian spices, Persian meats, mints, and subzi (spinach), and Mongolian noodles, are just a few examples of some of the things you'll find at an Afghan restaurant.

At Helmand Palace we were treated to a menu with a ton of options. So many options in fact that for a moment we were all caught too paralyzed to make a decision. Luckily, we had some Nan-e Afghani (Afghan bread) and tasty dips to hold us over while we decided. The strategy then became to simplify and select five dishes each representing one of the following: beef, chicken, lamb, vegetarian, and fish. The fish choice was easy (actually only two choices on the menu. Not much more you can expect from a landlocked country). We ordered the Quormay Ma-He, which is the fresh fish of the day, pan-fried and sauteed with ginger, garlic, sundried tomatoes, potatoes, peeled tomatoes, and spices. Yum! The dish was flaky, light, perfectly cooked with a beautiful blend of spices. A hit for sure and a top two candidate for the evening.

Next choice was vegetarian. The Kaddo was highly recommended by foodies and Afghan cuisine enthusiasts and it did not disappoint. The dish incorporates sweet, spicy (not spicy hot), and creamy characteristics and is made up of pan fried then baked baby pumpkin seasoned with sugar and served with garlic yogurt sauce (+ground beef sauce in the non-vegetarian version). This dish was spectacular and the #1 hit at Helmand. A website with a Kaddo recipe for those interested can be found here: http://mikes-table.themulligans.org/2007/11/07/kaddo-bourani/ (interestingly enough and totally random the site references Helmand's sister restaurant in Massachusetts).

Aside from these two favorites, other dishes ordered during the night included the Mourgh Challow (sauteed chicken breast with sauteed spinach and pallow), Dayjee Kabab (leg of lamb with yellow split peas, onion, red peppars, and vinegar) and the Chapendaz (beef tenderloin served on sauce of grilled tomato, cumin seeds, hot peppers, onion, and wheat barley).

Safe to say that our first stop on the A to Z train was a hit! Next up for B? Bolivian? Burmese? Brazilian? hmmm.... stay tuned.

A to Z Dinner Club Kickoff!

We started the A to Z Dinner Club as an excuse to both check out great new restaurants throughout San Francisco and the Bay Area and to bring together people, who normally don't get together on a day to day basis, for dinner & drinks. The goal is to essentially expand our food horizons by exploring new cuisines from various parts of the world every two weeks or so (any region is fair game!). The restaurants will be chosen in alphabetical order based on the relevant cuisine or region.