a whole lotta lobstah

MO and I just got back from a week vacationing and visiting friends in Boston and Bar Harbor. We went hiking, swimming, exploring, and of course, did a lot of EATING. Highlights included:

- that first iced coffee from Dunkin' Donuts (I know it doesn't exactly fit with the rest of my gourmet tastes, but having spent 6 years in Boston I am a D&D girl at heart)

- tea and popovers at the Jordan Pond House

- lots of lobster (steamed, lobster rolls, lobster sushi rolls, lobster salad)

- our two fabulous meals at The Burning Tree (yes, we ate there twice in 4 days)

Mid-August is such a great time to visit Maine - the weather is wonderful, the lake water is the perfect temperature, and fresh local produce appears on the menus of the best restaurants. Still feeling the glow of a great trip. Good times, good friends, good food.

Tacolicious is abso-fab

I don't blog about restaurants very often, but I just have to mention how much I am in love with Tacolicious (thanks for the recommendation, Hols)!

Tacolicious is a fun trendy new restaurant in San Francisco's Marina neighborhood. It was packed when MO, my mother-in-law and I stopped in early Saturday evening. We squeezed into a high-top table near the giant altar-like painting of a bottle of Tapatio (which MO loved) and soon were enjoying chips and a salsa with a flavor that made me go "Hmmm" (I later found out that the mystery ingredient was mint). Between the 3 of us, we tried a variety of tacos, including the fish, veggie, filet, and chicken. The only disappointment to an otherwise fabulous experience was my drink. I had the house margarita which was underwhelming at $9. I'll probably try a different drink next time (they have lots of choices).

The food was really fresh and truly delicious, but my favorite part of the meal was the sauces. The minty salsa we started wuth was great, but even better was the beautiful trio of habenero (tangy and hot!), chipotle (smoky), and tomatillo (the best tomatillo salsa I've ever had).

Who wants to meet up for tacos???

Oooohhh Oysters

Maybe it was the gorgeous weather or the laid-back beach vibe or the great company, but the oysters I enjoyed at Coast Café in Bolinas on Sunday were some of the best I’ve ever had. The Coast Café has a wide variety of yummy food, but on this visit we simply enjoyed oysters on their patio. They get their oysters from Drake’s Bay (they source a lot of local and organic food) and on weekends they bbq them on a large grill in front of the restaurant. I know some of you will insist that the only way to eat oysters is raw, but these warm jewels, with their delicious tangy and tomato-y sauce, were fabulous. (Sorry no photo – I left the camera at home on this adventure).

I just had to try...

This dessert (yes, dessert!) was called "Chips & Dip" and I had it at a little restaurant I visited with Dani the other day when she was in San Francisco for business. I've been seeing weird desserts on the Food Network made with avocado, so I figured I had to try it when we were offered this avocado ice cream, strawberry salsa, and fortune cookie crisps. It was one of those dishes we had to keep tasting because we weren't sure if we liked it or hated it...but now I can say I tried an avocado dessert.

The Twelve Meals of Christmas

Since I was too busy celebrating (read: "eating and drinking") over the holidays to keep the blog up-to-date, I'm a little behind. We had so many fabulous meals over the holidays, but here some memorable edibles:

Kennedy's Irish Pub and Curry House
I've blogged about this place before, but we had to bring the fam.

Homemade English Muffins (a la Fat Boy)
Nothing beats a homemade English Muffin - believe me. Process is a little complicated - helps to have a baker for a father.

Tuesday night at Portelli

We were pleasantly surprised by this Italian spot in Novato. (the Tuesday night special of 1/2 price wine helped!)

Dungeness Crab

We introduced the fam to the delicious West Coast specialty.

and my favorite eating experience of the holidays...

Locally-grown Christmas Dinner

Homemade linguini with summer garden sauce, smashed carrots and parsnips, mixed baby greens salad, and broccoli with meyer lemon. ALL vegetables grown by MO. Pretty impressive, huh? And it was delicious.

New York Pizza

Pizza comes in many forms, the best of which is New York pizza: thin crispy-but-foldable crust, a little sauce, a little more cheese and some drip-on-your hand grease. Yum. It's really hard to find pizza like that in California. And believe me, MO and I have been searching since we moved here. Here's a shout out to one of our favorite pizza places around, aptly named The New Yorker.

The New Yorker is located in downtown Petaluma. They also have a variety of Italian specialities, all of which look good, but we always get the pizza. And usually a green salad (not much more than lettuce, but with the yummy house dressing, its perfect for holding you over while you're waiting for your pizza).

Lobstah in San Francisco?

San Francisco is very far from Maine, but at the North Beach Lobster Shack, I almost felt like I was "down east". Surrounded by Italian restaurants and pizza joints on every side, The Lobster Shack is a surprising find. Not exactly cheap eats (it's lobster after all), but very casual and fun. Almost like you were at Beal's in Southwest Harbor.

Mo and I had clam chowder (very thick New England style with big chunks of clam) and lobster rolls (fresh lobster on a toasted roll). Not the best I've ever had, but pretty darn good for California. We'll definitely be back for a special ocassion for a steamed lobster dinner.

Pizza Pie

Since moving to California, MO has been complaining about the lack of a really good "New York slice". After much trial and tribulation (and testing many many pizza places), we think that Amici's probably has the North Bay's closest thing (although 1 - you can't get it by the slice and, 2 - it costs much more than NY pizza). If you're looking for Chicago Style pizza, Old Chicago in Petaluma is the way to go (although in my opinion, it's hardly the same food).

Because MO was never quite satisfied with the pizza selection in the area, he had my Dad (also known as "Fat Boy" of Fat Boy Bakery) show him the real way to make New York pizza from scratch. Sorry - it's a secret family recipe, but I can share some photos!

Last weekend, MO made pizza for the whole gang after we went for a gorgeous hike out near Point Reyes.

peppers and sausage

white pizza with garden rosemary

My Early Valentine

Since I love to go out to eat so much, I am always looking for excuses to do so. And Valentine's Day would seem like an easy one. However, in my mind, there are a million reasons why it's not a good idea to go out to a restaurant on Valentine's Day...

Reasons not to go out to eat on Valentine's Day:

1. crowded and loud (despite attempts to create a romantic atmosphere)
2. long wait times (even though you had a reservation)
3. Valentine's Day "specials" (the kitchen makes special new untested dishes on one of the busiest nights of the year)
4. overpriced prix fixe menus (less choice, more money)
5. grumpy servers (I know because I was one)
6. rushed service ("turn" and burn")

That said, my sweetie and I decided to go out on the Tuesday before the big day. We had a lovely meal, complete with a 1/2 off bottle of wine (thank you, Tuesday) at what I consider downtown Novato's nicest "special occassion" place, Kitchen. Our server was helpful, (but kept out of our hair), the food was quite good, and I really enjoyed the Pinot from Monterey County. The highlight of my meal was a radicchio salad with fried artichoke hearts and manchego cheese. (I think I might try making that sometime...) And afterwards, my Valentine and I walked home, hand and hand. Have a Happy Valentine's Day!