What’s Cookin’

Welcome to your short week—although mine is the same as it ever was. Actually, I’m getting out of town for 24 hours and heading up to St. Helena for a splashy event, the reopening of the wine cellar at PRESS. And looking at the upcoming warm temperatures tomorrow, it’s going to be a nice road trip, even though I’ll be in a rental car (cough). Thanks everyone for the kind notes about my wrecked Alfa—I got to read many tales of car loss and remembrance. Hey, misery loves company. At least the thought of test driving the new FIAT 500 is making me smile.

So guess what? Today tablehopper turns six! Can you believe that? SO many late Monday nights writing this thing, jeesh. GRAZIE for all the support. The best present you could give my column is to forward this week’s issue to your friends and tell them to subscribe. Truly. Many thanks in advance!

Also want to do a special toast to my adorable parents, who are celebrating their anniversary this Thursday. Their love is one of the sweetest things I know on this earth.

More celebratin’: big congrats to all the semifinalists announced for the 2012 restaurant and chef James Beard Foundation Awards. Check out the list here. Best of luck to all during the finalist process (it’s gotta be harrowing).

Oh, today’s episode of You Gotta Eat This on KGO Radio has me riffing on one of my very favorite breakfasts: chilaquiles. (You saw a picture of one of my favorites last week, now you can hear me talk about them.)

Okay folks, have a very happy Mardi Gras and maybe I’ll catch ya on Friday, maybe I won’t (am debating about making this Friday my Monday off).

Hey there, happy Friday. Although I am actually a bit heartbroken today—yesterday I had to make the hard decision to total out my beloved Alfa Romeo. Ends up the repairs (estimated at $7,400, egad) were going to exceed the value of the car, even after I convinced my insurance to raise the car’s value more than their original assessment. A total rock and a hard place. Anyone who has driven an Alfa, or ever loved a vintage car knows what this feels like. Yeah, crap. And dealing with insurance for a few weeks has totally worn me the hell out.

So after a day of emotional eating yesterday (thank you for comforting me, chilaquiles at SanJalisco, and grazie to Guido for polpette and lasagne), I was thankful for a morning of working out in Alamo Square with my trainer. Yeah, it’s stupidly beautiful outside today. If I had my CAR, I’d be driving out to the beach with the top down for some fresh air, but it looks like that’s out of the cards for now. Pfffft.

Tuesday night, my friends and I held our annual Lonely Hearts/Singles Scene dinner, so I thought I’d share a quick writeup of our fantastic feast. It was one for the books. I also have a bookworm and 707 Scout for you, check it out.

To be perfectly honest, I don’t have a lot of juice today. Just pissed off and pretty sad. Fortunately going to go dancing late tonight and shake it. So I’m gonna sign off, see you next Tuesday, sweeties.

Happy Valentine’s Day, darlings. Was crushed when Tony Bennett failed to drown out the weekly emergency broadcast at noon today, on the 50th anniversary of when he first sang “I Left My Heart in San Francisco” at the Venetian Room in the Fairmont Hotel. Our local radio stations also failed me. So thank you, internet, for ultimately giving me some lovey-dovey time with Tony, and my beloved city.

More things on my love list: the fantastico aperitivo hour on Saturday at Hog & Rocks, courtesy of Liquor.com and Campari (here’s hoping they do more), the trout with garum-brown butter at State Bird Provisions, and the family feast for my grandma’s birthday this past Sunday, which included my dad’s mushroom risotto, my mom’s marinated lamb, and my aunt’s not one but two pies for dessert: Boston cream pie (this needs to be on more menus) and lemon meringue (she’s a baking machine).

More items for the love list: on today’s segment of You Gotta Eat This on KGO Radio, I mention three places that serve delicious chicken wings (San Tung, Wing Wings, and Chubby Noodle). Have a listen.

Tonight, the city will be divided between couples paying for prix-fixe dinners at restaurants converted into two-tops or cooking at home, while singles hide or go out and drink (I think it’s a great night to go out—odds are if someone is alone at a bar tonight, they’re single, or newly single, ha ha). Hopefully everyone is eating sweets.

I will be out with some friends (and family) celebrating our annual Lonely Hearts Dinner (the name is meant to be funny) around a big table with a lazy Susan in the middle. Yup, banquet dinner time! Followed by kitschy drinks somewhere. Love it. Am also loving the fact that nopa (and Nopalito!) decided to close tonight for their annual holiday party. Bold! I was talking with chef Laurence Jossel yesterday, who said the staff is throwing a formal tonight, and he’ll be rocking a powder blue tux with a ruffled shirt. Pics were promised.

This week, the highlight for me, gleaming brightly on my calendar, is tomorrow’s Tre Bicchieri event, when Fort Mason turns into a mini Italy, packed with incredible wines and hot men in suits. What more does a girl need?

XO,

Boy, am I glad to be out of the bunker. There is nothing quite like the feeling of finishing a honking deadline, or in my case, two. I had fun getting my swerve on Thursday night in North Beach, feasting at Chubby Noodle and having after-dinner drinks at Comstock Saloon (that Cherry Bounce will get you in trouble).

On Friday, a friend who is a member of the South End Rowing Club took me out on the bay on a beautiful wood boat—-what an epic morning. Beer for breakfast on the dock was quickly followed by a crab sandwich from the stand at Fisherman’s Grotto #9, and cracked crab from “the girls” at Alioto-Lazio Fish Company later that night.

And The Golden Glass on Saturday was fantastico—so many incredible wines, and the porchetta crew from Italy blew my mind. Am having fun reading more about the wines I liked in the brand-new Slow Wine 2012 guide—you can pick it up here.

I sure am pleased with how the weather synced up with my You Gotta Eat This! feature on KGO Radio today. Yup, I talk about three of my picks for ramen: Hapa Ramen, Kirimachi, and Nombe. Have a listen—it’s less than two minutes.

So Valentine’s Day is next week, as my overflowing inbox full of press releases keeps reminding me every 15 minutes. Since we have so many great bakers in town, I included a write-up of some sweet treats you can buy for your honey, or your friends, or your own damn self! Meanwhile, I was happily surprised with a delivery of beautiful white roses from Whole Foods last week, and Gary Rulli stoked me with a box of his delightful artisan chocolates at The Golden Glass this past weekend. Really took a lot of pressure off my imaginary boyfriend, let me tell you.

Love and kisses!

After two months of grinding away on this computer for more time than is even remotely healthy, I can see the strobe light at the end of the two-month work tunnel. Yup, I’ll be turning in my final guidebook copy on Thursday, cracking my knuckles, doing some warm-up stretches, and hitting the dancefloor HARD on Thursday night. Gotta shake off a lot of desk chair bad mojo, let me tell you. Total cabin fever.

At least I’ve been exiting my abode a few times a week for some incredible meals. Yes, restaurant research rocks. I can’t even begin to tell you how blown away I was with my experience at Baumé Restaurant last week in Palo Alto. So worth the trip. Very much looking forward to writing that one up for y’all.

I also met up with friends for arancini with scamorza and wild nettle pizza (with an egg on top, of course) at Ragazza, and swung by Butterfly for their Lunar New Year/Dungeness crab menu (which you only have a few more days to enjoy). I adored the crab and sea urchin hand rolls with yuzu kosho vinaigrette and toasted nori, and the salt and red chile crab with crab fried black rice.

Am looking forward to hitting the The Golden Glass this Saturday—there are still (surprisingly) tickets left for this fantastic event. I am gonna hit the Librandi table so fast, you have no idea. The lineup of food artisans and restaurants is also notable.

I expect this weekend is going to be a whole hell of a lot better than this last Saturday, when I was greeted with the unwelcome news that a retaining wall came down on my beloved Alfa Romeo, crunching the nose and hood. Nope, so not meow. Looks like someone is going to be in the shop for a while.

Before signing off, here’s today’s episode of You Gotta Eat This, in which I talk about secret menu items on KGO Radio.

Have a swell week, and we will return to our regular tablehopper programming (which includes reviews) next week! Thanks for bearing with me—these writing projects have been a bear (I could also make a joke about feeling like a bear in a cave, but I’ll stop.)

Nothing like a torrential rainstorm to keep you inside to finish a monster writing project. (Yeah, like I was going to be able to go anywhere this past weekend with my Sunday deadline anyway.) But no sooner is one guidebook out of the ring, and the other one gets tagged back in. I can’t wait for this month to end. My desk chair and I are not getting along like we used to. Le sigh.

Today’s tablehopper has plenty of options to help ya warm up, whether it’s a bowl of bun rieu or getting heated over some cocktails. Last week, my heat-seeking tactics included a bowl of ramen at Kirimachi (pictured), jook in Chinatown, and some chicken noodle soup I made at home. After watching an episode of Easy Chinese on the Cooking Channel, this recipe for Savory Sour Chicken Noodle Soup is gonna be what’s cooking next over here at Hopper HQ.

Okay, more food! Check out today’s episode of You Gotta Eat This (airing on KGO)—I cover three big, bodacious, behemoth sandwiches around town that are each less than $10. Have a listen here.

And now, it’s time for me to head back to the salt mines. Well, in my case, the Maldon sea salt mines.

I know I am not alone in loving the reappearance of this rainy weather—the city is already smelling better, my car got a free wash, and my curly hair says YES! It’s also the best writing weather, because you don’t want to go outside (then again, you also don’t want to get out of your bed).

This past week, my dining recon for these two guidebooks brought me to the incomparable Benu (foie gras xiao long bao, I can now die peacefully and go to heaven), and Sons & Daughters (perfect for date number two or three), in addition to warming up over a bowl of ramen at Kirimachi, popping up in North Beach. Tonight, however, I think I have a date with a salad. And my keyboard. Again. (We’re getting married.)

The news keeps coming out of the 707 and right into the 707 Scout it goes—thanks to Deirdre Bourdet for the fab updates. I love heading up there this time of year, and my list of places to visit keeps growing.

Tonight, please don’t forget the benefit to help the victims of the Western Addition fire last month. And have fun kicking off the Lunar New Year on Monday! Excited for the Year of the Dragon: RAWR! (And excited for the fact that DeLise will be serving their Peking duck scones and some new treats, starting Tuesday!)

Hello there! Um, wow, who put this carnival ride into fifth gear? I can’t believe how much writing I’ve been doing the past three weeks. Total finger cramps over here. My brain is cramping, too. My calls to Calgon remain unanswered.

Was sorry to miss the Fancy Food Show and Good Food Awards (check out the 2012 winners here). Fortunately I was able to escape the keyboard for a little bit and jump into a recording studio last week. I’m happy to announce today was the launch of my first and brand-new weekly feature for KGO 810, called “You Gotta Eat This.” Every Tuesday, I will be focusing on wallet-friendly bites that are big on flavor, from wonton soups to killer sandwiches to Monday-night specials at nicer restaurants to dim sum. This week I highlight bar bites at three upscale restaurants around town: Jardinière, Parallel 37, and Twenty Five Lusk. Have a listen here—and since it’s only a minute and 30 seconds, it’s a quickie.

I was also happy to have my first article published in Condé Nast Traveler this month. Here’s the online version of the article, which focuses on the latest hotspots for cocktails on Valencia.

Okay, I need to keep slogging away on these guidebooks. Every minute counts these days. I’ll pop back up when I can! I’d like to believe the fugu-fin sake I had at Ame this weekend gave me superhuman strength! It certainly gave me a blast of umami. And the dish pictured? One of the best things I’ve eaten all month, wow.

Ciao ciao!