Jane Kim Eats Out

Jane Kim Eats Out

I’m happy to say that I’ve endorsed Jane Kim for State Senate. She’s currently working on a project to save the fifty year old STUD from closing along with being one of the cities most progressive voices fighting for our homeless.

Wednesday September 28th I’m hosting an event at the Starlight Room which reflects my voting guide for the November ballot. Almost everyone I’ve endorsed will be in attendance and there are no scheduled speeches or fundraising planned. It is just a chance for people to meet and talk to the candidates I feel will shape the future of San Francisco politics.

To learn more about the event read the article over at the Bay Area Reporter.

Jane and I applying lipstick at Floor 21, Starlight Room / Image Gooch

Jane Kim is a current San Francisco Supervisor and candidate for State Senate, District 11. Jane is a proven progressive leader who has fought to expand access to affordable housing, protect renters, close the income gap and improve public schools.

Jane answers my foodie questionnaire here:

What is your favorite dessert?
Chocolate Chip Cookies with a lot of butter.  Butter is big for me.  I am not really big into sugar or most sweets, but I like a lot of buttery things like croissants.

What restaurant would you call your home?
There are actually like 3 restaurants I spend my time at: Turtle Tower – I LOVE LOVE LOVE their Phô, Tin Vietnamese because it is a couple blocks from my house and their food is delicious and Happy Shabu Shabu – I love hot pot and ponzu sauce!

What was your favorite breakfast cereal as a kid?
I never ate cereal as a kid; although my family got into cereal after I left the house.  I remember coming home and my mom was eating cereal with kim chi because she always had to have kim chi with everything, and the milk turned orange and she still drank it.  That was too much even for me!

What is your favorite food to pig-out on after the club?
There are always two places that I want go eat at after the club – Korean food because the restaurants usually stay open until 2AM. And, I used to also really love Sparky’s on Church Street when I lived nearby. I’d always get the tomato, cheese and fried egg sandwich with a strawberry milkshake.

Seared Shrimp & Garbanzo Bean Salad

Seared Shrimp and Garbanzo Bead Salad

Dozen shrimp, cleaned and shelled

Salt and pepper

Olive oil

1 small clove garlic, minced

Pinch chili flakes

Zest and juice of 1 lemon

Season the shrimp with salt and pepper. Heat olive oil in a large skillet on high and add the shrimp searing on each side for 2 to 3 minutes. Add the garlic, chili flakes and zest and lemon juice. Remove the shrimp from pan and save remaining juices for the vinaigrette.

15 ounce can garbanzo beans

1/4 cup Olive oil

4 teaspoons red wine vinegar

Salt and pepper

1/4 red onion, sliced thin

Radishes, sliced thin

1 stalk celery, sliced thin + celery leaves

1 small cucumber, sliced

Handful cherry tomatoes, sliced in half

Watercress

In a bowl combine the red wine vinegar and onions with some salt to macerate for 10 minutes. Prep your vegetables and place in a large bowl. Transfer onions to bowl and make the vinaigrette, whisking the olive oil into the vinegar. Add the juices from the shrimp pan. Mix the vinaigrette, shrimp and salad vegetables together and taste for salt. Serve over watercress.

Serves 4

I’ve been inspired by San Francisco’s Real Foodie’s Compost campaign to share more about composting. If you live in SF you can order a free compost pail from Recology  HERE! I’m all about meeting the SF Zero Waste goal by 2020. I get pissed when I open the green bin in my apartment building and see that other tenants have dumped the wrong things in it!

 This is what I had left over from this recipe to add to my pail.

http://files.markerly.com/tracker.min.js#tracker_id=sfenvironment3528&blogger_id=22283

Phillip Basone Eats Out

Phillip Basone Eats Out

A few weeks ago some boys started asking me if I knew who the hot new chef was in town from New York City. I put down my nail polish and made a few calls to investigate who this guy was. Phillip Basone is originally from Connecticut, his culinary career got on track when he went through the doors of Barbuto, a Greenwich Village restaurant owned by Jonathan Waxman – one of the pioneers of California Cuisine. When I lived in NYC during the late 80’s – it was Waxman’s restaurant Jams on East 79th that I dreamt of cooking at – but fate had me head in a different direction and I ended up under the aprons of some very hot French chefs. I know what tough work it is in a kitchen, especially when you are as talented as Phillip.

I recently stopped by  Waxman’s in Ghirardelli Square where Phillip is spending most of his time while in San Francisco to introduce myself and have dinner. It’s all true – he is even more handsome in person then the boys say and welcomed me with the warmest hug and smile. Dinner was fabulous and the kitchen executed Waxman’s signature dishes to perfection – especially the JW Chicken & Potatoes! I don’t know how much longer Phillip will be in town, so get your butt down there to get a glimpse of him in his chef whites and eat soon. I’m not promising any hugs though.

Phillip answers my foodie questionnaire here:

What is your favorite dessert?
I hate to admit it but I just love Oreos dipped in peanut butter…..

What restaurant would you call your home?
Barbuto! It is where I started my career at 18 and have been working for Jonathan Waxman on and off for the last 6 years.

What is the strangest or most inspiring thing you’ve ever eaten?
I am a extremely picky eater so for strangest I don’t even know where to begin. As far as most inspiring I would honestly have to say this one meal a friend of my father prepared for me. It was pernil, which is so simple yet so delicious. It really set me on this path of incorporating more Latin flavors into my food and relishing in the simplistic beauty of some cuisines.

What was your favorite breakfast cereal as a kid?
Smacks!

What is your favorite food to pig-out on after the club?
Chicken fingers with french fries and a bacon, egg & cheese. Extra ranch please!

Jackson getting a good sniff of Phillip at Waxman’s.

 

Roasted Frog Hollow Peaches, Rosemary Biscuit & Creme Anglaise at Waxman’s

Juanita’s Summer Sangria

Juanita’s Summer Sangria (by Kevin Hoskins)
Serves 12
2 bottles Sancerre blanc
8 ounces Giffard Crème de Pêche de Vigne
8 ounces cognac
4 ounces freshly squeezed lemon juice

Mix all the ingredients in a large Cambro container. Cover and refrigerate overnight. Transfer into a pitcher and pour into tall glasses filled with ice.

 

Dan Fettig Eats Out

I’m sure you’ve asked yourself a dozen times what’s the best way to make friends with a hot-tattooed ginger guy. Well, I can only tell you how to do it from experience. First, help them get an apartment in San Francisco when they decide to leave The Big Apple – then invite them over to your place for a Naked Cocktail Party. That’s just what I did after Dan Fettig reached out to me on Facebook looking for housing. He has over 24K followers on Instagram and by the looks of the pics on his profile you would think he was born wearing only a jockstrap and a pair of heels. I recently got him tuxedoed up when I  invited him out on a fancy date.  We did some shopping together with Jackson at Sui Generis Consignment – let’s just say I carried my ‘Sugar Mama’ purse. He cleaned up real nice, was the perfect date and won me over with his smile and giggle –  both which could break your heart – so be warned gays.

Image by Darren Ankenbauer

Dan answers my foodie questionnaire here:

What is your favorite dessert?

Pie with rocky road ice cream – DUH!!!

What restaurant would you call home?

There was this place in Chelsea that was my go-to, no matter how terrible the dates were the food was always amazing – Pepe Giallo on 10th Avenue.

What is the strangest or most inspiring thing you’ve ever eaten?

Eating shark was definitely a different one.

What was your favorite breakfast cereal as a kid?

Oreo O’s – DUH!!!

What is your favorite food to pig-out on after the club?

This is gonna sound gross – but I usually have pickles and drink the juice! It’s good to get that sodium back and I’m usually alone – so the smell isn’t an issue.

Tuxedo shopping with Dan and Jackson.

Dan and I at Powerblouse at Powerhouse. Image by Shot In The City

Blood Tangerine Tart with Raspberries

Last week I found these gorgeous Blood Tangerines at Whole Foods – tangy and sweet. I decided to make a tart with them by incorporating them as a curd.

Pate Sucree

My favorite tart dough because it is unforgivable!! It won’t get tough from rolling and doesn’t shrink when you bake it. The texture is very similar to a cookie.

1 stick + 1 Tablespoon unsalted butter, room temperature

1/3 cup sugar

1/4 teaspoon salt

1/4 teaspoon vanilla

1 egg yolk

1 1/4 cups unbleached all-purpose flour

Beat together the butter, sugar and salt with an electric beater or stand mixer until creamy. Add the vanilla and egg yolk and mix until combined. Add the flour until the dough comes together. Shape into a flat round disk and refrigerate until firm.

Roll the dough out between two pieces of flour dusted parchment paper big enough for your 10-inch tart pan – so about a 12-inch round. Don’t worry if the dough breaks when you are transferring it to the tart pan – like I said this dough is very forgiving and you can just gently press and piece it in.

Pre-bake the tart shell at 350* for about  25 minutes until slightly golden.

While the tart is baking start making the curd. I added the zest of a Meyer Lemon I had for a little extra flavor.

Grated zest of 3 Blood tangerines

6 tablespoons Blood tangerine juice

3 tablespoons water

1/2 cup sugar

1 stick butter

1/4 teaspoon salt

3 whole eggs

3 egg yolks

Place the zests, juice, water, sugar, salt and butter in a saucepan and heat slowly over low heat until the butter melts. Whisk all the eggs together in a bowl and slowly start to drizzle all of the warm mixture into the bowl. Pour back into the saucepan and constantly stir and scrape over low heat until thickens about 5 minutes. Strain through a sieve directly into the pre-baked tart shell and spread evenly.

Top with 3 pints of raspberries. Gently warm some apricot jam and use it to glaze the tart. Chill until the curd is firm about 3 hours.

Scottie Milagro Eats Out

I absolutely adore San Francisco based vlogger, LGBT advocate and YouTube wannabe  Scottie Milagro. His YouTube channel has close to 75 uploads that are beaming with fun and informative stuff. What really makes these videos so great is Scottie’s charm, sincerity and simply magnetic energy on screen. In his latest post he shares the exciting news of his recent engagement. I suggest you watch a couple of his other videos first so that you can really understand how hopelessly in-love he is. The engagement video is unlike his others as it allows viewers to see an intimate view of Scottie – flustered and floating high with emotion. He makes it absolutely impossible to not be fully committed to attending this wedding.

Scottie answers my foodie questionnaire here:

What is your favorite dessert?
I come from a big Spanish family so I have a huge soft spot for flan. It doesn’t even have to be fancy. Goya makes one that comes in a little cardboard box. Some of my best childhood memories include pouring that little box of powdered flan into a saucepan and watching it become sweet, sugary goodness.

What restaurant would you call your home?
I regret not discovering Pesce earlier, even though it’s right in my own neighborhood. It’s such a shame that another great restaurant in that building is closing its doors (remember brunch at 2223? Delicious!). Their braised octopus is my go to and it will be sorely missed. If I’m in LA, you’re guaranteed to find me at Osteria La Buca. Unpretentious, mouthwatering Italian. I almost always order the special.

What is the strangest or most inspiring thing you’ve ever eaten?
On a volunteer trip to Belize I once ate a fistful of termites. Like, literally stuck my hand into a termite nest in a tree and licked them off like a lollypop. They tasted like minty carrots if you could image that flavor combination.

What was your favorite breakfast cereal as a kid?
Lucky Charms, but just the marshmallows. I used to dump the whole box in a large mixing bowl, eat all the marshmallows in one sitting, then pour the rest of the cereal back into the box.

What is your favorite food to pig-out on after the club?
If Starbelly is still open, my tipsy cravings lead me straight to their chicken liver pâté. I realize this is a very bougie pig out food, but I can’t resist! It’s too good!

Baby jailbait Scottie at Booty Call Wednesdays, 2009

Spicy Carrot Spread

I created this spicy carrot spread for my menu collaboration with Kitchit Tonight. It is reminiscent of hummus – and is super easy to make and a great starter for any party.

Spicy Carrot Spread
6 large carrots, peeled and cut into 1-inch chunks
3 tablespoons olive oil
1 medium yellow onion, finely chopped
2 tablespoons Harissa
½ teaspoon ground cumin
3 tablespoons toasted pine nuts
3 tablespoon Tahini
2 teaspoons lemon juice
Salt and pepper

Set a steamer basket in a saucepan with 2 inches simmering water. Add carrots. Cover and steam until tender, about 12 minutes.
Heat oil in pan and saute until lightly browned.
Transfer carrots, onions, Harissa, cumin, pine nuts, tahini, and lemon juice to a food processor. Season with salt and pepper. Process until smooth, about 1 minute, adding up to 2 tablespoons water if necessary.

Serve with toasted pita bread.

Best Late Night Spots by Marci Gagliardi

Friend and Tablehopper Marci Gagliardi recently asked a bunch of us night owls where they like to eat late-night for Refinery29.

“If anyone knows a thing or two about late-night eats in San Francisco, it’s bartenders, chefs, wine directors, nightlife writers, and drag queens. So, we hunted down these nocturnal experts to share their favorite post-midnight haunts (and what to order), for the next time your hunger strikes during the wee hours. People love to complain about S.F. restaurants closing their doors at 10 p.m., but the only way to promote a vibrant after-hours dining scene is for us to support the one we already have. So, click through these pro tips on where to head after last call, whether you’re craving pupusas, potato skins, or even kale salad. (Yes, really. Because — San Francisco.)”

Salty Dogs with Barkeeper Paul Wakefield

Paul Wakefield

My lover and friend Paul Wakefield tends bar at San Francisco’s Orbit Room. The bar and cafe have been around for over 20 years. The place is a great mix of old and new. Paul stopped by my place tonight to make us one of my favorite winter cocktails before heading off to work. I’m a huge citrus fan of Meyer lemons, Key limes, Valencia oranges and especially grapefruit. They are a bit of sunshine at the market right now. My grandmother had a grapefruit tree that was so tall its top branches rested on the roof  of her small home in the East Bay. I was always more than happy to pick them for her. My family sold that little house years ago. And, I recently drove by out of curiosity and my great fondness of the property that gave me so much fruit throughout my childhood. The front yard was horribly disregarded. And that great grapefruit tree that stood so tall had been chopped down to a mere stump. I’ll never drive by there again. But I will never forget the taste of those big juicy grapefruits.

Salty Dog

6 ounces freshly squeezed grapefruit juice, about 3 large grapefruits

2 ounces vodka

Salt for the rim of the glass

Ice

Paul and I at Booty Call Wednesdays