Sam’s Kitchen – Sloppy Joes

Sloppy Joe

Here’s a first world problem… my parents went to Hawaii which means K and I have to fend for ourselves for meals. We had some sweet rolls in the kitchen and I had the bright idea to make sloppy joes. I’ve never had one before, but they always looked really delicious in the movies. Here’s a super simple recipe that literally took me 15 minutes to make.

Ingredients (serves 4):

1 pound ground beef
1/4 cup chopped onion
1/2 teaspoon garlic powder
1 teaspoon Dijon mustard
3/4 cup ketchup
3 teaspoons brown sugar
1 tablespoon A1 sauce
salt and pepper to taste

Directions:

In a medium skillet, brown the ground beef and onions. Drain excess liquids.

Sloppy Joe Brown Meat

Stir in the garlic powder, mustard, A1 sauce, ketchup and brown sugar. Reduce heat and simmer for 30 minutes. Season with salt and pepper, if needed.

Sloppy Joe Add Sauces

Toast the buns and serve. Enjoy!

 

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Wexler’s – San Francisco

Rated: ♣♣♣

I’ve been wanting to come to Wexlers for a long time to try their infamous Scotch Eggs. I finally had the opportunity when K and I celebrated a friends birthday a few weeks ago. We had some mixed reviews. K loved his meal, but mine wasn’t so pleasant.

We each started with a Scotch Egg. The concept is genius, but the execution was a little off. This is a soft-boiled egg wrapped in shredded burnt ends, breaded then deep fried. The egg was perfectly cooked so that it was perfectly runny. The only setback was that my egg was cold! So upsetting… (sorry for the blurry picture!)

Wexlers Grits

For my entrée, I ordered the Ridgecut Mill’s Cheese Grits with mimolette, green garlic, sweet and sour sunchokes and red wine jus. Boy, it was heavy and salty. I couldn’t even attempt to eat the second half of the dish because I felt so guilty. I appreciated the sunchokes. I think the dish really needed the earthy flavor to counter the creaminess of the dish. Although, I didn’t think it was enough. They either needed to mix more sunchokes in the grits or cut back on the cream or cheese.

Wexlers Pork Chop

K had a pork chop and loved it. It had a nice golden crust on the outside and was super juicy on the inside.

Wexlers Inside Out Root Beer Float

For dessert I had the Inside Out Root Beer Float which consisted of house-made vanilla soda and Humphry Slocombe root beer ice cream. I thought it was alright. The vanilla and root beer flavors were muted compared to an actual root beer float.

Wexlers Banana Cream Pie

K’s Bourbon Banana Cream Pie, on the other hand, was amazing. Definitely the favorite out of the entire meal. The graham cracker crust was paper thin and was filled with fluffy whipped cream and thick slices of ripe bananas. The drizzle of dark caramel on the top really kicked the pie up several notches. I cried on the inside while K ate his dessert and I had my float.

3 strikes on my meal. But if I had ordered what K had, it might have been a completely different review. So to be fair, I’ll give Wexler’s 3 stars.

Wexler’s
568 Sacramento St
(between Leidesdorff St & Montgomery St)
San Francisco, CA 94111
Neighborhood: Financial District

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Beijing Restaurant – San Francisco

Beijing Restaurant Storefront

Rated: ♣♣♣♣

I love love love Beijing Restaurant. It has definitely become my new favorite Chinese restaurant in the city. Mine and Yao Ming’s. Wha??? Yes, Yao Ming! Every time he comes to play the Warriors, Yao stops at this restaurant. And might I add, this restaurant is a hole-in-the-wall and is completely inconvenient to anyone not living near the area. If Yao Ming comes all the way to this tiny little restaurant to eat Chinese food, this place has got to be good.

Beijing Restaurant Yao Ming

Their famous dish is the sliced fish and preserved vegetable warm pot. I have never had anything like this. Tender fish with tart cabbage in a light, sour broth. The hidden gem is the chewy clear noodles. I’m Chinese and I’ve been to hundreds of Chinese restaurants. Not once have I seen noodles like these and they’re perfectly amazing.

Beijing Restaurant Sour Fish Warm Pot

If you can get over the smell, I recommend the cumin lamb. One whiff and you can imagine breathing in the stench of a homeless man during a heatwave in Arizona. But not to worry, it tastes A LOT better than it smells. So smoky and spicy. It’s like eating curry lamb, but dry.

Beijing Restaurant Cumin Lamb

Next, we had the dan dan noodles (or black bean noodles). They serve all the ingredients separately and it’s the patron’s job to mix it altogether. I thought this dish was alright. A little cold, not enough sauce… San Tung has a better version.

Beijing Restaurant Dan Dan Noodles

Anytime I see soup dumplings on the menu, I order it. These were not the kind of soup dumplings I’m used to though. The skin was more bread like rather than thin and fragile. The difference could be because I was at a Beijing restaurant as opposed to a Shanghainese restaurant.

Beijing Restaurant Soup Dumplings

If you dine at Beijing Restaurant, you HAVE to order the sweet chewy cake. It’s probably one of my favorite desserts at a Chinese restaurant and I’ve never seen it anywhere else. This dessert is like a sesame ball minus the sesame seeds and topped with sugar. The red bean paste is so smooth and it’s got tiny pieces of chestnuts and pine nuts in the filling. I find it very odd that they serve it over a bed of cabbage, but it didn’t hold me back from eating 4 pieces!

Beijing Restaurant Sweet Cake

Beijing Restaurant
1801 Alemany Blvd
(between Ocean Ave & Ruth St)
San Francisco, CA 94112
Neighborhood: Mission Terrace

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I Met Tyler Florence!!

sfo sam and tyler

…at the grand opening of the new Virgin terminal at SFO! On Saturday, my family and I were invited to check out the new terminal before it publicly opened this week. We got to walk right past the security area and straight through all the restaurants and shops to the gates. The airport made a real effort to be green with this terminal – using natural light, stations to fill empty water bottles, etc. I learned all these nifty facts from the fun games they provided at the opening.

To bring a little bit of Bay Area to the terminal, they had a Napa Valley storefront selling local foods like Cowgirl Creamery cheeses and a Tyler Florence food stand. As soon as I saw Tyler’s restaurant stand, my eyes scanned the store to see if the celebrity chef was there. Lucky enough, he was! I ran straight up to him and asked for a photo. My dad’s a huge Tyler Florence fan as well and even bought his cook book right there so he could have it autographed. Tyler is so sweet in person as he appears on his cooking shows. He’s a great cook as well! We ordered a few of his pizzas and they were amazing, especially the Simple Italy Pizza (margherita). We did have to wait 40 minutes for the food though!

Cat Cora has a restaurant in the terminal as well, but no appearances from the female celebrity chef. Dang!

sfo fam and tyler

sfo signing dads book

sfo tyler margherita

sfo tyler harvest pizza

sfo water fountain

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SF Cherry Blossom Festival – April 16-17

Cherry Blossom Festival Music

4 words – deep. fried. mochi. balls. That’s reason enough to come to the San Francisco Cherry Blossom Festival. Every year, the Japanese celebrate the blooming of cherry blossoms (or the coming of spring). The 2 weekend affair is filled with great food, local music and a festive parade.

Cherry Blossom Festival Grill Ribs

Cherry Blossom Festival Kabli Ribs

Ever since I was very young, I would volunteer with my basketball team selling hot dogs and lemonade. The festivals concessions have since evolved to serving Japanese classics such as okonomiyaki (Japanese pancakes), takoyaki (squid balls), dorayaki (red bean pancakes), kalbi ribs and udon. The food stands are so popular, I waited almost an hour for a plate of $6 kalbi ribs. Though it was completely worth it in my opinion.

Cherry Blossom Festival Fried Mochi

My all time favorite will always be the deep fried mochi balls. Little gumball sized mochi are deep fried until their crispy and chewy on the outside and soft and gooey in the inside. The mochi are topped with a thick sweet soy sauce and nori (seaweed) flakes. The salty-sweet with the warm-chewy make for a perfect combination.

I encourage you to make an effort to come this weekend! Most stands are fundraising for a tsunami relief fund. So while you’re enjoying some tasty treats, you’re also helping others. Win-win!

 

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