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JD’s Restaurant & Pies – Castro Valley – Review Update

July 8, 2011 / admin / 2 Comments

(This is an update from a 2003 review)

San Leandro still doesn’t have any good, affordable places to go for breakfast/brunch, so on the rare occasions when we treat ourselves to morning food we usually go to JD’s in Castro Valley. Their food is good, though not great, but I know what I’m getting.

What I got during my last visit – what I always get – is the ricotta French Toast, covered with fresh strawberries and cream. This is an impressive dish and quite good, though I can’t help to feel it’s missing something. Sweetness perhaps? Macerated strawberries would be nicer, I think. The crispy bacon it came with was very good. This dish is “market price”, and I don’t know how much it was, probably in the neighborhood of $10.

Mike had the Cajun omelet with andouille sausage ($8.50). He liked it, but wished the sausage had been chopped and mixed into the omelet. The accompanying potatoes were pretty good.

In all, a solid though not spectacular meal. We’ll return, but wish there were better options nearby.

JD’s Restaurant
2837 Castro Valley Blvd.
Castro Valley , CA
510-537-3862

Original Review

Bay Area Restaurant Reviews

Gas Grilling Baby Back Ribs

July 6, 2011 / admin / 0 Comments

Yesterday I got some pork loin backribs (aka baby back ribs) at the supermarket. I had never made them before so I had to look up how to cook them. The method I found worked perfectly and resulted in fall-off-the-bone delicious baby back ribs. The rub I used, however, wasn’t that great so I’ll try a different one next time. This method starts with brining the ribs: baby back ribs have little fat and can get tough if not brined. This process takes at least six hours.

I was a bit surprised at how expensive the baby back ribs were. The full rack, on sale, was almost $15. For that price you can get them already cooked at Chili’s!

METHOD

1 – Put the ribs in a large, deep container and cover with 4 qts of water, 1/2 cup kosher salt and 1/4 cup of sugar. Place in the refrigerator for 1 hour.

2 – Remove the ribs from the brine solution and discard solution. Dry the ribs and rub dry rub of your choice on both sides. Return to the refrigerator and let rest for at least 1/2 hour or up to 8 hours.

3 – Remove ribs from fridge and let stand at room temperature for about 1/2 hour before grilling.

4 – Preheat grill to high for 15 – 20 minutes, covered.

5 – Turn off one of the grill burners and set the other one on medium.

6 – Place baby back ribs (your may have to cut one rack in half) over the off-section of the grill. Cover.

7 – Grill for 3 1/2 hours, turning every 1/2 hour.

8 – Baste the baby back ribs with BBQ sauce on the meaty side and grill for an additional 20 minutes.

Marga’s Best Recipes

Island Wok Steamed Pork Buns – product review

June 15, 2011 / admin / 4 Comments

Today I found a package of Island Wok brand steamed pork buns at Grocery Outlet and decided to give them a try. I LOVE pork buns, and while these were a bit expensive ($4 for 6 3.5 oz pork buns, about the same price you can get freshly made ones at your local Chinese restaurant), I liked the convenience of having them in my freezer. They also seem to be made with natural ingredients. Unfortunately they weren’t very good.

My main complain is the filling. I like my pork buns at least a little bit sweet and these ones are not. Probably the most notable flavor is that of the soy sauce. Mika thought that there was too much bread for the amount of filling, but I don’t think they’re more unbalanced than most pork buns. In all they weren’t bad, and they microwave very easily (1 minute each), but given their price I think I may just stick with the ones from New Hong Kong.

Island Wok is a brand of Harvest Food Products, a Hayward based Asian frozen food company. One of the things I do like about GO is that they give small producers a chance. While I didn’t love these pork buns, I will try other Island Wok/Harvest Food products.

Eating Blind: Mystery Meet comes to San Francisco

June 10, 2011 / admin / 0 Comments

Mystery Meet is a very cool concept for anyone interested in trying new restaurants and meeting new people. The organizer picks a restaurant and makes reservations for a large party (around 20-40, I think) for an off-night (2nd Tuesday of the month). The restaurant will prepare a set-menu for a set-price and diners buy tickets for the event. The mystery is that you won’t know when you buy your tickets which restaurant it is. You get clues, but the identity of the restaurant will only be revealed a day or two before the dinner.

Mystery Meet is the brainchild of Seth Resler, a social media marketing professional who has recently relocated from Boston to SF. He’s been running MM in Boston for about a year, attracting local foodies and bloggers, and the accounts of the meals I’ve read have been very positive. There is no info on the site about the price, but meals in Boston were about $40-$50 per person (plus drinks, and perhaps tax/tip?). Tickets go on sale a week before the dinner.

The first Mystery Meet in SF will be on Tuesday, July 12th. To buy tickets, you need to first register online, you will get an e-mail with the link when the tickets go on sale. I think this sounds like a lot of fun and will try to make it (provided the ticket costs are reasonable :-).

MyCityCuisine looking for contributors

June 10, 2011 / admin / 1 Comment

MyCityCuisine is a wiki project that aims to provide travelers with information about the must try dishes for the particular cities they are visiting. They are looking for contributors to add information about their city’s great dishes. It sounds like a fun project, and a pretty useful one. While most guidebooks will discuss the particular cuisine of a country, and even a major city, chances are that unless the city you are visiting is really well known for a particular thing, you’ll never know about it. This way you can find out what you definitely should not leave without trying.

I’ve been trying to think what the must-eat dish in San Leandro is and I haven’t had much luck. We’re the sausage capital of California, or something of the sort, but there isn’t really any local place where you can go and eat sausage. Any thoughts?

Sabino’s Coffee – San Leandro

June 10, 2011 / admin / 0 Comments

I have lived in San Leandro for over a decade, and yet I’d never gone to Sabino’s Cofee – even though it’s a San Leandro institution. This is not terribly surprising, it’s not within walking distance of my house and I do spend too much time at Zocalo as it is. I love Zocalo, but it’s not always the best place to go when you want to have a private conversation as you are bound to run into someone you know. So, when Aamani and I got together this morning for some girl talk, I suggested we give Sabino’s a try instead. It was a great choice.

Sabino’s is a super small cafe on MacArthur Ave. It has a tiny sitting room around the bar area, and a simple small patio on back. That’s where we headed on this beautiful spring morning. We sipped our very good caramel lattes ($3.50 for a double) and relaxed and talked for a couple of hours with no disturbances at all. It was heaven.

I will definitely be coming here again.

Sabino’s Coffee
1273 MacArthur Blvd.
San Leandro, CA
(510) 357-5282

http://www.sabinoscoffee.com

M-F 6 AM – 7 PM

Sa-Su 6:30 AM – 6 PM

Harry & David Moose Munch @ Grocery Outlet

June 8, 2011 / admin / 0 Comments

Grocery Outlet (at least the one in San Leandro) has 4.5 oz packages of Christmas-packaged Harry & David Moose Munch for sale at 99-cents. They expire on 10/28/11, so they’re still perfectly fine to eat. They have several flavor varieties, I tried the milk chocolate and another Christmasy flavor with cinnamon or ginger, which I didn’t enjoy. They also have dark chocolate. The milk chocolate popcorn was very good, though I’d say that about 10% of the popcorn is actually covered with milk chocolate, the rest is just good, but not extraordinary, caramel popcorn. In all, it’s not a bad snack for $1 – though at 630 calories for the whole package, I’m not sure it’s really worth it, even if you share it with someone.

Bangkok@12 Thai Restaurant Review – Sacramento

June 7, 2011 / admin / 0 Comments

Mike and I were in Sacramento for the California Democratic Convention. On our second night there, a Saturday night in early May, we wanted to get some really good food, at a reasonable price somewhere near the Convention Center. Bangkok@12 got pretty good reviews on Yelp and it ended up fitting the bill perfectly.

Bangkok@12 is a small restaurant, reasonably well decorated and with a little bit more care it could even become a little stylish. The table we were offered, though, near the kitchen with a view of the bathroom door, would not have made our dining experience that pleasant, however – but they did move us to a table by the window when I asked them to. Service was good and unintrusive throughout the evening. But in this restaurant it’s the food, and in particular the sauces, which really star.

Mike and I shared the golden bags (fried wonton skins stuffed with ground chicken, shrimp, mushroom, onion, and cilantro, $6). They were good, though not outstanding, and I’d order them again.

As my entree I ordered my standard at Thai restaurants, mussamun curry. At Bangkok@12 you can order this and other curries with either beef, chicken or pork ($9), shrimp or calamari ($10) or a “seafood combo” ($12). This is because they cook the meats separately, and then mix them with the curry. I had the beef, and it consisted of very thin strips, probably seared. They were OK, but predictably tough, and they lacked the sumptuousness of thick chunks of beef slowly cooked in the sauce. They were redeemed, however, by the sheer beauty of the mussaman curry. It had your typical mussamun flavor, but it was even more intense and layered. It was absolutely delicious. The same can be said about Mike’s panang curry, which he head with the chicken. The chicken was unremarkable, but the curry was well balanced, deep and wonderful. So much so that we were willing to forgive the careless cooked meats.

Beef in Mussamun curry

Chicken in panang curry

In all, it was a very pleasant meal and we’d go back if we were in the area.

Bangkok @12 Thai Restaurant
900 12th st (@ I)
Sacramento, CA
(916) 443-5588
http://www.bangkok12restaurant.com/

Marga’s Restaurant Reviews – Outside the Bay Area

Harissa Sauce

June 2, 2011 / admin / 0 Comments

Harissa is an ubiquitous spice mix/sauce used by Berbers and Arabs alike throughout the Maghreb. It can be used as a condiment and a grilling sauce, and it’s often an ingredient in other dishes. There are many variations to this recipe, but this is a fairly typical one. If you don’t have caraway seeds around, many recipes omit it. The recipe below produces a very spicy sauce, for a less spicy one use milder or fewer chilies.

Ingredients

12 dried hot red chili peppers
1 large garlic clove (or 2-3 small ones)
1 tsp. ground cumin
1 tsp. caraway seeds
1 tsp. coriander seeds
1 tsp. salt
1/3 cup olive oil

Instructions

Remove the seeds from the chili peppers. Soak the peppers in water for ½ hour. Put all the ingredients in a blender or mini chopper and blend until smooth.

Argentinian Fondue recipe

June 2, 2011 / admin / 1 Comment

During the 1970’s the fondue sensation reached Argentina and it quickly became one of our biggest “special occasion” treats. My parents would make it from time to time using the recipe below. Instead of the traditional havarti and emmental cheeses, which I assume were not available in Argentina (or at least in our town), it uses the Argentine cheese Talhuet, which melts nicely. Otherwise it’s rather traditional

My parent’s cheese fondue recipe

1 tsp. corn starch
1/2 liter white wine
1 garlic clove
1 cup kirsch
1 lb. Gruyere cheese, grated
1 lb. Talhuet cheese (an Argentine cheese), grated
White pepper to taste

Dissolve corn starch in 1/4 cup of white wine, set aside.

Rub garlic on pot. Put on the burner and add the rest of the wine and kirsch. When it boils, add the grated cheeses bit by bit, mixing with a wooden spoon until they melt, then add the white pepper. If it cools down, add more wine. Once it’s ready, add the corn starch. Mix well and serve.

Traditional Fondue Recipe

Chocolate Fondue

Marga’s Best Recipes