Jimbo: Restaurant Review

I am crazy about noodles and eat them just about every chance I get. In Hawaii the noodles to indulge in are Asian. You can find Vietnamese pho and bun, Chinese noodles and dumplings and Japanese noodles. When it comes to Japanese noodles there are three kinds I know and love--ramen, soba and udon. I've got a favorite spot for soba I'll be reviewing soon, and a number of ramen places on my list to check out. But when it comes to udon, I recommend Jimbo where they make the chewy thick white wheat noodles daily. There are many ways you can tell a good restaurant, a bench out front with people always waiting to get in is a pretty dependable sign. Jimbo is a pretty little Japanese restaurant that specializes in udon. The menu is enormous because you can have noodles hot, cold, in soup, in salad, in sauce, stir fried, in a pot, and with an almost endless array of optional rice dishes. I had a hot bowl of udon soup with sansai and wakame or mountain vegetables and seaweed. Wit......

Continue reading

Aloha, everyone!

I know some people come to Hawaii for the sheer natural beauty. The sun setting over the ocean, the waves lapping at the shore and the warm soft air are delicious. But truth be told, it's the funky side of Hawaii I love the best. My first stop from the airport was to Ethel's Grill . It typifies what I enjoy about Oahu. It's cheap, friendly, funky, pure local goodness. Last year I showed the waitress a restaurant review I had written of Ethel's on my iPhone. This year she not only recognized me but remembered my name. The mix of Asian cuisines and local ingredients, with specials like a post Thanksgiving Turkey Loco Moco make me fall in love with Ethel's every time I visit. Lunch was an order of fried hamachi kama (the rich, oily collar of the fish), sticky garlic chicken and rice and a big platter of Ethel's crazy delicious ahi tataki with slivers of soy marinated garlic and crunchy bean sprouts. It all came with bowls of egg drop miso soup, a crisp iceberg......

Continue reading

A Port Primer

A few years ago I wrote a little guide to Portuguese wine. At the time I drank Ruby Port on occasion, but really didn't know anything about Portuguese table wines or Port. As part of my research I tried plenty of Portuguese table wines and found them to be tremendously accessible--inexpensive, distinctive and food friendly. Given the budget of the project I didn't get to try as much Port as I would have liked, but this year I got to try plenty including some at Taylor Fladgate's scenic tasting room, overlooking the Douro. What is Port? Port is a delicious treat. It's a fortified wine that can be served with cheese, fruit, nuts, cake or chocolate but frankly, it's wonderful on its own. It's also terrific for cooking and making sauces. Tawny Port, either chilled or at room temperature can be served as an aperitif or as a dessert wine. Because once opened, a bottle of Port keeps longer than a typical bottle of wine, it's a lasting luxury and makes a wonderful ......

Continue reading

On the eve of Thanksgiving I'm pretty sure you've already figured out what you are cooking or eating tomorrow, if you haven't, you could check out my post on Bay Area Bites with links to three "winning" recipes. The reason I haven't been posting here very frequently is that I've been doing a lot of recipe development, 22 new recipes to be exact and before that I completed 30 more recipes for another client. I'm terribly sorry the recipes aren't available yet, because a number of them are really perfect for Thanksgiving and I plan on serving two of them tomorrow. I promise to share them as soon as I can. In the meantime, here are links to two very useful "before and after" Thanksgiving links I think you'll enjoy: Fine Cooking to the Rescue! Emergency Fixes for the Top Ten Thanksgiving Disasters Gourmet's Delicious Uses for Leftover Turkey Finally, don't forget! Come see me at the Union Square Williams-Sonoma store in San Franc......

Continue reading