Posts Tagged: San Francisco

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4
Jan 10

Phat in San Francisco: Tomales Bay Oyster Co

tomales bay, california
Man, I love Nor Cal. It’s such a beautiful place – mountains, redwoods, beaches. And amazing food. If you drive across the Golden Gate and north along the coast for 40 miles you’ll come across Tomales Bay, an estuary and home of the Tomales Bay Oyster Company.

tomales bay
Once you pull into Tomales Bay, you can purchase fresh oysters that are farmed right in the ocean water. The oysters come in various sizes, from xsmall ($32/50pcs) to be served on the halfshell, to xlarge ($55/50pcs) to be grilled up or rockerfeller’d.

grilling at tomales bay
There are picnic tables with shucking stations, BBQ grills, and reggae tunes bumpin. There used to be mariachi bands, but I’m not sure if they still come around. The crowd is always diverse – Koreans bbq’in up some sweet meat (bo ssam anyone?!!), Mexicans mixing it up with limes and tapatio, and yuppies toting picnic baskets filled with wine and cheese.

tomales bay oysters
How do we do it? Nice and simple with lime and tapatio. A couple on the grill for nice contrast.

tomales bay oysters
Super fresh, pristine, and salty from the bay water. Beautiful! Definitely worth all the shucking.

Tomales Bay Oyster Company
15479 Highway One
Marshall, CA 94940
+01 415-663-1242
www.tomalesbayoysters.com

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30
Dec 09

Phat in San Francisco: The Best Bowl of Wontons in SF

Sorry guys – its not at one of SF’s many restaurants, but at the Casa de Ley! When we get together over a mountain of meat, only good things can come from it.

wonton wrapping
YOU NO WRAP, YOU NO EAT! My parents make the wonton filling with minced pork and shrimp, dried shiitake mushrooms, and chopped woodear fungus. The mushrooms lend flavor, while the woodear gives each bite a delightful crunch.

wonton wrapping
A perfect wonton.

wonton soup base
The wonton soup base. Dad boils down shrimp shells and dried shiitake mushrooms to make a simple broth. He pours this over soy sauce, hoisin, sesame oil, chopped green onions, and minced cilantro, resulting in a light and flavorful MSG-free broth.

perfect wonton soup
Ah, the perfect bowl of wonton soup. At my house, we do this in a huge communal bowl in the middle of the table and everyone serves themselves. There are hardly any leftovers by the time we are done!

noodles
This dry noodle dish is intensely flavorful, but deceptively simple. My dad boils some ready-cooked egg noodles, drains them, and tosses them in a wok with toasted sesame seeds and chopped green onions. Hoisin & soy are added to create this super fragrant noodle. You can toss this into your soup for wonton mein, but i like to eat them dry – the flavor is so good!

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29
Dec 09

Phat in San Francisco: Taqueria Cancun

I’m really lucky to call San Francisco home because its a city with amazing food culture. Seafood, good wines, artisanal bread, banging Chinese, and legit Mexican all crammed into 7×7 square miles.

One thing I always have to do when I’m in town is have a burrito. Not just ANY burrito – a San Francisco burrito.

The best burrito in SF is definitely a touchy subject for a lot of locals. Some will insist on Gordos (obvs you’ve never had REAL Mexican food before), some praise La Taqueria (overpriced, skinny-ass, sloppily-wrapped burritos), others hail El Farolito (one of the best – but a little greasy).

taqueria cancun san francisco
The best burrito in San Francisco? Taqueria Cancun. Without a doubt. And what makes this burrito so special? Its big, its tightly-wrapped, and its got the perfect sour cream to cheese to rice to meat ratio. But what really won me over is the liberal use of avocado. Yes, glorious, bright-green, silky smooth, California-sun-ripened avocado. They use half of the precious west coast fruit in a single burrito. Not mashed, or mixed up in a guacamole, but scooped out of the skin with a spoon, so you get nice, big chunks of creamy goodness with every bite.

san francisco burrito
Now that you’ve been schooled, go forth… order a super burrito with all the fixin’s (just $6), a glass of icy, cinnamon-y horchata or the daily agua fresca – and enjoy. Free chips and super spicy salsa too – this ain’t no chipotle! I like to take my goodies over three blocks to Dolores park and enjoy them while I’m soaking up the view of downtown SF – it’s the most amazing San Francisco experience ever.

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Taqueria Cancun
2288 Mission Street at 19th St.
San Francisco, CA 94110
+01 415-252-9560

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29
Dec 09

Phat in San Francisco: Merry Xmas

Merry Christmas, or Feliz Navidad from the Ley familia!

salsa mexicana
Tio Victor’s salsa mexicana. One habanero + one jalapeno = some spicy ass shit!

xmas turkey
The festive bird roasted by my Tio Paco. A-mazing. The juiciest, most tender turkey I’ve had in a very long time.

xmas plate
The quintessential xmas plate at the Casa de Ley.

merry xmas cake
My mom made this lovely cake. Unfortunately I forgot to take a picture until the knife was already in it! haha! Mixed fruit with fresh whipped cream on sponge cake. Light, airy, delicious – and very Asian style!

Hope your holidays were merry and bright!