Monday, May 29, 2017

Shasta Journey


These first five are shots of Mount Shasta from the small town of McCloud, where Robin & I were this weekend, selling her mushroom t-shirts & other mushroom artwork at their annual mushroom festival. This year it was noticeably bigger than last year, in terms of attendance & number of vendors. Culinary vendors had a much better selection of mushroom items, and there were many more vendors and displays on all aspects of fungus. 


McCloud is an old Mill Town with an interesting history. Those houses across the street from the Burgers & Shakes sign I gather were where laborers moved once they got married. Prior to this, they lived in dorms in what is now known as the McCloud Hotel, a much fancier affair now than back in the day (although many celebrities from the 1910s-1920s stayed there). 

Well, here's the interesting part. The Mill Owner & management hired the Pinkerton Detective Agency to go undercover to figure out which labourers were stealing. Soon, they started disrupting activities of the IWW, who were organizing throughout Northern California, again at the behest of the Mill Owner.


Shot of Shasta at the end of day one. I just took my first shower in a few days as we were roughing it, first staying at the site of the festival in our canopy (just like the ones in the foreground, but with sidewalls, & the all-important air mattress we got on the cheap), then on National Forest land with mushroom foragers. 

Like last year, it was very hot in McCloud, but the challenge to roughing it was staying warm at night, because it got really cold. We spent last night in deep wilderness, with mushroom foragers we know, in Shasta-Trinity National Forest, way, way off the beaten path. Almost hit an adult coyote on the way there, who leapt across the highway right in front of us. We got lost and turned down a road that used to be a rail line, and had to reverse all the way back to the entrance.

When we finally found the campsite, I saw bear and bobcat tracks. Our foraging friends brought all kinds of interesting things to the party in front of the campfire, including Porcini Huaraches, and freshly caught & grilled trout. Haven't had trout that good since my grandparents took me camping in the Sierras in 1969. Pretty certain that was the first time I saw a forest, and decided my favorite color was green. The air smells different, and the water is otherworldly.

Shot of Shasta, Sunday morning. Covered in snow, plenty of snow melt in creeks and rivers. We went to the springs in Shasta City when we first arrived, then re-filled our 3 gallon jug this morning before heading back south. All the other major mountains in the area we could see (Trinity Alps & Lassen) were also covered in snow. Shasta Lake is utterly transformed, full as it should be, quite unlike the first time I saw it, in 2014, during the depths of the drought.


Above & below, shots of Shasta during the festival. Live music had interesting moments. Saturday was mostly Reggae & Funk, with the latter band doing a very good version of "Cissy Strut." On Sunday, it was all Bluegrass & Country, which the locals were really into. At one point, before the Bluegrass, the sound guy had some Hiphop on, and I've gotta say McCloud is about as un-Hiphop as any place I've been, but don't tell that to the 15 year old boys riding skateboards blasting contemporary gangsta rap.


Just remembered: some little girl this morning asked if I was Santa Claus. I told her I was training to become Santa Claus, but still have to do years of journeyman internship training in Finland and Norway. She looked baffled but her mom liked the joke. I saw them later and burst out with a "Ho! Ho! Ho! MERRY CHRISTMAS!" I made her day.


Trinity Alps in the distance, from City Park in Shasta City.

Plenty of old buildings and vehicles around McCloud.


Speaking of vestiges from another era, check this out, from the front of a vacant building.

Table from one of the new vendors: The Mushroom Authority. They had mushrooms, grow kits, and something that blew away all of Robin's mycology fanatic buddies: a cheese bread using Lion's Mane mushrooms! We were staying in a camp with those folks last night, and passed it around the campfire, a real hit with them. There's more and more people we're finding who are serious about wild and cultivated mushrooms.


Easily the best food at the event, served by Chef's Lounge, Risotto with Morels & Asparagus (above) and Chicken Skewers with Porcini Pesto (below). Gotta say, I was impressed that every food vendor had some sort of mushroom ingredient.


Breakfast at White Mountain Cafe. Bacon Avocado Spinach Benedict with hash browns. Hollandaise Sauce tasted very fresh. Also had an impressive breakfast at Seven Suns Coffee in Shasta, and outstanding Thai/Lao at Champa Garden in Redding. The Sage Restaurant at the McCloud Hotel looks compelling, maybe next year we'll check it out. Will blog more about those later.






Thursday, May 18, 2017

Pacific Catch in Corte Madera--Poke Bowl is finally in the North Bay

Poke Bowl (Ahi Serrano Rice Bowl) at Pacific Catch in Corte Madera.

When I first moved to the Bay Area in 2005, one day I'm with my buddy running errands in Marin County, and he runs into this place to get some kind of salad with ahi tuna to go. Looks good, and he commented that folks in the North Bay have high standards when it comes to good fish. I've been meaning to check this place out for myself, and last night we finally did.


Fried Calamari Appetizer. Perfectly done. I don't want to disrespect the places I loved in Austin that did calamari just right too, but let's face facts, there's a big difference between using frozen & fresh calamari. Not sure about Pacific Catch's calamari, but I know it's easy to to find fresh locally caught calamari around here. I wouldn't be surprised if theirs uses fresh calamari.



Above & below: Spicy Tuna Roll. Spot on. Just enough spice.


Both the previous dishes were quite good preludes, but judging by the quality of the Poke Bowl (they call it Rice Bowl on the menu, but this is essentially what most people call Poke Bowl elsewhere), it'll be what we'll order in the future. We split one order--next time we'll just get one full order each. 

First off, this is the first Poke Bowl place we know of in the North Bay, and I predict it'll be everywhere from Sausalito to Novato, and even parts of Sonoma County, before you know it. What's remarkable is the high calibre of the ingredients: sashimi grade tuna, high quality pickled ginger, seaweed salad that's exemplary, delicious perfectly ripe avocado, mixed greens with great texture and flavor, brown rice with no taint of rancid tones that's still warm like it's been cooked within the last hour or two which means plump warm kernels. Those little things add up to the best Poke Bowl I've ever had. 

I have to admire the acuity of Pacific Catch. Most of the clientele we saw (it was early on a weeknight) were older folks, and I'm sure they're aware that tastes and dining tendencies are changing, and no doubt they've gradually been changing their menu to cater to more to younger tastes, but also to those with healthy & gourmet options in mind. The fact that they changed their menu to suit newer tastes, and have accomplished mastery of a new cuisine so well is a testament to both the prowess of their cooks on the line, and management.




Pacific Catch (local chain with several locations)
https://pacificcatch.com/locations/corte-madera/
133 Corte Madera Town Center
Corte Madera, CA 94925
(415) 927-3474


Sunday, May 7, 2017

Larb Thai Food & Tapas in El Cerrito

Quail at Larb Thai Food in El Cerrito.
There was a great write-up on this place in the East Bay Express some months ago, and it took a while to get around to going there. It was hailed as having some of the funkier sauces and unusual ingredients in the Bay Area's Thai/Lao scene.



One of Larb's specialties are their Grilled Skewers. I'm pretty sure what we got was Grilled Beef Tongue, Marinated Pork Shoulder and Issan Pork & Herb Sausage. All were absolutely delicious.




Above and below: the most singular, intense version of Larb (minced chicken, shallot, mint, cilantro & rice powder served with lettuce) I've ever had, likely because the fermented fish sauce(s?) used are very strong.



Larb Thai Food & Tapas 
10166 San Pablo Ave, El Cerrito, CA 94530


Lime Leaf Thai Lao Kitchen in Suisun City


Highlights from our recent visit to Lime Leaf (6/14/18). Above is the Beef Noodle, below the Kao Soy, then below that Lao Sausage, then Seafood Salad. Everything top notch as usual.












The above 6 shots are from our 9/8/2017 visit. Kao Soy, Papaya Salad & Lao Lemongrass Sausage. Just as great as previous visits.




Lime Leaf is one of the best restaurants we've discovered in the Fairfield/Suisun City area, not very far from the Fairfield County Courthouse and the Suisun Marina.


Lime Leaf's Lao sausages are up there with the best, with an intense flavor of Lemongrass, Ginger and Pork.




Beef Salad. Probably the lightest Beef dish you'll ever have. Chile/lime sauce with probably a touch of fish sauce, bell peppers, lettuce, carrot, thinly-sliced beef.


Papaya Salad with seafood, mostly squid. Delicious and refreshing.


Kao Soy--coconut based sauce with chicken and noodles. Sublime. I would assume some of these dishes use lime leaves.




Lime Leaf Thai Lao Kitchen
201 Marina Center, Suisun City, CA 94585