Champa Garden: Thai/Lao in Oakland

Lao Style Larp Salad, with shredded Duck.

Veggie Combo with Eggplant.

Salad greens for the Larp, plus other dishes.

Lao Chicken Noodle Soup, with Coconut Red Curry.

Robin observed: "everyone eating here looked like they were eating their favorite dish." I'm pretty sure this is the oldest Thai-Lao restaurant in the Bay Area, and they have sister locations elsewhere, including San Francisco and Redding. Family vibe: friendly, informative, open and light of heart.

Thai-style Papaya Salad. Tangy, spicy, slightly sweet, and a panoply of texture. Lime juice, garlic, dried shrimp, papaya and carrot strips, peanut garnish, vermicelli and cabbage on the side, chile, long bean, & tomato. 

Seafood Salad. Squid, scallops, & shrimp cooked to perfection, tossed with lime juice, fish sauce, chiles, onion, cilantro, carrot and celery. Soft and crisp texture contrast, all very fresh and bright.

Laotian Pork Lemongrass Sausage. Best version I've had yet. Great contrast between the lemongrass and the pork. Perfect complement to the rice ball salad. 

Greens for eating the Rice Ball Salad. Mint, cilantro, romaine leaves. Break the lettuce in half, fill with the Rice Ball Salad, and some cilantro and mint.

Rice Ball Salad. Crispy fried rice, preserved pork, chiles, cilantro, green onion & lime. Up there with all the best versions around here.

Drunken Noodles (with chicken). Nice char on the noodles, as there should be, with rice noodle, basil, bamboo shoot, onion, mushroom, peppers, & chicken. Like everything we had, up there with the finest expressions of the cuisine we've had the pleasure to experience. Sublime.

Champa Garden

 2102 8th Ave, Oakland, CA 94606

(510) 238-8819

http://www.champagardenoakland.com

Mehran Restaurant: Indian & Pakistani Cuisine in Pittsburg, CA

Here's a place Robin's been to before, similar format of most Indian restaurants with lunch buffet followed by dinner menu at night. Also, like some other restaurants we've seen in other parts of the SF Bay region, this little strip center connects with other rooms one can rent out for catered events, weddings, corporate dinners, etc. Very affordable prices, huge portions, and absolutely delectable cuisine.

One of the best Bhindi Masalas I've ever had, remarkable for the fact that all the ingredients tasted so fresh. Okra cooked in onion and spices--much less cooked than most places, rendering a version that's  more about the natural flavor of the okra.

Above: Goat Korma, tender and still on the bone. Typically, I've found Korma dishes to not be quite this color, as they are usually yogurt based, sometimes cashew based, and given the flavor and aroma of this version, I'd say the color comes from the extra spices, notably turmeric and ground chile powder, along with many other spices, and a good quantity of them, some clearly roasted and ground recently, given how keenly vivid they are on the palette. 

Lamb Palak, boneless lamb cook with spinach. Somewhat similar to Lamb Saag dishes we've had, but once again, Mehran doesn't skimp when it comes to spices. There's so many spices happening in every bite, it's challenging to detail the entire panoply. Mehran is up there with the finest Indian & Pakistani restaurants in the Bay Area.

Mehran Restaurat

925-432-7500

mehranrestaurant.com

Porchetta & Morels

Porchetta, Morels, and Butter Lettuce Salad.

Freshly-picked Morels. Robin found these growing here in Vallejo.

Making Morels with a cream sauce--a bit like making sausage--not that glamourous. She browned chopped shallots, added sliced morels, half and half, dry sherry, fresh picked thyme and sage.

Here you can see the morels sauteeing.

Meanwhile, doing the porchetta took most of the afternoon. Above you can see it, right after we put it in the oven. We used the NY Times recipe as a guide. Got a great deal on Pork Butt, took it out of the fridge a few hours ahead of time, then butterflied it, and scored the fat. Lightly seasoned all the pork with salt from the jar where I keep my salt-cured anchovies. Then spread, along the inside, the herb spread: freshly picked rosemary (new growth), purple sage, fennel fronds, zest of one Meyer lemon from our little tree; freshly roasted fennel seeds, black peppercorns & chiles (mostly arbols), which then got ground up; all this got blended into a paste with extra virgin olive oil. Oh and a LOT of garlic, as always. I dusted the outside of the entire pork roast with more of the fennel seed, peppercorn and chile mixture. Then we tied our mother down with some kitchen twine, put the oven on 450, and roasted for 35 minutes.

At this point, it's already gettin' roasted, so we turned the oven down to 325, and let that thang roast for another 2 hrs 45 minutes. The whole house was smelling lovely, and Frances (our dog) was going nuts the whole time.

Here it is, out of the oven.

Another shot, from the backside. Always let your meat rest for at least 15 minutes, though 30 minutes or more is a good idea. 

Slicing it up. Notice charred bits of pork that stuck to the pan. I simply spatulaed that up later, no biggie.

Another shot of the slicing. The green herb paste is so intense.

And there's the plate: local inexpensive Zinfandel ($3.99 at Grocery Outlet), Porchetta served with Kamut grain, Butter Lettuce dressed with EVOO & lemon, and a bit of the Morels in cream sauce.

Arguably the best food photo I've ever taken. Butter lettuce, morels in cream sauce, and roasted porchetta. 

Mayflower: Exquisite Dim Sum in Milpitas

Scallop dumplings! Saved the best for last.