Fried Chicken, BBQ Pork, and fixins at House Of Soul in Vallejo. Utterly superb soul food, chicken tastes tender like it should be, I'm guessing soaked in buttermilk. My favorite restaurant in Vallejo.
Smoked meats and eggplant using my new Weber Grill.
Bottle of Edradour Single Malt Scotch, one of my favorites, from the Scottish Midlands.
Delicious treats from an Italian cafe in Benicia, Amore. Great pastries, coffee and sundries to take home.
Kouign Amann, Almond Croissant and a Parisian Flan from Le Marais Bakery in San Francisco. Up there with the best bakeries in the Bay Area.
Huitlacoche Quesadilla at Cafe de Olla, on Mission Street in San Francisco.
Larb from BhanMaeVane, Lao & Thai cuisine in Alameda, CA. In my estimation, the best Lao I've ever had.
A seafood aspic at Maison Nico, downtown San Francisco. Otherwordly.
Uni from H Mart San Francisco.
Pho by Pho King in Oakland. Richest beef broth I've ever tasted in a bowl of Pho.
Syma's Mexican & Persian Grill in Albany, CA. Saffron Rice With Barberries and Lamb, and Chicken Mole. Both outstanding and definitive.
Turkey with Wild Rice Stuffing (with Walnuts and Dried Cranberries). What's different about this year's Thanksgiving feast I made at home is after defrosting the turkey, I marinated it in buttermilk for two days. Plus, I used the Chinese approach to roasting fowl--first at high heat (475F) for 30 minutes, then @ 250F for 3 hours. This produced a turkey that was perfectly cooked all the way, especially the white meat, which was tender and juicy. I'll never go back to the old way, though I might smoke it for the last couple of hours.
