First Republic Bank Food Truck Event - Palo Alto

 

When my classmate invited a group of us to First Republic Bank's free food truck event for clients and potential clients, I could not miss the opportunity. My main goal was for the Treatbot truck which I absolutely loved at the Moveable Feast event. For the first time ever, First Republic Bank in Palo Alto hosted a free event with 3 featured food trucks and a wine/beer selection for their clients and potential clients. Since the event was free, I cannot comment on the pricing of the foods mentioned below.

Giveaways included a stuffed eagle, which is on the First Republic Bank logo. There were also packages that included the Zagat SF Bay Area Restaurants guide for 2012. I am definitely looking forward for using it. I have already used the wine opener in the pack and have given away my tin of chocolates to a chocolate lover who appreciates it much more than I do. These are great giveaways.

Our first stop was a taco station by Anytime is Taco Time. We had protein choices of chorizo, chicken, pork, or beef. I opted for chorizo and chicken. After adding toppings of green salsa, radishes, cilantro, and a squeeze of lime, these tacos were delicious. Probably not as good at the Tres Gringos taco stand in front of the Improv in downtown San Jose, but still very good and well seasoned tacos.

The wonder and magic of Sam's Chowder Mobile was previously unbeknownst to me. Oh Sam's Chowder Mobile, why have I not eaten your food before?

Shrimp Po' Boy with fries. You can't see it here but there is a bun on the bottom and top of the pile of shrimps. The shrimps were fried goodness dressed with a light dab of tartar sauce on top of a bed of shredded cabbage and tomato slices. I would have liked them to market this as popcorn shrimp in a small cup or something instead. I can't imagine making a whole sandwich out of this.

Fish and Chips: I can't give an accurate review of fish and chips because I don't like it. The fish is usually too oily when prepared this way and the combination of fish and chips feels too heavy. My friend seemed to like this item though.

Clam Chowder: Good but unremarkable.

This is the money maker right here. Sam's Lobster Roll is so good. Large chunks of lobster on a fluffy buttery roll. Yes, it does taste a little like a heart attack but its too good to miss. There's cole slaw on the side if you want to balance your meal with some greens. I ate the rolls alone and it was delicious. I even got back in line for 2 more so I could take home and have for lunch the next day. By the way, still just as good when heated the next day.

From Treatbot: Chocolate chip cookies with a scoop of the 408 ice cream. The 408 is caramel ice cream with fudge chunks. The first half of the sandwich was delicious until I got a big fat sugary stomach ache. This sandwich should be shared. No person could safely consume so much sugar. Yummy nonetheless.

What do you think?

Would you like your bank to host a similar event for you, your family, and your friends? For me, unfortunately I am not high net worth enough for a bank like First Republic but if I ever got to that point, I would like to establish a more personal relationship like this with my bank. When I have more money to manage and to spend, I want to get to know the people handling it. I hope this event was successful for First Republic.

First Republic Bank

Anytime is Taco Time on Yelp
Sam's Chowder Mobile on Yelp
Treatbot on Yelp

Foodbuzz 24x24: Tomales Bay Oyster Picnic

Many moons ago, our friends introduced us to Tomales Bay Oyster Company, an oyster farm and retailer that has an extremely popular picnic area. Groups of people flock from all over the Bay Area to have a BBQ day out here. It is located about an hour North of San Francisco which would be a total of 2 hours North of San Jose. Many things in life have changed since our last outting here, mainly that we moved in together and got married, but Tomales Bay has not changed at all. Last time, I promised that the next time I visit Tomales Bay, I would do the following:

• bring more people
• bring more real food and grilling food
• buy a cheaper oyster shucker elsewhere and bring it
• premake some oyster shooter toppings 

I am proud to say that this time, I delivered on all the above promises.

I ordered a 50 count bag of large and 50 count bag of extra small but was given Washington medium and smalls because the total was $110.

The bags of oysters are kept fresh in this massive tank behind the counter. Tomales Bay not only sells imports from Washington and other seasonal offerings, but they farm their own oysters as well. It is always good to support the local businesses which was why I ordered the extra small, even if it may not be what the man gave me.

Didn't I say Tomales Bay is very popular? So crowded.

Our group of 12 set up our BBQ picnic at a table and began feasting and drinking galore.

With the small oysters, we ate them raw with a variety of toppings. I prepared 2 mignonettes: watermelon with mint and red wine vinegar and jalapeno peppers with shallots and lemon. There were also lime wedges and tabasco sauce, the good ole classic. Henry got creative (top left) and put chopped green onions, lime, and tabasco on his. He even put all the above AND watermelon mignonette on there. All the toppings were really delicious but the oysters were sweet and fresh au naturel too.

Clockwise from top left:

1. Papaya salad with carrots, dried cucumbers, kohlrabi, red onions, mint, shredded beef jerky and dressed with seasoned fish sauce.
2. Watermelon mignonette for raw oysters made with chopped watermelon, mint leaves, red wine vinegar, sugar, and salt.
3. Grilled chicken drumsticks marinated with fish sauce, soy sauce, water, sugar, garlic powder.
4. Drinks on ice including variety of beers, one Mexican Pepsi, and water.

 From top left:

1. Grilled medium oyster
2. White wine sangria with strawberries and watermelon
3. Grilled white corn
4. Watermelon slices
5.  Red wine sangria with strawberry and watermelon slices
6. Sliced pork marinated in spicy Korean marinade (which did not turn out spicy at all)

 Next to the watermelon mignonette you can see the jalapeno peppers and shallot mignonette. Both were good in their own ways. Part of the full spread included fried egg noodles with yellow chives. These seemed to be a big hit. The salad was also a big hit but I made so much of it. Who knew one medium papaya would yield a large bowl of salad?!

We grilled the larger oysters along with some chicken drumsticks and corn.

The oysters are done on the grill once they pop open. Phil helped pry them fully open for easier eating.

 Wowzas! A huge oyster!

 I was disappointed in my white wine sangria which I made for the first time. Consolidating inspiration from various recipes online, I decided to put ginger ale in the drink. This was not a smart choice since it turned out bitter. Maybe some sugar, and a few hours in the refridgerator would help.

The pork was also a bit bland but I took the remainder home and will try to save it somehow.

Overall, a good time was had by all. This was a makeup birthday celebration for me and my birthday twin Dio was also there to relive his birthday. Everyone had a good time and some sunburns were had by all...

Look at this guy, he has a bottle opener on his hat. Genius and comes in so handy.

Happy birthday Dio!

On the count of 3, say "Asians having a picnic!"...

Thanks to my friends who came out to celebrate and for helping me cook/eat/take photos. Thanks for reading and visiting our picnic. Have a great week everyone!

*Thank you to Foodbuzz for this great opportunity to host one of June's 24x24 parties. The 24x24 program requires 24 chosen bloggers to host 24 parties on the same day. I'm so excited to know that there are 23 other bloggers who dined well today too.

Tomales Bay Website. Limit 10 to a table, groups of 15+ need to make a reservation which is $150/table.

RECIPES:
All recipes for the menu above are posted in separate links on my printable recipes site. I was heavy handed on the salt for all of my dishes so go a little lighter. Hope it works out for you.
https://sites.google.com/site/sanjosefoodblogprecipes/

Mudai Ethiopian Restaurant - San Jose

What did I want from Phil for my birthday this year? I quote myself, "A 1 hour massage and to have dinner at an Ethiopian restaurant." Well the massage didn't happen, I got a good dose of studying for my final instead. But we did have Ethiopian food for the first time.

Mudai was another great Yelp find. There were 2 highly rated Ethiopian restaurants in San Jose and we went with Mudai because there was a Restaurant.com coupon. Value of $15 for an order total of $22 or more. Yes, my man, he likes to go all out on special occasions. I kidd I kidd. If there's a deal, why pay more when you can pay less?

Mudai is situated on the outskirts of downtown San Jose so parking was easy to find and there was no traffic around the area. 

When we came in, there were ony 2 other parties dining. A slow trickle of diners arrived b the end of our meal. For a Wednesday night, it seems they get a steady pace of business. The ambience and decor reminded me of a Vietnamese pho restaurant. Not exactly high class but clean and well kept looking nonetheless.

($3.25) Ethiopian beer. I expected something heavy and dark like IPA but this was very light. Closer to a Sapporo or Asahi than anything. We both liked it.

($12.63) Vegetarian combo. Counter clockwise from top: salad, alicha atkilt (simmered cabbage, carrots, potatoes, and onions), miser kik (split red lentils simmered in red hot pepper sauce), gomen (chopped collard greens), ater kik (split chickpeas in mild sauce). Our favorites were the split peas and the red lentils. The red lentils were extremely spicy but it hurt in a good way. The split peas were mealy and sweet, like mashed potatoes in a way. A special shout out to the third runner up, the sweet yellow potatoes in the alicha atkilt.

($11.78) Lamb tibs: tender chopped lean lamb cooked in a spicy cayenne sauce. This was really super good. The seasoning was spicy and flavorful. There was still residual gamey lamb after taste which I usually hate but I didn't mind it with all the sauce. The lamb was the spiciest thing we had on this platter.

All the items ordered were served on top of a sheet of enjera bread. The enjera was fluffy and porous, shaped like a pancake. It quickly absorbs all the flavors from each item. We are also given an extra sheet of enjera to dip and wrap the food in. It tastes like sourdough bread. At first, I ate the enjera alone and really hated it because I really hate sourdough. Have I mentioned that before in the blog? I really HATE sourdough bread. So after the first bite of plain enjera, I was about to write this dinner off as a failed experiment in culinary exploration. But I put some of the lamb tibs in a piece of enjera and loved it. I do wish the bread was not as sour but I also see why each food item was strongly spiced and flavored. The bread and food compliment each other very well.

OVERALL IMPRESSIONS

I recommend Mudai for the adventurous eater. Must be able to tolerate spice. Even the mild is pretty spicy and there is rarely a menu item that is not spicy. Definitely try the Ethiopian beer with your food, it cuts right through the spice. Mudai was very clean and quaint, an unassuming no frills eatery on a corner street. I would definitely give Mudai and Ethiopian food in general another try. They mostly have lamb but I think the beef would be tasty too.

Mudai on Yelp

Japanese Chicken Curry

Before I married into my in-law's family, I never used to like curry. Didn't hate it, didn't love it. Now I'm growing to really like it. My MIL makes a really good chicken curry (not spicy) and my aunt in law makes a really good oxtail (sometimes lamb) curry that has a spicy kick. Both versions are delicious in its own respect but they both earn conversion points from me. A dish or a chef always earns higher points for converting me from a dislike to a like. Pictured above is my chicken curry in the foreground and my aunt in law's oxtail curry in the background. Served on top of brown rice.

Sometimes when I'm really busy, I spend an unnecessary amount of time cooking food that I don't need even though I have plenty of leftovers in the fridge. It's therapeutic and I trick myself into thinking I'm still productive even though my priorities are not in order. So curry making day was one such day where I productively slacked from schoolwork by whipping up a large batch.

For my chicken curry, I used yukon gold potatoes from the farmer's market. Organic carrots from Safeway. 1 onion from the farmer's market.

Chicken drumsticks from Costco chopped into thirds using a clever.

I do not at all claim credit for making this curry seasoning from scratch. I bought this curry packet from the Korean store. It says hot but its not that hot. Warning: After buying it and making it, I notice one of the ingredients is MSG. If this is an issue for you, don't buy this brand. Once I finish up these packets, I'll probably try to make it from scratch next time but there's at least 2 more curry batches before that happens.

Following the directions on the curry package, I sauteed the onions and meat then tossed in veggies and filled with water until contents were covered. At this point it begins to look like a chicken broth. After it boils, simmer for 15 minutes and then add curry blocks. My batch was made with 1.25 curry blocks. Each box comes with 2 blocks which can be broken into quarters.

It made 3 tubs of roughly 32 oz each. We almost finished one tonight. I hear curry can be frozen but I don't know for how long. My guess is 3 weeks but I'll let you know by the end if it can freeze for longer or shorter than that.

Kale Fennel and Citrus Salad

Every now and then, I get into a fennel phase. Well its a phase mostly because one bulb lasts so long and you can't buy fennel in any smaller amount. One of my favorite uses for fennel is putting raw thin slices into a salad. We took a quick trip to the Santa Clara Farmer's Market over the weekend where I bought a bulb of fennel ($2) and a bunch of radishes ($1) and potatoes which I will showcase later. Farmer's market goodies, yummy! Using the newly acquired ingredients and some things I already had at home, I whipped up a great lunch.

Home grown kale from my parents' house washed and torn into pieces

Shaved fennel (The mandolin is your friend)

A few sprigs of fennel fonds

Leftover quarter tomato 

Shaved radish (1 large one or 2 small ones is enough for 1 serving)

1 orange (or whatever this is that my parents gave me. Naval orange? Any type of orange, grapefruit, or pomelo will do. Cut off cest, cut into slices)

Sprinkle salt and pepper onto the salad

Dressing:

Put olive oil,balsamic vinegar, and dijon mustard into a container and shake well. Eyeball proportions to your salad serving. Too much balsamic can be too bitter. Too much olive oil is too oily. The ratio is more like 1/4 or 1/3 balsamic and 3/4 or 2/3 oil. Half teaspoon of dijon is enough. Sprinkle sunflower seeds or other type of toasted nuts on after the dressing is mixed in with the greens. Yay salad time!

Santouka Ramen in Mitsuwa Market - Costa Mesa

For our last meal in SoCal, I yelped the highest rated Japanese restaurant near our hotel and came across Santouka Ramen. Without reading any reviews, I decided we should go here, only to find out that it was in the food court of Mitsuwa Market, a popular Japanese grocery store chain which can also be found up north. Oh well, a friend has raved about Santouka before so  thought it would be worth a try.

Out of all the food court options, Santouka had the longest line.

Small bowl of ramen in tonkatsu broth with an extra tamago (egg). 

The pork, mushrooms, bamboo shoots, green onions, and fish cake are all part of the order.

Phil had a larger portion with miso flavored broth.

OVERALL IMPRESSIONS

Both the tonkatsu and miso broth ramen were decent and mostly just an average ramen. It doesn't beat Orenchi, not even close. BUT the saving grace were the pork slices. These were the most tender, melt in your mouth, fatty but meaty pork slices I've ever eaten. The soy sauce egg was decent but it wasn't soft boiled so the yolk didn't melt in the middle like I wanted. I forget the prices but I'd estimate no more than $10 per bowl. Additional sides are about $1 each. Although this ramen isn't the best, and not the worst either, I would still recommend you come try it if there is a Santouka near you. Let me know if the pork is just this good or if it's just the SoCal location we went to. mm Best pork slices EVER!

Santouka Ramen in Costa Mesa on Yelp