things i ate this week
and what i was pleasantly surprised by...happy sunday!
i tried very hard to not eat out as much this week because i feel like i went a little overboard with the eating out the previous week. one of my greatest pleasures in life is going out for lunch or dinner (breakfast, not so much. brunch? definitely not). it doesn’t matter if it’s to a restaurant i’ve been to a hundred times or if it’s a new place i’ve never tried - i love it all the same. when it’s a new place i’ve never been to, it’s just the whole mystery of it that i find so fun and appealing. will it be good? will it be disappointing? will i hate it?? what will the people watching be like? will it be the new best thing in my life? but sometimes, going out to eat too much is too much of a good thing and i end up feeling kind of greasy on the inside, dehydrated and desperately needing to drink 10 gallons of water because of sodium overload and i start craving eating at home even if it’s much less exciting in comparison.
the places i did eat out at this week were in san francisco. one was a place i knew i already enjoyed but forgotten how much i actually enjoy it and the other was a place i had never been to, was a little skeptical of but was pleasantly surprised at how much i enjoyed it. scattered in between were some home cooked meals, one of which will be featured in next week’s newsletter.
last tuesday, i went to penny roma before an event hosted by substack at trick dog which is literally right next door. i had gone to penny roma once a couple years prior and i remembered how beautiful the interiors are more than anything but i remembered the food being pretty good (i think). i remember having a couple pasta dishes that i can’t recall in the slightest and the focaccia. but let me say that even though i couldn’t remember a single thing about any of the dishes, i remembered liking it and that was good enough. okay, random tangent: i like cotogna, another higher end italian restaurant in the city. i like that it’s dark and kinda moody inside. i like that big ass ravioli with the runny yolky egg in the middle (srishti told me that kim kardashian went to cotogna a few weeks ago and loved their very prestigious cheesy focaccia that they had taken off the menu for awhile but i think it’s back now. we agree with kim k, that focaccia is maybe the best thing there). i strangely like that it’s kinda pretentious when the food can be just ‘fine’. truthfully (and i know how this will make me sound), i just like eating at cotogna because it’s a bit of a vibe and sometimes that’s reason enough to enjoy eating at a place. but i think i remember liking penny roma a bit more because the food was really good for the price. like, you won’t leave feeling disgruntled that you paid $40 for a secondi dish because you feel like you could have made something better. and even if you could have made something better at home, you’ll still be content that you had a good meal prepared for you in an aesthetically beautiful restaurant.
the prosciutto san daniele starter at penny roma is so good! but why? how? was i just really hungry? it’s so simple. it’s literally: prosciutto with smoked dates, a really creamy soft mozzarella paired with the slight bitterness of frisée and balsamico. is it the smoked dates? i can’t even remember if they tasted smoked!! but it made me want to be poolside at an italian villa in tuscany with a bottle of a chilled red or a perfectly dry rosé. it’s what i think of as a really good summery snack/salad. i especially love dishes that feel achievable to make at home in the comfort of my tiny ass apartment. this is one of them. i recommend this and i will be making this.
i ordered the focaccia for us on a whim even though i didn’t think i actually wanted the focaccia but i ordered it because it’s focaccia. it’s good. i don’t know if it’s actually like, traditional focaccia because there are no airy big bubbles in the bread that trigger my trypophobia. but, it comes out piping hot and the crust is crusty and the inside is soft and pillowy. it’s salty but i wish it was served with some olive oil? or to go more untraditional- some really good salted butter? it does come out kind of greasy so do they think that’s enough oil…? i don’t know. it’s good. it’s fine. it’s cute.
i have a soft spot for pork chops because my mom makes a really good pork chop (reminder to myself to request this from my mom soon). the pork chop with fava beans, pureed parsnip and calabrian chili is so good. it’s savory but kind of sweet and perfectly acidic and the pork chop isn’t dry and the fava beans melt in your mouth and the pureed parsnips trick you into thinking it’s pureed potatoes or something. as chloe would say, it’s divine. also, just a suggestion but i highly recommend sitting at the thin bar in the back of the restaurant. the atrium is really pretty but the lighting is absolutely fucking atrocious if it’s not actually nighttime yet. sitting at the bar, tucked in at the back of the restaurant, offers some cosiness and also provides good people watching.
on wednesday, i made a penne pasta with thinly sliced italian sausage, lacinato kale sauteed with three cloves of crushed garlic, creme fraiche, lemon zest, parmesan and a shit ton of chives. it was absolutely mediocre but good enough for a quick lunch.
scattered during the week, i made an orange olive oil poppy seed loaf with a vanilla bean glaze that i wanted to mimic starbuck’s lemon loaf’s icing. it needed way more orange. i don’t know how it lacked so much orange flavor when i used the juice and zest! i also made breaded crispy chicken cutlets with so, so, so much freshly cracked black pepper in the panko and the flour mixture per paolo’s suggestion to make it taste like burger king’s chicken sandwich patty. i will not go back and will continue doing this any time i make a crispy chicken cutlet.
i highly recommend that small but huge tip. freshly cracked black pepper. a lot of it. i topped it with a crunchy crispy springy salad with so much celery which i find a highly underrated vegetable, to be honest.
this salad was something i just thought of while perusing the aisles at monterey market. i wanted something snappy and crunchy, something that could be crushed between my teeth and i would be able to hear it. this was perfect on top of a chicken cutlet but i also think this would be really good in a sandwich, between two slices of pizza bianca with a lot of sliced avocado and roasted beets. the recipe will be in next week’s newsletter.
speaking of pizza bianca, we went to bartavelle for a quick lunch on friday. i ordered their salami toscana sandwich on acme’s pizza bianca. i didn’t take a photo of the actual sandwich but here is what is in the sandwich.
it’s a $17 sandwich, i know, but i think it’s one of those sandwiches that despite being so simple where you kind of wonder why you just spent $17 on this sandwich when you could probably make it at home for way less but mid-bite you realize that it’s so, so good that sometimes it’s worth paying a lot for an amazing sandwich that you didn’t have to shop ingredients for and make for yourself. while i was eating it, i literally said to my dining mate: i love food like this, this is literally my favorite type of food. why is my mouth watering kind of thinking of it now?
chloe was visiting from los angeles so srishti and i met her for dinner and drinks in san francisco. we had originally planned to meet at buddy bar, where i had only been once but really enjoyed it. it’s cute with good wine and they have good beans and wine. except neither one of us realized they accepted reservations so we were met with an apologetic smile and a 45 minute wait. srishti suggested shuggie’s pizza which was just a few blocks away. i had never been and i don’t want to sound like this and i trust srishti’s recommendations so much but just looking at shuggie’s instagram makes me feel so overstimulated and nervous. the colors are so bright!!! there is so much going on!!! what is happening??? why does the pizza look like that??? i had been aware of shuggie’s for awhile (i knew virtually nothing about them, like their ethos/ restaurant mission and was strictly judging their restaurant by their IG without even reading their bio- yes, i’m embarrassed) but it was just never a place that really interested me. i was worried it was going to be more gimmicky and rely on shock appeal rather than solid tasty food. but!! i was so pleasantly surprised by last night’s experience.
this green goddess salad on skewers proved that food can be really playful and whimsical but also taste pretty good. sidenote: i can’t believe substack just notified me that i’m nearing email length!! shuggie’s staff were so kind, moving us from the bar to a table, despite us not having a reservation and it being a very packed night for them. we ordered their cauliflower gratin, halibut cheeks, crispy mushrooms and their cheese trash pie with a really, really good bottle of rosé. it’s such an eclectic, funky, playful spot. it’s fun to try. i was very pleasantly surprised.
okay. that’s it. that’s what i ate this week. what did you eat? what was your favorite? what did you eat that you absolutely hated or were disappointed by? i actually really want to know in the comments :)
I’m moving in three days, so every meal lately has been a kitchen sink creation. Last night, I made the weirdest, freakiest savory oats: salty oatmeal with red miso (and salt, because I forgot that red miso is already salty), topped with two eggs fried in Momofuku chili crunch, leftover bbq chicken, tahini, and more bbq sauce and chili crunch. It was funky and earthy and spicy, and every bite was different which I love. I honestly don’t know if the flavors went together at all or if I just liked the meal because it had flavors I love. Who knows, but it tasted damn good to me
i bought radishes for no reason last week and made a recipe from my favorite vegetable cookbook Ruffage:
thinly sliced radish, roasted chickpeas, shallot, cilantro, cumin seed, lime juice and zest. so refreshing and spring. can't wait for the crunchy salad recipe!