Whole Foods dinner: mixed salad, crab cakes and seared scallops.

The amazing Jamie Oliver Flavour Shaker. This thing is out of control! I love it! I only wish there was a better way to open and pour from it after you create your dressing, etc.

I made a super simple balsamic vinaigrette with balsamic vinegar, olive oil and cracked black pepper. The Flavour Shaker really does work ! It creates a really nice emulsion. I'm kind of obsessed! ;)

Cheese and bread to nibble on while cooking.

Dungeness crab cakes from Whole Foods. Pan fried and then into the oven while we sear the scallops.

Mixed green and rocket salad, almonds, goat cheese and sliced pear, tossed with the vinaigrette. Scallops seared in butter with a little salt and pepper. Dungeness crab cake. I must say, the salad was amazing. I'd never had a dungeness crab cake, but it was very good. You can really taste a difference with the dungeness crab. Also, the scallops had a nice sear.

Excellent dinner. Thanks and kudos, A! :)

Chef's Crab Fest at Bistro Boudin, Fisherman's Wharf, SF.

Bistro Boudin and Glodow Nead were kind enough to invite me to a special media dinner previewing crab season at Boudin.

We started off the evening with a little tour of the vast Bistro Boudin space (upstairs) at Fisherman's Wharf. Among other attractions, they have a neat Boudin museum and private banquet room. You can schedule to tour the museum and bakery here.

The Boudin bakers must have so much fun with these creations.

The main dining room. I love all of the dark beams and openness.

We were seated in a cozy private table in the Buena Vista Carneros Tasting Room, which was perfect for our event.

Chef Misael Reyes with Casey Shaughnessy-Gray of Glodow Nead. Chef Reyes, who is originally from El Salvador, was once Francis Ford Coppola's personal chef. He is also the only non-family keeper of Francis Ford Coppola's mother's recipe book--very cool.

Chef Reyes and prepared a lovely, crab-centric menu for us that was nicely paired by Sam, the Buena Vista Carneros Tasting Room manager.

Dungeness Crab Louis - Fresh Picked DUngeness Crab with Deviled Eggs, Avocado, Bibb Lettuce, Asparagus, RIpe Tomatoes & Louis Dressing.

Paired with 2008 Condes de Albarei Albarino

The crab was fresh, light and delicious. It went perfectly with the slightly tangy Louis (Thousand Island) dressing and mix of vegetables.

Dungeness Crab Mac & Cheese - Aged Vermont Cheddar Cheese, Fresh Cream & Freshly Picked Dungeness Crab with Buttered Soughdough Breadcrumbs

Paired with 2007 Buena Vista Carneros Chardonnay

Light, creamy and delicious. The crab wasn't overwhelming, but was present and, most importantly, the mac & cheese wasn't too salty or greasy. I happen to particularly love mac & cheese with shell pasta, too.

Soughdough Tortilla Taco - Fresh Dungeness Crab with Avocado, Red & Green Cabbage, Cilantro, Crema Fresca, Pico de Gallo & Roasted Tomato Salsa

Paired with 2008 Sagelands Riesling

Boudin's twist on fish tacos? A soughdough tortilla, of course! What a fantastic and fantastically Boudin idea! The tortillas were great, especially since I'm not typically a huge fan of corn tortillas. The crab was, of course, wonderful although they also offer fish tacos on their menu. The Roasted Tomato Salsa could have used a little more kick though--it was a little bland for my taste. The wine was my favorite wine of the evening though, and, more than the others, really enhanced the flavors in this dish.

Here is a photo of the full-sized portion of the Sourdough Tortilla Tacos. Thank goodness they cut down the portions for our dinner--even with our portions I walked out absolutely stuffed!

Cioppino - Dungeness Crab, Shrimp, Calamari, Mussels & Fish Simmered in a Spicy Saffron-Tomato Broth

Paired with 2007 XYZIN Zinfandel

What a beautiful dish. The calamari and mussels were just divine. They were cooked perfectly. My shrimp was a bit overcooked, but other than that, I really loved this dish. The crab was fresh and succulent and the broth--oh goodness, the broth! I loved the broth, especially with the toasty sourdough garlic bread.

The full-sized portion. Again, such beautiful presentation.

Left to right: Casey of Glodow Nead; Jason and Lizzie of ABC 7Live; Scott of Bistro Boudin; Susannah of YumSugar; Alison of Glodow Nead; Steven of the Nob Hill Gazette and myself.

I had to get a shot of all of us with our crab bibs on! What a fabulous group of people to enjoy a wonderful evening of food and wine with. It was lovely meeting you all.

Trio of Creme Brulee - Double Vanilla with Wafer Cookies; Peanut Butter with Ginger Snaps; Bittersweet Chocolate with Manjari Wafer.

Paired with 2007 King Estates Pinot Gris Vin Glace

What can I say.. I love dessert and I love modern creme brulees! I was already completely stuffed, but couldn't help myself! The peanut butter and dark chocolate were my favorite--so lovely.

A nice little cappuccino to finish off the evening. I only wish I wasn't too full to finish it!

Scott Shuttleworth, a managing partner at Bistro Boudin, and fabulous co-host this evening. Scott was a generous to provide each of us with a Boudin tote filled with all sorts of goodies--very classy.

I really love this tote. I'm going to cary it everywhere.

This limited Boudin baseball cap isn't even available in the gift shop!

Buena Vista Carneros 2007 Chardonnay and Pinot Noir.

A crab, of course! This is surprisingly soft, too. And as much as I love dungeness crab, I think I'm really going to enjoy this soughdough crab, too!

Bistro Boudin, Glodow Nead, Buena Vista, Casey, Alison, Scott, Chef Reyes and Sam, thank you all so much for such a lovely evening. Cheers to crab season!

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My take on a lox bagel.

Capers, red onions, tomatoes, spices, lemon juice.

Alaskan sockeye salmon; half a jalapeno roll with melted goat cheese; caper red onion relish.

LOVE! I liked the goat cheese, but still prefer cream cheese. The relish was lovely and makes it a lot easier to eat--I hate when you bite into a sandwich and you pull out a whole tomato or onion slice! I loved the jalapeno roll, too--it added a nice little spice to the dish.

Lemon garlic herb salmon with a side salad.

Salmon filet with Lemon juice, garlic and Trader Joe's Everyday Spices on both sides. I put this under the broiler for 4 minutes on each side. I didn't use any olive oil on the filet and was a bit worried at first, but actually really like how it turned out.

I topped the salmon with another squeeze of lemon juice and had a side salad of Romaine lettuce, candied pecans, tomatoes, red onion and an Italian dressing of sorts.

This meal was awesome. I only had half of the salmon and saved the rest. I have to say though--I could have scarfed it all down! This was one of the best salmon filets I've ever had and SO easy to make!

Woodhouse Fish Co., Lower Pacific Heights, SF.

Lobster Roll. SO yummy. I shard this and the Dungeness Crab Roll with Richard. Both were amazing. Lobster is just yummy, but I almost preferred the crab roll, which was surprising! They aren't the biggest rolls (you can definitely finish) but from the soft, toasted bread to the fresh, delicious seafood fillings, they are worth the price. Also, the fries are super crisp!

Fish tacos. Sarah said they were very good! :)

Sarah and Richard were so kind as to treat me to lunch. Thanks, guys! Having them over was so fun, and we definitely got in some good eats! :)

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Bar Agricole, SoMa, SF.

After MUCH anticipation and months of staking it out as our new office lunch spot (SF Station is right around the corner), Bar Agricole finally opened! Very exciting!

The space is great. A lot larger than it seems from outside (I feel like this is very SF), and very rustic-modern. The menu on the other hand.. While the actual design of it is fabulous, it reads a bit strangely. From everything I've read and from how they are presenting their chef (Brandon Jew), it seems like Bar Agricole is a bar/restaurant. That said, the menu is odd. It wasn't presented as a tapas place, but the menu seems incomplete for a normal restaurant. The line breaks + prices don't present a clear meaning either.

That all said, the food is great! Haha. But, with the exception of a couple dishes on the menu, none of the plates were full meals on their own.

Cheese plate 15

Our server (who was very sweet) said there would be crisp apples with this! There were no apples. I wanted apples. :( Both the bread and cheeses were very nice though. There was a camembert and two goats' milk cheeses. The plate could definitely use more bread, or fruit though.

Chopped liver on toast 8

I don't normally like pate, but this was SOO good. Apparently it isn't a traditional pate because it's technically "chopped liver", but it sure looked like pate and was definitely a spread.. ;)

Roasted peppers with napatella 13

These were lovely, but I wouldn't say they were anything extraordinary.

Grilled eggplant & farro with basil 11

This was pretty yummy. I just really love eggplant though. Haha. I didn't really taste the basil, but it was a nice, unique way of serving eggplant.

Mussels with pork sausage and pea greens 16

This would be the only plate that I would consider to be a full meal on it's own. Still, I never understand when people order a big bowl of mussels as their whole meal! Haha. They were very yummy though.

Blueberry shortcake with lemon verbena cream 8

This was yummy. It wasn't a shortcake though. Shortcake with fruit and cream is my favorite dessert and this definitely wasn't a shortcake. It lacked the crumble that I hoped for. although the plump blueberries were nice, I think wild blueberries would have brought in more flavor. Their cream is amazing though!

Pluot upside-down cake 8

This was my favorite dish of the evening. The cake was moist and buttery and just perfect with their light, yet flavorful cream and wild blackberries! Mmmmm!

After writing this, I feel like it was a negative review, but it really wasn't. The drinks were great, the food was great--the menu was just a bit odd. I don't know that I'd go for a full meal, but I'd certainly go back for drinks and dessert!

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Hachimaki Sushi & Sake Night at Yoshi's, Lower Fillmore, SF.

Some SF food media big-shots got together with Rivera PR for an amazing Hachimaki Sushi & Sake evening at Yoshi's SF!

Yoshi's is such a beautiful space. We gathered in the swanky, glass-walled Omakase room, where we enjoyed a fun-filled, intimate dinner, with Yoshi's signature jazz playing in the background.

Hachimaki attack! Mine said, "Karate", while others read "boss", "peace" and "#1". This was such a fun idea, and was a great conversation starter to kick off our fabulous dinner.

SEA SALT CURED JAPANESE CUCUMBER

Creamy Sesame Dressing

&

KONBU SEAWEED CURED ASPARAGUS

Miso Mustard Dressing

&

FRENCH BEANS

Silken Tofu Dressing

POACHED BLACK COD

Grilled Japanese Eggplant Salsa, Shiso Oil

How beautiful is that?! I love the actual plate, too!

FRIED HIRAME & LOBSTER

Wrapped in Seaweed & Served with Tentsuyu

The seaweed-wrapped lobster was encased in battered soy-beans--yummy. I wasn't the biggest fan of the boney fish, but I did give it a try. It was certainly interesting and new to me. It wasn't bad, but I much preferred the lobster, naturally!

The tentsuyu dipping sauce.

GINGER SOY BRAISED JAPANESE RED SNAPPER

Burdock Root, Chinese Cabbage, Spinach

Everyone agreed that this was one of the stand-out dishes of the evening. The snapper was cooked to perfection. For me though, this came in as my second favorite dish, which just means there was something even better!

And, again, I can't get over these plates! They really add to presentation of the dish.

I couldn't keep track of each pairing, but our 8 courses were paired with 10 different sakes and there wasn't a single one I didn't like! Here is the first half of our sake adventures: Dewazakura "Oka"; Masumi "Yumedono"; Akitabare "Suirakuten"; Masumi "Arabashiri"; Masumi "Okuden Kantsukuri".

GRILLED DUCK BREAST

Wrapped With Mochi, Sweet Tomato & Eringi Mushroom

&

ROASTED CHICKEN TSUKUNE

Poached Egg Yolk

I love duck and was anxiously awaiting this course, but when it arrived, I was much more intrigued with the chicken tsukune and poached egg yolk! I'd never seen only the yolk poached. It was really quite lovely--third favorite for sure!

SHABU-SHABU STYLE WAGYU RIBEYE

Carmelized Onion, Mizuna

All right, this was my absolute favorite dish of the evening! Super tender. Super flavorful. Super super! I'm craving more of this already!

STEAMED KING CRAB LEG

Sea Urchin Roe, Crispy Rice, Roasted Snapper Soup

What a fun dish! I love interactive food. The tea kettle held the broth for this dish, which transformed it into...

This beautiful soup. It was a bit difficult to eat with this spoon, but it was a choice that went along nicely with the traditional setting of the dinner.

GRILLED WATERMELON, FIG & KUMQUAT PANA COTTA

Grapefruit Jelly

Very interesting. I really enjoyed the special fruits in this dish, but the Grapefruit jelly wasn't my favorite thing. I think it had something to do with the consistency being too similar to that of the pana cotta.

Unfiltered sake with editors Erica and Carleigh of 944 SF and Culinary Trends, respectively, in the background. Here is the second half of our sake adventure: Kamoizumi "KomeKome"; Kokuryu "Junmai Ginjo"; Miyasaka "Yamahai 50 Nama"; Koshi no Kanbai "Muku"; Kamoizumi "Nigori Ginjo".

Each sake was incredibly smooth. They were served in an assortment of glassware, which made it more interesting, too. The above is an unfiltered sake in a champagne glass. We had another excellent sake served in a white wine glass that tasted like apple juice! It was as delicious as it is dangerous, I'm sure! I believe that one was the Kamoizumi "KomeKome".

Execultive Chef Shotaro "Sho" Kamio, joined us at the end of our meal for well-deserved congratulations and a toast! Chef Shotaro created such a lovely menu for us--many thanks!

Seio Shimada, the Yoshi's sake expert! So kind and so fun! Just look at that smile--adorable! This is definitely the guy you want pouring your sake.

The amazing team at Rivera PR, who made this all possible, and the rockstars behind Thrillist SF and Urban Daddy SF and, of course, SF Station. Such great company for such a fantastic meal! As you can see, we were all smiles after, yes, 10 pairings of sake!

Thank you again, Rivera PR and Yoshi's SF!

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