New Year, New Try Try

New-ish cafe/bistro in grocery store – Et Al (that’s the name of the eating place, go figure). The main dishes were alright, the appetizers were worth eating again.

Ludovico chicken liver mousse, strawberry
tomato jam, grilled sourdough.

The Mouse really liked the chicken liver. Good substitute for foie gras (The Mouse’s opinion). Definite order again, next time with more toast. Hee hee.

Little gem lettuces, smoked salmon,
pickled red onion, everything spice
breadcrumbs.

The kitchen was kind enough to substitute the caper buttermilk dressing for a lemon vinaigrette. Another order again item.

Hawaiian clam chowder, ulu, smoked meat,
clams, grilled sourdough.

The Cat’s soup. Clams so fresh. The Cat liked.

Stay safe and well.

The Mouse

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Po’ Boy

Ever since The Cat visited Louisiana, she has been infatuated with the po’ boy sandwich (fried oyster and soft shell crab). Kinda hard to find po’ boy sandwiches here at SPAM Land. Newly opened Cajun style restaurant at the nearby mall.

Sign

There was soft shell crab, just not in a po’ boy. The Cat opted for a fried oyster sandwich with a side of clam chowder.

Clam Chowder

“Creamy New England clam chowder loaded with diced potatoes and chopped clams topped with bacon bits.” The Cat said not bad. The Mouse didn’t taste (forgot his lactase enzyme pills). But there’s bacon on it! Can’t be all bad. Hee hee.

Fried Oyster Po’ Boy

“Your Favorite Fried dish in a Louisiana style sandwich dressed with house-made cole slaw, tomatoes, pickles, and a spicy remoulade sauce.”

While not from a Louisiana kitchen, The Cat was satisfied. Sufficient oysters to cover the sandwich.

On the recommendation of the server, The Mouse ordered a catfish po’ boy.

Catfish Po’ Boy

Substituted cole slaw for fries. The Mouse really likes the cole slaw and remoulade sauce in the sandwich. Messy, but very tasty and fresh.

The next time, The Mouse may request a soft shell crab po’ boy. Charge a little extra, might be worth it. Hmm.

Stay safe and well.

The Mouse.

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San Francisco, Winter 2010, Eating with the Cousins

I guess when we went to San Francisco, our cousins P & B thought it was such a rare occurrence (kind of like Halley’s comet), that they really wanted to show us a good time.

On one night, they took us to Scoma’s (a landmark restaurant on Fisherman’s Wharf) for dinner.

Since 1965

The Cat had to have the clam chowder (one of the reasons we came here).

Clam Chowder

B and I ordered the butternut squash soup.

Butternut Squash Soup

The Cat wanted a lighter dinner and ordered a crab cake sandwich with her soup.

Crab Cake Sandwich

I ordered the seared ahi tuna sandwich.

Seared Ahi Tuna Sandwich

P & B were worried that they might overcook the ahi, but it was seared just enough so that it was still pink inside. Yum.

P went for it and ordered the cioppiono alla pescatore, various seafood in a tomato broth.

Cioppino Alla Pescatore

Above is the before shot. Warning, the next picture may be a little disturbing.

The Carnage

Above is the after shot. I don’t think P left anything for the seagulls. I not sure he liked it much (NOT!). I won’t post a picture of him to hide the guilty. 😉

On another night, P & B hosted us and our cousins D & G for a crab dinner at their house.

B prepared her version of the caesar salad.

B's Caesar Salad

P boiled three large crabs using Zatarain’s crab boil.

Boiled Crabs

P gave The Cat one of the crab heads filled with crab “stuff.”

The Cat's cat food

P also prepared his garlic noodles. Noodles, garlic, butter, and green onions.

P's Garlic Noodles

The Cat ate her noodles in the crab shell to soak up all the crab “stuff.”

The noodles reminded me of the charred onion noodles we ate in Shanghai.

Good food, good company, lots of laughs. Thanks P & B.

I need to post this. We didn’t want P & B picking us up at the hotel (the traffic wasn’t too good). The plan was to catch the Muni to a station close to them and then they could pick-us up from there. B told us to wait at the Squat & Gobble Cafe right outside the station. I wondered how she knew how I eat plate lunches (drum rim-shot). I thought it was funny. 🙂 Maybe you had to have been there.

Actually, the menu looks interesting. Might ask P &B how the food is.

Enjoy

The Mouse

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