Bay Area Eats

The Wife and I were up in the Bay (or as the young’uns like to call it—The Yay) last weekend visiting my little brother and his girlfriend.  Although I’ve visited my little brother a couple of times before in the Yay, most of my time visiting was spent on drunken shenanigans, horseplay, and tomfoolery (and bob and johnfoolery for that matter).  With this most recent (and more mature) visit, I wanted to eat more and imbibe less.  And because my little bro and his girlfriend are such good dining companions (they don’t scoff or turn their noses up at anything), the task of finding good food would be easy.

The Gilroy Garlic Festival

As luck would have it, the world-famous Gilroy Garlic Festival took place the same weekend we were visiting my bro.  I’ve always wanted to go to this orgy of garlic, if for no other reason than, well, it’s an orgy of garlic.  My wife and I knew we were in good company because our hosts for the weekend did not point and laugh at us when we mentioned we wanted to visit this garlic fest.  In fact, my little bro and his girl were just as eager to go as we were.

Here are the garlicky goodies that graced our gullets:

The garlic ice cream was pretty good actually; it was sweet with just a hint of garlic in it.  And look!  It's shaped just like a little clove of garlic.  Awwww.

These French fries were the most garlic-laden dish we sampled, and it was my favorite.  It was spicy and garlicky with every single bite.  I wished everything at the festival was as garlicky as the garlic fries.

My wife and I split this plate of garlic stir-fried chicken and noodles, garlic shrimp scampi, sautéed garlic and mushrooms, and garlic bread.  This was ok, but really no different from a mixed-plate of food from the food court of a mall.  Not very garlicky at all.

We also tried the garlic sausage.  The verdict?  I’ve had better garlic sausage before.

Sadly, the Gilroy Garlic Festival was a bit of a letdown.  I was expecting to be assaulted by a Magic Garlic Gnome wielding a semi-automatic machine gun that shot garlic cloves down my throat.  Alas, there is no such thing as a Magic Garlic Gnome, let alone a gun that uses garlic as ammunition.  So tragic, I know.  Despite our perceived lack of garlic at the garlic festival, we still had a very good time.

Coriya Hot Pot City

I have been to a couple of Korean BBQ restaurants where you grill your own meats, but I’ve never been to anything like Coriya Hot Pot City in El Cerrito.  This was a Taiwanese-style hot pot restaurant in which a cauldron of boiling water and a hot grill are set in the middle of your dining table.  There was a buffet area from where you fill your plates with a seemingly endless supply of raw goods—from beef, to pork, to chicken, to fish, to veggies.  Then, you could either cook your food in the boiling water of the hot pot, or on the surrounding hot grill.

And to boot, it was only 13 bucks a person and it was all you can eat.  ALL YOU CAN EAT!!!  FOR 13 DOLLARS!!!  I AM SCREAMING AS I TYPE THIS!!!

I don’t know why, but my favorite thing at this restaurant were these little skewered fishies: 

I don’t know what kind of fish they were, and I didn’t care.  I just sprinkled a bit of salt and pepper on these things, stuck them on the grill for a couple minutes, plunged the impaled fish into my mouth, and ate everything, bones and all, except the head.  I think I ate 10 of these things, and all of these skewered fishies were full of fish eggs—wonderful, yummy, potentially stomach-hurting fish eggs:

Despite it being a hotbed of cross-contamination and food poisoning, what with all the raw meat and chicken, this was my favorite of all the places we ate in the Bay area.  It’s not that the quality of all the meat, poultry and fish was exceptional, though it was all still very good, it was the interactive experience of everything.  We all cooked, shared, and ate each other’s food.  And none of us got sick!  Good times.  I must find one of these in SoCal!

Canton Seafood and Dim Sum Restaurant
We had a very early lunch at this Dim Sum restaurant in San Francisco, just outside of Chinatown.  We had a huge selection of dim sum, and here are a few of the dishes we had:

^Pork wrapped in rice noodles (I think).

^Rice and dried scallop wrapped in a lotus leaf.

^Jellyfish (very good)

^Egg custard

And the last picture above not only shows how messy an eater I am, but it also shows a soup dumpling (Xiaolongbao), a half-eaten chicken’s foot, and a taro cake.  I’ve never had XLB before, but the soup dumplings at Canton were a very good introduction, although they didn’t have as much broth in them as I thought they would.  I’ve also never had chicken feet before, but it was surprisingly good once I got past the fact that there were chicken toe bones in my mouth.  The taro cake was excellent, perfectly crisp on the outside with a nice soft texture on the inside.

Mitchell’s Ice Cream

I wanted to go to Mitchell’s Ice Cream in San Francisco for one reason and one reason alone:  I wanted to try their Macapuno Ice cream and compare it to my Macapuno Ice Cream. Mitchell’s texture was better than the texture of my ice cream, but flavor-wise, my version is definitely more coconutty.  I’m giving the edge to me, because, well, because I can.

I also had a small sample of Mitchell’s Ube ice cream (they have a mess of Filipino Flavors), and I liked their Ube much more than their Macapuno.  My wife and brother both had the Caramel Praline, and my bro’s GF had the Rum Raisin—all were very good.

Ole’s Waffle Shop

More often than not, eateries with the words “waffle” and/or “pancake” in their names usually serve only average waffles and/or pancakes.  It’s true.  Go to any “So and So’s Waffle Palace” or any “Such and Such’s Pancake Emporium” and you will be served mediocre breakfast batter—not necessarily bad waffles, but not really good either.  I swear, it’s a scientific fact.

However, Ole’s Waffle Shop in Alameda defied this seemingly unbreakable law of culinary physics and served up some pretty effing good waffles!  I was not disappointed in the slightest.  I also had some eggs and sausage, but the waffles were excellent.  The waffles at Ole’s had a deep brown and very crisp exterior and a fluffy interior—almost as if they were deep-fried, but they weren’t.  It was the perfect breakfast before getting on a morning flight back to SoCal.

All in all, The Wife and I had a most excellent adventure in the cities by the bay.

Comments

[Christine]

Oohhh you did the garlic festival! I've been wanting to do this but am never in the US in the summer. Last year I was there in October and was too late. My friend says you drive through Gilroy (I've only been to the outlets so I wouldn't know) and you can smell the garlic for miles.

I can't imagine what that ice cream tastes like, but those fries! Oof! I want them.

[Christine]

BTW, you are no longer an adidas virgin! I am, heehee.

[Mila]

Gilroy! I used to drive all the way from LA and stop at Gilroy (on my way to SF). Buy a box of garlic and all sorts of garlic edibles. I did attend one festival once, but maybe they hadn't figured out the garlic icecream mix yet. Cuz it was not so cute or so tasty. But I love that festival. And the edibles.

Those fish look like aji. Will check my fish encyclopedia and see if that fits. Sort of like little grilled sardines? Was it a bit bitter or yummy sweet meat?

[Krizia]

I'm so glad you got to have a Coriya Hot Pot City experience! When me and my friends go there, we bring packets of Mama Sita's Tamarind Seasoning Mix and make sinigang :D

[Matt Hurst]

Currently sitting in the Oakland press box, I am most certainly going to seek out Ole's tomorrow morning for breakfast. Oh, joy! (Do they pronounce it Ole like bullfighter's? Or Ole like Oil of Olay? I know there may not seem like a difference, but there is - say "Ole" like a bullfighter and you roll the "ay" sound. Say "Oil of Olay" and it sounds dull).
I love garlic fries and in my ballpark adventures have found that the garlic fries at the Giants park are the best. I wonder if they get their 'lic from Gilroy.

Which reminds me - with all this garlic talk, why didn't you try The Stinking Rose garlic restaurant in the North Beach section of The City for dinner one night. A tad over-rated, but good appetizer's and a solid vibe.

Still saddened you didn't make it to Heinold's First and Last Chance Saloon (aka the Jack London Bar). Of all the cities I visit and watering holes I attend (for research purposes) this one has to be in my top 3.

[Katrina]

I've heard so much about the Gilroy Garlic Festival, and have always wanted to go! I heart garlic (as I think all self-respecting Pinoys should)! That
garlic ice cream is very cute. You should check out Joey's latest post about gambas on 80Breakfasts. Yum!

Fish eggs are yummy. I don't see it served often in restaurants here, but when I see "bihod" (fish eggs) on the menu, I am compelled to order. I've even had bihod rice! I didn't even want to consider how much cholesterol each spoonful contained.

If you ever make it to Manila, you must give Pancake House a try. It will shattter your culinary theory. Fluffy pancakes in delicious flavors (I like the Choc. Chip Pancake w/ peanut butter, then soaked in blueberry syrup), and brown, crispy waffles. The place is a Filipino institution already.

[Burnt Lumpia]

Christine, it is true that you can smell garlic for miles outside of Gilroy. And yes, I am no longer an adidas virgin;) I was surprised at how good they tasted.

Mila, the grilled fish were yummy sweet meat. Maybe they were sardines.

Krizia, that is a brilliant idea of making your own sinigang! You are lucky to live in the Yay.

Hurst, shouldn't you be working and not reading food blogs? And sorry about the line you found at 10am. We were at Ole's at 7am, so I had no idea it gets crowded.

Katrina, I look forward to my "Breakfast Batter Theorem" to be proven wrong. A trip to Manila is a strong possibility for next year.

[Nicole]

If you're looking for some really delicious, juicy xiao long bao, try Din Tai Fung dumpling house in Arcadia. It's the only U.S. location (as far as I know) of this taiwanese chain.

If you go on weekend mornings (not more than an hour after they open), you can get their special soup dumplings too. <-- almost like mini xiao long bao, without the top knot.

[Donna L.]

Have you tried Polly Ann ice cream (pollyanndotcom)? Besides macapuno and ube flavors, they have an m&u combo.