Monthly Archives: October 2011

October 31, 2011

The Slanted Door- Always a crowd pleaser

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The Slanted Door is one of the those places that I dream about at night. Whenever I get the chance to do a nice lunch this is where I go. Getting in for dinner is near impossible and even with a reservation I could only get in at lunchtime on a Monday, at 11AM. The restaurant is on the Embarcadero and every table has a view of the San Francisco Bay. Last Monday, just like most days this October, the weather was glorious and we could see all the way to Angel Island. Still this is San Francisco, and things can get a bit blowy, so we opted for a table inside. The view was spectacular! The food is served family style, but make no mistake the portions are pretty small so it is ideal to order many dishes, and that is just what we did.

The food at The Slanted Door is upscale Vietnamese and no matter what you order you simply cannot go wrong. As I said, the servings are not particularly big so we ordered five items and some rice for three of us. However soy sauce was a part of the broccoli dish so I did not partake. We ordered wild California yellowtail with crispy shallots (not dusted in flour) and Thai basil, wild California uni with black tobiko (caviar), avocado and cucumber, a Vietnamese crepe (banh xeo) and halibut that I can’t seem to find on the menu as I compose this post, but it was delicious nonetheless.

The dishes arrived to our table together and they all looked so amazing that I didn’t know where to start, I wanted to be sure to savor each and every delectable bite. I began with the California uni with black tobiko, avocado and cucumber served on a spoon. The bottom was a creamy avocado puree with a julienne of cucumber then layered with a gorgeous piece of uni topped with the tobiko. This was divine. The flavours were fresh and clean and the tobiko popped in my mouth. I licked the spoon clean. Next was the yellowtail and all I can say is, wow! The yellowtail was expertly sliced, it just melted in my mouth. Then it was on to the Vietnamese crepe, the best one I have ever eaten. The crepe was light and crispy, the shrimp had it’s tails removed and everything was evenly spread out inside. Perfecto! Last was the halibut with it’s nice crust on the outside, moistness inside, served with a fish sauce with ginger and chiles (I think) and a refreshing pear salad.


Slanted Door is not only one of my favorite restaurants in San Francisco, but they happily and easily accommodate gluten-free diners. I emailed the restaurant before writing this post and was told that dishes that are not already gluten-free can often be made gluten-free, and ANY server on the floor can help you with this. The response came within ten minutes of me emailing them. I double checked my dishes were gluten-free before I ordered, but wanted to make sure that most menu items could be easily altered before recommending this place.

The Slanted Door
1 Ferry Bldg
San Francisco, CA 94111
(415) 861-8032

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October 21, 2011

Wonderful Weekend Eats

Leisurely breakfasts and lazy lunches are some of the joys of the weekend. After five days filled with cereal bowls, handheld meals, catered lunches or quick runs to the closest to-go spots, sitting down and enjoying a meal is not only a luxury, but a necessity. Last weekend I enjoyed both a leisurely breakfast and a lazy lunch to their fullest.

My Saturday mornings usually consist of waking up, feeding the kitties, brewing coffee and catching up on current events. In the middle of sipping some delicious freshly brewed coffee D suggested we go out to breakfast. It was a sunny San Francisco day so I picked a place we could easily walk to, Rocco’s Cafe.

Egg white omelet with hot sauce and sliced tomatoes

Rocco’s Cafe is a small restaurant that specializes in old world authentic Italian cuisine. It is a family owned restaurant that prides itself on being “a family tradition and a neighborhood favorite.” The family itself dates back five generations with Italian restaurants opened and run by various family members through the city. We go to Rocco’s because I really like their frittatas and they have many to choose from. On this visit to Rocco’s Cafe I ordered the tomato, basil & provolone cheese frittata. It was delicious! D ordered an egg white omelet served with a side of tomatoes.

Frittata & potatoes

Sunday was equally as wonderful as Saturday, but instead of breakfast with D (D for David) it was lunch with a different D, Dara. Dara loves trying new restaurants and I love that too! After much research on my part (another thing I love is choosing the restaurant), I found a little place in the Mission that serves a gluten-free lunch and brunch. Radish, a relatively new restaurant has a seasonally changing menu that strives to use high quality locally sourced ingredients, makes most menu items from scratch, and does it’s best to accommodate the ever growing gluten-free community. With a mission statement like that how could I pass this place up.

Dara and I agreed to meet at 1:30pm, for a lazy lunch on what turned out to be another gorgeous San Francisco day. The restaurant is small and cozy with a wine bar and an open kitchen. Our server was fun, energetic, knowledgeable and quick to offer us bottomless mimosas. There is a brunch menu and a lunch menu so if you aren’t seeing what you want from one ask for the other. Dara is one of the sweetest people I have had the luxury of meeting. She always has a kind word, she is open to anything, she is judgment free, and as I said before she loves to try new things. With those qualities it was no wonder she offered to share two gluten-free items off of the menu when she saw me struggling with my choice. After 20 minutes of chatting and sipping mimosas we finally ordered. We shared the gluten-free flat bread and the BBQ pork (GF BBQ sauce) sandwich on gluten-free bread.

Gluten-free flatbread of the day

BBQ Pork Sandwich

When the food arrived it looked absolutely delicious. The flat bread arrived first and I knew straight away that they had purchased the flat bread itself from Mariposa Bakery. I was already smiling, because I knew it wouldn’t disappoint. The flat bread was topped with roasted garlic and peppers, caramelized onions and creamy goat cheese. I loved it! The flat bread was warm and soft, but with some crispness too. The garlic, peppers and onions were sweet and the goat cheese though creamy added a little bite. The BBQ pork sandwich was also good, but not my favorite of the two. The pork was fork tender, the flavors of the pickled jalapeno and the chili remoulade worked really well together, and the crunch and coolness of the lettuce added the contrasting texture the sandwich needed. The bread however, though it looked very similar to a biscuit was a little doughy. It could have been that once it is topped with the BBQ pork the bread starts to breakdown, but I can’t be sure. Next time I will try a different sandwich so I can decide what I really think about the bread.

I love living in a city where gluten-free options are springing up all over, especially brunch ones!

Rocco’s Cafe
1131 Folsom St
(between Langton St & 7th St)
San Francisco, CA 94103
(415) 554-0522

Radish
3465 19th Street (at Valencia)
San Francisco, CA 94110
(415) 834-5441

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October 12, 2011

Gluten Free Cafe Chicken Noodle Soup

There is nothing better on a cold and rainy day than a bowl of hot soup and in San Francisco there are plenty of those days to go around. Monday happened to be one of those cold and rainy days and all I could think about was, you guessed it, hot soup. Since it was pretty miserable out and it didn’t appear that it was going to be fining up anytime soon I had no desire to go outside and pick up soup. Lucky for me I always have a pantry stocked with soup and a new one at that, Health Valley’s Gluten Free Cafe chicken noodle soup.

The other day while perusing the gluten-free section of Safeway I ran across the Gluten Free Cafe collection. I have seen their products before, but recently I have been on a Vietnamese kick and this doesn’t really fit in with that flavor palate. I decided to pick up a can of their chicken noodle soup and keep it for a rainy day.

Chicken Noodle Soup

As I mentioned earlier, Monday was a cold and rainy day and it was my cue to head to the pantry. I heated the soup in the microwave for 2 minutes. I removed the soup, tasted it, and grabbed for my pepper mill. I thought the saltiness of the soup was fine, but I am quite sure that the majority of people will find it a touch salty. The noodles were firm and not sticky. It was a pleasant surprise. The chicken was breast meat and had a decent texture, not hard and rubbery. Overall this was a tasty canned soup. I will buy this one again and I will buy their vegetable noodle soup too!

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October 6, 2011

Ngoc Mai and the deliciously gluten-free Vietnamese crepe

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I don’t know how many gluten-free people in this world know about the banh xeo, but it is fantastic! Banh xeo, also known as a Vietnamese crepe, is a crispy crepe made from rice flour and coconut milk and filled with mung beans, shrimp and pork. My first experience eating one was as a child in Philadelphia, but where my mom and I used to go it was called a “happy pancake.” Banh xeo is named for the sound it makes when the batter hits the griddle, or so I have read.

One afternoon, a few years ago, a friend and I were meeting for lunch and wanted a new place to try. We had eaten at a few Vietnamese places, but so far none of them were particularly good. We looked on Yelp for reviews, but honestly it’s a to each their own sort of thing. By random luck we chose Ngoc Mai, and I am so happy that we did. I have no idea how it was that I stumbled upon this place so I certainly have no idea how I figured out that banh xeo was a happy pancake, but I did and it became my new passion.

Fast forward to last weekend when I decided that I must have some good Vietnamese food to make up for the crappy Vietnamese food I had eaten the weekend before. D and I started with the bahn xeo. The crepe was crispy, but it had a hole in it. The filling was perfectly cooked and everything was fresh, but they left the tails on the shrimps. Since the crepe looks more like an omelet I was able to open it up and remove them. Banh xeo are served with lettuce and fresh herbs as well as fish sauce and pickled veggies. The way to eat a crepe is to cut a piece of the crepe off, place it in a lettuce leave, top it with herbs, hot sauce, pickled veggies and fish sauce, then wrap it up and it eat. This is a great gluten-free, egg free, soy free and dairy free dish that not every Vietnamese restaurant makes it.

Next we ordered soup. I had the duck curry noodle soup (breast meat only & upon special request) and D had the #8. The duck soup is the best soup in the house. They’re known for their bun bo hue (#1), but the curdled blood cubes aren’t for me. D liked his soup until he crunched down on a knuckle. He was not a fan and called it, “cartilaginous.”

Needless to say, Vietnamese is a staple in this gluten-free gal’s life and Ngoc Mai makes some great soups and a tasty banh xeo. You should definitely check it out! CASH ONLY

Ngoc Mai Restaurant
547 Hyde St
San Francisco, CA 94109
(415) 931-4899
Hours:
Mon-Sat 10 am – 7 pm
Sun 10 am – 5 pm

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