RESTAURANT PICKS
San Francisco and Beyond
Original Watercolor of Celia's in San Rafael by Eric Ward. © 2004. All rights reserved.
CELIA'S MEXICAN RESTAURANT. 1 Vivian Way, San Rafael. And others throughout the Bay Area, including: Berkeley, two locations in San Mateo, San Bruno, Santa Rosa, San Francisco, Palo Alto, Lafayette, Danville, Antioch and Daly City.
For Fernando Rodriguez, five is a very lucky number: Rodriquez was born in May, the fifth month of the year, the fifth child born to a family of twelve who would eventually assume part ownership of the fifth Celia's Restaurant. This one, located near the harbor in San Rafael, California, was launched in 1971 and is the centerpiece of the family-owned chain.
Celia's Restaurants are known among diners in San Francisco and beyond as places to get first-rate Mexican cuisine at affordable prices. The first Celia's was launched in 1965 on Judah Street in San Francisco by Perfecto and Celia Lopez. This eatery, which is still in business, was an instant hit - customers immediately drawn to the clean atmosphere and the friendly staff; almost over-night, Celia's became known as the place to get a great margarita and enjoy an authentic Mexican meal.
And during these last four decades, not much has changed: Celia's is still the place to go if you are hungry for a big plate of food cooked and served up by real people.
"After my aunt and uncle opened Celia’s number one, my brother Rafael and I immigrated from Mexico and went to work for them," remembers Rodriguez. "My uncle taught us to cook, and showed us how to run a restaurant. From that, we opened Celia’s number two in San Mateo, that was around 1968." Rodriquez pauses, staring into the kitchen where countless vats of fresh tortilla chips sit and cool; finally, he continues: "We keep going, opening new places, because you have to keep going and try and do the best for yourself and your family. That’s what Celia’s is about: trying to do the best we can for ourselves and our customers."
In addition to the food, what is best about Celia's is the homey feel: this is not so much a typical bay area restaurant as it is a cantina you'd find in Mexico or El Centro - this place is about home style Mexican cooking in a rustic atmosphere. For Rodriguez and his crew, the focus is on the food and service - their goal is to please the customer. Big platters and quick service means you walk out full and satisfied, and not feeling as though you have been cheated by the "dining experience."
FOOD: Big menu, the standouts are many, but try the Crab enchiladas first - filling is made with chopped mushrooms and plentiful crab and the green sauce accentuates the taste nicely. Also great grilled garlic-glazed prawns. And the best Carne Asada I've ever had. For this dish, Rodriguez marinates pieces of skirt steak in an array of herbs. The big platter comes complete with tortillas, rice, beans and some first-rate guacamole. Other high points include the Camarones Especiales, consisting of jumbo shrimp stuffed with jack cheese and wrapped in smoky bacon. Carnitas de Pollo is a wonderful chicken stir-fry (chicken breast, white onion and bell pepper in Celia's special sauce: this is a perfect choice for the diet conscious diner who will savor something tasty with this dish while still watching calorie intake). Also high quality from the typical Mexican menu -- with very good burritos and excellent beef enchiladas (notable for their sauces and the well-seasoned fillings).
DESSERT: Desserts are limited, but what's here is quite good. The centerpiece is a traditional Mexican dessert called Sopapillas -- deep fried flour-tortilla chips topped with honey, cinnamon and vanilla ice cream. The Flan is also note-worthy, a homemade vanilla custard creation that's delicate and light but not overly sweet.
BAR: Full bar. Large selection of tequilas. Authentic margaritas in tall glasses which are the big hit here.
STAFF: Quick service. Courtesy is the key word. Non-pretentious with an eye towards customer satisfaction.
ATMOSPHERE: Very clean. This big place can sometimes get very loud on weekends, so it's hard to carry on an intimate conversation at the Saturday night dinner hour.
OVER-ALL: Great choice for Mexican food. Outside of the Mission District in San Francisco, Celia's is the place to go if you want to enjoy a night on the town over a burrito and beer.
COST: Inexpensive to moderate; two can drink and dine nicely for $40 or under.
THE GOLDEN FLOWER (VIETNAMESE RESTAURANT). 2428 Clement Street. San Francisco. Serving lunch and dinner.
In a city built on the strength of its restaurants, there are plenty of choices for Vietnamese food. But one of the best you’re going to find in all of San Francisco is the Golden Flower, owned by Peter and Wendy Hua - two longtime bay area restaurateurs.
The Golden Flower, located in the outer Richmond District, is the second restaurant the Huas own. They also operate Golden Flower Number One on Jackson Street in the famed Chinatown District (Number One opened 15 years ago, and has consistently garnered high marks from food critics across the city). Golden Flower Number Two is much larger however (built in a converted Victorian, Number Two is a spacious and well-lit place, with a wonderfully intimate upstairs dining area where you can look out onto the street while you eat ).
However, the comfort level you have here is only half of what you’ll get in the Golden Flower Number Two. The other half of the "experience" is packed into the food -- and what an experience it is. The Huas’ menu is bulging and huge, with over 130 dishes to pick from (from soups to seafood, noodles to spring rolls, there’s literally something for every taste here).
"What we’ve tried to do is have something for everybody," says owner Peter Hua. "We have a lot of things to choose from and it’s all authentic Vietnamese. This is different food than Chinese or Thai, because we use less oil. It’s lighter, and there’s a lot of flavor in the food."
The chef at the Golden Flower Number Two is none other that Hua’s younger sister, Nga, and she manages to create tasty and simple dishes that rely heavily on vegetables and sauces: the food light and airy, made to accentuate its myriad flavors rather than overwhelm the palate. On multiple visits to the Golden Flower, we were never disappointed: the food always arrived to the table quickly and was nice and warm -- rather than make you wait, the Huas believe in feeding you fast so you can linger over your meal.
And so this is Golden Flower Number Two: a half hidden jewel in a city built on the strength of its restaurants.
FOOD: Big menu, with many things to recommend. The imperial rolls are delicious -- deep fried rolls stuffed with diced pork and vegetables; served quickly with fresh basil and lettuce, they’re meant to be wrapped up and dipped into a vinegary fish sauce. Another original appetizer comes in the form of "Crepe Cakes": these crispy and delicate crepe sandwiches are filled with pork , shrimp and green beans and can also be wrapped in lettuce and dipped like the imperial rolls. The lemon grass pork is spicy and filling --served with bamboo shoots and onion and spread over rice. Also many standout seafood dishes: try the prawns and snow peas for something light; also the whole roasted crab is delectable, and goes nicely with a bowl of Vietnamese sweet and sour fish soup. The crab soup is also notable: prepared French style with yellow asparagus and shredded crab meat. Simply too much to mention here -- all we can say is that we’ve eaten here no less than 8 times over a span of 3 months and haven’t had a bad meal yet. Yes, everything was good -- and some things were off the charts.
BAR: Beer and wine only.
DESSERT: For such a big menu the desserts are a bit limited. However, the creme caramel is very good -- richer and more "meaty" than most versions, with a not-too-sweet sauce. Adventurous diners might give the "fried ice cream" a try: this selection is created when a scoop of coconut ice cream is wrapped in a slice of sandwich bread and deep fired in oil for 10 seconds. This Vietnamese treat is about authentic as it comes.
STAFF: Manned by the Huas and related family, the service is fast and comes with a sincere smile.
ATMOSPHERE: Very clean. Well-lit. With sturdy chairs and tables. Only draw back is you’re sometimes a bit close to other diners when the place is packed. Very much an old fashioned "homey" atmosphere.
OVER-ALL: Highly recommended as an alternative to the plethora of Chinese and Thai establishments in the neighborhood.
COST: Inexpensive. Two can dine with drinks and tip for around $25.00.
NOTABLE COOK BOOKS
ONE-DISH DINNERS. Jean Anderson. William Morrow. This book (previously published under the title Dinners in a Dish or a Dash) parallels the Food Channel’s "30 Minute Meals" in theme - an ode to simple dishes that taste good. The idea here is to teach busy folks who work full-time to prepare healthy fare rather than constantly eating out in restaurants:
"...With both parents working these days, we’re busier than ever. We’re more stressed out, less inclined to cook after hard hours at the office. There’s fast food, of course, but many of us feel guilty about settling for burgers, pizza, fried chicken, or ‘Chinese’ night after night. Even ‘gourmet’ takeout soon becomes boring (not to mention expensive)."
(Intro. at page-1)
In response to this, Anderson (who has written some 20 other cooking manuals) brings us One-Dish Dinners: a book which demonstrates how to take convenience items from the supermarket and turn them into entrees that are really tasty. Tasty and fast to make. That’s the combination Anderson’s blended here.
Truth be told, most young single working people don’t cook at home more because it’s too much of a hassle. How much is all this going to cost -- can’t I really eat out cheaper? What ingredients will I need to make a full meal? Do I have enough pans to make something that fancy? Can I eat that much food before it goes bad? The answers to these kinds of questions and much more are included in these pages, the recipes clearly written, the instructions easy to follow.
Here, wonderful dishes abound: Meatball Soup (with cabbage, carrots and potatoes) offers a hearty dinner soup full of vegetables and protein, but without the high sodium content of processed soups. Warm Shrimp and Wild Rice Salad (with curry-sour cream dressing) kicks in with an exotic taste twist -- it’s really hard to believe you can make this so fast. Malay Spiced Lamb and Vegetables makes us think beyond chicken, showing us that there are other lean and healthy meats we might try instead. Mushroom-baked Flounder (with rice and peas) would make a nice romantic dinner for two.
Aside from the recipes, readers get advice on how to save time in the kitchen and make the cooking process easier (cutting sun-dried tomatoes with scissors is really the way to go!). In short, One-Dish Dinners is a cookbook written specifically for working folk who just don’t have time to create their meals over the course of the whole day. Recommended for the general reader, and also appropriate for libraries in the public sector as a general reference text.
To order go to amazon.com.Or go to harpercollins.com
A SIMPLE DESSERT OPTION
European Style Mousse Mix From Nestle
It’s hard to find somebody who doesn’t love chocolate mousse. It’s on everybody’s top five list of desserts - something we look forward to savoring on New Year’s Eve at that haughty French Bistro. Even though chocolate mousse is a perennial dessert favorite, few of us have the time or the touch to make it right. Thus, we don’t eat it as much as we’d like to.
However, Nestle’s European Style Mousse Mix might change all that - this handy alternative to restaurant mousses. Nestle’s European is both fast and easy to make, and the end product is quite good. This mousse mix is actually imported from France, and tastes deliciously light. It’s made in a quick two-step process (just add the mix to two-thirds of a cup of milk and blend it until it thickens into a transparent swirl; then chill). A couple of hours later, you have a chocolate mousse that is fluffy and delicately sweet -- creating a wonderful compliment to sliced fruit, Biscotti or Bunt cake. Plus, the caloric content is modest : just 90 calories per serving.
If you’re looking for an elegant taste in a package that won’t take 3 hours to build, try this mousse mix. The wide array of flavors (milk and dark chocolate, mocha, chocolate raspberry truffle, milk chocolate Irish cream) and the inexpensive price tag (around 3 bucks a box) make it very attractive. Like the Oreo cookie or those bakery donuts of yesteryear, a mouth could become addicted to this. ~ John Aiello
For more information, go to nestleusa.com
The San Francisco Bay Region
THE VINEYARD KITCHEN. Maria Helm Sinskey. Harper Collins. Maria Helm Sinskey is known throughout food circles as one of the top chefs in the states -- an inventive and dedicated cook who pours herself into her dishes. Sinskey became known in the bay area when she worked as Executive Chef at The Plumpjack Cafe, an upscale eatery near the northern edge of the San Francisco waterfront. After Sinnskey left Plumpjack’s, she brought her unique style of cooking to the "classroom," directing the kitchen and teaching classes at the Robert Sinskey Vineyard -- a Napa Valley winery she and her husband own.
Vineyard is Sinskey’s first book, and it is a marvel -- an elegant collection of recipes basted in real simplicity: rather than flaunt her "great chef" title, Sinskey instead chooses to forsake pomp for the love of her craft. The result is a book that steps out to teach rather than talk.
There are many fine selections among these recipes (neatly segregated into "Fall," "Winter," "Spring" & "Summer" chapters), but the standouts include the red-wine braised short ribs with roasted root vegetables and the spring lamb stew; also the pancetta-wrapped grilled figs with baby arugula offers a new twist to the prosciutto and figs staple that so many Italians enjoy on their late summer tables.
Along with Tom’s Big Dinners (William Morrow), Vineyard Kitchen is a great choice for an all-around kitchen manual that will serve full-time cooks and on-the-run commuters equally well.
To order go to amazon.com
TOM’S BIG DINNERS. Tom Douglas. With Ed Levine, Shelly Lance and Jackie Cross. William Morrow. Tom Douglas is one of the hottest chefs in the country -- a refreshingly "down-home" cook whose theory of the kitchen revolves around making big meals for the family. Look close: so much of what we see today from American chefs is centered around complicated "statement" recipes that high-light the preparer more than the food. Well, Douglas’ work changes this trend, as he takes his craft from the restaurant scene of Seattle to the rest of the country. However, what’s truly valuable about these concepts and recipes is that they are not limited to the Pacific Northwest region, but instead, are useful to any home cook looking for some new things to try. Tom’s Big Dinners includes a wonderful recipe for pit-roasted spareribs -- a simple and robust creation that retools the standard Texas style of BBQ and adds a Southwest glaze of smoke to the meat - accentuating the flavor while making it much less heavy. The ham-hock stock, brandied Bing cherries and chocolate crepes are also standouts: inventive and original, yet not difficult to prepare. Home cooks will also appreciate the way this book is presented -- easy to follow recipes and crisp writing teach us in an effortless and efficient way (the true and ultimate test of every worthwhile cook book). If you are the type of person who only wants one or two cooking "coaches" in the house to be used time and again, then try Tom’s Big Dinners: For this is a manual about feeding your family and not about impressing the neighbors. ~John Aiello
Purchase from amazon.com
