Every time I’m in San Francisco I know there is a little something I MUST do before leaving. And that is…savoring a nice cup of clam chowder at Boudin.

Boudin is mostly a bakery and sells a wide variety of goods ranging from the more obvious like bread to random gifts.

Here we have animal shaped bread. Alligators, crabs, turtles, and pigs! Oh my!

Yes… it’s all too overwhelming. However,  I won’t let that be a distraction to me. My path is chosen and my intentions clear… I’m just here for the clam chowdery goodness-nothing else.

Ah…clam chowdery goodness at long last. A scoop of mouth-watering treat poured into a bowl made of sourdough perfection.

The clam chowder with sourdough bowl costs 7.29 but for a dollar less you can get the soup in a traditional plastic bowl instead.
Saving a buck sounds good right? But that’s not the point…I’m not here to save money but stomach space. Sourdough bowls are very filling and after eating one you’re basically done. I prefer to save stomach space for other deliciousness like lobster.

You see, there are meals that are so simple it takes a complete fool to screw it up. What exactly am I talking about? Well…lobster.

Back at the seafood market in Fisherman’s Wharf that’s exactly what we are having. Lobster dipped into a pot of boiling water. No add-ons needed.

At 40 dollars USD a pound it was…yes…very expensive. But also very good at the same time.

Every trip to San Francisco must include Fisherman’s Wharf which means…Seafood!

The street vendors all put their selections in wide open view for eager customers to look at. One crab…Two Crab…Three Crab.

Fresh oysters with lemons on the side. Just grab a plate and indulge as you stare away into the ocean. It will make them seem even fresher. *Wink*

Fried planks of fish and chips along side shrimp tempura.

A variety of seafood.

Life is hard…so many choices!

So…here’s the deal. What you up for?

What you see above is (obviously?) not pho. It’s actually deep fried spring rolls, which is a great complimentary dish to pho.
So what is pho? Basically, it’s a Vietnamese dish that consists of rice noodles and raw meats in warm savory broth. Raw meats? That’s crazy…or is it?

In your everyday pho restaurants you will notice a few condiments to the side of the table. Here you will find your soy sauce and sriracha sauce (A hot sauce that originated in Thailand.)

Before the pho arrives, you will most likely be given a helping of culantro, basil, lime, and bean sprouts. They are usually raw unless you tell the waiter that you don’t take raw veggies too kindly. By all means ask for the veggies to be taken for a nice quick hot bath of boiling water.

When the noodle arrives you will see a bowl of noodles topped with raw slices of beef. Don’t worry though, a stir will insure that the thin slices of meat will be ready for your enjoyment.

You may notice that every table is marked by a great big number. Let me explain… It’s actually all part of the escape plan. With our busy lifestyle we can’t be bothered to wait for the waiter to bring us the check (That can kill a precious 5 minutes.) Instead just remember the number marked by your table and hop on over to cashier counter. Simply state your table number (5 in this case)-in a fast pace manner as if you actually have something important to do if you will. Pay your dues and be on your way.

Gather round the campfire young entrepreneurs n’ alike, and allow me to tell you about a get-rich-quick scheme so simple.

1. Buy a farm.
2. Grow cherries in farm.
3. Place advertisement on newspaper about your cherry farm.
4. Wait for customers to arrive in the truckloads.
5. Get your customers to pick their own cherries and give them the honor of purchasing them at roughly 200% premium over the market price.

Oh so simple. You don’t even need to hire undocumented workers to work on your field because your foolish customers are doing it for you.  So basically, the foolish costumers are picking their own cherries and paying a premium for them. What a scheme!
Anyways…, I must confess that I was one of the “foolish” customers that visited the cherry farm.

After a bit of a drive we finally arrived to a cherry farm in Leona Valley, Ca. (near Lancaster, Ca)

We were given these bright red buckets to fill until our hearts content.

So fresh. Well, they must be since it’s fresh off the trees.

As we all know, darker cherries taste the best. Well…the bright colored cherries are good too, if you like sour fruit.

Some trees were hardly touched.

While some are cleaned to its roots.
The thing is you can “sample” them. Is it allowed? And what qualifies as sampling? 3? or 281? Either way, its not like anyone is watching you while you pick the cherries right?
It’s fine since they make it back by charging you $3/lb while the market price is $1/lb. They get you on the fact that you probably drove a hour from LA to get there and that you picked the cherries yourself thus more valuable somehow.

Being a farm, there are some of these.

And what I can only make out as a cherry torturing device?

Chashu is basically the Japanese version of Chinese Cha siu.(Marinated pork in special sauce)
To try one of the best, I visited Daikokuya (Hacienda Heights, Ca.) They also have locations in Little Tokyo, Monterey Park, and Costa Mesa but those locations are known to have hellish waiting times.

Many rave about Daikokuya as having the number one chashu ramen in Los Angeles. That probably true, if not…it’s probably pretty damn close.

Though the menu says “not your average wiener” ,with regret I have to say it’s pretty disappointing. And is that ketchup?

The tuna rolls were small physically and taste wise. I’ll admit the rice was pretty soft though.

The appetizers weren’t exciting but that’s fine. The chashu ramen composed of fatty pork meat, chijire style eggs, and crispy ramen made it all worth the while. The chijire egg was an experience itself. Being half cooked and half raw gives the egg a taste of simply perfection.
Would I come back? Definitely.

It all started three summers ago… Every time I walked into the store, you had your eyes on me but my eyes were directed at something else. How foolish was I to not see your beautiful eyes? We could have met earlier but my foolishness has cost us time. Alas, this winter sale has helped us by and caused us to finally collide. If we had only met earlier… my sweet…baumkuchen.

So anyways…baumkuchen is a treat that was originally made in Europe. The country that actually invented it is unknown but its name comes from German meaning “tree cake.” (For its tree ring like appearance)

The treat made its way into Japan and became one of the most popular pastry dishes. This is a Japanese version I picked it up at a local Japanese Market-Mitsuwa.

The taste resembles more of a cookie than a cake and the texture is not as spongy as a sponge cake. But still pretty good.

The words “Chinese food” may conjure up images of har gou (shrimp dumplings) or orange chicken but that stuff only scratches the surface. With China being such a large country you’d expect the varieties of food to be immense. And you’d be correct in thinking so.
Northern Chinese food has it’s fair share of unique selections. A visit to a Northern Chinese restaurant verified that.

A plate of sour veggies appetizer. Sadly, the strong sourness overpowers the dish.

Lamb brisket, peanuts, and assorted goodies noodle in herb soup. The dish has a very unique blend of ingredients giving it a very distinct taste.

Claw cake is a delightful little treat composed of fried layers of dough. The different layers make the whole cake evenly crispy, ultimately making the last bite taste just like the first.

Every culture has its own unique way of preparing chicken and this is no exception. The drumstick is very rich in flavors and every bite brings along a shockingly powerful blast.

Those who have smelled smelly tofu before will probably not mistaken the smell. It is unlike anything else in the world. It is really a weird kind of smelly. There are people who can’t stand it but to be honest it’s no big deal. The smell adds to the taste.

I know you can’t smell the picture, but judging by the looks would you give it a try?

If you are looking for a spicy meal that you will remember for years to come,  you’ve come to the right place. Dr Death’s suicide pie packs the powerful punch you crave.  In the previous post I’ve talked about Luigi Ortega’s exotic meats sampler , but how does their pizza concoction stack up?

Such pizza consists of chicken, sausage, jalapenos, and habanera.

In all fairness, the pizza is not that spicy (alone.) Add in some suicide sauce and now we’re talking. (The suicide sauce is shown in the background)

I made the mistake of taking it too lightly, squirting huge amounts on the pizza. Before long, a whole slice of pizza was topped with the stuff. Let me tell you…it makes Tabasco and other hot sauces a big joke. It was so spicy I got more stuffed from the gallons of water I drank afterward than the pizza itself. Biggest mistake of my life…the sauce is super spicy and it last forever! The disappointing part though is that the suicide sauce was just really really damn spicy. It’s not a good tasting type of spicy like jalapenos.

For lunch, how about some ostrich, turtle, alligator, or kangaroo meat? Is it all that weird? I don’t know. Perhaps…it really depends on which region you are from.


Luigi Ortega (Pasadena, Ca) serves some pretty weird dishes. A look at the menu may leave you pondering “which item do I want?” The turtle or the kangaroo? It’s pretty hard to decide.
If you aren’t adventurous, they have some traditional items like chicken. However, that’s not what I’m here for.

I wanted to try all of the meats so I ordered the sampler.
From left to right: Ostrich -> Turtle -> Alligator -> Kangaroo

A closer look at the alligator.

And the turtle.

Since describing taste isn’t easy, I won’t even bother. (Don’t believe me? Try explaining how chicken tastes like to a vegetarian that has never eaten it before.)
I will however tell you that the kangaroo tastes a lot like hamburger meat.
Anyways, I’d say try it yourself!

So, do you think these meats are exotic? If so, would you give it a try?