Every one in San Francisco has heard of the Del Popolo truck by now -- a former pizza maker from Flour + Water (Jon Darsky), a seriously giant truck, and pizza that cooks in one minute have all combined to make Del Popolo relentlessly talked about. Even non-foodie friends quickly reacted to a check-in at the truck with links to the 7x7 article and facts about how much the truck cost to build. But since the truck is still testing the water, and essentially sneaking around the city to make surprise visits, it's been a lot of chatter with few actual sightings. (Sneaking around, by the way, is not how the Del Popolo twitter feed states it -- it says working out kinks before the launch. Close enough.)

A friend and I happened to stumble across Del Popolo today. After a lunch time picnic* in the park at Jackson and Front in the Financial District, we walked over the pedestrian bridge that goes over the Jackson Street Safeway and almost underneath the bridge saw a giant truck and a few people around, some holding pizza boxes. From the window side of the truck, beautifully photographed in the 7x7 article, it's obvious that this is a food truck. But from the other side of the truck, it only looks like a large blue, plain old boring truck. Thank goodness for people holding pizza boxes, or we would have missed it.

*yes, we had a picnic, then got pizza. In our defense, lunch was very small, and ... and ... this was too new and interesting to pass up for an afternoon snack. That's justifiable, right? If not, shhh. Too late.

First, the famous truck is amazing. If you're a fan of pizza, minimalism, cute chefs, or any combination of the three, this truck will make you want to hug someone (or the truck). While ordering, you're talking to a man standing at the same height as you, while the oven and pizza makers are up higher, on a flour covered floor. It never occurred to me before, but it is so nice to be on the same level as the person taking your order, where you can actually talk. I'm a tall girl, and even for me, sometimes ordering at food trucks requires standing on tiptoes while hoping the person in the truck isn't trying to tell me something important, because he's too far away to hear. The entire side of the truck is windows, so you can watch your pizza being made and oogle over the super cool pizza oven. The oven and guys making the pizza are just about all that's in the truck, which is why I think if you're a stylin' minimalist, you'll love it. It's sparse in a laid-back, focused on yummy food type of way.

On to the pizza -- I liked the pizza crust, but not the toppings we ordered today, and my friend liked the toppings but not the crust. (I promise we are not trying to be unhelpful, it just happens.) The crust is chewy, and bubbled in charred in spots from the pizza oven, exactly as I think pizza crust should be. Our pizza was white sauce, mozzarella and radish greens. It was ok, but the greens overwhelmed the other flavors. I was expecting this to be crave-able great pizza, and what we had today wasn't -- but since I loved the crust and my only dislike was the toppings, I'll certainly go back. I think this was just not the pizza for me. Today the beta menu on the truck listed the pizza as $7, but the website says $10, so it seems the $7 is for the "working the kinks out" phase. Anyway -- each pizza comes sliced into four pieces, and two pieces each were definitely enough for a lunch. So go find a co-worker who will be impressed with your ability to find new and interesting food, and share a pizza with her.

Links:
http://insidescoopsf.sfgate.com/blog/2012/05/04/giant-pizza-truck-del-popolo-...

http://www.7x7.com/tech-gadgets/180000-del-popolo-pizza-food-truck

http://delpopolosf.com/

In honor of Grilled Cheese Day (which I swear is a real thing, not just my current excuse to have a really unhealthy lunch), I'm sharing a grilled cheese recipe I've been thinking about for a while.

Williamson Wines (http://williamsonwines.com/) in Healdsburg, California does tastings with amazing food pairings. Some wines are paired with cheese topped with spicy mustard, some with intensely chocolatey brownies. The wine alone makes me want to do weekend trips to Healdsburg to buy more every time I finish a bottle -- but the food pairings absolutely make Williamson my favorite place to do tastings. And the food sample that I look forward to the most (aside from those brownies, which I cannot learn how to replicate at home because doing so would instantly derail any future weight loss plans) is a piece of English cheddar, topped with blue cheese, pecans, and a drizzle of honey.

To make this a sandwich, I toasted a handful of pecans in the oven. While they were toasting, I shredded some English cheddar, lightly smooshed* it onto a slice of bread, then similarly smooshed a little blue cheese on another slice. Then the pecans went on top the cheddar, and I drizzled honey over them before adding the blue-cheese-covered-slice and putting in a skillet with some melted butter.

The resulting warm cheesy, nutty sandwich is perfect with a glass of wine, and is a perfect Grilled Cheese Day celebration.

*"smooshed" = technical term.

Now, on to some sad melted-cheese-on-bread news -- Toasty Melts, my love of which is noted here: http://blackopsgourmet.com/grilled-cheese-happy-dance, has closed. It's been well over a month since the Toasty Melts Facebook or Twitter accounts were updated, so I had a sad feeling, which was confirmed via their contact page: http://www.toastymelts.com/toastymelts_contact.html. I am very sad to hear that Toasty Melts is no longer around, but there is still (thankfully) an abundance of places in San Francisco to get grilled cheese. The Melt is a new favorite, The American Grilled Cheese Kitchen is making SOMA more delicious, and Gott's at The Ferry Building makes a cheap-dineresque grilled cheese that is perfect with their spicy tomato soup. So, have a happy grilled cheese day, and if you have a favorite place to get a sandwich, please let us know!

Everyone in San Francisco knows that the Marina has it's own ... let's say "special" breed of people. The Marina usually appears to be full of thirty year olds who seem to have missed the memo that their frat party ended ten years ago (local awesomeness like La Barca -- we miss you already -- excepted. There are certainly enclaves of cool people among the typical Marina crowd).

But this: http://m.sf.eater.com/archives/2012/04/10/louboutin_assault_actually_happened... takes the usual Marina doucheyness to a whole new level. The manager of Jasper's was attacked for standing up for a random stranger who had been punched, and was then stabbed in the head by a woman with her Louboutins. Seriously, where else in San Francisco would this happen? He has a photo of the woman in question, and is offering a reward for her name.

San Francisco should not be a city in which you can be attacked by Louboutins. Let's help Mr. Meidinger out -- If you live in the city or know people here, forward the woman's photo to anyone who might recognize her.

First of all you're saying to yourself "Wow... that is one terrible pun". Secondly you're saying to yourself "4th date... that's oddly specific". You're right on both counts. 

While I cannot speak to the former (what, I like puns?) I can speak for the latter. Chef Luthor you see has an actual plan for each of his first few dates.

Date #:

1. A drink. Just a drink. Seriously... not dinner, not a movie, not rock climbing. Just a drink. I can put up with rock climbing with lots of people I would never date. Having an intimate long conversation is a much different thing, and if you can't find enough things to talk about to fill the time for two cocktails maybe you shouldn't be friends, let alone thinking about dating. I recommend a hotel bar, no one will try to treat you like a regular, they tend to be near public transportation (for easy access, or a quick escape), good people watching, and generally plenty of variety in case your date doesn't like "X".
2. A casual dinner. For me this is the chance to see if this is a girl who likes food, or a girl who thinks a salad, no dressing, and water is a "meal". I like comfort food with great drinks, in San Francisco it was Farmer Brown, in DC it was Pizzaraia Paradiso, and I don't have a place yet in NYC, but we'll see when/if I codify it that here. 
3. For those foodies among you this is your chance to pull out that awesome spot you've been wanting to try. For those of you who just have deep pockets this is the time to take a girl out for a slightly nicer (meaning $$$) meal. I've had a variety of places for this, and by now you should know that special person well enough to pick something that your date will enjoy and find special. A fitting choice can make a big difference.
4. An intimate home cooked dinner...

Now what your intentions with this are can be left to your imagination/intention, but I had just such a date this evening and I think I have found a great menu that seems to work well for showing off your cooking ability to that special someone. 

• Appetizer
  • Use something special if you have something great in your back pocket, but I wanted something easy to graze over, so I picked a simple cheese plate with crackers. A small button of herb covered goats milk cheese and a wedge of smoked gouda did the trick. Water crackers and some oven toasted baguette were easy to get ready ahead of time. 

• Main Course
  • I use a slightly modified version of the Pork Tenderloin alla Napoli recipie I found years upon years ago on AllRecipes:

Ingredients

• 1 tablespoon olive oil
• 2 (3/4 pound) pork tenderloins
• 1/4 cup chopped green olives (I hate olives, so I skip them, maybe they'd be good if you're into that sort of thing)
• 2 Roma (plum) tomatoes, seeded and chopped (I recommend upping the sauce proportions, you won't be disappointed)
• 1/4 cup dry white wine
• 1 teaspoon chopped fresh rosemary
• 2 cloves garlic, minced
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 1/4 teaspoon pepper
• 1/2 cup heavy cream

Directions

• Preheat oven to 400 degrees F (200 degrees C). Heat the oil in a cast iron skillet over medium-high heat. Brown pork on all sides in the skillet.
• Mix the tomatoes, olives, wine, rosemary and garlic in a bowl. Pour over the pork. Season with salt and pepper.
• Place skillet with pork in the preheated oven, and bake 30 minutes, to a minimum internal temperature of 160 degrees F (72 degrees C).
• Remove pork from skillet, leaving remaining tomato mixture and juices. Place skillet over medium heat, and gradually mix in the cream. Stirring constantly, bring to a boil. Reduce heat to low, and continue cooking 5 minutes, until thickened. Slice pork, and drizzle with the cream sauce to serve.

• Side Dish
  • I always like asparagus with this dish, but hadn't found a recipe I was really excited about, so I winged it (high risk, low reward, but that's life). I covered a baking sheet with foil, sprinkled a medium amount of olive oil, some kosher salt, and fresh lemon juice over the asparagus, then threw them in the oven at 300 degrees while making my pan sauce for the tenderloin. Pull them out when the tips get a little brown and crispy. I like my asparagus a little al dente, so this worked well for me.
  • Some basic sliced baguette is great for sopping up that amazing pan sauce.

• Drink
  • Wine: We had a bottle of Montes Classic Series 2010 Merlot from Chile. A great pairing, pretty mild, but it complimented the sweetness of the roasted tomatoes and the aromatics of the rosemary. Quite pleasant.
  • Water: At Crimson Cupcake’s urging I threw some orange slices into my usual water jug and served that with dinner. It was a nice touch, less for the sweetness, but the slight citrus tartness made you eager for the next bite. Highly recommended, and advice I'm glad I took.

• Desert

•  
  • Simplicity is the name of the game, and desert is no exception. Vanilla ice cream/gelato/frozen yogurt, fresh berries, and the kicker: a light drizzling of honey. We had a delicious Tahitian vanilla bean gelato from Talenti with raspberries and blue berries. Perfection.

The proof, so they say, is in the pudding. My date was thrilled, raved about the whole thing. It was a bit touch and go with the asparagus, but in the end everything turned out great. Its a good combination, pretty accessible (save for those who aren't into the meat thing), has a great presentation, but is pretty straight forward to make. Let me know if you have some success with it... food wise.  

Date 5.... tapas... we'll see how it goes.

Dear Pinterest ...

You make it so easy to misplace hours. I don't know how it happens. I look at you, intending to take five minutes to locate a recipe or manicure idea ... and then, like magic, it's two hours later and I have twenty new recipes, a dozen photos of cute baby animals, an entire weekend worth of craft projects, and enough shopping ideas to make my closet explode.

I should seriously dislike this, as I really enjoy getting things done. When I'm losing hours upon hours to you, dear Pinterest, I am not getting shit done. So I really would hate you ... but there's cute kittens. And puppies. And a baby turtle happily chomping on a berry.

So we're good. Carry on.

If you are also losing all of your free time to Pinterest, please follow us at http://pinterest.com/crimsoncupcake.

A bowl of the ingredients for chocolate macaroons is sitting on my kitchen counter. Please note that I did not say "chocolate macaroons are baked and lovely, ready to be eaten", nor did I say "chocolate macaroon batter is ready to be piped and baked, and then to be filled with orange chocolate ganache". Just ingredients sitting in a chocolatey mess, ready to be thrown out because I, in a sleepy haze, didn't read a recipe carefully enough, and managed to irreparably screw up a recipe's worth of ingredients.

This incident made me think of all the other kitchen mishaps and the lessons learned from each. I occasionally think it would be worth it to write reminders on my hand of some of my past cooking mistakes, as I clearly need help remembering not to try some things twice and hope for a better outcome. Below are some of my worst cooking mistakes and the lessons learned from them. If you haven't already made these same mistakes, congratulations, and please take this opportunity to learn from my kitchen disasters. If you have made some interesting messes yourself, we would love to hear about them! Please email me at crimsoncupcake@blackopsgourmet.com, and we can commiserate/learn together.

Lesson #1 (and the only mistake with a resulting scar): Be careful with high temperatures
This is only marginally a cooking mistake -- it's included because it happened in my kitchen, and I'm sure the lesson learned here should be remembered when cooking food. Have you ever heard of sugaring your legs? If not, it's like waxing, but with a paste made from sugar, water, and lemon juice. The idea is to boil the sugar, water and lemon juice, let it cool completely to a paste like consistency, smooth it over your legs and then pull it (and the hair) off with fabric. (As I warned you that this involves a scar, I'm sure every woman reading this can already tell me what my ridiculous mistake here was.) I made a batch, put it in a small but deep bowl to cool, and after about half an hour I stuck my finger in the bowl to test the temperature (my finger is fine). The sugar paste seemed cool enough, but as I scooped some out with a small spatula and put it on my leg, I apparently scooped from the very bottom of the bowl, whereas my finger had only touched the top half-inch or so. The bottom of the bowl, and therefore the scoop on my leg, was roughly the temperature of molten lava. I screamed, hopped around my kitchen on one leg, and was in so much pain that it took me a solid minute or two to make it the 4 feet to my freezer for an ice cube. Scar earned, and lesson learned -- melted sugar is just molten lava that smells better, and should be treated as such.

Lesson #2: Don't wing it with spicy recipes
A friend gave me a delicious recipe for couscous salad, and I was briefly so in love with this salad that I made it about twice a week for a month. A few months after this fairly obsessive couscous love, I realized I hadn't made it in a while and that I had misplaced the recipe. Instead of doing the wise thing, and calling my friend for her recipe again, I decided to wing it. I remembered roughly the amount of couscous, bell peppers and onions, and I thought I knew approximately how much jalapeno to include. I believe my guesses were pretty accurate for everything but the jalapeno -- this was so spicy that one bite gave me hiccups (did you know it's possible to scare your mouth so badly you get hiccups? That was news to me) and the entire salad was completely inedible. Money is pretty tight, and throwing out a huge bowl of salad gave me some pains ... but not as much pain as eating it would have given me. Lesson learned: do not wing it with half-remembered recipes that involve anything potentially painful. Perhaps don't wing it with half-remembered recipes at all. That's what Google is for.

Lesson #3: Kitchen timers exist for a reason
This is the lesson that I most need written on my hand. I am considering painting my kitchen cupboards with chalkboard paint, and if I do, KITCHEN TIMERS EXIST FOR A REASON AND ONE IS SITTING ON TOP OF THE FRIDGE will be the first thing scrawled across the cupboards in huge neon letters. Baking times tend to be estimates, and when I open the oven, poke bread/cupcakes/cake with a toothpick and discover it needs more time, I am shockingly horrible at remembering to set the timer again. Something-that-is-close-to-done-and-only-needs-a-few-more-minutes has far too often turned into Something-that-needs-scraped-out-of-the-pan after I've gotten sidetracked and forgotten it in the oven for a few minutes too long. Lesson learned: The time to get sidetracked is not when something is in the oven. Use a freakin' kitchen timer.

Lesson #4: Is this pan too small? YES.
If the thought "is this pan too small?" crosses your mind while you're putting a cake in the oven, the pan is probably too small. And as much as it might seem like a pain to get another pan dirty and put the batter in a definitely-big-enough pan, washing the extra dishes and taking the extra minute are so much easier than scraping charcoal gunk off the floor of your oven later. Does everyone old enough to operate an oven know this? Absolutely. Have we all done this at one time or another, in an effort to use a prettier pan or save a few minutes? Of course. And if there's no escape, and you have to bake in a dish that may not be big enough for the batter you're afraid is going to rise up and drip all over your oven, put a cookie sheet (preferably an old one you're not fond of) under the pan to save you some clean up time later.

Lesson #5: Read the recipe ALL the way through
The reason there is a bowl of chocolate macaroon ingredients, and not chocolate macaroons, sitting in my kitchen right now is that I was too sleepy and/or lazy to seriously read the recipe all the way through. I left out an egg, mixed things at the wrong time, and got some measurements wrong -- pretty stupid stuff for a recipe with a grand total of 5 ingredients. Lesson learned: Baking isn't the time to be lazy and skim - recipes are actually meant to be read end to end.

I'm well aware that these incidents make me sound like I need adult supervision in my own kitchen. I promise that I am a reasonably responsible adult, who can -- for the most part -- manage to cook without injuring myself or anybody else. But we all make stupid mistakes, and it's worth while to remember them, whether for funny stories to tell your friends over cocktails, or to make you a bit more careful the next time. I have on occasion rolled my eyes at friends' kitchen horror stories (my personal favorites include a girl who cooked with moldy flour because she thought it would bake out ok, and a friend whose baking powder had expired by years and who was routinely puzzled at her recipe fails) and my own admittedly dumb mistakes are a strong reminder that we all do such things, and that eye-rolling is likely not the appropriate response.

#avg_ls_inline_popup { position: absolute; z-index: 9999; padding: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-top: 0px; width: 240px; overflow: hidden; word-wrap: break-word; color: black; font-size: 10px; text-align: left; line-height: 13px; }

It has been very chilly out by San Francisco standards (and not even close to noteworthy by East Coast standards), and we have at least a few days of rain coming up. As a San Franciscan, my method of dealing with cold and rain involves renting lots of movies, staying inside, and baking something so that the oven heats up my apartment (damn broken heater). I believe this is nearly a city-wide foul-weather protocol. I found the below recipe in a back issue of Bon Appetit, and I'm smitten. It's a very good stay indoors with the oven on recipe! The gouda biscuit topping is delicious, and bakes up reasonably well on it's own, on a cookie sheet, as biscuits. Next time I make this recipe I'm planning on making half the amount of the lentil and mushroom filling (it makes a BIG batch) and making the normal amount of biscuit topping -- half to go on the filling as a biscuit topping, and half to be baked separately and eaten as biscuits. A gouda biscuit + apple butter = a very good breakfast!

http://www.bonappetit.com/recipes/2010/11/mushroom_and_lentil_pot_pies_with_gouda_biscuit_topping

And now, on to the real news of the day: Chef Luthor is a jerkface*. When I tried this recipe, I was so warm and toasty and happily stuffed that I immediately instant messaged CL to tell him about it. Our actual verbatim conversation:

Crimson Cupcake: I just made mushroom pot pies! With gouda biscuit topping! Yum!
Chef Luthor: It needs chicken.
CC: Nope, veggie, totally good. I'll make it for you sometime.
CL: Pot pies need chicken.
CC: Not for vegetarians.
CL: Chicken pot pies.
CC: I hate you. Jerkface.

Chef Luthor and I spend most of our waking hours (and most of our posts on here, as well as our actual conversations about food) arguing about me being vegetarian. I tend to refer to him as a veggie-hating grump, he tells me I'm missing out, it goes on from there until we declare that we hate each other and then we move on. The one and only point he has that I am willing to concede is that sharing food is difficult for us. When we have dinner together, we usually share an appetizer, which means he has to agree to one that doesn't have meat. And while he can taste anything I order, if his meal has meat, I can't share his. It's a minor annoyance that sometimes makes us both grumpy. His declarations like the one above about all pot pies needing meat make me extremely grumpy. There are plenty of vegetarian meals that are delicious, I don't think it will kill anyone to occasionally have a meatless dinner, and sometimes sharing the same meal together while working around dietary restrictions is well worth the extra effort. I think the above recipe is a great meatless dinner option. It has a ton of flavor, and the mushrooms and lentils are substantial enough that I can't imagine even a meat eater would think this meal is missing anything. I think this would be a great thing to cook for sharing with anyone, veggie or veggie-hating grump, especially when you're trying to stay indoors and away from the cold.

*If you haven't called someone a "jerkface" since you were in middle school, I really recommend trying it. It's so much better than calling someone something-that-involves-a-real-curse-word. It lets you be truthful about your feelings while still sounding kind of adorably playful. And that's just a win for everyone involved.

I didn't set out to do a review of TruOrleans today (by the way, "today" is actually just over a month ago, I've been busy). Usually I have a plan for a review and I did indeed have a plan, but it wasn't to do a review of TruOrleans brunch. It was simply to sit on their big French Quarter style deck, watch the traffic go by, read my book (my second time through Jason Wilson's fantastic Boozehound), and get down on a pile of beignets and a big, sweet cafe au lait. 

This isn't a new desire. I've been dying to do this since TruOrleans opened in July. I've since been thwarted in various ways. At first they were simply focused on dinner service (understandable), then came the weeks of an inconsistent breakfast, then brunch/breakfast, then simply brunch schedule. I stopped by yesterday, only to find they were only doing brunch on Sunday, and resigned myself that Sunday would be the day. 

Walking in at 11:05 I was led upstairs by a hostess who had just finished a tense discussion about a lost reservation, and sat in the middle of the deck. Finally, my Cafe Du Mondesque dreams would be fulfilled. My waiter showed up in seconds, asking if I was ready with a drink order drink. "I can do the whole thing now." I said. "Beignets and a cafe au lait." I firmly requested. "We don't have the cafe au lait right now." I was told. This caused my head to reel for a second. I double checked and I am correct (from Google):

ca·fé au laitNoun/kaˌfā ō ˈlā/

 1. Coffee with milk.

Yeah.... Ok. My server was very nice, apologized profusely, and came back soon with a creamer and large brimming cup of hot coffee mug with saucer (more on this later) and 10 minutes later returned with my beignets. I was a bit thrown off as the menu described an order of six, only to realize when my check came out that he had proactively given me a small order of only three. This ended up being good, given three was plenty for one, but I was a bit put off that the question wasn't even posed to me.

Now I love good beignets, but they're seldom found outside New Orleans or an excellent home cook's kitchen. Disappointed as I may have been about the coffee I was that happy at the beignets. They came out warm and fluffy, perfectly crispy on the outside, pillows with still hot oven air inside. Push your fork into them the first time and there's a slight puff of powdered sugar as a breath of that hot oven air escapes. Crispy, doughy, light, rich, they were perfect. Just like the French Quarter good beignets are a series of contradictions, and these were very good beignets. All of this covered with enough powdered sugar you'd think they could have used a third of it and still been fine, but somehow therein lies the difference. 

Somewhat happy, but still hungry, and it now being late enough that I'd need lunch soon anyway I decided to go the whole way, get a brunch entree, and make a review of it. I somewhat wish I hadn't. I was quickly able to flag down my waiter again (after all, there were 5 wait staff, not counting 2 bartenders and a runner, for maybe 40 people) and put in an order for the standard eggs benedict, settled back with my only now cooling coffee, and dove into my book. I finished my chapter and looked at the clock, realizing it had been twenty minutes, and started wondering how long eggs benedict for one can really take. Thankfully a minute or two later my eggs benedict came out, just as I was really starting to get restless. 

On initial inspection I was excited. Fluffy poached eggs, a generous hand with the slightly more pink than yellow hollandaise?? sauce, and a big pile of home fries. A slide of my knife into the egg yielded a nice runny yoke, mixing with the sauce to make that delicious gravy you only get with a good eggs benedict which I always want to sop up with an order of toast. Everything is looking great as I take my first fork full, take a bite... and find it's barely luke warm. A quick bite of the home fries confirms this. Not singed, like it's been sitting under a heat lamp for 10 minutes, but like it sat on the pass cooling for 10 minutes, then got put under the heat lamp for five to warm back up, then was brought out to me. I finished one of the two english muffins worth, took a bite of the other, but by that point barely warm had become room temperature, and I just couldn't do it. I barely even touched the home fries. The biggest disappointment was it could have been an excellent dish, the elements were perfectly done, including a slight bit of chili in the hollandaise sauce, but was ruined simply by not being warm enough.

At this point it struck me I had an empty cup of (not cafe au lait) coffee and an empty water, in spite of the ample staff, and simply asked for my check so I could leave as quickly as I could. 

Unfortunately this experience is somewhat endemic of everything I've experienced, and friends have experienced, at TruOrleans. Being that it is right around the block from my apartment I've been here a few times at various times, for drinks, for dinner, and now for brunch, and with varied crowds, including my roommates, out of town guests, and fellow foodies. In general it's been a good experience, with caveats. The dinner menu is great and they do the various creole classics well. But they're often out of things. I went for drinks with my housemates during Hurricane Irene (yes, we went to a NoLA themed bar during a Hurricane, we're probably going to Hell, I know) and while the drinks were great and the appetizers we ordered were good the entire staff seemed to resent having to be there and annoyed at the patrons who were there partying hard in what amounted to a windy rain storm.

In conclusion as I was thinking about how overfilled my coffee was someone stomping by caused my coffee to rattle and overflow onto the saucer. Looking at the mug and saucer it was clear that while they were meant to go together the size of the base of the mug was just slightly too big, causing it to not quite fit on the saucer, making it prone to that vibration that spilled my coffee and caused me to have to take care in not dripping my coffee on my shorts the rest of the meal. It came to mind that this was very much like TruOrleans as a whole, good at the big things, but with small problems keeping it from greatness.

This could just be me, but do you ever occasionally think a new food combination sounds fascinating -- even if the foods being combined are not desperately crying out for improvement? I've never looked at a Cadbury Egg and wished it was better, nor have I ever noted that cupcakes need a makeover. But I couldn't resist making Cadbury Egg cupcakes after Easter this year, when Cadbury Eggs were 50% off.

Sushiritto (www.sushiritto.com) sucked me in with the idea of combining sushi and burritos. They make sushi rolls, in a burrito shape, and wrapped in seaweed or rice. The website states that their restaurant is combining the healthiness of sushi with the convenience of hand held burritos. Quite honestly, the inconvenience of having to sit down with chopsticks to eat sushi has never stopped me from eating it. I've never had a discussion in which someone suggested sushi, and I protested because we'd have to sit to eat it -- although, I also don't think I've ever eaten a burrito while walking. Perhaps I'm not the always-on-the-go audience the portability selling point of this concept was aimed at. And I've never eaten a burrito, walking or otherwise, and been bummed that my burrito was cooked and tasted like Mexican food. I love both Mexican food and things that are cooked. But, once I read that sushi and burritos had been combined, I had to check it out.

First, from what I can tell, there is always a line out the door of Sushiritto. For good reason. These burritos are fantastic. And secondly, if you don't work in downtown San Francisco, you're a little out of luck. Sushiritto has standard Financial District hours, 11am to 3pm, Monday to Friday.

The line moves fairly quickly, and be ready to order before you get in the door. The sushi-burrito assembly cooks occasionally ask those in line a few back from the counter to get orders started and keep the line going -- please don't be the person in front of me in line who slows the whole thing down. I'll be sad.

And if the hand held portability aspect of this food adventure is important to you, don't order the Sumo Crunch. You should absolutely order the Sumo Crunch at some point -- but not on a day when you're going to be eating while walking back to your office, and certainly not on a day when you're wearing clothes you're fond of. In the photos below, you can see the Sumo Crunch is wrapped in a layer of rice with red tempura flakes. Delicious! But after spilling tempura flakes on my dress, desk and keyboard, I had to completely abandon the hand held concept and eat this like a salad. Still delicious!

From what sounds like an odd combination (expect some weird looks when you tell someone you're getting a sushi burrito for lunch), Sushiritto has made an unusually great lunch spot.

(download)

Click here to download:

sushi-burrito-sushiritto-grtDsttxhBDdgwEeEbCB.zip (2.98 MB)

On August 24, 1869, the first U.S waffle iron was patented. Therefore, happy National Waffle Day! (International Waffle Day was back in March, in case you want to celebrate twice next year.) To celebrate, I have several waffle recipes below, suggestions for toppings, and restaurants in San Francisco and Washington D.C. that have made sandwiches better by using waffles instead of bread. 

First, cookies baked in a waffle iron: http://www.marthastewart.com/353566/chocolate-waffle-cookies I can tell you from personal experience that taking these to a party will get you some odd looks at first -- until someone starts eating them. Then your baking skills will be praised through mouthfuls of cookie. 

If you're a serious waffle fan, you've likely already heard of Waffleizer, but it deserves both a mention and the Best Use of Waffles award. I love the waffled falafel, http://www.waffleizer.com/waffleizer/2010/03/waffled-falafel-and-secret-to-pe..., but all 30 answers to the question of "Will it waffle?" are worth a read if you're hungry on National Waffle Day or looking for a way to get your moneys worth on an underused appliance. 

My all time favorite basic waffle recipe is from the Better Homes and Gardens Cook Book:

1 3/4 cups flour

2 tablespoons sugar

1 tablespoon baking powder

2 eggs

1 3/4 cups milk

1/2 cup cooking oil or melted butter

1 teaspoon vanilla

Mix everything well, and cook on a lightly greased waffle iron. Then, on to toppings!

Toppings:

My favorite waffle toppings are creme fraiche and strawberry syrup (recipe below), or softened butter and a dusting of maple sugar. Chef Luthor has previously told me that "Pancake Visionary" should be added to his business cards, as he always has delicious pancake ideas. I was expecting him to have a laundry list of waffle topping ideas -- and his only answer to "what toppings do you like on waffles?" was "fried chicken". I asked if he was sure there was nothing else, no other ideas, and his answer remained "fried chicken. It's the best. That's it". 

Strawberry syrup: about 3 cups frozen strawberries, 1/4 sugar, and 1 teaspoon cornstarch. Mix the cornstarch and sugar, then mix in a saucepan with the berries and enough water to just cover the berries. Cook over low heat until the berries are completely thawed and the sauce has thickened. 

Waffle sandwiches!

If you're in Washington D.C., please go try Wicked Waffle and let me know how it is. http://www.wickedwaffle.com/ looks so good! Please let me know if it's as delicious as I'm hoping it is.

And if you're in San Francisco, we also have a restaurant making waffle sandwiches http://www.facebook.com/pages/Dash-Cafe/173157692709345 and even sundaes with waffles. A sandwich with pesto, provolone and avocado on a waffle is far better than it sounds. And Dash Cafe itself is pretty adorable. There's a front room with tables for studying, wi-fi, and local artists' work on display on the walls, and a back room that looks much more wine bar than study cafe. 

If we work this just right, we could have 3 or 4 meals of waffles for National Waffle Day!