Bay Area

Mi Lindo Yucatan (San Francisco)

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We were planning to head up to San Francisco to buy some herbs (no, not that kind of herb 😉 ) and spices at San Francisco Herb Company (more on this later) in the Mission District. Since we were going to be there around lunch time, I thought, why not look for a good Mexican place to eat in the Mission? Searching Entertainment.com, I found a couple places that looked promising and chose Mi Lindo Yucatan. Printed out the 20% off coupon, and off we went.

Contrary to popular belief, Mexican food isn’t just about tacos, burritos, enchiladas or fajitas. (Fajitas, by the way, aren’t even Mexican – they’re Tex-Mex). Taco Bell has as much to do with Mexican cuisine as Panda Express has to do with Chinese cuisine. Mexico is a large country with a very long and varied culinary history. Mi Lindo Yucatan features cuisine from the Yucatan Peninsula in Southern Mexico. Its main cuisinal (is that even a word? <flips through dictionary>) influence is from the Mayan culture as well as French and Spanish cuisine.

What new flavors would we find at Mi Lindo Yucatan?

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Bay Area

Roli Roti Porchetta (San Francisco)

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What’s the best roast pork you’ve ever eaten?

I’ve eaten a lot of different kinds of roast pork over the years, from Chinese roast pork, to char siu, to Hawaiian-style kalua pig, to pulled pork barbecue, and many others. I’ve even had some awesome roast pork knuckle (I didn’t even know pigs had knuckles) from a restaurant in the state of Kedah in Malaysia.

And then, I discovered porchetta. Ever since reading this article on Eating Asia, we’ve been wanting to visit the Roli Roti rolling rotisserie vendor at the San Francisco Ferry Building to have some of this delicious roast pork. One fine Saturday morning, we had occasion to drive up to San Fran to shop at the Farmer’s Market there and, of course, buy some porchetta.

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Noodles, Pork, Tofu, Tomatoes, Vietnamese

Bun Rieu Cua

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Here’s a tip for any would-be bloggers out there: never say you’re going to blog about something "coming up next." You’re just setting yourself up for serious trouble when Murphy strikes you with a serious case of writer’s block.

It’s been a month since I put in that darn scrolling marquee, proclaiming the soon-to-be posted memoir of our visit to Scott’s Seafood. I thought it would motivate me to keep up with the regular posting. Instead it has been mocking me the whole time.

"C’mon already! What, can’t even put two sentences together? Neener neener neener!"

Bleah. I’ve gotta get over this funk. And the only way to do it is just get posting again. So, I’m going to put the Scott’s Seafood post on the back burner and pull something up to the front burner. A post that has been waiting just as long as the Scott’s Seafood post to see the light of day, but at least hasn’t been thumbing its nose and blowing raspberries at me.

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Bakes, Vietnamese

Pandan Waffles

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We all know waffles, right? A light, slightly eggy cake cooked in a waffle iron so that it’s crispy on the outside and tender on the inside. We enjoy it with a pat of butter and real maple syrup. Some people eat waffles with fried chicken as a savory Southern twist.

The Southeast Asians put their own twist on the waffle by adding a bit of pandan extract to the batter. Pandan, or screwpine, is a tropical plant that has fans of long, green leaves that, when cooked, imparts a sweet, pleasingly fragrant aroma to whatever it is cooked with. We used whole pandan leaves to infuse our nasi lemak coconut rice dish.

Here’s a pandan waffle recipe that makes a delicious breakfast, snack or dessert so good, you won’t want to stop eating them. It is a tried and true recipe, something we make quite often. The recipe comes from food blogger Andrea Nguyen of Viet World Kitchen, who is the author of “Into the Vietnamese Kitchen“.


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