Culinary Muse

DIM SUM SECRETS

The Muse recalls Saturday afternoons spent roaming Chinatown's Grant Street with her father, ducking into The Far East Cafe for lunch in a booth with a curtain, dodging the barrels of live snails that sat in front of the grocery stores and staring at the old women teetering across the sidewalks on their now unbound feet. But it is not Grant Street that the Muse goes to when hunger calls. Instead, she hops on the #1 California bus and heads over to Clement Street. What Clement Street lacks in local atmosphere it makes up for in very good, reasonable restaurants and take out places. Wing Lee Bakery for example. Take out Dim Sum at its best. The pot stickers are plump with pork, green onions and fresh ginger. There is a dumpling that does not appear on the menu but is too delicious to miss: squat little pillows of translucent dough envelope chopped green garlic chives and pink shrimp which are then steamed and fried. Beautiful!  Best of all is the skewer of fried chicken, onion and green bell pepper. WING LEE BAKERY, 503 Clement Street (at 6th Avenue), (415) 668-9481.

A DELICIOUS AND NOT SO BITTERSWEET HOLIDAY CHOCOLATE TASTING

On the heels of their phenomenal success in Oakland’s Rockridge district, the folks of Bittersweet, The Chocolate Cafe have opened a second location in San Francisco’s tony Pacific Heights. They have transformed the space formerly occupied by CAPER on Fillmore between California and Sacramento Streets into a chocolate lover’s paradise. In a hurry? Grab a bar of chocolate from the dozens on display from almost every chocolate producing region in the world. Ecuador, Venezuela, Trinidad, Hawaii . . . Or perhaps your chocolate fix needs to come in a cup. Our personal favorite is the Chocolate Thai Iced Tea.  Jasmine tea is infused with chocolate.  Flowers and chocolate? Always.

Sign up for their newsletter and you will receive announcements about tasting events like the one we attended last week. The theme was Holiday Flavors. Since the discovery of chocolate, people have experimented with adding flavors from their own culture or ‘terroir’. Chiles, citrus, nuts, milk and peppermint are the classic flavor additions. More recently lavender has been an addition. Bittersweet’s resident chocophile Seneca Klassen led us through a generous tasting that started with a Dagoba Xocolatl 74% with chiles, maca and cacao nibs. We ended our tasting over an hour later with a satisfying cup of Bittersweet Hot Chocolate with Peppermint Essential Oil. A visit to this chocolate lover’s oasis is one way to escape the frenzy of the holiday season. Bittersweet, The Chocolate Café, 2123 Fillmore Street, 415-346-8715.

HOLIDAY BITS

Ah, the things we San Franciscans do and the places we find ourselves at this time of year.  Take last Sunday for example.  Feeling parched, the Muse and friend decided to duck into the nearest cocktail lounge for a quick sip of champagne.  But we had criteria.  It could not be full of ultra chic Marin folks dressed all in black (Market Bar) and it had to have a city view.  ‘Rotating’ was not on the list but that is what we got when we decided on the Equinox at the top of the Hyatt Regency on the Embarcadero.  Here is what we received for the price of a glass of champagne: a fast ride in the glass elevator that soars up the inside of the lobby, a few pretzels and a great view of downtown.  This is not the picture postcard view a tourist might send home.  This is an urban lover’s view straight down the canyon of the Financial District.  The slow trip lasts about 45 minutes and includes a view of the Ferry Building and East Bay. 

If you don’t need a view and find yourself on the Embarcadero in the evening then try the Americano cocktail lounge in the new Hotel Vitale.  We highly recommend a glass of Prosecco (Italian bubbly) and the warmed olives.  Sunday evening cocktailing could become a habit.

HOLIDAY QUESTIONS??????

Where did the Christmas tree in the front of the former Bank of America building go?  When new owners take over a landmark building in San Francisco it would do much for goodwill if they attempted to carry on any holiday traditions that the previous owners had established.  Even Macy’s makes an effort to carry on I. Magnin’s tradition of a green wreath with red bow in every window of this beautiful Art Deco building.  Okay, so they are hideous neon wreaths but one can appreciate the sentiment and Macy’s respect for tradition.  The four story tall fake tree that Neiman Marcus puts up every year in their Rotunda may not be as fragrant as the real giant Spruce that the City of Paris erected but Neiman's knew we San Franciscans take our holiday traditions very seriously.  After all, we made them agree to save the flower stand on the Stockton Street side of the building before their final plans were approved.

THANK YOU, HUNTINGTON HOTEL

Guess who pays to decorate the trees with lights in Huntington Park on the top of Nob Hill?  The kind folks at the Huntington Hotel who also host a hot chocolate gathering on the evening that the lights are first lit.   

CATCH ONE IF YOU CAN….

The number 60 Cable Car on the California/Van Ness line is decked out for the holidays.  Holly, garlands, lights. The operators pay for the decorations themselves out of their own pockets.  They also host a holiday dinner for seniors every year.  Ah, the kindness and generosity of San Franciscans is alive and well. 

A COVEN OF SNOWPEOPLE AND OTHER HOLIDAY LOBBY DELIGHTS

San Francisco hotel owners really pull out all the stops during the holidays by decking their lobbies from floor to ceiling with all forms of holiday decoration.  Lights, holly, wreaths, snowmen, Santa and reindeer all get dragged out of storage, dusted off and hung.  While this may be done in an effort to help the weary holiday traveler feel more at home it is also done for folks from the suburbs that get into the City only once a year.  After visiting the tree at Neiman Marcus this gay group (old meaning of the word), decked out in sweaters embroidered with trees and wreaths, hops on a cable car and rides up to the top of Nob Hill where they visit the Gingerbread House at the Fairmont, have a drink at the Top of the Mark or share a puu-puu platter at the Tonga Room.

Office lobbies also get decorated with most buildings using the same decorations year after year.  Note 101 California Street with land-of-the-giants red Christmas tree ornaments arranged around their plaza and hanging in their atrium.  However we are delighted to report a new installation in the lobby of a building in the 400 block of California Street (south side).  The outside pillars wrapped in red lights look harmless enough. Get a little closer if you dare and you will sense that all is not right in this winter wonderland.  What do you call more than one snow person?  A pack?  A mob?  No, folks, more than one snow person in one place at a time could only be a coven.  And that is what we have here. They glow. They smile. They beckon. Resist the urge to join them.  Flee.  Flee.