Culinary Muse

THE BEST SERVICE IN SAN FRANCISCO

Where will you receive the kind of service that was once the hallmark of a well run retail establishment? Not in Union Square. Not on the now fabulously swanky Fillmore Street and probably not even at Chanel. The Muse’s vote for best service goes to the staff at Walgreen's on Polk Street at California.

Just last night we were looking for an inexpensive bubble bath that did not smell like bubble gum or gardenias. The kind that you could use lots of every night to create mounds of bubbles and not feel guilty that it would all be going down the drain in just a few minutes. We asked the sales clerk where the bubble bath was located. She escorted us across the store and down the aisle all the while telling us which ones were on sale for the ‘buy one get one free’ offer and which she recommended. On another occasion the Muse has observed another sales clerk behind the make-up counter giving out good advice to an in-transition transvestite who was looking for just the right foundation color. Both of these transactions were performed with dignity and grace. Thank you, Walgreen's.

OF SKIRTS, HANGERS AND IRON...STEAKS, THAT IS

A cook in the city has to be especially resourceful. While there is a bounty of interesting ingredients to choose from, actual cooking space is limited. Therefore our choice of cooking methods is limited. Many of us left behind the spacious brick patios of our childhood where there was always a Weber Kettle ready to fire up and slap a thick steak or burger on. If we contemplate the purchase of a thick steak at the butchers tonight, we urban carnivores have to debate whether or not we should buy a GF Grill or can we get a hot enough fire going in that illegal hibachi on the fire escape before the apartment manager comes knocking on the door? Good sense tells us that the celebrity grill is really a glorified waffle iron and that the hibachi will never get hot enough.

What will get hot enough to sear the outside of a steak to insure its juiciness is a cast iron skillet. Most friends laugh the first time they hear the Muse describe how to cook a steak perfectly. Especially our friend W who was clearly unwilling to hand over his 2 one-pound perfectly aged Porterhouse steaks to so plebeian a cooking method. But he is an adventurous lad who is willing to listen to the experts. He reported the next day that it was one of the best steaks he had ever eaten. We rest our case.

The Perfect Steak

One 10" cast iron skillet

Kosher or fine grain sea salt

soy sauce

vegetable oil

Steak (this method works with any cut. We prefer Hanger Steak from Golden Gate Meat Company, Skirt Steak from Niman Ranch or Flat Iron from Prather Meat) brought to room temperature

Preheat oven 425 degrees. Once the oven is at 425 degrees you may proceed. Lightly sprinkle bottom of skillet with a thin layer of salt. Place over high heat. Watch carefully as the salt begins to turn light brown and the skillet begins to smoke. While skillet is heating, brush one side of steak with soy sauce and then vegetable oil. When the skillet begins to smoke, lower the heat to medium high and place seasoned side of steak down first in skillet. Do not touch for exactly 3 minutes (not 2 and not 4). After 3 minutes, brush the top with soy sauce and vegetable oil. Turn over. Wait 1 minute. Place skillet in preheated oven and set timer for 3 minutes. Remove skillet from oven. Remove steak from skillet. Cover steak loosely with foil and allow to rest for 10 minutes. Voila, a perfect rare steak. If you prefer your steak medium, leave in oven for 4 to 5 minutes before removing.

A note about selecting meat: Go to the best butcher you can find.  Yes, there is a vast difference between a grocery store meat counter and a good meat purveyor.  We love Golden Gate Meat Company, Prather Ranch Meat Company and Niman Ranch.  You will pay more but it is worth it.  So instead of serving meat four times this week, serve it twice but enjoy it ten times as much.

L'ASSIETTE, S'IL VOUS PLAIT!

Is it wise to recommend a new eating establishment without even trying it once? Well, in all cases the answer is no, it is not wise. Unless, of course, the chef responsible is the brilliant Amey Shaw. Amey is the kind of creative chef that is so talented you just sit back and say "wow, this is amazing, more please". She once owned the Alta Plaza Café in San Francisco where the Muse and friends enjoyed one of the best Thanksgiving dinners ever. Mark Miller of Coyote Café calls her the ‘Queen of the Chilies’. She just opened an organic take-out only restaurant in Windsor, north of San Francisco, on December 19^th. The Winter Lunch menu includes a panini made of smoked mozzarella with roasted mushrooms, spinach and black truffle oil for $7.50. There is a daily quiche, salads are served all day. Besides the classic Caesar salad there is an Asian rice noodle and vegetable salad served with ginger-sesame vinaigrette. Or how about the Acini de Pepe salad with French feta, oil-cured olives, red onions, cucumbers and fresh mint with lemon vinaigrette. The dinner menu includes Roasted Fulton Valley chicken stuffed with fresh herbs and lemon for $8.75 a half as well as other entrees including salmon. We hope that the Keen cakes are still on the menu when we get there: toasted quinoa mixed with finely chopped mushrooms, white wine, mozzarella, cheddar and fresh marjoram. Amey may be the only chef we know who really understands marjoram. Good luck, Amey! L’ASSIETTE, ORGANIC TAKE OUT LUNCH AND DINNER, 426 EMILY ROSE CIRCLE, WINDSOR. 707-836-9055, Monday - Friday 11:30 to 6:30, Saturday 12-5 pm, Sunday 12-4 pm.

DUNGENESS CRAB AS AN INALIENABLE RIGHT

"What is it with you people and Dungeness crab for Christmas Eve?" asked our friend E, a transplanted Chicagoan. Well, along with the other rights promised by our Bill of Rights, we San Franciscans understand that there will always be fresh Dungeness crab available to us, once the season officially opens. So imagine the shock waves that moved through the city on December 23 when our fine fish purveyors had to get on the phone and inform many hosts and hostesses that there would be NO DUNGENESS CRAB available. The weather had been too rough for the boats to go out. One friend was informed that she had a better chance of winning the LOTTO than of finding a fresh Dungeness crab that day. Ever resourceful, she called down to Mrs. Alioto’s on Fisherman’s Wharf and bagged the last four crabs they had. This crab saga continued through New Year’s Eve. Only 1,000 crabs were delivered to the entire city of San Francisco and only 100 made their way to the SAN FRANCISCO FISH COMPANY in the Ferry Building Marketplace. These were distributed in the most democratic fashion. Folks on the Christmas Eve waiting list were given first right of refusal. Hard to imagine anyone refusing.

The Muse decided not to partake of this holiday feeding frenzy. Instead we have waited until today. We called our favorite seafood shop, SWAN’S OYSTER DEPOT, and were told that they will be getting their delivery this morning. We reserved our crab for pick up this afternoon. And we are ready. The newspaper has been spread out on the kitchen table. This is what we dump the crab on to. One big bowl is ready for empty shells, one small bowl is ready for the Best Food’s mayo and one small plate at each place for the crab meat. You can tell a lot about a person by watching them eat fresh crab. There are the ‘eat as you go’ folks who stuff the sweet crab meat into their mouths as fast as they extract it from the shell. There are the ‘clean a little, eat a little folks’ like the Muse. Finally, there are the ‘don’t eat one bit of crab until they have cleaned the entire crab’ folks. Never marry someone like this. They are stingy and they gloat over their amassed crab fortune. They eat alone because everyone else is done.