Culinary Muse

GREAT CHINESE FOOD: DIM SUM IN OAKLAND

I ate my very first Chinese meal at Ming Tse restaurant in San Leandro on East 14^th Street in 1961. It was a combo plate of three items which included chow mein, deep fried prawns (sweet and sour dipping sauce on the side) and pork fried rice. The egg drop soup was included at no additional charge. The whole meal cost $1.65. By the time I was in high school, this became our weekend hang out. Same meal went up to $3.00. I was spoiled. Chinese food became that delicious treat that also came cheap.

I have eaten in Chinese restaurants all over the Bay Area as the years have passed. From Richmond to Oakland to San Ramon to San Francisco. They always start out great and then something happens. The family sells the business, the chef leaves, the rent gets increased and they have to move on. But somehow I have always managed to have at least one great, inexpensive Chinese restaurant up my sleeve. Unfortunately, the pickings have been slim for the past two years. Especially in the dim sum arena. Until today. I have two friends that I enjoy extravagant dim sum feasts with. One is CC the other is Bonnie. Today Bonnie introduced me to one of the best dim sum places that I have been to in an eternity. GRAND’S GOOD OLD PLACE SEAFOOD TEAHOUSE is in Oakland, a block off of Lake Merritt in the Adam’s Point neighborhood. Or for those of you who grew up in the East Bay, a couple blocks away from Fairyland. We feasted on dim sum and the entire check came to $13.65. Including tea. 391 Grand Avenue, Oakland, 94610, 510.286.9899. Monday through Friday, 10:30 am to 10:00 pm. Saturdays, Sundays, Holidays 9:30 am - 10:00 pm. For those of you who live in downtown Oakland and are always complaining that there is no place to eat, they offer free delivery within five miles for a minimum $20 order. Cash only.

For the Love of Chocolate Class

Did that box of chocolates for Mother's Day just whet your appetite for more?  Were you wondering why some of those chocolates you were contemplating purchasing for Mom were $15 a pound and why some were $75 a pound?  Well here is your chance to find out why.  Our next chocolate class will be on Friday, June 1 at THE CHEESE SCHOOL OF SAN FRANCISCO.  Join us as we navigate the intricacies of cacao content and pairings with wine, spirits and cheese!

TODAY'S TABLEHOPPER

Thanks to Marcia over at TABLEHOPPER for inviting us to talk about pairing chocolate and booze.  While you are visiting her site, consider subscribing (free).  This is the place to find out the latest about the SF dining scene.  She (Marcia Gagliardi) is such a clever gal that I am sure the name of her site is a play on the famous Hedda Hopper, Hollywood gossip columnist extraordinaire!

THE FULL PLATE

Somewhere between grocery shopping, speed scratch cooking and prepared foods lives the world of 'assemble and cook' meals. Here is how it works: they develop the recipes for a dish (usually the main course), you choose which ones you want to purchase, they do the full prep (chopping, slicing, dicing) of raw materials, you measure, gather and assemble the materials, at their location, following their recipe and then you take the fully prepped meal home to cook yourself. I never considered it seriously for my household. After all, was meal planning, grocery shopping and prepping really such a big deal? I guess it is. Because for one week I could answer the question 'what's for dinner?' without a second thought. I didn't realize how this daily task gnawed away at me. And I only have to think about dinner for two. What must this be like for busy families where both parents are working? Exhausting. Who solved the problem I didn't know I had? THE FULL PLATE in Montclair (Oakland). I was contacted by their PR firm to see if I would like to give their concept a try as their guest. After checking out their website and the April menu I settled on the following four dishes to prepare in their 'Quick Fix In-Store' session: