SF & Oakland Nibbles

I've had some incredibly delicious nibbles lately in the Bay Area. I hope that if you make your way there, you'll find them too.

Yesterday I ate a gorgeous lunch at Canteen in San Francisco. But the highlight? Little homemade Parker House Rolls yellow and sweet with through and through butter. Like brioche but richer, or challah but denser. Parker House Rolls can be considered a dessert if you can extend poetic license to tongues and the taste buds upon them. Do not delay. This is bread at its richest.

I've not been there yet but you can bet I'll wake up early just for "Rachel's Jam & Blue Bottle Coffee" at Pizzaiolo in Oakland. Serious Insider Dish: this Rachel person makes Jam and marmalade the likes of which will, if ever sold commercially, make you re-think your love affair with the Doyenne of Jam & Marmalade making. Who wants to go there with me first?

Near Persian New Year I ate an ice cream at Ici which tingled and warmed me all over. Pistachio & Rose. Surprisingly soft pink in hue, this ice cream had a transportational effect. I hear it's still in rotation. Go. Now. Do not wait.

And lastly, strawberries. At the Tuesday Berkeley farmer's market Lucero had some of the best early strawberries I've ever eaten in spring. Medium sized, completely red, long stemmed and very strawberry-y.

I'll be at the Thursday market today for more of them.

See you soon?

Comments

[Brett]

Lucero's at the Thursday market? I need my berry fix before Saturday, so you may possibly see me there.

[maggie]

I'm waiting for you to eat your way through NYC.

[shuna fish lydon]

Brett, it would be Great to see you today!

Maggie, I ate my way through NYC last year (twice!), doesn't that count? I'm hoping to be there in June. Help me to fill a class and it will pay for more meals!

[star]

Why don't you teach a class in NYC in the summer when our sleepy little fruits finally begin to bloom?

[Cathy]

What Star said. Pretty please with cream and berries on top?

[shuna fish lydon]

Star & Cathy,

I can, of course teach a class in NYC. But it will have to be a knife skills class in someone's home unless someone knows of a free large kitchen for a baking class. Email me directly if you'd like to help me set this up. (I'm doing something similar this summer in Portland, so it IS possible!)

[Sara]

I have had pistachio rose ice cream! I have! There used to be an ice cream shop in Santa Monica, just a few blocks from the ocean on Colorado, that was owned by two gentlemen I believe were Turkish, and they sold this ice cream. Theirs was exquisite, creamy textured and a very pleasant yellow color. They were really surprised I liked it, since I'm American, and no one else I fed it to liked it. It is very much a middle-to-far eastern flavor combination. I could not get enough.

I recently tried something very similar from the freezer case of my local Whole Foods. I can't remember the brand name, but it was a line of ice creams using orchid tuber, a traditional Turkish delicacy. Delicious! Delicate, fragrant, and absolutely beautiful!

[Aaron]

Hey Sara,
I think they were Iranian...in any case, that store was part of a chain that still exists, so if you're in LA you could still snag your favorite Persian flavors. I forget the name however...anyone?

[Sara]

Thank you, Aaron! Sadly, I'm in Massachusetts now. But the orchid-based freezer stuff is available here. I just wish I could remember the brand name.

I hope somebody remembers the name of the Persian place, too, because even though it's been 20 years since I tasted it, they had really good ice cream in many flavors over and above this one (but this one was my favorite).

[kudzu]

Aha, you had the Parker House rolls we mused about before. I was planning to make them for Easter but I have been sick for two weeks and had broth and antibiotics instead. Now I am tempted to make some just because!! My grandmother's cook made the best ones and I have her recipe. And yes--it's impossible not to lick their shiny tops.

[shuna fish lydon]

Sara,

"I recently tried something very similar from the freezer case of my local Whole Foods. I can't remember the brand name, but it was a line of ice creams using orchid tuber, a traditional Turkish delicacy. Delicious! Delicate, fragrant, and absolutely beautiful!"

YOU ARE REQUIRED TO TELL US WHAT THIS IS SO WE CAN ALL GO OUT RIGHT NOW AND BUY IT!!

Please?

[faustianbargain]

the persian ice cream shop in socal is called mashti malone! i *love* LOVE mashti malone. its what we do after visiting the zanku's chicken place. i wouldnt touch meat then...mashti malone was my gift for waiting hungrily. god! its still sitting on my hips. but no regrets here..

its been a while, but i hope shuna catches this..i caught this post from a link in today's post.

[Sara]

Ha! I couldn't remember, and I couldn't remember. Then FaustianBargain dropped by my place to tell me about Mashti Malone's (which I really do not think is the place I'm remembering from SaMo, but could be wrong, and anyway it looks delicious, too), and I still couldn't remember, so I broke down and went to look it up.

The stuff I tried at Whole Foods is called Booozah from The Phoenician Frozen Dessert Company. This is a local company here in Massachusetts, so just like I can't get Mashti Malone here, I don't know if you can get Booozah there. If you can, though, if you can...mmmmmmmmm.

I am extremely fond of the flavors "Haleeb" and "Ashta." It's been nearly a year since I've had any, so I can't remember which I like better.

Dammit, now I have to go shopping. A year is too long to go without something this good.

[shuna fish lydon]

FB & Sara,

Zow! So wondrous to hear from yous again! And nifty that you know each other!

I'll be on the lookout for these things if I ever get over to WF again... when they didn't have it that one time I went, and no one in the store knew what I was talking about I kinda gave up.

Thanks for the kind push to get over there again, armed with more information!

[Sara]

Shuna, we only "know" each other because of you! :)

Sadly, I was just over at my local Whole Foods, the one where I used to work, and they didn't have it anymore or know what it was, either. (This did not stop me from buying Blue Moon lemon zest sorbet (even though the grapefruit campari is my favorite) or Laloo's mission fig goat's milk ice cream (even though the molasses tipsycake flavor always clamors for equal attention), both of which will do a lot, if not everything, to console me.)

You can only taste Blue Moon sorbets while you're on this coast, so even if you can't find Booozah Haleeb, at least there's that. And seriously, you have to taste the grapefruit campari.

[faustianbargain]

damn..i gushed too soon, sara. but now you can check out mashti malone when you go to socal! please do! i think you'll enjoy it!

shuna, we know each other *now*...thank you..:)