Rudy’s Can’t Fail Cafe, Emeryville, CA

I am a huge fan of diner food. I am huge fan of diners of any kind.  One of the greatest things about living in NYC was the availability of top notch, independently-owned diners.

On my way to the bart station I’d always pass by Rudy’s Can’t Fail Cafe.  I have always wondered about it.  In fact, I think one morning I drove there with my mom to get breakfast, but it was packed and we did not feel like waiting.  The mystique of it all! The lone diner on Hollis Street!

Finally went with Irene after a night out in SF, about 2 weeks ago.  It was an average diner that will meet all your average diner expectations.  One thing I thought was spectacular was that they have a pretty sweet deal consisting of french toast AND (sausage or bacon) AND eggs, which would remove my dilemma of going savory or sweet whenever I am ordering breakfast at a diner.  I have to say, the french toast looked good too.  I did not opt for the monster-size combo breakfast though — I ordered a BLT sandwich with fries.  The sandwich was average, the fries were quite good and addictive.

A good go-to place in the East Bay when you are craving diner food. A great go-to place when you are craving diner food after a late night.  And come on! Who does NOT crave diner food after a night out?

photos taken by Irene.

huge breakfast combo

BLT sandwich with fries

Rudy’s Can’t Fail Cafe is located at 4081 Hollis Street, Emeryville, CA 94608.

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cooking Chinese frozen dumplings in the microwave

I cooked frozen dumplings in the microwave tonight for dinner.  A lot of people get really grossed out when I tell them I do this. Yes, you can cook Chinese frozen dumplings (NOT the gyoza they sell in Japanese supermarkets that are fully cooked already), but the frozen, raw dumplings…in your average microwave. It is really fast! and easy! And yes, they still come out better when boiled in hot water, but it is a good solution when you’ve used up all your pots, or when you want dinner in a hurry.

I got the recipe from a Taiwanese cook book 用微波爐作菜 or Cooking the Microwave Way.

Steps:

1. Put frozen dumplings in a bowl.
2. Fill the bowl with hot water so that they at least half an inch over the dumplings. (By hot water, I mean water with your faucet turned to hottest possible).
3. Cover the bowl and microwave on high for 3-4 minutes for about 6-7 dumplings. (The original recipe calls for 6 min. on high for 15 dumplings).
4. You know the dumplings are ready when they are floating in the water.
5. Serve with seasoning of your choice.

Here is a photo of my dinner tonight:

frozen dumplings cooked in microwave

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Failed Chinese pan-fried beef bun/beef pancake (牛肉餡餅)

I made 牛肉餡餅for the second time today, but I messed up somehow. But I suppose I should be equally honest of my success and failure…so I decided to blog about it anyway.

牛肉餡餅, which I’ve translated into Chinese pan-fried beef bun/beef pancake…is basically a round, flattened calzone with beef filling….it kind of looks like a pancake…I guess. If anyone knows the actual name of these in English please do let me know, or if you think you’ve got a better translated name for it.

Many of you know that I am a huge fan of Eupho Cafe, and that is where I got the recipe from. I also got a nice pictorial guide from Meli’s blog.  Both contain tons of wonderful recipes…and come with my highest recommendation.

You can find the recipe at both blogs, but here is what I used or I guess the recipe substantially reproduced in English:

For the dough:

bread flour 150 g
cake flour 150 g
dry yeast 1 tsp
water 170 g (equivalent of 170 cc)

For the beef filling:

ground beef 360 g
green scallions 50 g
salt 4 g
soy sauce 5 g
sugar 3 g
pepper 2 g
1 egg white

1. Mix together all the ingredients for the beef filling. Set aside.
2. Mix the dry yeast with water.
3. Mix the rest of the ingredients for the dough. Add the yeast with water, mix. Knead until the surface of the dough is shiny.  Then return dough to the bowl and cover with wet towel for 15-20 minutes.
4. Divide the dough into 12 balls (the original recipe is for 16).
5. lightly flour your work surface. roll the dough balls into flat, round sheets, making sure the edges are thicker than the center
6. Portion the beef filling into equal amounts (12).
7. Fill the beef filling. Then fold in the dough and flatten it lightly with your palm.
8. to cook: pan-fried them over medium fire on both sides until sides are golden brown.

The original recipe can be found here.

I think the reason for my failure this time is 1) I was not careful with the measurement of the flour; 2) I got lazy/impatient about rolling out the dough and so they were quite uneven (as you can see from the photo with the view of them cut-open. Patience truly is a virtue.

I also think, and I need to keep playing with this, that based on my personal taste preferences I need to use more soy sauce and perhaps more salt for the meat filling. Some finely grated ginger may also help brighten the flavor. Things to remind myself of the next time I make this (whenever that may be).

So here it is, my not so pretty 牛肉餡餅:

pan-fried beef bun 牛肉餡餅

cut open 牛肉餡餅

I still ate two though. Super stuffed and feeling fat =P

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Trader Joe’s Microwavable Green Beans

I haven’t had much of a chance to cook lately, which is something that is making me quite unsatisfied — hopefully some of that will be remedied this weekend. All the cooking I have done lately are quick-fixes, made with the help of my beloved Trader Joe’s…

In the produce section of Trader Joe’s you can find these bags of green beans that have been trimmed and washed (if you believe that,..but it’s trader joe’s and I am a fan, so I will lend them my trusting heart). They can also be microwaved right in the bag.  To cook them in the microwave (in the bag), cut a corner of the bag to vent, then microwave the green beans (in the bag, again!) for 3-5 minutes on high. I have a tiny microwave so I did it for 5, but I imagine a more powerful microwave (above 700W) can do it in less time.

I usually microwave the green beans, then carefully pour the now-hot green beans out of the bag into a container, then I drizzle them with EVOO (for those who have not learned Rachel Ray speak, extra-virgin olive oil), coarse salt, and black pepper. Then I lid the container and shake vigorously…and viola!

microwaved green beans with EVOO

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Taki Sushi in El Cerrito, CA

I was pleasantly surprised and genuinely happy a week ago when I got an e-mail from Thomas, formerly with the famed Yusan Sushi in El Cerrito, CA that is no longer in business, about the grand opening of his own sushi place in El Cerrito. Unfortunately I was in NYC last week and did not have a chance to go, so tonight I went with Monte and Irene. I didn’t take any photos of the restaurant because I was too busy eating. Note to self: must figure out camera setting for indoor food photo-taking.

It was a pleasant evening — Thomas seemed more chatty without the ever talkative Kaz (who is going to be working at the restaurant too! yay!) I was quite upset when Yusan closed — it felt like a huge part of my past year in CA was being wiped away — out of my control, against my will (story of my life lately). But now my beloved sushi chefs will still be there…I have to say I still like the old space better (even with the carpet that grossed me out too)

Food was good as ever — fresh fish and beautiful selection — we ordered uni, amaebi, ika, grilled scallop, grilled hamachi, spicy tuna hand roll, tamago, and Thomas generously offered to let us try some of his gigantic futomaki as well as agadeshi tofu from the back kitchen. I am new at this food blog gig and forgot to take photos until halfway through. I highly recommend it. Just don’t go there and eat all the uni. save some for me (by the way, they have “uni don” on the menu…offered seasonally, I guess depending on if the restaurant receives enough uni).

uni

half-eaten ika

tamago

amaebi

fried amaebi heads

futomaki

I learned that a traditional futomaki has to have 9 ingredients (not counting the basic elements of any roll, namely the rice, sesame and nori)…we spent a lot of time dissecting ours. See photo above, can you name all 9 secret ingredients? (Damn, I watch too much Iron Chef).

Unlike Yusan Sushi which was only open for dinner and closed Sun-Mon, Taki sushi is opened for lunch everyday (I believe Thomas said except Sunday), but don’t quote me on it, and is open everyday for dinner. The sushi bar is not open for lunch though; they do a simpler bento-style menu with more cooked items.

Taki Sushi is located at 10889 San Pablo Ave, El Cerrito, CA 94530.

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Ippudo New York

I was in NYC last week for interviews and my sister and brother-in-law took me to Ippudo NY, the first American outpost of the Japanese chain (opened in March 2008).

A confession: I have never really been a ramen fan. Don’t get me wrong, I love noodles more than anything in the world (okay, that might be stretching it, but noodles and dumplings are definitely my go-to comfort foods). Ramen? Just never been my top pick in the Asian noodle-soup category.  But it is a new restaurant to try and I happily obliged.

I was a bit turned off by the decor.  My favorite ramen places in New York are unadorned and simple (Sapporo and Menkui Tei come into mind). In my mind the “feel” of a true ramen shop should be simple, old, unadorned. Ippudo was the lavish new york version of a ramenya. But hey, given the success of Momofuku Noodle Bar…can you blame them? On the web it even billed itself as a “Japanese Ramen Noodle Brasserie”

On a side note, the decor of the place did somewhat convince me that you can do traditional japanese fare in a fusion setting and still be respected…something to think about as I continue to fantasize about my restaurant =P

Food. I ordered the Shiromaru Classic, knowing well that I was signing up for the fattening and overly rich tonkatsu broth.  The broth was milky and flavorful, and unlike some of the tonkatsu ramen that I’ve had, it did not overwhelm me.  I think my problem with ramen in the past is that I will feel full with the overwhelming flavor of the broth halfway through the meal.  This is especially true with tonkatsu ramen, but the Shiromaru Classic at Ippudo did not leave me feeling this way.

The noodles were not your typical ramen noodles, instead they were more like a thicker, chewier version of somen noodles.  The portions were smaller than other ramen shops, but that’s probably a blessing for me because then I get to order other stuff.  Namely, the pork buns — they looked like taiwanse gua bao but with pork in a red sauce that was both sweet and spicy.  I have never been to Momofuku noodle bar, but photos of the pork buns from Momofuku circulating on the web certainly seemed more impressive than the photo of my sad little bun at Ippudo New York.

I have to say, aside from the noodles, the other dishes were fine…but unimpressive.  I also ordered a Sapporo draft beer along with my ramen…although the calpico cocktail was screaming at me from the menu for a really long time…you gotta match your food, and the Sapporo draft beer was on topic with the richness of the broth.   

Shiromaru Classic Ramen and Sapporo Draft Beer

sad little pork bun

Ippudo New York is located on 65 Fourth Ave, New York, NY.

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Entering the blog-mosphere

with this post I officially enter the universe of blogs.  I should say “rejoin” really, because years ago I had a “web journal” where I kept random creative writing pieces, poetry, etc.

I am totally addicted to various foodie blogs and read them religiously.  I doubt that my blog will ever matched up to the calibar of such foodie blogs, but I figure it will be a good way to document things — and I firmly believe that food is one of top forms of documenting key moments in one’s life.

but there will definitely also be the unrelated posts, private posts, and anything that catches my eye.

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