Camberville Cuisine

So Hyoun’s back in San Francisco right now on a business trip, less than three weeks after we were last there. He forgot to bring me along, though! ;)

Thus, I treated myself to Myers + Chang for dinner tonight. Sat at the bar and devoured an oyster omelette, braised pork belly buns, and a bittersweet chocolate cake with coffee sauce. Hyoun hates eggs; can’t even stand the smell of them, so eating an omelette is a rare treat these days, and this was a delectably flavorful variation. I love their weekend dim sum, and I work close by enough that I can generally beat the crowd for weeknight dinner, which is well worth it. :)

So I took myself out for food Hyoun finds repulsive. In turn, he took himself out for food I generally avoid: a hot dog. (But at least it was from Taylor’s!) This amuses me.

Myers + Chang. 1145 Washington St, Boston. Taylor’s Automatic Refresher. 1 Ferry Bldg, Marketplace Shop #6, San Francisco. 866.328.3663.

It was Hyoun’s birthday today (well, last night at this point), so I treated him to a meal at Icarus before it closes for good next month. Grilled shrimp appetizer with mango-jalapeno sorbet and chili-glazed pork loin for me, potato gnocchi and bacon-wrapped beef tenderloin for him, and we split the passionfruit baked Alaska for dessert.

Working with hot peppers is one thing I’m still shy about in the kitchen – given that chopping onions can still be problematic for me sometimes, the idea of something with even more need for caution concerns me, to say the least. But I would love to replicate that mango-jalapeno sorbet. Maybe I can get Hyoun to deal with the jalapenos …

Icarus. 3 Appleton St, Boston. 617.426.1790.

Thursday: lengua quesadilla from Anna’s on my way home. Mmm, tongue.

Friday: garlic shrimp and country-style pad thai from Thai Moon

Saturday: roasted lamb sandwich from Om

Sunday: brunch buffet at Tavern in the Square, tangerine shrimp and pad see yew from Pho ‘n Rice. In addition to these fine meals, I also went over to Steve’s, and between him and Cris and Fran and Cathy and Jen and Laura and Jack, we made twenty-eight dozen hamantaschen. (Baby Nathan mostly yawned and burbled through the proceedings, but he is only about five weeks old. I believe he slept through any shaking of the grogger that occurred, which is kind of amazing.) This means I have a container full of COOKIES sitting on my counter in the following flavors: apricot, blueberry, cherry, raspberry, strawberry, ginger, and various combos of Nutella and peanut butter. Nom.

Monday: tea-smoked duck and black pepper scallops from Zoe’s.

Tuesday: I should figure this out, shouldn’t I; I can’t just have cookies for dinner. OR CAN I?

Wednesday: My traditional Fluffernutter and a Nutfield.

Anna’s Taqueria. 822 Somerville Ave, Cambridge. 617.661.8500. Thai Moon. 663 Mass Ave, Arlington. 781.646.3334. Om. 92 Winthrop St, Cambridge. 617.576.2800. Tavern in the Square. 1815 Mass Ave, Cambridge. 617.354.7766. Pho ‘n Rice. 289 Beacon St, Somerville. 617.864.8888. Zoe’s Chinese. 296 Beacon St, Somerville. 617.864.6265.

Craigie Street Bistrot, which has been mentioned many times in these pages, is having a tip-to-tail “Whole Hog” dinner tonight. I am so excited!

Here, have a menu:

Whole Hog Dinner

Amuse Bouche: “les Cochonailles”

First Course – choice of

Fresh Wellfleet Clams: green garlic, cuttlefish, CSB guanciale, Chinese sausage consommé
Slow-Cooled Organic Australian Hiramasa: fromage de tête, jicama, purple mustard

Second Course – choice of

Crispy Confit of Quebec Porcelet: mousserons mushrooms, asparagus, foie gras jus
Braised Berkshire Pork Cheeks: crushed fava beans, pickled peanuts, radishes, ramp kimchee

Third Course – choice of

Coriander and Ginger-Cured Vermont Organic Pork Belly: boudin noir, French white asparagus, Vidalia onion, rhubarb-hibiscus purée
Three Pig-Stuffed Vermont Organic Quail: berebere spice, fiddleheads, thistle purée
Pied de Cochon Farci (for two people): morel mushrooms, faro verde

Dessert – choice of

Taza Chocolate and Olive Oil Mousse
Champagne Mango and Rhubarb Crisp: Macadamia topping

All of this is going to be delicious, of course, but I’m particularly happy to see the amazing chocolate mousse we had at second Seder on the menu. Olive oil in chocolate mousse. Who *knew*?!

So last year, after ages of dithering, I finally got a TiVo. Life was great, shows were recorded with me barely having to think about it, hooray for automation! Except the enclosed hard drive was too small to keep around all the shows I wanted to watch and re-watch. So Steve and I struck a bargain: he’d upgrade my TiVo, and I’d take him out for sushi. Good sushi. Like at the new, hip branch of Oishii.

- asparagus maki with cucumber and bonito flakes, topped with torched toro, spicy mayo, and jalapeno
- tuna maki with cucumber, tobiko, and mustard
- seared hamachi maki with tobiko and sudachi (a small Japanese citrus fruit; I wonder if it’s related to the Filipino kalamansi?)
- spicy scallop futo maki
- lobster tempura maki, done kinuta-style, laced with what I think was demerara sugar?
- chu-toro, which given the prices I’ve seen for toro sashimi, was a pretty damn good bargain (so fresh, so melt-in-your-mouth, I almost went for a second round of this instead of dessert!)
- green tea creme brulee (nothing special, but that didn’t prevent us from polishing the plate ;) )

Boy howdy, will we return!

I also ducked out to IHOP with Jess last weekend to cure some late-night munchies, and the waiter, upon my request for “lots and lots of whipped cream” to go atop my chocolate-chip pancakes, brought the entire can to the table. He earned a nice tip. ;)

Oishii Boston. 1166 Washington Street, Boston. 617.482.8868. IHOP. 1850 Soldiers Field Road, Brighton. 617.787.0533.