Monthly Archives: August 2009

Best Foods mayo substitute

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Jars of Best Foods and Raley’s mayo

Since Safeway stopped producing its Safeway Select* brand of real mayonnaise – which was almost a dead ringer for Best Foods/Hellmann’s – I have been looking for another alternate brand that is equally as good.  I finally found one:  Raley’s Real Mayonnaise.  It’s  a bit thicker than Best Foods, but is the real deal, and I think I will be buying this on a regular basis now, given that the (full) price is about $2.50.  It’s also an actual quart (32 ounces).  Since I want to punish Best Foods for downsizing their quart size to 30 ounces, I’ll be doing that in addition to saving money.

*Note that, in my opinion, the store brand of mayo that Safeway now sells is not very good.  It has those off-notes that other store brands have – sort of like wallpaper paste – and does not have a fresh, clean flavor.

Good pupusas at Costco

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Casa Sanchez papusas

When I was in Costco last week I noticed a new product in the prepared food section:  Casa Sanchez pupusas.  A pupusa is a thick, closed tortilla made of masa that’s stuffed with various things, like beans, meat and/or cheese.  There are 10 griddle-ready cheese papusas shrink-wrapped in the package available at Costco.

According to most sources, Pupusas originated in El Savador, but are popular across Latin America, with numerous variants.  If you want to claim that pupusas originated in another country, I won’t be suckered into a fight.  The memory of something I wrote about the history of the chile pepper and its resulting warfare is still fresh in my memory.

I like some of the Casa Sanchez salsas, so I thought I’d give these a try, particularly because decent non-homemade pupusas are not easy to come by.

They’re good, but don’t microwave them.  Wipe a cast iron pan or griddle with a little canola oil and dry-fry the pupusas on each side until the cheese melts and they have some texture.  I also made them successfully on my baking stone in a hot convection oven.  Don’t overcook or the cheese will bake out.

I like the fact that they are plain, and work well as a quick side to something like chili or a salad; we even had them for breakfast one day. Casa Sanchez is generous with the mild, white melting cheese (Cotilla), and the masa is slightly salty.

If you don’t have access to homemade cheese pupusas, these will suit your needs at a cost of $9.99.

Costco’s pasta salad with salmon

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Costco started selling a bow-tie pasta and salmon salad recently, and I gave it a try a couple of weeks ago.  I applaud them for finding a way to utilize what I assume to be unsold farmed salmon, but the recipe leaves much to be desired.

I can’t prove it, but it tastes (and looks) as if chunks of cooked salmon are combined with bow-tie pasta and containers of one of the bruschetta spreads or tapenades they sell.  The flavor is very harsh, in my opinion, due to the lack of any creamy element.  They either have to cut that heavy, olive-laden “dressing” with something gentle, or start from scratch.  Perhaps a modified Caesar might work.  If they don’t want creamy then they need to use some kind of vinaigrette.  Something.  Anything.

I also taste preservatives in there, but it’s hard to figure out what is going on because it hits you like gangbusters.  My taste memory brings me to the subtle rancidity of some canned antipasto I tried once as a child.

Costco Asian chicken wraps

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Costco’s new Asian chicken wraps

I try to maintain an awareness of new products at Costco, particularly their “take home and eat” items, partly because I like to see how creative they can be with their own leftovers.

In this case we have two huge spinach tortilla shells stuffed with the suspects one finds in a Chinese chicken salad.  Each is rolled, burrito-style, and cut in half to offer four portions.  A dipping sauce is provided in a cup on the side.

Inside the wrap you’ll find chunks of breast meat from their house-made rotisserie chickens, dry chow mein noodles and shredded fresh veggies, including cabbage and carrot.

The wrap itself is good – ample and fresh-tasting due to quality ingredients and a generous hand – but the dressing is too viscous for me.  I don’t know if there are gums present, or if they simply make a thick, vinaigrette-style, Chinese chicken salad dressing and use a stabilizer to keep it from separating.  There is something “off” in that dressing, too, but I may be getting unpleasant notes as a by-product of the texture, which I associate with  bad commercial salad dressing.

At $8.99, I don’t know that I’ll be buying them again, but if you don’t want to deal with the prep involved in making your own, I’d give ’em a try – but with a better dressing on standby.

Home of Chicken and Waffles in Oakland

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Matthew’s plate at The Home of Chicken and Waffles in Oakland

Matt and I thought we should have something decadent in honor of school starting this week.  Having gone through all the acting classes offered at Berkeley City College, he registered for one at Laney College, which put us near downtown Oakland as we eyeballed the location of the campus vis a vis the Lake Merritt BART station.

After getting our business taken care of, we decided to go to Home of Chicken and Waffles (444 Embarcadero West, Oakland), which is right across from Barnes & Noble near the main entrance to Jack London Square.  It’d certainly be hard to get more decadent than fried chicken, waffles and macaroni and cheese, plus we wanted to give this place one more shot after having had a mediocre meal with poor service a few years back.

When we walked in, we were greeted immediately and made comfortable while a table was prepared for us.  I noticed that the restaurant, which has a kind of retro-diner theme, added a bar with a nightclubby feel in a space to the right of the main dining area.  Nice.

Once seated in a comfy booth by the windows, we were introduced to our server, who handed us a menu with a huge selection of combo plates, whose names and representations were part of a colorful mural behind the counter.  Home of Chicken and Waffles bills itself as a Southern-style restaurant, and accordingly offers quite a variety of eats, including salads, a full range of breakfast foods, and a number of Southern sides, like greens and mac and cheese.

The problem I had (and I recall having it the last time) was finding a combo that had enough chicken and not too much else.  While you can order extra chicken a la carte, it is not really cost effective, given that combo prices are not really low to begin with.

I settled on a combo called “Kim’s Creation,” that came with a breast, wing, grits, two eggs and a biscuit for just under $11.  Matthew chose the “Princess Jordan,” for just under $12:  one breast, mac and cheese, greens and corn bread.  We also threw caution to the wind and got the fried chicken livers appetizer for $6.75.  What the heck, in for a penny.

My plate at The Home of Chicken and Waffles in Oakland

The entrees came first, the livers therafter, so we wound up eating everything together, which worked out fine, though they should be more careful about this.  It’s not like the place was jammed at that time of day, so an error like this always makes me wonder about busy times.  That said, the server was attentive and friendly, so that makes other things better for me.

There is no doubt that things are made to order here.  While the massive chicken breasts were a bit dry, they were not greasy and had good flavor.  My wing, however, was excellent, and I will make a point of ordering them exclusivly the next time.  The two eggs on my plate were cooked perfectly (over easy), so I had plenty of yolk action with the grits.

The mac and cheese was proclaimed “very good” by his nibs, and he should know, because it is the defining part of a Southern meal for him.  I prefer greens, which were standard here, and I did get some sandy grit in the forkfuls I nabbed off Matt’s plate.

While the cornbread was good, the biscuit was seriously top-notch – tender and tasty, with just enough density to satisfy.  I was sorry I traded it for greens, to be honest with you.

The highlight of the meal for me was the fried chicken livers.  A goodly amount arrived straight out of the fryer, and, joy of joys!, they were not overcooked, rather creamy inside and crispy outside, with just enough batter and seasoning to enhance and not overpower them.  If you eat this kind of thing once every five years, you want it done right.  I would have been crestfallen if they arrived like tennis balls.

One beverage issue I should mention here is that the sweet tea ($2.50 a pop) does not come with refills, like the regular iced tea and soda.  I don’t understand this.  Isn’t sweet tea just iced tea with lots of sugar?

Matthew at the home of chicken and waffles in oakland

I will certainly come back because our overall experience was much better this time around, though I’ll apply all we learned to my next order.