Author Archives: Renate Valencia

Locanda da Eva in Berkeley

Locanda da Eva in Berkeley, CA

Locanda da Eva in Berkeley, CA

Locanda da Eva
2826 Telegraph Avenue, Berkeley
(510) 665-9601
Details:  Mostly Italian; emphasis on sustainability and local ingredients; dinner only; full bar and great wine menu; street parking and pay lot nearby

Locanda da Eva opened in Berkeley in July, taking over a supposedly “cursed” space that housed Mazzini Trattoria, Zax Tavern and Maritime East in recent years.  Prior to that, Casa de Eva, a Mexican place and inspiration for the current name, was there for 37 years, so maybe the space just needs to find its legs again.

The other night I tagged along to a PR dinner with GraceAnn Walden of The Yummy Report, allowing me to give you a first-look review here in my modest venue.

The locale was pleasing to me, being a number of blocks from where Telegraph meets the Cal campus and away from serious parking mayhem.  There were few other diners that Wednesday evening, but it’s a bit far-flung to catch campus-related foot traffic.  Two of the few were Joanne Weir and her husband, so there was certainly quality if not quantity.

Locanda da Eva is what my father would have called “CALM-fter-bul,” which is “comfortable” for people of a certain age who grew up in New York City.

There’s plenty of medium-toned wood and the lighting is subtle.  I’m always grateful when I don’t see fixtures hanging at eye level over tables, being photosensitive.  It means someone is actually thinking about function.  The warmth blends with an airy feel due to the generous spacing of tables and chairs, and the kitchen is open to view.

Nude paintings a la Eve and olive branches hang throughout.

We spent a little time at the bar.  GraceAnn investigated cocktails and chatted up the bartender, while I indulged in a sweet and rich glass of Navarro Gewürztraminer grape juice.

I’m not qualified to talk about mixed drinks and bar culture, but I can tell you the seats are comfy and that I’d probably visit often to have a glass of wine if I lived in the immediate ‘hood.  It’s very civilized, and I love the wine menu, being a fan of Italian reds.  While it’s not a menu that caters to the masses, the masses would have a hard time going wrong here.  Wines have been carefully selected to complement the menu, and there are a number of reasonably-priced options.

An interesting thing about Locanda da Eva is that its owner, Robert Lauriston, is a food writer.  He’s blogged and written reviews for SF Weekly, and contributed to other Bay Area publications, like East Bay Express.  I know him mainly from Chowhound, though.

Some years ago I had a short but intense fling with Chowhound, which I threw over for a long-term relationship with Facebook.  As I recall, there was nary a Bay Area thread without Robert Lauriston commentary.  His well-stated contributions showed significant macro and micro-level knowledge of the Bay Area food scene and food in general, and were comprehensive in their attack of the subject at hand.  Knowing this made certain things about my dining experience at Locanda da Eva make sense.

Case in point:  words.  The wine menu is eight pages long, has an introduction, there’s a paragraph about each wine, it’s dated on the lower left-hand corner, paginated on the right, and perfectly formatted.  The daily dinner menu provides all you need to know, from practices related to values to the price of Locanda da Eva T-shirts.

I loved seeing “…complimentary Acme bread by request…,” thinking that perhaps one should not take bread service for granted.

Bread with fancy olive oil at Locanda da Eva in Berkeley

Bread with fancy olive oil at Locanda da Eva in Berkeley

The dinner menu had good variety in terms of apps and entrees, and there were several pizzas and pastas.  Provenance is king here, so adjectives, many of them formal, were peppered throughout.  It wasn’t just “kale,” but “wilted Dirty Girl kale,” on the second pizza down.

We had a nice young man as our server.  Efficient and friendly – he kept an eye on goings-on at our table and orchestrated the arrival of selections so that we were neither rushed nor waiting.

Locanda da Eva does not provide butter for bread.  Instead, they offer olive oil for dipping – for a $2 fee!  The oil was fruity, peppery and fine, but not worthy of a surcharge.

If you want to avoid dry bread, you have to pay.  Not in keeping with the generosity of spirit that should be at the heart of every eating establishment, is it?  Come on – provide butter and olive oil under that old “cost of doing business” saw.  Geez.

UPDATE – 9/15/10:  Robert Lauriston contacted me to let me know that olive oil would now be complimentary upon request.  Nice!

We selected several appetizers, a pasta and two entrees, and were able to choose a gussied up vegetable side with each entree – a nice touch, given that they listed at $5 to $6 each a la carte.

Execution was very good – and this with a meal involving several cooking styles and ingredients requiring a knowing hand, like albacore tuna.

Flavors were bright and distinct, and most things were well-seasoned.  You need to ask for salt and pepper here, by the way.

Pork trotters at Locanda da Eva in Berkeley

Pork trotters at Locanda da Eva in Berkeley

The fried pork trotters with roasted corn and Poblano peppers ($9) was wonderful.  You’ve never had them, you say?  Trotters, as the name suggests, are pork feet with part of the shank attached.  They’re cooked until the meat falls off the bone.  The meat is then used in a preparation that takes advantage of its gelatinous texture – a by-product of cooking down the tendon.  At Locanda, the trotter meat/jelly is formed into little blocks, coated and fried crisp.

The coating on my square o’trotter encased its deeply flavored, silky contents perfectly, and provided a textural contrast.  The corn bed added a sweet crunch.  If you order only one appetizer here, make it this one.

Bresaola at Locanda da Eva in Berkeley

Bresaola at Locanda da Eva in Berkeley

The house-made bresaola ($9), served with crostini and pickled veggies, was a little bland and too dry – even for an air-dried beef product.  You may want to have lemon wedges and olive oil handy.

Calamari at Locanda da Eva in Berkeley

Calamari at Locanda da Eva in Berkeley

The local calamari with avocado, garbanzo beans, lemon-herb vinaigrette and senise powder ($11) was tasty, but chick pea-heavy.  The fresh calamari – though cut incomprehensibly small – were nevertheless cooked perfectly.  The vinaigrette was nice and light, and everything in this salad – which is basically what it was – married well.  A bright, well-seasoned dish that lacked in its main ingredient.  By the by, I had no idea what “senise powder” was.  When I plugged it into Google, my first hit was Locanda da Eva!  A little more research showed it to be Peperoni di Senise – peppers from Senise, in Southern Italy, dried and ground into powder.

Strozzapreti at Locanda da Eva in Berkeley

Strozzapreti at Locanda da Eva in Berkeley

It’s an Italian place, so we had to try a pasta dish, which they split for us.

The strozzapreti with roasted eggplant, chiles, tomatoes, lamb sausage, herbs and ricotta salata ($16) was a beautifully executed dish.  The “priest choker” pasta – like long cavatelli that twist and curl a bit when cooked – arrived perfectly al dente.  The sauce was a rich, thick ragu peppered with bits of mildly spicy sausage and eggplant.  There was lots going on here and it all melded perfectly – like a good Bolognese.  And, like a good Bolognese, it was not overly saucy or tomatoey.  GraceAnn commented on the moistness of the ricotta salata shreds, which seemed more like fresh mozzarella.

The glass of wine I chose to accompany my meal – Ricci Bonarda El Matt 2008 – worked spectacularly with this dish, by the way.

Albacore tuna at Locanda da Eva in Berkeley

Albacore tuna at Locanda da Eva in Berkeley

I have to hand it to the kitchen:  they put out a well-seasoned and expertly cooked piece of albacore tuna.  If you’ve ever prepared this at home, you know there’s a  narrow margin between sashimi and Starkist – even when working with a fresh, beautiful piece of tuna.

The griddled local albacore with roasted Italian sweet peppers, basil, and grilled summer squash ($19) was GraceAnn’s entree, but I wished I’d ordered it – which is a first.  I never, ever, select salmon or tuna as my entree because I figure I can overcook them myself for less than half the price.

This was nice and rare, and the whole peppers were charred outside and tender and sweet inside.  I didn’t bother with the squash.

Fried corn at Locanda da Eva in Berkeley

Fried corn at Locanda da Eva in Berkeley

The Brentwood (what the hell, when you got it, flaunt it, I guess) fried corn on the cob with salsa verde maionese ($6 a la carte, but you can choose this as a side with an entree) tasted like grilled corn.  I would not have guessed it was fried – not greasy at all.  I thought it needed a little salt, and the sauce was a little sweet for my taste, but I was happy with this rustic, straighforward side dish.

Chicken & ricotta meatballs at Locanda da Eva in Berkeley

Chicken & ricotta meatballs at Locanda da Eva in Berkeley

I chose the braised chicken and ricotta meatballs with kale, onions, sumac, cumin and Grana Padana ($18), which was übersavory.  There were five cloud-like meatballs in a broth that was concentrated and salty and needed some kind of neutral, absorbent foil – like bread, potatoes or pasta.  While I liked the flavor and even the soft texture of the meatballs, I found the dish to be overworked, with the integrity of individual ingredients lost in a heightened state of umami.  I would order this again only as a “table” entree.

Fried potatoes at Locanda da Eva in Berkeley

Fried potatoes at Locanda da Eva in Berkeley

I had hoped to use the side of fried potatoes with pickled cabbage and Calabrian chiles ($5, same bit about the entree) as a textural contrast to my meatball entree – envisioning a batch of crispy potatoes straight out of a sizzling frying pan.

The fried potatoes turned out to be more like tired roast potatoes that had been warmed over.  Bland, too, and a real letdown.

On impulse, I had a latte and the peanut butter and chocolate chip cookies with peanut butter gelato, bitter chocolate ganache and sea salt ($8) for dessert.  The ganache almost froze on the gelato, which I liked, and the cookies were buttery and light.  There was not too much salt here, which I appreciated, given the volume of fine-dining desserts these days with sea salt.

Peanut butter & choco chip cookie dessert at Locanda da Eva in Berkeley

Peanut butter & choco chip cookie dessert at Locanda da Eva in Berkeley

Our server noticed that I wasn’t drinking my latte, and apologized if it wasn’t up to snuff.  “No, it’s fine – just taking my time.” said I.  I like that he asked, though.  I liked it a lot.

Robert Lauriston is invested here in every way possible – you can’t help but see that – and Executive Chef Huw Thornton clearly runs a strong kitchen.

An interesting menu, forward-thinking food values, a well-thought out wine menu and a great space should add up to a win for Locanda da Eva – as long as there’s willingness to adapt to what their location may ultimately dictate.

I’d like to go back and try a few other things – if they stop charging for olive oil.  That olive oil thing sticks in my craw.

UPDATE – 9/15/10:  Robert Lauriston contacted me to let me know that olive oil would now be complimentary upon request, so my craw is officially clear.

Eat Real 2010 in Oakland

Sign for Eat Real festival 2010

Banner for Eat Real Festival 2010 – Jack London Square, Oakland, CA

Oakland’s Jack London Square was the setting for this year’s Eat Real Festival, held Friday through Sunday of the weekend before last.

Curry Up Now - Indian food truck at Eat Real Festival 2010

Curry Up Now – Indian food truck at Eat Real Festival 2010

Friday was beautiful — the kind of weather that makes a person all puffed up and snooty about living within the confines of the best 75 square miles on earth.  You don’t think the SF Bay Area is the best place on earth to live?  I’ll debate you on that anytime, anywhere.

Matthew at the chicken and coop concession at Eat Real Festival 2010

Matthew at the chicken and coop concession at Eat Real Festival 2010

It was breezy and crystal clear at Jack London Square, which was looking all spiffy.  Seriously, if you don’t come here to enjoy the bay and all the restaurants, you’re nuts.  There has been lots of work done done over the past few years to make Jack London Square and environs inviting and pedestrian-friendly.  I know some people are afraid to come to Oakland.  People, please.  Don’t wait for the Jack London Marketplace to open – come now.  (I’m not linking to the market website on purpose — the site has a plug-in that keeps crashing my browser!) 

LaLoo's ice cream truck at Eat Real Festival 2010 in Oakland

LaLoo’s ice cream truck at Eat Real Festival 2010 in Oakland

Because I had OysterFest on Saturday and was spoken for on Sunday, Matthew and I trekked over to see what was what on Friday.

Sandwich board at 2010 Eat Real Festival in Oakland

Sandwich board at 2010 Eat Real Festival in Oakland

Now, a food festival needs some level of critical mass to “work,” so I was worried about it being DOA on a work day.  While it wasn’t as active in terms of people and events — and there were less food choices — it was a respectable scene, so we had a fun time.

Food truck selling Philipino snacks at Eat Real Festival 2010

Food truck selling Philipino snacks at Eat Real Festival 2010

I liked that this event was named “real food,” because this is a term I use all the time.  Real, as opposed to produced in a lab or processed to the point of oblivion.  Eat Real promotes awareness of, and respect for, the craft of making good food and all that is associated with that concept, such as positive impacts on local food economies, and universal acceptance of “real food” values.  To bring it all home, it means that real food should be accessible to everyone.  A right.

Hay bale seating at Eat Real Festival 2010 in Oakland

Hay bale seating at Eat Real Festival 2010 in Oakland

There were no chain concessions here!  All the food was sold by small, local vendors.  Yay!  The little guy or gal making good food rules!

Korean food truck at Eat Real Festival 2010

Korean food truck at Eat Real Festival 2010

The festival is a reflection of these values:

“We believe that good, fresh, delicious food is something to be celebrated, so we created an annual party called the Eat Real Festival. With a focus on food craft, street food, artisan beers and local wines– all featuring sustainable local ingredients — we showcase food in all its different forms. But eating is only part of the fun — we’ll show you how to make it and grow it! From cheese to kombucha, we’ll have demonstrations galore that highlight a do-it-yourself lifestyle. And all food is only $5 and below!”

Sam's Chowder Mobile at the Eat Real Festival 2010 - sadly not open when we were there

Sam’s Chowder Mobile at the Eat Real Festival 2010 – sadly not open when we were there

The vibe was matter of fact.  Lots of real fast food from vendors — trucks, carts, stalls, what have you.  Demos from coffee roasting to butchering a goat.  Reps from homesteading-related enterprises.  My favorite among these was the combo chicken and coop operation, sponsored by Wooley Egg Ranch and Holland Hen Houses.  These people told me all I need to know about keeping hens in my yard.  Cool.

Jim 'n Nick's BBQ truck at the 2010 Eat Real Festival

Jim ‘n Nick’s BBQ truck at the 2010 Eat Real Festival

People at the stands were friendly and fun, too.  I didn’t come across one person selling me food or telling me stuff who wasn’t having a good time.

Jack London Square, Oakland, CA

Jack London Square, Oakland, CA

It makes all kinds of sense to know our food — like people did 100 years ago.  There is really no arguing that we need to reverse some of our “modern” food practices.  Events like this — meaning more “carrot” and less “stick” — could have real impact.  People don’t want to be lectured or told they’re evil.  If you want to get a person to do something different, it’s best to be upbeat.

Jack London Square with new Jack London Marketplace in the background

Jack London Square with new Jack London Marketplace in the background

Check out some of our photos below to see what we ate.  The best thing I had was the pork belly bao from Chairman Bao.  Bao are steamed Chinese buns.  Matt’s fave was Whole Foods’ hamachi (young yellowtail) ceviche.  The ceviche was only 2 bucks!

Whole Foods sold cups of hamachi ceviche and chips for $2 at the 2010 Eat Real Festival

Whole Foods sold cups of hamachi ceviche and chips for $2 at the 2010 Eat Real Festival

Slice of pizza margherita from Pizza Politana at Eat Real Festival 2010 in Oakland

Slice of pizza margherita from Pizza Politana at Eat Real Festival 2010 in Oakland

Yucatecan al pastor taco from Chac-Mool at Eat Real Festival 2010 in Oakland

Yucatecan al pastor taco from Chac-Mool at Eat Real Festival 2010 in Oakland

Pizza Politana tent at Eat Real Festival 2010 in Oakland

Pizza Politana tent at Eat Real Festival 2010 in Oakland

Tacos from Kung Fu Tacos at Eat Real Festival 2010 in Oakland

Tacos from Kung Fu Tacos at Eat Real Festival 2010 in Oakland

Chairman Bao truck at the Eat Real Festival 2010 in Oakland

Chairman Bao truck at the Eat Real Festival 2010 in Oakland

Chairman Bao food truck logo

Chairman Bao food truck logo

Bao from Chairman Bao food truck at 2010 Eat Real Festival in Oakland - pork belly on the left!

Bao from Chairman Bao food truck at 2010 Eat Real Festival in Oakland – pork belly on the left!

Tandoori Asparagus

Tandoor asparagus on a white plate

Here’s something easy to do with asparagus that makes them a little different.

You’ll need some dry tandoori spice blend.  You can make your own, but there are some good ones on the market.  Having it on hand is great when you can’t figure out what kind of side to make with din-din and you’re sick and tired of bland veggies.  While I might put together my own spice blend for a main dish, I usually use packaged stuff for everything else.

I suggest going to an Indian or Pakistani grocery for your spice blends.  I wrote a post about this last year, which you can check out.  These stores carry imported products, which are much less expensive than their American-made counterparts.  For example, MDH puts out a good Tandoori blend, and you’ll pay about $1.50 for 100 grams at Vik’s Market in Berkeley.  This is a steal.

Give this a try and then alter the recipe to your taste.  It works well with green beans and potatoes, but you’ll need more oil for the latter.

Tandoori-style Asparagus
   Makes enough for dinner sides for 4 and leftovers

2 pounds fresh asparagus
1/4 cup olive oil
2 tablespoons tandoori spice blend
2 teaspoons sea salt

1).  Wash, dry and trim the asparagus, and then peel the bottom quarter or so of the stems to get rid of the woody, stringy part.
2).  Toss oil, spice blend and salt on a sheet pan and mix with your hands.
3).  Place asparagus on sheet pan and coat spears well with seasoned oil.  Hands are your best tool for this.
4).  Arrange in single layer (or you can put on a rack, if you like).
5).  Blast in preheated 425 deg. F. oven (convection, if you have it) and take out when they are to your liking.  If you use thin asparagus and leave them in longer than you really should, they will be very soft at the ends but the tips will be crunchy and salty/spicy, which I like.
6).  Remove with tongs to serving plate and present with lemon wedges.

These are good as leftovers on a sandwich.  I know I say that about everything, and it’s usually true.  This time it’s really true.

OysterFest 2010 at Waterbar in San Francisco

drakes bay oyster with open shellMy friend, GraceAnn Walden, asked if I wanted to join her at OysterFest 2010 this past weekend, an annual event held at Waterbar in San Francisco.  She was to serve as a celebrity judge for various competitions at this “celebration of the sustainable oyster,” benefiting the San Mateo Chapter of the Surfrider Foundation, an organization dedicated to the protection and enjoyment of “oceans, waves and beaches.”

Being part of an event that includes me and thousands of oysters on the half shell is the stuff of dreams, so, yeah, I’m there.

So many things in life disappoint.  So many things sound good on paper.  I told my husband and son, “If I don’t get to eat a ton of oysters I’ll be seriously pissed.”  Let’s face it, there are few things worse than being teased by a small qualtity of something you really, really love.

OysterFest at Waterbar in San Francisco on 8/31/10 with view of hills brothers coffee company sign This celebration delivered – and how.  The sponsors were clearly generous with money, time and product.  Event-goers were tagged with a pink wristband, armed with a stem glass, and turned loose on the oysters and wine.

Before I made my way to the oyster stalls, I took in the whole gestalt.

First off, the weather cooperated.  It was breezy, sunny, and not too hot.  Second, we were right on the bay with the mightly Bay Bridge almost on top of us.

Under the bay bridge at oysterfest 2010 held at waterbar in SFThe setting was ridiculously post card, and made me think how wonderful it is to live here.

They decked out the party space nicely.  If you’ve never been to Waterbar, it’s one of two Rincon Park restaurants Pat Kuleto opened a couple years back – near that Oldenburg and van Bruggen monstrosity, Cupid’s Span.

Waterbar and Epic Roasthouse, sister restaurants, one surf and the other turf, sit adjacent to each other with an attractive outdoor space between them that blends into Rincon Park and the walking path behind them.

Maison Beausoleil stall at OysterFest 2010 in San FranciscoPlenty of chairs and tables were set out.  Even when the crowd swelled at about the midpoint, competition for seating was not particularly fierce.

We got there right at the start, so food and drink flowed freely and there were no lines.  I was very happy that the food was all oysters, all the time.

Drakes Bay stall at OysterFest in San Francisco 8/28/10Oysters were shucked on the fly at stalls representing farmers sponsoring the event.  Drakes Bay Family Farms and Maison Beausoleil – the former right here in Marin County and the latter from New Brunswick, Canada – served up God knows how many oysters.  Those guys were quick, too.

Nice that both Atlantic and Pacific bivalves were offered – all sustainably farmed.

You could eat as many as you wanted.  The smaller Beausoleil oysters are clean, briny and a little smokey-sweet, so I had a goodly amount of those.  Drakes Bay are larger and stronger in flavor – also very good – so I didn’t hold back at that stall either.

The idea was also to take five ‘sters over to the sauce station, try all five sauces, and then vote for your favorite.  I have no idea which sauce won because I didn’t hear the announcement.  I liked sauce 2, but usually don’t want much of anything on a good oyster.

Sauce station at oysterfest 2010 in san franciscoRestaurant sponsors (all Kuleto-ville, save one, Nettie’s Crab Shack [closed], unless I missed something) provided small plates starring one or more oysters – with little filler, for the most part.

Epic Roasthouse put out my favorite dish of the day:  a killer fried Drakes Bay oyster on a skewer with fried green tomato.  This “brochette” apparently had “homemade pork belly.”  Not sure how you make pork belly at home, and, if there was some on any one of the four I ate, I couldn’t detect it.  I loved the remoulade-like sauce, though, and the oysters were big and fat and perfectly done.  The tomato chunks were sweet and plump and coated in crisped-up cornmeal, as were the oysters.  GraceAnn picked two up for me when I was holding our table, and I went back later for another two.  When I was on BART riding home, I kicked myself for not getting a last one for the road.  Sheer bliss.

Waterbar cranked out humongous grilled oysters with pickled cabbage in a light, buttery cream sauce.  I think.  If there was a card on the table I didn’t see it so I can’t swear to the sauce.  I didn’t know what to make of this.  It was interesting, but pickled cabbage – sauerkraut, more or less – does not play well with others.  The oyster’s flavor was lost in confusion.

BBQ oyster from Waterbar at oysterfest 2010 in SFI was happy the water station was across from the Waterbar booth – and water is mainly what I drank.  While there were numerous wine tasting stations, I decided to stop with the wine after my slug of Twomey 2009 Napa Valley Sauvignon Blanc.  It was a drag to deal with the one wine glass I was issued while trying to eat oysters by hand as I walked around.

Waterbar stall at oysterfest 2010 in SF and grill full of hot stones and oystersFarallon doled out Vichyssoise oyster shooters, which I believe contained both potato and leek and were finished with celery.  The chef rattled the contents off to me but I was already in some sort of coma from the sun, the sea air and many oysters, so I’m not sure I grasped it all.  This was a tasty little viand and a good idea for the setting.  Rich, though, so I had a total of one.

Farallon stall at oysterfest 2010 in san franciscoNettie’s Crab Shack made little fried oyster po’boys with all the trimmings.  The oyster on mine was not as good the one on the Epic Roasthouse brochette, but nothing to kick out of bed.  I went back to try another to see if I perhaps wound up with a nonrepresentative oyster on my first sammie, but, sadly, this stall closed up shop early in the game.

In between grazing and hanging out in the sun drinking beer, GraceAnn served as a celebrity judge for the oyster eating and shucking contests.

GraceAnn Walden at oysterfest 2010 in San Francisco judging eating contestEating contests are always a wonder to me.  I don’t really get them, but I must be in the minority.  Here there were five people who ate oysters as fast as they could for three minutes.  Each of the five celebrity judges tracked one participant.  GraceAnn wound up tracking a young woman who entered the contest at the last minute, egged on by the crowd when an empty space at the table was offered up at high volume by the MC.  The winner ate over 80 oysters, with the middle ground being in the 40-something range.  Most memorable to me was GraceAnn encouraging her contestant by shouting, “Don’t chew, just swallow!”  Indeed.

One of the platters made during the oyster shucking contest at oysterfest 2010 in SFThe oyster shucking contest included shucking and arranging said oysters on a platter with other seafood under duress.  The platters, judged not only by aesthetic appeal but also practical concerns – like ease of getting at crabmeat and shrimp – were sold to the highest bidders at the end of the competition.  There were four contestants:  three chefs from sponsoring restaurants and one amateur.  The amateur won.

The winner of the oyster shucking contest at OysterFest 2010 in San Francisco with celebrity judges

The winner of the oyster shucking contest, Greg Babinecz, at OysterFest 2010 in San Francisco with celebrity judges

Judges Roland Passot, Narsai David, two Alice DJs, Matty and Icky, and GraceAnn conferred for quite some time before making a decision, and the winner was thrilled.

Celebrity judges conferring at OysterFest 2010 at San Francisco's Waterbar

Celebrity judges conferring at OysterFest 2010

The supportive and cheering crowd gathered close around the long tables used for the contest, so it was a blast.

Shucking contest in action at OysterFest 2010 in San Francisco

Shucking contest in action at OysterFest 2010 in San Francisco

I could have done without the surf music.  The band, Drifting Sand, was good, but I experience even good surf music like a mild toothache:  I just want it to stop.

ChicoBag’s “Bag Monster” wandered around the event.  He’s a guy wearing a suit of 500 supermarket plastic bags, reminding us how many of these blasted single-use things the average American uses in a year, and that they wind up everywhere they shouldn’t – like shorelines.

Bag Monster and GraceAnn Walden at OysterFest 2010 in San Francisco

Bag Monster and GraceAnn Walden at OysterFest 2010 in San Francisco

GraceAnn and I left shortly before the event ended and were both in need of a nap.  We wondered if there was something about oysters that makes a person sleepy.

Like lemon juice in a wound, I had to stand all the way to the East Bay on BART, and then flung myself on the bed when I got home.  Steve, my husband, channeling his Mother, said it was “the salt air and the sun.”  Matthew, my son, not even looking up from whatever video game he was playing, told me he had “no intention of feeling sorry for someone who just got to eat alot of oysters for free at a fancy restaurant on the water.”

The final word:  If you are an oyster-on-the-half-shell kind of person, you should run to this event in 2011.  Not only will you satisfy a yen to an unprecedented degree, you’ll help a worthy organization.  Just arrive early to avoid the lines, and drink more wine and beer than I did!

Heirloom Tomato Sandwiches Rock

Heirloom tomato sandwich open face with crushed pistachios on top

I wait all year for that brief, shining portion of late summer that brings me luscious, flavorful heirloom tomatoes for about $2 a pound.  Big, red, Beefsteak types, like the Beefmaster you see in the photo, which weighed in at 19 ounces.

That time has come, and I was able to savor my first really spectacular tomato of the year – courtesy of Berkeley Bowl West, which is now full-up with heirlooms at a great price.

I think most of the tomatoes sold in the US are, well, crappy.  The only places to get good ones – and I mean with actual flavor – are the farmers’ markets and stores like Berkeley Bowl and Whole Foods.  Even those quality tomatoes can’t compare to these heirlooms, though, but the price is usually so high for the latter that I go for the former until this time of year.

One little hitch is my tomato allergy.  Since my problem is mostly with seeds, I’m able to eat fresh tomatoes in limited quantity, and I scout out less seedy types.  I’m glad it’s not one of those life-threatening allergies or I’d never make it through the next few weeks!

A great tomato needs very little.

When I was a kid, we’d buy huge Beefsteaks at roadside stands in Pennsylvania and New Jersey, and eat them like apples – by hand.  We always carried a little salt shaker in the car so we’d be ready, and would bring some back home to Queens, where we lived.  This is one of my strongest food memories, and eating a big red heirloom puts me right back in my parents’ car in a 1969 Sunday afternoon traffic jam on the Cross Bronx Expressway inching toward the George Washington Bridge in 90 degree heat – with the smells of melting tar and a basket of roadside tomatoes next to me on the back seat.

You need to go get a huge red heirloom and make a tomato sandwich with one big slice, like I do.

Tomato Sandwich

1 humongous red heirloom tomato with deep, sweet flavor
1 slice really good bread, like Vital Vittles Real Bread, toasted
1 nice tablespoon good mayonnaise
Sea salt
10 pistachios (I use Everybody’s Nuts Salt & Pepper version), crushed (put under plastic and rap with rolling pin)

1).  Cut a 3/4 inch (at least) center slice out of the tomato and store the rest for later.
2).  Spread mayo on toast and lay tomato slice on top.
3).  Grind a little sea salt on top of ‘mater.
4).  Sprinkle crushed nuts on top.
5).  Eat.

Here are other ideas for sammies with heirlooms:  chicken salad, a few curls of Emmentaler plus said ground nuts makes a good combo.  Fried fish, mayo and a little parmesan works, too.  Check this out:

Chicken salad and heirloom tomato sandwich

Fried fish and heirloom tomato sandwich