Author Archives: Renate Valencia

Lunch at Jimmy Beans in Berkeley

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Matt ready for lunch at Jimmy Bean's in Berkeley

Matt ready for lunch at Jimmy Beans in Berkeley

We used to go to Jimmy Beans (1290 6th Street, Berkeley) all the time but then stopped, mainly because it was just too jam-packed and claustrophobic in there, and then dealing with only one restroom – a drag.  Maybe it was also because we got tired of this kind of casual Berkeley restaurant, of which there are several, and needed a break.  After all, there are only so many dishes of eggs with chicken-apple sausage and vegetable wraps one can eat over a short period.  Maybe it also had to do with not being crazy about T-Rex, another in the K2 family of restaurants, and feeling somewhat ripped-off by that establishment and not wanting to line the pockets of the owners in any way.  Who can remember?  All I know is that Matthew and I started going back to Jimmy Beans recently and rediscovered the things we loved about it in the first place, and found that there have been some improvements – to the space, I mean; the food was never lacking.

Chicken Panini at Jimmy Beans

Chicken Panini at Jimmy Beans

First off, they now have sturdy metal chairs, not those rickety wooden ones, and expanded their dining space.  While it’s still crowded during peak hours, it’s not as bad.  They also now serve dinner, which means that you have until at least 9:00 p.m. to get your fix.  Do what we do, though:  go during off hours, like 2:30 p.m., if you’re able.

Steak sandwich special at Jimmy Beans

Steak Sandwich at Jimmy Beans

Yesterday we had a Steak Sandwich ($12) and Chicken Panini ($9.50).  With one coffee (Matthew, who else?), and a bowl of soup ($4.50), it set us back $30.49 plus a couple bucks for the tip jar.  The steak sand had two thick slices of ribeye, rare, as requested, tomato, caramelized red onion, melted Swiss cheese and a bit of mayo and mustard.  Served on a soft, long roll, the whole thing kind of melted together.  I have to say it was very good, and was not expecting it to be so decadent.  Sometimes things sound good on paper…you know how that works.  My sandwich came with a small portion of fries, really crispy and hot, and a small salad of spring mix, pre-tossed in a nicely-balanced vinaigrette-type dressing.  The chix sand was griddled crispy, which gave the flatbread nice texture, and there was a little veggie action in there.  Matt didn’t allow me to fully inspect his sandwich, but he was very happy with it.  It came with a larger spring mix salad.

Potato Leek soup at Jimmy Beans

Potato Leek soup at Jimmy Beans

We split the soup, which was excellent, as soups here tend to be.  This one was vegetarian with deep flavor, and not a run-in-the-mill, clumpy potato leek, rather more brothy, with large pieces of potato and other soft veggies.  It came with bread and butter.

Other things we did not have on this visit but which we have regularly and can recommend, are:

Entrees involving chicken on the bone.  They make a fabulous, flavorful roast chicken here.  If I can’t make it to Cafe Rouge to get a whole chicken to go, this is my next choice.

Breakfasts.  Their homefries are more like roast potatoes, and they serve good bread.  When my stepfather used to visit from New York City, we would have the Grilled Pork Chop and Eggs ($12.95) as a treat.  The morning he passed away we drove to Jimmy Beans from UCSF, after having been up all night, to have this dish in his honor and as some small form of comfort.  That should tell you something.

The Cheddar Quesadilla ($5.25).  Enough cheese and nice and crispy.  Matthew, the house expert in this area, says they’re very good.

They serve a good cup of coffee, which is endless and self-serve.  This is a must, really, but you can’t take it for granted.

The specials are often very good, and I tend to order sandwiches from from this menu.

I have not yet tried the fixed-price, three-course, evening meal ($15), which they probably added because of the economic situation.  They are very good at updating their website with daily specials, and you can see what the fixed-price menus are a week in advance.  For example, today it’s meatloaf with mashed and veg, soup or salad, and dessert.

Check the website for their exact hours, but they average about 7:00 a.m. – 9:00 p.m.  Although you can order from the lunch/dinner menu all day, they start table service at 5:00 p.m.  Before 5 you order and pay at the counter and they bring your food to you.

Tom Kha Tuna

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tom kha tuna 2010

I had quite a few frozen albacore tuna steaks in my freezer that I needed to use up, which is the only reason I would use such a protein for this dish – let’s get that straight up front.  Why?  If you overcook fresh tuna, you may as well use canned, and it would be very easy to overcook it in this dish.  Albacore and ahi steaks are best seared and served on the rare side.  However, if you find yourself with some that have been hanging around in the freezer till their drop-dead usage date and you want to cook them through, you may want to try this recipe.  If not, use another kind of meaty, white-fleshed fish, shrimp, scallops, or chicken.

This recipe uses tom kha paste. Even people who spend way too much time dealing with food don’t always want to grind lemongrass and galangal, so Thai curry pastes are a Godsend.  That said, tom kha pastes tend to have too much salt and lack the brightness you’d have in a homemade version.  To get around that, we add a few fresh ingredients to amp it back up.  Generally speaking, this problem is less pronounced with other pastes, like panang, green and masuman, to name a few, than it is with the tom kha, which I always need to doctor up.

This is usually offered as soup in Thai restaurants, i.e., Tom Kha Gai (chicken), but I serve it with rice as a full meal.
This recipe will provide dinner to 6 – 8 people if you make a pot of jasmine rice to go with it.  Serve in large bowls and then mound rice on one side.

Tom Kha Whatever-you-like 

2 – 14 oz. cans coconut milk
28 oz chicken stock
1/4 cup tom kha paste (buy in Asian markets)
1 stalk lemongrass, peeled of outer leaves, cut into short (2″) sticks, using the bottom 2/3 of stalk only
2 large slices of fresh galangal or standard ginger – no need to peel
6 red bell peppers, in large chunks (they add some smokiness, but feel free to use some green and some red)
3 1/2 lbs. firm, white protein, i.e., chicken, in large cubes
1/8 cup fresh lime juice

1).  In wok or large cooking vessel and over medium heat, whisk coconut milk, stock (fill each empty coconut milk can with stock to measure) and tom kha paste until blended.
2).  Add lemongrass and galangal.
3).  Bring to boil and add the peppers.
4).  Bring to simmer and cook for 2 minutes.
5).  Bring to boil over high heat and add protein, stir in, bring to simmer, lower heat and cook until protein is just done.  If using something like albacore, this would be only a couple of minutes.  For chicken or shrimp, generally no more than 4 or 5 minutes.  Depends also on the size of your cuts.
6).  Turn off heat and stir in lime juice.
7).  Taste and add a little more lime juice, if needed.
8).  Ladle into bowls.  A couple of scallion curls on top would be nice, or cilantro sprigs.

Pork loin & bacon fat-sauteed cabbage sammies

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bacon slaw & pork sammie 1-24-10

Bacon Slaw and Pork Sammie

I have some leftover mustard-encrusted pork loin roast from the day before last, and I just saw 3/4 of a head 0f cabbage in my vegetable crisper, which makes me happy I saved the bacon fat from the BLTs we had a couple of weeks ago.  I know I have one bagel, one piece of naan and one sub roll, as well as fixings for mustard aioli – if I scrape out the large jar of Best Foods I bought for the holiday season, that is – so that, my friends, means there will be a dinner for three tonight, and I’ll let the boys fight over the bread and take the one that’s left.  Something tells me it’ll be the naan.

Cabbage Sauteed in Bacon Fat

1 Small head green cabbage
1/4 cup rendered bacon fat
1 tablespoon whole mustard seeds
2 bay leaves
1 teaspoon turmeric (optional)
Salt & pepper

1).  Cut cabbage in half and remove core by making v-cuts into each half as it sits cut side down on board
2).  Shred cabbage (medium to large shred)
3).  Wash and spin-dry shredded cabbage
4).  Add bacon fat to wok or other deep vessel on medium flame (I often use my trusty Wolfgang Puck electric wok for this)
5).  When oil melts, add mustard seeds
6).  When mustard seeds begin to pop, add cabbage, bay leaves, turmeric and a little salt & pepper (amount of salt depends upon salt content in bacon fat used)
7).  Turn flame to high and stir fry for a few moments
8).  Cover and cook, over medium flame, stirring now and then, until cabbage is at desired consistency.  About 7 minutes is usually good in terms of leaving a little texture intact

This is good served with a non-clashing pork roast, i.e., one that has been rubbed with a paste of Dijon mustard, ground thyme, a little oil and some salt and pepper.  If you serve it on a pork sandwich, make mustard aioli to serve on the side.

Mustard Aioli

1/4 cup of good mayonnaise, like Hellman’s/Best Foods
1 heaping tablespoon Dijon mustard
2 teaspoons fresh lemon juice
1/2 teaspoon black (or white) pepper
1/2 teaspoon salt

Whisk everything together, adding more salt and/or pepper, if you like, and allow to sit in fridge for a couple hours to meld.

Little Louie’s in Point Richmond

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Prime rib sammie at Little Louie's in Point Richmond

Grilled prime rib panini at Little Louie’s in Point Richmond

Matt and I drove over to Point Richmond a couple of weeks ago to take some photographs.  It’s an interesting area with some nice old houses and storefronts – a hidden gem.  According to the Point Richmond History Association, Point Richmond was once an island on San Francisco Bay and the birthplace of the city of Richmond.  Point Richmond is now a Richmond neighborhood and considered its “old town.”

If you spend a little time walking its hilly streets looking at Victorian and Craftsman-style homes, you’ll have no problem grabbing a bite when you’re done.  Since we like delis, and think there are not enough of them in the Bay Area, we almost always go to Little Louie’s (49 Washington Avenue).  Now, if you’re from a place like New York (like us) or Chicago or even LA, you won’t consider this a “real” deli, rather a good Cali-style fancified kind of deli/casual eating establishment where you can get decent sandwiches.

Grilled chix panini at Little Louie's in Point Richmond

Grilled chix panini at Little Louie’s in Point Richmond

Little Louie’s is a comfy place where you order at the deli counter and your food is brought to the dining area in the back room.  Matt and I opted for panini – one prime rib and one chicken – and a Caesar salad.

The Caesar salad ($5.95) was a nice big bowlful of fresh romaine tossed with the customary trimmings with dressing on the side.  It was the perfect thing for us to split with the sammies.

My prime rib panini ($9.25) was very good. and not over-grilled.  I give them credit for serving this, because you have to strike a balance with prime rib that’s not cooked to order.  Too much grilling and you’ll wind up with overcooked meat – too little and the fat will not have softened sufficiently to get good flavor and mouthfeel.  This is exactly why I buy a prime rib at Christmas that is about the right size for one meal – it’s just not the same as a left-over.  My still-pink slice of meat, of a sufficient size, was topped with melted cheddar and sauteed onions and served on a high-quality sourdough roll, most likely from Semifreddi’s.  It was served with beef jus for dipping, a pickle spear and a couple pepperoncini.

The chicken panini ($8.50), served on a ciabatta roll with spinach, tomato and jack cheese, arrived naked on the plate – no pickle, no nothing, but was tasty.  It could have used a few more minutes on the panini maker, but other than that, there were no complaints.  I can’t say it was as good as the prime rib sandwich, though.

If you’re in the area I suggest you give this place a try.  They’re very nice there, and have an extensive menu, including numerous breakfast items (they actually serve a full breakfast) and carry  the whole nine yards falling under the category of “coffee and” if you don’t want a full meal.  Burgers, sausages, bagels – it’s all there.  They open at 6:00 a.m. during the week and 7:00 a.m. on weekends, but be sure to check their hours because they are open for breakfast and an extended lunch only.

Scallion guacamole

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Scallion guacamole

Scallion Guacamole

The weather has been crappy so I want to serve something to brighten up the day around here.  Given that I have a number of ripe avocados on hand as well as many limes waiting to be picked, I thought guacamole would fit the bill.

I love any reasonable form of guacamole and often experiment with ingredients, particularly those that can stand in for the cilantro and chilies.  Today I don’t want much heat and would rather amp up the sour element, so I decided to go with scallions and extra lime juice.  Sometimes scallions are skinny and lifeless, but Berkeley Bowl had some great looking, large, crisp scallions the other day, so they will really work well here.  When using scallions, you can also nix the red onion.

One important note it that you should always use fresh lime juice in guacamole.  It makes a difference!

Scallion Guacamole

2 large (or 4 small) ripe Hass avocados (they are ripe when they have a little give when pressed – but not too much)
1 medium tomato (use a decent, ripe tomato!)
4 nice, leafy scallions (aka green onions)
3 tbsp.  fresh lime juice (at least)
3/4 tsp. coarse salt (Kosher is fine)
A few grinds of black pepper

1).  Remove the seeds and pulp from the tomato and give it a rough chop.
2).  Chop scallions into 1/4 inch rounds.
3).  Give your avocado flesh a rough chop. (for help in dealing with getting at the flesh, look here)
4).  Gently combine all ingredients in a non-reactive bowl.
5).  Adjust salt and lime juice to your liking.

Note:  If you are not going to serve right away, add the tomato at the last minute.

This one is especially good with grilled chicken or salmon.