Fusion Cafe Part 2

February 15, 2004

Fusion Cafe Part 2...

margherita stone pie

duck confit quesadilla

lamb chops 'sake style'

fried ice cream

creme brulee with fresh berries They have a "stone pie" section on their menu which is pretty much just pizza. Margherita was not bad, a little cheesy, but good. The duck quesadilla was good, but sadly didn't bring back memories of Ocean Taq or the taco truck. The lamb chops had some kind of sake glaze. We ordered it medium rare but got rare... all of us could handle rare easily though, at least. The fried ice cream was good... ice cream wasn't as rock hard as usual. Creme brulee was pretty standard. Dave's parents said we totaled about $160 for 4 people, which isn't too bad considering how much food we got. I imagine we could have been "full" for half that.

Fusion Cafe Part 1

February 14, 2004

Dave's parents recently opened a restaurant... Fusion Cafe in East Longmeadow, which is a bit over an hour from here. They bill themselves as fusion food served tapas style. Dave brought me, Ahrie, and Mike for a HUGE meal the other night. I'm gonna post twice on it probably.

max roll (california with unagi on top), philly roll (for dave), spicy tuna roll

spicy tuna roll, passion roll (hamachi with avocado/cucumber), tuna nigiri

shrimp cocktail

boston rose - tuna, crab, lobster, asparagus, chives, wrapped in seaweed and tempura'd

blackened scallops over smoked chili risotto

lobster rolls with happy face sauce There's the first round - I'll do more later. Everything was really good. The best part is that I guess our waitress knew Dave was coming, so the first thing she brought was a PITCHER of Coke for Dave because apparently last time he got like 10 glasses. Dave managed to finish the pitcher himself with ease. Anyway, the food... The sushi was pretty solid. I still think "Philly Roll" is blasphemous but Dave loves it. The max roll was pretty good. They didn't have toro on the menu though. The shrimp cocktail were absolutely HUGE. The lobster rolls were like glorified crab rangoons, but not bad. I like crab rangoons. :) The scallops were alright, but I've had better. The "Boston Rose" was pretty interesting. It looked like sushi, deep fried, without rice (does that make any sense)? Tasted like the big mix of seafood it was. Very nice. More from this meal to come later... I'm also cooking tonight for V-Day so that will come up in the near future.

Kayuga

February 9, 2004

Sadly, I'm back on the college diet of delivery and Super 88, so not much interesting lately. Here's a recent meal at Kayuga.

deep-fried gyoza

seafood pancake

rolls: negihama, spicy salmon, spicy "crunch" tuna, tempura, rainbow Pretty standard fare... I think Maluken in Kenmore is actually better. But Kayuga delivers, so sometimes we order from them.

Nud Pob

February 4, 2004

Went to Nud Pob again for lunch the other day...

sam noom noodles Good stuff... I don't think I've ordered this before. It's basically noodles with chicken, shrimp, Chinese broccoli. and tofu. Tasty.

Audubon Circle

February 3, 2004

Behind again on my updates, grr... I had dinner on my birthday with Becky at Audubon on Beacon St.

grilled shrimp with ginger citrus dipping sauce

green apple, brie, watercress sandwich

grilled portabello salad This place is a really solid deal... The sandwiches for 7 bucks are just great. I got adventurous with the pear/brie sandwich, since I wasn't too hungry anyway. Turned out to be really good. They also make a good (and cheap) salad, which for some reason is hard to find around here.

Maggiano's Little Italy

January 31, 2004

We had a sort of small pre birthday dinner last Sunday at Maggiano's Little Italy with me, Becky, Mike, Dave, Ahrie, Keith, Val, Yuen, and Ginger.

roasted mahi mahi

veal and mushroom ravioli

rigatoni with chicken and mushroom It was pretty good. Mike and Keith both had the mahi mahi and it was good and they both liked it - I haven't had mahi mahi in a while. I had the ravioli. It turnes out it was baked and was on the rich/creamy side, but it was alright. Becky had the rigatoni which I thought was better. They have a "family style" option for $24 a person that looks like a ton of food... gonna try it some time when there's more hungry people.

Food from France

January 27, 2004

Here's the whole foie gras that my dad brought back from France. I took it with me to Boston... Used some fresh white bread from the Taiwanese bakery across the street.

foie gras entier Good stuff. It was a struggle to eat it all though... it was huge.

Big Shanghai

January 25, 2004

My last meal in SF was at home before my flight... My mom steamed some siu long bao from Big Shanghai in the Sunset.

siu long bao Good stuff... wrapper tasted good, and a nice amount of soup inside.

LuLu

January 24, 2004

Here is a dinner from SF with my mom, Auntie Daisy, and Auntie Katie. We went to LuLu, which I maintain still has one of the best mussel dishes anywhere. Sadly, the picture I took of it is out of focus...

salmon crostini, beet salad, potato/leek/bacon tart

iron skillet-roasted mussels

portabello mushrooms, gorgonzola, polenta

pear and prosciutto pizza

rex sole

rotisserie roasted duck We were in a new section of the restaurant. Before, they had already expanded to one side... now they've taken over another room on the other side, which was actually quite nice. A lot quieter than the huge main dining room. The food was all really good too. Again, the mussels there are awesome. They whip out a good pizza too. We were worried about getting a Chinese-style cheap roasted duck. It turned out different and was pretty good, but nothing spectacular.

A Few Pastas

January 22, 2004

Happy Chinese New Year all. Another post of food from SF - I'm almost done, I swear. I had lunch with my dad, and he made a couple of pastas using some jarred stuff he got in Italy.

tagliarini with sugo al cinghiale

tagliarini with crema di porcini e tartufo bianchetto and chopped black truffles He used some fresh tagliarini from AG Ferrari in Laurel Village. "Sugo al cinghiale" means boar sauce. I actually liked it a lot... a little tangy with some small bites of boar meat. The truffle one used a cream thing from a jar and also some chopped truffles from a jar (albeit small jars... not sure what to call em). It actually tasted better than the whole truffles in water that my dad got off the shelf.

Milano

January 20, 2004

Wow, I'm so far behind. Still got a few things from SF. Haven't been eating anything interesting in Boston though, so I should get caught up soon. Here are pics from Milano in SF... always a reliable Italian place. Went with my mom, the Chus, Auntie Margie, and Auntie Cathy. Forgive the flash... couldn't get a picture without it.

hawaiian bigeye tuna carpaccio

tonnarelli with porcini mushroom and sausage The tuna carpaccio was really good. The serving was unexpectedly large for a "carpaccio" - it was almost like pieces of sashimi. The black stuff is chopped olives and added some great flavor. The tonnarelli is the same as it's always been... I don't go to Milano enough to order anything else nowadays. Gotta get the tonnarelli when I can.

Philly Cheesesteak Shop

January 16, 2004

While I was at home, I had to of course hit up the Philly Cheesesteak Shop on Divisadero. More high school memories.

deluxe with onion rings It was yummmmy. Greasy loveliness!

Charles Nob Hill

January 15, 2004

I had a great meal at Charles Nob Hill. It was a sort of early birthday thing with my mom, dad, Auntie Maggie, and Uncle King. We had a 7 course chef's tasting, served in "dual preparations" which meant that half the people got one dish for a course and the others would get something different. It's times like these that I wish I had a PDA to write everything down, because I just can't remember. Most of the pictures weren't very good, but I tried to touch some up in Photoshop. Here are a few of them:

pan roasted seabass

sauteed foie gras

roasted (I think) squab

lamb tenderloin

apple tart I wish I could go more in-depth with the descriptions. Maybe I should get a PDA. Not everything was pictured of course... we all started with an amuse bouche of porcini and lobster bisque, which was excellent. Then we had probably the most unique dish of the night - an uni custard with osetra caviar and cucumber, served in an eggshell. This was just great, and very unexpected. We then had salads in 2 ways. One was a beet salad and the other was a pear salad, which were pretty good. I liked the beet one better, and I think in general I'm liking beets more. Next we had a fish course. I can't for the life of me remember what the other fish was... one was a seabass. Both were very tasty though. I liked the sea bass better. Next was a foie gras course. Both were served sauteed, but one was sweeter and was one more savory. They were both great. We then had a poultry course - one was a duck breast, and the other was the squab. Again, both were excellent. The main course consisted of a lamb tenderloin, and also a veal medallion dish. I think the lamb was the better of the two. The desserts were the apple tart and a warm chocolate cake. The apple tart was AWESOME, the chocolate cake just mediocre. Overall, this is one of the better meals I've had in a long time... pretty much everything was good. Oh yeah - my mom got a vegetarian version so everything was different... Highlights of hers that I remember were a truffle gnocchi dish, and also a mushroom risotto. Good stuff. I really wish I had the full descriptions.

Boston

January 12, 2004

I'm back in Boston. School has started again. Still got a few catchup posts from SF, which will be coming up soon...

White Truffles!

January 10, 2004

My dad was in Italy and was able to bring back some stuff. He says he couldn't find any fresh truffles, but he was able to get some off the shelf stuff. My mom made some pasta.

spaghetti with white truffles Sadly, it was pretty underwhelming. Some truffle taste but not the type you associate with the sight of truffles shaved on pasta like that. I guess not-fresh truffles just aren't the real thing...

El Tonayense

January 9, 2004

As with every trip back home, I had to hit the taco truck at least once. El Tonayense... may not look like much but DAMN it's good.

tacos - carnitas, carne asada, cabeza It's the first time I've gotten carnitas and I don't think I will again. Overall my favorite is probably still carne asada. God I wish Boston had Mexican food.

Le Central

January 8, 2004

I went for lunch in downtown with my dad the other day before my haircut. We meant to go to Anjou, but in true French fashion, they were closed for the holidays until the end of the month I believe. So we went instead to Le Central, which I hadn't been to in a pretty long time.

haricots verts salad

steak frites Food was very good. Haricots verts are always awesome. Great taste and texture. The steak was really good too - the onions help a lot. The fries were excellent... some of the best I've had in a while.

Juban

January 7, 2004

I went to Juban in Japantown with my dad for lunch. Juban is an interesting place... it's like a Japanese version of Korean BBQ. They call it yakiniku. The place is consistently good, but for some reason it always seems empty. It survives somehow anyway. I'm glad it does.

egg soup

sides - spinach, daikon, bean sprouts

ribeye, tokusen kalbi, ebi We always order the Yakiniku combo, which comes with a decent soup, and a set of their version of kim chee. Then you get to pick 4 items from their huge list of everything, such as ribeye, 2 kinds of kalbi, chicken, various seafoods, etc. I usually go with 2 ribeyes, a tokusen kalbi, and something else. This time I got prawns. Everything was great as usual.

Straits Cafe

January 6, 2004

I went for lunch at Straits Cafe with my mom, Auntie Margie and Uncle King, and the Kamms. Still a reliable place.

roti prata

mee goreng

green beans sambal

hainan chicken rice

lamb korma Roti prata is sooo good. I love that stuff. Mee goreng was solid, green beans were good as usual, chicken rice was not bad. Lamb korma is really good. One of the best dishes there I think. Kway pay ti which I forgot to take is another of my favorites there. The thai iced tea I had was so-so though.

Baked Sole

January 4, 2004

My mom made me dinner the other night. We have some canned foie gras from when she was in France a while ago.

foie gras, arugula salad

baked sole, spinach and artichoke, risotto Good stuff. My mom's a good cook. Still got some of that foie gras to finish off too...