The intersection at Robertson and Beverly in West Hollywood is one I try to avoid at all costs during the work day, especially the unprotected left turning south on Robertson — you’ll be there for days during rush hour!  After the sun sets, however, the cross street is a different creature.  The writers at the Coffee Bean move on to a bar, the furniture showrooms close up for the day, women haul the spoils of their successful shopping day back home and the area becomes a shadow if its daytime self.  And on the southwest corner of Robertson, just north of Beverly a pristine, glowing treasure sits — and it is a treasure, with it’s skillfully prepared dishes, affable service, and not-quite-discovered location.  Like with your favorite band, you talk it up to everyone you meet who will listen, but don’t want to them to “sell-out” with their new found fame either, only I want that for Petrossian and its chef, French-born Ben Bailly of Joël Robuchon culinary lineage because it’s just too good to be kept a secret.

My first experience with Petrossian — and possibly my introduction into the world of caviar — was at their New York outpost maybe five years ago.  The dining room was nearly empty but we still had a wonderful time gingerly scooping beluga caviar using mother-of-pearl spoons onto blinis decorated accoutrements, accompanied by champagne and vodka.  It was a divine afternoon of which I did not have to foot the bill because I probably wouldn’t have had the fortune to enjoy it otherwise. That level of indulgence was what I associated the Petrossian Boutique & Cafe in West Hollywood with — and they do offer the same fantastic caviar — but, until I saw Jo’s amazing food porn at MyLastBite,  I hadn’t realized it was so much more accessible. Though it is included on the menu and in various dishes, caviar neophytes need not be deterred.  There are plenty of other caviar-less options, but it’s quite possible that after a bite of the hand-cut steak tartare, cut through with a layer of caviar, you will be a convert.

So on a brisk January evening, my group of girls scheduled a meal to coincide with my sister’s visit for my first Petrossian WeHo experience (the rest of my family had already come for brunch the month before).  We started off with the smoked salmon rillette on toast that reminded us something our friend Susan would serve in her home, and that is a fantastic compliment. It had a delicate flavor, especially for salmon, and it felt familiar and intimate, inviting us back for more with each bite. It was followed by the foie gras salad, which I would probably never be compelled to order, but the photos and positive response to the dish nudged me in the right direction so we gave it a shot, and I’m so glad we did. The chopped green beans mixed with toasted walnut and black truffle vinaigrette complimented the smooth, rich foie gras terrine perfectly.  We dug into the dish for more, but it wasn’t for just the terrine or just the green beans — it was for the composed bite because the salad, shot through with a hint of acid, was such a well-suited balance to the creamy foie gras.

Doing the necessary dining research for London, it became clear that we would have to pay a visit to Borough Market for its food stalls.  I love California farmers’ markets more for its bounty of fresh produce than the omelettes, tamales, and vegan Korean banchan stalls, but with this marketplace just past the south bank of the Thames, its food offerings were not to be missed.  It started off innocently enough with raclette from an unassuming stall with a crazy contraption Kappacasein – oozy raclette cheese scraped over boiled potatoes, baby gherkins, and onions.  I specifically sought this plate out after only learning about it from my Borough Market investigation, and with the crowd around the stall as well as the whiff of cheese I picked up, it wasn’t too difficult to find.  It looked like a mess on styrofoam, but the melted cheese and potatoes with the salty addition of gherkins created a snack we had to force ourselves to put down in order to save room for everything else the market had to offer. I picked up a twice-baked banana cake from Flour Power City Bakery before we made our way inside to navigate the maze of even more stalls.

Late afternoon stroll over the Thames after chowing our way through Borough Market

The marketplace was brimming with patrons when we arrived as it was just about lunch hour and if I were to ever live and work in London, I’d want this adjacent to my workplace for lunch too.   The options are countless and incredibly reasonable to boot.  We picked up five sandwiches among the three of us – salt beef from De Gustibus (similar to what we know as corned beef in the states), a pork sausage with caramelized onions, a pork belly, and two others that I can’t even remember anymore.  They were all so affordable, so why not try them all??   We posted outside Monmouth Coffee which was another must-try and realized it was right around the corner from Neal’s Yard Dairy.  Taking a gander at the cheese selection was a given, but seeing that they made fresh Greek style yogurt — I was as good as sold. It was thick, tangy, and made me wish I had a cow to milk every morning so I might be able to produce something even half as good.

So there we were on the corner with the spoils of our first round of the market, all of us juggling a sandwich or two in one hand and a container of yogurt or cup of coffee in the other, directly across from well-dressed businessmen drinking their pints outside of the pub.  The bubbling, wide iron woks of Thai curry were intoxicating, but we were too full to order a bowl.  Liberty would have to try it the next day and she proclaimed it perhaps the best she had ever had.

Even without the curry we looked like crazy gluttons, but, in that moment, the crisp London surrounding us, there was no where else I would have rather been.

Borough Market

Thursdays 11:00am – 5:00pm

Fridays 12:00pm – 6:00pm

Saturdays 8:00am – 5:00pm

- LifeWithAWhisk

I frequently dream of Chinese breakfast fare, but rarely allow myself the have it.  On the rare occasions that I throw caution to the wind, stateside (specifically in the greater Los Angeles area) Yi-Mei in Monterey Park is where it’s at for Chinese crullers, egg and green onion omelettes wrapped in tortilla-like skins, and sliced beef with preserved vegetable filled shao bing (Cousin Alb even had me bring these when I visited New York last.  How many?  “Many.”), but the first place my siblings and I go to eat after touching down on Taiwanese soil is Fu Hang Dou Jiang Dian (Fu Hang Soy Milk Shop).  Hidden on the second floor,  this traditional Chinese breakfast spot is filled with students as well as long-time patrons itching to get their fix of naan-like shao bing.

Sesame flecked golden brown, flaky, chewy shao bing sandwiching a freshly fried chinese doughnut

Taipei-bound flights from the West Coast nearly always arrive at the crack of dawn so by the time we arrive within the city limits, our stomachs are screaming to be sated, and our dad is always willing to accompany us for breakfast.   We grew up eating these flaky, baked, rectanglar breads, filled with either sliced, marinated flank steak and cilantro, or the long doughnuts, but this place is one of the few shops that still make their bread the traditional way and you can watch the entire process perched on a luxurious plastic stool, elbows gingerly avoiding any sticky spots still remaining on the yellowing table.  What makes their method so interesting is that they create an oven from an oil drum, much like an Indian tandoor, and reach in the barrel to stick wet pieces of sugar-sprinkled dough on the walls to bake. The dough crisps up on the exterior with a slight sweetness to the crust and has a tender, pillowy, green onion-flecked interior.  My sisters got to Taipei a couple days before I did, so they had already had their customary Fu Hang Dou Jiang Dian visit before I arrived. It was just me and my dad on this trip, which reminded me of mornings growing up in the Bay Area when I would be the only other person awake early enough to keep him company on shopping trips to Oakland’s Chinatown for our family’s restaurant.

These days, our parents reside in Taipei with long visits back to the Bay Area every now and again.  Quality time spent one-on-one with my dad is a rare event, but splitting a steaming bowl of savory soy milk, slightly curdled from vinegar, well-done doughnut bits bobbing on the surface among globules of orange tinged chili oil and of course the Chinese crullers embraced by their thick, signature shao bing, I almost thought I was fourteen again.

Fu Hang Dou Jiang 阜杭豆漿

HuaShan Market Building, 2F

Hours: 5:30am – 10:30am Daily (GO EARLY!)

Blue Line to Shandao Temple Station. Exit #5. The HuaShan Market Building will be on your right.

- LifeWithAWhisk

Marinated Sardines with Wasabi Root

Our next stop back into 2009 Eats with Boob4Food brings us to Barcelona, Spain. I realize this is another European meal, and maybe it has to do with the relaxation of being on vacation, seizing the opportunity to indulge in a city’s best food, and the feeling of not having a care in the immediate future, but I assure you, we had bites that have no business being in this post, and other great meals will end up being excluded too.  Not having the foresight to attempt a reservation at elBulli as soon as it was possible, we decided on a worthy substitute – Comerç 24 from Carles Abellan, formerly of elBulli.

We showed up a day early for our reservation unknowingly, but they were able to seat us in direct view of the kitchen anyway.  It started with a tasting of olive oils, each more intense than the previous, followed by an eight course meal that was really more like twenty.  We had monkfish with chinese garlic, sesame, and seaweed, the marinated sardines with wasabi root, toasted breadcrumbs and pistachios, spherical black truffle, parmesan, and quail egg in consomme, and the kinder egg (poached chicken egg with truffle and mashed potato) – all of which were outstanding.

Monkfish with Chiniese Garlic, Seaweed & Black Sesame Paste

The sirloin with strawberries, cherries, and sheep’s milk cheese was fantastic, but the best dish of the night for me may have been the duck rice with foie gras ice cream and crushed, toasted corn.  The rice, incredibly infused with the flavor of duck with a not-quite-risotto mouthfeel, combined with the rich foie gras cream to create a salty and smooth bite, and the toasted corn provided another dimension to the dish.  Olive oil continued to be a showstopper for dessert as chocolate ganache floated in a shallow pool of it alongside bread then dusted with sea salt.

With prime view of the kitchen at work, it felt like we were in dinner theater.  Everyone was focused on the task at hand, furiously working, and completely in sync with each other, while we added all the commentary in the balcony.  The dining room wasn’t the warmest of environments, but nearly every dish was a gastronomical delight.

Comerç 24

Carrer del Comerç, 24
08003 Barcelona
34-93-319-2102

- LifeWithAWhisk

Cousin Coug peeks at her reflection and the front entrance of Chateaubriand

Another hard-to-book table that we miraculously scored in Paris was at Le Chateaubriand.  We were famished from running around the City of Lights all day, but this meal was an opportunity that we weren’t about to pass up.  They switched out our server for an English-speaking one that was handsome, effortlessly charming, and had a way of speaking about the dishes that made us hang on every word.  From my understanding, he was also a chef, but why he wasn’t in the kitchen, I don’t know — too many cooks stirring the pot?

Like Spring and many other restaurants in Paris, they offered a prix fixe menu, and it started with salted raw cod with fresh almonds, cucumber, and mint.  The fish was a most appropriate start to the meal, as fresh as any I’ve ever had and paired with elements that only enhanced the flavor of the fish.  It was completely refreshing, unlike anything you’d normally associate with French cuisine, but of course, this is Le Chateaubriand where traditional fare is taken apart and put back together in a way that you may not even recognize, but with eye-opening results.

tamarind powder dusts this plate of salted raw cod, mint, cucumber & fresh almonds

The cod was followed by seared tuna with white lardo, pomme de terre, gingered onions, and dill and then rare veal with golden beets, red beet puree, turnips, purple basil, and spring onions.  After our Spring and Le Chateaubriand meals, the unassuming spring onion, unadulterated save for a sprinkle sea salt and oil, became our vegetal obsession. We noticed these spring onions every where, at every corner market and farmers market we strolled by. Huge bulbs of white, crowned with thick stalks of green, spring onions have an even more robust flavor over your average mass supermarket green onion or scallion.

The atmosphere was distinctly French, with the vast majority of diners speaking the native tongue, but the cuisine was anything but. Combined with the most gracious of servers, it became the Parisian dining experience at which the bar is now set.

spring onions make for a perfect final touch for the veal

We recommend Le Chateaubriand to virtually any friend or acquaintance headed to Paris because we are that that passionate about this not so hidden gem. Even our Parisian girlfriend was surprised of our Saturday evening supper choice. We were seated during the first seating so it made for a nice leisurely dinner, but the restaurant was packed and in full steam by the time we settled our bill.

Do make note to call ahead for reservations and get ready to be stunned by your 5-course prix fixe dinner.

rue de la Tour d'Auvergne by dusk, in the 9th arrondissement

As much as I try to balance decadent meals out with lentil soups and raw kale salads (that I actually love, I do!), the food I’ve enjoyed this year has emerged the victor, but starting the year off in Asia, and with Europe and a few trips to San Francisco in the mix, the damage was inevitable – and pretty worth it.

I’ve been a lucky girl to have had so many pleasurable bites that I can’t even recount them all, but the meals in which the stars and the moon and the planets aligned to create an all-around amazing dining experience are the ones that i will remember for years to come.

Whether they’ve been savored at white tablecloth establishments or on plastic stools, with friends, family, or strangers, these outings share the common thread of having delicious food with great company in a lovely setting.

In no particular order, here are my favorite dining experiences of 2009…

Spring

Arriving just in time for dinner on a late summer evening in Paris

We trekked up to the restaurant from the Poissoniere Metro stop with the rays of the setting sun creating a path to Spring’s front window as if it were lighting the way to Mecca. Once seated, we were given a generous block of butter flecked with dark specks.  As soon as we tasted the rich spread, further investigation was necessary and the chef revealed that it was in fact Bordier beurre aux algues which is more than he pays for his foie gras.

More diners filled the few tables while the kitchen staff calmly prepped just a glance away, and as the day turned into night, we were treated to potato dumplings with langoustine, chard, radish, in a bouillabaisse scented with cilantro, Thai basil, and kaffir lime.  The dumplings were perfectly yielding and not at all gummy sitting alongside chunks of tender langoustine, but the star of the dish was the broth.  Its flavors were rich and clean and then we realized there was something familiar about it — like the phở of our youth that our dads would take us for in Oakland’s Chinatown, only much more refined and no oil slick in sight.

We were also given a suprême de pintade (guinea fowl) on carrot-ginger purée with fresh almonds and arugula.  It was

Potato Dumplings & Langostine in Cilantro, Thai basil, and Kaffir Lime scented Bouillabaisse

our first experience with fresh almonds (though not our last on this trip) with a round flavor that went well with all the other components of the dish.  One of our desserts was an olive oil ganache with Lucques olives (that are now, hands down, my favorite olives ever) and crunchy croccante pieces.  I could have licked the plate clean of that ganache, but, being in Paris, I thought maybe I should employ some self-control.

The food was a fantastic start to the trip, but the company and setting made it all the more memorable.  My sister, Katherine, and cousin, Liberty, joined me in this jaunt around Western Europe and they always bring a good time, without fail.  Their plane had landed that morning and I had arrived two days earlier and hadn’t felt the need to spoil myself with sit-down meals, so this was also my first Parisian meal.

We were giddy with anticipation of the sights, sounds, and eats we’d encounter the next two weeks, and also completely

Olive Oil Ganache with Lucques olives

content for these few hours, enjoying wine, butter, and the company of a few other American couples at our table.  There was one pair from Chicago with a daughter actually attending the same high school that Chef Daniel Rose graduated from and also sharing mutual acquaintances with the chef, and they were a delight to share our well-worn communal table with.  Talking about food and culture and travel with other food enthusiasts over deceptively simple dishes on a Parisian summer’s night — how could I not fall in love with this meal?

Tomorrow we will move on to Le Chateaubriand…

Half Rotisserie Local Chicken

Starbelly, sister restaurant to SF staple Beretta, proved to be an ideal location for a cozy Sunday night winter supper. This resto, given its menu of Italian comfort classics with a contemporary and Californian spin, is constantly busy and bustling with small groups and couples filling the tables. The menu is easy to pick from and Starbelly offers a balanced selection of microbrews (draft and bottled – including one of B4F’s favorites: Hitachino Nest White Ale), wine and non-alcoholic selections – just don’t come here looking for liquor, spirits or Diet Coke because they don’t have any.

As a preface, since we don’t believe in giving “star” ratings, we’ll  let you know what we recommend and whether we’d come back. Our dinner for six consisted of the following:

Salad: Little Gem Lettuce Caesar with Avocado & Starbelly Bacon ($6)

Artisan Pizzas:

• Starbelly Bacon, Jalapeno, Arugula & Green Goddess Dressing ($13)

• Market Pear, Blue Cheese & Wild Arugula, adding Spanish Ham ($14+$3)

Plates:

• Fresh Spaghetti, Starbelly Bacon, Jalapeno, Tomato & Basil ($11)

• Half Rotisserie Local Chicken, Warm Potato & Winter Spinach Salad ($16)

Vegetable: Cheddar Grits & Wilted Winter Greens ($6)

Dessert: Caramel Pot de Creme

Bacon, Jalapeno, Arugula & Green Goddess Dressing Pizza. Bacon's the shining star of this pizza.

Starbelly Bacon, Jalapeno, Arugula & Green Goddess Dressing Pizza – The quality of the pizza crust is very similar to Beretta and the green goddess dressing was what really made the pizza memorable with its zesty flavor in combination with one o life’s pleasures: bacon.

Spaghetti with Bacon, Jalapeno, Tomato & Basil – perfectly sweet and tangy sauce with the spicy kick of jalapeno and the fattiness flavor from the bacon. Excellent swirl-the-pasta-around-the-fork capability.