Tag Archives: pop up

Satellite Republic

DSC_0886
Dinner last night was at Satellite Republic, a Georgian food pop-up by Boris Portnoy. Google stalking reveals that he was the pastry chef at the Restaurant at Meadowood.

DSC_0895
Woo poppies. I didn’t eat these. They were decoration.

DSC_0900
Fenugreek spiced chicken liver, rye toast
I love liver. This liver had more of the “livery” odor than I’m used to tasting at western restaurants, but I really liked it. Also, more people should use fenugreek.

DSC_0912
Imeretian Khachapuri, sourdough stuffed with cheese, adjika
NOM NOM NOM. I want to eat this everydayyyyy. I took a picture of the four spices together, like a small pizza, but it was a bad, blurry picture. So here’s a picture of the side oozing delicious cheese.

DSC_0923
Badrigani Nigvzit, spiced eggplant, walnuts and pomegranite
Whatever the green stuff inside the eggplant was, it was delicious.

DSC_0934
Pxali, minced beet greens and walnuts, moped tone bread
I’m pretty sure it wasn’t beet greens, but beet roots. Delicious nonetheless for those of us who like beets. Could’ve been served with more bread though.

DSC_0940
Yogurt with pickled chanterelles, shiso, sesame
Want moreeee. We all ended up licking our bowls clean for this one. Or using our fingers to get every last bit of the yogurt/sesame/shiso mixture. Chanterelles were easy to grab with a fork.

DSC_0949
Mount Lassen Trout, blood orange and fennel, sea grapes
This was a very orange trout. I wonder what it ate? Also a very well cooked trout. Just a smidge above rare, with a crispy skin. I wish it didn’t have bones though.

DSC_0958
Duck tabaka, pickled green alliums
Duck and green things. Less unique than the other dishes, but still very well executed. I like alliums, I might be biased.

DSC_0965
Spring lamb stsvadi gripped over grape vines, sour plum sauce
Soft chunks of tasty lamb with a sauce. I liked the smokey flavor, but Shamiq thinks it was under flavored.

DSC_0968
Honey and coconut cake with milk jam
Milk jam == dulce de leche? The cake was good, but too sweet for my tastes. Probably my least favorite dish of the meal, but still not bad.

DSC_0978
And a second order of the khachapuri because it was so tasty. (And because Shamiq smiled nicely)

9 courses for $50 + tax (I thought pop-ups didn’t charge sales tax, but maybe that’s just in San Francisco?)

The verdict? The food was great, but it felt like a series of starters. I was full enough by the end of the meal, but I didn’t feel like I’d eaten a whole meal as much as had a series of very tasty snacks. The last serving of the flatbread helped, but more bread served with the lamb or maybe just on the side would have made this much more filling.

13 North

Filipino inspired food by Bayani Inclano.

DSC_0336

Dinner was at the old Saison space. It was pretty cold.

DSC_0343

And the menu.

DSC_0347

Pinakbet jelly over squash puree.

DSC_0351

Bread with cultured butter.

DSC_0354

Coconut milk with bay leaf and palm sugar.

DSC_0357

Banana hearts, coconut milk, monggo and a coconut curl of some sort. It looks like chicharon, but it’s not.

DSC_0361

Sinigang with clams and turnips.

DSC_0365

Kare kare.

DSC_0371

Halo halo.

DSC_0374

Sans Rival. Deconstructed.

Overall, the food wasn’t bad, but it wasn’t Filipino food, just vaguely inspired by. As a meal, I found the food under seasoned. If it had been one course of this food, it would be okay, but taken as a meal, it left me a little hungry (thank god for the bread) and not quite satisfied.

Liholiho Yacht Club

P1202505
Despite making it to Liholiho Yacht Club over a month and a half ago, I’ve been procrastinating writing this up. So here’s something quick. (Went on 1/20/2013)

P1202514
Tombo on a nori chip. I love crunchy things and this was no exception.

P1202513
Fried pig ears garnishing a papaya salad. Did I mention I love crunchy things?

P1202512
Seasoned boiled peanuts. Not much difference from the boiled peanuts my mom buys in China town…

P1202516
Salmon roe and fried potato skins, over potatoes. I liked the sauce and the garnishes, but the potatoes were too starchy so the dish was a bit bland.

P1202518
Miso dressing on iceberg. If you like miso, delicious.

P1202515
Baby octopus with kimchi radishes. I really liked both, but not particularly together.

P1202530
Sticky rice in lotus leaves, cooked with mushrooms. I wish more places served it with mushrooms… It was a nice change from the traditional fatty pork.

P1202529
Manila clams in tofu. Pretty solid, but nothing to write home about.

P1202527
And the mains! Pork belly to the left and fried quail to the right. I’m honestly not a huge fan of pork belly… So it wasn’t bad, but not mind blowing. The quail, however, was absolutelyfreakingamazing. Crisp, moist and slightly honeyed. The second time I went, I found that I could order an extra serving for $12. It seems a bit steep… but oh SO worth it.

P1202532
Bacon apple malasadas with coconut cream. Greasy & delicious. Just like malasadas should be.

P1202509
Like the host restaurant, Liholiho serves things in small portions. It’s really cute and photogenic… But my one big complaint was that the food wasn’t served hot enough. I found myself eating faster than I’d like to in an attempt to eat all the food (especially the mains, the apps were fine cold) while still warm. Service aside, the food was varied, unique and (for the most part) well balanced. I’d go back.

Oh wait, I already did. This is what happens when you finally post pictures really, really late.