PABU's Still Got It, All-Star Eating Any Weekend, Repeat Camera Roll Food Offenders, Fun Inari Recipe + More
The treats of San Francisco (and Los Angeles)!
Nigiri at PABU Izakaya in San Francisco
A Night at PABU
I was invited to dinner at Michael Mina’s PABU Izakaya in San Francisco last week, which was thrilling since it’s a favorite. It was the first time I had been there in over six years. Chefs Patrick Collins and Genesis Dela Rosa rolled out an omakase consisting of the restaurant’s greatest hits, and it was like a two-hour dream sequence:
Happy Spoon with tuna, ikura and caviar
Ahi tuna poké with wonton crisps and hamachi crudo with avocado
Kakiage (root vegetable tempura)
Assorted nigiri
Assorted sashimi
Genesis Roll: tempura and ebi shrimp, avocado, cucumber, wasabi tobiko, spicy mayo and unagi sauce
Miso cod and A5 Wagyu stone
Mochi ice cream and black sesame namelaka
A private dining room at PABU
While getting a tour of the restaurant, the manager Bobby Caffese told us that the Mina Group will be putting something in that glass building across the way…
Thank you to PABU for such a beautiful meal!
Good Taste: All-Star Eating
Seafood gyoza at Dumpling Time Thrive City in San Francisco
An NBA All-Star Weekend eating guide is the focus for this week’s GOOD TASTE column at 48 Hills, but my recommendations for places to eat near Thrive City and the Chase Center are evergreen and not limited to this particular weekend!
Sandwich Lust: Aurora Reuben
Aurora Reuben at Studio Aurora in San Francisco
This week over at Mission Local, I wrote about the new brick and mortar space that’s being shared by my friend Dario Barbone’s excellent Italian deli, Studio Aurora, and Fault Radio, which champions local electronic music here in the Bay Area, at 302 Valencia Street in San Francisco.
After we finished the interview, I asked Dario which panino was his current favorite, and he said the Aurora Reuben, which has pastrami, a smoked German cheese called grandamer, root vegetable slaw, cornichons, stone-ground mustard and kimchi Russian dressing on seeded caraway bread. I didn’t put a photo of it in the ML story, so I thought I’d show it to you here. Swoon.
Map: My Repeat Camera Roll Food Offenders
Tortellini in 36-month aged Parmigiano-Reggiano at Gucci Osteria da Massimo Bottura in Beverly Hills
As a food writer, I always want to try new places and dishes, but I also have old favorites that I want to return to again and again. This week’s map is of My Repeat Camera Roll Food Offenders in the Bay Area and Los Angeles. If you want to see which dishes I’m getting at these places, check out the matching blog post. That tortellini tho…!
Recipe: Fun Inari
Fun inari by T$: wasabi coconut, chili crunch, scallop, vegan bacon, avocado and tuna
I’m an amateur sushi roller who loves to take time making maki at home, but stuffing inari (season fried bean curd pouches) with different toppings is an easy alternative. I love to use Koshihikari rice from Japan, but the California company Lundberg also sells sushi rice that’s grown in the Golden State.
Whichever rice you choose to cook, after it’s finished steaming on your stove or rice cooker, you’ll want to mix in ⅓ cup of rice vinegar and a couple tablespoons of sugar (optional) as you fan the pot with a rice paddle (or wooden spoon) and cool it all down. Let the rice cool for at least 15 minutes before you assemble your inari. Open the inari age carefully so it doesn’t break and use your hands to put rice in the middle.
Inari age is typically under $5 for a dozen at stores such as Nijiya Market
Don’t overstuff the inari age — leave room for toppings! Because the inari age tends to be very sweet, you can go either savory or sweet with what you add as your finishing touch. Some easy ideas to get you started: wasabi coconut chips, chili crunch, raw scallop with a thin slice of lemon, vegan or real bacon, avocado with jalapeño and raw tuna. It’s best eaten right then or that day.
This idea originally appeared in my GOOD TASTE column at 48 Hills in 2022.
Don’t forget to visit the California Eating blog for more thought for food!
