We did it again! Read our recap on our second edition of Rice Paper Scissors. Food porn included.

On Feb. 14, Wild Kitchen celebrated it’s second year of underground dinners — so Iso had to do it big: three nights, two seating each, two locations, for a total of six dinners (and over 3,000 pieces of handmade gnocchi).

I designed the dinner menus and enjoyed eating everything on it six times over — including the wild boar ragu. I think I have to call myself a flexitarian now.

In other news, my mom and stepdad finally drove up for the dinner at Public Works to celebrate V-day and my stepdad’s birthday. They enjoyed it the way I hoped they would – made friends at the communal table, raved about their food, and documented pictures for you all to enjoy.

Hope you all had a tasty V-day as well!

1. me and ma ; 2. the crowd ; 3 & 4. menus ; 5. marin miyagi oyster w/ foraged herring roe, champagne mignonette ; 6. wild boar ragu w/ handmade gnocchi ; 7. foraged meyer lemon and rose geranium macaron w/ blood orange sorbet, dusted wild fennel ; 8. so in love i’m (asian) glowing

A not-so-mini celebration for SF’s beloved bite-sized cupcakes.  Other street food folks and I will serve up a mix of savory and sweet goodness while the our brick-and-mortar host will hook it up with free cupcakes and libations. Great if you’ve been eyeing that horchata cupcake at El Metate but haven’t taken the leap…

Menu

Vietnamese Spring Rolls
with shrimp, lettuce, and rice noodles

In the spirit of the Tet Holiday and tiny plastic stools Katie Kwan (KitchenSidecar) and I will be throwing Rice Paper Scissors: Vietnamese Pop Up this Thursday (Feb 3rd) 5-10 PM in the Mission!

Katie and I both went to Vietnam on seperate trips and fell in love with the street food scene: old ladies in pajamas, hustling noodle soup in a small alleyway as motorbikes buzz pass; banh mi vendors servin’ up pate sandwiches in the early morning; a dessert cart hobbling through the hot university campus with cool, refreshing jelly drinks.

We’re bringing Vietnam to Valencia Street with small tables and stools, Vietnamese condiments galore, paper lanterns, and delicious food on a cozy terrace right off the street.

We’ll tweet the exact address on February 3rd; follow @littleknock and @kitchensidecar to receive the tip. Read on at Rice Paper Scissors. Hope to see you there!

Rice Paper Scissors Ed. 1
Thursday, February 3rd
5-10pm
Near 20th and Valencia St.

Poster made by the uber talented & awesome Jessica Taich

Why? It’s because I tossed tons and tons of glass noodles at this past Saturday’s Night Market, a collaboration between forageSF and Public Works. For the most part, it was the same deal: a day and night market, focused around “take-homeables” and hot food, but this was different because Public Works was an AMAZING space – beautiful design, great light, fun crowd and staff. They even hung up lanterns and paper decorations to resemble foreign night markets – the real deal.

My dish for the night was Vietnamese Glass Noodles with Fresh Dungeness Crab, along with Vietnamese Jelly for dessert. During the day, my mom, cousin Bambi, and stepdad came out to hang/help out.  It was wonderful being the company of my family, having them participate in the hustle and bustle of the market. We sautéed fresh picked crab with onions and black trumpet mushrooms, and tossed them in glass noodles cooked in homemade chicken broth and a secret sauce. (Actually it’s not that secret, there’s just a lot of ingredients!)

me, bambi, momma

People seemed to love it — I sold out an hour before the day market ended at 4pm. After that I thought, this might be crazy, but let’s try and make more for the night crowd! So in between the day and night market, with approximately two hours, Iso and I drove around to pick up some more crab, noodles, scallions and more ingredients to cook up another batch. We went over to La Victoria to soak noodles, cut scallions and shred crab. After a solid hour of frantic but impressively quick prep, we were back in the game. As we approached the club to drop off our stuff and set up, we saw hundreds of hungry folks lined up outside Public Works, which also wrapped around Mission Street. We were so stoked!

slowpoke_sf / flickr

Inside, people were hungry. Everyone was everywhere and I was cooking non-stop all night and didn’t even have a chance to look up at people, but I was lucky to have some rockstar help who took orders for both me and Iso’s ramen stand. Around 10pm, most of the vendors sold out for the evening (which was great, but what were the clubbers going to eat now?!) My cousin Amanda came by and we did a grocery run and brought back stuff to make fried egg sando’s with bacon, arugula and cheddar to satisfy any (and my own) drunk munchies.

Thanks to my wonderful friends + family and everyone that came out to to the market and Little Knock. See you in February!

I needed to for cooking a new recipe I learned from my grandma for a few friends. Though it’s not like slaughtering a cow or anything, it was the biggest animal I’ve ever killed and I must admit I was a wimp about it (I had to call Danny over for some moral support). It took 5 minutes to get the feisty crabs out of the grocery bag and a good amount of shrieking and hesitation till I finally mustered up the courage kill them with a swift stab to the abdomen and dump into a pot of boiling water. Done like a pescatarian amateur, who for the first time had to confront the consequences of her dietary preferences, but alas, one has to start somewhere.

On the other hand, my grandma does it like it ain’t no thing. It’s because she’s had years of practice, since crab is how my family celebrates. Instead of a Thanksgiving turkey or Christmas ham, the main star at our holiday meals is crab. This Christmas, my grandma presented us with a new crab dish: Vietnamese Glass Noodles with Fresh Dungeness Crab. It’s simple in presentation: thin translucent noodles, topped with plump chunks of freshly cooked crab, sautéed shallots, green onions, with cilantro to garnish. People go ga-ga for The Slanted Door’s version and it’s insanely easy to make.

On their own, glass noodles almost have no taste, which makes them a perfect blank canvas since the noodles absorb whatever you add to them. There are many ingredients, sauces and garnishes that can be added to make each dish unique and to your liking. My grandma prefers to keep it simple by cooking the noodles in chicken broth and finishing it off with a splash of fish sauce, while my Chinese stepdad likes topping it with oyster sauce and red vinegar. You can also add shallots, garlic, ginger, soy sauce, and chili for even more variation. There are also Singaporean and Chinese versions of this dish (though they use rice noodles as opposed to bean noodles), which include curry powder, pork, shrimp, chicken, bell pepper, and bean sprouts.

A few nights ago I made my grandma’s recipe for a few friends (who unbeknownst to them, where going to be guest judges). I wanted to play around with the sauces, so I made three different variations: one finished with a hint of lime juice; a spicy one with Thai chilis; one with oyster sauce, fish sauce and red vinegar and lastly, a vegetarian version with black trumpet mushrooms. Iso cooked up a side of broccoli raab doused with fish sauce and red chili paste, and off it went to our five judges, which included a spicy Chinese food lover (“I can’t eat food that isn’t spicy,” he claimed), former Chow.com staffer, a non-seafood eater (she got the mushroom version) and other food enthusiasts. We sat around my living room with chopsticks, forks and tongs to sample all the dishes. Pretty much everyone concurred that combination of all the dishes would be most delicious, myself included. Come to the Underground Market on January 15th to try my version. I’ll probably be a professional crab butcher by then.

But before life gets too busy, I want to take a quick look back at our favorite meals and moments in Europe. Right when we got back, Iso organized a nine-course meal focused around our favorite dishes in Europe. It was unforgettable evening, being able to share our favorite moments and meals with people, especially my friends and family. I invited my dad and his wife, who got a taste our trip: from the fish soup we had in Cassis, to the flaming crepes our French hosts made for us in Aix-en-Provence. Iso successfully captured the essence of our trip through the meal and on his blog, but there’s some stories that I want to expand on. Enjoy!

Note: If you’re into food and know how to read Vietnamese, you should check out my dad’s review of the Wild Kitchen for the Viet Tribune. It’s really sweet.

A Lyonnais Bouchon

La Meuniere – Lyon, France

I read about the Lyonnaise bouchons in Lonely Planet on our plane ride over – low-key restaurants that serve traditional cuisine like blood sausage and salad Lyonaisse. We stumbled upon a perfect example at La Meuniere, which bistro-like atmosphere seemed like something straight out of a Marcel Pagnol movie. In the middle of the dining room sat a long table, covered with a white linen tablecloth topped with plates of charcuterie and cheese. When I ordered a plate of seasonal vegetables, the waitress tossed up bowls of pickled beets, celery and endives at this table – then brought them over for us to enjoy. A pleasant way to be served and enjoy a meal.

Real Underground (And Stinky)

Osteria dell’Orsa – Bologna, Italy

Osterias are homiest kind of restaurants, in every sense of the word. According to Wikipedia, the word osteria means “a place where the owner ‘hosts’ people.” At Osteria dell’Orsa, we felt like we were eating at some Italian person’s house, except with 40 others, all sitting in communal tables in the basement floor. There we had lentil soup, iceburg lettuce salad, penne pasta, crostini with brie and mushrooms. All good, simple, homecooked food. The only setback: the basement air contained a slight hint of, how should I say, shit, due to a sewage pipe malfunction. The fact that it was a full house was a testament to how much people like the food and atmosphere. We ate there again the next night (but upstairs this time, where it wasn’t so smelly).

Chef’s Salad

Made by Iso in Bologna and eaten en route to Tarquinia, Italy

Made with produce, cheese and fish purchased at Mercato Delle Erbe, one of Bologna’s indoor markets. The cheese was the best I had the entire month: unfortunately I forget the name It had the taste of mozzarella, but was slightly firmer and incased in a thin wax. So grateful Iso cooked and packed this meal for our long schlep to Tarquinia.

Mushroom Extravaganza

Alba, Italy

We came here for the truffles. Alba is the hub of the world-wide truffle market, and it was the heart of the season, so we couldn’t miss it. As foragers, we couldn’t skip it even despite the town’s campy truffle festival. Here we purchased our first truffles: a black and white, which we ended up putting on everything we ate for the next week: mac and cheese, fried eggs, and countless pasta dishes. The real gem of the trip was our last Italian dinner at La Libera, which I read about on Chowhound. Had the most tender, delicious homemade gnocchis I’ve ever eaten, paired with mushrooms, of course.

The American-French Dinner Collaboration

Aix-en-Provence, France

The highlight of our trip. We couchsurfed with a house of five Frenchies who reminded me of my friends from Santa Cruz, complete with dreads, African tribal tapestries, vegetarianism and of course, lots of pot. Together we conquered a night hike and camp up St. Victoire, cooked meals for each other, one of which was a mac and cheese dinner with truffles (made by me and Iso), and crepes flambe, courtesy of our French hosts.

Seafood Extravaganza

Le Bonaparte – Cassis, France

Following the Chowhound trail, we headed over to this nondescript restaurant in Cassis. This was what all meals should be: straightforward and delicious. We had mussels in a pesto sauce, prawns with aioli, broiled fish of the day, and the highlight of the evening: fish soup served with crostini, spicy aioli and cheese. We are indebted to our Airbnb host in Marseille who kindly lent us her car for the weekend, allowing us to explore the south of France.

Cafe Constant

Paris, France

Cafe Constant has the right kind of bistro feel, which isn’t too contrived, and where the food is more creative than your traditional fare but still affordable. Our Airbnb host recommended this neighborhood joint to us (if you’re ever in Paris, stay with him!) and we were so enamored by the food (not to mention its proximity to our house) that we ate there twice. Highlights included a oyster, shrimp and tuna ceviche (presented beautifully on a slate serving tray with rock salt) as well as the sea urchins, with a scrambled egg foam and caviar.

That’s about it. Do you have any dishes you still yearn for from Europe or elsewhere?