My friend is accusing me of turning Vietnamese, beings I’ve been out traipsing around the Tenderloin and other places in search of Vietnamese food to “practice” with. He said that I’ll soon be signing up for a Vietnamese language course! Well, after one semester of not studying, I’ve already forgotten most of my Italian. My Bahasa Indonesian studying with a friend has never gotten started (I keep putting it off), plus I’ve forgotten the few words that I used in Bali. The only language that’s done me any good and that seems to stay embedded in my memory is my faulty French! That’s even better because French is spoken in Vietnam, too!
On Saturday I went to somewhere in the Tenderloin called Sao Bien, which has Vietnamese-Chinese food. The restaurant was larger and “classier” than most of the other hole-in-the wall places, with an extensive menu. I ordered the salt and pepper scallops on a bed of lettuce, plus some garlic noodles. Since the salt and pepper scallops were a special, their price was not listed. I was prepared for sticker shock. The service in that restaurant sucks. There was no one to greet me or seat me. I seated myself, but it still took them awhile to bring me a menu and take my order, though the complimentary tea appeared quickly. The restaurant wasn’t even 1/3 full, but the food took an inordinately long time. The salt and pepper scallops arrived first, followed shortly thereafter by the garlic noodles. I had to remind them about my Diet Coke. In my opinion, the scallops were of a medium serving, but taste-wise were definitely worth the $14.95 price tag. Needless to say, I loved me some scallops! The garlic noodles were a large serving; good, but didn’t blow me away. As usual, I had to take most of it home.
Yesterday was actually hot in San Francisco. It was also the day of the Bay to Breakers, which I avoid as much as possible. I’m not into dressing up in some weird costume and running a number of miles as an excuse to get drunk. Why not skip the costume and especially skip the running part?! If I want to drink, I get straight to it! By noon, I ventured out and back to the Tenderloin. Most of the runners had completed the race or had given up. Stragglers in caveman costumes, ballerina costumes and Barney costumes were around every corner, though. I side stepped them and made my way to Saigon Sandwich Shop. I used to go there a fair amount more than 10 years ago. I tend to forget about it these days, but their banh mi (Vietnamese sandwiches) are the bomb! I didn’t even know that they were open on Sundays from something like 7:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m. There were probably 5 people in front of me, plus 2 or 3 sitting at a table. The sandwiches, which used to be about $2.00, have gone all the way up to $3.50 now. They’re still a bargain – a nice crusty baguette packed with either pate, chicken, fancy pork or pork meatballs, along with cilantro, carrots, daikon (or is that jicama), jalapenos and fish sauce (or whatever sauce that is). My French influence screamed out for the pate. So I got two of them – a pate and a pork meatball. I ate the pate one yesterday, but saved the pork meatball one for my lunch today. Delicious! Gotta’ keep that place on my regular radar, as it didn’t even begin to strain my pocketbook!
Since we’re on the subject of food again, isn’t it funny how people and experiences influence what you eat? Growing up in the Midwest amongst Germans, Irish, Swedish and Swiss people, I ate lots of red meat, bread (only freshly baked by my Grandma, though) and potatoes. My Asian/Pacific Islander background had me eating plenty of rice, too. What I refused to eat back in high school were shrimp and onions of any type. I’m not even sure when that changed, but I eat them both now. When I first dated my Thai boyfriend, I couldn’t eat spicy food. He used to cook my food separately from his because his chile level was so much higher than mine! He DID eventually teach me to eat and love spicy food, though. Now if I eat it, break out in a sweat and can barely breathe, I think it’s perfect! I was eating pate long before my French husband, but he certainly schooled me on French cheeses and wines. Before him, I barely cooked. With him, we cooked together and for friends all the time. The same with my Italian boyfriend, we liked to cook together. The Italian one didn’t teach me anything too new in Italian cuisine other than bottarga, which is cured fish roe. He brought some from Italy that I kind of liked. Then I had some in an Italian restaurant and most assuredly DISLIKED it! It was much saltier than the one he’d brought back.
My latest culinary expansion was due to my trip to Hawaii. Now I’ll eat acai bowls, will be more adventurous with poke and have had the ORIGINAL malasadas from Leonard’s Bakery.
Just wait till I get back from Vietnam. Surely, there will be something odd that I’ll learn to like.
Since this is also Musical Monday, I’ll leave you with this little trip down Memory Lane…
“Turning Japanese” – The Vapors