taken from Yelp

About a year and a half ago Paul, of the Sacramento Epicureans , and I had discussed getting knowledgeable guides to take us through ethnic markets to point out unfamiliar foods. Paul has better contacts than I and was able to take the idea and pull it together. Today he sponsored a guided tour down Stockton Blvd. to stop at different ethnic markets. He recruited Linda, the owner of Boon Boon Cafe, to be our guide. He did a great job of putting it together by offering a $10 lunch at Boon Boon, $10 for the tour, and then $25 for an hour foot massage at the end. He took time to give us note paper and pens with names and addresses of where we were going and did a run through with Linda beforehand.

We started with a noon lunch at Boon Boon where we selected off of the lunch menu. I had the Spicy Basil Beef. Basil chicken is my favorite Thai dish and so I was interested in trying it with ground beef. I had a very generous portion of it with steamed rice, a small salad, and a drink. It was nice and spicy and I was well stuffed before we started off.

I got to carpool with Linda in her car. Boon Boon has been open for several years now and Linda explained that she's gotten to really know the different markets and which ones are better for prices, produce, meat, and seafood. Not one market is good for all. She's also frequented many of the other Stockton Blvd. businesses to save costs on such things as signage, printing, and other items.


Our first stop was to a Hispanic grocery - La Superior at 4940 Stockton Blvd. Paul explained that this is a great location to buy your Hispanic ingredients such as chilis, avocados, and spices.


I agree that these markets are always a better deal for getting many spices. When we buy Spice Island or McCormick spices in those little bottles, we pay a premium. And, if you didn't know, spices have a short shelf life. Many spices should not be kept for more than a few months. That's why I prefer to buy these smaller packages of cheaper spices. (Guess we pay for those bottles vs. these plastic bags.)


Here's a great example. This large bag of cinnamon sticks is $9 at La Superior. A couple of weeks ago I got six sticks at Raley's for $3 in the Hispanic foods section (not the spice/baking aisle). Glad I know where to go now.


Check out the size of this avocado! Only $.99 at LS. At Safeway you get a smaller avocado for $1.50-2.00 each.


There is an extensive butcher counter which includes all those great parts like tripe, ears, pigs feet, etc. I found the ox tails were $4.99 a pound. I got a two pound package at Winco, which is a cheap grocery, for $12. I'll be coming here in the future. They also have these pre-seasoned meats so that you can quickly cook up tacos or fajitas when you get home.


And, of course, there is the pasteleria for all those baked goods.

Our next stop was Gold Star at 5815 Stockton. Linda said that this was a very good store to get your seafood at - and nothing else. We went through quickly and I did notice it was also a good place for duck legs at $2.99 a pound. I want to make some rillettes from the recipe on Hank's website and so now I'll come over here to get the 12-24 duck legs needed.


We continued down to 6105 Stockton and Vinh Phat grocery. Linda said that this location was particularly known for it's deli.


They had good BBQ duck here and other pre-made foods. I noticed that they had 35 pound roasted whole pigs for $155. (A detail to keep in mind for a future party I'd like to throw.)


I was surprised by this little find - duck tongues. When I had them on a salad at Mulvaney's (see review) I had wondered where you got them and the poor tongueless ducks. Now I know where they are should I decide to spring these on my gourmet dinner group.

We walked by Wing Wa market and Linda commented that the only thing you need to know about it is that they are the place to buy rice - lots of varieties.

We had a small tasting at JJ Bakery. Paul said it was one of the best Asian bakeries for bao. He had stopped by earlier in the day to buy some for us to try because they sell out of bao by early afternoon. The bakers brought out a tray of his bao sliced so that we could try some. I chose a coconut one since I had always had BBQ pork before.


We also stopped here at A&A Supermarket at 6545 Stockton. Linda said that this was the store you wanted for everything besides fish and meat. In other words, get your pantry and frozen foods and non-food items here.


Linda buys some of her cookware here, even for the restaurant. A couple of folks were interested in woks and other kitchenware.


I noticed that these large pineapples out front were three for $5! You'd probably get just one at Raley's.


Our last stop was SF Supermarket at the corner of 65th and Stockton. This may be the largest Asian grocery store in Sacramento and certainly has the largest seafood and meat sections. There are many large tanks of live fish...


and plenty of bins of frozen fish. If you buy your fish here or at any of the Asian markets, be sure to tell them to clean and trim your fish or they'll just bundle up the whole thing for you. Some of them also offer free frying.


Certainly this is a good place to buy your lobster or crab. By the way, an Asian market not on this tour with a great seafood reputation is the one on Broadway and 11th. In the market is Sunh Fish and they are known for supplying fish to many of the sushi restaurants in town.

Another tip for shopping in these markets is to be picky. Asians are picky shoppers and will pick out the choicest fish or the ripest fruits. But if you are not Asian and just ask for a fish, they might try to give you a lesser quality one. Speak up and point out exactly which one you want. Don't be afraid to barter as well. If you want more than one of something, see if you can cut a deal.

Here are a couple more Stockton Blvd. tips Paul and Linda pointed out.

There is an education center at 5451 Lemon Hill Ave. that has a computer science department where you can get your computer repaired for cheap. It's considered a learning tool for the students.

If you need to replace a tire or want a full sized spare, there are tire places that will sell you used-but-still-good-tread tires for as little as $10. Wish I had known that last month when I had to buy a new $89 tire cuz I blew one out.


And lastly, to Huong Lan Sandwiches, around the corner of the building from SF. We didn't stop there for our tour because we were out of time. Now that we were done I was in the mood for a bubble drink and so I headed over to take the pictures and get a mango shake with tapioca pearls. HLS makes the best Banh Mi Vietnamese sandwiches. A banh mi sandwich will cost you about $2.75.


But there are lots of grab n go food items as well.



It's my hope that either I or Paul will be able to organize another guided event where we can find a Vietnamese person to explain and sample some of these items in the future. Meanwhile, I'm going to try to organize an event at a Filipino grocery, bakery, and restaurant with my Filipina friend Marie.

I find my biggest problem at food blogging comes from restaurant reviews. You order your food, it arrives, and you are so eager to eat it, you forget to take the pictures. So this is another review without pictures.

My dad and his new wife requested Thai. One I like is pretty distant for the rainy weather we were having, so I decided to go to Boon Boon Cafe. After all, although I've eaten there a couple of times with the Epicureans, I had never gone on my own for dinner. We arrived to find a large birthday party and a few other tables. Luckily there was one left for us. What a surprise to then see another table was occupied with none other than Epicurean Paul, out for a night with his son and little brother. We also saw Linda, the owner, who I had ridden with when she led the Stockton Blvd. tour.

We ordered four dishes including Thai fried rice. We did not know that the dinner entrees each came with a big side of rice as well. This I expected for lunch specials, but I was surprised that it was an automatic for a dinner entree. After all, we were thinking of family style dining and sharing all the dishes between us. Anyway, keep this in mind when you order. The rice, though, is excellent on its own. Linda had said that she always serves 100% jasmine rice while many restaurants save money by using a rice blend. This rice was nice and sticky, fragrant, and delicious.

Our first dish had been recommended by Paul. The Praram Chicken came with broccoli, carrots, and spinach and was topped with a peanut sauce. Unlike other dishes with the sauces mixed in, this had the veggies and chicken piled and the peanut sauce ladled on top. Cooked/wilted spinach is not a veggie you often expect with such a dish, but I liked it the best. The sauce was mildly spiced.

We had also ordered two of the night's specials. The first was a pumpkin red curry. It had chicken, scallops, shrimp, and pumpkin in a red curry sauce. Red curry lends itself well to working with pumpkin because it is a bit sweeter than the other color curries. It's also hard to mess up curries. We enjoyed this one and my dad liked the change of having the sweet pumpkin added.

Our last entree was our least favorite. It was a shrimp and asparagus dish that also included some carrots, peppers, and eggplant. The sauce was done with a yellow bean paste and was thin and salty from the fish sauce. It was OK, just not great.

It was nice to know where the ingredients come from since I had learned where Linda shops. She knows where to pick up the best produce and the freshest seafood and then prepares them with proper attention to cooking time - shrimp was tender and the veggies still with crunch. Boon Boon deserves the attention that it has gotten.

Thai beef jerky

Making beef jerky when you don't have a smoker or a dehydrator can be problematic.

My first experience with kitchen-made beef jerky came in college when one of my very good friends made it in her oven. She had an electric oven that she set at a very low temperature. The beef dried out in the oven overnight and we all celebrated her victory by chomping it all down in one sitting.

My dad made great beef jerky, but he used a food dehydrator. Loved the stuff except for the aftereffect his particular recipe had. Let's just say you didn't want to be the room with a person who had recently eaten it.

So jerky had been on my to-do list for some time. I just had to deal with a gas oven and hope for the best. I searched around for a marinade that would interest me.  I wanted spicy but tangy without being barbecue-y or teriyaki. I came across a Thai inspired recipe and decided to give it a try. 


I took the beef and froze it. Then the day before I wanted to make the jerky, I took it out and let it thaw in the frig overnight. It was frozen so solid that in the frig it still stayed mostly frozen. It made it easy to for me to slice. I then marinated it for 24 hours, flipping and redistributing the marinade every few hours.

The next night I laid out the slices on wire racks and put them in a foil lined oven since they would drip. I set it to 200 degrees at first but after an hour I could tell it was too hot. My gas oven was coming on too often to heat up and I knew that wasn't good for a slow dry. I turned it down to 170, the lowest my oven would regulate.

My first batch was in for about four hours and was dry and leathery. I had to go to bed and wasn't about to do another batch overnight. The next morning I tried again at 170 but after an hour and a half I could see it had already dried it out considerably. I had to go to work and decided to turn off the heat and let the dwindling heat do the rest. That turned out to be a great solution. When I got home I found moist jerky that held the marinade flavor well. Perfect.

I recommend this marinade but definitely suggest a more traditional way of drying out your meat - with a smoker or dehydrator.


Thai Beef Jerky Marinade

• 8 lb Beef or possibly flank steak
• 1 c. Beef stock
• 4 Tbsp. lime juice
• 4 Tbsp. fish sauce
• 4 tsp Sugar
• 1/2 c. chopped mint
• 1/2 c chopped cilantro 
• 1/2 c. Thinly sliced shallots
• 4 x Scallions, sliced in half lengthwise and cut into 1/4" lengths
• 2 jalapeno peppers or hot chilis, seeded & finely minced (depends on heat preference)
• 4 tsp Pepper
• 1 tsp Cayenne pepper 
• 4 tsp Liquid smoke
• 1/2 c. Soy sauce

Thai Rice Cake

I belong to a gourmet dinner group and this round we picked chefs out of a hat. I had pulled Mai Pham from the Lemon Grass restaurant. She makes Vietnamese and Thai dishes and so my dinner next month must reflect that. I came across this cake and thought I would maybe use it for my dessert. I actually made it six months ago for a test run and took it to a potluck. It got a lot of good reviews and requests for the recipe. But recently I've decided on a different dessert for my upcoming dinner.

Don't think rice cakes like those puffy, dry, crispy snack cakes in the store. This is an out-right dense, sweet, moist cake made with rice.


My only comments on making it is that the term of Thai rice in the ingredients is pretty ambiguous. There are so many varieties of rice. I took it to mean jasmine rice, since that is what is most often thought of and used in Thai dishes. But I did find the rice grains to be big and would consider next time pulsing them in a food processor a bit to cut them down a bit.

Thai Rice Cake
(Gluten-free)

1 c  Thai rice
4 c milk
1/2 c sugar
6 green cardamom pods, crushed
2 bay leaves
1 1/4 c whipping cream
6 eggs, separated


Grease and line a 10 inch round, deep cake pan. Cook the rice in boiling water for 3 mins, then drain. Return the rice to pot with milk, cardamom, bay leaves, and sugar. Bring to a boil, then reduce and simmer for 20 minutes, stirring occasionally. Allow mixture to cool and remove the bay leaves and cardamom pods.

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Beat together egg yolks and cream. Add rice mixture. In another bowl, beat egg whites to soft peaks. Fold whites into the rice mixture. Pour mixture into cake pan and bake for 45-50 minutes until risen and golden brown. Chill overnight in pan. Turn cake out onto a serving plate. Top with whipped cream and fruit.

Note: Cake may be a bit wobbly when removing from the oven.