There are those restaurants where you have your favorite item so that you order it every time - even though you might be missing out on other great items on the menu. You are narrowly focused on this one dish that you know and love. The same can be said about places. You make a trip to a town you go to infrequently and you just have to go to that special spot. It's like you are drawn to it by a giant magnet.

When I go to Berkeley the restaurant I  am drawn to is Vik's Chaat. Sometimes, for better or worse, I just can't go because of the hours they keep. But if they are open, I'm there to either eat or pick up items I can take home to eat later.

Chaat refers to Indian street food. When the sun goes down, the people come out and stroll the streets socializing. All along the streets are vendor carts selling all kinds of street snacks. Before or after a show or movie, people will stop for bites to eat.

Vik's Chaat is definitely a find, but what about Sacramento? Where can one find chaat here? I found out recently when Maneeza and Suzanne took me down to Florin & Stockton to a small place called Samosa Garden.

Samosa Garden is one of those hole-in-the-wall kind of finds in a dreary strip mall. You enter to find a display case filled with Indian sweets (which I wanted to take a picture of but forgot). After that is a buffet table. They do sell lunch/dinner combos of food, but this place is known for the chaat and that's what we had for our lunch. With three of us we ordered five items totaling about $17 and we still had leftovers. I was impressed.

As someone who is not all that knowledgeable about Indian food, I won't get terribly critical about the dishes. I will say that this was good food, but not great food. But there's a time when one has those cravings and if you have a craving one day for chaat, then here is where you can find it locally.

All of our items were vegan, as is typical of a majority of Indian food. I forgot to take a picture of our three samosa, large and filled with chunks of spiced potato. It was served with a cilantro chutney and a sweet chili sauce. They were tasty, but I've had samosa with much flakier pastry.


This is the Pani Puri. You open a hole in the puffs, fill it with the chickpea/potato mixture and sauces and then eat it down. I prefer the pani puri at Vik's Chaat better. The tamarind water just wasn't as nice here.


The Aloo Paratha. Aloo refers to the potato filling. This was my favorite item of the day. It's similar to an Afghani bolani in that it is their flatbread with a filling that you then can add a topping smeared atop. Here you see it with yogurt.


This is the Bhel Puri and is Maneeza's favorite. It has different sort of crispies, onion, spices, and then a tamarind sauce. I liked it because I liked the addition of onions.


We also shared a Masala Dosa. It was also filled with a potato filling and had mint and tomato chutneys with it.

As I think about places I'm drawn to when I'm in certain areas, that would usually be Huong Lan at Stockton & 65th for banh mi sandwiches. But now I've got another place that might pull my attention on occasion - Samosa Garden.

Fennel is a new ingredient for me. I recently got a bulb of it in my CSA box. I also had a couple ears of corn that I had forgotten about in my refrigerator. Thus I wanted to combine the two. I happened to have a blood orange infused olive oil that worked great for this. I also had some lemon salt to sprinkle atop the serving. All in all, a great, refreshing salad.

Fennel Corn Salad

1 bulb of fennel, sliced, core removed
1/4 cup chopped fennel fronds
1 Granny Smith apple, peeled, cored, chopped
1/4 cup red onion, chopped
kernels from 2 ears of corn, cooked
1 Tablespoon olive oil
3 Tablespoons lemon juice
freshly ground pepper to taste

Combine all ingredients in a medium bowl and toss to thoroughly coat apple and vegetables with the oil and lemon juice. 

Update 4/9/13: A regular customer friend has told me that the entire staff has turned over, including the chef. The food is no longer as good. This review is now outdated.

Typically when you want to go out for great, truly authentic ethnic food, you go where the natives eat (so to speak). For Chinese, that usually means somewhere in the south area, maybe on Stockton or Freeport Boulevards. These will be the places where they have taped up photos of the dishes on the wall for the non-Chinese customers because the menus will all be in Chinese and the servers don't speak English. The tables will be filled with Chinese patrons eating dishes made with jelly fish, strange vegetables, and parts of animals that most Americans would never consider eating.

Recently I was taken to "the best Chinese in town" by my new co-worker, Flora. She is a Chinese immigrant and has recently moved here from Los Angeles and it soon became apparent she was a foodie. She's been making friends among the Chinese community in town and they are the ones who told her of CF Cheng's...in Natomas. After trying it herself a couple of times, she agreed and took me to treat me to dinner.

CF Cheng's is located off Arena Boulevard not far from the arena itself. It's in one of those complexes where there is also a Massage Envy and a Mel's Diner. The style is Cantonese. The restaurant itself is small, clean, and new.  It is only able to seat about 40 people. My coworker had called to make a reservation for two, something I thought a bit odd for a small Chinese restaurant. But, she says, it is often packed with a long wait and she figured she better call to see if they would take a reservation.

The first time I had Ethiopian food I was in college in Portland and didn't care for it. As far as I was concerned, it demonstrated the poverty of the country to me as it was all mush. Not a good first impression.

But one does grow older and wiser. Add to that the fact that people just rave about the Ethiopian food found in Sacramento at Queen of Sheba. I have yet to dine there myself, but recently did venture to another spot, Habesha on Fair Oaks Boulevard. I had bought a half-off coupon that was about to expire and so I invited Suzanne to join me for dinner.

Habesha is tucked away at the back corner of a strip mall behind Ettore's on Fair Oaks Boulevard. It's a casual place that has a counter and they sell everything from breakfast fare to smoothies. Apparently it had been a gyro cafe in a former life. We found a table and quickly noticed that the owner had printouts of the favorable Sacramento News & Review review under the glass of every table. Before I had arrived I had checked out the Yelp reviews to find them a mixed bag with most complaints about service. No such troubles were to befall us.



We decided to stick with the easy way out and ordered the combination platter shown at top. But to start, I couldn't pass up the lamb samosas. I prefer my samosas with meat versus vegetarian and these lamb ones were fantastic. They were filled with finely ground lamb that had a good amount of spicy heat to them. They were served with a cucumber sauce to cool your tongue down. This worked very well as they were the perfect counter to each other.

During college I worked in a gourmet pasta shop in Portland. I learned all about fresh pasta and sauces and ate well for a college student. It was at this shop that I had my first experience with panforte.

Panforte is Italian for 'strong bread', yet it's not a bread at all. The best description is that it is an Italian fruit cake, although it is really closer to a candy than a baked good. It's so rich that you only eat a sliver at a time. Like all those jokes about fruit cakes lasting for years, panforte will last a long time. It was because of this that it was often carried by travelers in the Middle Ages. You can store it in a cupboard, no need to refrigerate, for weeks.

Recipes for panforte vary as much as each region of Italy. Every family can have their own closely guarded recipe. The beauty of it is that you can put all sorts of stuff into it depending on what you have or what you like. There will always be nuts, usually almonds and hazelnuts. The nuts are kept whole and not chopped up. The varying ingredients could be: raisins, dried figs and/or apricots, and candied citrus peel. There is also a lot of spice, so this is another area where you can doctor to your tastes. Some even it get to be spicier by adding pepper.

The addition of chocolate didn't apparently start until the 1800s. In Italy you will find versions with and without chocolate. Myself, I've only ever had the chocolate version.

Because the flour in a traditional panforte recipe is only used to help bind the ingredients, panforte is perfect for gluten-free adjustment. If you choose to make this with regular flour, just put 3/4 cup flour instead of the tapioca and coconut flours.

Finally, panforte is usually done in a springform or round pan. I was testing this panforte for another project and so I did it in a shallow cookie pan.

Panforte

1 cup roasted hazelnuts, skins removed
1 cup almonds
1/2 cup chopped dried figs
1/2 cup raisins
1/2 cup chopped candied citrus

1/2 cup tapioca powder
1/2 cup coconut flour
1 Tablespoon cocoa powder
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon ground ginger
1/4 teaspoon ground nutmeg

3 ounces of semisweet chocolate
2/3 cup honey
1 cup sugar
powdered sugar for dusting

Preheat the oven to 300 degrees.

Generously grease a springform pan. Set aside.

In a large bowl, mix the nuts and fruit together. In a small bowl, combine together the tapioca and coconut flours with the cocoa powder and spices. Add the dry ingredients to the fruit and nuts and mix together to coat the nuts and fruit.

Put the semisweet chocolate pieces in a small, microwave proof bowl. Microwave for a minute at a time, stirring each  minute, until the chocolate is melted.

Put the sugar and honey in a small saucepan over medium heat and bring to a boil to dissolve the sugar. Keep heating until the mixture reaches 240 degrees on a candy thermometer. Add the chocolate and mix together.

Take the hot chocolate/honey mixture and add to the fruit/nut mixture. Mix quickly until incorporated. Quickly pour into the springform pan.

Bake at 300 degrees for about 35-45 minutes or until the top starts to blister and bubble. Remove and cool on a rack. When it is cooled but still warm, remove the sides of the springform pan. Dust the top with powdered sugar. Let cool completely before serving. 

For more information go to http://www.carighttoknow.org/

How does a grocery chain celebrate its 30th anniversary? They open their first store in California. Today The Fresh Market opens at 9 a.m. with a Parmesan wheel breaking. Located at 2030 Douglas Boulevard (near the Macaroni Grill), it is on a busy thoroughfare where many will surely stop on their commute.

I apologize for the horrible photos. I forgot my good camera and had to use my smartphone. 

 
Based in Greensboro, North Carolina, The Fresh Market stores are mostly east of the Mississippi. After this first store in Roseville, the second will be in Palo Alto, then Santa Barbara. The company's focus is on bringing the best in perishable (fresh) products to their customers with the best customer service.

This recipe comes from Allrecipes.com. I needed a dessert for a work potluck and I had just bought a lot of mochi rice flour. It's also the holidays. Combo all that together and I found a pumpkin mochi recipe.

Mochi has become more common and known about here on the west coast. It's found a lot in the new Japanese, tart style yogurt shops that are the latest trend. But Mochi happens to be centuries old to Asians. Basically it is glutonous rice flour that is shaped and used in different applications and called by different names depending on the culture. Mochi is a Japanese term. It is often shaped into little cakes and can be stuffed with red bean paste or other fillings. It's also become quite popular filled with ice cream. Think of Bon Bons with mochi around the ice cream instead of chocolate. The texture is a bit chewy. In the yogurt shops the mochi usually comes cubed like croutons.

For those unfamiliar with it and who stumble upon it at a potluck, they'll be confused about this boring looking item. Mochi can be very tasty and rich and the chewiness can be an acquired taste. Some might pass by it out of ignorance, but for those that try it, you'll find converts.

Pumpkin Mochi

* 2 1/2 cups mochiko (glutinous rice flour)
* 2 teaspoons baking powder
* 2 cups white sugar
* 4 eggs
* 1 (29 ounce) can pumpkin puree
* 1 (14 ounce) can sweetened condensed milk
* 1 cup butter, melted
* 2 teaspoons vanilla extract

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C). Lightly grease a 9x13 inch baking dish.
2. Sift together the mochiko, baking powder, and sugar in a large bowl. Mix together the eggs, pumpkin puree, condensed milk, butter, and vanilla extract in a separate bowl. Stir the egg mixture into the mochiko mixture. Pour into the prepared dish.
3. Bake in preheated oven for 1 hour. Allow to cool before serving.


Mochi

On  Thursday I attended the Whole Foods Davis media dinner. For an article about the opening, go to my Whole Foods Davis Opens on Wednesday article at SacPress.com.
Below is a slide show of more pictures from the event.

 

Until about 15 years ago I was a Canadian and so I couldn't vote here in the United States. I successfully ignored politics for that reason. But now I'm an American citizen. I'm still not well versed in politics and so I tend to avoid political discussions. This post is not going to be preachy. I'm just going to lay down a few of my thoughts on why I will be voting YES on Prop 37.

Prop 37 is the one that requires labeling food that contains a Genetically Modified Ingredient (GMO). GMO's are when scientists take the DNA of an organism and tweak it for what they think is for the better. Some examples would be making grains more drought tolerant or pest resistant. 

Now I'm also not a religious person, so regardless of messing with God's creations, I certainly am against tweaking with Mother Nature. I don't think we have any business messing with DNA. That's how we get zombie/vampire viruses and deadly pathogens that are going to wipe out the human race. Even if that's an exaggeration, I still think it's dangerous. Just because you tweak one gene to be more pest resistant doesn't mean it isn't also related to some other function you aren't aware of.


 
That aside, if you are going to tweak with my food, then I have right to know it! That way I can avoid it. It's a basic human right - freedom of choice - and I choose to know what I'm putting into my body.

Now those that are against Prop 37 will say it is flawed and that's why shouldn't pass it. Guess what?  Most laws that get enacted are flawed and end up getting tweaked later to correct an error. I'd rather we pass the law now and then worry about cleaning up the loopholes or messes. You have to move one step at a time and step one is labeling the foods that contain GMOs.