Next time you land at the local Chinese take-away, look to see if they serve Ma Po Tofu, or some variation thereof. It might be spelled differently because the people that own the place are translating the real name to English, which doesn’t always work out. Ma Po is a (very) spicy tofu and meat dish that just might change your opinion on pressed bean curd. For me, the fiery nature really works to balance out the bland egginess of the tofu.

This is one of those dishes that is mostly consumed by Chinese, so if you see that a place sells tofu but Ma Po is not on the menu, I would ask the guy behind the counter if they’ll make you some. Chances are they will not only oblige, but you will also have a fond place in their heart for years to come.

Sorry, but the first week back after my San Fran trip just got the best of me. I know I need to keep posting. For those I haven’t talked to, the trip home went pretty smoothly, with my suitcase about 15 pounds heavier with books from the classes I went to. Trouble is, when a company spends as much money as they did on me, they usually want results, so I’ve been a little busy during the day. The general expectation is for this to continue until I’m retired or dead.

Not sure if you’ve tried these links, but they are places I’ve been keeping up with:

Woot sells one thing a day until it’s gone, and then they are done. Usually remanufactured stuff, but you can get a good deal about 75% of the time.

The next big thing on American TV will be Ninja Warrior , which has been airing on G4 for a few years now. If you haven’t seen it, you can catch up on YouTube. American Gladiators is ok, but they didn’t change enough. I just hope they keep the course difficult when it is ported over to the US, because the “unbeatable” nature of the show is what makes it cool.

God, am I done with this place. Two more days.

It sucks to be holed up in an area with no companions, save the short time Indian buddy who’s hungry and doesn’t have a ride. Not that I’m not happy to meet new people in my trade - the other students that I’ve been lucky to break bread with have come from a number of backgrounds, from Aerospace and Defense (contractors to the government for aircraft management) to Mass Media (an integration developer for NBC who works in Studio City). Hopefully I’ll be able to tap these guys for tough questions in a pinch, or perhaps help someone out in the future for some brownie points. After all, you never know when you’ll need a contact for another job.

That being said, there are certainly a few things I can take away from this third trip to the “Bay Area”:

1. The restaurants in San Francisco wipe their asses with the restaurants in Dallas.
It’s just that simple. Me and Melissa have probably hit all but about a half dozen “non-fast-food” places in Frisco, plus we have had the luxury of eating at a few really nice places outside the area. With two exceptions (Nobu in Dallas and Jasper’s in Plano), they would just not last out here. As one of my instructors put it, “The competition, it is so intense here that only exceptional food can make it. The rest go out of business quickly.” This is coming from a Russian legacy IBM instructor who lives in Bangkok and teaches all over the world. This guy has had it all.

This is especially true of Asian restaurants. Sushi here is very good - perhaps the best in America. The Chinese food is better than the best I’ve had. By the way, don’t go to Chinatown for good Chinese. It’s a tourist trap. I got my recommendations from Chinese-Americans living here, which are:
Suburbs: Hong Kong Flower Lounge I’ve eaten here, and if you go tonight, you’ll see me.
City: Yank Sing

2. Don’t judge a restaurant by its cover.

A few of the places I’ve been to have looked….well let’s face it - pretty shitty from the outside. It made me not want to eat there, honestly. Such was the case with Max’s in Burlingame, a place that looks like a dirty Denny’s from the outside, sitting in front of one of the dirtiest Holiday Inn Express hotels I’ve ever seen. This morning the guy next to me says he’s been in there and the food was pretty decent. I didn’t want to spend a ton, so I went with him for lunch. Well, if you haven’t clicked the link yet, do it - the place was so good I almost started crying., mainly because it’s within walking distance of my hotel. Not only that, the decor was extremely nice, so much so that I had to mention it.

For me, the tip-off should have come on Sunday, when I took a stroll in San Bruno’s local mall. There was the normal real estate kiosk, except for the fact that while the POS houses in the Frisco mall go for about $120,000, this place’s crap runs in the $500,000 range. I kid you not - there was a house that was built in the 60’s with no brick and about 2000 square feet of space that was going for $850,000. Bottom line - when you find a high traffic location to buy out here, you jump on it - no matter what it looks like from the outside.

With any luck, I’ll have a restaurant review for you shortly. I’m being taken to a place in San Jose that has the most authentic Indian food you can find in America, mainly because it’s a sister location of a place in Chennai. I can’t wait.

If there is one thing for certain when you come to northern California, it is that seafood lovers will not be disappointed in their choice of places to eat.  You have to admit - sushi bars are getting pretty common in America these days.  I’d say there’s one on every fifth block in the more densely populated areas of Dallas, and even Lafayette has more of these places than I would have ever imagined.  However, California has a very high Asian-American population, so they were serving sushi and Dim Sum way before it was cool.  It makes me laugh when I think back to the days when I was trying to quantify leaving Lafayette, using “not enough ethnic restaurants, like sushi bars” as one of my many, many reasons.  About a month after I left in May of 1999,  their first sushi bar opened up.  I think there are at least 4 of them out there now.

On Wednesday I walked down Broadway in Burlingame looking for a good Sushi place.  There are 4 of them on the small stretch I saw, so I picked the smallest one, a hole in the wall called “Jun”.  The man behind the counter was an older Japanese guy named Aki-san who appeared to know what he was doing, so I sat down and ordered a large Asahi.  This guy specializes in hand-rolls. His menu was basically an assortment of standards topped off with 10 rolls he put together himself.  The people around the bar were regulars and would shout out, “Aki-san, #10 please.”  I wasn’t so bold, as these people clearly knew Mr. Aki very well.  Eventually Aki-san turned to me with a smile and asked what I wanted.  I tried the #7 first - a large hand roll with a sizable piece of yellow tail and a great spicy sauce that wasn’t like anything I’d had, but was excellent with raw fish.  When I was done I perused the chart and saw that his nigiri collection included ankimo,  a monkfish liver delicacy that I had to try a second time (I had it for the first time at Nobu in Dallas).  When he handed the two large pieces to me his assistant was right behind, serving a ponzu sauce for dipping.  I have to say that it was a real treat.  The people at the bar were interesting to talk to.  I’m not sure if he was lying or not, but the guy sitting next to me claimed to have known Mick Jagger, and was talking about several trips to Hawaii.  When I told him about the places I’ve eaten at all over the country, he could tell me of other places in the area I knew about with a good bit of detail, so I think he was on the level.  Another couple at the bar gave me some great tips on places to visit this weekend.

Yesterday was the big meal for me.  I made an 8pm reservation at Thanh Long, the first of a very well-known chain of restaurants on the west coast (the chain places are called Crustacean).  I had a hard time getting myself out of the hotel room at 7 to drive through the horrible San Fran traffic to get to this place.  The location is pretty forgettable.  On the corner of 46th and Judah, there are no other places of it’s caliber for at least 60 blocks.  The place kitty-corner to it is called “Golden Gate Indian food and Pizza”.  There is no place to park, so I’m forced to pay the $10 valet.  In fact, people are basically stopping in the intersection yelling out for a valet, their wives or girlfriends just getting out right there and heading for the door.  That’s how bad the parking is.  So I head into the place and it’s totally packed - every table, plus about 50 people in the small waiting area.  I go to the hostess and she says she’ll be ready for me in 10 minutes.  When I look around I notice something I hadn’t noticed before - everyone has ordered the exact same thing!  I was told long ago that only a true veteran doesn’t order the standby at Thanh Long - roast Dungeness Crab with a side of Garlic Noodles, and possibly whatever veggie they happen to be serving that day.  I finally get a table upstairs and order the crab, noodles, and a “33″ beer.  The food comes pretty quickly, preceded by the bib-guy, who ties it on right before the plates hit the table along with three bowls for the shells.  Man, what a thing of beauty.  I take a quick sip of the beer (very good - has a bit of a floral quality to it), followed by a quick bite of the noodles, then start getting dirty.  The crab is swimming in this spiced garlic sauce that many people surely wish to be embalmed in at the time of their death.  There is no grace in this process - you just dig in and hope there are enough napkins, and there never are.  Fortunately for every there the servers are actually watching you from afar like cats and bring you the hot towel and the very moment you start looking for the in-restaurant showers.  I polish off my noodles, grab the check (1 crab, 1 noodle, 1 beer + 15% tip = $61), and head outside into the cold to wait for my car.  I eventually drive away a happy man, though it would have been a hell of a lot nicer if Melissa was there to enjoy it with me.

It’s just after 8 AM on Saturday, and I’m feeling so sick - too much seafood.  In addition to the crab, I had sushi at lunch yesterday with the group from class, so that’s probably overload for anyone’s system.  I think I’ll head to the pier today and get some more crab…

Before I flew out here I was sure I’d be able to post every day, but unfortunately it hasn’t worked out. A horrible internet connection at the hotel coupled with no connectivity at all in the training center has messed me up good. Last night I went to Panera Bread to try and get a few hours of good access, but I was only able to stomach that place for about an hour, as it was loaded up with teens. Truth be told, I really need the access because there’s about 4 gigs worth of files that I need to have on my laptop for work.

For those interested, the south San Francisco suburbs are about the same as the last time I saw them. On the first day of the trip I had my mandatory lunch at In-n-Out burger, and it didn’t disappoint. Last night I tried L&L Hawaiian Barbecue. I got the mixed plate and thought it was pretty good. Hawaiian food seems to be the bastard child of Southern and Japanese cuisine. I couldn’t bring myself to order the island’s signature food, Spam Musubi, basically some spam wrapped in nori. Later this week I’m thinking of making a reservation at my favorite restaurant, Thanh Long, for their perfect roast dungeness crab and garlic noodles. The only thing that might make me change course will be that it’s a table for one .

Another idea of mine was to seek out Wente Vineyards. Me and Melissa had their “Nth Degree Chardonnay”, and I thought it was probably one of the best I’ve ever had. It’s about 45 minutes from here, due east of the hotel. If I don’t do that, I might just head to the Golden Gate and take a walk around there.

Either way, it’ll shape up to be one lonely weekend…

Well, It’s 7AM Pacific time, and I’m writing from the Holiday Inn
Crowne Plaza at the start of a 12-day training trip with IBM. This is
actually my third time out here, so the only upside of being here
alone is that I generally know my way around the area. The first week
of class should be pretty smooth sailing for me, as I have taken this
one before in Chicago about 2 years ago. At the time, the company
wasn’t sure when they would switch to this product, so they sent me to
a free version of the class offered to the Chicago-area IBM user group
(a surprisingly powerful little organization).

Next week is a different story. The class serves as a boot camp,
mostly taken by IBM employees. I’m sure I’ll be working on the
coursework well past 5pm every day, though I have taken a chance by
booking my return flight at 1:30pm on Friday. I’m pretty sure others
will have done the same.

Shit! I forgot my bathing suit! Well, I saw a Target from the west
side of highway 101, so maybe I’ll go stock up on a few things.

If you see this, the crontab service works.

Now the place has some content, so I’ll open it up for the world to see.    More pics and videos to come, as well as exciting changes to the overall design.  Stay tuned!

Steak is something that everyone eats on all class levels,
in some way, shape or form.  At the low end of these types of
places, you can expect greasy mcRib-style cuts with all the
nasty serve-yourself salad and soft serve ice cream you can
choke down.  Top end establishments serve a la carte chops of
beef, pork, veal, and lamb, as well as top-notch seafood
selections.  Most have large attached bars that are not only
places to see and be seen, but make some of the best (and most
expensive) drinks you'll ever taste.

  What has amazed me, however, is that the roast beast is
something done differently depending on what area of the
country (or world) that you're in.  While Ruth Fertel certainly
brought about the age of the super-high heat broiled steak,
midwesterners have a process of charring the meat no matter what
doneness you asked for.  I've often asked for rare, and gotten
a ribeye that's totally black on the outside and raw inside.
That's just how they do it.  One time I had a steak in Canada
that looked like the best thing I'd ever ordered, but it tasted
more like the plate it was sitting on.  I guess that's why they
invented "Montreal Steak Seasoning"...

Here are a few ways you know you're in a good place:

- The appetizer menu should contain at least 3 totally unique
seafood options, none of which are fried.

- Ask the waiter if you can have your steak "Pittsburgh-style".
If he says yes, say, "No, thanks, I was just kidding", but
write down the mental checkmark.

- Their signature cut will probably be a bone-in ribeye.
The "money" steak for those in the know is this cut or sirloin.  Real
steak enthusiasts would never eat filet mignon, and a good
restaurant knows this.  When a guy orders filet, I might be
saying "Good choice", but I'm really thinking, "Want a skirt to
go with that flavorless $30 cube of meat that the cook had
to slather with a stick and a half of butter so that it would
taste good?".  Get the BIR or sirloin and you won't go wrong.

- Dessert should be totally flawless.

And now, the list.  I'll admit, all of these places run about
$60 a person minimum, including alcohol.

5.  Lawry’s the Prime Rib
  I thought about not including it on the list, but it
was an interesting experience.  Me and Melissa hit this place
as a bithday meal about 4 years ago in Chicago.  The waiters
and waitresses all wore the brown old-school outfits.  The menu
is pretty set, with all steak dinners coming with a “spinning bowl”
salad, mashed potatoes, and yorkshire pudding.  All you decide
is how large a cut you want to eat.  The salad had beets in it,
which isn’t my favorite.  The prime rib was very, very good.
Yes, the seasoning salt is on the table. 

4. Shula’s Steak House
 I’ve eaten at two of these places - one in Indianapolis, and
one in Chicago.  They were both about the same.  The steaks
have a nice flavor of green pepper, if you like that (I did).
They stole the high-heat broiler approach from Ruth, but
expect more of a midwestern preparation.  I am also lucky enough
to have eaten the 48 ounce ribeye, which nets you a plaque on
the restaurant’s wall, a signed pic of Shula, and a bill for
$82 (made me as sick as the meal - the price isn’t on the menu)
By the way, this place is MANLY.  The menu is painted on a real
NFL football!  The sides weren’t that great - I’ve had better.

3. Jake’s Steaks
  This St. Louis establishment is on the pier by the Arch.  It’s
probably the cheapest place on my list, though it’ll still set
you back around a bill with tip and without alcohol.  I liked their
“spreadsheet-style” menu, where you choose the cut and the size,
all the way up to 48 ounces, even for a filet!  The waitress said
“It’s like a freaking roast”.  I had the 32 ounce Kansas City strip
with mashed potatoes.  I took half of it back to hotel and ate
it the next morning with my bare hands.  I felt like a real
man that day.

2. Sam and Harry’s
  If you’re ever in D.C., this place is a must.  Washington power
players eat here every night.  The steak was excellent.  I reccommend
the lobster bisque as well.  The killer here - cheesecake.  It’s
flown in daily from Carnegie Deli in New York.  Without a doubt the
best sweet thing I’ve ever put in my mouth.  

(By the way, that night the bisque, steak, and $80 bottle of
frog’s leap that I bought curdled in my stomach.  I thought I
was going to die.  I had a class at 7AM.  No sleep.)

1. Gibson’s
  When I wax melancholic about the six years I spent in Chicago, this
is one of the first places I think about.  It was the only place
I thought about when I was asked about a “last meal here”.  The
joint reeks of cool.  If you make a reservation for 7, the place
will be hopping with business power-diners, pre-show guests, and the
insanely rich who probably eat there every other night.  Waiters
walk around in pristine white aprons.  The W.R. Chicago cut is
the only thing you’re allowed to order (MY ORDERS!).  

  The deserts are truly legendary.  The staff will ask you if
you’d like a “slice of cake”.  If you’re with just one other person,
be ready to eat that slice of cake for the 5 days - trust me.
When I return on my own (I’ve been back to Chicago once, but I
was a guest), Gibson’s will be the first place my rental car
steers it’s way to.  I hope they think about me as much as I
think about them.

This trip was a long time coming, and was probably two trips in one for me. Not only was I able to see Europe, I did it in combination with my parents - something I’m sure I’ll be thankful for in a decade or two. If you don’t care to read all of this, know that we had a wonderful time on a great ship, saw some great sites, ate some great food, and spent way too much money on artwork. One of the firsts for this trip was my length of preparation. I booked this cruise with my parents 13 months before the sailing date. The only trip I planned out for longer was Japan trip I, which I’d been planning since I was 10 (I’m 32). Japan trip II took 10 surprisingly short months, but I digress. Me and Melissa really wanted to see at least some of Europe before our plans started to take us away from travelling for a while. Since I normally masquerade as an amateur travel agent for friends, family, and coworkers, I was already familiar with Voyager Of the Seas and her summer home in the Western Med. The cruise didn’t cost that much more than our Alaska cruise, and neither did the airfare, so we decided that May 2007 would be our chance. As always, I invited all immediate family to come with us, and was a bit shocked when my parents agreed to come. The inlaws originally said they’d think about it, but then backed out. We are cruising the western caribbean with them in November.

Months passed, and finally the day arrived when Mom and Pop showed up at my door for the trip. We went to Long John Silvers for a fish dinner, then headed home to start packing (yes, we waited until the last second). Morning came pretty early, and we headed to a pretty empty DFW for a flight to Atlanta, where we were looking quite forward to a seven hour layover, tongue firmly in cheek. I had read on a travel blog that Delta airlines lets you buy a one-day pass to their executive clubs for $25, provided you’re travelling with them that day, so we jumped at the chance. These clubs have free snacks and booze, along with some quieter areas for hanging out, which come in quite handy at Atlanta’s behemoth Hartsfield-Jackson. We wouldn’t know it, but the trip’s biggest surprise came at this point. We were all sitting at a table in the club, when Pop says, “Andy, look, Jimmy Carter”. I thought he was referring to the plasma TV behind me, when the President himself was actually two feet away from my chair, with wife and secret service in tow! Pop rocketed out of his chair and stuck his hand right out to both Jimmy and Roslyn. I think everyone else was a bit shocked, because no one moved an inch. In a second it was over, at which point the Presidential group moved to a back room for a photo op with some military personnel.

More talking, a few drinks, and a few crossword puzzles later, and it was about time to head to the gate. The flight to Barcelona was very full, and it wasn’t something I was looking forward to. The nine-and-a-half hour flight was only 2/3 of the longest flight I’ve been on, but we were on a 767, which does not have the legroom of the 777 (imho), and I’m a little taller. Fortunately, this plane was brand new, and Delta was rolling out its video-on-demand service on these flights. About ten movies were available that you could start watching at any time (we were in coach), as well as a slew of games that you could play with the whole cabin, like trivia and texas hold ‘em. I watched “Music and Lyrics”, then tried to get a few hours of sleep. When the plane landed, the fun would really begin.