Glam Dining For A Little Less: Lunch at Michael Mina in San Francisco

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Pasta of my dreams -- for lunch at Michael Mina.

I’ve always fantasized about what it must be like to be one of those ladies who lunch.

I’d be decked out in my smart little Chanel suit, carrying a Gump’s shopping bag in one arm and an obscenely expensive handbag in the other. I’d meet my dear friend, Bitsy, for a most civilized lunch on a weekday. It would last for hours and include many elegant courses at a serene table set with proper silverware and crystal glasses. The waitstaff would be attentive to every need yet unobtrusive. And the food would be thoroughly graceful and refined.

Minus the high-end wardrobe and the socialite-friend, I actually had such an experience recently. At Michael Mina in San Francisco. For lunch.

Dinner at this glam, high-end establishment may get all the buzz. But you’ll fork over $115 per person for the tasting menu in the evening.

At lunch, though, you can indulge in three courses for $49 or four courses for $59 in the dining room. Or for even more of a bargain and a quicker nosh, enjoy the a la carte menu at the bar.

Lunch at Michael Mina has gone through a few incarnations since it started up earlier this summer. It started out only served in the bar area. But then, expanded into part of the dining room. Now, 15 tables are devoted to lunch service. It’s purposely limited in scope so that the waitstaff can still maintain a high level of service even at an hour when most folks are accustomed to grabbing food on the go. Because only a portion of the dining room is used, it also makes for a quieter environment, where you can actually converse in measured tones with your dining companions, whether it be for business or for pleasure.

When I was invited to be a guest of the restaurant to try out the new lunch service, I chose the four-course option with each course having at least two different dishes to choose from.

A quite generous portion of oysters on the half shell for my first course.

Two housemade, non-alcoholic beverages also are available, including a fun and zingy “Pacquiao Punch” ($5), named for the world-champion Filipino boxer and made with pineapple and Filipino calamansi lime.

For my starter, I had oysters on the half shell. Six oysters of three different varieties, all bracing and sweet of the sea, arrived on ice with traditional horseradish-cocktail and classic mignonette sauces. I was amazed at the portion size, having expected maybe half that many. But lunch here is not dainty that way. The courses are all substantial.

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Baker & Banker Cooking Demo, Dinner & A Movie — Indian-Style and More

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Baker & Banker's Lori Baker and Jeff Banker to visit Macy's. (Photo courtesy of the chefs)

Baker & Banker Chefs Visit Macy’s Union Square

Join husband and wife,  Executive Chef Jeff Banker and Pastry Chef Lori Baker, when they demonstrate how to cook brunch favorites, 2 p.m. Aug. 27 at Macy’s Cellar Union Square in San Francisco.

Co-proprietors of Baker & Banker in San Francisco, they will be cooking up “French Toast Bread Pudding” and “Eggs in Purgatory.”

Best yet, this delicious event is free.

Asian Culinary Forum Event at the San Francisco Ferry Building

Four, young and dynamic Asian-American chefs will be talking about “Reinventing Asian Cuisine,” 6 p.m. to 9 p.m. Aug. 22 at the San Francisco Ferry Building.

Richie Nakano of Hapa Ramen. (Photo courtesy of the chef)

Panelists will be: Dennis Lee, chef and co-owner of Namu in San Francisco; Richie Nakano, chef and founder of Hapa Ramen in San Francisco; Sarah Dey, chef and manager of New Delhi in San Francisco; and Wilfred Pacio, founder of Spice Kit in San Francisco.

The moderator will be Thy Tran, founder and director of the Asian Culinary Forum, which is hosting this thought-provoking conversation.

Listen as the chefs talk about the challenges and rewards of trying to pay homage yet still put creative spins on traditional Asian cuisines. Then join in the conversation during the Q&A afterward.

A reception will precede with tastes from each of the featured restaurants, as well as Hodo Soy Beanery, Bex Winery and Momokawa Oregon Craft Sake.

Tickets are $35 each.

Dinner & A Movie — Indian-Style

Bread of India at Swan’s Market in Oakland, 948 Clay St., is kicking off a monthly series of film screenings accompanied by regional meals prepared by Chef Rohit Singh.

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Two Pals and One Pan

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A taste of friendship.

Friends come in all shapes and sizes.

Sometimes, they even come bearing sleek rectangular tart pans with a grin.

That would be Lisa H.

It’s often said that making friends is harder to do later in life. We have no time, we have less patience, we have too many other friends already, and we get too set in our ways to accommodate newcomers of any sort.

I never expected blogging to throw open wide the doorway to new friendships in this phase of my life. But it certainly has. As a consequence of posting about food and family for these past three years, I’ve made quite a few new friends who have grown fond and dear. Ones who have opened their home to me for dinner. Ones who have hiked with me on lazy afternoons. Ones who have lent untold moral support in my new endeavors. And ones who have opened their vast pantry to me, knowing my predilection for baking.

The latter would be Lisa H.

A regular reader of my blog, Lisa H. would often send fun comments about my posts. She’d also thoughtfully send story tips and job listings my way.

Yet, we had never met. Not until late last year.

Thank you, Lisa H.!

She was moving out of the Bay Area. As a result, she was cleaning out her house, and specifically, her kitchen that held a trove of specialty baking pans from classes she had taken long ago. Would I want any of them, she asked in an email, since she planned to donate them before relocating.

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Chinese Jerky and A Food Gal Giveaway

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Sticky, sweet-salty jerky that's not so hard on your teeth.

If you’ve only had jerky that’s tough as leather, Little Red Dot Kitchen’s version will surprise.

Rather than thin strips of meat that have been dried, this Chinese-style jerky known as “bak kwa” is made from meat that’s ground, formed into neat slabs that are marinated overnight, then smoked over charcoal until caramelized.

The result is jerky that’s so easy on the molars, you could almost make a sandwich out of it. In fact, my husband likened the texture to that of a McDonald’s McRib pork patty sandwich. And company co-founder Ching Lee considers it almost candied meat.

It is made to order in a commercial kitchen by Lee and fellow avowed jerky lovers who are — what else — high-tech engineers by day.

Indeed, unlike other jerky that seems to sit on convenience store shelves for eons, you’re advised to refrigerate this jerky if not eating it right away.

The jerky — shaped into thin, uniform, rectangular sheets — is slightly wet and sticky to the touch when you open the vacuum-sealed bag. The best way to enjoy the jerky is to warm each piece over a flame, so it gets even more pliable. If you don’t have a gas range, just microwave or toast in the oven for a few seconds.

Choose from three varieties: Turkey, Pork, and Pork Lite (which has less sodium and tastes less sweet). I’m partial to the Pork, with its sweet-salty flavor that reminds me of the Asian jerky my relatives used to make.

A one-ounce serving has 70 to 90 calories, and 140mg to 160mg sodium — depending upon the variety. A 1/2-pound bag is $12.45.

The packaging.

Contest: I’m happy to be able to give away a sample pack (with one of each of the three flavors) of Little Red Dot Kitchen’s jerky to three Food Gal readers.

Entries, limited to those in the continental United States, will be accepted through midnight PST Aug. 20. Winner will be announced Aug. 22.

How to win the jerky?

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The Buzz on Bar Agricole

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You simply can't go to Bar Agricole without having a cocktail.

San Francisco’s Bar Agricole has definitely got it going on.

The winner of this year’s James Beard Award for “Outstanding Restaurant Design,” this one-year-old, South of Market Street establishment fairly exudes coolness behind a fortress-like redwood fence that fronts a spacious courtyard for eating al fresco, and an herb garden for use by the kitchen and bar.

The building’s warehouse-like facade of concrete and corrugated metal gives way to a long, narrow  interior. It’s made more inviting by an entire expanse of wall made of reclaimed whiskey barrel oak planks, as well as massive sculptures hanging from the ceiling that look for all the world like swaths of billowing fabric but are really hundreds of glass cylinders fused together.

We expected a youthful, hipster crowd when my husband and I were invited to dine as guests of the restaurant recently. But what we didn’t count on were the many middle-aged and beyond diners who also were having a great time over food and drink.

Our server explained that was nothing out of the ordinary for this restaurant. Turns out that Generation Xers and Yers rave about the place so much that their parents can’t help but want to check it out, too. How’s that for the ultimate sign of cool?

The restaurant has an industrial-chic vibe.

As ethereal as it looks, this is all glass.

After unfurling denim napkins at our bare wood table, we were all set to order a cocktail. After all, you can’t go to a restaurant that’s named for a type of rum made from freshly-squeezed sugar cane juice and not order a cocktail. Especially when proprietor-mixologist Thad Vogler is so meticulous about the freshness and precision of his cocktails that he also makes five types of ice to keep them cold.

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