Kan Zamen

about a week ago i went down to san francisco to hang out with family and meet up with a friend that i hadn't seen since last august. the day happened to be quite blustery, making our walk to upper haight from a bar off divisadero quite perilous. K led us to a cozy hookah bar on haight called Kan Zamen. the dark door opened up to quite a large dining room with a (shoju-)stocked bar and elevated area with pillowed banquettes. we decided to sit at the low tables to enjoy some tasties.

we decided on the "maza plus" combination, meaning we could choose three cold and two hot maza (appetizer dishes) from the list of about 10-12 options. we placed our order and sat back to survey our surroundings.

the bar was pretty interesting. they only served shoju "cocktails" since, i'm assuming, they don't have a full liquor license. beer, wine, and shoju...they had shoju mojitos, cosmos, all sorts of desperate libations on the chalkboard. also, if you want to smoke, you have to sit at the bar. sigh.

i ordered a "middle eastern tea" not quite knowing what to expect. i figured it would be dark and strong...much like their coffee. what i got was a lovely glass mug of loose, black tea with some refreshing mint leaves floating on top. it was delicious and lightly sweetened to perfection. i want to make this at home. now i just need to invest in some glass mugs so i don't burn my finger tips off. yowza!

service was extremely attentive (filling water glasses several times) and quick. we were only chatting for several minutes by the time the first plates came out. clockwise from top, we ordered hummus, babaghanous, cold cucumber/yogurt salad, hot lentils, and falafel.

the hummus was M's favorite...garlicky and earthy as a hummus should be. the babaghanous was excellent, too...completely lacking that bitter flavor eggplant gets when prepared improperly. the texture was nice, not mush, and smoky. it's making me want to throw a couple of whole, oiled eggplants into my oven right now!

the cucumber salad was BOMB. tart, chilly yogurt spiced up with garlic, salt, lemon, dill, awesome, and a dash of omg. i love tzaziki and all, but this was more of a salad with bigger chunks of cucumber. i loved every bite and mixed it with everything. i couldn't get this simple dish out of my head all week, and the past couple of days i've made my own version with bay shrimp in the mix for dinner. major holy ess when i added a little bit of cap'n kipp's hot sauce.

the lentils were great, too. they were mother-effing-i-just-burned-my-mouth hot (just the way i like my food!), satisfying, and full of that umami heartiness. i shoveled spoonfuls of this with that cucumber salad on many-a-bite of freshly grilled, steamy pita.

the falafel were good, yet somewhat forgettable compared to the lentils and cucumber dishes. they were crispy, hot, and playfully green with parsley. cracking one open was like staring straight into the door of the irish emigrant on st patty's day.

we all loved every last bite of food and convinced ourselves that we needed to try a couple more. M and K savored the spicy sausage which really looked like a sliced beef hot dog that was sizzled with green onions. i have no idea what it was or where it came from, but both M and K said that it was the shit and way better than a dizzog. my choice was the rice and yellow lentil combo served with a tomato salad and cucumber yogurt. if i knew from the get that the cucumber salad was the truth, i would've ordered the rice&lentil dish all for myself. it was spicy and laced with fenugreek seed. holy crap. so good.

we were all stuffed beyond belief, and including tip, we got out of there for $55. that sounds like a pretty hefty check, but M also had a couple beers, and all three of us basically ate a really early dinner/latelate lunch and had to roll out of there.

if i lived in sf, i would return, but since sf is but a place for vacations and family visits, there are so many other places to try that i probably won't be back for a while. le sigh!

one week commemorative post for TG

click to enlarge

so i never wrote about my first warm, sunny thanksgiving in california, and what better day to write about it than one week later! here's the spread: creamy potatoes with just the perfect amount of hand-mashed lumps in it, cranberry orange relish, requisite canned cranberry jelly, apple/cranberry/onion stuffing, coleslaw (a TG first for me), amazing, baked corn pudding, sweet potatoes w pecan crust, broiled brussel sprouts tossed w toasted pecans, suge-doctored gravy, homemade rolls, and lastly a little plate with black olives and sweet gherkins.


the mashed potatoes were great. i personally use a ricer because it's so simple and fast. my dad also bought me one for xmas several years ago because when he got one, we would make mashed potatoes all the time because it was so much fun to use. these potatoes, however, were hand-mashed. i loved the little, toothsome lumps, and they weren't overworked and gluey, which often happens w a masher.

the brussel sprouts were pretty good. they were a little dry from waiting in the oven after broiling, but that was easily rectified by dousing them in gravy and using them as a plow to pick up gravy and potatoes in one bite.


ah, sweet potatoes, i love you! this dish basically tasted like pie, just not as rich with cream and eggs. a little bit of butter, brown sugar, cinnamon, and mace...i added pepper to mine because i love that sweet/savory line sweet potatoes walk.


here's m's plate. it's basically a tower off food crested by slices of turkey. though it looked good, and the bird was the perfect shade of california tan, i resisted and stuck to the sides.


and here's my plate. notice the slice of corn pudding to the right. that was the BOMB; sweet corn kernels suspended in corn meal custard, omg. it was so good. a little cracked pepper on that baby, and wowsers. i still need to ask suge's mom for that recipe.

also, a visit from suge and me brought out the fine china! note the noritake landon 4111 pattern. holllllllller.


aaaaaaaaand the end.

in-n-out of the groovement

(click to enlarge)

of course, if you leave the great state of washington, you must make the requisite trip to in-n-out for some cheap and tasty noshes. we ordered two 3x3's, a double-double, a hamburger, a cheeseburger, three orders of fries, two animal fries, and a strawberry milkshake for about $27.00. now if that's not ridiculously inexpensive, i don't know what is.

unfortunately we made the mistake of ordering via the drive-thru since we had eager beavers awaiting beef and cheese at the homestead. since everywhere in california takes at least 25 minutes to get to, the trip left our food room temperature and a bit underwhelming.


don't be fooled by the above wrapper....that is no double-double! it's a 3x3, aka 3 beef patties sandwiched between three slices of melted cheese. below are patties and cheese in all their glory.



in my state of sheer excitement, i almost forgot to take a picture of my animal fries. so all you have is a pic of the ravaged remnants of half-eaten french fries smothered in grilled onions, cheese, and special sauce (which i believe is some mixture of mayo, mustard, and ketchup).


overall the trip was pretty successful, though underwhelming. one take-out companion noted that it is most likely due to the 25 minute ride home. agreed, young compatriot. in-n-out, until we meet again!

Eggs Benedict with Country Sausage?

Yeah...totally an option at The Buena Vista in SF.

This dish was so bomb and the famous irish coffee is also pretty damn good....so is the mexican coffee.


This place is on some serious tourist shit so the prices are not that reasonable but well worth it.

San Francisco: IN-N-OUT (no beef please)

Maybe some of you already know this...but you can still eat at IN-N-OUT off the not so secret menu if you choose not to eat cow. Basically its the standard burger without meat which they replace with two nice slices of AMERICAN cheese. I loved this sandwich even though a few other people thought it was a waste of time. They were too focused on getting their burgers "animal style". The true thing that saved this sandwich for me was the AMERICAN cheese, which in my opinion, is one of the best things ever invented.

We walked from like Pier 3 to Pier 30 to get these burgers/sandwiches. I'd say it was totally worth it but in the end I am still a fan of the veggie whopper sandwich. And even though they make all these claims about their fries, I am still not a fan of eating one inch potato sticks Something tells me this is a location issue because I have had these fries before in LA...

More San Fran...Haight Ashbury

Haight Ashbury is sort of like Capitol Hill. You've got the huge mansions and the kids begging for change. You also have the incense shops and an American Apparel.

We were really hungry so we stumbled into this place called "All You Knead". They dont serve alcohol just beer so we went for a pitcher of Pabst. This place has a lot of interesting menu options. You can get anything from Pizza to a Tofu Scramble.

Naturally, I went for the pizza, which was good...but sort of school lunch tasting.

My counterpart went for the special which were Catfish Sticks. I'm guessing they were good because he cleaned his plate.


Overall this place was exactly what I expected its a casual American diner. No complaints, it was nice to sit down and relax. I was however distracted several times by a women with tattoos covering her face, drinking a can of coke and talking to herself in the mirror.

Breakfast at Sea-Tac Airport

Well we are back from San Francisco so let me start with day one of the trip.

Seattle Tacoma International Airport

It was 11am so we all really wanted some breakfast...

We were really looking for a breakfast sandwich but were unable to make that happen. So we decided to sit down at one of those bars in the airport where you don't even remember what the hell they are called (example: The Happy Landing, The Cockpit...)


Anyway, I went for the turkey club, not bad but not worth the 9 dollars especially since it comes in a plastic basket with potato chips. I did however like the sauce packets they made available which included horseradish. Perhaps I made the wrong choice when ordering because the chicken strips looked good.

And you can never go wrong with the airport bar because upgrading to a double is only like another $2.50.

Off to the Bay

Carbo and I are off to the Bay....can't wait to get down on some SF food. Stay tuned we will be back next week!


CrumbYum?!?!?! Where are you????