Back in July, some colleagues invited me to join them for lunch at one of the local eateries I had driven past almost every day for the previous two years but had never gave a second look to.  The name of the restaurant is Bei Fun, or North Rice.  Turns out, this is one of their favorites, and after that lunch, I understood why!  Showing a little foresight, I even grabbed a copy of the order sheets and marked down my favorite dishes from that lunch so I’d know what to order if I ever returned.

A few days later, Erin and I were discussing what to do for dinner, and I suggested I bring home some takeout from Bei Fun.  Turns out, almost every dish turned out awesome even as take-out, despite needing to undergo the 45 minute drive home after preparation.  One dish, the spicy wontons, didn’t travel too well so it fell off the take-out rotation.

As Erin is still back in the US and I’m out of thawed options in the fridge, I decided to pick up some dishes for tonight (and leftovers for at least tomorrow as well!)

Here’s a brief overview of the offerings I brought home (total bill, NT$340, a little more than US $11.  Not bad for two nights’ dinners!)

The food was just as great as I remembered and the prices were still low, especially for the amount of food you get!

We started with the Kalua Lumpia ($5.29) which is shredded pork wrapped in wonton skin and served with sweet and sour or chili pepper water. I had a combination entree with a chicken curry and their famous Lahaina fried chicken ($12.99), which is served with rice, macaroni salad, and ramen cabbage salad as well. My Mom always gets their Chicken Teriyaki Sandwich ($8.99) and my father, another creature of habit, gets their specialty fried rice ($7.79).

Their desserts are excellent as well and they have a bakery counter if you just want to walk in and purchase desserts and other Hawaiian specialities. They sell the Hawaiian juice I love in the cans which is nearly impossible to find most of the time. 

Apparently they have a newer Manhattan Beach location as well, which I have not been to, but heard the food is just as good as the original. 

Back Home in Lahaina
519 East Carson Street
Carson, CA 90745
(310) 835-4014
www.backhomeinlahaina.com

Bleaux Magnolia is located in downtown Napa, about 2 blocks walking distance from the Beazley House B&B.  Back in January, Brett had come out to visit me and we stayed at the Beazley House for a couple nights, which is an absolutely fantastic place if you want to stay at a B&B!  It came highly recommended and we decided to check it out since we could walk and poor Brett was pretty jet lagged after his flight from Amsterdam, so we didn’t want to eat too late.

Bleaux Magnolia specializes in contemporary Creole. Their website notes that many people except to be brought back to New Orleans but as they remind everyone, this is California! 🙂

Chef Mermod, co-owner, is actually a self taught chef. He’s spent a lot of time working in restaurants in California and also in Louisiana, learning the cuisine there.

General Manager Schuster, is a Louisiana native who has a long history in the restaurant business, including managing some premier restaurants in San Francisco.

The restaurant is small and reservations are definitely recommended. There is a cute outdoor patio area which would be nice during the summer. They offer various specials and 3 & 5 course dinners. Tuesday nights are $1 BBQ Oysters and Wednesday night is movie night – they show a free movie on their patio area.

They have received a number of accolades being a relatively new restaurant. They were voted Best New Restaurant in 2008 and one of the whole Napa Valley’s top 10. One of the best things about them is they don’t charge a corkage fee which is rare. We didn’t know that beforehand, otherwise we would’ve brought one of our own bottles with us!

The night we were there they had their version of Oysters Rockfeller which were $3.50 each. We decided to try a couple each and OMG, they were incredible. I wish I could remember everything in them but I know one of the ingredients was marscapone cheese.

I ordered the Gumbo and Brett had the Jambalaya with the Duck Confit. Both were excellent but I agree with Brett, if we went back and they were serving the oysters, we’d each probably order 10 each and just eat those! LOL. They were incredible and I have been craving them for months now.

Bleaux Magnolia
1408 Clay St.
Napa, CA
Across from Clay St. Parking Garage & behind West America Bank.

Business hours:
Mon-Sat:  Lunch 11:30am – 2:30pm   Dinner  5pm – 9pm
Sunday:  Brunch 11am – 2:30pm    Dinner 5pm – 8pm
www.bleauxmagnolia.com

When I was living in Northern California, I was on the hunt for good Mexican food.  Sal’s Tacos is the best I’ve found for authentic local Mexican food, reminsicent of what I was raised around in Los Angeles. I grew up exposed to truly traditional dishes and have searched years trying to find restaurants that come close to duplicating the fond memories I have. Sal’s definitely came close to filling that empty void in my pursuit of the best Mexican food!

This is not your average taqueria! The owner, Sal Galvan, has found a way to merge his love for the Sacramento Kings, mosiacs, good food, and wine! Sal’s is completely decorated in mosiacs on the walls and ceiling, most paying homage to the Sacramento Kings (including a life size one of Vlade Divac). If this isn’t enough to keep him busy, he also produces wine, offering a couple types at the restaurant as well. You can’t help but laugh at some of the funny signs posted in the restaurant (such as the one in the picture below).

I absolutely LOVE this place. They have a salsa bar with both red and green salsas, ranging from mild to wild! I am not a fan of carnitas normally but they have the BEST carnitas taco special that I order almost every time I go. On Sunday mornings, I used to order the Huevos Divorciados (divorced eggs) which is typically two fried eggs, served separately on corn tortillas, one with red salsa, the other green. Sal’s version is on the masa boats, one with chili colorado and the other with chile verde. Perfectly matched with a Bohemia or Negro Modelo! :-))

And they serve my comfort food daily – POZOLE! It’s a better subsitute for chicken noodle soup! For those who have not tried it and you are lucky enough to find it in a restaurant, definitely give it a try. It’s basically a pork and hominy soup with chile and other seasonings. Garnishes include radishes, shredded cabbage, lemon or lime juice, oregano, and cilantro. It is similar to Menudo but lacks that “special” ingredigent of tripe (yuck!).

They have all-you-can-eat chips and a fresh salsa bar with some interesting options.  A number of red ones, ranging in spice and at least one green salsa.  spicy cucumbers, pickled onions, carrots & peppers are some accompaniments.  They also have wedges of limes, lemons, cilantro and onions, and typically a couple creams, one is usually spicy.   Although the food is not as cheap as you might find at some taquerias, the quality of food is much better.  I’ve tried some local taquerias and been highly disappointed with the inferior ingredients and greasiness of the cheese and sauces.

This is a very casual, order at the counter type place. They have a frequent diner program as well (buy six, get one free)…..further rationalization on how I seemed to end up there once a week!!! 🙂  I miss Sal’s and try to go back at least once every time I am back in town.  Call for hours as they have changed several times.  They used to be open earlier on weekends for breakfast, but I think they open later now.  Also note they do close early, typically 8:30pm from what I remember.

Sal’s Tacos – Mexican Food
400 C Street
West Sacramento, CA 95605
(916) 372-3377

In keeping with our unintentional theme of one dish meals the last two nights, we opted to make a rice dish last night. We already had chicken and pork so we were on to beef or shrimp.  I love coconut rice and pineapple so we did a shrimp fried rice with pineapple.  It was super simple and filled with lots of flavor!  

Ingredients:

• 2 cups cooked Jasmine rice (cooled)
• 1 tbsp oil (I prefer to cook with olive)
• 1 clove minced garlic (we actually used 4)
• 1/2 cup chopped onion
• Cooked shrimp, peeled and deveined (we used large shrimp w/tails – 6 each)
• 1/2 tsp sugar
• 1 tbsp fish sauce
• 4 oz (or about 5 rings) of canned pineapple, chopped
• 2 green onions, chopped

Directions:

Have the Jasmine rice already prepared so it can cool and is easier to break apart.  I made coconut Jasmine rice for this (basically substituted coconut milk for part of the water when cooking it). 

Using a wok, heat the oil and add the minced garlic and chopped white onion. Cook until the onion has a shiny appearance – about 1-2 minutes. 

Add the cooked shrimp, rice, sugar, fish sauce and stir well.  After about 30 seconds, add the pineapple and green onion and continue stirring often for 2-3 minutes.  You want to make sure the rice is tender and the shrimp is thoroughly heated. 

Remove from heat and serve on big plates while still hot. 

Serves 2

Wine Pairing:   2

2003 Spätlese

Spätlese is basically a light late harvest wine so it is pretty sweet, but was a good match for this dish.

Mali Ston has a reputation for seafood and shellfish as it’s at the end of the bay inlet. As the salt pans are in this area, the water is obviously lightly salty and high in minerals. I visited Bota Taverna Šare on an excursion as part of a Mediterranean cruise back in 2007.  Part of our tour included the tour of the mussel and oyster farms as well as seafood sampling at Bota Taverna afterwards.

Bota Taverna used to be a salt storage cellar, two stories tall inside. Bota comes from Dubrovnik’s old name for arched ceiling. Still family owned and noted to have some of the best seafood in Croatia! Shellfish farming dates back over 100 years and combined with the salt mines, the oysters and mussels are mouth watering.

We did not order from the menu but were provided a seafood sampler consisting of raw mussels and oysters, calamari, fried oysters, and little breaded fish. Local wine was included in our tour package as well. I’ve only had raw mussels once in the United States – not very common. These mussels and oysters were unlike anything I’ve ever tried – the flavor and tenderness of each were indescribable. Fortunately, two people I was with didn’t eat seafood so they ate the bread while we snatched their oysters and mussels! It ended up being an all you can eat type deal and additional plates of oysters and mussels arrived which apparently everyone else had their fill so we finished them off…cannot let delicious seafood go to waste! 🙂

The ambiance in the restaurant was amazing. The stone walls were illuminated with candles and the high two story arched ceilings were incredible.

If you happen to be in Dubrovnik (about an hour drive) or on a tour to Ston & Mali Ston, I would highly recommend a trip into Taverna Bota Šare, even just for a shellfish appetizer and a glass of their local wine (or the Croatian beer, which was not bad).

Bota – Šare, Mali Ston

Tel: 020 / 754482
Mob: 091 / 1754479
E-mail: botamaliston@inet.hr
Radno vrijeme: od 11:00 do 24:00

Manager: JERKO RADIĆ