30093 Sat Jul 03 04:14:28 -0700 2004 5 1 San Francisco Bay Area 0 128774 After several days away, requirements for my first meal back in the City were spicy heat and chopsticks. The girlfriends came up with the perfect TGIF suggestion: RoHan Lounge for soju cocktails and Korean small bites. We each had a couple cocktails ($6 apiece) that gave us the opportunity to try most of the specialty drink menu. My two – Happy Family and Asian Blonde - were way too sweet and fruity for me. My favorite tastes were the cucumber martini and one that combined ginger, lime and mint. Foodwise, my favorite was one of the specials, skewers of chewy and rare marinated flank steak chunks and scallions dipped in egg wash then fried. It was served with a very complex and garlicky sizzling hot chili oil condiment. The pork bul go gi was delicious, maybe not quite as well-grilled and charry but more highly seasoned and flavorful than the versions at my last two Korean outings. I think I liked the sweet potato croquettes more than the others did, nicely browned and crunchy outside with sweet creamy centers served with tonkatsu dipping sauce and very good daikon kimchee. Somehow the little cakes reminded me of falafel and I couldn’t help but wonder what the croquettes with the spicy kimchee might be like rolled up in lavosh. The hoisin marinated grilled chicken breast wasn’t shabby either, loved the black and white sesame crust, but it was white meat afterall. The dishes were nicely presented, and while brought up to date, I didn’t feel that any authenticity or flavor was sacrificed in the process. This is some of the tastiest bar food around. Price per person was $26, half of that for beverages. Next we wandered over to Toy Boat on Clement for some dessert. I loved the vanilla and orange creamsicle milk shake topped with handmade whipped cream. It was actually more orange-y and tastier than a real creamsicle. I sampled the hot fudge sauce and would cross that off the list of possibilities. * * * * * Chipping away at the sleep deficit with a solid 12 hours of slumber and barely rolling out of bed before noon, I headed to Chinatown in search of noodles for lunch on Saturday. A few months earlier I’d noticed that there seemed to be some change afoot at Kam Lok with an updated menu and some different faces on the floor. I’d stopped going there a few years ago when quality sank, but decided to take a seat at the basement counter to check it out anew. Kam Lok is a Cantonese seafood specialist and I was hoping that there might be a $10 or so special on lobster lo mein that many places feature as a lunch lead in. I inquired, but my waiter shook his head and told me that lobsters are priced at $14 per pound and are absolute top grade, not seconds. I ordered a one and a half pounder with ginger and scallions on yee mein ($3 upcharge over lo mein). Before the main event came out, I enjoyed the complimentary house soup, oxtail and carrot this time. Served in a big bowl, the meat and veggies had given up all their flavor and texture to the intensely flavored stock. I savored the bronze liquid leaving the rest, and could feel its magical restorative powers almost immediately. The lobster was paraded out on a giant platter. For my $24, I got some showmanship as well. Arranged with the head at one end and the tail fins at the other, the claw pieces were placed in anatomical symmetry along with the remaining chunks of lobster on the bed of spongey noodles instead of being jumbled up. Delectably seasoned, the sweet and firm meat was perfectly cooked. The head had been cleaved from the body at just the right point to capture the rich tomalley. This was one of the best lobsters I’ve had in recent years. My waiter told to take my time and savor the dish, which I did with great gusto punctuated with sucking and slurping sounds. Most of the noodles and some leftover lobster went home with me and were even tastier after the noodles had absorbed more of the juices. Dessert was a complimentary plate of ice cold orange slices. Could Kam Lok be back on its game again or was this a one-off? I’d love to hear from anyone who has been there recently. * * * * * After Sunday’s funeral, the wake was a family dinner at Eight Immortals Seafood Restaurant. Seventy of us took over the upstairs dining room. The menu and quick impressions: Fruit salad – melon balls, lychee and pineapple chunks dressed with mayonnaise served with wedges of crisp iceberg lettuce, an old-fashioned Cantonese-American dish that I haven’t had for years, a refreshing starter Dried scallop and fish maw soup – above average Roast pork – tasty seasoning rub through and through with tender fatty meat and crunchy skin, wonder which barbecue house made this Fried squab – cut into quarters and served with seasoned salt, quite decent Yellow-crowned free-range chicken (wong mo gai) with ginger condiment – very good rendition with firm skin, red at the bone and just the right amount of salt Crispy chicken with shrimp chips – decent job, shrimp chips were hard and underdone Duck with pickled ginger – my favorite of the meal, chunks of Cantonese roast duck on the bone braised with a sweet and spicy pickled ginger sauce, this might be Eight Immortals Special Sauce Duck on the menu ($8.50 for half duck). Abalone, sea cucumber, black mushrooms and lettuce with oyster sauce – cut up rather haphazardly and thrown together with zero presentation, yet very tasty and surprisingly good for an inexpensive place like this Salt and pepper filet of flounder – very salty and greasy, lots of jalapenos and scallions Steamed lobster with ginger and scallions – overcooked and watery Shrimp chaufa – just okay, but it was fun to meet the Peruvian branch of the family for the first time and eat this dish and drink Inca cola with them Orange slices Why two chicken dishes? Apparently more people came to the service and dinner than expected and the restaurant didn’t have enough of the wong mo gai prepped to go around. The remaining tables were supposed to get the crispy chicken as a substitute, but somehow our table scored both. When we departed around 6:30pm, there was a crowd downstairs waiting for tables and more lined up outside. The dinner tables were piled with enormous portions of food. I picked up the to-go menu and was struck by how low the prices are: rice plates or noodles for $3 to $4, standard stir-fries are $3.50 to $5, and other than a few special seafood, duck or squab dishes, just about everything else is less than $6. The wo choy menu starts at $28 for six-courses. While the food and the ambience are definitely a notch down from nearby Ming’s Diner, the 20% difference in price more than makes up for it if money’s tight. Perhaps the best part about Eight Immortals is that it’s on the same block as Marco Polo. Afterwards, we spent our lucky money on some exotic flavors of gelato to sweeten our mood. RoHan Lounge Korean Fusion Restaurant and Soju Bar www.rohanlounge.com 3809 Geary Blvd. San Francisco 415.221.5095 Closed Monday and Tuesday Kam Lok Seafood Restaurant 834 Washington St. San Francisco 415.421.8102 Eight Immortals Seafood Restaurant http://www.222.to/8immortals/ 1433 Taraval Street San Francisco (Between 24th & 25th Ave.) 415.731.5515 Link: http://www.chowhound.com/topics/show/21200#75919 Sat Jul 03 04:14:28 -0700 2004 0 Melanie Wong 1 128849 Forgot to mention this - Irving's Premium Challah is available at Toy Boat. I'd not had it before, and it was great to share a bit of it with my friends and wish them Shabbat Shalom as the sun was setting. Link: http://www.chowhound.com/topics/show/24350#94762 Mon Jul 05 02:05:58 -0700 2004 128774 0 Melanie Wong 2 128883 This was my first taste of Irving's too. It's perfect challah, and $4 seems like a fair price. My half loaf did not last until sundown on Saturday. The soju cocktails at RoHan were fun. My only complaint was the lack of happy hour pricing/specials. The lychee one was a bit too syrupy, but the kiwi-strawberry soju mix was refreshing with only a hint of fruit. I liked the pork bulgogi in the lettuce wraps the best of the food. The spiciness of the snacks definitely seems designed to drive up your bar bill. Tuna poke with fried wontons was forgettable, an imitation of what Luna Park does well; very pale cubes of white fish that I mistook for potatoes at first glance. We were also tempted by flights of straight soju (a green tea soju, a barley variety) but didn't want to crawl home. Besides, we had to save room for dessert. Mon Jul 05 23:34:26 -0700 2004 128849 0 Windy 3 128886 Wonder if the challah is available there every day or only on Friday? Oooh, I forgot about the tuna poke, and it was utterly forgettable! I haven't had a version locally that I like. I took a card home from RoHan, and on Wednesdays it says that nibbles are half price and cocktails are $3. That's worth remembering. It was interesting to have been to RoHan followed up by Roe last week. The next generation has revved up the family's traditional recipes in a club/bar environment. Tue Jul 06 00:11:33 -0700 2004 128883 0 Melanie Wong 4 128890 I got the impression from the Chron magazine's feature on Irving that he had mostly returned to his day job, so maybe just Fridays. The website includes all the places the bread is for sale, along with two broken links to recipes for bread pudding (with olive oil) and French toast (with garlic powder)! http://irvprem.com/WhereToBuy.htm At the next table at Toy Boat, a boy no older than 2 pointed to our bread and pronounced gleefully "ha-la! ha-la!" Link: http://sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?file=/chronicle/archive/2004/05/02/CMGE5610CE1.DTL Tue Jul 06 01:11:46 -0700 2004 128886 0 Windy 5 128896 Thanks for the links and especially for sharing that little boy's glee in challah and the magic of the sabbath. Tue Jul 06 02:00:02 -0700 2004 128890 0 Melanie Wong