I Wanna go Back to B * Star

Last Sunday, Jane and I had brunch at B* Star, (no this is not a math problem) a few blocks from mothership, Burma Superstar (BS).

Lentil Ragu with two paoched eggs and whole wheat toast. Savory and filling.  East Indian-inspired.

She and I agree that B*Star is more sophisticated than BS.  B*Star's cozy interior is hipper, and its menu, while fusion, includes some of BS's most popular dishes, like the Samusa Soup and the Tea Leaf Salad, which is a bonus for those of us who enjoy both.  

Azuki Almond Banana French Toast - delicious, sweet..and rich.  

I LOVE B*Star's brunch menu. Endearingly, it reflects San Francisco's heavily Asian and Latino-American population. You will find items like jook, huevos rancheros, eggs benedict, ochazuke, pancakes, and hybrid dishes like the ones featured in the photos here.  But the thing is, it ain't just a cutesy menu: the food is really good!

Divergent textures abound in this chunky soup with a kick.

B*Star is potentially a superstar in my book. To find out, I'm returning for more East-West comfort food...and Strawberry Nutella French Toast.

Deconstructing Calafia's Veggie Burger

This is the California-esque, rainbow-colored Vegetable Soy Lentil Quinoa Burger from Calafia in Palo Alto. If it reads like a mouthful, that's because it is. In fact, it is laboriously more than a mouthful.

Stacked between the halved and dense multigrain bun (speckled with pumpkin seeds and other bird seeds) were:  a thick layer of guacamole, the veggie burger (the yellow slab in the center made from soy, green lentils, quinoa, and brown rice) and beet relish.  

The burger came with pickles, mayo, house ketchup and Dijon mustard.

I must say, this was a weird combination. I usually slather ketchup on my veggie burgers (assuming they are mimicking meat) but ketchup didn't work on this one.  Because the burger was so big, I ended up eating it the way I eat Oreos, which is by taking it apart and eating the layers separately.  However,  I did try to get the flavor of the burger as a whole by stuffing my mouth a few times.   

Each component of the burger was quite tasty on its own.  But together they seemed random, as if someone had come up with a list of stereotypically "Californian" ingredients (eg healthy/nutty/macrobiotic) and attempted to make a dish out of them. Unfortunately here, that person didn't think enough about how those ingredients would go together.   

The ketchup was fresh (making my bottled ketchup seem dull a flavorless) and would be delightful with scrambled eggs or meatloaf. The beet relish would be great on a hotdog with mustard. The guacamole delicious with chips. The burger would go well, I think with a more conventional, softer--even commercial--burger bun. 

Bottom line: for the Vegetable Soy Lentil Quinoa Burger to be memorable, its components need to split up and get together with other ingredients. 

Ubuntu: Uber-refined Vegetarian Mecca

If marriages were between people and restaurants, I would be wildly pursuing Ubuntu. Ubuntu is not only ultra cool, but good for me too.

As a person Ubuntu would be a soft-spoken intellectual whose uniform was jeans and a black t-shirt...and a beanie in the winter.   He'd be one of those few dudes in yoga class who is also interested in cooking, whose hair shags below his ears.  Read: a caricature of a Northern California dude.

The Last Supper of my divine 48-hour Napa Valley trip was appropriately at Ubuntu.

I was last here 15 months ago, right before the chef changed. I thought it was awesome. (Click here for the review.) The place continues to be otherworldly.  Ubuntu chefs are masters of combining flavors and making their productions look like artists' canvases.

Slow roasted chioggia beets (yes, those fleshy tuna colored chunks)

As faint silhouettes of yoginis darted around in the yoga studio above (visible from the restaurant), I enjoyed beets that looked like sashimi, opaque paperthin leaves, and  broccoli, which was unsuspectingly bursting with flavor. 

"Warm foccacia with truffled pecorino from Florence and apricot/almond agrodolce"

While the beets were gorgeous and tasty, the foccacia, delicately tangy and sweet, was extraordinary.  We ordered it with the optional poached egg.  I could talk about this dish for a while, except I would keep repeating the same adjectives: incredible, amazing, delicious...

Ubuntu also sells t-shirts and garb, which I would never wear. But how I look forward to another date with the restaurant. 

St. Helena's Olive Oil Company

Products that say "I've been to Napa Valley!"

Extra virgin olive oil from 

Just north of Yountville on the St. Helena highway is the St. Helena Olive Oil Company.  I was told by a friendly young sales clerk that a) their products are sold no where else (except their two Napa stores) and that b) their olive oil is organic and sourced from local olives.  This was music to my ears. But if their olive oil is truly organic, it is not obvious from neither their website nor their signage in the store.

Salts (edible ones; bath salts also available)

I was willing to take this clerk's word for it. Especially since I made the trip out there, and I was impressed with the looks of the place, which is worth a visit if you like extra virgin olive oil, vinegars, honey, gourmet salts, and bath products (soaps, lotions, bath salts).  They also have items such as butternut squash pasta sauce, pesto, blended herbs, and examples of recipes combining vinegar and oil.  

Salt of the earth

They have quite a variety and all their products are hospitably laid out for easy and clean sampling.

Vinegar bar

At this writing a 375ml bottle of extra virgin lemon olive oil costs $24.