Kitchenless Gourmet

P.F. Chang's China Bistro - Emeryville

It's become a Friday night tradition to go out to dinner and a movie and wind down at the end of a long week. This week we picked a movie in Emeryville and based on C's recommendation, decided on P.F. Chang's on Bay Street in Emeryvile (5633 Bay St., 879-0990). C is a young woman whose food tastes can be trusted - she eats rare hamburgers, oysters, foie gras, and salads, and she asks for aioli instead of ketchup with her French fries.

It's a big restaurant and very busy this evening. By the time we sat down at 6:30pm, it was a 45-minute wait for walk-ins. We ordered 2 appetizers (chicken in lettuce cups and salt & pepper calamari). Instead of the standard hoisin sauce, the waitress made a spicy concoction for the chicken that was very tasty. The main dishes (shrimp in lobster sauce, fried green beans, wok-charred lamb, Cantonese scallops, and chicken chow mein) all had good, distinct flavors. Though the portions weren't huge given the prices, there was enough for the 7 of us to have a good taste of each one. Service was friendly.

Service: 3

Food: 3.5

Price: $$ ($120 for 7 people, including 6 beers)

Atmosphere: 3

Overall: 3

Toyo

While I don't think we've timed it, I think we can walk to Toyo Restaurant (1463 Shattuck Avenue, 510-843-3768) in fewer than 3 minutes. It's the closest restaurant to our house (it's a toss-up between this one and Lo Coco's) and the kids love Japanese food. The menu is simple. The standard nigiri and rolls are on the menu in addition to noodles, tempura, teriyaki, etc.

Tonight we had the salmon, hamachi, seaweed, unagi, and rock 'n roll. The sushi was just fine, though the unagi was  cold. The tempura appetizer was good and came out still very hot. The una-jyu (unagi over rice) was a tad overcooked.

The people here are very  nice, but the restaurant is a bit understaffed. From the time we ordered our food until we received our main dish was 45 minutes and when we had only 3 tables place orders ahead of us. While we waited, we also noticed other people looking at their watches.

Service: 1.5 (very nice but extremely slow)
Food: 2.5
Price: $-$$ (~$15/person)
Atmosphere: 2.5 (not unpleasant but not much charm)
Overall: 2 (if we have the time I will generally be willing to drive somewhere else - darn!!)

KITCHEN UPDATE:
We have working lights in the kitchen and the cabinets have been placed - progress!

Plenty of guests, but no kitchen...

I would say we just can't stop ourselves when it comes to entertaining. I have a feeling that the kids roll their eyes when they hear how many people will be coming over on this or that evening for dinner. We simply enjoy relaxing with friends over good food and wine. Yesterday was my friend Sarah. According to our records (not bad, but not perfect) she hasn't had duck breast at our house, so had that with rice, zucchini, and salad. Lesson learned: don't grill duck breasts. There is simply too much fat on them that drips onto the coals, ignites, and proceeds to char the meat. John insists that cooking in the dark had nothing to do it, but I'm not so sure.

John gets very excited about boiling water on the induction burner. He thinks it's the fastest he has ever boiled water ("It's pretty awesome when it's on high!") and so noodles or mashed potatoes tend to be quick and easy. For our 3 guests tonight,we were able to serve steaks, mashed potatoes, and vegetables using all 3 burners. It was a great meal topped off with some ice cream but unfortunately no berry sauce. The induction burner is great on high but when water spills on it (e.g. from a pot boiling over), it turns itself off. We're still learning.

Camping In

The last time we remodeled our kitchen, we set up our camping stove just outside our back door and we did manage to have a few nice homecooked meals of duck breast, crepes, bacon and eggs, and the like. With winter going on in full force, the camping stove is now set up on top of the dishwasher. At least it's inside this time, but since the back wall of our house is just plywood, it still FEELS like we're outside.

The 2-burner camping stove (a Century) actually works quite well. When we are trying to heat up enough soup for the entire family, it's better than using the microwave. A cooktop is also a necessity for things like pasta, pancakes, crèpes, fried potatoes, and anything that requires boiling water.

Our friend Barb also told us about the Viking Portable Induction Cooker for $500 on Amazon.com or Sur La Table. After a bit of research , this cooktop seemed like the best option because there just wasn't enough information available about the other choices. We knew with this one had the equivalent of 15,000 BTUs whereas you couldn't be sure of the power of the others. The others were cheaper, but they also looked cheaper. The cooker works great - we've made one meal on it so far. It seems to heat more quickly than the camping stove. A couple of caveats: First, the cooker almost requires a dedicated circuit. Running the microwave and the cooker on a 15A circuit tripped the breaker. Second, the bottom of whatever pot/pan cannot be warped. If the surface of the pot/pan is not entirely flat against the hotplate, no heat will be generated. For now, it seems like a good investment.

Looney's Smokehouse

One of our goals during the remodeling is to not eat at the same place twice for a month. There are certainly enough places in the area that we could probably do this for two months, but I think I would miss eating some of my favorite meals. Our friend Mike has been wanting to try Looney's Smokehouse Bar-B Que at the corner of Oxford and Bancroft (2190 Bancroft Way, Berkeley, 510-649-0628, www.looneysbbq.com), so 8 of us went to check it out. With such a big crowd, we were able to sample half of the menu.

The kids had hamburgers and baby back ribs. The hamburgers arrived rare (as ordered) and when asked how they were, Thing 1 said, "I ate mine - does that tell you anything?" I guess it was good. The other things we tried (in descending order of quality): beef ribs (HUGE!), beef brisket, hot links, fries, mashed potatoes, baby back ribs (dry but tasty), Caesar salad (okay), pulled pork (not much taste), cornbread (nothing special), broccoli (tasteless), Mac 'n cheese (bland), green beans (overcooked).

For college-aged sports bar fans, this must be heaven. The service is friendly, the portions are huge, the prices are low, watching the big screen from the second floor is perfect, and the beer pitchers are very cool. On a Saturday or Sunday afternoon, this place must be packed.

Service: 3
Food: 2
Price: $$ ($150 for 8 people, including 1 pitcher of beer)
Atmosphere: 3 (average pub feel)
Overall: 2.5

Going, Going, Gone!

I don't get to say this very often, but I do think Chris was wrong. Yesterday's visual effect in the kitchen was much more dramatic. However, I must admit that I was quite impressed to see that the flue that had been hidden behind the walls between the kitchen and dining room has been completely removed. I hear that they lowered a guy down the flue from the attic and he removed it brick-by-brick. Behind the sheetrock, Chris and Dave found an envelope left by the previous family with pictures from 1970s-1997. Apparently in 1971, a 1 bedroom apartment near the campus could be rented for $190 - not bad!

Tonight we managed to clear enough space on the dining room table to eat leftovers and a bit of takeout from Soop in the Epicurious Garden (1509 Shattuck Ave., Berkeley, between Vine and Cedar). The kids love the Chicken Noodle  and I'm partial to the Yellow Split Pea (with a double order of croutons). In a pinch this is a great place to grab a healthy, relatively inexpensive meal. We always find something appealing!

Service: 3 (this is tough to rate for take-out; we never have to wait very long and the people are nice)
Food Quality: 3.5
Price: $ ($12.05 for 2 one pint servings and a double order of croutons)
General Atmosphere: n/a
Overall: 4 (we come here a lot)

Demolition

"It's not like it's anything dramatic," Chris said casually to me as I came home. "Just wait until tomorrow." Considering that the day before we had served a fairly extensive menu to 20 friends, I thought it was actually amazing that the kitchen was completely naked. The cabinets, appliances, light fixtures and yes, the kitchen sink, were all sitting on the front porch.

A few things we are definitely going to keep around during the remodeling:
    * refrigerator
    * microwave
    * toaster oven
    * dishwasher
I actually think the key to surviving meals at home will be having the dishwasher. Chris has figured out that we can keep it in the laundry room using the hot water feed that goes to the washing machine - ingenious!! We're also putting our old bathtub to use as a temporary sink in the kitchen thanks to Chris. So except for the dishwasher, everything else is in the dining room, mostly stacked along the edges of the room and on any flat surface that is available. This of course means that instead of having leftovers tonight, we ate out.

We met some friends in the Rockridge area and checked out Becky's Chinese Restaurant (5620 College Avenue, Oakland, 510-601-9888). It has fairly standard Chinese fare and we ordered  sizzling rice soup, black bean sauce chicken, Mongolian beef, Ma-po tofu, and steamed rice. The kids' favorite was the sizzling rice soup. All of the dishes were tasty and all of the sauces were distinct. Service was very attentive. A  cheap, tasty meal - we would go again...

Service: 4
Food quality: 3
Price: $
General Atmosphere: 3
Overall: 3

New Year's Pinot Noir tasting menu

Lentil salad (Bouchon)
Beet salad (Bouchon)
Cheeses: gruyère, Epoisses, buchèron, Brie de Meaux
Mushroom risotto (French Laundry)
Boeuf Bourguignon (Bouchon)
BBQ chicken thighs
Elbow pasta with parmesan
Plain shortbread cookies (Stars Desserts)
Chocolate shortbread cookies (Stars Desserts)
Cinnamon sugar cookies (Stars Desserts)
Sour cream pound cake
Chocolate mousse cake
Caramels (Mike & Barb)
Fresh berries

Wines:
'01 Papapietro Perry, Peters Vineyard, Sonoma Coast
'01 Dehlinger, Goldridge Vineyard
'04 Freeman, Sonoma Coast
'05 Hartford Court Land's Edge Vineyards, Sonoma Coast
'05 Patassy Vineyard, Russian River Valley
'05 Pisoni Estate, Santa Lucia Highlands
DVX champagne (Thanks, Ted!)

Kitchenless gourmands

We love to eat. We hang out in our kitchen. Everyone who visits us hangs out in our kitchen. Well, for about a month it's been only half a kitchen.

And when tomorrow is over, the Hersheys will be completely kitchenless. It's eight weeks (so they say) of no cookies, no soufflés, no rack of lamb, no veal roast, no kitchen sink.

We've done it before and we survived. I feel the same way about having kids. If enough time passes, the difficult parts fade from your memory and you take the plunge. Given how much time we spend in our kitchen, we have to do this. Our house has great bones but not a real "cooking" kitchen, so the 8 weeks will be worth it. At least we're doing this with Chris and Dave who did our other kitchen and who we trust implicitly.

The last hurrah for the old kitchen was our annual Pinot Noir tasting: a relaxed gathering with lots of food and wine with some of our closest friends. After 6 bottles of wine, kitchenlessgourmet.com was launched to chronicle how this family that loves good food will survive without a kitchen...