Let’s Chaat

It’s funny sometimes to reflect on your personal food evolution.  For instance, it still amazes me to think about how I never had Indian food until grad school, or that I never really had Korean food until I moved to Berkeley.  It’s amazing, in part, because I have now integrated these once exotic cuisines into my everyday diet.

When I moved to Berkeley, I heard through the grapevine that Vik’s Chaat Corner was THE place for good and cheap Indian food.  It took me four years, but I finally made it to Vik’s.  Part of the delay was that they have slightly odd hours: closed Mondays, open from 11-6 Tuesday-Thursday, and 11-8 on the weekend.  (I seem to recall that they weren’t open on weekends for a while, but I could be wrong.)  The other issue is that Vik’s is in West Berkeley, which is mostly industrial/commercial, and not an area I usually think about for food.

Sign outside Vik's... good thing that it's there. Otherwise,the space blends into the industrial park.

Anyway, so I finally got around to going to Vik’s because I happened to have my car handy at lunchtime.  The boytoy and I beat the lunch crowd by mere minutes, which he swears is a special talent of his.  Like a sixth sense, except for food ordering.

I wanted to try everything on their menu (don’t follow the link unless you’re ready to drool), but since it was just the two of us, we decided to temper our appetites and avoid food coma by ordering only 2 items.  We shared the masala dosa and the chicken korma.

The menu at Vik's

A dosa is an Indian pancake/crepe made with rice and lentil flour.  It’s usually stuffed with curried vegetables and sometimes with meat.  Our dosa had potatoes in it, and it was served with a side of lentil soup, which I often use as a dipping sauce.  The dosa at Vik’s tastes really fresh, mostly because the dosa “shell” has great texture.

What's in that dosa? Yummy goodness, that's what!

We also ordered the chicken korma, which I expected to be like every other chicken korma I had eaten: chicken cubes in creamy korma sauce, served over rice.  Vik’s shakes things up a bit by serving a bit of the expected chicken korma, but also throwing in some chicken curry (my favorite part of the tray), along with some vegetable slaw, rice, and papadum (thin Indian wafers).

Chicken curry. Might not look so special but it was.

The only thing I didn't like: the SUPER salty mystery pickled thing.

It was unfortunate that we had no room for dessert because Vik’s has not just one, but two large glass cases of desserts.  I need to kidnap an Indian friend with me next time to tell me what’s what.

Dessert case #1

Dessert case #2

I know for sure that it won’t be another 4 years before I return to Vik’s!

Chocolate + Mexican Food = Almost Heaven

Last week, I toured the Scharffen Berger Chocolate Factory in Berkeley.  Even though I love chocolate, and despite the fact that the factory is less than 2 miles from my apartment, I had never managed to make it down there until now.  Scharffen Berger is a small-scale American chocolatier that was started in the early 1990’s by two Bay Area entrepeneurs.  They are famous for their bittersweet dark chocolate, featuring 70% cacao.  For the tour, I was expecting a full-on Scharffen Berger advertisement, which we got, but I was also pleasantly surprised to learn a lot about chocolate making.  For instance, did you know that the cacao farmers ferment the beans for 5-7 days under banana leaves?  I also learned a lot about the chocolate making industry, such as the fact that milk chocolate in the US only requires 10% cacao, and that 30% qualifies as “dark” chocolate.  This, and bean quality, explains why I prefer European to American chocolate.  The only disappointing thing I learned on the tour was that Scharffen Berger got bought out by Hershey’s a few years ago.

Pre-roasted cacao beans

Roasted cacao bean shells

Nibs (roasted cocoa bean nuggets) -- nutty in flavor.

One of three chocolates we got to taste during the tour (I think this was the 50% semisweet).

Bean roaster

The roasted beans go into the winnower, which separates the nibs from the husk.

The temperature station, used by the master roasters to test when the beans are done.

The melanguer, which mashes up the nibs to make cocoa powder.

After tempering (melting the cocoa powder into liquid form), the chocolate gets molded and passed along this assembly line. Just like in "I Love Lucy"

Because this is a food processing facility, we were required to wear hairnets and the men had to wear beard nets.

After the tour, EF, her family, and I walked a few blocks over to Juan’s Place, a no-frills family-owned Mexican restaurant.  I’m unable to give a comprehensive review of Juan’s because everytime I go, I always get the chicken enchiladas with red sauce.  One time, I got the crab enchiladas, which were only so-so.  The funny thing about Juan’s is that they don’t have a full liquor license, so they make margaritas with wine.  It’s not as bad as it sounds, but I would stick with beer.

The menu at Juan's

Juan's has two kinds of tortilla chips, corn and thick flour (pictured). I love the flour ones, probably because they are so bad for you.

My chicken enchilada with rice and beans. I learned quickly that the 1/2 order was plenty for me (the full order comes with 2 enchiladas).

The super burrito. Almost as big as my head.

On the chocolate theme, ZF ordered the enchiladas with mole sauce. It was really good; I think I might have to order it next time.

Recent Highlights

Yes, I’ve been a negligent blogger yet again.  The main excuse this time is that I was at a conference for the past 5 days, and therefore very busy. But I didn’t forget to take food photos!  The following is a mish-mash (a food mash-up?) of recent eating activity:

Saturday, December 6th: Rockridge Cafe
The Rockridge Cafe is a solid brunch place with reasonable prices, and more importantly, a reasonable wait.  Their menu is comprised of classic brunch dishes, like omelettes and pancakes, with the occasional flare, like french toast made with challah bread, or Mexican-style breakfast dishes, like chilaquiles.

Avocado quesadilla with hash browns

Challah French toast and real maple syrup, with sausage and eggs

Wednesday, December 10th: Daimo
On this particular day, I convinced my coworkers to play hooky for the afternoon.  We went bowling for $1/game at the Albany Bowl, followed by karaoke Asian-style (in private rooms) at the Music Tunnel.  Afterwards, JY, IP, and I enjoyed some Chinese food at Daimo, one of my favorite Chinese restaurants in the area.  The portions are huge, the food is well-seasoned and authentic, and because it’s usually packed, it’s great for people watching.  The three of us shared two dishes and we were stuffed.

Walnut Prawns

Stir-fried pea sprouts with garlic

Friday, December 12th: Casa Latina
JL helped me run an errand mid-morning, and as we had the City CarShare car for another 45 minutes, we decided to make a quick stop at Casa Latina, a Mexican bakery and restaurant.  We both got the tamale plate, though I’m only showing JL’s because hers came with a prettier red sauce (photo taken on my phone).  Even though we were really full, we couldn’t resist buying pastries on the way out.  JL bought a custard-filled dessert, while I chose the apple pastry.  I’m sorry to report that there aren’t any photos of the desserts, but the apple thing was delicious.

Chicken tamales with red sauce, served with rice, beans, salsa, and guacamole

Friday, December 12th: Osha
After my haircut in downtown San Francisco with SB, BB and I went to get dinner at Osha, one of a small chain of Thai restaurants in the city.  It is slightly pricey for what it is, but the ambiance is good and the food is solid.  We started with fresh rolls for the appetizer, and moved on to green curry and Thai spiced fried noodles for the main course.  The rolls were unique in their texture; the skins were thicker than at most restaurants, and the presentation was nice.  Neither BB nor I felt the green curry was anything special (and therefore, undeserving of posting here), but we both agreed that the noodles had a nice kick.

Fresh rolls at Osha

Thai-spiced fried noodles