Gastronomy Blog by Cathy Chaplin

Restaurant Review

30 Nov 2017

Kin Khao – San Francisco

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A good deal on Hotwire landed The Astronomer, June, and me at Parc 55 during our San Francisco stay. As luck would have it, Michelin-starred Thai restaurant Kin Khao was located on the ground floor of the property. On our first night in town, we met up with a few old friends for dinner here. It’s not every day that the most convenient dining option also happens to be the most interesting one.

The woman behind the highly-lauded restaurant is Pim Techamuanvivit, a former food blogger turned restaurant proprietor. The menu celebrates the bold flavors she grew up eating in Bangkok using California’s finest produce and proteins.

To start, we shared the Mushroom Hor Mok Terrine ($14). The curry mousse “in-a-jar” was brimming with mushrooms and served with crispy rice cakes on the side. The two mushroom-loathers at the table nevertheless found it enjoyable, while the mushroom-lovers adored it at first bite.

We also split an order of the Pretty Hot Wings ($13), which were manageably spicy with their fish sauce-garlic marinade and tamarind-Sriracha glaze. Nice fry, nice sauce, nice wings.
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Potpourri

28 Nov 2017

The Migrant Kitchen | Beyond Pho

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Potpourri

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Consider this a virtual nudge to tune into The Migrant Kitchen this Wednesday at 8 PM PT on KCET in Southern California for the latest episode, Beyond Pho, which shines a light on the Vietnamese culinary diaspora in Los Angeles:

Banh Mi. Spring rolls. Pho. The war and its subsequent refugees. These are things most commonly associated with the Vietnamese culture and its people. But a group of chefs in Los Angeles (including Cassia’s Bryant Ng and Diep Tran of Good Girl Dinette) are hoping to demonstrate that there’s so much more than that. Featured in the episode: Cassia in Santa Monica, Good Girl Dinette in Highland Park, Red Boat Fish Sauce, and Minh Phan of Porridge & Puffs.

The stories and perspectives featured in Beyond Pho are extraordinarily thoughtful and thought-provoking. I hope you’ll enjoy the episode as much as I did.

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Recipe

21 Nov 2017

Russ Parson’s Mom’s Cranberry Sauce

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I love experimenting with different Thanksgiving recipes, but when it comes to cranberry sauce, this is the only one I will ever need. I have been making Russ Parsons’ mother’s recipe (Russ Parsons, by the way, is the former Food Editor for the Los Angeles Times) for the past couple of years, and it is truly as good as it gets—sweet, tart, warming, and festive. It’s perfect.

In addition to its flavor prowess, the recipe conveniently calls for a resting period of one to three days in order for the fruit, sugar, and spices to settle and meld. This means I can prepare the sauce the weekend before the big day, successfully avoiding any additional kitchen chaos.

To round out my contributions this year, I’ll be making crockpot sausage and sage stuffing (a gluten-free version for my brother-in-law with Celiac—wish me luck!), sweet potato casserole, my friend Sarah’s potato rolls, and Simply Recipes’ apple pie.

Happy Thanksgiving to you and yours! Thank you for making Gastronomy a part of your internet routine.

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