Craving crabs in San Francisco

MILLIE: I treasure memories of enjoyable food experiences whenever we’re in San Francisco. Most memorable is the reputable Thanh Long crab baked in butter and secret spices — it’s always a must on every trip.

I’m a big crab fan. Until a couple of years ago, Karla never really used to eat crabs and would just watch me enjoy myself. I remember when I was infanticipating, I would crave crabs and my mom would always warn me that my baby might have claws. Ha-ha!

When Karla and I were in San Francisco recently, my friends Nancy Tso Rolando and Helen Tsui took me out for a delicious crab dinner at R&G in Chinatown. Too bad Karla had a date with her friend, because she didn’t get to try the yummy crabs at this restaurant. The restaurant was full when we got there but Helen, who is with the San Francisco Travel Association as director for International Tourism, Asia/Pacific, was given a priority table and we didn’t have to wait at all. Helen ordered dried scallops with melon and steamed spinach, fried tofu cubes with shrimp balls and tasty soy chicken and, of course, the house specialty: salt and pepper crab! The crab was very fresh and the flesh so sweet and tender that I couldn’t help licking my fingers with delight! I would have ordered seconds but was too shy to ask.

 KARLA: Dungeness crab is a species of crab that is native to the East Coast in the United States. Commonly called the market crab in California prior to 1974, you’ll find lots of stalls selling Dungeness crab while walking around Fisherman’s Wharf in San Francisco. While it is a fact that only one half of the crab’s weight is actual meat, it is also low in fat and calories, a good source of protein, calcium, iron, magnesium and essential amino acids. Although I missed the crab dinner with auntie Nancy and my aunt Helen, I had an interesting evening of my own. One thing to remember about the dining scene in San Francisco is to always make a reservation. Since we had no definite plans, we ended up taking a walk through the neighborhood while waiting for a table. My friend took me to this restaurant along Divisadero Street called La Urbana, which features sophisticated Mexican food. We had a light seafood and salad dinner but definitely did not miss out on the cocktails. After that we moved across the street to another restaurant called Nopa for dessert and more cocktails. We were lucky to have found a spot by the bar as the place was packed on a late Tuesday evening.

The next day, after an entire day in Napa Valley, Auntie Nancy brought us to Red Crawfish on Larkin Street. She ordered the salt and pepper crab with butter garlic noodles on the side, which was absolutely delicious! The noodles were so simple yet so good. I practically finished the whole order — both the noodles and the crab!

MILLIE: One evening, Nancy took us to Belden Lane in the financial district near her office at the California Bank & Trust, where she’s first vice president and senior relationship manager.

We chose an Italian restaurant called Tiramisu, famous for its cioppino, which is similar to French bouillabaisse, and I remembered it was one of my dad’s favorite dishes. Karla had her eyes set on the burrata and prosciutto crudo salad with toasted grapes and melon balls, which was absolutely delicious and the gnocchi with parmigiano reggiano sauce and black truffle. Nancy ordered a pappardelle with wild boar meat sauce and artichokes. A perfect way to end the dinner, we ordered a tiramisu which was so light and moist. We also met the owner, Giuseppe Scoppetta, who is apparently married to a Filipina.

KARLA: On our last day, we went to the Ferry Building to meet my former schoolmate from Poveda, Katherine Loh, for lunch. Arriving quite early, my mouth was watering as we walked around the various food stalls. Mom instantly went for the first stall she found which was a hotdog stand. She ordered the $6 world-famous all-beef hot dog served on a steamed acme bun. Since I took a bite of it myself, she actually wanted another one but decided to steer us towards another food stall. I immediately saw an interesting food stall called Cap’n Mike’s Holy Smoke, wherein they actually catch their own fish and process or smoke it themselves. Some of their products are smoked salmon, Albacore tuna lox, white salmon lox, Alderwood smoked white salmon and salmon candy. Yup, that’s right: salmon candy! It even carries a warning saying, “This stuff is dangerous!”

MILLIE: One food stall that definitely caught my eye was the El Porteno Empanadas Argentinas. Karla and I ordered a Fruzzato empanada. It’s filled with aged cheddar cheese, shaved onions and oregano and it was so yummy! Other variants of the empanada were Carne (beef with olives and raisins), Pollo (chicken with olives and raisins), Jamon Y Queso with prosciutto and fontina cheese, Champiñones or mushrooms with shallots, parmesan cheese and crème fraiche and acelga with chard, Gruyere cheese and pine nuts. Our eyes popped when we saw the selection of alfajor, including caramel, chocolate, lemon and more.

KARLA: We shared a dulce de leche alfajor, which was certainly not enough for the both of us. Thick caramel sandwiched in between Argentine cookies: you can’t go wrong with that. Therefore, Mom bought a couple more for later. We actually wanted to bring home a whole box but there’s no way it would make it back to Manila. The shelf life is probably only less than a week and we were still going to be in Los Angeles for a few days. Plus, of course, the obvious: the supply would never really last a week with us. The box would be empty even before our flight back home to Manila! Our next stop was the in-line store Boccalone that serves cold cuts, cured meats, etc. Mom was intrigued by the salumi cones filled with mortadella, prosciutto crudo and salami. Then we met Katherine Loh at Boui Bar and shared a lamb pizza and chicken salad because we were too full from all the items we ate along the way.

For dinner, my foodie friend Amir Baker recommended that we try Delfina. Together with Aunt Nancy, Aunt Helen, my cousin Lydia Reyes, her boyfriend Quino Fernandez and Mom, we decided to check it out and, indeed, enjoyed everything we ordered. Mom had the salted cod and pasta with sardine, Aunt Nancy and Lydia ordered an olive oil-based linguine dish, Aunt Helen had the quail while Quino Fernandez and I ordered the lamb osso bucco.

Since my cousin Lydia treated us to dinner, for dessert we walked over to Bi Rite ice cream to return the favor. Mom ordered salted caramel ice cream and coffee while I was too full to even grab a scoop. After all, we had been literally eating the whole day! 

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