Review: Sauce

Sauce
56 Belden Place, b/t Bush & Pine St., San Francisco
www.saucesf.com

My super delicious, cheesy lunch

Oh wow.  I've got a good one here.  Sauce in SF has now broken into my Top Ten!

I tried this place last week with a friend of mine while on a lunch date in the city.  She had mentioned the burger was good, but then pointed out that they had mac and cheese on the menu.  I was in the right mood, so I ordered it, not sure what to expect.

What I got was a great EXPLOSION of flavor.  The dish combines six different cheeses together (I'm still not sure exactly what they are), along with ham hock and some great herbs and breadcrumbs.

The consistency was great, and the portion size was pretty decent.  The price for the portion ($10.50) was a little high, but I was able to overlook that after my first bite.  I pretty much started to think about where it fell on my ranking scale almost immediately.

Definitely the best mac and cheese I've had in the city so far.  I highly recommend it if you find yourself in the Financial District anytime soon.

Review: Stanfords

Stanfords
1300 South Main Street, Walnut Creek
stanfords.com

My Sunday Happy Hour Mac

Oh, Stanfords.  The Walnut Creek happy hour go-to when you need something familiar.

Seriously, happy hour is one of the best things going at Stanfords.  They have a pretty extensive food and drink menu during happy hour and I recently found out that Sunday is all day happy hour.  I think I've found my new place to watch sports on a Sunday for cheap!

One of their happy hour menu staples has long been the mac and cheese.  I hadn't had it in a while, so while I was watching the NLCS baseball playoff game this last weekend with some friends, I figured I'd give it another shot.

One thing I forgot about Stanfords' happy hour menu is that while it is extensive and there's a wide selection for cheap prices, the serving sizes are not very big.  The mac and cheese was $5 and what I got was basically what you expect for $5 on a regular menu.  Something small.

Rubbery noodles are not my fave

Stanfords makes their mac and cheese with traditional elbow noodles and swiss, fontina, and cheddar cheeses.  They add bacon and bread crumbs, and as you can see from the photo above a garnish.

How was it?  Eh.  The noodles were a bit rubbery in texture and the cheese didn't really have a lot of flavor.  Not the worst mac and cheese I've had, but not that great either.

My advice: If you find yourself enjoying a happy hour at Stanfords in Walnut Creek, your best bet is probably the burger or the sweet potato fries with a spicy cheddar-bacon dipping sauce.  Yeah, go with the sweet potato fries.

Review: Pantry Essentials Macaroni & Cheese

Pantry Essentials Macaroni & Cheese

Boxed, available in most grocery stores

Here's an interesting review.  Not a restaurant, but a simple boxed mac and cheese variety.

It doesn't always have to be the gourmet stuff, you know.

Yesterday was one of those days where I felt like I just needed something easy and comforting when I got home at the end of the day.  I usually have a box of Kraft Macaroni & Cheese sitting in my cupboard for just such an occasion, but recently I had purchased Pantry Essentials because it was cheaper and I figured I'd give it a shot.

Never again.

This boxed variety was so bland that I had to add extra cheese just to make it taste like something other than buttered noodles.  Here's a tip: if you find yourself with a really bad boxed mac, add some different flavors of shredded cheese, stick it in the microwave for 15-30 seconds, then stir.  That should help with the flavor.

My advice:  If you are reaching for a boxed variety in the grocery aisle, you're better off paying a little bit more for one of the bigger name brands, like Kraft, or Annie's if that's what you prefer.

Or you can just go find one of my Top Ten restaurants for mac and cheese and they'll make it for you.

Mac of the Day: Baked Macaroni and Cheese in a Pumpkin

It's autumn.  Why not bring some of that fall seasonal flair into your mac and cheese?  I found this crazy idea while perusing the inter-webs.  Check it out!  It's mac and cheese baked in a pumpkin... IN A PUMPKIN.  I feel like this is one of the most unique mac recipes I've ever seen.  You can check it out for yourself at The Culinary Life.

Source: theculinarylife

Recipe: Homeroom Smoky Bacon Mac

Ready to go in the oven with breadcrumbs!  Yum!

For today's recipe post, I'm pulling again from the Homeroom cookbook.  This time, it's the Smoky Bacon Mac.  I made this dish for my parents recently and was excited to try something other than the Gilroy Garlic Mac from their cookbook.

This recipe calls for (I kid you not) a full pound of bacon.  That's a lot of bacon.  When you consider that each recipe makes about four servings, that means that each serving should have a quarter pound of bacon.  So, of course I was thrilled to make this dish.

The recipe also called for one cup of grated smoked cheddar and one cup of grated jack cheese.  I picked up a locally farmed smoked cheddar and a Clover organic Monterey Jack.

I learned a fun tip from the cheese expert at Whole Foods while I was shopping.  A quarter pound of chunk cheese will get you approximately one cup of grated cheese.  That's some knowledge to keep in your back pocket!

My smoked cheddar and Monterey Jack

There really wasn't much to this particular recipe other than whipping up the béchamel sauce as usual and then melting the cheese and massive amount of bacon in with two cups of the sauce.  It was pretty easy to make.  No special flavors to add or compound butters to make.  The experience of making it was pretty awesome, though. I could really smell the smokiness of the cheddar right away.  I had a feeling it would turn out pretty great.  Or, at the very least, smell great.

Because of my increased interest in preparing homemade mac and cheese lately (hmmm, I wonder why... haha), I decided to try something that the Homeroom chefs explicitly frown upon in their book: I used a reduced fat milk for my béchamel sauce.  Cue horrified screams.

I thought to myself, "Hey, the cheese is already pretty creamy, maybe the lower fat content in the milk won't matter." 

I'm not going to say that it drastically changed the texture of the cheese sauce, but I will say that I am now definitely in agreement with the Homeroom chefs that a whole milk béchamel sauce provides a much creamier texture than a reduced fat milk béchamel sauce.  I could tell almost instantly when I finished cooking the sauce, even before I added the cheese, that it wouldn't be as rich as some of my previous attempts with whole milk.

So, how did the overall mac turn out?  Not bad.  Definitely not as good as the restaurant quality, but not bad.  I would be really interested in finding out what smoked cheddar Homeroom uses at their restaurant.  There were actually a few choices for me, but I went with a local California cheese because I thought the softer texture would melt easier than the two salty English style choices I had.

And, for the record, we ate ALL the bacon.

Review: Momo's

Momo's
760 2nd St, San Francisco
sfmomos.com

Hey Giants fans!  Looking for some mac and cheese before or after the game?  Well, if you've ever been to AT&T Park in San Francisco, you've probably passed by a pretty popular restaurant and bar called Momo's.  On game days, this place is always packed.

Just this past weekend, I was at the park to pick up my Giant Race runner's packet (10k, yeah!), and then stopped into Momo's for lunch.  It was very quiet compared to what I'm used to seeing, but the bar area was still amusing since there were some rather drunk USC fans and the USC v. Stanford football game was playing on all the TVs.  I was careful not to let my support of Stanford shine too brightly around the drunk USC guys, but overall it was just kind of funny to watch their chagrin whenever they didn't like a referee's call.

Looking forward to my first bite

Originally, I thought I would get a flat bread pizza, but then I noticed they had their own version of mac and cheese on the menu.  In my continued effort to expand my local mac and cheese knowledge and recommendations, I decided to order it.

Momo's version is probably the densest, creamiest and heaviest mac and cheese I've had yet.  In fact, almost too much so.  The heaviness of its sauce is probably the only thing keeping it from making my Top Ten.  I couldn't even finish it, it was too filling.  However, if I had to pick between too creamy and not creamy at all, I'd probably choose the former.

The flavors included gouda, cheddar and small pieces of Black Forest Ham.  I really enjoyed the ham since it felt like a mix between the usual kid classic cut-up hog dog and the crowd-pleasing bacon options that you usually see in mac dishes.  The gouda flavor seemed to be overpowered a bit by the cheddar.  I'm not sure that I would normally pair those two particular cheeses together.  Cheddar, depending on the type, can have a pretty strong flavor on it's own.  While gouda also has a strong flavor, it just seemed to be a bit stomped out by the cheddar in my particular serving.

It just looks so fun!

One thing I really loved about Momo's version is the overall look of it.  The large corkscrew noodles poking out every which way, surrounded by an abundance of ham bites and sprinkled with delicate breadcrumbs just made the dish feel fun and spontaneous.

So, if you ever find yourself by the ball park and are looking for something other than the typical game day hot dog, try Momo's Mac and Cheese.  Let me know what you think!

Review: The Mac & Cheese Festival

Source: macandcheesefestslo.com

The Mac & Cheese Festival
August 23, 2014
Avila Beach, CA
macandcheesefestslo.com

Oh man, where do I even begin?  A friend of mine mentioned this festival to me last year.  I believe this is the second year that they've had the festival in the greater San Luis Obispo, CA area.  Last year it was located in Paso Robles, and this year, to my sheer delight, it was held in Avila Beach!  Avila just happens to be one of my favorite beaches ever, so it was an easy decision to buy a ticket to this year's festivities.  They have plenty of festivals all over the country, however, so if you are interested and don't live in California, rest assured that there is probably a festival located not too far away. 

The other great part of this event?  Ticket sales benefit the Children's Miracle Network Hospitals, dedicated to providing pediatric healthcare and research.  Makes the approximately $60 ticket price a little more understandable.

Our awesome tote bags for the festival

My friend and I arrived early to hit the beach across the street from the festival venue before the 2pm opening.  The weather was awesome!  We even brought along our "You Don't Know Mac" tote bags.  They looked pretty awesome on the sand!

Then, just before 2pm we began walking over to the festival entrance and there was already a crazy line!  There were hundreds of people waiting to get in.  Everyone got a wristband and had their bags and IDs checked (no one 21 or younger allowed due to alcohol).  Were handed an etched wine glass and a plastic plate with some plastic utensils and then we were left to fend for ourselves amongst many other hungry mac and cheese lovers.

The line to get in the entrance

Our Mac and Cheese Festival complimentary wine glasses (also useful for beer!)

The festival stage for hours of live music

As we walked in, the first thing I felt was overwhelmed.  There were tents and booths everywhere!  It was hard to know where to start.  It seemed that lines for each booth had just sprung up out of nowhere.  So my friend and I hit one of the first open booths with a shorter wait, which ended up being a winery (there were also free wine and some beer tastings at the event).  Then we hopped in the next line, which was much longer, to get our first bite of festival mac and cheese.  After that, it was a whole lot more hopping around and waiting in lines.

Here were my reviews for what we tried:

SLO Brew

SLO Brew offered a couple options, one with tri-tip and one vegetarian.  They used Bleu cheese with accents of caramelized onions.  The onion flavor was a bit strong and the sauce wasn't very creamy.  I enjoyed the tri-tip version best, and I was impressed that the meat flavor didn't totally overpower the cheese. They also added a small amount of breadcrumbs on top.

Sea Venture
Sea Venture offered one of the three deep fried varieties at the event.  Theirs included lobster filet bites, 5 cheeses (including American and mozzarella), and some sneaky onion pieces.  My particular piece was a little too lobster-y, but my friend liked hers.  I tried a bite, and it seemed a lot more reasonable.  I suppose it just depends on which piece you happen to end up with.  I didn't actually end up finishing my piece because it was so full of onion and lobster I could barely taste any cheese.

Spike's Pub
By far the most interesting and original dish at the festival, Spike's Pub went the vegan route, making their entry with green chiles and using beer instead of cheese sauce.  I'm not sure how they added the beer flavoring exactly, but it ended up tasting more like a light pasta than a mac and cheese.  It was an interesting idea, however, and the flavor was good for whatever it was.  But it was not mac and cheese.

McPhee's Grill
This ended up getting my vote.  McPhee's entry included flavors of pork, chicken and shrimp, and somehow it all blended together really well.  At one point my friend yelled out, "It's a gumbo!"  It also had a really good creamy texture which I'm particularly fond of in my mac and cheese.

Apple Farm
Apple Farm decided to use goat's milk, which, unfortunately, I don't think worked in their favor.  I haven't met too many people who are fond of goat's milk in their mac and cheese.  I had a hard time judging it.  It had great consistency, but I just wasn't a fan of the mixture of goat's milk, pancetta and asparagus.

Paso Catering Co.
One of the other deep fried varieties I tried while at the festival, Paso Catering Co. took it up a notch by including a chipotle aioli dipping sauce.  It was delicious!

Jeffry's Catering

Jeffry's Catering took a unique twist on the dish by creating the Paso Mac & Cheese steak dish.  I had a chance to ask the chef how he came up with the recipe.  He explained that he had spent a lot of time on the East Coast and ate Philly cheese steak every day.  He wanted to find a way to incorporate that into his recipe.  When asked about why he decided to participate in the festival, he mentioned the great cause that it benefits, and also the fact that it's one of the most publicized food events in the greater San Luis Obispo area, with radio ads practically every 15 minutes.  I really liked Jeffry's Mac & Cheese steak.  It had great texture and the meat was really tender and flavorful.

Ventana Grill

I wasn't really sure what to make of this one.  All I could taste was crab.  The cheese wasn't very flavorful so I couldn't quite figure out what it was.  I wasn't necessarily Ventana Grill's biggest fan, but I heard other tasters loving it.

Gardens of Avila
Gardens of Avila was our last mac try of the day.  It included ham, snap peas and parsley.  It had a pretty good creaminess.  I'm not usually a fan of peas, the snap peas were pretty good.  I wouldn't say it was super creative.  It felt a little bit like a fancy version of a typical cheddar, peas and bacon dish. I couldn't figure out what kind of cheese it was.




I would have liked to have spent less time waiting in lines, but I'm not sure how you would plan the event to avoid that.  It also would have been helpful if each vendor had been required to have a board listed the ingredients/flavors in their mac and cheese.  Sometimes I just had to guess because they were moving so fast trying to get through the lines of people.

As far as the wine and beer tastings, there seemed to be a surplus of wineries.  There were actually more wineries than there were mac and cheese vendors, which was a little odd.  My friend wished there had been more beer tasting options.  There was only one beer vendor that had free tastings.  Other than that, there was another brewery selling their drinks.  That was a little disappointing.

Overall, I'm glad I attended the festival.  It was pretty fun to see so many other mac and cheese fans all gathered in one place.  Plus, it was really fun to tell all my co-workers, friends and family that I was attending a mac and cheese festival.  The reactions were pretty priceless.  Everything from "Wow! That's awesome, I didn't know that existed!" to "...Really?". 

Now I just have to find a new festival to attend...