Sonoma County is my home turf, and every time I go home to visit, I’m impressed by how rapidly the restaurant scene is changing. Healdsburg’s Bravas Bar de Tapas is one of the latest offerings: a chic tapas restaurant downtown, with an adorable outdoor dining patio to boot. I ate there with my sister and Nishan one day, and we were instantly transported to Spain.
We started with the marinated olives, pickled garlic, and Idiazabal cheese to whet our appetites as we perused the menu. This was small but solid.
Next came a huge fried duck egg served with chorizo cracklings and toast. The gooey-richly flavored duck egg was made even richer but the chorizo, and the toast was a perfect vessel by which to soak it all up. A+, would eat again.
In between bites of patatas bravas and nibbles of cheese, we also ordered the Dungeness crab fideua. The crab and thin toasted noodles were a tasty marriage of North Bay-meets-Mediterranean and it came served with a generous dollop of garlicy aioli. Perhaps too generous. The aioli was heavy but the fideua was smoky, tomatoey, and super satisfying.
There’s so much more at Bravas Bar de Tapas that I didn’t have the opportunity to try during my first visit that I can’t wait to go back. Sonoma County may be home, it may be the familiar, but it never ceases to amaze me. And these days, there’s always something new.
I first made this dish several years ago, adapted from a recipe in the now defunct Gourmet Magazine. Since then, it’s become my most-requested meat entree, and even though it takes a some work to pull off, it’s worth it. Make sure to serve this with plenty of steamed rice to soak up the sauce.
Ingredients:
2 bunches green onions
1/2 pound shiitake mushrooms, stems discarded
salt and pepper
1 pound sirloin steak
2 square sheets of nori seaweed, torn into small pieces
1 tablespoon sesame seeds
1 teaspoon crushed red pepper
1 1/2 tablespoons olive oil
2 tablespoons soy sauce
1 tablespoon mirin
1 teaspoon fresh lemon juice
1. Preheat the oven to 400 degrees. In a small saucepan of boiling water, blanch the green onions for 2 minutes. Drain and rinse under cold water. Set a rack on a baking sheet and arrange the shiitake mushroom caps on the rack, gill sides down. Season lightly with salt and pepper.
2. Season the steak with salt. In a food processor or spice grinder, coarsely grind the nori with the sesame seeds, red pepper and 1 teaspoon black pepper. Spread the nori mixture on a plate and dredge the steak in it.
3. In a medium skillet, heat 1 tablespoon of the olive oil until shimmering. Add the steak and cook over high heat until the nori is toasted, about 4 minutes per side. Place the steak over the mushrooms and roast for about 15 minutes, until the meat is medium rare. Transfer the steak to a cutting board and let rest for 10 minutes.
4. Meanwhile, quarter the mushroom caps. In a small bowl, whisk the soy sauce with the mirin, lemon juice and the remaining 1/2 tablespoon of olive oil.
5. Slice the steak 1/4 inch thick and arrange it on plates with the shiitake mushrooms and scallions. Drizzle the soy mixture over the steak and serve.
Yeah, yeah, I know. Another izakaya. But this one is different, really. Izakaya Yuzuki in San Francisco’s Mission District may be one of the trendiest types of restaurants to pop up in one of the trendiest parts of town, but this place is serious, going so far as to make their tofu and miso in-house.
I met here one evening for a reunion dinner with friends, and we started with the Kyoto-style local vegetables. Light and slightly piquant, these were the perfect palate cleanser for our meal.
Next we shared a plate of simple, unadulterated sashimi. Raw fish isn’t the strongest suit of your average izakaya, but this was an exception. Buttery tuna and rich salmon left me wishing for more.
I was quickly distracted by the seared waygu beef tataki that came next. Served with miso sauce and onion salad, this was one of our heftiest dishes, and among the quickest to go. Speaking of quick to go, my personal favorite dish here was the chawan mushi with uni, an egg-y, custard-y dish so comforting that it was gone before I had a chance to snap a photo.
Next came the grilled mackerel, which was too bland for my taste. I typically love mackerel, but I would have preferred a more flavorful fish here.
Next up: shrimp and root vegetable tempura served with green tea salt, one of Izakaya Yuzuki’s most popular dishes. We loved this so much we ordered it twice.
We finished our meal with the grilled omusubi, a crispy rice dish topped with shoyu-flavored vegetables. A solid end to a solid meal.
True to izakaya form, the servings at Izakaya Yuzuki are small, so keep that in mind when ordering. Our party of four went through nine or ten dishes, and amazingly, it wasn’t too much. Still, not all izakayas are created equal, and Izakaya Yuzuki is clearly paying attention to the details.
I make these light and healthy spring rolls all the time, especially when the weather begins to warm up. (Or when it never cools down, as is this case with this year’s endless Bay Area summer.)
Even though I usually make them with shrimp, you can substitute with shredded chicken, fresh crab, or any kind of protein. The herbs are interchangeable too: I prefer a mix of romaine lettuce, mint, and basil, but anything goes. Sometimes I substitute shredded carrots with cucumbers or avocado instead. You get the picture.
Don’t make these too ahead of time, as I’ve learned the hard way that refrigerating fresh spring rolls results in a stale wrapper. Don’t worry, though. These are so good you won’t have any left over.
Ingredients:
1/2 cup creamy peanut butter
1/4 cup chicken broth
2 tablespoons hoisin sauce
3 tablespoons soy sauce
1 tablespoon granulated sugar
2 teaspoons chile-garlic sauce
1 teaspoon toasted sesame oil
1 1/2 tablespoons rice vinegar
24 medium shrimp (about 1 pound), peeled (or shredded chicken)
4 ounces dried bean thread (glass) noodles
16 round rice paper wrappers
1 carrot, peeled and shredded
1 bunch mint leaves, removed from stems
1 bunch basil leaves, removed froms tems
1 Persian cucumber, peeled and julienned
1 bunch romaine lettuce, ribs removed
1. To make the peanut sauce, whisk the first 8 ingredients together in a medium bowl; set aside.
2. To make the spring rolls, bring a medium saucepan of water to a boil over high heat. Add the shrimp and cook until pink and opaque, about 2 minutes. Drain in a colander and run under cold water until cool. Pat the shrimp dry with paper towels and place on a cutting board. Holding your knife parallel to the cutting board, halve each shrimp horizontally. Set aside.
3. Bring 3 cups of water to a boil and pour over bean thread noodles in a heat-proof bowl and cover for 5 minutes. Drain and set aside.
4. Place a clean, damp kitchen towel on a work surface. Fill a medium frying pan or wide, shallow dish large enough to hold the rice paper wrappers with hot tap water. Working with 1 wrapper at a time, completely submerge the wrapper until it is soft and pliable, about 15 seconds. Remove the wrapper from the water and place it on the towel.
Working quickly, tear off a piece of lettuce that is roughly half the size of the wrapper and place in the center of the wrapper. Add 3 shrimp halves in a row, cut side up, just above the center of the wrapper, leaving about 1 inch of space on each side. Layer 1/4 cup of the noodles over the shrimp, followed by a spoon of carrot, a few mint leaves, and a few basil leaves. Place 2 of the cucumber sticks on either side of the noodle pile.
5. Fold the bottom and top halves of the rice paper wrapper over the filling. Holding the whole thing firmly in place, fold the sides of the wrapper in. Then, pressing firmly down to hold the folds in place, roll the entire wrapper horizontally up from the bottom to the top. Slice in half.
6. If not serving immediately, keep the summer rolls tightly covered with plastic wrap at room temperature for up to 2 hours. Serve with the peanut sauce for dipping.
We decided to go the Central Coast on a whim. Nishan had never been down Highway 1 and what kind of Californian was I for letting that pass for so long? A weekend isn’t long enough for a leisurely drive all the way to San Diego, but Monterey was only three hours away so we packed our bags and headed down.
Our first stop was Santa Cruz for a quick but disappointing lunch near the boardwalk. Hello, tourist trap. No matter, though, and we continued south until we arrived at the entrance of the famed 17-mile drive. Okay, I know I just disparaged tourist traps but this one is worth it. I hadn’t been since I was a teenager and these views were stunning, especially near dusk. Of course we stopped at the Lone Cypress in all its, uh, cypressy glory.
Near the end of our drive, we stopped at The Lodge at Pebble Beach for cocktails by the fire and some golf watching. Golf doesn’t exactly move me, but the ambiance here made it my favorite part of the drive.
After checking in to our hotel, we ended our evening with a stroll down Cannery Row, made famous by John Steinbeck’s classic novels but unfortunately, infamous today for souvenir stands at every other step. We returned the next morning to visit the Monterey Bay Aquarium, which was built on top of Cannery Row’s old sardine factory. This may be one of the world’s older major aquariums, but it’s still among the most impressive.
All that fish viewing made us hungry for some, well, fish, so we stopped at Ocean Sushi Deli on our way out of Monterey for a quick lunch. Boasting a huge menu and a super casual vibe, this cute deli-slash-sushi-restaurant satisfied my craving. It’s away from the crowds and worth getting away for.
We had just one more stop before heading back to the Bay Area: Carmel. If Monterey is Disneyland, then Carmel is Beverly Hills. We parked our car downtown and strolled down the pretty cobblestone streets, popping into art galleries and boutiques along the way. Carmel’s downtown is a short walk from the (dog-friendly) beach.
It was time to head back to the Bay Area, and we headed out of Carmel we passed fruit stand after fruit stand, eager to beat the traffic rush home. We may have only seen a tiny piece of California’s coast, but hey, I’d done my duty as a Californian.
