Oysters Rockefeller

I enjoyed this classic dish at the Brigantine, an old seafood restaurant, on Shelter Island in San Diego.

According to Wikipedia:

Oysters Rockefeller was created at the New Orleans restaurant Antoine’s. Antoine’s was founded in 1840 by Antoine Alciatore, who moved to New Orleans after two frustrating years in New York trying to open a restaurant of his own. The dish was created in 1899 by Jules Alciatore,^[2] son of the restaurant’s founder.

President Franklin Delano Roosevelt had oysters Rockefeller at Antoine’s in 1937. Mayor Robert Maestri commented to Roosevelt “How you like dem erstas?”, as the national press transcribed Maestri’s Yat accent.^[3]

The dish was named oysters Rockefeller after John D. Rockefeller, the richest American at the time, for the intense richness of the sauce.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Oysters_Rockefeller

On New Year’s Eve, I accompanied my brother and his girlfriend to this San Diego institution after drinking some domestic sparkling wine.

Oysters Rockefeller are oysters baked with spinach, pancetta, butter, parsley and Pernod. They were executed perfectly and utterly delicious. They were rich, savory and creamy.

We also ate oysters on the half shell.

Salt and pepper shrimp that my brother’s girlfriend adored.

I was getting full, but I liked the lobster roll.

The crab and shrimp fondue was amazing, with the aforementioned crustaceans baked with cheese and served with toast points.

It was a feast!

If you visit or live in San Diego, definitely check out the Brigantine.

  
  
  
We spent midnight at Tony’s Martini Bar in Ocean Beach.

Egg and Onion Curry Soft-Shelled Crab

  
I really do like soft-shelled crabs, although I can’t remember the last time such a crab was fresh. The rich sauce was pretty good, but heavy on the onions. I enjoyed the chewiness of the arthropod. It wasn’t as spicy as I hoped. 

  
The prawn toast was okay, but I’ve had better. 

  
I drank a lemongrass iced tea. For some reason, simple syrup was served separately. 

Thai Express is decent, but not awesome.

   
   

Crab Risotto

Not sure what I wanted to eat last night I noticed Concetto, near the Cathay Cinema complex and I checked out the menu. It is run by the same people who run Saveur.

Italian food at a reasonable price sounded good so I went inside.

  
Mushroom soup was served first. Not a bisque, which I prefer. It was decent, but the earthy flavor of mushrooms would have tasted better with cream and sherry.

   
 
The decor was minimalist and most of the diners were young. 

  
On the wooden spoon was ‘Crab tartare’ so I can presume it was raw. I mixed it in with the grains of Arborio rice. There were some crunchy chunks of toasted Parmesan that were awesome! I would have liked more of that. It was delicious and I ate it all. There could have been more crab in it. 

   

 The pistachio panna cotta was incredible. Although it was more of a pudding. It was made differently than the same dessert at Saveur. 

I’ll return.  

Hokkaido Crab Balls

Sometimes a food festival pops up in Takashimaya and last Sunday was the last day of one of them.

I’m getting jaded, because most of the stalls were hawking familiar fare.

Fresh crab from Hokkaido sounded good.

  
They were the size of golf balls, but the interior was rice. Nonetheless, it was very fresh. I don’t think there was any seasoning used at all. All I could taste was fresh, mellow crab meat.

   
   
The people running the stall were very polite and friendly. This was the first time I’ve ever had crab meat without any seasoning or sauce. It was interesting to taste only fresh crab. 

Soft shelled Crab Hand Roll

I’m not sure how authentically Japanese these are, but they are delicious.

  Crispy fried crab, rice, lettuce, mayonnaise and rice wrapped up in seaweed. 
I had this at Itacho Sushi, at the Bugis Junction location. 

 

Their miso is served in a big bowl.

  
I also had scallops.

  The fried duck croquettes are delicious, too.
  I could have easily eaten a second order of these. 
  Last was a scallop served with a minute among of cod liver and mackerel. 
I ordered something else, but I gobbled it up before I could photograph it. 

Crab fried rice

After a long day scuba diving I was tired and sunburnt. I didn’t want to travel far, so this hotel restaurant, Kinnaree appealed to me.
The prawn toast was a big portion. I ate every last crumb.

What is prawn toast you ask?

According to Wikipedia it is “a Chinese dim sum dish. It is made from small triangles of bread, brushed with egg and coated with minced shrimp and water chestnuts, then cooked by baking or deep frying.”

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Washed down with a Chang beer, the crab fried rice was good once I added chilies. There wasn’t much crab in the rice, just enough to taste it. Personally I prefer fried rice to be slightly caramelized and for there to be egg present. But this was okay. 

One more full day here and I’ll try to find the elusive mantis shrimp.

Curry blue crab

This restaurant, Lea Lay is just down the street from my hotel about three minutes by scooter. Although it wasn’t crowded, I had a good feeling about it and the food received confirmed this feeling.

First I drank some coconut juice, cold and fresh.

Both dishes were brought out at the same time. That’s was okay. The appetizer was fried pork intestines. Crunchy and served with a sweet and sour sauce they would have been more manageable with chopsticks, but they were very nice, served with a small salad and topped with fried garlic.

The blue crab was incredible. The curry sauce was so creamy and flavorful it wasn’t until I was almost done that I realized that they hadn’t added chilies. Coconut milk, curry, kafir lime leaves, cilantro and galangal made for a perfect dish. I’m pretty sure I ate all of the meat from the crab and I did luck my fingers.
Wow!

I don’t usually have dessert, but this sticky rice with mango was the best I’ve ever had. The sweet rice, almost caramelized, was dotted with white raisins. The mango was as good as mangos can be. Another stunning dish.

Mix Restaurant (Sukhamvit)

Apparently this place was voted one of the best restaurants in Bangkok in 2012.
The prices are reasonable. I only wish I could eat more. If I return to Bangkok, I’ll come back here.
I drank a gin rickey. I like their old school cocktail menu.
Red curry crab was served in ice cream cones. Just awesome.
Fish mousse with salted eggs was served in a crunchy bowl with a side of sweet chili sauce and Kim Chee. Fried basil leaves were served on top.
I heartily recommend. The menu looks incredible.