Category Archives: Meat

Bay Area BBQ Championship & A Food Gal Give-Away

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Joanne Pang of Bad S BBQ at last year's event. (Photo courtesy of the Bay Area BBQ Championship)

Get ready to have a smoky, meaty good time when the 2nd annual Bay Area BBQ Championship rolls into the Oakland Coliseum on July 7.

Professionals, amateurs and community groups will be competing to determine who has the best barbecued chicken, ribs, brisket and pork, plus the tastiest side dishes and desserts.

What’s more, in-between sampling all that food, you can take in the A’s vs. Mariners game.

All proceeds benefit Alternative Family Services, a local organization that provides services for foster children.

General admission tickets, which include five tasting tickets each and admission to the baseball game, are $33 for adults, $12 for kids. VIP tickets — which include all of that plus VIP tent and stage seating, as well as a “Blues, Brews & BBQ” party, 2 p.m. to 4 p.m. July 6 at the Coliseum — are $78 for adults and $41 for kids.

Contest: One lucky Food Gal reader will win two VIP tickets to the Bay Area BBQ Championship on July 7, which includes admission to the baseball game, a total of 10 tasting tickets, and access to the VIP party on July 6. Entries, limited to those who can be in Oakland on July 7, will be accepted through midnight PST June 10. Winner will be announced June 12.

How to win?

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Scrumptious Snapshots from New York, Part I

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Eating my way through New York, including this pasta at Eataly.

NEW YORK, NY — Yes, the hubby (aka Meat Boy) and I sneaked off to New York last week for one of the first real vacations we’ve had in a long time.

By that, I mean it was a trip that didn’t solely revolve around my work as a food writer. Instead, it was merely for relaxation and enjoyment — plus lots of good eats, of course. To make sure I actually did take time off, I wasn’t allowed to lug around my usual heavy camera, but only a tiny point-and-shoot. I had to ration my shots, too. After all, it’s not really a vacation if it’s viewed only through the lens of a camera and not the full spectrum of your own eyes.

Hope you enjoy the highlights:

When in New York, you've gotta have a bagel. Or two. Or...

Barney Greengrass

After taking the red-eye from San Jose to New York, we caught a couple of hours of shut-eye at our hotel before venturing to this 100-year-old institution. If you’re in New York, you’ve got to have a bagel or two, right? And what better place than at Barney Greengrass, famed for its smoked sturgeon.

Grab a table where you can at this tightly packed store flanked by deli cases.

My famished husband tore into a plate of smoked sturgeon scrambled with eggs and onions ($18.50), plus a bagel on the side, while I noshed on a sesame bagel stuffed with cream cheese, capers, onion, tomato, smoked sturgeon and Nova Scotia salmon ($20.75). Hello, New York!

BaoHaus

Chinese steamed buns filled with all manner of inventive fillings is the bill of fare at the shoebox-size BaoHaus started by the irreverent, lawyer-turned-street food-restaurateur Eddie Huang and his brother, Evan.

The zany artwork at BaoHaus.

Steamed buns filled with fried chicken (back) and pork belly (front).

The “Chairman Bao” ($2.99) is a fluffy white bun caressing juicy braised pork belly, cilantro, crushed peanuts and a hit of Taiwanese red sugar.

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A Hammy Food Gal Giveaway

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How'd you like a half ham like this to grace your holiday table? (Photo courtesy of Snake River Farms)

Snake River Farms wants to make your Easter especially hammy.

The Idaho-based specialty meat company produces extraordinary Wagyu beef and Kurobuta pork, which I’ve had the good fortunate of trying many times in the past. For Easter, they’re teaming with Tree Top to entice you to bake your ham with a sweet, tangy apple juice glaze this upcoming holiday.

Contest: To whet your appetite even more, one very lucky Food Gal reader will win a half bone-in ham from Snake River Farms ($99 value), along with a basket of Tree Top goodies and a recipe for the perfect glaze.

Entries, limited to those in the continental United States, will be accepted through midnight PST March 31. Winner will be announced April 2.

How to win?

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Stewing Over Time

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Stew that is the epitome of spring.

Admittedly, I sometimes stew about how time flies these days, about how in a blink of an eye a third of a year is somehow already gone. What gives?

But then again, why stew when you can eat it instead, right?

Especially when it’s a stew that’s made for the bright arrival of spring.

That’s just what “Green-As-Spring Veal Stew” is. It’s a recipe from “Around My French Table”(Houghton Mifflin Harcourt) by everyone’s favorite culinary guru, Dorie Greenspan. The cookbook, of which I received a review copy, is filled with French comfort food for every season.

Cubes of veal simmer in broth with garlic, onion, carrots, celery and thyme until tender. Fish them out, then add a plethora of herbs and greens to the braising liquid. We’re talking bountiful handfuls of arugula, spinach, dill fronds, parsley and tarragon. Blend them all until you get a vibrant green sauce. Although the recipe says you can use a blender, food processor or hand blender, don’t opt for the latter, as the leaves may end up clogging it. Better to let your food processor or blender make easy, efficient work of it all instead.

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Shabuway to Expand in the Bay Area

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The huge vegetable shabu-shabu plate at Shabuway in San Jose.

How else but in shabu-shabu-style dining can you enjoy a hot, nourishing, relatively healthful cook-it-yourself meal, and get a steam facial all at once?

If you’re as much of a fan as I am of this traditional Japanese dish of thinly sliced meats and veggies cooked tableside in a pot of  bubbling broth, you’ll be glad to hear that Shabuway, which already boasts three locations in the Bay Area, will be adding three more this spring.

Tokyo-raised Eiichi Mochizuki opened his first Shabuway in San Mateo in 2004. That was followed by another in downtown Mountain View in 2006, which has proved so popular there’s sometimes an hour wait to get in. Last year, one also opened in the parking lot of Mitsuwa Marketplace in San Jose, which is the one I recently dined at as a guest of the restaurant.

The next ones to open will be in San Francisco’s Richmond District, Union City, and in Santa Clara on El Camino Real near the ever-popular Korean fried-chicken joint, 99 Chicken.

The meat is sliced to order.

With its glossy red interior, the San Jose locale features a large U-shaped counter in the center, where lone diners or couples can sit. Behind it, wait staff man a slicer to shave Kobe-style beef slices paper thin.

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