Hi there! Pickle Deli Square is a collection of my experiences living, eating, and traveling the world. Currently an expat based in Valencia, on the Mediterranean coast of Spain.
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All in Food
I came to Dumpling Time with mixed feelings.
On the one hand, I was super excited to try a dumpling place whose pictures I've seen posted on my friends' Facebook feeds for months now; on the other, I was apprehensive about the quality of Chinese food which is hipsterized, fusionized, and expensified - usually there's an inverse relation of the first with the last three variables.
On the one hand, I was excited that a dumpling place opened up in Potrero Hill; on the other, I was wistful that my old neighborhood was growing up and I wasn't around to be a part of these new developments.
So on the day of my departure back to Spain, I rushed to the restaurant to meet my sister, two large suitcases in tow in order to leave for the airport directly afterwards. The tables on the terrace aren't placed cheek to jowl, and we were lucky to score a corner table with even more space. The servers were friendly, and even engaged in some chit chat at the end about where I was going.
So how was the food?
Thai is one of the cuisines that's kind of hard to find in Spain. Sure, there are "Thai" restaurants that are fast food joints where you choose the ingredients and sauce and the cooks stir fry everything together. Everything comes out tasting about the same despite your choice in sauce - sweet and very salty -, and are about as Thai as teriyaki chicken is Chinese.
A rare bird is a Thai restaurant that serves your typical green curry, massaman curry, etc. And pretty much nonexistent is any restaurant that goes beyond this selection.
So I was super excited to try Koon Thai on Convoy St., where I was introduced to a menu full of things I'd never encountered before, and where they warn you in advance that when you order mild, it is the equivalent of spicy at other joints!
Thai rolled ice cream has taken the world by storm. No sooner than I read about the rolled ice cream stores popping up around California, than I see not one but THREE! rolled ice cream stores open up in Valencia, Spain.
Valencia! The city where kale is still newfangled.
Given the rapid pace of expansion, I wonder if rolled ice cream will be a trend that has the staying power of frozen yogurt and cupcakes, or will it be as fleeting as cronuts?
Coming in to San Diego, I had an extra-long layover at SFO, so I hopped into town and had dinner with the sister (burrito at Taqueria Cancun of course!), finished off with our first encounter with rolled ice cream at Steep Creamery & Tea in SOMA...
San Diego has had a Sichuan restaurant boom, and now perhaps the city is eager for the "next" region of Chinese cuisine to fall in love with. Perhaps it is Shaanxi's turn? (By the way, this province 陕西, whose capitol is Xi'an, is often transliterated as Shaanxi, to differentiate it with 山西 province, which is also spelled Shanxi in pinyin). Last year we had a nice meal at Xi'an Kitchen, where we tried out several new (to us) dishes. That restaurant has since closed.
Shan Xi Magic Kitchen has opened up in the space of Great Wow, a dumpling place we also visited last year, when it was newly opened. There seems to be a lot of turnover in the San Diego restaurant scene! Anyway, the new restaurant seems to have put some thought into the interior arrangement and decoration, because now it has less of an open cafeteria feeling, with partitions giving individual tables more privacy...
For lunch the next day, I chose Gurtlerhoft Restaurant. It's situated right next to the Cathedral, and seemed quite popular with tourist groups. But I had read some convincing reviews from locals who praised the food here, so had decided to give it a try.
You go down a flight of stairs and enter this "cave." All of Strasbourg is so atmospheric!
Separated by only 100 miles, Ibiza and Valencia share some food customs, naturally. Typical Ibicenco foods include the sausages botifarra and sobrasada, which can also be found on the mainland. Surprisingly to me, a lot of the typical products and dishes involve meat, when I had thought that seafood would play more of a starring role.
One dish that does highlight seafood is the dish "bullit." It's a cool concept of featuring the same produce in different forms, akin to Peking Duck, where first you eat the skin, then the meat inside of buns, then a broth with the duck bones.
We tried bullit at the restaurant Es Calo, in Es Calo ;) , on the island of Formentera.
Gelato.
I got my first taste of the inimitable texture and pure flavor of fresh gelato in my trip to Rome almost a decade ago, but it wasn't until I visited Florence and Bologna a few years ago when I became truly obsessed with gelato, even taking a gelato-making class.
Now, every time I come to Italy, I make an effort to try as much gelato as possible. Every store is different, and the pistachio in one gelateria will be different from the pistachio in the next. Besides, as I learned in my class, gelato uses more milk than cream, so it's almost healthy! ;) (It's also why the flavors shine through so clearly compared to ice cream - there isn't so much fat that gets in the way.)
This trip to Milan, with a weekend in Emilia-Romagna was no different: I'm proud to say that I averaged 1.67 gelatos per day over the course of my 9-day trip. Here's a rundown of the highlights.
After not getting to eat at the "recommended" Da Enzo and Da Danilo in Modena because they were full, I called ahead to Ristorante Cocchi to make a reservation for lunch two days later. The friendly guy spoke English well, and asked me to call ahead if I couldn't make the reservation because he said that Sunday lunches were his busiest times.
Cocchi is a bit outside of Parma town center. It's a pretty easy walk down a slightly dull, busy road, but I did take the bus back into town on the return to save time and get out of the sun.
My table was waiting for me with my name on a little tent card!
For my starter, I got a plate of cold cuts - I wanted to eat Parma ham in Parma! The plate included salume, parma ham, culatello (ham from the pig's rear end, supposedly the most tender of all), bacon, and coppa, all served with fried bread.
I didn't make any reservations for dinner in Modena before I arrived. Probably not the best idea, but I was simply too exhausted to do much research and planning.
My Airbnb host recommended Da Enzo and Da Danilo, but said that they would likely already be fully booked on a Friday evening. I walked over, and indeed they were fully booked. A note for next time: I got a good vibe from Da Enzo. I walked up and came upon all of the staff, including the waiters, folding tortellini in the landing!
I wandered around town, passing by the famous Osteria Francescana, and passed by this little terrace tucked into a corner of buildings. I kept walking, but eventually circled back and decided that this had a nice, relaxed atmosphere, and that's all that mattered this evening.
You know there's that type of person who insists they're the arbiter of authenticity?
They say they traveled somewhere for two weeks, or they lived someplace for two years, so they know.
They say that "real," "authentic" Italian pizza has a thin, crispy crust. It doesn't have loads of cheese. It's nothing at all like the spongy, greasy pizza that you're used to: soooo American. (As if inauthentic food can't be delicious, too!)
You know the type, right?
Well, let me present to you Pizzeria Spontini, a little chain of pizza places around the Milan area.
Last year during Design Week, I came upon this cute "bistrot"-type restaurant. Big windows looked into a cozy interior, no tablecloths, casual, a simple, seasonal menu. Reviews looked good. But of course it was fully booked for the evening.
People can be surprised, but sometimes eating in Milan during Design Week can be a rather un-inspirational experience. You're walking from one place to another trying to see as many shows as possible, so you prioritize convenience and speed and pick up reheated pizza on the go. Or you decide to sit down, but the restaurants are completely packed.
It was late, and I had just finished walking back to the hotel through snow flurries in the dark. I was enjoying the warmth of my room, and was contemplating perhaps just going across the street to a food court, but none of the restaurants there really struck my fancy.
I called a restaurant a bit away to see if they had any tables for dinner, but they were fully booked. So then I tried Oaxen Slip, which was even further away. A super friendly guy answered the phone said that they certainly did have space, and welcomed me to come over.
So I put on my boots and coat, and walked quite a bit in the freezing cold to a tram stop, and waited there for ten minutes or so for the tram to come to take me to the area of Skansen, where Oaxen was. This had better be worth it! Little did I know...
On the way to and from my hotel, I passed by a cozy-looking café always filled with people leaning into tables with cups of coffee in their hands.
I decided to come in for a break, after a long trek on food through dark, snowy weather. After ordering and picking up my food at the counter, I had a sudden case of déjà vu when I turned the corner into the rear dining rooms.
Seeing this central table with carafes of coffee and empty cups for the taking, surrounded by a motley collection of well worn tables and chairs, I realized that I had been here a few years ago with my parents!
