Salmon Saturday: Salmon & Asparagus on Orzo

Salmon Saturday: Because there are so many great ways to make Salmon and someone has to start writing them down.

This Salmon Saturday is brought to you by Calzone’s Italian Restaurant on the North Beach in San Francisco.  While having a visit with my cousins in San Francisco, they thought dinner at Calzone’s might be nice.  I was looking for Italian food the night before running the San Francisco Marathon.   The menu had pretty broad appeal, but as always, I looked for the salmon dishes first.

When I saw the salmon and asparagus on the pasta menu, had in my mind’s eye that it would be served with angel hair pasta.   Mixing the dish with orzo was a very pleasant surprise.

salmon & asparagus green onions & lemon parsley butter

This find was the highlight of my salmon-seeking month.  The dish was light and filled with flavor.  There was just enough hint of olive oil for flavor without it being greasy.      The parmesan cheese the waiter added touched up of flavor nicely.  The serving size was just right, unless one is carbo-loading for a marathon the next day.

Avocado and crab pizza

My cousin tried the dungeness crab avocado, onions & fontina. He was willing to part with and half a slice and when I sampled it, I understood why. The mixture of the crab taste with the avocado had an amazing flavor that was strong but no overpowering.
My lovely wife tried the margherita pizza, made with san marzano tomatoes, panna, garlic fresh basil & fresh mozzarella.   Again, very tasty and an excellent choice.

Calzone’s is a nice place to go sit and enjoy a meal.  It’s cozy, the service is good and the prices reasonable.

The tables lining the street which gave it a nice European flare, but let’s be completely clear on one point: DO NOT TAKE YOUR FRIENDS VISITING FROM ITALY TO THIS RESTAURANT AND EXPECT THEM TO THINK IT’S JUST LIKE HOME.  They will like the food, and it’s an very good American interpretation of Italian food.

I wouldn’t drive across San Francisco to eat here, but I would certainly go again if I were around the North Beach.

Restaurant Review: The Whoa Nellie Deli

This post is intended for the hungry traveller in California on US 395 somewhere within an hour of Yosemite or the visitor on the Tioga pass on the upper (eastern) part of Yosemite.

Lee Vining, the town that is flanked by Mono Lake and Yosemite hosts 4 restaurants.   Skip them all and find the Whoa Nellie Deli.  This place is referred to by the locals as the Mobile Restaurant, because it is located inside a Mobile station right at the intersection of US 395 and Highway 120.

The Mobile Restaurant set against Mono Lake.

I heard a surprising number of recommendations for this place as I suffered through the below average restaurants in the June Lake and Lee Vining area.  The Mobile Restaurant has your standard deli menu along with an interesting the menu presented below that includes lobster taquitos, mango salsa fish tacos, St. Louis Style baby back ribs and a BBQ chicken pizza with cilantro pesto.

The Salmon Salad

I had tried salmon in a few different restaurants in the area and was repeatedly disappointed.   Recognizing that eastern California is not where one goes for fresh salmon, I found the salmon well prepared and served over a nice bed of greens with mango.   The combination of flavors worked.  Laura, likewise enjoyed the flavor of the wild buffalo meatloaf.

Another road warrior sitting at the table next to enjoyed the Ahi Salad.  I polled three Sheriffs standing in the parking lot, they confirmed that this place was the best place to eat in the area.   Two of the lawmen recommended the Kansas City Steak Caesar salad by name.   The third officer reported the fish tacos as his favorite item on the menu.

Looks good, but tastes much better

The real surprise at the Whoa Nellie Deli are the desserts.   In the display case the cakes looked like typical pre-fab chain-prepared desserts.  In truth, they were freshly made, light and deceptively good.  The Child had the chocolate cake and was only willing to share a few bites and hoarded the ganache.  Laura and I shared the carrot cake.   Both exceeded all expectations as they were rich without being heavy.

Even if you are in Mammoth, make the 20 mile drive.  It’s worth it.

FYI – You can also fill up your car there.

Safe travels

Whoa Nellie Deli
22 Vista Point Road
Lee Vining, CA 93541
(760)-647-1066

Where US 395 and Highway 120 intersect

GPS Coordinates: N 37º 56.827   W 119º 06.794

The Menu

Cafe Käfer’s – Terminal 1 Frankfurt Airport (FRA)

This quick post is written for that hungry traveler connecting through Terminal 1 of Frankfurt Airport (FRA) wondering, “Where should I eat?”.  Consider going directly to Käfer’s tucked in the corner between the B and C gates.  The restaurant came to me through a recommendation by airport security (the best place to find out where to eat in any airport).Käfer’s has two restaurants, one is a more formal the other is a sit down Parisian style bistro.  I ate at the latter and recommend the experience.At about 8am it was a peaceful place to sit,  read and eat a well-presented meal.  The decor is French, the menu is European, the service was quite good.  The prices were standard for an airport and very reasonable to the experience.

The Old English Breakfast I ordered was presented as you see below.  The quality of the food was mostly unremarkable and airport standard.  Again, this place is about the experience.

What has me writing about this experience 15 months later is the desert menu.    The item below was one of many that caught my eye and yes, after I finished my breakfast, I had them bring me one out.  It tasted even better than it looked.

Safe Journey and bon appetit

Cafe Dolcinos

If you find yourself in the historic Gastown section of Vancouver British Columia, visit Cafe Dolcino at 12 Powell Street.

The food here redfines fresh and freshly made.  After we ordered, the owner went back and prepared each of our orders.  We heard the eggs sizzle in the pan.  We heard the owner cut and slice the vegtables. It took longer than one would normally expect for breakfast sandwich, but it was well worth it.  We would not believe the amount of flavor that came out of these small sandwiches.

Fresh egg fried on a bagel with sliced tomato and cucumber. I can’t describe how fresh this tasted.

This small hole in the wall didn’t initially seem  remarkable.   We were underwhelmed by the selection on the menu and normally would have moved on to someplace else, fortunately there weren’t many places open for breakfast in Gastown at 9am.  We were very glad that we stayed.