The Pink Elephant (San Francisco SoMA District)

This blog has taken a hiatus for some time, but I am kicking it back alive with a new restaurant review!

This review is for The Pink Elephant, in San Francisco's Financial District. This gastropub was opened just three months ago, but already have four stars on Yelp!

They have a full menu on weekdays for lunch and dinner, but only serve brunch on weekends. Even so, the brunch menu is quite decent, with a selection of omelette, eggs benedict, french toast, and a variety of burgers. 

Weekend brunch menu

My friend and I ordered the lamb burger and french toast. We were impressed with how good the food was! The lamb burger came with garlic fries and a side salad of onions, carrots and peppers. Served medium-cooked, the patty was very juicy, with juice oozing out as I cut it. The brioche bun was soft and mildly sweet, the way I like it. The tomato sauce (not ketchup) had a Mexican touch to it, true to the roots of the chef who designed the menu. (p.s. It is always fun to speak to the chef, you can learn so much about what everything on the plate is!) I also like how I did not get a greasy after-taste from the burger, something that really spoke about the quality of the ingredients.

The french toast was delectable. I loved how they used raisin and poppy bread, which made the flavor more complex and interesting. All the ingredients were fresh, with a generous helping of fruit, alongside whipped cream and syrup. The surprise was the chili whipped butter served atop the fruit, a concoction personally made by the chef (as with all sauces and marinades, apparently). It was very lightly-flavored, and complemented the toast quite well. 

Lamb burger with garlic fries and side salad of onion, carrot and peppers

Look how juicy the lamb patty is! 

French toast with lots of fruit, and topped with a house-made chili-whipped butter

Given that it is a pub, we had to try their beer after all. An extensive beer menu, there was at least 10 pages of beer selections from several countries, such as Belgium, Japan, America, etc. I tried their Hitachino Nest Red Rice beer, recommended by the owner to be a slightly sweeter beer to cater to my sweet tooth. Indeed, the beverage was easy on the palate, refreshing with sweet undertones.

I also liked their decor -- modern and simple, it was a rather relaxing environment, suitable for friends to chill out at. The staff were friendly and hardworking as well. All in all, I would return to this gastropub to try out their weekday menu and other beers (many looked very interesting), as well as their $1 Monday happy hour (5-7pm) oysters.

Entrance to the gastropub

• The Pink Elephant
• 142 Minna St 
• San Francisco, CA
• (this is a side street in the Financial District, SoMa, right next to a parking structure, how convenient)
• (415) 757-0622

Saturday @ Pacific Grove and Santa Cruz

We have been working really hard during the week, so we decided to take a day trip out on Saturday! We first went to Asilomar Beach at Pacific Grove, our favorite beach in the area. It was too cold to hang out, but we saw a deer grazing just less than 2 meters from us! Enjoy the photos~
We drove to Santa Cruz after that to hang out at the boardwalk and beach area. It was quite nice; a little windy at times but not too cold or warm. The boardwalk was crowded though, but we managed to find a good spot to lay down our picnic mat and read on our Kindles.
Dinner was at The Crepe Place, a surprising find, that served delicious food. The free bread was a single cute softgrain loaf, very soft and fresh! Our appetizer of hot buffalo wings was yummy but a bit spicy for me. Next came the crepes -- he had the spinach supreme, complete with ham, cheese and egg (his favorite ingredient), while I had the crab crepe, with gyuyere cheese and white wine alfredo sauce on top. Everything was very good, and we were so stuffed! Also the patio area was very quaint, almost romantic (we were almost fooled and worried by the bar front). We wouldn't mind returning to this creperie again on our next trip to Santa Cruz!

Hello there!

I'm going to eat more grass near the beach

The cute loaf of softgrain bread that really impressed my boyfriend

Crab crepe with white wine alfredo sauce

The Crepe Place

1134 Soquel Ave

Santa Cruz, CA 95062

(831) 429-6994

Salted Caramel mini Chocolate cupcakes

Was bored during this holiday season and didn't feel like doing any work, so I decided to bake!
Today's experiment is salted caramel mini chocolate cupcakes. These are mini chocolate cupcakes with a salted caramel filling, topped with dark chocolate salted caramel frosting.
The result turned out to be really yummy! =)

I adapted the recipe from here.

Using a mini muffin tray, I made 48 mini cupcakes with enough batter leftover for 4 madeleines. 
Alternatively this recipe yields 21 regular cupcakes.

Ingredients:

For the cupcakes:

1. 1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
2. 3/4 cup unsweetened Dutch-process cocoa powder (I used Ghiradelli cocoa powder)
3. 1 1/2 cups granulated sugar
4. 1 1/2 teaspoons baking soda
5. 3/4 teaspoon baking powder
6. 3/4 teaspoon salt
7. 2 large eggs
8. 3/4 cup buttermilk (I made this by adding 1 tablespoon distilled white vinegar to 1 cup milk)
9. 3 tablespoons vegetable oil
10. 1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
11. 3/4 cup warm water

For the salted caramel filling:

1. 2 1/2 cups sugar
2. 2/3 cup water
3. 3/4 cup heavy whipping cream
4. 2 1/2 teaspoons flaked sea salt, preferably Fleur de Sel

For the dark chocolate salted caramel frosting: (almost similar to before, with a caramel twist)

1. 1/8 cup  unsweetened Dutch-process cocoa powder 
2. 1/8 cup boiling water
3. 3/4 cups / 1.5 sticks unsalted butter at room temperature
4. 1/4 cup confectioners’/icing/powdered sugar, sifted
5. pinch of salt
6. 227 grams good-quality semi-sweet chocolate, melted and cooled (I used Guittard semi-sweet chocolate chips, found in Whole Foods)
7. A sufficient amount of the salted caramel, from above, to your liking

Instructions:

Making the cupcakes:

1. Preheat the oven to 350 F. 
2. Line mini muffin tray with paper liners. 
3. Mix together flour, cocoa, sugar, baking soda, baking powder, and salt. 
4. In another bowl, mix together eggs, buttermilk, oil, extract, and the water.
5. Add the wet ingredients to the dry ingredients. Fold in and mix until smooth and combined. Do not over-mix, to avoid a dense cake.
6. Spoon the batter into liners about two-thirds full. 
7. Bake approximately 10-12 minutes, or until tester comes out clean.  (If you're making normal-sized cupcakes, baking time will be 13-15 minutes)
8. Transfer tins to wire racks and allow to cool for 10 minutes; turn cupcakes onto racks and let cool completely. (Cupcakes can be stored overnight at room temperature, or frozen up to 1 month in air tight containers.)
9. Make the salted caramel. While waiting for the caramel to form, use a paring knife to cut a cone-shaped piece (about half-way deep into the cupcake) from the center of each cupcake and throw away the narrower tip part. Keep the wider top part of the cone as a breadbowl-like cover over the caramel filling (see photos below for example).

Hollowed out cupcakes. The small pieces at the sides are the remaining top "breadbowl" covers

Sticking the breadbowl covers onto their respective cupcakes

Making the salted caramel filling:

1. Heat sugar with the water in a heavy saucepan over medium-high, stirring occasionally, until syrup is clear; clip a candy thermometer to side of pan and stop stirring.
2. Cook until syrup comes to a boil, washing down sides of pan with a wet pastry brush as needed. 
3. Boil, gently swirling pan occasionally, until mixture is caramelized and just reaches 360°F. 
4. Remove from heat and slowly pour in cream; stir with a wooden spoon until smooth. Be careful! Adding cream can cause the whole mixture to bubble!
5. Stir in sea salt.
6. Let cool for about 15 minutes; if caramel begins to harden reheat gently until pourable. 
7. Spoon 1 to 2 teaspoons warm caramel into each hollowed-out cupcake. The caramel will slightly sink into the cupcake – just add a bit more. Sprinkle a pinch of sea salt over filling.
8. Cover the filling with the breadbowl-like cake cover from before.
9. Use the leftover caramel for the frosting.

Caramel filling inside the cupcake

Making the dark chocolate salted caramel frosting:

1. Combine cocoa powder and the boiling water in a small bowl or glass measuring cup, and stir until it cocoa has dissolved. 
2. Beat the butter, the icing sugar, and salt on medium-high speed until it is pale and fluffy–about 5 minutes. 
3. Reduce mixer speed to low, and add melted chocolate (cooled! If not the butter will melt), beating until combined and scraping down the sides of the bowl as needed. 
4. Beat in the cocoa mixture until well incorporated. 

Final step:

Pour the frosting into a piping bag (I used a ziploc bag and cut a small hole in the corner), and decorate the cupcakes!

Afterthoughts:

This recipe was really easy to follow, with a minimal number of steps. 

On an non-baking related note, life can be quite funny/coincidental sometimes. I was at Boudin Bakery in San Francisco on Saturday to try their clam chowder breadbowl and watched the staff make the breadbowls. That very observation helped me make my hollowed-out cupcakes today, all I had to do was recall what I saw over the weekend, and repeat on a smaller scale!

Also, as I was baking, the whole ritual of following instructions and measuring out precise quantities felt very similar to doing experiments in the lab. In fact, I was reminded of one of my first research internships, when the professor asked me if I cooked, since doing experiments was just like cooking. Very true. I wonder if my general ease with experiments has been aided by my intuition in the kitchen, or even vice versa. Either way, I'm glad to be good at both, if not I wouldn't know what to do with my hands half the time :)

Finally, a candid photo of me filling cupcakes!

First Awakenings (Pacific Grove, CA)

This is a breakfast and brunch place near the Hopkins Marine Station, and my two experiences here have been good so far! Their portions are more than generous and quality is pretty good too. I had the pulled pork sandwich (with mushroom, onion and cheese) for lunch, which came with potatoes, fruit and salad (celery, mesclun greens, onions, tomatoes). It was good value for a $12 meal, and the pork was tender but not flaky. Yum!

125 Ocean View Blvd

Pacific Grove, CA 93950

(831) 372-1125

www.firstawakenings.net