Neighbor Bakehouse (San Francisco)

Neighbor Bakehouse is a bakery in the up-and-coming Dogpatch neighborhood of San Francisco that makes a variety of delicious sweet and savory pastries.  Neighbor excels at pastries with laminated dough, making a wonderfully flaky croissant.  They also have delicious pastries filled with passionfruit creme and chocolate.  Other standouts include the ginger pull-apart and the pistachio croissant.  I was a little disappointed in their country loaf, but otherwise everything is of really good quality.  There is usually street parking available along 3rd Street.  Inside is mostly occupied by the baking area, with a small area for people to choose their goods.  There are picnic tables with benches outside where one can enjoy the treats, but it sometimes gets chilly in this area.  Overall, Neighbor is not just a neighborhood place, but a worthy destination bakery.


Recipe Review: Leek and Potato Galette with Pistachio Crust


Level of difficulty: medium

Cost: about $10-15


Deliciousness: 3 of 5 stars

Make again: yes, maybe trying a different filling

Link to recipe here.

Milk Bar Bake the Book Class

Milk Bar offers weekend classes at their Williamsburg, Brooklyn shop and I had the opportunity to go last year.  I have made some of their cakes at home, but it was a real treat to make them at Milk Bar.  Actually, it is more like assemble, because they pre-bake the cake and the crumbles and pre-made the frosting.  It was still fun, because the instructors were great, very helpful, friendly, and full of Milk Bar trivia.  After assembling the cake, we also made cake truffles.  Finally, after the class our instructor took a few super-fans on a tour of the Milk Bar bakery.  So fun!  Classes are $95 as of 2016, and you get a cake and truffles to take home.

Link to Milk Bar class schedule here.

Link to Milk Bar cookbook here.

Book Review: Koreatown

Koreatown: A Cookbook, by Deuki Hong, is a wonderful mix of delicious recipes and guide to the Koreatown food scene.  Chef Hong is chef at the popular New York City K-town restaurant, Kang Ho Dong Baekjeong.  So far I have made the kalbi (grilled beef short ribs), Korean fried chicken, kimchi fried rice (that includes a ton of bacon), and various sides including a delicious potato salad, jap chae, kimchi, bean sprouts, and spinach.  I have made the kalbi twice already, the marinade imparts a ton of flavor, and it goes amazingly well with the ssam jang, an intense mix of gochujang (red pepper paste), garlic, and fermented soybean paste (doenjang).  The Korean fried chicken was also outstanding, crispy, hot, and tossed in a soy-garlic coating.  There was even a quick recipe to doctor up some Shin ramen with American cheese and an egg, which is actually a pretty good meal in a pinch.  I probably won’t make the kimchi again – the fermenting daikon, cucumbers, and even pineapple made my entire refrigerator smell like kimchi.  Luckily, there are some Korean grocery stores in the Bay Area that prepare many varieties of kimchi.  Overall, I would highly recommend this cookbook for some delicious Korean home cooking.

Link to Koreatown: A Cookbook here.

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