La Boulange Chocolate Gateau

Chocolate Gateau and Linda's Cream Puff

I am lucky enough to live in Cole Valley with an outpost of La Boulange Bakery.  This is a popular San Francisco French bakery chain.  I first fell in love with their Almond Croissant about 10 years ago, lovely marzipan in the middle and lots of almonds on top of the buttery croissant.  The best I have ever had.

Soon I had sampled many of their treats, some of my favorites were the Chocolate Gateau  (so chocolately and moist), the Canneles (crunchy and carmelized on the outside, moist custard on the inside), and homemade rosemary and sea salt Potato Chips.  But then, alas, they stopped making the Chocolate Gateau.

Fortunately, Pascal Rigo, the owner of La Boulange, had published a cookbook with the Chocolate Gateau recipe.   It just so happened that a friend of mine (who is a professional pastry chef) offered to show me how to make the gateau.  She did so graciously, and then I never made it again.  It was too daunting - I'm not a baker although I do try a little.

It's been a few years now, and I often think about attempting to bake the gateau.  Actually, I think about eating the gateau.  Well, today was the day that I baked one.  I was going to a friend's house for dinner (about 14 people would be there) and thought this was a worthy event to attempt the gateau. 

Out of the oven

The result - pretty good!  Dense and chocolately (a flourless cake and Sharffen-Berger chocolate) and good reviews from my kids and friends.  It would have been better if I didn't add double the chocolate ganache than the recipe calls for - oops.  When I took my first bite I was wondering if this was the gateau of my past, and it wasn't due to my mistake.   I am convinced that if I had added less ganache the gateau would have been more cake like, less dense, and perfect.  This cake goes extremely well with vanilla ice cream or whipped cream, and berries.  If you're looking to make a cake that you can't buy anywhere, this is it.

The dinner, by the way, was Turkish food - kebabs and different salads, plus meze to begin that we devoured.  It's nice to have Turkish friends!  Here's the recipe for the gateau.

La Boulange Chocolate Gateau  
12 oz. bittersweet chocolate, finely chopped (approx 2 cups)
4 oz unsalted butter
2 TBL unsweetened cocoa powder
4 extra large eggs, separated
2 extra large egg whites
Pinch of salt
1/2 cup sugar
1/2 cup chocolate ganache (recipe to follow), melted


1. Preheat the oven to 325 degrees.  Spray a 10-in springform pan with vegetable oil spray and line the bottom with a circle of parchment paper.  Set aside.
2. In a large, heat-resistant bowl set over a pot of simmering water, melt the chocolate and butter, stirring occasionally.  Remove the bowl from the heat and whisk in the cocoa powder.  In a small bowl, whisk the egg yolks to break them up, and then whisk into the chocolate mixture.  Set aside.
3.  In the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with the whisk attachment, whip the egg whites and salt on medium speed until foamy.  Increase the speed to high and gradually add the sugar.  Continue to ship to medium-firm peaks - the peaks will droop slightly when you lift up the whisk.  Stif the egg whites, rather vigorously, into the warm chocolate mixture, until there are no white streaks visible.  You need not be gentle, as this cake is best without a lot of air incorporated into it.  Transfer the batter to the prepared pan, smooth it out, and pour the ganache on top.  Using a spoon or your fingers, marble the ganache into the batter.
4.  Bake in the center of the oven for 35 to 40 minutes or until the center of the cake no longer looks shiny.  The cake will be puffed up and wobbly in the center but set on the edges.  It's a soft cake that will firm up as it cools.  Cool the cake completely, on a wire rack, before removing the side from the pan.
5.  To slice the cake (easiest when it is chilled), run a long knife under hot water, then wipe it off with a towel, and cut the cake into slices.  The cake can be kept 3 days at room temperature or up to 5 days if refrigerated.


Chocolate Ganache
1 cup plus 2 tablespoons heavy cream
4 oz semisweet chocolate, coarsely chopped (approx 3/4 cup)
4 oz bittersweet chocolate, coarsely chopped (approx 3/4 cup)
1 TBL light corn syrup


1.  In a small saucepan, bring the cream to the scalding point over medium-high heat.  
2.  In a medium heat-resistant bowl, combine the semisweet chocolate, bittersweet chocolate, and corn syrup.
3.  Pour the scalded cream over the chocolate mixture and gently whisk until the chocolate is completely melted and smooth.  Remember to use only 1/2 cup for the gateau recipe!  You could always try halving the ganache recipe as well.  good luck!

Judahlicious

Ocean Beach Dune Jumping

I like meat.  I'm not a vegetarian and find preparing a vegetarian meal very challenging.   I mean, what meal is not better without bacon?  And soup or risotto without chicken stock?  Come on!

That said, I love Judahlicious, a vegan/raw food restaurant in the Outer Sunset.  From spring to fall, my family rides bikes from our house through Golden Gate Park all the way to Ocean Beach.  We usually ride bikes on Sunday when the roads are closed to automobiles.  My husband and I felt like we needed a destination lunch so we searched online and found Judahlicious.  The Park Chalet and Beach Chalet restaurants at Ocean Beach just don't do it for us and all of the french fries and burgers seemed to defeat the purpose of exercise.

The first time I walked into Judahlicious I looked at the menu and thought "blah.  what the heck is this stuff?"  Hemp, grains, seeds, acai berry, flax - I guess I knew what all of these things were but I'd never prepared them all together and eaten them.  It just sounds like rabbit food.

Sherpa Sandwich

Clearly, I was wrong.  The beauty of Judahlicious is in the sheer number of ingredients per dish and the wonderful dressings/sauces that they make.   My favorite item is the Sherpa Sandwich which contains Hemp Pesto, Mediterranean hummus, shredded carrots, sprouts, avocado, and marinated kale served open face on a dense sprouted grain and seed loaf topped with Curry Cashew Cream and vegan parmesan.   The Curry Cashew Cream is yum!  So tasty and creamy,  turning all of the vegetables below it into a delicious healthfest.  While healthy, I doubt the Cashew Cream is low in calories.  I don't mind, I always feel healthy and happy that I ate the Sherpa Sandwich.

Acai Berry Bowl

My kids love and I mean LOVE the Acai Berry Bowl.  Frozen Acai Berry blended with apple juice topped with Hemp Granola and sliced bananas.  We are able to get two young boys to ride 7 miles round trip on their bikes because of the Acai Berry Bowl.   The Acai Berry has a nice subtle fruit flavor, not too sweet.  The Hemp Granola on top is so good that we went next door to the health food store to try to find it (which we did).  Now, my boys eat Hemp Granola for breakfast every morning.  The portion is large but even my 6 year old polishes it off.  My husband and I can no longer grab bites of the kids' bowls without retaliation so we order our own to share.


One of my other favorite dishes is the 1/2 Nekked Burrito.  It is in the raw food classification at Judahlicious.  The tortilla is a homemade cilantro tortilla filled with beans, rice, cilantro, onion, and avocado topped with a Cashew Sour Cream and a pineapple mango habanero sauce.  It has a good kick and is a very filling dish.

Nori Wrap

My husband likes the Nori Wrap.  It contains Sun Pâté or Un2nA Spread (don't know what these things are), daikon radish, celery, carrot wrapped in raw nori and served with a Hemp Wasabi dip.  I tried it and I guess it tasted ok, but I was conflicted.  I kept thinking "This should be real sushi".  It just didn't jive with my tastebuds - I would not order this.  One of the rare times my husband and I disagree on food.

After Judahlicious, we head to Ocean Beach and the kids go dune jumping before heading home.  This is what I consider a joyful day.

Judahlicious is located at:

3906 Judah St. at 44th Ave
San Francisco 94122
(415) 66 – JUICE

No Hours Posted.  I guess it keeps a proper hippie atmosphere.

King of Noodle

Noodle speed eating

This is the place that inspired my blog.  It is a hole in the wall on Irving Street where no one I know has ever dined.  We (my family) happened upon this place in our customary hunt for good eats fairly close to home.  It is about 20 blocks from our house.

King of Noodle is a small family run restaurant where the owners make their own noodles.  The first time we ate there a friendly Mandarin speaking woman came out of the kitchen and admired my boys' long eyelashes.  I wish I could have communicated with her and asked her about her restaurant.

Fresh Noodles w/Master Green

I saw her in the kitchen later pulling noodles by hand - she made it look so easy!  The result are the longest noodles I have ever had the pleasure to eat.  We ordered the "Fresh Noodles with Master Green".  I know - what a name!  We originally ordered it because we had to find out what is Master Green.  Turns out it is a soup with chopped greens, bits of pork, and noodles.  Oh the joy!  The soup has a wonderful healthy flavor and the noodles....well let's just say they're probably the best noodles I have ever eaten.  My husband concurs.  They just taste so fresh with a pleasing bite.  So far, this is our favorite dish at this restaurant.  It is soothing and healthy.  It has the ability to almost cure a hangover.

My eldest son's favorite dish is salt and pepper tofu.  Perfectly deep-fried, uniformly browned tofu cubes with salt and pepper.  They come piping hot to the table - if you pop one in your mouth you will surely have a burnt tongue.  Take a bite of one and be thankful.

Shanghai dumplings (pork dumplings with soup) are my favorite Chinese dumpling.  We are always on a quest to find the best Shanghai dumplings (more on that in future posts!).  King of Noodle Shanghai dumplings are very good - a good amount of soup bursts out of each dumpling and the pork is tasty.  Be sure to dip in the soy/vinegar sauce and then eat them out of a spoon.

The other dumpling we enjoy is Pork dumplings with Corn.  These are prepared in a steamed pot sticker style.  They are juicy and the corn compliments the pork nicely. 

Tonight my family ordered 1 Fresh Noodle with Master Green, 2 Shanghai Dumpling (6 pcs to an order), 1 Pork and Corn Dumpling (12 pcs to an order), and 1 Salt & Pepper Tofu.  The total was $32.   Delicious and a bargain.  My only complaint is this place could use a good clean.

Pork w/Corn Dumplings

Salt & Pepper Tofu

Shanghai Dumplings

King of Noodle is located at:

1639 Irving Street
(between 17th Ave & 18th Ave)
San Francisco, CA 94122
Neighborhood: Inner Sunset

(415) 566-8318

Hours:  M/T/Sun 11:30 - 10:00
             W/Th        5:00 - 10:00
             F/Sat       11:30 - 10:30

The first post!

I've never thought of myself as a blogger.   I'm generally a quiet person and I'm not a writer.  So what would I blog about?

Lately I've been thinking that I'd like to share many things that I have experienced, so other people can have that same experience (or something similar) if they'd so like.  Tonight I was eating at one of my favorite cheap eats in S.F. that I recently discovered and thought "I'm going to start a blog and share the joy".  So here it is.

I hope you enjoy reading my blog and would love your comments.