Local Event II. The Sauce

Primo's Gourmet Sauce

Part II.  Found a nice sauce here.  Tasted the Mild and Hot.  The Hot one had too much of a plumb thing going on.  On the other hand the Mild sauce had the right amount of bite with a bit of tanginess pulling the individual spices to the buds.  Pinpointing the complementary Rub for the sauce was impossible.  Without actually having the meat around I asked Gary (the man that came up with the recipe) for his advise.  Added their Hot Sauce for my home made Buffalo wings and the Olives filled with Anchovies for my drinks.  Total time spent at this Primo's Gourmet Food booth.  (40 min).  Heres their web site. Primo's Gourmet Food Co.

Primo's Gourmet Rub

肉にはソース。マイルド、ホットと色々あります。ホットだから良い物では無い。ソースの味が無くては。味のあるマイルドBBQソース。肉系のドライ・ラブ。そしてバッファロー・ウィングスのためのホットソース。酒のつまみに良さそうなアンチョビ入りのオリーブも袋に。(この場で小一時間過ごしてしまいましたね）

The Primo Family

ホスト　千明でした

食事系のつぶやきはこちら：@IronMetalChef

New Place in Town

High Tide Restaurant Cafe and Creperie

I tend to go to the usual places.  I know what to expect and its comfortable.  I lurk but seldom commit to a new place when it comes restaurants.  On the other hand,  I'm into supporting the local scene so when a new joint opens up, I'll check it out.  It's like, finally a local breakfast/lunch type of place that serves crapes and alcohol.  Great service and the food was decent.  Italian Crepe with eggplant, artichoke, onions, garlic, and mozzarella cheese.  I'll go again to check out their Sandwiches.  The place, "High Tide Restaurant Cafe & Creperie". 

Italian Crepe

ふだんは困った所にしか行かない主義ですがやっぱり地元に新しいレストランが出来ると行って見たくなりますよね。ここは、サンドイッチとクレープの店。朝ご飯的なメニューもあるので朝方にパンケーキとワインを飲みたい方でもOK。取りあえず今日頼んだのはイタリアン・クレープ。なす、アーティチョーク、オニオン、ガーリック、モッツォレラ・チーズ。クレープ自体もう少し薄くても良いのにって感じ。でも、サラダとポテトフライ付きで$8ドル。文句は言えません。まあ、パシフィカ付近に来た時はぜひチェック・アウトして見て下さい。　

Condiments, my new fetish

(all photos were taken using the iPhone 4. no edits. all natural)  My new food related twitter account is @ironmetalchef.  新しい食べ物系のつぶやきの方はアイアン・メタル・チェフです。よろしくお願いします。

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Full of Colors

Colors

There are so many Indian Restaurants in the Bay Area.  Got to say that they are all pretty good.  Some are better than others but, this place Bollywood Indian Cuisine, in San Mateo had a touch of something different.  After the appetizer and a few drinks, I realized that all 8 of us had different colored plates. Some better than others.  I strongly believe that 50% of the taste comes from the proper presentation of the food.  The red colored plate that I ended up with definitely tasted better than by buddies dark blue plate.  What was also mysterious about this place was that half way through the dinner, I realized that the entire place had no smell.  Usually you leave an Indian Restaurant with the smell of spice all over your clothes.  Not this one.  I really did not smell anything except for the aroma coming directly from the dish.  So, to wrap things up, we had Green, Light Green, Red, Brown, Purple, Yellow, Blue, and Black.  The waitress said they have 10 different colors.  Need to go back to find out the missing two colors.

ベイエリア、サンフランシスコ付近はインド料理のメッカと言うぐらいのレストランの数が。数多く行った中でなぜここが好きか？もちろん味は本格的なインド風。サービスはそこそこ。でも他のインドレストランとは何かが違う。ずらりと並ぶ色とりどりの皿。八人ともすべで違う色の物が。緑、赤、茶、紫、黄、青、黄緑、黒。このテーブル上では五レンジャーもかなわないって感じ。もう一つ、ここはスパイスの臭いがいっさいしない。天井はたかいが窓は一つも開いてない。取りあえず、無臭でこれだけの皿のあるインド料理の店はここしか無い。帰る前にあと何色あるのかと聞くと”あと二色”と何も考えず答えられたと言う事はやはり店自体が決行こだわっているって感じ。残りの二色を知る為にも今度は１０人連れて行こう！

Green

red

Host 千明でした

Chicken Karaage and Metal Mike Chlasciak

The Members of Halford

Here is how I prepare myself for an interview for the Metal Moment Podcast.  The night before the show, I make sure I clear out my schedule so that I am at the location an hour and a half before the meeting.  I then locate a parking area near the venue or the hotel where the interview is to be held.  Lastly, I seek out a location where I can look over my notes.  Simple enough?  

So, here is a glance at what took place prior to the interview with Metal Mike Chlasciak (Halford, Sebastian Bach, Painmuseum) on July 17^th 2010 at The Regency in San Francisco CA.  The interview was set for 1:30 pm at the venue.  Japan Town in San Francisco was ½ a mile away so I decided to sit down and prep at this place called Bushi-Tei Bistro.  A relatively new Restaurant in the area that is quiet during the day…… if you know what I mean.  Got there at noon and first told the waitress that I needed to leave by 12:30.  Ordered a Kirin on draft and a order of Chicken Karaage.  BTW make sure that the area has full bars (cell phone signal because things change by the minute In this industry). Another thing is that a 1:30 pm interview at the venue means that there is the possibility that the entire band will be there for their sound check.  Although my scheduled interview was for Metal Mike, I had notes ready for the Great Roy Z and of course the Metal God himself, Rob Halford.  For this interview, I had 3 separate scripts.  One with Metal Mike.  One with Metal Mike plus Roy Z, and the third, with them and Rob Halford.  On my second draft beer still waiting for my Chicken Karaage, I get a call from Metal Jay (Mike’s guitar Tech).  “Hey are you near by?, Mike wants to do the interview at 12:30 pm.”.  I’m like, “yes I am near by and I will be there in 10 min”. 

Chicken Karaage from Bushi-Tei Bistro

The chicken arrives while I am on the phone.  I take 3 bits and ask for the check.  Ran to my car and found a sweet spot right by the venue.  I then call Metal Jay.  He comes out with a smile and informs me that Mike’s driver is running late.  An hour and a half later Mike arrives with a smile pointing at my Loudness T-Shirt.  He walks me into the venue and looks at the stage being setup.  He asks me if I want a drink and the rest is history.   

This is one of the easier ones compared to some I have experienced in the past.  The interview with Michael Schenker heard on the Metal Moment Podcast Episode 26 was scheduled for 4:00 pm right after the sound check but materialized after the show in his tour bus at 1:35 AM.  I only interview the people I personally admire so the harder the interview, greater the satisfaction.  The only missed interview that I regret til this day is the Warren DeMartini interview that did not happen because of some communication error.  I eventually got an email from the Band Manager and an email from the Label in charge of RATT in Japan the next day.  Maybe next time I will have the opportunity to sit down with Warren DeMartini and talk to him about his Charvel and Performance Guitars in depth.  

The Metal Moment Podcast interviews are conducted in person, live.  I do not accept Phone interviews.  I am a fan, I still get the gitters and I hope you can witness the wickedness while I try to spread the love for Metal.    Hope to share more of these moments with you soon.  The Metal Mike interview will be up next.

取りあえずメタル・モーメント・ポッドキャストのインタビュー前はばたばたしてますよ。いつも１時間半前には待ち合わせ場に付いているようにしているのですがARTISTの都合によって早まったり遅くなったりします。メタル・マイクの場合はゆっくりとビールを飲みながら唐揚げを注文した所でいきなり電話が入り、“今近場にいたら後１０分で来れないか？”と。唐揚げ一口食べて待ち合わせ場に付くと結局一時間半まち。マイケル・シェンカーの時は４時の予定が朝の1:35分に。（笑い）これがメタル・ライフですかね！Metal Mikeのインタビューを楽しみに。

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Bad pictures and Fish Tacos

" chiakifestation "

washed out / red ring

There are certain things you can do with bad pictures but unfortunately with food, not too much.   Headed over to Sausalito, CA and walked into a joint that looked good.  Simple Fish Taco that turned out just.....  Swiping through the pictures taken on the iPhone 4, most out door images of the Bay turned out bad.   Its amazing how important "Lighting", is when taking pictures.  Misjudging the lighting can turn a beautiful view of the Bay, not so beautiful.   In this case the glare from the sun interfered with the camera's sensors and caused the saturation levels way too low.   You can also see the red stain around the entire image caused by the way the camera handled the light intake.  I sometimes wonder if the sensor in the iPhone is tricked by the added plastic ring around the lens from the iPhone Case.  I am now on my third iPhone 4 due to random issues.  The first iPhone 4 had the "NO SIM CARD" problem where the SIM Card would come loose after walking or lightly jogging. The second was experiencing image quality issues. This one seems to be all good. Interestingly enough, this so-called Phone has taught me a lot about photography.  Its all about the right lighting and the composition of the image.  In reality, this is a phone that has the potential to take great photos depending on the users understanding of basic photography.  What do I do with bad pictures?  I hide the imperfections. I thank RATT for the inspiration, "chiakifestation".   Go and get their latest album, "Infestation".  Its one of the best albums out this year.  You can check out one of their tracks on the Metal Moment Podcast Episode 037.  Its the bonus track that was on the Japanese and iTunes release.  しかし、写真の世界は非常に面白い。写真のコンポジションや光の美しさ。iPhoneを手に入れてから写真を取るだけではなく写真を作ると言う事の理解ができて来たような感じがします。これまであまり写真をとる事には興味が無かったのですが携帯電話を持ち歩く限りカメラも付いてくるので何か目に付いたら写真をとると言う新たなるADDICTION.　　iPhone 4 の 5 MegaPixel カメラは明かりによってデジカメなみの写真が撮れます。残すはユーザーさんしだい。ゴールデン・ゲート・ブリッジとまずいタコスの写真はまあまあって感じ。右上の写真はセンサーの光かげんに問題があったのでこのままじゃ使えない。こう言う場合には少しRATTに力を借りて新たなるインスピレーションを。（残念ながらまずいタコスの味は直せませんでしたけどね。RATTの新しいアルバムは　”インフェステーション”。この写真は　“チアキフェステーション”。何も意味がないのに、俺も馬鹿だと、言う事で メタル・モーメント・ポッドキャスト 代　37で　iTunesと日本版のみで聞けるRATTの新曲をお聞きください。  

Host Chiaki でした

not so good... fish Taco

hue and saturation altered 

Straits Restaurant San Mateo はもうだめ

ここは美味かったのにって言う所で終わってしまった。取りあえず一年ぶり、ウェーターさんはたまたま同じお兄さん。席も同じ所。ナイスな感じのシンガポール風レストラン。しかし暗闇にだまされた感じで終わってしまったこの夜。Straits Restaurant.

料理の焼きぐあいからお皿のプレゼンテーション。暗くて何も見えないからってもう少しちゃんとすれば？せっかく妹をつれて来たのに残念。ここはもうだめ。Dark and romantic.  On the other hand, a great way to hide the lack of presentation.  Dinning is all about the presentation in my opinion.  Even an average meal can become a 4 star by the way in which the subjects are presented.  This place was good but not anymore.  The dim lights are even dimmer.  You just can't see the dish. Everything, over cooked and soaked in cheap sauce.  It was better a year ago.  Still a nice place for a stiff drink with a hot LADY!  Go for a drink and go elsewhere if your stomach calls for more.  

ホスト　千明でした

Eating at a Tourist Attraction in San Francisco Pier 39

Tourist attractions are not for the Locals.  So, what am I doing here at San Francisco's Fisherman's Wharf ?  A member of my family flew in from Tokyo Japan with a friend.  I am expected to know the best place for clam chowder at the Pier. Sure, let me check my iPhone 4.  Apps, here Yelp (usually I do not rely on Yelp, but pressed for time I had no choice). Yelp pulled up 6 restaurants.  Great, they are all rated 3.5.  What am i going to do next.  The place with the longest wait.  I'm sure that all these tourist did their homework back home.  The Harbor Fish House.  30 min wait.  Crab Melt with Fries and an order of half dozen Oysters.  Not bad, not great, simply a place to satisfy my family member.  Looking around the restaurant, all Europeans.  The dollar must suck!!  BTW the last time I was here was with Japan's Metal Band Concerto Moon.  地元に住むとめったに来ないフィッシャーマンズワーフ・サンフランシスコ。コンチェルト・ムーンの皆さんと来た以来ですかね。取りあえず妹と彼女の友達が東京から来てクラムチャウダー食べたいと言われたのでつれて来たのがピア３９にあるレストラン、ザ・ハーバー・フィッシュ・ハウス。私は、かにメルト・アンド・ポテトフライ。生オイスターを一つ。まあ、観光客料理ですね。いつも聞かれるので、この写真はiPhone 4で取った物です。エデットはしてません。ウェブの為にコンプレスしてあります。I get asked all the time, what do I use to take these pictures?  These were taken with the iPhone 4.  Straight off the phone compressed for the web.  

アメリカン Hot Dog

A good dog is all American. The SeaHorse Saloon is a local dive here in Pacifica California. Internet JukeBox is King. $5.00 will give you 8 songs. I found everything from Motley Crue, Dio, Bon Jovi, WASP, WhiteSnake, Dokken etc. やっぱりアメリカのBARと言えばメタルとホット・ドッグ。この安い味。良いかもしれない。ケチャップ美味しいですよね。Keep Rockin' 千明