Californian Dim Sum & Donabe Dinner at State Bird Provisions

Stuart's donabe dish, served at the table

We had another exciting night.
The dinner on the second night in San Francisco was back at State Bird Provisions!


Perfect start of the night with raw seafood dishes.



Dumpling!


Every time there was a new cart or tray full of unique dishes came to our table, we couldn't resist to to try almost every dish. They were all so outstanding.


Then, Stuart brought a special donabe dish just for us! Isako took photos of me...I was becoming a donabe paparazzo.


Stew of seafood, house-cured bacon, California seaweed, yuba, etc. Such deep and complex flavor. It was so good.


Dessert course by their talented pattisiere, Mikoko.


After the dinner, Stuart gave us a tour of the entire kitchen plus the next door, The Progress, which they opened last year. Last time I was there, this restaurant was still under construction, and now it's a beautiful place with a private dining room. Stuart said they do a lot of donabe dishes there!

Such a wonderful dinner...thank you so much, Stuart and the team!

Happy donabe life.

Meeting All the Wonderful People in San Francisco

With Heid at her Quitokeeto studio

The next day, we started our morning in Mission.


We visited my friend Matt, at his Small Trade Company's studio. His studio is gorgeous with all his designed bags, clothes, and so many different things. It's located in the same complex as Heath Ceramics and newly opened Tartine Manufactory. So, we got a VIP tour of both shops by Matt!


Brunch at Tartine Manufactory was fantastic.


We got to try many different pastries and dishes.


The same complex consists of different shops and artists' studios. We also visited Aesthetic Union, which is an artisan print house. Jason demonstrated some of his beautiful antique printing machines for us. It was so cool.


In the afternoon, we visited Heidi and Wayne at their studio, Quitokeeto. Heidi is also a very popular cookbook author and photographer. She has been a big supporter of our donabe and she uses different donabe in her cooking.We signed each other's books! Both Heidi and Wayne were so sweet and we had a great time.


We kept ourselves busy and went to Bernal Cutlery. They are the best knife shop in San Francisco and have been supporting our donabe and cookbook, too!


Last stop was Omnivore Books, which specializes in both current and antique books about food and drinks. I was so happy to learn my DONABE Cookbook has been popular there!

We totally enjoyed a full day of meeting wonderful people in San Francisco.

Family dinner at Kin Khao in San Francisco

With Pim and Nagatani Family

After Isako and Yasuhiro spent several days with me and Jason in LA, we (except for Jason, who had to work) left for San Francisco together.

Opposite to LA weather, it was chilly in San Francisco! I guess that's normal there. We stayed at a nice apartment I booked by Airbnb. It was a corner room on 17th floor and had great views from both sides!


In the evening, we got together with Akiyo (Isako and Yasuhiro's sister), her husband, Takahiro, and their son, Gentaro. They flew in to Portland spent several days there on Takahiro's business and came down to San Francisco on the same day with us. We had dinner at Kin Khao, a very popular Thai restaurant by Pim! She took great care of us.

We had a feast of delicious multi-course Thai dishes!


Every dish was so complex with layers of flavors and I just couldn't stop eating.

 
Everybody was so happy. It was the best Thai meal I had ever had! Pim is such an amazing person and you taste her passion and love in every dish. Thank you so much, Pim!!