Last week, we visited the newly reopened California Academy of Sciences, located inside Golden Gate Park in the beautiful City by the Bay, San Francisco. The museum had been closed for years while they rebuilt it from the ground up to be one of the most amazing facilities in the world. We had taken the kids to the Steinhart Aquarium when it was temporarily located in downtown San Francisco, and I was looking forward to its grand reopening to experience it more fully. So when I saw FoodGal Carolyn Jung’s post about her sneak-peak into the Academy before the doors opened, I knew it wouldn’t be long before we went as well.
Once inside, we immediately went down to the under-water level of the Steinhart Aquarium. There, you are greeted with an expansive viewing room of the deepest live coral exhibit in the world, the Philippine Reef Tank. Diver Dave Chan was in the water, answering questions from the audience.
Diver Dave Chan in the Philippine Reef Tank at the California Academy of Sciences
We were planning to head up to San Francisco to buy some herbs (no, not that kind of herb 😉 ) and spices at San Francisco Herb Company (more on this later) in the Mission District. Since we were going to be there around lunch time, I thought, why not look for a good Mexican place to eat in the Mission? Searching Entertainment.com, I found a couple places that looked promising and chose Mi Lindo Yucatan. Printed out the 20% off coupon, and off we went.
Contrary to popular belief, Mexican food isn’t just about tacos, burritos, enchiladas or fajitas. (Fajitas, by the way, aren’t even Mexican – they’re Tex-Mex). Taco Bell has as much to do with Mexican cuisine as Panda Express has to do with Chinese cuisine. Mexico is a large country with a very long and varied culinary history. Mi Lindo Yucatan features cuisine from the Yucatan Peninsula in Southern Mexico. Its main cuisinal (is that even a word? <flips through dictionary>) influence is from the Mayan culture as well as French and Spanish cuisine.
What new flavors would we find at Mi Lindo Yucatan?
I’ve eaten a lot of different kinds of roast pork over the years, from Chinese roast pork, to char siu, to Hawaiian-style kalua pig, to pulled pork barbecue, and many others. I’ve even had some awesome roast pork knuckle (I didn’t even know pigs had knuckles) from a restaurant in the state of Kedah in Malaysia.
And then, I discovered porchetta. Ever since reading this article on Eating Asia, we’ve been wanting to visit the Roli Roti rolling rotisserie vendor at the San Francisco Ferry Building to have some of this delicious roast pork. One fine Saturday morning, we had occasion to drive up to San Fran to shop at the Farmer’s Market there and, of course, buy some porchetta.
When Americans think of macaroons, they usually think of a cookie made with coconut. Macaroons are actually cookies made using egg whites and ground or powdered nuts. This is a pistachio macaroon from the Miele dessert stall next to the gelato stall at the San Francisco Ferry Building.
The macaroons I’ve had in the past have been too sweet for me. I take one bite and the sweetness hurts my teeth. This one was different. Not as sweet, and the ground pistachios really came through.
