Comfort Food - Salami, Cheese and Bread

As a young man growing up in the San Francisco Bay Area, Marin County and Corte Madera to be specific, I remember going on camping trips and hikes as a Boy Scout and having to pack a lunch/dinner, either to eat while hiking, or while driving to where ever we were camping.  I remember buying a Gallo Dry Salami or Salame, as they say on their website.  The Salamis we bought back then weren't very big, only about six to eight inches long and maybe two across.  Sometimes, a couple of us would split a salami, a chunk of cheese and a French Bread. 

Now, there are two mistakes that you should not make as you imagine this lunch.  First, do not think of Cotto Salami when I mention Dry Salami.  They are utterly and completely different.  Cotto Salami is more like coarse ground bologna with more spice and whole pepper corns.  It is nothing like the heaven that is dry salami.  Nor, should you think of hard salami, which is dry salami's poor cousin.  Hard Salami is close, but not quite there.  Also, you should not compare San Francisco French Bread with the weak stuff they call French Bread in most of the US.  If you have a good bakery in your home town, you may compare it to that, but it will still be missing one key element, sourdough.  There is something about the San Francisco that produces a unique, and delicious sourdough that is used to make the signature French Bread.  San Francisco French Bread is crusty and delicious, and can even give a true French Bread...yes, I mean one from France, a run for its money...and yes, I do know that, as I have tasted both.  I grew up in the Bay Area and then spent two years in France. 

Now, with a true understanding of Salami and Bread, you may finally understand this nostalgic lunch of my childhood.  I have spent years trying to find Salami similar to the Salami of my childhood and the closest I have come is Boar's Head Bianco D'Oro Dry Salami.  It takes me back to my childhood.  I sometimes buy it for my lunch,  along with some of the Boar's Head Black Wax Sharp Cheddar Cheese, which is very good cheese, even better than what I remember buying all those years ago. 

Unfortunately, I have had to give up on good French Bread.  I can buy the Salami and Cheese at a local supermarket, but I have to go to a bakery to get the right French Bread, and it often isn't worth the trouble.  Here in Texas, HEB sells Pan Frances.  I am glad they use the spanish name, because it doesn't really deserve even that.  It is nothing like true French Bread. 

To me, this is an example of comfort food. Not only do I love it, but I get to relive pleasant moments from my childhood when I eat it.

Lays Tangy Carolina BBQ Chips

 If you don't know, there are two kinds of BBQ sauce in North Carolina.  In the East, they have a vinegar based sauce, and in the West, they have a more tomato based sauce, which is closer to other BBQ sauces, from Kansas City to Texas. 

 

Vinegar is the thing that truly sets these chips apart from your average BBQ chip.  It's a little like someone crossed BBQ chips with Salt and Vinegar chips, but the BBQ won.  They have what I can only describe as a pucker factor similar to, but less intense than most Salt and Vinegar chips.  These chips are spicy and a little sweet, but with a tang that can only come from vinegar.  They start off mild, but then build on you as you try to polish off more than just a few.  That lasting effect also separates them from most other BBQ chips. 

 

They are not my favorite chips...then again, I am not sure that I have a favorite chip.  I don't like them enough to buy them every time, but when the average BBQ chip starts to get a little boring, then these are a really nice change of pace.

Shanghai Chinese Restaurant

Shanghai Chinese Restaurant 

6718 Middle Fiskville Rd 

Austin, TX  78752 

(512) 458-8088 

Watch out, they are closed on Monday.  It was my bad luck to look for them a month or two back on a Monday and I ended up finding China Palace.  That day, I couldn't find the sign, but it turns out that they are closed on Monday.  Well, I finally gave them a second chance. 

I ordered my usual, Sesame Chicken, to go.  The lunch came with an egg roll, fried rice and soup.  Of course, I choose Hot and Sour.  Unfortunately, when I opened the bag, and then the box, I found the egg roll was in with the hot steamy foods, so that is one point against.  If you put the egg roll in with the steamy foods, then you end up with a soggy egg roll.  Fortunately, I have learned to look for this and so my egg roll did not get soggy. 

The chicken is battered and does not really seem to have spent any time in the sauce.  There's not a lot sauce, and the sauce is not overly sweet.  In fact the first piece of chicken has a decidedly sour taste.  It looks like the chicken was not prepared specifically for Sesame chicken and was just covered with some sauce at the last minute.  The sweetness of the sauce was not a problem, as Sesame Chicken can slide way too far into sweetness.  This didn't, and the chicken was quite tasty, if a bit tough, at least some pieces.  The only major problem was the amount of sauce. 

There was a good serving of broccoli, and it was still mostly crispy, but I don't buy Sesame Chicken for the broccoli, and I'd have rather had a little more chicken and a lot more sauce rather than any broccoli. 

The eggroll was very crunchy.  It was made with the thinner pastry that comes out very flaky and crunchy and has the disadvantage of flaking all over the place.  But, that is not really a negative, just a way of differentiating them from the thicker won-ton style pastry that is sometimes used for egg rolls. 

The fried rice was a little tasteless, needed more sauce.  In fact, it was surprisingly tasteless.  It certainly didn't have enough salt.  In fact, it didn't have enough anything and was barely edible after mixing with the sauce.  I didn't finish it. 

Which brings me to the Hot and Sour soup.  The soup was long on hot and short on flavor.  It wasn't terrible, and I like a nice hot Hot and Sour soup, but it wasn't all that tasty, and it was hot.  Half an hour after eating it, my lips were still burning and I didn't finish all the soup, because it wasn't all that tasty. 

So, in conclusion, there was only one thing in this lunch that really rates a good review and that was the egg roll.  The chicken was subpar, but not terrible.  There was too much broccoli and not enough sauce.  The fried rice was tasteless, and the Hot and Sour soup was overly hot and not tasty enough.  I enjoyed this lunch, and it wasn't over priced, but it just wasn't good enough, you can do much better at this price.