How does a Vietnamese girl end up making a kugel* variant?! Well it all starts with an unnatural binge on cottage cheese and a desperate craving for something sweet.

I’ve been mowing through quarts and quarts of cottage cheese. I normally have cottage cheese with a salt and tons of pepper on potatoes, with crackers, in tuna salad, etc. But I was getting slightly bored with those applications so I went to my food sites to see how other people were spicing up their cottage cheese.

Over and over again I saw people putting sugar/Splenda and cinnamon on their cottage cheese. At first I was a bit repelled but as the idea simmered in the back of my brain… it started to sound… not *too* bad.

And after tasting it, it really reminded me of maple syrup & brown sugar oatmeal! So this has become a great quickie breakfast treat for the winter for me.

*I know this is not a real kugel. I’m pretty sure this is no where close to a real kugel. I realize this is a kugel about 5 times removed from kugels. But I just like saying and writing the word kugel – it’s fun, you should try it!

Cottage Cheese Borwn rice Kugel - weird but pretty damn good!

Brown Rice Kugel

1/2 cup cooked brown rice (I cook min with a little bit of butter and salt)

1/4 cup cottage cheese

1 – 2 tsp sugar (more or less to taste but I like mine sweet)

1 tsp cinnamon (you really can’t use too much of this)

Layer ingredients with brown rice on the bottom, cottage cheese, sugar and fianlly with cinnamon on top. Mix or not – just dig in and enjoy.

In the comments section, let me know how you eat your cottage cheese!

~it’s always good with cheese~

Andalu

3198 16th St San Francisco, CA 94103 (415) 621-2211

Andalu actually was the first stop on our Mac and Cheese Crawl. At 6 pm the restaurant was still pretty empty andit was easy to grab a seat at the bar and enjoy a sparkling rose wine while I waited for our Cheese Crawler group to arrive.

I had heard from my Mr. J that the mac and cheese was quite good. And he was not wrong.

Crispy Mac and Cheese with Herb Tomato Vinaigrette  ($7.50)

crispy creamy

This is a battered, breaded deep fried mac and cheese version. And believe me it is tasty. The cheese is heavily cheddar flavored. Anything lighter would be eclipsed by the heavy breading. It is served with a slightly spicy, thin marinara sauce. I’m not sure if this was really a “vinaigrette” there was a healthy dose of vinegar but I had assumed it was Tabasco. The tomato in the sauce was very apparent and the acidity was a nice counter point to the cheese.

The tender interior was balanced by the heavy crunch from the outside. The salt was just right. I don’t really know what the basil was all about. Though I think some herbs on the inside would have been nice.

This is a nice way to start off any happy hour.

~crispy, crunchy, cheese-y, what is there not to love~

Sauce

131 Gough St San Francisco, CA 94102 (415) 252-1369

Sauce was also part of the mac & cheese crawl i put together for my friends. I was looking forward to to trying Sauce partly because of the innovative cocktails they are known for but also because I heard their mac and cheese was really good.

Sauce Mac & Cheese

This was a very healthy portion in the “Social Plates” portion of the menu. And you better be social and have at least 4 other friends helping you with this sucker. On the menu it is listed as ” Baked Mac & Cheese Four Cheese Sauce, Ham Hock, Herbs with Chunks of Tillamook Cheddar & Gruyere Crust” ($10). On my receipt it says “Mini Mac” – I really don’t want to see a “Big Mac” from these guys – I’d be scared.

The cheese sauce was fantastic. Creamy, rich, not a hint of lumpiness or graininess. According to Chef Ben Paula, the sauce starts with half cream and half milk. He then piles in mozzarella, provolone, P.R., and asiago.  To that sauce, Chef adds fresh pasta shells from The Pasta Shop, ham hock, green onion, and parsley.  Once that comes together the mini casserole dish gets topped with chunks of Tillamook cheddar and a slice of Gruyere and some butter and herb bread crumbs.  Then into the broiler to brown and a quick shot in the oven to melt the Tillamook and give everything a chance to set it. Phew – thanks for all the hard work Chef Ben Paula!

The Gruyere definitely added a slight earthiness which helped to balance the richness and abundance of the sauce. The crunch was nice too. The herbs really lightened up the sauce and added a depth of flavor that is often missing in “classic” mac and cheeses.

the creamy goodness overflows

The noodles were shells – the small kind and cooked just past al dente – perfecto! Again, I love shells because they can hold a tiny pool of delicious sauce that bursts onto your palate as you chew – quite lovely.

There were little bits of ham mixed throughout that gave a nice chew and heft to the dish. This is definitely in my top 3 mac and cheeses in San Francisco.

~cheese, what a sweet temptress you are!

Sacred Wheel Cheese Shop

4935 Shattuck Avenue Oakland, CA 94609 (510) 653-1353

I love this cheese shop; it’s small and still trying to find it’s cheese feet but the passion that owner Jenna Davidson Hood puts into every aspect of the store and food just pulls me all the way across the bridge and into her store.

I’ve been chasing this mac and cheese ($2) for a while now. First time they ran out; second time I came on the one day they were closed. But this time, I Facebook’ed them ahead of time to make sure a piece was available and saved for me. And was it worth the wait.

It comes out all unassuming – see:

Sacred Wheel Seared Mac and Cheese

Oh and that little side thing… it’s an amazing housemade Sweet Cock Sauce. It’s not my name, that’s what they call it. Or maybe I started calling it that maybe it was really “Sweet Rooster Sauce”. Not sure, don’t care – it’s liquid gold; use it on everything!

So this may look a little boring but take a look at what happens after I tip it out of the bowl and finish it to my liking with the Sweet Cock Sauce and a dusting of parm cheese.

ooo la la - looks so good; tastes even better

Oh my goodness. This mac and cheese is incredible. Each noodle was hiding a squirt of cheese sauce. It was the perfect level of creaminess with a very apparent cheese flavor – though mild and smooth. Jena used Tillamook cheddar, Sierra Nevada Cream Cheese, P.R. (Parmigiano-Reggianno)  for sure – I think she also threw in a couple of other cheeses too. The cheese selection for this dish rotates every batch depending  what Jena has on hand and what tickles her fancy! I was too busy licking out the container of sauce to write down the cheese combo for this batch – seriously the sauce is that good.

The noodles were not al dente nor were they mushy – perfectly done mid way between those two points. Their was enough sauce to make things moist but not enough to make the mac and cheese square  fall apart – again perfect. The seared crusts on top and bottom take on a nutty and crisp cracker quality probably due to the hefty amounts of P.R.! Sooooo goooood.

The only downside is that I should have gotten 2 squares. This is a total deal. The ONLY comment I have to make is that a little black pepper mixed in with the cheeses would have made everything pop even more. Ah, screw it put more Sweet Cock sauce on it!!!!! That will be the new answer to everything.

~ah cheese, you feel so good in my tummy~

Luna Park

694 Valencia Street San Francisco, CA 94110 (415) 553-8584

My friends and I visited Luna Park during an epic attempt to have 6 mac & cheeses at 6 different restaurants – we failed; only made it to 3 places. I could have kept going but my compatriots where getting that weird cheese high and they were losing their grip on reality. I guess my cheese tolerance is higher than the average bear.

Luna Park is a very popular spot and was pretty busy by the time we got there on a Friday night at around 7 pm. It got even busier after we were seated in the outside area (no alcohol allowed). We were on a mission and quickly ordered the Oven Baked Mac & Cheese with Broccoli ($14.50) and add Applewood Smoked Ham ($15.50).

This is pretty pricey but once the plate hit the table, we saw why:

look at those creamy shells!

This thing is HUGE! Each shell is the length of my pinky finger and at least an inch thick. The shells were nicely cooked and supported the dish’s heft nicely. The upside of having such a big shell is that it captured a ton of  creamy sauce.

The sauce was super creamy, not too thick and not too thin with a nice pronounced cheese flavor – lots of cheddar and I think there was some Parmigiano-Reggianno too. (****Update: according to Chef  Nick Cobarruvias, he uses Cheddar, Gruyere, Parmesan, Cream Cheese, and Fontina) I was very happy that the sauce did not dry out during the oven baking. It did however take on a slight bit of graininess. I was the only one that noticed it off the bat so it was only very slight.

The biggest downside of this mac & cheese was the add-ons. The broccoli was entirely overcooked and the ham was super salty. Each of us only had about 2 scoops of the mac and cheese and that was enough because of the salt level.

But the big upside was that Luna Park is participating in Scoutmob’s deal site. There are no coupon’s to print – just show your phone to your server. In this case the offer was for 50% food and drinks. So our $15.50 mac & cheese, arnold palmer, and soda turned out to be $10!!!!! SUPER DEAL! We left a total of $20 and were all happy campers. I guess the bottom line is that I think this mac and cheese is overpriced – I would be very happy to pay around $7 – $9 for it at this level of execution.

~cheese, you taunt me so~

Hotel Utah Saloon

500 4th St San Francisco, CA 94107 (415) 546-630

I have seen the Utah a million times as it’s directly off the 101N freeway Fourth Street exit. But I’ve never gone into it. That changed when I met a regular from the Utah and we started talking about the menu and the wonderful mac and cheese. He warned me though that the dish will vary on who is in the kitchen that day.

Luckily on my visit another regular said that I was in luck and the “good chef” was on duty!  So I ordered the mac and cheese with bacon and a hot dog. I know, I know, “AGH HOT DOGS ARE GROSSS” some of you may say. But there is just something too nostalgic about mac and cheese with cut up weiners for me to swear it off – my inner child wins this one.

back to basics - mac & cheese with hot dogs and bacon

This picture makes the portion size look small but it’s not. There’s a whole lot of mac and cheese in that cup. The basic mac and cheese is $9 and comes with a side salad. My order came out to be $12 but I also ordered a big club soda. So I’m not sure what the up charge for the add ons is. I’m assuming the club soda was $2, so the hot dogs and bacon were $1 extra; which is a pretty good deal considering how much they put in.

I liked the extra touch  the put on the hot dogs by frying them up to create some charred bits around the edges. So good.

The noodles were hefty and perfectly cooked to a hair over al dente. They had a firm but not hard center. The noodles needed the structure to hold up to the cheese sauce.

The sauce was delightful! Creamy, fully loaded with different cheeses, and lots of it covering the noodles and the meats. This is probably one of the first times I could taste and really see the role different cheeses played in the sauce. They use provolone, cheddar, and some Parmigiano-Reggiano. The sauce had a depth of flavor that was really amazing. The provolone gave the sauce an amazing stringing ability (sorry for the blurriness of the picture below, I was doing this one handed and dying to dig in).

this is the string cheese I like

The side salad wasn’t anything special and I would have like some more crunch to it. But it’s a nice touch and the acidity of the dressing gave my palate a needed break from the richness of the cream sauce.

This is an excellent mac & cheese and I would definitely come back for it. This is very high on the top of my list and probably is the finest example of a basic mac and cheese that I have tried so far. Oh and as an added bonus, the prices include sales tax; so what you see is what you get! That kind of sums up the Utah in a nutshell.

~ cheese power, it is strong ~

Sauce

131 Gough St San Francisco, CA 94102 (415) 252-1369

Tater Tots:

“Whipped Potato, Cremini Mushroom, White Truffle Oil, Smoked Gouda & Bacon Cheese Sauce” ($12)

These are not the frozen, store bought tater tots you have stashed at the bottom of your freezer. These tater tots are crispy on the outside, creamy with mashed, seasoned potatoes on the inside served alongside a creamy, bacon-y cheese sauce. They are more reminiscent of Japanese potato croquettes!  The outside is heavily breaded and maybe slightly over-fried.  And normally, I’m not a fan of truffle oil. But those things don’t't matter because these tots are so good any defects are more than balanced out by the concept, taste and the cheese sauce. Absolutely delicious – I could eat about a thousand of these little guys.

oh my, what do we have here? DE·licious·ness!!!!!

~cheese so good, it makes me cry~

Old Port Lobster Shack Redwood City

851 Veterans Boulevard Redwood City, CA 94063-1712 (650) 366-2400

I’ve been enduring a long term craving for a lobster roll  and it’s been killing me! When my much better half needed to run an errand in San Jose I gladly offered to drive, IF we stopped by the Old Port Lobster Shack hehehehehe. He was suckered into my evil plans before he realized it!

To my delight, the Lobster Shack also offers a couple of mac and cheese options:

BAKED Macaroni and 4 Cheese with LOBSTAH………………..18.75
BAKED Macaroni and 4 Cheese with BBQ Pulled Pork…………9.75

Seeing that I just forked over $35 for 2 lobster rolls (totally worth it), I decided to go with the Pulled Pork mac and cheese. It was enormous!

that's a lotta mac and cheese

I was very shocked by the portion size and the generous helping of pulled pork! I was pretty excited when I saw this coming towards our table.

When I dug in, I wasn’t so happy. The macaroni was soggy. The sauce didn’t have much flavor. The pulled pork is a little dry and I can faintly smell and taste the gas from the ovens (I know most people say that I’m crazy to think I can actually smell the gas and it’s all in my head – but I really think I can!). This dish was a disappointment.

Lesson learned: stick to lobster from the Lobster Shack, dummy!

~ oh cheese, my elusive love ~

Pinkie’s Bakery

1196 Folsom St San Francisco, CA 94103 (415) 556-4900

While waiting for the MUNI, I was lured into Pinkie’s but the wonderful baked good aroma that forms an invisible cloud to trap it’s next customer – like a moth to a flame; a sailor to a siren song; I was helpless in it’s grasp!

I’ve been meaning to grab a brioche bun for a while now but they are usually sold out, or I don’t make it before they close at 3pm. On this day, I was able to snag the last Caramelized Onion and Gruyere bun. The sign said $4 but the very nice counter person let me have it for $3!!! woo hoo

give me all of your buns!

Ideally, I would have loved to toast this bad boy up and have a cup of coffee with it. I was on the run so I dug into the bun at room temperature. And to be honest, nothing would have made this bun any better. It is delicious. The onions were sweet and moist while the gruyere lent a salty earthiness that rounded out the flavor. The brioche was light with a tender crumb – well here see for yourself:

so moist, so tender, so gone

So good – I could have eaten 5 of them. This is definitely going into the Sunday morning breakfast routine!

P.S. I had these before when Pinkie’s first opened and found, at that time, that the buns did not have a distinct flavor and were overwhelmed by the brioche. But I’m glad to see that they have upped the ante on the flavor quotient and turned these innocent looking buns into something really special.

~ you want cheese with that? ~

This week I’m taking a look 2 more convenience products: Amy’s Kitchen Macaroni & Cheese and Rice Mac & Cheese both purchased from my local Safeway – it was past midnight and I was snacky, what can I say!

Now I know some of you will automatically jump to conclusion that this is a prepackaged, frozen ball of death. But at the end of the day sometimes you have to pick your battles and after a long, double shift day pulling out pots and pans is really not an option.

Amy’s Kitchen has built a reputation for “convenient and tasty natural vegetarian meals for people like ourselves, who appreciated good food, but were often too busy to cook “from scratch” . That’s a philosophy I can get behind!

I tried the 2 mac and cheeses made 2 different ways. The first one is the original Macaroni & Cheese. I made it in my toaster oven according to package instructions. Though I didn’t see the part about taking the product out of the origanl packaging and placing it into an oven safe container – oops hehehhe. I did catch my mistake once the paper container started scorching and transferred it into a baking dish.

slightly over cooked but still tasty!

I cooked it for the lowest time indicated on the package but I guys I have a very powerful toaster oven – it came out, ummmm, slightly crispy on top. Maybe a little too “crisp”. Ok, it was burnt – I suck!

Though the mac and cheese inside was cooked all the way through and it was definitely still edible – the noodles were nicely firm but the sauce was a tad grainy and i wish there was a little more sauce. Well what I really wish for is that I had checked it earlier.

There was a definite cheese forward flavor – mostly cheddar. And I felt good that the ingredients didn’t contain anything out of the ordinary or chemistry sounding.

Another thing I liked about this dish was the portion size. It wasn’t huge but not too tiny. It was definitely a good size for a quick snack.

Next up was the gluten free Rice Mac & Cheese. I was a tad skeptical about the rice noodles but i tried to put aside any preconceptions and judge without any biases.

gooey ricey goodness!

As you can see I tried a different cooking method – microwave. Again, I followed the package instructions regarding times. The rice mac & cheese turned out nicely gooey and cheesy – though with a weird sheen to it. The noodles were a tad too soft – almost verging on baby food consistency.

The sauce was as good as the original. And there was A LOT of sauce. It seemed like a waste to let all that cheesy love stay on the bottom of the package. SO I decided to spruce it up with a quarter cup of edamame beans and a few pieces of cut up ham. I was very happy that it all fit into the container and that there was indeed enough sauce to cover everything. The beans gave the dish much needed crunch. All of that upped the fullness factor to make this dish a small lunch instead of a snack like the first one.

Next time I have Amy’s mac & cheese, I will stick to the microwave instructions, spruce it up with a few add ins, and then finish it all up under the broiler! The best of all the worlds put together.

~firm or melty, I love me cheesy~