Consuming Ambitions

Costco: Foodie Finds in the Warehouse

Admittedly, Costco is not a name you'd expect to hear much on a foodie blog. But Chris Yeh reminds us that our friendly neighborhood warehouse-palooza can be an economical place to buy basic foods and ingredients, which you can always take home and transform into something memorable (or just eat directly!):

There are many reasons to love Costco, but the main reason I love it is for the food. Costco does a great job of making great food available. Often, there are gourmet items that you'd never be able to get in a typical supermarket, available at half the cost they'd be at even Trader Joe's, let alone Draegers or a specialty market.

One of my favorites right now are Costco's cheeses. Two great varieties that can liven up any occasion (and are great for any time snacks) are the Spanish Manchego ($7.99/pound) and the Pecorino Romano ($3.99/pound). Both are firm, strongly flavored cheeses where a little goes a long way. I especially enjoy eating them with some of Costco's colossal garlic-stuffed green olives as a simple sort of antipasti.

And given their price and flavor intensity, they're practically cheaper than supermarket cheddar!

To Chris' point, on a recent Costco run, I found flats of good quality strawberries and blackberries for a small fraction of the price at our local grocery store; I don't remember the specific prices, but remember thinking that the flat costed about the same as a small box or two at the grocery (but had 2-3x the volume). As for all the processed foods and the Costco snack bar: just say no! In terms of prepared foods, I will say that the baked goods made on premises are not bad for the money. Costco makes a pretty mean fruit pie. A surprising foodie find on my most recent trip to Costco was Dragonfly Cakes petit fours -- exquisite cakes almost too lovely to eat unless you're a glutton like me, in which case you snap a quick photo before downing the whole box. The Sweet Life waxes poetic about these addictive treats. Not sure whether every Costco location stocks these little gems from Sausalito-based Dragonfly Cakes, but I found them at the Rengstorff location (across from In-N-Out) in Mountain View. They were back in a corner at the far end of the low, open-top refrigerated cases that store cheese and smoked salmon.

Update: Polly Liu over at e-commerce wedding/party favor site Beau-coup sent me a note:

I noticed that you blogged about Dragonfly Cakes! We're a big fan of Brooks, the owner, and their little cakes are really to die for.

Shameless plug for my good friend Polly: Beau-coup offers the cakes for many occasions, such as festive holiday petit fours, monogrammed petit fours (a wedding favor option exclusive to Beau-coup) and precious dainty baby petit fours which make great baby shower favors.

Cafe Gibraltar: Organic Mediterranean Cuisine in...El Granada?

Recently I discovered the most wonderful, off-the-beaten-path Mediterranean restaurant. Really, credit goes to my smarter half, who was looking for a dining spot near Half Moon Bay after I, ever the romantic devil, suggested that we drive out to the coast to watch the sun set. When she suggested that we try Cafe Gibraltar in El Granada, my first reaction was, "El Granada? Is that in the United States?" Apologies to my coastal readers (has Consuming Ambitions actually made it out to the outlying coastal regions?), who (assuming they exist) are probably rolling their eyes, saying "Who hasn't heard of Cafe Gibraltar, the crown jewel of our dining scene?" But I suspect that most of us in the Bay Area might not make it out that way too often. The thing is, it's really not that far from Palo Alto, under a half hour door to door assuming that you don't get stuck behind a tanker truck driving 15 miles per hour the entire way across the single lane portion of Highway 92 from Crystal Springs reservoir to Highway 1, mile after mile after mile. Not that I am bitter or anything. It's usually a pleasant little jaunt to Half Moon Bay, and if you hang a right onto Highway 1 northbound at the coast, within minutes you will arrive in El Granada (at which time you will still be in the U.S., I checked).

Our first impression of the restaurant service was not great, as the hostess was missing in action (cigarette break? I realized once she finally reappeared that I had seen her duck out the back of the building as I was parking). I had to accost one of the waitresses to ask to be seated, about 10-15 minutes past our reservation time. But from that point, we found the service to be very attentive and friendly, so we left with a positive impression.

Cafe Gibraltar gets a 26 Zagat score for food, which makes it the highest rated on the San Mateo County coast (and the restaurant claims that it is one of the top ten listed in the guide). I found the menu to be the type where I was trying to choose between six or seven different things. Once we narrowed the choices down and ordered, we liked everything that hit the table other than the bread basket (which we normally only pick at anyway); the latter was rather unspectacular focaccia. I started with a hearty Jerusalem artichoke soup, which was flavorful and satisfying despite lacking any cream. My entree was a delicious ancient Turkish dish called manti, meat-filled dumplings served in a flavorful tomato broth and drizzled with yogurt. I loved it, and was all the more pleased when I later had a chance to consult Aydin Senkut about Turkish food and he declared manti as the first dish somebody ought to try when getting introduced to his country's cuisine. Lucky me, I had never heard of the dish but just thought it looked great on the menu. Serendipity strikes! My wife enjoyed cataplana do mariscos, a Portuguese-inspired dish reminiscent of paella and served in a nifty hinged pan that keeps the rice-and-seafood concoction hot all the way to the table. We capped the meal with a poached pear tart featuring a crispy pecan and almond filling and warm apple caramel glaze, accompanied by vanilla gelato.

A very satisfying meal all in all, and given all the dishes I still want to try, I will definitely be back!

Cafe Gibraltar
425 Avenue Alhambra
El Granada, CA
(650) 560-9039