During SF Chefs weekend, I got to sit in a cooking demo with Chef Matthew Accarrino of SPQR restaurant in San Francisco. He showed us how to make Fresh Squid Ink Pasta with Dungeness Crab, Sweet Peppers, and Basil (pictured below). Chef Accarrino made the dark colored pasta from scratch with a hand cranked pasta machine.

Along the way, Chef Matthew Accarrino threw in helpful cooking tips. He said that when you make the dough, it’s the best time to season your pasta, not when you are boiling it. The pasta has no oil and is cooked 75%. Then it finishes cooking in a pan with the sauce. This squid ink pasta dish was so good that I almost licked my plate! Who knew squid ink pasta could be so good?

After the demo at Williams Sonoma in San Francisco’s Union Square, I had a fabulous opportunity to interview him, on behalf of Foodbuzz. Chef Matthew Accarrino was super nice, very knowledgeable about food, and is probably the only executive chef who sports a mohawk, and can get away with it!

With an impressive resume, having worked at Charlie Palmer’s Metrazur, Todd English’s Olives New York, Chef Mathew Accarrino was also the opening sous chef at Thomas Keller’s Per Se. He then went on to work at New York City’s Craft, Craftsteak, Craftbar, and most recently, Craft Los Angeles.

Fresh Squid Ink Pasta with Dungeness Crab, Sweet Peppers, and Basil

YummySF: How did you get started as a chef?

Matthew Accarrino: I’ve always wanted to be a professional cyclist so I had a lot of control on my diet and cooked for myself. I had an accident and was in bed for months. I watched way too much Food Network in the early 90s’s. So I wrote Emeril Lagasse a letter and he said, “Why don’t you come and work for me?” And so I went and the rest is history. I did some short internships before I went to culinary school.

Chef Matthew Accarrino explaining his techniques

YSF: What was your first cooking experience like?

MA: My first cooking job was in a little restaurant in Montclair, New Jersey. I used to go there and wait tables at lunch and then prep dinner. And I can still remember the first day when somebody called out for the nighttime shift to cook.  It was a Tuesday. I remember it like it was yesterday because it was the most exciting day of my entire life! Somebody actually was willing to throw me into there. That was my first night as a line cook ever and it was the best thing. And I never looked back.

YSF: What is your inspiration for new dishes?

MA: People say they are product-driven. I’m sort of ingredient-driven, which means that I buy good ingredients wherever I find them. And I figure out what to do with it after. Sometimes my inspiration will be pressure. There’s this farmer who has this great squash and so I buy the squash. But I don’t know what I’m doing with it when I buy it. I just want to buy great product. Eventually, some of the best lessons and the best things you’ll ever cook will come out of that. When I travel, I try to look at regional dishes that haven’t made it on the map yet and do an interpretation of it.

YSF: What is your favorite ingredient?

MA: I have this dish on the menu, an orzotto, which is a regional dish in northern Italy. It’s not orzo pasta. Orzo in Italian is “barley”. It’s a really nice pearl barley, cooked risotto style and I actually finish it with a nasturtium pesto. It’s the leaves of a nasturtium, which has a peppery, spicy flavor. And there’s sopressata on it and fried potato skins, and smoked goat cheese. Those are ingredients that around now that I’m inspired by.

YSF: How is San Francisco different than LA?

MA: People drive in LA more than they drive [in San Francisco], so they drink less. There’s more of a wine culture here, especially being where a lot of the wine is made. But I also think that [a San Francisco foodie] prides themselves on being very, very educated about ingredients, pedigrees of ingredients and very in tuned with their local economy of farmers and ranchers. And I would say LA is less aware, in general, of those things that are happening around there. They are aware of good food but it’s less important in LA that things are super local.

And LA is a city that goes to sleep slightly earlier than San Francisco. And certainly San Francisco goes to sleep earlier than New York.

Chef Matthew Accarrino with SPQR sous chef, Cherie

YSF: Any new changes for the upcoming year?

MA: I’m playing with the idea of a price fixed menu, which we don’t do now. I’m thinking of doing something like…  lamb four ways with a cheese course and dessert. I’m always trying to sharpen up what we’re doing. I’m always trying to provide the best value for the customer, that I can, for what they’re paying. And we’re working on a cookbook for the restaurant.

Chef Matthew Accarrino and me

YSF: What do you recommend to aspiring chefs?

MA: When I first started learning to cook, there were a lot ofpeople who had an open door policy, Emeril, people like that who really opened their kitchen and allowed people to come in and learn and take all this super valuable information. So I try and do the same thing. So I always have interns and let them spend time there. And I would always advise that they do that and not only once. But come two, three times a week or once a week. But they come for six months and spend six hours with us. And you can see them progress over time. And they have to read a lot. Read everything they can get their hands on about food. Read every person’s take on food. The more you become aware of ingredients, what to do with them, how it tastes, it’ll make you a better chef.

YSF: What do you read to stay up-to-date?

MA: I read Eater and Tasting Table for currency. I’m always looking for books about the industry or ingredients. A lot times when you get to a certain level of knowledge, you start looking back. What were they making 30, 40 years ago? Sometimes you can see where things came from and how they got to where they are.

You can find Chef Matthew Accarrino and try his amazing food at SPQR.

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Japanese Tonsu Box & Ryokucha $17

To tell you the truth, when I saw the Japanese Tonsu Box, I was envious and immediately wished I had ordered that instead. Thankfully, my husband let me have his Japanese Tonsu Box. It’s healthy and yummy at the same time. The Japanese Tonsu Box comes with Ryokucha Tea.

English Service & Breakfast Blend $19
3-Tiered Platters of: Shitake Mushroom or Wild Smoked Salmon Quiche,
Scones, Devonshire Cream & Jam, Fresh Fruit.

Breakfast Blend Tea

The traditional English Tea Service is not like the one at Ritz Carlton of course. But at $19, it’s a deal if you want to try traditional English tea. The Salmon Quiche is freshly baked. The scone was quite dry though, but that’s what the Devonshire Cream and Jam are for. Definitely, the Japanese Tea Service is much better and more filling as a meal. Next time, I want to try the Indian Tea Service which features one of my favorite teas – Chai!

Samovar Tea Lounge is open from brunch to dinner with the same menu all day. Enjoy a snack of waffles or try a full tea service which can be a meal. The tea service is more affordable than other afternoon tea services that I have had.

Samovar Tea Lounge
730 Howard Street
San Francisco, CA 94103
(415) 227-9400

Located in San Francisco’s Richmond district, Han Il Kwan Korean Restaurant features delightful, affordable Korean food. Their weekday lunch specials are notably great! Usually, at Korean restaurants, their main dishes are around $15 and are too big for one person. At Han Il Kwan, the lunch specials are perfectly proportioned for one person. You and a friend can always order 2 lunch specials to share, to get variety. I like variety. Maybe that’s why I love Korean food and those delicious side dishes.

Kal Bi (BBQ Short Ribs)

Spicy Pork BBQ

Their lunch specials are served Monday to Friday from 11am to 3pm. The choices are Bul Go Gi (broiled, marinated sliced rib eye steak), Kal Bi (broiled, marinated short ribs), Pork BBQ, Broiled Chicken, Pan Fried Combination Seafood and Vegetables (spicy), and Pan Fried Sauteed Squid (spicy).

Spicy Tofu Soup

Side Dishes with Veggie Pancake

All of these entrees come with 10 little side dishes of vegetables. What I also love about Han Il Kwan is that they also include a mildly spicy soup, mung bean pancakes (yum!), and shik-hye (cold, refreshing rice drink). I absolutely love shik-hye and will go to the ends of the earth to get fresh shik-hye. Not too many Bay Area Korean restaurants serve this yummy rice drink.

More Side Dishes

Shik-Hye (cold, refreshing rice drink)

Their Broiled Chicken lacks flavor so I recommend trying the Pork BBQ, Bul Go Gi, or Kal Bi, which you cannot go wrong with. All of the lunch specials are fairly affordable ranging from $7.95 – $10.50. Please note that during weekday lunch, they usually have a large tour group that eats there, in a separate room. There are always open tables though, and the service is efficient. Besides the lunch specials, there are items on the menu that you can BBQ at your table.

Han Il Kwan
1802 Balboa Street
San Francisco, CA 94121
(415)752-4447

Irving Cafe and Deli is my favorite cafe for Vietnamese sandwiches and tapioca desserts. There are many other cafes that try to do what they do, that is to make yummy Vietnamese sandwiches, but they don’t come close. I have been coming here for over 15 years for their sandwiches and noodle plates. I usually get their BBQ chicken sandwich, which cost $4 now due to inflation but is still cheap in the world of sandwiches. What you’ll get is a crispy French roll filled with warm BBQ chicken, a slice of cucumber, and shredded carrots, finished with their special sauce and mayonnaise. Heavenly!

Irving Cafe and Deli also has pork, pate, sardine (yum!), among other flavors. If you don’t feel like a sandwich, you can get a cold noodle plate, spring rolls, or their yummy tapioca desserts displayed in their fridge. Today I tried the young coconut pandan dun dan, which is a coconut flavored cold custard. Delicious! When you’re on Irving Street in San Francisco, check out Irving Cafe and Deli for an inexpensive, yet deliciously satisfying meal. Note: It’s a teeny tiny cafe so most people buy to go.

Irving Cafe and Deli
2146 Irving St
San Francisco, CA 94122
(415) 681-2326

I love this! I’ve had this chicken noodle soup over 10 times from New Asia restaurant. New Asia is located on the top floor of the Crocker Galleria (at Kearny and Sutter St.) in San Francisco’s financial district, where the food court is. There is actually another New Asia restaurant in Chinatown that is not related to this New Asia, so don’t get confused!

I have to say that no other Chinese restaurant makes their chicken noodle soup like this and at this price, around $5. With tax, it is only $4.87! But starting on June 1st, they are raising prices on all of their food due to the increase in minimum wage and other expenses. What is special about this chicken noodle soup? When I started going to New Asia, I thought it was very similar to Panda Express. You can get readymade food displayed behind glass in a buffet style bar, ala carte or as a 1 item, 2 item or 3 item combo with rice, fried rice or chow mein.
Then one day I noticed their soup menu. They have won ton noodle soup, pork noodle soup, beef noodle soup, and chicken noodle soup. Now to me, “chicken noodle soup” sounds very plain and it makes me think of Campbell’s chicken noodle soup. I didn’t want pork or beef and I’ve had the won ton before, so I gave the chicken noodle soup a chance. And boy was I amazed to see that New Asia’s chicken noodle soup comes with a lot of goodies.

First of all, it isn’t plain boiled chicken. Their chicken noodle soup comes with tender and delicious BBQ chicken straight from their food bar. And they give you a lot of chicken and it’s really good! Then underneath all of the chicken, you will find an assortment of vegetables – broccoli, Chinese mustard greens (gai choy), bean sprouts, and slices of carrots. This chicken noodle soup fills me up too. One time I was eating New Asia’s chicken noodle soup at the Crocker Galleria and someone asked me what I was eating and where to get it. It’s that good, so good that I have this once a week.
If you order to go, they will give you separate containers for the noodles and the soup so that the noodles don’t get soggy. The only drawback is that you have to wait a few minutes for them to make the soup because it’s made to order. Among the over 10 times that I have ordered this chicken noodle soup, they have messed up my order twice. I have just learned to wait near the cashier and be more attentive. It’s worth it, people! If you get this, go early, as a long line forms outside the door after 12pm.