Five minutes drive from Stanford. More commonly referred to as Tofu House…
Because of the variety of soondubu (순두부 soft tofu soup) here. Served with a raw egg and brown (purple) rice with red beans.
You crack that egg into the boiling stone bowl, and stir it up. Pieces of soft tofu break. Steam. Taste. Slurp. And perspire a little. This soup works wonder when you’re feeling sick.
Being a grad student foodie means two things: 1. you’re always on a tight budget, 2. you have to make the most of every chance you get to eat out. Ultrahigh end restaurants are certainly off limit. Popular chains, no matter how tasty, are unbloggable and reserved for rare occasions when the cravings go mad. The more popular types of food, like pastas and sandwiches, would require a lot more skill and creativity to pen down, hence also preferably avoided. What’s left are the locally owned kitchens with ten or fifteen tables, one or two waiters, and something off the beaten path. It could be a strange item on the menu, or the lack of menu, an interesting name, a worn sign, a long line, an always-closed wooden door…
For me, it’s the type of cuisine. If I haven’t had it, I’d insist on getting it, predictably with numerous disappointing turnouts. The thrill of trying new stuff aside, it’s something to brag about, you know. “I’ve had Azerbaijan” somehow just sounds cool. Childish, I know, but every new bite feels like a little culture seeping into the brain, and I feel learned after each meal regardless of the result.
I’d prefer the romantic approach of driving down the road and pull into just whatever catches the eyes, but Google Map is lovely, too. That’s how we find Mango Caribbean. Mudpie likes mango. I haven’t had Jamaican food, or any idea of what authentic Jamaican food should be. It just sounds fun.
After all I happen to stay in school longer than the average person, and if all goes well I will die a member of some academic body, so I figured school cafeterias might as well be another source of food and blabbing inspiration. Previously I blogged about the dining facility at Texas A&M, here comes Nexus at Stanford, where I ate last August. The price of course has changed with the economy, but hopefully the taste remains the same.
Nexus has a few different sections of food, the menu also changes weekly it seems, but the Texan in me often has no difficulty picking out lunch – to the grill I went.
The sign said it all. Burger with blue cheese and sauteed balsamic onion, and the food came out exactly that, with some lettuce, tomato, pickle, and more onion. I really had some doubt about the blue cheese, its presence neither enhanced nor diminish the taste of a good beef patty, its lack of texture didn’t make the burger any more or less juicy. It was a third wheel, unnoticed. The burger was good.
But the more memorable thing I had there was the grilled artichoke. Nexus has a good deal of vegetable choices for salads (with extra cost, though). The grilled artichoke (bottom left of the plate) tastes a bit nutty, unexpectedly munchilicious! Grilled (or baked?) sweet potato follows suit with a sweet little chewiness worth forfeiting all cookies in the world. To my regret I only took a sample of each, since you couldn’t go back for second after you pay. Ah, it’s not Sbisa here, it’s California.