Kristen on Food

The Pizzeria Delfina love affair continues. This time: Carbonara pizza. Best one yet.

Broccoli Raab pizza at Delfina Pizzeria, SF.

Pork belly sliders at The Alembic.

I love oysters.

And after reading recent news that 85% of the world’s oyster reefs are gone, I became an advocate for oyster preservation. Though the motive was admittedly selfish (I love oysters!), I was happy to read the news that oysters seem to be thriving in the Chesapeke bay, an area that feels more like my home turf than ever now that I’m about to switch coasts.

According to the Times:

“Researchers from the Virginia Institute of Marine Science at the College of William & Mary say that large experimental reefs created five years ago are now home to more than 180 million native oysters.

The results, they added, suggest there is a potential for further restoration in the bay by creating additional reefs where harvesting is prohibited.

‘What we need are thousands of acres of permanently restored sanctuary reefs to turn this situation we have with the oyster around,” said David M. Schulte, a doctoral student at the institute and an author of a paper published in Science last week that describes the work. The sanctuaries would aid the oyster harvest by helping to seed nearby areas, but the overall effort would benefit the bay in other ways, by helping to clean the water and providing more habitat for fish, crabs and other marine life.’”

Though I still wish longingly that the oysters of yore still populated New York City’s rivers, it’s nice to know this superfood will stick around.

My sous-chef crush is no secret — so best friend Liz and I decided to visit Bonita one last time before it closed/I moved. Monday is a rough night for specials but HSC (that’s Kristen-slang for Hot Sous Chef) managed this cup of deliciousness, served with homemade tortilla chips but good enough to eat with a fork. Upon returning home and opening New York Magazine, I found this recipe for esquites. I think HSC may have added a second cheese (oxaca perhaps?), but I was too busy batting my eyelashes toward the kitchen to know for sure.