Get Friendly With the Locals Over a Home-Cooked Meal in SF

By Marguerite Richards

“Food is a thing that brings us together. It’s emotional,” said our chef, Rahul Dharod, as I sipped on the strangely satisfying masala soda drink. I felt energized. This couple, who had started as strangers, filled my belly with spice and my heart with a warm welcome.

Feastly is a new take on the traditional supper club with many options for cuisine, venues, and price ranges. It’s a social-networking business model that supports local chefs looking for feedback from the community. But it’s also a way to share meals with new friends who love food. Add to that an intimate conversation with the chef imparting his or her knowledge and passion for the cuisine and its culture, and you’ve got yourself one delectable activity.

My first Feastly experience was a four-course Spanish meal in San Francisco’s Financial District. The meal was hosted by the two chefs of Ñora Cocina Española who have plans to open up a new restaurant in the East Bay.

About 20 of us gathered at a long table and dined on beautifully plated tapas, each lovelier than the last: goat cheese-stuffed peppers, then fennel-garlic prawns, and finally, snail, rabbit, and duck breast saffron paella. The grand finale was homemade Spanish churros served with dark chocolate dipping sauce. And here I thought churros were only Mexican.

While the food was excellent, the venue clean and bright, and the $33 prix fixe absolutely worth the experience, overall the event was less social than I had anticipated. I was hoping for more interaction with the chefs and the other guests. It was a great show, but I would have preferred a family-style meal with the chef.

The second event, an $18 prix fixe, made up for that lack of intimacy in spades.

Immediately entering Priya and Rahul’s home, I felt welcomed. We took off our shoes, as is the tradition in India. The other two guests happened to come from the same Indian state as our hosts, Maharastra. They had been in the area for years now, and still hadn’t been able to find tasty preparations of their favorite dishes from home. For Rahul, the challenge was on!

It was brunch time, and each of the spicy, and spice-rich, meals could be traditionally eaten for breakfast, or really any time of the day. Indian meals showcase no main plate, and there is no star ingredient of any dish. All elements aim to balance out the experience. We started with Koshimbir, a typical Maharashtrian cucumber salad, with finely diced onions, tomatoes, and coconut. Next we tried Masala Poha, which was made of flattened rice, mustard seeds, turmeric and red chilis. I found the dish lovely on its own, but saw how it could also be jazzed up with sev (crunchy chick pea-flour noodles), and garnished with cilantro, fresh coconut, and lime.

The last dish was Misal Pav, spicy curry soup made from sprouted lentil and chili powder gravy. Misal was traditionally a hearty working class meal, meant to provide fuel for the day.

Engulfed in an open cultural discussion about the definition of home, I hadn’t noticed the masala soda, a digestive drink made with tamarind and date paste, chili powder, salt, cumin, dried ginger, black pepper, black salt, and dried mango powder. At first, I wasn’t sure if I liked the drink: it was so richly spiced and salty. It’s like nothing I’ve ever tried, and that’s a rare thing for me to say.

I felt surprisingly light and energized after the generous meal. Was it because I was talking more than eating? Maybe. Or was it the masala soda? Leaving their home, I felt proud to imagine that a first-time visitor to the area might get a home-cooked meal like this one.

I had come away with a brand new taste of Indian culture right in my own back yard. Cheers to that: just another example of how international culture is really what the San Francisco Bay area is all about.

As for Tejas and Abhijeet, their report was an A-plus: Rahul had outdone himself.