Yogyakarta is a hot spot in Java for foodies. Any traveler you come across will say, "There is great food in Yogyakarta." It is a cultural center in Java close to the ocean and has several historic sites as well as surrounding nature to enjoy, such as climbing the steep slopes of Mt. Merapi. As the city is so big, it attracts people from all over, contributing to the growing diversity of flavors in the city. The cuisine in Yogyakarta is characterized by a sweetness, similar to the characteristic flavor of Shanghai (also sweetness). Being in Indonesia, you can still get the fiery chili taste with any local dish. Just ask for it (or the omittance thereof).Going for something on the healthy side, attempting to stray away from all that is fried (a difficult task), I was taken Warung Pecel Madiun for nasi pecel madiun. In English, I was told it is a "traditional Indonesian salad." It is not exactly salad in the traditional sense being served atop a serving of rice, but it was not considered a hot dish. Pecel is actually a classic Javanese peanut sauce commonly served with vegetables. It was poured atop raw spinach, sprouts, beans, a type of cucumber, and other leaves. On the side was a type of tempe cracker and salt-preserved, shredded meat. The nasi pecel madiun tasted very fresh and the selection of ingredients showcased this. The peanuts gave whole salad a more meaty taste. The pecel sauce also brought some spiciness to the salad, making it more exciting. It was difficult to get the perfect bite in with pecel, vegetable, rice, cracker, and that salted meat on one spoon. The meal as a whole is not heavy at all, even with all the rice. Needless to say, I felt a lot healthier after several meals that centered on something that was fried.
My companion was eager to show me how hot Indonesian food can get, claiming to only eat ayam penyet pedas once a month because it can wreak havoc on the digestive system. Here is to hoping I am not reminded of the meal the following day from something other than memory. Warung Sambal is another simple restaurant in the Yogyakarta area of Sleman. I was told initially that the famous dish is "chicken cooked with hot spices" and not "fried smashed chicken" as the translation implies. However, I was not expecting this. It was a thigh and leg piece of fried chicken, bone in, of course, first boiled with a spice mixture, coconut milk, and lemongrass before it is fried, ensuring that the chicken remains tender. Dark meat is appreciated for its flavor, enhanced further if the bone is in. Asians are more concerned with flavor - not health factor - preferring dark meat over white meat. I did not get the impression that the chicken was cooked with hot spices, but rather a paste dominated by green chili was spread over the fried chicken. Ayam penyet pedas is, indeed, incredibly spicy. You can make it even spicier by asking for sambal. Only the cucumber the chicken came with is able to save the mouth from spontaneously combusting due to the concentration of chili. The rice is only a small way to falsely dilute the scoville level from the chicken. It was really flavorful, though. My innards were screaming from the concentrated bites of heat that it was not used to.
Yogyakarta is most famous for gudeg, a curry made with young jackfruit and coconut milk with chicken. The sugars of the jackfruit give the gudeg its very sweet characteristic. We tried it at a roadside restaurant called Warung Kayu, popular for late-night eating. It is a simple wooden structure with all the food laid out in the middle and an old woman scooping up gudeg and ripping chicken bits onto your plate with her bare hands (slightly horrifying for the germaphobes out there). Whatever. You are in Indonesia, so this is something you have to get over. There goes the rice, the gudeg, slices of tempe, egg, and a big piece of chicken. Looking at the gudeg, it appears to be brown slop after taking in color from teak leaves, but do not let that deter you. It goes down nicely with the sweetened ice tea, which can be asked for unsweetened. The gudeg was really tasty and not as sweet as I originally imagined, most likely because the jackfruit was not completely ripe at its height of sweeetness. The combination of spices used in cooking while the coconut milk boiled down to almost nothing gave the gudeg extra depth appealing to other taste palates. The chicken was also very tender and moist taking in the flavor of the curry. After a taste, you understand why gudeg is very much associated with its mother city of Yogyakarta.
Waroeng Pecel Madiun. Moh. Kahfi II No. 40 A, Jakarta Selatan, DKI Jakarta, Indonesia.
Climbing to the top of the ridge, you reach Punclut where a long row of restaurants overlook the city of Bandung. Volcanic mountains surround the city which lies in a basin. At night, the view is especially beautiful as the city sparkles with light reminiscent of moonlight bouncing off the ripples on a lake. Hordes of motobikes are parked on both sides of the small road as each traditional restaurant is packed with diners seated on mats on the restaurant floors. The food served is Sundanese and we pick out what we want to eat from the mostly prepared food for them to finish cooking. After choosing a prime spot to sit to take in the view, we are given a kobokan, a bowl of water with a lime so we can clean our hands before and after the meal. Sundanese food is traditionally eaten with hands, so the kobokan was completely necessary. We were also given sambal, red rice, and fresh greens. Bites of cucumber provide a cool, fresh break that relieves your mouth from the spiciness. The most interesting thing I had was what seemed to be small intestines or strips of some sort of pork part that are fried and served wrapped up in a banana leaf. It gave an extra salty bite to supplement the spiciness and sweetness. The savory fried corn cake was reminiscent of Filipino ukoy with hints of shrimp flavor. The sambal tasted slightly sweet to me, but I am not sure of what else is used to prepare it to give this hint of sweetness that apparently only I could taste. Great food, awesome views, and good conversation always makes an excellent night.
First meal was at a late-night Sundanese restaurant called Nasi Uduk Kebon Kacang, a short drive from the center of Kemang district. Sundanese food includes cities of Bogor, Bandung, and Sukabumi. It was about 02:00 and most other places were closed or closing. Most of the food is already prepared (mid-day) or cooked except for the final step. You choose what you like and they will bring it to your table. Accompanying snacks, nasi uduk or rice with coconut milk (originally from Jakarta) wrapped in a banana leaf, and bottled drinks laid on the table. We had some grilled chicken, a sort of dried or preserved beef, and tempe. This was really delicious and light. Apparently, it is made from a cultured and fermentation process that binds soybeans together into a cake which is then sliced and fried. The result is a crispy, firm exterior and soft interior. It has a light, nutty flavor. The best part is that it is healthy for you being high in protein and fiber. Anyway, at the end of the meal, you pay for what you eat. It is very straight forward. Just tell the server what you ate and they calculate the price accordingly.
Padang cuisine(from the Minangkabau people) is the capital of West Sumatra. Pulling up, Restoran Padang had a steady trickle of motobikes pulling up with patrons asking for their nasi padang wrapped up for take away. The server scoops up some rice on a plate lined with paper and the patron points out what they want from the prepared food. I chose singkong (cassava leaf) as the primary vegetable with sambal hijau, the chili sauce, and topped off with beef rendang. The cooked cassava leaf had a nice, fibery texture and had a fiery tingle from the sauce. There was also other green vegetables that were more bitter in flavor like they were pickled, but also equally very spicy. The beef was very tender, though slightly drier than expected, but the sauce left from the evaporated coconut milk and spices was incredibly savory. Now this is a way better "fast food" option.
The Kemang Food Festival on Jalan Kemang Raya is an open-air (though covered) food court with multiple food stands with Indonesian food, steak, Italian, American, and Japanese. I felt a bit adverse to this food hall, but my host insisted on eating here for the variety of choices. Sit down at one of the wooden picnic tables in the courtyard and dozens of servers representing each vendor will surround you while you peruse the thick binder of menus. They patiently wait for your order and only one lucky server will return to the respective kitchen with your order. Out of the big menu book, my host chose for me Soto Jakarta, a soup with the coconut milk, vegetables, and meat accompanied by a banana leaf packet of rice. The rice soaked up the soup beautifully. The soup was slightly sweet, yet very spicy and penetrated the flavor of the meat and vegetables, which were not overcooked. Yum.
Early morning walking through Hayes Valley in the conflicting state of breakfast or sandwich, I walked into 
After a couple pints at the local North Beach dive, 
From the till, the pesto vegetarian looks the best so I get a slice of that (US$3.50). Dinner is too close to get a more filling slice with meat. The server puts the slice in the oven to heat. It seems like most of the service is geared toward take away orders as there is not much space to dine in. My pesto vegetarian comes out hot and I am allowed to sprinkle as much oregano on it as I want (also parmesan cheese and pepper flakes are available) before the server wraps it up in paper. Consuming the slice will distract from the strenous uphill walk I am about to face. On closer inspection, there is a lovely layer of pesto with tomatoes, red onion, zucchini, mushrooms, and olives on top with the right amount of mozzarella. The vegetables are nicely roasted from the oven and not soggy. The paper was getting a little greasy, but at least not dripping in oil. It is decidedly a very California-influenced pizza, more Californian than classic Italian, but still looking really delicious and colorful. The first bite is vegetarian pizza joy. The crust was still crispy though thick, the pesto still present and not competing with either the crust and the toppings, and the vegetables tasted ripe and fresh. The slice is a bit on the heavy side and it was difficult to keep from flopping one way or another walking uphill. At least the paper managed to catch the toppings that fell off so not one shred of this pizza was left behind. The slice from 
Sitting in the baggage claim area of San Francisco International, a lone dismantled magazine covered with tidbits of the city's offerings beckons. Having done no prior research to arrival, 
The walls are decorated in grilled cheese memorabilia, the menu on black chalkboard and has an overall focus on being local, sustainable, organic, environmentally aware, and green or all things representative of the ultimate San Franciscan emanating from the cozy decor of the interior. The line was short so before I was decided, I was already talking to the woman at the till. She tells me that the owner's favorite is the Black n' Blue - gorgonzola dolce, monterey jack, roast beef, arugula, balsamic onion marmalade, and sage butter. However, this is being replaced with the regular menu item Don Gondola of provolone, sopressatta salami, pesto, and garlic butter. She tells me the Jalapeño Popper (US$9.00) is her favorite. Though not a particular fan of jalapeños and definitely not one to seek them out, I oblige to her recommendation. At first, I hesitate being so long without cheese and wondering if a bite filled with too much ooey gooey dairy would result in something the opposite of digesting. She says she can tell the kitchen to go light on the cheese, but wanting the full experience, I opt not to. I am already thinking I should have ordered the Red, White, and Blue Plate Special (US$8.00 or +$1 for sandwiches over $8.00) to try their organic house-made tomato soup with crème fraîche and croutons. The house sodas (US$3.00) sounded really appealing, but all I wanted was a taste.
I sat at the counter overlooking the kitchen window where the sandwiches are apparently toasted - not grilled - and employees are quickly filling orders pouring soup or adding a couple luscious strawberries to each sandwich order. In a case of not-so-mistaken identity, it turns out Nate Pollak is one of the owners of this place, though looking somewhat different from his university years. Already impressed by the mere venture of grilled cheese, its obvious success is equally impressive. My jalapeño popper made of chèvre, monterey jack, applewood-smoked bacon, and apricot-jalapeño relish arrives in a basket lined with brown paper and the presentation is given a colorful splash from the plump California strawberry I plan to conclude my meal with. The hearty country wheat bread is perfectly toasted with a crisp layer of caramelization which also keeps the contents of the sandwich from oozing and making the bread fall apart. Each bite is incredible. There is a perfect balance of cheese, bread, bacon, and jalapeño with no one flavor or texture overwhelming the other. The jalapeño-apricot combination was surprising, balancing the heat with sweetness and bringing out the subtle nuttiness of the salty cheese. The cuts of applewood-smoked bacon were thick and gave the grilled cheese a meaty depth. Sad as it was to see the sandwich end, each bite was strategically chosen so the last bite would be the perfect one balancing all the flavors.
