Page:The Tourist's California by Wood, Ruth Kedzie.djvu/75

 HOTELS RESTAURANTS CUISINE 53 meat is wrapped in a blanket of husks and put to steam until cooked, just as the Turk steams meat and rice within vine leaves. Chicken is some- times used in place of pork or beef. Even sea- gulls lend their flesh to the enrichment of the ta- male. At Pasadena hotels one may order an omelette made from the tasty egg of the ostrich. Leaves of the thornless cactus are delicious when breaded and fried, or boiled like spinach. The Channel Islands yield the nutritive abalone, a mollusk which is dried and shipped in great quantities to China. Californians also are learn- ing to appreciate the chowder of the halioti or abalone as well as the oval mother-of-pearl shells which enclose the tender meat. The coast-waters abound in sword-fish, in mack- erel, anchovy, bass, and salmon, in succulent craw- fish, huge crabs, and tiny, coppery oysters. One Dungeness crab is sufficient for a meal, but of the Olympian bi-valve, forty are needed for a stew. Victor, who is to the St. Francis what Escoffier is to the Carlton and Oscar to the Waldorf, thinks the California sandab superior to sole. He pre- pares it by rolling it in milk and flour and frying it in unsalted butter. When it emerges, brown and redolent, he proclaims it " good enough for any King." The sandab is very small and cheap, costing but six or seven cents a pound.