Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
doomed mining-camp experiments as jelly omelets. But the era also introduced California
to the hangtown fry (a scramble of eggs, bacon and deep-fried cornbread-battered oysters),
Cantonese dim sum and the USA's first Italian restaurant, which opened in San Francisco
in 1886.
Some 150 years later, fusion is not a fad but second nature in California, where chefs
can hardly resist adding international twists to local flavors. Menus often infuse ingredi-
ents and kitchen craft borrowed from neighbors across the Pacific in Asia, from south of
the border and all across Latin America, and from Europe's distant Mediterranean, where
the climate and soil are similar to California's.
Keep in mind that California belonged to Mexico before it became a US state in 1850,
and Latinos make up almost 40% of the state's population today. It's no surprise that Cali-
fornicized versions of Mexican classics remain go-to comfort foods, especially for take-
out. Culinary cross-pollination has yielded the California burrito - a mega-meal bursting
out of a giant flour tortilla - and the Korean taco (grilled marinated beef and spicy, pickled
kim chi atop small corn tortillas).
