Something Old Something New

Eiji miso cod and strawberry mochi (photos courtesy of she-rene)

Lots and lots of puff pastry dough and butter, pizza from Americano

Brussel sprout chips (the lemon really makes it sing!), ADD burger drenched in grease from Marlowe

Pork bun from Spice Kit (short ribs are pretty money), kouglof and pain au chocolat et pistache from Laduree

some dish from the lazy ox, burma superstar leftovers

heart attack from namu, santa ramen on easter sunday

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Ramen Report

First days are always rough. I generally try to avoid them, but the hype was getting to me. Got there before 11:30am and still waited about 45 min. Felt lucky after getting our food as I weaved through the snaking line that soon rivaled that of RoliRoti. Small portions (maybe half the amount of a bowl at Santa Ramen for the same price), and no chopsticks (had to nab some from Slanted Door). The bowls were also styrofoam which makes practical sense, but isn't everything in the Ferry Building market supposed to be green?

Chicken was fried to order, but it tasted a bit under-seasoned and lacking in flavor. I saw linecook tasting some of the noodles for doneness which is always a good sign, so I was expecting good texture. They turned out to be gummy - probably rushed them out too soon because of the pressure.

Aside from these blips, I thought the pork was very nice and the broth rich and fatty, somewhat similar to Daikokuya's kotteri broth. The sous vide egg was a great touch and the snap peas had the perfect crunch. It'll take some time to work out the kinks, but there's definitely promise here. I might return on a cold rainy day when there's no wait, which won't be happening any time soon.

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Rumpus!

Empanadas from El Porteno while waiting for wild things (chicken and cheese were our favorites)

Tanto, a nontraditional izakaya (I prefer Oyaji): simmered sea urchin w/ egg, roasted rice balls w/ roe

Chili/slaw burger at Five; bad choice of platter.


PI flood relief: Brazilian coconut stew that tasted like Thai curry, chicken + waffles from Little Skillet (I don't know what spices they used, but combined with the syrup, I swear this tasted like peanut butter).


Brisket from Bakesale Betty (pre-stuffed with chips), view of the bay

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Food Porn

The other day, someone commented that only people in the bay area take pictures of their food. I'd like to further that conjecture and claim that outside of food bloggers, only bay area Asians take pictures of their food. Jen countered this by telling a story of doing it in France and her Frenchie friends laughing because it fulfilled their stereotype of Japanese tourists taking food pictures (she is not Japanese). So yes, bay area Asians and Japanese tourists.

Yes, there was a time before my memory cards were filled with food porn, and I actually took more photos of people than food. Here are some food-related pictures from that time during a trip to Japan, pre-food-blog. I'm going to Japan again soon... what will happen? A bay area Asian in Japan... will the world implode in all its food porn glory?

L: takoyaki, R: OJ has feelings too


L: frozen tuna @ Tsukiji, R: Tiger trying to communicate what he wants to eat

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Bar Crudo

I pass by this tiny nob hill "modern raw bar" every day on my way to work. It's been in the Chronicle's Top 100 for the last two years, and my friend suggested going there after reading some positive reviews. Taking some queues from yelpers (despite my disdain for yelp in general, I still skim reviews to see any ordering trends), we ordered the crudo sampler (left), the lobster + beet salad (right), and halibut cheeks (not pictured). They actually gave pretty fair pieces of fish in the sampler, but the flavor combinations weren't anything astounding. The halibut was quite impossible to eat - bones everywhere and barely any meat.

I think the only thing worth going back for would be the lobster and beet salad - light and refreshing, even with the chunks of buttery burrata. Sharing the salad between two people, with some $9 (seriously) Hitachinos would be a nice afternoon snack!

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Catching Up

Here's a list of places I've gone to in the last few months but just haven't gotten around to posting about.

- Red Crane
- Beretta
- Q
- Spruce
- Fresca
- Koi palace
- Umbria
- Lobster shack
- House of Prime Rib

Brief "reviews" after the jump! (Useless yelp-style?)

Beretta: Italian in the Mission
Like SPQR, this new restaurant got a "blow job" by Michael Bauer (my old pastry chef's exact words). And just like SPQR, this Italian joint was just OK for me. I definitely enjoyed my meal there... but it was also quite forgettable. Pizzas are aiight, apps are decent, drinks are whatevs.

Q: Diner/Comfort Food in Inner Richmond
Slightly upscale diner food - add blue cheese to the burger and it's not even close to the Spotted Pig's, but it's still satisfying. Eat all the accompanying garlic fries and you'll definitely pass out. Definitely a must if you like tater tots.

Spruce: Contemporary American Fine Dining in Laurel Heights
Really upscale for the neighborhood - who would've known! Very pricey for what it was. Had the charcuterie, fries, lobster, some kind of med fish, and palmiers for dessert. Those heart-shaped cookies should NOT be on the menu. They have a side-bakery so I don't see the point in wasting a menu spot with those. We only got them because we didn't realize what they were. Doh!

Fresca: Peruvian in Lower Pac Heights (there are other locations too)
Why did I eat Peruvian right after coming back from Peru? Honestly, I didn't know until I got there. My friend invited me to join her double date (5th wheel!) and I just went in blind. I like Limon better, but honestly... it's hard for me to even think of spending $35 on a meal that would be less than $5 in Peru!

Red Crane: Japanese Asian Fusion in Cupertino
Despite its identity crisis of a location, this restaurant actually has very very good food. Although the sashimi plate (pictured to the right) looks very impressive, it isn't worth it. However, every single other dish we got was fantastic. The only drawback is the location - very Asian suburbia....

Koi palace: Dim Sum in Daly City
If you want to know where all the Chinese people eat, wake up at 9am to get here by 10am on a Saturday morning.

Umbria: Italian in SOMA
bsze wanted to bid SF adieu by going to Baron Davis's favorite restaurant. Olive Garden anyone?

Lobster shack: Seafood in North Beach
$20 sandwiches? (pictured at the top) They do leave you pretty comatose. They actually weren't very big, but they were generous with the lobster meat. I don't think I like lobster enough to justify the cost though.

House of Prime Rib: MEAT in Nob Hill
Four years ago HOPR used to be $30 total... those were they days.

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Oyaji

3212 Clement St (& 32nd Ave)
(415) 379-3604

Traditional Japanese in the Richmond

I've heard good things about this place awhile ago from my Japanese friend who knows his food. Near the Legion of Honor, this restaurant is within walking distance from my apartment, and isn't anything too trendy or pretentious. Our waiter (Matt) was really friendly and made us feel like we were welcome to become regulars =)

This restaurant is small plates style, but the sizes of each dish depends on what you're getting (e.g. for the yakitori, or grilled meats, were only 2 skewers per order). For 2 people, we got 6 dishes initially, then added one more later because Mike was still hungry.

- grilled cod: a delicious, buttery fish
- fried tofu & vegetable dumpling: large, cut into 4 pieces. The sauce was good.
- oyaji beef: beef & onions - how can you go wrong??
- spicy hamachi roll: this would have been better as sashimi (i.e. just the fish, which was very fresh)
- mountain yam & tuna: I really liked the yam the first time I had it, and this time around, it was nice having the tuna accompaniment, because it's all about the texture, and lacks flavor which the fish provides
- boiled burdock: Mike didn't like this, but I thought it was fine. The texture reminds me of chard/kale, which not everyone is a fan of.
- cabbage rolls: this is supposed to be bar (or "tavern") food, and it was definitely not what we expected. Instead of the anticipated lightly steamed and soupy rolls, it was smothered in a heavy gravy reminiscent of Stroganoff (which I love, even at places like Lalime). Not what you expect from Japanese food (i.e. not light), but it was yummy.

No need to get dessert afterwards, either, because they gave us each a frozen strawberry filled with white chocolate. This place is great, and definitely one to take a group of friends and chill over a nice meal and sake.

*** Update #1: I went here again this weekend and we sat at the sushi bar this time. Everything was fresh (toro, hamachi... I think I could eat raw fish all day if I had access), and some of our friends even dared to try the sea snails (raw. They weren't fans, but it looked really neat haha). However, I was kind of offended by the sushi chef when we ordered uni for everyone, and he immediately singled me out and said I wouldn't get any because it was only for men. WTF? I said whatever and laughed it off, but was really trying to shoot daggers at him with my eyes.

We also tried some of the other bar food, including the crab croquettes (eh. Couldn't taste the crab), asparagus wrapped in beef (eh. Not that flavorful), and then the cod again. It's dangerous sitting at the bar because it's so easy to order more and more fish = $$. We ended up spending around $50 this time! Holy moly.

*** Update #2: I've been here quite a few times since my initial experience, and here are some other things we've tried.
- grilled skewered chicken meatballs: pretty amazing, very juicy
- pork belly: good but really fatty, as expected
- steamed monkfish liver: creamy goodness
- marinated squid: nasty mcnasty... overpowering fishy taste and vomit-like appearance, which doesn't help
- fried tofu: good
- cold tofu: ok
- chicken wings: nice char taste on them
- burdock: prepared differently this time in this creamy sesame sauce
- ramen: decent

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Fierce Hot Mess

This weekend was RIDICULOUSLY hot! I think Saturday was almost 90 in Berkeley, and SF wasn't much cooler. Times like these are rare (I think 2007 there were maybe 2 or 3 days in the entire year that were comparable in SF), so I spent the entire weekend outdoors and sweaty... definitely a hot mess.

Here's what was on the menu this weekend:

- First time at Herbivore
- First time at Genova Delicatessen
- Homemade butternut squash lasagna
- Late night run to CJ's
- Cherry Blossom Festival

So Mike works near Shattuck, where the new Berkeley Herbivore opened a little while ago. Now after my experience at Cafe Gratitude, I wasn't exactly jumping to try this place, but I soon noticed a ton of locations popping up in the city. Mike and his friends went and said it was pretty decent, so I thought I'd give it a try instead of my usual salad fix at Intermezzo. I got the wasabi soba noodles which were ok, but Mike's shawarma was actually really really good. Their soy chicken was quite tasty (who knows if it's actually good for you though since there are probably a lot of preservatives and chemicals in there), and I'd say it was comparable to, but not better than, a normal meat shawarma. I would go back for sure, and maybe try their other middle eastern inspired dishes.

Saturday we intended to take it easy, but ended up stuffing our faces with Genova Delicatessen. Erina had been lauding this place for awhile now, so we decided to give it a try. It's in the Temescal area off of Telegraph, in the Walgreens plaza across the street from Bakesale Betty. The line was ridiculous, but we passed the time by ogling the hordes of meat in their display cases. I ordered specialty sandwich #2, which was prosciutto, anchovies, and mozzarella, and it was pretty amazing (pictured below). Mike's Genova salami mix was a little disappointing, but there are so many choices we'll have to come again. One yelp review said their cucumber salad was really good, but it was way too sweet for our tastes.

We also had the privilege of enjoying Erina's home-cooking! Among other things, she made this really light and tasty butternut squash lasagna, using a bechemel that didn't require THAT much butter and low-fat mozzarella, so it wasn't that unhealthy =)

Mike has also been craving Carl's Jr.'s Cap'n Crunch shake, which sounds disgusting to me, so we made a quick run. Man, watching the lady make it made me really uneasy! It was basically a vanilla soft-serve, some kind of brown syrup (flavoring? who knows!), and actual Cap'n Crunch cereal, all blended up. It wasn't bad, but I didn't want to take more than a sip. Mike, on the other hand, drank it all and even saved some to put in his cereal later on. Yes, he is gross.

Today I met up with friends at the Cherry Blossom Festival. It's continuing next weekend, but who knows how the weather will be (rain on Wednesday??) so a ton of people were out. I went a few years ago and got more traditional food like takoyaki and stuff like that, but this time I just really wanted ribs, so we waited in the 30+ min (I might be exaggerating) line for them. I'd been craving BBQ all weekend!

I think I'm more tan now, but it'll probably fade in a few days once SF returns to 50 degree weather =P

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Asian Food in the Sticks

At Geoffrey's request, here is my list of Asian food in the Richmond/Sunset

richmond:
- shanghai dumpling king (balboa & 34th): good xiao long bao (ghetto and dirty)
- shanghai house (balboa & 38th): hand-cut noodles
- oyaji (clement& 33rd): japanese tavern food
- burma superstar (clement & 4th): burmese - super trendy, long wait, but good!
- mandalay (california & 5th): burmese - less trendy, no wait, still good! and cheaper than burma superstar. the "special noodles" are really good
- tofu house (geary & 11th): korean tofu soup
- brothers (geary & 3rd i think): korean bbq
- taste of formosa (clement & 26th i think): taiwanese
- kitaro (geary & 18th i think): cheap japanese/sushi
- mayflower (geary & 27th): chinese - good for specialty dishes (and more expensive), supposedly good dim sum

sunset:
- san tung (irving & 11th): korean chinese, good dry fried chicken, dumplings, spicy peanut noodles
- "korean restaurant" (taraval & 40th i think): don't know the real name, but there's a sign outside that says "korean restaurant"
- cheung hing (irving & 30-something?): good BBQ pork
- PPQ (irving & 19th): pho and other vietnamese food
- pho hua (irving & 19th): I like their pho better, but some of my friends don't agree
- south seafood village (irving & 15th): decent dim sum
- ebisu (9th? & irving): decent sushi (a bit on the expensive side)
- hotei (9th? & irving): decent udon

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Sushi Partay

A little while ago some of us got together for a sushi party! We got the goods from Mitsuwa, a Japanese market in San Jose. Gigi says this place is better than Nijiya, which is the only one I've been to. I'll take her word for it!

You name it, we had it: amaebi, unagi ("salmon skin roll"), hamachi, salmon, tuna, wakame (seaweed salad)... so much food but soo good. It was my first time rolling, too!

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Sushi House

2375 Shoreline Dr. (@ the marina)
(510) 865-0999

Japanese in Alameda

Anyone who went to Cal has been here. Just a 10 minute drive down 880, Sushi House is the reason why people even know where Alameda is. It has definitely gone downhill over the years (portions are smaller, food is less carefully prepared, etc), but it will always hold a special place in my heart as comfort food should.

What's special about this place is the large selection of sushi rolls - many of them baked or accompanied with a special sauce. These mega rolls have caught on to most sushi restaurants, but none can beat Sushi House's. The Bay Scallop roll is by far my favorite, but almost all of them are good (another popular is the Lion King which is a California roll topped with salmon and then baked with a sauce).

Another dish I like to get here is the chirashi, which is like a sashimi salad or an open sushi roll, depending on where you are (like in San Diego, there's this place where it really is like a salad salad). At sushi house, it's just a bunch of raw fish and stuff on top of sushi rice. Since Sushi House is so popular, they are constantly getting fish, so you know it'll be fresh. Hamachi is like butter here.

If you have never been, you should eat at the restaurant at least once. It's a long wait though. You honestly would have to go at odd hours in order to avoid any wait at all. Calling ahead and getting take-out is ideal if you don't have the patience.

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Yoshi's

510 Embarcadero West (Oakland)
(510) 238-9200

Japanese in Jack London Square

So this was my second time coming here and seeing The Bad Plus, but this time we wanted to take advantage of preferential seating at the show and decided to eat here. I ordered the Niman Ranch beef tri tip with some kind of mushroom sauce which sounded mediocre and tasted mediocre... go figure. A few others in our party ordered grilled salmon and sushi rolls: the fish was thankfully fresh, but the flavors were typical.

The service was terrible: our waitress forgot one of our orders, got one of them wrong, and consistently tried to hustle us into buying more food, which really made us all uncomfortable. I really don't want to talk about the restaurant anymore because it's making me kinda mad when I think about how we spent $400+ on food which was small and overpriced, so on to the show...

The jazz club is really the only reason to come here and if you like expensive, but good cocktails you'll probably find good reason to get hammered like my friends did! The venue is intimate, the lights are dark, the acoustics are good, but the problem with the performance this time was that it was unusually short: a 35 minute set for a band with 7 or 8 minute songs was disappointing. Maybe they were jet lagged or maybe it was because they've been playing 2 shows a night for four days... I don't really know, but the performance was just like the food.

So yeah, overall, I think none of us really had a good time. The only reason I would ever come back here is if an artist I REALLY wanted to see was playing here and they didn't have any other shows at any other venue.

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TOP 5 ramen joints if you're an old man (or not)

guest contributor: ze faja

Santa – try the stew pork and the chicken is really good too. Tofu is so-so. Long wait. Wear sneakers so you can sprint to the head of the wait line from your car and keep an eye on competing sprinters (in other cars) in case they jump the gun!

Maruichi – good set lunch which comes with California roll and gyoza. Noodle bowl comes with half an egg.

Ringer Hut – their Nagasaki Champon noodle is pretty tasty and you can order the set lunch A, which includes a small dish of fried rice. A good size and nice place with plenty of space.

Mifune – in J-Town upstairs. Offer large variety of set lunch options and you can choose ramen or udon. Kathy was not a fan of this place.

Suzu – in J-Town downstairs. Small place and normally crowded.

** I've witnessed the Santa Ramen madness and it's pretty ridiculous. If no one's lined up before it's opened, that means everyone is waiting in their cars hawking the other parked cars. Intense! I would've also added Ryowa in both Berkeley and Mountain View. -kathy

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Takara

22 Peace Plaza
Suite 202
(Miyako Mall, Japantown)
(415) 921-2000

Japanese in Japantown (If that's not unique, what is?)

There are many Japanese restaurants in San Francisco. This is one is better than most that I've tried and has some distinguishing features. The first distinguishing feature is the tank of live shrimp outside the entryway. The second is that the boss and all but one member of the waitstaff speak Japanese (as opposed to Korean, Mandarin, Cantonese, English, or Spanish) . The third is that the set meals start off with two dishes of pickled vegetables and a cup of a savory custard. (Set meals are $18.50 for a two-item one and $23.50 for a three-item one ... I think.) In all the Japanese restaurants I've eaten around the world -- Japanese restaurants in California, Hawaii, Beijing, Taiwan, and British Columbia -- I've never had those two types of pickled vegetables nor the custard. The pickled vegetables were new, but I didn't particularly like them. I liked the custard. It was served steaming hot, had julienned fish cake and mushrooms, and some broth sitting under the thick but fluffy egg-custard surface layer. The set meals also come with miso soup, white rice, and a scoop of ice cream.

My friends, who eat Japanese food often, complimented the quality of Takara's sushi. Even with my brutish palate, I could tell that the sashimi was better than the average SF Japanese restaurant. My half-Japanese half-Korean commented that their green tea was good.

The restaurant's disposable chopsticks are made from bamboo, so they don't split awkwardly and asymmetrically like disposable chopsticks made from wood.

-J

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kappa

1700 Post St. (at Buchanan)
415-673-6004

Japanese in J-town (who would've thought), small plates style

Being someone who loves Japanese food, I've realized how limited my exposure to this cuisine has been. As a Sushi House lover, my meal at this place has made me realize that I am uber American, as are my taste buds. I had some good, traditional food in Japan, but even so, I still enjoy classic American Japanese food. This place, however, has opened my eyes and expanded my palate.

This place is tiny (seats about 8-10 people) and is run by only two (I think) Japanese people (maybe husband and wife?). There are no signs, and even if you found it, you wouldn't know what it was because the door is closed without any windows. Once you walk in, the dining area is blocked off by a hanging curtain, giving your meal the utmost privacy. It is bar-style seating, also giving you a view of the displayed raw seafood (fish, squid, octopus, etc). The hostess is a lovely older woman dressed in kimono, who speaks both English and Japanese. It is definitely a date place, but there was a party of 3 when I ate there. The menu was in both English and Japanese, but being used to American Japanese food, I had no idea what to order and let my dinner partner take care of everything.

My dinner partner had sake, which came in this really pretty clear teapot lined with gold trimming. The sake cup was like this matching mini goblet (I probably sound so uncultured right now).

The food (hopefully I didn't forget anything):
- seafood salad: given to start and before we ordered, this tiny dollop of seafood salad was very light and fresh. I'm not really sure what was in it, to be honest.
- misc sashimi (hamachi, squid, other fish): very good quality and fresh. There's nothing better than raw fish melting in your mouth mmm
- mountain yam: I had never had this before, and it wasn't like an American yam at all. It was more like daikon in texture and color, but it was gooey (as if doused in rubber cement or something). Thinly sliced, the pieces of yam were crispy (much like daikon) and a good accompaniment to the rest of the dishes. It didn't have much flavor itself, but I really liked the texture, and I could probably eat this as a snack any time.
- duck: very rich in flavor and moist
- boiled stuff - tofu, edamame pod?, some type of mushroom, squash, and some kind of melon (similar to melon used in chinese soups) in broth
- fried fish cake: I almost burned my tongue and actually took it out of my mouth because it was so hot. I felt so rude.
- tonkatsu (fried pork): unlike most tonkatsu, this was in a more cubic chunk, as opposed to flat and pancake-like. I thought this cut was to its detriment, as each bite had more pork than fried goodness. There was also a chunk of fat in my piece (which I was really surprised by, since Japanese food tends to be super lean), but I ate it anyway because I thought it would be rude not to. Thank God I have a high metabolism.
- miso soup with clams and green onions

The service was good - my ocha (green tea) cup was never empty, and they were very attentive and polite. I couldn't really get a good feel for the staff because my dinner partner talked to them in Japanese only, but regardless, service was good and food came at a good pace. They were also very flexible, as we stayed there for probably over 2 hours, and even when everybody else had gone, we still ordered one more dish.

Go here. =)

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