688 San Jose Ave (& 29th St)
(415) 648-2300
Ice Cream Shop in Noe Valley
Mitchell's is definitely a San Francisco staple. Although yelp says it's Noe Valley, it's like borderline Noe Valley/Bernal Heights (or even Glen Park according to someone else, but I think that's really stretching it - I just tagged it as all of those places kind of). Parking isn't bad since it's pretty far out, and there's also a small lot behind the place. It's also pretty accessible by public transportation - it's a decent walk from the 24th & Mission BART station, or you can MUNI it.
Expect a wait. On any given day. You can also buy their ice cream in cartons and to go.
Mitchell's is known for their "exotic" flavors, meaning Filipino flavors like ube, halo halo, etc. All of their flavors are pretty good, including the standard ones (french vanilla custard? mmmm). A lot of people like Tropical 4, but I think it's kind of boring. Their "grasshopper pie" is REALLY GOOD (mint chocolate chip + fudge + oreos), and that's coming from someone who isn't big on chocolate. They also offer ice cream sandwiches (between 2 cookies, reminiscent of Diddy Riese), shakes, and other sweet concoctions.
Thursday, June 21, 2007
Mitchell's Ice Cream
Tuesday, May 08, 2007
Incanto
1550 Church St. (& Duncan)
(415) 641-4500
Italian in Noe Valley
I've never really had faith in San Francisco's Italian selection, since most of the places I have been to before this have been so-so or bad. But of course, there are a lot of restaurants I haven't been to that are supposed to be good, but I just haven't checked them out yet because I've been trying to not eat out so often (which explains that lack of restaurant reviews as of late). However, I decided to go to Incanto on a whim, and I was pleasantly surprised.
First of all, I really like Noe Valley. It's a cute area that's close to the Mission and the Castro, and it's a great neighborhood to walk around in. Secondly, it was surprisingly easy to get a day-of reservation here for a party of 4 on a Friday night at 7pm! I don't know if that's good or bad, but I was very surprised (that's prime eating time... maybe more so on a Saturday, but still). The service was ok (not great, not bad, but normal), and the ambience was nice. The big windows let in a lot of natural lighting.
The Food:
- to start, we had the handkerchief pasta: the pasta itself (i.e. the noodles) was cooked perfectly. The sauce was nothing special - a ground pork red sauce that I could probably make myself.
- I had the braised pork shoulder with rhubarb and fava beans. I say any meat that you can eat without a knife is always a good indicator for tenderness. I'm not a huge fan of rhubarb, but altogether, it was a good complement to the savory (a little too sweet for my taste though).
- My sister and her fiancee had the roasted lamb, which was ginormous. It was a little too hickory-tasting that it kind of threw me off.
- for dessert, we had a bay leaf panna cotta with strawberries drizzled with balsamic vinegar. I'm more of a dessert snob that anything else, and I must say that this was a thumbs up for me. Simple and clean, this dessert was the perfect ending to a light dinner on a warm day. Bay leaves and fruit just go really well together (top chef anyone?).
We also got a bottle of red wine (sorry, I don't know anything about wine, but it was similar to a pinot) which I liked, but I'm easy to please when it comes to wine. This place is known for it's wine list, but I can't really vouch for that. All in all, this restaurant is great for a light dinner.