sf city eats

miraku, walnut creek

2006-05-05T21:22:00.000-07:00

whilst on a visit to my mom's in the extreme east bay (even more east than the 'crick) we got a hankering for some japanese food. moms is japanese. moms like japanese food. so we grabbed her false teeth, jumped in the car, and stared blankly at each other. where to go?

as we mulled over the local choices we became increasingly dispirited. there was that newish japanese restaurant in a strip mall that made their sushi with long grain rice and poured a strange sweet and sour sauce over their fried rice. "no good", sayeth moms. and there was that kinda crazy expensive and just okay place that kept changing it's name but wasn't worth the price. "no good", sayeth moms. and then there was that new japanese place with the service that was so bad our food didn't arrive after an hour of waiting and at least five requests to our server to check with the kitchen. "mighty bad", sayeth moms. casting our net a bit further afield, we agreed to make the drive to walnut creek (aka "the 'crick") and see what miraku had to offer.

located in a strangely industrial stretch on north broadway, just a few blocks away from the freeway, miraku is easy to miss. the restaurant is tucked along a very long and narrow driveway that wraps around the rear of the newly constructed miraku noodles annex with no outlet. be forewarned that you will have to drive around the rear, do a u turn, then pull out the only driveway, hoping no one is heading toward you. the main restaurant is cozy with a big fountain gurgling away in the center of the room and kimono clad waitresses navigating the space. at the rear of the building is the new ramen house annex. if industrial, cold, gleaming and stark isn't your style you can order off the ramen menu in the main restaurant.

cold noodle salad

at lunchtime all the usual suspects can be found on the menu, including bento boxes at around 6.95. i ordered the cold noodle salad from the noodle-house menu (7.95, i think), and was delighted to see a giant plate of vegetables prettily mounded over well sauced, chewy mound of ramen noodles. the vegetables included pickled ginger, tomato, spinach, sugar snap peas, bean sprouts, corn, bok choy, mushrooms, topped with a sprinkling of nori and a generous dab of karashi (yellow mustard). tossed with the perfectly cooked, still chewy ramen noodles they provided the perfect contrasting crisp snap and sweetness to the dense noodles. the dish was well dressed with a tasty sesame seed vinagrette. the folks at chowhound seem to disagree with me, but i like miraku's noodles. the ramen, even when served in a hot broth, is always pleasantly chewy and never mushy. having said that, it's the udon noodles that moms likes best. she says they are chewy and taste like the noodles her sister's husband makes.

speaking of moms, after she put her teeth in, she heartily dug into a lunchtime sushi platter, served with soup and rice. i can't remember the price, maybe twelve bucks or so? the assortment was right up her alley since she doesn't like any of that "weird" stuff, meaning tako or fish eggs. the assortment of the day was maguro, tai, salmon and white tuna. she was especially impressed with the white tuna, saying it tasted a lot like fatty tuna. the fish was very fresh and the pieces were good cuts and not straggly end pieces. both meals were served with miso soup and salad. moms usually says "pretty good" after a sashimi meal (rather indiscriminately, if you ask me), but today she said "mighty good". now that's saying something.

sashimi platter (salmon, tai, white tuna and maguro)

for more opinons on miraku, you can go to:
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miraku and miraku noodles
2131 north broadway
walnut creek, ca
925 932 1112

the nicaragua

2006-02-21T12:10:00.000-08:00

about to head off on a long jungle trek with no provisions? or maybe you're looking at the ass-end of a fourteen hour day of uber heavy manual labor? or maybe you just want a leaden, siesta-inducing feed. if so, the nicaragua restaurant may have something to soothe your hungry, calloused soul.

located on mission street just before cesar chavez, the nicaragua has little to distinguish itself from all the other little central american and mexican joints that run up and down mission street. a little boxy room, plastic sheeting over flowery tablecloths straight from your granma's double wide trailer, little paper mache fruits dangling from the ceiling...this is no fancy-pants kinda place. and since these pants ain't so fancy these days i feel quite at home.

if you are a vegetarian, what you will find here are giant plates of deep fry. everything is deep fried. gorgeous thick slabs of plantain. fried. brick-sized rectangles of a queso freso type cheese. deep fried. rice and beans, a little fried.

if meat is more your thing, you will get all the coronary-inducing vegetarian deep fry delights plus giant hunks of pork in a spicy sauce.

the food is by no means gourmet and certainly not subtle, but for about nine bucks per person you will get enough calories to fuel you through that long jungle trek.

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3015 Mission Street
San Francisco, CA
415 826 3672

cha-ya vegetarian japanese restaurant

2006-02-06T12:23:00.000-08:00

five little itty bitty tables + room for maybe six at the sushi bar + all-vegetarian japanese food =
cha ya.

this place rocks my world. i like this place way more than minako on mission street in san francisco, which is just a little too expensive and situated on the most crack-laden stretch of mission street. it's kind of a bummer to watch the scaberous drug-addled denizen doing that crazy herky-jerky crack dance through the window while savoring 1988 vintage, hand pickled umeboshi plums.

if you've read any of my other reviews of japanese restaurants here, you might notice that i eat a lot of noodles when dining out. what you might not notice is that i do so with one thumb and forefinger pinching my nose in order to pretend the stock is not made with mr. bonito "hon dashi" stock. all the while eyeing my dining companions' saba. and their maguro. sometimes their hamachi too.

now don't get me wrong, it's not that i want to eat the sashimi or chicken katsu or saba shioyaki, it's just that i'd like to have more choices. more vegetarian choices. and this is why cha ya rocks: everything on the menu is vegan! it double rocks because the food is so damn tasty! i'll have to throw in an extra half-rock for low prices. that's 2 1/2 rockings of my world. not bad for a lazy saturday afternoon.

but be forewarned 'cause this place is tiny. and popular. we went on a saturday afternoon, around 1:00. when we walked in only two tables were occupied, by the time we left at about 1:45 every seat in the place was taken and people were signing up on the waitlist. they say it's even worse at normal dining hours...

the menu is quite comprehensive with four soups, six salads, four small dishes, eight a la cart items, seven hot noodle dishes, three cold noodle dishes, thirty-six different types of sushi, a variety of dinner sets, and six desserts. whew! i didn't know i could count that high, the california public school system being what it is and all...

for $7.50 we each ordered a lunch set that came with a choice of two items (from a specified list), soup, rice, salad and tea.

haru maki
i ordered haru maki and ten bou, neither of which i'd ever heard of before...maybe a cha ya invention? according to the menu, haru maki are "spring rolls with asparagus, shiitake, carrots, long beans, silver noodles and atsuage tofu rolled in rice sheet". i was expecting a fresh vietnamese style roll and was quite surprised when it came out deep fried with a sweet dipping sauce on the side. the rolls were tight, compact, colorful, and surprisingly non-greasy. the dipping sauce was a bit too sweet for my taste but i found that the tempura sauce went quite well with it. the filling, although quite pretty, was a bit on the bland side and definitely benefitted from a gentle saucing.

ten bou
the ten bou (deep fried veggie sticks) were: "sticks of yam, carrots, banana squash, atsuage tofu, and green beans lightly battered and deep fried". how this differs from tempura i'm not sure, except that the vegetables were not sliced in the cross cut that tempura vegetables usually are but in more a matchstick shape. the batter was fairly light and crispy and the vegetables well-cooked (i always harp on this because on many, many occasions i've gotten tempura that was not cooked at the proper temperature resulting in soggy, overcooked vegetables, or worse, crispy raw ones). this dish was okay but i was hoping for something a little different.

agedashi tofu
my dining companion ordered the lunch combination with agedashi tofu and sushi. the tofu was the clear standout of the meal. big, fat, creamy, juicy slabs of tofu dredged in a light batter and fried to golden crispy perfection sat in a broth so perfect, so flavorful, i literally licked the bowl clean. the broth was full of punch with grated ginger adding a noticable brightness. garnishes of shredded green onion, daikon sprouts and toasted nori sat atop this beauty like the crown it deserved. if you go to cha ya, you must order this dish.

sushi sampler

the sushi plate was comprised of one piece of vegan roll, three kappa maki and one inari. the sushi was a bit bland owing to the lack of flavor-packing ingredients (except for the sweetness of the inari) but well executed, well intentioned and completely passable. also on the menu (but not included in the lunch box selection) were some much more intriguing rolls such as the summer green roll: "large reverse roll with avocado, cucumber, and kaiware sprouts, topped with sea vegetable salad". if that doesn't grab your fancy by the pants, how about a soba sushi roll: "instead of sushi rice, the roll contains buckwheat noodles, along with spinach, atsuage tofu, asparagus, cucumber, pickled burdock, and seasoned kampyo gourd and shiitake."

the verdict: as arnie says, "i'll be back..."

menu side 1 (click on image to enlarge):

menu side 2 (click on image to enlarge):

citysearch review
yelp.com

cha ya
1686 Shattuck Avenue
Berkeley, CA
510 981 1213

sushi banzai, berkeley

2006-01-27T08:49:00.000-08:00

sushi banzai is a little family-run japanese restaurant tucked into a professional building just a few blocks from tokyo fish market. the interior is no-frills yet homey with a small sushi bar that can seat maybe four and around seven or eight small tables taking up the rest of the interior.

during a recent shopping excursion to the newly expanded tokyo fish market, moms and i decided to get a bite to eat. i'd read good things about sushi banzai on the chowhound board and decided to give the place a go. lunch prices are very reasonable ranging from 5.75 for chicken teriyaki up to 7.50 for the daily special. sushi prices go range from $3.00 for 3 pieces of inari to $11.oo for something called the b-29 roll which includes hamachi tempura, ebi and unagi.

lunch special of the day ($7.50)
moms ordered the lunch special of the day which included salmon maki, chicken cutlet, shredded cabbage salad, rice and miso soup, all for $7.50. even though the cutlet was white meat, the chicken was reported to be extremely succulent and flavorful with a crispy, surprisingly non-greasy panko crust. as you can see, the cutlet was not completely drowned in the ubiquitous overly sweet teriyaki sauce. the fish was very fresh. the only disappointment was with the rice. moms is very particular about her rice, favoring koshihikari, which is the cadillac of sushi rice. it is highly polished into perfect fat little grains that cook up beautifully in a rice cooker. it's incomprehensible to me that japanese restaurants use low-grade rice when it is the backbone of any japanese meal. rant aside, the rice at banzai was cooked and seasoned just fine, but the grains were on the longish side and many of them were broken. for me, it didn't detract too terribly from the meal and if you're not too picky, you might not even notice. if you're my moms though, better watch out!

the truly vegetarian options at sushi banzai are extremely limited. there is a vegetable curry on the menu but ( if you want to be able to continue to eat japanese curry then do not read further my fellow vegetarians) most of the stuff is made with beef fat. yep. lard. these currys are almost always made with the house-curry type bars you can buy from the grocery store and all but one brand (can't remember which one) use el-lardo. sorry. sushi banzai has udon and soba noodles also on the menu, the soup bases of which use the ubiquitous bonito stock. being a bad vegetarian i just pretend that maybe it's not true and eat the soups as long as they don't taste too fishy. and so i ordered a vegetable soba. the server came back and informed me that it would be a 20 minute wait for my order to be preparred and so i began rooting through the appetizer and maki sections of the menu. and i'm glad i did because it forced me out a noodle-rut i've been in lately.

hiyayakko ($3.00)
i chose an order of hiyayakko and an ume-kyuu maki. hiyayakko is nothing more than cold cubed tofu sprinkled with negi and ginger. my dish came out, very dramatically, floating on a bed of ice which kept the tofu well chilled throughout my somewhat spartan meal. the tofu tasted freshly made, not quite on par with san jose tofu but a cut above the grocery store variety.

ume kyuu maki ($3.50)
the next surprise was the ume-kyuu maki, which the menu described as ume and cucumber. it did not mention the shiso leaf which took the roll from "whatever" to "oh wow". the cucumber was thinly sliced with just enough ume to add a tart saltiness that was not overpowering. the shiso flavor really held the roll together and made it shine. the only (minor) criticisms of my maki were that (1) the seaweed was a little too short and some of the pieces flopped open when i picked them up. (2) the rolls had a square-ish shape that makes me think they were not rolled by hand but rather in one of those plastic thingamajigs. i don't know why that bothers me but it does.

overall this is a cozy little neighborhood place whose strength seems to lie in their sushi. as a vegetarian you can cobble together a meal (or just go to cha ya); if you're a deal-seeking omnivore get the lunch special; if you're a fish freak, order a la cart from the sushi menu, which seems to be sushi banzai's stronger point. dinnertime prices are significantly higher with dishes ranging from $9.50 for oyako donburi to $17.50 for two-item dinner boxes to around $18.00 for a variety of sushi dinners.

the verdict: sushi banzai is a decent little neighborhood japanese joint with some good lunch specials. while i wouldn't drive across the bridge to dine there, i'd drop by again for a quick lunchtime bite if i were in the neighborhood.

sfcitysearch review
yelp review

sushi banzai
1019 camelia street
berkeley, ca 510 524 6625
lunch: 11:30 - 2:00 tue-fri
dinner: 5:30 - 9:30 sun-thurs & 5:30 - 10:00 fri-sat

kansai

2006-01-25T13:00:00.000-08:00

ever since i was a little girl my moms and i would go to san francisco's japantown to do a little grocery shopping every few months. and ever since i can remember we would stop by one of those little restaurants in the mall for some lunch, usually at oskaya. if you're not familiar with osakaya, it is one of those restaurants that exemplify what people mean when they say that in japantown the japanese food is mediocre at best. recently (as in the last ten years or so) new restaurants have appeared in the mall that have their loyal followers like ino sushi, maki, takara, etc. but i still had yet to find a decent place to grab lunch with moms.

that is until a fellow chowhound recommended kansai. at 1:00 on a saturday the place was jammed to the rafters with busily noshing japanese people. my moms took this to be an excellent portent and i didn't bother to remind her that the sub-mediocre osakaya was also always full of people from the motherland. upon entry we were ushered past the long gleaming sushi bar to a cozy little table near the rear of the restaurant..the last available table. the host and waiter were one and the same, a nervous-seeming japanese man full of stammering little bowing motions and a manically ernest gleam in his eyes. i've been back several times now during the lunch hour and he is always there, comical, stressed out, stress inducing, fluttering about and making sure everyone is well attended to.

anyhow, you won't find any $4.99 bento boxes here. lunch choices range from $7.25 for zaru soba and top out at $19.50 for the chirashi deluxe. there is a daily lunch special that costs around $9 but we usually order either the lunch combination (choice of two items plus salad, soup, kobachi, rice and pickles) for $12.95 or the lunch set (one item plus salad, soup, rice, pickles) that average around $11.00. the courses are numerous, portions generous, presentation immaculate and ingredients top quality. all things considered it is an incredible value.

a small bowl of miso soup and a salad begins the meal. the miso soup is light and flavorful, not overly salty or ham-fisted. the salad is comprised of finely shredded carrots, red and green cabbage atop romaine leaves studded with cherry tomatoes and cucumber slices bathed in a creamy miso-ginger dressing. i was particularly pleased with the absence of iceberg lettuce, the presence of the finely shredded cabbage and the fact that flavorful little cherry tomatoes were used instead of those giant, pale, watery hunks of pink tomato-ish wedges.

our meals also came with kobachi, which if i recall correctly, my moms said just meant "small plate". in this instance it was a vinegared cucumber salad and kampyo. for the "japanese pickles" dish we were given lightly salted and pressed napa cabbage.

i ordered the vegetable tempura lunch set ($11.95) which came with rice in addition to the above mentioned dishes. the tempura was perfect. a light coating of batter fried to a golden brown. all the vegetables were cooked to tender perfection inside.

my moms ordered the lunch combination with the kaki (oyster) fry and maguro sashimi. four generous sized oysters fried with a panko coating came accompanied by japanese potato salad, shredded cabbage, steamed broccoli and a dab of karashi (yellow mustard) on the side.

on a separate plate came five pieces of maguro on a bed of shredded daikon, shiso leaf and radish sprouts. the fish was reported to be very fresh. it certainly was very pretty.

my man ordered the lunch combination ($12.95) with saba shioyaki and hamachi sashimi. the mackeral was perfectly grilled and came with japanese potato salad, cabbage, broccoli and grated daikon radish.

and then there was the hamachi. beautifully presented and very fresh.

i've eaten at kansai for lunch several times now and the food is consistently good. highly recommended.

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kansai
1737 buchanan mall
san francisco
415 775 2770

hanabi

2006-01-19T08:53:00.000-08:00

hanabi sushi is a cozy little neighborhood japanese restaurant located in the lower haight. the music is usually good and eclectic in a fantastic plastic machine way, for which you can thank the sushi chef. the owners are warm and welcoming and the is food fine. not fine as in fine dining or the finest sushi, but fine as in consistent, warming and relatively inexpensive. and as an added bonus, there are lots of options for vegetarians. we usually order the dinner box which goes for around $12. sounds like a lot but you get your choice of three items, plus soup, salad, a little tofu salad plate, rice and tea. the tofu salad plate consists of salted and vinegared bean sprouts, daikon radish shreds and cucumber with a few pieces of firm tofu. very tasty.

these days we don't go to hanabi much since we don't live in the neighborhood but, during a recent drunken promenade around town, we found ourselves gripping an empty flask of bourbon with gurgling stomachs in the old 'hood. right in front of hanabi, as it so happens. and so in we went.

and it was like stepping back a fistful of years. same faces, same food, same music...no, to be honest the music was bad on that night. japanese pop ballads al la celine dion. maybe shinya the sushi chef was feeling old, or nostalgic, or just has a twisted sense of humour. or all of the above.

anyway, out came the miso soup, tofu salad and beer. the beer was very good.

and then our dinner boxes. and some more beer, which continued to be very good. i won't say how many of these very good beers we put away, but you can judge for yourselves by checking out the rapidly degrading quality of the pictures. suffice to say the image in the viewfinder looked as sharply defined as did my dining companion across the table.

my blurry companion ordered his equally blurry dinner box with tuna sashimi, saba teriyaki and california roll. the california roll was basic - the rice isn't the greatest quality but is passable and not overly seasoned, the crab was really surimi (but this is the norm, even in japan) and the avocados were quite ripe. the mackeral was nice and fatty and bathed in your standard teriyaki sauce. the sashimi was reported to be okay...neither great nor awful.

i selected the natto gyoza, vegetable tempura and stir fried tofu. the tempura is of the type with a heavier batter, not the delicate lacy type found at less homestyle restaurants but i like it both ways. the coating was crispy when it came out and stayed crispy through the last bite with the vegetables cooked thorougly. the gyoza, i don't know why i ordered it, i don't like gyoza. it was greasy and flaccid and i wouldn't recommend it. the tofu stirfry however was very tasty. lots of vegetables and firm tofu slices bathed in a slightly sweet and spicy sauce. we finished with a green tea ice cream ($1.50) which came out in it's little single serve carton. very creamy with a strong green tea flavor.

hanabi is the quintessential neighborhood japanese restaurant. it's not someplace to get the most sparkling still wriggling fresh sushi, the best rice, or the most daring flights of culinary fancy, but if you're in the neighborhood and crave a nice comforting box of japanese food in a warm environment and (hopefully) good music this place is a good bet.

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hanabi sushi
509 haight street
san francisco
415 621 1500

tokyo fish market, berkeley

2006-01-16T16:33:00.000-08:00

tokyo fish market in berkeley has finally expanded! well, this is not hot off the press as the store moved into its new digs sometime during the early fall, but it came as a surprise to me as i pulled into the old, tiny, unexpanded parking lot and was greeted by this fresh, gleaming, big structure. the old building now houses a housewares/miscelleaneous department, which is half empty and has yet to hit its stride. the inventory is sparse and kinda random with such items as overpriced japanese pottery (for better deals on japanese pottery, try to hit the pottery section of mitsuwa grocery in san jose during one of their sales), hawaii aprons, bobble head refrigerator magnets plus a few hawaiian and japanese cookbooks. it seems a waste of space when a little video/bookstore or, dare i say it, an ichiban kan would be much more interesting.

that fish counter is bigger than my apartment

for those of you who aren't familiar with tokyo fish market, it is probably the best place to purchase sashimi fish in the area. prices are reasonable, quality is consistently good, service is excellent. in their old building they also stocked what was an astounding inventory of japanese groceries and produce in a space not much larger than a tiny one bedroom apartment. it felt like a rush hour tokyo subway, minus the chikans . the new supermarket is big, gleaming and immaculate with enough room to blithley wheel around shopping carts.

yes martha-san, to the left is an entire refrigerater case filled with japanese pickles!

if you, like me, don't indulge in the gustatory pleasures of the flesh-colored rainbow, tokyo fish market stocks everything you need to prepare your vegetarian or vegan japanese-insired meals.

for more talk about tokyo fish market, go to this chowhound search page.

tokyo fish market
1220 san pablo avenue
berkeley, ca
510 524 7243

burgermeister

2006-01-11T13:24:00.000-08:00

glowing come hither burgermeister neon beckons weary safeway shoppers

it's come to this dear readers. a review of a hamburger place on a "mostly vegan" restaurant review blog. the irony does not escape me, but let's face it, most of us don't live in a little meat-free bubble, hanging out exclusively with like-minded herbivores all bemoaning the fact that we do not have the mighty cows second stomach that might relieve a little of the, um, pressure of eating so much fiber. most of us eat and live with those who prefer to eat the full spectrum of the meat-rainbow. and sometimes they want a burger and you don't want to be a sanctimonious, rigid pill. and so you go. and take pictures. and drool. and feel just like a pornographer.

surprisingly two of the easiest places for a vegetarian to get a decent meal (at least in this part of the country) are at the carnivores most meatiest eateries: steakhouses (tons of sides and baked potatoes and salads) and burger places (veggie burgers, fries and salads).

i don't eat burgers but my man does. and he loves burgermeister. we go to the one on church street although they have outposts in northbeach and cole valley.

boca burger ($6.95)

burgermeister goes above and beyond the one token veggie selection and offers three different types of meat-free burgers: a garden burger, a boca burger and a grilled portobello burger. now, i don't like garden burgers and i may be the only person on the planet who doesn't like grilled portobello mushrooms as a sandwich, but luckily for me i do love boca burgers. for $6.95 my boca burger came with the usual garnishes (onion, pickles, lettuce) plus the choice of coleslaw, green salad or fries. i can't vouch for the salad or coleslaw, but the fries are very good. they are nicely browned, not soggy with a nice crunch and you get a pretty gi-normous portion. washed down with a fat-tire ale on draft it make a very tasty if not particulary health conscious feed.

the onion rings are battered, crispy and deep fried perfection.

onion rings ( $1.35 for the "upgrade")

as for the meat-burger i am in no position to comment. but it would be silly to go to a burger place and not discuss the meat. so here he is, my man, discoursing on the merits of the burgermeister burger, which he always gets in the child size (1/4 lb. versus 1/2 lb.) which looks plenty big to me.

1/4 lb. child sized cheeseburger with fries (5.80)

what do you look for in a burger?
"well, first there's the bun. i like a bun that is not too bready or oversized. and i like to have control of the condiments - serve 'em up plain and let me add onions and the like. but most importantly is, of course, the meat which has to be organic. i like to be able to really taste the meat through all that condiment junk in the burger. the meat flavor has to come through in a good way and not in a stanky way. in some burgers you can't taste the meat at all, in other burgers you can taste the meat but it's, you know, stanky, and then in other burgers you can taste the cow and it tastes good. hmm, and consistency is important. the place has to be consistent, not like kellys burgers on 16th where sometimes the burgers are good and sometimes they're awful. did i mention that the meat has to be organic? i did? yeah, well, you don't want to eat sick, mistreated mad cows all shot up with hormones. you might grow breasts or something. not good for a man. unless you're into that kinda thing..."

on a scale from 1 to 10, how do you rate the burgermeister burger?
"9. definitely a nine."

some claim that burger joint is better than burgermeister. what do you think?
"well, i haven't been to burger joint in a long time because i know three people who have gotten sick after eating their burgers. last time i ate there, there was grease on top of the buns, which i hate. and the meat had that bad stankiness i was talking about earlier."

where have you had an equivalent or better burger?
"burgermesiter has the best thin-type burger. back in the day the medici burger in chicago served up the best thick type burgers. i don't know about now."

given the choice between a swift kick in the pants and eating a burgermeister burger, which would you choose and why?
"i'll take the burger. my ass is kinda bony."

burgermeister homepage
citysearch review
sfsurvey review

burgermeister
138 church street
san francisco, ca
415 437 2874

cafe du soleil

2005-10-14T08:52:00.000-07:00

cafe du soliel inhabits the former movida lounge space, which in turn inhabited the former armadillo bar space. the evolution of the businesses in this little storefront really reflects the changes that have been taking place across this city as a whole. in short, upwardly mobile. oh sure, some curmudgeons, myself included amongst this crusty old lot, may bemoan the gentrification of this small burg known as san francisco, but when it comes to a comparison between the stanky, vomit-scented filthy armadillo and cafe du soleil, well, gentrification ain't so bad after all. to be perfectly honest, even a starbucks would've been an improvement.

the movida folks really did a great job remodeling and cleaning up the venue after the armadillo, removing the black paint from the windows and road-kill smell that permeated the interior. as cafe du soleil it still retains this bright, airy feeling with warm wood tones and a warm palette of colors on the wall. despite there being tons of seating options inside the space somehow manages to not feel overly cramped. plus, there are lots of table outside on the sidewalk. chances of getting an outside seat are pretty good. the vibe is good. the coffee and pastries are good.

the menu includes breakfasty and snacky things like granola, french toast, salads, a variety of nibbles (nuts, popcorn, olives, pickled vegetables, french fries etc.), open-faced sandwiches, pastries, coffee and beer. the cappucinos are served in those huge bowls. it feels decadent.

during our visit on a sunny sunday afternoon, being a little too hungry for just a pastry, we sampled a few of the open-faced sandwiches coupled with good strong house coffee.

smoked salmon, creme fraiche, green herbs and shallots open faced sandwich $8.00

my cafe companion selected the smoked salmon open-faced sandwich, which went for a whopping eight bucks. it was basically a very long angle cut slice of a wheaty-olivey bread cut into four pieces with a little creme fraiche slathered on and topped by thin slices of smoked salmon. it came with a side salad of mixed greens whose dressing was disappointing in the extreme. a bland and oily mess with no hint of either acidity or salt or herbs. the sandwich was reported to be good but at eight bucks it was no bargain. did i mention it was tiny?

hummus, avocado, cucumber, sprouts and tomato open faced sandwich $8.00

i selected one of the two vegetarian sandwichs on offer: hummus, avocado, cucumber, sprouts and tomato. like the smoked salmon sandwich it was a long slice of a very hearty bread cut into four sections with a smear of hummus, a sprinkling of sprouts, a slice of tomato and a chunk of avocado crowned with a black olive. the bread was strange. not quite toasted but not really soft. in fact, it had a slightly stale texture. the hummus was a bit bland and oily, the tomato your standard pale red tasteless slicer (and this in tomato season!), but the avocado was generous and perfectly ripe, rich and creamy. overall the sandwich didn't really work for me. it was heavy and bland at the same time. the accompanying salad was drenched in the same flavorless oil slick as the one that accompanied the salmon sandwich. this also rang in at eight bucks.

the bottom line is that this is a great little cafe but a bit pricey. skip the eight dollar "open-faced sandwiches", grab a sunny table on the sidewalk, sip some excellent coffee in gigantic tureens and nibble on the very good pastries.

citysearch reviews
yelp reviews

cafe du soleil
200 waller street
san francisco 934 8637

il cantuccio

2005-09-26T20:18:00.000-07:00

i've been meaning to try il cantuccio for years now but you know how it is in san francisco...new restaurants pop up all over town like fleas on a pound dog and it's impossible to keep up without growing very, very fat and very, very poor.

this last saturday, after some techno-freak german-nudie action at the "love parade" i was in the mood for something sedate, easily digested with no nudies. walking by il cantuccio for the 24,679 thousandth time i peered in to see an empty table in the long, narrow, cozy dining room peopled with - gasp- normal folk. folk wearing collars (not leather studded). folk who were about my age and up. i sensed no "buzz" or "trendiness" or "hipness" or hype raditating from this little trattoria. bundled up in my scratchy cardigan, sturdy walking shoes and wielding my psychic walker, in i wheeled myself.

we began, sedately enough, with a green salad.

insalate mista $5.75, mixed green salad with cherry tomates, olive oil and balsalmic vinegar

the insalate mista appeared to be an unassuming little fellow with just a few tiny cherry tomato halves nestled in your standard bed of mixed greens. but it was tasty. it was excellent. the balsalmic and olive oil dressing was light and hit the perfect balance with just a touch of acidity and a subtle depth and sweetness that could only come from a very good, aged balsalmic. the cherry tomatoes, though sparse, were incredibly sweet little nuggets of tomato candy. a good omen for the meal to come.

potato stuffed ravioli with lamb sauce

the meat eater ordered one of the specials of the evening, a potato stuffed ravioli in a tomato-based lamb sauce, which he raved about. the report was that the potato filling was creamy but not heavy and the ground lamb had that rich lamb flavor without being too gamey, as lamb can be sometimes.

capellini pomodoro $9.95, angel hair pasta tossed with garlic, arugula, chopped tomatoes and tomato sauce

i ordered the angel hair pasta with garlic, arugula and tomato because it was the only pasta item on the menu that didn't contain any dairy. generally i shy away from capellini as it's often not cooked properly and the delicate noodles easily become lost in an over or under abundance of heavy handed sauces. this dish was perfectly executed. the tomatoes were seasonly sweet, the arugula lent just a touch of color, the dish was studded with bits of coarsely chopped garlic and the tomato sauce just coated each noodle. there was the right amount of olive oil in the sauce to keep the pasta separated withougt sending it into the oil slick zone. this was one of the best pasta dishes i've had in a long time.

having injudiciously gobbled down too much of the delicious, spongy foccacia like bread that came with the meal we skipped dessert, but the usual classic italian sweets were all present and accounted for...from tiramisu to panna cotta to biscotti. maybe next time.

and there will be a next time. this place is a neighborhood gem that dishes up classic italian fare in a cozy and intimate setting where you can actually have a conversation, unlike other italian places in the neighborhood whose overhyped name shall go unmentioned.

good for meat eaters. pretty good for vegetarians with four appetizers, salads, pizzas, and four pasta dishes that seem to be meat free. nor will vegans starve with a selection of two appetizers, some salads and the capellini pasta dish. there is a nice looking gnocchi on the menu which they could probably omit the cheese from.

il cantuccio
3228 16th street
san francisco 415 861 3899

citysearch review

cama, one dollar happy hour beers

2005-09-22T09:10:00.000-07:00

there are so many bars in the mission it boggles the mind. despite living in this cornucopia of boozing establishments, i generally frequent the one closest to me, a mere half a block's staggering distance away. a bar whose name shall go unmentioned and who is not the topic of this post. there is a certain comfort in seeing the same drunks year after year, defying the surgeon general and general common sense by not looking that much the worse for wear than the rest of us. maybe the teeth, nails and vital organs a bit more on the yellow side along with a bleary-eyed aura of desperation, but hey, who can see such tiny details in a dark bar? anyway, my point being that i'm a lazy git and it takes something special to tear me away from my most local of locals. something special, or to be more to the precise, something specially cheap.

and that brings us to cama, "a modern day pause", whatever that means. all i know is that they have a cheap happy hour. one dollar pbr (pabst blue ribbon, for those of you who are too well bred to know) until 8pm. yep. i said one dollar. and i said 8pm. did i mention this comes in a pint glass and not one of those toddler-sized juice glasses? and from 5 till 7 (i think, don't quote me on this), they have two dollar well drinks. but the pbr is good and gassy and light and tasty and half the price.

cama inhabits the old dr. bombay's spot, that chilly, sodden old reject of a tiki bar that popped up, unluckily enough, between tiki bar trends. it is still chilly. downright cold, as a matter of fact. like a meatlocker. the interior is "arty", with skateboard art, pictures of donkeys with giant genitalia (to scale, in other words) and, oh the horror, a few rollerbladers painted in silhouette on some of the tables. what were they thinking? don't they know that putting skateboarders and "bladers" together is like holding a dual mime/clown convention? it can only end in bloodshed.

anyhoo, the space is kinda "arty" (in quotes because it feels like it's trying a little too hard), kinda "lounge-y" with built in sofa type things in the wall where the old booths used to be, definitly chilly enough to keep you awake, has a little smoking patio in the back (for all you degenerates), a video monitor and some good music playing on the hi-fi if you get the right bartender. on weekends during the daytime you might catch andrew whose i pod selection is so closely aligned with my tastes that i could almost proclaim him a genius, if i were a genius, that is. which i'm not. i mean, who plays marlene dietrich and radiohead and mr bungle back to back to back? someone other than your sophmore year special ed classmate, that is. not that i'm implying that you were in special ed...

i recommend this place cause: it's dark enough to make everyone look pretty; has cheap beers so that even people who don't look very good at first will, with the mere investment of a few slim dollars; it is never crowded; has a good sound system; and, most importantly of all, is a cheap way to get a little liquored up before heading off to face the anorexic, rictus smiling hostess of your overpriced, overhyped mission destination restaurant (take your pick starting with delfina and ending with tokyo go go). the beers go down just as well, if not better, before a slice of arinells or a supertaco...

cama bar
3102 16th street
san francisco
415 864 5255
citysearch review

tokyo go go, happy hour

2005-09-19T09:55:00.000-07:00

the other day i went to tokyo go go, which procaims itself to be "san francisco's funky, hip sushi bar and restaurant". normally i avoid these "funky, hip" places, finding them pretentious, irritating and anything but "hip". not that i would know this hippness if it wielded it's wide ass around a sharp bend and hit me smack between the ears with either cheek. oh, that remindes me of an incident i recently witnessed on the 22 fillmore wherein this ample teenage girl in tight lowriders got up from her window seat and tried to scootch to the aisle to disembark when the busdriver, late no doubt for his crack connection, put the pedal to the metal. the poor girl didn't have a chance. she fell straight backwards and a little downwards, right smack into the scaberous face of the bum who'd sat next to her. mortified, she apologized. the bum's response was classic, "better you than him", he said, pointing a blackened and cracked digit at the fat guy standing in the aisle next to him. truer words were never spoken. the giggling men who witnessed the exchange all bobbed their heads in agreement.

what was i talking about? oh yes, i was ranting about "hip and funky" places and a little ass in the face, therefore it must be tokyo go go. i wandered in early one sunday evening for a drink and a snack. they have this sweet little happy hour deal where you get a choice of handrolls for three bucks and kirin on draft or hot sake for another two bucks. three for well cocktails.

the decor is "hip and funky". the food is good. the service is unbelievable. unbelievably bitchy (yes, that old sexist term is the best fit in this case). i've been coming here on rare occasion ever since they opened and the service has continued to astound me. i think they use the same personality exam as the federal government uses to screen for dmv workers. not a slag on all the servers and hostesses there but, well, it's been pretty consistent for me. for example, dropping by for the happy hour cheapo deal, our server exhibited surprise and a chilly disregard when we told her our order of a few beers and handrolls. "that's it?" was her response. "yes, just a little snack" we replied. "you're not kidding" she retorted as she snapped up the menus and walked away with nary the shadow of a smile. the retort is not common, but the chilliness is.

but back to the goodstuff, the food. happy hour hand rolls are tasty and included (on our visit) a choice of: shrimp tempura (with cucumber), unagi (with cucumber), spicy tuna (with cucumber), crab and smoked salmon (real crab, smoked salmon, spicy mayo and cucumber), hamachi (with scallion and tobiko), albacore poke (with onion, wakame and schichimi), veggie (chef's choice), dynamite (baked spicy scallops with wasabi tobiko), and sunshine (hamchi, cilantro, wasabi tobiko and quail egg). the handrolls are a decent size, the rice is well seasoned and the fish is high quality. the kirin draft is light and smooth and excellent.

if you're looking for a bargain (you don't want to get too thrifty when dealing with raw fish), don't mind a certain chill to the service you do get (be prepared to be aggresive in flagging down your server during happy hour - or better yet, just sit at the sushi bar), and crave some tasty sushi, tokyo go go is really a good value. and unlike most places, their happy hour is everday of the week: monday - saturday 5:30 - 7:00, sunday 5:00 - 6:30.

tokyo go go
3174 16th street
san francisco
415 864 2288

citysearch review

marouch, los angeles

2005-09-16T09:45:00.000-07:00

garnishes: pickled beets, olives, green onions, mint and hot peppers

tucked away in a faceless mini mall off santa monica boulevard and edgemont, with too few parking spaces and too many giant suvs, as are most business establishments in la, is marouch. probably the best middle eastern (lebanese-armenian) restaurant i've ever been to. of course i have yet to get myself to saha in san francisco, thus the probably part.

we showed up, a ravenous table of nine, at 8:00 pm on a saturday night. we had reservations but didn't need them as the place was about only 25% full. my friend, the picky eater and he who turned me on to this place couldn't believe it. i suppose it was due to the holiday weekend. all of la was eerily abandoned.

the interior is warm and inviting: there's a fountain by the door; the lighting is just dim enough to lend a certain flattering, wrinkle reducing light; the colors are warm; the tablecloths are white. it's a nice space. kinda klassy. spelled with a k, mind you.

cup of lentil soup ($2.50)
i started with a cup of lentil soup, which was thick and creamy, a bit more like a split pea soup than the thin version you'd find in an indian restaurant. served with bits of fried pita bread. it was good and hearty but paled in comparison to the rest of the meal.

fattoush ($5.00)
upping the ante, next came the fattoush. it was delicious. the dressing was neither too oily nor acidic, hitting a subtle note. there was a good balance of tomatoes, cucumbers, green onions, bell peppers and pita bread chunks. wholly satifying with no ingredient dominating. the pita was toasted and so retained some of its crunch in the salad.

hommos b-tehiny and fool maddamas ($8.95)
tahini and fava beans together in one plate, am i in heaven? these favas are cooked to a meltingly tender consistency and seasoned in lemon juice, garlic and olive oil, served in a nest of the the creamiest, garlic-iest, tastiest tahini. the favas were lightly tossed with some scallion, parsley and bits of tomatoes and had a light yet zesty flavor. the tahini was pure creamy garlic heaven.

babaghanouge ($ 6.95)
very very creamy and very very smoky. this dish had a nice tart bite from the lemon juice that balanced out the incredibly smoky flavor of the eggplant. served with a dollop of tomato, parsley and olive oil on the top. without a doubt this was the most distinctive and flavorful babaganouge i've ever had. it was my favorite dish of the entire meal.

mouhamara ($7.95)
"man, you gotta try this stuff", my friend the picky eater kept repeating, "it's unbelievable". and so i did. and i was not disappointed. for the uninitiated, mouhamara is, according the the marouch menu, "crushed walnuts mixed with hot red pepper paste and olive oil". this does not begin to describe this dish. first off, it is not in the least bit spicy, as you might expect it to be based on the "hot red pepper paste" part. the flavor is more reminiscent of a roasted red pepper paste - smoky, meaty and sweet, with the walnuts giving a nice crunch to the pate. served with a drizzle of olive oil and toasted almonds on the top.

mixed grill ($30.95)
off of the entree menu came this mixed grill for five. it was six skewers of chicken, beef, lamb, cut into giant chunks served over a bed of rice. the meat was reported to be succulent and well flavored but at about five bucks a skewer, the price seemed a bit on the steep side to me.

fresh baked pita bread
the meal is served with fresh baked pita bread. it was a little rubbery, like all pita bread that is not steaming hot or toasted, but with a wonderful and lightly smoky flavor.

marouch was a totally satisfying dining experience. the service was friendly and efficient, the ambiance was warm and welcoming, and the food was top notch yet reasonably priced. if, no, when you go, do not miss the unbelievable babaganough and the mouhamara.

marouch
4905 santa monica blvd. (nr edgemont)
los angeles
323 662 9325

citysearch review

pho fresco, los angeles

2005-09-09T08:52:00.000-07:00

all of my friends (yes folks, all TWO of 'em) have moved to los angeles. why? they all, without exception (meaning both of 'em) admit that although life in la can be hellish (smog, traffic, bad food, excessive plastic surgery) it also can be cheaper. and it's definitly warmer. plus, they all drag out that old excuse of "it was time for a change". so change they did and here i am all alone in my kingdom of fog and good food. and sometimes i take a trek down to hell-a. and i eat. and with rising gas prices, i try to eat cheap.

pho fresco is a little neighborhood vietnamese/thai place in tragically la trendy los feliz. it wins my heart because the entire decor, including the signage and name is recycled from it's predecessor, an italian joint called al fresco. tacky, no? hell yes!

the menu is divided into two sections: vietnamese and thai. i've only sampled the vietnamese dishes, being a big fan of lite, non-greazzzy fare. it's pretty good. and it's pretty durn cheap too.

here is the number fifteen, the bun chay dac biet - vegetarian. tender rice noodles piled atop a bed of shredded lettuce greens and bean sprouts and topped with carrot and daikon slivers, shitake mushrooms, tofu, and eight(!) fried veggie spring roll pieces! it comes with rice vinegar/soy dressing on the side to be added to your liking. all this for only $5.95. it is huge. it is a meal in itself.

on previous visits i've had the number seven, pho chay - vegetarian ($5.95). a gigantic bowl of rice noodles with tofu, mushrooms, carrots, and the usual vietnamese accompaniments (bean sprouts, lime, basil, etc.). with a light yet savory broth it's a decent rendition of your vietnamese vegetarian pho.

although the inside is a little reminiscent of an actual southeast asian restaurant (like someone's garage), the food is reliably decent, cheap, there's never a wait, you can bring your own booze, and the service has always been friendly. if you live in the neighborhood or happen to be in the vicinity and don't want to deal with fancy/overpriced los feliz fare, this is a good bet.

pho fresco
1769 hillhurst avenue
los angeles
323 906 0599

umpqua store, oregon

2005-09-07T08:30:00.000-07:00

umpqua, oregon. this place is really, but really out in the sticks. ever heard of it? umpqua. it sounds like something one of those pesky oompa loompas might chant in a charlie and the chocolate factory themed acid trip (but in reality it is named after the umpqua tribe of native americans). this "town" consists of a post office and general store (adjacent), a volunteer fire department (maybe) and some number of houses, trailers, pickup trucks and barns nestled deep in the formerly lush but now sporadically clear cut forests of oregon.

i don't know if you're familiar with oregon but there are only a few "major" cities, such as: the trucker hat wearin', meth-lab littered town of medford in the south; the perennially dreadlocked, filthy-hippy-birkenstock-shod denizens of eugene a bit further up north; and the, it's-so-far-up-north-it-might-as-well-be-washington, city of portland; and, hmmm, well, i guess that about covers it. umpqua is located way off of the five, between roseburg (about two hours north of medford) and eugene (about an hour and a half further north). you'll probably never find yourself here, but if you do, and if you're hungry, this is the only choice in town. and it's pretty good.

dinner, which is served only on weekends, consists of an entree plus your choice of foil wrapped baked potato or pesto pasta or rice pilaf (not recommended), plus a vegetable, plus a choice of salad or clam chowder. homemade bread is brought to the table. three types: honey wheat, white and a dark brown bread. they are all absolutely delicious - light and fluffy with a nice crust and excellent flavor.

the clam chowder and is highly recommended. the potatoes are cooked through yet still a little firm, not mushy. the broth is rich without being cloying and with none of the nasty thick gelatinousness that you find in some chowders.

blackened salmon ($16.95). fresh salmon blackened with a spicy and flavorful coating. the fish is juicy and tender. the vegetable of the night was broccoli, sadly served with a cheese sauce. i'm told that it's unusual for the veggies to be served with a sauce. but i have to admit, it was tasty in a white-trash kinda way.

usually only on the lunch menu, here are the fish and chips. the fish for the evening was halibut but sometimes can be cod. either way, it is dredged in batter and fried up very crispy. a winner.

baby back ribs ($16.95). this guy was gigantic. i mean really big. i took a picture with someone's forearm in the background for scale but i thought it looked prettier without the living body part. the meat was slow cooked and fell off of the bone. the sauce was tangy and sweet and smoky. so good, one of our party ordered a second batch to go for sandwiches.

pesto prawns ($15.95). big, juicy succulent prawns in a light cream pesto sauce tossed with linguine. the cream pesto sauce was, much like the chowder, rich and creamy without being too rich. by the end of the meal, the remaining cream sauce had not congealed into a solid mass. from a cardiologist's perspective, an excellent sign.

and the poor, sad vegetarian, what of her you might ask? well, not wanting to create a ruckus by asking for something special (although i feel pretty sure they would've been accomodating), the herbivore had the sides that accompanied the extra order of ribs. the salad was your standard iceberg variety loaded with cucumbers, tomatoes, olives and the like. the potato was a nice, well cooked russet, such as you might find at a steak house. the vegetable was straight from a trailer. or maybe the makeshift kitchen of a convenience store. and the bread was just fantastic. this bread rivals any acme or semifreddi or tartine loaves i've come across. plus, there is no corkage for the homemade moonshine you bring along.

and on the way out you can pick up a little something for the road from the front of the store.

sam's place
umpqua store
fort mckay road
umpqua, oregon

san jose tofu

2005-09-02T09:42:00.000-07:00

i've been going to san jose tofu for as long as i can remember, which despite years on drug abuse, i mean experimentation, i mean i never inhaled, reaches pretty far back - a least an hour or two. i was raised in the general vicinity (before there was even an apple ipod), and since moving away to other countries and other counties, i've spent hours journeying back either physically or mentally to this little mecca for chunks of my creamy, curdy, melt in you mouth soybean heaven. you haven't had tofu till you've tried this stuff.

this is a little family run operation located in san jose's rinky-dink japantown. just a little store front with a tiny counter separating the steaming sinks and vats of incubating tofu gnomes from the "dry" section that houses a couple of refrigerators, some veggies and packaged goods. it's a bit of a throwback to be able to watch the tofu guy wading around in his rubbers amidst the wetlands of tofu creation. and when you buy the stuff, the lady just scoops it out of the sink - kinda like waching your lobster get plucked from the tank.

the process of tofu making involves first soaking the soybeans, followed by boiling and straining to remove the pulp from the juice. essentially the same process as making soymilk. this pulp, which is called okara and can be used for other dishes, is then removed. at san jose tofu they put the okara into a plastic garbage can and you can get yourself a bag or two of the stuff to take home. the many uses for okara are pretty surprising: you can use it for breads, veggie burgers, okara "chicken" nuggets, or more traditionally simmered with dashi, veggies and seasonings. if you're interested in the pan-asian history of okara, there's a pretty interesting article here. being a fan of recycling, i get pretty excited about using this tofu by-product.

the soymilk is then slowly mixed with either nigari (natural magnesium chloride) or calcium sulfate until soft curds form. the curds are then poured into a tofu pressing box and pressed until firm. once the desired firmness has been reached, the blocks are then submerged into cold water where they await their lobster-like fate.

prices are 1.70 per block with a slight discount for larger quantities.

this tofu is not like anything you can buy from the grocery store. it is neither silken nor firm but rather light and curd-y. more like a soft pressed fresh cottage cheese. the flavor is clean and light. it is best served cold and with grated ginger, green onion and soy sauce. "please don't put teriyaki sauce on me" mr. tofu says.

if you're in the area, or are just another tofu freak like myself, you need to check this place out. general tip: to keep your tofu fresh (either san jose tofu or your general grocery store garden variety), change its water every day. be a shame to go all the way to san jose for a stinky rotten white log. here is a sfgate article on san jose's japantown with a mention of sj tofu.

san jose tofu
175 jackson street
san jose, ca
408 292 7026
mon - fri 9-6, sat 9-5

mi lindo yucatan

2005-08-18T02:07:00.000-07:00

on valencia street, wedged between one of my favorite murals in the city (on the north side of the building) and the skanky-looking residential hotel royan on it's right, lies mi lindo yucatan. the inside is spare, colorful, homey and casual with some of the friendliest waitstaff around who will be more happy to converse with you in your stammering, infantile, badly accented spanish.

you won't find the usual mexican food menu items here. as you might have guessed from their name, mi lindo yucatan specialize in yucatecan food. this seems to translate into english as pork. you won't find no stinkin' enchiladas here, nor burritos, nor nachos - if that's what you're hankering for, go to los jarritos. or maybe chevy's.

we've been coming here for the last year or so, since we returned to san franciso after a stint living in mexico, and the food is pretty consistently good. aside from some deep-fried appetizers there is only one vegetarian option, but it is darn tasty and i never tire of it.

this is the poc chuc. it is grilled pork in a black bean puree served with an assortment of garnishes and homemade tortillas. the pork is reported to be succulent and tender. in fact our diner reported that it was a shame to put such good pork in such a heavy sauce. this dish is served with an assortment of garnishes (radishes, pickled onion, lime wedges, diced tomato) and thick homemade tortillas. this is the carnivor's second favorite dish on the menu.

for the humble eater of twigs and bark, mi lindo yucatan offers the plato vegetariano. in the past the vegetables were served brochette style (on skewers), they have since gotten a little more artful in their presentation. this may just look like a pile of vegetables and egg and rice and, hey, i guess it is, but it tastes really good. the vegetables are roasted and have a deep smoky flavor. served over a bed of saffron rice with a couple of hardboiled eggs on the side (if you eat 'em), it makes a satisfying meal for the mouth, the belly and the eyes.

my carnivore always gets the same thing, the conchinita pibil. roasted pork in a banana leaf served in a red achiote sauce. this is served with a garnish of pickled onion and more of those delicious homemade tortillas. the pork is reputed to be out of this world - tender and juicy and succulent, and if my ears didn't deceive me, i think i might have heard it squeal with each bite. the sauce is slightly smoky with the pickled onion adding a nice tart touch.

lastly, we ordered the carne asada. served with seasoned rice, a green salad and a side of black beans this was probably the biggest entree of the night. i cannot report on the quality of the steak but every last shred was eaten by the end of the evening.

the tab came to about 15 bucks a piece for one entree and one drink each, which is a pretty good deal for the quality and quantity of food. don't come here if you're looking for a limon or delfina experience. do come if you want a little po chuc at a good price in a no-nonsense little restaurant wedged between my favorite mural and a residential hotel.

for reviews:
yelp reviews
citysearch reviews

mi lindo yucatan
401 valencia street
san francisco, 415 861 4935

UPDATED (1/06): on recent visits during the winter of 2005 i am saddened to say that it seems that mi lindo yucatan on valencia street may be on an downward trend. although the dishes were not terrible and some were still excellent the overall sparkle and quality has dropped.

yum yum house, lunch special

2005-08-05T10:43:00.000-07:00

the other day i met up with my friend the clown for some lunchtime chow. feeling lazy and a little broke, i opted for a near-by cheapie chinese joint called YumYum House. for years i'd avoided the place like the plague for two reasons, the first of which is their name (come on, "yum yum", you gotta be kidding me!), the second of which is their neon sign out front. now don't get me wrong. i like neon. in fact, i love neon. i love las vegas, i love the 500 club's martini sign, i love christmas time just for all the strings of christmas lights and tacky flashing santa and reindeers parked on balcony's across the city. drinks, holidays, strip joints, dens of gambling, all of these go so well with eye searing flashing lights, but not food. no way. food and neon do not mix. so it took me years and more than just a little cajoling from some friends to try the place out. and y'know what, it's not too bad. unlike my friends, who rave about the place, in my humble opinion, it, to quote my moms, is "pretty good".

between 11 am and 3 pm you can score a lunch special for about five bucks. this comes with a bowl of soup (always vegetarian) and an egg roll. on the day of my visit the soup was hot and sour. it was good. not overly gelatinous and nice and spicy.

my clown-y buddy had a prawn and vegetables dish, whose name i can't recall ($4.95). lots of prawns in a flavorful but not spicy sauce, served with a plop of white rice and an indifferent eggroll bathed in a neon sticky sweet sauce. he claimed that he really liked his dish but kept repeating that he would be coming back again and getting what i ordered. i had a childhood flashback of having to bolt down my food as quickly as possible before my brother could finish his dinner and start poaching off my plate. needless to say i had indigestion for dessert.

my other, more carnivorous, dining companion selected the mandarin spicy eggplant with chicken and prawns ($4.95). i don't eat chicken or prawns so i have no idea what this tasted like, but the sauce appeared to be the same as the one on both mine and my clown-y pal's plate. good chicken and prawn to vegetables ratio, also served with an eggroll. for some reason his eggroll was kinda sogga, unlike ours which were very crispy. he also claimed to like his dish but kept stabbing his fork into mine witha distressing freddy kreuger like frequency.

what delicious morsel was on my plate, you might wonder. gold nuggets? banana cream pie? raisinettes? no, nothing more than my humble friend mr. beancurd, known to his pals as to fu. on this day he was wearing his best deepfried crispy coated suit-jacket with the peanut lapels, also known as kung pao vegetable and bean cakes (4.50). boy was this good. the tofu was nice and deepfried without being too greasy, lots of vegetables (zucchini, mushrooms, red bell peppers) cooked to al dente perfection. although the dish touted itself as spicy it wasn't, which annoyed me. all of our dishes were supposed to be spicy but none of us, with the exception of the clown, come to think of it, broke out even a tiny little bead of sweat. maybe it was the red nose, wig and white face paint (you know that stuff just does not breathe!) that got his temperature up. with a small addition of hot sauce i got my dish up to a happy level of heat.

and the verdict: for five bucks you can't go wrong. although i wouldn't come across town to eat here, i wouldn't hesitate to recommend it as a place to grab an uber-cheap and tasty and filling lunch, or for dinner or takeout if you live in the neighborhood. it doesn't commit the number one most frequently committed crime of chinese eateries, that of being too greasy. or greazzie, as they say in texas.

and for dessert, if you have a little room left in your red rubber nose, as did my pal el-clown-0, scoot on over to bombay bazaar and ice creamery for some unique flavors (rose, chai, saffron, etc.). pictured here is the mango ($2.25, single). it was very, very rich, almost buttery tasting (but then again i very rarely eat dairy), but the mango flavor was ka-pow!, or should i say "yum yum" mango-delicious-intense. they give out little tastes if you want to try first.

bombay bazaar and ice creamery
552 valencia street
san francisco
415 861 3995
for reviews, go here and here

yum yum house
581 valencia street
san francisco
415 861 8698
lunch specials from 11am to 3pm
for reviews, go here and here.

mangetsu (formerly koi sushi) brentwood

2005-08-03T09:54:00.000-07:00

mangetsu, formerly koi sushi is tucked away into a newish strip mall on sand creek road in brentwood. the east bay brentwood of gigantic, anonymous housing developments that erupt from the parched earth like zits on a burger-eating, milkshake-gulping, playstation-fiddling teenager.

so koi, i mean mangetsu (which means full moon), is a reasonably pleasant space, much what you might expect from a strip mall. functional, clean, basic. the service is very friendly and well-meaning if not particularly well-polished, but then again they only recently opened and it isn't really that sort of a place anyway.

we wandered in around 1:30 on a monday afternoon. there were a few tables of diners and one fellow at the sushi bar. my moms ordered the sushi don ($7.50), which is basically sushi rice with slabs of sashimi on top.

although the menu specified that only one type of fish could be ordered (both in japanese and english), our server assured us that we could choose more than one. moms chose the hamachi and maguro. with both meals a very nice little green salad of iceberg lettuce and very thinly grated daikon and carrot bathed in a creamy miso dressing was served, followed by a mild bowl of miso soup. the verdict on the fish? "pretty good", which is what she always says, except for when she says "not so good". who knows? it looked good. the portion was about right, not too big, not too small.

because it was probably about 100 degrees that day i didn't order my usual udon or soba, but instead chose the yasai (vegetable) sushi lunch ($8.65), and was plenty glad i did. usually the veggie sushi combos are just so-so with the usual seaweed wrapped suspects blandly lurking on a plate. but just look at this.

what a feast for the eyes! seatbelted onto their little pats of seasoned rice were: pickled carrot, sweet pickled radish, creamy avocado, cool refreshing cucumber slices and a highly seasoned sweet kanpyo.

and the maki was something i've never seen before: thinly sliced strings of daikon and carrot (unseasoned) with spicy radish sprouts and the seaweed on the inside. it was, to be truthful, a little bland with just a hint of spicyness from the sprouts, but i give the chef full points for creativity. it perked up quite a bit once i drizzled a little of the lemon into the center. i assumed that was what it was for...

dinners prices range from $9.25 for a saba shioyaki, to $16.25 for a 2 item combination, to $19.50 for the sushi or sashimi combination dinner. lunches run from $7.65 to $13.00.

the verdict? "better than miraku" moms says.

mangetsu
50 sand creek road
brentwood, ca 94513
925 513 2268
mon - fri 11:00 - 2:30
mon - thurs 5:00 - 9:30
fri-sat 5:00 - 10:00

osha thai noodle house, valencia street

2005-07-29T00:14:00.000-07:00

in all the years that i've lived in the mission i've never, not once, stepped foot inside osha thai noodle house on valencia street. why? well, the prices seemed just a tad high and i'm just not a huge fan of thai food, what will all that fish sauce and seafood floating around. plus, it's always looked so damn crowded every time i've walked by. i don't like crowds, it makes me think of lemmings. lemmings and good food do not usually mix. or do they?

but now that i'm older and more inclined to spend more than ten dollars on a meal, i decided to give this little thai restaurant a shot, mostly due to the fact that a friend of mine and a very picky eater swears by the place.

my first visit was during the lunch hour, around 1 pm on a weekday and although there were a few diners scattered around, the place was anything but crowded. i was pleased.

to start we ordered the tofu satay with peanut sauce ($ 5.50). it was absolutely delicious. the fried and grilled tofu slightly seasoned with curry was smoky and chewy and crispy and perfect with the thick peanut sauce and cucumber-onion relish that accompanied it. it was just so darn meaty. it was a great start.

and then we waited. and waited. and waited. just as i signalled to the waiter to see if perhaps our order had been forgotten our main dishes arrived. first came the pad see you ($ 7.95), a pan fried noodle dish with tofu, garlic, egg (omitted at our request) and chinese broccoli in a black bean sauce. it tasted like they'd forgotten the sauce or something. it was bland. it wasn't bad and tasted much better once i'd added some condiments. on the positive side, however, it wasn't greasy like most thai fried noodle dishes.

and then came the pumpkin curry with tofu ($7.95). kabocha squash, bell pepper, bamboo shoots, sweet basil in a red curry sauce. wow! we requested medium spicy and we got it medium spicy, meaning that it left a heat on the tongue without searing it. the curry was sweet and creamy and rich and spicy all at the same time. it tasted like it had a coconut milk base but the coconut was not particularly assertive. it really hit the perfect balance.

that was the first visit. the second visit was during an early dinner. we again ordered the tofu satay and pumpkin curry. both dishes were as good as the first time, although much more beautifully presented. on this visit, my dining companion ordered the salmon and prawn satay with peanut sauce ($6.95), which she really liked. we then shared the fresh mango salad ($7.95) with the seafood on the side. this dish did not impress. it was too fishy from the fish sauce, had too little mango (extruded in distressing worm like shapes) and the dressing was just not very assertive. my first instinct was to go with the papaya salad, which i've heard good things about. maybe next time. we also shared an order of the special of the night - a thai eggplant dish with basil, garlic, black mushrooms over tofu. again, this dish was just okay. although the flavors were good, it lacked a richness - it seemed almost watery. the eggplant was cooked very nicely, a little firm to the bite. i think the dish would have benefitted immensely from the addition of the filet of sole, which was it's intended base. the other star of the evening was the coconut rice. if you like coconut, you have to order this very coconut-ty and rich-but-not-too-over-the-top rice to accompany your meal.

for drinks we had thai ice tea (very very sweet-too sweet for me) and a rockin' lychee sake soju cocktail (very very tasty-i had two). although not crowded, service again was a little off, with a very long lag time between the appetizers and the main courses.

overall, the food is good with some real standouts. i think the key is to order carefully, culling recommendations before you go and making sure to request some condiments on the side, just in case. the ambiance is nice - a fairly spacious, light filled, modern dining room, it's "hip" without being annoying. portions are fair to large, they were really nice about leaving out fish sauce here and there, and hey, the place is open till midnight.

osha thai noodle house
819 valencia street
san francisco, ca
415 826 7738

maggie mudd

2005-07-27T09:54:00.000-07:00

maggie mudd's is a little ice cream shop on cortland avenue not too far from wildside west, one of my favorite bars-with-a-killer-backyard/garden/patio that you can drink in during one of those rare, sultry san francisco nights. located just past the majority of restaurants on the strip, you can't miss it... it is marked by a gigantic, six foot tall ice cream cone standing sentinal outside. and you shouldn't miss this place, especially if you are an ice-cream jonesing vegan. or are vegan friendly. or just vegan curious. for those falling into none of the preceeding catagories, they do indeed carry the real, six cylindar, twelve udder thing. and just for the record, i've never met a vegan ice cream i've liked. that is until now.

pictured below is the mexican chocolate (in front) and the mudslide (rear).

both are vegan and i swear to god you abosolutely can't tell. almost. sweet and creamy and delicious. and in addition to "dairy free" ice creams, they crank out a largish selection of regular ice creams, gelatos, low fat/no sugar added ice creams, sherberts, ice cream cakes, shakes, frozen yogurt, waffle cones (also vegan!), and the list goes on and on and on.

the vegan selections use one of two different bases: soy or coconut milk. the mexican chocolate flavor is soy-based with a good strong chocolate flavor with just enough cinnamon to come through without being bitter or overpowering. the ice cream itself if creamy creamy creamy, though i could tell, just slightly, that it wasn't the real deal. it was just a tad lighter than dairy ice cream, which is not a bad thing. the mudslide, on the other hand, is better than regular old lactose based scoops. it uses a coconut base and if you like coconut this is the way to go. as we all know, coconut tastes really good and creamy and fatty because it's really bad for you. this is why it tastes so good. the mudslide has a thicky hearty coconut tinged chocolate based and is stuffed full of brownie bits, nuts (i think), gooey streaks of chocolate, chunks of chocolate. wow. it's insane.

for more information they have a website with a menu and scrumptious looking pictures.

maggie mudd
903 cortland avenue, san francisco
415 641 5291

ryowa (formerly kobe), berkeley

2005-07-21T10:24:00.000-07:00

i really wanted to love this place, i really did. when i used to go to the mountain view branch when they first opened i did, i really did like it a lot. sigh. tv blaring japanese variety shows, selection of newspapers and comic type books to browse, great big bowls of free kimchee, endless supplies of barley tea, house-made ramen noodles....what was not to like?

and the berkeley branch has all of the same elements, except for the kimchee that was, during my visit, made of what looked to be prarie grass (probably chives) and not cabbage. it reminded me of the stuff my cat eats just before he throws up.

i ordered the vegetarian ramen (6.50), which was, as you can see, big. it came with a little carrot, wakame seaweed, spinach, daikon sprouts, seasoned shitake mushrooms and a bit of toasted nori. the broth was interesting. a little sweet and quite nutty. neither like the clear fish/pork/seaweed stock broths i'm accustomed to, nor like a miso broth. it tasted peanut-ty but probably was sesame based. it was good, not great. the noodles themselves came out undercooked. they were a little too chewy but maybe this was intentional because by the time i got 1/4 of the way into my meal they had softened up to just about the perfect firmnes. this was the good.

and this was the bad.

a bowl of chilled noodle ($8.50!!!), available only in the summertime. it was awful. the noodles were undercooked. the sauce had no real flavor or zing to it. it was topped with pickled ginger, a little cucumber, some canned corn, and some hard chewy pickled strips (dried pickled daikon? i have no idea). the only predominant flavor was that of pickles and canned corn. it tasted bland at the very best, pickled and canned at the worst. oh, and it came with 1/2 of a hard boiled egg with a pale yellow yolk sporting a green halo.

the place, at lunchtime, was filled with japanese people, most of whom seemed to be ordering the lunch sets which included a choice of ryowa ramen/soy sauce ramen/soybeans ramen/butter corn ramen, all accompanied by 3 pieces of gyoza and either steamed rice (7.00) or for .50 cents more, fried rice. this seems like a pretty good deal and maybe the one to go with.

although i did not sample them, the gyoza did look good....perfectly browned and crisp looking little fat pockets of stuffed dough. and they have a vegetarian version on the menu for 3.50.

the verdict? at all costs avoid the cold noodle dish, oreder yourself a lunch special and kick back and watch a little japanese variety show programming.

other people seem to love this place. to check out their rave reviews, click here and here and here .

ryowa ramen
2068 university avenue (near shattuck)
berkeley, ca

mescolanza

2005-07-08T23:36:00.000-07:00

a few weekends ago, on a sunday evening, my consort (i just love that word!) and i had just finished watching the hitchhiker's guide to the galaxy at the four star on clement street. not on the large screen, mind you, but the small one, which makes me feel like i'm watching a friend's vacation slides projected in the "family den" of a cookie cutter, pre-fabricated house buried deep in the bowels of a newly constructed bedroom community. which really gets my goat. the screen, not the housing. heck, after living crammed into overpriced and undersized san francisco apartments with zero amenities, those tract homes don't look all that bad. anyway, back to my other rant. if i am watching a movie on a screen that 75% smaller than the main screen, in a room that is 75% smaller, why, oh in god's name why, am i paying exactly the same admission price as those fools getting all the big screen action? if the ticket were discounted even just a little, it would not make me quite so steaming mad. now don't get me wrong - this is no beef against the four star, which i love, or the "little" roxie, which i also love, but it's the principle of the thing, y'know?

anyhow, this is how i ended up dining at mescolanza, a little italian joint basically across the street from the four star. i know, i know, i could have gone to pizzete 211 just a block down, but i didn't feel like pizza.

so back to clement street. this little strip is interesting and jam packed with dining options. there appeared to be a several promising looking places: thai, indian, a meat/organic deli place (ak subs, owned by the same people who own the south of market one), a vietnamese banh mi deli, at least one japanese place, and others i'm sure i overlooked. so as my beady little black eyes peered at the window-side dining customers in these venues, undoubtedly frightening them into an early bout of indigestion, the place that appeared to have the largest clientele and the more authentic (oh, i know, bad, bad un-p.c. me) looking clientele was this mescolanza place. so in we went.

and on a sunday evening the place was almost full. having drunk a flask of booze and a eaten a bag of popcorn (all in the spirit of the free-wheelin', free-associatin', steam-of-consciousness spouting movie selection of the evening, i assure you) we weren't so very hungry and so skipped over the appetizers and hit a few pasta dishes. my dining companion ordered the evening's special of fresh spinach lingune in a clam sauce and i, sucker that i am for gnocchi, selected the spinach gnocchi in a light tomato cream sauce.

now let me tell you that the first time i had gnocchi was in italy. in rome. in a little outdoor trattoria not too far from the train station. and it was beautiful. it melted in my mouth like a piece of chocolate. like a piece of that hazelnut chocolate i used to love as a kid, i think it was called ice cubes, or some such thing. since then i've tried, how i've tried to find that gnocchi of my young, virginal dreams. and mescolanza came close. the closest yet.

but first the bad. the dining room is basically a box with poor acoustics. it is not a warm place, despite the murals on the walls. some reviewers on citysearch say it's "cozy" and maybe it is if you don't end up plopped on a center table. where we were seated, in the eye of the hurricane, it felt cozy like someone's garage. but maybe i'm just sensitive to that, having lived in mexico where, more likely than not, you are dining in someone's garage. one of the specials of the night, the spinach linguine with clams ( about $14.00) was way too salty. the pasta itself was excellent, cooked slightly al dente with a good strong spinach flavor. the menu claims their pastas are house-made and i believe them. the clams were another high point as they were very fresh.

and the good. well, here it is:

oh, i know it doesn't look good, but looks can be and often are deceiving. it was divine. the spinach gnocchi (about $11.00) just melted in my mouth. an excellent choice for your toothless dining pal with the beady black eyes. the light tomato cream sauce looked brutish but tasted subtle and delicious. and the best part was that it was gigantic. it was the best gnocchi i've tasted since that late afternoon in rome. really.

and they had some rockin' looking authentic italian looking pizzas on the menu (thin crust with some blistering, minimal toppings) for around ten bucks a piece.

the clam eater wasn't impressed with his dish but loved mine (grrrr....back off bivalve eater!) and he doesn't even like gnocchi. the next time i will sample the pizette as an appetizer followed by my creamy dreamy pillows of roman fantasy, the almightly gnocchi. for more reviews go here citysearch reviewers give this place a whopping 9.8, which i think is crazy-talk. based on our two dishes i'd give it more like a 9, whatever that means.

mescolanza
2221 clement street
san francisco, ca
415 668 2221
menu

ramblas, happy hour!

2005-06-25T20:05:00.000-07:00

now doesn't just looking at that make you happy?

let me just say it outright and be done with it. i generally don't like tapas. they're full o' meat and cheese and eggs and sometimes even intestines. i don't like picaro. i don't like esperpento. when i was travelling in spain, granted the northern part known as galicia where you can see such un-spanish things as actual red-heads, dairy cows and the bread comes with butter, it was difficult to find stuff to eat. my almost non-existent spanish language skills coupled with a vegetarian diet led to many, oh so many comidas of fried eggs and french fries. every time i tried to order something radical like ceci beans or some other non-egg non-french fry dish, it always came floating in a pile of tripe. my health took a sharp nose dive from sucking down too many glasses of cheap red wine, too many french fries, at least three dozen hen-houses of eggs, and packet after packet of the cheapest cigarettes available, smoked to the stinking filthy blackened filter in order to quell the gnawing hunger. next time i head to the southern climes.

but as usual, i digress. the point is that i don't usually like tapas joints. but i like ramblas. this place gets some pretty mixed reviews. you can check them out here or here or here. pretty much everyone gives the paella the thumbs down and the sangria the thumbs up. but if you follow my advice you will not be disappointed. go during happy hour. from 5-7 monday thru thursday you can get draft beers for two bucks a piece and well drinks and sangria for three bucks. order one or two small plates and make good use of the bread and you can walk out before the place becomes a noise and chaos bomb. you can walk out slightly tipsy and onto your next dining or drinking destination. and you can do all of this for around twenty bucks for two.

and be sure to order the mushrooms ($7.50). a giant plate of juicy, succulent, perfectly browned assorted fungal deliciousness such as these pictured below await you. they are utterly, unapologetically tasty. which often makes me suspect meat juices. but i've never asked.

other items i've sampled are the patatas bravas. cubes of fried potatoes perfectly fried - golden crispy on the outside and fluffy on the inside. they are accompanied by a little bowl of red sauce (the bravas part, perhaps?), but it is lame (watery and flavorless) and i usually shunt it aside, in much the same manner i was shunted aside during junior high school dances. and high school dances. and college parties. and...oh nevermind. also sampled were the grilled asparagus spears. fat, succulent, juicy they are excellent. so juicy, in fact, i squirted my dining companion in the eye when i bit into one. they come with bacon but i had that put on the side for the omnivore.

i can't vouch for the meat-y dishes but if you hit ramblas during the happy hour when it's: (1) not crowded (2) there are some delicious beers on draft for two bucks...three for sangria, and (3) and you order any of the three aforementioned small plates, you will not be disappointed.

557 valencia street
san francisco
565 0207

takara at lunchtime

2005-06-14T15:44:00.000-07:00

last weekend my moms came into town to stock up on her supply of japanese grocery items and, as always, we had lunch in japantown. for years, strictly out of habit we'd grab a quick bite at osakaya in the kintetsu mall's western wing. really mediocre. sub-mediocre actually. i don't recommend it. then someone from chowhound turned us onto kansai, which is now our favorite lunchtime spot. great food. great service. sadly however they were fully booked with some private event on that day. "hmmm", i thought to myself, "i've been meaning to try takara. maybe the fates are telling me that today is the day". at about 1:00 pm on a saturday afternoon we headed over to the eastern wing of the mall.

fist off, it was packed with lots of japanese. we waited for about five minutes for a table and i took this to be a good sign.

the lunch menu was quite extensive with a variety of confusing lunch specials options. between the three of us we ordered the "lunch box" (5.95, i think), the lunch combination with sashimi and tempura (12.95, or something like that), and the sansai soba (7.50 or so).

the lunch box was a great deal. for that day it consisted of chicken teriyaki, california roll and tempura. it came with miso soup and rice. for the price it was a good value but nothing stood out as being much above average except the tempura. the chicken came covered in a very runny soupy teriyaki sauce and the other items were, well, average.

the lunch combination was considerably smaller than the lunch box. again, it came with rice, soup and some tsukemono (really just lightly salted and wilted cabbage). the sashimi was good and fresh but the portion was smaller than usual. the tempura was pretty good - vegetables thinly sliced and well cooked (not crunchy, as sometimes happens), with a light, delicate and lacey batter that just clung to the sliced vegetables. it consisted of two pieces of shrimp and four vegetables (pumpkin, carrot, eggplant and green bean). sadly the rice that accompanied all the dishes was mushy. the rice is, for me, a true measure of the attention a japanese kitchen is putting into it's food. my mom liked her order okay but her comment was that kansai was way better.

i went with the sansai soba, being a real noodle soup freak. on the plus side there was a very generous amount of sansai vegetables in the soup and the noodles were not overcooked. on the minus, well, the broth was black. moms called it tokyo style, which i guess is saltier than kansai style, but it was just way too salty, even for me, and i've been known to eat salt straight, i kid you not. it would've been more appropriate for dipping. definitely not for drinking. it made me sad.

i'm a little baffled since i've heard such good things about takara. granted the positive reviews have been for dinnertime dining experiences, but should a restaurant really be so different between lunch and dinner? considering the mediocre food and the brusque service (didn't i mention the service was brusque) i don't think i'll be returning to takara again. at least not for lunch. maybe i'll check it out at dinner and see if it improves. if you want a reliable lunch in japantown, check out kansai. review to come.

takara restaurant
22 peace plaza, suite 202
(eastern building of kintetsu mall, 2nd floor)
san francisco, ca
415 921 2000

the window restaurant

2005-06-07T16:15:00.000-07:00

i finally made it over to the newly reopened (in it's old space, plus the adjacent shop formerly known as friend's cafe) "the window" restaurant. years ago, before they shut down and i moved away to the badlands of mexico, i used to frequent this tasteful little space for some very decent lunch specials. when i returned to san francisco i was saddened to see that it was gone and wondered what the heck happened. soooo i was pretty excited to see the signs on the old shop front announcing the return of the window (although somehow i remember it being called windows, maybe that's just my creaky-old-age-addled-memory, though). joined by my lunch-special seeking friend "the clown" (not a derogatory term for in fact he is a professional clown and can twist a pretty mean balloon sculpture to boot) we readied ourselves for a walk down culinary memory lane. many a leisurely afternoon has been spent lingering over rice plates and hot tea here.

it's still a very warm, relaxing and light filled space. two pots of towering bamboo flank a small gold buddha that greets you as you walk in the front door. the walls are covered with warm colors and the furniture has a shiny dark wood look. i am of that camp that thinks particle board looks "ok", so i'm no judge of authenticity. it has the same look and feel as the old "window" except that it's bigger.

at 1:15 pm on a tuesday afternoon most of the smaller section (the original space) was filled with diners, both solo and in small group of two or three. it looked like most people were ordering from the lunch menu.

a pot of hot tea was served as soon as we were seated. i always like it when i get a whole pot of tea, especially when it's one of those sunny but freezing-cold and windy san francisco afternoons. we each ordered rice plates: the mixed vegetable tofu in curry coconut sauce and the mixed vegetable with black mushroom (5.95 each). to start we were served cups of soup (vegetarian, the server informed me as i suspiciously sniffed at it like a truffle hunting hog) which seemed to be some sort of corn egg-drop concoction. i found the soup to be bland and overly thickened with cornstarch. while not horribly offensive it had nothing to recommend it.

my rice plate, the mixed vegetables with black mushrooms was a mixture of baby corn, bean sprouts, baby bok choy, celery, bamboo shoots, water chestnuts, carrots, black mushrooms, straw mushrooms, fried tofu and sugar peas. cooked tender crisp in a light sauce that struck just the right note, supporting the vegetables without standing out. it was neither soupy nor gelatinous nor greasy. when i saw how plain (yes, code word for bland) it looked i immediately requested an arsenal of flavoring backups (hot sauce, soy sauce, salt, pepper, pumpkin pie spice) just in case. as it turned out nothing but the hot sauce (i like things spicy) was needed. yet another example of looks misleading, although most of my experience has been with beautifully presented food tasting so-so.

my friend the clown ordered the mixed vegetable tofu in curry coconut sauce. this was also very good. the sauce was rich and velvety with a strong curry body that, while not spicy, did leave a little warmth on the tongue afterward. the curry tasted a bit like japanese curry or the burmese curry dish called poodhi. having been raised on japanese curry rice (or cully lice, as some call it) i found it extremely comforting. fried tofu, broccoli, carrots and what seemed to be bits of (fried!) potato bobbed in the sauce. there might have been other vegetables in the pot but i only tasted a small amount. you don't want to anger a clown by hogging all his food. if you do, the red nose and big shoes come off and you're in big trouble.

after finishing every last grain of rice on our plates and complaining about how full we were, we requested a second pot of tea and ordered desert. fried bananas with coconut ice cream. pieces of banana wrapped in wonton wrappers and deep fried until the banana is creamy-smooth and the wrapper crispy light. i don't know how they do it but despite the deep frying, these little artery stopping babies were neither greasy nor soggy. the wrapper was light and crispy, the banana creamy-dreamy. drizzled over the top was, uh, i'm sure of it, aunt jemimah's imitation maple-flavored pancake syrup, in other words, high fructose corn syrup with artificial flavorings and colorings. luckily there was very little of it and easily pushed off to the side and pointedly ignored. there was a selection of a few different flavors of ice cream to choose from: coconut, green tea, and hmmm maybe ginger? our choice, the coconut, had a deep mature coconut flavor (macapuno, they call it at mitchell's) and it had an airy texture, almost whipped (which i really like) with a few bits of dried unsweetened coconut laced throughout. this mound of coconut heaven was crowned with thorns. pure horror. an unsightly blob of reddi-whip and a canned maraschino cherry that trailed a distressing bloodstain of artifically colored high fructose corn syrup in its wake. again, easily shunted aside but an inexplicable choice. moral of the story: never over-accessorize. especially with cheap costume jewelry. unless you're a gum-smacking truck stop waitress named flo.

with twenty nine different rice plates, four noodle dishes and three fried rice dishes on the lunch special menu at 5.95 a pop i'll definitely go back to the window for many a leisurely lunch. hold the maraschino cherry.

window "southeast asia cuisine"
211 valenica street, san francisco
415 626 7750
www.thewindowrestaurant.com

UPDATEd (1/06): i've been to this place for lunch at least a dozen times and it is consistently very good...have yet to experience a mis-step in food or service. still highly recommended.

all star tamale stand, farmers market

2005-05-26T20:01:00.000-07:00

summer is coming upon us and that makes me think of giant tsunamis of fog roaring over twin peaks every afternoon, farmer's markets exploding with produce from the central valley and delta, and...tamales. yes, tamales. i don't know about you but there is nothing like all that fresh green produce, deep burgundy cherries, bloody red beets, succulent peaches and snow white daikon radish to get me into the mood for something heavy and rib sticking. specifically, all star tamales, a little tamale truck that rolls through the bay area's farmers markets selling a huge variety of very tasty tamales, like: green pasilla, picadillo, chicken mole, pork mole, green chile and cheese, green pork, red pork, black bean and cheese, vegetable, beef, spinach and cheese, red chicken, green chicken and sweet corn. they're pretty big and at 2.50 each or two for 4.75, not a bad price.

this past wednesday at the farmer's market i picked up these guys.

the masa was very good, a fairly fluffy dough not at all leaden or overly dense with excellent corn flavor tightly wrapped in a generous few layers of corn husks.

the chicken tamale was your basic shredded chicken in a very light red sauce, just enough to keep if from being dry. nothing gourmet, just a nice honest shredded chicken-y bit of goodness.

the vegetable tamale was generously filled with a variety of veggies, including broccoli, which might make some purists shudder, but the very concept of a veggie tamale would probably do that anyway, regardless of the presence of broccoli. it was very tasty. in fact, the texture of the dough and it's nice flavor made me very suspicious that my old nemesis mr. lard might be lurking about, but since living in mexico i've adopted a policy not unlike the military's attitude towards gays - don't ask, don't tell.

the only downside was the salsas. they were pretty (but we already know that looks don't mean much) and the guy gave me a very generous portion (and size really isn't everything) of them, but sadly they didn't quite live up to the tamales. the green one was a tomatillo salsa that lacked both heat and zing, tasting watered down. the light red one was a tomato-chile salsa that also was very bland. the worst offender was the dark red salsa which tasted like straight watered down tomato sauce. granted these might be meant simply as a sauce to moisten up the tamales without imparting any flavor of their own, but to be honest, the masa was so good that additional sauce wasn't necessary, and that stuff just seemed like impertinence. speaking of salsa, go to my other blog here for the most awesome dried red chile salsa recipe.

so if you're at the farmer's market and your stomach's a-rumblin' or you don't feel like all those darn veggies for dinner, you can't go wrong with a little all star tamale. just bring your own salsa.

all star tamales can be found at the following farmer's markets:
walnut creek broadway street (sundays, 8-1)
san francisco civic center (wednesdays 7:30-4:30)
san francisco alemeny street (saturdays 7-2)
oakland 9th and broadway (sundays 8-2)
benicia (thursday night 5-9)

damo sushi, pleasant hill

2005-05-22T13:49:00.000-07:00

finding good food in san francisco is a no-brainer. even what passes for mediocre eats here would be considered very good in other places, both near and far. we are spoilt indeed and every time i head out to the extreme east bay to visit my moms (think past pittsburg and you're on the right track) i'm painfully reminded of this. it's all the more difficult since she really prefers to eat japanese food, being japanese and all. i cannot tell you how many terrible "japanese" (i use the term very loosely) meals i've had in the five years she's lived out there, everything from treacley sweet teriyaki skewers that instantly burned cavities through the enamel of my teeth, to restaurants that served slices of (oh the horror!) pineapple in the green salad, to bento boxes filled with limp, flaccid tempura and low-grade mushy rice. which is why i'm writing this post about a very passable japanese restaurant in pleasant hill called damo sushi.

this little restaurant is located in a mini strip mall on contra costa boulevard in pleasant hill, just a few blocks past the sun valley mall, nestled amongst a vietnamese place, a mexican place and a pizzeria. the main draw of this complex is a pretty rockin' asian grocery store that carries a very interesting mix of thai, chinese, japanese, indonesian, etc. food stuffs. it's probably the cleanest chinese market i've ever been in, with no scary fish smells, either fresh or dried.

but back to damo sushi. the interior is a large, square, fairly bright space with a little fountain in the center of the room, just as you walk in the front door. at the rear is a sushi counter. the decor is functional and the ambiance is pleasant if not fancy. there is a sort of eighties feel to the place, which seems appropriate given the space.

once seated we were served complementary edamame and a pot of hot green tea. i just love it when they give you your own pot of tea since i can drink gallons of the stuff and hate flag down the wait person every time i finish a cup. we ordered tempura udon and the sushi combination dinner.

the tempura udon (7.95) was preceded by a green salad that was dressed with a creamy japanese salad dressing. the salad was passable with a pleasant dressing, fresh lettuce leaves and sweet cherry tomatoes. the tempura udon was beautifully presented with the noodles and broth served in a gigantic bowl while the tempura was fanned out separately on a bamboo boat. the broth was perfect: light, flavorful and steaming hot.

the tempura was also very good. the batter was very crispy and firm and did not get soggy by the end of the meal. if there is anything i can't stand it's soggy tempura. the only misstep in this wonderful dish was the udon noodles. they were a little overcooked and therefore a bit mushy.

the sushi combination dinner (14.95) was a lot of food. served with miso soup, rice, salad, and tsukemono, it came with a choice of one of the following: 5 pieces of nigiri OR 6 pieces of california roll OR chef's choice sashimi AND a choice of one of the following: chicken teriyaki OR beef teriyaki OR salmon teriyaki OR chicken katsu OR saba shioyaki OR tempura OR ton katsu. we selected the chef's choice of sashimi and the tempura. the chef's choice that day was tuna and yellowtail, both of which were quite fresh, beautifully presented and generously portioned. as mentioned before, the batter for the tempura was wonderful but the sweet potato was sliced too thickly and therefore not thoroughly cooked. the miso soup was made from a light miso and therefore was not overly salty. the service was adequate although we did have a little trouble flagging down the waitress to pay our bill.

i was pleasantly surprised by damo sushi. if you're in the area and want a decent japanese meal, this is the place to go.

damo sushi
508 contra costa blvd
pleasant hill, ca
925 288 0007
http://www.damosushi.com

the birthday part I: don pedro and déjà vu

2005-05-09T12:45:00.000-07:00

for the past unmentionable number of years i've needed a little something to face this special day. this day of commemoration. of exit stage left, slap you on the ass and make you cry before thrusting you out into the world to develop from something angry, pink, wrinkled and screaming (for good reason 'cause you just dumped a load into dirty plastic panties) into something sneering, gawky, greasy, zit-ridden and angry (for good reason - just look at you!) into yet something else relatively sedate and passive, khaki clad, banging at the register at the local chuck e cheese whilst marking off these days, these birthdays, one by one. all of which conspire to return you to your original state. wrinkled. screaming. with a fresh load in your plastic panties.

this dark vision is why, for these past few years, i've allowed myself something special on my birthday, something "a wee bit stronger", whilst still in bed (with the blankets pulled up over the head, of course) pondering what the heck another year really means. in years past i've nestled down with such elixirs as wild irish rose, coors in the can, olde english, menthol cigarettes, etc.. this year the big winner was don pedro brandy. cheap even in mexico, from which this caramel-colored brew hails.

don pedro. i don't recommend it unless it's your birthday.

also, just for background, each year my s.o. (significant other) otherwise known as the b.a.c. (ball and chain) and i surprise the other with a day's adventure. don pedro set the tone for this year's escapade. after rolling out of bed with an empty flask around 11 am i was instructed to dress with sturdy walking shoes and garb myself in the colors of a safety cone. sadly not a difficult request. the flask was refilled with makers mark and the first installment of the day that would really make me feel a year older began.

deja vu pizza. 16th street just above guerrero. a perfect foil for el senor don pedro. i don't know if any of you've ever noticed this place, but it's been around for years. nary a customer. i've always assumed it was some mafia-owned money laundering operation, the way they managed to keep the store front open without any visible business. no, not true. i lie. i know they sold a slice of pizza once, about 3 years ago to a friend who deemed it the worst pizza he'd ever had, with a crust like burnt yet soggy cardboard. and that was the good part. for extra fortification i took an extra swig of bourbon before entering. as it turned out, this precautionary measure was completely unnecessary.

the ball-and-chain ordered me the lunch special. for four bucks i got a massive slice of cheese pizza (more like two), a drink and a little side salad. and it was fine. the salad was nothing special - the ever present and indestructible romaine leaf, a few black olives, maybe a slice of tomato with a little plastic container of dressing on the side. i viewed it as medicine. the pizza slices were huge. and strangely shaped - i don't think the pan was round, but this was a bonus for us 'cause we both like crust and our slices had a little extra edge of crust. the dough was that in-between dough. thicker than a new york extra thin but thinner than, say, a fat slice. over all a very light and slightly doughy springy crust. it was well crispy on the bottom, the way i like it. the sauce and cheese were inoffensive. i dumped a pile of oregano, onion powder and hot peppers on it and it was just fine. in fact it was delicious. at 11 am on a saturday there were at least three other customers and one delivery order. i wonder if they changed management or if this place really used to be some sort of mafia-front or what.

the bottom line is that this is a perfectly acceptable pizza by the slice joint. sure there are better and sure there are worse. it's just a tricky location 'cause if you walk a block down you can have an arinels slice (my favorite), a few blocks over you could get a pauline's pie, or if you're really drunk and need something to soak up the alcohol you could go to cable car on valencia where the crust is thick enough to choke on. but if you live in the area or are waiting for the 22 out front, don't be afraid. come on in. it's good and cheap.

deja vu pizza, 3227 16th Street, San Francisco

the birthday part II: "the rawk" and sweeties

2005-05-09T11:33:00.000-07:00

everybody has to rock a little on their birthdays, no matter how old or young you may be, from the cradle to the rocking chair. i was whisked off to THE rock. or the rawk, as i prefer to think of it. yes indeed. alcatraz island. ball-and-chain told me that he was going to leave me there 'cause i'd been so cranky leading up to my birthday. i still don't know why he insisted on the safety cone orange colors...maybe so he could see me in the crowd. and avoid me. or just in case he decided to throw me off the boat so someone else could fish me out and take me home? hmmm...

so i was then whisked off to this mega-tourist attraction that i've never been to despite having been born and raised here in the sf bay area. it's actually a little thing i do, just to be an ignorant ass, for example i've been to flagstaff arizona three times but never went to the grand canyon. stupid, no? hell yeah! stooopid.

well, the rawk. it was a beautiful day. it was crowded. or crowdy, as my mom would say. my flask ran dry and there were some pretty scary euro-trash tourists milling about. think multiple drag-queen renditions of christina aguilera, but not drag-queens. actual girls. maybe. i could hear the thumping techo beats of an ibiza disco every time our paths intersected.

well, we did the audio tour, piled back onto the ferry, sucked down a canned beer and were vomited out back at fisherman's wharf, along with the other tourists, like so many indigestible bits. we then made, what i thought was at the time a fatal tactical error (but ended up very well indeed). we began bleakly wandering around that no man's land past northpoint but before north beach. past the cost plus world market. away from the touists and all businesses. looking for a bar. just as my sturdily shod feet began to drag and my bleary eyes began to dart around in search of a cab, there it was.

sweeties bar. tucked into a residential street in in-between-landia. this tiny little neighborhood drinkery feels a little amputated. as you walk in there is a bar on your right, but it is about 1/2 or 1/3 as long as you might expect. beyond that is a little room the size of a san francisco bedroom (think slighlty larger than a walk-in closet), and off to the left of the entrance is a pool table in a little room. this place is supposedly owned by the same people who own the bar at pier 23, i think it's called?

we were thirsty and the two buck drafts were just right. but we were hungry too. we asked the barkeep if they didn't have some chips or pretzels or some such drunkards foods on hand. he said no, sadly enough, but then turned around and popped down a few delicious truffles from his box of candy. and they were the last two. this was followed by some delicious german wafer chocolates from his personal stash. then he asked our signs, disappeard into another room and came back with two little red boxes containing our respective signs in etched glass. you know the ones. they're round, glass, beveled edges, etched picture and name of the sign. it was inexplicable, but it being, unbenownst to him, my birthday and my being drunken, i was deeply touched.

the bar was pretty well attended for a saturday afteroon around 5 pm, and as we sat there talking with george, the barkeep, it became apparent why. it's the man himself. he told some fantastic tales of a life richly lived, with everything won and lost and won and apparently lost again. a really nice guy, a tremendous presence, good storyteller, it's no wonder business was so rawking. when he got off his shift at 6pm and another girl came to fill in, the place cleared out. poor kid.

so if you're in that area on a saturday or thursday afternoon before 6pm drop in and say hi to george. an excellent guy. a great yarn. cheap beers.

sweeties bar. 475 francisco near mason street, 433 2343. for the next month they will have readings followed by an open mike each sunday starting at 7 pm, i think. local poets and literary types, like thom gunn have participated in the past readings. check it out.

the birthday part III: the streets of san francisco and greens

2005-05-09T11:31:00.000-07:00

part three of my birthday saga began in the same way as many of my nightmares. i get into a car with someone i don't really know and become more and more suspicious as i'm driven off the main road onto isolated, remote trails. that sinking feeling of "oh shit, i'm in trouble now" reverberates through each panic-striken beat of my poor foolish heart.

well, the truth is that i got into a cab with "the man", ol' ball-und-chain, and was driven out to the waterfront. through warehouses and deserted parking lots. through a grey san francisco late afteroon. i felt like i was in an old rerun of the streets of san francisco. what can i say i'd had too many beers to rein in my fertile imagination. i was karl malden. and there we were, greens restaurant.

now i know everybody but everybody goes on and on and on about greens. i'd never eaten there but, after a spate of expensive and extremely disappointing, sometimes downright bad (as in old fish-the worst bad you can get) meals at various expensive downtown restaurants (shall i name names? maybe in another entry) i'd mostly written off these types places that everyone says is good but never is for me. well, greens has renewed my faith. on saturdays there is a prix fixe menu for 46.00. this includes a little pre-starter plate, your choice of a selection of appetizers, an entree, dessert and coffee or tea. it was a great value. even after i had several glasses of wine added to the tab.

the fixed first plate was "andante dairy goat cheese; fennel and easter egg radish salad; picholine, nicoise and cracked green olives. served with soughdough batard and straus butter". it was fantastic. now i generally don't do dairy but on my birthday i do everything except flesh. and the goat cheese was fantastic, it brought tears to my rheumy old eyes. really. tangy, goaty, but not too strong. it was perfect. the olives were salty and added a perfect bite. the bread was acme sougdough, which the b.a.c. liked cause it wasn't too strong on the sourdough flavor.

for appetizers we ordered the spring sampler "gigande beans with meyer lemon and tarragon; three beet salad; grilled italian bread with fava bean puree, mint and shaved pecorino fiore del pastore", and a salad "wilted savoy spinach, treviso radicchio and escarole with sky hill chevre, piquillo peppers, croutons, red onions, aged sherry vinegar and hot olive oil". both of these dishes were perfectly executed. the salad greens were fresh and delicate and the dressing complemented the leaves without being assertive. it was the perfect backup singer. the dish just tasted of fresh green-ness.

the spring sampler, my dish, was even better. the gigande beans were tender without being mushy and the meyer lemon added a beautiful floral, slightly acid note to the dish, just enough to liven it up. the tarragon married perfectly with the lemon. these two seasoning were very assertive and i noted the meyer lemon immediately but thought the tarragon was, um, corriander. i know, i have a terrible palate. of course once i knew what it was it was obvious. the beets were marinated beets in three colors, the red being the most flavorful, and the grilled italian bread with the fava puree was, to me, just okay. the real standout were the gigande beans.

onto the main courses. we ordered a pasta dish "spinach ricotta ravioli with savoy spinach, spring onions, pine nuts, gorgonzola dolce, olive oil, opal basil and parmesan reggiano", and a tartlet "with artichokes, portobello mushrooms, roasted tomatoes, leeks, fennel, asiago and thyme. served with asparagus with lemon oil and roasted cipolllini onions."

the spinach ravioli were very rich but not cloying. the ravioli shells were delicate, almost like a gyoza or wonton wrapper - it seemed too delicate to hold together yet it somehow managed. the ravioli filling tasted of green. it just tasted and felt deep, dark, green and velvety. quite an experience. the sauce was a light butter and olive oil sauce. as i said, very rich but not over the top.

our favorite dish by far was the tartlet. a perfect little free-form tart with a golden-brown crust stuffed with all the good things in the world. mushrooms. artichokes. leeks. roasted tomatoes. it was rich and earthy. like how i'd imagine good, fecund, damp soil to taste and smell to a truffle snuffling pig. all of the components were so meaty and satisfying with the roasted tomatoes really bringing a carmelized sweet acidity to balance it all out. the roasted cipollini onion melted in my mouth. it was perfect. the asparagus spears were fat, juicy, dark green spears and practically squirted my companion in the eye with each bite.

and to round out both the evening and our bulging guts came desserts. we shared a chocolate cake and a pear brown butter tart. i'm not the biggest chocolate cake fan but this was good. very chocoalte-y. very moist. very big. they had a selection of three scoops of tea-infused ice cream on the menu as well. were i to do it again i would choose those. you can get decent chocolate cake anywhere.

the other desert, the brown butter tart was excellent. like the dinner tart, the crust was perfect and the brown butter filling was not too sweet, not too rich. but sweet and rich enough. the standout for me was the accompanying loganberry ice cream. we finished with espresso.

what can i say except "wow". this was an excellent meal with no missteps. the quality of the ingredients were very high and the dishes were crafted in such a way as to enhance the flavors and neither overwhelm nor mask. service was friendly, efficient and professional. and the famous views. they were nice but not as nice as the food.

i'm a believer. greens, building a, fort mason, 415 771 6222. http://www.greensrest.citysearch.com

the birthday part IV, the end: a long walk to j-town and dimples

2005-05-09T11:28:00.000-07:00

and so all good things must come to an end. and sometimes they end with a long walk to a very strange terminus.

after waddling out of greens we milled around aimlessly in the parking lot waiting for our senses to clear. which they never did. which is why we decided to walk all the way over to japantown. it being saturday night in the marina and pacific heights, we spied the usual tight-lipped dinner parties from down below, a handful of people dressed up like chickens, hogs and dalmations, packs of boastful, puffed up fraternity brothers and no shortage of sandal-clad, tottering, giggling groups of girls, flipping their hairdos and talking trash about each other.

so we walked. and we walked. and we walked. at the end of the road we came to roost here. dimples.

this is a very strange place located almost in the basement of the denny's on post street. garish neon flashes outside, beckoning you down that dark stairwell to the underbelly of j-town. once you hit the basement level and hang the mandatory right, there it is. a boxy room with a bar to your right with a few stools scattered about. as you walk in, to your left are mirrors and a few linolium booths that are reminiscent of an airport cafeteria in cold minimalist plastic black eigties style. at the end of the small room is a jukebox which has a selection of elton john love songs and korean romantic favorites on hand. the bar at this point curves to the right for a few stools and there is a video poker machine set into the corner. to the left of the juke box is "the room", of which i shall speak later.

this was our second foray into the dimples universe. the first time was on a friday night about 6:30 pm. after years of seeing that damn sign but being too afraid to go in alone, i dragged the ol' ball-and-chain in behind me, as back up, as they say. i had no idea what to expect. as i descended i heard a muted drunken roaring and hearty back slapping. i was afraid. i was elated.

lined up at the bar were four drunk salarymen. i don't mean financial district guys off work. i mean the japanese salarymen you can find late at night in any tokyo or osaka outbound train, either seated or standing hanging from the handstrap for dear life. the shiny suits worn a few years too long, shoulders flecked with dandruff, greasy skin and the inevitable gyoza breath. and boy are they drunk. and stinking. green to the gills and swaying like hula dancers. so anyway, there were four of them lined up at the bar, slapping each other on the backs, giggling, swaying. boy, i tell you it brought back memories. especially when one of them fell off his stool. twice.

other patrons included a pretty young girl all dressed up with an older, much older man. a pretty crass looking but jovial girl watching her cell phone and chatting with the bartendress, and another young, bored looking girl stationed at the video poker machine. we had a few overpriced beers. the drunk salarymen left shortly after the second falling-off-bar-stool incident, arms clasped around each others' shoulders doing that strange "here we come, walkin down the street, hey hey we're the monkeys" staggering walk. the chain being broken only so they could fit throught he doorway. the crass-looking girl got whatever call she was waiting for and departed. the bored girl kept playing video poker. the spring-winter couple left too. not to make hasty judgements but it looked like a first "date", if you know what i mean...

so that was the first time. what was this latest visit to bring, i wondered?

the bar was filled with girls. pretty girls. pretty asian girls. one of them dressed in some formal wear - like what you'd wear to a prom or a ball or a fancy wedding or tea with the queen. there were a handful of decrepit looking guys, most of whom where clutching what appeared to be neon colored phone cords....you know what i'm talking about, back when phones had those springy cords that attached to handset to the box. if you're too young to remember go watch a seventies movie - i'll do you good. i asked the guy next to me what they were for - he mumbled something about the bartendress winning them in las vegas. huh?

so we took our usual seats just before the bend in the bar that led to the video poker machine, a different bored girl stationed in front of it and three or four other girls lingering next to her. we ordered five dollar bottles of buds and waited. eventually this mysterious room to the left opens up, i crane my neck around to peer inside - it looks like one of the booths outside but private. a few people go inside. "hmmm, i think to myself, maybe karaoke..." (i like to give the benefit of the doubt, y'know), well to be honest, i didn't hear any karaoke or anything else for that matter. a pack of three young asian guys enters the bar and the girl in the ball gown walks over to them. "hmmmm, maybe like a hostess bar..." the room opens and closes. there is almost a fight over one of the "las vegas souveniers", one guys' buddy knocks him off the bar stool and drags him out, a few single men come in and the girls go over to chat with them. one girl watches her cell phone and disappears after a call. a koren love song plays on the jukebox. i finish the dregs of my now flat beer and feel a year older. although none the wiser.

dimples, 1700 post street, san francisco

windy city pizza, san mateo

2005-05-05T09:56:00.000-07:00

Windy City Pizza, tucked away in a mini-mall off a commercial stretch in San Mateo serves up true Chicago-style feed, from pizzas (deep dish, stuffed, double-stuffed and thin crust) to ribs to Chicago’s famous Vienna hot dogs in a no-nonsense middle america ambiance.

On our latest visit we started with the Greek Salad (5.95). A huge plate piled high with lettuce (mostly the hearty romaine leaf), pale-red out-of-season tomato wedges, kalamata olives, feta cheese cubes and thick slices of red onion, all drenched in a tangy oil and red wine vinegar dressing. This is not one of those frou-frou salads but rather what you might expect from a good diner – very straightforward and generously portioned, it sets the tone for the meal to come.

The second appetizer, Rib Tips (5.95) are succulent and juicy, drenched in a not-too-sweet not-too-spicy barbecue sauce. There were the occassional renegade dry bits but according to my Chicago-bred, finger-lickin’ dining companion, they were authentic and indeed delicious. This appetizer is gigantic and could very well be a meal by itself.

And now to the main event, the pizza. We shared a small 10 x 2 inch deep dish pizza, half spinach and half vegetarian (12.95). This pizza is as thick as a spare tire, which is no doubt where it will go once eaten. A quick scan at the fellow diners confirms this. The crust is crispy on the outside, soft of the inside and flaky throughout…while not greasy this crust definitly has it’s share of fat in it – just the way a deep dish oughta be. This suberb crust is topped by a layer of thick, tangy tomato sauce. Just enough to moisten the pizza and add a little acidity without being too noticable. Generous piles of vegetables and cheese top off the pie which works wonderfully as a unit, each solider (crust, sauce, vegetables, toppings) doing their parts without standing out. No primadonnas vying for their two minutes of glory here – just a good solid team effort that results in a harmonious pizza.

The menu is quite extensive but the real draw here are the deep dish pizzas and the barbecue meats. If you’re a Chicago-transplant and have been hankering for some real comfort food, this is the place to go.

Windy City Pizza
35 Bovet Road
San Mateo
650 591 9457
www.windycitypizza.com

golden era

2005-04-29T10:58:00.000-07:00

Golden Era, a vegetarian restaurant nestled deep in the loins of the Tenderloin is a true San Francisco experience (although not an exclusively San Francisco experience as there are more than 56 affiliated restaurants scattered throughout the world). Descending a few steps below street level you pass a deserted mezzanine with empty glass counters, videotapes of the Supreme Master's lectures for sale, free pamphlets with the Supreme Master's writings, and the occasional bicycle stowed away off the crackhead-laden street. A few more steps downward and there lies a stark dining room that stinks of a faded elegance. An elegance now found only in the architectural details, not in the purely utilitarian plexi-glass topped tables and nondescript chairs, or the few wall hangings of faded travel posters circa 1984 and, of course this being an asian restaurant, the ever popular faux abalone and lacquer Chinese wall hanging. You know the one I'm talking about. And you like it.

After being seated by one of the exclusively female wait staff, the first thing you might notice about the place is how, in stark opposition to the chaos of the street outside, how darn quiet it is. There is no piped in music, the servers are subdued, and the diners, for the most part are not a raucous crew. Perhaps this is partially explained by the fact that no alcohol is served. Or maybe by the fact that this restaurant is run by what has been claimed to be one of the fastest growing cults in the world, led by the Supreme Master Ching Hai, a five-foot nothing dynamo and marketing wonder deceptively clad in the (self-designed) plumage of a newly wealthy, middle-aged Taiwanese tourist. Think Dynasty. Which is not surprising since she does hail from Taiwan, (Formosa) and, from all appearances, her wealth is somewhat newfound.

But first things first. Eat here. The food is fantastic.

Okay, back to the Supreme Master. Food for thought. According to her official sources (http://www.godsdirect.org) and various accounts written by acolytes, Ching Hai was born Hue Dang Trinh in 1950, in a small village in Vietnam (which she refers to as Aulac) to a "well off" Catholic family with a renegade Buddhist grandmother. According to her official website, " at the age of eighteen, Master Ching Hai moved to England to study, and then later to France and then Germany, where She worked for the Red Cross and married a German scientist. After two years of happy marriage, with the consent of Her husband, she left Her marriage in pursuit of enlightenment" (capitals not mine). According to other sources (Eric Lai., UC Berkeley Thesis), the Supreme Master's background is slightly more colorful. Hailing from a small village in vietnam, she fraternized with the American GI's before leaving with a German doctor doing relief work in the vicinity. In 1979 she began studying with a Buddhist monk whom she broke with three years later due to regulations that forbade women from entering the monastery. Continuing to pursue her spiritual search she then moved to India and became the disciple of Thakar Singh who had just formed his own Buddhist sect called the Kirpal Light Satang. It is alleged that Thakar Singh was not only an embezzler, but also an occasionally violent sexual libertine. It is from him that the Supreme Master learned the fundamentals of the Quan Yin method of light and sound meditation that she would later refine and export to Taiwan. After some time spent in New York as a Buddhist nun she returned to Taiwan in 1986 to begin her empire.

And an empire it is becoming. There are now more than 100,000 followers scattered throughout 37 countries (the vast majority of which are Chinese or Vietnamese). There are 56 affiliated restaurants. The Supreme Master has her own clothing line. She designs jewelry. She paints. She writes poetry. She does lectures. Everything is for sale. Nothing is cheap. She claims, and her followers concur, that she takes no donations. When you charge 10,000 for a dress, who needs donations?

But her organization seems to be relatively harmless. She promises that if an initiate practices the Quan Yin Method of sound and light meditation for two and a half hours a day and keeps the five precepts (to refrain from taking the life of sentient beings; to refrain from speaking what is not true; to refrain from taking what is not offered; to refrain from sexual misconduct; and to refrain from the use of intoxicants), then he or she will not need to reincarnate ever again. I repeat: ever again. Someone should tell the Dalai Lama. And if two and a half hours a day is too much of your time to invest in perfect enlightenment, there is a "Convenient Method" which includes no more than thirty minutes of meditation per day and adherence to a strict vegetarian diet for only ten days of each month. I say relatively harmless because there appears to be a rather sizeable group of disgruntled husbands who feel that the Supreme Master has come between them and their wives. Being a female guru, the Supreme Master is, unsurprisingly, very popular with women.

And if the fear of crack heads and golden little flecks of cult-dust sprinkled over your supper hasn't frightened you off, then you have indeed earned passage to the land of good food. You may continue.

Golden Era specializes in Vegetarian Vietnamese/Chinese cuisine, with an emphasis on meat analogs that will have you taking scraps home to conduct kitchen-sink experiments to make sure it's not really meat.

The portions are large and the prices are very reasonable, some might say cheap. The menu is extensive and includes a variety of soups, noodle dishes, favorite fake meat entrees, vegetable items for purists, appetizers, desserts and beverages (non alcoholic). Get the Spicy Gourmet Chicken (9.95), it rocks. Amazingly textured soy chunks are fried up nice and crispy on the outside, juicy and chicken-like on the inside, and covered in a sweet and spicy sauce with lots of ginger and lemongrass. It comes served with florets of broccoli crispy-steamed and vibrantly green.

Another item not to be missed is the Pho (5.50). The menu describes it as a "famous Vietnamese savory 'beef' flavor rice noodle soup w/ tofu, gluten, soy protein & bean sprouts". As a vegetarian it is almost impossible to get any pho much less a good pho. Or rather a good faux pho. This one is superior. The broth is flavorful without being overpoweringly spiced. A generous portion of thin rice noodles float (okay, they clump initially) in the bottom and slices of fake ham, gluten, and fried tofu add substance to the dish. The ham is terrifying in it's pinkness and haminess. It is also excellent. With each bite I can almost hear a squeal. The pho is served with the requisite bean sprouts, sliced jalapeno peppers, wedges of lime and basil leaves.

We also sampled the Ginger Fish (7.50). It was amazing. It looked like a fish (granted a bottom-feeding one). Its texture was very fish-like. It tasted of fish. It wasn't fish. It came on a platter, filet style but with an incredibly realistic looking seaweed skin wrapped around it. The texture of the skin was a little bit rubbery and taste was very strongly of the ocean. A very intense seaweed flavor. Inside, the "meat" was white and almost flaky. The flavor was slightly fishy inside, less so than the skin. This was served with a ginger dipping sauce that I would recommend using. It was an amazing rendition of the real thing. I won't get it again.

Appetizers are varied and for the most part good. We had the Tay-Ho rolls (5.95), described as "scrumptious steamed rolls stuffed with tofu, carrot, mushroom, steamed bean sprouts & lettuce". I would describe it as cigar-shaped shu mai in a slightly rubbery and gelatinous wrapper filled with lots of tasty stuff and covered in a pile of vegetables and fried onion bits that simulated fried shrimp. The sauce that came with it was excellent. Slightly sweet. Slightly tangy. Although they rolls had a steamed texture, they were a little greasy.

The summer rolls (4.75) "Non-fried rice paper rolls w/ lettuce, vermicelli, marinated tofu, soy protein, mint leaves, cilantro. Served w/ peanut sauce" were pretty standard. If you like summer rolls, you'll like these. I particularly like the peanut sauce that is served along with it.

My favorite appetizer at the moment is the steamed buddah bun (2.25), "Steamed dough filled w/ tofu, soy protein, carrot, water chestnuts and bean thread". It is a big doughy soft white mountain of tastiness filled with minced bits of veggies and soy stuff - the flavor is excellent both in the dough and in the filling, and there is a nice play of textures.

For desert we had the vegan chocolate mocha cake (3.50). Dark, dense, chocolate-y with a mocha frosting you'll actually want to eat instead of scrape off into a sad little reject mound. What more could you ask for? Well, I guess you could as for vegan ice cream (2.50). Not the greatest, not the worst, the ice cream is at it's best once its had a little time to melt some of its ice crystals. They also have regular ice cream , vegan and regular caramel flan, and a vegan carrot cupcake.

Highly recommended, and don't forget to pick up some literature on your way out. For more details go to http://www.goldeneravegetarian.com

limon

2005-04-26T11:53:00.000-07:00

as much as it pains me to admit this, i actually like limon. why would this be painful to admit, you might wonder...well, lemme tell you a little story of the way the mission used to be, a long time before this gentrification-thing set in. it used to be dirty. it used to be sketchy. it used to be cheap. it used to be full of latinos and poor students and people who made things other than money, things like pretty pictures, ugly sculptures and bad music. now it's full of valet-parking, small plates restaurants and zagat-toting couples. the only old-timers left are those that have been living in their rent-controlled apartments for the past fifteen years or those who got involved somehow in the tech business or consulting or something, or just plain won the lottery. this is not to say that this gentrification doesn't have it's good side because it does. so many thriving businesses in the neighborhood, good places to eat, a feeling of more security (meaning there are people wandering around who look waaay more rob-able than me), but everything comes at a price.

so last night i ate at limon. and it was good. we walked in at 7 pm on a monday night and got seated right away - i suspect the hostess could smell the rich leather wallet of our brooks brothers suited, expense account spending friend and decided to overlook the fact that i'd obviously been wearing my pants one day too many. we got seated on the second floor over-looking the main room. the space is okay, not notable except that the acoustics seem to be designed for maximum noise. it was loud.

we shared a bunch of plates, had a few drinks, and a few desserts. the tab came to about a hundred bucks. thanks corporate america.

the food. ensalata mixta: "mixed greens tossed with garlic croutons, quail egg, olives and mango dijon dressing". i didn't think this was anything special - the bits i got were just your basic mixed lettuces with a slightly sweet dressing. i didn't eat any of the quail egg so maybe that was it's special touch, i don't know. hongos: sauteed mushrooms. this was good but it is hard to go wrong with mushrooms. you could find something like this at any good tapas place. ceviche limon: "fresh raw halibut with mixed seafood marinated in lime juice, with yam and peruvian corn". this was presented as a platter. there were two mussels, a couple of large shrimp, a bit of halibut, the aforementioned yam and peruvian corn, done two ways - one as a pozole and the other roasted. according to my dining companions, this was excellent. the ingredients were very fresh and the halibut was superb. on a previous visit we had the cevice pescado:"fresh halibut marinated in lime juice served with yams and peruvian corn", which my dining companion "bob" liked better since there was more halibut, which he really liked. pechuga de pato: "pan-roasted muscovy duck breast served with duck confit-layered purple potato grain in duck jus". this was hands down the night's favorite dish. the potato grain seemed to have some sort of ground meat in it - it seemed to be beef, which makes me think of shepherd's pie, but everyone said it somehow worked. the duck was thinly sliced and done medium per our request, but still was slightly pink. amazingly enough everyone said it was not at all game-y, but rather tasted a bit beef-y. it was the night's favorite dish. we finished off with two deserts. first the tres leches cake, which was a very small triangle of tres-leches cake served with a scorpion-stinger shaped wafer stuck into one end and arching over the top, two tiny coconut macaroons where the eyes of the spider would be, and a pile of pineapple bits (slightly crystallied) and some shredded coconut bits scattered around the back. this dish did not work for me. the tres-leches cake was fine but there was very little of it. the pineapple bits didn't work with the overall dish but rather overwhelmed it. the best part were the macaroons. they weren't too sweet and the coconut didn't have that metallic, biting coconut flavour we've all come to expect from mounds bars. i suspect they used unsweetened shredded coconut, which gives a different flavor. the second desert was a coffee creme brulee. and it was good. very good. a tiny dollop of espresso ice cream on the side with a few espresso beans scattered over the top and a larger creme brulee served out of its cup. i was worried for a second that somehow i'd ordered flan, which i dislike, until i saw that magic sugar crust on the top. the brulee was creamy and coffee and delicious. the ice cream was the perfect accompaniment. it wasn't the best creme brulee i've ever had (which was at fringale about, god, has it been ten years ago?) since it didn't quite achieve that warm outer custard leading to cool inner heart layering of temperatures that i love, but it was very good nonetheless. to drink we had sangria, recommended, beer (cristal), and some "dry white wine" which was not dry at all, but that's what you get when you don't call out your drinks. service was unobtrusive. by the time we left at 8:30 every table in the place was full.

this second visit to limon was as good as the first, which was at least seven months ago. hopefully they'll keep up the good work and i'll rope my expense account spending friends to treat me whenever they come into town.

524 Valencia Street
San Francisco, CA
415 252 0918
http://www.limon-sf.com

bienvenidos

2005-04-24T09:27:00.000-07:00

this is my special place. the place where i go when i'm heaving over the toilet with the latest bout of food poisioning. this is my zen.

it is also the place where i live. well, not exactly. it's the view from treasure island over into marin. i don't live in marin. nor would i want to. i'm afraid of all those ropey, pony-tail-pulled-through-the-back-of-the-baseball-cap, suv-driving, baby carriage-wielding former sorority girls running amok over there. scary. but i digress, as i always do, into an unjustified, slanderous, unfair rant, as i will. and do. and shall continue to.

but here i am living in one of the most beautiful cities in the world with some of the best, most affordable eats around. this blog is dedicated to documenting my experiences with the cafes, bars, high-falutin' restaurants, low-falutin' restaurants, take-out joints, gas stations, and notable vending machines that litter our byways. but be warned. i have opinions, red-necked, reactionary, knee-jerk, emotional, based-on-nothing-but-a-rank-smell-in-the-air (which is often me) opinions and i'm not afraid to wield them.

also for purposes of full disclosure, you all should know, meaning me and maybe the one person out there who accidentally gets misdirected here en route to a porn site, that i am a vegetarian. okay, mostly vegan except for the occasional pizza and desserts, which i try to keep to a bare minimum (visualize penned-in cows with their heavy, swinging udders, shot up full of milk-producing hormones, hooked up to metal milking machines or something, day after day after day until they're too old to produce and get sent to that nice mc donalds rest home on the corner of mission and 24th). having said that, i love meat and cheese. i really do. i love the smell, the look, the taste. especially bacon. this is just to let you know that i am not one of those grim, anemic, upton sinclair book thumping, humourless vegewhateverans. you can trust me. really.