Archive for the ‘Restaurant Reviews’ Category
Storming the Grove (and a Pizzaiolo bonus)
t says: Brunch in SF is quite a sport. A full-contact take-no-prisoners bloodsport. There are lines and lists as early as 9am and as late as who knows when. If you want brunch, you better bring your A-game. Ok – maybe most people who are native to SF don’t actually believe this – maybe it’s just my competitive east-coast nature – I can’t help it (what? I like my brunch to be delicious and timely!). Fortunately, when we went to the Grove with some friends, we executed a plan involving people in line and people claiming seats – we were a well-oiled machine, ready to conquer brunch. And it was totally worth it.
I, in typical t fashion, went for the warm cinnamon roll bread pudding. It was basically a mammoth-sized hunk of cinnamon swirl bread … with icing … and syrup (the strawberries were a pretty sad effort by SF standards). And it was great – in all of its sugar-laden, carbohydrate-full glory. In the background, you can see that g embraced her inner-San-Franciscan with an avocado toast with poached egg and hash brown. Perhaps not the most creative dish, but it got the job done. In all, it was a pretty good showing – I’d be willing to go back for another round to try out some other entrees.
This little slice here of frittata is what I like to call “g’s frittata” – mostly because it had like three different green veggies in it – just like she would would make if she was making a frittata (she loves bbrrooccccoollii). More significant was where the frittata came from: Pizzaoilo in Oakland. While we have yet to do anything substantial there, I’ve ventured their pastries twice, and I have to say that they’re pretty darn solid. The frittata was nicely composed (nearly Talula’s Garden good). The ham and fontaina croissant and lemon turnover were also both excellent. If these are any indication of the dinners to be had, they’re in good shape. We’re adding this place to our list of dinners to try.
Finding Pizza
t says: One of the big challenges that g and I have come across in SF is the ideal weeknight pizza. Sure, we’ve had a few good pies since moving here, but nothing quite as comforting as the Gusto’s we had in Philly. Sourdough from Goat Hill, fancy from Piccino, artisan from Little Star – they were all fine, but none of them could quite fill the weekday void … So we soldiered on, investigating one pizza joint at a time, looking for the one pie to rule them all (Monday thru Thursday) …
Patxi’s has quite a reputation around these parts – “the best deep dish in the city”. I suppose that’s to be expected from a chain that’s mastered the arts in several cities across the country. When we saw a free delivery day on some online delivery service in the area (I wanna say it was postmates, but I can’t remember), we decided to jump on it. What you see above is the spinach pesto deep dish that was “ok”. There were a few execution flaws (burnt crust, soggy spinach), but the cheese was wonderfully salty and the sauce wonderfully not-sweet. Ultimately, it wasn’t quite worth the $20-30 per pie they charge (maybe in SF-dollars it is) – I’d give them another shot maybe in-restaurant …
I went a little nuts with this order – this is what happens when g sends me on a pizza errand with an empty stomach: I buy two large pizzas … for two people … oops! But wait – let’s back up to how I even got myself into the position to buy the two pies to begin with. A little while ago, I was re-reading one of our own posts on the blog, and I noticed in a’s little twitter feed off to the right that someone had responded! Like someone out there in the world read this tiny blog and put forth a suggestion! How cool is that! She (we think the poster is a she) suggested Long Branch Pizza in Dogpatch. We had seen the place before, but never set foot inside … until now! So there I was, hungry one evening returning from work, determined to perform my husbandly duties by securing food for the family (i.e. g and me). I went a little overboard, as you can see (They had two flavors I wanted to try, so I got larges of them both!). Well, the spinach one (“white pie”) was awesome. Unlike Patxi’s, the spinach still had some texture and was profoundly flavorful – really surprised me! And the balance of cheeses was right-on. Damn it was tasty. The one in the background, however, was the real treat. The description of “the meatball” is pretty standard at first: meat, cheeses, tomato sauce – no big deal. But then it mentions “Calabrian chili paste” – and that was a total game changer! It had that electric spicy kick on the finish that was almost like han dynasty’s Sichuan pepper oil that really added another dimension to the profile. With all these excellent flavors on a crust that was cooked reasonably (I like mine extra-crispy, so next time I’ll request it – these are more flexible-new-york-neopolitan style), we now completely understand why the place is packed on a Friday night (lines, people waiting for pick-ups, etc). Take it from us: it’s worth it.
In conclusion – I think that g and I found our new pizza place: Long Branch!!! They don’t deliver (I don’t think), but they’re close enough for a quick pizza pickup after work, which is key. The prices are $2-3 more than Gusto (for the Margherita), so it’s not too crazy. Now we can move on to our next big challenge: delivery Chinese …
Namu Gaji vs. Aliment
t says: It was Valentine’s Day … our first in SF! So where did we go? Well, the problem (as per usual V-Day SOP) was that every place we knew of was either doing a stupid menu or already all booked up! Fortunately, eater came to the rescue, with a post about “last minute Valentin’s reservations”. While it did make me feel like a bad person for having put myself in such a position, it did allow me to click my way out of a reservation-less V-Day. Within seconds we were confirmed for 2 for Namu Gaji (which we had been wanting to try ever since casually perusing their menu while slurping down ice cream at the neighboring Bi-Rite).
February 2016, Party of 2, Sunday Dinner. It was quite busy in there! It seems that Namu Gaji has a very aggressive happy hour scene (even on a weekend). Maybe it was because there was run-off from nearby Dolores Park, maybe because it was a beautiful day (the Bi-Rite line wrapped around the block), or maybe everyone wanted cheap Korean tacos (Namu Gaji’s happy hour special). Whatever the reason, we squeezed into the door and were seated in about 15 minutes.
This was the closest thing to banchan at Namu Gaji – some interesting pickles. While there were only three (sorry mom – I know Korean restaurants are a disappointment if they serve any less than 10), they were pretty solid. No – they weren’t Zahav-good, but that pickled shallot was absolutely wonderful (we could have eaten at least four more servings of that!).
The Korean taco, we have to say, was a downright disappointment. The meat wasn’t browned at all, the tomato was insipid, and the wrapper (i.e. seaweed) is a terrible choice for execution (it got soggy, chewy, and flimsy). Dude – just serve it on a leaf of lettuce ssam-style and call it a day! (Or put it on a tortilla like everyone else).
The mains were pretty good! We did the stone pot, which hit all the right notes in terms of feeling homey and warm and cozy. That said, it didn’t quite hit the loudest flavor notes it should have – maybe a bit more egg, or a hotter bowl to really brown the rice would have given it that umami oomph we wanted. The oxtail dish was also pretty good – coming off like a hybrid of a spicy-braised-oxtail and dukbuki. A bit more sweet-and-tang than I was hoping for, but not too shabby for “Korean inspired” (I was able to get my sweating-Korean-grandpa-syndrome on towards the end, there). In the end, we’re glad we went because it was a unique opportunity to try some contemporary Korean dishes (a restaurant like this would never survive in Philly), but in the future will look for Korean in some more traditional places.
ARGH!! BLURRY PICTURES!! I hate using them, but I absolutely have to in this case. First, the backstory: g, cm, k, and I decided to get a bite after the Chinese New Year parade. The problem: we wanted dumplings, but the parade was in our way from crossing over into Chinatown. So we did some aimless walking, slowly losing hope as none of us could think of a place that we had heard of that had availability on such short notice. (Not to say there weren’t a LOT of restaurants – it’s just that we had no idea how to make a choice!). So we hit a corner and I saw this place called Ailment, and remarked “what a weird name for a restaurant!”. Turns out it was Aliment, not Ailment, it was nicely appointed (and warm), and they had room! So we walked right in! g kind of poo-poo’d the menu (it was a very varied menu – not a lot of focus – seemingly random!), but she was either too hungry or too polite to fight the majority rule. First things first: their cocktails were delicious. I forget what we ordered, but they were delightful. Their wine pours are also quite healthy, so you’re not getting [that] ripped off. We ended up ordering what could be best described as a “hodge-podge” of stuff, having no expectation of what would actually come out (or if it would be good). So here we are with the first picture … If you stare into the background, you see what is a corned beef slider (on pretzel roll) … it was the most surprisingly good thing I’ve eaten in SF. Seriously. Like, you think “oh, I’ve had smoked meat in Montreal at Schwartz’s – this’ll probably be just ‘ok'”. And then you bite into this – and alluvasudden, you don’t give a crap about MTL anymore. cm and I couldn’t stop talking about it: the seasoned crust, the lovely roll – it was perfect. Had we not already ordered the rest of our meals, we might have gone back for more of those. In the blurry foreground there was some kind of pork belly and korean sauce – it was just “ok” – I mean, after that slider, it was but a forgotten blip on the radar of our meal.
They did have a gnocchi dish that was essentially all bait: gnocchi, pork belly, broccolini, shallots. It tasted exactly as it sounds: delish! Had I not had that slider (still in the background above), then I would have probably elected this as my favorite dish. It was just like eating clouds of cheese and salty-sweet-porky heaven. Now – the thing that is NOT pictured is pork tenderloin dish with rainbow carrots and a squash slaw. It damn near ripped g’s head off. For being an internal hater, she was all smiles: “guys … guys … is it me, or is this food really good?”. She was right: we were all shocked that a pork tenderloin would be so good. (Pork chop, sure. Pork shoulder, fine. But pork tenderloin, with its relatively small amount of intrinsic fat? Completely unexpected). We’re not even sure why – it was just perfectly cooked and superbly composed, with all the flavor elements in perfect balance. What a discovery Aliment was for us! We’ll definitely have to go back!
A Few Quick Brunches
t says: Since moving on out here, g and I have done a lot of cooking at home, especially for dinner. I will say that the restaurant scene provides plenty of temptation (never have we lived in a city with so many different kinds and calibers of restaurant), but we have been careful to not exceed the usual “going out” quota we had in Philly (and choosing restaurants that were of a similar price-point). But if there’s one area where we are splurging, it’s for breakfast: we like waking up, walking around our neighborhood because the weather’s so nice, and get easily side-tracked by brunch. The problem is this: we keep going to the same places over and over!!
For instance, just when we thought Piccino couldn’t get any better, they went and did something like this:
It is a known fact that if you try and study something immediately before bedtime, then fall asleep, you will have less likelihood of remembering it in the morning than had you studied something, waited a while, and then fallen asleep. I think that this is a similar explanation to why I can’t remember what this dish was called. It hit the table, and I blacked out. When I came to, I had a smile on my face, an empty plate, and a scent of something chocolatey and hazlenutty in my nose. Was it chocolate bread pudding? Was it chocolate brioche french toast? Gawd – it’s really gone. Now, if you told me that I ate it all, I’d believe you, because that sounds like something I’d do. But if you told me that a ninja jumped out of nowhere, knocked me out, and stole my breakfast (as it was the last one they were serving that day), I’d believe you, too (it’d be worth it!). Piccino could still do no wrong (and g liked her omelette thing, too)
Speaking of wonderful brunches: it’s confirmed, we’re also addicted to Plow. I keep dragging g back (but it’s not like she’s putting up much of a fight). I just wanted to leave this reminder here: the lemon ricotta pancakes are wonderful, but the French toast are also a nice carb-loaded breakfast as well (you know, just in case you’ve exceeded your pancake quota for the month …).
Living in SF is rough indeed …
[Another] Napa Adventure
t says: So you knew this was coming: a trip to Napa. I’m actually surprised it took about a month for us to make the trip on out to wine country (while we’ve managed to visit wine country on pretty much every California visit we’ve had thus far, including ones that lasted only for a few days). This time, because kp was coming all the way from Hot-lanta, we knew we had to do it right.
We started off with a visit to Model Bakery near Oxbow, where we were promised “the best English muffins ever”. And holy cow they were awesome, quite possibly worthy of that accolade! We did breakfast sandwiches that were out of this world (egg+cheese+meat fare), but truth be told, every single item in there looked amazing. It was no surprise that the line stretched out the door (we were lucky we even got in!) and that they were completely sold out of nearly everything by noon. We’re totally making this a “tradition” for future Napa trips; sorry Bouchon Bakery – it’s time to step aside for Model Bakery. Who needs French macaroons, when you can have sticky buns and bacon bread?
Now, there was some serious tasting on that day (we met up with MacDonald brothers, visited Matthiasson, and had a large group at Clos Du Val), but I didn’t pull out my camera at each one. Matthiasson provided us with an extraordinary setting, as our travel required a super-secret, super-fast departure from suburbia-Napa, arriving at vineyard-Napa within a mere 30 seconds. Clos Du Val put on a great tasting for us as well, pulling out a barrel sample and library bottling that were truly excellent. (As much press as the 2013 CdV Cab is getting, I’m more excited for the 2014). I’m glossing over the tasting notes here (just know that there was something worthy of purchase from each of our stops), and will instead leave you with one of our friend’s tasting notes … he/she shall remain nameless to protect the innocent[ly drunk].
Dinner was had at Bar Terra in Calistoga. With a quirky menu, including a lot of Asian influences (I believe the chef is Japanese), I was attracted to the ramen, and it was pretty damn good! It got some pretty harsh reviews online, and I’m not sure I understand why. While not over-the-top, in-your-face like the super-hip ramen joints opening up now in SF, and not necessarily strictly traditional-Japanese, it had a wonderful palette of flavors, was well-executed, was plentiful, and was reasonably priced (for anywhere – not just for Napa). For the money, I can’t think of a more satisfying dinner entree in Napa. Maybe people need to have foie and steak and gold leaf, and that’s why they don’t like ramen?
Now this was “the” dish on Terra’s menu – supposedly the one item of which they are the most proud: broiled sake marinated black cod. The cod was delicious, and the dumplings were delicious, but it was that broth that was other-worldly. I’m pretty sure no one left a drop of that broth on the table. As far as dinner entrees go, Bar Terra did an excellent job. And with the casual atmosphere, it was definitely a great place to bring a group of people. While the tasting-menu-only Terra was next door, the gang was pleased enough with Bar Terra that we still would have chosen it over a more formal affair. Sure there were some throw-away items on Bar Terra’s menu (like the grown-up version of a popcorn shrimp appetizer), but the entrees made us forget those sins. End result: Bar Terra was a great deal for Calistoga, and if you enjoy the Asian influences on food, but don’t want to pay an arm or leg for Redd, this is the place to go. Sure, it won’t have the super-pristine ambience of Redd, but aren’t we getting too old for that? Oh – and the wine list, while being small for Napa, is VERY reasonably priced (a lot of their bottles were essentially retail + $25 – and even those that were more came in at FAR underneath the usual 2.5-4x markup of Yountville). OH – and they also have a $25 corkage fee per bottle (which is pretty incredible) … which they then waive bottle-for-bottle with any bottles you buy from their list. This and Bistro Jeanty will be our go-to for reasonable-eats in the valley.
The following morning, we hit up Kitchen Door. Full of mostly savory items, their items definitely over-delivered in both size and flavor. Above, you see the banh mi …
… and here is the breakfast pizza, with eggs and mushrooms and more! It made us want to visit for dinner for sure!
Revisiting with Family
t says: g’s mom visited in January, which was a ton of fun. In between all of the cooking we made her do (that’s right: meatballs, lasagna, chicken parm – all the classics) so she could stock our freezer, we also went out a few times. And when we have family in town, we like to deal with “known quantities” – no crazy-new adventures – just the greatest hits!
One of the first places we dragged g’s mom to was Nopalito. Oh. Em. Gee. It’s still just as good as it was years ago. Because I have such terrible grasp of Spanish, I cannot recall the names of any of the dishes – but I think that’s the point – you can do no wrong at Nopalito. Pork, veggies, beef, whatever – the only “loser” is the person who dares to try and be bashful while sharing plates family-style … I know the above pictures is under-whelming – I know that a and v back in Philly are probably thinking: “that doesn’t look that good” – but it is – we promise.
What is the only thing better than Bi-Rite’s creme brulee ice cream? Bi-Rite’s creme brulee ice cream with hot fudge. Once again: the picture sucks, but the food is insane. g’s mom fell for the salted caramel. I think g went for the roasted banana. Damn – I have to work out more if I’m going to eat like this …
One delightful morning, we took g’s mom to Plow in Potrero Hill. We knew we liked it once before, so why not try it again? So yea: the Plow potatoes and pancakes are still crazy-good, as was everything else. So why take a picture? To remind myself that they make their own sausage, and it, like the rest of the breakfast was precisely perfect. The more I think of it, the more I appreciate Plow’s reliability, even if they’re not redefining brunch as we know it.
We did venture out to one new eatery with g’s mom and that was a pizza spot in Sausalito. And while the town wasn’t exactly as she had remembered it, g’s mom was still happy to enjoy the clear skies, the small shops, the thin crust pizza at Sandrino. I felt that the crust was a little too thin to support the weight of the cheese/sauce, but I was happy with the additional shaved parmagiano reggiano they used. All in all, it was “pretty good”, but not as good as what we had but a few days later …
… when we hit up Piccino. After our pretty-darn-good previous meal there, we knew the key was to just order a bunch of courses and share. We started the meal off with some respectable spinach Arancini. It’s hard to go wrong with fried rice balls, though.
This was the star of the show. It was a sausage and red onion pizza. Sounds pretty easy, right? I was actually a little disinterested when g suggested it, but because I got to choose another one of the dishes for the table, I acquiesced to her choice of pizza. Boy am I glad I did!! It had just the right amount of onion-y punch and flavorful ?fennel?-piggy sausage, with a perfect crust. It totally killed the pizza we had in Sausalito.
So what was this black blob? It was perhaps the most unctuous piece of short rib I’ve ever had. I’m so glad we split it three ways because this beautifully braised, well-glazed piece of meat was super-rich. Served with a wine reduction, carrots, and celery root puree, it was the perfect way to crescendo towards the end of a meal (salad, pizza, meat). Wonderful.
Nearby Eats
t says: Mission Bay, where we live, isn’t exactly a hotbed of restaurants. As a result, we were super-excited to find that on Wednesdays, there’s a farmer’s market that pops up right outside our apartment! Sure, there are fruits and vegetables, but there are also things like nuts, fresh pressed juices, a Lebanese food stand, a fresh bread stand and then the requisite vegan stand, gluten-free stand, etc … As we visit more of the stands, we’ll report back. For now, the one stand I bought prepared food from was this one:
Sure, the menu was a little bit more “fusion” than I was hoping (the Lebanese stand looked more authentic, and I would have gone there, but there was a huge line for this one, so I figured I wanted to see what all the rage was about …)
I got a banh mi with lettuce instead of cucumber (they ran out of cucumber – insert sadface here) – and I have to say that it was a disappointing. And it’s not just “disappointing”, rather “disappointing” in the same tone that you would use to try and guilt-trip a child into realizing that his/her behavior was unacceptable (i.e. new age parenting). The bread wasn’t crusty. The meat didn’t have enough caramelization. The cilantro was too subtle. For the full experience, imagine a “bad” cheesesteak (like if you were visiting Bismarck and ordered a “Philly Cheesesteak”) … and now make it worse by swapping the onions for weakly pickled carrots, the cheese for lettuce, and the beef for bland pork. Ok – so I guess there really wasn’t much use in starting off with a “bad cheesesteak” at all because I just changed every component, but I at least think that this adequately captures my disappointment. I’m not sure why everyone was lining up waiting for like 15 minutes for these sandwiches! They weren’t particularly cheap, they weren’t particularly unique. *sighs* I really miss the chicken banh mi from Rotisseur … Strike 1 for the Mission Bay Farmer’s Market!!
g and I did venture into Dogpatch for a restaurant called Piccino. Now this place was pretty cool. Upon reading the menu, we were expecting something like Barbuzzo – they had a tasty-sounding burrata on the menu, a few pastas, a few pizzas, a few secondi; the prices were reasonable. But we found that they were a step less casual than Barbuzzo. The space was open and free, with nicely manicured wooden tables and modern-looking black chairs, with shiny silverware and good-sized wine glasses. The food was similarly grown-up, For instance, the burrata wasn’t a decadent cheese-and-bread course, rather, a very nicely composed salad as you see above. At first, I was a little disappointed (salad? who the hell wants salad?), but at first bite, I turned that frown upside down. The California-fresh greens were dressed lightly, but with quite a zippy, mouth puckering dressing. And the cheese was gooey and rich – almost like butter. Did I still wish for grilled bread? A little … but it wasn’t a deal-breaker. I do think, however, that it was a smidge over-priced. g and I did share it, but it could have been an app for one if opposite a hungry enough stomach.
We went for the plain white pizza, which was done up with a thin crust and lots of sliced garlic – it was simple but oh-so-right. Sure, there were fancier toppings on the menu, but we opted to keep the pizza simple and have it accompanied by a few sides, like …
… meatballs! If you’re going to call yourself Italian, you better bring it with the meatballs. Now keep in mind that we are tough critics here, having grown accustomed to NJ-Italian-mom meatballs-and-sauce. Barbuzzo’s meatballs probably hold the title for best restaurant meatball we’ve encountered thus far, but I’d still only venture a “very good” rating for them because of sauce dissatisfaction. These meatballs are just a hair underneath those. Not being stuffed with cheese, these rely on the meat itself, which had a very nice flavor (beef and pork) but could have benefitted from better caramelization on the outside; the sauce was just still a little off for my taste – a bit thin and separating on the plate to reveal an oil phase. Don’t get me wrong – I took the last remaining meatball home and pwned in the following day – still delicious!
But man those Brussels sprouts never stood a chance at making it to our home fridge. Not relying on a pork crutch (no ham, no bacon, no sausage, no pancetta), I’m not sure what the extra flavor was (g was guessing it was some kind of fish sauce), but they were spectacular. Totally worth ordering.
Piccino gets an A- from the sneeze, but with potential for the full A for sure – we need to do some more “testing”. And the cafe next door as well as the wine store two doors down (Dig), which we think are associated with Piccino (we can’t tell if they’re associated, or if they just share the same building) show a lot of promise as well. Rest assured that we will be back! And when we have visitors, I’m sure we’ll bring them with us – we just have to prep them ahead of time: this isn’t Barbuzzo … but it’s still really good!
And here’s a bonus pic! I didn’t order wine at Piccino (trying to keep living costs down), but we did pre-game and ?post-game? with this guy, my latest find from K&L. Having first had Picpoul de Pinet in London, when I found a few bottlings at K&L, I knew it would hit just the right spot for weekday drinking (i.e. cheap, quaffable). And just like my London experience, this delivered that palate-cleansing, mouth-watering, petrol-peach smack to the face that I love. If you want a short-and-snappy, seafood-pairing (or summer-drinking) white without breaking the bank, Picpoul should be the way to go. Even the PLCB has one online!.
after dinner sneeze 