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I hate to pass along a recommendation, because with only a few seats available and no chance for walk-ins (they only get enough of certain items for their expected seatings), every person that goes...
I hate to pass along a recommendation, because with only a few seats available and no chance for walk-ins (they only get enough of certain items for their expected seatings), every person that goes there makes it harder for me to get a reservation. Order the omakase menu, and take the time to have a few extra pieces of sushi during that course.
Amazing food and perfect sake selections - if you think Ebisu is the end-all for sushi, spend a night at KISS and learn about the true depth of traditional Japanese cuisine.
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Finding good take out Chinese food in San Francisco has always been a challenge. After cutting my teeth on Boston and New York Chinatown food, something about the local Chinese seemed, well lacking....
Finding good take out Chinese food in San Francisco has always been a challenge. After cutting my teeth on Boston and New York Chinatown food, something about the local Chinese seemed, well lacking. Maybe it was the fact that every chinese place here seems to sell the same Hunan cuisine that there's not much to distinguish it. Even the venerable Henry's Hunan has lost its luster.
So, when friends from Tampa said we should have Chinese tonight, I hit the reviews online and decided on Big Lantern.
The restaurant - clean and bright with an open kitchen. We were shown a table by someone that we assume is the owner. The menu was unexpected - focusing on special dishes with only a small selection of the typical Chinese standards. After talking to the owner about their best dishes, we went with a selection of dim sum, meat dishes and a noodle dish.
The dim sum ranged from excellent to good. The stuffed crab claws and hargow were excellent. The siu mai, siu long bao and the shrimp toast were very good, and the pan fried pork buns were good. Nothing bad, and the crab claws are the best any of us have had in ages.
I asked if they had pork belly for twice-cooked pork, but unfortunately they didn't have any - but he offered a similar dish with roasted char siu, which fit the bill. As of their next printing of the menu, real twice-cooked pork with pork belly will be on the menu. We also had Kung Pao Chicken, very well made, but I am not a fan of zucchini in this dish. The surprising dish was an excellent spicy "numbing" noodles - lo mein covered with a ground pork and shiitake ragout.
All of this, Pu Erh tea and two beers ran us $60. Plus, they deliver out to the ballpark, meaning that we have a good delivery option in SOMA/Mission Bay.
Highly recommended for dim sum or main courses.
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Local beer guru Ed B. brought our motley crew from San Francisco here one night after dinner and we pretty much closed the place down. A great selection of beer, all served at the appropriate...
Local beer guru Ed B. brought our motley crew from San Francisco here one night after dinner and we pretty much closed the place down. A great selection of beer, all served at the appropriate temperature with knowledgable and friendly bartenders willing to help guide you in the ways of these mystical mid-western beer.
Dark, lots of seating at the bar and a great jukebox too. What isn't to like?
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Jade Bar
Category:
Bars
650 Gough St
San Francisco, California 94102
(415) 869-1900
Listen to James... he knows his stuff. Not only did he turn me on to the amazing cocktails at Sauce, but he pointed me in the direction of Jade for $2 beer and well drink happy hour that runs until...
Listen to James... he knows his stuff. Not only did he turn me on to the amazing cocktails at Sauce, but he pointed me in the direction of Jade for $2 beer and well drink happy hour that runs until 7:30 during the week and all night on Sunday.
And the beers - it's the first bar I have been to where every one is a winner in my book: Alaskan Amber, North Coast Scrimshaw Pilsner, Deschutes Black Butte Porter and Mirror Pond Pale Ale, Scwerk Hefeweisen and Bear Republic's amazing Racer 5.
It's big, yet small... Yes, it's three levels - but the upstairs loft and main floor with the bar are small and cozy (I didn't check out the basement).
Sure, around 7:30 on a Friday it started to get crowded, but as I sat back with a good book in my hand at one of the bar level tables, the people just turned into a quiet din. It's a great place if you want a balance of being in the midst of everything while simultaneously being a little detached.
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Bar Crudo
Category:
Food & Dining
603 Bush Street
San Francisco, California 94108
(415) 956-0396
This week, we're entertaining friends from Belgium - trying to convince them that there really are great examples of well thought out restaurants serving phenomenal food at fair prices. In our...
This week, we're entertaining friends from Belgium - trying to convince them that there really are great examples of well thought out restaurants serving phenomenal food at fair prices. In our wanders we've introduced them to good chocolate (Recchiuti), pizza (Amici's), pastries (Tartine) and coffee (Ritual) - so we had to find somwthing better than average when we were asked to find a good place that served dungeness crab. We chose Bar Crudo and were rewarded for making that choice.
The restaurant is a (not so hidden) gem - a few seats at the main floor bar, and a few tables on top. Arriving on time, we were seated upstairs at the edge of the loft, giving us a perfect view of the kitchen area and were promptly brought cucumber water (and later a carafe of it) and the menus.
The first thing to notice is the fairness of the prices. A perfectly prepared half of a dungeness crab was $15 and ranked almost as high as the fresh-from-the-boat crab we had last weekend. Four well sized pieces of crudo ran $10, and the amazing fish chowder another $10. The wine averaged in the mid $30 range and the restaurant also sported an excellent selection of Belgian beer.
The crab, as I mentioned, was perfect and served with clarified butter, a spicy sauce and a large crayfish. The crudo sampler had some amazing pieces (the arctic char) and some that were simply great. Then again, we're hard to impress with just excellent quality raw fish based on the amount of sushi we had. The joy of crudo is in the flavors that bring out the best quality of the seafood. I'm happy that I did the sampler as four pieces of even the most excellent char would have been too much.
As is appropriate, the cooked or more heavily flavored dishes followed the simpler ones. For our friends who started with the crab, a tuna confit followed. For my wife and I, our crudo was followed by the best chowder I have had in a decade - a perfect bisque with expertly boiled potatos and morsels of seafood (the cod and squid were perfect). We ended with the cheese plate - three well selected cheese balanced with honey, dates and perfect slices of walnut toast - lightly buttered and grilled. The toast was so good, we had to ask for more to end the meal. A final offering of mint and truffles and we walked back into the winter drizzle, our wallets only $40 lighter per person for the experience.
Highly recommended.
Visit Date: 1/25/2006
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(Bar review only)
So, here's a typical saturday for my wife and me. Head into Hayes Valley in the late afternoon to get a couple of Blue Bottle cappuccinos followed by a stop at Absinthe for a...
(Bar review only)
So, here's a typical saturday for my wife and me. Head into Hayes Valley in the late afternoon to get a couple of Blue Bottle cappuccinos followed by a stop at Absinthe for a couple of beers before heading home.
The bar at Absinthe is very well appointed, with a selection of whiskys (especially scotch) that is one of the best in the city - many extremely well priced. On our last visit, we found a 1979 Murray McDavid bottled Highland Park for only $12.50 a serving.
The bar only has four beers on tap: Murphy's Stout (my personal favorite Irish Stout), Trumer Pils (the best California pilsner), Chimay Tripel and a rotating tap that currently has Sierra Nevada Celebration. With these four taps, there is enough variation where most beer drinkers can find something they like.
On the cocktail front, the Sensation (gin based) and Ginger Rogers (ginger and vodka) are well prepared, though they could be a little stronger.
Great knowledgeable bartenders and fantastic whisky at a fair price. Highly recommended.
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Ah... the Happy Monkey.
Considering I can see them from my apartment window, and that they're a block from the office, I'm there at least a couple of times a month.
The decor? Industrial...
Ah... the Happy Monkey.
Considering I can see them from my apartment window, and that they're a block from the office, I'm there at least a couple of times a month.
The decor? Industrial chic. Substantial wooden chairs and the bathrooms have "lost pet" note cards from all over the world (you need to see it to really understand).
The lunch specials are a little pricy, but you get a tremendous amount of food for the money. For $10.95, I can get a good portion of Panang Beef, two chicken satay skewers and rice. The barbecued pork and chicken lunch specials are also quite good.
For dinner, the prices are about the same as most upscale Thai restaurants - but the portions are about 50% larger.
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For the past few months, I've been patiently watching and waiting for Modern Tea to finish their renovation of the practically cursed space at the northwest corner of Hayes and Laguna. I'm a tea...
For the past few months, I've been patiently watching and waiting for Modern Tea to finish their renovation of the practically cursed space at the northwest corner of Hayes and Laguna. I'm a tea lover, but just don't like sipping tea while dealing with the constant hiss of a steam wand while people are making cappuccinos, and the pseudo-Asian styling of most tea houses is, for some reason, a turn off (though real Asian tea houses are aces in my book). Sometimes, I just want a peaceful, calming almost spa-like environment without any chatter or clatter.
When this is what I need, Modern Tea fits the bill.
The scene is serene - a muted pale green color scheme, honey colored wood, and light jazz in the background. The first thing I noticed, or actually didn't notice, was the typical jarring beeps of the timers for the tea pots - instead, the timers flash and vibrate to alert the staff to attend to the tea. The attention to detail is evident throughout the cafe, from the petit-fours (the texas sheet cake is fantastic) to the soap in the bathrooms (rosemary and lime).
The tea selection is well chosen, about 18 varieties ranging from black teas, oolongs, green teas and tisanes. The Pu-Erh was extremely good, as was the taiwanese oolong. Instead of the more common method of using a large pot of water for the steeping, small teapots are used, accompanied by a carafe of hot water. As long as you keep the leaves damp, you can get at least 4 cups out of each serving of leaves and as the tea oils are leached out during each brew, the flavor changes - giving the drinker interesting experience and a more precise level of control.
I can read the tea leaves... and they say I'll be back soon...
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In my book, there is only one reason you go to Metro Caffe, and if you follow my directions, you'll have a five-star experience. Stray from the path at your own peril.
First off, you only go to...
In my book, there is only one reason you go to Metro Caffe, and if you follow my directions, you'll have a five-star experience. Stray from the path at your own peril.
First off, you only go to Metro Caffe for a cheesesteak, and no, there is no such thing as a chicken cheesesteak or turkey cheesesteak or soy-protein cheesesteak. Steak comes from cows, in this case Niman ranch hormone-free cows, which I unapologetically love to consume, especially here.
What else goes on a cheesesteak? Let's revisit the name... we already have the steak so let's go back to the cow and get the cheese, American cheese in this case. Add in onions, mushrooms, hot and sweet peppers and you have a perfect cheesesteak. Well, not yet... you do need double meat and double cheese otherwise the sandwich is just an anemic San Francisco interpretation of a cheesesteak. Bulk it up and you have a damn fine artery-clogging heart-stopping cheesesteak.
What do you want on the side? The fries are good (especially with chili and cheese), but the onion rings take top spot next to such a perfect sandwich. Add in a root beer or grape soda and you're on your way.... probably to the doctor for an angioplasty, but isn't it worth it?
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Hm... what to say about The Chieftain. As one of my local Irish pubs, even though it is a 15 minute walk away, there's something I like about it. Maybe it is the real Irish staff, or the fresh...
Hm... what to say about The Chieftain. As one of my local Irish pubs, even though it is a 15 minute walk away, there's something I like about it. Maybe it is the real Irish staff, or the fresh Murphy's stout, or the generous pours of whisky, or the Magners cider in large and small bottles, or the fact that they rewards locals with a little discount.
I don't know why I really like the place, because the crowd here runs from constuction workers to neighborhood regulars to the occasional street person asking to use the bathroom. It's not my scene, yet somehow it's my style.
Anyway, it's comfortable, the beer is fresh and the glasses are clean - and there's nothing wrong with the place. Hell, they even have Setana Sports on the TV, another plus. With all of the plusses, you would think it is a lock for five stars, but it was hard to give it the fourth.
If you're in SOMA and craving a whisky and a pint, you could do much much worse than The Chieftain.
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