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Yeah, I'm scratching my head about the Tunnel Top. It's not a dive bar by any stretch - it's a bar designed to evoke a dive-bar charm for Marina dwellers that have ventured down to Union Square for...
Yeah, I'm scratching my head about the Tunnel Top. It's not a dive bar by any stretch - it's a bar designed to evoke a dive-bar charm for Marina dwellers that have ventured down to Union Square for a show, dinner, or a drink before heading home.
Then again, the bar offers a buck off their beers (Leffe Blonde, Beamish Stout, Sierra Nevada, Stella Artois were all on tap if I recall) during happy hour and $3.50 shots of Fernet Branca... I guess that's sort of dive. Oh, and they're cash only, that's dive as well. Actually, the whole bar is pretty well an authentic dive bar, except for the fact that the crowd was pure hipster who wouldn't venture into the Lower Haight even on a dare.
The bar gets a 3 star rating. Nice bartenders, well constructed cocktails and a very small selection of beer on tap ranging from Leffe and Beamish all the way down to the drek that is Stella Artois, the beer any self-respecting Belgian would hesitate to drink. Bring an ATM card because it's cash only (but they do have a bank machine). Make sure you have a fresh bottle of yuppie repellent if you want to have a real dive experience... but beware, spray it on too thick and you might be the only one left there.
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I don't get over to New York City all that often, and usually I am stuck at the Times Square Marriott for a trade show. So I'm extremely happy to have found a good bar within stumbling distance from...
I don't get over to New York City all that often, and usually I am stuck at the Times Square Marriott for a trade show. So I'm extremely happy to have found a good bar within stumbling distance from the elevators.
Focusing on pseudo-dive bar chic, the Collins is a great place. Over a number of alcohol induced hours, we drank happy hour beer, loaded the jukebox selections and played a number of games of darts.
For a Times Square bar, the beer selection was very well chosen and quite fairly priced. If you happen to be stuck in the neighborhood, I highly recommend stopping in for a pint.
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I was shocked to find out that Austin's American Grill wasn't owned by Chili's, Applebee's or Friday's, because it just smacked of being a chain restaurant. Even the menus look like they were built...
I was shocked to find out that Austin's American Grill wasn't owned by Chili's, Applebee's or Friday's, because it just smacked of being a chain restaurant. Even the menus look like they were built by a marketing team - corporate and bereft of character.
Austin's is, essentially, a steak house - offering grilled salmon, delmonico steaks, buffalo, roasted chicken and prime rib. At least they called it "prime rib" but I'd be very surprised if it was USDA prime (someone call the inspectors from the big Dept. of Agriculture campus down the street) - more like choice grade beef, which was cooked in a manner that simultaneously drained this noble cut of beef of all flavor while retaining all of the connective tissue internal in the meat. The accompanying garlic mashed potatoes were, well, dry and flavorless. Butter would have helped. Cream would have helped. Gravy would have helped.
Maybe a new chef would have helped.
They get a couple of points for the spacious bar with a decent selection of local beer as well as their 4 course dinner special ($18.68 for an appetizer, salad, entree and dessert).
Having never eaten in Fort Collins before, I am sure you could do better.
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House the
Category:
Restaurants
1230 Grant Ave
San Francisco, California 94133
(415) 986-8612
If I could give a half-star, House would certainly be a 4.5 star venue. Not to say that everything wasn't excellent, but there were some small details that keep it from getting that last star....
If I could give a half-star, House would certainly be a 4.5 star venue. Not to say that everything wasn't excellent, but there were some small details that keep it from getting that last star.
Tonight, a group of five of us rolled in for our 7pm reservation on time - but as is typical these days, the table wasn't ready. Take note restauranteurs: make sure you're budgeting enough time for table turnover, especially in small restaurants. But I digress... we waited about 20 minutes, dodging obnoxious panhandlers who just didn't get the hint, before getting the table.
The food and wine was very good, possibly even fantastic but not outstanding. The very amiable waiter ran down the specials and brought us our bottle of 2003 Elk Cove Pinot Noir (only mentioned by name because it is a great Pinot for the price, and so I'll remember it in the morning).
I started with a classic Hot and Sour soup with Manila clams. This was a perfect hit, as I love good Hot and Sour soup and I love Manila clams - and the combination of both was unique and exceptional: spicy with a delicate seafood note.
The "Wagyu Skirt Steak with Mashed Potatoes" wasn't that at all, but it was still a fantastic main course. Instead, it was actually a Wagyu Flank Steak, cooked perfectly to my specification of rare, with a beef and truffle reduction and served with a small bowl of white rice, which was a much better starch for this dish than the aforementioned mashed potatos. A quarter point was taken off for the white asparagus, which was a little underdone, but it was still one of the best steak dishes I have had in a long time.
Dessert was a plum crisp with vanilla ice cream - a dish that is reminiscent of a Bavarian dessert whose name I can no longer recall - simple and very, very tasty. Take another quarter-point off for a lack of an espresso maker - de rigeur in San Francisco and especially in North Beach.
House won't give food lovers a life changing meal, but it is great food - better than ever expected in North Beach."
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Walking into Harry's Bar during the torrential rain this afternoon, I felt like I was walking into a frat-party, and that's not a good thing in my book.
Next to us was a group of men in their...
Walking into Harry's Bar during the torrential rain this afternoon, I felt like I was walking into a frat-party, and that's not a good thing in my book.
Next to us was a group of men in their late 20s acting like they were in their late teens - hitting each other in the arm, commenting about their sexual conquests and loudly proclaiming that "they are so drunk", followed by group hi-fiving. I know, it's that bad.
To top it off, the Mojito one friend had was sub par as was my irish coffee. For the prices they charge, I expected much better.
Needless to say, I won't be back.
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Leticia's
Category:
Mexican Restaurants
2301 Fillmore St
San Francisco, California 94115
(415) 922-1722
Visit Date: 1/28/06
Closed: 1st Quarter 06
I can't comment about the food at Leticia's, having only munched on some chips with salsa and guacamole, but the margaritas were large and well...
Visit Date: 1/28/06
Closed: 1st Quarter 06
I can't comment about the food at Leticia's, having only munched on some chips with salsa and guacamole, but the margaritas were large and well balanced. When we needed to get a cab afterwards, not only did the manager offer to call one, but when he got a busy signal, he opened up the phone book to find alternative cab companies to call.
Years and years ago, back when Leticia's was in the Castro, my wife and I went there and weren't overly impressed by the food, but as a place for a hefty cocktail, it wasn't a bad place to go to escape from the rain.
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It takes two buses and over 40 minutes to get to Ton Kiang from where I live, and it's usually followed by at least a 20 minute wait for a table but once inside, any hassle is immediately forgotten....
It takes two buses and over 40 minutes to get to Ton Kiang from where I live, and it's usually followed by at least a 20 minute wait for a table but once inside, any hassle is immediately forgotten.
The dim sum here is certainly not the best in North America - Lai Wah Heen in Toronto currently holds the top spot in my book, but I'm not about to take a 5 hour flight just to get some of their heavenly dumplings.
However, as dim sum restaurants in San Francisco proper go, it's a perfect balance of quality and price. I've never had a bad piece of dim sum there, and the mochi filled with coconut custard is one of my favorite desserts regardless of cuisine.
Standout dishes: snow pea shoots with garlic, rice noodles with char siu, crab claws in seafood mousse, shrimp with snow pea shoots, har gow, mango pudding and the mochi-custard. The Pu Erh tea is good, but not outstanding.
On top of that, four of us ate until we almost burst and it only cost us $20 a head, half of what we would have paid at Yank Sing. Expect a wait, but it's worth it.
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Sometimes it feels like everything opening in my neighborhood is trying to be a "destination spot"... Tres Agaves, Acme Chophouse, 21st Amendment, et cetera. That's why the Brick House is a great...
Sometimes it feels like everything opening in my neighborhood is trying to be a "destination spot"... Tres Agaves, Acme Chophouse, 21st Amendment, et cetera. That's why the Brick House is a great place to have a half block from the apartment.
During baseball season, I can always find a table to have a beer before heading home - a precious commodity when the neighborhood bars and restaurants are filled to well over their capacity.
Lunches here are better than average: the Brick House Melt with turkey and bacon, or the BBQ Bacon Cheeseburger with just enough tang from the sauce to give it some character but not so much that it overpowers the meat... and the Eggs Benedict from the Saturday brunch menu are some of the best I have had in The City.
A point has to come off for a few small issues: If you go at lunch, and four people at the table order and pay separately, there is a chance that there will be a delta of up to 10 minutes between the first and last person being served, and on a few occasions, an order has simply been missed. Also, the beer selection, which is actually better than most in the area, is impacted by frequent outages on many of the taps. Finally, ordering any level of done-ness on the burgers seem to be ignored: rare, medium-rare, medium... it all comes out medium-well.
Still, even with these negatives, the food is still tasty, and when you're in the mood for a big ass wagyu burger with exceptional fries, there's not much better in the neighborhood for the price.
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My wife and can't say we're regulars at The Slanted Door anymore, but back in the day when they were located at 16th and Valencia and we were living in the Lower Haight, we made sure that we popped...
My wife and can't say we're regulars at The Slanted Door anymore, but back in the day when they were located at 16th and Valencia and we were living in the Lower Haight, we made sure that we popped in every month or so for excellent food, amazing chocolate cake and a well thought out selection of tea. That was back in the 1990s, and this is now 2006. It's been a long time since we first experienced the shaken beef, served by dedicated staff that recognized familiar faces and treated you like you were practically one of the family. Over a decade since our first taste of the food, the restaurant has moved twice and undergone changes that in some ways are great, but overall leave me wishing that they were still a little known restaurant in the Mission.
Since we have moved back to town, we've been there once for dinner and a couple of times for drinks, most recently this evening. Though the new space is sleek with an expanded lounge area - it lacks the warmth and personal touches that could make it great. Even the staff seemed to shlub along through the crowd in ill fitting, slightly faded Slanted Door black t-shirts.
The DJ and cocktail selection are nice, but don't really fit the vibe of the restaurant area. It tries to be hip and unique, but ends up being generic and a little cliche. Well prepared drinks are brought out at a painfully slow pace, making it difficult to enjoy yourself while trying to flag down a server and time your order to when you might finish your drink in order to avoid a lengthy in-between-drink gap. All of this, and you end up paying about ten dollars per cocktail when tax and tip are figured in.
If the service in the bar can't be fixed, then it would be better just to abandon it, rather than tainting the overall experience. Call me crazy, but when I miss the food, I'll head to Out The Door and have some takeout.
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I've only been to Blondie's twice over the past 8 years, but they're still putting out consistantly good, strong drinks. Tonight's Junipero Gin Gimlet was well prepared, and getting a full 16 ounces...
I've only been to Blondie's twice over the past 8 years, but they're still putting out consistantly good, strong drinks. Tonight's Junipero Gin Gimlet was well prepared, and getting a full 16 ounces of gimlet for under $10 was perfect.
The bar was a little crowded up front, but in the back by the pool tables there were lots of seats available.
It's no frills, and no grill... just good, strong cocktails and beer.
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