Foodie Digest

I tend to be worthless when I go too many hours without food. If I get to the point where I’m hungry, I can contribute. I can come up with ideas of where to eat and what I might be craving. If I miss that point of awareness, though, I get stupid. Like today. Luckily I live with John who takes over. Like today. Today he said “let’s have crepes”. Off to Yelp I was to research what was nearby and we were directed to Soccer Cafe. In the easy to park area of the mission (16th and treat).

We’ve driven by this place tons of times while going to Poc Chuc. We’ve never noticed it before. A shame, since it has outdoor seats (dog friendly!) and good food.

Soccer Cafe is a pretty cavernous space. More like a school gymnasiums with TVs to broadcast soccer games. You order at the counter and pay; they deliver (and incredibly quickly) food.

Soccer Cafe has a pretty extensive breakfast/sandwich/crepe menu. Since we set out to get crepes we stuck to that. They have both sweet and savory crepes. We both opted for savory crepes.

John had a breakfast crepe — eggs, cheese and ham. I opted for the Amir crepe — spinach, mushrooms and cheese — and I added tomatoes. We both had a beverage and our total was less than $15. bargain bite!

But on to the crepes… They both arrived quickly, perfectly prepared and neatly folded.

Both crepes looked identical but they had delivered them appropriately.

The breakfast crepe:

The breakfast crepe had a great balance of cheese, ham and egg. The crepe itself was tender and eggy. The cheese could have melted a little bit more and the flavor was overwhelmingly of ham. You are given your choice of cheese; this one had cheddar. This was a good portion but I think it could have used some other flavors. Without the ham this would have been a pretty bland crepe.

Amir plus tomato crepe

The other crepe had an abundance of spinach (this is a very good thing). Again, the crepe itself was simple and eggy (compared to the buckwheat crepe of Butler and the Chef). The tomatoes added some much needed flavor but again I found myself wishing for more seasonings. Luckily there are bottles of tapatio on the table so it’s pretty easy to doctor the dishes yourself. As in the breakfast crepe, the cheese could have melted more. I found myself eating around chunks of not melted enough cheese.

I wouldn’t hesitate to come back here. The service was extremely friendly and quick. The food was quite decent and the atmosphere was pretty relaxing (though I wouldn’t advise coming here during a heated soccer match). I look forward to trying more of the menu.

Overall thumbs: Two thumbs up. The food was good, service was quick and friendly and it’s a total bargain.

Tastiness Rating: Fair. The food was good and quite edible.

Service Rating: Good. Service is friendly and super quick.

Dog friendliness factor: Outside seats make this an easy spot to hang with the dogs.

Sure, yum may not be overly descriptive. Not only that, I’m falling into the “always start with dessert” mantra. To be fair, this dessert was AFTER lunch but the dessert was so memorable I’m starting with it.

I live with someone who loves sandwiches. While I could eat sushi or ramen or maybe even tacos for lunch every day, he could eat sandwiches. Especially submarine sandwiches. So we trekked to the Submarine Center (more on that later) and discovered the neighborhood of West Portal. It’s cute. With big houses. It looks nothing like the San Francisco we know and live in.

Anyway, after a satisfying lunch we decided to wander. A nice walk in the break in the SF winter storms. We stumbled on West Portal Bakery. They had tons of cookies. Muffins. Bread. Cornbread. But what caught our eye was this slice of chocolate cake:

fudgy, gooey chocolate cake.

What’s amazing about this is that neither of us are huge chocolate cake fans. I always opt for vanilla (with chocolate frosting). His choice is vanilla with vanilla frosting. But as you can see, there’s something about this one that’s just eye-catching. It glistened. It beckoned. So we ordered it.

Two forks and two bites later, we both said “wow”. This cake was rich without being too dense, moist without being gushy, fudgy without being sugary. Don’t get me wrong — this cake was sweet. But it had a smooth silky consistency that didn’t separate out the individual granules of sugar.

Two bites in we look up and the server was delivering us each a glass of water. She said we’d need it. She was right. This is the perfect cake to enjoy with a tall glass of milk.  I would drive back to West Portal (in case you’re wondering it’s the other side of town. 6 miles the other side of town) to get this cake for a special occasion.

We also picked up 2 cookies for later; a chocolate chip (no nuts!) and an oatmeal cranberry cookie. The chocolate chip was deemed “good”. (I can’t give you a better description. I had less than a bit of it and it tasted like a cookie). The oatmeal cranberry cookie had too much cinnamon and not enough oatmeal. It was a dense cookie that wasn’t all that enjoyable. I’d rather save my calories for the cake.

We noted they also served sandwiches, had a wide assortment of fresh baked breads (that looked great) and honey cornbread flowerettes (like muffins) that we almost bought.

Since this really is a counter and we only had a snack, I’ll take a break from the normal tastiness/service/overall ratings. Just add that I would highly recommend the chocolate cake.

So it’s been a LONG LONG time since I’ve written anything. Which means I’ll write a bunch of stuff out of order as I try to catch up, and I probably won’t have any pictures

Let’s start with Tin. Tin Vietnamese just took over the Pho Ha Tien II location in my hood. Pho Ha Tien delivered (big bonus!) but so far Tin’s food is better.

Pros: All the food I’ve had so far is fresh, really tasty and the service is friendly. They’ve redone the interior to be clean and well-lit. The hours are clearly posted (closed weekends). Oh, and I really really really like their pho bo. The star anise flavor comes through in a delicate and warming way. The beef is super high quality and the rare beef is actually rare. The first time I went I tried the fresh spring rolls but requested vegetarian. They arrived full of mushrooms and tofu; very filling, fresh, and clean tasting.

Cons: The menus is somewhat limited, especially following Pho Ha Tien’s expansive listings. Still, the things that are on their menu they do well. Sure I’d love a good banh mi, but that’s what Saigon Sandwich is for. They also don’t deliver (and I’m lazy).

Overall thumbs: Up. Very glad to have a great place to get pho near the house and appreciate the super high quality of the ingredients.

Tastiness rating: High. Really great flavors. Sure, it’s just a Vietnamese noodle shop. But if that’s what you’re in the mood for this is a great bet.

Service rating: Good. Service was friendly and the guy (owner) seems to really be trying to do the right thing.

I’ve loved southwestern food since I lived in Denver. The smokiness of red chile and the great flavors of the green. Always a decision I can’t make so I inevitably get my dishes in Santa Fe served christmas style — the red and green chile served side by side.

On my recent trip I was traveling with a mixed group of dining tastes.. Some like it hot (me!) and some did not (mom). Our first dinner was at Santacafe which was tasty and accommodating to the non-spicy eaters. Of course, it left me hungry for my chile!

Enter breakfast at Guadalupe cafe. I had the huevos rancheros and my sister had the casey enchiladas. To say we enjoyed our dishes is an understatement; we returned the next day and ordered the exact same thing!

My dish:

blue corn tortillas with cheese, covered with beans and eggs to order (over had to me) topped with — you guessed it — red and green chile. The red was perfectly smokey; the green was flavorful. I admit the next day I came back and had red only and regretted it. I love the combo of the two.

The service was adequate; people were friendly and on Saturday there was no wait. Sunday (Mother’s day) had about a 15 minute wait. Not bad. 

The casey enchiladas were filled with egg and chorizo. I didn’t get to taste them but again, so good they were ordered the next day.

We ate dinner at Tomasita’s (disappointment!) I wished we’d gone back to Guadalupe Cafe for dinner too. If I’m in Santa Fe again, I know I’ll be heading here again.

I’ve been educated on the wonders of Vienna beef over the past decade. I was hailed as a hero when I discovered (the now defunct) Chi-Dogs in Santa Clara and have facilitated treks out of SF to find the coveted Chicago dog and italian beef throughout the Bay area.

Imagine my glee when I received my latest Tablehopper newsletter telling me about Da Beef. Not only is it in SF, but it’s blocks from our house. Bummer is it’s only open M-F until 6, and on Saturday until 5.

We walked to Rocco’s for dinner on night and start looking for Da Beef. Tablehopper and Da Beef’s web site said 300 7th street. Um, that’s an Oil can henry’s. We were confused until we looked into the garage of Oil Can Henry’s and saw a hot dog cart.

A hot dog cart! This new food find, this restaurant carrying the highly sought after vienna beef is a hot dog cart! This could be good news (low overhead) or bad news (they might move out of our neighborhood at any time).

Either way, we decide to give them a shot. The web site said they will be carrying italian beef shortly, so we headed over to get some chicago style hot dogs. Made with vienna beef.

The good

• the dogs are Vienna beef. Be warned they are the jumbo size (why oh why is everything super-sized!)
• the buns are imported from chicago. They are steamed and perfectly prepared.
• the have nuclear green relish!
• they use celery salt, have chopped onions, pickles, sport peppers and mustard
• they were giving out free samples of the soon to be available italian beef
• the dogs were prepared perfectly; definitely solved a chicago dog craving.

The “needs improvement” (I’m not going to say bad. This is what’s preventing Da Beef from being perfectly perfect).

• no tomatoes! They aren’t currently set up to have fresh cut tomatoes but it’s coming
• no official italian beef yet. Because they don’t have the sweet peppers or the giardiniera, they are waiting before they sell this. Good move. We also thought the italian beef could be “wetter” but again, it was a free taste.
• they need better hours! I’m not sure which crowd they are catering toward yet. I hope they get enough business to stay in business but it’d be great to be able to swing by there after work.  ‘course maybe it’s better for me—healthwise—that they aren’t :).

Overall thumbs: Way up! There were 3 of us and we all thought our dogs were great.

Food tastiness: Perfect.

Service rating: The two women who run this cart are friendly and knowledgeable. They definitely researched the market and area and knew all the places we knew they served vienna beef. We only wish they had lawn chairs or something to sit in while we ate.

WW points: Do you really want to know? The jumbo vienna beef dogs are 7 points (bun not included). I need to lobby the Da Beef folks to include the regular size…

As much as I love fine dining (for the interesting food rather than the interesting place settings) I’m a big fan of extremely casual dining. Extremely casual but tasty dining. Such bring me to one of my favorite Indian/Pakistani places in SF –Lahore Karahi. I like it because:

• No liquor license so BYOB
• Casual, usually no wait
• Really cheap and extremely tasty Indian food
• Friendly service
• In the tendyloin!

I will say I couldn’t tell the difference between the Chicken Tikka Masala and the Butter Chicken, but it didn’t really matter. They were both good. The tandoori fish had a nice hit of spice. The saag paneer also was good.

All in all, nothing disappointed. Good food and a lot of it. We fed 5 hungry people for $60.

Overall thumbs: 5 up.

Food tastiness: Very good. I like it best of the different places I’ve gone to in that neighborhood (naan n curry, chutney).

Service rating: Decent. As soon as we sat with our brown paper bag they brought over wine glasses, then brought over a bottle opener when they realized the paper bag contained beer and not wine. Food was prompt. Our server could have been warmer/friendlier but I think we were a bit intimidating as a group.

Would definitely go back (and I have !)

ww points: Indian is not a very WW friendly meal. Naan is like 4 points for a piece. Saag Paneer is 7 points (I think) for a half cup. But save your points, work out, then splurge here. (or go for ethiopian. It’s a little more WW friendly. Injera is low point!

Saturday night, or date night, and we’re off to Japantown. The Kabuki theater is the only one we’ll go to on a weekend because they have reserved seating. New Batman movie is out so we thought we’d grab some cheap ramen before the movie.

Except I happen to mention shabu shabu. Even as we’re walking through Japantown mall to our comfort food destination, Big is thinking shabu shabu. When I point out Shabusen and mention it has good reviews, he suggests we see how long the wait is.

10 minutes or so is what we’re told so we tough it out. We end up with a prime table near a window that opens.

Service here is super friendly and efficient. Big orders the seafood combo (shrimp and scallops) and then says AND to which our server says “oh, that’s plenty for 2 people”. He points out that he’s big and eats a lot and we add a dry aged ribeye shabu shabu. We order beverages and barely have time to sip before the hot pot is put on the table to boil. Before the boiling occurs 2 big plates with cabbage, veggies, tofu and udon appear along with a plate of shrimp and scallops, and another plate of thinly sliced beef.

We also get plates for the shrimp shells, and towel to clean our hands after removing said shrimp shells, and a bowl of rice each.

We eat. and eat. the servers keep asking us if we want more rice or need anything else (no). The food is really good. The broth doesn’t even get clogged with fat.

We pay the bill and leave. And notice the review on the way out that says “an order of shabu shabu is x dollars and serves two”. Um, yeah. Unless you’re us.

There’s really no other way to describe it. Big and Small spent many hours of the weekend doing hard physical labor–more than 8 hours each day.  At the end of each day we were starved, but too exhausted to really “fill the gap”. Needless to say, we woke up Monday morning still hungry.

Traffic down the peninsula (and some canceled meetings) presented a breakfast opportunity. Some quick research showed Millbrae Pancake House as a highly recommended spot.

We detour and pull into the parking lot. The PACKED parking lot (at 8 a.m. on a Monday).

It’s definitely a gateway into the past. And we’re clearly in the suburbs. No matter; the pancake house pancakes in many shapes and forms.

Big orders the banana pancakes with a side of sausage, I get the swedish pancakes. The banana pancakes come 5 gigantic pancakes to an order. The bananas are both grilled in with the pancakes and slathered across the top.  The sausage are small links with a flavor much like Jimmie dean.

The swedish pancakes are large, and served 3 to an order. They come sprinkled with powdered sugar and a side of lingonberry butter. (all the reviews said lingonberries but in my opinion, berries are a fruit and butter is butter.

So the good. The portions here definitely fill the gap. To excess. Given that Big is, well, BIG and that he was hungry, it says something that he could only eat half his portion. (self control? restraint? or excessively large portions).

Overall thumbs: sideways.

Food tastiness: Moderate. A pancake is a pancakes. These were a little bit dense but tasty enough. Probably wouldn’t go back for a return trip.

Service rating: Mediocre. We were seated and offered drinks right away. But our drinks were never refilled and we had to wait over 10 minutes to get our check.

We were wandering through Potrero Hill with the dogs and needed a relatively quick, relatively healthy place for lunch. Oh, and it needed to have outside seating. Since we’d just had pizza from Gialina’s last night, we ruled out Piccinos. The last few meals we’d had at Aperto were nice surprises so we drove by.
Seats were available outside so we parked the car and wandered over. Small looked at the specials board and noted: huevos ranchero, huevos w/ chorizo, enchiladas verde, veggie sandwich, and orechette w/ lamb ragu.
If you’ve ever been here you know it’s a predominately italian menu. We’ve noticed that weekend brunches introduce some mexican options. In the past we’ve had the enchiladas verdes and remembered them being quite good. The menu is rounded out with classics like french toast and pancakes, along with lunchy items like a grilled chicken salad and sandwiches.
Small opted for the huevos rancheros but requested scrambled egg whites instead of eggs over medium and no sour cream.
Big went for the Orechette w/ lamb ragu pasta of the day.
Our server brought our drinks along with complimentary mini banana muffins. Big ate them so I forgot to ask if they were good.
The outdoor seating was roomy enough to fit two large dogs. There was one other couple seated outside; they also had a dog.
The huevos rancheros arrive. It’s 3 corn tortillas each topped slightly differently. One is with scrambled egg whites and a green salsa; the second scrambled egg whites with a red salsa, and the third with black beans. Both salsa have a fantastic flavor. The beans are nicely spiced as well. Something between the green salsa and the beans add a great smokey taste. This dish is very successful and very healthy.
The orechette is well-prepared (maybe a tad overcooked for Small’s al dente preference but perfectly suited for Big). The sauce is rich and flavorful. This dish is polished off by Big with Small stealing bites of the orechette.
Service is warm and friendly. Food is good. Definitely recommended. Small’s only complaint with the place is they almost ALWAYS have lilies inside. Small can’t be near lilies and usually dings restaurants a star in ratings for having something so fragrant interfering with her food. Sitting outside, tho, means the lilies are forgotten. Still, if you have the same allergies I do something to be aware of before you plan indoor dining.

Overall thumbs: Two thumbs up. Good relaxing place for brunch.

Tastiness rating: high. The food is always well prepared. The mexican dishes are a great weekend bonus and the salsas are rich and flavorful without being robust.

Service: Good. Our server was nice. We were checked on but not very frequently.

Dog friendliness: Very good. Our dogs were fine under the table and it’s not too crowded. They also keep a dog bowl filled in front of the restaurant.

WW points: 4.5 for the huevos rancheros (Small only ate 2 of the 3 corn tortillas for 2 points, plus the egg whites and beans). 

mall was craving pizza two days in a row, and managed to convince Big it was a good option for Friday night. She’d been curious about Gialina so we called them up and placed an order.
Service on the phone was pleasant and friendly. We ordered three pizzas from the web site menu:

• the Atomica pizza with the addition of italian sausage: Atomica- tomato, mushrooms, mozzarella, spicy chilies & red onions $14.50
• Wild Nettles w/ pancetta & provolone $15
• Speck w/ tomato, mozzarella, basil & arugula $15

Total with tax was $51.

I’ll admit that 3 pizzas is a bit much for 2 people. Big was really hungry but we still had plenty leftover.

Big would rank his preferences as Atomica, Speck and Nettles. Small goes in the exact opposite order.

The Atomica was loved for its simplicity. The onions were grilled, which was a lovely touch. The tomato sauce was nicely flavored. Not overly spiced. The chilies added a spicy touch

The Speck pizza continued with the simple tomato sauce. The speck was like a thinly shaved proscuitto with fresh arugula tossed on top.

The Nettles pizza had sauteed nettles on top of a sauce-less crust. The pancetta was a perfectly crisped bacon. Big thought this was greasy. I did not, but maybe it was wishful thinking.

The crust on all three pizzas was perfectly prepared. Crispy around the edges and a little chewy in the center.

The place itself was cute. I’d probably think about stopping in on our way home from the South bay some evening.