Gary Soup's Profile
Tony Bourdain: Brighton Beach Place?
At least I didn't refer to it as the IND "D" Line ;-)
Tony Bourdain: Brighton Beach Place?
You are probably right. I don't live in NY and was relying on a faulty memory and equally faulty map (Microsoft Streets & Trips, which is spotty in its subway station coverage).
Ba Le Banh Mi
Which Ba Le are you referring to? There are a few Ba Les and "Little" Ba Les around.
Split the San Francisco Bay Area Board?
"the boards as they are aren't meant for the average visitor, but are for chowhounds by chowhounds"
You may have put your finger on the whole problem with Chowhound.com; it often appears to be hospitable to initiates only. Others approaching it with honest questions are lucky to get a link tossed to them and not met with derision.
looking for southern food in the south bay
Back-a-Yard in Menlo Park features both Caribbean and Soul Food. Their menu doesn't mention dumplings, but everything else you requested is on it.
http://backayard.net/
Split the San Francisco Bay Area Board?
Whether you commute or not is beside the point You either eat in SF, or somewhere else. It's the catch-all nature of the boards that's confusing to visitors, and splitting them up would reduce the confusion. Most visitors to San Francisco have no interest in chasing down some obscure restaurant outside the City just because some parochial foodie tells them they should, or find out Chez Panisse is not the simple BART hop away they are often led to believe before they make a reservation.
Regarding vendors at Farmers Markets, it's the point of sale, not the location of production that governs. If` the latter was the case, half the discussions of produce at the Farmers Markets would be OT, because so much of it is produced outside the Nine-County Bay Area.
When I'm in New York I stay with my daughter. She's in an "Outer Borough" even though the subway will get her to Grand Central Station in 4 minutes (I clocked it myself). Yet the split there works well, because Brooklyn and Queens have an entirely different demographic, ethos and energy to their food scene, and it's good not to have to sift through all the repetitive discussions of the places where the beautiful people eat if I'm trying to catch up with what's happening along Roosevelt Avenue.
Now, if they only would split Brooklyn and Queens from the other Outer Boroughs....
Is it really that hopeless? - Korean in the Mission District
You might want to add a link for the Fremont branch while you're at it. My browser or firewall or whatever won't let me Link to a Place.
Zazang Restaurant
39033 State St., Fremont, CA 94538
(510) 795-8298
Is it really that hopeless? - Korean in the Mission District
Menupages must have gotten hold of Zazang's Cupertino Menu. IIRC, the SF Zazang's entire menu is this one:
http://www.sporq.com/sanfrancisco/zazang/2340gearyblvd?view=zoom
Looking for American-ized Chinese Food
Hey, how about an authentic. ca 1963 SF Chinatown-style Tomato Beef Chow Mein? That's what was brought to a neighboring table the one time I was there, and almost sent me into a Proustian reverie.
Tony Bourdain: Brighton Beach Place?
You might be right. I didn't see the episode, but I remember an excerpt or a review that mentioned M & I (and I'm not sure they even have sit-down service or a menu). Did AB and Zim go to Cafe Glechik?
Is it really that hopeless? - Korean in the Mission District
Really north of Downtown, along Telegraph Ave in the 20's. The 19th Street BART Station is closest.
Total Greek Yogurt at Costco
I bought a couple of containers yesterday. I believe it was $6.99 per kilo-sized tub.
Most Reliable Restaurant Review Site Outside of Chowhound?
I agree the most perceptive and worthwhile reads often appear in the alternative weeklies, like the work of Sietsema, and J. Gold in LA (we're missing that in SF these days). I don't think that's the point of this thread, though, which is about resources larger than a single individual can generate.
Split the San Francisco Bay Area Board?
I think the time has come to split the SF Bay Area Board into, say San Francisco and "Outer Areas". It covers an area about 150 miles from north to south, Balkanized by a fragmented transit system. We're not all traveling salespeople, nor are we drivin' fools like our SoCal friends. There are plenty of San Francisco posters who have no inclination or means to go to Cloverdale or Gilroy, and at the same time there are Berkeley posters who view San Francisco as a boorish, cuisine-deprived Outland.
This is not to diss areas outside San Francisco, which may contain emergent culinary Meccas; when I'm headed for New York, I spend far more time reading the "Outer Boroughs" board than the Manhattan board because there is so much more happening that's of interest to me in Queens and Brooklyn than in Manhattan. On the other hand, the SF Board has been cluttered of late with what amounts to flyers for suburban canned food outlets, advising me where to get a cheap 12-pack of Henry Weinhardts or box of Russell Stover Candies.
Tony Bourdain: Brighton Beach Place?
D train to Ocean Park? Looks like about a 1/4 mi. walk on my map.
Is it really that hopeless? - Korean in the Mission District
Or LA.
Let's face it, there just aren't that many Koreans in San Francisco. We have a hint of a Koreatown on the fringes of Japantown, have you looked around there? I don't know if this place is still around, but it might interest you if it is:
http://www.chowhound.com/topics/30582
Panko bread crumbs
I think you are right about Safeway, but they usually jack up the price of "ethnic" food ingredients so much I hesitate to even mention it.
Vancouver this weekend. Help!
For a good array of "hawker stall" Asian eats, go to the Richmond Public Market's second floor food court. It's a short walk from Shanghai River, but save an appetite; there's lots to try, including a great lamb soup with hand-pulled noodles and Singapore chili crab, if things haven't changed since I was last there. The "Beijing-Shanghai Delicacies" stall serves pretty good xiaolong bao, too.
Where to take the folks?
Ah, there we go again!
Am I the only one who cringes every time someone recommends taking out of town visitors to Burma Superstar? My niece, a schoolteacher from Watertown, NY and her SO, an Army lifer, visited SF (while I was travelling and had no part in recommending venues) and THEY somehow ended up eating at Burma Superstar. At that point I decided the handwriting was on the wall for BS. I'm not usually one of the "let's keep it a secret" proponents, as good places need enough business to survive and prosper, but at some point they'll find them staring in the face of the House of Nanking phenomenon.
Oakland - What's Up Dog Express @ Grocery Outlet ... with or without snap?
They had an Express set up at the Nihonmachi Street Festival a couple of weeks ago, and I swear I saw a What's Up Dog cart (with wheels) as well somewhere. It would be nice if they proliferated, as we could use some actual street food. For the nostalgic, they serve a "New York" dog featuring that awful Sabrett's red sauce.
http://flickr.com/photos/garysoup/1099139672/in/set-72157594489441579/
Introducing Places
CH is a more "coherent source of food info" by and for a small, arguably elitist, subculture. Chowhound "reviewers", such as they are, are preaching to the choir. Yelp is a far more comprehensive data base of reviews and represents the whole spectrum of opinion.
In any event, ANYONE can create a Google Earth Database.
2 and a half days by the Bay!
Acme Bread, good as it is (and I love it) does not make the traditional sourdough bread that San Francisco is famous for. Boudin has long held the crown for best San Francisco sourdough, even when they still had competition. A visit to the Boudin's Bakery/Bread Museum will kill two birds with one stone, as I believe all first-time visitors want to and should visit Fisherman's Wharf for the views, the smells and the history. Heck, it's worth a trip to the Wharf just to ogle the sea lions, and Cost Plus World Market is an unsung shopping resource for gourmet items that travel well at bargain prices. For the curious, there's also a Trader Joe's at FishWharf and SF's only In 'n' Out Burger is located there (appropriately, I would say), right next to our only Hooters.
I agree that SF, for all its pretty pictures and fragrant sea air, is not a great seafood city, with the only must-try being Dungeness crab, which will not be in season in Oct.
So what's new? (looking for Flushing Chinese, or any cuisine in JH/Elmhurst and Astoria)
The Noodle House is presumptiously named "Nanxiang Xiaolong Bao" in Chinese but the xiaolongbao weren't up to snuff when I tried them.
http://flickr.com/photos/garysoup/934926038/in/set-72157600541386346/
Best moon cakes in the Bay Area?
Well, Maxim's are made in HK and presumably air-shipped to SF, so the markup shouldn't be surprising. I saw Maxim's on Stockton St. in Chinatown but don't recall the price. Speaking of tinned mooncakes, have you spotted any vegetarian ones from Gong De Lin in Shanghai yet? They're hard to find since Metro Foods/San Yang folded.
Finally: Tu Lan
It was being compared to Burma Superstar, not Tu Lan. Burma Superstar is increasingly prominent on the Guidebook radar, and at some point the tourists in line will squeeze out the locals, who will then decide it isn't that good after all. That may become a self-fulfilling prophecy.
Tu Lan is blessed with a natural defense against hordes of tourists lining up, a Gardol Shield known as "Sixth St."
"Only in San Francisco" Restaurants
But recall that the "Joe's Special" supposedly originated at New Joe's in North Beach, which preceded Original Joe's. The founder of Original Joe's (whose name was Tony, not Joe) had previously worked at New Joe's.
