Atomica's Recent Activity
Chowhound Post
Any news on Bernal's Sandbox Bakery opening?
2.5 months later . . . any updates?
Chowhound Post
Trader Vic's in Palo alto,good or bad for birthday party?
HOWEVER, we've been to the Father's Day brunch (in Emeryville) 2 years in a row, and it's really quite good.
Chowhound Post
Best pupusas in San Francisco?
And for a differing opinion, I love Elsy's. I never get rice and beans, just pupusas for a snack for me and my kid. And they make really good fried chicken too. The owner is a sweetheart.
Chowhound Post
What's with Michael Chiarello's place?
I agree. I've liked House of Nanking every time I've been, despite how unhip that may make me.
Chowhound Post
Any news on Bernal's Sandbox Bakery opening?
Excellent. That's super close to my house. Nice to know Nervous Dog is branching out with who it's buying pastries from. Most of them are completely horrible.
Chowhound Post
J's Pots of Soul, and a poem!
A guy posted on Yelp on 7/6 that it has closed up shop.
Chowhound Post
Any news on Bernal's Sandbox Bakery opening?
Thanks for the detail, Ken! I really would love a new bakery on Cortland. Liberty is even sadder than it was a few months ago.
Chowhound Post
Any news on Bernal's Sandbox Bakery opening?
Does anyone have scoop on when Mutsumi Takehara's new bakery is ever going to open on Cortland in Bernal Heights? It was slated for April, but did not appear.
Chowhound Post
Looking for bakery bargains
Destination Baking (Glen Park) sells 2-for-1 breakfast pastries, I think after 2:00.
Chowhound Post
Best Food Blogs?
I'm going to answer myself here almost 3 years later and say that Roots and Grubs has just spawned a book called "Hungry Monkey," published by Houghton Mifflin.
Chowhound Post
dried beans vs canned
Not only are you throwing out flavor when you drain the soaked beans, but you're throwing away vitamins and minerals. The food scientist Harold McGee favors no soaking at all, but rather long, slow cooking. He says this breaks down those carbs that usually cause flatulence into digestible sugars. I have quit soaking beans.
Chowhound Post
The Rainbow Grocery thread - what to buy?
I found rapini (broccoli rabe) there yesterday after checking many, many stores for a long time and I was very happy! True, I don't know exactly when it's in season and the produce guy at Bi-Rite was extremely noncommital and vague when I asked him about it a while back.
I'm in pasta-making mode these days, so I appreciate the semolina flour in bulk. I buy all my spices, salt, RG beans/non-RG beans, and popcorn in bulk. The cheese people are all totally delightful and really into their product. (Note: Not terribly long ago, Saveur named them one of the best cheese sellers in the US. Take it for what it's worth depending on how much you like Saveur.)
They sell the This Little Cookie shortbread cookies I love. Lots of vegan treats that I avoid like the plague. Decent bagels and soft pretzels. I sometimes buy Dr. Bronner's.
It's the only place I can find the almond meal I need for a certain cookie recipe (the TJ's product is unacceptable) and malt powder for another cookie recipe. Prices for snooty baking chocolate that I like haven't been higher than anywhere else.
I've bought compostable plates/bowls/flatware for parties.
My main gripe might be a funny one: I often would really like to buy a cup of coffee when I'm there, but the membership has been arguing about providing this service for years with no resolution.
Chowhound Post
SF with a not-so-typical teen
We eat at Genki Ramen perhaps once every couple of months and like it just fine. What do we order? All sorts of different things. Ramens, apps, cold ramen salad.
Chowhound Post
Best Butcher/Meat Market in SFBay?
There's one guy who never gets orders right. He doesn't listen to what you want, then has to ask a couple more times to clarify, and still you come home with the wrong amount of something, pretty much every time. One of the owners talks in a pressured and fast voice on his phone whenever he's helping customers, so he's not paying attention either. I'm pretty convinced they're a lot more into their shiny, expensive motorcycles than they are in running the store properly.
Chowhound Post
Check Please 3/27/09: Shanghai Dumpling King, Farmerbrown, & Caesar's Italian Restaurant, SF
Ah, okay--haven't seen the episode yet. I sure hope there's the obligatory complaints about "no place to park" and "scary ethnic neighborhood" that pop up in almost every show.
Chowhound Post
Check Please 3/27/09: Shanghai Dumpling King, Farmerbrown, & Caesar's Italian Restaurant, SF
The restaurants spotlighted on Check Please have to fall within a bunch of parameters (restaurant has existed for more than X amount of time and other limitations). Maybe that person had a list and that was the only one that met the Check Please guidelines.
Chowhound Post
SF with a not-so-typical teen
I agree with the Belden Place comments. I haven't liked B44 or Plouf at all in several visits to both. It's a cute street to look at in the evening, but that's about it.
We had some fantastic dim sum at City View a week ago. It is also somewhat expensive (but not Yank Sing expensive).
Chowhound Post
Best Butcher/Meat Market in SFBay?
No, they have not improved. Same dummy owners.
Chowhound Post
Best Butcher/Meat Market in SFBay?
SFDude, being totally soured on Drewes for many reasons, I'd love to know what grass fed beef and heritage pork you've noticed there.
Chowhound Post
SF with a not-so-typical teen
I second those recs. 826 Valencia and Paxton Gate are cool and unusual and completely worth a trip. Also, the excellent Aquarius Records is right by Udupi. I would have died for that store at 17. For dessert, you could go to the Bombay Ice Creamery on Valencia between 17th & 16th, and there's tons of other great stores up there too.
Chowhound Post
SF with a not-so-typical teen
If you're considering Dosa (the one on Valencia, that is), I'd reconsider and go to a few steps away to Udupi Palace, which is completely vegetarian and has stunning food and is very affordable. One of my very favorite restaurants in the Mission (I'm not a vegetarian). I took a vegetarian visitor there a few days ago and she was blown away. We've actually eaten at Udupi twice this week. Warning: Cash only.
P.S. It's in a neighborhood your teenager will probably really enjoy.
Chowhound Post
Humphry Slocombe Ice Cream, SF report w/ pics
I thought they always have vanilla because their sundaes feature vanilla (of course, one could sub another flavor, but I like vanilla in my sundaes).
Chowhound Post
Looking for a Good Croissant - Esp Chocolate
I don't mind Tartine's too much, but the pastry is too bitter and overcooked for the chocolate. I like the plain and almond better.
Thorough Bread's chocolate croissants are pretty good, but really light and not my favorite of their croissants (though I do buy them for meeting pals/kids at the playground). Does Mission Beach Cafe make chocolate croissants? Both places have great pastries overall.
Chowhound Post
Vegan doughnuts @ Pepple's Donuts; Vegan chocolates @Coracao Confections; Vegan pizza @ Pizza Plaza - East Bay
I had one of their donuts at Philz and it was inedible. Between me and my donut-loving child, we couldn't even finish half of one donut before it was tossed.
Chowhound Post
And so it starts … Hot cross bun tour 2009
I saw some at Dianda's. They do not look housemade. They look like they're shipped in, like a lot of their stuff.
Chowhound Post
Brunch for baby friendly in SF
You totally lost me on Chloe's, Savor, and Tangerine, but Chow on Church is also very friendly to kids and they do have an outdoor patio. Across the street is Thorough Bread, which is not zoo-y and where you could also pick up a pastry and hang out on their great patio.
Chowhound Post
Humphry Slocombe Ice Cream, SF report w/ pics
Which is why everything at Mitchell's tastes like cream and not much else.
Chowhound Post
Tony Bourdain in San Francisco
I heard that the show was going to be about The Mission. I think I read that in the Mission Mission blog.
Chowhound Post
Best Bay Area Chocolatier with mail order line?
I totally agree. Joseph Schmidt was a waxy and really inferior product. Those clumsy, thick-walled truffles were a joke.
