timeo's Profile
Top 10 Must-visit SF Eateries - The Budget Version
Alas, I don't have any particular recommendations for North American-seafood here in the city. My initial post was more of a gut reaction to the suggestion that visitors should stand in line for a restaurant that's expensive and not particularly good. There are just too many other good restaurants around for me to justify recommending it to others, but of course, there are many people who do love it. In the end, I think it really depends on whether you think the food is going to pay off all the costs you incur.
Nam Kao Tod in Bay Area?
Chai Thai Noodle on International Blvd has the dish you're talking about. They have it as an appetizer (think it was $7-8). It was good but it was my first time with the dish and I haven't had it since so I have no basis for comparison sorry!
Top 10 Must-visit SF Eateries - The Budget Version
I dunno about Swan's. Definitely overrated, and given the length of the line, way not worth the effort either.
DJ's Bistro in Concord
Oh my bad, I phrased that last sentence really poorly. I meant that I haven't been to Chopin or Babushka so I want to go there next time I'm in CC County...how were the three in relation to each other when you went?
DJ's Bistro in Concord
Just went here with a friend a few days ago. I ordered the Jaeger Schnitzel while my friend got the Hungarian Goulash. Both of us really enjoyed our dishes (which btw were massive), and felt very welcome by the waitress (she's a Bulgarian EFL student and gave some of the best service I've had in a while). Both the food and beer were good value, the fresh flowers were a nice touch, and the place seemed well-liked given its daytime drinking crew, and how busy it got by 6. If I hadn't been to Chopin Cafe or Baboushka, I would definitely return here next time I'm in Contra Costa County.
Please critique my itinerary for 5 night trip to San Francisco (DID LOTS OF RESEARCH)
Also, aren't Perbacco and Sotto Mare different styles of Italian? A local friend of mine (born & raised & Italian to boot) keeps telling me that I should go visit L'Osteria del Forno in North Beach, but I can't vouch for whether it's any good or not - just that it's not too hard on the wallet and kind of an old school standby in the neighbourhood. Do note that they only take cash. Maybe other CHers can comment?
Other options in the Chinatown-ish range (+/- 1 mile) are Muracci's Japanese Curry & Grill which serves Japanese curry which isn't super common in T-dot's scene. It does a takeout business lunch kind of thing though, so the inside isn't particularly spacious and it's more of a brief stop than an actual sit down kind of thing. You can also go to Ramen Underground next door (both are on Kearny St south of California, on the west side of the street) for better ramen than Kenzo or Ajisen in Toronto, but Santouka is coming to T.O. in the summer so I'm not sure if you should waste a meal on that)
Another option is that you do your sightseeing in Chinatown and North Beach then take MUNI back to the Ferry Building where you get food there. You could also eat at The Slanted Door there (which I don't particularly like both taste or value-wise) and then take the F out to Pier 33 for the Alcatraz Tour.
ps if you're going to Humphrey Slocombe, you could potentially get to Dynamo Donuts since it's just a few more blocks down (okay well maybe more than a 'few', but it's still on the same street, 10 minute walk max) but it's closed Monday and only stays open to 5 on most days (4 on Sunday). You can also get some coffee at Philz Coffee at the corner of Folsom/24th (mmm Silken Splendour).
Please critique my itinerary for 5 night trip to San Francisco (DID LOTS OF RESEARCH)
Sorry, should've been more specific with my terminology. I don't disagree that there are decent places to eat in downtown SF Chinatown - just that there aren't many, hence "kind of another one of those areas"; emphasis on the kind of.
Please critique my itinerary for 5 night trip to San Francisco (DID LOTS OF RESEARCH)
I mean, the problem of visiting tourist areas in general is that those places usually have awful food and aren't particularly representative of where locals normally hang out. In SF, Fisherman's Wharf is one of those areas. Downtown Chinatown is kind of another one of those areas. Union Square isn't much better either, but at least it has shopping. If you want to visit those places just for the sake of checking them off the box and not so much for eating, I'd say go do it - but do know that those are not generally areas that locals frequent for food. If you do go to downtown Chinatown, I would follow what grayelf suggested (ie. walking down Grant for the ridiculously touristy stuff, ALSO make sure to stop at Li Po Cocktail Lounge at 916 Grant Ave for a blast from the past, and then walk back up via Stockton just to see the street where Chinese people actually shop).
I mean, I think part of the experience of visiting a city is seeing the touristy stuff, but if you're okay with doing a non-standard tour of the city, all the more power to you. Otherwise, I'd just do it since Chinatown is kind of on the way to North Beach anyways.
Early Saturday Breakfast + Food to eat in car
Dynamo Doughnuts! Sugar sugar sugar! It opens at 7AM on Saturday.
Please critique my itinerary for 5 night trip to San Francisco (DID LOTS OF RESEARCH)
I'm originally from Toronto, and live in the SF Area now so this is interesting to me. Commenting on your 4th revision, I would actually remove all the Chinese-related foods since T.O. has better Chinese in general. The egg tarts at Golden Gate Bakery are not particularly good if you've had any at the bakeries in Markham or Scarborough, and Yank Sing is way too expensive for what you can get comparatively back at home, so I'd cut them out. With that same reasoning, I would also ignore Koi Palace on your way back up to the Bay and focus more on the Vietnamese in San Jose or Indian on the Peninsula. Mingalaba is good, but it fills up QUICK. Downtown Burlingame is also kind of unexpectedly cute.
re: day 2's free time, I'd just wake up later instead. Your vacation's so packed with activities already!
For day 3, you've packed even more activities in, which I'm not sure how much you'll actually enjoy since you're running from place to place. The view from the deYoung's tower is pretty but in a day packed with the Baths, Ocean Beach, the Golden Gate Bridge, Sausalito AND Alcatraz, I'd leave it out. You can spend an entire day just doing the walk from Ocean Beach over to China Beach, let alone also including Sausalito in it (speaking of which, how are you planning on getting from the Baths over to the GG? Walking around Land's End to the Legion of Honor is one of the most beautiful walks in SF I think). Also, if you're planning on riding a bike across the bridge, I'm not sure if that's possible given that you're coming from the west. The only places that I'm aware of where you can rent bikes is closer to Fisherman's Wharf. And there are no MUNI buses that can take you from SF to Sausalito. There might be some Marin Transit but I don't think they stop where you'll be.
On day 4 of your itinerary, as a replacement to the no-deYoung, you could just take the 6 or 71 to Buena Vista Park, walk to the top, get some views, and then come back down going west to explore Upper Haight. From there, you could just take either of those buses back to Fillmore then catch the 22 down to the Mission. Also, are you walking down Mission St from Poc Chuc to Humphrey, and then back up on Valencia? I think someone else mentioned this but 826 Valencia is adorable and Paxton Gate is kind of great too. If the sun doesn't set too early, you should make your way out to Dolores Park (one big block west of Valencia at 18th) and hang out there. Also, I probably missed this, but is there a particular reason why you need to pick up your car that night from SFO? It's a lot easier to just do it in the morning, unless you're concerned that you'll run out of time?
re: day 5 - haven't been to Fandango but Passionfish was pretty good for dinner. Is there a reason why you're driving down to Monterey/Carmel but not seeing Big Sur?
I also noticed that you don't have much in the way of Peruvian or Burmese. These are two cuisines that definitely stand out here, so you should try to squeeze them in if possible. I particularly like Burmese Kitchen on Larkin north of Civic Center and Inkas Restaurant on Mission St down in the La Lengua neighbourhood.
Hawker Fare [Oakland]
Went last night for my first time. Service was friendly and prompt, though the space was possibly a tad too dark for my liking. Generally enjoyed what I ate, but felt disappointed that it wasn't an authentic Thai experience that I assumed it would be like. Much more of an Asian fusion kind of place with flavours toned down and/or converted in such a way to appeal to Westerners. This isn't necessarily bad, but I prefer traditional Thai to fusion Thai. All in all, decent dinner but if I wanted rice bowls, I would much rather Chai Thai Noodle on International Blvd past Lake Merritt or head over to Spices 3! in Chinatown.
My friend and I ordered the beef larb ($7.5) to start off with, which we both thought was okay but not particularly worth re-ordering. Unlike the ground meat larb that I'm familiar with, the beef larb appetizer came in slices and had a noticeable fish sauce taste with a heavy drizzling of lime juice over it. The red onion slices weren't tangy enough to counteract these super bold flavours and there wasn't enough texture to the entire dish to bring it together. We finished it but I think the bowl of mussels or the prik khing green beans might be more interesting next time.
For the main, I ordered the Khao Mun Gai which came in a very sizeable portion. The last khao mun gai I had was at Nong's Khao Mun Gai food cart in Portland, so I guess it's not a huge surprise that Hawker Fare came up short, though not by an unreasonable amount. The chicken was large (possibly too large actually), moist, and devoid of any bone. It was also garnished with a bit of coriander and some lightly fried garlic. There was also a dip that came with it that on closer inspection had a lot of ingredients, but tasted essentially like the Cantonese soya sauce chicken dips that my mom makes. I don't think the sauce is supposed to be that sweet. Either way, the most interesting aspect of the dish was the rice that came underneath it. I had expected typical Thai jasmine rice, but they used a shorter grain glutinous variety that obviated the need for a spoon. Who's heard of eating a Thai rice dish without a spoon? Not me! Anyways, the rice had a subtle chicken broth taste to it and was actually very good. For $9.5, I could be tempted to re-order this for dinner again, but I'm not sure I'd order this for lunch (too $$$).
My friend ordered the pork belly dish which he enjoyed. I only had a small bite but my first impression was just a gush of delicious oil. It was nicely textured with good amount of fat and meat, and my friend made special mention of the little bit of salad that came with it and how much he enjoyed it. He didn't like the mustard wasabe dip that came with it, nor did I.
I'm interested in trying the Issan sausage if I go back, but I wouldn't make a special effort to go there unless I was hungry after Art Murmur.
lunch near Ashby BART
Smokey J's Barbecue at Shattuck and Emerson (1 south of Ashby) is pretty good. I've only had dinner there though, so I have no idea whether lunch is any good as dinner.
I've almost got our dinners figured out. . .
Agreed. I personally don't love the tea leaf salad @ Burmese Kitchen, but I prefer almost everything else there to preparations at other places. That and it's cheap, never has a line (sadly for the owners), and on a great strip of restaurants and bars. Though Burma Superstar might be a better bet if you're looking for something more upscale. Mandalay is okay too but it's a bit of a drive to get out there (though you could trip-chain that with a visit to the Golden Gate Bridge or Ocean Beach if you'd like).
As for Z&Y, it's a tad on the light-tasting side, which is weird since it's Szechuan. As grayelf mentioned, make sure you ask for extra huajiao/fajeew (Szechuan peppercorns). Also, get there earlyish since it fills up quick. And get the Chicken with Explosive Chili (it's not really that spicy).
black sesame & beancurd (tofu) ice cream
4 years later tonight, I walked into T&T Supermarket (a Chinese supermarket) in Markham, Ontario, Canada and found tofu sesame ice cream in the frozen section (yes, COMBINED). It's made by Kowloon Dairy from Hong Kong and distributed in Canada by King Tower Holdings Ltd.
Hope you can find it in Boston! www.kowloondairy.com.hk
Lucky peach issue #1 in Toronto?
The first edition is 176 pages dedicated to ramen: its accessories, its ingredients, its culture, its chefs. Yeah, go ahead. I'll wait here while you scream in delight. :D
Hakkasan to open in SF at One Kearny
Hopefully the food will be substantially better than Wagamama. Eek.
Dungeness crab prices for '11
Went down to Oakland Chinatown today. Lucky Seafood Supermarket on the north side of 8th Street between Franklin and Webster has crabs for $2.99/pound. A fair number of tanks with a fair number of people buying.
Orient Market (the biggest supermarket in Chinatown) has them for $3.99/pound, though they only had one tank. Yet Sun Market on the south side of 8th between Franklin and Webster has them for $3.49, and business was brisk. They even set up a little tank on the street with an oxygenator and everything.
OBSCURE OR RARE Cuisine in City of Toronto
Oh, I don't know. I can tell you that for the Yunnanese place, you enter the plaza that's at the NE corner of Milliken Blvd and Finch Ave. E. and it's in the main block of buildings, not the block with the HSBC or the medical building (the one that has multiple floors), but the single-storied building with the supermarket and the big Cantonese restaurant. To the left of the Cantonese restaurant, there's two entrances to the little shopping mall inside. Go through the left doors (they connect inside anyways, so it doesn't really matter). The restaurant should be on your left hand side almost immediately unless they've closed since I last went there (about 3 years ago).
As for the Xinjiang place, which I'm more confident is still probably around, it's in the Taiwanese plaza on the NW corner of Ferrier St and Steeles Ave. E. just across from the Toronto border. It's not on the sides facing Ferrier or Steeles but the side facing the parking lot inside. Asian Legend is on one side while this place is on the other side beside the food court. You access it from the parking lot sidewalk not the indoor mall like you would the food court. There's also a fabulous Hunanese restaurant on the other side of that plaza facing Ferrier.
Good luck finding them! :)
OBSCURE OR RARE Cuisine in City of Toronto
I haven't lived in Toronto for a while now, but my family used to go to a Yunnanese "Crossing the bridge" noodles place at the plaza east of Kennedy on Finch (the one with the Chung Hing Supermarket). Don't remember if they had other Yunnanese specials. Also, you can find Xinjiang cuisine at the plaza at Ferrier/Steeles. It's on the back side beside the food court. The chicken and noodles plate is delicious!
Dungeness crab prices for '11
99 Ranch near Richmond is charging $4.49/pound. Bought ~25 pounds of it for a mega crab boil! :D
2011 Dungeness Crab
Saw this in sfist: http://sfist.com/2011/11/18/dungeness_season_2011_thanksgiving.php
'Brief updates from Fisherman's Wharf today, where the ongoing pricing dispute between crab fisherman and the seafood processors threatens to damage crustacean-based Thanksgiving dishes. One local fish market owner told SFoodie today that an agreement could still be a few days away, meaning the first shipments won't come pouring in to area seafood emporiums until the Monday after Thanksgiving.
If you need a place to direct your crabbiness, apparently you can't blame the local dstributors, who agreed to the $2.50 per pound price awhile back. It's the big processors that are holding out for a $2 rate holding up the whole deal. Anyway, on the bright side, the crabs will just be bigger and fatter when the crabbers start hauling them in.'
Restaurant.com's 80% off sale - where and what to eat?
Hi all,
As some of you may know, restaurant.com holds these semi-regular 80% off sales where you can get meals for less than they cost normally. They're kind of like regular Groupons where you can get (for example) $25 worth of food for $10; but during the sale, a lot of these coupons go for $2 instead of $10, so you essentially get $23 worth of food for free. The catch is that you have to spend a minimum amount (generally ranges from $35 to $50), which is not too much of a problem if you invite several people to join you. At last check, there were some 167 restaurants participating within 10 miles of where I live.
If you've participated in the promotion, where have you eaten? What's good? What's not?
I've been to Taste of the Himalayas in Berkeley and I've enjoyed my meal there. While the main dishes are a tad more expensive than other South Asian places, it's balanced by the fact that rice and daal is included as well. In particular, I've enjoyed their sizzler plates. The okra was also very well-received by the diners at my table. What have you had that's good?
- Tim
Heading to Berkeley, looking for good Ramen place
I went to Ryowa about six months ago and it was terrible. Tasteless, bland and not worthy of being called ramen. The service is also terrible; I get the feeling that the workers there hate their jobs. Avoid avoid avoid.
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Ryowa
2068 University Ave, Berkeley, CA 94704
4 nights in SF. How do our reservations sound?
Yes, but it's on Larkin, and that stretch of Larkin from Geary down to Market is definitely less sketchy than other parts of the 'loin. There's tons of restaurants around, interesting bars and people milling about.
Berkeley Thai Recommendations?
This sounds like an absolute gem. Will have to try this some time. Is there a Sabuy Sabuy 1?
7-day itinerary for SF? Did research!
Yeah, I'm not exactly quite sure what you mean by that either. In my mind, South Asian, Southeast Asian and East Asian are very distinct silos of culinary techniques, traditions and flavours. While Southeast Asian definitely borrows aspects of the two other culinary megagroups, I feel that it's generally strong enough to stand on its own without having to invoke its neighbours' cuisines each time I eat it. Also, Southeast Asian is simply just one of those culinary megagroups that are generally done better here than in Toronto. No biggie.
Anyways, Tommy's Joynt! I forgot all about that place. Will have to add that to the list thanks.
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Tommy's Joynt
1101 Geary Blvd, San Francisco, CA 94109
Berkeley Thai Recommendations?
Thai in Berkeley ain't great, but I have enjoyed a catfish with basil eggplant dish at Little Plearn in downtown Berkeley, as well as the pad kee mao and beef noodle soup (if you like a LOT of roasted garlic) at Thai Basil in the Asian Ghetto (on Durant east of Telegraph).
If anything, Chai Thai Noodle down in the Little Saigon area of Oakland is probably my favourite Thai restaurant in the East Bay. The original chef at Thai House Express on Larkin apparently left there to start up this place. Great pork neck appetizer, wonderful khao ka moo. Mmmm.
The Thai Temple on Sunday late morning/early afternoon (show up around 11) is fun too, but I'm not convinced that it's particularly GREAT. It's just got a good atmosphere.
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Thai House Express
901 Larkin St, San Francisco, CA 94109
Chai Thai Noodles
545 B International Blvd, Oakland, CA 94606
7-day itinerary for SF? Did research!
Alas, oyster allergies. :( Do they have non-oyster options? I gather that that would defeat the purpose of the visit though.
7-day itinerary for SF? Did research!
A very perceptive response! The reason why we've ignored the pizza options is because neither of us are very big pizza fans. I do admit loving Little Star's regular crust pizza though, but I'm not sure if it warrants taking her to it? Plus the wait is atrocious.
Are there Cafe Gratitudes in SF now? I'm only familiar with the one in Berkeley. I don't know her opinions regarding raw vegan, but I'll bring it up just to see whether the idea is appetizing. What is their signature dish there (if there is one)?
Off the Grid was also something I looked into but I ended up deciding that we should go big or go home, and since the reservations for nopa were made for Friday, I didn't want to switch things around. How does the Upper Haight OtG compare to the Berkeley one?
The Burma Superstar suggestion was for the Temescal location since I live in the area. I prefer Tara's over Scream but both are still good. Have you been to the Moroccan place in Temescal? Do you like that one more than Cafe Zitouna? The latter seems to be Moroccan-Tunisian? I'm not too familiar with the differences in those cuisines...
Champa Garden is a place that I've been meaning to go to myself, but the one time that I took the trek out there, the place was absolutely packed and it's a little weird to stand in line just to eat by yourself. I find Chai Thai and their khao ka moo to be a very solid standby for the area.
Anyways, the Grand Century suggestion was more for the fact that we're headed down to Big Sur just to check out the sights. I figured since Vietnamese is the big thing in the area that I'd take her to a place with a bunch of options.
Will definitely report back on what we had and our thoughts on them!
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Burma Superstar Restaurant
309 Clement St, San Francisco, CA 94118
Champa Garden
2102 8th Ave, Oakland, CA 94606
Cafe Zitouna
1201 Sutter St, San Francisco, CA 94109
Off the Grid
Stanyan Street at Waller Street, San Francisco, CA
Great Eats Downtown SF
Two words for you:
Tu Lan
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Tu Lan
8 6th St, San Francisco, CA 94103
