johnrsf's Profile
"Restaurants" Database To Be Eliminated
I'm not sure I entirely understand how the elimination of the restaurant pages is going to affect the Chowhound experience, but if it makes it harder to find restaurants mentioned in discussions, then it will make me less likely to visit Chowhound when trying to decide where I'm going to eat. Researching a restaurant on Chowhound had always been a confusing experience for me, and anything that makes me more confused will make me more likely to use Yelp or Urban Spoon to read listings and reviews, even if those reviews are not as discriminating as Chowhound discussions have been. If Chowhound loses some of those discriminating reviewers, then the Chowhound experience will not be worth the effort. I would think that Chowhound should try to improve the restaurant pages rather than eliminate them. Compared to other restaurant review sites, Chowhound is much less user-friendly site, especially if one tries to access it by mobile. Efforts should be made to make it easier to look up restaurants and read discussions relating to that restaurant.
Lunch at Easy Creole (North Beach)
My partner and I tried dinner at Easy Creole at the Residence Bar on 14th at Church last night, and I described my experience in a new topic http://chowhound.chow.com/topics/831518, as this topic referred to lunch and North Beach. For a complete report, see the link above, but my condensed review is that I loved the gumbo and the chef's enthusiasm for his food, but wasn't a fan of his chicken creole.
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Easy Creole
450 Broadway, San Francisco, CA 94133
Easy Creole at the Residence
718 14th St, SF, CA 94114
Dinner at Easy Creole [San Francisco]
Following up on the posts by Melanie Wong and Windy on their lunch at Easy Creole in North Beach http://chowhound.chow.com/topics/829657, my partner and I decided to check out Easy Creole for dinner at the Residence last night. I had the chicken and sausage gumbo, and my partner had the chicken creole. I thought the chicken and sausage gumbo was delicious. It was a generous serving, with plenty of chicken and sausage, and had a rich complex sauce. I could taste the roux, which was offset by pleasant acidity that the Easy Creole's chef said was due to extra tomato. It was served over white rice, which the owner said could be served on the side, along with with tasty toasted buttery bread on the side. Although the gumbo flavor might have been more intense without the rice, it made for a filling meal with the rice, as it is traditionally served. It needed additional spice for my taste, but that was easily remedied with the hot sauces that were provided -- Crystal hot and extra hot, as well as another unnamed sauce brought to our table in a plastic cup that Easy Creole's owner said was the best in New Orleans. We were glad that the food was not heavily spiced before serving, as my partner had a canker sore and couldn't eat heavily spiced food. I spiced my gumbo after giving him a taste and selfishly ate the rest of the bowl myself.
Neither of us thought the chicken creole was very good. I though it too sweet and gloopy -- perhaps too much tomato. After my partner couldn't eat any more, I added hot sauce, which improved the flavor, but it still was too sweet for me.
We were both impressed by the attentiveness of Easy Creole's chef, who came by a few times to check on how we liked our food and to answer questions. He told us that he was originally from New Orleans, but had grown up in the Bay Area. I must admit that we did not have the heart to tell him that the chicken creole was not a success. I could tell that got pleasure from his guest's enjoyment of his cooking, an essential quality in someone who cooks and serves food for a living. We enjoyed our pop-up experience, which gave us an opportunity to share the chef's enthusiasm for Creole cuisine.
Easy Creole is currently serving dinner on Wednesday night at the Residence, a bar on 14th near Church, and on Fridays at La Victoria Bakery on 24th Street in the Mission.
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La Victoria Bakery
2937 24th St, San Francisco, CA 94110
Easy Creole at the Residence
718 14th St, SF, CA 94114
Foodie from Chicago needs to know what SFO Neighborhood to live in.
I'm a former Chicagoan myself, and I'd like to speak up for Potrero Hill, where I first lived in the city. The freeway access is great for the peninsula (the 280 extension is almost empty southbound, giving you a chance to sip your coffee before you decide between 280 or 101). You can walk to Caltrain. Street parking is easy in most parts of the neighborhood. There are several good restaurants to choose from in the neighborhood itself, although you'll probably head to other parts of the city for true foody destinations. Most importantly, it has a lovely feel, floating above the city but still a part of it. Weather is the best in the city as well. The Castro, where I live now, is a good option as well, with a number of good restaurants, easy access to the Muni metro, central location for access to all neighborhoods in the city. The Castro also has great dog parks (Corona Heights, Buena Vista, Dolores Park, Kite Hill, Duboce Park), and a nice mix of straight and gay.
Cheap eats in Castro after 9-9:30PM
I realize I'm writing after the OP's date at the Castro theater, but as a Castro resident who frequents all of the cheap eat places mentioned, I thought I'd chime in in case someone else looks at this list. My first choice would have been Thai House Express as well, although Super Duper and Dinosaurs are also good options. I've had decent food at Criolla Kitchen, but service has been spotty and they left out key ingredients from our orders last time (no shrimp in shrimp gumbo!). Chow is one of my favorite places in the greater Castro, but a bit of a hike after a late movie, and not as cheap as it once was. A couple of options not mentioned: I'm a big fan of the pozole at Taqueria Zapata, which is available any time. The seating isn't the most comfortable, and the pozole isn't one of the best in the city, but it hits the spot on a cold day. I usually prefer La Tortilla for tacos, sopes, burritos and other taqueria staples, not to mention chairs with cushions!. They have pozole on weekends as well.
Hatch Chiles back
Apparently I missed the availability window for Hatch New Mexico green chiles. I found some "New Mexico" green chiles at the Civic Center farmer's market that, according to the rules of the farmer's market, are presumably grown in California. I'm not sure how these differ from Anaheims. I made one batch of green chile pork stew that passed muster with an El Paso-born friend who just returned to the Bay Area after three years in Albequerque. I don't have much experience with real Hatch chiles, so would be interested in hearing from anyone else who tries the California grown green chiles. The vender is on the south side of the Civic Center market near the Muni/Bart escalator. He sells a variety of other kinds of pepppers as well as tomatoes and melons.
Need great Green Chile Stew recipe
I just made your green chile stew recipe with "New Mexico" green chiles purchased at the Civic Center farmers' market in San Francisco. Since anything sold at the market must be grown in California, I'm wondering how close the chiles I used are to chiles grown in New Mexico. The stew was delicious and had the right amount of heat, to my taste. A friend who grew up in El Paso, Texas and just spent three years in Albuquerque tasted it said it was good, although he would have preferred more green chiles, and likes bigger chunks of green chile.
A couple of questions, alanbarnes, if you're still monitoring this thread. I realize proportions in your recipe are approximate, but did you mean a pound and a half of whole chiles, before roasting and seeding, or a pound and a half measured after roasting and seeding? Also, do you think it makes any difference if I roast them under the broiler of my gas oven, as opposed to over the cooktop flame? My gas grill is not functioning right, and it would take forever to roast them over the cooktop.
If any of you reading this thread live in San Francisco (and I seem to remember meeting alanbarnes at a chowdown here) and want to give the California grown New Mexico chiles a try before they're gone for the season, the guy who sells them is near the Muni/Bart escalator, on the south side of the market. He also sells melons, tomatoes and a variety of other peppers (non-organic, I assume). I bought a whole bunch yesterday for a dollar a pound.
Seeking unique breakfast in San Francisco (see wish list)
If you like Filipino breakfasts (silogs, a word that describes a combination of garlic fried rice, fried eggs, and breakfast meat), you should try the aptly-named Tselogs on Mission Street in Daly City, just across the border from San Francisco. They have delicious silogs -- I've tried the longanisa, tocino, sisig, bangus and beef tapa, and have heard that their fried chicken is also wonderful. Very friendly, very clean and very reasonable, with silogs costing 4.99 to 5.99, and they have had a special from 9 am to 1 pm with all silogs 3.99. Only one small egg is included in their silogs, so I'd recommend paying an extra .75 to get an extra egg. Sisig, made with marinated bits of chicken, onion and garlic is my favorite, served in a sizzling mini-skillet, but I haven't been disappointed by any of their offerings yet. Their skinless longanisa appears to be homemade. They also serve very good pancit bihon, pancit palabok, and arroz caldo. I haven't yet tried their filipino spaghetti, with sweet meat sauce. They're not open Sunday mornings, but they are open late on Friday and Saturday nights for late night breakfasts.
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Tselogs
6055 Mission St, Daly City, CA 94014
Dinosaurs (banh mi sandwiches) in SF Castro District
My partner and I have been there twice, having tried their combination (pate and a couple kinds of pork cold cuts) as well as their meatball sandwiches. While the price is a bit higher than the Tenderloin banh mi joints such as Saigon Sandwich, the quality is quite good, and we appreciate having a quality banh mi place in our neighborhood that has pleasant seating, both indoors and outdoors, with sunny outdoor tables, allowing us to bring our dog. It's also very reasonable for the neighborhood, and no long lines (I don't really get Ike's, having tried it once and found it disappointing.)
The sandwiches are on (what appear to be) toasted rolls that have been hollowed out, resulting in a crunchy crust and a nice meat to bread ratio (closer to what I've had Vietnam, where the sandwiches are more snacks than the gut bombs we get at Saigon Sandwich), with the right proportion of meat, pickled veggies and mayonnaise.. We both loved their meatball sandwich, with a generous portion of nicely spiced solid pork meatballs sliced in half. Both the flavor and the texture of the meatball are different from the ones I've had at other banh mi places in San Francisco (Saigon Sandwich and Little Vietnam, where the meatballs are more crumbly), but I liked it just as much. I don't think their pork combo sandwich is as good as Saigon Sandwich's special combo, probably because they use cold cuts with the pate instead of the roasted pork that SS uses. I haven't yet tried their grilled pork or chicken, or their tuna or fried tofu sandwiches, but probably will.soon.
I'll still go to Saigon Sandwich when I"m near the Tenderloin and want a sandwich to go (the two seats there are often taken and not too pleasant to sit at, with the customers waiting for their sandwiches standing over you) or Little Vietnam, when in the Inner Richmond But I must admit, now that I've had banh mi in Vietnam and at Dinosaur and Little Vietnam in San Francisco, I find the banh mi at Saigon Sandwich a little too much -- too much bread, too much meat -- like many ethnic foods in this country, where portion sizes get expanded to match American appetites. I'm not sure Dinosaur is worth a detour for people who aren't in the Castro already, but it's definitely a nice addition to the neighborhood. The Castro's other banh mi sandwich place, Castro Tart on Castro street, uses soft rolls that they bake themselves -- not a bad sandwich, but not the crunch I expect in a banh mi.
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Saigon Sandwich Shop
560 Larkin St, San Francisco, CA 94102
Little Vietnam Cafe
309 6th Ave, San Francisco, CA 94118
Castro Tarts
564 Castro St, San Francisco, CA 94114
Suggestions near 9th and Harrison
Juhu Beach Club, on 11th between Harrison and Folsom, for Indian sandwiches and small plates from a former Top Chef contestant.
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Juhu Beach Club
, San Francisco, CA
Tajine is Closed
They've reopened in a much larger, nicer space quite a ways up Polk street near Clay. Same affordable menu, excellent quality and friendly service. Use the link below to find more detailed reports from myself and others.
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Tajine Moroccan Restaurant
1653 Polk St, San Francisco, CA
Zitouna v. Tajine
Tajine has reopened on Polk Street near Clay, in a space formerly occupied by an Indian restaurant. Use the link below to find my report and others of their new location.
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Tajine Moroccan Restaurant
1653 Polk St, San Francisco, CA
Tajine reopening in The Heights?
I went there today for lunch, and had one of their vegetarian sandwiches, the Casa, eggplant with tomato and peppers on a toasted French roll with delicious fries on the side. All of this for six bucks! And they also gave me a warm flatbread covered with sesame seeds and some olive oil while I waited for my sandwich and a cup of sweet tea after I'd finished the sandwich.
I'm looking forward to trying the rest of the menu, especially the tajines an cous cous dishes. I was the only person there when I first arrived around 12:30 pm on a Tuesday, but received a warm welcome from the owner, who I remembered.from his old location. The new space is quite a bit larger than the old Tenderloin location, with seating for 44, and nicer as well.
Best ham, roast beef, meatloaf, turkey or roast chicken sandwiches in the Bay Area
Do any of them do char dogs (grilled hot dogs)? I failed to get my fix on my last trip back home to Chicago, and now I'm still craving one. The steamed dogs they sell at O'Hare don't quite cut it.
Best ham, roast beef, meatloaf, turkey or roast chicken sandwiches in the Bay Area
Judy and May's (formerly May's) sandwich shop on 14th St just east of Market & Church has fresh roast beef every day. Although the bread are from a commercial bakery, the roast.beef is rare if you want it that way, and Judy puts just the right amount of horseradish sauce for a delicious sandwich. Half a sandwich. (on two whole slices of bread) is plenty. Others swear by their pastrami, and Judy's brother Quincy (who used to own Quincy's on Market in Civic Center) sometimes makes roast lamb or pork.
Ike's appears to be opening a new shop near 16th and sanchez
If you haven't tried Courtney's Kerry sandwich, you should. My favorite version is made with ham and potato salad (it's better than it sounds) on ciabatta. They also make lower fat versions with Turkey instead of ham, and mustard instead of mayo, but I go for the full flavored versions.
Every once in a while, I'm in the mood for a liverwurst sandwich, and Courtney's has them if you get there early.
Their PBJ on marble challah bread makes a nice snack. Sometimes they throw in fresh strawberries!
They have great prices on good quality fresh fruit too, though often the price labels are missing. They usually have the lowest prices in the neighborhood on cherries and other seasonal fruit.
Spring Sev Puri – Today’s Return to Juhu Beach Club in San Francisco
I think you just missed us on Thursday. I persuaded a friend who cooks excellent Indian food to join me for an early lunch in part to sample larger amounts of a couple of our favorite dishes at the Chowdown the previous Friday. I don't subscribe to JBC's Twiller feed, and had no idea what Sev Puri are, but we were attracted by the description on the sidewalk special board and gave it a try. We also shared the braised beef sandwich and the grilled chicken sandwich, and each had a mango lassi.
We both agreed that the Sev Puri was the highlight of our shared meal. The spicing of the curries was complex, and had just the right amount of heat for my palate. I loved the way the texture of the crunchy vegetables was complemented by the crispy sev. We enjoyed the sandwiches as well. My friend said he would return with his partner, as will I.
I also enjoyed being able to eat a full half of each sandwich. The chef obliged us by cutting the sandwiches in half, something she doesn't like to do, but can do if requested at the time of ordering. Don't even try to get her to split the sandwiches further, as we learned at the Chowdown!
Curry Dive Report: Chowdown at Juhu Beach Club in San Francisco
I thought everything we tasted was quite good, but agree with the other posters that the incredibly tender, wonderfully flavored braised beef sandwich was spectacular. I thought the chicken sandwich was a close second, with a wonderful char, excellent spicing, and deliciously tender.
The mango lassi was different from ones I have tasted before, more savory than sweet. It complemented the food well, but might disappoint someone who was expecting the sweet, creamy concoction they have had at other Indian restaurants.
I would definitely go back. The opportunity to sample such inventive, accomplished cooking at such a reasonable price can't be beat. I hope the chef/owner is successful, and is able to add more items to the menu as business increases. I'm particularly looking forward to the lamb sausage she was thinking of adding to the menu. It's definitely fusion food, with sandwiches dominating the menu, but the flavors seem to me (someone who has not traveled in South Asia) authentic.
For those driving into the City from the East Bay or the Peninsula, it's only a couple of blocks from the Civic Center exit, and for those who shop at Costco, it's only half a block from the store. There was plenty of metered parking available on the same block, and those shopping at Costco could probably get away with leaving their car in the lot there while they grab lunch. The chef said she was considering opening on Saturdays as well.
Must-Have Cheap Lunches
I second your recommendation of King of Noodles, but would also suggest King Wonton, two blocks further down Irving at 20th, also for homemade noodles, wontons and dumplings in flavorful broth. I like to get some pig hand in my soup as well, although my chopstick skills aren't good enough to convey the slippery, bony morsels to my mouth and back to the plate without using my hands. While we're talking about soup noodles, Vietnamese pho is usually what I think of on a cold rainy day. Turtle Tower on Larkin between Eddy and Ellis has the best, most flavorful Northern Vietnamese style beef and chicken pho (no herbs or sprouts on the side, and pure plain broth with no star anise or other spices, as found in Southern Vietnamese places.)
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Turtle Tower Restaurant
631 Larkin St, San Francisco, CA 94109
King of Noodles
1639 Irving Street, San Francisco, CA
Dungeness Crab Prices '10
Duc Loi was out of crab on 21st, and has been out of stock a couple other times I checked.
Dungeness Crab Prices '10
We got two very lively dungeness yesterday at Sun Fat for $3.49 a pound. Not a bad price, considering the bad weather for crabbing and that other smaller markets around the area had none.
New Haven restaurant for Yale undergrads
I would like to buy my niece a gift certificate to a nice restaurant in New Haven that she can use to take a friend or a group of friends to for a special occasion. Since her birthday is close to the holidays, and I owe her for last year as well, the gift certificate would be more than enough for a very nice dinner for two, or it might cover dinner for a group. She doesn't have a car (although some of her friends may have cars,) so I thought I'd keep it close to campus. She is a relatively adventurous eater, having grown up in a big city. From reading on this board, I was wondering if Ibiza would be a good choice.
Best Vietnameses free-range chicken soup (pho ga) in SF
I'm a Jewish boy who often craves a big bowl of steaming chicken noodle soup on cold foggy days, and we have a lot of those days in San Francisco, especially this past summer. Long ago, I learned that the best places to go for good chicken soup in San Francisco are Asian restaurants, particularly Vietnamese pho joints, where they have perfected the art of making free range chicken noodle soup (pho ga). When my mother, a chicken soup lover who makes a very good chicken soup herself, visits from the Midwest and asks for chicken soup, I've always taken her to Turtle Tower, my previous favorite place for pho ga. Although Turtle Tower makes a very fine pho ga, I was often disappointed by the paltry amount of chicken they give you, even in their large bowl. Also, their long lines can be discouraging if you're pressed for time, or the weather is ugly. They're service is usually brusque as well (the only exception being when I bring my mother), but that's typical for pho joints. I'd still go back to Turtle Tower for the best beef noodle soup (pho bo) in San Francisco.
Yesterday was one such drizzly day. My partner and I were on our way to Turtle Tower with a little more than an hour to spare before our movie at AMC 1000 when we saw a line on the sidewalk outside Turtle Tower waiting to be seated. I remembered recently reading a Chowhound post buried near the end of a very long two year old discussion of bamboo noodles that mentioned the pho ga at Hai Ky Mi Gia. We turned around and walked around the corner to Hai Ky, where we got seated immediately at a long table shared with one man, usually a problem for my partner, who doesn't like to share tables. After eating there yesterday, it's our new favorite place for chicken soup in San Francisco. Upon reviewing the other posts on their pho ga (all buried under other headings), I decided that Hai Ky Mi Gia deserves a post of its own for it's pho ga.
I've eaten at Hai Ky many times, and I've always enjoyed their duck leg noodle soup and some of their other offerings, but I'd never noticed the pho ga on the menu. I almost missed it this time as well, as it's buried near the end of the back side of the menu, just above the fish cakes (also quite good!). We both ordered the pho ga with egg noodles. Our bowls arrived a few minutes later, full of hot fragrant broth with little globules of fat, a generous portion of egg noodles, and plenty of chicken. I tasted the broth first, full of chicken flavor balanced by the sweetness of onions and just the right amount of salt. Then I took a bite of the chicken breast meat, which was just barely cooked, full of fresh chicken flavor. The egg noodles were deliciously eggy and had a little snap to them as well. It was perfection in a bowl! The most amazing revelation came from the few pieces of dark meat in the bowl, where the real flavor of free range chicken came through. One of the other posts mentioning the pho ga at Hai Ky said that they will give you only dark meat upon request, and I think I'll do so next time. My partner and I consumed our bowls of soup noodles in reverential near silence, except for the sound of slurping noodles. We barely noticed the other man sharing our table, who was pretty focused on his bowl of noodles as well. Service was efficient and friendly, and the grand total for two bowls of soup including tax was $15. I'll take my mother to Hai Ky on her next visit, and I'm sure she'll enjoy it. She may not agree that it's better than her own, but since she doesn't read Chowhound, I can tell you that it is.
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Turtle Tower Restaurant
631 Larkin St, San Francisco, CA 94109
Hai Ky Mi Gia
707 Ellis St, San Francisco, CA 94109
King of Noodles
I"ve been there twice now, and had a good experience the first time and a great one today.
My first visit, with my partner, I had the Special Sauce Noodle with hand-pulled noodle, which I thought quite good, and the Farmer's Cucumber salad, which was very tasty and a nice foil to the noodles in their flavorful broth. As other posters have mentioned, the cucumbers were chopped up in a random way, as if by a toddler with a butter knife. We ended our meal with the fried sesame cake, which was quite good and unlike anything I've had anywhere else before.
After I'd ordered my meal on my previous visit, I noted a couple of specials on a piece of paper on the wall, and resolved to return soon to try them. Today, I kept that resolution. My first dish was marinated lamb with hand-pulled noodles. From the name, it was not clear whether this was a soup noodle, but indeed it was, with tender morsels of lamb (not sure what part - shoulder perhaps?) and slices of mushroom in a rich, flavorful broth along with the hand-pulled noodles and slices of baby bok choy. I also tried the black fungus and cucumber, which was a salad, with a similar garlic and soy dressing to that of the Farmer's Cucumber salad. The black fungus was a slimy and crunchy tree ear fungus, I believe, and was a very nice texture contrast to the slices of thin-skinned little cucumbers. This time, they were sliced in even slices!
Altogether, a delicious meal. It will be hard to order anything else when I return.
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King of Noodles
1639 Irving Street, San Francisco, CA
Ike's Place (sandwich shop), SF - Recommended!
I love sandwiches, and I live in the Castro, so I had to try Ike's. My partner and I each ordered one of their special sandwiches. I had the one with barbecued beef and cheese, and he had another one that neither he nor I could remember. Neither of us thought that our sandwiches were anything special, especially considering the price and the waiting time. Although the freshly baked bread was a plus, I'd go to May's sandwich shop on 14th near Market any day over Ikes (for about half the price), if I feel like waiting in line for a sandwich. Some of the best pastrami, home-roasted rare beef, tuna and egg, and other sandwich combos.
the best SANDWICH in (San Francisco) period.
May's re-opened this past summer after being closed for almost two years. Judy and May were bored with retirement. Judy is making the sandwiches these days, with May at the register. Judy doesn't really enforce the "bread first" rule, and she chats with her regulars, which keeps the line long and slow. Be prepared to wait. Their pastrami sandwich is very generous, made with warm (heated in a rice cooker), fatty pastrami. Most people there order it with cheese, lettuce, tomatoes and other fixings that a deli purist would be disgusted by, but you can get it on rye with mustard. My personal favorites are the egg and tuna combo and their home-roasted rare roast beef. A half a sandwich (with two full pieces of bread) is plenty, unless you have someone to share it with or you want to sleep away the afternoon.
Menus for HK/Cantonese/Sichuan traditional cuisine
Here's a link to the online menu for R & G Lounge, a good San Francisco Cantonese restaurant: http://www.rnglounge.com/menu.pdf
