ikb's Profile
Chotto vs Izakaya Sozai. Also other current SF Izakaya thoughts?
I think Oyaji is better than both Chotto and Sozai. Sozai has better food than Chotto but there is something about the decor that is decidedly un-izakaya-like. Chotto did try to be a bit more inventive with their dishes which was nice.
I went to Nombe late last year and it must have been right when the new head chef arrived because it was absolutely horrible. I felt like sending back half the dishes.
Oyaji has more of an informal feel and the owner is kind of crazy (in a good way).
Halu is okay but I think of it as more of a place to get a quick bowl of ramen. I don't think of it having an izakaya atmosphere as much as a small mom-and-pop atmosphere. The people there are friendly.
Sebo is great but it is also way more expensive than all the other restaurants listed.
If you don't mind making an exception to venture out to Berkeley, you might want to try Ippuku - especially if you like shochu. I think it is better than all the other places mentioned.
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Oyaji Restaurant
3123 Clement St, San Francisco, CA 94121
Sebo
517 Hayes St, San Francisco, CA 94102
Halu
312 8th Ave, San Francisco, CA 94118
Nombe
2491 Mission St, San Francisco, CA 94110
Ippuku
2130 Center St, Berkeley, CA 94704
Chotto
3317 Steiner St, San Francisco, CA 94123
Good Sources of Great Stone Fruit, Especially SF/Peninsula?
there is a produce store on geary between 15th and park presidio, on the south side of the street, that has the best produce in san francisco. it's owned by a japanese guy who sources everything personally for the store. the only problem is that he doesn't keep set hours and is closed a lot. it is open on most afternoons though.
he's also very honest and will tell you what's good and what's not. prices are also really good.
Best Take-out Places for a "Big Salad" (Dinner)?
I agree that Whole Foods is probably the best option.
For a salad that others prepare for you, Pluto's is good.
There are lots of places that have Cobb salad - not sure of one with a good toasted pita.
Best Burger in the wine country
i remember gott's (aka taylor's refresher) has a very good burger. i haven't been there in a few years though.
Dinner near SFMOMA
if it fits in your price range, i'd suggest ame over anchor & hope. not sure if it will, but it's a couple notches up in quality.
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Ame Restaurant
689 Mission Street, San Francisco, CA 94105
The Dining Room at the Ritz Carlton - any recent experiences?
i think you should go and see for yourself.
at its best, TDR is better than all the other restaurants you mention. even if it has slipped a little, you probably will still have a very good meal.
i'd be interested to know if you agree with Michael Bauer.
Boulevard or Gary danko?
No not the same thread. More like the same question, with a different answer.
+1 more for Gary Danko
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Gary Danko
800 N Point St, San Francisco, CA 94109
Lunch in Japantown?
I think tanpopo is better for ramen.
If you want something entertaining and more American than Japanese, there is Benihana which is teppanyaki.
There's a boat sushi place called isobune which is pretty good even though not made to order. Your 13 yo can look at all the food before picking something and you can also order off the menu.
There's a Japanese pasta place on the bridge in the mall. It's more different than great, but you can try some pasta dishes that Japanese people eat.
Ino sushi is great but very traditional and doesn't have much of a menu beyond raw fish.
After lunch you might want to walk north one block to a coffee shop called Benkyo-do to get daifuku.
2 dinners/2 lunches to convince NY hounds to move to SF?
i think i'd have to dissent on this one. kappa gomi is pretty good but i don't think would highlight SF. nombe has gone really downhill and i think is actually awful now.
I think the only japanese restaurant that would impress a visitor from NY is Ippuku in Berkeley. A great izakaya with a shochu menu that's probably better than you could find in NY.
In general I think Japanese in New York is better than it is in SF.
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Ippuku
2130 Center St, Berkeley, CA 94704
Original San Francisco Dishes/Recipes
exactly. as you pointed out, her wikipedia page lists this as a "culinary innovation." but it also lists "fruit bowls" as another culinary innovation. she clearly didn't invent that!
Original San Francisco Dishes/Recipes
there is actually a new york times article about this. goat cheese wasn't even really produced in america in the 1970's. what alice waters did was commercialize the goat cheese created by a woman named laura chanel. by putting this on her menu she popularized goat cheese for americans.
but i think most people would agree salade au chevre chaud is french not american!
Foods that are better made in SF than NYC?
that's an interesting statement. i think the difference with paris is that your average corner store has bread that is better than just about every bakery in san francisco. whereas is sf you can only go to 1-2 places to get such high quality.
Original San Francisco Dishes/Recipes
i think mariacarmen is right.
alice waters didn't invent warm goat cheese salad - she just discovered an entirely different culture already eating it and popularized it here.
Harris Steakhouse, San Fran
Condor I think you're making the right choice. If you want prime rib hopr is the place to go.
Where to find Japanese kokutou sugar...
I don't really think kokuto sugar is like brown sugar. For one, us brown sugar is refined. You could try Muscovado brown sugar, but I don't think those taste the same either.
You should be able to get kokuto in japan town. I think ranch 99 also carries it. You can also buy it o. Amazon. Just search on Okinawa kokuto.
Although for a creme brûlée, the difference in taste among these sugars might go unnoticed.
What Shoud I know about the Dining Room at the Ritz?
make sure you get the tasting menu. you will have a great time
high end cocktail bars in SF
i second alembic. their drinks are fantastic.
some of the newer restaurants have great cocktail bars too. RN74 is good. prospect is good. the bar at alexander steakhouse is good too.
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RN74
301 Mission Street, San Francisco, CA 94105
Best burger in Berkeley?
that does look like a good burger. plus it looks like it's the right size (e.g. not too big).
how many burger joints did you visit on your "burger quest"?
Berkeley: Walking Distance from Zellerbach (Dinner)
adagia is okay. they had a great review in the chronicle but, aside from it being sit-down, i'd rather eat at one of the student places on telegraph.
if it's not raining and you don't mind a short walk, i'd go to Le Bateau Ivre. it would probably be a bit more than $40 however (plus drinks). i think it's the same price range as adagia.
another option would be to come in from the west side and get shochu and appetizers at ippuku. if you're adventurous, you could even have a raw chicken with quail egg appetizer!. if not, they have lots of great dishes - esp. the chicken wings, the braised turnips, and almost anything from the grill.
gather is another option also in west berkeley. they were listed in michelin 2011 as a big gourmand restaurant (high value with good quality). they might also fall just outside the $40 budget though.
most of the best indian places in berkeley are just outside walking distance on university. if you're willing to drive in, people say a lot of good things about ajanta on solano, but i haven't tried it. i actually think the food at naan and curry on telegraph is pretty good, but it's somewhat dumpy inside so not good if you are looking for a nice dining experience.
if $40 budget is a hard cap, i'd consider either raleigh's or intermezzo. more of a student or university experience, but the food is still pretty good and you won't go over budget.
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Le Bateau Ivre Restaurant
2629 Telegraph Ave, Berkeley, CA
where should first timers dine in SF for two on $100 a day budget for a week
i would try to reallocate the budget so that you could have 1-2 special meals at $150-200, and then a couple days where you could eat for $40-50. it would let you go to some of the nicer restaurants that are recommended on this board.
there are some great places to go for relatively inexpensive food. you could go to the ferry building and eat at one of the gourmet stalls just outside the building. the mission has a lot of great restaurants and you can order food mild. you could go to the inner richmond and have banh mi or dim sum very inexpensively.
chapeau is a great french place in the richmond district. if you come between 5 and 6pm any day but friday or saturday, you can order the fixed price menu for $28. the menu changes every two weeks.
check please had a review of a vietnamese place called pagolac. it offers a 7 flavors beef set course for $13.95 - i have heard good things about this place but have not been there.
for grocery stores, there are a couple of whole foods that have good healthy food that you can take to go. it all depends on where you will be staying.
We're moving to San Francisco! Now if only we had a decent Japanese place.
there used to be a great mom-and-pop place on 24th Street in Noe Valley years ago. It was run by a Japanese woman and her family. There was only room for about three tables. Plus she didn't really listen to you much when taking your order and tended to serve whatever was best that day. But the food was really good.
Then I went back about four years ago and heard that the children took over the place. It was still cramped but a lot more modern -- more variety in rolls and tried to be more trendy. I still thought it was good but haven't been there since. Does anyone know if it's still there? It was probably near Sanchez Street on 24th, on the north side of the street.
What is the most expensive restaurant in the Bay Area?
hmm, if we're talking ratios i think in & out burger would beat all these places. totally different conversation.
i'd be very surprised if there were any bay area restaurant that took in more per customer than TFL.
Ozumo on the Embarcadero ?
the last part of your post is telling.
if i flew to shanghai i would get better xlb. but i don't normally feel the need to go that far - or to leave the bay area - to have to get acceptable xlb.
i think the version at yank sing is pretty good.
Ozumo on the Embarcadero ?
there are a lot of dishes at ozumo you can't find at very many other places. the non-sushi menu is what is most impressive at ozumo. the sushi is very good too but there are a few other places in sf that have equally good, or in some cases, better sushi.
i really doubt that you could get japanese food of ozumo's quality at any random city like cleveland, kansas city or nashville. (although i haven't tried so i could be wrong - nothing against those cities)
if you are looking for other sushi recommendations, kabuto, sebo and kiss seafood are all very good. if you are willing to go across the bay to sausalito, sushi ran is another option. ozumo has a more modern ambiance than the others -- somewhat like morimoto's new chain -- which you may or may not like.
yank sing is also very good (chinese). i don't think it is as modern or as high-end as ozumo. yank sing is great for dim sum lunch. ozumo is more of a dinner place. note that there are two yank sing locations. the one in rincon center is larger but i think the other location is slightly better.
slanted door is also good, but i think the food there is less interesting than the other two restaurants. there are other good vietnamese places in san francisco. ppq dungeness island is great -- if you are coming after crab season starts i would recommend going there.
DO NOT GO TO SPRUCE
all restaurants have some good and bad reviews. people have to take them all in context. one bad review doesn't mean everyone else will have a similarly bad experience, and one good review doesn't mean it will be the greatest for everybody.
thanks for the report.
The Dining Room or La Folie or Fleur de Lys or ?
that's true (although the review is almost three years old). earlier this year he did call it the most romantic restaurant in san francisco.
The Dining Room or La Folie or Fleur de Lys or ?
i think if hubert keller is there you're likely to have a very good dining experience, but if not your results may vary.
Please suggest a mid-high end dinner in SF city only
umm, i don't think the closing has anything to do with people thinking the restaurant is "mediocre." they are just moving.
Outer Richmond Chowhounding
belly burger would be better if they put salt on their french fries. the burger is pretty good but not memorable. i like buffalo burger up the street on geary a little better -- still not a great burger but more flavorful. i don't think bill's is that great but other people think it is really good.
minami is a small sushi place that looks promising. however i thought it was good but not memorable. the best place for sushi in the area (by far) is kabuto. oyaji is also very good - not so much for sushi but other japanese dishes.
