Lord Griffin's Profile
5 days in SF.
totally disagree. pizzeria delfina in the mission is one of the best lunches in the city, especially sitting outside and people watching on a sunny day. pizza and other food is at least as good as Ragazza, although having been to both many times i think delfina is superior... but for a lunch spot, its pizzeria delfina hands down.
Guatemalan Style Tacos
I recently went on a trip to Guatemala and Honduras, and had the best tacos of my life. They were generally a form of al pastor from what I could tell, but they were prepared with about 5 or 6 different condiments. A saucy avocado, a verde sauce, some sort of pico, and other various things. But they almost always had at least 3 or 4 ocndiments on top. Is there anywhere like that in San Fran? Even the al pastor at Taq. San Jose doesnt do it for me anymore =(
Battle Garlic: Sorry, Chris, but your food looks revolting.
I went to Incanto a couple nights after the Battle aired and sat at the bar and had the 6 courses Chris served on the show. every single one was amazing. They werent the flashiest dishes ever, but they tasted amazing so who cares? I think describing them as grey is a bit excessive. Judging food by what it looks like is like basing your opinion of a restaurant on the ambiance.
Is it worth it to make your own demi glace?
that website is sketchy and looks like it is just selling its own... which doesnt say anything about quality. I would be much more inclined to go to Bi-Rite or Golden Gate meats. I know Bi-RIte has some, although they were out the day before thanksgiving.
Victoria and Vancouver Rec's... coming from SF
Ive gotten a lot of great recommendations so far, particularly for Victoria. I gues I have a few more questions as to what to do in Vancouver. While I know vancouver has all the great chinese, we have tons in SF too so im not too stoked about that. now that Indian has been debunked, I really dont have many vancouver rec's to go on.
For vancouver Im interested in the best midrange restaurants. maybe a great vancouver institution or 2. maybe some great fish and chips... anything else great and unique to vancouver.
also, what about gastropubs, and cocktails?
Thanks!!!!!!!!!!
Victoria and Vancouver Rec's... coming from SF
thanks a lot! great post, and will be a huge help!
Victoria and Vancouver Rec's... coming from SF
That too bad about red fish blue fish... Isnt there another similar restaurant that gets great reviews?
any other recommendations? im sure vancouver has a ton to offer!
Victoria and Vancouver Rec's... coming from SF
Hi All,
My Family and I will be coming to Victoria and Vancouver this christmas for 8 days. We all love amazing food, from the dives to the most expensive...
In Victoria, where should we eat for 2 nice nights out? I know im going to Red Fish Blue Fish for lunch one day, any other spots we must hit for lunch/breakfast?
In Vancouver, we're looking for one really nice dinner out, but it looks like a lot of the more highly recommended restaurants like Fuel and Cioppinos are extremely expensive... In SF im used to having a lot of great restaurants in the 25-30$ entree range. We'd like something that Vancouver specifically does very well, like pacific NW, with slightly more reasonable prices.
Additionally, what else does Vancouver do best compared to SF? I know chinese is big... I have lived in Shanghai and love XLB's... I know indian is big, but the only Indian restaurant I have heard of in Vancouver is on the very pricey side, and Im used to inexpensive indian.
Any other suggestions on any style of cuisine are appreciated... Im really looking forward to the trip!
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Red Fish Blue Fish
1006 Wharf St, Victoria, BC V8W, CA
San Francisco Indian
I needed Indian food tonight and wanted to try something new so went to Chutney as recommended in this thread... and it prompted me to post for the first time in a long while. I honestly don't remotely see how Lahore Karahi and Chutney can be uttered in the same sentence. Chutney was, not only not good, but probably the worst Indian Food I have had in the bay area period. The Lamb in the Vindaloo was a nondescript tasteless grey mess, which was covered in the most oily curry I have ever encountered. There was probably twice as much oil and anything else. The mutter paneer and the korma were totally characterless, pretty much identical, and only slightly less oily as the Vindaloo. I sent back the Vindaloo and go the Chicken Tikka Masala instead thinking you cant possibly mess that up, but was still surprised to find that it could only have been made with canned tomato soup, probably mixed with yogurt and the same old spice blend they put in everything else. Totally unsatisfying Indian food experience.
Lahore Karahi is delicious. Ajanta is delicious. Udupi Palace is better than Dosa in my opinion. Aslams's Rasoi is very good but a bit pricier.
Generally Naan N Chutney and even the late Tikka Masala were decent in a fix.
But stay far far away from Chutney.
cutting edge thai in bangkok
Im heading to thailand in 3 weeks and am exceedingly excited about perusing the street vendors, markets, and hole in the walls. In addition, i was curious as to whether there was any michelin type experience with absolute cutting edge incredible thai fusion. possibly a tasting menu or something. any suggestions?
A16 or Delfina's Pizzeria for Pizza?
both excellent, i prefer delfinas pizza. a16 is a little soggy in the middle, and i like the different varieties at delfina.
Cuban food and A Cuban Sandwich
Im from florida too and miss cuban food constantly. surprisingly the cuban at magnolia pub is pretty decent.
Iron Chef Incanto & Cyrus BacktoBack w/ Pics
Paul H already did an excellent write-up on Incanto so I will just post the pics for the meal. Let me just say however that i was extremely impressed with the meal. Absolutely worth the price and memories.
Cyrus last night was totally spur of the moment. I was in healdsburg and decided to splurge, and man am i glad i did. I think it beats out Manresa and Boulevard for favorite meal in the bay area. It was slightly less innovative than manresa, heavier on the meats, but the taste profile was a little more to my liking. Every dish i had was a winner, highlights being the Foie Gras paired with Y'quem, the Veal Loin, and the Rabbit paired with Marcassin pinot. when i saw these two bottles brought to the table it made the price of the grand wine tasting absolutely worth it. Definitely my favorite wine pairing so far. Service was excellent, very friendly, not stuffy at all, and they tailored the wine pairing to my taste (brought out an additional Eiswein). One thing to note are the cocktailes. Scott (the mixologist) made us 2 seasonal cocktails with ingredients he preps himself like ginger pickled rhubarb which were both incredible. I really was blown away by the whole evening and that hasnt happened in a long time.
All in all i had a great 2 days of dining. Check out the pics, and alas after that much wine i finally dropped the ball and forgot to take the dessert pics.
Incanto: http://www.flickr.com/photos/42146292@N00/sets/72157600315254230/
Cyrus: http://www.flickr.com/photos/42146292@N00/sets/72157600314501463/
In Photos: A Trio of SF Tasting Menu (Mina, Masa's, Dining Room) with a Keller Duet (Ad Hoc, Bouchon)
More!!
thanks a lot, particularly for the Masa photoset where Ive never been and wouldnt ordinarily think to go. keep it up, you give great descriptions and take great pictures! the prawn sashimi with shrimp heads at the ritz is to this day one of my top 5 bites ever.
NOPA - great argument for cooking at home
Nopa has solid food just like you said, not revelatory. but like you said, everything was good. they do everything very well. first of all that cant be said for very many restaurants. think of all the restaurants you go to for great food and im sure there is a level of failure at some point on the food service spectrum. for example, Zuni: great food, great space, pretty good cocktails, quetionable service.
People dont just go to restaurants for good food. otherwise they would order take out or just cook. people go out to eat to be part of their communities, to interact even if just by proximity with others.
Nopa has a great "feel" or "vibe" or whatever you want to call it. i honestly dont think people are going there because of a trendiness, otherwise i wouldnt be there. but its packed every night so people keep coming back. they are doing something very right and in my opinion its their community and ambience coupled with all the other solid ingredients that make it a great "restaurant"
Michael Mina: should I even bother?
Both the Ritz and Fleur De Lys are exceptional and i enjoyed both more than Danko.
Manresa vs. Coi... help!
So i work on V-day and therefore have reservations for Manresa on the 15th...
however i want to make sure im making the correct decision here. Ive been to FDL, the ritz, la folie. i have not been to manresa, coi or minna. not all that interested in danko.
between manresa and coi where would you go? weve been together for 4 years so a romantic vibe isnt nearly as important as food. i know coi will be more innovative, but based purely on execution, quality, and vision where do i want to go for the tasting menu?
thx!
returning foodie
Poleng for its price is an excellent restaurant. it is in a totally different class than perbacco coi and cyrus. if you want to do a cheaper, non fine-dining dinner at a restaurant with great food and a good vibe then hit poleng. but as maya said of all those if you have the wallet for it id skip poleng as well.
Totally Dissapointed with Redd
No... the server has nothing to do with food preperation. if something had been cooked badly or over salted i maybe would have said something... but im not just going to say "the food is bad and uninspired."
Totally Dissapointed with Redd
After a nice day in Napa today I went to Redd for an early dinner. I have read some positive posts in the past on the place so i was looking forward to it. I was with a vegetarian so we asked if they could do 1 regular tasting menu and 1 veg tasting menu. They had no problem with it. In fact the best part of the night was the service which was spot on the entire dinner.
food-wise i was just totally absolutely underwhelmed. i was first given a pretty standard tun tartar... it was good. thats it. nothing special about it in the slightest, just a good pile of tuna tartar.
second i had a pretty great scallop dish with almonds, golden raisens, and cauliflower puree. scallops a little overdone but the dish was great as a whole.
third was a hot foie gras dish with a pear sauce... the pearsauce essentially a warm apple sauce made with pear. it was a tasty dish yeah... but it was foie gras so of course its tasty. very uninspired.
next was my requisite chicken dish. in this case squab served with clams, spinach, some potatoes and a chicken broth. the dish pretty much tasted like thyme and had absolutely nothing going on intellectually. totally forgettable.
last was a deconstructed beef stew made with ny steak. what did it taste like? it tasted like my moms beef stew. i didnt spend 70 bucks for beef stew. the dish had 3 pieces of steak about 2 bites each served with some seared potatoes with some horseradish, some chopped carrots, more thyme, and all over a potato puree. thats right, 2 potato components. weee.
the vegatarian menu was equally unimpressive with the best part being the parmesean cheese that was the main flavor in two sucessive forgettable pasta dishes.
dont even remember what was for dessert i was too busy feeling robbed...
230 bucks after tip
Indian Restaurant in SF?
i tried pretty much all of the indian restaurants that have gotten any decent reviews when i first moved to the city. my personal favs are lahore karahi where the saag is great as is the tandoori, and aslams rasoi in the mission is very nice as well, though on the more expensive end of the spectrum.
Anything edible at Tommy's Mexican in the Richmond?
I pretty much absolutely disagree with all these bad reviews. its FAR superior to almost every taquieria. it is americanized yes. but has anyone found any non americanized halfway decent sit down mexican in this city other than los jarritos and tommy's? mamacita and colibri exist yes, but those are different realms of pricerange.
in my book tommy's has an awesome enchiladas con chili verde. their special is cheese enchiladas but you can do chicken or other stuff. their chili relleno and cheese enchilada vegetarian combo is really very good, and like the previous posters have said... the margaritas are outstanding.
at the restaurant i work at the kitchen guys (from mexico and the yucatan) all say thats tommys is the only decent sit down mexican in the city.
Five Very Specific Requests from DC Chowhound
For your pricey downtown dinner i would just stay at the ritz and eat there. for your north beach italian ive never been let down by Da Flora. you can find some reports on that restaurant here on the boards.
RNM Report
I said it falls under the radar because whenever people ask for reccomendations for restaurants there are only about 7 or 8 regular restaurants we all respond with, i.e incanto, myth, aziza, canteen, delfina, zuni, range, etc. you never see RNM as one of the suggestions for visitors.
RNM Report
After seeing the article on RNM in the new dining out ad mag, i decided it was finally time to check it out. ive lived 4 blocks away from the restaurant for over a year and for some reason just have never made it there.
Dining solo i was greeted immiediately in an empty restaurant and given my choice of a table or a bar seat. i chose a bar seat overlooking the kitchen, which probably would have been more exciting on a busy night. the resaurant is actually a pretty cool space with very dark colors, some black walls and cool chrome accents goin on. an upstairs area overlooks the bottom floor although i didnt go up there.
first i was given an amuse of a grilled mission fig with a nectarine gastrique. very very tasty and i dont even generally like figs that much.
after that i had a perfect arugula salad garnished with huckleberries, fava beans, a ricotta crostini and a very delicate aged balsamic vin. i noticed some very sparing traces of mint and parsley leaves as well. the salad was really exceptional.
before the main course i also had an app of lamb riblets. i got this course primarily to compare to the NOPA riblets. at nopa the glaze is amazing... but ive had the riblets there 3 times and i just dont really like the texture. the meat is indeed incredibly tender but its so tender i end up getting pieces of bone and wierd hard crunchy gristle every time. at RNM the riblets had a more delicate apple based glaze and it was served over a celery root, apple and cilantro slaw. ive gotta say for me they beat out the ones at NOPA. the ribs were the perfect texure and the slaw was a great functional garnich.
for the main i had an absolutely perfect classic filet preperation. the filet came topped with melted gorgonzola, and was served over a thick slice of grilled pain levane bread which was delicious as it sopped up the perect cabernet reduction. as a veg it came wich some grilled cippolini onions. yes, i could make this at home, but not this perfect. best filet ive had in a LONG time.
I was too full for dessert.
the service was spot on all night, silverware and plate changes every course, water never empty. my tab was 70 dollars after tax and a 25% tip.
i feel like RNM falls under the chowhound radar and it was pretty empty the whole time i was there from 6 to 7:30... so go check it out!
SF pasta carbo load PRE-marathon meal
SF is pretty small so in a cab you can really get places quick. from embarcadero to noe valley it would be about 15 bucks for a cab and you could go to incanto. i went there alone a few nights back and just got every single pasta they had. i was totally stuffed and supremely happy. i highly reccomend it.
they always have their great pork ragu with hankerchief pasta.
Prana? Poleng Lounge? What else?
Ive been to poleng lounge twice now and have tried about half the menu. i strongly reccommend this place. make sure you get a reservation as its slammin all the time. all the food is perfectly executed.
definitely get the buddhas treasures, and the filet with bonemarrow.
Woodward's Garden or Jardiniere?
i totally missed the fact that they were doing this. i just figured they had totally closed and were moving on. this is great news.
Poleng Lounge gets rave Bauer review in Chronicle mag
After reading this post i checked out Poleng Lounge tonight. I got there at 8 and it was slammed. made a 930 reservation, left, and came back at 9.
The decor is great. nice vietnamese foresty vibe going on. the tables arent too packed in like so many restaurants in SF. the
bar is sizeable. all in all a great space.
the food is the deal breaker however, and i was not dissapointed in the slightest. We had the garlic pepper filet cubes served with bone marrow, my favorite thing ever, a great, non-boring mango salso, and some coconut bread sticks. it also had some fried shallots on the filet cubes which was a great garnish.
the shredded chicken salad with sesame dressing was very nice and healthy. good sized as well.
the buddhas treasures were amazing. perfect ponzu with some sliced birds eye chili, and the vegetable stuffing was so delicious i actually felt like there was pork in it.
the poke was spot on. good spice and sesame flavor.
the bok choy with fried shallots and mushroom sauce was a huge portion of bok choy for the price and very good as well.
all in all the the three of us had 2 beers, a shochu on the rocks, and the 5 dishes. we left pleasently full, not stuffed, and better yet we felt healthy. total bill was 60 bucks before tip. not bad at all.
considering how close this place is to me and the lack of other options in the area i will probably be back very regularly. this place brings everything together for me as a total package like canteen aziza and Nopa did.
Thai House Express
i go here at least once a week as its the only thai in the city that satisfies my cravings. generally the spiciness varies when i order it thai hot, but its always at least at a normal hot level and about half the time they will make it really thai hot level. the only place in town that even approaches what i want in my larb gai.
