Meredith's Profile
Peninsula (San Mateo) Spots for Chicken and Beef Bones
I haven't yet - thank you for the suggestion!
Peninsula (San Mateo) Spots for Chicken and Beef Bones
99 Ranch was .99 for the chicken bones and didn't have any beef bones available. I had gotten spoiled with the .49-.69 a pound chicken bones at Manilla Market or the 5lbs for $3 at Mission Market. I will keep trying to find a source and will report back.
Best Birthday Brunch for a Group in San Francisco?
I really like the brunch at Andalu, they take reservations for brunch and usually do large groups for dinner so they would probably be able to do a large group at brunch as well. My favorite is the waffle with sauteed ham and mushrooms with cambazola fondue. But they do more standard items as well.
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Andalu
3198 16th St., San Francisco, CA 94103
Peninsula (San Mateo) Spots for Chicken and Beef Bones
I have recently moved to San Mateo and am trying to find a good and inexpensive source for beef and chicken bones for stock. Manilla Market had become my default spot before leaving the city.
I know there is a 99 Ranch in Foster City - is that my best bet or are there other good places to try?
Private Dining Rooms for 25-30 - Rehersal Dinner
MUCH more casual than what you have found so far, but I did my rehearsal dinner at Pauline's Pizza (CA pizza place, most ingredients grown in their gardens in Berkeley/Marin etc) and I haven't stopped hearing about it. People seemed to like the casual vibe, though our wedding was pretty formal so I think the juxtoposition is what made it work. The food was good, the space is upstairs to the restaurant so completely private and very sunny and conducive to mingling.
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Pauline's Pizza
260 Valencia St, San Francisco, CA 94103
SF residents looking for new places to try for double dates, to please vegetarian and omnivores.
Firefly always has a vegetarian option and a vegan option so there would be two choices and I have frequently found them to be appealing even to a carnivore.
They change the menu weekly but list it on their site and do a good job of updating (unlike far too many restaurants I check the online menus for and then get a completely different menu when I actually arrive).
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Firefly Restaurant
4288 24th St, San Francisco, CA 94114
Ame or La Folie
I have not yet been to La Folie but it is next on my list of places I am dying to go. I was at Ame 3 weeks ago and enjoyed myself but kept thinking that I wished I had been able to talk my dining companions into La Folie instead.
So while that is in no way a head to head review, I would go to La Folie.
At Ame I had the corn chowder which was very gently flavored, tasted more of cream than of corn. I had bites of a special heirloom tomato/bread salad which was fine.
I had the roasted black cod and thought that I have had better preparations of the dish.
The bites of the duck I had was fantastic and I thought was the best dish of the night.
We had the stone fruit cobbler and I loved it but the chocolate mousse with marshmellow topping fell flat for me.
All in all I wished that there was just more flavor in most of the dishes. The ones I most enjoyed the duck and the cobbler were the ones that seemed to be the most muti-dimensional.
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La Folie
2316 Polk St., San Francisco, CA 94109
Apres-ZAP @ House of Prime Rib, SF
The corn bread (be it stick or muffin) seems variable and has for the 10 years I have been going to HOPR. I feel like it is like the sugar egg puffs at Shanghai Dumpling King, they walk they around as they are ready. I have probably not gotten the corn stick more times than I have but I think all of the times I have it has been when I was there around 7 or 8 (I usually try to go as early as I can to have a chance to digest and avoid the 'meat nightmares')
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Shanghai Dumpling King
3319 Balboa St, San Francisco, CA 94121
A funny experience with good food for 10 coworkers wishing a bachelor off to his wedding
Are you still hoping/planning for a show somewhere either with dinner or near it?
Does the restaurant need to have a full bar (something I think about when bachelor party type activities are involved)?
A funny experience with good food for 10 coworkers wishing a bachelor off to his wedding
Citizen Band is near Asia SF if you wanted do drinks at Asia SF and then walk down there and is high on my list of things to try. It would be under your pp charge, but with drinks et al at Asia SF it might come right in on budget.
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Asia SF
201 Ninth Street, San Francisco, CA 94103
Menu help for a vegan and veggie-hater
I have taken my vegan brother to Firefly for just such a reason. They offer a vegetarian and a vegan option as well as being known for thier fried chicken. I usually like the apps better than the mains, but it makes for easy eating if you wanted something a little less family style - though I would personally rather visit Udupi or Spices or Ethiopian if I were visiting SF from somewhere that had less food selection (where are you visiting from?) One quick note, a lot of Ethiopian food is seasoned with a spiced butter mix so it might be harder to get vegan than vegetarian there.
Lunch places near SF Civic Center?
Lunch Geeks on Polk and Market is new and very good. I also like SAM Diner on Market between 8th and 9th. Are you looking for a pointedly good list or are you trying to give them as many options as possible?
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Lunch Geek
1440 Market St, San Francisco, CA 94102
Buy fresh chicken liver in San Francisco
I usually buy mine from Mission Meat Market on Mission between 21st and 22nd but I have also purchased from BiRite on 18th between Guerrero and Valencia. MMM sells Rosie birds so it is possible the livers are from the same, but BiRite indicates that theirs are organically grown (and twice as expensive)
House of Prime Rib?
I love this place and think it is well worth the price, but I don' know that it would be on my list of things to try as a visitor. Many cities have the same idea available (Lawry's in LA for example) and it certainly will never be on the cutting edge of cuisine or even the most interesting thing you eat in a single day. However, the prime rib is always well cooked, there are a variety of horseradishes to suit any craved spice level, the creamed spinach is amazing and I adore the salad. I love the old school, it hasn't changed in 20 years vibe as well as the fact that my only choices need to be how much prime rib I want and whether I want my potatoes mashed or stuffed.
So I would say it is definitely good if what you want is old school prime rib with all the fixings, nothing deconstructed or reimagined. The price of the prime rib includes the salad and all the sides which at a lot of places it doesn't so I have always felt that while it isn't inexpensive, it has a definite value.
It's Tops Coffee Shop: Thoughts?
My coworkers were big fans of the burgers there but they never really did it for me. However, they do a bacon waffle that is fantastic. Very basic thin waffle with inch long strips of baon throughout. After discovering that, I haven't argued about going to Tops.
How do you solve a problem like boxed mac and cheese?
I was thinking the same thing, but there is a 'reheat in the oven' step right before serving. It doesn't seem that they are hot but they are probably warm enough for the fat to be back to an edible and much more delicious state.
Good bloody mary?
My favorite bloody mary is at Finnegan's Wake in Cole Valley. No food there, but you can actually put your name down for brunch next door at Zazie and have the hostess come get you when your table is ready at Finnegan's. The bloody marys are fabulous and Zazie has what I think are the best BLTs (if a slightly fancy version) in San Francisco. Their gingerbread pancakes are good too, but I have only strayed from the BLT the one time.
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Zazie
941 Cole St, San Francisco, CA 94117
Meatball Sandwich Hunt
Thanks so much for the update! That will definitely get me back in there.
Best Healthy Restaurants?
I would guess Robert was referring more to the fact that all of the dishes are named after affirmations 'I am bountiful' "I am generous" etc and that even if you just point and try to avoid it, the waitstaff practically forces you to say it. And when the food is delivered, they repeat it back to you "you are bountiful" 'you are generous'.... Organics seem so ubiquitous in the bay area at this point that I think it would make more sense to point our restaurants that don't use them.
Best Healthy Restaurants?
I actually find Cafe Gratitude more delicious and varied than Millenium, which really stunned me. I do have to grin and bear it to get past the ordering by affirmation process, but I find the food is well worth it, even for someone who usually prefers meat to vegetables.
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Millenium Restaurant
580 Geary St, San Francisco, CA 94102
Meatball Sandwich Hunt
I was at Chow a week ago Monday and asked if there was any chance of getting a meatball sandwich. Our waiter thought it would be fine and went to the kitchen to ask, but got denied. I was so sad - I miss their daily sandwich menu, the BLT is nowhere to be found either. Those were my two favorite items from Chow.
Meat Shop with free range/grass fed/organic in Dogpatch/Potrero Hill (or close)?
I haven't had great luck getting information from the meat side of mission meat market. I know the fish/poultry side has some organic meat but am not certain about the meat area. Please report back if you do find anything definitive out!
Best Cheese pizzas?
Berretta makes a pizza with burrata, but I haven't eaten it - I tend to stick with the typical margherita. I am wiht heyitsjay on this, I can't think of anywhere that suprised me with a great cheese pizza, they all seemed to come from great pizza places. Gialina's was particularily good. I also like deep dish chicago pizza with just cheese, that is probably my favorite pizza from Little Star though I have tried many of the other varieties.
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Gialina
2842 Diamond St, San Francisco, CA 94131
Kid-Friendly San Francisco Dinner suggestions (But with no $$$ limit)?
I read an article about Zare at Fly Trap being very willing to go the extra mile to make kids happy there.
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Zare at Fly Trap
606 Folsom Street, San Francisco, CA 94107
Question about HOPR Seasoned Table Salt
I do know the last time I looked it had MSG listed as one of the main ingredients. I don't know if that is important to you or if it has changed (I decided to just not look again and pretend I never knew).
DC Foodie Needs LOTS of Help to Feed Picky Non-Foodie Mother in SF
That is a tough set of requirements. My parents are non-foodies and but are a bit more flexible on hole in the wall and noise. The places they remember and request to go back to have been House of Prime Rib and Chow. People on the board usually recommend Scoma's on the warf to eat but my parents really loved the resturant at Boudin's (the upstairs portion) and it was definitely quiet, spacious and with gracious staff. I have to admit that I enjoyed my clam chowder in a bread bowl there, the clam chowder wasn't anything spectacular to begin with, but when the sourdough started melting into it and you could spoon that up along with the chowder in your bites, it was happy eating for me.
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House of Prime Rib
1906 Van Ness Ave., San Francisco, CA 94109
Chow
215 Church St, San Francisco, CA 94114
Scoma's Fisherman's Wharf
47 Pier 45, San Francisco, CA 94133
Boudin Sourdough Bakery & Cafe
39 Pier # Q5, San Francisco, CA
Rehearsal dinner in SF?
We did ours at Pauline's Pizza in their upstairs room. I think it was $35 a person with more than enough pizzas, salads and maybe two glasses of wine a person. I can't remember thier exact pricing but they were very easy to work with. It seemed to go over very well even with the out of town visitors who I thought might be put off by something that seemed so casual, but everyone loved the setting and the ability to chat and mingle and eat. And I always love Pauline's so I was very happy.
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Pauline's Pizza
260 Valencia St, San Francisco, CA 94103
ISO restaurant 1) walking distance from Civic Center 2) extensive vegetarian option
It depends on how comfortable you are with the neighborhood, but maybe something in the Tandooriloin would work for you - Lahore Kahari is good, though known more for their tandoori fish than anytyhing else. But Indian/Pakistani food seems to be a very good choice for inexpensive eats with good vegetarian options.
SF: Sam's Diner (near Orpheum) - Bul-go-gi, gumbo, burritos, loco moco, teriyaki, French dip, burgers, pasta, vegetarian and apple pie?
That sounds amazing - please post if they are doing it again!
