Mari's Profile
A day and a half in Santiago
Do you have anything to report back on? I am headed to Santiago in a few weeks for work and would like to know if there are any great places I should consider.
Pre-Made Tiramisu in SF
I just remembered Pasta Gina in Noe Valley and they do sell tiramisu.
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Pasta Gina
741 Diamond St, San Francisco, CA 94114
Pre-Made Tiramisu in SF
I am looking for a tiramisu for about 5 people for today. I don't know of any place that sells them unless it's an individual portion and since it's my husbands birthday request I thought I'd try to find one. I don't have time to make one today. Does anyone have any leads, preferably in the southern part of SF?
Puerto Vallarta - All-Inclusive with Good Food
I would like to go to Puerto Vallarta in the late Winter and am looking for a nice all-inclusive that actually has good food. I went to the Club Med Ixtapa 2 years ago and was surprised that the food was delicious, varied and fresh. Is there anything similar in Puerto Vallarta?
Caterer in SF that makes Paella?
I called Patio Español - they don't cater.
Thanks everyone for your help.
Caterer in SF that makes Paella?
I am looking for a caterer who will make a traditional paella for a small-ish family gathering.
Any recommendations? It doesn't have to be a caterer who only specializes in paella, but I would like one who will not Americanize the dish and will keep it traditional.
cake pops or cake balls in SF
There's a vendor at the Glen Park Farmer's Market (Sundays) that sells them. I think they also have pie pops.
French Laundry preparation questions and last minute surrounding meals
I requested the coffee and donuts when I made the reservation and they said they would try their best to accommodate the request. They did give our party of 7 the coffee and donuts as a special extra dessert. I noted that a table next to us had the coffee and donuts as well so I assume it's a popular request. You should call and request it before your visit just in case.
Best berry pie in SF?
I had the best marionberry pie from Destination Bakery in Glen Park about a month ago. The crust is excellent and everyone had a second serving. The pies are expensive (about $20) but worth it for a special meal. Call ahead since the flavors may change and they may run out.
Client Lunches in Palo Alto Area
I am trying to find nice, expense account-type restaurants to recommend to a friend who has to entertain clients over lunch. He is specifically looking for places in Palo Alto and is going to get bored of Evvia and The Four Seasons. It seems to me that those 2 will be the most formal places in the area, but are there any other restaurants that will make a nice impression (of course, no PF Chang's or hole in the wall even if the food is good).
My only other suggestion so far is the Empire Tap Room.
Mandarina in Hayes Valley for Paletas
I watched a show on the Fod Network and Mandarina was profiled for their paletas. The owner seems to be from Mexico. Has anyone been? Are the paletas anything like those at the beloved,but long gone, Latin Freeze on 24th Street?
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Mandarina
535 Octavia St, San Francisco, CA 94165
Quick request for tacos in Mission for Vancouver visitor
For carnitas specifically you can try La Palma on 24th Street, although there is no sitting area. Another place that seems to specialize in carnitas is La Espiga de Oro also on 24th Street. When they opened several years ago they sold limited items including carnitas by the pound. South San Francisco may be too far, but I've always found the carnitas at La Tapatia on Grand Ave. very good.
Quick request for tacos in Mission for Vancouver visitor
Note that La Taqueria closes every year for 2 weeks over the holidays. They are closed until January 9 this year. Taqueria San Jose is a good alternative across the street.
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La Taqueria
2889 Mission St, San Francisco, CA 94110
Desperately Seeking Cookies
I remember them too. I recall that they came in plastic bags. The icing was almost like a meringue, is that what you remember?
Sao Paulo Recs for Solo Traveler
Thank you both. It looks like I will have enough to entertain myself at the shopping center at least. Amor Aos Pedacos looks intriguing. I'll have to check that out.
Obrigada!
Sao Paulo Recs for Solo Traveler
I can probably walk about 15 minutes out of my way as long as it's safe for a solo female. Our local office has warned colleagues not to walk anywhere so I am a bit hesitant to go too far out of my way or if they are paranoid. A taxi is fine as long as it's within a short distance.
Sao Paulo Recs for Solo Traveler
I'm planning a business trip to Sao Paulo next week and will be staying at the Hilton near the WTC. I'm traveling by myself and don't plan to be too adventerous as far as traveling to far out locations for food. Are there any good recommendations for something that's walking distance from the hotel? I'd say my budget is about US$40-US$50 for dinner but I am also looking for juice bars, pizza, cheap eats in the area if they are good.
Sydney - Trip Report
First of all, thanks to those you who who provided feedback for my trip to Syndey and Melbourne. A quick report on Melbourne is in this post: http://chowhound.chow.com/topics/740355?tag=main_body;topic-740355
I think some of our food choices in Sydeny were a result of the heavy rains we encountered this past week since we often needed something quick and good that didn't require much planning to get to.
We stayed in The Rocks and I expected to find horrible food, which does exist in The Rocks, but I was pleasantly surprised by the quality of a few select restaurants.
On our first evening, Sunday, our concierge suggested Apettito on George St. but we didn't want to spend so much for a simple dinner. We went to Zia Pina/Zia Pinna for pizza which I knew would be a huge mistake but it was about half of what we would have spent at Apettito. Nevertheless, the restaurant was packed and the pizza was unremarkable. A lot of restaurants are closed on Sunday, from what I can tell.
On Monday morning, still in The Rocks, we headed to La Patisserie on Argyle. We shared a chicken provencal pie and a mince meat pie as well as a ham and cheese baguette. It was reasonably priced and the food was fine, although the chicken pie lacked flavor as it tasted like plain chicken.
We walked to Surry Hills and had a very late lunch at the Trinity Pub on Crown Street. I had the cottage pie which was delicious and my husband had a burger. They have a $10 sirloin steak meal deal on Mondays that looked quite good. After that we headed to the Bourke Street Bakery for a coffee and dessert. We shared the carrot cake, which was fine and nothing spectacular. However, the chocolate tart was similar to what I remember trying at La Maison du Chocolat in Paris several years ago, if not even better. The service at Bourke Street was very efficient and friendly. We got a chorizo and thyme roll and a slice of pizza for later. Both would have been better fresh and warm, but they made for a decent dinner in our hotel.
On Tuesday we head to Mamak for roti….and it was closed! They were doing maintenance and it was closed for the day. We walked to Malaysian Chinese for laksa. The laksa (one beef and one prawn with chicken) was good overall but it didn’t wow me like I had expected. It was my first time eating laksa.
Wednesday we went to the bar of the Rockpool Bar & Grill for dinner. What a spectacular restaurant. We were lucky to get 2 chairs at the bar. The cocktails were carefully made, and they should with the $20 price tag. We ordered the burger, a steak sandwich and the fries. Overall, the quality of the Wagyu meat burger and its bun were worth the price. However, I didn’t like the addition of a beet to the burger since it made it rather sweet for me. The steak sandwich was also good, probably one of the better steak sandwiches I have had, although they added a chili pepper relish that was overly sweet and I had to remove ¾ of it. The fries were fine, although pricey at $12. For dessert I gave in and ordered the passionfruit pavlova since I’d never had a pavlova. The slice was huge, the whipped cream and passion fruit made for a great combination.
The next morning we headed to the Sydney Fish Market for a 7am tour to check out the auction. I’d recommend this tour to anyone who is interested in seeing a live auction and seeing interesting Australian seafood at the second largest market after Tokyo. The $20 cost for the tour included a coffee drink of your choice. The guide was attentive and engaged. After the tour I had a decent scone at Gregory’s Bakery in the market. My husband had fish and chips, which he declared some of the best he’s eaten. I walked towards the fruit/vegetable stand and found a juice bar across the hall with the best yogurt I think I have had. Plain yogurt was topped with fresh passionfruit and mango. I was really impressed with the quality of yogurt in Australia and had bircher muesli practically every day. But the yogurt from the seafood market was the best I tried anywhere. As a side note, fair warning that your clothes will smell like fish for days after the tour and the fish smell was difficult to wash off (I had to soak our clothes in vinegar for a day once we got home).
Later that day we went to the Pony Lounge in The Rocks for lunch with my husband’s Australian colleagues. This is a nicely designed and modern restaurant. We ordered a few small plates – asparagus with ricotta salata, sirloin with a lime dressing, fresh calamari with white beans and the fried king prawns. My entree was the spinach and potato gnocchi with goat cheese, kalamata olives and toasted pinenuts. The gnocchi were rather large and perfectly done. For dessert we shared the macadamia tart which has to be one of the best desserts I’ve had this year anywhere. We also shared the passionfruit crème brule which was just fine.
After a week of eating too much, we wanted a light dinner on our final night. We wandered around The Rocks and walked into The Cut Bar & Grill on Argyle. We sat at the bar and found a special – 3 salads or sides for $24. It was the perfect amount of food for a light dinner for 2 and reasonably priced. The Jerusalem artichokes were so good that I could have ordered another dish. If anyone has a chance I highly recommend that you sit at the bar and just have this dish. They were served with goat cheese, hazelnuts and radicchio – probably one of the best dishes I’ve had this year. We also ordered the cauliflower and green beans with garlic chips. The olive oil they serve with the bread was also incredible and I regret not asking for the name. The bartender was attentive and friendly. I’d go back there again to try the prime rib since they have a trolly. The restaurant itself is very neat, well-designed and it looks like it’s for the business crowd.
Overall, a great and wet trip. Thanks for everyone's input!
Sydney Farmers Markets
I went on Friday just after it opened at 10am but not all the vendors were set up - particularly the Pony Lounge and a few others. Nevertheless, it's a very small market worth going if you happen to be in the area. There was only one fruit/veg vendor though and I thought that their fruit was similarly priced to what I had seen at a few stores. They told us that they grow and sold their own peppers, eggplants but that not everthing on display is grown by them.
In addition there was also a sugar cane drink vendor and a cupcake vendor. The Lowenbrazu sausages looked quite good and they were also serving spaetzle.
Sydney Farmers Markets
Any feedback on the Friday market in The Rocks? It's listed in my tourist guidebook but I'm not sure if I should go out of my way to make it. How is the selection of prepared food?
Dim Sum, Malaysian, Singaporean and Decently Priced Steak in Sydney
Thanks. I'd like good roti.
Dim Sum, Malaysian, Singaporean and Decently Priced Steak in Sydney
So is the burger at Rockpool Bar & Grill only available at the bar with no reservations necessary? The bar menu does look good and reasonable. How's the steak sandwich?
Just curious, but is the chef inspired by Zuni Cafe in San Francisco? I see Zuni pickles on the menu and noted that they have a roasted chicken with a bread salad just like Zuni cafe when I looked at the menu at their Melbourne location.
Lebanese and Greek Restaurants in Sydney or Melbourne
Thank you everyone for your replies. After a long fight to Melbourne, I was uncoordinated with my dining choices to say the least. Nevertheless, I did make it to one Greek restaurant earlier this week - Stalactites on Longsdale. We planned on Greek food one day and I didn't bring the address for the places mentioned in this thread, so we ended up at Stalactites since we had seen it during a walk the day before and knew how to get there. My husband ordered the lamb souvlaki, which he was very satisfied with. I order the appetizer platter with a ground beef patty, a lamb kebab, pork sausage and different dip (I can't remember the Greek name for the meat items). I thought the found was fine, nothing spectacular and I was a little disappointed that we didn't go elsewhere. I also thought that they added something to their hummus, maybe mayonnaise? It had a different flavor that what I am used to.
We were going to head to Abla's, but again with the jet lag and being 6 months pregnant I found that I was less ambitious to venture late in the evening for dinner in Carlton.
I think we have wasted a few meals at our hotel's buffet restaurant, Melba at the Langham. We tried the buffet breakfast at the discounted price of AUD25 for hotel guests and it was a miss since later that day we headed to the Queen Victoria Market and were too full to try the delicious looking sausages at a stall there. The dinner buffet at Melba is pricey at $79 per person, however it was varied with seafood (such as yabbie's which I had never seen before and huge shrimp that are hard to find in San Francisco), Indian food, roasts, sushi, a sitr-fry station, a pasta station, as well as a decent dessert selection. The restaurant was crowded with what seemed like locals as well.
I also have to add that we are impressed with Melbourne's coffee scene. The coffee, or at least the lattes, I've had hear are far better than what I typically have in San Francisco, which is a leading coffee city in the U.S. I hope the coffee is a as good in Sydney.
Dim Sum, Malaysian, Singaporean and Decently Priced Steak in Sydney
I'm heading to Sydney after a few days in Melbourne and am looking for recommendations for these foods. As the for steak, I've discovered that the US$ is not doing so well and am finding that we are going over our food budget, so I'd appreciated recommendations for a steak dinner at around $150AUD for 2 people, Also, when we read that Wagyu beef is on the menu does that mean that the Wagyu beef is the real thing? In the U.S. references to Wagyu beef almost always mean that the beef is Wagyu-like.
Thanks!
Australia/NZ/Solomon Islands/Fiji - want to base travel around food!
How about a recommendation for Malaysian in Melbourne or Sydney? I am leaving tomorrow from SFO to Melbourne. Thanks!
Village Falafel in Cupertino - Armenian!
By the way - the sign reads Armenian Middle Eastern.
Village Falafel in Cupertino - Armenian!
Any intelligence on this place? It's on Stevens Creek and Blaney (near Shan) but it isn't open yet.
I went to the House of Falafel today down the street for the first time and I much prefer the shawarma at Truly Mediterranean on 16th in SF.
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Truly Mediterranean
3109 16th St, San Francisco, CA 94103
Shan Restaurant
5251 Stevens Creek Blvd, Santa Clara, CA 95051
House of Falafel
19590 Stevens Creek Blvd, Cupertino, CA 95014
Berkeley: Walking Distance from Zellerbach (Dinner)
Not this time. We had a chicken salad sandwich, a BLTA with a lot of bacon and a salty split pea soup. I always like their pineapple ague fresca too.
Berkeley: Walking Distance from Zellerbach (Dinner)
Thanks everyone. Unfortunately, going to Berkeley from the South Bay on a Friday took much longer than I anticipated so a sit down dinner was not an option. We went to Intermezzo and spent $35 including parking at Zellerbach. I was tempted to have a slice at Blondie's.
