Tip: I've found the soup better at lunch. Both cheaper at that time, and a couple times I've had it at dinner and found it too salty. Not sure if that's luck or because it was prepared early in the day and left to boil/concentrate a bit too long.

I used to really like the one at Chilango on Church/Market; it was my go-to take-out soup when I was sick. Fresh fried tortilla strips, gentle flavor to the broth, lumps of avocado and cotija. I haven't been in about a year, but that's the one that comes to mind.

My favorite breakfast sandwich lately is the one at Matching Half, a coffee shop on McAllister x Baker. They use a soft brioche bun and a folded piece of silky, salty ham on top of cheese and eggs. It's simple and delicious.

The brioche makes it awfully rich, so it's more of an occasional indulgence for me rather than part of my regular rotation, but man does it hit the spot on a cool, foggy morning.

http://matchinghalfcafe.com/food

On the Tonga Room topic, Smuggler's Cove has a tiki theme, less retro-charming than Tonga Room, but much better drinks.

There are tons of great cocktail spots in SF, and I second or third Beretta, 15 Romolo and Comstock. I'd add Alembic (emphasis on afternoon, to skip the wait) and, for straightforward concoctions, House of Shields. Also: nopa, Bar Agricole and Absinthe on the cocktails-at-a-restaurant tip.

The only one I'd take off the list is Blackbird, where I've had some bizarrely ill-prepared cocktails.

I had a quick trip to paris and discovered a few new places to visit in addition to my favorite haunts. I was staying in the 3eme and had quite a bit of work to do, so didn't stray far.

Happy Nouilles, Rue Beaubourg, 3eme: http://www.happynouilles.com/
My opinion of Chinese food in Paris had been low, so low I had to be cajoled into going here, but I was glad I did. Hand-pulled noodles in soup and dry formats, a few rice and seafood dishes. An acquaintance recommended the beef with hand-pulled noodles and bok choy, which I got, and it was surprisingly good--a B+ by home standards, A if graded on a curve (considering my previously very low opinion). Marks down because the beef was a bit too tendony and the broth could have had a more robust flavor, but the noodles were quite good, even textured and toothsome.

134 RDT, rue de turenne
Best croissant I've had in a long time. Near-shatter, buttery without being oily or heavy.

Lescure
Headed to Jeu de Paume in the pouring rain, I stopped here to get out of a downpour. The feeling inside was like an old London lunch shop. Salarymen in suits tossing down hearty plates of meat. I got a cold mackerel entree blanketed with thin-sliced onions and carrots followed by a creamy, substantial chicken and rice. I ordered dessert too soon--I got a bath-tub sized creme caramel (too big even for two people even), but the tarts set up on the back counter looked like the way to go. I don't like this type of food on a regular basis, but grandma food hit the spot on a witheringly cold, wet day.

Only one terrible meal in four days, and I wiped the name of the place from my memory. Not bad odds.

Great tip! I knew that FC's menu was available for brunch (which is awesome when the restaurant's wait is impossible); didn't know it was the same for dinner.

Went here a few weeks back and I identified the pork schnitzel as my new favorite dish.

Perfectly tender meat, cooked in fresh oil so the crust had vigor, almost snap. Super delicious; we fought over the last bite. Puffy scoop of mashed potatoes and one other side I can't remember (maybe...cabbage?).

I've been here three times in the last month. I've had a ton of work, not enough time to cook, and landed on their chopped salads as a great neighborhood option worth seeking out if you live/work nearby or are going to an event at the Kabuki or The Fillmore.

There are four regular chopped salads and one seasonal chopped salad special per day. I've had the seasonal twice and enjoyed it; the Rooster is my favorite from the regular menu. Nice bitterness from radicchio and never over-dressed. The chicken meat is pre-chopped and refrigerated, and I wish it were warm to contrast the cold greens, but it's a minor quibble for an overall very satisfying meal.

I had the chicken plate once and wasn't as happy with it--didn't seem like a great value (because you have to buy the sides extra, they're not cheap, and yet I don't want to just eat a hunk of meat on a plate).

I think so.

Le Ciudad de Mexico, 200 6th Ave (x California)
http://mexicocityfood-sf.com/deliciou...
This place really fills a gap in the land of steam tables + stir-fries. My two favorite torta places in SF were Tortas Los Picudos (for sloppy, half-for-later hangover revivers) and Torta Gorda (for perfectly sized lunch in a retro soda shop atmosphere). At the new torta shop in the Inner Richmond, my sandwich was as good as both of those, and resembled Gorda in style. I got my favorite, egg + chorizo, available in small or large. Small is Gorda sized. They also have breakfast burritos; I have the tocino breakfast burrito in my sightline.

Fifty Fifty, 3157 Geary (x Spruce
)One of two new boba cafes along Geary. Ritual Beans, Devil's Teeth baked goods, a smattering of tables + chairs for laptop zombies, and boba. This isn't a full-service bubble tea place, so choices are limited to five milk teas: matcha, jasmine, chai, honey-coconut + salted caramel. I prefer my tea unsweet, so didn't go for the last two and chose jasmine. Tea tasted much higher quality than a typical boba place (wasn't clear about the tea brand). Tapioca was an extra $0.25; unevenly chewy texture. Real milk from Clover, I think she used skim, so flowery quality of the jasmine was featured and not weighed down by either a front-and-center creamer/powdered dairy or sugar. It was perfectly unsweet without any prompting.

Went today for breakfast on the way to a conference downtown. Loved the sunny space and welcoming service--it felt like they immediately embraced and were the embraced by the neighborhood (or maybe I just felt that way because I saw some familiar faces there.)

I got a brownie for later, and it hit the spot--nice meeting point between fudgey and cakey, held its shape and didn't fall apart when I pried it from the wrapper later in the day.

For breakfast, I was curious about the GF breakfast sandwich. I asked the clerk about it, and she said "Have you ever had the breakfast sandwich from Starbucks? Imagine that, but perfect, as if you made it at home from the best ingredients." It was really good--fluffy, slightly elastic eggs and a crown of crisp bacon. The GF part was sort of like an English muffin in shape, but didn't have the texture of a muffin--the flavor was slightly nutty (I didn't ask about the grain, not sure what that was). I didn't have the non-GF breakfast sandwich to compare it to (they do serve one) but this seems like a solid option if you must avoid gluten. For a non-GF bakery, I was surprised by how many options they had--1/3 of the case--and was attracted to the coffee cake, which the clerk said was made with (stumptown) coffee.

A friend was there eating a bowl of bread pudding that looked divine.

The new Seattle-style teriyaki place opened today on Fillmore at Pine, a dense restaurant zone of mostly bland but expensive choices.

I was pleasantly surprised. They offer gluten-free glaze (with, I guess, the more expensive GF soy sauce) for $1 or $1.50 extra. I had a teriyaki chicken thigh and salmon combo served with rice (brown or white) plus a salad for about $10. Huge portion, teriyaki sauce was a little too sweet for my taste, both salmon and chicken were cooked to order and perfectly moist.

This is a chain and has a chain-like look to it, like most of the other places in the area, but I'd say it's better in general than the other options in the blocks from Pine to Sacramento.

http://www.glazeteriyaki.com/

Monday was an unfortunate evening to be in Bodega Bay, as all the restaurants that seemed interesting and were within a reasonable drive are closed. I glanced at the hotel restaurant menu, but it didn't appeal--a "seasonal" salad of bagged greens with dried cranberries, etc.

We ended up at Lucas Wharf Restaurant, which was fine and cheaper than a hotel restaurant. Crab is only available through the end of April, so I got a Dungeness Louie with a hard-cooked egg, split cherry tomatoes, unripe avocado, and dressing on the side. Ample portion of crab. A very pretty view out to the bay and an seal giving the side-eye to a fisherman gutting his catch on the pier.

Breakfast at Della Fattoria in Petaluma. Friendly service, and I liked that there was a toast sampler for the indecisive type such as myself. The bread stays the same, the toppings are different: Rancho Gordo mashed beans, egg salad, and smoked salmon. The glossy roll on the egg/ham breakfast sandwich looked good. I pity the elderly or disabled person who tries to climb two flights of stairs to that restroom through the back kitchen.

A pleasant buzz of activity, but no real line. Probably there were always 5 or so people on the grounds (bakery + garden) while we were there.

All pix of Wild Flour

We drove from Riverside to Bodega Bay with stops in the Inland Empire, Coalinga, Santa Cruz, Olema, Freestone and Bodega Bay. This post covers just the Bay Area board portion.

Dinner at Olema Inn. The remodel is lovely; wide planks of the wooden floor and the freestanding candelabras in our small dining room gave it the feeling of a updated tavern, even more so when I ordered a bowl of onion soup that was a much better version of what was served at the 18th century roadhouse near my school.

The menu's ambitious intent is to source within 5 miles of Olema. We split a set of three oysters, artichokes with aioli, onion soup, a duck egg salad with lardons, Dungeness crab, dinner rolls. The prices go by set (small apps are all priced the same, large apps slightly higher price, entrees are all $20).

The meal was enjoyable, highlights being the remarkable dinner rolls, satisfying duck egg salad, sweet-crispy broccolini, and onion soup, which was rich and satisfying without the typical beef broth.

I've never had this problem with Dungeness before, but much of the meat stuck to the crab shell and didn't release; it was a lot of work to scrape them and still leave a good portion behind in the shell. (Anyone know why this happens? Overcooked or old crab, or just bad luck?) The artichokes were a little undercooked and hadn't been drained thoroughly so they managed to be both tough and waterlogged.

The dishes that were successful were so accomplished that the downers didn't bother me much. The perfectly salted, buttery yet light dinner rolls would find a spot on my death row last meal list. Service was warm, professional and unobtrusive.

The night we dined was also a special event with Deborah Madison, which took up the main dining room; it seemed like a lot of coordination for the small kitchen and staff to synchronize a dinner for maybe 30 while at the same time host regular diners in a separate room, so I wonder if that might have had something to do with our meal being very good but not faultless.

Wild Flour bread in Freestone: amazing. You can smell the wood oven fire as you turn down Bohemian Highway to find the bakery. A big garden outside is lovely for a stroll--they're growing herbs, lettuces, onions and hops. Of the breads I tasted, I liked the olive best. Sticky bun seemed very popular, but I adored the tender, luscious meyer lemon scone. (Sign at the door: "We need more meyer lemons! Will buy or trade!") They take cash or check only, and I heard the clerk assuring several customers that they could just mail a check later when they got home. Hippies: I love you, never go away.

Pix of taco + donut

We're on a road trip from Riverside to Bodega Bay with stops in the Inland Empire, Coalinga, Santa Cruz, Olema and Bodega Bay. This post covers just the Santa Cruz portion.

Coffee: Verve is served at Cafe Sophie, one of my favorite shops for laptop work in San Francisco, so I wanted to check out their homebase. We liked the coffee and atmosphere so much we hit all 3 Verve locations in our 24 hours in Santa Cruz. First up, the shop on Pacific Ave, which was still frenzied in the late afternoon on this busy shopping strip. I walked to the roastery on Bronson Street, which was just my speed early on a Sunday morning. The roastery is in an industrial building that also houses a rock climbing gym and building supply warehouse, and it had a pleasant out-of-the-way feel, like Ritual's Flora Grubb outpost or the Blue Bottle in the Heath Ceramics building (both in SF). The third original location is in a little strip on 41st. I had an iced Americano at Pacific Ave, a cappuccino at the roastery, and macchiato at the original location--I like the espresso based drinks here much better than straight coffee, and wished I had more time to explore the rest of the menu, like the Bowl of Soul with chamomile tea steeped in soy milk with honey and cinnamon.

We had just driven up from Coalinga on Saturday and wanted the opposite of that, which we found at The Picnic Basket. If I were a tourist in Santa Cruz only for an afternoon, this would be my pick, because in addition to great casual lunch food, they serve products from some of the other places that made our visit special, like Penny Ice Creamery and Verve. Tried a sample spoon of all the ice creams and sorbets (beet in the something-beet sorbet was so overpowering I can't even remember the other flavor; really liked the ice cream texture), then got a fantastic Market salad of butter lettuce, avocado, asparagus and kumquats. Really friendly people (slash everywhere in SC). Also got a house-made kumquat soda. Link: http://www.thepicnicbasketsc.com/

I did a bit of research on dinner before coming to SC, made a reservation at one place, but we switched our plans twice and ended up at Oswald. Very glad we did, especially after I remembered that the cook used to work at Oliveto, a restaurant in Oakland that I like. We were packing up after our pre-dinner drink when a diner at the counter told us that we'd have better food if we stayed instead, so I canceled our original reservation. I am dining with a pescatarian and we split a bunch of dishes; my only regret is that I didn't get to try the burger that everyone crowed about and most people ordered at the bar. Bartender made the best whiskey sour I've had in years. Dungeness crab with avocado app was simple, perfect, and ample--probably sized right as a main dish for a single diner with a light appetite. Lovely endive salad, another generous portion on the seafood stew of mussels and shrimp. A+ experience; look forward to coming back for that burger.

Sunday farmer's market on the Eastside. We went for The Truck Stop food truck, stayed for all the fresh berries. I gathered this wasn't the main SC market, but it was a great turnout and mix of produce vendors and prepared foods, maybe 20 vendors in all. We had chilaquiles, pork breakfast tacos, and a strawberry donut at The Truck Stop and grazed at the produce vendors. The freshly fried strawberry donut (really, two little donuts) dusted with granulated sugar was a marvel. I liked the breakfast tacos with pork and a bit of scrambled egg, but using a warm corn tortilla would have knocked it out of the park. Same prob with the chilaquiles--the egg and salsa were great, tortilla didn't impress. I know they have a fryer in the truck because our donuts were fresh; I'm not sure if the fried tortillas in the chilaquiles were packaged or had just been fried a long time ago, but they were undersalted and didn't have a lot of flavor. I will dream about that donut.

What I'd repeat if/when I return: salad at The Picnic Basket, cocktail and burger at Oswald, donut at The Truck Stop, Verve.

When I asked about Cafe Rouge's sourcing, the woman I spoke with said the ribeye comes from Niman. Not sure if she meant Niman Ranch or BN though.

I went for a quick lunch this week and was disappointed with my meal.

Upside: it's very fast, cheap, and you can see the dumplings and rolls and pancakes being made.

Downside: the items that are being cooked while you're there are not for you. They're loaded onto a cart next to the cash register, and the food I got while I was there had been on the cart for a while (though it was busy at noon), which wasn't great for the fried items. My beef pancake was cold with an unpleasantly oily exterior, and much too salty to boot. BBQ pork rice roll was better than the pancake, but had an uneven, tacky texture and not a lot of pork.

The couple next to me got soup, which was made for them after they ordered; if I returned, I'd probably try my luck with that. The soup was in a small bowl, sized right for one instead of sharing, so that might be a good tip for a solo cheap lunch if the soup is tasty.

I went with David to iSkewers on Judah between 29th and 30th yesterday. We ordered a ton of food, as we were bringing the leftovers back to two friends back home, and also because of gluttony.

We got:
- zhajiang mien
- pork and celery dumplings
- cold sliced beef pancake with sesame
- stir-fried greens

Overall, it was very enjoyable, with notably fine textures and warm service. They were out of the first dumplings we tried to order (pork and spinach, I think) but pork/celery were great. Super juicy, nice texture to the dumpling skin. Fantastic chewy texture on the zhajiang mien hand-pulled noodles. Quite a lot of ground pork. I would have liked the sauce to be a touch less sweet.

The beef pancake was two little sandwich-like pancakes, each cut in half, a bit dainty looking, like an afternoon tea snack. Tasty, not as memorable as the noodles or dumplings. The only thing I wasn't wild about was the greens--watery with not a ton of flavor outside of oil.

There was some confusion about our zhajiang mian order--at first we were brought a veggie hand-pulled noodle bowl with goopy sauced eggplant on top. When we told the waitress we thought we'd ordered something else, she had the kitchen expedite the preparation of the substitute (though it was likely that we had miscommunicated in ordering--we asked her to read the Chinese-language specials posted to the wall and may have pointed to the wrong one).

The dining room is pretty small (maybe 8 tables) with the other half of the restaurant taken up by the cooks rolling, pressing and stretching noodles. Dumplings came out of a freezer near the noodle prep area. Usual beverages: (free) tea and soda.

Based on this mention, I went to San Wang tonight to get beef noodle soup. I used to like this soup at San Dong House in the Inner Richmond, but their noodle cook left some time ago and since then the quality has gone way downhill.

This noodle quality was pretty good--B+ in my book--but everything else about the soup was disappointing. Unevenly spiced, overcooked beef and tired bok choy in a sweaty, oversalted broth. Big bowl for $8.95, but I probably finished less than a third. Even with mediocre noodles, I'd still give the nod to Zombie San Dong for a bowl of beef noodle soup.

One is opening at Dolores x Market, across from the safeway there.

Yikes; if the Divis location feels cramped, you can go ahead and cross the original Mission location off your list of places to go, ever. It's like an agoraphobia obstacle course, but with organic crystallized ginger display instead of a climbing wall.

I live near the Divisadero shop but haven't made it yet--I want to take a look soon, but having lived near the original in the Mission and been aghast at a $60 tab for a meal's ingredients, I'm not eager to make this a regular shopping stop. Nice to have around when you need a very particular something, though.

I could've sworn about this place before, but can't find the post--maybe it was just on twitter.

Village Market is a small upscale grocery on 8th and California in San Francisco. They sell a lot of high-end grocery products you might expect at Bi-Rite but aren't as common 'round these parts: baked goods from La Cocina, Straus dairy products, King Arthur flour, organic small-farm vegetables in a small produce section.

Most interesting is their small deli counter, which turns out an excellent short lunch menu, usually one salad and one sandwich per day. They do a great egg sandwich for weekday breakfast, crepes for weekend brunch, and today I had a fantastic meatloaf sandwich with ciabatta and fresh mozzarella on toasted bread. Not cheap at $12, but considering the high cost of the ingredients (I think it was Prather beef), maybe reasonable. There are maybe 12 seats, and it's become a very friendly neighborhood gathering place with strollers, textbooks and laptops.

They also brew Blue Bottle coffee and make better espresso drinks than the dodgy cups prepared by most non BB-owned outlets.

I got a quick lunch here yesterday, chashu tonkatsu ramen. Noodles in my bowl were quite firm, but worse, the chashu slices were refrigerator cold and tough. Unlike jaspermiles', they didn't soften in broth and were just unpleasant to eat.

I liked the broth, which I also found not as salty as usual. Egg was slightly smoky. I loved the raw garlic set-up on the table.

Dave and I went last night with a group. We shared the fermented soybean soup, kimchi pancake, pork belly salad, spicy mackerel and oxtail with dates and chestnuts.

The pork belly salad portion was huge--I don't think our group of six could even manage half. I was expecting a "salad" as in cold meat strips mixed with some veggies, but it was baby lettuces, marinated vegetables, and big slabs of pork belly at the bottom.

We asked for our food to be spicy; the waitress suggested that we downgrade to medium spicy. We did and I'm glad--medium was quite hot, and we had to order beer during the pork belly course to tone it down.

Kimchi pancake was simple and awesome, great flavor and crisp-tender texture. Fermented soybean soup was excellent, very filling, robust umami flavor, slick hunks of tofu.

I liked the oxtail better than others--it was sweet, which I think turned people off, but to me a nice counterpoint to the deep fermented flavors of much of what we ate.

The only thing that really didn't sit with me was the mackerel--I'm not sure I've ever had this fish before, but it had a pronounced, heavy, fish-y flavor that wasn't for me.

Banchan was good--did see the note on the menu that they charge to refill, and the spread was maybe 20% less extensive than other korean places in SF that I frequent, like Muguboka.

Painfully full at the end for $18pp including drinks. Good value for an excellent meal.

I only been to Radius cafe for lunch, so can't compare directly, but recently I went to an impromptu dinner at Zare after an event downtown, and our meal was great. The last time I'd been was a couple years back, and though I remember the food being good, the dining room was pretty empty both at lunch and dinner, but this time there were quite a few business-type dinners that seemed to be happening around us, Yelp execs, and people still in their work-week suits.

Parking seems like it would be easier around Radius, if that's a concern, but Zare is easier to BART/Muni. To me, Zare's small and share-able plates make sharing a communal meal with a group a better bet than ordering an entree per person, which seems to be what Radius offers.

Went tonight and was wild about the egg and onion pancake. One of the best things I've eaten in months. Beef pancake was a little too heavy for me; we also got lamb noodles, which came in soup format, and while the noodles had nice bite neither the broth nor the lamb was super flavorful--this definitely benefited from the liberal addition of chili oil.