jpancake's Profile
Is Wayfare Tavern worth it?
I think going to a restaurant that uses quality ingredients is generally preferable to going to one that sources most of their stuff from Sysco. Call me a hipster, if you must.
Is Wayfare Tavern worth it?
Was just there on Monday night, and it took about an hour both ways. And while I've lived here for 8 years, it was still quite scenic to me. YMMV.
Difficultly of French Laundry Reservations?
If you have a link to, or could remember where you read the 'feel like shit' comment, I'd love to read the whole thing. Thanks!
Is Wayfare Tavern worth it?
If you're going to have a car and are up for a very scenic hour-long drive into Napa, you might consider Ad Hoc over Wayfare: http://www.adhocrestaurant.com/
The food is similar and may actually be a bit less expensive, depending on what you order at Wayfare.
Also, I'd pass on La Taqueria. Search on 'taqueria' on this board for a million-and-one other recommendations. Nopalito (not in the Mission) and Tacolicious (in the Mission) are both, in my opinion, much better.
Ferry Building Report [SF] - Il Cane Rosso and Mijita
The sopa de albondigas & chilaquiles are my picks at Mijita. The chilaquiles are in a decidedly different style than Primavera's, but, judged on their own merits, are really solid.
Remi Martin Louis XIII Cognac
This specific cognac figures prominently in an episode of the Larry Sanders Show, season 2 - "Larry's Birthday" which is available on Netflix streaming. I know this isn't exactly on topic, but I thought you might enjoy it.
vegetarian-friendly places (sf/peninsula)
Almost every restaurant in the city has a couple reasonable non-meat options, especially if he's 'indifferent' to food. Check menus beforehand if you want to be sure.
Also, this question is asked several times a month, so try this search for prior recommendations:
http://search.chow.com/search?query=vegetarian&advanced=1&from_date=1+year+ago&type=Topic&sort_mode=relevance&from_date_select=1+year+ago&search_boardgroup_id=1&search_board_id=1&user_name=&post_title=
For the record, and in my opinion, Herbivore is extremely boring EXCEPT for the soy chicken shwarma(sic?) which is amazingly delicious.
I am going to San Francisco This weekend? any great chow ideas
This question is asked almost daily; try searching on 'visiting' and sort the results by relevance. Or, just click this link: http://search.chow.com/search?query=visiting&advanced=1&from_date=1+year+ago&type=Topic&sort_mode=relevance&from_date_select=1+year+ago&search_boardgroup_id=1&search_board_id=1&user_name=&post_title=
Also, rworange wrote a nice list that's worth reading: http://www.chow.com/lists/790
Outerlands on Judah SF
A friend and I went a month or two ago. We had three dishes - the chicken noodle soup, macaroni and cheese and, I think, a salad of some sort. Everything was okay, nothing special or even especially good. Portions were somewhat small for the price.
I live in the area, and would be surprised if I went back.
Newlyweds from Toronto in search of SF's best!
Ubuntu in Napa gets a lot of love on the board; I believe the NY Times named it one of the 10 best new restaurants in the country.
Taquerias are to San Franciscans as Jewish delis are to Manhattanites - everyone's got a favorite, and an opinion. That said, you might want to give Papalote a try for lunch. Valencia between 24th and 16th is probably the most vibrant area in the city right now, so it's a nice place for a walk. For a more restaurant-y experience, Pastores is extremely good. A bit harder to get to, and sometimes closed, inexplicably. To get to either, take BART to the 24th St Mission station. Papalote is two blocks away, Pastores a bit less than a mile.
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Ubuntu Restaurant & Yoga Studio
1140 Main Street, Napa, CA 94558
Papalote Mexican Grill
3409 24th St, San Francisco, CA 94110
Pastores Restaurant
3486 Mission St, San Francisco, CA 94110
Burritos in Ingleside/Mission Terrace/Excelsior
I'll second Guadalajara - even though I found fingernail in my burrito once.
Burritoeater likes Taq Reina, on Mission at Mount Vernon (past Geneva), but I went once and was pretty underwhelmed... maybe it's better when the guy working the grill isn't distracted by a soccer game on the television.
Anthony's Cookies
I stopped by last Friday after work. The space is still pretty spartan, but is more than filled with Anthony's outsized personality. I picked up a dozen (bumped to a baker's dozen, a bit under $10) cookies, half 'cookies & cream' and half toffee chip. I don't have much of a sweet tooth (these were ostensibly for my SO), but I couldn't stop eating these. Both flavors were remarkably complex, and not at all cloying or heavy-handed with the butter.
I spotted Giusto's flour bags in back, but didn't think to ask about the organic-ness of the other ingredients. Honestly, with cookies these good I'm not entirely concerned.
Located between 25th and 26th on Valencia; not a lot of foot traffic, and easy to miss. I hope they do well.
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Anthony's Cookies
1417 Valencia Street, San Francisco, CA
CSA's Any Thoughts or Opinions?
http://www.eatwiththeseasons.com/ , while not a proper CSA (they don't grow their own produce, but source from other farmers), is nice in that you can actually choose what you're going to get. If you're fairly picky about your produce (I dislike bitter greens and squash and and and), it's a pretty good way to go.
I've been a subscriber for about a month now, and so far I have no complaints.
Healthy Indian?
I share your concerns about the overwhelming amounts of butter, ghee, cream and oil that often accompany 'restaurant style' Indian food. And while I know that you were looking for restaurant recommendations, I'd like to point out that once you have the requisite spices required, it's remarkably easy to make really really good Indian food yourself - and when you do, you can obviously control the amount of oil you're using.
http://www.youtube.com/user/ShowMeTheCurry and http://www.youtube.com/user/Manjulaskitchen are both excellent resources for instruction and recipes.
I've largely given up on going out for Indian food, unless a craving for dosas or biryani strikes. I get often better and always healthier results from my own kitchen.
Affordable Parmesan?
They also sell a totally acceptable Reggianito from Argentina for a fraction of that.
Local beer for a wedding?
I would highly highly recommend City Beer for this project. The owner is immensely knowledgeable about beer, and consistently gets interesting and obscure beer from around the country. I know he's ordered kegs for clients before, and am convinced he could recommend and source something for the wedding.
Japanese fusion near Grand Hyatt
The House is less than a mile from your hotel.
http://www.thehse.com/
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The House
1230 Grant Ave, San Francisco, CA 94133
New Years Eve at Aziza
Aziza is having a special 8-course pre-fixe on the 31st; price is $95 a person and appears to be largely the same as the chef's tasting menu with the addition of an amuse bouche, salad, green apple-rose geranium shooter and, finally, pastries So, actually, maybe it's only 50% similar.
In any event, I'm pretty excited about this. I just made reservations for two at seven, and there appeared to be plenty of open tables.
Full details of the menu are available at: http://aziza-sf.com/nye08.html
Cheap, good and filling breakfast places in the city for a Saturday morning?
It's in "the back", near the ferry terminal. The line is usually the clearest indicator that you're heading in the right direction.
Cheap, good and filling breakfast places in the city for a Saturday morning?
For some reason, I have Primavera's order sheet on my desk and you're right, the chilaquiles are $9.50.
I believe the chilaquiles at Mijita, also in the Ferry Building, are around $6 and are a nice option if you're not dead-set on scrambled eggs as Mijita's have none.
I've had both a number of times and really don't prefer one over the other. They're both good (Primavera's are sometimes great ), and both worth ordering.
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Mijita
1 Ferry Plaza, San Francisco, CA 94111
Gialina: Loved It.
Went there shortly after it was featured in the Chronicle's series of features on local pizza places. Had awful awful pies (my friend's squash pizza was especially reprehensible, while my margherita was the epitome of boring) and have never been back. :)
Greens Restaurant
I'm going to have to dissent. Maybe it's because I spent 3 years living in various SF Zen Center temples -- quite a few of the recipes the kitchen used were old Greens hand-me-downs; I've probably made the carrot ginger soup mentioned above a few dozen times -- and I grew tired of the style, but I find Greens to be wholly uninteresting.
The main dishes rarely stray from a 1970s-style add-fat-to-make-it-taste-good vegetarian mold, and when they do the results are often lacking. I was there about a month ago for brunch, using the last of my free meal cards, and had uninspired vegetable brochettes with some kind of mesquite sauce that I seriously hope was bottled (I'd like to think that kitchen would not knowingly turn out something so bland) while my date had a Mexican/Southwestern scramble of some sort which was, honestly, quite fine -- again, Greens does okay with cheese and eggs -- but they curiously put the tortilla under the eggs which after many many breakfasts in the Mission just seems Wrong. Additionaly we had some mediocre pastries, which were inoffensive. Maybe if I'd been paying I would've felt more irked. I don't know.
The interior is also pretty shabby. The view is gosh-wow amazing, but the carpet and tables and place settings have all seen better days.
I've never been to the Moosewood restaurant, but I think if you're a fan of the original cookbook and don't mind paying a premium for food that is from that era of American vegetarian cooking, then you'll probably be pretty fond of Greens. If you're looking for something more modern, I would suggest you go elsewhere.
Joe's Cable Car, SF - best burger, onion rings, chocolate malt?
For further comparison, the hamburgers at BurgerMeister are 8oz (half-pound) and for a cheeseburger with fries you're looking at about $10 total.
The equivalent burger & fries at Joe's would cost $18.25:
$10 + $4.75 (for the 'Paul Bunyan Special' 8oz upgrade) + $1 (for the cheese slice) + $2.50 (for the fries)
Joe's Cable Car, SF - best burger, onion rings, chocolate malt?
Yes, the $10 figure is for a plain quarter-pound (pre-cooked weight) hamburger. If you go up to 6oz and want one slice of cheese (only $1 per slice!) you're looking at $14.50. With fries it's now $17. Add a shake and you're going to have to start selling internal organs to settle the tab.
I've been to Joe's twice, and, even if the prices were the same, would much rather go to Burgermeister or Zeitgeist or Absinthe.
I think Joe's is like La Taqueria: its glory days have long-since passed it by, but now that it is featured in countless guidebooks, it can coast for years. Only an out-of-towner is going to be blown away by the place -- there are simply too many other good (and more reasonably priced) options in the city. None of which have been featured on FoodTv.
Dinner on Tuesday with a Vegetarian...ideas?
I think your deciding factor is going to be what you want the price-per-person to be. As long as you don't go to a steakhouse, pretty much every restaurant in the city is going to have vegetarian options worth ordering.
Questions about recommendations for group dining are often posted, so you may want to try searching the board and see what you find. Here's the first one I came across:
http://chowhound.chow.com/topics/556531
Solo Dining in SF
You were extraordinarily lucky to only wait 20 minutes! Even by myself, I am most often waiting at least a half-an-hour for a counter seat.
And, you're right, as far as I'm concerned, Dottie's is the ne plus ultra of American breakfast food.
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Dottie's True Blue Cafe
522 Jones St, San Francisco, CA 94102
Where to find the best fried rice (to go) in SF?
I second this. On occasion it can be a little too oily, but Lotus Garden is my go-to when I have a hankering for fried rice. Even when it's a little off, I still find it to be better than any place else I've tried.
Soundcheck for Mission/adjacent restos
I've only been to two of your listed restaurants, but for what it's worth:
Bar Tartine - the tables are extremely close together and at times I found it easier to hear the person at the next table than my companion.
Icanto - didn't have any particular problems with the noise. It sounded busy, but never rose above a mild din.
best pizza?
I've had surprisingly good Chicago-style pies at Little Star when I ordered 'off the menu' -- specifying specific ingredients. The tables at the Valencia location are criminally close together (honestly, not more than 6" apart), and, for that reason, I like the Divisadero branch better -- even if it can be monstrously loud.
best pizza?
I absolutely agree about A16. Soggy, and boring. Pizzetta 211 varies wildly based on who's working the oven; though their salads are almost always stellar. I've been to Pizzeria Delfina three times and never had a good pizza. Twice I've had cheese that tasted ... foul ... after it set.
For everyday I like Serrano's; their slices are a screaming deal and, given the price, I'll overlook the overabundance of cheese.
