Was at Sam's and considered going to the Mission for a burrito or finding an SF Naan and Curry for lunch. Looked it up and it turned out that there was a Naan and Curry on Irving a mile away, so the proximity broke the tie in favor of the Indian food. Been to the one on Telegraph, which was busy with UC Berkeley students. The Sunset location had a wider assortment of folks, including a surprising number of Chinese folks. The place was also more decorated, with drapes, fabric ceiling hangings, and a big mural to combine with the purple walls for an atmosphere of some sort.
Nothing fancy today. Went with the Chicken Tikka and Garlic Naan with a glass of Mango Lassi. I ordered at the counter, was assigned a numbered table, and was suppose to pay after eating, but I had to retrieve my own silverware, napkin etc. from a closet in the back, which was a bit confusing at first. The tank of free milk tea was a nice touch. The rich yogurty sauce of the Chicken Tikka Marsala was intensely flavored and clusters of crushed garlic were generously sprinkled over the naan, which was easily the size of a medium pizza. The CTM made for a great bread dipping sauce. The chicken itself was a bit dry but anything would taste good with the flavorful and very orange sauce. The only disappointment was that the dishes were barely lukewarm when I got them. Thankfully the sauce didn't separate or congeal, otherwise I might've sent it back. It was a late lunch on a cool day, but still. Plus it was almost 11 bucks for naan, curry, and drink. That's par for the course in SF these days, I guess. It hit the spot, though.
Naan and Curry
642 Irving St. (between 7th and 8th Ave.)
San Francisco, CA
(415) 664-7225
The acclaimed fusion place is literally down the block from Sam's place but they'd never gotten around to trying it. My illustrious presence was as good an excuse as any. They gave us a 7:30pm reservation, but we went over early and they were able to seat us without trouble.
The space was industrial in that it had high ceilings, tall windows, with steel braces and cables forming the geometry above. But they also maintained the warmth by building thick wood beams across the room lower down along the wall to add intimacy and still maintain the airiness created by the high roof. The pistachio green walls graced by local art remain muted up close but gives the overall room some pop when you walk in the door. A large bar area makes it a good place to drop in, hang out, or have a sit-down dinner.
The schtick is Asian-fusion small-plate action. They were participating in the Dining Around Town promotion, which in their case was three small plates (each with 2-3 choices) and a dessert for $35. There weren't quite enough choices for each of us to all get a different DAT lineup, plus that'd be way too much food anyway. So Sam nominally went with the DAT choices and we picked three more plats for all to share, avoiding plain things like "Spicy Pan Fried Chinese Long Beans" (a.k.a. 乾扁四季豆, which is good but probably done better at a good Chinese place).
The bar's part of the deal, so it behooved us to have some drinks to complement the food. The Lemon Drop was a bit too fruity for Sam's masculinity, but the Sake Kamikaze was tasty yet manly. Michelle and I split the Varietal Hodgepodge white wine flight, which was four half-pours of very different wines for not much more than the price of a single full glass.
Rich, honey taste without being sweet or oaky. Very unique and tasty.
Austere, minerally, and almost bitter. Not crowd-pleasing but good with the right foods.
Riesling works well with the lighter Asian flavors. Fruity but not sweet.
Light and drinkable South American SB.
The tuna from the Seared Rare Ahi Tuna Tower starter wasn't going to match the sheer purity of the maguro sashimi from 吉園, but the additional flavor and construction of the dish more than compensates. The barely cooked slices of tuna and microgreeens on fried wonton skins flavored by an Asian-style miso viniagrette. A bit more fish woulda been nice, though. The salad was a Japanese-style soy-sesame dressing, over a lacquered bowl full of fresh Californian greens.
Usually not a big squash person. Don't particularly like squishy sweet-ish savory things. But I did like the Red Curried Kabocha Squash, and besides we needed some starch, otherwise it'd kinda hard to fill up on the small plates (emphasis on small). The red curry provided spice and a bit of heat, and the yogurt sauce added richness to make a complex mix of flavors with a little of just about everything. The wild mushroom risotto is pure savory goodness without being heavy at all. Although mom would probably faint at the thought of twelve bucks for a small plate of fancy 稀飯.
The Grilled Korean Style Short Rib (geez, it's SF, people know what kal-bi means) had two big meaty slabs of beef rib meat sitting on a bed of kimchee. The meat is high-grade and the flavor was there, but it's really just a yuppiefied version of a regular Korean dish. And the kimchee was totally weak sauce, which we will grudging accept in the name of harmony with the more delicate dishes. In comparison, the Grilled Green Curry Marinated Mahi Mahi (with pinapple-habanero salsa) was different and good. Even when I was in Hawaii I would run into dry mahi-mahi. This, on the other hand, was an oh-so-juicy piece of fish with grill marks on the outside, but with just the barest hint of translucency in the middle. One bite of the fish just by itself, and one bite with some salsa for an additional zing. Sometimes sharing sucks.
Sam had his eye on the Mango Panna Cotta as soon as he saw the menu. The PC was creamy smoothness with good flavor, but couldn't but feel that the two-dollar mango pudding at the dim-sum places was the better deal. Also got a warm berry-apple cobbler topped with chunks of sugared bread cubes (kinda like sweet croutons) and a scoop of coconut ice cream. Now I usually wouldn't go for such a heavy dessert after a big meal, but the small-plate approach left just enough room for dessert so we could dig in without going bust.
In the end, got to taste a lot of different flavors, and walked feeling pleasantly full with a good buzz on top. And all for a not-cheap-but-reasonable price, at least according to Sam, who picked up the bill. Thanks.
Eos Wine Bar and Restaurant
901 Cole St.
San Francisco, CA 94117-4315
415-566-3063
Didn't have lunch before driving over with Sam to his place in the City, so we were looking for something to eat, but it was mid-afternoon so we didn't want anything heavy either. Crepes On Cole was right down the block and crepes seemed like a good choice for a light late lunch. I had the Mediterranean Crepe, with eggplant, roasted red bell peppers and other veggies topped with pesto and cheddar. It was exactly what I was looking for, tasty and filling without being heavy. Would've liked a bit more pesto, but if I really wanted pesto I should've just got the Pesto Crepe instead but I wanted the veggies, too. Sam had the strawberry jelly crepe with ice cream. I suspect he was in it more for the ice cream than for the crepe. Felt a bit ripped off on the $2.50 hot apple cider when I found out it was just a bottle of apple juice steamed by the espresso machine and poured into a pint glass with a cinnamon stick stirrer. But the warm drink sure hit the spot on a blustery day, and I got over the San Francisco cost-of-living sticker shock soon enough. A comfortable place on the street corner with plenty of space for the diverse crowd: studentes studying, tourists refueling, and locals just hanging out.
Crepes On Cole
100 Carl St.
San Francisco, CA 94117
(415) 664-1800
Rivoli and Lalimes, my 1 and 1A options for a nice Berkeley dinner, were all bokked up for a Saturday night, and Chinese restaurants were going to be packed for CNY, too. So I figure I'd give this Solano place a shot. The room was large, dressed up in a warm Mediterranean look, and they had a big round table which easily accommodated our party of six.
The crowd was a diverse lot. Large family get-togethers like us, couple of friends having a casual dinner, couple of couples having a friendlier dinner, and a big table of high-schoolers dressed up for the formal (which explains the splotlights lighting up Albany High). Auntie donated a bottle of the '95 Cos d'Estournel which was well worth the $15 corkage. Michelle had a simple squash soup and apple-gorgonzola salad. Hard to screw that up. Sam had wine-braised ribs with polenta which was good and savory but not particularly our favorite flavors. Aunt got the grilled vegetable platter which looked good but not something terribly hard to do right. Dad and Will chose the grilled NY steak special with the chimichurri sauce, which was definitely the tastiest thing at the table. Nicely medium-rare inside and bits of charred crusty goodness on the outside. The acidic herbaceous sauce provided some zing compared to the usual A1.
We'd already gone out for lunch, so I didn't want to get a big main. Tomato-basil angel hair looked good but it's hardly tomato season, and Kung Pao Linguine sounded just insane, so I picked the Spicy Shrimp Linguine for something different. I was expecting pasta and shrimp, perhaps grilled and dusted with spices. Instead I got a big bowl of soupy noodles with chunks of bland tomatillos and red bell pepper, with some meaty but unremarkable shrimp mixed in. The linguine more resembled Chinese soup noodles than pasta al dente. Thankfully dad wasn't going to finish the entire steak anyway so I got something meaty to chew on. I totally should've sucked it up and got the bacon-wrapped cedar plank salmon, or go small with the smoked salmon pizzeta as the main. Real shame that we didn't get something out of the wood-fired brick oven. Place was worth trying, but I don't think it'll become a first-option type of place unless I need the big room.
Beauregard's California Bistro
1373 Solano Avenue (at Ramona)
Albany, California 94706
Visited Amit and Joanne's very nice loft in the Mission. The NFL conference championship games was the nominal excuse for the get-together. But by the end of the 3rd we conceded that the game was done. Amit had to catch up on work, but he recommended the nearby restaurant for Sam, Michelle, and I to have dinner. It's a narrow space, half taken up by the bar, half by a row of tables. The place wasn't packed like the trendier places nearby, but the people spoke with a legit Italian accent and the food was legit as well.
Wasn't in the mood for a heavy main, more looking for something pasta-ish, so I finally had an excuse to get gnocchi. The gnocchi in the Gnocchi Alla Coda was light, but the hearty tomato-oxtail sauce added the richness that complemented the glass of Sangiovese. I found Michelle's pumpkin Mezzelune Alla Zucca raviolis a bit sweet, but I guess that's the way they're supposed to be. The one bite I had of Sam's Braciole Di Maiale was super-tasty, but then it's hard to go wrong with the layer of mozzarella over prosciutto-on-pork for the piggish goodness. I suspect I wouldn't have managed to finish the whole thing if it were mine entree, though. Desserts were tiramisu and panna cotta. Not exactly going out on a limb there, but perfectly solid versions of the standards, which was exactly what we were looking for.
IL Cantuccio
(415) 861-3899
3228 16th St
San Francisco, CA 94103
They handed out the menu to us in the Deluxe Evergreen class at the beginning of the flight. The unagi rice seemed promising, more so than the coq-au-vin anyway. Although I've had more good unagi rice than good coq-au-vin so may I wouldn't mind airline's version as much. The point was moot, since they gave us the wrong menu for the flight. So here was what I ended up with.
They weren't kidding when they said "shrimp," as in singular. It and its squid ring friends sat on a bed of cucumber and tomato with a tangy dressing. The squid had texture without being rubbery, which was the key.
The alternative was Chicken with Sukiyaki Sauce, which just sounded dull. Thought the beef and sauce may go well with the complimentary wine. Except the wine wasn't all that great, either. The braised beef was tender enough and the boiled potato chunks were alright, but the flavors were blah. Good enough for airline food, I guess.
Apple and honeydew. Not sure how seasonal they are, but with globalized farming practices it hardly matters.
They only had vanilla. That's okay. I like vanilla.
For breakfast. Not much to say about something like that. Also had Yoplait yogurt which was nice.
Yeah, it's nothing new to you, maybe, but a sandwich on a crusty roll can be a bit hard to find in Taiwan, so it's nice to have one right there in the basement of the Mitsukoshi down the street. Unfortunately, the menu is a sad shadow of its American cousins. The bread bowl is good, but the chowder was just a bit worse than disappointing. The ingredients in the chicken Caesar salad were all good enough, but in typical Taiwan fashion the dressing had the sweetness which I hate to find. Would've been good if I got the dressing on the side. Got the steak sandwich for myself, and it was tasty enough. The onion and jalapeño topping made it a bit awkward with the GF after the meal, though.
AU BON PAIN THE BAKERY CAFE
新光三越A8館B2
110台北市信義區松高路12號B2樓
Shin Kong Mitsukoshi Department Store
Building A8, Level B2
12 Sung Kao Road, Taipei
02-87805546
Located in the alley behind the Dunhua Eslite, on the corner of Renai Rd., Patara doesn't seem distinguished from the outside, its lighted sign faded just a bit. But behind the hedges is a quiet pool with stepping stones leading you into the restaurant, which is surprisingly large. The menu and business card proclaims locations around the world, and the atmosphere reflects the international flavor. The room is decorated like a typical middle-upscale Western restaurant, with framed fabric squares hanging on the walls and halogen lamps focused on each table. The room lighting perhaps a tad brighter to accommodate Chinese tastes. Almost every table in the full house had at least one non-Chinese person. Many seemed like they were there on the company expense account. Looking at the prices, that's probably the best way to go.
The menu was a non-threatening internationalized Thai/SEAsia mix. The mixed satay were marinated with an Indian-type curry, accompanied by a yogurt-based dipping sauce and toast points. The roasted vegetable salad was basically an antipasto drizzled with a Thai herb marinade instead of Italian dressing. The seafood curry went well with the rice, and the seafood was fresh and attractive in the white coconut-milk broth, but I would've liked the additional herbage of a green curry, I think. The lemongrass lamb chops was definitely the best thing. The chops sat on a bed of green papaya salad and accompanied by glutinous rice spring rolls, making it a meal all by itself. Meat was a pleasant medium and the lemongrass definitely gave it some zest.
Other tables had steamed whole fish which looked good, too bad we couldn't really order it with only two people. The desserts were in a self-serve bar as an all-you-can-eat thing, which I felt didn't really mesh with the atmosphere, and the desserts didn't look all that special anyway. The service was professional, by nice older ladies who spoke Chinese and Thai. No work-study students, thank god.
So perhaps not a place for the casual get-together, but a useful place to have in the back pocket for an occasional special dinner. Or to impress an outside visitor on the sophisticated international food scene in Taipei. Although that might be construed as a deceptive presentation.
PATARA 泰軒精緻泰式美食
106台北市大安區敦化南路1段247巷12號
02-27315288