Sunday FOODday - 27/100 - SF 7x7

Happy Tuesday! 

Last week I made plans to spend Sunday with my college friend and AGD sister, Erin. Since I am on a mission to eat at most, if not all, of the restaurants on The Big Eat SF 7x7 List we decided to check some more off of the list. I BART'd into SF and Erin picked me up from BART and we headed straight to Trouble Coffee for coffee/tea and their famous Cinnamon Toast.

 Restaurant: Trouble Coffee

Dish: Cinnamon Toast

Verdict: Ahhmazing, I could not live without it

Alright, let me just start out by saying that this was the best cinnamon toast I had ever tasted. The bread was like 2inches thick and there must have been at least an entire stick of butter on it and then it was smothered into cinnamon and sugar. It was perfect. Note to all of you, they don't have decaf coffee in the cafe, so if you can't handle your caffeine, like me, stick with one of their many assortments of herbal tea - or drink half of your latte, like me. And then do pullups outside...to burn of 1/8 of the calories you just ingested...

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From Trouble Coffee, we headed to Balompie #3 for some popusas. Well, we first went to La Ciccia for a bowl of their Spaghittusu, but they are only open for dinner...next time! Erin and I ordered 4 popusas to share.

 Restaurant: Balompie #3

Dish: Popusas

Verdict: Delicious

Because the Big Eat list only says to order "popusas" we asked the waitress if she would recommend us a few options. We ordered: Chicharron y Queso, Zyote y Queso, Loroco y Queso and Espinaca y Queso. The Chicharron popusa was both of our favorites. And we could have easily split 2 and been totally full! The others were delicious, but not nearly as good as the pork & cheese.

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After popusas we headed to Plow for some crispy potatoes...

 Restaurant: Plow

Dish: Crispy Potatoes

Verdict: Ehh, I could live without it

We arrived right around 2 o'clock and we were told that the restaurant was closed until dinner. Fortunately enough, and totally not planned, we ran into my little sis (AGD) there and we asked them to make sure to order some crispy potatoes with their meals so we could try them and then check it off of the list. Nowhere on the list does it say how much of something you need to eat... They were alright...I wouldn't go back for them...

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As our afternoon progressed, we decided that it was perfect timing for some dessert. We headed over to the Chocolate Lab for a brownie. 

 Restaurant: Chocolate Lab

Dish: Brownie a la Mode

Verdict: Delicious

 

We ordered the brownie and on Sunday they offered a special Rocky Road Brownie, all with walnuts and marshmallows and more than we needed of hot fudge sauce. This brownie was so rich and delicious! If you ever need a chocolate fix, make sure to stop by The Lab! 

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After our brownie we headed to North Beach to meet up with Melissa for some wine. An hour and a half later, 2 bottles in and lots of catching up, Erin had to head home so Melissa and I decided to keep checking dishes off of my list. 3 more to go! :-)

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As our first appetizer, we headed over to Bix for their Steak Tartare.

 Restaurant: Bix

Dish: Steak Tartare

Verdict: Good

 

 It comes out to you on a plate not fully prepared. The plate has the steak, minced shallots, mustard and a few other ingredients and the waiter mixes it all together making sure to add salt and pepper and a dash of Worcestershire sauce. The steak was a little too salty for my taste buds, but it was amazingly fresh. If you are into steak tartare, check this place out!

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We wanted to stop one more place before we sat down for another meal. We walked over to House of Nanking and because there was a line out the door we ordered to-go and ate this on the fly! 

 Restaurant: House of Nanking

Dish: Fried Onion Cake

Verdict: Delicious

This dish was light and delicious! Definitely worth the $4 (or however much it was!)

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Before making our way to Park Tavern, we wanted to stop by Tosca for their mussel soup. Unfortunately, it is a seasonal dish that they haven't had for a few months...we decided to ditch Tosca and head straight for our main course!

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 Restaurant: Park Tavern

Dish: Poulet Noir

Verdict: Ahhmazing, I could not live without it

Alright. Hands down. This might be my most favorite dish, on this list, to date. We ordered the chicken and they brought it out already split for us. O.M.G. This was seriously ahhhmmmaaaazzzing!! And totally affordable! The entire dish was $28! And then we split it! Definitely make sure to stop in at Park Tavern for a carafe, or two, and this chicken. You will not be disappointed!I may go back there every day for the rest of my life.... we will just have to wait and see....

Buon Appetito

Check out the other restaurants I have been to here

Out the Door: SF 7x7

Hi All! I have checked off another item from the SF Big Eat 7x7 list - actually one from this years list and one from last year! I figured 100 places in 2014 wasn't enough so I thought I'd tack on 2013s list as well..

Since it is so gorgeous outside, we decided to walk down to the SF Ferry Building and grab some lunch and ice cream. 

Anyway... on to the Crispy Imperial Rolls

Restaurant: Out the Door

Dish: Crispy Imperial Roll

Verdict: Delicious

These were delicious and totally hit the spot. The sauce is a perfect balance for the rolls and the rolls were light and crispy! I didn't eat any of the lettuce, just the noodles and the rolls. If you are ever looking for something quick, get these but make sure not to get there at 12:30 in the afternoon...there is nothing quick about 12:30pm at the Ferry Building on a work day :-)

Curry Up Now SF 7x7

Restaurant: Curry Up Now

Dish: Chicken Tikka Masala Burrito

Verdict: Delicious

Alright, to make you all jealous, yet again, about my place of work: we get lunch and dinner catered. There it is, I said it. We get 3 different options for lunch and one option for dinner with 2 fully-stocked kitchens in between. Yesterday for lunch, Curry Up Now catered and since the restaurant is on my SF Big Eat 7x7 list I figured I would check another dish off of my list! 

They have come in the past and I have gotten their veggie options and have been less than impressed. But yesterday I decided to go with the dish on the list and boy, was I not disappointed! I definitely recommend this one!

Buon Appetito

Weekend Randoms

-- This made me laugh out loud..is that wrong?

-- I just love SF and Mad Men, this is really really good!

-- I got to check out the new BART cars that will begin their debut in 2015. Read about it here

-- My team went to 21st Amendment last week for our Q1 event (yes, I know we were a bit late). We played some fun ice breaker games and ate only fried foods and drank lots of beer...oh yeah and we had shots...it was basically a super fun day that started at 11:30 and ended at 5... :-)

-- On our team, I am in charge of the ice breakers and basically all of the fun that our team has :-) We played a game where we had to roll 2 die and if you rolled a double, you had to put on a wig, gloves and sun glasses and eat a hamburger with a fork and knife while the rest of the played continued to roll the die. If someone else rolled the die, you had to then take off the costume and the other person had to put it on. It was hilarious! I am sure everyone in the restaurant thought we were crazy! We were all laughing hysterically! 

-- On Friday I met with my dad for lunch and we checked another dish off of my SF 7x7 list!

Restaurant: Coqueta

Dish: Pluma Iberico de Bellota

Verdict: Okay

Coqueta is one of Michael Chiarello's restaurants located along the Embarcadero. We ordered a few dishes to share - the restaurant is tapas style - and this was probably my least favorite dish. It was kinda boring and the honey in the glaze was really overpowering. We also had the White Gazpacho (delicious, we ate it with a spoon, but you can also eat it like you were drinking a shot), the Sunny-Side Up Egg (recommendation from a friend, the sauce is amazing!), Crispy Shrimp (delicious) and the Pluma (okay) all for about $100...it was a pricey lunch to say the least...and we didn't even get drinks! 

-- On Saturday, I met with some Alpha Gamma Delta (plus 1 Kappa - we don't discriminate :-)) ladies for brunch and then to see Divergent. We read the book in our book club...ie, I didn't read it, but it was the book for our book club, and I wanted to see the movie. We also checked off another dish on the SF 7x7 list...yes, I am plowing right through these! :-)

Restaurant: Zero Zero

Dish: Skillet Fried Chicken Thighs

Verdict: Very good

These are listed on the brunch menu with waffles. I have to say that I was stoked about this because I have not have chicken and waffles before (well I had it at work once and it wasn't very good..so I don't count it...) This dish is huge and could have definitely been shared!

Merry Monday to all! :-)

Polpette at Barbacco - SF 7x7

Restaurant: Barbacco

Dish: Polpette

Verdict: Delicious

On Tuesday, I headed over to Barbacco to meet my sweet friend Melissa from Serving Seconds to cross off yet another SF Big Eat 7x7 dish! We decided to order a few dishes off of the menu and share them. 

We ordered:

Roasted pears/ prosciutto de parma bruschette

Kale salad/ apple/ golden raisins/ almonds/ pecorino salad

brussels sprouts fried in duck fat/ capers/ anchovy/ red wine vinaigrette

Polpette - Sicilian meatballs with raisins and pine nuts/ braised chard/ tomato sugo

Woe, everything was mouth-watering delicious! The polpette has a little kick at the end, nothing that I couldn't handle (any spicier, I would have been crying and drinking milk).

I definitely recommend this restaurant! It is a little more casual than Perbacco (one of my favorites in SF)!

SF 7x7 16/100

For our weekly frate (friend date) we planned to check two dishes off of the list and ended up checking off three...I am flying through this list! We grabbed drinks and the specialty dish at each restaurant and had a fabulous Wednesday night!

 

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Restaurant: The Cavalier
Dish: Lamb Scrumpets
Verdict: Delicious

The Cavalier has a ton of delicious-looking cocktails. We both went with a Pimms Cup. Let me tell you, it was huge, refreshing and so delicious! A perfect addition to the Lamb Scrumpets. The bar is really nice, clean and spacious. We got there around 5pm and didn't have any trouble finding seating. 

 

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Restaurant: Mikkeller Bar
Dish: Salt cod cakes
Verdict: Ehhh, I could have lived without it

 We walked over to Mikkeller Bar from The Cavalier, they are maybe three blocks away so it was an easy walk. The restaurant is very hip and dark. The bar is fancy with tons of beers on tap (they only serve beer & wine) and the tables around the bar are communal, so just grab a seat wherever you see on open. We didn't have too much trouble finding a seat, arriving around 6ish. The beers were good, the specialty dish was okay. It was a little too fishy for my taste (duh, it's fish...but it just wasn't my favorite). They reminded me of really fishy crab cakes. The dipping sauce is a bit spicy, but accents the cakes perfectly.

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Restaurant: Hakkasan
Dish: Crisy Duck Salad
Verdict: Ahhhmazing!

 Saying that this place was busy was an understatement. We maybe waited to sit for about an hour - at the bar! There were tons of tables available, but it seemed like they didn't start to seat people until around 8pm. We ordered some of their fancy-pantsy drinks (the Ruby Empress & the Fernet Julep) while we waited, poached a couple of seats at the bar and ordered the Crispy Duck Salad and their Vegetarian Dim Sum platter. The salad was seriously heaven-in-my-mouth. The flavors were perfect together! I definitely recommend checking out this spot...but either get there before 6 or after 8 if you don't want to wait forever for a spot!

I am loving this list!! It is helping me branch out and try new things with awesome people and I am having a blast in the process!

La Tache at Absinthe

My girlfriend, her boyfriend and I headed over to Absinthe for dinner to check off another one of my SF 7x7 Big Eats dishes - oh and to also hang out... We grabbed some cocktails and ate some soft garlic pretzels.

Restaurant: Absinthe

Dish: Soft garlic pretzels

Verdict: Ahhmazing! Definitely order these and then drink the cheese sauce!

After we enjoyed our snack and cocktails, we decided to move onto wine with dinner. Absinthe has an extensive wine menu...like over a hundred pages of wines by the glass, by the bottle, by the half bottle, by the carafe....basically anything you can think of, they've got it! As I am thumbing through the hundreds of dollar bottle of wine section I stumbled upon Echezeaux, which is a wine that comes from the same place as the La Tache wine. My heart started to beat fast as I scoured the pages to see if they had La Tache. No restaurants ever have La Tache. [next page] I have googled it many times to find it on restaurant wine menus and have only seen it on one menu: Jeanty at Jack's but the place is closed now. [next page] OMG! There it is! On page 61! I'm going to ask the waitress if I can see the bottle! [yes, I am that obnoxious person at a restaurant]

I ask the waitress and without hesitation says of course and, who I assume to be the sommelier, comes out with a 2004 bottle. I squealed, snapped a few photos and then had to give the bottle back - sadly we couldn't afford the $3,900 bottle that she brought out to us... booo!!!

We had an awesome dinner. The food at Absinthe is delicious. And the company was even better!

6 of 100 on the SF 2014 Big Eats list

As I mentioned here I have accepted the 2014 Big Eat places to eat list challenge. I am slowly, but surely, making my way through the list. I have checked 12 items off of the list and this weekend I checked off 6! Basically, I am using this list as an excuse to spend time with friends and family and so far it has been a lot of fun!

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Restaurant: Fog City

Dish: Frozen Custard with Egg Yolk Caramel

Verdict: Amazing

I met up with Melissa from Serving Seconds for happy hour cocktails and this delightful little dish. While we were taking pictures of it eating it the head chef approached us and told us about a secret menu item of a French cruller topped with the same frozen custard and the egg yolk caramel sauce. We decided to give the menu item a try, as well, and we were not disappointed! The cruller was freshly made for our order and was still warm when he brought it out.

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Restaurant: Magnolia Pub

Dish: Devils on horseback

Verdict: Good

I met up with my friend/coworker and we were going to cross two items off of the list. The devils on horseback and a tropical sundae from Ice Cream Bar & Soda Fountain. Sadly, the sundae is a seasonal item (was not mentioned on the list) and it won't be on the list until summertime. Also, the service was not the best at the ice cream shoppe, but oh well, we can chock it up that it was busy....

Anyway...the devils on horseback was pretty tasty, a bit too sweet for my liking, but it was great. We also ordered the scotch eggs, fish & chips and some beers. 

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Restaurant: Tartine Bakery

Dish: Seasonal bread pudding

Verdict: Okay

I met up with some other bloggers, Kelly from A Side of Sweet and Diana from DW Draws for breakfast treats at Tartine Bakery. We shared a few sweet pastries and I ordered their vegetarian quiche. The bread pudding was loved by everyone and the quiche was amazing. Honestly, I am not a big bread pudding fan...the texture is a bit weird for me. But those who ate it said it was amazing, so we will go with that :-)

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Restaurant: Craftsman and Wolves

Dish: The rebel within

Verdict: Amazing!

Because there are so many items on this list, I decided to create some Alumnae Chapter (for my sorority) events to get in some fun/quality sister time as well as check off this list. So, I planned for us to visit a few more restaurants within walking distance of each other in the Mission (district in SF). We met at Craftsman and Wolves and ate this life changing treat. Like, OMG, so good! It is a savory muffin - I think there was even bacon in it! Seriously, so good! Then we walked back to Tartine Bakery so these ladies could try the bread pudding and then we headed for some fries at Namu Gaji!

Restaurant: Namu Gaji

Dish: Gamja Fries

Verdict: Delicious

These fries were spicy, flavorful and amazing! The steak on top was perfectly cooked and the sauce was like a homemade siracha sauce. You eat them with chopsticks and I recommend an ice cold beer!

Restaurant: Papalote

Dish: Chips & Salsa

Verdict: Good

We decided to skip Bi-Rite ice cream (which is right next door to Namu Gaji) and head to Papalote instead for some chips, salsa and margaritas. The salsa is tasty and then, at the very end, super spicy. We all agreed that the salsa would have been better as a sauce on tacos or something rather than chips. And instead of margaritas (no margs here) we got a cheesy bean dip and guacamole. Let's just say we ate it all even though none of us were hungry!

Since we had our hearts set on margaritas, we went on a mission to find them. We stopped into a Tacolicious and split a pitcher. It was the perfect end to our first-edition food tour.

I hope I haven't made you all too hungry. If you have a chance to stop into any of these spot, I totally recommend it!

Buon Appetito