On our last day in the Bay Area, we had dinner at this family-run restaurant in San Leandro. Tsuru Sushi is, somewhat surprisingly, run by Cantonese-speaking Chinese people. Given the diaspora of the Chinese, especially the southerners, it isn't a huge stretch to find Chinese families running Japanese restaurants. In fact, there are quite a few in the San Gabriel Valley area of LA.
The food is pretty good. I haven't tried the sushi, but the good dishes are more than decent. I liked the miso soup, which isn't too salty.
My favorite thing about this place is their tempura. Very few places make it like this anymore, with a crispy, flaky, and almost translucent skin.
My tempura don (tempura on rice) was pretty good. Very, very filling, with a huge pile of crisp tempura on a bed of fluffy sticky rice. It was all drizzled with the light soy sauce used for tempura-dipping. It's a very rich dish, considering it's rice with fried stuff, but I wouldn't have it any other way.
Good place for basic Japanese food. The one big downside is that they're rather pricey. Their beef teriyaki combinations ran for $16.95... eek! The portions are generous, but the price is still too high.
My afternoon with Kirkleton and Krazo came to a close after Blue Bottle and I BARTed back to the East Bay. About two hours after that, we were headed to Vik's Chaat Corner in Berkeley. I frequented five (FIVE!) fabulous eateries in one day. Trips don't become better than that.
Vik's equals happy. I can't believe I live 400 miles from this place. If my company was located in Berkeley, I would eat lunch here every day. This place came with quite a bit of hype and I'd say it lived up to it.
I was a little dazed by the frenetic activity and myriad of menu items. The sweets case alone was distracting enough.
The restaurant is literally a warehouse with an industrial kitchen in it. The rest is seating. Order food, find a table, grab your napkins and sporks (yes, sporks...), and give great thanks that this place exists. Chaat originated as a roadside snack, so one person can order 1 or 2 dishes for their meal. The dishes are larger than tapas, smaller than a meal.
Since there were six of us, we ordered 1-2 dishes each and tried a little of everything. My first choice was the aloo tikki cholle, which are potato patties stuffed with green peas and covered with chickpea curry. Imagine potato pancakes with an incredibly flavorful curry with perfectly-cooked chickpeas ladled on top.
The second was lamb baida roti, spiced ground lamb stuffed into roti (flatbread) and covered with egg. It was very good, rich with gamey lamb and doughy roti.
Other dishes included the tandoori special:
Masala dosa, which D. thought was a little flavorless.
And samosas, served with a side of chickpea curry.
My thoughts? Yummy. That's all. Good Indian food makes me so happy that I'm without words. I don't know the cuisine well enough to discuss ingredients and origins, so if any of you out there in the interweb care to enlighten me, I'd be most appreciative.
Can't wait for a return trip!
When it comes to food in San Francisco, it's hardly the tip of the iceberg, but we managed to hit 4 eateries in 3 hours. Thank you to Kirkleton for planning an awesome outing. We started with breakfast at Chow (the Church St. location), which serves traditional and simple dishes. It was a ridiculously good deal, as I had a full meal for $8, including tax and gratuity.
I ordered eggs, sunny-side up, rye toast, and home fries. Everything was great, especially the home fries. Kirkleton had a spinach omelette with toast and home fries, while Krazo had the blueberry pancakes.
We'll start off wtih my breakfast. I can't get enough of rye toast. Chow's wasn't bad at all, but I like mine with a bit more punch from the caraway seeds.
Krazo says that she orders blueberry pancakes every time she has breakfast with me. These look delicious... probably a touch better than the ones she ordered from The Mission in North Park, where we last had breakfast.
After breakfast, we headed out to to Dolores Park, where the Mission, Castro, and Noe Valley neighborhoods meet. Lots of dogs, which I always enjoy. It was a blazing hot day, so Kirkleton suggested a stop at Bi-Rite Creamery. Using organic and local ingredients whenever possible, the creamery produces amazing ice creams. The flavors are great and accompanied by richness not found in other ice creams. The "cream flavor" is very distinct and I believe it has to do with the quality of the ingredients used.
I had a single scoop with two flavors: Salted Caramel and "Ritual" Coffee Toffee. It was incredible and perfect for the weather.
When we headed out to Dolores Park, our original intention was to stop by Tartine Bakery. Even though we had an unplanned pit stop for ice cream, I strongly believe that there can never be enough dessert, so we had ice cream and pastries by noon. Hehe.
We lucked out and managed to beat the crowds to the bakery. When we had paid for our items and walked out, the line was starting to wrap around the corner and continue down the block.
I had to have a croissant, but I couldn't pass up the delicious offerings in the case. So, I also purchased a slice of lemon meringue cake. The photo of the case has the cake on the bottom. I have to say that I wasn't blown away by the lemon meringue cake. It was good, especially for a warm spring day, but the cake was a tad dry and the filling a bit too sour. Notice "a tad" and "a bit". It's not enough to ruin the cake, but just enough to be noticeable.
On the other hand, I bowed to the greatness of the croissant. This is the closest I have ever found, in the United States, to the croissants I experienced in Paris. Yum. Buttery, flaky, light, and not with gigantic air pockets, this was perfect. Heaven.
Our last stop had been planned for nearly a month. While at work one morning, Kirkleton surprised me with a phone call saying that he was by Blue Bottle Coffee Co. and he thought of me. Awww, so sweet. In addition to serving my major vice, Blue Bottle has coffee siphons.
On our trek around SF, we saved the best for last. Braving the insane crowds in Union Square, we detoured south into SOMA and stopped by Blue Bottle. Yes, it was really warm and, yes, we stopped for a hot pot of coffee. Two hot pots, actually.
The siphon works on a very fundamental principle: vapor pressure. Anyone who has taken a first-year chemistry course has the three physical states (solid, liquid, gas) rammed down their throats. Part of "gas" is learning about vapor pressure. The coffee siphon applies it like this... the water at the bottom is boiled and when it reaches its boiling temperature, it transitions from a liquid to a gas. As more vapor builds up, it expands, ultimately pushing the liquid up the tube into the upper filter, where the coffee grounds are. After the coffee is finished brewing, the lower chamber is cooled with a washcloth. As the water vapor cools, it contracts, creating a vacuum and sucking the coffee back into the chamber.
Cool, huh?
The result is very much like coffee from a French press, smoother and without any acridity from over-extraction. We had Ethopian yirgacheffe, which was incredible, and their 100% Yemen, which was ok.
They also had this crazy contraption, making what they called Kyoto-style coffee. It literally drips water one drop at a time into the grounds, resulting in a gradual, all-day drip cold coffee. Sounds kind of gross? Yeah, it's a little gross. Our kindly barista gave us a sample and the coffee was more like syrup. It packed a huge punch, but Kirkleton and I thought it would make a great iced coffee, which is how they serve it (we think).
Fantastic day and I can't wait for my next trip to SF. So many eateries, so little time.
This awesome food court is one of D.'s favorite places to dine in the East Bay. It's a large and eclectic mix of food stalls. I have yet to have a bad meal here. It's convenient, cheap, and perfect for the indecisive. You could have a lunch composed of pad thai, a samosa, and a milkshake if you wanted.
Our favorite stall is Bangkok Thai. Great stir-fried noodles. D. always orders his pad see-ew and I always have pad thai. We're creatures of habit.
I love the pad thai, which has plenty of wok hei. The noodles are perfect and it's very flavorful. The icy bland slivers of lettuce with a dribbling of dressing is a nice contrast to the pungent flavors of the noodles.
The shrimp are fresh and it's a large serving. For $6.80, which includes tax, it's a fantastic deal.
You know a place is trendy when it doesn't have a name and decides to go by its address. That's what 2223 is. I do love the decor of this place, which is done in dark woods and has a rustic, but classy, look. The dark, warm tones of the overall decor make the restaurant seem very cozy. I made a reservation, but when we showed up, the guy had a hard time finding my name. I don't know if he actually found it or huffily gave up (he seemed a little huffy for some reason), but he did offer us a window table, which was perfect.
I was stuck between a cinnamon bun with a biscuit/gravy on the side and the lemon buttermilk pancakes with organic seasonal fruit, fruit syrup (raspberry, I think), and chantilly cream. The website's menu has it slightly differently. It was certainly a work of art, but I can't say I was overwhelmed by it. Not necessarily underwhelmed, either... just whelmed. The pancakes were really dense and, quite literally, cakey. G. likes her pancakes that way, but I prefer mine fluffier. I can become easily bogged down by the richness of too many pancakes, so the lighter, the better. I also didn't taste too much lemon... they were just buttermilk pancakes. The fruit was beautiful and went with the chantilly cream well.
It's a shame I didn't get a picture of the cinnamon bun, which K. ordered, because it was arguably the best cinnamon bun I have ever had. The outside was crusty, but it was super-soft and fluffy on the inside. The filling was incredible and it was topped with gooey pecans. It was gigantic (about 8 inches across) and couldn't be finished by one person. My mocha was fine, but the milk was steamed so hot that I had to let it cool for a long time before drinking it. Here's K.'s South Beach Eggs Benedict. It's poached eggs, hollandaise sauce, and seasonal veggies. K. wanted bacon on top. The veggies were incredible. I stole a few spoonfuls of corn and the kernels were fresh and sweet.
Started Saturday morning with a sunny Muni ride out to Lower Haight. Went to one of G. and K.'s favorite cafes, Cafe du Soleil, for coffee and people-watching. I absolutely love this place. It's a little slice of Paris in the middle of San Francisco. I started with a mocha (which comes in a bowl) and an open-faced sandwich. I think these are tartines. I ordered the smoked salmon one, which was served with creme fraiche. I think of creme fraiche as a civilized man's sour cream. Here it is with my mocha in a bowl:
Even though it was breakfast, I had to have a slice of lemon tart. They use the fabulous rectangular tart pans (I must get one!) and serve it in slices. This tart is perfect. The filling was tart and sweet without being too much of either, there was a good lemon glaze on top, and the crust was light, crunchy, and buttery.
The tartine was a bit pricey ($10), but I thought the splurge was worth it.
We didn't really eat for the rest of the day, so we had an early dinner at Home in the Castro. I linked to name to Yelp.com and I'm a little shocked at some of the less-flattering reviews. I'll have to keep them in mind and not go back when it's super-crowded.
We arrived at 6pm and it wasn't crowded at all. In fact, they had a happy hour going, so we had $3 drinks. I had an appletini, which was ok, and decided on tomato soup with a grilled cheese sandwich and mac 'n' cheese. Those dishes are classics, but I'd have to say that Home's made the best versions of them I've ever had. The soup was a fresh tomato puree that somehow didn't manage to seem or taste like tomato sauce. It tasted creamy and sweet, although there wasn't any cream in it. There might have been a small amount, but unlike typical tomato soup, cream is not a significant player.
The grilled cheese was amazing. The bread was thick and moist and while there was a crust on it, it wasn't grilled to the point where the bread was hard. It was a fresh sourdough and filled with a good quality cheddar, so it was cheesy, not greasy. In fact, the absence of greasiness was what put this grilled cheese above the rest. It was, however, a tad too small.
I can write sonnets about the mac 'n' cheese. The chef must totally understand that rich is good, greasy is not. The dish manages to balance the rich creaminess of mac 'n' cheese without the overwhelming heaviness that comes with certain versions of it. It also uses white cheddar, which I like better than regular cheddar. It's also nice and sharp, so the flavors were great. The macaroni was not baked to mush, but probably cooked to pre-al dente and baked so the pasta held its shape and texture.
After dinner, we went to G. and K.'s favorite bar, Mr. Smith's, for fabulous martinis and a ridiculously hot bartender. Sorry, D., I had to say it. We followed that up with a visit to Etiquette, which was pretentious and vaguely ridiculous, although the bartender was a very nice guy. We sat in one of the corner booths that was covered in vinyl. Yes, vinyl. I'm obviously not trendy or bougie enough for this place. The Jessica Rabbit martini is totally fabulous... I don't remember what was in it, except it was a good strawberry martini and it had blue Pop Rocks in it. Hey, when it's your fourth drink of the night, the details get a little foggy.
Well, it was a fabulous weekend! A ton of thanks go to G. and K. for taking the entire weekend to take me around San Francisco. I arrived Friday night and we kicked things off with a great meal at San Tung Chinese Restaurant. The place is packed, but with a reservation and G.'s arsenal of imposing glares, we were seated quickly. San Tung is in the Sunset District, near the intersection of 11th and Irving.
The potstickers were ok. They were lightly fried all over (instead of darkly browned on the bottom) and they were a little loosely wrapped, but the filling was fresh. The filling was pork and, I think, leek. I'd say the ones from Dumpling Inn or Luscious Dumpling in L.A. totally stomp over these ones.
K. ordered the spinach and bean curd soup, which looked really good. Simple and delicious.
We also ordered the noodles in black bean sauce, which was my favorite dish. Homemade noodles drenched in a thick sauce. The sauce is pretty pungent and it's nicely contrasted by fresh cucumber strips. It also contained shrimp, squid, and chunks of cooked daikon. The daikon was cooked until mushy, so it had the consistency of cooked carrots and the taste of potato. The noodles were a little overcooked, but I liked that they were homemade and they went well with the overall consistency of the dish.
San Tung's signature dish is the dry-fried chicken. I'd have to agree with some of the critics on Yelp and say that it's a tad overrated. Mind you, it was good, especially with rice, but it was not to-die-for. It's diced chicken fried crisply (likely dredged in flour beforehand) and tossed in a sticky sauce comprised of white pepper and honey. There was no excess sauce. Hence, "dry"-fried. The flavors meld clumsily, as if the cook didn't take care to mix the sauce thoroughly. One moment you're hit with the mild peppery bite of white pepper and the next is a sweet shot from the honey.
All in all a good meal. I would definitely go back and try some of their other dishes, but would I wait 1+ hours? No.
