2223 and Patxi's (Sunday)

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.

Service was fine at 2223. I thought our waiter was Home was a lot more fun. For some reason, they couldn't dice up bacon to put into G.'s omelette. Our waiter insisted that they had to serve the bacon in strips on top. Weird.

For dinner, we walked from G.'s apartment to Hayes Valley for Patxi's Chicago Pizza.

K. ordered the Californian, which was brilliant. It's a whole wheat crust, low-fat mozzarella, spinach, red onions, and fresh marinara pooled over the top. The crust held up beautifully under all of the moist and heavy ingredients. I was expecting it to be soggy, but even the bottom crunched when you bit into it. Very nice. I didn't get a picture until I'd taken a couple of bites, so here it is:

It's filling, so 4 of us split a 14-inch pizza (which is 8 slices). Two slices was very filling, so it was more than enough for me.

Unfortunately, the management has a few things to work out. The first is the surly guy who we were forced to deal with most of the time. The entire staff was generally friendly and helpful except for this guy. He was one of those people who acted like you were bothering him every time you spoke to him. Hey, that's fine, but why work in food service? The second is their turnaround time. They do warn you that 30-40 minutes is needed for deep-dish pizzas, but geez, it took the full 40 minutes and they waited to serve everything at once, so the smaller pizza G. ordered came out after 40 minutes as well. I understand that quality suffers if you pre-make stuff, but they do need to mitigate the wait time. One way is to keep the drinks flowing and serve something like bread. For that to work, a friendly and helpful staff is needed. Yeah...

Cafe du Soleil and Home (Saturday)

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.

San Francisco: San Tung (Friday night)

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.