Broccoli & Chocolate

restaurants * food events * news

Review: Humphry Slocombe

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Humphry Slocombe Ice Cream is a quaint little shop in the Mission where you can get rad flavors of ice cream any day of the week. I’m only still learning the lingo of the SF food scene, but apparently HS is all the rage. And I have no idea what’s up with the name, btw. (Update: Per this NY Times article, “Mr. Humphries and Mrs. Slocombe were characters on the bawdy old British sitcom ‘Are You Being Served?'”)

The line outside Humphrey Slocombe on your typical sunny Saturday (or so I’m told).

One time, I went to this ice cream shop in Berkeley that had a line out the door. And I was like, “oh, wow, this place must be amazing”. A double scoop of basil and lavender ice creams later and I was done with that place. So when I heard that Humphry Slocombe serves up their own unique flavors, I braced myself for some seriously weird hippie shit. They did not deliver. Which is to say, it was amazing…. 

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Review: CommonWealth (Oakland)

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Dude*. Commonwealth.

I keep hearing about this place. It’s at 29th and Telegraph in Oakland, and it’s a pub/cafe-type place that my friends like to go for Sunday brunch.  And it’s awesome. I finally went today and thoroughly enjoyed myself.

From the adorable pair at the bar speaking in their British accents (which I hope were real) to the decidedly British/Aussie (hence the name Commonwealth) fare and beverages (beans and toast, “cuppa” tea), this place was A) uber-cute, and B) good. We three ladies ordered three dishes and shared. And the light was fabulous so my photos look money. See?

french toast

French toast with “Golden” syrup. You know you want it.

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Conversation with My Stove

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Summary: New apartment. First use of stove in this apartment. First use of any stove in months.

Conversation I just had with my stove:

—-

Me: You’re making weird noises, what does that mean? Are you on? I guess so, the big coil at the bottom is all red.

Stove: …

Me: Ok, it looks like you’re heating up my pizza. How the fuck do I use this timer? Forget it, I’ll just use my phone.

Stove: …

Stove: BEEP

Me: Oh god, are you going to blow up? Why would you beep? Did I set a timer by accident or something? Why is the coil getting dimmer?

Stove: …

Me: Oh. I’m a tard. You’re pre-heated. To the temperature I set you to. That’s what the beep was for. Now I’m supposed to start cooking my food.

Stove: …

Me: I am not good at this game.

—-

I think the stove may have rolled its eyes at me. I don’t really blame it.

Blog-related note: Restaurant reviews to re-commence soon; I haven’t gone entirely insane (yet).

2011 in Review

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The WordPress.com stats helper monkeys prepared a 2011 annual report for this blog.

emailteaser

 

Here’s an excerpt:

The concert hall at the Syndey Opera House holds 2,700 people. This blog was viewed about 15,000 times in 2011. If it were a concert at Sydney Opera House, it would take about 6 sold-out performances for that many people to see it.

Click here to see the complete report.

Recipe: Chocolate Cream Pie

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Yes, it’s true. I made a pie. It was this one, here:

Chocolate Cream Pie a la Angie

I made it for Christmas, for my family. Like a normal person might do. I even created it under the loving tutelage of my mother, who refuses to do such things anymore but has no problem telling me how to do them.

And my family complimented the pie. “Wow, this is a good pie, Angie” “You made this, Angie?”

“Yeah, I made it. I’m good at cooking.”… 

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Changes

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Hi Blog. How are you? Have you been well? Good. … Oh, sorry, I’ve been, um, really busy at work and stuff. And there’s been some personal crap going on, so, sorry I haven’t been hanging out lately. … Well, I guess I don’t really want to talk about it. But thanks for being here for me. … Yeah, I agree. Let’s get back to it.

After a bout of radio silence (read: neglect), I’m back. And I’d like to start with some changes. Personal shit aside, this blog will be experiencing the following:

  1. I am not doing ratings any more for restaurant reviews. All I do is get crap about it, I don’t think it’s super helpful, and it makes my RSS look like poo. Done.
  2. I may post more about random crap and less about straight restaurant reviews. You know you want to read my inane rantings.
  3. A new theme? A certain friend has promised to show me how to upgrade my blog and make it look more awesome. I will hold him to this. And probably will buy him a cookie in return.
  4. I may cuss more, sorry kids. I’ve tried to keep everything pretty G rated thus far, but I think it’s time to bring in some tastefully hilarious cursing.
  5. Numbered lists will continue to be prominently featured, do not fear.

Additionally, a fine piece of electronics has recently come into my life: the mighty Canon S100. With this, I no longer have to dread toting around my beloved yet wholly cumbersome XSi and can conveniently store $500 worth of image-capturing goodness into the bottom of my shoulder bag. A call to all: please help me not leave my bag at restaurants and bars. I will be very upset if I lose this camera.

Ok, so that’s it. Back to your regularly scheduled programming.

 

 

Review: Nick’s Crispy Tacos

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Atmosphere: 4/5   ♦   Service: 4/5   ♦   Food Quality: 3/5   ♦   Value:3/5
Times Visited: One  ♦   Will I Return?:  Si, Por Favor!

I’m thinking I should shorten my food reviews. Sometimes I take notes after I go to a place since I don’t review it for a while after. My notes on this place were as follows*:

Russian Hill, corner of Broadway and Polk. Totally radical space looks like a 70’s swinger’s club or something. Red velvet everywhere, round booths in the wall, dozens of crystal chandeliers from the ceiling, large bar. Apparently a club at night. Apparently an attendant in the men’s room who will hold the water faucet on for you. Ladies room normal, no attendant. Taco selection good. We ordered fish, fried fish, and veggie. Get it “Nick’s Style” with guac and a crispy taco. Which apparently means they just fry it up a bit.

Inside Nick’s (during the day).

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Review: Greens

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Atmosphere: 4/5  ♦  Service: 4/5  ♦  Food Quality: 4/5  ♦  Value: 3/5
Times Visited: One  ♦ Will I Return?: Sure

Greens is a staple of bay area vegetarian cuisine located in Fort Mason in SF. It’s been there since the 70s and (per their website) has been an influence in the national prevalence of vegetarian cuisine for the last 30 years. Sweet.

The place is a converted warehouse in the Fort: high ceilings, giant steel trusses (yes, I look at the framing), and huge windows that face the marina and the GG Bridge. From the front it doesn’t look like much (in fact, we almost missed it), but inside it’s a great space.

Greens

Inside Greens

The menu changes seasonally and is always vegetarian. It’s not vegan, however; they put cheese on nearly everything, which made me happy. I think they’re vegan-flexible, however, and can change things up to suit dietary needs. They use fresh, local produce from a farm in Marin, and though their recipes are simple enough, they are made with culinary expertise that can’t help but show through. Put simply, food is good…. 

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Review: Ironside

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Atmosphere: 4/5  ♦  Service: 3/5  ♦  Food Quality: 4/5  ♦  Value: 3/5
Times Visited: One  ♦ Will I Return?: Sure

Ironside is a hip little restaurant on Second Street between Townsend and Brannan in San Francisco. It’s one of the (great many) places that makes SF what it is in terms of food and ambiance. The decor is a sort of modern wild-west: heavy timber framing (the stairway landing is a 4′ cube of solid wood pieces!) and steel connectors and accents fit in with the polished concrete floors and steel-railed mezzanine. Like other top SF restaurants, it looks great.

The order-at-the counter style adds a bit of casual-ness to your lunch (though they are also open for dinner, and brunch on the weekends), and the paper menu has lots of tasty things to choose from. The list itself is nothing particularly fancy: soups, salads, pizzas, and sandwiches; but the execution is key.

Inside Ironside

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Products: Easy Canvas Prints

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This post is not so much sponsored, really, as part of an exchange. This is new to me and I was pretty excited about it.

Brendan from Easy Canvas Prints contacted me a bit ago to see if I wanted a canvas print in exchange for blogging about it. While I love this idea, I typically pass on promos because I don’t often find them relevant to my blog and don’t want to clog up the content with crap no one cares about. But Brendan knew a weakness of mine… I love canvas prints. I also love picture and photos in general. And I love ordering things online. Ok, Brendan, let’s do this.

Because this was being posted on my food blog, I figured it wouldn’t be appropriate to order a canvas print of my family, a sunset, or my cat. It’s really only appropriate to order a photo of food to discuss on a food blog. So, I set off perusing my multitudes of photos for one that would turn out well on a canvas.

I was looking for a superior photo, obviously, one with good light, a tantalizing subject, and perhaps some color. A close-up was going to work best since the canvas that Brendan kindly offered was an 8×10. After much deliberation, I chose this photo:

Tuna Sandwich from The Brick House in SF

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