Broccoli & Chocolate

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Review: Tommaso’s

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Two “m”s, one “s”. Tommaso’s. Opened in 1935 (under the name Lupo’s), this Italian eatery has stayed the course for over 75 years donning the same cave-like location and winning awards for their pizza. They’ve got an interesting story and are one of the great restaurant successes of SF.

Margherita pizza from Tommaso’s

When you ask for restaurant recommendation in SF, particularly in North Beach (technically FiDi, but still), you’ll often hear the name Tommaso’s. At least I have. And since I walk by the place every day (no joke) on my way to work, it’s a wonder it’s taken so long for me to go. But alas, now I can say I have experience the great Tommaso’s.

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Review: Specialty’s Cafe & Bakery

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Ok, I realize that writing about Specialty’s in San Francisco is kinda like writing about a Seven Eleven in a lesser city. That’s an exaggeration. But still, Specialty’s is sort of the San Francisco version of your average bakery and deli. There are a handful of them scattered around downtown, a few elsewhere in the bay area, and a few out of state. But I write about them because I find them to be utterly amazing.

What do you eat for lunch if you live in a regular city? Like Subway or something? Pish posh. I work in San Francisco and I order a Specialty’s sandwich at least once a week. Here is my favorite:

Specialty’s Mediterranean sandwich.

It’s called the Mediterranean. (Try spelling that without spell check. I dare you.) The Mediterranean: Fresh mozzarella with kalamata olives, spinach, tomato, basil, red pepper pesto, basil pesto and balsamic vinaigrette on toasted thyme focaccia. Two types of pesto! Olives! And fine, I’m all snooty about it and I swap out the focaccia for ciabatta. Which is so easy to do with their online ordering system whereby I choose what I want (and sub in/out any ingredients!) and then go pick it up at the store 15 minutes later. It’s amazing…. 

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Review: Wayfare Tavern

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Wayfare Tavern = Awesome.

I guess that’s really all I need to say. I’m adding this to my wish list (for places to return with a camera); this place was birthday worthy!!!

Main points:

  • a roving bread monger with freshly baked, croissant-like bread aplenty (and salted butter… oh lord, I could have just eaten this)
  • a small “American-food” menu with all kinda cool stuff that my dad would call “art food” but that was totally rad
  • a bar-like atmosphere, totally packed with well-dressed peeps at 10pm on a Thursday
  • GOOD ASS FOOD — I shared the deviled eggs and the ahi tuna carpaccio with a friend  — delish!
  • I wanted to order all of the sides. yum.
  • a tiny plate of cookies with your check! do they know me?

In short, I LOVED this place. I want to go back. With a camera, like a tourist. Whatever. Totally delicious, a little pricey, totally worth it. W00t!

Review: Beachside

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Word to the Sunset district! I never go out here. Ever. I don’t know if I’ve ever even been before going to Beachside. The Sunset was meh, but Beachside is a good draw out of the beating heart of the city.

This was a Brunch Club venture of a few weeks ago, and it was pretty amazing. Although, you know how if you see a movie with a person who loves that movie it kinda rubs off on you and you like it more than you might have otherwise? If you followed that drawn-out analogy, I think Beachside was kinda like that. None of us had ever been, but we were all oooh-ing and ahhh-ing the whole time, so I think there was a bit of a blindly praising feedback loop going on. I digress.

So, let’s start with the finale. Here is everything we ordered in overhead glory:

Overhead meal for four. Cheesy grits. Waffles. Eggs. Tater tots. Pie. Happiness.

It was all pretty amazing, even considering aforementioned feedback loop. Since I have a lot of pictures to showcase, I will try to summarize the experience textually:… 

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Review: Cafe Divine

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Update: Cafe Divine is now closed. 🙁

Welcome to North Beach. We have lots of food to eat here.

If you’re looking for breakfast or brunch (or lunch or dinner), we have Cafe Divine. It’s pretty amazing. Also, their website has lots of over-saturated photos of people grinning hugely. A must-see.

Three egg scramble: Italian sausage, bell peppers, scallions, mozzarella. And the delicious biscuit. (and potatoes)

Let’s talk breakfast/brunch. I love brunch. It’s just such a happy meal*. Cafe Divine is pretty accurately named, as far as I’m concerned. Can I start with homemade chive and cheddar biscuits? I seriously wake up on the weekend and have to bargain myself out of getting one of these every day. Slap some jam on that puppy and your day is pretty seriously guaranteed to be amazing. And you’ll totally be ready for a nap afterward.

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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: 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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Events: SF Street Food Festival 2011

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After attending the preview dinner for this event, K and I actually left our house on the weekend (gasp!) and went to the full festival. Here were our thoughts:

SF Street Food Festival 2011

Pros:

  • Lots of vendors means lots and lots of food.
  • Helpful, well organized, uniform signage throughout the festival and at each booth helped to communicate information and make sure it was obvious what was offered at each booth.
  • Varied vendors made for a wide range of food offerings.
  • Extremely well organized arrangement, complete with information booths at appropriate intervals.
  • An entire event where food is the main deal instead of the sideshow. Brilliant idea.

    SF Street Food Festival 2011. Good lord there were a lot of people.

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