Monthly Archives: August 2011

Beef carpaccio – Andalu

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Beef carpaccio Andalu

Thinly sliced and pounded beef with lemon aioli.  Salad of mushrooms, parmesan and arugula.  Sprinkled with fried capers.  $8.50
Andalu, San Francisco

I would have never thought growing up that I would like raw beef SO much, but beef carpaccio changed my mind.  It’s simple nature allows you to truly enjoy the tender beef, and restaurants make it their own by topping it with creative ingredients and flavor combinations.  I like Andalu’s version. The lemon aioli keeps it bright as does the slices of raw mushrooms in the arugula salad.  The fried caper berries add some saltiness and a great texture.  I’m a fan!

Sangria Andalu
They also have 1/2 off carafes of sangria on Thursday nights!

The Hazlewood & The Bloody Dog – Hazlewood

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The Hazlewood The Bloody Dog
Have I mentioned that I love cocktails?  Lol!  There was a time when greyhounds were my cocktail of choice, so I was happy when I discovered that Hazlewood served a Bloody Dog on their specialty cocktail menu.  You simply can’t go wrong with vodka and grapefruit juice, yeah!
Hazlewood, Seattle

Chocolate truffle Hazlewood
Apparently, when you order The Hazlewood cocktail you also get a chocolate truffle and a Nat Sherman!  I can’t say that I’ve ever seen this before, but it’s a delicious treat to go along with a a delicious cocktail.

Ruby red velvet & cinnamon horchata cupcakes – Mission Minis

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Red velvet cinnamon horchata cupcakes Mission Minis
Red velvet buttermilk cake with classic cream cheese frosting topped with red sprinkles.  Mexican rice milk cake with classic cream cheese frosting topped with freshly ground cinnamon. $1 each
Mission Minis, San Francisco CA

These mini cupcakes are SO cute!  I’ve purchased dozens of these delicious treats to serve at parties and everyone enjoys them a lot.  The staff is really friendly and it’s super easy to place and pick up orders.  Mission Minis has a variety of flavors to choose from and you can even request custom flavors.  At $1 per cupcake, I think they are a perfect treat.  Sometimes they even offer discounted deals through Groupon and other deal websites.

Morning bun – Tartine Bakery

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Morning bun Tartine Bakery
This large, warm creation is a perennial favorite among Tartine Bakery patrons where they have sheets of it waiting in their display case.  The crust is perfectly flaky and buttery with a wonderful scent and flavor of oranges.  The caramelized sugar on top (or bottom depending on how you eat it) adds a chewy texture and a pop of sweetness to this perfect breakfast treat!  $3.75
Tartine Bakery, San Francisco

7×7 Magazine’s The Big Eat San Francisco: 100 Things to Eat + Drink Before You Die – 2010, 2011, 2012

Cafe au lait Tartine Bakery
Throw in a cafe au lait, and you have a perfect morning.  $2.75

Bacon maple apple donut – Dynamo Donuts

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Bacon maple apple donut Dynamo Donuts
This decadent donut is studded with bacon and apples sauteed in bacon fat.  It’s topped with a maple glaze and more crispy bacon.
Dynamo Donuts and Coffee, San Francisco

I first read about this sinful morsel while scouring the SF food blogs and instantly knew that I should try one!  It’s the perfect combination of savory and sweet.  The bacon bits add a great flavor and texture to a donut that would be overly sweet from the apples and generous maple glaze.  The dough itself is light and airy, and the donut simply melts in your mouth.  I’ve tried other flavors at Dynamo, but this remains a favorite!

Philharmonic Philz Coffee
The Philharmonic coffee from Philz Coffee tastes great with this donut. Actually, Philz coffee tastes great with anything! Lol.

Margherita pizza – Pizza Politana

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Margherita Pizza Politana
Fresh out of the oven, this Margherita pizza has tomato sauce, basil, and fresh mozzarella.  I ordered it with a farm egg on top!
Pizza Politana, San Francisco

The Margherita, your classic wood-fired oven pizza, is absolutely divine on its own but I was feeling extra giddy and had a farm egg added!  Pizza Politana’s Margherita was actually very good (for the most part).  The crust was thin, chewy, airy, and had a great flavor.  The ingredients are directly sourced from local farmers and artisan producers so they are of great quality and taste amazing.  My only complaint was the blistered bottom of the dough.  I don’t know what they use, but the bottom of the crust has these oily, black blisters that have an overpowering burnt, ashy flavor.  It was sad because I really enjoyed the crust, but after a while I couldn’t get the ash flavor out of my mouth and it eventually ruined the rest of the pizza.  I would have eaten around the blisters, but the shear number made it impossible.  *sad*

Seascape Strawberry – Scream Sorbet

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Seascape Strawberry Scream Sorbet
Wholesome sorbet with just 2 ingredients! Rodriguez Ranch organic Seascape strawberries and sugar. Petite cup $3
Scream Sorbet, San FranciscoThe deep, almost neon-y color of this sorbet was absolutely beautiful, and the strawberry flavor was rich and spectacular!  What wasn’t so great was the price.  I ordered a $3 petite cup and it was definitely PETITE!  The pic looks deceiving, but the amount of sorbet in this tiny cup was about a large spoonful.  Don’t get me wrong, I buy organic and enjoy living a healthy lifestyle but I draw the line at spending $3 on a spoonful of sorbet.  I’m glad I tasted Scream Sorbet but next time I’ll buy a cup of fresh, organic strawberries instead.

7×7 Magazine’s The Big Eat San Francisco: 100 Things to Eat + Drink Before You Die – 2010, 2011, 2012

Jiu cai bao – Clement Restaurant

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Jiu cai bao Clement Restaurant
These Chinese chive dumplings are first steamed, then pan-fried. They are usually filled with a mixture of chives, shrimp, water chestnut, and often pork.  The wrapper is made from wheat starch.
Clement Restaurant, San Francisco

I love the nice, crispy texture created from pan-frying these delicious dumplings.  Depending on the ratio of chives in the filling, these can sometimes have an intense taste.  The chive flavor in Clement Restuarant’s jiu cai bao was on the mellow side.  Simply delicious!

Egg custard tarts – Clement Restaurant

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Egg custard tarts Clement Restaurant
Baked in puff pastry, these “dan tat” are filled with a light egg custard.  Unlike Western custard tarts, milk isn’t normally added to the custard.
Clement Restaurant, San Francisco

Everyone in San Francisco always boasts about the egg tarts at Golden Gate Bakery in Chinatown.  Sadly, I have yet to taste one, but I’m confident I will do so soon!  Clement Restaurant’s egg tarts were light and the custard was silky.  Pretty good if you ask me.  If the tarts at Golden Gate Bakery are THAT much better, then I’m in for a treat!

Chiu chao fun guo – Clement Restaurant

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Chiu chao fun guo Clement Restaurant
Steamed dumplings filled with ground pork, shrimp, chopped peanuts, and garlic chives.  The wrapper is made of de-glutenized wheat flour, tapioca flour, and a corn or potato starch.
Clement Restaurant, San Francisco

I wasn’t a fan of these dumplings.  They were quite large and the wrapper was too thick, glutinous, and easily torn.  It’s always sad when you lose the dumpling filling because of a weak wrapper.  This dim sum was weak, indeed!

Shark fin dumplings – Clement Restaurant

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Shark fin dumplings Clement Restaurant
Lye water dough (shiu mai wrapper) filled with a mixture of chopped shrimp, pork fillet, shark fin, spring onion and Chinese parsley. The dumplings are then steamed.
Clement Restaurant, San Francisco

So California Assembly Bill 376 would ban the possession, sale, and trade of shark fins in the state of California.  It’s suppose to be heard before the Senate Committee on Appropriations on Monday, August 15th in Sacramento.  We’ll see what happens!  I have to admit that I’ve never wondered if I’m eating real shark fin in dim sum.  For some reason, I always assumed it was imitation shark fin.  I know that’s ignorant of me, so I’m curious to see what happens with AB 376.  I definitely don’t agree with the practice of shark finning, but would this bill also ban shark fins that were harvested without finning?  My assumption would be YES, but I’ll have to read more about the debate. 

Regardless, I don’t know if I can even distinguish the shark fin flavor or texture in these dumplings from any other similar dumplings.  In that regard, I probably wouldn’t be affected by the shark fin ban but opponents of the bill cite cultural reasons.  Sounds fishy to me (pardon the pun)!

Pork shiu mai – Clement Restaurant

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Pork shiu mai Clement Restaurant
Steamed dumplings with seasoned ground pork, chopped shrimp and Chinese black mushroom wrapped with a thin sheet of lye water dough.
Clement Restaurant, San Francisco

These suckers were large compared to other shumai I’ve had! I’m not sure why I always order siu mai though. They don’t have much flavor compared to other dim sum and the filling tends to be really fatty.  But they do soak up soy and chili XO sauce really well and I enjoy the combination of the filling and dough textures. Since dim sum tends to be really cheap on Clement Street in San Francisco I think I’ll keep ordering them, lol!