Monthly Archives: October 2013

Open flame chicken meal – Goood Frikin’ Chicken

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Open flame chicken meal - Goood Frikin' Chicken
Marinated over night in an herbal marinade, cooked slowly on open flame til tender and done. Served with macaroni and cheese, side salad, olive oil pita, and garlic dip. Half chicken $11.75
Goood Frikin’ Chicken, San Francisco CA

I love the marinade that they use for their chicken! It’s SO delicious and I end up devouring the entire chicken, skin and all. Actually, the skin is my favorite part, hehe. Although their mac and cheese isn’t oozy-gooey I still love it. It’s full of cheesy flavor and works well with the Mediterranean spices used on the rest of the food. And of course I could eat stacks of their pita and garlic dip. Noms!

Leek and bacon quiche – Miss Manon

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Leek and bacon quiche - Miss Manon
Quiche poireaux, lardons. 5€
Miss Manon, Paris FR

Ok, we made an amateur tourist move this morning. We wanted to eat at this cafe/bakery so we waited in longish line to look at the display cases and order our food before we grabbed a table. WRONG, lol! So they charge differently if you eat the food there (with service included in the price) or take the food to-go. So we ordered our food and informed the woman that we wanted to eat it at a table. She told us that we need to be seated and then order our food. UGH, so difficult! Not really, but I WAS a little annoyed because I was SO hungry. We finally get seated and then have to wait for the one lady servicing all the table to make it around to us. Now I know never to wait in line if I’m gonna eat the food at the restaurant. 🙂

The quiche was pretty tasty, but I wish the crust was a little harder. They had reheated the quiche before serving, but the crust was limp and lifeless, almost soggy. The egg filling was delicious though.

Cafe creme - Miss Manon
Cafe creme avec emulsion – coffee with cream and foam. 4,50€

Pont des Arts bridge
Pont des Arts bridge covered with love locks.

Salade Comete – La Comete

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Salade Comete - La Comete
Smoked salmon, mushrooms, tomato, haricot vert, cucumber, hard boiled egg. 9,90€
La Comete, Paris FR

We were searching for an early, small dinner but all the restaurants/cafes were packed. It was such a warm evening that we really wanted to sit outside at a sidewalk table to enjoy the weather and to people watch. Everybody else seemed to eat outside regardless so why not do the same? We walked around for quite some time before we ended up at Cafe La Comete.

Our initial idea of getting a small meal quickly ended when we realized the portions were quite large! The prices were, however, much more reasonable than our first meal in Paris (which I thought was slightly overpriced). The food here was good, but nothing special. I’d never seen a salad completely veiled in thin layer of smoked salmon though – that was new. Our waiter was really cool, a little rough around the edges but friendly and accommodating (and easy on the eyes). We haven’t really had to fumble with our French at all so far since everyone speaks English anyway.

French baguette - La Comete
French baguette. Complimentary

Place setting - La Comete
Place setting.

Jardin de l'Hotel-de-Sens
Jardin de l’Hotel-de-Sens, Le Marais. We were walking around the neighborhood near our hotel and passed by this cute garden with low hedges and beautiful flowers. I also love the red accents on the building’s dormers.

Endive salad – Ma Bourgogne

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Endive salad - Ma Bourgogne
Salade d’endives au bleu des causses. Blue cheese, tomato, carrot, chives. 10€
Ma Bourgogne, Paris FR

This was a simple but very tasty endive salad! The blue cheese came in large cubes tossed with the chopped endives in the center of the plate and was simply dressed.

Paris Plages 2013
Paris Plages 2013. During Paris Plages, they create artificial beach areas along the northern bank of the Seine River. These sandy oases were great because it was SO hot while we were there. They even have misters, showers, and plenty of food/beverage stations and seating areas. And of course the people watching was spectacular! 😉

Penne pasta with meatballs – United Airlines

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Penne pasta with meatballs - United Airlines
Side salad with ranch dressing, dinner roll, butterscotch brownie.
San Francisco (SFO) to Paris (CDG), United Airlines

Ugh, I’m never liked the meals on United international flights. They’re usually worse than bad cafeteria food, but I guess they succeed in their goal of being heavy and fattening and making you fall asleep so you’re not a disturbance on the plane. This pasta was actually passable as decent microwave food though. The salad and roll were throw-aways, but the brownie was pretty tasty. 🙂

Classic board games exhibit
Classic board games exhibit, SFO Terminal 2.

Roasted lamb leg – Goood Frikin’ Chicken

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Roasted lamb leg - Goood Frikin' Chicken
Slices of garlic studded roasted choice lamb leg topped with mushroom sauce served with basmati rice pilaf, salad and bread. $15.95
Goood Frikin’ Chicken, San Francisco CA

Mmm, this was really good! The lamb was super tender and flavorful. The basmati rice pilaf was too salty and I could have done without it, but I do love their bread. The lamb even tasted great as leftovers the next day. 🙂

Side salad - Goood Frikin' Chicken
Side salad.

Chilaquiles Veronica – San Jalisco

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Chilaquiles Veronica - San Jalisco
Tortilla bits scrambled with two large eggs, cheese, onions and salsa complemented with chorizo, nopales and fresh Mexican-style sour cream. Served with black beans and rice. $9.95
San Jalisco, San Francisco CA

This was a lot of food, and it was delicious! You shouldn’t order this if you’re counting calories because this dish will definitely break the bank. I enjoyed that the drenched tortilla chips weren’t soggy, and the combination of sauce and gooey cheese kept everything together wonderfully. The addition of cactus and chorizo definitely put these chilaquiles over the top. Noms!

7×7 Magazine’s The Big Eat San Francisco: 100 Things to Eat + Drink Before You Die – 2013

Chips and salsa - San Jalisco
Chips and salsa. Complimentary
I have to say it, the chips always taste a bit stale here. 😦

Asiette de charcuterie – Ma Bourgogne

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Asiette de charcuterie - Ma Bourgogne
Auvergne pork assorted meats, cornichons, butter. 16€
Ma Bourgogne, Paris FR

OMG, we made it to Paris and ran to the first inviting restaurant near our hotel in Le Marais neighborhood. We came across Ma Bourgogne around the corner and decided to grab a table situated on the sidewalk. (First, let me say “Wow!” It’s my first time in Paris!) This place was cash only so we had to order according to how many euros we had on us. Don’t fret, we ended up ordering more than we could eat anyway (and we never really figured out how to order the free tap water, lol).

This charcuterie plate was great and the rolled tripe was a new one for me. It was pungent and had a very strong and distinct flavor, but I tried eating as much as I could. There was A LOT on the plate so it took some time. The dark red salami(?) chunk was REALLY hard and we couldn’t even cut through it with a knife so that stayed on the plate. It was also a surprise to get butter with the charcuterie plate as if there isn’t enough fat on the plate. How do the Parisians stay SO thin?!

Bread - Ma Bourgogne

Bread. Complimentary (Thank god, everything is expensive here!)
I think the bread was great everywhere we went!

Place des Vosges
Place des Vosges. This beautiful square is across the street for the restaurant and appears to be a popular place to sit, picnic, and relax. It was overcast when we arrived and even started drizzling while we ate, but that didn’t last long. The next few days would be hot, hot, hot!

Red wine to ease the international flight – United Airlines

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Red wine - United Airlines
Marrenon, Mediterranee, Classique 2011. $7
San Francisco (SFO) to Paris (CDG), United Airlines

Uh, I hate long international flights! I used to get excited about flying, but now it’s such an inconvenience to get to where you want to go. Or maybe it’s because I’m always flying economy, lol! Someone needs to give me their unused upgrades! 🙂 It helps to drink some wine to wind down and relax before settling in for the upcoming movie marathon. And please do yourself a favor and don’t eat the lame Summer Harvest mini pretzels.

Bay Area

Bye-bye Bay Area!

Vegetarian combo plate – Goood Frikin’ Chicken

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Vegetarian combo plate - Goood Frikin' Chicken
House salad, dolmas, falafel balls, hummus, baba ghannooj, tahini sauce, olive oil pita and garlic dip. $9.25
Goood Frikin’ Chicken, San Francisco CA

We ordered this as a shared appetizer (it’s actually listed as an entree on their menu), and it was SO much food! Everything was delicious except the falafel were overcooked and hard. We couldn’t finish everything before our entrees arrived which was fine because we kept using the hummus, baba ganoush, tahini, and garlic dip as extra sauces. NOMS!