Rock shrimp, calamari, mussels, lobster sauce. Restaurant week lunch with wine pairing $42
One Market Restaurant, San Francisco CA
Mmm, such a lovely dish! The pasta was cooked perfectly and the seafood tasted great along with the lobster sauce. I would have loved more of the seafood, but then I’m just a glutton! 🙂
I see my pasta getting made! 🙂
With five spice and shiitake mushrooms. $11
Willi’s Wine Bar, Santa Rosa CA
I did not like this at all. First of all, I hate it when fried pot stickers are served in a broth. It just ruins the texture of the fried dumpling to me. Second, the shiitake mushrooms just soaked up all the fat from the pork belly so it felt like you were biting into mushy packet of fat. After a while, the dumpling became soggy and limp, and that made the dish even worse. Yuck!
Restaurant week dinner $65
Aatxe, San Francisco CA
This was a nice start to dinner. Both escabeches were tart and palette-cleansing. I liked their flavors and the texture of the marinated shellfish was great.
Pomegranate, pistachio, cultured cream, arugula. Four course menu $59
Aster, San Francisco CA
I was expecting more from this. It was kinda boring and didn’t feel as refined as it could have been. Perhaps it was the sad, wilted arugula that put me off.
Sourdough with house cultured butter. $5
I’m always a little annoyed when you have to pay for bread, but this bread was SO good!
With black garlic. Pasta tasting $70
Flour + Water, San Francisco CA
Omg, I don’t know what they put in their pasta (perhaps crack?), but it’s so delicious and addicting! This first pasta course was wonderfully rich and comforting.
7×7 Magazine’s Big Eat SF: 100 Things to Try Before You Die
Kettle corn style, dried malt extract, nobel hops. Restaurant week dinner $40
Thirsty Bear, San Francisco CA
This popcorn was good. It was sticky, salty and slightly bitter from the hops. Because of the stickiness, it became chewier as it sat there which I didn’t much like.
Polar Bear Pils.
Restaurant week lunch $15
Red Dog Restaurant, San Francisco CA
I love pickled vegetables, but these were really, really sour even for me! I thought the halved baby carrots were cute though and fun to eat.
Arnold Palmer.
NYE tasting menu $175
Californios, San Francisco CA
The name is a bit deceiving since there really isn’t much “fruit” in this dish. It was mostly beautiful greens and beets with pumpkin seeds and goat cheese. Regardless, it was delicious!
Whole leaf romaine, parmesan croutons. Restaurant week lunch with wine pairing $42
One Market Restaurant, San Francisco CA
The salad was awesome! The whole romaine lettuce really elevated the presentation and their caesar dressing was very tasty. Mmm…
Sweet and sour figs, tonka bean salt. $10.50
Willi’s Wine Bar, Santa Rosa CA
This tasted good, but it was too wet for my taste. They also needed to serve it with more pieces of toasted bread for that amount of rillettes. I liked the sweet and sour fig spread though.
Croissant, ham, gruyere, frisee. Lunch tasting $15
Les Clos, San Francisco CA
This sandwich was small, but it was delicious and surprisingly filling (especially when you’ve already had the pate en croute as a starter, hehe). I loved how the croissant was so flaky and buttery!
Dom. Hudelot Noellat, Bourgogne rouge, 2012.
Poached eggs, bacon, shallots, green onion, creole tomato sauce. $15
The Parish Cafe, Healdsburg CA
This was SO wonderful! The shrimp were scrumptious as was the creole tomato sauce. Everything just brimming with flavor and it wasn’t too heavy. I thought the grits should have been creamier though. They were pretty stiff when they arrived at the table.
Vittle Monster 