Rice bowl mixed with cooked vegetables, fried egg, nori and served on a hot stone pot with soup. $14.95
K-pop, San Francisco CA
Mmm, salty beef with rice and a runny egg. Sounds like heaven to me! This is a sizable bowl which is good for the fifteen-buck price tag. Like I’ve said, the food here tends to be on the salty side but the Korean flavors still shine through.
Tortilla chips, eggs, beans, queso fresco, salsa fresca. $13.95
Luna Park, San Francisco CA
There was certainly a lot of food on this plate! I just wish it tasted a little better. The sauce was on the bland side and the eggs were on the verge of being overcooked. It’s a great value, but probably one I wouldn’t order again.
Redwood tree trunks, Purisima Creek Redwoods Open Space Preserve.
Spaghetti, tomato, parmigiano-reggiano cheese, basil. Half order $8
Alicante, Palm Springs CA
A half order only got you one meatball which was kinda lame, but the singular meatball was tasty and tender. Still, it’s all pasta and the meatball just looked lonely so I don’t think I’d order this again.
San Jacinto Mountains.
Cherry, chicory ice cream. Tasting menu $140
Jardiniere, San Francisco CA
The dense, decadent chocolate cremeux was delicious and paired wonderfully with the cherries. The chicory ice cream had a restrained flavor that wasn’t overly herbal. I thought the dessert was well balanced and had a nice variety of textures.
Mini macarons. Noms!
California manroot fruit (Marah fabaceus, Cucurbitaceae), Purisima Creek Redwoods Open Space Preserve.
Peas, onion, egg, carrot, scallions. $5.80
Jade Cafe, San Francisco CA
This rice was SO frickin’ dry! I’ve made fried rice plenty of times so I know that it’s best made with older-made rice that has had time to dry out a bit. But this rice was pretty inedible. The rice was probably many days old because the grains were so tough and chewy. GROSS!
Korean style marinated chicken mixed with onion, scallion, and sesame seeds served with vegetable wraps. $14.95
K-pop, San Francisco CA
Even though K-pop isn’t the best Korean food around and the food tends to be on the salty side, I still crave it once in a while because it’s the only Korean restaurant nearby. The flavors are great and the banchan selection is respectable, but they really need to dial the salt level down. They service is also hit or miss, but beggars can’t be choosers.
Banchan. Complimentary
Western beaked hazelnut (Corylus cornuta var. californica, Betulaceae), Purisima Creek Redwoods Open Space Preserve.
Pimm’s cup and Bloody mary. Each $12.75
Luna Park, San Francisco CA
This restaurant can sure get busy for weekend brunch, but I guess the same holds true for most restaurants in SF. SF’ers are serious about brunch. After waiting in line, it’s always a great idea to order a good cocktail (preferably bottomless, lol). We actually arrived at Luna Park early on to avoid the crowds. It’s a familiar feeling place, but you can’t get served alcohol at their sidewalk tables. Oh well, we had no problem drinking these indoors.
Hiking at Purisima Creek Redwoods Open Space Preserve.
Free-range chicken, pesto, sundried tomato, feta, mozzarella on a gluten-free crust. $13
Alicante, Palm Springs CA
This pizza was pretty good, but I wasn’t sold on the gluten-free crust. It had a weird, hard texture that didn’t sit well with me. It didn’t have that airy, elastic quality that’s SO fulfilling about normal pizza crusts. I sometimes try to eat healthy, but I’ll probably stick to gluten-full pizza crusts, hehe.
Sunflower seed, apricot. Tasting menu $140
Jardiniere, San Francisco CA
This tasting had 4 goat cheeses aged for various amounts of time, but they were all delicious! Their textures and flavors were distinct and it was difficult to choose a favorite. At first, I enjoyed the sunflower seed butter but it eventually ended up dominating all the cheeses. It had a thick consistency and a permeating flavor so a little went a long way. The cheeses should have been the stars though.
Winged thistle (Carduus tenuiflorus, Asteraceae), Purisima Creek Redwoods Open Space Preserve.
With mushrooms and onions. $9
Jade Cafe, San Francisco CA
OK, the amount of oil in this dish is just plain disgusting! I can’t believe that a restaurant can think they can serve something like this. I got sick just trying this dish and had to throw the rest of it away. The beef was tough and flavorless and was more peppered than spicy. I will never order food from this restaurant ever again!
Lobster and Chilean sea bass on board, like fish ‘n chips, mango salsa. $25
Norma’s, Palm Springs CA
OMG, there was only 2 TEENY pieces of lobster in there! Sheesh, this place is ridiculous on their prices and probably one of the worst restaurant values I’ve encountered. The lobster and fish were even poorly cooked and super greasy. And don’t get me started on the service!
Butterfly pillow, The Parker lobby.
Two eggs over-medium served with butter croissant, rainbow potato and fruit. $13
Kitchen Story, San Francisco CA
For those who don’t know, millionaire’s bacon are thick slabs of bacon covered with brown sugar, black pepper, and cayenne before baking. What results is a sticky, sweet and salty strip of bacon that would please any SF brunch-goer. It was honestly the best part of this plate! NOMS!
Sticky monkeyflower (Mimulus aurantiacus, Phrymaceae), Purisima Creek Redwoods Open Space Preserve.
Vittle Monster 