This is the guts, innards and fat found inside of the crab shell. I’m not really sure what the proper term for this yellow soup-y thing is, but the best name I found on the internet is “mustard”. It was served cold and very tasty! Use the sourdough bread to mop up this delicious yellow, fatty soup!
Swan Oyster Depot, San Francisco
Love this place! This was my first time here, but I’d definitely go back and even brave the long line again.
Anchor Steam beer. $4
So good!
We must have been bored or something and that’s why we randomly went to Fresh Choice for lunch. OK now I remember! Papa Chang thought he found a coupon we could use for the buffet, but it ended up being expired. They ended up giving us a discount anyway so we paid less than $8 for the lunch buffet. Although the food wasn’t amazing, I’m not going to complain at that price. And I have to commend them because they have healthy options and they post the ingredients and calorie counts for the dishes. I’m not a big lunch buffet kinda guy (except in Vegas, omg), but it’s fun to go every once in a while.
Fresh Choice, San Bruno CA
Mama Mia’s pasta toss. Spaghetti with a meat sauce of ground beef, tomato, onions, celery, garlic, and spices, sugar and salt. Pretty good. Carbs + meat sauce = comfort food!
Tuna tarragon salad. Medium shell pasta wtih tuna, red onion, celery, carrots, red peppers, relish, mayonnaise, oil, lemon juice, tarragon, and black pepper. Decent.
Watermelon radish. These were pretty, healthy, crunchy, and tasty!
Tomato basil soup wtih shaft blue cheese. Tomatoes, onions, vegetable stock, basil, croutons, blue cheese, parmesan cheese, garlic, canola oil, olive oil, kosher salt, thyme, black pepper. This soup tasted like it had cream in it too but it didn’t! It was rich and tasty and the croutons added a nice texture.
Pepperoni pizza. Standard.
Sesame kale toss salad. Kale, rice wine vinegar, canola oil, carrots, red cabbage, sesame seeds, olive oil, kosher salt, sugar, sesame oil, black pepper. I loved this salad! It had a great texture from the kale and the light dressing was flavorful.
Greek orzo salad. Orzo pasta, spinach, balsamic vinegar, red onion, feta cheese, olive oil, pinyon pine nuts, dried walnuts, basil, white pepper. Yuck! Too sour for my taste and it had an odd texture.
New England clam chowder with oyster crackers. Clams, clam base, cream blend, red potato, celery, yellow onion, diced red pepper, garlic, Tabasco, sherry, parsley, roux, and spice. Good standby. Pretty flavorful.
Hard boiled eggs. Great source of protein. Try not to add salt.
Chocolate and vanilla swirl soft serve ice cream. Somehow not very satisfying. :-(F
Cornmeal fried shrimp with lettuce, tomatoes and chipotle remoulade on a toasted French roll. Served with coleslaw and pickled watermelon. $9.75
Brenda’s French Soul Food, San Francisco
This sandwich was SO good! The shrimp were cooked perfectly and the chipotle remoulade tasted amazing. You can put that sauce over anything and it would taste good. This meal was very rich and fattening but it’s nice for an occasional treat. I definitely wouldn’t be eating this every day!
The restaurant is super popular so if you’re going during lunch, you better arrive early otherwise you’ll be waiting for a while. They’ve expanded their dining room but every table gets filled. I had to sit at the front counter the last time I went. I don’t mind that sort of thing, especially for lunch and the people next to me were friendly enough and unobtrusive.
Coleslaw of cabbage, carrots and red cabbage. Love that it’s not so mayonnaise! It’s nice and on the lighter side.
Pickled watermelon rinds. Yummy!
Sweet watermelon house tea. $2.25
So frickin’ refreshing!
7×7 Magazine’s The Big Eat San Francisco: 100 Things to Eat + Drink Before You Die – 2010, 2011
Project 365: Day 25
I only had a mild hang over this morning after my work birthday party last night. As much as I complain about work, I do like the people I work with. That’s comforting. I think everyone enjoyed themselves. I had enough food for everyone and I even sang a few songs on the Magic Mic, lol!
Of course I had to have another cocktail this morning while I finished cleaning up the apartment (see below). What?! It makes house work go by faster!
Then I headed out to Jones which is downtown in the Tenderloin/Union Square area to meet B2 for brunch. She’s so sweet! She wanted to take me out to brunch since she missed my actual birthday last weekend. I’ve never heard of this place but it’s actually really cool. The space is super cute and the vibe is young and energetic.
I didn’t focus much of the food since I was having such a great conversation with B2, but I think it was pretty good. And they have bottomless mimosas so you know we had that! We had such a great time catching up and talking that brunch lasted 2 hours and 45 minutes, nice! I need to hang out with B2 more often! No really, she’s an amazing person and we have a lot of common interests so it works.
Now I’m dreading work tomorrow, but at least I get to hang out with Silverfox tonight. I missed him while he was away.
Steak and potatoes with sausage, pancetta, carrots, onions, and parsley with a sunny side egg on top. $16
Jones, San Francisco
Talk about hearty! This plate had SO much steak, then more sausage and pancetta added, geez! It was very good. I wish the egg had been poached so that it was runnier but that’s only a minor complaint.
We sat at the bar and the service was great. I would definitely go back for brunch. I’m not sure that they have full on dinner service. The interior is also very nice and I can see why this is a popular drinking spot!
Here’s the view from the balcony, which is a surprise because you actually have to walk down into the space from the street entrance. Because Jones Street is so steep, one end of the patio actually overlooks Geary Street. It’s very cool.
Hair for the dog. Smirnoff Tuscan Lemonade cocktail topped with Santa Cruz organic strawberry lemonade. Here’s my morning cocktail. Gotta love Sunday Fundays!
Classic Indian street food. A flaky, buttery roti (handmade bread) wrapped around your choice of filling, with marinated onions and chutney. Served with raita (yogurt). $4.50 each
Kasa Indian Eatery, San Francisco
The food at Kasa is very comforting to me. Everything packs a punch of flavor, it fast, convenient, and relatively inexpensive. I’ve loved their kati rolls since the first time I tried them. The buttery roti is amazing and the fillings are SO tasty. I always get mine with extra hot sauce in the roll and extra raita on the side. The perfect amount is one and a half rolls! One roll is too little and two is too much. Darn, hehe!
When I took this pics, I was on my way to meet Hubbs for drinks. It was dark outside and I sat at the side counter where they have these yellow lights beaming down on you. The walls are also painted yellow so parts of the restaurant are just saturated in yellow. It made for some interesting pics.
Chicken tikka masala filling. Char-grilled and marinated naturally raised chicken in a spicy, creamy tomato sauce.
Lamb curry filling. Saucy grass-fed lamb and potatoes.
A group of us from work went to this yakitori restaurant to celebrate Huff’s birthday. I’d tell you what age he was turning, but I don’t know that information. Huff is good at keeping a tight lip about his age. Such a girl, lol!
I can’t remember if I’ve ever eaten at a yakitori restaurant where you take your shoes off outside of your table area and step down to sit below the level of the floor. It was kinda cool!
What wasn’t cool was when the host came by and “entertained” our table with some card tricks and a few jokes. It was OK, but it seemed forced and I felt a little uncomfortable, like I was trapped in my below-ground table while he stood above us performing for his captive audience.
The dinner went great and the food was pretty good. Apparently the noodles were really good – I didn’t have any though. I like my work group and dinner always flies by. At the end of dinner, splitting the bill was a headache, again! I think we all expect Papa Chang to take care of the check and let everyone know how much they owe, yay!
Mokutanya, Burlingame CA
Hotate yakitori. Sea scallops grilled with pepper. $4
Spicy kurobuta sausage yakitori. Made with Berkshire pork. $2
Kawa yakitori. Chicken skin. $2
Butabara yakitori. Pork belly. $3
Wagyu beef yakitori. $3.50
Croquettes. Deep fried panko-breaded mashed potatoes, served with tonkatsu sauce. $6
Lychee with shochu cocktail. $10 for bottle
Sweet bacon jam, soft poached egg. $7
Magnolia Pub and Brewery, San Francisco
I’ll admit that I had NO idea what a scrapple was when I order it. I think it was the bacon jam that called to me. I quickly Googled it on my phone and found this on Wikipedia:
“Scrapple, also known by the Pennsylvania Dutch name pon haus, is traditionally a mush of pork scraps and trimmings combined with cornmeal and flour, often buckwheat flour, and spices. The mush is formed into a semi-solid congealed loaf, and slices of the scrapple are then panfried before serving. Etc.”
Sounds super healthy, right!? LOL. So after munching down the bacon-wrapped and cheese-filled dates, this isn’t exactly what I wanted to eat, but DAMN it was tasty. In addition to the Wikipedia description, this scrapple looked to be breaded before being pan fried.
The bacon jam was frickin’ amazing and once you broke the poached eggs and ate everything together, it was pork lover’s heaven! Don’t think my arteries could handle another round of this, though, hehe!
Goat cheese stuffed, bacon wrapped dates with a kolsch gastrique. $6
Magnolia Pub and Brewery, San Francisco
These bites were very flavorful and heart-stopping! No really, I could feel my arteries getting clogged and my heart stop for a second, lol! Like that’s stopped me before. 🙂 These were delicious and the beer gastrique provided additional sweetness. I did eat the bed of lettuce leaves to balance out all the fat, lol!
7×7 Magazine’s The Big Eat San Francisco: 100 Things to Eat + Drink Before You Die – 2014
Belgium style beer. 13 ounce for $6
Magnolia Pub and Brewery, San Francisco
I’ve said it before – I’m not a big beer drinker but I’ve been getting lucky with my choices lately! This dark, caramelly Belgian style beer was absolutely delicious! Really great, rich flavor and I loved the cute etched glass that it came in. Helps me to forgive the place for having a Kalifornia Kolsch. Don’t they know that only beer brewed in Cologne (Koln) can be called Kolsch!?
7×7 Magazine’s The Big Eat San Francisco: 100 Things to Eat + Drink Before You Die – 2011
Petaluma Farm egg salad, anchovy garlic butter, aged provolone cheese, greens. $9
Il Cane Rosso, San Francisco
This was REALLY good! And huge! I could barely eat it all but I didn’t want any of it to go to waste. The eggs were good perfectly, soft and creamy. The anchovy garlic butter put it over the top – SO nommy! I also loved the simple salad that helped to cut the richness of the egg salad.
Definitely worth tackling the crazy tourists at the Ferry Building, hehe!
Roses on the table with my order number. It was cold outside that day, brr!
7×7 Magazine’s The Big Eat San Francisco: 100 Things to Eat + Drink Before You Die – 2011, 2012
Whiskey, coffee, sugar, whipping cream. $7.50
The Buena Vista, San Francisco
This place claims that the Irish coffee was first introduced to the United States at this very spot by Stanton Delaplane. I like to think that this is true because stuff like that is kinda fun. The place is SO touristy, but has a cheesy quirky charm that I can appreciate.
The Irish coffee was very good! I can’t say that I have them often, but the combination of whiskey and coffee with the topping of cream has a soothing quality about it. The bartender was a no-nonsense and efficient older gentleman. The place was surprisingly calming despite the hordes of tourists!
This is what is inscribed on one of their displays next to the bar counter:
How To Make The Perfect Buena Vista Irish Coffee
1. Preheat 6 oz glass with hot water and empty
2. Drop in two sugar cubes
3. Pour hot coffee into hot glass until it is about three quarters full. Stir until the sugar is thoroughly dissolved
4. Add full jigger of Tullamore Dew Irish Whiskey
5. Top with a collar of lightly whipped whipping cream by pouring gently over a spoon. Enjoy while piping hot!
7×7 Magazine’s The Big Eat San Francisco: 100 Things to Eat + Drink Before You Die – 2011
Mexican meatball soup. Beef and pork meatballs in a tomato based broth with carrots, onions, zucchini, celery, lime, parsley, and shredded tortilla chips. $8
Mijita, San Francisco
Yet another soup that was served luke warm! Was this suppose to be served that way? I like my soups HOT! If they’re too hot, then I’ll just wait a couple minutes for them to cool down, but I enjoy them so much more when they’re able to warm my stomach, literally! This soup was OK. Not sure why it’s on the 7×7 Big Eat list. There are plenty of other soups out there that have more flavor (and are served piping hot). The meatballs are tiny, making them easier to eat I suppose. With that much vegetables in the soup, you’d think that it’d have a little more flavor.
Oh, and a sea gull tried to attack me while sitting at the outside table. That was my cue to move inside, but there are still birds running around there too. Gross, so unsanitary!
7×7 Magazine’s The Big Eat San Francisco: 100 Things to Eat + Drink Before You Die – 2010, 2011, 2012
Vittle Monster 