Lightly battered fish served with chopped green onions and a creamy sambal dipping sauce. Part of Chef’s tasting menu. $25 per person
Mercury Lounge, San Francisco
This was my favorite dish of the night. The fish was nicely fried and not oily at all. The rice flour gave the fish strips a light texture and the sambal sauce was a great accompaniment!
Quick fried and wok tossed green beans with fresh garlic, topped with sesame seeds. Part of Chef’s tasting menu. $25 per person
Mercury Lounge, San Francisco
This had a LOT of flavor (mostly salty), but it was a little too greasy! I love salt so I’m not really complaining about that part, but the grease was too much.
Seasoned minced chicken, chilies and thai basil with side of romaine lettuce leaves. Part of Chef’s tasting menu. $25 per person
Mercury Lounge, San Francisco
This was very tasty. The chicken was nicely seasoned and I loved all the thai basil mixed in. It could have been spicier though.
Romaine lettuce, carrots, cilantro with sesame soy vinaigrette. Part of Chef’s tasting menu. $25 per person
Mercury Lounge, San Francisco
Kind of plain and simple, but the sesame soy vinaigrette kept it light and fresh. Perhaps it was a little overdressed, too. There was definitely a lot of it!
Silverfox and I came here to redeem an expired daily deal coupon (so we were at least able to deduct the face value). We tend to be early eaters so it was nice find out that we arrived during their happy hour (Tue-Fri, 5pm – 8pm). Well drinks were only $4 and the pours were decent, score!
Mercury Lounge, San Francisco
Rose Kennedy. Well vodka soda with a splash of cranberry juice.
Cape Cod. Well vodka with cranberry juice.
Madras. Well vodka with orange juice and cranberry juice.
Cold poached chicken breast, seared chicken hearts, szechuan pepper, bean sprouts, and cilantro. $7
Mission Chinese Food, San Francisco
This was a very interesting dish. I’m not sure that it was my favorite, but it was definitely packed with flavor. That’s always a given at Mission Chinese Food. This is a cold dish, but I found that I preferred it warmed up a little bit. Maybe that’s because the cold chicken hearts had an odd texture and flavor that I didn’t like very much. The texture and flavor were less noticeable when warmed. The chicken was super tender and the whole dish made my mouth tingle!
Salt pickled napa cabbage, carrots, cucumbers, roasted peanut, fresh coriander, and chili oil. $3.50
Mission Chinese Food, San Francisco
Yum! How can you really go wrong with a dish of pickled vegetables. And Mission Chinese knows how to pickle! The napa cabbage was the star of this dish. I could’ve easily had a couple more bowls of this!
Andouille sausage, gulf shrimp, chicken, holy-trinity (onion, carrots and celery), okra and dark roux, served with Louisiana long grain rice. $11.90
Criolla Kitchen, San Francisco
This dish was just ok. It lacked the depth of flavor that I look for in a delicious gumbo, and there could also have been more of the proteins present. It was more soupy than gumbo. You definitely get a lot of it though, and the price is very reasonable.
Project 365: Day 14
Yet another excruciatingly cold day in San Francisco! Those of you in places where is actually gets below 30 degrees F are probably scoffing at me, but we San Franciscans aren’t used to a lot of super cold days in a row. My workout was much more productive today. I’m always super hungry still though.
So a group of us went to Mom’s Tofu House as an early birthday celebration. I haven’t been to a tofu house since my Berkeley days. Everyone else had the sizzling stone pot rice, but I opted for the tofu soup. When at a tofu house…! We arrived just in time to beat the lunch crowd, heck yeah!
One of the ladies was so cute. I was taking a photo of Papa Chang’s food so I had it in front of me. Then one waitress brought out my soup and I told her to put it in the middle of the table so I can finish taking the pic. I think the head waitress thought we were confused so she came over and took Papa Chang’s food away from me, placed it in front of him, and said “This is HIS!” We started laughing!
Soft tofu stew served in hot stone pot with pork, calamari, mussels, clams and fish (? it’s kinda hard to make everything out) and mushrooms. Served with raw egg and rice. $9.99
Mom’s Tofu House, South San Francisco CA
This thing came out super HOT! The soup was steamed and bubbling when it arrived at the table. I ordered it spicy and it was SO delicious! I’m glad that I got the combination because it was fun to see everything in the soup with every spoonful. The flavors were great and it seemed spicier at first because the soup was so hot, but as it cooled down you could start comfortably tasting all the yummy flavors of the stew. Nommy noms!
Raw egg. They bring the egg out while you’re eating the ban chan, and when the tofu soup arrives the waitress cracks the egg into the soup. Yum!
Steamed rice. I was very good with my attempted healthy eating, and I only had about a quarter of the rice!
Bowl with steamed rice.
Perfectly cooked white gulf shrimps over creamed country grits, smothered with RL’s Holy Trinity tomato sauce, with fresh scallions and herbs. $14.90
Criolla Kitchen, San Francisco
Finally made it to Criolla Kitchen! It was weird going into the old Bagdad Cafe space and experiencing a new restaurant. I think the spirit of Bagdad Cafe is still there somehow. Anyway, the food at Criolla was pretty good, but didn’t quite meet my expectations. I wanted to get blown away with flavor, I mean it’s suppose to be “soul food”, right? This particular dish was actually pretty tasty. The shrimp was tender and nicely cooked and the tomato sauce was flavorful. Other dishes like the gumbo could have had more of a kick.
Complimentary side salad.
Yam tater tots with a cilantro-lime crema. $4.90
Criolla Kitchen, San Francisco
These were delicious! I’ve never had yam tater tots before. They were slightly sweet, and warm and crispy on the outside. The crema was a great accompaniment, but they also had a hot sauce that I liked better.
Bubbly mimosas, a great way to start Sunday brunch! Criolla’s orange-lime version is light and refreshing. And they’re perfectly priced! Two for $6
Criolla Kitchen, San Francisco
Vittle Monster 