Breakfast cocktails – Luna Park

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Breakfast cocktails - Luna Park

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
Hiking at Purisima Creek Redwoods Open Space Preserve.

Pesto chicken pizza – Alicante

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Pesto chicken pizza - Alicante
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.

Tasting of goat cheese – Jardiniere

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Tasting of goat cheese - Jardiniere
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

Winged thistle (Carduus tenuiflorus, Asteraceae), Purisima Creek Redwoods Open Space Preserve.

Peking spicy beef – Jade Cafe

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Peking spicy beef - Jade Cafe
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!

Claw’s and Chip’s gone fishing – Norma’s

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Claw's and Chip's gone fishing - Norma's
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
Butterfly pillow, The Parker lobby.

Two eggs with millionaire’s bacon – Kitchen Story

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Two eggs with millionaire's bacon - Kitchen Story
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

Sticky monkeyflower (Mimulus aurantiacus, Phrymaceae), Purisima Creek Redwoods Open Space Preserve.

Grilled calamari stuffed with spanish chorizo – Alicante

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Grilled calamari stuffed with spanish chorizo - Alicante
Fried parsley and capers. $6
Alicante, Palm Springs CA

I don’t think I’ve ever had calamari presented quite like this. Usually when I’ve had stuffed calamari it’s served whole and you cut it yourself, but these were already prechopped into small pieces. They were pretty small and prefect as finger food, but then you had to fiddle with the individual capers.

Joshua Tree National Park
Joshua Tree National Park.

New York steak – Jardiniere

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New York steak - Jardiniere
Oxtail ravioli, horseradish, bordelaise. Tasting menu $140
Jardiniere, San Francisco CA

OK, so here’s where I get confused. Our tasting menu read that we were going to get wagyu beef during this course, but our first waiter said that they weren’t running the wagyu that night and would be replacing it with New York steak in the same preparation. Whatever, I’m fine with that. But as this course approached, another waiter mentioned that the wagyu would be next. I asked for clarification from our original server, and he said it would be New York steak. Then when we go the plates, they were presented as wagyu. Huh? I’m still confused.

Either way, the beef was WAY underdone and we really coudn’t eat much of it let alone cut through the cold, raw, stringy interior. This was the one truly failed dish of the night. The ravioli and accompaniments were delicious, but the star of the dish was a major flop. SAD!

Fallen redwood trees

Fallen redwood trees, Purisima Creek Redwoods Open Space Preserve. This is how I felt about the dish above.

Eggplant with chicken and shrimp – Jade Cafe

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Eggplant with chicken and shrimp - Jade Cafe
Green onion and garlic in special sauce. $10
Jade Cafe, San Francisco CA

I think I just threw up a little bit in my mouth just thinking about this dish. The eggplant was mushy, the chicken and shrimp were overcooked and of poor quality, and there was about 2 cups of rancid oil in there! GROSS, this place serves disgusting food.

Pancho’s crispy fish tacos – Norma’s

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Pancho's crispy fish tacos - Norma's
With chipotle salsa and pickled onions, guacamole and pico de gallo, lime. $22
Norma’s, Palm Springs CA

Another lame, basic dish for twenty two bucks! I guess if you add a grilled lime and stick long tortilla chips into the guacamole you can charge that amount. Someone should tell them that it would help if the food actually tasted good.

The Parker Hotel grounds
The Parker Hotel grounds.

Hai nan chicken soup – Cafe Encore

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Hai nan chicken soup - Cafe Encore
Lai fun noodle, bok choy, garlic, green onion. $7.50
Cafe Encore, Millbrae CA

Hai nan chicken soup - Cafe Encore
Mmm, this was REALLY good! The soup was super flavorful and the chicken was tender and delicious. I loved that they kept all the bones on since it lends so much more flavor. I not fussy, so I don’t mind eating around them. I’m craving this soup right now!

Sauteed spicy lime-drizzled shrimp – Alicante

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Sauteed spicy lime-drizzled shrimp - Alicante
Garlic, cherry tomato, chilies. $6
Alicante, Palm Springs CA

This dish was light and refreshing, but I guess I was wanting something more rich like a traditional gambas al ajillo. There was more citrus in this preparation than garlic and butter. It was still pretty tasty, but not what I was craving.

Joshua Tree National Park
Large rock formations, Joshua Tree National Park.