Baked monkey roll – Saru Sushi Bar

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Baked monkey roll - Saru Sushi Bar
Baked California roll topped with salmon, masago (capelin roe), scallions, spicy mayo and sweet soy glaze. $14
Saru Sushi Bar, San Francisco CA

Mmm, this warm roll was SO delicious! I thought that because it had so many things on it including a spicy mayo and soy glaze that I wouldn’t be able to taste all the ingredients, but I was wrong. You could definitely taste the CA roll and salmon too, yum! I would order this again.

Noe Valley Farmers Market mural, 24th Street
Noe Valley Farmers Market mural, 24th Street. I don’t actually know what this mural is called and I should really figure out who painted it. The mural is located in the parking lot that hosts the Noe Valley Farmers Market on Saturdays. I think it’s absolutely beautiful and it extends on both sides of the parking lot.

Brownie ala mode ice cream – Scoopful Ice Cream

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Brownie ala mode ice cream - Scoopful Ice Cream
Vanilla ice cream with chunks of brownie and a fudge swirl. Junior cup $1.90
Scoopful Ice Cream, San Bruno CA

Scoopful Ice Cream storefront

Scoopful Ice Cream storefront. The ice cream here was pretty good, but the lady behind the counter seemed more interested in watching tv than helping customers. Lame!

San Bruno Police Plaza

San Bruno Police Plaza next to the Bart Station behind Tanforan Mall. This is one of the nicer and cleaner police stations I’ve seen in the Bay Area.

Kassem’s Plate with chicken – Ali Baba

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Kassem's Plate with chicken - Ali Baba
Chicken shawerma with pickled onions and parsley, served with rice and choice of salad. $10.35
Ali Baba, South San Francisco CA

The chicken in this dish was dry, which was an unfortunate theme. I really liked the rice though! It had lentils in it which gave it a great texture. A pretty good value if that’s what you’re looking for.

Yogurt cucumber salatat - Ali Baba
Yogurt cucumber salatat (diced cucumber salad with yogurt and mint). This was pretty tasty, but maybe a little too yogurt-y. It did help balance out the dry chicken though.

Ali Baba street sign

Ali Baba street sign. This is definitely a destination restaurant since there’s not much around it.

Panda "bear" sidewalk stencil
Panda “bear” sidewalk stencil, San Francisco Bay Trail. Aw, isn’t he cute?!

Naked scallop roll – Saru Sushi Bar

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Naked scallop roll - Saru Sushi Bar
Snow crab, avocado, scallop, and masago (capelin roe) wrapped with white soy paper. $12
Saru Sushi Bar, San Francisco CA

This was a new one for me! I’ve never had a roll using soy paper before. It really didn’t taste like anything and the texture was weird, so I don’t think I was a fan. It gives the sushi roll an interesting look, but doesn’t do much in terms of taste. The rest of the roll tasted great though!

Planter with succulent plants, Jersey Street
Planter with succulent plants, Jersey Street. This building was renovated a couple years back and they’ve filled the planter in front with a few different things already. They originally had horsetails (Equisetum sp., Equisetaceae) in it, and currently they have a beautiful assortment of hardy succulents. I definitely prefer this over the horsetails.

Ali Baba’s Plate with beef – Ali Baba

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Ali Baba's Plate with beef - Ali Baba
Beef shawerma with pickled onions and parsley over hummus, served with pita bread. $9.95
Ali Baba, South San Francisco CA

This was a great value, but the beef was really dry. Thank goodness there was plenty of hummus to help moisten the beef. I will say that the meat was flavorful though.

Ali Baba storefront

Ali Baba storefront. The restaurant is pretty much in the middle of nowhere, lol!

South San Francisco Bart station artwork
South San Francisco Bart station artwork along the platform.

Halibut tartare – Saru Sushi Bar

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Halibut tartare - Saru Sushi Bar
Served with halibut bone, plantain, and black sesame chips. $15
Saru Sushi Bar, San Francisco CA

The halibut tasted very good and looked beautiful! I didn’t really enjoy the other components though. The black sesame chips were super hard and difficult to eat. The fried halibut tails were even harder and almost impossible to chew. And I really don’t remember if there were any plantains on the plate, lol!

Hens-and-chicks (Echeveria sp., Crassulaceae)
Pink edged hens-and-chicks (Echeveria sp., Crassulaceae), Divisadero Street. I think these succuclents are lovely. They come in many colors and often grow with long stems.

Marisha’s turkey chili meatloaf – Fork Cafe

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Marisha's turkey chili meatloaf - Fork Cafe
Turkey chili with kidney beans, onion, carrot, corn, shallots and herbs served with homemade mashed potatoes. $13.95
Fork Cafe, San Francisco CA

The meatloaf was moist and flavorful and the mashed potatoes were silky smooth. The combination of the bean chili and meatloaf was a bit odd, but the flavors were good. Overall, this was a decent dish.

Colorful graffiti artwork, Osage Street
Colorful graffiti artwork, Osage Street. There are many murals similar to this one around the city and they are all bright and colorful. They don’t appear to be of anything in particular.

Tasting spoons – Saru Sushi Bar

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Tasting spoons - Saru Sushi Bar
Four spoons $12
(left to right) Halibut – halibut tartare with grated lime, yuzu juice and Japanese sea salt. Kanpachi – young yellowtail with truffle oil, ponzu, garlic chips and scallions. Scallop – with cucumber sauce, yuzu and fresh wasabi. Ankimo – seared monkfish liver, spicy radish, scallions with garlic ponzu.
Saru Sushi Bar, San Francisco CA

These little spoonfuls were so fun and delicious, but I think $3 per spoon is a bit much. I do love that they all tasted so differently and had their unique flavors and textures. It’s hard to decide which was my favorite, but I think I’ll have to say it was the kanpachi because it had the most variety of taste and texture. The seared monkfish liver was a nice surprise. They were all very good though!

White yarrow flowers (Achillea millefolium, Asteraceae)
White yarrow flowers (Achillea millefolium, Asteraceae) mural, Church Street. This large, colorful mural is one of my favorites in the city because it has a botanical theme of course. I also think the little bee is cute, hehe!

California gold sandwich – Mission Cheese

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California gold sandwich - Mission Cheese
Grilled sandwich with San Joaquin Gold cheese, chevre, prosciutto and fig preserves. Served with a side salad. $10
Mission Cheese, San Francisco CA

This was my first time to Mission Cheese and I really liked it. My sandwich was absolutely delicious and the service was really nice and friendly. I definitely wanna come back and get a charcuterie plate with a cheese flight. That’s sounds amazing right now!

Orange and yellow strawflowers (Helichrysum bracteatum, Asteraceae)

Orange and yellow strawflowers (Helichrysum bracteatum, Asteraceae). I can’t recall the last time I saw strawflowers used to decorate a table at a restaurant. I thought this was cute! I remember growing rows and rows of strawflowers at my parents’ house and selling them at the local farmers market.

Tacos de pescado – Chilango

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Tacos de pescado - Chilango
Fish tacos with grilled local rock cod, romaine lettuce, red onions, radish and salsa on corn tortillas. Lunch pre fixe (prifex fijo) $15
Chilango, San Francisco CA

Overall, I liked these tacos but I was annoyed by several things. The lettuce was not romaine as described on the menu. The tacos were so wet that they completely made the corn tortillas fall apart making them difficult to eat by hand. They were also messy looking and didn’t look appetizing. I did like the grilled rock cod though – they were very flavorful.

Red, black and white panther mural by Zio Ziegler
Red, black and white panther(?) mural by Zio Ziegler, Bartlett Street. I walk by this mural every day and never realized that it was painted by a well known, young local artist! Very cool.