Grilled center cut prime beef rib eye – RN74

Grilled center cut prime beef rib eye RN74

With braised short rib, sunchokes, grilled romaine, bone marrow bordelaise. New Year four-course tasting menu $80
RN74, San Francisco

Wow, this was very large, rich, and all the components were filling and decadent. The only complaint was that the rib eye was ordered medium, but this was way rare! That’s a thick cut and the center was still cold and bloody. The short ribs was delicious as was the bone marrow. They should give you some bread to spread it on though otherwise you’re left spreading it on the beef which is was to rich. We used the house bread, but what if we had already finished it or we didn’t want any in the first place? That said, I still enjoyed the dish.

Salisbury steak – Orphan Andy’s

Salisbury steak Orphan Andy's

Fresh ground beef smothered with mushrooms, grilled onions and brown gravy. Served with a biscuit, green beans, and mashed potatoes and gravy. $11.85
Orphan Andy’s, San Francisco

Uh, this was disgusting! It was a really bad version of cafeteria food. You know I love gravy, so I thought it can’t be that bad if it’s doused in gravy. Yes it can! The gravy wasn’t good and everything was SO bland and disgusting. This was an ordering experiment that should not be repeated!

Minestrone soup Orphan Andy's

Side of minestrone soup. Obviously from a can and not even heated well.

Argentine empanda – Pisco Latin Lounge

Argentine empanda Pisco Latin Lounge

Estancia ground sirloin, golden raisins, pimiento stuffed olives. $3
Pisco Latin Lounge, San Francisco

I think I like the chicken empanada better, but this was also tasty! I somehow liked the powdered sugar on top. It was a nice flavor contrast to the ground beef and olives inside the empanada. I need to learn how to make their super buttery, flaky empanada crust! It’s SO good!

Cheeseburger and sweet potato fries – Gott’s Roadside

Project 365: Day 38

Had a slow and lazy morning – perfect! Went down to the Ferry Building to get some food and peruse the Farmers’ Market. Ended up at Gott’s for a heavier-than-I-wanted-but-sinfully-delicious lunch. I hit the gym afterward and it felt good after eating burgers. Now doing laundry and general cleaning before meeting friends for drinks and dinner later. My life is SO difficult, lol!

Cheeseburger and sweet potato fries Gott's Roadside

Fresh ground Niman Ranch beef patty cooked medium well, a little pink inside when served with American cheese, lettuce, tomatoes, pickles, and a secret sauce on a toasted egg bun. $7.99
Chili spice-dusted sweet potato fires served with house-made ranch sauce. $3.99
Gott’s Roadside, San Francisco

This was SO good! The burger was tender and juicy and I love their secret sauce. It kinda tastes like a nicer version of Thousand Island. Some people don’t like egg buns because it has a propensity to soak up too much juice and get soggy, but I like them! I think the soak-age helps concentrate the flavors, lol! The sweet potato fries are thinner than most, but very crispy and flavorful. The house-made ranch is pretty delicious which is dangerous because I end up eating the whole thing!

7×7 Magazine’s The Big Eat San Francisco: 100 Things to Eat + Drink Before You Die – 2010

Lengua taco – El Farolito

Project 365: Day 36

It felt good to be back at the gym this morning. It’s Thursday and I really want it to be Friday! At least the weather is getting nicer. Hopefully it’ll be great for the weekend. Gotta plan dinner with the boys on Saturday. Papa Chang also recommend some Asian restaurants down in San Jose for Sunday – can’t wait!

Lengua taco El Farolito

Regular taco with beef tongue, two soft tortillas, hot salsa, onions and cilantro. $2.25
El Farolito, San Francisco

This was delicious! I love the dark, rich flavor of beef tongue. It was super tender, juicy, and fatty – just the way I like it! They also pile on the meat and top it off with yummy toppings. Messy, but amazing!

Lengua taco El Farolito

Why did I go to a lunch buffet? – Fresh Choice

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 Fresh Choice

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 pasta salad Fresh Choice

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 Fresh Choice

Watermelon radish. These were pretty, healthy, crunchy, and tasty!

Tomato basil soup Fresh Choice

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 Fresh Choice

Pepperoni pizza. Standard.

Sasame kale toss salad Fresh Choice

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

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.

Clam chowder Fresh Choice

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 Fresh Choice

Hard boiled eggs. Great source of protein. Try not to add salt.

Swirl soft serve Fresh Choice

Chocolate and vanilla swirl soft serve ice cream. Somehow not very satisfying. :-(F

Ola’s steak and potato hash – Jones

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.

Ola's steak and potato hash Jones

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.

Ola's steak and potato hash Jones

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!

Patio view Jones

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.

Smirnoff lemonade cocktail

Hair for the dog. Smirnoff Tuscan Lemonade cocktail topped with Santa Cruz organic strawberry lemonade. Here’s my morning cocktail. Gotta love Sunday Fundays!

Huff’s yakitori birthday dinner – Mokutanya

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 Mokutanya

Hotate yakitori. Sea scallops grilled with pepper. $4

Spicy kurobuta sausage yakitori Mokutanya

Spicy kurobuta sausage yakitori. Made with Berkshire pork. $2

Chicken kawa yakitori Mokutanya

Kawa yakitori. Chicken skin. $2

Butabara yakitori Mokutanya

Butabara yakitori. Pork belly. $3

Wagyu beef yakitori Mokutanya

Wagyu beef yakitori. $3.50

Croquettes Mokutanya

Croquettes. Deep fried panko-breaded mashed potatoes, served with tonkatsu sauce. $6

Lychee shochu cocktail Mokutanya

Lychee with shochu cocktail. $10 for bottle

Sopa de albondigas – Mijita

Sopa de albondigas Mijita

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!

Sopa de albondigas Mijita

7×7 Magazine’s The Big Eat San Francisco: 100 Things to Eat + Drink Before You Die – 2010, 2011, 2012

The Real Korean "taco" – Namu

The Real Korean taco Namu

Ssam style “taco”, seasoned rice, daikon and kimchee salsa, kimchee remoulade, housemade teriyaki sauce, folded into Japanese and Korean toasted seaweed, with beef. $3
Namu, San Francisco

I love food stands and Namu is one of the best at the Ferry Building Farmers’ Market. This taco was pretty spectacular! I love the exciting combination of flavors and textures, and the kimchee remoulade knocked my socks off. The beef was also very tender and had a great grilled flavor. The only thing I didn’t like was that the double layer of seaweed was impossible to bite through. Maybe they could use drier seaweed or maybe only use one sheet. The taco is messy to eat already because of the abundance of toppings but fighting the seaweed wrapper made it oh so much messier.

The Real Korean taco Namu

7×7 Magazine’s The Big Eat San Francisco: 100 Things to Eat + Drink Before You Die – 2010, 2011, 2012

Mongolian beef – Chef Wang Restaurant

Mongolian beef Chef Wang Restaurant

Sliced beef with onions, green onions, and chilies. $7.95
Chef Wang Restaurant, Millbrae CA

Not impressed with this one either. The quality of the beef wasn’t very good – it was kind of tough. I guess this place was cheap and you got a lot of food, but some things just aren’t worth it regardless.

Chef Wang chow mein – Chef Wang Restaurant

Chef Wang Restaurant chow mein

Wok tossed noodles with a beef, chicken, shrimp, cabbage, onions and scallions. $5.95
Chef Wang Restaurant, Millbrae CA

This wasn’t all that great. It was pretty standard but I did appreciate that there was plenty of large pieces of proteins thrown in. This would be great if you were carb-loading!  🙂