Cocktails – Palio

Posted on May 26, 2012 by vicentesf

Bacardi mojito. Happy hour $5

Rum and Coke Palio
Bacardi and Diet Coke. Happy hour $5

Blue Sunset Palio
Blue sunset cocktail. Complimentary with voucher. I’m not sure what was in this thing, and I don’t want to know. It was horrible! We couldn’t even drink it even though it was free!
Palio, Old San Juan, PUERTO RICO

We came to Palio for happy hour drinks and snacks. Omg, I wish we hadn’t. The drinks were lame and the food was totally uninspired.

Looking up the side of the Sheraton Old San Juan from the balcony of Palio Restaurant. This is the hotel we stayed at in San Juan. It was a little out-dated, but it had a small casino and all the basics.

Churrasquitos – Punto de Vista Restaurant

Posted on May 24, 2012 by vicentesf

3 Argentinean steak soft tacos, lettuce, tomato, cheese and a raspberry chipotle sauce with arroz mamposteao (blended rice). Sweet and zesty! $11
Punto de Vista Restaurant, Old San Juan, PUERTO RICO

This was ok. It wasn’t what I was expecting. This was more of a steak wrap than a soft taco in my opinion, but maybe that’s just a regional difference. It was flavorful enough especially with the sauce, but it was cold so I was bit turned off.

Wall around the grounds of Castillo San Felipe del Morro. Morro Castle was designed to protect the entrance to San Juan Bay. It’s located at the western tip of Old San Juan and is a great place for walking around and flying kites.

Mojitos – Punto de Vista Restaurant

Posted on May 24, 2012 by vicentesf

Mojitos Punto de Vista Restaurant

White rum, lime, sugar, soda, mint. Buy 1 get 1 free $4
Punto de Vista Restaurant, Old San Juan, PUERTO RICO

Mojitos Punto de Vista Restaurant
Omg, loved this place in Old San Juan! They had the best drink specials and it seemed like the specials ran all day. They actually made their drinks with alcohol unlike most of the other restaurants that served super watered-down drinks.

La Rogativa statue

La Rogativa, Lindsay Daen 1971. Old San Juan has a lot of random statues beautifying the streets. This one is located at the end of Caleta de las Monjas along the old city walls.

Cocktails – Do Brazil

Posted on May 22, 2012 by vicentesf

Sea breeze Do Brazil

Sea breeze – vodka, cranberry, grapefruit. €12

Sea breeze Do Brazil

Mojito – rum, sugar, lime, fresh mint, club soda. €12
Do Brazil, Gustavia, SAINT BARTHELEMY

Omg, I love St. Barths! This island was SO relaxing (and expensive). Of course, we had to celebrate our arrival to this amazing island with delicious cocktails. I had the sea breeze during lunch upstairs in the restaurant and the mojito at our lounge chairs on the beach.

Shell Beach Gustavia
Looking down towards Shell Beach from Fort Karl. Do Brazil Restaurant is directly behind the row of chairs. I walked up the hill while everyone stayed behind to sun. They’re relaxing under the first set of umbrellas from the right. The water was super clear and fairly warm despite the occasional rain shower. I wanna go back!

Cocktails – Restaurante Raices

Posted on May 16, 2012 by vicentesf

Mojito Enamora'o Restaurante Raices
Mojito Enamora’o. A Puertorican classic prepared with Bacardi rum, mint, lemon, sugar, and Bacardi Limon. $8

Sangria Nostalgia Boricua Restaurante Raices
Sangria Nostalgia Boricua. Red wine cocktail. $6
Restaurante Raices, Old San Juan, PUERTO RICO

These were sad excuses for cocktails, which makes it even more sad because this was the first meal of our Caribbean vacation. The cheap, sheet metal cups were the size of thimbles. I want to say that that is a good thing because you don’t have to force down much of these sugar-water abominations, but because it takes forever to order and even longer to receive them, I wanted more volume to tide me over before we could order replacements. If you’re ever in Old San Juan, DO NOT go to this restaurant unless you want horrible drinks and even worse food. I left feeling like a sucker.

Puerto Rico mural

This mural painted on a garage door in the middle of Old San Juan caught my eye.

Stir-fried pork jowl and winter radishes – Mission Chinese Food

Posted on February 15, 2012 by vicentesf

Project 365: Day 41

Happy Valentine’s Day! Silverfox dropped by after work last night and dropped of a beautiful vase of roses, aw! They’re absolutely beautiful and you can view them below. Tonight we are having dinner at Fish & Farm. It’ll be our first time dining there so I’m pretty excited. We looked at a few other restaurants and all of them seem to be doing a pre fixe, and some of them a little too spendy for us right now. Fish & Farm’s pre fixe includes 4 courses and a glass of champagne for $75 per person. Not too bad.

Stir-fried pork jowl and winter radishes Mission Chinese Food

With fermented black bean, mint, red perilla, served with steamed rice. $11
Mission Chinese Food, San Francisco

Red perilla refers to some of the greens (or reds, hehe) in this dish. (Most of the green you see is actually the radish tops though.) They’re also known as red shiso and these appear to be young sprouts. This dish was very tasty! It had a pungent odor from the radishes and leaves which was somehow familiar to me. The porl jowl, although super fatty, were so good and the whole dish was warm and comforting. Perfect for the cold weather.

SO good!

Roses from my lovey!

Banh hoi with grilled prawns and pork – Hometown Noodle 2

Posted on January 10, 2012 by vicentesf

Project 365: Day 6

Went to try this Vietnamese restaurant for lunch because this was the last day of their Grand Opening special. Free soda and 20% off the entire bill. Heck yeah! I guess this is their second location – the original restaurant is down in Redwood City. The food was pretty good and the lady was super nice, but a little slow and forgetful.

Can’t wait to bike to work tomorrow! I love the early morning cardio. My legs are still a little sore from squats at the gym yesterday. Rapunzel, Papa Chang and I are also gonna go for a quick ride during our lunch break. We’re gonna rule the road, lol!

Banh hoi with grilled prawns and pork Hometown Noodle 2

Banh hoi tom heo nuong. “Banh Hoi” is made by packing thin rice noodles together tightly into patties, then cut into squares. Banh hoi is combined with mint leaves, lettuce, cucumber, carrot, radish, cilantro, green onions, and ground peanuts. Served with house special fish sauce. $9.95
Hometown Noodle 2, San Bruno CA

This was very tasty, but you really can’t go wrong with Vietnamese food – the flavors are bright and refreshing. Both the pork and prawns were tender and flavorful. I really like the compressed vermicelli noodles! I don’t think I’ve had them like that before. I made one lettuce roll, but it was too messy so I ended up just dumping the fish sauce (and some chili oil) over the whole plate and using chopsticks to eat everything. I’m a simple man!

Slanted Door & Vegetarian spring rolls – The Slanted Door

Posted on October 21, 2011 by vicentesf

Slanted Door and Vegetarian spring rolls

Slanted Door spring rolls (foreground): shrimp, pork, mint, lettuce, vermicelli noodles.
Vegetarian spring rolls (background): tofu, shiitakes, cabbage, mint, lettuce, vermicelli noodles.
Served with peanut sauce. $10 for a half and half order
The Slanted Door, San Francisco

These were so good and refreshing. When we were ordering I only wanted the Slanted Door spring rolls, but the waiter suggested that we get half and half. I’m so glad we did because the Vegetarian spring rolls were amazing. I actually liked them better, hehe. The Vegetarian rolls had more flavor, mostly from the shiitake mushrooms. I did like how there was a thin slice of pork rolled throughout the Slanted Door rolls. The peanut sauce was different from others I’ve tried. It almost had mayo texture and flavor in it, very creamy. I wasn’t a fan at first, but it grew on me.

Bun cha ha noi – Turtle Tower Restaurant

Posted on October 21, 2011 by vicentesf

Grilled pork patty and sliced pork with sliced carrots and fennel bulb(?), vermicelli noodles, lettuce, mint, and cilantro. $8.20
Turtle Tower Restaurant, San Francisco

I’ve never had this before, but it was really good! I think this was the only non-pho dish ordered in the entire restaurant. Seriously, lol! I wanted to try something new and this fit the bill. The grilled pork slices were yummy. These were cut thicker than at other Vietnamese places. The pork patties were flavorful, but way too fatty for my taste. They left that gross fatty film in your mouth. The sweet, fish saucey liquid that it came in was delicious. The fresh herbs were great and really made the Vietnamese flavor. I wasn’t really sure how to eat this so I made things up! I first wrapped everything in some of the lettuce, but that proved too messy. I ended up using a small bowl to mix everything in small batches, poured some sauce over it and enjoyed!

Cocktails – Beretta

Posted on October 5, 2011 by vicentesf

Nuestra Paloma – tequila, elderflower, cointreau, grapefruit, bitters. $10

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

Dolores Park Swizzle – rhum, lime, maraschino, absinthe, bitters, garnished with mint. $9

Airmail – rum, honey, lime, prosecco. $9
Beretta, San Francisco

If I had to rank these 3 cocktails from best to OK, I would say Nuestra Paloma, Airmail, then Dolores Park Swizzle. The Nuestra Paloma had a great, distinct flavor combination. I personally love tequila, and the addition of the other ingredients made for a wonderfully bright (and strong) drink. The Airmail was good and very drinkable. It didn’t taste particularly special though. I didn’t enjoy the flavors int he Dolores Park Swizzle. The cocktail was beautiful, but there was something in it that turned me off. Perhpas it was the addition of absinthe. I must say that I’m always impressed by the bartenders at Beretta for their cocktail making abilities, and almost all of their speciality cocktails are DELICIOUS! During my last visit, though, our first drinks didn’t arrive at our table until our second dish was out. Now that’s kind of inexcusable – sorry!

Albacore crudo – Reform Club

Posted on October 4, 2011 by vicentesf

Served with fava, mint, strawberry, aged balsamic, and garnished with wildflowers. $40 for 4-course dinner.
Reform Club @ Specchio, San Francisco

We went to this weekly pop-up held at Specchio Restaurant in the Mission. It was $40 for four courses with a $25 drink supplement, and the menu changes every week! Overall, I enjoyed the meal partly because we were there as part of a great food club. This albacore crudo was SO good! It was such a small portion though, and this seemed to be a theme throughout the courses. I must say that I was still hungry afterward. But back to the albacore, hehe. It looked beautiful (loved the wildflowers) and all the flavors worked great together. Would’ve never thought that fava, mint, strawberries and balsamic would taste that amazing together!

Slow-cooked pork belly – Eos Restaurant

Posted on August 8, 2011 by vicentesf

Sweet, tender pork belly atop creamy grits and a stone fruit chutney. Garnished with cilantro, flat leaf parsley, fennel and mint leaves and sliced nectarines.
Eos Restaurant & Wine Bar, San Francisco

This dish was very clean and delicious! I loved the combination of the creamy grits, slightly sweet fruit chutney, and the sweet and salty pork belly. I’m not sure what they braised the pork in, but I’m guessing they used some soy and sugar. The effect was fabulous and the pork just melted in your mouth. The fruit and herb salad on top were bright and contrasted perfectly with the rich pork belly.

Vittle Monster

Feed me!

Tag Archives: mint