Pulled beef short rib and three sauteed shrimp, white cheddar grits and spicy tomato jus, garnished with chopped scallions. $13 ($6.50 for Sunday happy hour)
Hubbard Grille, Columbus OH
Mmm, I really enjoyed this! I think it’s the perfect share – not too big and absolutely delicious! I loved all the different flavors and textures. Everything was perfect! Ok, almost perfect. The shrimp were slightly overcooked, but who cares! This was definitely my favorite snack that we ordered.
Toasted, buttered egg buns with battered and deep fried shrimp, tomato, aioli.
T. Murray’s Bar and Kitchen, Columbus OH
These little sliders packed a lot of flavor! The shrimp were moist and tender, but perhaps a tad on the greasy side. I loved the aioli and the fresh tomato that helped to brighten up this deliciously fattening slider. The sliders constantly change, but I’m glad we got this variety that particular night – pretty tasty!
Shanghai style lumpia filled with pork and shrimp. Served with sweet and sour sauce. $9.95
Patio Filipino, San Bruno CA
I’ve never heard these called lumpianitas, but whatever. They’re just small lumpias to me, or Shanghai lumpia. I guess the only difference is that they also have shrimp inside. Most of the time it’s only pork. These were very good and our table gobbled them up pretty quickly! Yay for Filipino food!
With pork, shrimp and black ginger vinegar. $11.50
Betelnut Restaurant, San Francisco
This was described by our waittress as a soup dumpling (xiao long bao), but they weren’t very soupy. I guess it’s trying to be an upscale version, but it just didn’t work. The filling was super heavy, the wrapper was too thick, and there wasn’t enough soup inside! I’ll pass on this next time.
Black ginger vinegar (and another random dipping sauce).
With shrimp, grapefruit, herbs, and “nuoc cham”, topped with chopped peanuts. $9.95
Betelnut Restaurant, San Francisco
Nuoc cham is a Vietnamese sauce usually made with chilies, garlic, fish sauce, lime juice and sugar. It’s salty-sweet and so yummy. This green papaya salad was good, but I think it was too watery. I loved the addtional of grapefruit though.
Cornmeal fried shrimp with lettuce, tomatoes and chipotle remoulade on a toasted French roll. Served with coleslaw and pickled watermelon. $9.75
Brenda’s French Soul Food, San Francisco
This sandwich was SO good! The shrimp were cooked perfectly and the chipotle remoulade tasted amazing. You can put that sauce over anything and it would taste good. This meal was very rich and fattening but it’s nice for an occasional treat. I definitely wouldn’t be eating this every day!
The restaurant is super popular so if you’re going during lunch, you better arrive early otherwise you’ll be waiting for a while. They’ve expanded their dining room but every table gets filled. I had to sit at the front counter the last time I went. I don’t mind that sort of thing, especially for lunch and the people next to me were friendly enough and unobtrusive.
Coleslaw of cabbage, carrots and red cabbage. Love that it’s not so mayonnaise! It’s nice and on the lighter side.
Pickled watermelon rinds. Yummy!
Sweet watermelon house tea. $2.25
So frickin’ refreshing!
7×7 Magazine’s The Big Eat San Francisco: 100 Things to Eat + Drink Before You Die – 2010, 2011
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! 🙂
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.
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.
Steamed dumplings filled with shrimp and scallops. $3.20
Grand Palace Restaurant, South San Francisco
I think these are called phoenix dumplings because it’s supposed to look like a phoenix’s eye when you look down at the dumpling from above. It’s a bit of a stretch, but I get it. I’m not sure that the stringy starchy stuff is that they put on top. Maybe some kind of then noodles? These were delicious though with large chunks of shrimp and scallops inside!
I think I’m undecided whether I truly like hand rolls or not. It’s just a lot of seawead to deal with and these were chewy and hard to chew through, making it hard to neatly eat the rolls. They do stuff quite a lot of filling in these hand rolls and you don’t have to use chopsticks, which is great for incompetent users like myself. The spicy tako temaki was my favorite!
Tenka Japanese Restaurant, San Mateo CA
Road runner – tuna, salmon, avocado and cucumber. $2.95 for happy hour
Spicy tako – octopus with spicy mayonnaise. $2.95 for happy hour
Cajun – fried oyster, avocado and cucumber with spicy mayonnaise. $2.95 for happy hour
New York – shrimp, fish eggs, avocado and cucumber. $2.95 for happy hour
So my office held our 2nd Annual Holiday Potluck and everyone (well almost everyone) brought delicious food to share! I’m posting some of the yummy food so you can get a few ideas for your next holiday get together. If all else fails, make a Costco run apparently. I mean who needs a fancy corporate holiday party when you can have a good ole potluck?! All names have been changed to protect the innocent! 🙂
Pork belly steamed bun – Papa Chang
We all know that most holiday plates are fattening so why not get it in the form of tender pork belly?! Just top the bun with shredded scallions and hoisin sauce for an elegant presentation! You can purchase frozen buns at your local Asian market and steam them prior to serving. Xiexie!
Pigs in a blanket – Rapunzel
Simple but delicious, a perennial party favorite! Just wrap ‘Lil Smokies (these are turkey) with crescent pastry rolls (these use a low fat variety) and voile, you have an all-American treat! According to Rapunzel, each piece has only 45 calories!
Pomegranate kielbasa bites – Dumes
The perfect combination of beefy meat and sticky sweet. Simmer sliced beef kielbasa sausage in a mixture of pomegranate juice, ketchup and Tabasco sauce until the sauce is thick and reduced. Serve on a buttery Ritz cracker to make it classy! Thanks Dumes!
Spam musubi – Sophie
Perfectly portioned and utterly delicious! Spam plus sushi rice and a nori strip equals a happy vicenteSF! Arigato!
Traditional midwestern queso surprise – vicenteSF
OK, I made that name up but my roommate IS from Kansas and he makes this delicious dip once in a while. Just combine Velveeta cheese (SO American!) with browned ground beef and a can of Ro-Tel brand diced tomatoes with chiles (another midwestern staple) in a crock pot. Set it and forget it! It’s customary to eat this with potato chips, not tortilla chips, silly!
Mini quiche lorraine – Mats
Another easy potluck option, the frozen mini quiche! Just throw into the toaster oven for a few minutes and these buttery, salty bites are sure to please everyone!
Shrimp cocktail – Pong
Costco wins again! Seafood always ups the chichi factor!
Roast chicken – Pong
And antoher Costco treasure!
Chewy mixed chip holiday cookie – Rapunzel
These are surprisingly good despite Rapunzel’s baking track record! Just kidding. These nommy cookies have milk chocolate, white chocolate AND butterscotch chips! And lots of butter for all the good lil boys and girls!
Almond jello with fruit – Sophie
Sophie fights back with a more sophisticated dessert approach. The light almond jello pairs wonderfully with fresh fruit!
Walnut brownie – Jefe
And what’s more traditional than some chocolate brownies with NUTS! Walnuts are a safe, delicious and nutritious choice!
Melkesjokolade chocolate – Huff
And Huff brings up the rear with a Norwegian contribution! Tusen takk!
Happy holidays, everyone!!!
Vittle Monster 