U.S. Adventures: San Francisco, Spring 2016, Vol. II

Ok, I am going to have to make this one a little briefer (ok, maybe) and try to get this trip finished up—there were just so many restaurants!

So let’s hit some highlights. State Bird Provisions first of all. One of my favorite meals of the trip. So, you know that dim sum I talked about in the first post about SF? Well, this is dim sum but not Chinese food. It’s cool, hip, food but served in little portions and brought around on trays and carts (and a few things you just order if you want). My kids couldn’t wait to eat here now that they had discovered the joys of dim sum. Highlight here? The state bird dish—fried quail ($15). So, so good. It was served on these lightly pickled veggies with some super thin cheese on top that just melted into the dish. We were fighting over it (quails ARE small) so we got another one. We also had two of the tuna dishes—it was tuna crudo in a wonderfully, slightly acidic broth. Just perfect. There were many other things too, fried biscuit with burrata, pork belly, beef tartare ($14) with rosemary vinaigrette and little biscuits, chicken liver and several other things. Really, everything was good. And the menu changes frequently—this is totally a place I would go a lot. I would skip dessert though; it was the only thing that was really lackluster.

State Bird Provisions

Also, SPQR. We went there on our last night. Look at their menu online, check out the pasta section (most between $27-$28), and you will understand why I constantly bitch about Italian restaurants in Indy. THERE IS MORE TO LIFE THAN RED SAUCE. We shared everything and had a couple of the specials involving truffles—an egg raviolo, which is one of my favorite things on earth (it’s a giant ravioli filled with an egg yolk). This one was dusted with copious amount of truffles and I really wished I had it all to myself. The other truffle dish was a simple butter sauce with again, lots and lots of truffles. Another dish with pasta, lemon and crispy shaved slices of garlic was another big winner—loved the slight acidity of it. The only one we thought was just ok, was what she described as “grown up mac and cheese” with slices of cured beef and on top of a pesto sauce. It was fine, but couldn’t measure up to the others. Pasta and dessert was all we had here, because it was the last night of the trip and to be honest, we were pretty full, but everyone loved this place. The cheese plate ($17) was the highlight of dessert, although the pretty chocolate dessert was good too.

SPQR

Hubby and I ate at Octavia by ourselves one night, while our kids hung out with their old babysitter. This is a warm space that is quintessential San Francisco with its laid back vibe. The food is very good as well, although didn’t stand out in the same way as some of the other places. Loved their version of a “deviled” egg ($5), which was actually a whole soft-boiled egg that was heavily seasoned with pepper and spices and served with a chile relish. I was really glad to still have a bit of my bread that they bring to the table to sop it all up with though. They should probably give you a little something with it for that purpose (although that bread, I’m guessing it’s Acme, is so so good.) The best dish of the evening was probably the smoked trout salad with grilled asparagus, roasted shallot jam and sherry vinegar. Oh my, that fish just melted in your mouth, and had a slightly more mild taste than typical smoked salmon. And I just loved the play of flavors with the shallot jam and the vinegar. A wonderful dish.

Octavia

We also shared the pappardelle with toasted walnut and brown butter pesto, aged balsamic and cress ($14 for an appetizer size). Again, there’s more to life than red sauce—this wonderfully balanced dish had heartiness from the nuts as well as a nice hit of acid from the vinegar. We rounded out with the Sonoma duck breast ($32), that was served with charred green garlic, roasted kale, butter beans and salsa verde. Loved the salsa verde for a bright kick, but the duck was just a touch overdone for me. We also shared a wonderful melty chocolate dessert.

We had a lunch at Hog Island Oysters that we all really enjoyed—this was one that has been on my list for a while. Hubby and I have been to the actual place where they raise and harvest the oysters and now they have a casual restaurant at the Ferry Building. They don’t take reservations, and were hopping so we sat at the oyster bar, which was fun. Seriously, a lot of oysters going out of that place. Hubby had these amazing grilled oysters ($13) with just a simple cayenne and citrus seasoning. So, so good. I had some fried oysters on what was basically a deconstructed potato salad—also delicious. I tell you what though, my son’s grilled cheese ($12) with three kinds of gooey, non-traditional grilled cheese cheeses, was amazing. I couldn’t stop taking little bites of it. My daughter had a lovely seafood stew ($20)—it looked pretty and the clams and mussels were delicious. The bits of other things, especially the octopus, was a tad chewy though.

Hog Island Oysters

A quick lunch at Belga as we shopped one day on Union Street proved successful-they kids plowed through yet another cheese plate ($16) and hubby and I shared a lovely arctic char and cream cheese toast with capers and pickled red onions ($8) and frites ($9). The country pate ($6) we also had was a bit of a let down though.

Belga

We also had a dinner at Limon, which was a favorite quick, casual spot that hubby and I enjoyed back in the day. It’s a Peruvian restaurant, and we love the lomo saltado ($16.95), which is a beef tenderloin dish stir fried with onions, tomatoes, fries and soy sauce. It’s served with rice. It is just so darn good. The empanadas are nothing to be sneezed at as well. The small plate of fried chicken was just ok—kind of dry. And my kids had the rotisserie chicken, which they are known for, and weren’t super impressed with it either. But I would happily eat that lomo saltado any day of the week—there is just something about the seasoning that makes it cravable. Also, a bite with a fry soaked all in the juices of this dish is delicious.

Limon

Of course we also had to get our Dungeness crab fix, and luckily for us, they opened the season the week we were there. We were headed to Alcatraz (kids had never been), so we hit Alioto’s, which is our favorite wharf place to grab some crab and a great view. My favorite is the simple steamed crab, but we also got one roasted in garlic and butter. The sourdough bread is the best too. It’s Fisherman’s Wharf, so take it with a grain of salt. But you can’t really mess up simple crab.

Alioto's

Finally, on our way to the airport, we had to hit our standby, Barbara’s Fishtrap in Half Moon Bay. The same waitresses have been there since I have been going, which is nearly 25 years. Fried shrimp. Fried fish ($13.95). Clam Chowder. Cash only. It’s a requirement for us. It was a great send off too.

Barbara's

It’s my second home and the city that made me love food. I definitely agree that part of my heart remains there.

U.S. Adventures: San Francisco, Spring 2016- Vol. I

Recently, the family and I went to San Francisco for Spring Break. We did so much eating…it’s hard to imagine writing about it all. But I will, because surely someone out there is interested in SF, and because, well; it’s my blog and kind of my food scrapbook.

We had a direct flight that landed at 8:00 am SF time, which was 11:00 Indy time and by the time we got to the City, we were starving. But it was the morning. But we wanted lunch. And to avoid the crowds eating breakfast on a Saturday morning, so what did we do? Dim sum! At 10:00, which was 1:00 our time. Perfect.

Yank Sing is my favorite dim sum in SF I think. Certainly it is not the cheapest, but man, they know how to fry things up. This was the kids’ first real experience with it and they loved it. They loved that the carts were out and about immediately (did I mention we were starving?) and they loved the food.

Hubby and I always order the shrimp dumplings ($7.15) and the shrimp and chive dumplings ($5.95) as well as the fried spring rolls ($11) and the fried shrimp ($13.15). As usual, all of those things delighted. I am a firm believer in mixing crunchy with steamed. Because we had two additional (hungry) people with us this time, we also had the potstickers ($11), which were a favorite with the kids and the pork buns ($5.50), also a favorite with the hubby. We had these interesting dumplings filled with soup, which I had never seen before—they tasted good but were challenging to eat (imagine soup squirting out of your mouth when you took a bite).  We also had the fried crab claws and the Peking duck bun, neither of which were a big hit-the crab was a little bready and the Peking duck a little bland.  Overall, this is the kind of place that makes me long for San Francisco. Quality dim sum with carts constantly being pushed around. There are many such places in the bay area; I wish we had one in Indy.

With some time to kill until we could check into our flat, we also hit Craftsman and Wolves to pick up some pastries and goodies for future breakfasts. My daughter had seen it on the Food Network and had added it to the list. The pastries are gorgeous and the Asiago bun filled with a runny egg made me happy. We also got a lovely loaf of bread we ate all week.

The first two evenings we ate with friends. The second night in Berkeley at a place called Ippuku. This place was a trip. It is a Japanese restaurant, but specializing more in the grilled robata style dishes. Oh yeah, also chicken tartare. As much as I love almost every tartare, I passed on this one. (Dishes averaged between $7-15 depending on what they were, we had about 12 for the 4 of us). The grilled items were perfectly charred without being chewy.

The grilled chicken thighs and chicken livers were probably a couple of my favorites—simple but delicious. Their version of the fancy onion pancake was also really, really good. Loved the bonito flakes on top that gave the dish a little movement. It was a rich version of an onion cake—it had more gooey batter-type taste than most. I also had ginkgo nuts for the first time. They look very cool—almost like teeny eggs you have to pull out of the shell. They were a nice thing to snack on while waiting for the next course. One of the last things that we had was a beef dish that was simple but was so, so good. We had lots of other interesting things—uni, a whole squid, some fried chicken, blistered shishitos, some grilled whole sardines and even some ramen. They were all fun, but not as good as the things I mentioned first. The atmosphere here is cool too, it has a dark, hip vibe. You have to take off your shoes and sit at tables sunken into the ground. You sort of feel like you’re in a secret club or something.

Our next lunch was at Perbacco—my daughter’s choice. We went there on our last trip and it was her favorite meal ever, because she loved loved their gnocchi ($20), so she requested a return visit. We enjoyed ourselves, and the garlic/potato gnocchi with green garlic, chanterelles and asparagus was very good (we ended up with two orders of it), but everything else we had was fine, but not as amazing. I had a tuna crudo and hubby a pappardelle with short rib ragu ($21). The bread service here is delicious though. And it made my daughter’s trip to get to come back—she has dreamed about their gnocchi for years. Too bad the server was not as friendly to my kids, like our last visit, which had added to the charm last time.

I was excited to take the kids to The Slanted Door for dinner. This is a place hubby and I began eating at when it was a tiny place in the Mission. Now it is a jam-packed huge restaurant right under the Bay Bridge in the Ferry Building. And even with its massive success, it is still outstanding. Pretty much everything we had was great.  Both of our appetizers, tuna tartare with rice paper crackers ($18) and the Dungeness crab soup with mushrooms and light airy egg strands ($8) were delicious. I have their cookbook—I need to make this soup.

You can’t go and not order the Shaking Beef ($38). It’s filet that’s been cubed and stir fried with this delicious lime sauce and served with red onions and watercress. I have tried to make this one from the cookbook, and it just never turns out as good. Everyone loved this and honestly, we should have gotten two orders. The cellophane noodles with Dungeness crab, green onion and sesame ($22) are also totally worth ordering—a great accompaniment to the beef. Light but with that depth from sesame oil. The bok choy was also a nice veggie addition to the meal. Everyone enjoyed it. We also had the clay pot chicken ($22), which was the least favorite. It just couldn’t compare to the other stuff. We also had dessert and the kids’ confection plate ($10), which was topped off with a large cone of cotton candy was a favorite. They made sure that nothing would harm my nut-allergic son as well, which I appreciated. The churros ($10) hubby and I ordered were kind of meh. The view out the window of the bridge, which is now lit up with all kinds of cool changing lights is awesome.

The final meal I’ll touch on here was a nice lunch I had with my old boss and his wife in Oakland. It was the cutest little wine bar in the middle of downtown Oakland called Downtown Wine Merchants. Naturally, there was wine (you gotta appreciate a pretty flight of white, rose and red), but we also had some tasty small plates. Loved the cheese and charcuterie boards ($15 each) and the cheesy spaetzle ($10). They also made interesting flatbreads—the one we had was a special with squash blossoms. The interior of this place and the friendliness of the people running it are what really made this place. And catching up with old friends.

Ok, so I am only through a few of the days of our trip so far, so prepare for at least one more SF post! Ok, maybe two. 

U.S. Adventures- San Francisco: Gary Danko

Our last night in San Francisco, hubby and I went to Gary Danko.  Gary Danko is a restaurant that opened while we lived in San Francisco and at which we had a couple of amazing meals. It had been probably close to 8 years or so since our last meal though, so we really wanted to go again.  The funny thing about Gary Danko is that I don’t think the menu has really changed that much in all that time.  There are certain dishes that they are pretty well known for, and while they certainly add seasonal ingredients, the menu stays pretty similar I think.  But before I even talk about the food, I have to mention service again.  It was amazing once again.  This is one of the nicest restaurants in San Francisco—but the servers treat you like you are a regular and talk to you like you’re an old friend.  We chatted about various restaurants in San Francisco, and he let us in on the fact that the bar at Gary Danko is a great deal because you don’t have to order the 3 or 4 courses.  We chatted about our kids and his kids and our upcoming trip.  There was not an ounce of pretentiousness or snobbery. 

The food at Gary Danko is really good and really solid. I like that even though you have to choose 3, 4, or 5 courses ($71, $89 and $104), you can order whatever you want from whatever part of the menu (there are appetizers, a fish and shellfish section, a meat section, cheese and dessert).  He told us if we wanted 4 courses of dessert, go for it.  I started with the “crispy farm egg” with white polenta, mushrooms, frissée and pancetta.  It was great.  It was the smooth, slightly sweet polenta on the bottom with some dressed greens, and the egg on top.  The egg was actually breaded and lightly fried—and perfectly runny inside.  It was a nice take on the classic frissée salad with a poached egg, the breadcrumbs giving it just a little more substance.  It had a nice balance of flavors though with the dressing on the greens and we both really liked it.  Hubby had the risotto with lobster, rock shrimp, mushrooms, corn, roasted tomatoes and peas. We have had a version of this before and as before, it was spectacular.  How they get the lobster and the shrimp EXACTLY perfectly cooked, I don’t know, but I wish they would teach all the other restaurants in the world.  The shellfish just melted in your mouth.  The risotto is rich and creamy, but not so much so, and not such a huge portion that you were sick of it by the end (often my problem with risotto).

My next course was the roast Maine lobster with potato puree, mushrooms, corn and tarragon.  This was a dish I had once before (or a similar version anyway) and I loved it so much, I had to have it again.  It was just as good as I remember. I love lobster when it is cooked properly, but honestly I rarely order it because it so rarely is. Again, they had it down—especially that claw.  It was amazing. A little crunch from the corn and slight anise type flavor from the tarragon with the milder potatoes—the ingredients just let the lobster shine through.  Hubby had a pork dish with pork belly and pork tenderloin medallions with potato ramp puree, cauliflower, roasted peppers and maple cider glaze.  The pork belly was beautiful—I love it when it is served in a slice type format and you can see the layers of fat. It also seems more balanced between the meat and fat when it is cut like that as opposed to some of the overlarge hunks with too many gelatinous fatty bits I have seen at other places lately.  The tenderloin wasn’t as good—it just doesn’t have as much flavor and depth.

I have pretty much given up on fancy cheese services since leaving San Francisco—but Gary Danko reminded me why I like them so much.  They brought us the huge cart and let us pick whatever we wanted (we only ordered one cheese course and then one of us got the dessert). We had a nice selection of things and a nice discussion about cheese carts in San Francisco with our waiter.  Apparently there are only 3 or 4 restaurants that have them even in San Francisco.

Dessert was warm Louisiana butter cake with apples, huckleberry sauce and vanilla bean ice cream.  It was basically croissants that were cut up and then more butter and caramel added.  Can you say buttery and rich?  It was really good though, and the huckleberry was nice because it was a little tart and you always need some sort of creamy type thing to go along with something like this.  This is one of the desserts they are known for, and it is clear to see why.  All I know is I am glad we only got the three courses option because we were completely stuffed at this point.  I would say the portions are very generous, especially for a multi-course fine dining experience.

Even though we were stuffed and done with our dinner, we still enjoyed the extra little petit fours that they brought out at the end.  It is always fun to bite into them all and taste all the different flavors.  As if that wasn’t enough, they even bring you little cakes (these were pineapple upside down cakes) wrapped up to take home.  Because our waiter knew we were traveling all day with our 2 kids the next day and gave us 4 to take home (see what I mean about the service?).  Because we had had a fairly long chat with our doorman at the hotel about how much he also loved Gary Danko, we gave him the extras—we figured he would appreciate them more than our kids. (Other thing I love about San Francisco—everyone loves food in this town. I have had long discussions with taxi drivers about restaurants, and they all know where the restaurants are unlike a certain city’s taxi drivers—talking to YOU Chicago!).

All in all, this trip was a bit of a whirlwind, but we ate really well and satisfied my son’s need for Dungeness crab (had several crabs at Fisherman’s Wharf for lunch one day too) as well as taking them to a few more places that they haven’t been yet (the Exploratorium was a favorite spot).  San Francisco certainly owns a little piece of my heart that is for sure.

Gary Danko

800 North Point

San Francisco, CA  94109

415/749-2060

www.garydanko.com 

U.S. Adventures: San Francisco- Summer 2012

San Francisco—one of my favorite places in the world, and a place that is truly like a second home.  Recently we were fortunate enough to stop there for a few days on our way to an amazing family trip to Hawaii.  We mainly just wanted to eat, and hang out with some old friends, and get our bodies a little adjusted to what is ultimately a 6 hour time change.  My kids love San Francisco too, and love seeing their old babysitter (as do we when it comes time to go out for dinner).  It was a quick trip with some great meals—most of which I will discuss in this post.  I am saving our last dinner for a separate post.

The first day, after traveling for hours and getting up at 4:00 am, we were all starving. We tried to pop into Tadich Grill, an old school place right by our hotel but it was packed.  We saw Perbacco right next door, and although it isn’t a place we would probably normally take the kids, we were desperate.  We were greeted warmly, even with our two slightly disheveled and weary travelers.  This warmth and professionalism is one of the reasons I love San Francisco restaurants.  The other one, of course, is the food, and Perbacco was great.  I had herb and ricotta gnocchi with mushrooms and melted leeks ($17).  Hubby and my son split an amazing hanger steak with large roasted mushrooms and arugula ($19).  That steak was amazing--flavorful and perfectly medium rare.  But the surprise winner of the day was my daughter’s requested plain potato gnocchi with just butter ($10).  This was easily the best potato gnocchi I have ever had.  They were so light and fluffy; they practically melted in your mouth.  Honestly, we almost ordered a second order of them to share we all liked them so much.  My daughter won’t stop talking about them and has requested a return visit to Perbacco when we go back to visit.  What a perfect welcome lunch.

Tadich and Perbacco

We did manage to get into the Tadich Grill that night for dinner—this was the place where my son wanted crab for every course—and it could be pretty easily done there.  Tadich is one of the oldest (maybe the oldest) restaurants in San Francisco and has that old school men’s club look with big old wooden walls and a huge bar in the middle.  We shared a bunch of things—Dungeness crab cocktails for the kids (just leg meat, awesome) and I had the avocado crab salad ($25) which is basically like a crab Louis salad, one of my favorite things.  It was lettuce, crab legs, and lots of avocado with some other adornments and a big bowl of their Louis dressing.  The salad was pretty standard—honestly the pre-peeled legs were a little less tender than Dungeness usually is when you peel it yourself.  The dressing was great though.  I make Louis dressing a lot at home and this one had a slightly different taste to it.  Generally, the recipe I make is mayo, chili sauce, cream and lemon with some chopped bell peppers and green onions—I think maybe this one had vinegar in it instead of the lemon and it was a little less peppery than mine.  It was really tasty and has inspired me to mix up my recipe a little.  It was a fun dinner and pretty much exactly what I expected—the food wasn’t amazing, but it was a cool place for the kids.

The second night I got to go out to dinner with one of my girlfriends and we decided to try Wayfare Tavern.  Wayfare is celebrity chef Tyler Florence’s restaurant and was also right around the corner from our hotel in the financial district.  Very cool, masculine feel to the place and again, I was completely charmed by our server who was extremely knowledgeable but also really friendly to us.  She was down to earth and joked around with us several times.  I think San Francisco has some of the best service people in the world. 

open kitchen

I had the steak tartare ($16) to start, which was one of the better ones I had—it was American Wagyu beef and was almost pink, it had so much marbled fat.  There was an egg yolk perched on top and slivers of fried shallots.  There was a distinctly spicy kick to it, which was nice in a pretty rich dish.  Oh, and I didn’t mention the popovers, which were served for their bread service, and were also served grilled with the tartare.  They were amazing.  I love the soft interior and the crisp but slightly chewy exterior.  I am a sucker for a popover. I then had the soft shell crab as my main dish ($15) (it was an appetizer). Honestly, I was not as impressed with this.  Maybe it is because it is getting to the end of the season, but the crab just wasn’t that meaty—there wasn’t a lot of juiciness to it, and I love biting into them and getting that juicy bite from the main body.  There were roasted tomatoes and some lettuce as well as some sliced black truffle, but this dish was only okay for me.  One of the best and most original parts of the meal was the dessert we shared—the goat cheese panna cotta ($10).  It was amazing.  It was done like a crème brulee with a burnt sugar top, but the flavor of the creamy part underneath was amazing with a slight sweetness but with the depth, intensity and slight sourness of the goat cheese.  They served it with some crunchy little cookies that were a nice texture variation.  Exactly the kind of dessert that sticks out in my mind. Delicious.

I do love that town.

Perbacco

230 California Street

San Francisco, CA 94111

415/955-0663

http://www.perbaccosf.com/

Tadich Grill

240 California Street

San Francisco, CA 94111

415/391-1849

www.tadichgill.com

Wayfare Tavern

558 Sacramento Street

San Francisco, CA 94111

415/772-9060

www.wayfaretavern.com