Build a Potato

Last summer, I saw an article about a brand new restaurant, Hot Spud,  that serves entirely build-it-yourself baked potatoes. Being a potato lover and an obsessive trendy food trier, I was 110% on board... until I read the location: Fisher-freaking-man's Wharf. File that one away under "never." As a snooty wannabe local SF-er, I HATE Fisherman's Wharf. Even the thought of it brings back horrible memories of my family's dysfunctional vacation there when I was 8 years old.

potato ordering bar

Then I took on the task of localizing Carlos who has been highly sheltered from SF experiences.  He suggested we check out Musée Mécanique at the pier. As much as I dreaded it, this place sounded pretty awesome, so I agreed to head over as long as I got my potato for lunch.

menu with options

We decided to try our luck on Sunday. Luckily the weather was gorgeous and it was fairly early, so things were pleasant. I even found a free parking space only a few blocks away after some patient circling :D!! This set the right tone for the afternoon.

Hot Spud is located just a street away from the main Wharf area, but it didn't seem too badly touristy. They have a cute, modern interior with both counter and table seating. When you enter you see a giant bar of all the toppings. You are allowed to either choose a recommended combo or you can make your own from scratch. Toppings range from meats, to tons of veggies (including jalapenos, corn, even some fruits), to sauces, to things like tortilla strips. It's essentially a salad bar for a potato. AWESOME!!!

sharon's potato

We both ordered pre-made combo potatoes that we totally substituted in to customized items. Mine was a steak potato with chipotle sauce, corn, green onions, peas, and jalapenos. He ordered a chicken one with alfredo sauce, cheese, jalapenos, corn, bacon.... and I'm not even sure. They were pretty tasty! The only thing I didn't like was the chipotle sauce on mine, it had an odd flavor. Everything else was really good. I ended up eating like a third of his potato because the alfredo sauce was such win.

The place is slightly pricey, around $9 for a potato. They give a local discount though (to me at least, haha apparently Carlos's accent and flusteredness made him seem like a tourist), and I think everything in that neighborhood is expensive due to the rent.

carlos's potato! so much win <3 mmmm

I really liked the worker, he cared about our experience and came to ask if we were enjoying it. Next time you are in that area, skip Bubba Gump's, Rain Forest, Hard Rock... and check this place out!

In-N-Out Bakery

cute storefront

Eugi and I have had a long list of restaurants to check out for months now, and we are finally back on track getting them crossed off. I just noticed that Arizmendi Bakery, a popular local chain on our list, had a location very close to us in the inner sunset, so on Saturday we checked it out. I highly enjoy being "local" and walking to food whilst staring at my beloved Mr. Sutro. :D

We got there around 1:30 pm and you could tell we had missed the lunchtime rush. It's a small cafe on a bustling street in the sunset. Inside, there are a bunch of cabinets filled with savory & sweet baked goods, and a steady flowing line of customers. I was actually a bit overwhelmed as a first-timer. I had read about their amazing, daily-flavor pizza, but I didn't know how to order it. Also, when I am in a new bakery, I like to really look around and make an educated decision on what to select. With the rush of people behind me trying to get in the cabinets, I didn't feel like I could take too much time. 

cookie shelf

sweets cabinet

From what I could quickly gather, the baked goods seemed rather European of various sorts. A wide variety of savory items with cheeses and vegetables. All very bread-based. They looked quite delicious and it was a hard decision to make on the fly. I ended up grabbing a focaccia with asiago and tomato, and a sea-salt cheddar bread stick. Being Sharon, I really wanted to try one of the sweet foods, but I was stressed and ended up going straight to the register. Their dessert selection seemed to focus a lot on weird flavored scones and other similarly shaped items. 

picked over by the time we got there

The guy at the register was very nice, and noticed me taking pictures. I was highly embarrassed but had to tell him the name of my blog. Luckily, I think the mass is so low that there is no way he will be able to find it via search.

I was out within 5 minutes. I want to visit again and order a real pizza at the counter. The flavors sound so delicious and odd. If nothing else, I will 100% be back for a dessert pastry :)

focaccia con tomato & cheese

cheese "bread stick"

We ate our baked goods on our walk back home. Both of mine were very tasty! They reminded me of bagels a bit, and had a good combo of flavoring and salt. I really like the tomato focaccia. The "bread stick" confused me because it was circular and I think wheat.They were surprisingly filling, and I was glad that I had the mini hills in the walk back to try to mitigate the damage

Finding the Ideal Restaurant

super happy bday sharon <:D

Nothing is more stressful than planning a group dinner in a neighborhood you aren't familiar with. For my bday, the plan was to hit up a North Beach club. Should be easy to find a place to eat, right?? NO! Despite the thousands of Italian places in the 6 block radius, picking the food took me forever. I really wanted to find the perfect place that: was swanky, took reservations, had unique food choices, and had a menu where people could get away with not spending too much money. Thus I ended up with Ristorante Ideale.

Pumpkin Pasta!

The place is small, but has a nice ambiance. Very dark lighting, but it looked like there were cute blue tiles on the walls. There was a bit more Italian on the menu than I like, but it was still readable. For starters they brought out some very yummy bread and oil. It was warm and soft :) 

Tortellini

I had already decided what to order in advance as their specialty was "pumpkin ravioli"... and I'm incapable of not getting pumpkin dishes. Other dishes included some type of tortellni filled with cheese and veal, pasta w/ egg, and gnocchi. I'm bad at describing pasta, but my dish was pretty awesome :). The pumpkin flavor was subtle and not overdone with excessive spicing. The noodles were soft and creamy... mmm. Everyone (besides Ken :p) really enjoyed theirs as well. James said something like "one of the best noodle dishes of his life," crazy!!

Sadly, all of the desserts looked kinda nasty to me. I don't like chocolate or coffee or lemon, and that was it. Everyone tried to get some specialty cake that was gone, so instead the restaurant comped us some free desserts and gave us a sampler platter of the rest :).





There was tiramisu, chocolate ice cream cream ball things, and some profiteroles. Not my stuff, but everyone else enjoyed.

I really liked the waiter. He was a friendly Italian dude who seemed to genuinely care that we enjoyed our meal. I also liked that he gave us the free desserts. Good meal!! I'd check this place out again :)

Bieber Fever

chica morada

I don't think it's any secret that Eugi is in love with Justin Bieber. Sure, it all started out innocently with downloading the catchy tune "Eenie Meenie," but it grew to something much deeper. He mourned with all the female youth of America with the haircut incident last week, and of course can't wait to see the 3D experience in theaters. Being the super amazing roommate I am, I promised to accompany him to the movie as long as a nice dinner was involved. Luckily for me, he's been all sketchy with his business lately, so food was on him ;)

By his choice, we ended up at Mochica, a highly acclaimed Peruvian restaurant in SOMA. As you enter you notice numerous awards and merits lining the walls, so expectations are high. It is a small place with nice mood lighting and Peruvian paintings on the walls. Would be a great date spot. Our waiter was really cute :) a young, tan peruvian guy with an accent!

The menu is actually pretty extensive, and it was difficult to pick. Trying to get the full South American experience, I ordered a "chica morada." This is a traditional beverage made of purple corn, a bunch of spices and some apples. It was cinnamoney and a bit sweet :). They also give you a free appetizer of fried chick pea things with onions and spices. It has extremely loud flavors, and will def give you hardcore onion breath. Delicious and worth it though.

For food, we ordered a couple appetizers and entrees. To start, we had (chicharones) fried chicken thighs with a yummy dipping sauce. I REALLY loved the other small plate: Pastelito Choclo. This  was basically a large, round potato, corn, and cheese hashbrown with extra spicing. It was rich and filling, but highly addictive. Our favorite part was the ridiculously large kernels of corn in it! Which of course led me to the question... do they come from really big ears of corn with relatively small kernels, or really small ears with giant kernels?! Insert Lori Beth Denberg "All That" reference here 

My main course was a braised short rib with spicy sauce and mashed and sliced potatoes. It was incredible! Like everything else in the meal, I was amazed by how flavorful everything was!! I wish I knew what kind of spices and cooking techniques it takes to create such bold flavoring. The meat itself was also extremely tender and melted in my mouth. The potatoes were very creamy and delicious, and there were 3 or 4 different sauces splashed around the plate giving different accents to the various parts. Eugi got a pollo dish that resembled some type of thai curry. He seemed to really enjoy it as well. 

Even though we were stuffed, we had to grab dessert when we saw FRIJOLES (alfajores) on the menu. These are my new favorite discovery thanks to my sudden obsession con latinos ;). SO SO SO good. Of the 3 I have tried haha, these were the best. I freaking love dulce de leche. They also came with one (caliente) cafe con leche, (put $20 on today's lottery~~). I hate coffee, but appreciate any "In the Heights" references.

<3

Each course took a really long time even though the restaurant was almost empty. It might have been annoying if the dishes hadn't been so perfectly cooked and obviously freshly made. It was well worth the wait. Also, we had a mix-up on our appetizers, so we were given a coupon for a free one on our next visit which was a nice gesture :). The dinner took so long that we actually ended up missing the movie!! No Bieber for Eugi ;p tear

Great place to try some amazing food that you can't find every day. Definitely check it out

Swanky Sushi

I love dinners with my dad!! Since he flies in and works in Mountain View, we try to do at least bi-weekly meet-ups for food adventuring :) As this week was a special occasion, he pulled out all the stops and took me to Sakae Sushi in Burlingame.

The first positive was that it's about a half-block from the downtown "strip," and parking was insanely easy. For some reason no one was hitting up the Pez Museum at 6:30 on a Wednesday, so I grabbed a space right in front.

Inside has a cute ambiance. I know it's acclaimed to be very authentic, and from my limited Tokyo experience, I'll buy that. I was extremely excited (and slightly heartachey) to see a little Tanuki greeting me at the front desk. I miss August 2010 :( haha. There is a full sushi bar with a few seats, and then several booths and tables. One wall was lined with a giant variety of Sake bottles and lit from behind for a cool effect.

sake wall

The menu is more focused on general Japanese and sashimi than rolls. Items are quite pricey, but super fresh and delicious. Usually when my dad and I go to sushi, we order like 6 of the most fried, bizarre, and American rolls that we can. This time we tried to be a bit more authentic (just barely)

For appetizers, we started off with tempura artichoke hearts with aioli dipping sauce. These were incredible!!! The presentation was gorgeous with leaves surrounding the little fried chunks (i finally get what carlos was trying to explain to me in semi-english about the process of eating artichokes ;D). 

I usually HATE wasabi, but this dish came with a dish of  powder that you could dunk in post aioli. Amazing! It just added a hint of spice.

tempura artichoke hearts with aioli and wasabi

Next we got the sashimi mixed plate. I suck at fish (despite my obsession with it) so I can't even remember what it was. Salmon of some sort, scallops, etc.... It was very delicious though, and reminded me of my meal at the Tsukiji Fish Market :) (will blog about someday...). 

sashimi mix plate

Finally our roll plate! The selection of rolls was minimal, so we went with some standbys like Spider. Here is what excited me very very most though.... EGG PELLET!!! So when I was in Japan, I discovered the most amazing concept. A condensed thing of egg, usually rectangular, that was slightly sweetened. I adoringly nicknamed it "egg pellet" and have longed for it ever since. They prolly sell it at a lot of places, but this is the first time I've gotten it. Unfortunately, it was in sushi format and not quite as yummy as what I remembered, but still, good good memories :)

EGG PELLET <3

Only complaint was that service was quite slow. There are only two servers, and the place was packed. We had to call the waitress over several times to refill our waters and order more. Also, their dessert selection was lacking. Options were choco cake or green tea ice cream. 

All-in-all, very very good place! It's expensive, but if you want a swanky sushi expedition, check it out!!

Ramen Questing

more backblog:

I'm always looking for new, yummy ramen places! There seem to be so few legit ones, and every time I find one, it makes me so happy. Sometime last November, Steve and I hit up Himawari in San Mateo for lunch. I had only heard so-so reviews of the place, so I went in with some hesitation.

mmm butter ramen

The inside is adorable! It was very crowded for lunch, but luckily we came early. It definitely has a trendy cafe feel with modern decor and plentiful seating. I guess it should be expected after seeing the adorable squiggly-fonted sign outside.

I ended up ordering a "butter ramen" and Steve got a deluxe ramen with pork. I LOVED mine!!! I'm totally American, so chances are what I was loving was like the orange-chicken of ramen, but it was so good. I think I added egg and extra corn, so it was basically like a corn on the cob stew with hints of ramen spices and yumminess.

giant meat chunk

His was also quite tasty, and I was really impressed by the pork. Instead of the traditional, flat slabs, his contained large cubes of meat! They were very tender and flavorful <3. I've never really seen cubes of meat like that, and all I could think of was the opening to Dexter when he cuts the large square out of the ham. Any meal that reminds me of that show is total win. 

Dexter meat

I think I liked this place better than Ramen Dojo or Santa Ramen :O!! But once again, it's prolly cuz I americanized my dish :)

Donut Rush

Alright! random backblog:

Psycho Donuts!! I can't even remember where I heard about these, but I totally freaked out. Psycho Donuts is a cafe (or few cafes) in San Jo that are all S&M snarky in-your-face sugar rush delicious themed. Sadly, I've never actually been in one :( I'm fortunate enough to have my awesome Gee Unit who picks them up for the team on the way to work. If you check the Yelp pics though, the place looks like a blast

so much variety! my favorites here are the heart and the hello panda

Basically, they make the most absurd donuts they can come up with and sell them at a premium. Menu is located here, but some highlights are:

-Cereal Killer: glazed donut topped with frosting and crunch berries

-Hamburger: Jelly filled, maple butter glazed donuts with bacon in the middle

-Comfortably Numb: Baby shaped cream filled donut

Beyond that, there are just tons of fun varieties with creative shapes and toppings like: pocky, hello pandas, green tea, coconut, raspberry custard, butterfingers, oreos............. etc :). Really yummy

note the bacon filled donut on the far right. gross! love the presentation :)

They are super rich, and don't last well. So best advice is to get a dozen to split with a big group so you can try a bunch of flavors. At around ~$20 a dozen, they are a fun occasional novelty.

Birthday Baking

I figured I'd also start recording my baking/cooking adventures :). This weekend I promised Katelyn I'd try to make her some gourmet cupcakes as a post bday present. She doesn't actually like gourmet cupcakes, so I had to try to stealthily pick a regular recipe with some exotic twists. Other problem was she likes choco cake which I freaking hate! Such a dilemma :S

cream cheese, sugar, egg & choco chips

Since cream cheese makes everything good, I settled on this Creamy Chocolate Cupcake recipe. It was really simple and straight forward- easy for anyone. You basically just add all the stuff in a bowl, and put it in the oven. The one interesting ingredient I found (and spent 20 mins in Safeway searching for...) was vinegar! Not sure what it did, but I think it had a positive effect.

I was really surprised when I tasted the batter, because it was DELICIOUS! My favorite part of baking is licking the bowl, and I was most certainly not disappointed.

The cream cheese filling also was awesome to lick, but since it contained mostly raw egg, I only let myself spoon out a little :(

they kind of looked like fudge :D

I was really excited about the way they looked going in to the oven! And I was lucky and they cooked perfectly

The end result was good :). It ended up being more muffin-like than cupcakey, but it was still awesome. Basically a light chocolate cake/muffin with a gooey fill/top and walnuts. I actually initially planned on making an additional chocolate glaze to put on top, but after seeing them cooked, I thought it would be overkill.

mmm final product!

Only complaint was that they could have been squishier. I was impressed I made a choco cake that I enjoyed though. Sharon win!!

Pies: the Cupcakes of 2011

At least according to Yelp! And we all know that the social collective-conscious does not lie. Either way, I'm all about jumping on board with the bizarrely flavored baked good trends. So I started my pie experience at the highly appealing looking Mission Pie.

sign is a lot cuter in the sun

pie counter

Jess and I arrived around 4pm on a chilly yet clear Sunday, and I was amazed at the crowd! It's a small, cute, homey atmosphere with mismatched wooden tables and chairs. Every seat was taken, many by people idling away on their laptops and drinking coffee. I was really excited at the counter because of the plethora of savory and sweet pies. I wasn't too hungry, so I settled on the "blueberry custard" slice. I was super tempted by the potato, nettle and leek quiche, but just didn't have room today.

We ended up having to sit at kind of a group table, squashed in between noisey friends and some dude trying to browse the news (Facebook) on his tablet-esque device. Not sure if it was a small iPad clone or a large smart phone... but he was definitely taking up more this his share of the table. Luckily the group left so the poor guy didn't have to be subjected to a full 30 mins of our guy gossiping (although it was quite entertaining ;D).

SNAIL ART!

The pie itself was sadly not that exciting. It was alright... but nothing to write home about. What confused me was the consistency and flavor of the custard. In my book, custard is like thick pudding, but this pie was almost like omelet texture with a sweet egg taste. At the bottom was some canned blueberry paste. It wasn't bad, it just was not what I was hoping for or expecting. The crust was amazing though :) so I will try to give this place another chance with a diff flavor of pie. 

 Mission Pie? More like Epic Pie! (had to blow this up for full-on chiaroscuroed awesome)

It was definitely pleasant, but not something I'd repeat ASAP

the Castro's late night back-up

Last night we had another wonderful time in the Mission, closing out the bars (at the whopping CA hour of 2 am). Due to the fact that it took us a good 35 minutes and 8 blocks (in like 20 degree weather) to get a Jess a cab, we all ended up super craving some hot cooked late-night snackage. Of course, the immediate thought was to hit up the beloved Orphan Andy's <3, so we naively quested from the taqueria filled Valencia st. to my hood. 

Desert Fries, not to be confused with Dessert Fries

Because the Castro is SF's most happening place, and OA can seat about 10 people at a time, it was completely packed with a huge line. After some pro-tips from the dude ahead of us, we found out that Sparky's was even more congested, and so we put our faith in a Yelp search. Up came Bagdad Cafe, the triangular place that you always see when you are waiting for the light on 16th & Market. Thankfully there was no wait so we were sold.

giant nachos

The menu wasn't exceptionally exciting, pretty basic cafe/diner food... but without the pizazz or special items. BEWARE! they try to trick you with claiming to have "dessert fries." I'm not entirely sure what that means, but I imagine that anything involving sweet and french fries (e.g. sweet potato fries, fries & ice cream, etc) must be hardcore win. Not so much!!! It's actually "desert" fries which are just regular with some spicyness. LAME and misleading

Beyond that, the food was kind of expensive and not memorable. The fries were all soggy. Ken got a giant plate of nachos which was exciting from a purely quantitative perspective. Took forever for food and bill and we didn't get home till like 4am. boooo

really cool IRL

The one positive was that they had some very nice artwork on the wall. My favorite was the above (horribly cell photoed) painting of the neighborhood. It has Mr. Sutro in it <3 so that always makes me happy :)

Empanada Barn

i had my first foray in to the exciting world of (non home-cooked :) ) Chilean cuisine today. it was AWESOME!!!

adorable store front with fun, historically culturally relevant pictures

Among the 5 million delicious and exciting ethnic stops in the Mission lies a mini storefront of amazing: Chile Lindo Empanadas . It's on 16th street (like everything else) between Capp & Van Ness and easy to miss. The shop (and by shop I mean small window) is run by a cute Chilean woman and has a very simple menu of 4 different types of empanadas with a few extras (like authentic alfajores). they are $5 (cash only) and really filling

mmm uber quesidilla. so cheesy. so awesome.

 We picked up two types: queso & jalapeno and pino (onions, olive, egg, meat, sauce, etc) and apparently (according to a highly knowledgeable source) they are extremely authentic to the street foods of Chile :). They were so delcious! The attendant cooks them fresh for you meaning you walk away with steaming little meals of portable yumminess.

Chile in a crust

Despite the pouring rain, lack of shower, makeup, and appropriate clothing... this lunch endeavor was an :D experience and i can't wait to go back again and try more flavors. :)

highly highly recommend!

WHO BRINGS A F*CKING CREDIT CARD TO A GROUP DINNER?!

HI!!!! soooo... i was going super strong last year on my food blog until i went to Japan. Then i got really stressed cuz there were too many things to post and freaked out and quit forever which was way lame since i ate tons of awesome places. sigh sigh. maybe some back blogging. we will see. But! at least for the moment i will try to be good :D

In order to celebrate cumpleanos de Katelyn, she, eugieugi, Carlos & I hit up a favorite intern haunt: el Torito!

I think we all know el Torito, so I won't go in to too many details. We all excitedly ordered the $11.99 3 course "MexiMeal" as it was a substantially better value than the main dishes

apparently the espolon margartini is a fail though, so don't order that

 Of course my fav part of this place is the "bottomless" chips and salsa. LIES!! either they don't expect to have lunch patronage or they just really freaking hated us cuz the service sucked. Please note the immediately empty chip basket to the left. one for four people!? are they serious >: |

Being a Sharon, I couldn't concentrate on the witty mingling cuz i was so focused on this:

full basket of chips in the next booth over

Such a waste! I hate it when people leave tons of food on their table. I was seriously so tempted to jump across the booth and swipe the basket. It was totally untouched and we were so starving. oh!! and you can't really see it here, but they also left a full ice cream there too :'( </3 wish i had gone for it

corn mush!
katelyn: is it an entree?
carlos: no it's hot

it looked bigger in the picture :(

Ok... haha this is el Torito so I'm already sick of describing it. below are the main dishes. mine was kind of gross. floutes? in the picture it looked like it was the entree with the greatest quantity so i went for it.. but it was nasty. let's just say i've had better Hot Pockets. i did enjoy the tortillas for the guys' fajitas tho

even dessert was a little disappointing. i had the "fried ice cream" which was just really fried tasting (in a surprisingly not good way)

fried fail :(

the lunch was amazing cuz i <3<3<3ed the company :) but def not cuz of the cuisine. sigh. it made me miss mike roth and dylan too :( and being an intern. life was so simple back then~~~~