Slutty Supperclub

aerial show in dining room

Yay for experiential dining! I finally got to SOMA's famous supperclub last night with Leo :). We got a groupon for it almost a year ago, and as with most groupons, never found the time. supperclub is basically a set price dinner + show experience that changes every night. You begin by sketchily lining up outside on the street until the doors open around 7:15. You are then led in to a disco ball filled, dark red waiting room where the hostess (a highly sassy drag queen) checks your reservation and escorts you in to the dining area. 

The dining area is a square-shaped, two story white room. All of the normal lights are off, and colored lights fill the space. Instead of chairs/tables, the walls are lined with bed-like sofas. You are seated in a row, take your shoes off and lay down against a pillow. There is a convenient bed tray for all your food and drinks. 

In the middle, a DJ spins loud music, and off to the side you can see an open kitchen where the food is prepared. You almost knock in to a trapese artist who is hanging in front of the entrance way. It is definitely one of those "we are def in SF/edgy global city" type establishments. The hostess was in giant hooker platforms, fishnets, and a see through shirt with pasties, and insisted that we all answer "SLUTTY!!!" whenever asked how we were or how our dinner was going. As she yelled out things like "raise your hand if you have a vagina!" and called the patron next to us "mr. german big dick," I had a great time imagining the result of a supperclub opening up in Salt Lake City ;D. 

opera singer

The first course was very delicious. It was a little pot of curry with sour cream. It was kind of weird because I've never had straight up curry sauce with no rice or meat, but somehow it really worked and was a unique and awesome appetizer. The show to accompany appetizers was a dude dressed like a satyr that went to the top of the room, leaned out of a sheet with a hole in it, and did an interpretive dance to images and the song "Lucy in the Sky with Diamonds." So bizarre.

In between courses/shows, there was a lot of down time to relax and mingle. The performers came around and talked to you, and there was a lot of random stuff going on. The next course was a salmon dish. I'm not entirely sure what else was on it... but there was def some cream sauce. It was alright, but nothing too special. The act to accompany it was a random opera singer. I'm not entirely sure what she was singing, but she was quite good, and it was a cool experience because she walked around the room and would stand right next to you while she belted it out.

The biggest surprise came next, I thought that it was going to be dessert, but randomly, there was a second main course! This time it was some sort of "free range chicken" thing. I'm not a big chicken fan, but the sauce was good and I liked the shallots. The act for this course was the best, the trapese girl did a set of aerial gymnastics on fabric. Since Ken & I actually took some classes in that, I appreciate how hard it is, and really enjoy watching the cirque-de-solei esque action!!

Finally, my favorite course :O dessert! This was a platter of random foods- strawberries, choco lava cake, passion fruit whipped cream, and apple gelato. Mmm, super good! Wish we had 2 courses of dessert :). The show for this was the hostess doing a strip tease number that ended in pouring champagne all over herself.

With the groupon, we still ended up paying $50. All drinks are extra, and they obviously include tip and tax from the original total. Totally worth it for that price!! I don't know if I'd go spend the full price for it, but it seems like you can frequently find coupon deals. It's a very very good date place. Almost all the patrons were young and hip, and there was also an older Indian couple on their 17th year anniversary. They looked SO uncomfy at first (bet the dude wished he had planned sooner and just gotten those French Laundry reservations), but by the end, they were having fun. 

So yes, supperclub was a very fun time and I recommend you all go find coupons for it and take a date :) The whole dinner took about 3 hours, but it wasn't very busy... so that might be skewed down. Makes for a good night event. I love all these weird SF places. Just need to find some more!! (suggestions appreciated)

Fusion that Can't Fail

I've never really understood "fusion" food. It generally just ends up being over-priced (albeit often delicious) Americanized Asian stuff.  I am highly in to bizarre foods though, so when I read about the coming soon Sushirrito in SOMA, I could not wait!! A sushirrito is exactly what it sounds like: combo of sushi & a burrito. AMAZING! Only problem is that the store is open for weekday lunch, and I work in Redwood Shores :(

reminiscent of a burrito bar :)

Since I'm freaking sick again, I was rocking the wfh. Normally when I'm wfh, I make a point of it to stay in PJs and clean out the cabinets and fridge to the best of my ability. But today, I decided to be crazy since it's Friday and venture out on a lunch quest! After some Yelp research, I found out that Sushirrito tends to get horredous lines around the lunch rush, so I planned on getting about 30 mins before they closed at 3. Of course I was late to leave my house, so I rolled out around 2:20.

I like to pretend I'm an expert at SF driving which is a complete lie. I knew the place was in SOMA near 2nd and between Market and Mission. I hate driving on Market Street, so I thought I'd take a different route. I ended up on Folsom and got all the way down to SOMA when I ran in to an issue I had forgotten to take in to account. YOU CAN'T FREAKING MAKE ANY LEFT TURNS EVER! Stupid non-one-way-street no turn signs >: |. I was already totally late at this point, so I was starting to get super flustered. I decided to make some strategic right turns instead. failfailfail. I'll spare the details, but the highlight of that endeavor was me making a highly illegal u-turn to avoid turning on to some secret carpool entrance to the Bay Bridge. Good times.

I was too shy to take a pic of the rest cuz people were staring

Once I finally got my car on Mission heading back west, it was like 2:45 and I was freaking out. I took the first parking spot I could find on the side. The f-ing meters there are ridica expensive, and I only had 2 quarters which got me about 5 mins. I tried to stick my credit card in, but it would only fill it to 15 mins even though it was an hour meter?? (BTW, since when can you use credit in those? awesome!!). After that, I booked it up the street. I was totally shamelessly running and knocking in to people, but I was not going to miss my sushi burrito! I arrived at the shop with a few mins to spare and was amazed that there was still a decent sized crow waiting for their food. 

I ordered the "Latin Ninja" roll mainly because it had mango :). The menu had like 6 choices, and all of them sounded pretty tasty. They contain pretty typical sushi fair but with a little bit of extra sauces/spicing. The shop itself is pretty small and has a few standing room only tables that can be pulled down from the walls. Definitely a lunch spot for people who work in the area. 

Luckily my sushirrito was done quickly so I was able to run back to my car before the meter ran out. Oh and anyone in the vicinity of 1st and Mission today around 2:55 prolly saw my butt cuz a huge gust of wind came right as I tried to get in my car with my hands full. Even better times!

warning: do NOT remove from paper wrapper!

I was so relieved to arrive back in my beloved Twin Peaks apartment and settle down with my Outlook and lunch. I actually really enjoyed it :). It was pretty much just a giant sushi roll. I feel like it might have kind of tasted like pre-packed sushi, but they poured on a lot of green onion-ey cilantro sauce which made it really unique and good. I was a bit timid about the giant pieces of salmon, but they were fresh and delicious too :). I made the mistake of unwrapping the paper from the first half which made the first side totally explode everywhere!! Beware, they can be very messy. I ate it quickly an it was decently filling and felt pretty healthy. My only complaint is that $10+ seems like a steep price for the amount of food you get. 

I probably won't be back anytime soon due to how highly inaccessible it is to me, but I highly recommend everyone try it at least once! I love weird foods!!!! :D

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

Gold Medal Pizza

So stoked. I had the best dinner tonight :D. I hit up Zero Zero, the super trendy new italian/pizza joint in SOMA. You can tell from the outside this place is hopping. It's got a great atmosphere, all mood lit and two stories & two bars. It's definitely got the swanky- I'm cool & I know it vibe. The entire meal i was fixated on a bizzare picture that covered the back wall with a Pinocchio-esque puppet stuck to a pizza. If that doesn't scream hip, i don't know what does.

Anyways, FOOD!! Seriously, so great. For an appetizer, eugi and I split ricotta stuffed fried butternut squash in pesto w/ tomatoes. Quite good, it was tempura-ey and the tomatoes were an awesome pallet cleanser from the bold flavors of the squash. Only complaint was that the bowl had three. wtf. there are two of us!! Couldn't you at least give us an even number?? It's like when you go to dinner with 4 people and they give you 5 breads, someone's gotta be the douche and take the last piece.

Pizza Filer!

But the pizza completely outshone that. For the record, outshone is apparently a word because there's no red squiggle action going on. Bizarre. I knew we were in for a treat when our waiter brought the "pizza filer" to our table :). There was quite a nice menu. I got a white pizza with rosemary oil, mozzarella, parmesan, and potatoes and eugi got margherrita. mmmmm so freaking tasty!!! It was so light (meaning i didn't feel like crap when i horked my entire pie) and the flavors were so potent and fresh! Mine was incredible with some red pepper flakes to spice up the flavor and eugi's was classic amazing.

Up close and personal pizza

As if this wasn't good enough, Zero Zero is also known for their soft serve ice cream!! It's even build-your-own, so the waiter brings you a paper and pencil and you mark off what you want (unfortunately no fried egg). I got vanilla w/ caramel and toffee. The softserve was so insanely creamy <3 a very pleasant experience. they also had some neat "bases" for their ice cream like cinnamon waffle, but i'm too cheap to pay an extra $4 for one. Great great place. I'll be back to try more!

giant soft serve

P.S. the joke in the name is that the menu said "zero zero is the flour used in italy to make dough." so i asked eugi if it was fancy and he scoffed and said no, its the most generic brand there is. then i fantasized about there being an american restaurant named "gold medal" in italy :) hilarious to me and prolly me only

Fried Makes Everything Better

I am completely in love with Butter bar on 11th and Harrison (SOMA near Mission). It is totally dive, proudly "white trash" themed, and such a great place to bring a group and hang-out. They are only open on the weekends, but Sunday is karaoke night which makes it all ok. (don't be intimidated, they are eminem, dream on, and g-pop friendly!!) The crowd is bizarre (my hair is the tamest there), but all very eclecticly fun. There is a combo of goth, hipster, and then old people who wear shirts with realistic animals they bought at national parks.

karaoke w/ bill the pimp

mmmmm

but who cares! cuz it's allllll about the food <:D. Not only do they keep you content by offering unlimited free popcorn, but they also serve the most comforting-comfort food you will find. Fried everything! I've been twice and gotten: White Castle sliders, mo-sticks, fried Uncrustable (yepppp PB&J, fried, topped with whipped cream, choco sauce, sprinkles and marshmallows), chili cheese tater tots, and my new favorite: FRIED MACARONI AND CHEESE! i don't even get how it works?! ok, i kind of do... they are little bread-fried nuggets filled with mac & cheese goodness. the science behind it is beyond me.

Also- pretending you drink more than diet coke, they have a cool selection of beverages. Lots of fruity yummy looking selections that can get you trashed fast.

winnebago!

PS: the manager Dennis is all about video games, so EA people, you can get free drinks if you bring him games!! :)