San Francisco Food Crawl Part 2: The Mission

After a fun - but rained out - first attempt at a food crawl, we finally settled on a date for round two.   This time we decided to keep it all walkable, so all of the places we went were in the Mission. I like the idea of doing a food crawl by region anyway - San Francisco has so many different neighborhoods with great food, plus it's a good excuse to keep doing more of these crawls and exploring different areas of the city. 

Our first stop was The Monk's Kettle. I've said it before and I'll say it again: I like a good font and logo, and this place has both.  Even though they are known for their huge variety of beer - both on tap and in bottles - we were there specifically for the giant pretzel. And since our group was bigger this time (we lost one person, but gained three, for a total of seven) we decided we needed to order more food at each place.  

On the left is the mac and cheese made with house-made cheddar ale sauce and toasted bread crumbs.  We didn't love the mac and cheese - it was ok, but we all wished it were a bit heartier (the non-vegetarians were specifically mentioning it'd be much better with bacon).  The pretzel lived up to it's reputation. It's served with stone ground mustard and more house-made cheddar ale sauce and it is so much better than the pretzels you get from street carts. 

It's a little bit awkward going into a restaurant with seven people and then telling them you aren't really there for a meal - just to try a couple of things. Our waiter totally went with it and was very sweet about having us taking up a whole table.  We definitely could have eaten more there - and I fully intend to go back to try the lobster pot pie - but we were pacing ourselves for the rest of the day. 

Round two was easy enough to get to - across the street from The Monk's Kettle is a Pakistani/Indian restaurant called Pakwan.  We stopped in here quickly to get some chai to go.  I have to admit that I am used to the American-ized chai from places like Starbucks and Peets.  This was so much more subtle and not nearly as sweet - and at $1 a cup, it's also a way better deal. We took our chais and headed down 16th Street to our next stop, Balompie Cafe. 

So this place is tricky to find if you're like me and rely on Google maps, because Google maps will tell you it is on 18th Street and Alabama.  Ignore that, because it isn't there. We were lucky because as we headed down 18th Street we happened to find it in front of us (it's at Capp, between Mission and Van Ness, if you're wondering). 

There are a few locations of Balompies, but this one is the oldest one. The 7x7 list tells you to go to Balompies #3 (in the outer Mission/Bernal Heights area) but that wasn't walkable for us and really, I don't know how necessary that is because we all loved the papusas here. We ordered three different types - bean & cheese, zucchini & cheese and the loroco con queso, which was "native Salvadorean vegetables & cheese". Are you seeing the cheese theme here? Our group was comprised of cheese lovers, so we were all very, very happy.  Each order comes with two papusas and costs $2.50. I really don't know of a cheaper meal than that.

This was my first ever papusa, and I am now a big fan. Usually if we want cheap eats in the Mission, we go to one of the many taquerias in the neighborhood, and I'm so excited to have a new option. We all left here talking about how we want to come back.

Next up on our list: Dynamo Donuts. By the time we got there - around 2pm - they were sold out of all donuts except the cornmeal rosemary cherry and lemon thyme. I was slightly disappointed because I had wanted to try the spiced chocolate donut. Once we tried these two though I didn't mind missing the chocolate - they were both incredible.   The owner was also there and very friendly: he told me that on any given day they have about 7 - 10 different varieties, and that the spiced chocolate is not one of his favorites. The most popular donut, which they have daily, is the maple glazed bacon apple. I guess I'll have to go back for that one too.

He also took me out back to show me the patio that they were just finishing getting ready to debut - it opens tomorrow!

Our group had dwindled by this point, but our group of four persevered and headed back up 24th Street to Humphry Slocombe.

They are always so nice there and let you sample all of their crazy flavors. I tried two that I would never want to have a whole cup of - golden beet safron sorbet and thai chili lime sorbet. The beet one really tasted of beets, probably not something you'd really want for dessert. The chili lime was surprising - at first I didn't taste much, and then it really gives you a big chili punch. 

In the end, we picked three: Secret Breakfast (cornflakes and bourbon), Balsamic Caramel and Chocolate Smoked Salt. We were too late to try the Harvey Milk & Honey Graham Cracker ice cream, which was only available today, for Harvey Milk Day.   None of us liked the Balsamic Caramel - too much balsamic, not enough caramel. We all liked the Secret Breakfast but our favorite was the Chocolate Smoked Salt.  

We left there full but not yet done with our mission: we had one last stop, at Anthony's Cookies. 

I'm not sure if this is true in all cities, but I love that in San Francisco you can find, in walking distance from each other, shops that specialize in just donuts or just cookies.  I wouldn't think that would be a sustainable business model, but Anthony's has been around since 1997 so they must be doing something right. We ordered three different types: Cookies and Cream, Toffee Chip and German Chocolate.  Much like with the ice cream, the one we liked best was not the one on the 7x7 list: the toffee chip was the hands down winner. We all liked the cookies and cream and none of us liked the German Chocolate,  which didn't really have much flavor.

Though we could have followed up our cookies with pie from Mission Pie or cupcakes from Mission Minis, we decided to call it a day here. We walked three miles, spent about $15 each and consumed more calories than those three miles could possibly offset. What a perfect way to spend a Saturday afternoon.

(for restaurant addresses and phone numbers, click below)

Out The Door, Fillmore

Out The Door is part of the Slanted Door family - it's the cheaper, more accessible version. I've been to the Out The Door downtown (yes, in the mall) a few times and it's a pretty good option if you are shopping and hungry. The menu at the Fillmore location seems pretty similar, but I did like the food better here - maybe because it was brunch, or maybe because... I wasn't in a mall. 

I started off with some peppermint tea. Heather was not impressed - and made the good point of, "I can't believe they charge $3 to put some mint leaves in hot water". It was good though, and now I know what to do with the mint leaves I have at home so I don't have to throw them away because they've gone brown. 

I always love going to brunch with Heather because I know she'll also want to get a bunch of things and share everything.  This was the vegetarian steamed bun which we both liked. I want someone to show me how they make the dough for a steamed bun.

The brunch menu is a mix of mostly Vietnamese options, with some standard American stuff thrown in, like pancakes and scones. We ordered the rice cake egg scramble, which is made of rice cake, bean sprouts, pickled daikon and soy.  My favorite thing at Slanted Door is the daikon rice cake, and this dish had very similar flavors.  It was a really unique egg dish, and I would definitely go back and order it again. We also ordered the ricotta pancakes with strawberry rhubarb compote. The pancakes were pretty good - and I love anything with strawberry and rhubarb - but they didn't compare to the pancakes at La Note.

I will definitely be back here for brunch - I'm still wondering about the coconut caramel roll which we didn't try.

Out The Door
2232 Bush Street
San Francisco, CA 94115 
(415) 923-9575 

Bouchon Bakery, Yountville

Before eating dinner at Ad Hoc, we had dessert at Bouchon Bakery. This is another one of those places that I'd like even if the desserts weren't amazing - it is so well designed and everything in there I really, really wanted to try. It was incredibly hard to pick what to eat - so we picked lots of things, and had dessert tapas.

There's a window in the bakery where you can see the pastry chef at work. It must be incredibly annoying to be this guy and have people taking pictures and gawking at you all day as you create amazingly intricate pastries. 

The macarons really caught my eye - they always look so colorful and perfect. It's hard to tell in the photo, but the diameter is much bigger than the other french macarons I've had. We got two of these - the chocolate and the espresso. 

We also got the strawberry rhubarb tart, which was really more like a cheesecake. A very good cheesecake. That's the espresso macaron above. I loved how the inside was actually a little bit cold- I've never had that before. Are they all supposed to be like that, and I've only been eating sub-par ones?   We also ordered the chocolate bouchon, which was kind of like a brownie and really amazing. We all agreed that the bouchon and the macarons were the big winners. The cookies - both the chocolate chip and the chocolate chocolate chip - were only just ok.

Our celebrity sighting for the day - hello, Beethoven!

Bouchon Bakery

6534 Washington Street
Yountville, CA 94599-1397
(707) 944-8037

Ad Hoc, Yountville

For the last two months, I had really been looking forward to this past Saturday. I had booked a table for four at Ad Hoc, and I *could * not * wait * to * go.  Ad Hoc is in Yountville, also known as Kellerville, because it is home to not only Ad Hoc but The French Laundry, Bouchon, and the Bouchon Bakery. We killed some time waiting for our table by having snacks at Bouchon Bakery first - but we'll save that for another post.

The premise of the restaurant is that they serve a different four course meal every night for $49. I had been religiously checking their website to see what the daily meals were leading up to our dinner, and I had also been through his cookbook and wanted to eat everything in there. Needless to say, my expectations for this meal were ridiculously high.

Our first course was an endive salad with some tempura'd vegetables - ramps, carrots and mushrooms - in a nicoise olive vinaigrette.  We immediately thought it smelled like Chinese food when it was put on our table, and the first bite was pronounced, "meh".  And really, that sums it up. There just really isn't anything to say about this salad, other than it sort of tasted like Chinese food. We are big fans of the salads at Range - they are so simple, but always taste so fresh and are perfectly dressed - and I expected the salad here to be just as good as that - better even. Especially because I had read so many reviews where people talk about how fresh the lettuce is, how perfect the tomatoes are..... and our salad was, well, fried.  It did look pretty though.

The main course of the night was grilled pork tenderloin, served with pork belly, barley, spring vegetables and kale chips, served with a pink lady apple mustard. This was by far the highlight of the meal for me. The tenderloin was great - tender and juicy, very flavorful, and the pork belly really did just melt in your mouth. The vegetables and barley went really nicely with it all, and all four of us highly approved. Even Kev, who doesn't really like pork. 

The entree is followed by the cheese course, and ours was a Swiss cheese, served with wildflower honey and mixed nuts. We had many different reactions to this course. I liked the cheese with the honey, but not with the nuts. Kev liked the nuts, but not the cheese and not the honey.  Brittany liked all three, and I think Mark just liked making the nuts stick to the cheese by applying the honey like a glue. I also liked the cute little pot the honey was served in.

The final course is dessert, and ours was a tiramisu, made with house made lady fingers and mascarpone cream. We all liked the tiramisu, and the coffee as well.

Maybe my expectations were unrealistic, but I was fairly underwhelmed by the meal.   Or maybe we just went on the wrong night.  When we got home, I looked up other people's reviews, and kept finding different menus that I think I would have loved. For example, the meal  being served tonight, as I write this blog entry - fried chicken and waffles! With potatoes and cabbage! Home made ice cream sandwiches! Made with rum soaked brioche! That is a meal I could definitely get excited about. 

With all of the amazing restaurants in San Francisco, I'm not sure I can convince these guys to take another 3 1/2 hour round trip drive for dinner in the near future. I think our plan instead is to try making the famous fried chicken ourselves.

Ad Hoc
6476 Washington Street
Yountville, CA 94599-1294
(707) 944-2487

Bi-Rite Creamery (soft serve edition), Mission

Sunday was actually hot, which is so rare in San Francisco. We took advantage and walked over to the newly expanded Bi-Rite Creamery for some soft serve ice cream. The big advantage to the soft serve? You don't have to wait in the crazy long line for the regular ice cream. 

The soft serve window has two flavors (plus swirl), bakery stuff and ice cream cookie sandwiches. Last time I was there it was just vanilla and chocolate. This time it was chocolate and salted caramel. I got the swirl, Kev got an ice cream cookie sandwich.

We had opposite problems: Mine was quickly melting so had to be eaten super fast (not really a problem). The ice cream sandwich needed to soften up a little so you could really taste the cookie.  I thought the sandwich was really good - and I want to go back and try the meyer lemon flavor one. I liked the ice cream too - but I think I prefer chocolate and vanilla. I'm traditional like that.
 

Now that it is warming up, I think an SF Ice Cream tour is in order.

Bi-Rite Creamery

3692 18th St
San Francisco, CA 94110
(415) 626-5600

Dinner at home: Prosciutto wrapped chicken, potatoes and asparagus

Last night we wound up doing some last minute babysitting, and were paid with a fantastic dinner. I forgot to bring my camera, so my iPhone filled in. 

Have you had the black olives from the olive bar at Whole Foods? They are my favorite.
(That's the chef with his striped socks on the striped rug).

You can't really go wrong with prosciutto, rosemary, cheese and butter.

San Francisco Food Crawl Part 1: Ferry Building

Last year, a co-worker told me she had gone on a food crawl with some friends. This was the first time I had heard of a food crawl, which is basically like a pub crawl but with food - so obviously way better. I had been wanting to do my own version ever since I heard about it, and so after about a hundred emails trying to figure out what date works best for 4 people, we decided on this past Sunday.  We picked a bunch of places (mostly based off the 7x7 100 Things To Eat List) where we could go as a group of 4 and order one item and share it between us, which would allow us to try lots of different things before we got full. 

We started out at the Ferry Building, at Mijita. They are on the list for their Albondigas soup, which I learned when I ordered it is actually meatball soup. This was a slight problem because two of our four are vegetarian. They ordered something else, and Brittany and I shared the soup.

It turns out that Mexican meatball soup tastes a lot like tortilla soup - the flavors to me were really similar, plus meatballs. It was good - but I don't know that it would be on my top 100 things to eat list. The two of us made a small dent in the giant bowl before we called it quits and got ready to move on to the next stop, Miette.

Remember when I said I'm a font snob?  Miette's branding has the opposite effect on me that Philz Coffee does. Everything about this place - the logo, the packaging, the displays - makes me want to buy something. How could it not be good when it looks like this?

We managed to only buy the one thing on the list: gingerbread snaps.  They had a good crunch to them, but again, I'm not sure that of all the amazing things at Miette that this one would be at the top of my list.

Our last stop at the Ferry Building was supposed to be Out The Door (for their spring rolls). We showed up and found this sign: 

And.... that was it for the food crawl. We hadn't accounted for the fact that it would be pouring on Sunday, the kind of rain that would not be fun to roam around the city in, looking for food. Instead, we headed to my apartment, ordered pizza and watched the Devil Wears Prada.   It worked out though, because pizza + movie + your girl friends is high on my list of 100 things to do (many, many times) before you die.