Mayfield Bakery and Cafe, Palo Alto

I had big (eating) plans this weekend: 1) Nopa for dinner on Saturday night and 2) Bakesale Betty for lunch on Sunday. Want to guess how many of those plans happened? (Answer: Zero.)

Plan 1: Nopa, you and I can never seem to get it together. And by you and I, I mean me. I was all psyched to finally have dinner at Nopa (see: here) but forgot we had made plans to babysit. Oops. Another canceled reservation. When we finally get to eat dinner there, maybe in 2014, they are going to have to work really hard to live up to my expectations. 

Plan 2:  We were supposed to head over to Emeryville to go to Ikea, and then reward ourselves with Bakesale Betty, which I have still never had.  As we got on the 101, at 10am on Sunday morning, we were greeted with a sign saying that 3 lanes on the bridge were closed. We got on anyway, saw the traffic, and decided to head South instead, to the Ikea in Palo Alto. Goodbye, Bakesale Betty..... maybe some other day. 

We still needed to reward ourselves for spending our Sunday morning at Ikea, so we decided to hit up Mayfield Bakery and Cafe. Mayfield is part of the Spruce/Cafe Des Amis family, but I don't think you'd guess that if you didn't know.  The vibe in there just feels really different than their other restaurants. Here's a picture to prove my point: 

I think the staff at either one of those restaurants might frown at drawing on the linens.  Mayfield is much more family friendly though (tons of kids in there for brunch) and drawing on the table was not at all out of place.  Mayfield provides all the baked goods for the other restaurants that are part of the same management group. What this means for you as a customer there: if you go for dinner, they frequently give away loaves of bread at the end of the night. If you go for brunch, they give you delicious treats. Last time I was there, we got zucchini bread. Today we got these madeleines, which were really cakey and had the slightest hint of orange and were delicious.

Kev ordered the country breakfast, which is like your standard egg/potato/bacon/toast. But the potatoes! They call them "cottage potatoes" on the menu, but they reminded me of a potato pancake, which is weird because the texture is completely different - the insides are smooth and creamy in a crunchy, fried shell - but really, it tasted like your favorite Chanukah treat. Which is pretty awesome.

I ordered the romesco and egg flatbread with chorizo, roasted red peppers, pecans and arugula. Oh and a sundried tomato sauce. It was really, really good. They have a wood fire stove so the crust had that nice charring, and the tang of the sundried tomato sauce plus the spice of the chorizo, plus all the other ingredients, were a winning combination, plus it was nice to have something different for breakfast.  And I just had to stop writing this post to go eat the leftovers, so, there you go.

Mayfield Bakery and Cafe
855 El Camino Real
Palo Alto, CA 94301
(650) 853-9200

Knead Patisserie, Mission

Last week, in a moment of pure brilliance and gluttony, I decided to take a different route to the 101 and stop by Knead Patisserie for coffee and breakfast.

On weekday mornings before 11, you can find Shauna (the owner/baker) and her cart in the doorway of Local Mission Eatery, where the bakery is based.  Once the restaurant opens at 11, the operation moves inside.  You might want to click on that link to check out the website for the restaurant because it is a prime example of a logo so well designed that I'd want to eat there even if the menu didn't look amazing.  I'm such a sucker.

I couldn't decide what I wanted, and I really wanted everything, so I picked up a whole bunch of stuff.  This included the pomme d'amore, which is basically pastry wrapped around awesomeness: melted and brûléed caramel.  I was ordered to purchase this by KelsEats, who happened to show up  at the same time as me.  Luckily it isn't very hard to persuade me, because that pastry was amazing.

I tried a little bit of everything and loved it all. I then begrudgingly shared with my coworkers, because even I realize that eating four whole pastries by myself at once might not be the best idea.

Knead Patisserie
3111 24th Street 
San Francisco, CA 94110
(415) 655-3024

Coffee Bar, Mission (Potrero?)

We stopped by Coffee Bar for some brunch this morning on our way to Whole Foods.  It was perfect because it is super close to Whole Foods, there is parking (I think this is becoming a theme with me) and it was quick and easy. Oh yeah, the food was really good too.

We both got the Breakfast Sandwich - eggs over medium, bacon, brie and frisée on brioche. My egg and brie were both really runny and messy, but in a good way. I appreciate that in a sandwich. 

The space itself is super bright and they have a nice outdoor patio for those days when it isn't freezing.

I like you, Coffee Bar.

Coffee Bar
1890 Bryant Street
San Francisco, CA 94110-1459
(415) 551-8100

Una Pizza Napoletana, SOMA

First, a confession: I used to be that annoying person who didn't believe you could get good pizza outside of New York.  This was before the new wave of artisan pizza places hit San Francisco, and before I discovered Marcellos, which I love and is, in my opinion, just as good as any slice you'd get in NY.   I have now learned the error of my ways and eat what is probably too much pizza for my own good, if such a thing is possible.

Last night we hit up one of the newer pizza places, Una Pizza Napoletana. But before we talk about the food, here is some back story in case you haven't been spending your time following the comings and goings of pizza makers around town: the first Una Pizza was in New Jersey.  Anthony Mangieri (the chef/owner) then moved the operation to the East Village where it was incredibly popular and written about extensively. He then decided he wanted to move to California, closed up shop in NY and headed to San Francisco.  

The space itself is a decent size, but much of it is taken up by the oven (which is really the focal point of the room - how cool is that blue tiling?) and the small prep station where Mangieri makes the pizza.  Customers are kept out of this area by a metal railing, but that doesn't stop them from standing in front of the railing and watching (and/or taking pictures).  I would love to know how many pictures of Mangieri must get taken each day.

The menu here is simple: 5 different types of pizza. Some wine, some beer and some non-alcoholic beverages. You want a salad, or maybe some olives, or perhaps a slice of bread? You won't find it here.

The pizzas are all 12 inches. There were 4 of us (plus a baby) and we decided we'd just get all 5 types and take home whatever was left over.   I'm sure you already know how this story is going to end. Here, take a look at the pizzas if you are unsure:

The four of us (and a baby!) had no problem finishing off all five of these pizzas.  They brought them out from the simplest (marinara and margherita) to the most complicated (if you can call arugula, cherry tomatoes and smoked mozzarella complicated).  All of the pizzas were really good, and I especially liked the margherita.  

 

In terms of how Una Pizza compares to all the other pizza places in San Francisco: I think it is right on par with Delfina Pizzeria, which was always my gold standard. Both have that chewy crust which really makes it for me. The major difference between the two though is price: ALL of the pizzas at Una Pizza cost $20. When you compare that against Delfina, where the pizzas range from $10 - $17, ($12.50 for the margherita)  it seems kind of outrageous. Plus Delfina will throw in some bread sticks for free, and you have the option of ordering things besides pizza (mmm, like their meatballs).

I don't mean to discourage you. Personally, I can't even look at this picture and not just want to eat more of that pizza. I guess my advice would be: If you've got $20 in your pocket and can afford to spend that on one pizza, this is a great place to do it.

Una Pizza Napoletana

210 11th St
San Francisco, CA 94103
(415) 861-3444

Ferry Building Goodies

A few little treats from the Ferry Building:

Why yes, that is a cone of meat. From Boccalone.

Finally tried the ramen from Hapa Ramen. This was the fried chicken bowl with a sous vide egg. Yum.  A little different than the top ramen of my college years. We also got the to go kit - basically they give you cold broth in one container and the noodles, meat and other fun stuff in a separate container with some instructions on how to put it all together.  Excited to try that later. 

And lastly, we picked up some chocolate, pear and red wine preserves (I know, it doesn't seem to make sense to me either, but I'm sure it's delicious) from the Tell Tale Preserve Company.

Happy eating.

Nopa

Finally! Nopa! I think this was my fourth time making reservations at Nopa, and all the other times I wound up canceling for one reason or another. Today Sarah and I made plans for brunch, and luckily I had been sitting on these reservations from weeks ago, so we got to try it out.

We got there at 11AM, which is when they open and before they filled up. They seated us upstairs so we got this great birds eye view of the place. I love those yellow stools at the bar.

I loved getting to watch the chefs prepare the dishes. How are they so tidy? Why does my kitchen never stay that neat when I'm cooking? 

Sarah ordered the oven baked farm egg with smoked tomato and pecorino. I love eggs baked in tomato and she was very happy with her order. We also ordered some fun drinks.  I ordered my usual -bloody mary (hold the vodka, hold the ice) and Sarah got the cardamom grapefruit juice.  The non-bloody mary was just on the edge of being too spicy for me, but in a good way (me = spice wimp). I loved how Sarah's drink was presented.

Sarah also got a piece of the goat cheese bread pudding, which was rich and delicious. Nice combo with the eggs.  I got soft scrambled eggs with potatoes and leeks which was great but my picture wasn't so just imagine what it looked like, ok?

Great brunch, awesome service (I forgot to mention I loved our waiter).  I will definitely be coming back here soon. In March, in fact - I just booked another reservation for dinner. Hopefully we won't have to cancel that one.

nopa
560 Divisadero St
San Francisco, California 94117
(415) 864-8643

Zero Zero, SOMA

Last weekend, as part of my plan to try a bunch of the Best New Places of 2010, we headed over to Zero Zero. It wasn't on the Bauer list (though he did give them a great review), but a couple of local food writers had named it as their "Top Restaurant Stand By" for 2010, so we thought we should try it.   

Unlike Bar Agricole, they don't tell you that you are meant to share the dishes, but we decided we wanted to do that anyway. The first two dishes we ordered (roasted meatballs and an arugula and beet salad with avocado and orange) were both excellent and we thought the meatballs were just as good as the ones we've had at Pizzeria Delfina.  Unfortunately the photos of those two didn't turn out, so you'll have to use your imagination.

Next up we ordered potato gnocchi with ham, artichoke and fava leaf pesto.  Yum.

We also ordered a couple of pizzas.  Apparently we hadn't really eaten anything that day and we were all starving.   The pizza on the left is the Fillmore (Hen of the Woods mushrooms, leeks, mozzarella, parmesan, pecorino, fontina, garlic and thyme).  The pizza on the right is the Margherita Extra (the Buffalo mozzarella makes it "extra" - you can also order it with regular mozzarella).  I preferred the Margherita of the two.  They were both good - but I still think Delfina and Flour + Water do a better pizza.

At this point, we were pretty much stuffed but I forced everyone to order dessert. I really, really wanted dessert because I kept reading about their soft serve ice cream sundaes. The waiter brings you a sheet of paper and you get to fill out what you want.  We chose vanilla ice cream with hot fudge, cocoa nibs, toffee, olive oil and salt.  Oh, and you can tell them you only want the half order, which is what we did.  I don't think I need to tell you that this was a perfect ending to this meal. I mean, just look at it, how could you not love that? 

We all really loved our dinner here. Even if the pizza wasn't our favorite, the meal as a whole was excellent. PLUS we found a parking space right out front, so extra points for that. AND the prices are really reasonable - there were four of us, and it wound up being around $20 per person, with tip.  This is definitely on my list of places to return to - I can see this being a top standby place for me for 2011.

Zero Zero

826 Folsom Street
San Francisco, CA 94107
(415) 348-8800