Dec. 17th, 2009
11:25 pm - Shorts

Mission Burger
Hidden inside the Vietnamese grocery store at Mission and 18th st in SF
Damn good. The texture of the meat is very special with the "granulation" process. Crunchy on the outside and juicy on the inside. Unusual. Only toppings - aoli, onion, and cheese. Take-out only (other than a couch or something) A++

Pal's Take-Away
Hidden inside a liquor store on 24th and Hampshire in SF
pretty good sandwiches and salads in an unexpected location. Upscale version of vietnamese sandwich doesn't beat out Saigon Sandwiches, but is good. They serve real NY babka and nothing beats a babka.

Burma Superstar
(non-cheap)
Clement and 4th Ave, SF
Heard the hype and saw the lines for years. Finally got around to trying it. It fully lived up to the hype. Delicious Burmese food. Highlights: tea leaf salad, purple haired waitress

Lers Ros Thai
Larkin and Ellis, SF
I went in a group to this Tenderloin Thai restaurant. The Thai person in our group did all the ordering and made tons of substitutions. I have no idea what we ate but it was the best Thai meal I've ever had.

House of Prime Rib
(non-cheap)
Van Ness @ Washington, SF
The scene: old people, tourists, and ghetto-fabulous couples on dates in an atmosphere that is a caricature of a swanky English setting. Great prime rib.

Roland's Bagels
Haight and Webster, SF
pretty good bagel. not sure if it was available toasted. I'll have to go back. Outstanding cinnamon pastry thing. Hopefully they'll change from America's Best Coffee to Flying Goat Coffee. Then I'd be back more often.

slipping?
- La Perla Mexican restaurant in South SF. The last couple times this place hasn't been so great! Not so fresh or flavorful. What the heck, guys?
- Los Jarritos Mexican Restaurant S. Van Ness at 20th, SF. Last couple times should have been better or at least larger portions for the price. What the heck guys?

still amazing off 101:
- Rajjott: hole in the wall take-out indian at El Camino and Wolfe in Sunnyvale behind a gas station. The atmosphere of a modesto laundrymat and the cheapest tastiest food ever
- Gutierrez Drive-in: on Rossi in Salinas. Glorious carnitas and the best dry roasted hot pepper things ever

RECOMMENDED PRODUCTS:

- Semifreddi's cinnamon twist loaf bread. too good. goes too well with coffee
- Trader Joe's panatone bread. addictive in the morning.
video: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OdB7GDZY3Pk
- Haig's baba ganoush - from their deli on Clement and 7th. so creamy.
- M&M's Premiums Mint Thrills - they look stupid and taste stupidly good
- Wallaby Organic Down Under dark chocolate at the bottom yogurt. suspiciously good

COFFEE:

Sightglass:
7th St off Folsom. In the process of converting an auto garage into a roastery. Currently using good beans from Verve in Santa Cruz. Friendly people making good coffee in a chemex using cups that are too small so it appears that a lot of the coffee gets wasted, unserved.

Matching Half
Baker and McAlister. This place also uses Verve coffee beans from Santa Cruz. Filter drip one cup at a time, slow and deliberate. strong and good.

Graffeo
Columbus off Filbert
Old school Italian roaster. Finally tried their light roast beans. Top notch. Smooth and mellow. Tons of caffeine.

Blue Bottle Yemen beans
... I'm not sure what the deal is with these. I inherited a whole pound of these beans. Sometimes they were good and sometimes grinding them, they would smell pretty gross. I realize they're wild and wooly gamey coffee beans, but I suspect that some beans were weirder than others and therefore when I would make it grinding the beans each time, sometimes it would be good and sometimes bad. Past the halfway point, I was grinding some and it smelled too urine-like and I just had to get rid of it. I gave the rest of the beans away. I'm glad I tried it though. I should also mention that Blue Bottle's Ethiopian Yirgacheffe is some of the best coffee ever made.

Four Barrel
Valencia and 15th, SF
This place is still pretty good. I had a truly great cup there a few weeks ago - their El Salvador Siberia made in a french press. It's on my coffee wish list. I'll have to see if it can be as good made at home.