Artisan Bistro

My hometown has a delectable treat known as Artisan Bistro ; a California style French restaurant, boasting a former sous chef from French Laundry. My family loves to go for special occasions, the most recent one being that my sister and brother-in-law were in town! Ok fine, any time we have the excuse to go, we take it!

The presentation is impeccable, and really every bite is mouth-watering. From time to time they have a 'sunchoke' soup, which is out of this world:

Another soup favorite is the corn soup (with charred baby leeks, sautéed corn, huitlacoche, cilantro) pictured below next to some tempura vegetables:

Below is the sous vide chicken breast and thigh (with bhutanese red rice, broccolini, Romano beans, yellow wax beans, ras el hanout spice, roasted garlic jus), next to the sauteed John Dory (with orlotti beans, kale, artichokes, bouillabaisse consommé, fried sage, almond & rosemary vinaigrette):

Roasted pork loin over polenta (with black eyed pea, blistered corn & chard ragout, pickled chard, purslane, whole grain mustard jus) next to their farro 'risotto' (with nettle cream, royal trumpet mushrooms, fennel, roasted rainbow carrots, scallions, aged Pecorino cheese):

and last but not least, the lamb (with english peas, chanterelle mushrooms, baby spinach, summer squash, gypsy pepper emulsion and vadouvan jus):

As I said before, the presentation is just beautiful, but the real treat is the care and creativity of each ingredient!

Hong Kong Meatballs

Last month I was lucky enough to have several high school friends in town from various cities around the world. Going to school in Hong Kong means that these opportunities are few and far between, and always a blast! The first night we walked to Cha Cha Cha, a delicious cuban/tapas place on Haight st.

Apart from the tasty pitchers of Sangria, we ordered a variety of tapas, my two favorite below are the fried plantains and black beans (I'm drooling now...) and the patatas bravas:

But the real magic happened the second night when we decided that waiting an hour to get into Suppenkuche (another great restaurant) was not in our agenda. Instead, we piled into the grocery store, each tasked with grabbing different ingredients for a simple Italian meal; spaghetti and meatballs.

Doug convinced everyone that he would handle the meatballs, and surprisingly we all decided this would be fine. Back at my place, Doug decides to read the directions for the meatballs, realizing that 1) we didnt have bread crumbs and 2) this was going to take 3 hours. After blending up some old bread in my magic bullet for bread crumbs and declaring '3 hours? we'll do this in 15 minutes', we actually ended up with some delicious, mozarella-stuffed meatballs! Complimented with my new favorite salad (mixed greens, red onion, avocado, toasted pine nuts and parmesan), garlic bread, et voila!:

Auberge du Soleil

I heart wine country!! A few months ago, Chris and I decided to spend a weekend up north to celebrate 1 year together. We drove up on a Friday afternoon, dropped our bags at the Sonoma Mission Inn, and cruised over the hill to the Auberge du Soleil...

It was a beautiful, windy road, with noone else but a few bikers. While enjoying the scenery and constantly refreshing google maps on my phone, I lost cell coverage and driving directions...oops! We did make it though, just in time to be seated on the gorgeous deck overlooking Napa Valley.

One day we'll have to stay the night at this luxurious resort. Check out some of the pictures online, and you will not be disappointed. It is truly a treat to come here for dinner...we were welcomed with champagne and enjoyed a delectable amuse-bouche while we poured over the menus to select our respective four courses...

I started off with a delicious asparagus soup:

then went a little outside my comfort zone, trying the squid ink risotto...the squid on top was stuffed with shrimp et al, and was DELICIOUS:

This was followed by an incredible lamb dish:

I felt guilty because it was so good and I could barely dent the dish! Then again, I would've felt funny asking for a to-go baggie for a strip or two of leftover meat.

Chris opted for a very fresh lobster salad:

followed by John Dory:

followed by steak:

I must blame google for locking me out of my blog...several months have passed since this dinner, and I can't remember the exact descriptions. But, I'm sure you get the gist!

Of course once we think we can't possibly eat any more, they bring us a light hibiscus shot to cleanse our palates (palettes??), and bring us our desserts...

I 'forced' myself to enjoy these belgian chocolates wrapped in baked filo dough with a side of tarragon ice cream:

Chris had the cheese plate:

If you can believe it, they brought us a little box of candy to take home...was this place meant for me or what???

Memphis Minnie's

When I'm in the mood for corn bread, I sort of need it immediately. In my opinion, the best place for a corn bread muffin and some BBQ is at Memphis Minnie's on lower Haight.

First of all, the place is located in the grunge of lower Haight, and has 12 zillion pigs everywhere:

My friend Taylor and I tried out Memphis Minnie's for the first time last year, and I had a sort of 'soup nazi' experience. You are not allowed to sit down until you've ordered. The menu has soo many things on it, and of course I panicked at the thought of not getting all the best things:

So, the first time we ordered we get this 'funny' man who I apparently tried to joke with, and then he made some rude comment about how I wasn't going to get my food. It was awkward, confusing and weird, and ever since then, I make Taylor do the ordering (which she not-so-secretly enjoys), while I stand behind her whispering 'corn bread muffin! mac n cheese! dont forget the mac n cheese!'.

Anyway, I breathed a sigh of relief when Mr. Nice Guy wasn't there last night, and instead we had a really cute girl.

Anyhoo, instead of branching out we got our normal array:

Cole slaw, the BEST mac n cheese, two cornbread muffins, and sweet potatoes (meh, won't get those again).

Then we share the pulled pork sandwich with steak fries:

Memphis Minnie's has a ton of BBQ sauces to choose from, and I usually use all of them in some proportion on the pulled pork. It is dee-licious, and void of any sketchy pieces of meat which is hard to find at some places!

We polished off our meal and then headed down the street to get ice cream at a place called Three Twins Ice Cream. This made no sense at all because 1) we were full and 2) it was FREEZING outside. Anyway, we tried the lemon cookie ice cream (to die for) and I ended up getting that and peanut butter cookie, in a cup, with a waffle cone on top. Then I got chocolate all over my favorite cream-colored pashmina.

the end!

B Star

The inner Richmond in San Francisco is home to two delicious Burmese/Asiany-fusiony restaurants: Burma Superstar, and B Star.

A few months ago, after spending a fantabulous weekend in Healdsburg for one of my BFFs bachelorette parties, we were drained and in search of some delicious food. I've been to Burma Superstar a few times but know that there can be a long wait...this time it was over 45 minutes, and the thought of waiting outside in the bitter cold of the San Francisco summertime...was not gonna cut it.

Luckily enough, they opened a 'sister' restaurant just 2 blocks away, called B Star! It has some of the same signature dishes, and is actually much more spacious and just as good.

The three of us were clearly hungry! We ordered:

the famous fermented tea leaf salad

Deeelicious chicken curry with jasmine rice and cashews:

I think this was beef with vermicelli noodles (AMAZING):

and some kind of tofu/veggie platter:

The leftovers were almost as good, if not better, than the actual meal. I'm getting hungry just thinking about it...

Zuni...and the chicken!

If you like roasted chicken, then you must try Zuni Cafe on Market Street. I can thank my friends Cheryl and Susan from Boulder for first introducing me to this restaurant; they came here during a business trip to San Francisco, and when I moved from Denver they presented me with a gift certificate to Zuni that said 'GET THE CHICKEN!'.

The one thing you need to know is that it takes an hour from when you order to get the chicken, so upon arrival it usually goes something like, "Hi, we had a reservation for two, and we'd like the chicken, thanks!".

Chris and I went a few weeks ago and did just that! While we waited we enjoyed a beet salad with goat cheese 'toasts' (I love when people say 'toasts'):

Our waiter stopped by to check on us, and since there were 35 more minutes before chik chik time we agreed on sharing a portion of olives (Chris is not a fan of olives, so this was surprising...) and some deeeelicious shoe string french fries (what you see below is a 1/2 order, we like to pretend we aren't total gluttons...):

And, for the piece de resistance, chicken for two roasted in the brick oven; warm bread salad with red mustard greens, scallions, currants, and pine nuts:

The bread salad alone is out.of.control good, but the juicy, tender chicken is so worth the wait. I must say that leftovers the next day might be even better, that is, if you can save any! Our waiter was fab, and spoke at length as to why the chicken is so good; from the exact size of the chicken (2 and 3/4 lbs is ideal), the brining and preparation, to the currants being dehydrated and then re-plumped in red wine vinegar...it's just delicious. The cookbook says it best when it describes the bread salad as, "...sort of a scrappy extramural stuffing, it is a warm mix of crispy, tender, and chewy chunks of bread, a little slivered garlic and scallion, a scatter of currants and pine nuts, and a handful of greens, all moistened with vinaigrette and chicken drippings"...

If you make it to Zuni Cafe, definitely get the chicken!

Gazpacho Sevillano

I laaauve gazpacho. The mere mention of 'gazpacho' transports me to the south of Spain on a hot summer night...

When I found out that my hilarious Spanish colleague Belia (who hails from Sevilla) had an 'easy' gazpacho recipe, I immediately requested it, and made this the same day. I cannot even believe how easy it was!

Ingredients:

1/2 cup olive oil

1/4 cup vinegar (I used apple cider vinegar)

4 big, very mature tomatoes, cut into chunks (next time I'll use heirlooms)

1 green bell pepper, in chunks (seeds/middle removed)

1 cucumber, peeled and chunked

4 garlic cloves, peeled

Water, to fill 1/2 the blender

Salt to taste (surprisingly, I didnt add any)

I threw everything in the blender, filled it up halfway with water, and blended away...

I could not believe that my first sample taste was incredible, no changes needed! I reserved a little bit of the cucumber and bell pepper for garnish, and would've loved some fab croutons, but this did the trick:

We did decide that it maybe didn't need as much garlic, but still tasted great. I served this for my parents and Chris chez moi (check out my new home office in the background) with delicious rosemary lamb chops and a simple salad with slivered almonds, dried cranberries, and shaved manchego...

I cannot wait to make it again!!!

Pasión

Some truly fabulous restaurants and stores are starting to pop up in the Inner Sunset neighborhood, and lucky for me, I live within walking distance!

My friend Joanna came over last night, and we had planned to go for foot massages in the inner sunset. I've never been, but heard good things. After walking all the way there, it turns out they were booked solid, so we decided to grab dinner instead. The areas around 9th and Irving have so many options, but we decided to try out a brand new little restaurant that I keep hearing about, Pasion.

I have several favorite restaurants on rotation in the inner sunset, so I'll admit I was particularly judgmental when I walked in because I had high hopes and wanted to make sure this would live up to my standards.

The ambiance was nice--very fun crystal light fixtures, succulents, cool crowd. I was wedged into a booth seat and noticed the silverware was backwards (which is a pet peeve) but was able to get over it pretty quickly once I started drooling over the menu.

I started with a Paloma--a type of drink that Chris and I fell in love with in Mexico--tequila, grapefruit soda, and lime. Its like a lighter, crisper margarita.

On to the food...let me start by saying that normally I wouldn't go nuts over ceviche, but this was some of the best I've ever had. Joanna and I were literally spooning the sauce in our mouths, and sopping it up in our bread so none of it went to waste...

She started off with the house special:

Ceviche ¡Pasión!

ahi tuna, salmon, passion fruit, red onion, yellow pepper, cilantro, purple corn.

I had a bite and it was delicious, of course.

I chose shrimp:

Ceviche de Camarón
ecuadorian shrimp, tomato gazpacho juice, red onion, avocado mousse, chives, roasted garlic, yucca.

This was out of control good. It doesn't look like much, but the sauce was a light, gazpacho-y, spicey goodness, and I loved crunching on the little yucca chips. AND the shrimp was a perfect texture.

We both savored the ceviche for as long as possible until our server finally made an awkward comment about our next courses...

I decided on something semi-light since I ate a whole pizza for lunch (oops):

Ensalada Espinacas
spinach salad, shaved manchego, jicama, red peppers, guava vinaigrette, plantain croutons.

As I've mentioned before, anything with manchego cheese is a win in my book. The guava vinaigrette was light and delicious, the manchego incredible (but could've used more), and the plantain croutons were tasty. I hardly noticed the jicama since they'd clearly sliced thinly with a mandolin, but I guess it did add a nice crunch.

Joanna chose one of the entrees:

Salmón
sautéed loch duart salmon, crispy potato cake, lima bean salpicón, dill chimichurri, “chupe” cream.

Wow. I will definitely order this one next time I go. The salmon was done to perfection. She was nice enough to let me grab several 'perfect bites' so I could enjoy the potato cake, cream, quinoa salad and salmon all together. Delicious!!!

So how could we stop there? Of course we had to test out the dessert menu:

Volcan de Chocolate
spiced warm chocolate molten cake, lucuma gelato, chantilly cream

I liked this place so much that I decided to go back the next day to try out their brunch menu. Bottomless mimosas anyone? Unfortunately they are only open on the weekends, and that is probably a good thing considering my previous statement!

Starbelly Restaurant

A few weeks ago my friend Ashley and I agreed to start a search for the best pizza in San Francisco. We brought our men with us to 'Starbelly' last night to sample le menu!

In celebration of the upcoming royal wedding, Ashley and I enjoyed a Housemade Pimm's cup. I felt ferry Bri-ish. I didn't bother to photograph Griff and Chris' beer :)

I'm a sucker for cute presentation:

For starters we got 1 order of kalamata olive tapenade with grilled sourdough flatbread, and 1 order of warm bread & olivera olive oil:

Followed by a teeny little order of scallops, which were divine:

Then came the pizza!! Below is the pizza margherita with burrata & basil:

Anything with burrata is almost a guaranteed fave with me. The crust was so thin and light and tastey!

Next was a DELICIOUS pizza with arugula, manchego cheese and prosciutto:

My love of manchego stems from my study abroad days in Spain, so I'm a little biased to this one (although it could've used a litttttle more cheese...). Plus, I'm a huge fan of arugula on pizza, and the prosciutto was a delicious touch.

Of course we spent half the meal talking about other restaurants that we love, and so our list of places to go continues to grow...

Among one recommendation was Humphry Slocombe ice cream. I am an ice cream connaisseur and could not believe I hadn't heard of it before. We were pleasantly surprised when we saw that this very ice cream (and flavor!!) was on the dessert menu! The seasonal flavor is called 'secret breakfast' and is made of bourbon and corn flakes, and is soooo goood:

Last but not least, we sampled a salted caramel pot de crème with rosemary cornmeal cookies:

The cookies were so tasty, something I'd love to re-create, and of course, who can ever pass up salted caramel??

Overall it was a really cute restaurant with a fun vibe and must-try food. Looking forward to the next pizza meal!