Old Mandarin Islamic Restaurant is about as straightforward a restaurant name can get. It is indeed old, Mandarin, Islamic and yes, it is a restaurant. I first heard about this curious place a few years ago, and had been meaning to visit since, but it’s out of the way location (San Francisco’s Outer Sunset district) [...]
Don’t let the name fool you. Maoz is not a vegetarian restaurant. (I mean, come on. Can you imagine me frequenting vegetarian restaurants? Sorry, PETA.) Anyway, Maoz is an international falafel chain (yes, chain), and admittedly, an incredible one at that. I ended up at Maoz on Telegraph Avenue in Berkeley one evening when my [...]
Greek salad is so basic that I almost decided not to write about it. There are enough variations on this classic salad though that it warrants a post, and this one is my version. I like my salads acidic, so I’ve upped the lemon content, and thrown in a few extra pepperoncinis and capers for [...]
I didn’t grow up eating chawan mushi, but it feels like comfort food. An egg-based custard dish, it’s simply flavored with soy sauce, mirin, and dashi and mixed with a few ingredients before being set to steam. It’s usually eaten as an appetizer in Japanese cuisine but I like to eat it as a snack [...]
I’m not sure what kind of restaurant Cha Cha Cha is – in fact, I’m not sure anyone is. One part Caribbean, one part tapas, and one part Cuban, my favorite Cha Cha Cha outpost in San Francisco is the one in the Haight. As one of my favorite haunts from my college days, the [...]