Category: San Francisco, California

Posted on June 30, 2010June 30, 2010

I’m a sucker for Peruvian cuisine but I always tend to gravitate towards the same dishes. Okay, I’ll be honest – the same one dish: lomo saltado. The sirloin strips stir-fried with soy sauce, vinegar, and spices and stir-fried with onions, tomatoes and French fries is one of my all-time favorite meals so it’s hard to branch out.

But I digress. When I met up with friends at La Mar Cebicheria Peruana in San Francisco’s Embarcadero, I was determined to stick to the cebiche. La Mar is, after all, a cebiche restaurant. (It’s also an international restaurant, with outposts throughout Latin America in Lima, Mexico City, Santiago, Sao Paolo, and Panama City.)

After we were seated, our waiter brought us Yukon, plantain, and sweet potato chips and an array of dipping sauces to nibble on while we perused the menu.

My favorite was were the sweet potato chips, and all three of the sauces were full of depth and spicy.

For my entree, I chose the cebiche mixto.

The cebiche mixto came with a little bit of everything: Mahi Mahi, calamari, octopus and habanero pepper in ají amarillo leche de tigre with cilantro, red onions, Peruvian corn, and yam. Whew. The ají amarillo sauce was delicious but I was let down by the cebiche. The fish wasn’t as flavorful as I was expecting and the big chunks of yam seemed out of place. That being said, I’ve since heard rave reviews of La Mar’s other cebiches so I’ll come better informed next time.

If it’s one thing La Mar has down it’s presentation and ambiance. All of our dishes were gorgeously plated and the restaurant interior was modern and industrial without at all feeling cold. The service was friendly and unhurried during our visit, despite the restaurant being very busy.

Even though my entree wasn’t as incredible as I was hoping for it to be, I left La Mar feeling satisfied. The restaurant was fun, the menu looked exciting, and it left me wanting to go back to discover more.

Posted on June 19, 2010

Yank Sing is probably San Francisco’s most well-known dim sum restaurant. More upscale, pricier and busier than many other dim sum establishments in the city, it’s the one that I’ve most often heard cited as someone’s first foray into dim sum. My first visit to Yank Sing was several years ago, and I hadn’t been back since.

Until now. I met up with a group for brunch on a late morning one weekend, and immediately we were surrounded by carts. The dim sum at Yank Sing is more Americanized than that at most other dim sum restaurants, but the quality is top notch.

We started with the gingered sea bass.

One of the fun things about dim sum with a group is that you get to try things you wouldn’t normally order. I usually go straight for the dumplings, so the fish was a refreshing departure from the usual. This was incredibly fresh fish, flaky and light.

Next we tried the spring rolls.

These were good, similar to what you might get at any other high-end dim sum restaurant. Thin and crispy on the outside, piping hot and stuffed with shredded vegetables on the inside.

Our third dish was the steamed rolls with shrimp.

This is one of my favorite dim sums and its easy to mess this one up. Sometimes the rice noodle rolls are mushy and overcooked, but not here. Drizzled with a light soy-based sauce, this was a winner.

Next we tried the stuffed mushrooms.

These were good, but not incredible. I order this often when I eat dim sum, and I like the ones with a finer minced stuffing. This had a rougher texture, but flavor-wise was still tasty.

We continued with the honey walnut prawns.

Served with a creamy glaze, this dish was a little too sweet for my taste but that’s a personal preference. Again, the quality on this dish was apparent and we ate the shrimp up in no time.

Our last savory dim sum was the nori-wrapped fried tofu.

This is my absolute favorite dim sum at Yank Sing. I love seaweed and I love fried tofu; the combination is just excellent. The only letdown was that it was a bit too salty, but otherwise perfect.

We finished our meal with an order sesame balls.

Sweet and glutinous, and stuffed with a red bean paste, I always order this at the end of my dim sum meals. It’s a heavy dish to finish with, but it’s delicious and satisfying nevertheless.

I can easily see why Yank Sing consistently draws a crowd, but it’s much more expensive than other dim sum establishments. A seventy dollar bill for two at brunch is the norm here, and it’s almost twice as what you might expect elsewhere. Still, it’s a good place for a special meal and best of all, the dishes are consistently delicious and made with care.

Posted on May 23, 2010

I almost decided to not review Delfina because, well, it’s Delfina. Everyone already knows how incredible the food is and how hip the neighborhood is and how friendly the staff is. What hasn’t already been said?

I’m kind of in love with this place though. It’s one of my favorite restaurants in one of my favorite neighborhoods, and my last dinner here didn’t disappoint. To be on the safe side, I called two weeks ahead of time and made reservations to celebrate a belated birthday.

My dining companion and I started with the puntarelle alla Romana, a Roman specialty of puntarelle shoots.

Similar to chicory, the salad was tossed with salt-packed anchovy, extra-virgin olive oil, and Parmigiano. This was delicious: crisp, tart and slightly bitter. As soon as I can find puntarelle in the markets, I’m making this at home.

Next we had the grilled fresh calamari.

Served on a white bean salad and garnished with olives and frisée, the calamari had a great smoky flavor from grilling and was super tender. Squid and white beans are a classic pairing; you can’t really go wrong here.

For my entree, I had the rosemary tagliatelle.

The tagliatelle was served with guinea hen ragu and vin santo. What’s a guinea hen, you ask? They’re cousins of pheasant, leaner than chicken, and more flavorful. I thought that the vin santo sauce would make the dish too rich, but it was actually a perfect compliment.

We were stuffed by this point but we couldn’t resist sharing a plate of dessert at the end of our meal. We decided on the profiteroles.

The profiteroles were served with espresso gelato, warm chocolate sauce and candied almonds. The whole thing was really high-quality and extremely decadent. I prefer savory over sweet, but even I was swooning over this dessert.

Delfina is a solid restaurant serving excellent cuisine without the attitude that comes with so many fine dining establishments. It’s easily one of the best restaurants in San Francisco. But you knew that already, didn’t you?

Posted on May 3, 2010

That’s right, another oyster-themed review. It wasn’t until a few years ago that I could stomach raw oysters without feeling sick, and it was Hog Island’s oysters at the Ferry Building in San Francisco that made me a convert. Their Monday and Thursday happy hour oysters won me over, and soon I was slurping down Kumamotos and Sweetwaters like a pro.

I missed happy hour the last time I was there, but my dining group and I split a plate of Sweetwater oysters anyway.

Delivered fresh daily from Tomales Bay, Sweetwater oysters are plump and salty, and as the name suggests, sweet. For an acidic kick, I always add a few drops of the onion and pepper-flecked mignonette that come with the oysters. I absolutely love this combination and the only thing that makes it even better is the side of fresh Acme bread and Cowgirl Creamery butter that comes with the oysters.

I didn’t get as many raw oysters as I usually do, so I also ordered a bowl of oyster stew.

These were more Sweetwater oysters, but this time stewed in their own liqueur, mirepoix, pimenton De La Vera, lemon zest and cream. I wanted to like this stew, I really did. But it was too sweet and so creamy that it overpowered the taste of the oysters.

Overall, Hog Island Oyster Company in the Ferry Building is a great place to enjoy top-notch oysters and with an incredible view of the Bay Bridge to boot. I’ll likely stick to the raw oysters next time – I can’t seem to get enough of those Sweetwaters.

Posted on April 19, 2010

I can’t remember the last time I heard so much buzz about a restaurant since Flour + Water opened up in San Francisco’s Mission District a few months ago. Fresh off of a strong review in the Chronicle, the restaurant was a packed house every night of the week. Things were no different when I visited Flour + Water with a group to try their renowned hand-rolled pastas and house-cured meats on a weekday evening. The restaurant opens at 5:30 so we showed up at 5:15 to be on the safe side, but a line had already formed outside.

Our group waited for about half an hour before we were seated at a long communal wooden table and began to peruse the menu. We started with the yellow peach and rabbit confit salad.

Served with pistachios and wild arugula, this salad was refreshing and despite the wide range of flavors, it worked. The peaches were succulent without being too sweet, so it complimented rather than overwhelmed the rabbit.

Next we tried the crispy oxtail terrine.

This was probably my favorite dish of the meal. Terrines have a texture similar to pate and they’re usually not crisped on the outside. Flour + Water managed to pull it off though, and the terrine held up its form both on the interior and exterior. They were served on top of a watercress salad with delicious bits of chantrelle mushrooms.

Our third dish was the biancoverde pizza.

Topped with ricotta cheese, anchovies and nettle pesto, this was a rich pizza without being too greasy. It was also my first foray into nettles, which had a very mild flavor. I’m curious to try them again. While the anchovies provided a salty kick, I would have been even happier if this pizza came with a healthy sprinkling of garlic or something equally flavorful.

Our last dish was the eggplant and crescenza cappelletti.

Cappelletti are similar to tortellini and these were incredibly ethereal. The eggplant filling was light and was topped cherry tomatoes and gypsy peppers. After having sampled this dish, I can easily see what all the fuss is about over Flour + Water’s handmade pasta.

It’s been awhile since I’ve eaten there, and I imagine that the initial crowds at Flour + Water may have died down a bit. That being said, Flour + Water’s menu is constantly changing, which only means one thing: it’s time for a return visit.