Yogurtsoda

A few years ago, I lived in San Francisco’s Richmond District. I didn’t realize how good I had it at the time — you could hardly take ten steps in any direction without walking into a quality restaurant. My favorite dim sum restaurant was a five minute walk away, and after I moved, I searched fruitlessly for a replacement dim sum joint.

Enter City View. Located on the border of the Financial District and Chinatown, City View has become my new favorite dim sum restaurant — well, on this side of the city at least. I first visited for a work lunch, and I’ve been back many times since, most recently to introduce my great-aunt, who was visiting from Iran, to the joys of dim sum.

We started with the shrimp rice noodle rolls. These are usually stuffed with beef, but both variations were ethereal, velvety, and coated with just the right amount of savory sauce. Flecked with green onions and juicy shrimp, these are one of my favorite dim sum.

Next, we had the seafood-stuffed eggplant and tofu. Deep-fried and delicately stuffed with a shellfish puree, this was hearty. The eggplant was my favorite part: buttery without being oily.

We feasted on several more dim sum: shrimp dumplings, potstickers, siu mai, crisp-skinned duck with Mandarin pancakes and sesame balls, each delicious in their own way.

I’ve visited City View on weekdays and weekends alike and it’s nearly always busy. You’ll want to arrive before 1:00 pm so you have a good selection from the carts (City View closes at 2:30 pm).

And oh, my great-aunt? Suffice to say she’s now a fan too. It just goes to show you: good dim sum knows no boundaries.

I tend to take fusion cuisine with a grain of salt. Too many wasabi-creme foams and deep-fried California rolls have made me apprehensive, but done right, fusion can be a beautiful thing. At the Embarcadero’s Ferry Building, Hapa Ramen does fusion right by serving up bowls of locally sourced and locally influenced noodles.

I stopped by the Ferry Building on a Thursday, and easily found the Hapa Ramen booth by the long line of hungry office workers. Intrigued by the fried chicken bowl, I ordered a bowl and sat outside to enjoy.

It may not be the prettiest thing to look at, but this was pure comfort food, California style. Instead of bamboo shoots and wakame seaweed, this ramen featured artichoke hearts and asparagus. The curious combination worked, and I happily munched on the juicy fried chicken before it had a chance to get lost in the broth. The noodles themselves were done right too: chewy and with the right amount of pull.

Hapa Ramen’s serving sizes are smaller than the standard ramen served in sit-down restaurants, but if you’re ordering at the Ferry Building, you’ll have plenty of snack and dessert options aftewards. Hapa Ramen sets up shop at the Ferry Building on Tuesdays and Thursdays from 10am to 2pm, and at Off the Grid at Fort Mason on Fridays from 5pm to 9pm.

I rarely eat French food. It’s not that I don’t like it, it’s just that, well, I don’t know what I’m doing when it comes to ordering off a French menu. The last time I tried, I wound up accidentally ordering sweetbreads deep-fried in butter. (Word to the wise: sweetbreads are not what they sound like.)

Thankfully, when I visited Cafe de la Presse in San Francisco’s Union Square, I went with my cousin, who was raised in Paris. I never would have known about this classic, rustic restaurant quietly tucked away from the bustle of the city were it not for her suggestion. Filled with vintage posters and foreign-language magazines, I could easily forget that I was on Grant Avenue and not in Le Marais.

We started with a salade aux petits lardons, which was topped with a wonderfully gooey egg that melded perfectly with the piquant Dijon vinaigrette and savory bacon. I have a French cookbook with this recipe that I’ve been ignoring for too long, and after sampling this salad, I’m determined to learn how to recreate it.

We also shared a tarte Provencale, topped with tomatoes, basil, Nicoise olives and a light smattering of cheese. The real highlight here was the crunchy, crispy flatbread: thin, but hearty enough to hold up against the toppings.

Service is friendly and timely at Cafe de la Presse, but in the interest of full disclosure, my cousin conversed with our waiter only in French, so I suppose that didn’t hurt. Still, Cafe de la Presse convinced me that it’s time I give French food another chance. And with a little corner of the 4th arrondisement in our own backyard, I no longer have an excuse.