Zuni

GIRLFRIENDS  LUNCHDATE: 05.25.12  @ 1 PM

In celebration of my beautiful friend Heather's birthday, we shared the following:
CAMPARI $7.5
*An aperitif for the birthday girl which she enjoyed. Water for me who is on the clock.

ARUGULA SALAD WITH CITRUS W/ 2 CROSTINI TOPPED W/ GOAT CHEESE $8.75 *Nothing remarkable. It was pretty standard that you can get at any decent salad place.

BROCCOLI DI CICCIO AND MANILA CLAMS A LA PLANCHA $11 with  white beans, lemon zest, and garlic:
*A must get! Very tasty and very delicious! A simple dish nicely dominated by the flavors of the garlic. The flavors of the broccoli, juicy clams, garlic, lemon and EVOO just married each other in harmony.

PIZZA WITH WAGON WHEEL CHEESE AND CARAMELIZED ONION $12.75:
*Another must get! Melted hot gooey cheese and sweet caramelized onion on nice thin crust. Very delicious!

SHOESTRING POTATOES $6
Relive your childhood memories with Pik-Nik Shoestring potatoes -- only Zuni's are the adult version. A fascinating tower of potatoes cut very thin and short like Pik-Nik but less salty than the packaged version and more tender. Enjoyable to munch but we prefer the traditional french fries.

TAB: $61 including tip

SERVICE:
A server who was very very pleasant and smiled a lot. I do not care to know my server's name usually but I wished I have known his name. A delightful presence during our lunch. Thank  you for your kind positve energy!

DECOR:
Zuni's architecture is a lovely brick and steel. Rustic and industrial. Multi-leveled dining spaces. It is very bright with glass walls all around allowing sunshine to come in.  A long contemporary bar, a rustic  dining area with brick fireplace and upper level where you have to climb the industrial stairs.

AMBIANCE:
Very energetic and loud with mature looking crowd dressed conservatively for lunch. Formal-casual place.

VERDICT:
A lovely lunch with simple yet well-executed dishes. A delightful professional server. Lots of sunshine.

* 7x7 Big Eat: Zuni's Roasted Chicken $48 is on the 7x7 SF Big Eat: 100 Things to Eat Before You Die.  I still cannot bring myself to pay $48 for a chicken!  http://www.7x7.com/eat-drink/big-eat-2012-list

Zare at the Fly Trap

DATE NIGHT: April 27, 2012 @ 4 PM

I admit that what brought me to Zare was the desire to check out 7x7's 2012 Big Eat To Try Before You Die:

# 25. PISTACHIO MEATBALLS at Zaré at Fly Trap $13
These giant and meaty meatballs were almost as good as I imagined them to be. The savory-sweet honey-pomegrate sauce complimented the beef and pistachio meatballs. Delicious but they now belong to "been there, eat those" food memory file. I prefer the traditional Italian meatballs.

DECOR/AMBIANCE:At 4 PM, booked through Opentable, my man and I were the first ones at Zaré. The restaurant is elegant and old-wordly. The burgundy walls, wood accents and comfortable nail studded beige leathers chairs provide a romantic venue for date nights. A communal table is also available for groups.

FROM THE BAR:
CARDAMOM MY DEAREST $10: St. George's, Cardamom and Lemon.
*I was warned that this is a sweet drink which exactly what I wanted. Strong, sweet with a very nice hint of cardamom. Fabulous and I loved it!

BREAD SERVICE:For $6, we got few slices of sliced bread and toasted lavash bread with 2 small dips of olive tapenade and another herb dip. We enjoyed this  but I really thought this should have been complimentary. I cannot remember the last time we have been charged for bread. For example, Cotogna's (which I will forever refer to as "crackbread")  and dip were plentiful, generous and FREE!

EATS:
BRAISED LAMB SHANK  with bean stew, pickled carrots, spring onion $30 Generous portions. Enrique  also reported as tender and good.

It came with complimentary olive dip and lavash bread for wrapping. This was indeed a BIG meal!

CRISPY SAFFRON RISOTTO with black trumpet mushroom, herbed emulsion $21The trumplet mushrooms were so juicy and fluffy. Oh soo delicious. Nice texture contrast to thehot  crispy fried risotto slices. I really loved it that I took the last piece of risotto home with me.

TOTAL: $120 including 2 Perriers and tip

VERDICT:The Pistachio Meatballs might have been what brought us to Zaré. Although meatballs did not "wow" us but the totality of the whole meal and dining experience did. The variety of Mediterranean flavors and textures provided for an exotic yet highly enjoyable meal.

Service was superb--friendly, attentive and efficient. A total gem in itself.

There are so many restaurants in SF that I still would love to try. However, if I ever find myself again on the corner of 2nd and Folsom at SoMa and wanting a splendid cozy dinner,   Zaré will be it for me. Satisfying, filling, delicious and comforting food--something I imagine I will think of again on a rainy, cold evening in San Francisco.

GOOD TO KNOW:
1. Plenty of parking on Folsom
2. Happy Hour 4 PM to 7 PM
3. Zare opens at 4 PM for dinner which makes it a perfect early pre-dinner for movies, theatres or other date night activities.

Cotogna

DATE NIGHT: 02.24.12 @ 3:30 PM

I am not sure if our meal counted as late lunch or early dinner at Cotogna yesterday afternoon. Let's just call it European Lunch.

Cotogna is so popular I dare you to try to get a 7 pm  reservation on Opentable ANY DAY of the week up to 3 weeks from now. When I scored a 3:30 PM reservation, I took it. Not only I hardly dine in SF without reservations, Enrique and I also need to start getting out of the house early on Saturdays instead of living in our pjs until 5 in the afternoon.

Aside from the personal reasons I stated above, 3:30 PM is a great time to have a relaxing delightful meal with a glass of nice cocktail that makes you close your eyes  in ecstacy  while taking in the view of SF's rare brick archictecture in the historic Jackson Square District.

DECOR/AMBIANCE:
Cotogna is a cozy place to be in SF: brick walls, open kitchen with roaring fire in the brick oven, a classy casual bar right next to the open kitchen, stacks and stacks of firewood against the walls on your way to the bathroom. The place is attractive but not stuffy. Hence, a great place to sip your cocktail at 3:30 in the afternoon.  And Cotogna is L O U D!

DRINKS:
MIMOSA $11: There were only 3 cocktails on our mid-afternoon menu and I chose the Mimosa. The mimosa was okay and pricey for the tiny glass. But anything for mid-afternoon cocktail for me!

BUBBLY WATER $6/BOTTLE: Cotogna makes their own bubbly H20. Unlike many restaurants in SF who serve their bubbly water as complimentary, Cotogna charges $6 per bottle.  Enrique ordered 2! Yikes! He does not drink so its okay but charge $6, really?!

BREAD:
Cotogna's bread should belong to a new food group. It should come with a warning "Contains crack." The bread was loaf-style and generously seasoned with seasalt and spices. The bottom was soaking in EVOO but not greasy. It was focaccia that was melt in your mouth. I honestly have been good not touching restaurant bread but between me and Enrique, we had 2 loaves. Unlike their bubbly water, Cotogna was very generous with their bread.

Enrique hinted that I loved the bread so much our server packed us a box to go without charging us. Very nice!

FOOD:
   *TRIPE: Tender, spicy and very flavorful trip  tripe in chili oil. We really enjoyed this simple dish. I used the bread to soak up the juices. I have no shame when it comes to dining.

*#18 7 x 7 Big Eats:   $24 PRIX FIXE @ COTOGNA
1. SALAD: Citrus salad with grapefruit nicely seasoned with seasalt. Generous portions for 2.

2. ASPARAGUS TORTELLINI: Big fluffy tortellini, still slightly wet and tasted  light and good but not exceptional.

3. PINK LADY APPLE AND ALMOND CROSTATA: Dry and heavy with olive oil taste. For being part of the prix fixe this was okay. The ice cream was a nice accompaniment.

  *CORNISH GAME HEN WITH GRILLED POLENTA AND OLIVES $22: Whole juicy succulent hen. The breast was perfectly cooked but the drumsticks were bloody. Still good according to Enrique but he did not like the heavy EVOO taste. I ate the grilled polenta which was really good cooked crispy but still tender on the inside.

CHECK: $118 including tax, Healthy SF and generous tip for the nice gesture of giving us extra bread and very friendly service.

VERDICT:
I agree with 7 x7 that Cotogna's $24 Prix Fixe is  one of the best deals in town.  It was not the best taste in dining but the whole experience was delightful. Cotogna is a true SF gem.

GOOD TO KNOW:
 *Cotogna is the sister restaurant of the finer dining "Quince" next door.
 *Chef Michael Tusk was recenty the recipient of  the James Beard Foundation 2011 Beard award for "Best Chef - Pacific!" www.jbfawards.com
 *Once again the BUBBLY WATER IS NOT FREE! $6 per bottle
 *GO BETWEEN 4:30 PM AND BEFORE 5:30 PM. Last Saturday, Cotogna was still packed at 3:30 PM, By 4:30, crowd was thinning out. By 5:15, the place was practically empty. Cotogna is open all day

HOURS:
Mon - Thurs 11:30 AM  -  11 PM
Fri-Sat           11:30 AM  -  12 AM
Sun                 5PM - 9PM

Les Ros Thai on Larkin

January 20, 2012 @ 1PM

Now that a sparklier Les Ros Thai has opened in the more desirable Hayes Valley neighborhood, Les Ros Thai on Larkin is now the ugly older stepsister. In reality,  there is nothing ugly about Les Ros Thai on Larkin. I do not know how old she is but her clean contemporary interior does not show her age.

The trip to Les Ros on Larkin leaves indeed leaves one's stomach in a tight knot. It is by the way located in the Tenderloin--the home of the hardened and broken spirits with no access to bathrooms.
The real challenge is not losing your appetite before you get to the restaurant.

Once you make it, it is all worth the adventure--Tenderloin-style.

DECOR/AMBIANCE:
Les Ros is modern and contemporary. The plates are geometric and sparkling clean. It is not a huge restaurant but spacious enough.

SERVICE:
The servers are efficient and polite like the kind of local service you will get in Bangkok.

FOOD:

7x7 BIG EATS 2012 #45: DUCK LARB I am no stranger to larb since my Laotian bestfriend introduced me to this dish decades ago. Les Ros Thai's Duck Larb was good. Should you eat it before you die or is it worth dying for--cholesterol and all?

Yes, it was delicious with chopped pieces of flavorful boneless duck skin and meat in citrus-lime dressing. The duck was not gamey. It was tangy and a little overly salty. I even ate grains of MSG, I think. It was mixed in with mint, red onions, whole dried pieces of chili peppers and sprinkled with rice powder.

But NO, I'd rather tempt fate with Peking Duck with super-crispy paper thin skin and moist/juicy duck meat in bun with hoisin sauce and green onions.

My verdict for this 7x7 dish is it is a delicious salad but so was almost every dish that I had at Les Ros. It is worth ordering but it did not send me to foodie heaven.
#17 YUM KOH MOO YANG (Pork Shoulder Salad with Spicy Lime Dressing) $9.95

An appetizing dish of thinly sliced pork on top of basil, side of cabbage and generously drizzled with lime, chili peppers and herbs, this dish reminds me of LECHON (Filipino roasted pig.) It was not melt in your mouth like lechon which is slowly roasted over charcoal for at least 10 hours but the pork was tender and flavorful. There were little pieces of crunchy skin here and there. A good dish for pork lovers!

2 ORDERS OF LUNCH SPECIALS ($7.75 each)
Les Ros Thai's lunch specials are one of the best deals in town if not THE best deal in town! For $7.55 you get a salad, 2 choices of entrees and white or brown rice. The portions are generous and the entrees are very good!

I ordered YELLOW CURRY WITH TOFU and STIRFRIED EGGPLANT W/ BASIL.

The birthday girl, Edelmira, ordered the RED CURRY W/ BEEF and MARINATED BBQ CHICKEN W/ SWEET & SOUR SAUCE.



The curries were of the right consistency which should not be too thick or watered down. The flavors are lovely and complex and "come alive" in the palate. The dishes are on the spicy side, though, which we both loved but a caution to those who have low spicy threshold.

VERDICT:
Thai food that would not disappoint with great service. Les Ros Thai is the place to bring Thai food novice and purists. The dishes are guaranteed delicious and the flavors bold. The portions are generous and reasonably priced. We really enjoyed our lunch.
Les Ros offers over 110 dishes to choose from so I am sure you or your picky friend will find and enjoy something.

ALLIGATORS, FROGS, BOARS, RABBITS, ANYONE?I kid you not! If you find yourself telling yourself, I want me some "alligator at around 11PM, you can find it at Les Ros which stays open until midnight.

Me, I will wait until I go back to New Orleans but for solid Thai food, Les Ros is the place for me here in the the Bay Area.

CHECK: $36 including tip, Thai Iced Tea, app and 2 lunch specials with plenty of leftovers for the birthday girl to enjoy at home.

HAYES VALLEY LOCATION:For those who do not want to go to the TL (I do not blame you), there is a second and more palatable Ler Ros Thai located in the Hayes Valley. Probably safer to go to at night but lunch time at Les Ros on Larkin only requires a dose of courage but not necessarily pepper spray.