try 43 new restaurants

its not often that i eat burmese food outside of burma superstar, the ubiquitous cult hole in the wall joint here in the inner richmond where i live. but last week i noticed a new burmese place opened where eva’s hawaiian cafe’ once was called pagan. i was immediately interested and wanted to see if pagan cut the mustard compared to burma superstar down the road.

the space was completely redone: new hard wood floors, hand painted and detailed walls, even brand new ceiling tiles. there were a lot of little decorative touches, like the table tops and the walls from the moulding down matched the trim on the burmese tapestry wall hangings. the drinking glasses are shaped like bamboo spears. all around pretty nice aesthetically, they didn’t cross that fine line into kitsch which can easily happen when designing around an asian theme. but like all asian places, i wonder if it will stay as clean and nice looking as it does now after some time goes by.

the menu is burmese/thai fusion, although i hate the word “fusion” because so often it means pretentiously described dishes on ugly modern funny-shaped plates that are more than often over priced in a douchey/sceney atmosphere. so, i’ll say that pagan is burmese with thai touches here and there, but overall the experience is pretty home-cooked tasting. the menu itself is medium to large in size, with at least 5 items in each category and a large selection of burmese salads, great for me because i’ve never found a burmese salad i didn’t like.

i ordered the pork and pumpkin curry and my husband the traditional lamb burmese curry. my pork and pumpkin stew was excellent possessing a light spicy flavor that mellowed out into savory notes after a few chews. the lamb curry was good, although my husband found it bland. i thought it could use more heat, but the flavors were good and the lamb was tender. it said it was cooked with onion, tomatoes, and potatoes but neither tomatoes nor onions did we find in our dish which was a bit puzzling. i’d order both again, and my husband would order my dish again but not his. the couple next to us had a fantastic looking noodle dish that looked to be flavored with either saffron or caraway oil judging by the color which is what i think we’ll order next time. my thai iced tea was just a hair watery but my husband’s thai coffee was nice and strong.

the only issue was the service was a little slow and out of tune but hopefully this issue will improve over time. since we both had the afternoon off, we had no problem taking our time and waiting for the food and check, but i did see a couple tables full of impatient looking patrons making the “writing in the air/check please!” motion well after they finished their plates.

overall: A- or a B+, but i don’t think burma superstar has anything to worry about.
service: C, they could be more organized and/or engaging.

After a very disappointing meal at my last sojourn to find San Francisco’s ultimate Jewish Deli, I was a little hesitant and/or blase’ when I found Miller’s East Coast/West Coast Deli on Yelp! They had some great reviews though, so we decided to give them a try.

Boy am I glad we did! This is the real deal folks. Golden, crisp, and light potato latkes, pastrami that’s flown in from New York City, and even an edible macaroni salad! (If you are a cold salad fan like I am, you know there is a one in a million chance of macaroni salad being tasty.) We’ve been a few times now since our first initial visit, and we’ve even drug some friends along who are now full-fledged MJD fans like we are.

The staff are quick on their feet and don’t roll their eyes if you ask them for a suggestion. They have all kinds of mustards (important to me bc I despise regular yellow mustard. Shut up.) as well as a menu that is so packed full of selections you could go there every day and still try something different each visit.

Oh, and the pastrami flown in from NYC? TOTALLY worth it.

Miller’s Jewish Deli is on Polk St. in San Francisco at Washington St.

Because I’m a frequent patron of the Phoenix Hotel across the street, it was only natural for me to finally get a chance to sit down and eat at Mangosteen, a delightful Vietnamese place in the Tenderloin. I’ve had take-out noodles to bring back poolside to eat at the Phoenix, but I’d never been able to really have their full dining experience before. Since my friends from London are in town staying at the Phoenix, the two of them, my fiance and I all ended up going to Mangosteen for dinner last Friday night. What a treat!

Since there was four of us, we all decided to get the $15 a head banquet menu C, and to say the least we had no idea of the feast ahead of us. The first course was a classic Vietnamese fresh spring rolls: shrimp, mint, vermicelli noodles, and other goodies all wrapped up in rice paper with a nice spicy dipping sauce. Size wise, these were the largest fresh spring rolls I’ve ever had, they were more of a traditional egg roll size. Because of this, the ingredients were excellently balanced. I’ve had many spring rolls in the past where certain flavors were either too prevalent or not prevalent enough perhaps because of the size of the roll itself. For example, mint can be very overpowering in a smaller, more mainstream-size fresh spring roll if they skimp on the shrimp or other key flavors. Or if a lax roll assembler in the kitchen puts a lopsided amount of ingredients in the rolls, the opposite can happen, or even worse (at least to me) the textures can seem off-balance and funny. Mangosteen’s, however, were excellent. They were four perfect bites that were perfect with the spicy glaze provided, filled with little bits of dried chili flake.

The second course they brought out was a fabulous classic shaved papaya salad. Fresh, crisp, definitely just dressed and prepared right before it was brought out to us. There’s nothing worse than a soggy salad! They provided a little dish full of crushed up peanuts to sprinkle on top which made it texturally perfect.

The third course was a plate of wonderful cubes of stir fried tofu, nice and firm and crisp in texture with a wonderful blend of spiced vegetables. That was followed by a lemongrass chicken dish to die for.

WE couldn’t believe we had more food to eat by the time they brought out the cubed pieces of sirloin, cooked rare on a bed of greens that nearly made me faint, it was so good! They rounded the meal out with delicious creme caramels (flan, basically) and by the end of the meal I was so full and happy! It was a fabulous deal considering we only had to pay $15 a person! We will definitely be back to Mangosteen, and to the Phoenix to have drinks in the pool!

Believe it or not, I had never been to a Ruth Chris’ steakhouse before! I had only heard of their legendary big-as-your-head cuts of meat, sizzling with brown butter and evoking many oohs and ahhs from the patrons ordering them. Naturally, it was to my delight when my boyfriend suggested we have dinner there.

We started the night off right with champagne for him and a white peach bellini for me. After we were seated, we were served one of my favorite parts of the meal: the bread and butter. Why b&b you ask? Because I’m a butter snob. Seriously. To me, there is absolutely nothing more delicious tha a thick creamy slab of French butter on soft, warm bread. Heaven. The butter test is a very cruicial part of my judgement of all the fine dining I do.

After the butter of course came more champagne, which my boyfriend intelligently brought himself and coughed up the $25 corkage fee. Ouch, but whatever. Our appetizers included BBQed shrimp and lobster bisque. Both were excellent, although I wish they would have thrown us at least 2 more shrimp for what they charged for them. The lobster bisque was nice and smooth with lots of lobster bits in it. Manifique.

My bf got a ribeye, myself the filet minon, and we shared a order of potatoes au gratin. Both were fantastic, especially mine because it was slathered with lots of bernaise sauce. It cut like butter. Wow. I felt so spoiled. The gratin was good, but was on the heavier side and it needed salt and pepper, but that’s okay. After I saw the huge baked potato and the broccoli gratin the people next to us had ordered, I wished that’s what we had gotten. Too bad my bf won’t touch broccoli. It’s okay, I always end up envying my nieghor’s food whenever I go out to eat anyways. It’s to be expected from this little filly.

We rounded out the meal with fresh berries in sweet cream which was wonderful! Imagine the best vanilla pudding you’ve ever had in your life with a bunch of berries tossed in. After all that meat, fat, and butter, you couldn’t pay me to eat chocolate. We also ordered a hot toddy which they made SUPER strong. After polishing off the bottle of champagne, it did us good, although I can never quite get used to the taste of brandy.

This moring we both woke up feeling like we had a hangover from all the good food/meat/butter we ate. Not to mention, our breakfast of leftovers was pretty fabulous this morning. Overall, it’s a a great place for steaks if you got the $300 or so to spare.

Ruth Chris’ Steakhouse in San Francisco is located on Van Ness St. @ California.

Here in the heart of the Inner Richmond nieghborhood where I live, there is an amazing japanese candy, toy, and ice cream/creperey store called Genki. When I first moved to this hood 3.5 years ago, I loved the place immediately because of all of it’s yummy asian candies, drinks, and treats that I loved as a kid but could only get when I went into the city with my Korean mom; the small town I grew up in had all of five asian people living in it. As an adult, I love the asian groceries they have, (teas, sweet rice cakes, REAL ramen packages with the most incredible flavors) japanese fashion magazines that you have to read backwards, and great little blind-box manga toys that I can usually find at specialty toy collector’s stores like Giant Robot. Plus, the crepes are TO DIE FOR.

A few months ago, Genki opened a new restaurant and noodle house 2 blocks away on the Geary St. strip called Genki Ramen. It’s beautifully decorated in an east/west theme using black seating, lime green paint, and chrome detailing and decorations. Alomost like you’re eating in Marioland! After oohing and ahhing so many times as we drove by, we finally got in there for dinner last week.

What a menu! Genki primarily serves ramen noodle bowls, with thick, delicious noodles and a hearty (but a little oily) broth. I couldn’t tell if the noodles were house-made, but either way their taste and diameter were a whole different ball game then the $.60 ones you get at the grocery store. (not that I have any problems with those.)

The rest of the menu is almost tapas like, with small plates and lots of appetizer and a la carte items to share. We started with my choice of pumpkin and yam tempura and my bf’s choice of shrimp shu mai. Both were excellent, although the shu mais were smaller than usual and therefore a little over priced in my opinion. The tempura I could have had alone as a meal itself. The pumpkin pieces are always my favorite when I get tempura, and in this order I got 2 pieces of pumpkin, 2 pieces of yam, and 2 pieces of wintermelon. Yum!

We then shared a chicken nugget ramen bowl, which was great because they put the crispy chicken pieces on the side instead of in the bowl so they stayed crisp. Off the a la carte menu, we sampled one lamb and one prawn skewer. My lamb was a full grilled lamb chop on a skewer stick! It came with a great soy-mint dipping sauce. My bf’s prawn skewer was a whole, unshelled prawn with a skewer stuck up it’s butt and the head still attatched. This kind of freaked him out a little, and he said the flavor was “a bit TOO fishy.” I didn’t try it. I think I could have 2 or 3 of the lamb skewers by themselves as a meal next time.

We rounded the meal out with a caramel ice cream sundae with big pieces of fresh watermelon, mango, strawberry, and kiwi. We usually don’t order dessert but this was totally worth it. They have another sundae with a green tea topping that I will definitely try next time.

Overall: Worth it and a totally fun vibey experience.

Genki Ramen is on Geary Blvd. in the Inner Richmond district of San Francisco between 3rd and 4th Aves.

I wandered across Park Presidio last week to check out this bagel place that I hadn’t tried yet (I’ve gave up bagels.) (:[) called House of Bagels.

What lured me was a new banner in place that proclaimed: “new ny style deli!” Well alright.

First of all, when I went in there, I naturally had to look at the menu to decide what I wanted. The 2 Telegraph Ave-style hippie kids who work there (Who’s a hippie anymore?) immediately asked me what I wanted, and when I said I didn’t know and had to look for a minute, they kind of snickered like me not being a regular was funny. I was kind of uncomfortable.

Ok, whatever.

I order a corned beef on rye. He asked me what kind of rye I wanted. I said: “What do you have?” He then half way sighed, looked at the other hippie and very sloooowly told me the choices like a baby/retard.

If service is a reflection of the food:
- the “ny deli-style sandwich” was a thin, grilled cheese-type thickness of greasy bread and melted greasy cheese on top of not even a quarter inch of corned beef.

Um what?

- I’m a potato salad affectionado. There’s not a lot of potato salads I don’t like. Except for this one. The potatos were undercooked, and the only additive in there were pickle bits and a LOT of pickle water. Yuck.

Oh, and speaking of pickles, I got a 2” long, floppy, completely slime-green monstrosity that looks like it was straight from a 12 gallong bucket from Costco.

Enough.

San Francisco, should you brave House of Bagels, please stick to the namestake food items.

Oh, and if you see the hippie people, make sure you decide what you want before you go in, lest you suffer their ordering inadiquacy wrath.

Of all the Korean restaurants in San Francisco, hell, of all the Korean restaurants in my neighborhood, I was surprised I had never tried My Tofu House before in the almost 3 years I’ve lived in the Inner Richmond. Mainly because it’s right across the street from my house.

I am half-Korean, so Kfood is like comfort food for me. The good thing about it is is it’s a pretty consistant, usually the only quality variation is price. Lots of the main meat dishes are served family-style, so the portions can be both HUGE and expensive. MTH has half orders of all their meats, which we were delighted to see because it was both cheaper and we would have room to order some delicious hot tofu soup we love as well.

We got the Kalbi, or marinated grilled short ribs, and the spicy warming kim-chee soft tofu soup. The smells reminded me of my mother’s kitchen when I was growing up. Mmmm… We devoured it all with perfect hot sticky rice, cold kim-chee and pickled seasame cucumbers and bean sprouts done perfectly. I was sososo satisfied by the meal, and so was my boyfriend, who is completely new to Korean cuisine but is starting to love it.

Also, my dachshund puppy is thrilled with us because we saved all the little marrow-rich short rib bones for him to knaw on. Happy puppy!

I think it would be beneficial to all 3 of us if we went there again! This is the type of place I’d bring my mom to.

My Tofu House is on Geary St. in San Francisco between 10th and 11th avenues.