Cassava

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I've been waiting to try Cassava for a long time now, but after having experienced rejection and long lines at Outerlands (see post HERE) I waited until after their expansion.  Having heard that this place gets crowded during weekend brunch, I was pleasantly surprised to see it only half full around 11a on a weekend.

The space is warm and open with lots of entertaining reading materials in case you want to enjoy a meal solo.

Quiche at Cassava-  2013 7x7 SF's Top 100 Eats

The best known item here is the quiche.  Mixed with a medley of veggies (mushrooms, zucchini, etc), its divine.  Buttery crust ( but not overly rich) with custardy insides.

Chorizo hash bowl made with fresh chunks of vegetables and nice runny egg.  Its not all super healthy - chunks of chorizo makes this a carnivore dish.  I wished it was a little more spicy or had some more chorizo.

Having been to Japan, this "Japanese breakfast" wasn't a new concept to me, but it was nice to see it available somewhere in the city.  Simple and comforting, this healthy breakfast had some of my favorites - natto (yum!), marinated pickled cucumbers, and seared ahi tuna.  Not exactly sure what to do with the runny egg, but I ended putting globs of the runny egg on top of my rice.  It worked well.  The miso soup was subtle and filled with plenty of lotus root and enoki mushrooms.

updated - Working my way through the 2013 7x7's SF big eat 100 things

Address:                 Cassava
                                3519 Balboa St.
                                San Francisco, CA
 

Type:                       brunch/American

Popular chomps:     Japanese breakfast
                                 quiche
                                 liege waffle plate
                                 chorizo hash bowl

Chomp worthy:        Japanese breakfast
                                 quiche

American Grilled Cheese Kitchen

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The American Grilled Cheese Kitchen is so popular its put its second outpost in a quiet corner of the Mission.  Beer and grilled cheese is a great way to enjoy the sunny weather. 

Two favorite cheesy things all wrapped into one bundle of joy:  mac and cheese, and grilled cheese.  This carby goodness is rich, but I could devour this sandwich in one sitting.  The extra addition of bacon gave this sandwich a bonus decadence.

Fontina, gruyere, roasted wild mushrooms, roasted potatoes, melted leeks, caramelized onions, thyme butter on levain bread.  Love the earthiness and cheesiness of this sandwich!  This place toasts sandwich to absolute perfection.

The sweet and spicy Brussel sprouts were a tad soggy and oily.  I did like the sweet flavor and some of the leaves had a nice crispiness.

Address:                 American Grilled Cheese Kitchen
                                2400 Harrison St.
                                San Francisco, CA
 

Type:                       sandwiches

Popular chomps:     mousetrap
                                 mushroom gruyere
                                 brussel sprouts
                                 mac and cheese grilled cheese

Chomp worthy:        mac and cheese grilled cheese
                                 mushroom gruyere      

Fifty fifty coffee and tea

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Fifty fifty coffee and tea is a cafe that bridges San Francisco's love of fancy coffee and its fondness for milk tea.

I love the minimalistic design.  Its nice to find a place that serves pour over coffee in this neighborhood.

Along with the minimalistic design comes a very simple menu. 

I'm one of those people who have never gone gaga for milk tea even though I'm Asian.  The salted caramel milk tea, however, did bring out my curiosity.  I was really hoping for that salty bite in a sweet, creamy slurp, but I only got plain milk tea taste.  Didn't see much of a correlation to salted caramel in this drink.  Really cool concept though, just didn't execute well. 

Although the blended strawberry hot chocolate says hot, really its served cold.  I was thinking it would come out like Serendipity's frozen hot chocolate, but its more of a very liquidy shake.  It doesn't taste like chocolate at all.  Oddly, it reminded me of Nesquik's strawberry flavored milk (same color too!) with some fresh strawberries blended in.  Pretty good, but just wished there was some chocolate flavor to it.

      

Address:                Fifty fifty coffee and tea 
                               3157 Geary Blvd
                               San Francisco, CA    
 

Type:                      coffee/cafe

Popular chomps:    honey coconut milk tea
                                salted caramel milk tea
                                blended strawberry hot chocolate                                

Chomp worthy:       blended strawberry hot chocolate        

Phil's Fish Market & Eatery

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Phil's Fish Market & Eatery is a bit of a drive from San Francisco.  Almost a two hour drive, its shamefully not the farthest I've driven for food. 

There are so many seafood choices here.  Not only do they have a huge regular menu, but along an extensive list on the white board right before you walk into the restaurant, where you can find the lobster roll listed.

Besides seafood, this area is most known for artichokes.  Driving south you pass many places artichokes cooked many ways.  You can never go wrong with deep fried artichoke hearts.  The batter is golden and crispy with a steaming hot fresh artichoke heart.  It comes with a garlic ranch sauce, which makes this dish even better. 

The cioppino comes with a side of salad, which usually would be good noshing for me, but I needed to save room for all the seafood.  Plus, who eats salad when you are feasting on all this seafood?

The thing to get here is the cioppino.  There are two sizes available.  One recommended for two people ($45) and one regular size.  The regular size is huge and I think a good shareable size, especially if you plan on ordering more things.  Considering the seaside location, I had a higher hopes for the cioppino.  I'm not exactly sure why this cioppino isn't rave worthy.  There is a decent amount of seafood (fish, mussels, crab, scallops, etc), but the taste of the broth was just average.  Not the best cioppino I've ever had.  I prefer the cioppino at Anchor's Oyster Bar (see post HERE) in the city, which makes my mouth water just thinking about it.  Phil's get an okay from me.

By itself, the toast was nothing special, but as a medium for sopping up the cioppino it proved its worth.

I love clam chowder and I order it almost everywhere.  And with a bread bowl, even better!  Surprisingly, this bowl was a little disappointing.  Took a couple digs around with the spoon to find a clam.  Plus, I couldn't help but taste the roux in the clam chowder so it gave the soup a flour taste.  Also, the bread was barely toasted.   

I was pretty excited to discover another lobster roll in the Bay Area I haven't sunk my teeth into yet.  A little skimpy on the lobster and dressed in a little too much seasoning.  Add in the soggy bread and I was not a happy camper.

    

Address:                   Phil's Fish Market & Eatery
                                  7600 Sandholdt Rd.
                                  Moss Landing, CA 

Type:                         seafood

Popular chomps:       cioppino
                                   lobster roll
                                   clam chowder
                                   fish & chips
                                   fried artichoke

Chomp worthy:          fried artichoke     

Halloween M&Ms

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Halloween is almost here.  Well all the decorations are starting to come up and that means candy time!  Target exclusive M&Ms are celebrating the holiday with special flavors - Pumpkin Spice and Candy Corn.

The pumpkin spice M&Ms are still predominately chocolatey with just a tiny hint of pumpkin flavor, mostly in the aftertaste.

The white chocolate candy corn M&Ms are pretty sweet.  It does taste a little like candy corn, but mostly reminds me of frosting.

Goat Hill Pizza

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Pizza Monday!  Goat Hill Pizza is a popular San Francisco pizzeria that has made its home in a couple neighborhoods with Potrero being its original location.  Mondays are THE day here where they offer a $12 all you can eat pizza and salad for $10.95.

The Monday buffet here has been on my to do list, but this time around I took the pizza to go.  The special combination is similar to a supreme pizza.  Topped with salami, pepperoni, Italian sausage, ground beef, mushrooms, green bell peppers, green onions, black olives and garlic, it smelled so good when I opened the box.  The slices aren't super thin.  The thickness is more along the lines of a regular pizza slice like Round Tables or Pizza Hut.  Not sure if it was the massive amounts of meat toppings, but the slices were greasy and soggy.  So much so that the middle of the pizza ended up in a mushy, salty, mess and had to be scraped off with a fork.  Their claim to fame sourdough crust did have a nice tang to it, but overall wasn't a wow factor like Little Star's (see post HERE).  I know not every pizza can be as great as Pizzeria Delfina (see post HERE) or Pizzetta 211 (see post HERE), but I can't understand the huge following for this pizza.

       

Address:                    Goat Hill Pizza
                                   300 Connecticut St.
                                   San Francisco, CA
 

Type:                          pizza

Popular chomps:       special combination
                                   Portuguese
                                   Hilda's Favorite

Chomp worthy:          nothing     

Marianne's Ice Cream

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Marianne's Ice Cream is one of those lovable ice cream parlors that people flock to.  Its throwback feel and unique flavors remind me of Pollyanne's in San Francisco (see post HERE).  Its dizzy array of flavors from sesame to ginger, there is something here to satisfy everyone. 

A scoop of macadamia nut and a scoop of macapuno (baby coconut) is like a tropical dream.  The macadamia nut scoop surprisingly had a good amount of macadamia nuts.  The macapuno was a little more subtle than I liked, but still not bad.

Pistachio nut was a little artificially tasting and probably the least favorite scoop of the four flavors.  However, the horchata was amazing!  I'm not a huge lover of horchata, but this scoop was milky, cinnamony and ultra smooth.  It reminds me of cinnamon toast crunch!

Address:                    Marianne's Ice Cream
                                   1020 Ocean St.
                                   Santa Cruz, CA
 

Type:                          ice cream

Popular chomps:        horchata
                                    pistachio
                                    Mexican chocolate
                                    10-20
                                    baby coconut (macapuno)

Chomp worthy:           horchata     

Verve Coffee Roasters

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Verve Coffee Roasters is the Blue Bottle, Ritual Roasters, (insert popular SF coffee here) of Santa Cruz.  Like all cult following coffee houses, there is a long line, a small display of yummy pastries, pour over coffees, and square payment.

The bowl of soul is a popular options amongst non coffee drinkers or those who are looking for something other than coffee.  A concoction of tea, soy milk, and honey with a thick layer of foam.  Its sweet and soothing, but not my cup of tea.

The black coffee is always my standard drink of choice.  Verve's coffee is strong with a brisk aftertaste.  It reminds me a little of Ritual Roaster's coffee.  The best thing about this Verve location is walking a couple blocks to the beach and enjoying a cup while watching the surfers ride the waves.

     

Address:                    Verve Coffee Roasters
                                   816 41st Ave
                                   Santa Cruz, CA
 

Type:                          coffee/cafe

Popular chomps:        bowl of soul
                                    mocha
                                    coffee

Chomp worthy:           coffee    

Paradiso Delicatessen & Restaurant

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I feel like these days I'm leaning more to going back to the basic, simple foods, especially sandwiches.  Paradiso Deli reminds me a little of Molinari's (see post HERE) in the city.  An old school Italian deli that serves up home cooked lasagne, raviolis, and sandwiches. 

The one thing that drew me here was the meatball sandwich.  The sandwich is huge and its literally made up of one meatball.  Yes, just one giant meatball that squashed a little so its sandwich ready.  Topped with fried peppers, provolone cheese, and super soft bread, this reminds me of a kicked up version of Subway's meatball sandwich, which is not a bad thing because I love their meatball sandwiches.  Its bite after bite of sloppy, messy goodness.  Think sloppy joe of meatball sandwiches and grab a stack full of napkins. 

I'm a sucker for raviolis.  Its an embarrassing fact to say that I really love the canned beef ravioli from Chef Boyardee.  These raviolis are handmade and are plumped full of beef.  Love the soft texture of the raviolis.  Paradiso is perfect for someone like me who can never decide on one thing because you can actually get a combo of ravioli and lasagne.  I'm not quite sure, but the sauce from the meatball, ravioli, and lasagne may be the same or at least very similar.  You can never go wrong with Garfield's favorite food.  Here the layers of pasta are a little firmer so it doesn't fall apart and you are able to get a good bite in with lots of layers.  It has a nice crusty top going for it as well.  While the food here isn't mindblowing, it is good comfort food. 

    

Address:                   Paradiso Delicatessen & Restaurant
                                  791 Auzerais Ave
                                  San Jose, CA
 

Type:                         Italian/sandwich

Popular chomps:       lasagne
                                   ravioli
                                  meatball sandwich

Chomp worthy:         meatball sandwich     

The Refuge

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The Refuge is a welcome sight along the Penisula and apparently everyone knows about it because this place is crowded!  Also, they just opened up a second location in Menlo Park.  Its hard to find a good pastrami place.  While the Refuge is good, its no where near LA's  Langer's (see post HERE) or New York Katz's.

The Reuben is the most popular dish here, but honestly dish here with pastrami is good.  Apparently, there's a secret menu item where you can order a plate of pastrami (aka the pastrami steak), which I think I would order next time I come back.  The pastrami slices are thick and chunk like Katz's, but a lot less salty.  While the meat is juicy with amazing flavor, it is missing the crispy edges.  My favorite is still Langer's where its perfection from the bread to the meat.  The bread here is sort of an afterthought, it really is all about the meat here.

I hate place that offer different types of fries.  It just makes it that much harder for me to decide.  I spent most of my time debating between the porky papas (french fries with bbq pulled pork, onions, and house made ranch), or the goofy fries (garlic fries topped with chopped pastrami and melted cheddar cheese sauce).  The porky papas are oddly addicting even though the fries aren't crispy and the pulled pork isn't very flavorful or plentiful.  I do like the tanginess of the ranch dressing.

Even with a meal that's as filling as this one, there is always room for dessert.  I rarely get bread pudding for dessert, but after many rave reviews about it I had to see what all the fuss was about.  The bread pudding came out a lot larger than expected with all sorts of goodies to decorate it with - chocolate sauce, bourbon caramel sauce, and butterscotch ice cream (your choice of ice cream flavor, but the only flavors left for today were butterscotch and coconut).  After drenching the bourbon caramel sauce all over the fluffy bread pudding, I have to say this is some pretty delicious bread pudding.    Fluffy in all the right spots with a nice crispy outer edge.  Bourbon caramel sauce is always awesome in my book, but this one had an added bourbon kick.  Originally, I had thought the butterscotch ice cream choice would be too sweet, but it wasn't at all and paired nicely with the bread pudding.

     

Address:                 The Refuge
                                963 Laurel St.
                                San Carlos, CA 
 

Type:                       sandwiches/American

Popular chomps:     reuben
                                 bread pudding
                                 pastrami salad
                                 garlic fries            
                                 Porky papas   
                                 burgers                       
 

Chomp worthy:        reuben
                                 bread pudding      

Heartbaker

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I had high hopes for this bakery in the Richmond District, especially after discovering B. Patisserie (see post HERE) recently.  This bakery/cafe serves a little bit of everything - quiche, pastries, sandwiches, and even has beer on tap.  Normally when I think of a cafe or bakery, I think of a sunny atmosphere, but inside its very dark and gives an almost romantic aura, which the total opposite of what I expect at brunch.

The bakery items look delish with constant refilling from the back.

The salted caramel brown (left) was teeny tiny.  The bite sized sweet didn't have much salt or chocolate flavor.  I've only had a couple bombolinis before this one, but the nutella bombolini (right) tasted heavy and dense.

If I hadn't read about Heartbaker's brunch offerings beforehand I would never have guessed they served sandwiches.  You have to ask the cashier for a menu of sandwiches, to which they hand over a clipboard of both brunch and dinner items.  Admittedly none of the sandwiches on the menu seemed very enticing so I had to go with the brie and fig (I added proscuitto), even though I've never been a huge fan of fig items.  The brie came out nice and gooey with slices of fig on top.  Not bad and definitely the better of the two savory items.  I did like the kale salad, which seems to come with all the savory dishes.

Nothing special about this dish.  A puff pastry filled with cheese.  Its totally forgettable that I actually forget what was inside besides the cheese.

  

Address:                  Heartbaker
                                 1408 Clement St.
                                 San Francisco, CA
 

Type:                        bakery/cafe

Popular chomps:      salted caramel brownie
                                  fig and brie sandwich
                                  cupcakes
                                  bombolini

Chomp worthy:         fig and brie sandwich     

Gioia's Pizzeria (SF)

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I'm attempting to do Pizza Mondays in honor of football season (also, its a good excuse to try more pizza spots!).  Hopefully, I'll be able to scrounge up enough good pizza spots to keep it going.  Any suggestions are welcome!

I'm a week late into the season, but I figured the three pizza places in New York sort of made up for the first week.  First up, is Gioia's in San Francisco.  So Gioia's in Berkeley (see post HERE) is one of my favorite slices in the Bay Area (pies are also available to go at the Berkeley location), especially their Funghi (mushroom) pizza.  After opening up a restaurant in the city, its been on my list of spots to try, but somehow never got checked off.
Gioia's in the city is more of a sit down casual restaurant that reminds me a little of Pizzeria Delfina in the look and feel of the restaurant and menu.  Side dishes like meatballs, salads, and pastas are offered, but the pizza is the main attraction.  Like the Berkeley location, the funghi, cheese, and even the Julian are offered here.  Having my mind set on the mushroom, I was able to pick up an 18" pizza to go.  The prices do seem a little higher than the Berkley location, but that's almost a given being in the city.   

I was glad to see the pizza look the same with the thicker sliced mushrooms and golden thin crust.  However, the crust was on the soggy side and didn't have that nice crispness I fell in love with at the Berkley location.  Even with an extra toasting in my oven, the taste still seemed off.  Its a little sweeter either from the sauce or the actual crust.  I definitely prefer the Berkeley location over this one. 

Address:                  Gioia Pizzeria (SF)
                                 2240 Polk St.
                                 San Francisco, CA

 

Type:                        pizza, Italian

Popular chomps:      Julian
                                  funghi
                                  Salciccia
                                  Arugula/Prosciutto                                  

Chomp worthy:         nothing 

Bambu

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Its been pretty hot in the city and I'm always looking for ways to cool off.  With much anticipation, Bambu has finally opened a location in the city.  While boba/tapioca drinks are the most common sight around the city, its refreshing to see Vietnamese (dessert) che giving them a run for their money.

Bambu gives che a more approachable touch to these commonly Vietnamese dessert drinks.  With a mix of avocado, gelatin, coconut milk, coconut juice, and even basil seeds, I find that these drinks are a more refreshing and healthier option to milk teas (although there are sold here too). 

#4 - red tapioca, mung bean, jello, grass and pandan jelly, and coconut milk.  Since this drink has coconut milk, it is a little creamier than opting for a coconut juice option.  However, they allow for modifications if you wanted to switch them around. 

#1 - the Bambu special - coconut, pandan jelly, longan, basil seeds, and coconut juice.  The juice itself is layered really pretty, but you need to mix everything together to get the full flavor of the drink.  I love how there are so many textures of the drink - chewy, crunchy, etc.  I have to applaud Bambu for breaking che into the mainstream, but I think the San Jose locations have much fresher ingredients.  I found the coconut slices to be a little dry this time around and the drinks to be a little watery.  Also, the San Francisco location has higher prices than the San Jose locations. 

Address:                  Bambu Dessert & Drinks
                                 6050 Geary Blvd
                                 San Francisco, CA
 

Type:                        Vietnamese/ddessert

Popular chomps:      Bambu special
                                 Chè trái cây
                                 Chè 3 màu

Chomp worthy:        Bambu special
                                 Chè trái cây 

Zanze's Cheesecake

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Zanze's Cheesecake is one of those SF hidden gems that even some native SFers don't know about!  Its run by a friendly couple that lovingly puts out some of the best tasting cheesecake in the Bay Area.

Surprisingly, Zanze's doesn't have a website so here's the simple cheesecake menu above.

With every cheesecake order a small tutorial is given on how to properly cut the cheesecake with fishing line (which is included!).

Upon opening the box, the cheesecakes are notably less solid looking.  No graham cracker crust for this cheesecake, but instead graham cracker crumbs are sprinkled on the top.  Even more noticable is the texture of the cheesecake.  Not heavy or dense as a typical New York style cheesecake, this literally melts in your mouth with each bite.  The flavor is amazing with tiny hints of lemon.  Absolutely delicious and probably some of the best cheesecake I've ever tasted, but I did miss the dense firmness of what I associate cheesecake with.

"If you haven't tried the cheesecake before you need to try the original" was advised by the owners.  Little did they know I'm all about trying TWO cheesecakes!  Although the blueberry cheesecake is pretty much blueberry on top of the original, the blueberries were plump and juicy, not the usual artificial sweet berry topping normally found on fruit topped cheesecakes.  Hard to say which one is better, just get both!

  

Address:                   Zanze's Cheesecake
                                  2405 Ocean Ave.
                                  San Francisco, CA
 

Type:                         dessert

Popular chomps:       original
                                   blueberry

Chomp worthy:          original
                                   blueberry