Father's Office

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The burger at Father's Office is touted as "the best burger in LA".  I had to check it out for myself.  There are two locations, but both are 21+ only.  So even during the day and for food only, its strictly for adults.  Anyone under 21 is pointed to the to go menus.  All orders are put in through the bartender then the food is brought to your table.

A lot of people rave about their sweet potato fries.  They have a nice crust and a sweet fluffy inside.  Not exactly the best ever, but solid sweet potato fries.  Its served with a blue cheese dipping sauce.  It wasn't the most traditional dipping sauce, but even though I'm not a huge fan of blue cheese, I found the flavor to be pretty good.

Finally, the main event - the burger.  The bun makes this burger look more like a hoagie or a sandwich.  Its lightly toasted and layered with arugula, blue cheese, caramelized onions, and gruyere.  The burger is juicy, but not oozing.  The meat is tender and flavorful, but not jaw dropping fantastic.  The taste of the burger is very sweet, which is from the very generous portion of caramelized onions.  While its not the best or most traditional burger, its still a good burger.  Nopa's burger in SF (see post HERE) outshines this burger by far.

Another ho hum dish - the bone marrow.  Again, with the sweet flavors!  The bone marrow, while fatty, was also a bit on the sweet side.  Nothing too memorable about this dish either.

Address:                 Father's Office
                                3229 Helms Ave.
                                Los Angeles, CA
 

Type:                       gastropub

Popular chomps:     burger
                                 sweet potato fries

Chomp worthy:        sweet potato fries    

Cafe Dulce

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HAPPY NATIONAL DONUT DAY!

I guess this post is pretty fitting in celebration of today.  Enjoy! 

Bread is so hard to resist, especially in this small Japanese plaza.  Literally turning around from Yamakazi Bakery (see post HERE) puts me smack dab in front of Cafe Dulce.  With more of a modern pastry twist, Cafe Dulce offers Ritual Coffee as well as its own LA spin on pastries. (They have spirulina buns!) 

These days you can't step too far without seeing something with bacon.  Bacon donuts are nothing new, but often the savory sweet combination can be a winner.  These bite size donuts were topped with a thick frosting and pieces of crispy bacon.  While the bacon had good flavor and was not overly salty, I found the frosting to be too much.  It reminded me of store bought cake frosting.

Still with the taste of fruity pebbles on my mind from my dessert at Trick Dog (see post HERE), I was immediately intrigued by the fruity pebble donut.  The crispy cereal flakes gave a nice crispiness to the donut, but not sure if I loved it so much I would order it again.  Fun and really colorful though!

I'm not stranger to roti buns, having had my share at HoneyBerry back home (see post HERE).  Cafe Dulce offers a variety of flavors: chocolate, green tea, blueberry, cherry, etc.  Having just purchased a bag of pastries that exceeded my daily carbs from Yamakazi Bakery, I limited myself to just one roti bun - green tea.  The top was really crunchy.  The bun had an amazing deep matcha green tea flavor, which I love.  I liked these much more than the ones at HoneyBerry back home.  Only regret that I didn't purchase each of the flavors.  Next time!   

Address:                  Cafe Dulce
                                 134 Japanese Village Plz Bldg E
                                 Los Angeles, CA  

Type:                        bakery/Asian

Popular chomps:      roti buns
                                 bacon donut
                                 fruity pebbles donut
                                 green tea donut
                                 brick toast

Chomp worthy:        roti bun

Yamazaki Bakery

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Even hundreds of miles from home, I can't escape my love for Asian baked goods.  Yamazaki Bakery is located in LA's Japantown and reminds me similar bakeries back home.

Sweet, savory, cakes, buns, Yamazaki Bakery has something for everyone.  They also have a case of "warm" pastries and goodies on the left side of counter.

The croquette bun was picked from the "warm" case, but it wasn't warm at all.  Even bought in the morning, this crisscross pastries with a fried potato croquette tucked inside was not fluffy at all.  It tasted like it was possibly a day old.  Disappointing as I had high hopes for this one.

Almost every Asian bakery has some hot dog type bread.  Yamazaki Bakery has a couple.  Their regular hot dog bread was dry and lacked a fresh, spongy texture.

Similar to the hot dog bread was the jalapeno hot dog bread with the only apparent difference being a little on the spicy side.  Not too spicy, but gave the lacking hot dog a much needed kick.  Although it had the same issue as the regular hot dog with the disappointing bread.

Niku doughnut offered no explanation to what surprise was hidden inside.  One bite inside the crunchy, but soft shell made way to what I think is minced meat.  Hard to say exactly what the filling was, but it was good and my favorite treat from this haul.

Curry pan is one of my favorite breads in Asian bakeries.  Their fried exterior with Japanese curry filling is always a delight.  This one fit the standard curry pan expectations. 

Address:                  Yamazaki Bakery
                                 123 Japanese Village Plz Mall
                                 Los Angeles, CA
 

Type:                       bakery/Japanese/Asian

Popular chomps:     curry pan
                                 

Chomp worthy:        niku doughnut       

Apple Pan

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This LA trip was all about the 2 B's:  burger and bakeries.  Apple Pan was the easiest to conquer with its super late night hours (Fri/Sat 1a and midnight all other days).  Apple Pan is an LA institution and they pride themselves on keeping everything the same from the food to the interior design. 

The restaurant itself is all counter seating.  There isn't a hostess so you pretty much have to stake out for an open spot, but after 10p it wasn't much of a problem.

Sodas here are served paper cones held up by a metal cup holder.  Quirky, but cool.  It reminds me of a poor man's goblet.

Almost every burger is here is not without a plateful of fries.  The fries are obviously frozen, but they still make them above average.  Its all about full service here.  Ketchup is squirted on a paper plate for you.

There are two burgers offered at Apple Pan. Although everything else in the restaurant seems to be stuck in a time capsule, their prices are definitely not.  Their burgers fit perfectly in two hands and cost $6.75 with cheese being $.50 extra.  The hickory burger is their most popular burger.  Its served with all the basics - lettuce, pickle, mayo, and a secret sauce.  Their secret sauce just tastes like a sweet bbq sauce.  Their burger was just average, not really that juicy.

Although the hickory burger seems to be the staple order here, many people do order the other burger - the steakburger.  Its served with its own secret sauce, which reminds me of a sweet relish.  Not sure which burger I like better, neither really hit home for me. 

The lettuce served on their burger is not one of those wimpy, wilted lettuce leaves.  Its a huge wedge.  While some people may not enjoy the lettuce to meat ratio, I found the wedge to provide a nice crunch to be really refreshing.

A slice of pie seems to be a popular way to end the meal here whether its to eat here or to go.  They often have different flavors so its best to ask what that day's pies are.  I pretty much had my heart set on a banana cream pie.  It didn't disappoint.  Layers and layers of sliced bananas topped with a thin layer of banana pudding and whipped cream.  I loved how this banana cream pie was a no nonsense type pie and filled with bananas in each bite.  Definitely the highlight of the meal. 

Address:                  Apple Pan
                                 10801 W. Pico Blvd.
                                 Los Angeles, CA 
 

Type:                        burger 

Popular chomps:      hickory burger
                                  banana cream pie
                                  apple pie

Chomp worthy:         banana cream pie     

TCHO

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Goodbye Hersheys and hello TCHO.  TCHO is steadily becoming more of a household name, at least within the Bay Area.  Many restaurants and cafes use their product, Smitten being one of them (see post HERE).  Their factory along the Embarcadero provides a free chocolate tour daily, but because of its popularity you have to reserve online ahead of time.  Not exactly Willy Wonka's Chocolate Factory, but it does offer some fun facts on chocolate and some free tastings.  No tickets are needed to peek through the giftshop and cafe.   

TCHO chocolate already has a pretty rich chocolate taste, but for $2 you can get a "shot" of 3oz of rich drinking chocolate.  For those that want to test how much of a chocolate lover they are, I suggest ordering that.  Its intense dark chocolate that is so thick, it coats your mouth with a velvety smooth chocolate layer.  Supposedly drinking this shot will give you a euphoric feeling, but I had to stop myself at a couple sips and tap out.  Too chocolate for me.

    

Address:                 TCHO
                                Pier 17
                                San Francisco, CA
 

Type:                       dessert

Popular chomps:     chocolate shot
                                 mocha

Chomp worthy:        anything chocolate        

Reveille Coffee

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Reveille Coffee is a minimalistic in a bright open space on a random corner situated between Chinatown and North Beach.  Its an awesome place to have delicious coffee and people watch.

I think I found the most perfect food on sliced bread -fried egg with a generous amount of sliced avocado.  Fresh, runny with a bit of crunch.  I think all the necessities have been checked off with this dish. 

I thought nothing could get better than Outerland's Eggs in Jail (see post HERE) until I saw Reveille Coffee's egg sandwich with bacon.  The top layer of the sandwich is essentially Eggs in Jail with one egg.  Inside the sandwich is layered with crispy bacon, cheese, and kale.  The only dilemma I faced was how to eat this.  Utensils are given so you can cut pieces of the sandwich, but its best to get dirty with it and bite into like a regular sandwich.

The only way to make the sandwiches even more tasty - with two of my favorite hot sauces:  sriracha and crystal.  Other hot sauces are available here as well.

    

Address:                  Reveille Coffee
                                 200 Columbus Ave.
                                 San Francisco, CA
 

Type:                       coffee

Popular chomps:      egg sandwich with bacon

Chomp worthy:         egg sandwich with bacon
                                  avocado with fried egg       

L'epi D'or Bakery

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There's nothing more than I love than bread, except Asian breads.  L'epi Dór Bakery is another Asian bakery in the South Bay that serves up some Taiwanese and Japanese baked goods.  Along with various sweets, they do offer a wide selection of savory items, much more than at Clover Bakery (see post HERE) and Paris Bakery (see post HERE).

Up until this point, I've only eaten a couple of these savory Asian bun sandwiches so this fried chicken bun was something new.  Fried chicken strips along wtih crispy chunks cucumber that added even more crunch to the sweet, soft bun.  Pretty good, but I just wished that it was warm or served fresh.

 I've had the yakisoba bun at Clover Bakery and this one is completely different.  The yakisoba (fried noodles) is obviously made from the instant package you can buy at any Japanese market, but its still delicious.  Some added crunch or another texture would have been nice with this one.

With everything fried and stuffed into these mini sweet buns, its no surprise that a hash brown bun is offered here.  One hash brown patty is sliced in half then stuffed with a tomato and some slices of cucumber for crunch.  I really wanted to like this one, but its missing some sauce or another flavor to really kick it up.

Ah, the infamous spaghetti buns are also offered here.  Thin vermacelli noodles tossed in a sweet tomato sauce then stuffed into the bun.  L'epi D'or's version is topped with meatball instead of slices of hot dogs.  I prefer Clover's spaghetti buns to this one.  It seemed flavorless and the meat was dry. 

The fried bun with pickled mustard used the same fried buns that are usually found stuffed with curry.  This time its stuffed withe Chinese mustard greens that offer a little bit of sour, bitter, and crunch.

Address:                L'epi D'or Bakery
                               19675 Stevens Creek Blvd
                               Cupertino, CA 
                               

Type:                      bakery/Asian/Japanese/Taiwanese

Popular chomps:    custard bun
                                bento boxes
                                milk bread 

Chomp worthy:       fried chicken bun
                                yakisoba bun    

Tani's Kitchen

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I've eaten at almost all the known Japanese curry spots in the city:  Muracci's (see post HERE), Volcano curry (see post HERE),Kare-Ken (see post HERE), and Delica with Muracci's being my absolute favorite.  Tani's Kitchen is a favorite amongst people living on the outer areas of the city so I had to check it out to complete my list.   First of all, this place is very, very small and very, very popular.  Its best to order to go, but even then the wait time is quite long.  

Besides the curries and donburis, the tamago is a must order item.  Totally hype worthy, these fluffy tamagos are some of the best I've had in the city.  I never used to give this sushi a second look, but after a trip to Japan, it opened my eyes to how amazingly delicious tamago can be if done right.  Soft with a creamy and spongy texture, this egg sushi oozes just the right amount of sweetness.

Its hard to say why people like the curry from this place, especially when there are some good spots to choose from.  The karaage (fried chicken) was burnt and I actually stopped eating it halfway, which is a rarity for me when it comes to fried food.  The curry was just your standard Japanese box curry with an absence of vegetables, but made much too salty.  No heat either. 

One look at the tonkatsu curry I hoped that the extra dark crust was only aesthetically burnt looking, but it was hard and dry.  The meat inside was dry and overcooked.  The curry only added to the saltiness of the dish. There was a noticeable absence of the red pickle ( fukujinzuke).

Address:               Tani's Kitchen
                              32 Park Plz Dr.
                              Daly City, CA 
 

Type:                     Japanese

Popular chomps:   tamago sushi
                               spicy hamburger steak
                               karaage curry
                               chicken karaage donburi

Chomp worthy:      tamago sushi

Waffle Amore

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I'm not stranger to liege waffles so I was a little worried when I didn't smell the scent of freshly made waffles floating through the air like at New York's Wafel and Dinges (see post HERE), but my worries were quickly appeased with their gigantic delicious waffles.  If only they had a storefront so I don't go on chasing this yellow truck all around San Jose for my waffle fix. 

My first choice, the liege waffle, was all sold out that day, so the Brussels waffle would have to do for now.  Their savory take on the Brussels waffle included a bacon cheddar waffle.  Bacon and cheddar is baked into the waffle then topped with sour cream, cheddar, and green onions with the obvious option of a runny egg for me.  Each bite of the waffle gave a nice balance of salty with sweet bits.  The waffle has a nice golden crust, but its light and airy inside.

     A dessert waffle is a must, especially knowing how delicious their waffles are.  The waffles are buttery and sweet, but surprisingly not heavy.  I love how the caramel rum sauce soaked into the nooks and crannies of the waffle.

Address:                Waffle Amore
                               San Jose, CA
 

Type:                      dessert/food truck

Popular chomps:    liege waffle

                                banana fosters waffle
                                bacon cheddar waffle

Chomp worthy:       banana fosters waffle
                                bacon cheddar waffle         

Tribune Tavern

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Right below the historic Tribune tower lies the Tribune Tavern.  Dark and mysterious, but with some awesome outside and window seating, Tribune Tavern is great place to enjoy the upcoming warm summer nights.  Its best to come hungry with no plans to do anything after.  The food is heavy and filling, but exactly the type of menu when you think of a tavern.

Possibly the most generous amount of spreadable meats I've ever had.  The potted rabbit was creamy and delicious.  Even with a generous coating on each piece of toast, there was quite a bit of rabbit leftover.  A couple more slices of toast would have been perfect.

The grilled ox tongue was so tender it could melt in your mouth.  The sliced radishes brought some freshness and crunch to each bite.

The pork trotter and cheek fritter was kinda delicious.  Tender shreds of meat encased in a fried shell.   Its hard not to love anything fried.  The sprinkle of fava beans made you feel less guilty about eating something fried.

Chuck and brisket make this burger flavorful, but oddly it lacked any juiciness.  $2 extra for bacon, but at this point it was meat overload for me.  The fries were nice and crisp with a good amount of salt.

Its hard to find sheperd's pie in the Bay Area and Cheesecake Factory doesn't count.  Usually, I find that most are too salty or oily, but Tribune Tavern's was quite tasty.  Double meat filling made with lamb and braised beef .  I only wished the Parmesan mash had little more flavor and texture. 

Its a shame that TCHO chocolate was made into this pot de creme.  The marshmallow topping made it all too sweet and hard to enjoy the lovely TCHO chocolate. 

Address:                 Tribune Tavern
                                401 13th St.
                                Oakland, CA
 

Type:                       American/British/gastropub

Popular chomps:      guilty fries
                                  bangers and mash
                                  shepard's pie
                                  burger

Chomp worthy:         potted rabbit
                                  grilled ox tongue
                                  pork trotter and cheek fritter

Rich Table

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Finally after months of trying to get a reservation, I scored some weekday seats. I did notice that when Rich Table first opened seats were easily attainable, but now with all the recent press its impossible to get a table 30 days out.

Seems like these days the "in" bread is the levain bread.  Rich Table's own version is douglas fir levain bread.  Although I love and adore the slight bitterness from levain bread, I found this one to have a strange aftertaste.  Also, the bread is cut much too thick for my liking.  Loaves are available for $7.

Sardine Chips at Rich Table-  2013 7x7 SF's Top 100 Eats

A new meaning to chips and dip.  Small fried fish are interwoven into a thinly sliced potato chip like a work of art.  Horseradish and chive dipping sauce with oddly placed arugula leaves.  Creative and fun. 

These fried porcini balls of dough are a savory take on doughnuts.  Although delicious and earthy, these doughnuts did get heavy and filling after the first one.

The chicken cannelloni along with the porcini doughnuts were probably my two favorites from this meal.  While the leaves looked strangely like something from my parent's garden, the pasta was delicious and the chicken tender and flavorful.

The pasta here is on the hard side of al dente.  The tagliatelle was mixed with dry aged beef, and charred cabbage.  Good, but felt like it was missing something.  Also, I wasn't so into the sprout topping.  While I love sprouts, I just didn't see the point and thought the dish could do without it.

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

  

Address:                  Rich Table
                                 199 Gough St.
                                 San Francisco, CA
 

Type:                       American

Popular chomps:     sardine chips
                                 levain bread
                                 tagliatelle
                                 porcini doughnuts

Chomp worthy:        porcini doughnuts
                                 chicken cannelloni