San Francisco Part 4: In & Out Burger

After a long day of touring Napa Valley on a bus and drinking as many free wine samples as I could, what better meal to soak it all up than a good old fashioned American hamburger? Well, I could think of a lot of better options, but In & Out was right there at Fisherman's Wharf, where the bus dropped me off.

Maybe it was the proper finish, because the last winery the bus driver brought us to was none other than Sutter Home, where they pride themselves on White Zinfandel, the Kool-Aid of wines! I actually approached the bus driver and asked him what in God's name we were doing there on a supposedly respectable wine tour, so he pointed me across the street to a smaller winery called Heitz Celler where I gladly drank some lovely wine and even bought a couple bottles. And that's how I escaped from my bus tour...

Anyways, so since my last stint at an In & Out in Vegas, I had learned about the secret menu. Yeah, that's right... there is a secret menu at In & Out that isn't posted and you can only order if you are in the know. So I got a single cheeseburger, only I requested that it be prepared "animal style". The standard burger comes with lettuce, tomato, thousand island-ish "spread" and if you want, onions. Apparently you can get them grilled, but every time I've gotten them they've been big raw things that are way too much on the palate and the breath! Now, if you order your burger "animal style", you get lettuce, tomato, pickle, grilled onions, extra "spread" and your patty is grilled in mustard. Cool, eh?

For good measure, I also got the "protein burger" which omits the bun and wraps up the burger with a bunch of lettuce. Unfortunately I forgot not to put onions on this one, so it was onion breath for me!

Crunchy!

The protein burger was nothing special. I should have ordered the "grilled cheese" instead, which is the burger with no patty, basically. I think I do prefer the "animal style" over the default style, though I should have gone for a double-double because I find the patties are too thin at In & Out. I think it's funny they call it a "double-double", because that expression means something very different in Canada. There were even some backpack street kids bumming for money outside with a side that said "Craving a double-double" which I thought was cute, but they were already chomping down on some burgers when I came out to give them change. With a full belly, onion breath, and a bag full of Napa wine, I had only to dodge the scary "tree guy" and hop on a street car which, on its long journey, encountered street protesters, crack heads, and of course a big naked man at the end of the line when I got off in Castro. Gotta love San Francisco!

They present them so pretty-like!

In & Out Burger

333 Jefferson St.

San Francisco (Fishermen's Wharf)
Website
Wikipedia

Heitz Cellar

Napa Valley
Website

San Francisco Part 3: Asqew Grill

I woke up my first day in San Francisco and my friend was at work. She left me some house keys and advised me to take a walk a few blocks down the street to Haight St., the old historic hippie district. Just before leaving I was informed by another friend via facebook that a pretty good place to go on Haight Street was Amoeba Record Store, and also Asqew Grill. So off I went!

I was reluctant to go into Asqew at first, because my friend had left out the "Grill" part and I quickly realized that this place specializes in grilled meats. And here I was trying to exercise my vegetarianism. But I inched towards the store front anyway to check out the menu, and quickly realized there were seafood and vegetarian options to appease me. The restaurant wasn't at all intimidating for a lone wanderer like me to step in and enjoy a pint and a meal. I went up to the counter, ordered, and sat at a nice window table to do some Haight St. people watching. You are allowed to mix and match skewers, so I ordered the peppercorn ahi tuna and the marinated tofu. After you've chosen your skewers, you get to choose a side out of interesting options like citrus couscous, coconut cilantro jasmine rice, mac'n'cheese, and garlic mashed potatoes. There are also salads and cool things like grilled artichoke and corn on the cob. I decided to try something a little different and got the grilled mascarpone polenta, which arrived in a marinara sauce with my skewers on top.

I preferred the tofu over the tuna, because I require my tuna to be medium rare to rare and this was cooked well done which made it seem more meaty than fishy. I kinda wish I had paired the tofu with the portobello skewer for a fully vegetarian meal. The marinade and the grill imparted lots of flavour into the tofu and I seriously loved it. It was served with little cups of some sort of white sauce that I couldn't identify, but the server told me it had something to do with cream and wine so I dunked my tofu in it and ended up dunking some of my tuna in it as well. Yummy! My experience with polenta is limited, and in every case it was always a bland pile of mush. But now I see what all the hype is about. When polenta is made into a cake and grilled, it's actually quite nice and it went well with the marinara sauce. I suppose the mascarpone probably played a role in this as well.  I also really enjoyed the Flying Dog Pale Ale I had with my meal. I left very satisfied. 

Apparently there are several locations of Asqew Grill in the Bay Area. Not a bad choice if you are looking for a lunch spot. Oh yeah, and they deliver! 

Asqew Grill

1607 Haight St @ Clayton

www.asqewgrill.com

San Francisco Part 2: North Bay Italian: The Stinking Rose and Sotto Mare

The other quintessential San Franciscan food I wanted to try was Cioppino (chuh-PEE-noh). Its basically a seafood stew made with a tomato and wine broth, and perhaps a touch of pasta. North Bay is the Italian district of San Fran, with the Italian flag featured on every lamp post and Italian restaurants lining the streets. Cioppino, you may have anticipated, is the creation of Italian immigrants to San Francisco. So naturally I wanted to go here:

My friend assured me that Italians eat late, but alas, this particular joint closes at 9pm and we were just a little late. Since we were already in North Bay, we decided to stick with the Italian theme. I was led into a restaurant called The Stinking Rose, which is..... "a garlic restaurant". Okay. What does that entail? A shatload of garlic, that's what! Here was our appetizer, in which we dunked bread:

I'm not kidding when I say, we emitted garlic fumes for the next 24 hours after eating here. They call it The Stinking Rose for a reason! The next night, we went out for drinks with a couple who complained about our garlic emissions. And I'm not kidding when I say our companions ditched us early in the night, likely due to our unkindly odour. Well, it was tasty though, if you like garlic. Pretty much everyone likes garlic, so the concept works. Garlic, garlic, garlic....

The picture at the top of this post is my friend's Gorgonzola Gnocci, which, per usual, was rich and creamy (maybe a little extra garlicky). What did I order? Of course, I had to get something novel. Whilst researching cioppino, I had heard lots about "sand dabs". So I figured this was another food common in, at least the northern California area. Sure enough, Wikipedia tells me that "It is a popular game fish in California, and is regarded as a delicacy, though it is not as popular elsewhere". It is a flat fish only found in the Pacific ocean, which makes it enough of a novelty for this haddock-eater. I'm pretty sure they are typically fried in flour and butter, and you usually get several of them because they are small. At The Stinking Rose you can order them with several sauces and/or sides, and I went with the asparagus and tiny pasta side. 

Notice the extra garlic thrown on the plate? So much garlic... but as for the fish, it was cooked nicely, despite being a simple preparation. I actually prefer my seafood simple, and I enjoyed the fish skin and crispy exterior and the sweet moist fish. I would probably eat this again, without the oily garlicky appetizer. We also got a huge jug of beer for a good price.


So the next day we made our way back to Sotto Mare for lunch. My friend, I should have mentioned, is a hardcore vegetarian, while I am just a part-time vegetarian who will never give up seafood. This time she ordered a fettucini alfredo, i.e. boringness in my books. But I don't blame her, because we were in total seafood land and she was being a good host and taking me out for cioppino. What I didn't realize is that cioppino is expensive and large. One bowl is enough to feed two people, and it is not what I would call a "stew". I would call it a tiny bit of tomato broth with a shatload of shellfish and a little bit of pasta for $30. It could easily feed two. But I was one, and I did my best.

Well here it is, the real San Francisco treat! Trust me, there is a TON of seafood in there... clams, mussels, shrimp, scallops, crab, and I think squid... is squid always purple? Anyways, onwards to my ever important opinion! Leaving shellfish in their shells proves freshness, but it is a bitch to remove the shells, particularly when this is supposed to be a stew (at least they gave me a bib). Oh well, the crab was really nice, despite the effort. The scallops, shrimp, and squid were not in shells; scallop shells are too big to put in stew, squid doesn't have shells, and shrimp... I dunno! Usually shrimp is served with the tail on at least, but I don't mind having it removed. I wouldn't mind having all the shells removed because I am LAZY. Lobster? Pfft... pass the lobster rolls! But anyways, you can't go wrong with fresh shellfish, shell or no shell. The broth? Meh... I find it hard to be inspired by seafood in tomato broth. I am too much of a Maritimer... nevermind that Manhattan clam chowder with the red broth! But hey, it's personal preference. I'm not saying this wasn't good cioppino. It's the only bowl I've ever had! I'm just saying maybe it's not my style. But I'm glad I tried it anyway. 

The Stinking Rose
325 Columbus Ave.
San Francisco, CA


Sotto Mare
552 Green St.
San Francisco, CA

San Francisco Part 1: Mission Burritos

This is my first blog for the month of August, and my apologies go out to anyone who noticed and/or cared. You see, the lamp on my computer died, leaving me with a stubborn black screen. So I just delightedly bought a new computer, not realizing I would have to wait 10 days for it to come in the mail. So that explains my internet hiatus. Well, that, and I just got back from San Francisco! Why San Francisco? Well, I figure while I'm living out west I should try to hit up some travel destinations on the western side of things, and I also happen to have a good university friend who lives in San Fran. So the question really is: Why not San Francisco?

San Francisco is a really cool place. When I travel I always do some research on what regional specialties, novelties, and must-eats exist in a certain area. The most obvious food entity for San Fransisco is the Mission Burrito. The Mission district of San Francisco basically invented the Mexican-American burrito as we know it. I recommend strolling around Mission and eating a burrito, if you are ever touring through. These burritos are HUGE and the flour tortillas are steamed, allowing them to stretch around a ton of ingredients without bursting and making a mess. They are typically stuffed with beans, rice, salsa and meat, but you can sup it up with sour cream, cheese, and avocado.

El Farolito 

"We don't eat at the BART station in San Francisco" - random lady walking by

My first burrito was from El Farolito. We were on our way to Oakland for the A's vs. Jays game, so we had to get these to-go and ended up eating them in the BART station while waiting for a train. The burritos were so skillfully rolled and wrapped in the tinfoil that they made no mess at all (despite the concerns of our good sumaritan passing by). My burrito had a roasted poblano chile inside which was addictively delicious with the avocado, rice and beans. We munched on pickled jalapeno peppers while we waited, which seemed like a good idea at first ... but our mouths were burning pretty badly by the time we got our food and we had to pour some cups of complimentary water to take with us. We also packed up some salsa to go which we dumped on top of each biting portion. I really enjoyed the mild but tasty green salsa. This was so excellent, despite the glamourousness of fiercly mowing down take-out at the BART station with pesky do-gooders flying about...

Taqueira Cancun

Taqueria Cancun has an award winning burrito, according to the internet and the restaurants' walls. My friend told me her brother insists on the place, although burrito debate in San Francisco can be a touchy subject! I didn't like this burrito as much as the one from El Farolito. Perhaps it's not a safe comparison because there were no roasted poblanos available at this place, despite having an award winning vegetarian burrito. But mainly, I think I prefer refried beans in my burrito, rather than intact black or pinto beans, and I'm pretty sure I wasn't given that option. This is a personal bias, of course. I LOVE bean paste. Any kind of mashy mushy bean substance, really, with frijoles refritos (a.k.a. refried beans) being the shining star. Since I stuck to vegetarian burritos, it's hard for me to comment on the meat. However, I will say this: the carne asada I saw being sliced up on the table at El Farolito looked decadent. To be even more unfairly biased, I will admit that I did order a taco at Taqueria Cancun. And desiring to try something generally unavailable in the north, I asked the clerk what was better, the beef head or the beef tongue (I made no mention of the brains, not being a zombie)... and he confidently suggested the tongue. So... here is my beef tongue taco:

This isn't Old El Paso, kids!

While I am a big fan of corn tortillas and a real good salsa (which Taqueria Cancun certainly has) it turns out I am not a big fan of beef tongue. You'd think that would be a safe guess, but just the other day I learned I am a big fan of deep fried bean curd stuffed with shrimp paste. So you never know. Maybe the beef head would have been the better option after all. Tongue is just too... well, you can imagine the texture. Nuff said. So basically my evaluation of the meat based items from these two restaurants is not worthy of your attention.

Oh, but in Taqueria Cancun's favour, I should mention that chips were included with the meal, whereas El Farolito has started charging. Salsa is complimentary at both locations.

El Farolito

2779 Mission St. San Francisco, CA

Taqueria Cancun 
2288 Mission St. San Francisco, CA