Lola

2000 4th Ave

Seattle, WA 98121

Occasion: After a whole morning of being tourists we decided to try some of Giada's favorite eats in Seattle. As featured on The Food network's Best thing I've ever eaten: we ordered their donuts. We called in an order, but when we picked it up, it was happy hour so we decided to sit down and have a drink. 08.30.12

Doughnuts

They're made to order and served with vanilla mascarpone and house made apricot jam.  I can totally see why it's on Giada's best things she's ever eaten list.  I mean what isn't good when it's fresh out the oven, warm and fluffy?  What did it for me were not the donuts itself, but the pairing with mascarpone and their absolutely delicious apricot jam.  I love how they're bite sized.  

Drinks were about 4-5 dollars during happy hour and it got me pretty buzzed.  What a great mid day snack and drink session.  The doughnuts were so good that we placed an order to go.

Skool

1725 Alameda St
San Francisco, CA 94103

Occasion: Catch up dinner with my Big sis.  I got there a little bit earlier than our reservation time and made it there while their happy hour was still going on.  We ordered a couple of items on their Detention Hall (Happy Hour Menu) as well as from their regular dinner menu. Their food is AMAZING!  07.05.12

Eryngii Mushroom Fries

with Cornmeal Breading Served with Skool Miso Aioli

Deep fried mushrooms= amazingly delicious, especially when dipped into their miso ailoli sauce.  They're great to snack on and absolutely addicting. Genius.

Skool Sliders

Pork Belly Confit Sliders with Sugar Miso Glaze, Serrano Chille and Togarashi on Baby Brioche Bun

Another amazing bite from their happy hour menu.  Their buns were just whatever, but I loved the spicy and sweet combo on the pork belly.

Sexy Cocktail Drinks

Crab Bon Bons

Dungeness Crab Balls with Yuzu-Citrus Hollandaise and Herb Oil

They're okay, not too memorable though. 

Grilled Ika-Yaki

Large Grilled Squid with Tomato-Ginger Fondue 

Loved the charred taste of the grilled squid, which were really soft and not too chewy.  There were chunks of tomatoes that were so soft and flavorful. 

Squid Ink Spaghettina

Monterey Squid, Local White Shrimp, Garlic Tomato Compote, Japanese Red Curry, Lemon Grass Dashi-Broth, Seaweed Butter, Enoki Mushrooms, Shiso

This is seriously my favorite thing to get here.  One serving is enough to share between two and you can request for them to split it for you.  The soup is flavorful with a kick of spice to it.  The quid ink pasta is fresh and chewy. Oh and the variety of seafood in the bowl is generous.  It's just a really well put together dish. I love it and would highly recommend it.

Lavendar Panna Cotta

The taste of lavendar was just too strong for my liking.  It just didn't do it for me, but the little biscuit cookie it came with was delicious.

Jasper's Corner Tap and Kitchen

401 Taylor St
San Francisco, CA 9410

Occasion: Happy hour before dinner at La Folie 06.22.12

Mini burgers

shropshire blue cheese, sesame bun 

I love the idea of mini burgers because it's not as heavy and you don't feel as guilty eating a mini burger than  an actual burger.  The buns were nicely toasted and the meat was so juicy.

Bay Bridge Buck

Hangar One Buddha’s Hand Vodka, strawberries, orgeat, lime, ginger beer. 

I'm always sold when there's ginger beer involved.  It was absolutely delicious. Citrusy, but sweet.  I loved the combination of everything.

Horizon Restaurant and Lounge

498 Broadway
San Francisco, CA 94133

Occasion: Thursday Happy hour with the besty and Hugo. 5.20.10. We came here looking for snack like foods. None of us were extremely hungry and did not want anything too filling. We had no clue Happy Hour lasted all night, so we ordered from the happy hour menu and a salad from the regular dinner menu.

Crab cake
Petite crab cake with mesclun mix topped with a lemon vinaigrette
From what I can recall, it was pretty good. I liked the citrusy vinaigrette drizzled on top. Crab meat was tasty and flavorful. The skin was fried to a good golden brown.

Loaded tater tots
tater tots topped with cheese, sourcream, bacon bits garnished with chopped green onions
Tater tots always bring back childhood memories, well for me it does. I love tater tots..it's simple and it reminds me of potato hash but in a cubey ball like form. I've never had it topped with cheese, sour cream and bacon bits before and it was delicious. It's very rich in flavor, so I got full off of it really quickly. It's definitely a guys type of snack. I enjoyed it but I can't have too much of it. Thank goodness for the salad to help balance out this artery clogging snack!

Beer Battered Calamari
Shrimp, green beans with a citrus ponzu sauce and a sweet chili sauce
You can't really go wrong with fried calamari. I like the the pieces with the tentacles. It looked like there was a lot but as we were eating I found a bed of lettuce under it. Deceiving it was, but I didn't complain. I liked dipping it into the sweet chili sauce rather than the ponzu sauce, which was too overpowering in flavor.

Pear, Pomegranate, Prosciutto Salad
D’Anjou pears, pomegranate, prosciutto, butter lettuce, blood orange vinaigrette
Probably my favorite dish of the evening. It was exactly what I wanted that night. I wanted something light, yet tasty. The savory taste of the prosciutto went very well with the sweet crunchy pear. Though I did not taste nor see any pomegranate, I wonder why it was part of the ingredients list. It was a very light and refreshing dish.

Grand Cafe

501 Geary Street

San Francisco, CA 94102

Occasion: Friday Happy Hour 5.14.10

$1 Oysters (Miyagi's)
Delicious. Fresh. Just what we wanted...besides the crazy long wait for it. We ordered 4 dozen and the chef had a lot of other orders...which is why we had to wait about half an hour for them.

Duck Ravioli
It had a familiar taste to it like chinese dim sum. Nothing special. It only came in two pieces. I didn't think it was worth it because it's not filling.

Salmon Tartar

Taste was on par, but unfortunately I was disappointed in the portion size. Flavorful and perfect on the toasted baguette.

Shrimp Stew

There were only about 5 prawns in there cooked in tomato. Again, portion size was small, but it was tasty. It was nice and warm and stayed warm in he skillet. It was good and I enjoyed it. Nice little snack!

Flammenkuche D'Alsace

wood oven baked crispy flatbread, stone fruit, honey lavendar with candied walnuts and goat cheese cream
The combination of flavors are very interesting. The crispy flat bread was simple, yet tasty especially with a slab of goat cheese cream slathered over it. There was a thin slice of fruit on top and it was just amazing. Candied walnuts sprinkled on top were amazing. It was a nice little happy hour snack.

Beef Brochettes

Beef, seasonal vegetables, marchan du vin sauce
Beef was tender and full of flavor. Again, portion size wasn't that great. Glad to say I tried it.

Palamino's

345 Spear St
San Francisco, CA 94105

Occasion: Happy Hour!! 4.22.10

Cranberry Mojito

I liked it...even if it's watered down. I don't like it too strong because I didn't want to get drunk!

Hot Red King Crab and Artichoke Dip

The piece of cracker was very oily. I didn't like that, but the artichoke dip was so delicious. It was bit on the salty side. Yay cheese, crap and artichoke. Good thing for the cracker chip to balance out the saltiness of the dip.

Mushroom and Sausage Pizza
Didn't really taste much like pizza. The crust is really thin. I guess for 5 dollars it wasn't too bad. It definitely felt really greasy in my system after consuming it. I like my pizzas super cheesy with cheese that stretches with each bite. This is definitely not that type of pizza.
Brick Oven Roasted Clams
Generous portion and the broth was really salty. For half the price the clams weren't that bad. If I had to pay more it wouldn't be as worth it.

Lark Creek Steak

845 Market St 4th Fl
San Francisco, CA 94103

Occasion: Happy hour and shopping with the coworkers.

A happy hour drink. I had two. and boy was I buzzed. It tastes good, but definitely a creeper. It's not good for a light weight like me. I had trouble walking around the mall. It was hard to shop due to the fact that it made me nautious.

Florida White Prawn Cocktail
with a horseradish cocktail sauce

The prawns were nice big and juicy. What's better than biting into fresh seafood. YUM!

Hand-cut fries
with a bearnaise sauce
I love big french cut fries. I like biting into it and smushing the potatoe with my tongue and the roof of my mouth. Love the interesting bearnaise sauce too. There's definitely mayo mixed with some kind of deliciousness.

Spicy Chicken Wings
house made hot sauce, celery and buttermilk blue cheese dressing
Yes, they were pretty spicy. I just ate it the way it was and didn't bother dipping it in the blue cheese dressing. Good enough to be a snack, but not for dinner.

Filet Mignon Steak Tartar
with crostini, fleur de sel, capers, onion

This is what we came here for. I love any kind of tartar. It went really well with the bread chips. Full of flavor. Enjoyed every last bite of it!

Anchor & Hope

83 Minna St
San Francisco, CA 94105

Occasion: Happy hour with the coworkers/ belated bday celebration for AJ's Bday 4.7.10! We were actually trying to go to B Bar, but unfortunately they were closed for the day. I remembered this restaurant was near so we walked over!

$ 1 Happy Hour Oysters

So refreshing and delicious. We all loved and devoured it! We love being able to find cheap oysters for happy hour.

Shrimp fritters with sambal sauce

These were absolutely delicious. There's not a lot that comes per order and I know that we were all eyeing the last piece. It was so good. Dip it in some of the sambal sauce, which was spicy and it's perfect. It was definitely a favorite for the night.

Anchor and Hope Parmesan Fries with Garlic and Tarragon Aoli

Great snack. The tarragon aoli sauce was absolutely delicious, we had to ask for seconds to dip our bread with. Garlic fries are always a great snack.

Angels on Horsebacks
The name itself is so appealing! I don't usually like bacon, nor do I usually like cooked oysters, but this is an exception. These are phenomenal and amazingly delicious. It was our favorite item of the night. Flavor was all there! It's definitely a must get! I can see why it's on BIG EAT SF 2009 & 2010: #48. Angels on horseback at Anchor & Hope.
Marinated Salmon Gravlax Watercress- Cucumber salad and sourdough crisps
Love how the salmon was really thinly sliced. The sauce used for this sauce was delicious. Not exactly sure what was in the sauce, but it was thick and went really well with the salmon.

Poke Tuna

It was on their special menu for the day. I am so glad someone ordered it because I love raw tuna. Sesame seeds added a flavorful aroma to it. Tuna tasted really fresh and we were all fans. Another good choice of the night.

Fried Calamari

What's happy hour without some fried calamari. I loved it especially the pieces with the tentacles. The sauce used for it was good, but I thought the garlic and tarrogon aoli that came with the fries were even better. When we ran out of the dipping sauce for the calamari we used the garlic and tarragon sauce as a dipping sauce instead. It was absolutely amazing. YUM!

Hog Island Oyster Company

1 Ferry Building
San Francisco, CA 94111

Occasion: Happy hour with the girls on a thursday!

Oysters

Yay to $1 Oysters for happy hour! We sat outside, but would have enjoyed it out there more if it was a bit warmer. Raw oysters, you either love it or hate it. I LOVE IT, especially when they're only $1.

Clam Chowder
Manila clams with aromatic vegetables, bacon, potatoes and cream
Not your typical thicky cream clam chowder. This was different. It's more like a clam soup because it was not thick like chowder, but instead very watered down and brothy. There weren't chunks of clams in the soup, but there were actual whole clams in there with the shell. It's different, but I still thought it was good. The soup was full of flavor and very filling. Dip bread in it and its amazing. I can see why it's on SF BIG EAT 2009 & 2010: 100 things to eat and drink before you die #99. Clam chowder at Hog Island Oyster Co.

Zebulon

83 Natoma Street
(between 2nd St & James Lick Fwy)
San Francisco, CA 94105

Occasion: Happy Hour Pisces Bday Celebration with the coworkers! 3.10.10

Garlic Fries with yummy sauce

We had three orders of these. They were so goood! Loved the spicy mayo like aoli sauce.

Sliders

It was full of flavor and very good. It wasn't burger bun,but instead served with slices of bread. I must have been hungry because I devoured my portion. YUMMY!

Gin and Tonic

It was STRONG and it got me buzzin!

Nachos

It was alright. Not that great to me. The cheese seemed only half melted, but I was happy there were chunks of avocado in it.=]

The STOPLIGHT

Dr. Tanaka's punishment for being late and losing a bet to ZOE!

Hennesy, Vodka and 151. BARF

I was so surprised when Dr. T downed all three of them like it was nothing. super sav!