Tuesday, October 4, 2011

Andale Mexican Restaurant

Terminal 2
SFO

Occasion: Lunch at the new Terminal 2 before we board our plane to CABO! 09.09.11

IMG_6904


IMG_6905
Fish Tacos
Starting our trip off right with some delicious tacos at the airport. I was impressed with how flavorful and delicious they were, considering the fact that it was airport food. Fish was soft and seasoned very well.  I was happy that there was a good amount of guacamole on it.  There was also some heat to the taco. Satisfied and ready for our trip!

Monday, October 3, 2011

Golden Gate Bakery

1029 Grant Ave
San Francisco, CA 94133

Occasion: In celebration of Moon Cake Festival/ Mid Autumn Festival I had to get Henry's parents some moon cake.  Because I had to wait in line for 15-20 minutes I picked up egg tarts too. My favorite egg tarts ever. 09.08.11

Mooncake and Eggtarts
Best egg tarts I have ever had. Also, my favorite bakery for mooncakes. The paste is smooth and perfectly sweet. The skin is not too thick nor too thin. I'm spoiled...I have to have mooncake from Golden Gate Bakery every year. Nothing beats it!!

Sol Food

811 4th St
San Rafael, CA 94901
 
Occasion: Monday adventure to San Rafael for some some puerto rican food. +2 newbies. 09.05.11

Nino Pobre
The Puerto Rican Po'Boy Sandwich
breaded fried prawns on tasted french bread with lettuce, tomato and cilantro lime mayo
I usually get the Pollo Al Horno and wanted to try something different, so I went for their po' boy sandwich.  I thought it was pretty good considering that I don't usually get deep fried things.  It's simple and delicious especially with a jar of the mango orange tea.  I was satisfied and stuffed after this meal!

King of Thai

639 Clement St
San Francisco, CA 94118

Occasion: Sunday night take out dinner for 3 after a long day of shopping. 09.04.11

Duck Pad Thai with extra noodles
Duck Fried rice with extra rice
Hoi Jor (appetizers) deep fried bean curd paper stuffed with ground pork, crab meat, ground shrimps, ground water chestnuts and served with sweet plum sauce
I would never order duck pad thai or duck fried rice if I were not with two guys.  My pick was the appetizer which was delicious.  The deep fried bean curd skin was crispy and the ground pork and crab meat combo was delicious especially when dipped into the sweet plum sauce.
The pad thai and the fried rice was surprisingly really tasty, but very greasy.  Luckily, I only had a little bit of it.

Sociale

3665 Sacramento St
San Francisco, CA 94118

Occasion: Saturday date night. 09.03.11

IMG_6886
Pinot Noir
IMG_6890
ROASTED BONE MARROW
Grilled white peach, Saba , crostini, frisee
I've enjoyed bone marrows for quite awhile already, but Henry just barely first tried it.  Since then, he's definitely grown to love it.  Now whenever we go out and see it on the menu, we try to order it. I wish it was cut differently where the bone is in half where the marrow is shown open faced.  I'm not exactly sure what the correct terminology is, but I hope you all understand.  The way they cut it makes it hard for us to stick even the smallest spoon into the bone to dig out the meat. I usually like it very savory, but there was a hint of sweetness, like some sort of molasses that seemed to have been drizzled on top.  I don't prefer it that way, but it works.  It helps to balance out the richness of the marrow.   It was good, but not the best I've had. 
IMG_6892
FRIED OLIVES
Fontina stuffed breaded olives, mixed baby greens
Something different!  I'm not a big olive fan, but we wanted to give it a try since it was a highlighted item on yelp.  It had a crispy fried skin, with a gooey cheesy filling.  I've got to give it to them that it's different, but you can deep fry anything.  I liked the fact that it was stuffed with fontina cheese, but the dish was just mediocre to me.  I think my fellow olive lovers will much enjoy it more than I did.
EGGPLANT AND PORK BELLY PARMIGIANO
Roasted tomato, basil, ricotta, parmigiano-reggiano
Recommended by our waiter as one of the best dishes they have on the menu at the moment.  And we were sold.  I was drawn to it when I saw all the ingredients in the dish.  I love everything that they had mentioned and I was sold.  Seriously the best freaking dish we had!  The bottom was battered and deep fried eggplant that gave it a good crispy texture.  The basil sauce that was drizzled was amazing.  Pork belly was super tender and not fatty, as I was expecting.  The dish was not overdone or super rich.  It was perfect.  The balance of the marinara sauce with the cheese was perfect.  I really really enjoyed the flavors, presentation as well as the different textures this dish brought out.

IMG_6896
WAGYU BAVETTE STEAK
Kobe style beef with arugula, salsa verda and salsa rosa. It also came with parmigiana-reggiano and fennel dusted fries, but we replaced it with polenta fries instead.
They were nice enough to split our portion into two and cut our meat for us. Their service really impressed me.  The steak was cooked perfectly to my liking: medium rare and perfectly seasoned.  I loved the salsa rosa sauce it came with.  I played around with it and dipped the polenta fries in it as well as the steak meat in it.  Absolutely scrumplicious!