Review: Conduit

I have found a new favorite restaurant :). I have now taken my parents here, all of my best friends here, my out-of-town visitors here, my co-workers here, my sister here, my cousin here... and they all do nothing but rave. So, I thought it was about darn time that I wrote a review.

First off, the lovely hostess at the front was so pleasant and polite and was genuinely happy to have us there. And she remembers me every time - and the servers have started to recognize me, too! Major kudos for that...

Admittedly, I haven't explored as much of the menu as I would like - but, it changes so often, I doubt that matters much. First time I went there, I had the duck confit appetizer and the pork chop main... both really good. Oh, but the dessert... the boca negre... I literally thought I had died and went to dessert heaven. The dark chocolate with the slight anise flavor... I almost had a chocolate induced orgasm... THAT good. 2nd time, I had the quail appetizer and the halibut main... and that boca negre, again... both also really good (and I also noticed that the chef, in the quail appetizer, used the same trick I use for fried green tomatoes - tempura batter. I was born and raised in deep south Georgia, so I know green tomatoes... and my mom thinks tempura frying them is sacrilege - but, trust me, it's better :)). 3rd time I barely remember because of the wonderful house manhattan with the brandied cherries - I just know it was another type of fish and again, really good! And the most recent experience was the hamachi sashimi drizzled with dark soy and pomegranate as a starter and then the seared sea bass put over a bed of butternut squash puree and kale sauteed with bacon and cippolini onions - my mercy, how good that was!!!

All the times I have been, the service was absolutely impeccable (MUCH better than I would have expected from a Mission restaurant with relatively moderate prices) and my guests, who are foodies just like me, all raved.

It's just disheartening to me to see reviews on Yelp! and other sites about really petty things (get over the modern bathrooms, people! :P) when the people who own this place truly do have their act together. And that's more than I can say for other restaurants in the Mission that I've been going to for years...

Review: My Delivery Boys

You thought you were gonna get some pics of hottie delivery boys in this post, now didn't you? ;) Well, I hate to disappoint you, but this post is actually about the nearby places that I depend upon to save my evenings on a regular basis with their wonderful and prompt delivery. Even though they rarely send cute delivery boys (those only seem to come from crap places like Domino's), they do send a good dinner!

Jasmine Tea House

When I first left my place in the Sunset, I was concerned that I was going to have to revert back to crap Chinese food for delivery. I was a bit spoiled having the excellent San Tung so near to my place over there. I took a chance on Jasmine Tea House after finding their menu hooked to my door handle one evening. While it doesn't quite match the level of San Tung, it comes so darn close that I always have a good meal from here. I always order way more food than I could ever eat 'cause I love leftovers - especially leftover chow mein (and theirs is one of my favorites). All of their dishes are quite good, but when I'm treating myself, I tilt towards the vegetarian and seafood dishes on the menu - especially the Singapore Fish. They are the best things on the menu. Their dim sum items are kinda ho hum (I'll stick to Yank Sing or Canton for my dim sum fix), but they get props for having dim sum available at any hour. However, they had me at the hot and sour soup - my personal "litmus test" for Chinese restaurants. It's wonderfully spicy and definitely a bit more sour than most - and I LOVE it. Really solid Chinese food here.



Serrano's Pizza

OK... relative to the East Coast, most pizza here on the West Coast is only ho-hum - unless you're going to the fancy schmanzy places like Delfina. And delivery pizza is usually a lot worse. I found Serrano's on the recommendation of a friend. They have a lot of cool specialty pizzas but the main thing I like is they have tons of toppings from which to choose to make your own pizza - including one of my favorites, roasted eggplant!!! But the major winner - the crust is not too thick or thin (West Coast pizza tends to have WAY too much crust) and it always arrives piping hot. Any leftover slices get frozen to become a pizza dinner later. Is it the best? No... but with so many options, I can always get what I want, and it's always tastier than any other pizza I've ever gotten delivered.



Little Nepal

I have been here many times as an evening diner. It's a quaint little place on Cortland at the top of Bernal Hill, so very close to my house. And then I found out they delivered... and I knew I was doomed... doomed to goodness!!! :) If you know nothing about Nepalese cuisine, it's very similar to Indian cuisine although it has elements of other East Asian cuisines swirled in. Their chicken in spicy tomato cream sauce is one of my favorites. The little side dishes they serve with the entrees (dal, curried veggies, naan) are all excellent. I also think their seafood dishes are quite excellent. Given there's not really any good traditional Northern Indian cuisine available near my house, I'm so glad that I found out Little Nepal delivers!!!



Regent Thai

Three words: Spicy Red Snapper. Oh, my mercy - this dish is just pure heaven. They lightly bread and fry New Zealand red snapper filet and top it with a spicy/sweet red pepper sauce - it is by far one of my favorite dishes EVER. All of the standards are also spot on - pad thai, red or green curries, etc. But, I'm telling you - you MUST have the snapper. It is so, so good.



Lotus Garden

I almost fainted when I found out I could get yummy Vietnamese noodle soups (pho) and vermicelli dishes (bun) for delivery. I am a pho fanatic - all the beef versions, chicken, seafood - I've had them all. The delicious broth with rice noodles that put the meat, fresh mint leaves, cilantro, bean sprouts, jalapenos, and hot sauce into and then slop up. The portion they send me is so big it makes two meals - because I can't order anything from there without getting their Imperial Rolls and their BBQ Pork Rolls. The Imperial Rolls are stuffed with carrots, rice noodles, shrimp, and pork and then deep fried, that you wrap with lettuce leaves, mint, sprouts, carrots, and cucumbers that are served on the side and dip into fresh nuoc cham (fish sauce). So yummy! And the BBQ Pork Rolls are stuffed with BBQ'ed lemon grass pork loin meat, rice noodles, mint, and cilantro and served with nuoc cham. They are also lovely. I just found this place like a few weeks ago, so I'll explore more of the menu and let you know. But, this is one of my new favorites.

Review: Sensi at the Bellagio, Las Vegas

So, this past week I had to go to Las Vegas for my company's yearly user conference. I really hate going to Vegas for work... especially when you're depending upon people to show up at your morning presentation sessions actually ready to listen. Why companies book events in a place with so many darn distractions I will never understand...

On the plus side, I doubled my money in Blackjack while I was there. I am not much of a gambler at all, but I do have fun playing Blackjack. I guess it's because I've gotten good enough where I can kill several hours at a Blackjack table with a relatively small amount of money spent in. Or maybe the free cocktails help ;)

Anyways, I got a meal on my boss at Sensi in the Bellagio. Since the restaurant was my choice, I thought I would give it a review. Now, first off, unless a restaurant in Vegas has earned at least 1 Michelin star, it ain't worth what they charge. I have major issues with a dining scene that offers barely any mid-priced dining options. You are often paying 5 star prices for 3 and 4 star food - some are so bad the food is actually 2 star (most of the restaurants in the MGM Grand fit this profile, in my opinion). Since Sensi hasn't been granted a Michelin star, you can probably deduce that I would never eat there again if I was paying...

Wine list? Forget about it... 300 - 400% mark-up at least and nothing on it worth what they were charging. Cocktails were a bit more reasonable and they indeed made an awesome Knob Creek Manhattan (so awesome I had two :)). I had the tuna three ways as a starter - tuna tataki, tuna ceviche, and tuna tartare. The ceviche was kick butt - the other two were actually mediocre. I've had better for half the price back here at home. Then came the entree - breaded and fried whole red snapper topped in a green curry sauce. Now THIS was off the chart - LOVED it. The fish was so perfectly done and the curry sauce had a slight coconut flavor and only a hint of heat. For side dishes I shared asparagus and green bean tempura and truffled "tater tots" with some dinner mates. The tempura was perfectly done, although the aioli they served on the side with it was a little odd - so I ended up eating the tempura with no sauce. But the "tater tots" were off the chart - you could taste the truffle oil well and they had the perfect amount of salt and pepper on them. I got so full that I skipped dessert... although admittedly the desserts were all very standard and didn't look too impressive.

Final verdict: A few more hits than misses, but regardless, not worth the money. If you're in Vegas, splurge on something that's worth your money - like Joel Rubochon or Nob Hill (in the MGM Grand - which eerily break the "overpriced, mediocre" mold of the other MGM Grand restaurants) or Aureole (in Mandalay Bay). Next time I'm in the Bellagio, I'll investigate one of the other restaurants and let you know if it improves upon Sensi.

Restaurant Review: Maverick

I have been going to Maverick for quite a long time (an eternity by San Francisco dining standards ;))... my first time was two months after it opened a little more than two years ago and at least once every 4 - 6 weeks since. I can’t help it... I absolutely love the place. It was started by two friends: one, a chef from Cincinnati named Scott Youkilis (yes, he’s the brother of that more famous “Youkilis”) and the other, a self-professed oenophile named Mike Pierce from New Jersey. How these two got to San Francisco I do not know, but I am very glad they did.

The cuisine can be described as “Kentucky meets California by way of the Wild West.” Obviously for a southern boy like me, any restaurant that ventures into the flavors I grew up with is going to at least get some props. But what Mr. Youkilis does with the traditional southern flavors is just consistently so good to me. The only thing that is always on the menu is his fried chicken which is honestly the only fried chicken I can admittedly say I love outside of a) my own and b) my mother’s. The fixin’s underneath it change often (cheesy white corn grits and collard greens are there for winter), but it is just always so good. Their mac ‘n cheese is also one of the best I’ve had and is also one of the menu stalwarts.

I admittedly have been twice over the past several weeks because I had friends visiting from out of town and I love to “show the place off” because everyone I’ve taken there has loved it. As a starter on the first occasion, I had the house-smoked trout salad. It reminded me of a dish I had when I was in Stockholm back in 2006 - slices of perfectly cured fish with fish eggs and creme fraiche over a bed of simple greens. Of course, in Stockholm, they used local salmon - but the preparation was virtually identical. For entree I had the rabbit “three ways” - braised rabbit loin, rabbit leg confit, and rabbit liver served with a sweet potato and turnip hash. I don’t get rabbit that often, but when I do, it’s a treat - and that sir was a treat. As a side I had Scott’s mustard greens. They were cooked very differently than what I grew up with - slightly sauteed in olive oil with cracked red pepper and garlic, but so good (I’m used to boiling the sh*t out of them in salt pork, garlic, and hot sauce... thems good too :)). I skipped dessert ‘cause I was too full!

My next visit was just last week. This time I had the Baltimore crab fluffs in a spicy remoulade sauce. “Why they gotta fly that crab all the way in from Baltimore when we’ve got amazing dungeness crab here” was my first thought. But, then I realized the dungeness would have been too sweet in this particular preparation - so then I got it. For a main course I had the braised short ribs over creamy grits - talk about 100% pure comfort. That was SOOOO good... and so filling I was surprised I had room for dessert! But the second our server said, “there’s a Meyer lemon pie for dessert that’s not on the menu,” I knew I was doomed. For those that know me, I have more of a tart/savory tooth than a sweet tooth and I love anything tart for dessert. Oh, and she had to mention that the pie was made with buttermilk... oy, totally doomed! My friend and I decided to share it. Perfectly creamy and tart, great crust (forgot what it was made out of)... oh, such a lovely end to the meal!

OK... so I think I’ve made it clear that I love this place. If you’re ever in San Francisco, just call me up and I will take you... I promise! Now, on to the wine selection. This wine selection was not made by Maverick, by the way, but is from my own collection here at home that I opened yesterday. I do almost all of my wine shopping by traveling up to Sonoma and Napa so that I can taste the wines. Not only does it allow me to “try before I buy,” I’m also able to get ahold of wines that never show up in the stores or restaurants from small, family-owned producers. I do apologize if you can’t find some of the wines I will talk about on my blog - it just unfortunately sucks that you don’t live here! ;)

Restaurant Review: Dosa

I have been wanting to go to this restaurant ever since it opened for two reasons - 1) I love South Indian food as it is much lighter and more veggie-heavy than the more creamy and heavy North Indian food that dominates Indian restaurants here and 2) The reviews from other people I know have been raving. So, my good friend Mistress Paulina picked this for our weekend get together last night.

It was a 45 minute wait (WARNING: they do not accept reservations for fewer than 5 people) and we were surrounded by the people I love to hate - invaders from the Marina. The attitude these people throw make Lady Bunny look like an angel! But I digress...

The wine list is great - lots of selections by the glass, and, as you would expect from a restaurant specializing in spicy food, selections leaned primarily on Pinot Grigios, Sauvignon Blancs, dry Rieslings, Gerwurztramminers, and dry-style Chardonnays. I chose a 2005 Selbach-Oster Riesling (from Mosel Valley in Germany) that was just fabulous. Mistress Paulina had a beer... like she always does...

The pappadum they brought out as a snack was very good... some of the best I ever had. For a starter, I ordered these fried lentil dumplings that came with sambal (spicy lentil soup), tomato chutney, and coconut chutney for dipping. They were quite good... like little sourdough donuts... and the sambal was just divine. I ended up eating all of that stuff even when I ran out of the little donuts. Paulina had little lentil cakes that were stuffed with spinach and cauliflower and also served with the same chutneys. She liked them, although she wished they had more taste of the vegetables than of the lentils.

Now, this place is known for their “dosas” - huge crepes made of lentil flour dough and stuffed with various vegetable ingredients. We actually skipped over the stuffed dosas because their curries looked more interesting. I ordered the baby eggplant in a sesame, peanut, ginger, and onion curry with a side of uttapam for dipping (uttapam is similar to the spongy flatbread you get in Ethiopian restaurants... the lentil flour they use makes it taste like sourdough). Mistress Paulina ordered the peppered chicken curry with a plain dosa on the side for dipping. One thing of note - service here is quick once you get seated, but you don’t feel rushed. Our server was wonderful and timed things perfectly to our mood for the evening.

Both entrees were quite tasty - however, I was expecting to be bowled over given all the raves about the place and the fact that is always difficult to get in there, and I just wasn’t. I was disappointed in the portion size of my eggplant dish - it only had like 5 or 6 baby eggplants in the whole dish and a lot of the curry sauce. Mistress Paulina’s chicken dish was more properly sized. And the uttapam was a bit too sour for my tastes - good, but, Paulina’s dosa would have been the better accompaniment to the dish for my tastes. Also, prepare for spice - the dishes here are quite spicy, as they should be for South Indian cuisine, but it’s not overpowering.

Netting it all out it was a very pleasant meal, very pleasant service, but it just didn’t have the “wow” factor that we both were expecting after all we had heard about it. It was tasty and unique, but, admittedly I wouldn’t choose it again for a weekend meal - I’d wait for a weeknight and go back, and next time try the dosas.