Wes "The VillageMaker" M.'s Profile

For a local restaurant that's been successful enough to expand to at least 7 locations, the various Hahn's Hibachis sure do hold some low Yelp averages.  But when I'm tired, hungry, and having one of those days, I'm not looking for greatness.  I'm looking for food I can deal with no matter how dazed and confused life has left me.  And for me that food is greasy, salty rice in a big hot bowl, AKA Hahn's Sizzling Pork Bi Bim Bap.  Sure I had to douse it in hot sauce to get some flavor going, but those crispy chunks of rice at the bottom of the bowl are a pure (albeit guilty) treasure.

Throw in the cozy size and the short walk from home, and Hahn's Hibachi is my new favorite for days that just require a Plan B.  Even though technically Lime Tree's food is way better:)

If only the days of internet and the days of manned lighthouses had overlapped, I could have had my dream job:)

Admittedly, there is a lot (and I mean a *lot*) more to Pt Reyes National Seashore than just the eponymous lighthouse.  But the lighthouse and environs (the Chimney Rock Trail, Drakes Beach and the Ken Patrick visitor center, and South Beach/North Beach) will easily make for a day trip by themselves, thanks to the long drive.  And it makes a great introduction to the whole Pt Reyes peninsula, which looks like someone rather haphazardly grafted a piece of Ireland onto the California coast.  Seriously, driving over all this treeless, windswept grassland, past miles and miles of cows and historic ranch buildings, headed for a rocky promontory that might as well be the end of the world...well, the resemblance is striking.  I can only imagine what it would look like in the legendary wind and fog, but we had to settle for a beautiful and mild November day.  And yes, it's a long way down those lighthouse stairs, and yes, it's totally worth it.  Especially if they let you inside to see the original Fresnel lens mechanism in all its steampunk glory.

Ok, so judged by the standards of "real" restaurants, Drake's Beach Cafe would only merit 3 stars, if for no other reason than being unforgivably understaffed (only 2 people to cook, clean, and wait tables, on a beautiful Sunday afternoon?).  But this is the eatery for the Pt Reyes National Seashore Visitor's Center, and by NPS cafeteria standards, it's almost miraculous, if for no other reason than that they obviously got the memo about food standards in West Marin.  Your choices are certainly limited (think burgers, chicken sandwiches, quesadillas, maybe the odd bowl of butternut sqaush soup), but they're all impeccably fresh and delicious.  And there's even Honest Tea in the fridge.  Plus you can eat your food on the deck overlooking the lovely beach.  I'm not saying you need to make a point of going here on a Pt Reyes visit (and if it was summer I'd be especially hesitant), but just note that it's the only place to eat within a half-hour of the lighthouse.

Even by San Francisco standards, The Sword and Rose is hard to find--and hard to forget.  It's an ivy-covered green shack in a courtyard (shared with several residences, it appears) behind this little arcade-alley in Cole Valley.  Inside is a small, dimly-lit room with a little fireplace going and various candles, herbs, books, shrines, and jewelry lining the walls--just your ordinary magick (with a k) shop:)  Now, I've read The Druidry Handbook but I still didn't understand much of what was going on in here, and I didn't get a chance to ask the owner as he was deep in a conversation with another customer; something about "access to higher mind", "Gemini", and "inverted tree of life"...you get the idea.  The point is, regardless of whether you have any need (or even knowledge) of any of its products, the S&R is an essential stop on any tour of Cole Valley quaintness.

Julie's Kitchen was a mediocre buffet-by-the-pound, Foosia was a slight improvement thanks to its Mongolian grill, but Xinh has completely transformed the space.  It looks like your having lunch in, um...SoHo?  Chelsea?  Which New York neighborhood is the one with all the white and trendy stuff?  At any rate, they get a bonus star for trying to bring some fashion to what is, essentially, a fashion district.

But poshness aside, the food is less scrumptious than what you can get in many a dingy dive (like the dear departed Pho Ha Tien 2, for instance).  I tried my perennial Vietnamese favorite, the dry vermicelli bowl with BBQ pork, and while it was certainly fresh, it lacked a kick.  Nevertheless, with a convenient location, fun setting, and great prices, I'm sure I'll be back to scour the menu for something better.

A Peet's at 598 Market, you say?  That's odd, I don't see it on Google Street View...

Ok ok, so it's down *in* the Muni station.  It's just a counter--no seating area, no soothing brown walls, just a sea of Windows 7 ads (wasn't it iPods last year?)--so I'm not sure if it counts as a "real" Peet's in my book, and I know that there's other StationPeet's clones out there as well.  So let's just say that together they make up the honorary 23rd(?) Peet's of San Francisco.  I just wonder how many other people have actually walked down here from the street for a latte.

Still, the beauty of having coffee here is that with such a steady stream of commuters, you never know what surprises the Muni might throw your way (like, say, the old high school girlfriend you haven't seen in 11 years).

Probably the second busiest restaurant in the Haight after Cha Cha Cha, which is right across the street.  Indeed, at 8:30 on a Wednesday we still had to mill about for a bit.  But whereas Cha Cha Cha's delicious tapas are worth jumping through hoops, Citrus Club doesn't have much to offer except sexy lighting.  The tofu spring rolls (and, for that matter, my Nigori cocktail) were downright bland, the "spicy" tiger shrimp curry was anything but, and even their garlic edamame, while inspired, misses the mark a bit, simply because the garlic flavor really only gets on the *outside* of the pod, leaving the beans as flavorless as ever.  Which would make this place pretty unremarkable, if it didn't attract such hordes of inexplicably tastebud-lacking people.

As far as produce closets go, you can find many that:

* Are cuter
* Are more organized
* Make better use of limited space (and thus have wider selection)
* Have more impeccable produce
* Have longer hours

Heck, even their sister market 6 blocks down is a lot more popular.

But, should I realize I've forgotten an ingredient, and even if dinner is already on the stove at this point, Parks could still bail me out, such is its proximity to my house.  And that's gotta count for a star.

East of Page Mill Road and west of Rancho San Antonio lies the bucolic Adobe Creek Valley, which is occupied not by your usual open space preserve but by Hidden Villa, a nonprofit organization with a working organic farm, a hostel, a rather tangled web of environmental/educational/community/volunteer programs, and yes, enough trails to satisfy any day hiker (in fact they connect to RSA and even up to Monte Bello).  The trails have the usual mix of shady valley floors and hotter, brushy hillsides, along with some excellent views up the bay.

Now an eco-educational facility such as this sounds like a shoe-in for 5 stars on paper, and I can't deny the setting is gorgeous and the people are sweet.  But I have to dock a star for the farm tour we took;  it's just a 90-minute, "all ages" tour aimed at families, and that's cool; I'm down with eating the herbs and petting the sheep and all that.  But our guide was obviously new to the farm and never gave us even the basic context of the place--their 80-year history, the present excitement of the sustainability movement, what other educational opportunities there are here, any of that.  So a real missed chance to capture the imaginations of the adults as well as the kids.

The one thing I *did* discover, though, is that they have guided mushroom hunts here.  Now that I might have to come back for.

On the one hand, Bill's specializes in burgers, and beef-only burgers at that.  Which doesn't give a non-beefer like me much of a reason to come here.  But on the other hand, it's an authentic, old-school diner in an authentic, old-school neighborhood, and they do *technically* serve breakfast.  I say "technically" because they don't open till 11 and the breakfast menu is bare-bones: pancakes, omelettes, hash browns, sausage & bacon.  

I guess as burger-meisters these guys are pretty handy with a grill, because my denver omelette had a nice greasy kick to it.  And that long counter is fun to sit at, although it's too bad the rest of the room is all tables and no booths.  Oh, and there's also a standard-issue SF back garden, complete with mini koi pond.  So basically, as a hardened breakfast-hunter, I'd say Bill's is worth a visit.  But there's no way it can be on my short list until they beef up the breakfast front or, er, turkey up the burger front.