Russel S.'s Profile

Best scrambled eggs of my life.
Not every time, but often.

Yeah there's a wait for brunch, that's true of any SF brunch place that's worth its sea salt.  It actually seems to me like the wait is shorter than most places, but maybe that's just because it's so good it distorts my perception of time.

Other highlights include the banana bread and.. yeah pretty much everything from the breakfast section.  Finish it off with an affogato al cafe and bask in the afterglow.

It saddens me a bit to break over two years of silence with negative words, but there's something I need to tell you.  To put it succinctly (consult with your programmer friends if this makes no sense):

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Location: http://www.yelp.com/bi...

"It was their opening night!" you may say.  I'm normally pretty generous with my stars (and I'm a big fan of the Amber location in Mountain View), but their failure was so comprehensive that it was almost comical.  I assume my co-diners will relate the full story so I'll spare you the repeat details, but let's just say that I'll try again in a month or so and see if they've figured the whole service thing out.  

The food was not bad.

Maybe it's just my trailer park roots (represent!), but I like this place.  The bartenders are super friendly and cool.  They have a drink named 'Bitchin Camaro' (Dr. Pepper and Cap Morgan.. should be a Mr. Pibb instead of Dr. Pepper, but nobody here would know what that is huh).  The tater tots a few nights back were perhaps the best I have ever had.  And where else can you order spaghetti-o's in a paper bowl?

Based on the couple times I've been to Le Charm I'd have to say 'nice, but meh'.  It's a cozy place, and the pseudo-outdoor seating under the tent in back is cool, but I felt the food was "just OK" for the price.  Several dishes seemed a little off, whether it be in salt balance or in some other detail.  The service was very friendly though.

This place really impressed me.  Normally places with a "hip lounge" decor going on would be likely to irk me, but Nihon came across as genuinely cool/stylish rather than annoying/pretentious.  And while experiments in Asian fusion cuisine oft go awry, theirs really hit the spot for me.  The large Scotch selection is something you may choose to turn your nose up at, or down over as it were.

It's great to now have some real options for Chicago-style pizza in the city.  Serving pretty authentic Chicago-style pizza instantly puts them in a league apart from most joints, but within that league they have some serious competition.  Compared to Little Star (deep dish of course), Patxi's is more cheesy and saucy, which in principle I prefer, but it's somehow not packing as much depth of flava.  'Tis a simpler pie, but mighty fine nonetheless.

I love the whole Mailboxes Etc chain, but this location has been particularly good in my experience.  Example: I walk in today with some computer memory I need to return.  In one hand I have the incompletely packed box, and in the other I have a printout of the email explaining the warranty return procedure.  I hand both items to the friendly employee eagerly waiting to help me, and emit a confused grunt.  He takes said items from me, and in less than a minute has completed packing the box, obfuscated old shipping labels, slapped on new lables, given me tracking info, and is asking for only the regular UPS price in return.  He even noticed the part in the email printout about some authorization # needing to be displayed prominently on the outside of the package, and took care of that.  I narrowly resisted giving the guy a hug.  I've met some expert package handlers in my days.. but they take the cake.

I've gone to Elana a few times, and I've had more compliments on the cuts from her than any I've had in the past.  She's also great to talk to.  One time I went against her suggestions, and later realized that she was totally right.. I will never doubt her wisdom again.

Ferrari has a couple good sandwiches, and an interesting selection of italian foods, but the service is slow and disorganized.

I've seen many of Xiu's designs, and they're awesome.  Her dresses are particularly great; as she says, many of them are 'like nothing', which as a guy I heartily approve of.