A E.'s Profile

A proof that willingness to put up with 45-minute wait isn't strictly San Francisco.  

We got there at about 11 on a Saturday, not bothering to check and assuming that we would be seated right away.  We were wrong.  

Instead, we were given a buzzer-looking thing and advised that it'll be at least 35 minutes before the two of us are seated.  Hm... OK.  We took the opportunity to walk along the picturesque waterfront area and get oriented instead of sticking around in the crowded waiting area.  We ended up walking for 25 mins before the 40F-temp started to bother us (we're soft, I know), so we headed back, got a mug of this amazing, piping hot cocoa while waiting, started stalking other diners and checking out what they order.

The round open-faced omelet caught my eye.  It came in three different varieties and I picked the version stuffed with bacon and bits of potatoes and topped with sour cream and chives and served with toast and salted whipped butterhttp://www.yelp.com/bi....  It was hearty and delicious, though I could only eat half (note to self: see if my dining companion wants to split it next time).  The hub had his usual two eggs over easy and bacon with chunks of red potatoes (http://www.yelp.com/bi...) - slightly crispy on the outside and nice and soft on the inside.  

Service was friendly, quick and efficient.

And all these for less than $20.  And the fact that there's no sales tax means that you don't end up carrying around mountains of pennies that aren't accepted anywhere (case in point: ever seen any vending machines / parking meters / ticket machines accepting pennies???????? I rest my case), despite it being a legal tender.

The hub and I like to eat dinner late, both at home and out.  Eating late at home is not by choice - I don't get home from work before 8 and what with the preps and the actual cooking, it is normally 9 before we get to eat.  Eating out late is by choice - we like going when it's not peak hour and the crowd thins out a little by the time our desserts are served.

Our 8.45 PM reservation, however, turned out to be a huge disadvantage at Sierra Mar.  And I didn't find out about this until the following week when another couple went and had a 5.45PM seating.  The sunset, unfortunately for me only seen through the pics taken by my friend's camera, was PHENOMENAL.  Granted, we did watch the sunset from this prime spot at the Ventana Inn (http://www.yelp.com/bi...), but our (somewhat early) dinner would have been all the better with it.  

Maybe I come visit in the summer.

The food, a four-course deal which comprise of five massive entree-size meals, was just as phenomenal as the sunset would've been.  

Our first course were the foie three way (seared, torchon and brûlée) and butter-poached maine lobster.  Re the foie - http://www.yelp.com/bi... - I've always like seared foie gras so I was no doubt a fan of Sierra Mar's version of it, but oh my Lord - the brûlée was amazing and addictive - I kinda wished it had come in a bigger mini-bowl.  Re the lobster - it was perfect.  No skimping on the sweet and juicy lobster meat - the size was three times the biggest dish that I got at the now-disappointing Sons and Daughters (http://www.yelp.com/bi...) and the flavor was infinitely better.

Our second course were the grilled sardines and a seafood stew (http://www.yelp.com/bi...).  I didn't mind the seafood stew and it did came with a bunch of fresh seafood (mussels, fish and squid), though it wasn't our favorite.  The sardines were a tad salty but, hey, I don't know what sardines are supposed to taste like since my experience is limited to the variety that comes in a can!

Our third course were the oh-so-yum deconstructed beef wellington (http://www.yelp.com/bi...) and the miso-glazed snapper with ginger puree (http://www.yelp.com/bi...).  While the miso-glazed snapper was great, the deconstructed beef wellington was out of this world.  I never liked beef wellington before - the beef is normally a suspect cut (cos nobody would question it once it's inside the casing) and always overcooked (cos it's impossible to control the temperature once you stick that thing in the oven), the pastry never tasted right and everything is just off.  Whoever thought that taking them apart (and making each piece accountable) actually solved the problem? The meat is the best cut there is - a kobe rib cap; it's rare and pink; the pastry was neatly arranged underneath the meat and were light and fluffy, and they even come with the delicious au jus!

At this point, we had three entree-size plates and were ready to throw in the towel.  Thankfully the next course is dessert - mine: chocolate beignet with caramel ice-cream (http://www.yelp.com/bi...) and his: citrus panna cotta (http://www.yelp.com/bi...)

I guess I'm old school - I would much rather this meal - hearty, straightforward and hitting the spot - than the froufrou meals with too-creative ingredients that only covers 1% of the massive white plate that it is served with (http://www.yelp.com/bi... or http://www.yelp.com/bi...).  

Maybe I just don't know what I'm talking about.

Swedish Princess Cake without having to put up with the Clement St traffic (I'm talking to you, Schubert!)? Score!

Thanks to Yelp, I found this place which not only saves me from having to deal with the double parked cars on an already packed Clement St and slow-moving traffic going up Park Presidio from where I live - it actually sells delicious Swedish Princess Cakes which, according to my friend, looks like a giant mochi ball with its layer of green marzipan and powdered sugar.

No more going to Schubert if I could help it - this place is about 10 minutes (easy) ride from where we are and it's just as good.  Will be back to try the strawberry sponge cake next!

visited S&D again - our first visit after they earned the (well-deserved) Michelin star.  the menu has definitely changed - no more a la carte option and there was a jacking up of price to $86 for a 5-course tasting menu (from a previous $58 a year and a bit ago).

I'm not a culinary expert so I find reading the tasting menu that looks only like a jumble of ingredients (not even knowing that we're supposed to pick one of the two lines for each of the course) rather daunting - what if I don't like the way it is prepared?

The first couple of courses were extremely pretty but disappointingly small - I didn't quite like the quail egg (described as egg bottarga baby bok choy dill - get it? no? maybe a picture would help - http://www.yelp.com/bi...) and the foie came out as a terrine and almost dessert-y, what with the crispy oats and a layer of blood orange (http://www.yelp.com/bi... - again, not knowing the mode of preparation is not fun - I prefer the seared kind of foie).  The second course of sea urchin (http://www.yelp.com/bi... ; description: sea urchin sea beans cauliflower dash) or broccoflower (broccoflower maitake celery root bronze fennel http://www.yelp.com/bi...) were not our favorites, either.

Thankfully the wild boar with apple (course #3 http://www.yelp.com/bi...) and squab with fennel (course #4 http://www.yelp.com/bi...) made up for the first two courses.  Still I would've liked the portion to be a tad bigger and the whole thing to be a tad less froufrou.  

We did like the pastry chef's work though - 3 courses of bread with different kinds of homemade butter (our favorite was the mini croissant http://www.yelp.com/bi...) and the dessert of yuzu custard with sesame crackers and pop corn ice-cream (http://www.yelp.com/bi...) were amazing.  But seriously, I miss the less pretentious, more substantial, pre-Michelin star S&D and would rather that any day.  

Or maybe, as others scoff, I just don't know what I'm talking about and am not refined enough to appreciate haute cuisine.

After Dynamo Donuts made it big by getting featured in one of the food shows, the wait for these greasy sugary treat has been unbearable - or so I was told.  But those are for tourists (who are brave enough to go beyond the confines of Union Square and venture out to the real SF that is the MIssion District).  My wait takes less than 5 minutes at the nearby Spin City.  Score.

AND here I actually get to have my Blue Bottle latte in less than one-tenth of what it would normally take an average customer to get his at the coffee stand at Ferry Building Saturday Farmer's Market.  Double score.

Did I say the latte is spiked with the uber-delicious goat milk? Triple score.

I heart Spin City.

These guys serve 8-oz burgers for half the price charged by fancier places like Umami Burger (http://www.yelp.com/bi...), Marlowe (http://www.yelp.com/bi...), Godfather (http://www.yelp.com/bi...) or *sigh* Burger Bar (http://www.yelp.com/bi...).  Simply put - it's a Marlowe burger with Wendy's price - something that is seemingly impossible but, I guess not!  

The ingredients are super high quality - toasted bun, fresh ground beef patty (two if you order a Superburger), tons of free toppings to choose from (lettuce / tomato / red onion / grilled onion) and even more additional toppings (bacon / cheese / fried egg / others).  The fries are the kind that I like - extremely crispy shoestring fries, great with ketchup and mustard.

I'm experiencing a Pavlovian reaction as I'm writing this - mouth starts to water and stomach starts to grumble.  I'd better cut this review short and go get myself some food.  

Later!

I almost didn't want to review this place because I would rather people go to the overrated, overcrowded Sushi Sam's, circle around for parking in congested downtown San Mateo for half an hour and STILL wait for half an hour despite your reservation (http://www.yelp.com/bi...) than have to compete with them for a spot at Yuzu's sushi bar.

No, really.  Sit at the bar - it's part of the experience.  A good one, that is.  The sushi chef (http://www.yelp.com/bi...) is a character.  Even if he doesn't have much to say to you cos you're no regular (but soon you will be!), listening to his banter with the regulars (who know that the best seat in the house is by the bar) is an amusement in and of itself.  Look for him throw out a Metallica skit or some most random stories that you've ever heard!

And a seat at the bar almost guarantees you will get some sort of a freebie.  Ours didn't come until our third visit, and was in the form of extra slice of fat juicy broiled eel (unagi).

Also - kindly skip the rolls.  

Real Japanese don't eat them (firsthand experience) and the rice : fish ratio is never as satisfying as nigiri sushi.  So if you ever find your way here, get a bunch of them nigiri sushi instead.  Our favorite is the toro / fatty tuna ($17 for two when we had it - http://www.yelp.com/bi...), lots and lots of unagi, tamago (egg patty), salmon and hamachi.   I've never had a single less-than-fresh sushi.

While we try to not eat anything other than sushi at Yuzu, oftentimes we were tempted so we ended up ordering random cooked dishes.  Here are some of our favorites just in case you too are tempted:
1) shrimp tempura - batter was extra light, dipping sauce was extra delicious
2) pan-fried gyoza - so basic, yet so easy to mess up (by using the frozen variety and trying to pass them off as "homemade").  not here.
3) grilled beef tongue - chewy and flavorful

5 stars for the fried pickles.  3 on everything else.

That said, Tap is a good place to grab a quick bite - there's always something on the menu to satisfy everyone, and if the food doesn't satisfy, there's the option to wash it down with one of the 35+ different kind of beers available (my choice was, and will always be, the oldie but goodie Hoegarden).

But yes - the fried pickles were out of this world.  Or maybe because I don't know my Southern food, which may well be the case.  Everything else was just okay-tasting.  

Service was great - we had a large group of 15+ and the server did an excellent job creating individual bills without even a single hitch.  Incredible effort given that certain things were shared (i.e., the apps) and certain things weren't.  I want her on my team!!!!!!!

I'm a fan of Two Urban Licks so going to One Midtown Kitchen for dinner during a recent business trip, less than 2 miles from the hotel that we stayed at, is an obvious thing to do.

Crowd was thin given that it was a Tuesday night, so the six of us got the full attention of our server, who even gave us the grand tour of the place.  The setup was amazing - the restaurant has ample windows and is right by Atlanta's Piedmont Park, which provides an awesome view of the city's skyline and the park's festive christmas lights (note to self: come back here when it's springtime and let the team take off early or arrange some sort of an 'offsite' here!).  

Grow-A-Pear, http://www.yelp.com/bi..., a cocktail suggested by our server, was, quite possibly, the most delicious cocktail I've ever had - smooth and sweet, with no harsh overpowering alcohol (which tends to ruin everything), Grow-A-Pear definitely hits the spot for me.  For appetizers, we shared crab cakes (4 / 5), roasted brussel sprouts (2 / 5, but then again I'm biased as I don't eat brussel sprouts), and calamari (3 / 5).  My main was the steak frites (medium rare, 4 / 5) - generous serving of steak with red wine jus and parmesan herb fries (tip: extra blue cheese was unnecessary).

The pricing of the wines (70+ bottles of them) was definitely interesting - each of the wines is separated into three different buckets, $20, $30 and $40 / bottle.  And while that's not dangerous, this thing is: bottomless wine for $22, $32 or $42 (depending on which bucket your wine of choice is from).  

But since it was a school night, we had to pass on the offer of bottomless wine.

Maybe i'll give it a try during our future (imaginary, for now) team 'offsite'.

As a general rule, I normally do not enjoy a business trip to Atlanta (Strangely enough, I end up with a TON of trips there!).  

Here's why:
1) MARTA isn't the best to get around in, cabs can be scarce and renting a car means a little bus trip to and from the car rental place by the airport, thus adding at least 30 minutes to the time I have to spend in the airport (see #2)

2) Atlanta's Hartsfield-Jackson airport is up there on my airport sh!tlist, partly because of the very slim chance of on-time departures and partly because I'm no big fan of the odd layout where five or so massive parallel concourses are connected by a light rail.  So... the less time I spend there, the better.

3) There's really no way I would fly Delta, even if it would get me there in the shortest possible time.  I know United isn't that much better, but my 1K status on United often affords me a far more comfortable flying experience.  So flying to Atlanta means 8 hours of travel (including layover) time each way, therefore wiping out my whole day (and sometimes weekend since I would have to basically fly on Sunday morning and not get there until after dinner time).  

This last trip, tho, I decided to venture out of the confines of Buckhead and, upon suggestion of a co-worker, try the Four Seasons at Midtown.  

Holy.  

Of all the different Atlanta hotels I've been to, this has got to be the best - hands down.  

The rooms are pretty utilitarian - nice king-sized bed, white linens, soft terry towel robes, marble bathroom and L'Occitane toiletries - and the spa didn't really get much rave on-line, but the service is top notch: (1) the room service doesn't consist of an inedible heap of food and a half-melted dollop of ice-cream hotels dare to call 'dessert' AND there's the 15-minute menu, which is perfect for when I arrive no sooner than 10PM and am dying for a good meal, a bath, and a sleep; (2) the staff are extremely friendly and helpful: the front desk staff, the concierge, the doormen and the restaurant staff; (3) speaking of restaurant, Park 75 is a pretty darn sweet spot for a drink AND serves delicious food.

The Four Seasons is definitely my favorite Atlanta hotel - I was almost sad to be leaving.... and that's saying something!