Review: Burritt Room + Tavern, #SFRW

February 18, 2015 by Angie Sommer Leave a Comment

While San Francisco Restaurant Week may seem like an eternity ago now, only a few weeks has passed and I’m definitely overdue for some commentary. First up is our first SFRW visit for a $40 per person prix fixe dinner at The Burritt Room + Tavern.

I’ve been to the Burritt Room before, once for a media event and another time just for drinks. It’s a super cute bar and restaurant in the Mystic Hotel on Stockton just south of the tunnel, and the food I’ve had before was GOOD. But, since it’s always hard to judge a restaurant’s food from a media event, I wanted to return before commenting. It’s settled: The Burritt Room serves delicious food….

Review: Sens

January 25, 2015 by Angie Sommer 1 Comment

Sens! There are a lot of really nice (and not cheap) restaurants downtown for all the fancy business peoples, and Sens is one of my faves. I’ve been many times over the years, and while I recall a dip in the quality of food and service for some time (or maybe it was just an off day? I’m not sure), my last visit for lunch was really, really good.

Slow Roasted Organic Chicken Breast ($17)

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Review: The Square Bar & Kitchen

November 9, 2014 by Angie Sommer 2 Comments

I would like to hereby welcome one of North Beach’s most recent additions to the restaurant scene: The Square Bar & Kitchen. Just across the street from Washington Square Park (see what they did there?), and taking the place of the former Bottle Cap (and even more former Washington Square Bar & Grill), The Square opened in March of this year serving upscale, creative takes on classic American dishes.

Delicious homemade bread starter at The Square

Artistic butter.

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Review: Pier 23

October 6, 2014 by Angie Sommer 1 Comment

Let me tell you why I love Pier 23. The food is decent, the cocktails are mediocre, and the service can be sporadic. Ok, those are not reasons I love Pier 23, but I keep going because it’s such a cool place despite all these things.

The front of Pier 23, as shown on their website

Pier 23 is one of those places in a big city that feels like is has history. It’s got an old-fashioned, super casual vibe to it, but it’s popping with patrons young and old, so it still feels alive and fun. It’s small and oddly-placed along the vast waterfront full of cavernous, mysterious pier buildings — a welcoming oasis along this often inaccessible-seeming stretch….

Short Review: Padrecito

September 23, 2014 by Angie Sommer Leave a Comment

I had dinner at Padrecito last weekend — a newer, stylish Mexican restaurant in Cole Valley. My experience was so-so. While the decor, atmosphere, and menu are well done, I simply wasn’t terribly impressed with what I ordered, nor with the service. As this was my first time in the restaurant, I’ll give the latter the benefit of the doubt, but my lack of enthusiasm probably won’t have me returning terribly soon.

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Services: Avital Tours — Haight Ashbury Food Tour

July 14, 2014 by Angie Sommer 1 Comment

Avital Tours is a name I had heard before — but not until she contacted me about a media tour of The Haight had I considered actually joining a tour. But, since I know surprisingly little about the food scene in The Haight, and I wanted to experience one of these famed food tours, I happily accepted.

The tour took place on a bright, sunny day with eight or so other bloggers. Avital herself was there, but another local foodie and food writer, Virginia Miller, was the guide. The tour was three hours long and took us walking in a relatively small area while providing information about a variety of non-food-related historical facts as we made our way to five food and drink establishments.

A fun little map of the Haight provided by Avital is shown above (click to enlarge); the five stops we experienced are described below.

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Review: Comstock Saloon

April 16, 2014 by Angie Sommer 4 Comments

Comstock Saloon is a nice bar and restaurant on Columbus that’s kinda got a classy, old-timey feel to it. As in, it’s gussied up like an old fashioned saloon but with new, nice, and artistic fixtures. Dark wood bar, tables, and booths; dim chandeliers and lamps; bartenders who wear vests… you get the idea. Fine, I guess it’s kinda a hipster thing, but it’s cool and classy and fun and I like it. (Per their website, the historic space was a saloon dating back to 1907 — points for authenticity!)

Mushroom Pot Pie from Comstock — $17

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Review: Wine Kitchen

June 9, 2013 by Angie Sommer 1 Comment

This is going to be a weird post.

Basically, these food photos turned out relatively amazing. So this place looks amazing. And the food was really good, but the decor and general ambiance of Wine Kitchen irked me in a weird way. And since I was with my architect friend, she easily told me Eight Things that Wine Kitchen Could Do to Improve Their Vibe. And, while I would not have noticed them myself, she was right.

But first, food:

Behold: Fried gnocchi

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Review: Capo’s

February 26, 2013 by Angie Sommer 4 Comments

Extra, Extra, ReadAllAboutIt! Capo’s Now Open in North Beach!

Say that in, like, one of those Dick Tracy Chicago gangster accents to get the full gist of what’s happening in that sentence, y’shee. Capo’s is the newest gig from world champion pizza tosser Tony Gemignani of Tony’s Pizza Napolitana, one of the famous SF pizza joints (also the owner of Pyzano’s in Castro Valley). This time he’s gone old school with Capo’s — red patent leather booths, brick walls, and mood lighting chandeliers. And a specialization in Chicago-style deep dish pizza. I can dig it.

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Review: Chaya

February 18, 2013 by Angie Sommer 3 Comments

Behold: Chaya.

The awesome thing about having a food blog in SF is that it’s no longer necessary to write bad reviews of restaurants. There’s just too much good stuff here to waste time on sub-par food. Chaya is one of the best places I’ve been in a while.

It’s mom’s birthday. More than a pony, she wants a nice meal at an upscale restaurant — preferably with a view of the water — and a fun night with her daughters. Choosing a restaurant is always difficult, but we settled on Chaya, though none of us had been there before.

Chaya is on Embarcadero across the street and a bit south from the Ferry Building. It has large windows that look directly out onto the Bay Bridge. The atmosphere is fancy but not pretentious. The menu is amazing.

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Broccoli & Chocolate

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