#85 2010 Pulled-pork sandwich at Roadside BBQ

Roadside BBQ
3751 Geary Blvd
San Francisco, CA 94118

I always enjoy BBQ food even if I don't have cravings for it. What's not to like of buttery mashed potatoes, grilled corn, succulent pull-pork and good ol' mac n cheese!! So I was excited to try out the famed pulled-pork sandwich here.


I opted for the pull-pork sandwich combo with my favorite - grilled corn!



This is pretty damn good sandwich!! The pulled pork was moist and juicy and bursting with a nice marinated flavor. The crispy cole slaw added a contrasting texture which complimented the good tasting bun (slightly toasted). That accented with a bit of BBQ sauce definitely hit the spot!


Just look at all that goodness piled on high! And a double plus for the sweet perfect corn!

#9 2010 Tofu soup with kimchi at My Tofu House

My Tofu House
4627 Geary Blvd
San Francisco, CA 94118

My Tofu House is one of my favs here in SF (note: nothing beats SGD back home in Santa Clara, NOTHING). My usual here is almost either the combination sdb or seafood sdb, so I was a bit hesitant to break away to try kimchi sdb (#4). I'm not a huge kimchi fan.


But I was so pleasantly surprised how flavorful the kimchi sdb is!! I couldn't even really distinguish the flavor of the kimchi (which is good in my case), just marveled at the extra 'kick' present in the soup.


with my egg!






SO good!! I want some now!!

#22 2010 Vietnamese Roasted Pork Sandwich at Saigon Sandwich

Saigon Sandwich
560 Larkin St
San Francisco, CA 94102

[long overdue]

A lot of folks seem to rave about Saigon Sandwich, so I was super excited to try this place! Brandon and I decided to check out the Asian Heritage Street Fair, held in Little Saigon/Civic Center. What perfect opportunity for SS!

This little hole in the wall place is literally no bigger than a standard-sized kitchen. No fancy decorations here, but still attracts a mini crowd in/around the shop for a yummy banh mi or two!


Not sure if you can see this in this blurry shot. There are 3 ladies and 1 man crammed in behind the counters in a single file...not the best work conditions to say the least!


But I digress. Moving on to the food! What a simple menu indeed:


And of course, going with a roasted pork banh mi. Oh, hello..


At first glance, this doesn't deviate much from your standard Vietnamese sandwiches. Baguette - check; cilantro and shredded carrots - check; jalapenos - check; meat - check. But if you look closer..


and even more closer


like Rachael Ray says: Yum-O!!


First of all, the baguette is baked just right, with the right amount of crunchiness and well-balanced firmness. The meats were tender, juicy and full of flavor. What was amazing was the fact that the pate was smothered on the baguette, which was warmed up by the roasted pork by the time you consume it. The two gelled together create this smooth, creamy, rich flavor explosion in your mouth with each bite!! mm MMM!!! Not to mention, the pickled carrots, peppers, and cilantro were crunchy and refreshing. They added that lil umph of sour kick and blew the top off just being delicious!

Hands down, the best Banh Mi I've had!

#73 2010 Popovers with Strawberry Butter at The Rotunda

The Rotunda
Neiman Marcus
150 Stockton St
San Francisco, CA 94108

My initial thoughts were: popovers (whatever they are) with strawberry butter (hmmm), at Neiman Marcus, this should be interesting! I am far from a Neiman Marcus kinda girl, but I was going to check off this item from the Big Eat list no matter what!

Location: Union Square. I went with a few friends, one of whom knew the side entrance to The Rotunda. The tiny elevator took us to the top floor and moments after the elevator doors chimed open, I was immediately impressed by the decorated interior; and Yes, in particular, the rotunda:


We didn't place a reservation (absolutely necessary for a table) so we opted for bar seating and were promptly handed a fancy schmancy and oh-so-pretty menu:


So we came to find out this 'popover' thing is served with lunch entree items, kind of like a bread tray, after I placed a $35 afternoon tea & munchies set - not considered a lunch entree! I was so distraught at the thought of not being able to sample a popover but luckily, our server was kind enough to bring out one for each of us. Score!!


So the popover turns out to be a giant blown-up pastry puff, and hollow as such once you rip it apart


Pastry close-up!


Strawberry butter close-up!


I took a small bite each of the popover as well as the strawberry butter and let me just say the strawberry butter is what makes this combo soooo delicious!! It's got the smooth texture of butter plus the distinct strawberry aroma, with visible tiny specks of real strawberry pieces. The flavor of smooth, buttery, creamy, slightly tart and sweet all rolled into one is a nice fiesta in your mouth!! I was smitten right away! And adding to it the soft heavenly pastry puff...what a beautiful combination!


g-g-g-g-g-iiiiii-v-eeeee me that...
STRAWBERRY BUTTER!

#5 2010 Ramen at Katana-Ya

Katana-Ya
430 Geary St
San Francisco, CA 94102

I've heard quite a bit about this place, being a ramen fanatic. I heard it was easily considered to offer the best ramen bowl in SF until not so long ago, when apparently the quality took a nosedive. Nonetheless, it made the list so I shall try it!

let's see if it's legit:

Here it is, chasu (barbecue pork) ramen with shio (salt) base. First glance, we have 4 generously sliced chasu, bamboo shoots, scallions, seaweed - all pretty standard.

It smelled good though. The shio broth was pretty light and smooth tasting, not overly salty which was great. Also, the chasu slices were actually very tender and flavorful. Yum! They were very different from other mediocre chasu meat I've had in the past, and I was pretty impressed!

Also, the ramen noodles were delicious! Each bite of the al dente, soft but firm noodles urged me to follow up with another bite.

I was not even very hungry but I still managed to devour the entire bowl (minus some excess broth).

Overall a very yummy bowl of ramen. I still prefer my South Bay spots which are near and dear to my heart. But maybe next time I'll opt for my preferred ramen - one bowl of butter & corn please!

#41 2010 Pho Ga at Turtle Tower

Turtle Tower Restaurant
631 Larkin St
San Francisco, CA 94109

[with slight variation, Pho Ga Long instead of pho Ga]

Turtle Tower, Turtle Tower! This better be good! My roommate and I actually wanted to cross off #22 on the list, but sadly, Saigon Sandwich was closed already at 6:30pm on a Friday night! So, since we were already in this part of Civic Center/Tenderloin neighborhood known as 'Little Saigon' we decided to instead opt for a bowl of delicious pho!

A little back-story before I dive in here. Turtle Tower came highly recommended to me once before from a friend who knows how to eat good. Little did we know at the time that their specialty is a mean bowl of Pho Ga. We ended up going with regular combination beef bowl, and were taken by surprise [and disappointment] when we were greeted with flat noodles, different-tasting broth, and no bean sprouts, limes or hoisin sauce!! We swore to never return. Fast forward a few months...


Open for business, now that's what I like.


We were quickly seated and handed a menu...


#9 Pho Ga. But hmmmmm, more should be better right? Ended up going with #10 Pho Ga Long :P


Turtle Tower specializes in Northern Style pho, so no regular pho noodles, bean sprouts and the like I've gotten so used to associating with a bowl o' pho. Behold! I couldn't help but sneak in a quick slurp of the soup and OH MY...SO DANG GOOD!! The broth is full of flavor!! I imagine the stock had been cooking for at least a few hours, probably loaded up with MSG too!


2 Pho Ga Long!! :)


Time to dig IN!!


This Pho Ga Long is sooooooo delicious!!! The perfect harmony of tender pieces of chicken (and various chicken innards like liver, intestines - hey! I'm Chinese!), scallions, soft flat slurpy noodles, all swimming in the blissful and heavenly broth!! You KNOW you want some too!


How does this end? There is only one way...I have never, ever, finished a bowl of pho like this!!

#49 2010 Ginger Snaps at Miette

Miette Patisserie
1 Ferry Building
Shop 10
San Francisco, CA 94111

What better place to start my quest than from just around the corner...from my work! I've passed by Miette many a times in the past while strolling through the Ferry Building - a SF landmark.


The store front is a small yet cutely decorated space. The patisserie specializes in gourmet cupcakes and cakes, Parisian macarons. It also offers graham crackers, chocolate toffees, and of course, ginger snaps in small to-go containers (around 10 pieces to a package).


Here are the ginger snaps...there are 12 pieces to one package.

There are some tiny real ginger bits visible on these snaps, they don't joke around!

When I bit into these, they are kind of thick and very crunchy! There's an initial strong graham cracker taste that's extremely rich, yum!! Then, the ginger kicks in. Oh snap!! And it's a very distinctive ginger flavor that lingers for a bit. I also randomly bit into ginger pieces every now and then, but they were so small the taste wasn't too overpowering. I'm not a huge fan of ginger snaps, so the strong residual ginger aftertaste was something to get used to. But, I am looking forward to enjoying these with a nice cup of tea, which I imagine would neutralize the ginger quite nicely.

Crunchy, rich, flavorful, these ginger snaps pack a lot of bite!!