Smokin' Buns

Photo by Jasmine

Smokin' Buns, Dinner, Jacksonville
July 29, 2016

P
Combo plate: pulled pork, brisket, beans, fried okra, toast
Peach fried pie

J:
Combo plate: catfish, ribs, potato salad, coleslaw, toast
Coconut fried pie


Notes:
We went to Smokin' Buns at the suggestion of our loving hostess in North Little Rock.  And, catfish!  Oh my gosh, why didn't I think if this before?!  Catfish is abundant in Arkansas, so why hadn't I sought it out?  Thankfully, someone had my back.

Gus's Fried Chicken

photo - Yelp, Gary S.

Gus's Fried Chicken, Dinner, Little Rock
July 28, 2016

P:
2 piece: Thigh and Leg
Some unknown side (greens?  baked beans?)

J:
2 piece: Breast and Wing
Mashed Potatoes and Gravy


Notes:
We arrived in Little Rock late on a Thursday evening.  (Well, late enough that our food options were limited.)  Gus's Fried Chicken is a "hot and spicy" chicken place (that's a thing), a growing chain born out of Mason, Tennessee.  After having some of New Orleans' best, we decided it couldn't hurt to give some Tennessee chicken a try.

Moe's Original Bar B Que

photo - Yelp, Ashley H.

Moe's Original Bar B Que, Dinner, Daphne
July 27, 2016

P:
Pulled Pork and Brisket, Mac & Cheese, Baked Beans, Jalapeno Cornbread

J:
Brisket ('Bama Style), Broccoli Casserole, Potato Salad, Jalapeno Cornbread


Notes:
Silverhill, Alabama was our next stop along the way to Little Rock.  Though our time in Silverhill was short, we spent a lovely evening with family and made time for some BBQ just outside of town.  It turns out Moe's is a chain, and a big one at that (There's even one in California!  Who Knew?!), but it wasn't short on character, and the BBQ was pretty good to boot.

Commander's Palace

photo - Yelp, Kelsey R.

Commander's Palace, Dinner, New Orleans

July, 26, 2016

P&J:

Shrimp and Tasso Henican

Wild Louisiana white shrimp, tasso ham, pickled okra, sweet onions, 5 pepper jelly and Crystal hot sauce beurre blanc

Foie Gras Beignet Au Lait

Molten foie gras and brandy soaked blackberry beignet lollipop with honeycomb, cocoa pecan butter, croquant, cinnamon swirls and praline milk

Soups 1-1-1

A demi serving of 3 soups: Gumbo, Turtle and Soup du Jour

Commander's Crisp Romaine Salad

Hearts of Romaine, grated parmesan, pressed egg, housemade bacon, French bread croutons, shaved Gruyere and black pepper dressing

P:

Filet of Black Angus Beef

Chargrilled 8 oz tenderloin of beef with roasted mushrooms, whiskey smoked onions, French potato puree and tasso marchands de vin

Southern Style Pecan Pie

Vanilla & sugarcane infused custard pie with roasted New Roads pecans, served with house-spun vanilla bean ice cream

J:

Crispy Soft Shell Crab

A jumbo Louisiana blue crab with grilled corn, tiny tomatoes, mirliton & ripped herbs with goat cheese stone ground grits and cebollita revigote

Ponchatoula Blueberry Shortcake

Sugarcane marinated blueberries, Chantilly cream & lemon curd

Notes:

Commander's Palace has been on my list for some time, probably since high school.  This place is a New Orleans institution and the former home to such chefs as Paul Prudhomme, Emeril Lagasse, and Jamie Shannon.  I even had the cookbook at one point, but I can't say I ever used it.  Clearly, I didn't know what I was missing.

Bacchanal

photo - Yelp, Ryan P.

Bacchanal, Dinner, New Orleans
July 25, 2016

P&J:

gazpacho - watermelon, peppers, vinho verde, cucumber

grilled hanger steak - yuca, chimichurri, tomato

poached shrimp - crema, grilled corn, masa cake espelette

Notes:
Bacchanal was our first stop for eats in New Orleans.  Listed as a "local favorite", Bacchanal is a tiny wine shop with a little kitchen and a sprawling outdoor seating area just out the back door.  You order and pay for your wine in the shop, then head out back, grab a menu and order food from a window in the kitchen.  There is live jazz nightly, a solo cellist played for us on this particular evening, and the place was packed.  It was a Monday night.

I held the table while Patrick approached the kitchen to place an order.  What he chose would come as a surprise to me, I only offered that I'd like one of everything (he has yet to indulge this request).

Patrick went with the gazpacho first, since I'm a big fan (especially on a sultry New Orleans eve), and he wants to understand why (generally, the cold vegetable soup doesn't excite him).  Here, finely textured, bright red soup redolent of watermelon and red bell pepper was garnished with a drizzle of fragrant olive oil. Small dice of red bells and a julienne (long, thin strips) of crisp cucumber appeared here and there, and while the cucumber added a nice accent in flavor, it was awkward on the spoon.  I found this to be a fine representation of gazpacho and particularly refreshing; Patrick remains unconvinced.

Next was poached shrimp over two round masa cakes with roasted corn cut off the cob and cherry tomatoes, all generously garnished with crema - lots of crema, and fresh herbs.  The shrimp were succulent and super tender, Patrick's favorite part of the dish.  The masa cakes (think tamale dough) were dense, but small enough that they didn't seem heavy.  The sweet, slightly charred corn with the juicy, sweet-tart cherry tomatoes, was summer in a bowl.  Delicious.

Our other entree was a smoky, grilled hanger steak, beautifully cooked to medium rare.  The accompanying chimichurri was a whole-leaf version, which I didn't much care for.  Chimichurri is an herb sauce pungent with fresh garlic and parsley, brightened with a touch of vinegar and amazing with grilled meats.  Here instead was essentially a parsley salad and it wasn't a great complement to the dish.  The yucca fries, however, with their fluffy interior and golden crust, served as a nice alternative to potatoes.

This was a nice way to start our stay in New Orleans.

Mel's Drive-In

Mel's Drive In, Dinner, Tenderloin
July 16, 2016

Mel's is not unlike any other diner you've been to before.  Interiors dripping with 50's nostalgia, servers in aprons and white paper hats, coin-operated jukeboxes at the table, cushy vinyl seats at the bar.  We usually go to Mel's for french fries and a chocolate malt, though on this particular day, we split a hot dog too.  It's not the best of anything, but the malts are pretty damn good, and the food hits the spot.

We'll be back; there's always the need for fries and a malt.

Nido Kitchen & Bar

photo by Jasmine

Nido Kitchen & Bar, Dinner, Waterfront (Oakland)
July 9, 2016

P&J:
TOTOPOS CON GUACAMOLE - guacamole with salsa & tortilla chips
ENSALADA “CESAR” DE COGOLLOS - salad of little gem, avocado, watermelon radish, breadcrumb, cotija de cabra, pepita & queso cotija dressing
TACOS - puerco adobado: braised pork in ancho chocolate sauce, avocado, onion, serrano & cilantro; muslito de pollo asado: chargrilled chicken thigh, chamoy glaze & citrus tomatillo salsa
COCONUT FLAN – strawberry, stone fruit
MARGARITA DE CASA - cimarrón blanco, lime, honey
LA PICOSA - cimarrón blanco, housemade spicy bitters, citrus, honey
AGUA FRESCA - strawberry, jamaica


Notes:
Never tiring of Mexican food, we decided to give this place a try before hitting up a comedy show in Oakland.  We arrived at around 4 pm, thinking we would enjoy a little food and drink from the Happy Hour menu, while killing time until the dinner menu became available at 5.  Instead, we ended up ordering most of what was offered during Happy Hour, and by the end of it I was in love with the place.

We started with a round of house margaritas and the chips, salsa and guacamole.  Everything was delicious and well made, the salsa was deeply flavored, tart and a little spicy.  The portion of chips and such was modest, but I'm one of those people who can just eat chips and salsa forever (at the expense of my comfort, if you know what I mean), so it wasn't a bad thing that I was forced to save room in my belly for something else.  The margaritas were delicious, perfectly balanced; who knew honey would work so well here.  Patrick was pleased with everything, especially the guacamole.

The "Cesar" salad was right up my alley.  Little gem lettuce is my favorite of the lettuces (yes, I have a favorite lettuce), it's super crispy yet delicate, and the mild flavor still comes through in a well-dressed salad.  And well-dressed this was.  Creamy, slightly tangy, dressing coated the little gem lettuce in perfect proportion; thin sliced watermelon radish (which tastes just like a regular radish, except it's prettier) and chunks of avocado throughout.  The salad was garnished with salty grated cheese and large, golden crumbles of bread.

The tacos were marvelous, well-proportioned and tasty.  First off: fresh tortillas.  In one, shredded pork in a roasty-rich slightly sweet sauce; the chicken (my favorite) was nicely charred and the spicy-tart flavor of the chamoy glaze was outstanding.

For dessert, we tried the coconut flan.  It was silky, rich and creamy; a thicker consistency and less eggy than I know flan to be, but no less delicious.  The strawberry and stone fruit garnish was jammy and almost too sweet, though; I didn't much care for it.

I also tried a spicy-type margarita, but I far preferred the house version (only on the Happy Hour menu).  Patrick's jamaica (hibiscus) and strawberry agua fresca was not particularly sweet and very refreshing; the two flavors played well with each other - we should try to make this one at home.


So why did I fall for this place?  Well, for Happy Hour, the food was great, the drinks were great, and the bill was more than reasonable, even after tipping the kitchen 10 bucks (I've seen this on a few different menus now, and I love it).  We would definitely like to go back, though knowing Happy Hour is such a steal, we may not go any other time.

Taco Trail, Day 1

Taco Trail, Day 1

Sacramento, Modesto, Turlock

July 2, 2016

Not too long ago, Saveur magazine featured a taco-centric road trip, and it happened to take place in California.  With the 4th of July weekend coming up, we wanted to get out of town, and we decided to take the Taco Trail ourselves.  We started at the top of the trail and finished short of the end in Fresno (the original trail ended in Bakersfield, about 100 miles further).  In order to survive our Taco Trail (7 stops in a day and a half), we decided to order (and share) only two tacos at each establishment, and one of those tacos had to be the type mentioned in the article.

photo by Jasmine

Taqueria Mi Lindo Apatzingan, Rio Linda, chicken tacos

Our first stop was in Rio Linda, just outside of Sacramento.  As we neared our destination, the voices (Google Maps) took us from one little street to the next, and we began to wonder if we were heading to someone's house (Maybe they sold tacos out of the garage?).  Instead we landed at a run-down little strip mall in the middle of a neighborhood.  Before we even got there, we both declared our intention to violate the self-imposed 2-taco rule; we were simply too hungry.  SO, we each ordered a chicken taco (as mentioned in the article), I added a lengua (beef tongue) to my order, and Patrick the al pastor (barbecued pork); we both had rice and beans.  The chicken in the tacos was very good - dark meat, nicely marinated with charred little fatty bits - though the taco as a whole was lackluster.  Patrick's al pastor was okay, but my lengua was deliciously tender and packed with flavor.  The rice was average, and the refried beans were good but on the salty side.  The real winner here was the agua fresca.  If you don't already know agua fresca, it's a drink made of (not always, but in this case) fresh fruit blended with water and sugar.  It's magical - it tastes like the fruit itself, liquefied, as if nothing at all has been added.  We had watermelon.  Patrick got the large, which amounted to about a quart of watermelon juice.  It was so, so good.

photo by Jasmine

Chando's Tacos, Sacramento, cochinita pibil

Next up, Chando's Tacos in Sacramento.  Patrick, full of watermelon juice at this point, was sad to realize the 2nd stop was 10 minutes from the first.  He promptly reinstated the 2-taco rule.  Here, a small, stand-alone building across the street from a gas station in the middle of nowhere occupied a space half as large as the parking lot dedicated to it.  Just outside, close to the order window, a large grill filled with marinated chicken sent a delicious aroma into the air.  We ordered the cochinita pibil and carne asada.  (Damn the 2-taco rule!  I came up with that rule and already regretted it.  It should have been a 3-taco rule.)  The tortillas here were a little more rubbery than what we had at Taqueria Mi Lindo, it seemed unlikely they were freshly made.  I found the carne asada (marinated, grilled beef) to be bland and chewy, saved only by a generous dollop of avocado.  The cochinita pibil (pork braised in achiote marinade and shredded, to oversimplify things) was juicy, packed with flavor and a hint of spice - a delicious taco.  Patrick, living in an alternate universe, really liked the carne asada, especially the creamy guacamole against the spicy grilled meat.  He found the cochinita pibil to be bland, a nondescript stewed meat.  Clearly, we weren't eating the same two tacos.

photo by Patrick

Viva Taco, Turlock, carnitas

Silvestre Valencia, the gentleman who runs this truck bus in Turlock was the star of the Saveur article, and it's easy to see why.  He's a sweet, talkative man.  He asked us what we liked best (carnitas); I asked him how he made this and that, and he has no secrets.  Since it had been 2 hours since we last ate, I was able to talk Patrick into three tacos.  We had the carnitas (pork braised in lard and shredded, essentially), barbacoa (stewed beef), and chicken.  These were the type of tacos Patrick really loves - small corn tortillas with just enough filling and a barely there garnish of raw, diced white onion and chopped cilantro.  The chicken was unlike anything I'd had before: chunks of dark meat cooked in chicken base with salt and chili powder.  I can't say it was my favorite, the flavor was fine but the texture, mushy.  The barbacoa was tender and well seasoned but the carnitas stole the show.  The shredded pork shoulder was juicy and flavorful, complete with crispy porky bits; a little greasy, but so tasty it didn't matter.  The partly chunky, partly creamy pinto beans were surprisingly good for how simple they were, only salt and garlic added (as I said, no secrets).

photo by Patrick

El Mexicano C, Modesto, cabeza

It wasn't until we visited the taco bus that we realized we overshot the intended third stop.  This taco truck is so off the grid, Google couldn't find it by name and I mistakenly had us set to go off-trail.  So, back to Modesto we went for cabeza tacos at El Mexicano C.  We ordered cabeza (beef head), carne asada, and fried serrano peppers and onions.  The handmade tortillas were delicious, arguably the best part of the simple, ungarnished tacos.  The finely minced carne asada lacked flavor.  The cabeza, moist and sticky shredded meat, was delicious, but it needed a punch of acid or spice, more than the accompanying lime wedge could provide.  Both of these tacos would have benefitted from a little onion-cilantro garnish, or perhaps a touch of salsa.  The fried serrano peppers and onions were thrown straight into the deep fryer - no batter or coating; good, but the chilies were spicy as heck, the onions a little too oily.


Four places down, three more to go.  The Viva Taco bus was our winner, so far... 

Tommy's Mexican Restaurant

photo - Yelp, Frederick D.

Tommy's Mexican Restaurant, Dinner, Outer Richmond
June 17, 2016

P:
Enchiladas Suizas (with chicken), served with salad, beans and rice
Milagro margaritas, with salt

J:
Pollo Pibil, served with salad, beans and rice
Milagro magaritas, with salt


Notes:
Tommy's is close to my heart.  When I first lived in this neighborhood way back when, my friend and I would meet here on Friday nights after work and sit at the bar for hours, drinking margaritas and eating chips and salsa.  I brought my Dad here when he visited (he likes a good margarita).  Julio, the gentleman who runs (and maybe owns?) the place, knows his regular customers by name and thanks them for coming, every time.  The bar is always packed with Tequila aficionados and locals alike.  Patrick and I live practically right around the corner, and it's a place we're just in the mood for sometimes.

Tommy's takes margaritas (and tequila, generally) very seriously.  They're prepared on the rocks (though they'll make 'em frozen, if you insist), as this is the best way to taste the nuances in the tequila.  Giant bins of half cut fresh limes sit on the bar, waiting to be squeezed into every glass.  And you'll find no sweet and sour here, only agave syrup.  Tequila, lime and agave syrup, that's all; they make a fantastic margarita.

The food is okay.  It's not the best Mexican food you'll ever have, but it definitely satisfies a craving.  I find their chips and red and green salsas addicting, though some might argue their salsas are not much more than just spicy.  They serve a little salad before the meal consisting of whacked up iceberg lettuce, a couple of slices of carrot and radish, topped with a splash of red salsa.  Gourmet, no, but delicious, yes; I love that simple little salad.  Their guacamole is pretty tasty and generously portioned.  Patrick usually gets the Enchiladas Suizas, which hits the spot for him.  I don't have a usual, but often go with a chicken quesadilla.  On this particular evening I went rogue and ordered the Pollo Pibil, chicken breast and onion marinated in savory achiote (think earthy red pepper), wrapped in a banana leaf and grilled.  The chicken was completely overcooked, but the smokey flavors imparted by the charred banana leaf were really fantastic with that marinade.  Although, I'd probably go back to the quesadilla next time - it goes better with a margarita.


As they say at Tommy's: "If you live in SF, please do not forget to remember how lucky you are."

Fish.

photo - Yelp, Suliman A.

Fish., Dinner, Sausalito

May 28, 2016

P:

The Saigon King Salmon Sandwich - Grilled, marinated wild king salmon with a blend of fresh carrot, jalapeno, cilantro and house made Vietnamese ginger-scallion sauce atop a fresh roll; served with a choice of chili-lime coleslaw.

J:

Tuscan White Bean and Tuna Salad - The Fish. version of the old Italian classic, served with Iacopi bombaloni beans, house-poached albacore tuna, red onion, black olives, fresh lemon, olive oil and aged red wine vinegar.

Notes:

We've been to Fish. once before.  Today, it was our last stop before heading back home after a day of roaming aimlessly around the Bay Area.  (Side note: if you have never found yourself roaming aimlessly around town, I suggest you give it a try.)

Fish. is a sustainable seafood restaurant on the waterfront in Sausalito; their mission is to serve sustainable seafood alongside locally grown organic fruits and vegetables.  The food is always very good here.  I wouldn't say it's always amazing, but it's always very good.  Take the Saigon King Salmon Sandwich, for example.  The name suggests it will be a take on the Vietnamese sandwich: a soft roll filled with a rich meat (typically pâté, or roasted pork, or pork belly...and the list goes on), and filled with crunchy raw and pickled veggies, jalapenos and piquant sauces.  Well, here we had the soft roll going on, and the raw veggies, and a generous hunk of beautifully cooked salmon, but the whole was not greater than the sum of its parts.  The sandwich was plain, it had no zip; with a little something more, it could have been amazing.  The slaw, to boot.  No zip!  Where was the chili?  The lime?

And, then there was the Tuscan bean and tuna salad; I absolutely love this type of thing.  Here, it was a mountain of flaked tuna (I'm not kidding, it bordered on obscene), tossed with some giant white beans, a few slices of red onion and a smattering of black olives.  All good, but it was a little dry, and the flavors weren't coming together.  If you've ever had this dish made proper, and clearly whoever created this dish has not, no one ingredient overwhelms another (except for maybe the dressing - it's usually swimming in olive oil and lemon juice) and it's a magical combination of textures and flavors.  This dish was good, but missing the magic.

Though nothing we had this time was spectacular, most of what we had on our first visit was memorable, so I know this to be a great restaurant.  And, yes, it's expensive, but the portions are ridiculously huge.  We could easily get away with 1 dish between the two of us, which we'll try to remember next time we visit.

Cavalier, Part II

The Cavalier, Dinner, SOMA
May 20, 2016

P&J:
Quail Egg Mayonnaise - celery salt and crispy shallot
Crispy Brussels Sprout Chips - vadouvan and lemon zest
Lamb Scrumpets - pickled chile and mint sauce
Baked Sweet Potato and Spring Vegetables - beets, heirloom carrots and apples, tumeric, yogurt, pumpkin seeds
Shepherd's Pie - minced leg of lamb, carrots, peas and curried mash
Fish and Chips - thrice cooked fries, minted peas, and malt vinegar aioli


Notes:
I know, I know.  I complained about this place the first time.  And the only reason I'm writing about this a second time (ordinarily, I'd keep these entries limited to a single visit) is because Patrick and I were together on this occasion.  How we ended up here so soon after I was traumatized by a Scotch egg, well...

So, the situation here is that we were meeting some friends, and food was ordered.  We didn't choose any of the food (except for the Shepherd's Pie), but it was brought to the table and we ate it.  And we didn't pay for it.  We did a good old fashioned dine and dash, you know, where you create a distraction at the end of the meal and just make a run for it?  I'm kidding.  We don't do that; I saw it in a movie once.  But we didn't pay, and I'm only putting that out there because I think it's relevant.

The quail egg mayonnaise...where do I begin.  Apparently, there is some "story" behind their eggs (that I missed), but to me, that translates into this-is-why-we-charge-you-2-dollars-for-half-a-quail-egg.  It's ridiculous.  I feel the same way about their $15 Scotch egg, so what this says to me is that I should never order egg-anything from The Cavalier because it gets me all worked up.  Here we had half a quail egg perched on a teeny dollop of mayonnaise with shallot and some chervil if I remember correctly.  It's their take on a deviled egg, except it's nothing at all like one.  Moving on.  The Brussels sprout chips were very good.  They must have one poor (literally), naive culinary student in the kitchen, peeling apart Brussels sprouts leaf by leaf so they can be flash fried and tossed with curry spices and lemon zest.  Well, great job, kid, they're delicious!  Lamb scrumpets were succulent little bits of lamb left on the bone, lightly coated and fried and served with a thin but flavor-packed mint sauce.  The meat was unbelievably tender and just the right amount of fatty; I ate these with my fingers and cleaned the bones.

The Sheperd's pie was served so hot it could barely be eaten.  But once we could, we found it savory and appealing, though nothing extraordinary.  The sweet potatoes were slender and creamy white and garnished with shredded raw beet, apple, and carrot; the turmeric yogurt sauce on the plate seemed out of place with everything else.  All very tasty, but again, nothing extraordinary.  The fish and chips I liked very much, though the rest of the table wasn't as taken.  For me, it was that the fish was nicely battered, crispy and not the least bit greasy, and I do like their thrice cooked fries.  (If there's one thing this restaurant knows, it's how to operate a fryer.)  For everyone else, it was just fish and chips, nothing to get excited about.

We didn't have dessert.


So, now would we go back?  It's leaning "no".  Aside from that ridiculous egg thing, everything was good, or very good, but nothing was truly amazing.  And because we didn't pay for anything, we have no idea what the bill should have been, so we didn't leave offended; but "it wasn't offensive" is not a feeling that would make us return.

Padrecito

photo - Yelp, Tristan L.

Padrecito, Dinner, Cole Valley
May 18, 2016

P&J:
chips y salsas con guacamole
queso fundido - pt. reyes toma-oaxaca cheese, refried black beans y corn tortillas
sweet corn esquites
budino de chocolate (for dessert) - ancho-pepita brittle, 3 twins salted caramel ice cream y cajeta caramel

P:
chipotle chilaquiles - duck carnitas, fava beans, poblano pepper rajas, chipotle mole y crema latina
requero (cocktail) - blanco tequila, gran classico bitter aperitif, maraschino, lemon oil

J:
grilled arctic char tacos - achiote rub, avocado aioli y mango jicama slaw
pinata (cocktail) - reposado tequila, pineapple, serrano chile, rosemary, lime
boliviano (another cocktail) - bolivian pisco, lime, alpine herbal liqueur, pineapple cordial


Notes:
Patrick found out about this place one afternoon, and made reservations immediately thereafter.  We're both huge fans of Mexican cuisine.  I hadn't heard anything about it before, but only knew it was the sister (or should I say brother?) restaurant to Mamacita in the Marina.

In an attempt to be good girls and boys, and not order everything in sight like I usually try to make us do, we settled on an appetizer to share and an entree for each of us, with a vegetable side.  "Should we get chips and salsa?" he asked.  "No, it's fine, we can be good," I said.  We were seated near the kitchen, and one server after another walked through that doorway with chips and salsa, going to what seemed like every table but ours.  "I can't watch this anymore.  I think we need chips and salsa," he said.  I giggled.  We got the guacamole, too.

The chips were fresh, though not plentiful, I suppose a good thing given the amount of food we had coming.  They were served with three little pots of salsa - a mild tomatillo, a roasted tomato, and a smooth, smoky hot chipotle, Patrick's favorite.  The velvety guacamole was served with a little pot of fruity habanero salsa, which was my pick for best of the bunch.  It had an unbelievable amount of flavor, it went beyond just hot; eventually, I was putting it on everything (a little goes a long way).  The queso fundido was a nice surprise.  Well seasoned and smooth refried black beans rested below a generous layer of blistered, melty cheese, waiting to be mounded into fresh corn tortillas.  The beauty of this was that the cheese did not overwhelm in a tangled, stringy mess when you spooned it from the dish, and the piping hot beans underneath kept the cheese warm and gooey, long after it sat.

Next came our entrees and the veggie side.  Patrick's dish looked amazing, my tacos were simple but beautiful, and the corn looked like the thing I needed to try first so I did.  Aaannd, I lost my mind.  This corn was so flipping good that I couldn't think about anything else.  I took small bites and savored each one (I don't normally do this) because I wanted this dish of corn to last forever.  FOREVER!  It was a flavor bomb.  Corn, cut fresh off the cob, is mixed with a concoction of smoky ancho chile sauce and crema (think thin sour cream) and topped with salty cotija cheese and finely chopped pumpkin seeds.  Sounds simple, but it was so amazingly complex and mother loving delicious.

Patrick was pleased with his chilaquiles, but he didn't get too far into them, hoping to save himself for dessert.  His was a dish of corn tortilla chips tossed in a smoky chipotle mole with shreds of duck meat, tender fava beans and roasted poblano peppers scattered throughout.  For the tacos, fat pieces of arctic char, which took on the color and earthy, savory flavor of the achiote marinade, were finished on the grill and placed on warm, fresh tortillas (so good) with a finely cut slaw.  That habanero salsa was right at home with these babies.  These were both very good dishes, but I couldn't get over the corn; it was the winner.

We did end up having dessert, and we went for the chocolate budino, which was essentially a warm pudding cake, so I'm not sure I need to go into any more detail other than warm pudding cake.  It was delicious and chocolatey and rich and delicious.  Yeah, I said it twice.  Patrick was pleasantly surprised by this - he felt the menu description didn't do it justice, we only ordered the dessert on the recommendation of the server.  But had he known, HAD HE KNOWN!  He would have ordered it, himself, recommendations be damned!


Oh man, we'll be back.

Pizzetta 211

photo - Yelp, Nat L.

Pizzetta 211, Dinner, Outer Richmond
May 9, 2016

P&J:
Sesame Crusted Seared Tuna with Charred Radicchio and Lemon Caper Aioli
Pizzettas: Rosemary, Fiore Sardo Cheese, Pine Nuts; Farm Fresh Egg, Asparagus, Almond Picada, Creme Fraiche: Housemade Sausage, Broccoli di Ciccio, and Chile*
Flourless Chocolate Cake with Fresh Whipped Cream
Buttermilk Panna Cotta with Blueberry Sauce


Notes:
This is probably one of my absolute favorite spots in our neighborhood.  I adore this place.  ADORE!  It's a tiny spot with roughly 20 seats, a few of them at the worn wooden bar that overlooks the even tinier kitchen.  The servers are casual and adequately friendly (though bordering on taking themselves too seriously), but they clearly care about what they do, and that makes me smile.  The wine is served in glass tumblers, which I love for some reason.  And the pizzas (pizzettas) are perfection.

We have never sat anywhere but at the bar.  They're the best seats in the house, in our opinion, and oddly the least desirable, because requesting seats at the bar always gets us in sooner rather than later.  (This also gets us the relatively undivided attention of one of the cooks in that tiny little kitchen, which is a big plus.)  They always have a "special" starter, always a salad in our experience, and always amazing.  This evening it was a seared tuna appetizer, which is pretty 90's of them and almost a turn off for me, but in light of "always amazing", we had to give it a try.  The tuna was perfectly cooked, the delicately crunchy seeds on the surface were nicely toasted and complemented the flavor of the supple fish.  Generous drizzles of lemon caper aioli and the deeply charred, tender greens brought everything together into a harmony of flavors and textures.  Yep; amazing.  We polished the dish off in about 3 minutes.  Classy.

Next were the pizzettas.  They always have a pizza with egg on the menu, a must have, in my view.  If you've never had anything like this before, I implore you, seek it out.  Here, during its last few minutes in the oven, two raw eggs are slipped onto the surface of the pizza, in this case topped with a drizzle of creme fraiche, asparagus coins, crushed almonds and mozzarella.  Moments later, the pizza emerges light golden brown and topped with two perfectly cooked, sunny-side-up eggs.  It's cut in such a way so as to maintain the integrity of the yolk, which is promptly wrecked once it hits the table, with the pieces of pizza flanking the yolk used for dipping.  It's a fabulous and satisfying experience.  The second pizza was the broccoli di ciccio and sausage.  This was quite delicious.  Let me just go on about broccoli di ciccio for a moment.  I absolutely LOVE this vegetable.  Apparently, it's an heirloom broccoli, the ancestor to the giant heads of broccoli we're all familiar with.  Except it's all thin, tender stems and leaves with little florets at the tip of each stem.  And it has more sweet, delicious broccoli flavor than any broccoli I've ever had.  It's one of my favorite things.  I'd never had it before living here, and I've only had it a few times since, when I'm lucky enough to find it.  But, back to the pizza.  So, our second pizza had pieces of this broccoli di ciccio,  a little smattering of fresh Italian sausage and some red chili flake.  Delicious!  (I know, I said that already.)  These flavors really work together - meaty, juicy bits of sausage with sweet, earthy broccoli and a little heat from the chile flake.  Yes, please.  Finally, we had the pizza with Fiore Sardo cheese, rosemary and pine nuts.  This was good, but not my favorite.  The sheep milk's cheese had a nice flavor, but didn't melt nicely - it took on that oily and rubbery state that some cheeses do when melted.  And while the pine nuts and rosemary were a nice compliment to the tangy, salty cheese, the overall texture was less enjoyable, though I'll admit, it was still satisfying in a comfort-food kinda way.  I need to comment on the fact that none of the pizzas we ordered had tomato sauce, which ordinarily is a strike in my book.  To me, pizza is not pizza unless it has tomato sauce.  (White pizza?  Nope, it's good, but it's not pizza.)  Except here - here I don't care.  I never miss it.

Sitting at the bar equals sitting by the dessert.  Invariably, there is a cake stand on the bar holding their flourless chocolate cake.  Chocolaty and rich, but not too rich, and it's served with barely-sweetened, barely-whipped cream.  It's a must, especially after you've been staring at it all night.  Their second dessert is usually something with fruit.  On this particular night it was buttermilk panna cotta with blueberry sauce.  Panna cotta is a dairy-based dessert to which gelatin has been added; it has the texture of a custard, but without the egg.  Now, buttermilk panna cotta is especially good because that tang really lightens things up, and when accompanied by a lovely fresh fruit sauce, it's almost like eating health food.  So of course, we had that too.


Did I tell you I adore this place?  We don't come here every weekend only because there are so many other places around town to try, but we go as often as we can.


*We recently had a couple of friends in town; new friends to Patrick, old friends to me.  This is the last restaurant we visited with one of them before his return to the Deep South, and the last we visited among no less than a dozen within the 5 days before that.  I got a little behind in my writing, as you might imagine, and I can't remember exactly every last detail of what was on those pizzas and the menu at Pizzetta 211 has since changed.  [Sad face.]

Golden Boy Pizza

Photo by Patrick

Golden Boy Pizza, Dinner, North Beach
May 8, 2016

P:
Combination

J:
Clam Garlic


Notes:
Our fourth and final food stop for the day was at Golden Boy Pizza, because we wanted to finish the day right.

Golden Boy has been around in North Beach since 1978.  It's a hole in the wall and it's fabulous.  We've both been here a number of times, but this was our first visit together.  This is mostly a by-the-slice joint, with the available offerings on display in the front window.

They make only Sicilian-style pizza here, though they don't characterize it as such on their website, so I'm sure someone out there doesn't appreciate such a reference.  But it's the only one I have, so let's move on.  As I was saying, Sicilian-style, you know, the square slice, the thick, doughy crust.  Well, I don't typically like that kind of pizza (because "thick, doughy crust"), but at it's different at Golden Boy.  The crust is pillowy soft and airy with a crispy, crunchy base.  It's amazing.

Except, I don't know why I'm going on about their crust, because there is only one thing to talk about here, and that's the clam garlic slice.  This thing is out of control good, and it's the reason we stopped here.  This pizza has only a thin layer of tomato sauce, and it's topped with an insane amount of chopped raw garlic, clams, and parsley.  It's bursting with flavor from the toppings, the parsley and garlic slightly charred by the smoking hot oven, and it's all brought together by the soft, crispy-bottomed crust.  This is not for you if you have any misgivings about garlic breath.  Or clam breath.  But it is SO good, and one of my favorite things on earth.

Patrick will have to tell you about the combination slice, since I know only one thing.


CLAM GARLIC.

Z & Y Restaurant

photo - foodhoe's foraging (foodhoe) / CC BY-ND 3.0

Z & Y Restaurant, Dinner, Chinatown 

P&J:
Scallion Pancake
Spicy Numbing Beef Tender
Chicken with Explosive Chili Pepper
Tan Tan Noodle
Peking Duck


Notes:
After a string of somewhat disappointing experiences, we decided it was time to take things in a different direction with a visit to Chinatown.  We headed to a Szechuan place I had visited only once before, knowing we get great food without emptying our wallets.

This place is popular, highly rated, and there's always a 30-45 minute wait.  By the time we were seated, we were ready to eat.  It took a while before anyone approached the table, so once our server came around we just rattled off a list of things from the menu; we stopped after picking five, but could've kept going.

The scallion pancakes arrived well before everything else, these were nicely layered, delicately flaky and piping hot, but ached for some sauce.  Next came the Spicy Numbing Beef Tender: thinly sliced beef tendon dripping with chili oil and seasoned heavily with Szechuan peppercorns and five spice powder.  This dish is a favorite of mine, the tendon has the texture of (very) al dente pasta, and the fiery sauce makes your lips numb and tingly.  If only we hadn't inhaled those scallion pancakes, they would have been perfect for mopping up that sauce.  The chicken dish, another must have in my opinion, arrives as a (very) large pile of wok fried dried chilies on a round platter.  Scattered within that pile of chilies are bite size pieces of lightly fried chicken thigh exploding with flavor, and surprisingly not very spicy.  It's like digging for treasure - delicious, delicious treasure.  The tan tan noodles are a simple dish of springy egg noodles and pork in more of the same fiery, numbing sauce, but this with a deeper flavor, likely gaining richness from the ground meat.  Finally, the Peking Duck, carved tableside, is served with paper thin pancakes, sliced scallion and hoisin sauce.  The crispy sweet-glazed skin was (and always is) the best part of this dish, though this was my least favorite overall; the meat was dry and the subtle flavors couldn't compete with the rest of the food at the table.


We had a great time at Z & Y, and didn't break the bank doing it.  We'd go back.  

Namu Gaji

photo - Yelp, Ann. L

Namu Gaji, Dinner, The Mission
May 6, 2016

P&J:
assorted pickles
kimchee
dumplings - shiitake, dashi, butter, nori
lamb tsukune - avocado, brûlée yolk, dill, cumin, calabrian chili
stonepot - market vegetables, kimchee, egg, koshihikari rice, gochujang, steak


Notes:
This was the last of the three dinner reservations I made during my friend's visit to San Francisco.  He's a restaurateur and was interested in catching one of the latest in food trends, "new" Korean; Namu Gaji seemed the perfect choice.  Unfortunately, it wasn't what I thought it was.  Their focus seems to be on Asian flavors generally, leaning more towards Japanese than Korean it seems.

Most of the food was good, but it wasn't particularly exciting, and generally we were put off by the everything else (more on that later).  The assorted pickles were a mess - little honshimeji mushrooms, red cabbage, and bean sprouts -  each tasted like they had been soaked in straight vinegar.  The napa cabbage kimchee on the other hand was top notch, and I'd love to know their secret.  It was supple but still a little crunchy, hot and sour and just a little fizzy on the tongue, just how it should be.  The dumplings were very good: mushroom filling stuffed inside thin wonton-type wrappers cooked until just tender and served in a rich, buttery broth.  The lamb tsukune, a skewer of ground lamb seasoned heavily with cumin and Calabrian chili was grilled until lightly charred but still juicy.  It was served with a brûléed yolk - raw egg yolk with a thin coat of sugar so as to be scorched, just as you would the dessert - topped with a heavy dose of finely chopped dill.  Potentially phenomenal (seriously - we're talkin' egg yolk), but it had no flavor to speak of.  Finally, the stonepot - a take on the Korean dish bibimbap.  Cooked white rice is layered in a giant, blistering hot stone pot with vegetables, kimchee, thinly sliced raw beef and a fried egg.  We were instructed to allow the pot to sit for at least 5 minutes, during which time the rice at the bottom of the pot would crisp, and the sliced beef would warm through.  When it was time, we stirred in the accompanying gochujang (Korean chili paste), mixing everything together while scraping up the crunchy rice and whacking the egg and beef into smaller pieces.  This was really tasty; the dish was well prepared and nicely proportioned between the rice and toppings, but it wasn't anything new, it was just really good bibimbap.

Sure, it was disappointing that the food wasn't what I expected, but I had only myself to blame.  The restaurant has a website, they have their menu posted, it shouldn't have been such a surprise to me.  But the real problem here was the experience itself.  When we walked into the tiny restaurant it was completely full but for the end of the bar seating which ran the length of the room against the windows.  There, in a space large enough for two people, were three bar stools.  We all knew - that was where they intended to seat us.  We should have said something, but we didn't.  Maybe we should have left, but we didn't.  Instead we sat, three people to a space built for two.  It was awful.  And did I mention the noise?  Restaurants these days are being designed for the modern aesthetic with little attention paid to the acoustics.  I know this.  I have been to countless restaurants which suffer from this affliction.  But this one was so bad, we gave up on trying to talk to one another.  There we sat, crammed together at the end of a sad little bar, left to stare out the window in between courses.

We cut the meal a little short that night and went for ice cream next door.  I doubt we'd go back.

The Progress

photo - Yelp, Andrew H.

The Progress, Dinner, Fillmore
May 5, 2016

P&J:
A few things for the table:
roasted brooks cherries with almond cream
buttermilk biscuit with apple bourbon black butter
ginger-chickpea hummus on seven pepper cracker
lettuce hearts with smoked paprika tonnato
tofu with sunflower seed pesto

Courses:
taylor bay scallop with white ponzu (add-on)
BN Ranch beef tartare - smoked oyster-ramp aioli, kohlrabi & puffed rice
black cod "toast" - maitakes, buttery favas, fermented turnips & lemon oil
So-Cal swordfish - pistachio "crema", fennel-blood orange relish & flowering kale
lamb shank-flat noodle "stir fry" - seasoned with ground 7  pepper, wild ramps & snow peas
rhubarb compote with cornmeal crumble (add-on)

Cocktails:
Martini - vodka, vermouth, smoked castelvetrano olive juice, rosemary oil
Sunny Jim - gin, lemon, vanilla, pineapple, kaffir lime leaf, soda
Black Metal - lemon-verbena infused tequila, fino sherry, swedish punsch, strawberry, lemon, grapefruit bitters
Great Mana - mezcal, aged rum, banana, coconut, lime, bitters


Notes:
The Progress was the second planned restaurant visit during our friend's stay in town.  This is the sister restaurant to the joint next door called State Bird Provisions.  I've been wanting to go to State Bird forever, but it's (still) impossible to get a reservation, and we really don't like long waits, so we've just never gone.  And since we could get a reservation at The Progress, and since it seems to be equally well-loved, I thought it a win.

The other draw (for me) was the concept, it's different - think tasting menu served family style.  Diners are charged per person, 4 courses are served to the table on large plates (versus plated for each individual) and little bites start off the meal.  It's an interesting take if you ask me, and I was excited to give it a shot.

As we were brought into the restaurant, we're once again met with modern aesthetic so popular in restaurants today: the soaring ceilings, exposed concrete and steel.  But here, thin slats of raw wood lined an entire wall, warming the room and dampening some of the noise.  The dining room was a little crowded, though, we were at the table that always seemed to be in the way.  On the other hand, this didn't feel out of place; the restaurant had a casual, communal vibe, so what's the harm in making room for a few friends?  Except I don't like people.  Kidding!  I do like people.  I also like cocktails.

We started with a round; all of their cocktails sounded appealing, so we each ordered something different.  Mine was the winner - the Sunny Jim - tart, not too sweet, and refreshing.  But we were all off to a good start, frankly.  We sipped our drinks, the server handed us a pencil and a menu, and we went to town, marking off the items we wanted to have by filling in little bubbles next to each.  It was like a test you're happy to take.  Shortly thereafter, we were brought little snacks from the kitchen.  The winners for Patrick were the roasted brooks cherry (roasted just long enough to maintain its integrity, stem and all, but the flesh inside was warm, soft and juicy) and the buttermilk biscuits - he's a biscuit man, and these were proper - tender and buttery.  (But tiny!  One bite!)  I couldn't believe how good the hummus tasted; was it just the ginger that made the difference?  The little lettuce hearts with smoked paprika tonnato were delightful - cold and crispy lettuce with a dab of unctuous, savory sauce (tonnato is essentially a tuna mayonnaise).  The tofu didn't win any favor - it was good but on the bland side and came off as "healthy" more than anything else.  (Ptooey!  Nah, I thought it was fine.)

Next came the little bay scallops.  These were a joke; they were tiny (I mean, TINY) and the white ponzu only served to mask their flavor.  But, we soon forgot the letdown once the beef tartare came along, a truly lovely dish.  Curls of paper thin kohlrabi and a generous smattering of herbs were laid over a small dice of deep-burgundy colored beef, tossed with crisped grains of rice and the pungent, umami-heavy oyster-ramp aioli.  I could have eaten just this, and I would have been in heaven.  It was full of flavor, the textures were complimentary and playful, the seasoning was perfect, everything was in balance.  The black cod "toast" arrived next, another winner.  Large pieces of lightly seared, succulent cod were placed over thin rectangles of toasted house-made bread.   Tender fava beans, earthy maitake mushrooms, and piquant turnips were scattered across the top; the pool of smoky, buttery, citrusy sauce soaked into the toasts and brought it all home.  This was a great dish, but this is where the excitement ended.

The flat noodle "stir fry" was more redolent of an Italian dish than the Asian-influence suggested by the menu.  (I'm not sure they know how to use air quotes.)  The noodles were a wide-cut fresh pasta and rested on the plate in a tangled lump.  The lamb was seasoned nicely, but so meager in proportion it was hard to get a proper taste, and the garnish of cucumber spears, sharp with vinegar, were a distraction.  This dish had potential, but it wasn't executed very well.  Finally, the swordfish; this was the most disappointing for me.  The swordfish was a thin, bordering on overcooked.  The pistachio "crema" (there are those air quotes again) at the base of the plate had little to no discernible pistachio flavor.  The "fennel-blood orange relish" (please note the proper use of air quotes, here) was actually just slices of fennel and blood orange, and the flowering kale was little more than pretty.  That's all this dish was - pretty.  And that's if you like deliberately plated food, where the plate is the blank canvas, the food is the artist's medium, and tweezers are involved.  I'm being overly dramatic; maybe they didn't use tweezers.

Dessert could turn this all around, right?  Well, no.  Dessert is not part of the deal, it's an additional charge.   But I was looking to end the meal on a positive note, so I pushed for it. There were three choices offered, and none really grabbed us, so we asked the server to choose for us.  He wouldn't tell us which he'd picked, but when he set forks on the table, it became clear, we were not getting either of the ice cream desserts.  Because who (willingly) eats ice cream with a fork?  No one, ever, and that's a fact.  Nevertheless, our dessert was sad and disappointing: cooked until just soft rhubarb with rock hard crumbles of cornmeal cookie and the tiniest dollop of fresh whipped cream.  In an effort to let the rhubarb sing, they forgot to add (enough) sugar; it was entirely too tart.  The crumble served as an example of why people don't like cornmeal (and I am not one of those people); it was like eating gravel.  Sadly, the best part was the thimbleful of cream.


I don't know that we'd go back.  It was a lovely restaurant with an interesting concept, but only half of what we ate was worth raving about and the total bill was outrageous.  I'm still not sure how everything added up to be so expensive, but it did.  We are happy to pay (very well) for good food, but this just wasn't that good, and we left pretty disappointed.

Liholiho Yacht Club

Photo by Connor Bruce

Liholiho Yacht Club, Dinner, Lower Nob Hill
May 6, 2016

P&J:
fried oyster, beef carpaccio, 1000 island, butter lettuce
duck liver toast, jalapeno, pickled pineapple
marinated squid, crispy tripe, cabbage, peanuts
hopper shrimp, miso avocado, walnuts, kumquat
roasted octopus, curried raisins, castelvetrano, butterball potatoes, fresh coriander
asparagus in parchment, bone marrow bearnaise, brioche
grilled shortrib, escargot, bone marrow, mushrooms, leeks, fresh horseradish
butter mochi

Cocktails:
Castaway - Hidalgo Manzanilla, Green Chartreuse, Salted Falernum
Coconut Telegraph - Banks 5 Island Rum, Coconut Syrup, lime
Yacht Club Fancy - Plantation Pineapple Rum, Amaro Nonino, Hidalgo Manzanilla


Notes:
This place is out of control popular right now.  It's practically impossible to get a reservation before 10 pm, even on a week night, and when I called to ask how long the wait would be without a reservation, I was told 2-3 hours.  I'm sorry, what?  But we went anyway, with a 10 pm reservation on a Wednesday night; I've been dying to try the place.

The food here is influenced and inspired by Hawaiian, Indian and Chinese foods and flavors, and yes, they even have Spam (relax, Patrick, it's house made).  The restaurant, with its soaring ceilings and varying colors and textures, feels full of energy and warmth; next time, we'll try to grab a table next to the open kitchen.

Liholiho has one of those menus that I find overwhelming, in that I want one of everything.  But, with a party of 3 (a friend joined us), we were able to try a good deal of the menu, so crisis averted (MORE!!).  We started with the "fried oyster, beef carpaccio, 1000 island, butter lettuce" - this read like a salad to me, but it arrived as 3 crisp butter lettuce cups each filled with a cornmeal-fried oyster, a generous dab of 1000 island, and a thin slice of beef carpaccio (raw beef, essentially).  It was delicious, but the beef got lost in the mix, and we felt like this would have been just as good without it.  The duck liver toast was a bit of a misnomer.  The slightly sweet, soft and thick-cut oatmeal bread was barely toasted and layered with a rich and smooth duck liver pate, tangy pickled pineapple relish and fresh herbs.  I was first disappointed by the toast not being toast, but the flavors and soft textures were so good together, I had no trouble finishing the last bite.

The marinated squid dish, a salad really, had a discernibly strong Southeast Asian influence, it seemed a take on the Burmese ginger salad.  Crispy shredded cabbage, crunchy little bits of fried tripe, squid, peanuts, fish sauce, lime - it was packed with flavor yet incredibly light and refreshing, the kind of thing I'd love to eat on the regular.  Next was the hopper (aka pink) shrimp with miso avocado.  The shrimp were beautifully cooked, plump and succulent, the kumquats were nicely candied, the avocado perfectly ripe, but the individual components didn't come together for me on this one; I couldn't find the harmony.  The roasted octopus course resulted in a split decision at the table.  Patrick and friend did not find the curried raisins and castelvetrano olives necessary or even agreeable, and it more or less ruined this dish for them.  I was loving it.  Super tender octopus and crispy, craggy smashed and fried new potatoes sat atop a generous swath of cilantro-heavy mayo.   I didn't at all find the olives or raisins to be an unwelcome distraction, but instead little briny and sweet-tart accents to and otherwise rich dish.

The asparagus in parchment was nice, even with no discernible flavor of bone marrow in the bearnaise.  A wedge of lemon was served alongside, and the dish perked up considerably with it's juice, which left us wondering why it hadn't been incorporated into the sauce by the kitchen.  And because you can never have too much marrow, we ordered the grilled shortrib.  This dish didn't wow for me.  The beef approached medium, overcooked in my view.  The escargots were nestled in the marrow bone and topped with toasted breadcrumbs, overall a little over-the-top rich.  The sauce was delicious but thin and with no bread to mop it up, it laid to waste on the plate.  My general tendency is to avoid entrees on menus these days, and this dish just reinforced that inclination.

Now, the butter mochi.  Nobody really wanted dessert, we were all done if you catch my drift, but I HAD to have the butter mochi.  I'm not really sure why, but I HAD to have it.  It arrived in a little square pyrex dish and looked something like a custard, but it cut like a firm flan (okay, yeah, that's also a custard).  It was amazing, people.  It was both chewy mochi (think soft gummy bear texture with a sweet rice flavor) and buttery soft custard, AT THE SAME TIME.  Amazing.  I loved it.  I asked to take it home, but forgot the little box and was inconsolable once I realized my mistake.  Inconsolable.  Seriously, it wasn't at all rational and I'm a little ashamed of it.


I'd like to go back to Liholiho.  I'm not sure Patrick was as enamored as I was, but if nothing else, I need more of that butter mochi.

Bill's Place

Photo by Patrick

Bill's Place, Lunch, Outer Richmond
April 30, 2016

P&J:
We each ordered: Paul Kantner Burger - named for the world renowned rock guitarist - an American cheeseburger with grilled onions and thousand island dressing, with fries
Chocolate Malt to split


Notes:
Bill's Place is another neighborhood haunt, and not to be confused with Bill's Cafe, which we visited last weekend in San Jose.  (As an aside, if you consider that Bill is a common nickname of William, and William is "statistically the 6th most popular first name" in the US, it should be no surprise that at least two different Bills have restaurants, and we visited them both within a week's time.  But I digress.)

This is one of two places we generally go to in our 'hood for a burger.  Bill's burger isn't the best burger you'll ever have, but it's just a good, solid burger, and it definitely satisfies a craving.  The beef is fresh ground, the 1/3 pound patties are always cooked to order (meaning, when I order medium rare, I get medium rare), the soft sesame seed buns are your average, delightfully squishy store-bought, and the "burger set" (leaf lettuce, sliced tomato, sliced pickle) isn't fresh off the farm, but it's fresh.  I'll keep going: the American cheese is properly melted over the burger, the grilled onions are well caramelized, the thousand island dressing seems to be made in house.  These are all good things; like I said, a solid burger.

Now, the fries.  The fries are fresh cut.  This can be a bad thing according to some, and that would be the case here.  They don't do what you need to do to make them crispy and delicious.*  Lots of people give fresh fries a pass because they're fresh, and therefore inherently better.  I disagree entirely.  That said, with enough salt, I love all fries.  Even the soggy, sometimes styro-foamy, single-fried, fresh version at Bills.  I mean, potatoes!  They're the best, I said the best!  (Shout out to Philly Boy Jay.) Okay, yeah, but you don't come here for the fries.

But you do come here for the malts!  They make good, old-fashioned chocolate malts, complete with with whipped cream and a cherry on top, not to mention the side car of extra malted that wouldn't fit in the glass.  This might be one of the my favorites things about Bill's Place.


*There is great debate over what makes a superior fry.  These days, "fresh" is in important thing to many people, myself included.  BUT, I personally don't think "fresh" always wins; take frozen french fries (for purposes of this discussion, I am not talking about the frozen brands that add things to "improve" texture and flavor). If you've ever had those perfectly cut fries with that evenly crisp, golden exterior to which salt easily clings, and a piping hot, fluffy potato-y interior, then I assure you, you've had frozen fries.  (And I bet you liked them.)  Consider this: "Frozen French Fried Potatoes" (as the USDA calls them) start with fresh potatoes that are washed, sorted, peeled (maybe), and cut to uniform size.  The cut potatoes are sorted for defects, soaked and then blanched in water to stop enzyme activity for more consistent color, flavor and texture.  Next, the potatoes are briefly fried before being frozen and packed.  By the time you have them, they've been fried once more.  If you look at all the recipes for french fries, you'll notice they employ many of the same steps, most importantly the twice-fried bit.  The difference is, with the frozen ones someone else did the work for you, and it's a ton of work.  Delicious, well-executed, fresh fries do exist, but if it doesn't say hand-cut or fresh-cut or the like on the menu, you're probably enjoying the frozen variety.  Even at that fancy-pants bistro.  And there's not a thing wrong with that.