livinlargeinsf

oh my.  as the title indicates,  i’m writing this as i am,  indeed,  imbibing an ice cold beer in an even colder glass.  it is so good that i felt compelled to tell everyone.  my favorite cafe has my favorite beer in the bottle.  yes,  they offer ‘red tail ale,‘ the flagship offering of the mendocino brewing company. 

the mendocino brewing company,  which opened its doors in 1983,  has the distinction of being the first brewpub opened in california since prohibition.  they,  overall,  put out quality product but the ‘red tail ale’ is an incredibly well balanced full-bodied red ale that is absolutely delicious.  as it says on the website,  it is a beer that offers enough complexity and flavor,  like fine wine,  to complement good food.  it is truly ‘kick-ass.’

    there are so many great restaurants in san francisco.  there are, of course, the obvious destination spots with their big name chefs and bank account draining prices.  there are the numerous neighborhood restaurants where you just may or may not be able to get that table for four last minute on a friday night.  i’ve also noticed another kind of restaurant as well.  this kind opens with much of the normal fanfare one would expect when talented young chefs are opening trendy hotspots.  after the dust settles and the sizzle fizzles though, they find that they are happy being a neighborhood spot where the gastronomic envelope doesn’t necessarily need to be pushed any further than it already has.  they have their niche.  they do it well.  they stay in business for a long, long time.  simple.

but certainly not easy.  eos restaurant and wine bar,  located in quaint cole valley,  has been pleasing locals and tourists alike now for almost ten years.  arnold wong,  the former owner and chef (of not only eos, but also of bacar) may be gone but his legacy lives on.  the current executive chef,  daniel guerrini, has headed the kitchen under arnold for years and does an admirably consistent job of putting out the asian/californian/fusion cuisine which made both arnold and eos a media darling during the fruitful dot com years. 

eos also features one of sf’s first wine bars.  located next door to the main restaurant,  it is the perfect spot for a quick glass of vino and one of eos’ delicious small plates.  pictured above are the shiitake mushroom dumplings, a dish which has left more than a few speechless and caused atleast one grown man to weep uncontrollably.  the hangar steak,  the poke rolls,  the clay pot chicken…believe me , it’s best if you do bring an appetite. 

so sit back and let the capable, knowledgable staff guide you through your meal.  take in the local artists’ work being displayed on the walls and contemplate the nose of that particular vintage.  through the front wall of windows, the n-judah street car make its way through the hidden gem that is cole valley,  where the location alone is simply magical.

   in a city with such a latino,  and particularly mexican,  presence there are bound to be many dozens, if not hundreds, of tacquerias.  this,  coupled with san francisco’s discerning palette,  and it makes sense that there would be some really great taco joints in sf.  forgive me,  but i feel that within the tacqueria-elite, at some point a burrito is a burrito.  you’re either consistently putting out quality product or you’re not. 

when i go to papalote at 24th and valencia in the mission i not only know that the food is going to be great,  i also know that the environment will stimulate the senses.  they feature an ever-changing display of local artists’ work,  giant flying kite reptiles on the ceiling and a soundtrack which varies from reggae to more traditional fare from south of the border.  they have a great beer selection with a couple varieties on tap. their salsa has won several ‘best of’ polls and is absolutely worth the $.50 for a refill.  i remember when they started charging for refills.  it was met with much disbelief but what were they to do?  they were moving through barrels of the stuff.  it’s that good.

in fact, papalote is that good.  good enough where the owner has opened a second location at fulton and masonic.  good enough where there is often a line out the door. i’m always amazed when someone who lives here has never heard of it……..one less person in line, i guess…

what’s in a name?  if you are the owners of cortez restaurant and bar i have to imagine the name conjures thoughts of explorations in food.  i imagine it’s also a way to pay homage to the former hotel in whose lobby, cortez is located.  that’s right, the currently named hotel adagio was formerly known as the hotel cortez.  who’da thunk it?  a restaurant named for a spaniard, which used to only serve small plates, that doesn’t have any sangria anywhere in the building and no, the bar can’t make any. 

but i’d rather have one (or three) of their cucumber gimlets anyway.  and i’ll sit in the lounge and i’ll have a few small plates or maybe we’ll share one large.  anytime octopus is in one of their dishes,  get it.  the chefs do great octopus.  they also do great beef.  oh, and the prawns, i have to order the prawns a la plancha.  the service is good but that’s because it’s wednesday night.  on a friday or saturday it can be spotty.  of course that’s because the server is waiting on what seems like a small town,  yeah,  a lot of people.  hey, but she’s kinda’ cute…

when i first moved to sf  i couldn’t believe the lines outside some of my now favorite brunch spots.  “i’m not waiting in that friggin’ line” i would say in disgust.  “no food is worth that wait.”  oh well,  that’s life in the big city i guess because  now i don’t even flinch.  i walk up to the clipboard,  write my name with the applicable number of guests and wait,  sometimes for a very long time. 

 i recently had my shortest wait ever at boogaloo’s on 22nd and valencia, of course it was a tuesday at 2pm but who’s counting.  boogaloo’s is one of my favorite spots in the city for ( really for the babe pictured though i don’t think she still works there) their consistency in both food and service - everyone that works there is super friendly,  plus it’s a funky spot with ample people watching opportunity.  my go-to is the ‘boogaloo classic’ with its homemade biscuit topped with vegetarian gravy.  paired with a side of bacon and a bottomless cup of coffee and we are talkin’ ‘kick-ass.’