La Tapatia Mexicatessen

South San Francisco, CA

I finally had a chance to check out La Tapatia in South City before my yoga class Thursday evening and boy was it crowded! I guess a lot of people stop by here for dinner since a whole bunch of people walking out with multiple fat burritos. Good sign! Not so good to eat before yoga though...hey, I was starvin' like Marvin. =P

This small storefront boasts assorted goodies in the front, chilies along the left wall, shelves of hot sauces in the center racks, sweets and another register on the right. I circled around the rack of chicharrones and thick-cut tortilla chips to the end of the line that extended almost to the end of the room. Cripes! I hoped not to be late to class and smelling like meat. Mmm...meat. Anyway, the line moved slowly since everyone ahead of me were ordering multiple burritos. That was fine, as I was able to peruse the menu and watch the efficient men behind the counter slinging rice and beans, wrapping burritos, or cooking up some meat. Note to self: try the carne asada, tamale, chips, and nacatamale (Nicaraguan giant tamale) next. From what I recall, the meat selection included: carnitas, chile verde, pollo, carne asada, buche, al pastor and a few others. Meats can be purchased by the pound for quick dinners. Oh, this place makes their own tortillas so they get a giant thumbs up.

At last, my turn was up. Based off older recommendations on Chowhound, I decided to try a chile verde regular burrito ($3.95) and a carnitas taco ($2.15?). Ahh, the La Tapatia counter men throw their large flour tortillas on the grill ahead of time for efficiency during the dinner rush. (Yet again, a sign they sell a boatload of burritos.) You know, the tortillas were pliant after grilling but the coolest part was watching the tortillas puff up a bit on the grill - kindanaan-ish if you know what I mean. Though everyone else chose refried beans with the works, I just asked for salsa and hot sauce to accompany my green-sauce coated pork, rice, and pinto beans. I just hate lettuce in my burritos, especially lettuce that has been cooked/wilted by the heat of the other ingredients. The smell of cooked lettuce makes me lose my appetite...seriously. BTW, the lettuces comes preshredded from a giant plastic bag - Sysco-like no-thank-you. =P I'm not a fan of refried beans...don't hate them, but if I had a choice, I'd choose pintos or black beans over refried.

Boy, was this burrito fat...rather girthy it was. =X (The bitten end was hidden...hehe.)



After tossing two small and fresh corn tortillas on the flat grill, the man behind the counter chopped the rest of the roasted-looking pork for my taco. I didn't see any raw onions or cilantro so I just asked for salsa and hot sauce for the taco.

Hopping back in my car, I took bites out of the taco and the burrito. Oh, the large carnitas chunks were tender and juicy. The burrito had a nice kick from the chile verde sauce on the pork and/or the deep red/brown hot sauce but the rice was on the dry side and very bland. I had to analyze the burrito after class and here's the wrap up:

Chile Verde Regular Burrito:
Tortilla: 8/10 - Hot, grilled, fresh, and pliant. Yum!
Chile Verde (pork): 8.25/10 - Spicy and tender, just the way I like my food. And my men. =X
Beans: 7/10 - Methinks me shoulda gotten refried. A little softer would be good...and a little more seasoning couldn't hurt.
Salsa: 9/10 - Salsa fresca and hot sauce were fresh and spicy. Bueno!
Rice: 6.75/10 - The weakest link. A bit dry and bland. Yuck.
Overall: 7.8/10 - Not a terrible burrito, not a fantabulous burrito. Good spiciness though. Will try carne asada or carnitas last time.

Carnitas taco:
Tortillas: 8.5/10 - White corn? Very fresh and tender. Grill treatment helped!
Carnitas: 8/10 - Moist and tender...nice meaty meat flavor.
Salsa: 8.75/10 - More of that nice salsa fresca with a largish dice. I did find a stem hole and some greenish tomato bits so this gets dinged in the taco.

El Burrito Express

San Francisco, CA

See, when I’m obsessed about a particular food or cuisine, I can’t stop eating it until I am either sated or just over the obsession. One of my more recent obsessions had been banh xeo and sweet peas. Very random…but oh so tasty! And oh so horrible for my waistline. =P

Starving after my yoga class, my tummy was telling me to go for more Mexican food tonight. I’m surprised (yet not at the same time) when my appetite calls for a particular food more than 3 meals in a row. I’m used to eating a variety of foods in this wonderful area. The Sunset/Parkside neighborhood isn’t exactly known for it’s Mexican food, but hey, it’s on the way home and I know where El Burrito Express is located. I have no clue how long this establishment has been on the corner of 26th and Taraval – I just know it’s been around since I was a kid. The long lines at lunch had always deterred me since I'm not that patient when I'm hungry. =P I'd heard that this was the place to get burritos in the Sunset/Parkside neighborhoods since I was in high school.

Zipping up Taraval, I found a parking spot near the entrance of the tiny restaurant. I ogled the menu for a good 5 minutes...too many choices! Expresso, Bronco, regular, etc etc...good gravy. I'm slowly developing my palette and at the same time, I can appreciate simplicity in the menu like at El Farolito. Regular or super, various extras, choose your meat - makes for quick decisions. I finally decided on a regular carne asada burrito ($3.85) and a carnitas taco ($2.65). As a note, El Burrito Express is one of those places that makes tacos with beans.

I like places that puts your taco in a small, rectangular styrofoam box instead of just foil wrapping the little suckers. El Burrito Express' taco needs that box - it's ginormous! I was balking at the relatively high price for a taco, but this thing was BIG. Piled high with deliciously tender pinto beans and a mountain of moist carnitas, this was a belly buster. The carnitas were a bit bland but at least it was moist. The salsa fresca in the taco lacked pep and was chock full of unripe, green and yellow tomatoes. I believe the largish corn tortillas were made from white corn. Holy moly, was I pretty full after this taco.

Even so, I had to sample the carne asada burrito.

Now, if you look at the lower left corner of the burrito, you'll see the grayish-purply meat with a red tinge. Yeah, that was the carne asada. =/ My intial thought: cha siu. Whiskey. Tango. Foxtrot. I picked a piece of meat out and tasted it - hmm, it even had a slightly sweet flavor remininscent of cha siu. The tortilla was a flabby, stretchy pale Sunset-ite specimen, even though it had spent some time heating up on the griddle. No grill marks whatsoever, elastic throughout except for the dried edges. Bleh. The rice was passable but not terribly flavorful and ugh, out of season tomatoes in the salsa fresca were found in the burrito. That green in the middle was not a cucumber.

Breakdown:

Tortilla: 5.5/10 – Griddled but still elastic as if steamed. Dry crusty edges…yuuuuuuck. Supermarket crap essentially.
Carne asada: 5/10 – Cha siu burrito = yuuuck. Other than sweet, no other discernible flavor or char marks. Gross.
Beans: 8/10 – Best part of the burrito – sadly. Tender but not very flavorful on its own.
Salsa: 5/10 – Flavorless with out of season produce.
Rice: 7/10 – Moist, but not flavorful. Second best part of the burrito.
Overall: 6.1/10 - A bland, forgettable burrito with questionable meat. Waste of calories. Tiny compared to the $3.75 regular burrito from El Farolito or the $3.95 regular from La Morena.

Though it's in my neighborhood, I doubt I'll be coming back, though the taco was halfway decent. I think I need to start rating tacos on a more consistent basis but I'm pooped. I think I'm better off forgoing Mexican food (before) and after yoga or just sticking to the consistent SSF taquerias. The only bright point: their chips are pretty good and they're free.

El Farolito SSF - Part 3

South San Francisco, CA

Another Monday, another visit to El Farolito to lift the spirits. I've had the grilled chicken taco before so I decided to try a grilled chicken regular burrito ($3.75) and a chorizo taco ($1.70). I'm just working down the list of available meats minus brains.



The chorizo taco was just an greasy load of greasy meat. Ugh...my stomach did not feel so good after this taco. The grease had soaked through both corn tortillas and onto the wax paper and foil. Yeesh...the chorizo was bland and grainy - so unsausage like. =( I gave my brother the other half. I'll just have to note NOT to order chorizo ever again at El Farolito. I love all sorts of sausages...just not this one.



Ah, the grilled chicken burrito. After my first bite, I decided that I should stick with pork or beef at El Farolito. My mom agreed as well...and my brother thought it was good (but then again, he's a 19 year old vacuum cleaner). Here's the breakdown:

Tortilla: 8.5/10
Grilled chicken: 6.5/10 - Soooooo bland! Ugh...still edible and not the worst I've ever had.
Beans: 9.5/10 - Great as usual.
Salsa: 7.5/10 - For some reason, it was a bit undetectable. This burrito needed some moisture.
Rice: 9/10 - Not too moist or too overwhelmingly flavorful. Not too much this time.

Overall: 8.2/10 - Scored a bit higher than I expected for this burrito. The great beans could not save this burrito from mediocrity and a bit more salsa could have masked the blahness of the chicken. I'll stick to the bovine or porcine from now on in burritos.

Oh, before I forget. I find that the SSF El Farolito's salsa verde really changes by chef/salsa-maker. I've had pretty bland salsa frescas and salsa verdes with slightly strange tastes at this location, BUT I've had some well-balanced spicy salsa frescas and creamy, spicy salsa verde as well. Monday marked the best salsa verde I've had at SSF's El Farolito since I've been patronizing this restaurant.



Though not the most appetizing photo, believe me, this was one mean green salsa. Creamy bodied through mashed avocado and most importantly, it had a nice spicy kick. Mmm...now only if they can be consistent with their salsas!

Mitsuwa Marketplace / Tacos Autlense

San Jose, CA

Mitsuwa Marketplace

Mom, dad, and I trekked down windy 280 to visit Westgate Mall. On the way, we stopped off at Mitsuwa Marketplace just off 280 on Saratoga Ave - and boy, were we in for a treat! Mom and I like visiting Asian supermarkets outside San Francisco for interesting food and snacks. We didn't know Mitsuwa was having some sort of demo day...yow! Samples galore!!!!! (March 24-26?)

Towards the back-right corner of the market where the refrigerated miso is, is where the concentration of vendors/demos were. Curry rice, teas, pickles, fish cakes, okonomiyaki mix, and and and and and FRESH tuna sashimi...FOR SAMPLING. Okay, I'm all excited because I loooooove free samples...but free samples of sashimi! OMG OMG OMG OMG OMG...this made my day! And not weenie slices...honking >1 cubic inch cubes of maguro(?) and big-eyed toro(?). Shoot, even if they were slivers of fish, I would've been happy. *drools at the memory* I need a refesher on my Japanese names for fish, so I apologize for not getting this right. Melt-in-your-mouth good-fatty tenderness...and freshly cut! There was a guy carving up the ruby and off-white toro. I felt bad that I didn't purchase any fish since I hadn't anticipated a supermarket run and hadn't brought along a cooler. =...( Okay, I lie, I feel like a wretched scumbag for sampling the fish and not purchasing since they were being so generous with the samples. *sniffle* I did pick up some other goodies that were on sale.

I also picked up some goodies at the little food court/counter inside Mitsuwa. I can't help that I drool everytime I see goodies laid out like that. It also doesn't hurt that I see lots of Japanese folk pick up bento boxes and snacks from this counter. I grabbed the "scallop nuggets" ($2.08) which are battered (and possibly panko crusted) scallops. Scallop nuggets for $2 >>> chicken nuggets for $2.


The bento box also included two of these nuggets. I wonder how good these taste piping hot...though they are pretty crispy cold.


I picked up the daily special bento for my brother ($5.99). I think this is an awesome deal - definitely enough for one meal for one human vacuum cleaner, though I can be wrong. From the upper left corner going clockwise: 2 scallop nuggets, 2 slices of pickled daikon, some sort of panko-crusted fried fish, 1 slice of fish cake (kamaboko - pink), 1 slice of omelet, some seaweed, 3 rice balls (onigiri) including 1 with umeboshi (center), and 1 tempura shrimp.

____________________________________________________________________________

Lee's Sandwiches

After visiting Westgate Mall, mom wanted some iced coffee so we headed to Lee's Sandwiches on Story Road. I know some people dislike Lee's and think that they dumb down Vietnamese food, but I think it's nice for a snack. I also find the Story Road location pretty consistent in their coffee, smoothies, and sandwiches. Hey, I know what I'm getting...even if I know other places make better banh mi. Sometimes I feel baguette-y.



Shown above is a favorite snack of mine, xôi cúc. In this fist-sized version, glutinous rice is wrapped around a filling of mung bean, ground dried shrimp, and peppered ground pork and some chewy rice-based green stuff I can't identify (pandan colored?). I've asked a Vietnamese friend about what makes it green and stretchy, but she said she didn't quite know what some of the ingredients were called in English.

These were pretty huge xoi cuc balls ($1 each) and will make a tasty breakfast or lunch tomorrow.

I *heart* rice balls!
____________________________________________________________________________

Tacos Autlense

I meandered across the street to Tacos Autlense for some Mexican food. The taco/burrito kick continues. I ordered a regular al pastor burrito ($4.xx), and 5 tacos ($1.50 each): cabeza, al pastor, carne asada, pollo, and carnitas. Mom and I split the cabeza and pollo with my mom. No pics since we scarfed these down quick-like. Topped with onions and cilantro (and a squirt of lemon), the cabeza was meaty and rich flavored...and I don't have a problem with critter head meat (minus brain and eyeballs). The pollo was stewed in a tomatoey sauce/broth and topped with what looked like a packaged slaw mix. The chicken was moist but I disliked the cabbage. The corn tortillas were run of the mill...I must try a place that makes fresh corn tortillas on the spot.

I ate the al pastor taco a few hours later. On my second bite, I bit into a giant piece of FAT. Ugh...this dinged the Autlense al pastor significantly. There wasn't much flavor to the al pastor itself. I was hoping with each bite that this taco would redeem itself but nope. This one was a loser. Bleh. Even the salsa with a lil kick was on one side of the taco. Grr...wasted calories!!! >=(

The carnitas taco was passable with tender chunks of pork. But damn, the carne asada was just flat out boring. The meat itself had almost no marinated flavor or even charring flavor. This sucker needed some doctoring up with the lemon wedge (though I prefer lime) and the small container of salsa to make this swallowable. Meh.

The smallish al pastor burrito was much better than the taco. At least I didn't detect fat chunks in my portion of the burrito. The salsa inside the burrito was a nice complement to the burrito, with the faintest tinge of heat. The rice was moist and soaked up the juices from the al pastor, but the flabby, chewy tortilla was far inferior to El Farolito's and La Morena's in SSF.

Meh, if I were in the area, I'd head somewhere else for my taco and burrito cravings, though the plate dinners and seafood dishes DID look appetizing.

Round up:
Tortillas: 7/10 - Nothing special but not horrid. That flour tortilla sure was elastic and not in a good way.
Cabeza: 7.75/10 - First experience with cabeza and it wasn't bad. Moist and tender.
Pollo: 8/10 - Solid experience. Tender stewed chicken in tomato tinged broth. Could do without prepackaged slaw mix on top.
Al pastor: 4/10 and 7/10 - Taco and burrito respectively. Though I know it's from the same source on the same day, that piece of fat killed the score in the small taco. The meat itself wasn't very flavorful and needed salsa to save it in the burrito.
Carnitas: 7/10 - Mediocre soft chunks of pork with little flavor.
Carne asada: 6/10 - Flavorless even from the grill and fairly dry.
Overall: 6.68/10 - There must be better taquerias down near Story and King Rd. Really though, with all the Vietnamese food around, I won't be coming back to this location. If I have the chance, I'll give Super Taqueria a go.

Happy Birthday at Spices I - Part 2

San Francisco, CA

(March 25, 2006)

On a wet and windy Friday night, my family went out to celebrate my mom's birthday again since my brother was home for spring break. My mom had been wanting to try one of the Spices/Szechuan Trenz restaurants so we headed to Spices I.

We were seated against the back wall (watch out for the low shelf - my mom and I whacked ourheads on it). The decor is really colorful and kinda crazy - but not as dark as Spices II. As a note, the menus at Spices I differs a bit from that of Spices II. I was fortunate that the table in front of us had finished their stinky tofu - I'm not a fan of this pungent dish. My mom had been jonesing for some hot pot so we ordered the seafood casserole hot pot ($16.95). I was hoping to try the lamb, but my normally ovine-loving dad wasn't feeling it. My picky teenaged brother seemed to dislike everything on the menu - damn. He did pick out the salt and pepper calamari off the snacks/special menu ($5.95?). I've been dying to try something spicy and/or something these restaurants are known for so I selected the braised pork shoulder with spicy garlic sauce ($14.95). To round out the meal with some veggies, we also ordered the dry braised string beans ($7.95). Sadly, after we had placed our order, I noticed the ground pork with pickled long bean ($7.95) - I LOOOOVE the version at Little Sichuan in San Mateo and wanted a comparison. Salty, sour, savory, and spicy - I daydream about this Little Sichuan dish. Sigh, next time. And BIG sigh, bro and dad can't handle spiciness so no real spicy food tonight. =(

Anyhoo, onto the photos.


Chockfull of whole shrimp, squid, some sort of white fish, silken tofu, and bok choy, this was the perfect dish on a cold and wet night. This was so hot temperature-wise, we didn't really need the gas burner on - it was still rather hot when we had finished our meal. The seafood-based broth was clear-tasting and "sweet." Mom noted that the chefs made the broth from tiny dried shrimp, which lent for the clean, sweet flavor. I scooped some rice into my soup bowl and YUM! I have to note, there was definitely some MSG in something we had ordered, but I could not tell if it was from the stock.
The photo does not do justice to the size of the pot - this would easily feed at least 3 people by itself.


Here's a shot of the calamari and string beans. The pieces of squid were scored and very tender. The calamari was coated with a flour, salt and pepper mixture and lightly fried with jalapenos and Thai basil. Very tasty but my brother was rather disappointed with the serving size. This kid can devour a whole styrofoam 8"x8"-ish box of good fried calamari. (Mom, dad, and I had to grab pieces quickly before he inhaled the basket - damn human vacuum cleaner/teenager.)

The string beans were flash fried to get that membrane-y/wrinkly-skinned texture then stir fried with black beans. This dish was okay to me, but I know my dad loved it. He really enjoys string beans prepared this way. Don't get me wrong, I liked the dish, but the black beans weren't pungent enough for me. When I order things with black beans, I expect beaniness.


The pork shoulder dish came last. At this point, we realized we ordered too much for 4 people. That hot pot was ginormous! The rich deep-red colored pork was meltingly tender. The top layer was all fat, but the meat beneath was moist and fork-tender. Both mom and dad thought this dish was pretty spicy (dad was sweating), but I thought it wasn't really spicy (1 dot spiciness rating!). Then again, for spice tolerance: me>mom>brother>dad. Hehehe...we packed most of the pork and beans to go (and tossed the leftovers with some cooked (from dry) udon noodles today and YUM!).

Total wallet damage after tax and before tip: ~$48 with enough for a family meal the next day. I definitely need to come back and try some 3-dot spiciness and the ground pork with pickled long bean dish.

El Farolito SSF - Part 2

South San Francisco, CA

It was another visit to El Farolito, my default post-workout taqueria in SSF it appears. =D I meant to check out La Tapatia but they were closed.


Serviceable taco...the beef wasn't the most flavorful I've ever had, but it wasn't too dry and had some nice charring. Definitely hit the spot.


I hacked off a 1/4 of the al pastor burrito when I returned home. The rice was incredibly moist but not mushy. It must have absorbed the juices from the al pastor. The al pastor this time was a bit sweeter than before with some (possibly) canned pineapple-juice flavor vs. pineapple flavor. Still, it was very flavorful and very tasty.

Tortilla: 8.5/10 - Same as always.
Al pastor: 8.5/10 - Not fully loving the sweetish meat (kinda undecided) but it was definitely interesting. Taqueria San Jose still leads in my book for al pastor.
Beans: 9.5/10 - I looooooooove these beans. Whole, but tender.
Salsa: 8/10 - Added some moisture, but no oomph!
Rice: 9.5/10 - This rice was excellent. Total moist goodness but not overwhelming.
Overall: 8.8/10 - Solid. Just not fully sold on the meat today.

Sheng Kee

Daly City, CA

Psst...the Sheng Kee at Skyline Plaza (where the Ranch 99 is) has a special after 8pm - all their buns are 2 for $0.99.

_______________________________________________________________


Oh, as for leftover day-old burritos...El Farolito's taste much better the day after (and cold). Something about the tight tuck and roll plus the cold makes this burrito stand up well the next day.

La Morena

South San Francisco, CA

After running a late afternoon errand at the post office, I decided to mosey on over to La Morena to pick up some dinner for me and my coworker. At work, people tend to be loyal to El Farolito, La Morena, or La Tapatia Mexicatessen. I noticed Mi Pueblo up the street from La Morena, which I will try sometime soon. =) Also, I haven't developed any loyalties yet, but I do like El Farolito's burritos and their selection of meats but I've been impressed with La Morena's flavors of meats. Also, I've had a good steaky (not sure if it's considered carne asada) burrito at the Hernandez Panaderia and Mercado (er, not real name - I'll find out what it is).

Coworker's order: 2 carne asada tacos ($2.00 each), 1 pescado ceviche tostada ($2.30), and 1 regular al pastor burrito w/o beans ($3.50): Total = $9.80

My order: 1 buche taco (they were out so I subbed an al pastor taco, $2.00), 1 camarone ceviche tostada ($2.30), and 1 regular carnitas burrito ($3.50): Total = $7.80

Total with tax = $19.01

The shrimp ceviche consisted of tiny bay shrimp "cooked" with lime juice and what looked like salsa fresca with lots of jalapenos. Disappointingly meh...I have yet to really find a good ceviche tostada in a taqueria yet. The one I had at El Farolito appeared to be shrimp cocktail-like with lots of citrus and avocado - great in a tortilla the next day as a wrap.


Now here is my al pastor taco. I had forgotten that La Morena puts beans in their tacos. I think I prefer my tacos with just meat, salsa, cilantro, and onions, but this version was heartier. La Morena's al pastor is greasier than El Farolito's, but I think has the edge in marinated flavor.

Al pastor: 8.5/10 - One of my new favorite meats, La Morena's version is juicy and flavorful but a tad greasy. Only Taqueria San Jose has the edge right now.
Tortillas: 7/10 - Nothing special, nothing horrible. A wee bit thicker than El Farolito's.
Other toppings: 8.5/10 - Good salsa fresca, low amounts of cilantro, beans were tasty and not too soggy
Overall: 8/10 - Solid taco. Yum!

Next up: Regular carnitas burrito

At this point, I'm pretty full, but I was determined to sample some of the fresh burrito. I whacked off 1/4 of the burrito to savor...plus, I was heading to the gym later to work off this meal. Heh heh.


Mmm, mmm, mmm...the carnitas were moist, yet kinda crispy. Burnt in a good way, I suppose. Not too ricey nor was it too beany or spicy. Damn, I ordered the HOT sauce too! Very well balanced burrito...

Tortilla: 8.75/10 - Grilled and not quite as greasy as El Farolito's but had that nice grilled tortilla smell.
Carnitas: 8.5/10 - Nice burnt/crispy pieces mingled with the moister pieces. Good amount of flavor from the char.
Beans: 9/10 - Excellent flavorful beans, I just wish they were a teense firmer.
Salsa: 9/10 - Perfect amount for non-sogginess of burrito. Not spicy though. =( (BTW, La Morena's hot salsa is their green one. Very nice kick...was my favorite salsa verde until it was unseated by the avocado-bodied salsa verde from Taqueria San Jose in Oakland).
Rice: 9/10 - Not too much of it - makes for a nice accompaniment. Good moistness without sogginess.
Overall: 8.75/10 - Had to ding them 1/10th of a point for the overall structure of the burrito. Not a defined tuck and not a defined cylinder. Taq. San Jose and El Farolito churns out perfect cylinders of tortilla wrapped goodness.

________________________________________________________________________

La Morena definitely makes tasty burritos and tacos. Plus, they have a pretty good selection of other items such as tortas, chile rellenos, and enchiladas. Problem is, I can't decide where my loyalties lie! One day, I'll have to have a taco taste-off in South San Francisco.

Happy Birthday at Happy Buffet - Part 1

Milpitas, CA

It's Mama Noodleslinger's birthday today but we celebrated yesterday at Happy Buffet in Milpitas, CA. Happy Buffet is located in the former Kowloon restaurant space in Milpitas Shopping Center (Calaveras @ S. Abbott). See, Mama NS loves buffets and she had wanted to do either 1) hot-pot 2) Korean BBQ or 3) buffet. After consulting the Friday Sing Tao and perusing the numerous brightly colored ads, she selected Happy Buffet. Okay, the gist is, this was HER choice!

Mom, Dad, and I zipped down to Milpitas, just in time to beat the lunch rush. The weekend lunch buffet cost $9.95 per person...not too terribly pricey, especially for a weekend. We were seated quickly in a booth on the far right wall. Just a note, the booths have really weak backs. Everytime someone sat down in the booth behind me, I was jostled nearly into my food. Grr...

No photos (grubby hands), but I was surprised at the selection and quality of food - not too shabby! A huge plus is that they replenish the food quickly and come out with other dishes when something is out. Mom had went back for phoenix claws (aka chicken feet) but they were replaced with lotus leaf wrapped sticky rice and chicken (loh mai gai). Their dim sum selection is not huge, but fresh and they had offal (ngau zhaap)!!! (I *heart* organs) I don't think I've ever seen a clay crock of braised offal at a Chinese buffet before - rad!

From what I can recall (what I tried is italicized):
Salad bar: Strawberries, bananas in a strawberry sauce, honeydew, orange sections, pineapply salady thing, lettuce, pickled daikon and carrots, edamame, hard boiled egg slices
Cold appetizers: Peanuts (Taiwanese-like?), seaweed, beef tendon, cold tripe (tendon replacement), kimchi, marinated and sauteed squid tentacles
Desserts: Mango mousse cake, other assorted cakes, soft serve vanilla ice cream
Sushi: California roll, seaweed salad and cucumber roll, spicy tuna roll, ginger and cucumber roll, inari, another type of CA roll but with a stick of surimi
Hawaiian: BBQ pork, BBQ chicken on skewers, BBQ fish (possibly mackerel?)
Dim sum: Chicken feet, chive steam bun, lotus wrapped sticky rice and chicken, siu mai, offal, eggplant, foil-wrapped chicken
Soups: Hot and sour, fishball, and something else (Mom thought it was some sort of cloud ear [wun yee] soup)
For the kids: Pizza (pepperoni), fries
Hot food: Greens (you choy and gai choy), General Tsao's chicken or sesame chicken, deep fried stuffed tofu, fried rice, chow mein, garlic clams, pig knuckles, steamed sole, stir-fried crab, cheese covered mussels, fried chicken (kind of like za zee gai), battered/coated fried fish

My favorites: Hawaiian BBQ chicken, Hawaiian BBQ fish (bony, but flavorful), the fried chicken, fried fish (loved the cornmeal like batter and hot moist fish), seaweed, beef tendon, soft serve vanilla ice cream, seaweed and cuke roll, honeydew, offal (mmm...honeycomb tripe), book tripe, and the awesome squid tentacles, lotus wrapped sticky rice and chicken

My least favorites: Hawaiian BBQ pork (what is this, pork jerky?!), foil wrapped chicken (chicken mash - bleh)

For $9.95 per person, I thought it was pretty good for a Chinese buffet. I was pleasantly surprised by the selection and with the quality of most of the items. Oh, and they are very generous with napkins, unlike other Chinese buffets. =D

_________________________________________________________________________


Mom selected a mango/kiwi mousse cake ($16.95) from Sheng Kee on Irving St. in San Francisco. Before I could capture a shot of the cake, she had hacked it apart. =(



I'm not a huge fan of Sheng Kee anymore. I just feel their mousse cake quality has declined in recent years as well as the care in the decorations (this photo is post surgery so it's not indicative). Also, there's not much cake in the mousse cakes. I still think they make a nice sponge cake and a nice quarter-sheet mixed fruit cake for $29.95.

The mango mousse was nice and fragrant but didn't taste of real mangoes. The kiwi mousse (light green) had barely any non-kiwifruit like flavor, the chocolate sponge layer had no chocolate flavor, and there wasn't much white sponge cake to taste. Overall (w/o breakdown): 7/10. Light but meh.

Broadway Dim Sum / Liguria Bakery / Mara's Italian Pastries / Victoria Pastry

San Francisco, CA

What a chilly morning...and lookie lookie!


Unmelted hail!!! Chilly mornings call for my favorite comfort food - jook, or rice porridge. My mom, aunt, mom's friend, and I headed to Chinatown since we didn't want to go far in case it started storming. After parking at the Golden Gateway parking lot and taking the Park n' Ride Chinatown shuttle to Stockton and Pacific, we popped into Broadway Dim Sum for some breakfast. ($3 validated parking...look for the red flyers in the storefronts)


It's not the fanciest of spots, but it's relatively clean and the grub is cheap and pretty tasty. The four of us shared a preserved duck egg and pork jook (bottom), a chow fun-type dish with thinner noodles (upper left), stir-fried rice noodles (upper right), and 2 bowls of shui jiao (water dumplings, not shown). This set us back a whopping ~$12-13 for the four of us. The jook really really hit the spot, but both stir-fried noodles got cold quickly. The chili sauce served on the tables is goooooood...I love adding tons of it to the noodles. The shui jiao were pretty good - approximately 8 per bowl ($2.75 each) but they came in a broth with a load of oil floating on the surface.

_________________________________________________________________________

Liguria Bakery

Full, but not stuffed, my mom parted ways with my aunt and my mom's friend. We headed off towards North Beach when we passed by Liguria Bakery. Ever since I saw a special on TV on this establishment, I've wanted to try their famous fresh-baked focaccia. Just a note, once they sell out of focaccia for the day, they close shop. We got there around 11:00am and they had everything left except plain focaccia. Though I really was hankering for their pizza focaccia, mom wanted the mushroom so we ordered the fungus-y one. Mom was dismayed at how nicely they wrapped the focaccia in wax tissue paper, paper, and twine - she wanted a sample then and there! After struggling a bit with the paper, we had ripped up huge chunks of the fresh bread.


Yes, we're savages...shown is approximately 1/3 left. *blush* This was delicious...but then again, I love mushrooms. I really liked the nice sheen of olive oil and slightly buttery-tasting bread. Of course, with more mushrooms, it'd even be more fabulous.

_________________________________________________________________________


Mara's Italian Pastries

Heading up Columbus from Washington Square, we noticed another bakery - Mara's. Mom noticed the cookies and napoleons immediately and decided to have a look. Was this the North Beach outlet of Dianda's before? Some of the napoleons had the wax paper circles with Dianda's name. I ordered a custard napoleon with chocolate shavings on top and some profiteroles. Ouch...$3.95 for each?! Pretty darned pricey...


I didn't have a bite of the napoleon but the cream puffs were stuffed with rum-tinged custardy goodness. Each puff was at least 95% custard and 5% puff. Still, kinda pricey and out of the way...I SO did not expect an $8 order. I think a similar order at Dianda's in San Mateo set me back $6-ish. Sadly, can't say I'll be heading back.

_________________________________________________________________________

Victoria Pastry Co.

Trekking back towards Chinatown and stopping at various produce stands, we stopped off at Victoria Pastry to take a look at the goodies. I love Victoria - it's been a favorite ever since I had their St. Honore cake for my 1st (and 2nd and 4th and 6th) birthday. Haha, I started cream puffing young! Since we already had the Mara's pastries in tow, I just ordered a slice of their princess cake.


This would be #3 in my Swedish Princess Cake tasting.
Decoration: 7/10 - Plain and simple, and the icing didn't make it back home but I didn't ding that. Haha...
Gold/White Cake: 9/10 - Looked dry and I was worried about the browner edges - but I was wrong! So mooooist!
Whipped Cream: 9/10 - Perfect amount.
Custard: 8.5/10 - Good custard...kinda funnily translucent but tasty. Detected a hint of coconut.
Raspberry Jam: 8/10 - Okay...nice bit of jammy flavor but not enough.
Marzipan: 7.5/10 - Too chewy marizpan, though it helped the cake retain its shape through it's bashings through Chinatown. Not terribly sweet, decent almond flavor, pretty smooth.


Overall: 8.2/10 - Good showing but still, it's #2 in my princess cake tastings.

El Farolito

South San Francisco, CA

I seem to be on a taco/burrito kick since early February. If you asked me last year to have Mexican food, I would've been "meh". I haven't really had real Mexican food since sometime junior year in college. I fully blame this drought to my ex-roommate. Ahem, now there was some drama...I'll save that for another time. =T

That person robbed me of my love of Mexican food for at least 5 years!!! Oh, the tacos I could've had...and I no longer consider this person a friend for more of attitude and personality issues, not so much because of Mexican-food-deprivation.

My curiosity and appetite had been rekindled by various archived Chowhound threads on taco crawls as well as kick ass tacos at Taqueria San Jose in SF. I'm far from working my way down the list of various meats...as well as figuring out what good carne asada, carnitas, al pastor, etc. tastes like. I will get down to the organ meats (not squeamish...I *heart* properly cooked tripe and assorted organs) but no brains for me. Brain has a very distinct taste and smell to me that I just dislike. My rule is that I need to try new foods at least 3 times before ruling them out. FYI, brains were ruled out over 15 years ago.

The sucky part is, 3 tacos usually fill me up so I don't really get to try too much at once. Time to round up friends willing to taco crawl with me...

Anyway, too much rambling...onto the food!

____________________________________________________________________________

I must have been to the South San Francisco branch of El Farolito at least 7 times before I realized (this week) that it was El Farolito. *blush* I guess I never noticed the lighthouse logo...just the massive line out the door during lunch. My defense: the co-workers that recommended the place didn't know the name either! =)

Disclaimer: I've never tried the SF locations of El Farolito before so I can't compare the SSF branch to the others.

I had been daydreaming about tacos and burritos since my limited Fruitvale expedition a few days ago and decided to quash this craving after a Monday night workout. Luckily (or unluckily) for me, the El Farolito is about 5 minutes away from work. The place looked different nearly deserted at 8:30pm at night, but hey, no biggie. Grand Ave. doesn't seem to be really hopping on a weeknight, anyway. I ordered a roasted chicken (pollo asado?) taco ($1.70) and a regular carne asada burrito ($3.95?).

Somewhat unattractive in this photo...but tasty nonetheless. I usually order pollo (not roasted, but stewed?) but I was feeling roasty that night. The chicken was a wee bit on the dry side but I could tell it had been marinated in something good.
My thoughts:
Chicken: 7/10 - Moistness is key...this would rank higher if it had been more moist...kinda greasy though
Tortillas: n/a - No score since I didn't think it was fair to judge the tortillas after the drive home. Rather pliant...
Other toppings: 8.5/10 - Fresh...less cilantro would be better...haha
Overall: 7.75/10 - Will need additional (fresher) samples for evaluation. =)

Next up was the carne asada burrito.



Until recently, most of my burrito experiences had been with the San Francisco Mission-style "super" burrito: tortilla (steamed or grilled is debatable), meat, rice, beans, cheese, salsa, sour cream, and guacamole all rolled tightly in foil. I've only recently started eating the regular burritos to taste the basic combo of ingredients and tacos for tasting the meat. Flavors seem cleaner without the guac and sour cream. Being a regular burrito noob, I didn't realize the regular burritos were just as massive as the super burritos here at El Farolito. Good gravy...this sucker was thicker than my forearm and weighed at least a pound! Silly me - I expected the regular burritos to be smaller since, well, they're not "super". ;) Pictured above are cross-sections of the burrito...bottom one a bit more zoomed in. I only ate about 1/3 of it since I had had that chicken taco.

I chose carne asada since I remember I had ordered it when a Hong Kong cousin and his new bride came to the US for their honeymoon. I think the burrito scared and intrigued the heck outta them...sheer size, exotic (to them) ingredients, interesting packaging. Not much, if any, Mexican restaurants at that time in HK. I just remember the mirrored expressions they had when I told them they had to share that whole burrito: O_O deer in headlights, I tell ya.

My thoughts:
Tortilla: 8.5/10 - I now see why some people preferred grilled tortillas...gives it a different flavor and slightly flakier texture. Bit greasy though.
Carne asada: 8.5/10 - Solid beefiness. Seeing the burritomaker cooking the meat to order was a plus. A grill would've been better but this meat had a nice flavor.
Beans: 9.5/10 - Hesitate to give it a 10...but these were DAMN good beans. Not a refried beans kinda gal, but I love me some whole pintos or black beans. Very flavorful...debated about trying to get a pint to go the next day. =D
Cheese: 9/10 - Melty, helped with the cohesion and structural stablility, but not bold. Me likes.
Salsa: 9/10 - Perfect amount - no sogginess here! I really wish "hot" salsa was really spicy. =(
Rice: 9/10 - Not dry, not too flavorful in a good way...meshed well with other ingredients. Soaked up excess fat and juice well.
Overall: 9.25/10 - Bonus points for the excellent construction of the burrito...I totally admired the perfect cylinder and it's taut surfaces before eating.

____________________________________________________________________________

El Farolito is a big YUM in my book. Will definitely be stopping by for burrito fixes near work. It was SO good in fact, that I went back on Wednesday (after another workout...hehe) for an al pastor regular burrito. The al pastor was excellent...though Taqueria San Jose in Oakland edges it out for now until I have El Farolito's in taco form. Again, that burritomaker(s) have skills. I don't want to break it down since I don't have photos (oops), but the al pastor burrito gets a 9.25/10 for now.

Current Food Quests - 03/05/2006

1) Banh xeo - a rice flour based Vietnamese crepe with shrimp, sprouts, pork, lots of greens and herbs...
2) Banh mi - Vietnamese sandwiches usually based off a French baguette or similar rolls
3) SF Mission-style burritos
4) Swedish Princess Cake
5) Banh cuon - thin fresh rice flour rolls filled with stir-fried pork, wood-ear fungus, pepper, and some other goodies served with fried shallots, fresh bean sprouts, cucumbers, and nuoc cham (a bit like Chinese cherng fun but with a more delicate wrapper)
6) Tacos - small corn tortillas, meat, onions, cilantro, +/-salsa

More later...

Saigon Wraps / Powderface / Taqueria San Jose / Cam Huong

Oakland, CA

Took my mom to a dental consulation in Oakland on Friday. Actually, the dental office is in the new Fruitvale Transit Village which is oh-so-conveniently located at the Fruitvale BART station. I've been meaning to explore the Fruitvale neighborhood after I read a few taco crawl threads on Chowhound. Only the convenience store, Powderface, and Saigon Wraps were open (food-related anyhow).

_________________________________________________________________________

Saigon Wraps

I was hungry after my morning workout so I persuaded my mom and aunt to stop in Saigon Wraps to escape the cold, wet, and windy weather. I ordered a combination pork sandwich ($2.50) - my usual and default for tasting.


What I look for in a combination pork sandwich (sometimes referred to as bánh mì dāc bịêt) -and my ideal: nice crusty French roll or baguette (can be rice flour based), "fancy pork" (whitish pork loaf), pâté, headcheese, some sort of ham, other sorts of piggy products, onions, pickled daikon and carrot, cilantro (yuck), mayo, thinly sliced cucumbers, and jalapenos. I guess the headcheese I compare all head cheeses to is the one they have at Little Paris in San Francisco - where I had my first encounters with banh mi as a kid. I love cartilage and peppercorns. Heh heh. Fresh or homemade mayo is ideal as I hate mayo otherwise. I really like the daikon and carrots slightly pickled and not too finely julienned for some tart crunchiness. I pick out the onions and cilantro since I'm not a huge fan of either though I love em in tacos. Oh, and not a fan of premade combo sandwiches which some proprietors have on hand during the lunch rush and pop in a toaster oven. For me, part of the allure of banh mi is the hot/warm crusty exterior, soft fluffy bready interior, the interplay of the flavors and textures of the cooler meats and garnishes. Spicy, tangy, savory, sweet, herby all in one dee-licious package.

The Saigon Wrap sandwich has pretty much all the basic elements I like in a combo porky sandwich. However, the roll was not particularly fresh nor toasted enough. There was too much (good) mayonnaise which ended up overpowering the sandwich and made the sandwich a bit on the mushy side with the pâté. I couldn't discern the different meats in a bite - sad when I can't detect the bouncy "fancy pork." The jalapeno was nice and spicy but the daikon and carrot pickles were not as marinated as I'd like them to be though they were IMO, the perfect sized cuts. Overall, I'd hand this Saigon Wrap's combination pork sandwich a 6.5/10. I wouldn't go out of my way for it, but it's satisfy my craving if I were ever again in that area.

_________________________________________________________________________

Powderface

After deeming the tiny Saigon Wraps shop too chilly to hang around in, we set out to explore what else was at this plaza. I spotted Powderface and was curious to see what this store was about. Initally, I thought it was some sort of cosmetics shop (come on, powderface!). Boy, was I glad to see it was a coffeeshop serving beignets! One of these days, I'm gonna get to New Orleans but for now, these treats in Oakland will do.



I immediately order a set of beignets (3 for $2.90) and waited about 10 minutes for my order. Apparently, something happened to my order, but the kind ladies promptly fried me up a new batch of hole-less powdered-sugar-covered dough pillows. Oh...yummilicious!!! My aunt and I dug into these wonderfully piping hot donuts. (Mom had to sit out since she had a dental appointment.) Aunt S said these reminded her of Chinese you za gwai/you tiao but with powdered sugar. Yum yum...bad for diet, but oh well. =D

_________________________________________________________________________

Taqueria San Jose

After Mom's dental appointment, we set out to check out the Mexican food on International Blvd. I had two street parking spaces swiped from me...damn illegal u-turns!!! *shakes fist angrily* I found parking 30 seconds later, so all was good. After walking down a block or so, pausing at La Torta Loca and at apparently unmanned fruit carts, we walked into Taqueria San Jose. My mom and I had been impressed by the location in San Francisco's Mission district - she still raves about the grilled green onions she had with a plate. This time, we ordered 1 carnitas taco, 1 al pastor taco, 1 carne asada taco, 1 pollo taco ($1.70 each), 1 carne asada super burrito ($3.95...yowza!), 1 ceviche tostada ($2.75?), and 1 large strawberry agua fresca ($2). Holy moly was that agua fresca GI-normous. I had run out to feed the meter and the food had arrived by the time I returned. No pics since mom and aunt were already digging in.

There were two trays of freshly fried tortilla chips under heat lamps and at least 3 salsas. I didn't get to check it out as my mom had done the honors and filled generous plastic cups full of salsa. OMG...this Taqueria San Jose's salsa verde is the salsa verde of my dreams!!! I think it was slightly thickened with avocados as it was a bit creamy and had a very very welcome kick of heat. I don't remember having this salsa at the SF location nor were the chips from the SF location fresh. In fact, the SF chips probably came out of a bag...meh.

See, my mom is a carne asada fan and normally wouldn't order the various pork products. I think Taqueria San Jose's carnitas made her a convert. She only gave me a teeny piece of meat to try (grr) but that one sliver of meat was so succulent and flavorful. Aunt S is not a non-Asian food fan and has a teeny appetite so all she had was 1/2 of the carne asada taco. Mom had the other half and said the meat was dry and flavorless (told ya!). Mom also ate the pollo taco...the chicken looked braised or simmered with a tomato-based sauce. I had a larger chunk of chicken and really liked the moist, tender, succulent chicken. It's definitely home-cooking-like chicken the way my family makes - velvety and silky. MUCH better than the plain but moist pollo taco I had at the SF branch. My ceviche tostada was a bit bland - no spiciness and little citrusy notes. The seafood mix looked a bit like tuna salad...not the most appetizing. My al pastor taco was very juicy and flavorful too. I'm an al pastor noob, but this was the easily best out of the 3 tacos I've had (Taqueria La Morena (SSF), Taqueria San Jose - SF (#1?), El Grullense (Redwood City across from Costco). A bit greasy, but oh so goooood.


We were stuffed to the gills at this point, so I saved the huge $4.00 super burrito for my dad. Above is a pic of the professionally foil-wrapped and rolled burrito and an open container of that wonderful salsa verde. Don't mind that over-ripe banana in the upper right corner. =X

Cross-section of the burrito. At this point, couldn't tell whether the tortilla was grilled or steamed. Definitely not as impressive cold a few hours later.

I forgot to mention, as I was at the register placing my order, I noticed a freshly deep-fried tilapia platter ($7.95?). It looked really good with rice and beans. As were were leaving the restaurant, my mom started exclaiming excitedly over the tilapia platter. It looked really good but my mom was a bit shocked at the price - she's used to the Asian markets' lower price for fried tilapia.


_________________________________________________________________________


Cam Huong

With every trip to Oakland, my mom and I make it a point to visit Cam Huong. Everyone has their favorite banh mi, but ours is the chicken banh mi. The marinade and grilling/roasting of chicken legs (dark meat, woo hoo) makes this one seriously delicious and moist sandwich. In fact, Cam Huong is hands down my favorite for chicken banh mi. They had been our favorite for chicken for years but one experience last year sealed the deal. My mom and I were in Oakland's Chinatown for some reason or another and decided to bring home some bbq/grilled/roasted/whatever chicken sandwiches. It was one of those rare instances where the small shop was relatively empty. We were standing around waiting for our order when a lady brought out a huge tray of freshly bbq'ed giant chicken legs. Perfectly browned with nice amount of charring and this amazing lemongrassy aroma, another lady proceeded to grab a few legs, hack off the meat, and stuff each sandwich with the equivalent of one whole chicken leg's worth o'meat. *sniffle* It brings a tear to my eye every time I dream about that chicken banh mi.

Yesterday was a bit more hectic but the sandwiches ($2.50) were no less impressive. This time, I ordered two chicken legs as well ($1.75 each). No photo again, since we, um, scarfed them down quick. We were really waddling around then! Balance of flavors, moist chicken, jalapenos, light mayo, nice carrot and daikon pickles, cilantro and onion...mmm...that chicken.

That's it for now...off daydreaming about those chicken legs...*drool*