Range

I'm really beginning to appreciate the food scene in San Francisco more and more these days.  It's definitely a much more refined food scene than LA.  The restaurants seem more ingredient driven and  have that "farm-to-table" thing going on.  It's also a nice change of pace to come to San Francisco and let another foodie take the reigns.  It's refreshing to be able to put your brain on hold and just show up somewhere someone tells you and have complete faith that the place is gonna be tasty.  This is how I feel when I dine with The Pouter.

Mendocino Sea Urchin chilled soba noodles, seaweed, ginger, sesame seeds
Our romantic date started off with some appetizers.  I LOVE uni but somehow I've never been impressed with any preparation of uni save for nigiri.  I suppose the problem is that when uni is served in some other way besides nigiri, there's never enough of it and I always feel disatisfied.  Here it looks like there's a lot of uni, but it's more like there's not a lot of the other stuff.  It was a cool refreshing starter with light Japanese flavors.

Chicken Liver Mousse frisee salad

I love most forms of meat in paste form.  This was no exception.  I didn't like the super crispy crouton pieces though, really hurt my teeth and abraded the roof of my mouth.

Read more »

Badmaash

Over the years, I've come to love braises and stews.  In that same vein, I've come to appreciate the varying brown spicy mushiness of Indian food.  I guess I just like food that doesn't require a lot of teeth to eat and enjoy.  I love food for the senile and edentulous!  I don't think I have a very refined palate when it comes to Indian food; it mostly all tastes pretty good to me.  But Badmaash was recommended by Bruin Bear, and she's born and bred brown.  Apparently, she knows the owners and really wanted me and some of our other friends to try this up and coming DTLA spot.  It was a sort of reunion for Care Bear, Token Bear, Bruin Bear, Derm Bear and myself.  The latter two had their husbands in tow too, Thai Bear, and ENT Bear respectively.  Yeah, it was an all bear kinda night.  We sorta ate like bears too!

Samosas traditional & butter chicken
Truthfully, I think I like the traditional potato samosas, but the meat one was good too.

Chicken Tikka Poutine masala fries, cheese curds, hot beef gravy, chicken tikka, cilantro
This is one of the signature dishes.  They are getting creative here combing a traditional Canadian favorite with Indian flavors.  I commend their efforts, but it just fries topped with all those things.

Read more »

Oumi Sasaya

The South Bay has its fair share of excellent Japanese restaurants.  Triple T being the stereotypical Taiwanese Japan-o-phile, feels right at home here.  Why do Taiwanese people love everything Japanese?  I have no idea, but it's like they were brainwashed from the womb to worship anything and everything "made in Japan."  If you're reading this, and you're a true Taiwanese at heart, then you know this is true!  Anyways, I digress.  This is a food blog here, so on to the food...

Cold Tofu
Oumi Sasaya is solid udon oriented joint, but we had to have some starters to kick things off.  I think this was a standard amuse bouche for everyone.  Nothing really spectacular here.

Fried Garlic Chicken Wings
You can't wrong with wings.

Read more »