caffe trieste

According to the door, this cafe was opened in the 1950s (don’t make me get up to see the exact date). One wall is full of family pictures: hip 70s suits with out-splayed lapels, a younger, handsome version of the founder (Papa Giotta). The place has got some old neighborhood charm. They sometimes play music at night too, as J & I noticed while walking by yesterday evening.

Charming perhaps for a neighborhood coffee and paper read.

But, less amenable to the laptop worker. A veritable army of outlets is hidden next to the coffee counter and accessible only by one table (mine). Also, there’s no wifi for the cafe — just spotty wifi picked up from who-knows-where that is currently frustrating me to pieces.

And the latte I ordered this morning is bitter and terrible and was still $3.29. Could be bad luck. But it’s hard to forgive a bad latte at 8:30 in the morning.

I’ll be going back to Cafe Leila tomorrow. Or maybe this afternoon.

Caffe Trieste. San Pablo @ Dwight

weird fish

After a long week of hard P time, I hopped across the Bay Bridge for a relaxing catchup dinner with J, who just finished her hard boards studying time. I suggested we try “weird fish”, which I had previously walked by on the way to Cha Cha Cha and someone had said it was worth trying.

It’s kind of quirky and VERY SF with sustainable fish and even a suspicious fish dish! (We weren’t adventurous enough to try a dish where they give you “hints” about how it’s prepared but tell you nothing else.)

It’s a tiny little space that seats maybe 25, waitressed by wannabe hipster missionites, with food that is reasonable and reasonably priced but by no means a go-out-of-your-way find. I had the blackened catfish with mango salsa, which was good (but I could have made it…and I mean that in my amateur cook sense). We split two side orders (you order separately) of mashed yams with coconut milk and spinach sauteed with raisins and shallots. I have to say the mashed yams carried the dinner by far. The white sangria was kind of mediocre (I would just try a glass of wine next time), but the ginger lemonade was exquisite by J’s description.

Overall, kind of a cute place with some gimmicks that I might recommended were I in the neighborhood around dinner time with a couple of friends, but nothing particularly special.

Fishes $9 each, sides $4 each, sangria $6. Also offer fish and chips, tacos, and vegan entrees.

Weird Fish, mission & 18th (2193 Mission Street)

p.s. I forgot that I now own an iPhone. I’ll try to start taking pictures! Amazing technology!

Aperto

Okay, I have a slight imbalance in my SF visitations. (I’m not sure that’s a word.) I spend a large majority of my SF time in potrero hill. To be remedied in the future, I swear! But it’s not *entirely* my fault. True, I have insecurities and anxieties about parking in SF, and potrero is far easier for that. But I also have a sister who lives in Mission Bay. So…there.

In any case, potrero has a small selection of decent/good restaurants, and I’m quite familiar with almost all of them. Last night, L & I ate at a pizza place (post pending) and then headed over to Aperto for dessert, wine and more fun hanging out (L, I’m so glad you moved to SF!). I’ve been to Aperto many a time with my sister and other friends, and it’s a good staple. It probably won’t blow you away, but the food is always good and reasonably priced (pastas in the teens, entrees in the low-mid twenties, reasonable wine list). I’ve liked pretty much everything I’ve tried there. Last time I had dinner there, I had their spicy pasta dish. (I think it has bacon in it.) It was delish.

It’s easy to get to, a laid-back, cute little place with good food and (for me) good company, so I vote for Aperto. Also, it has more seating than Chez Maman across the street.

P.S. My weird issues with potrero hill geography/orientation are slowly resolving. I’ll get there eventually.

18th & connecticut

Tartine, SF, a whole new start

When I moved to the Bay Area to start grad school, I dropped a lot of my previous life. It was a bumpy transition, from jumping on the 6 train to do ILDG runs with close friends to sudden book/research/school immersion, medicine, medicine, medicine talk and driving to the supermarket (at least there are plenty of TJ’s). That perhaps sounds a little too negative than I mean it to be — I’m very happy with my career choice and excited about the things I’m learning and learning to do.

But it’s high time that I started reviving my old (and still current but buried) self to be a whole person again.

No, I don’t get to explore fun eateries as much as a grad student, but hopefully an occasional posting or two now and then.

I’ll also eventually get around to fixing the links and creating my own header. Fun projects!

To get started, let me tell you about the phenomenal bakery that you all know about (or should), Tartine. I’ve been here multiple times, and quite frankly, nothing makes me happier than having spent the night in SF and stopping by Tartine on my way home to pick up a coffee and morning bun (delicious orange glaze!) to snack on on the way home. Yes, not terribly a safe driving habit, but at least a delicious one.

Expect a loooong line on weekend mornings (but not too bad – maybe a pleasant 20 minute chat with friends) and weekday lines sometimes too.

Delicious (if pricey) pastries, quiches, tartines (for lunch) and desserts. I’ve had the lemon tart, which is the best I’ve ever had, and their membrillo and (some sort of) cheese tartine is surprisingly amazing. Great for a lazy weekend brunch with friends (walk over to Dolores and soak in the sun) or a quick pick-me-up mood-upper if you’re just dropping by.

Guerrero & 18th; http://www.tartinebakery.com/

Il laboratorio del gelato @ Whole Foods Bowery

e. houston b/t bowery & 2nd ave
(what neighborhood is this? i wasn’t sure.)

i hate the massive, bland luxury mCcondos that are infiltrating and taking over the last hold-outs of even pseudo-gritty new york. condos just don’t belong near chinatown, east village, or the lower east side. i realize i’m being a huge hypocrite in that i am loosely in the same socioeconomic class (based mostly on education, general career path) that is driving the luxury condo surge, but i hope that i will never choose to live in such a monstrosity.

having made my rant about luxury condos, i have to say the i grudgingly am an ardent fan of the new whole foods bowery, which occupies the massively airy bottom floor of the avalon chrystie condo building (again more hypocrisy). although it feels like you are entering a foreign world (aka suburbia, where the supermarkets have immensely high ceilings, aisles are not squished togehter, and where you don’t have to “punch someone in the eye to get to the gouda” as N put it), this whole foods in an eater’s delight. right smack dab in the middle of the ground floor (yes, there’s an enormous upstairs dining section with 4 restaurants), is an ILDG stand. not just packed pints to buy, but an actual gelato stand, with MORE flavors than i’ve ever seen at ILDG and more variety of flavors as well. but same price and same intense flavors.

and the best part is that unlike the actual ILDG store that closes at SIX EVERY day, this whole foods is open until 11 pm, DAILY. go eat some gelato.

banh mi saigon bakery

138 mott b/t grand & hester

if i had thought ahead of time to make more nuanced variants of “recommended,” banh mi saigon bakery would have been in the “highly recommended”, “most delicious food”, and “best bargain” categories. my sister was totally right when she said, “it’s 25 cents more, but it’s worth it.”

compared to the banh mi so and the other banh mi place, the extra 25 cents (for a whopping total of $3.25 a sandwich) goes toward a) more flavorful roast pork and b) a better marinated and assembled assortment of julienned vegetables. (unfortunately, the somewhat mediocre french roll remains the same. but for $3.25 you could even afford to drop by le pain quotidien and swap the bread for something else.)

i can’t really describe how good this ridiculously cheap sandwich is. you’ll just have to go and try it yourself (but beware, they close around 7/7:30 and sometimes run out of roast pork at the end of the day. call ahead and they’ll save you one.)