Plausibly Deniablog

756 Woodside Road
Redwood City

OK, this isn’t in the Tenderloin either. So what.

Pho Happy Day replaced Happy Day Speedy Chicken, which was a disappointing Chinese joint near my house. I’m not sure if it’s new management or what, but it’s now a Chinese and Vietnamese place, rather than a Chinese and fried chicken place. And it’s now much less disappointing.

I judge Chinese places by their pork fried rice. I will eternally mourn the demise of New Haven’s Main Garden, whose pork fried rice fed me at least twice a week in that period of wasted youth immediately following college. I’ll give a place a second chance if its lemon chicken is disappointing, or if its chow mein is greasy. Bad pork fried rice is the unforgivable sin.

Pho Happy Day is my new favorite pork fried rice. $6.25 gets you an enormous box of fried rice, full of flavor without being greasy, with hefty cubes of barbecued pork throughout. It’s a fairly dark fried rice, with the almost smoky flavor that comes with it. It’s damn good.

I also got an order of lemon chicken. It was $5.75, and I think it was pretty good — but frankly, I didn’t pay that much attention.

Originally published on Tournedos

807 Valencia
San Francisco, CA

Yes, Burger Joint is a bit outside Tournedos’ usual stomping grounds, but sometimes you can’t tie down a blog’s gastronomic ambitions like that. I’ve been meaning to stop by since I saw Burger Joint on a list of America’s best burgers, and this week I was hungry and in the Mission. It was clearly fate.

I had a cheeseburger and fries ($7.95), and a soda ($1.75). And I have to say, Burger Joint makes a damn tasty burger. The mark of a really good hamburger, I think, is that afterwards you sort of regret some of the toppings. Where condiments and other additions support and complement a merely adequate burger, they just distract from a really good one. In retrospect, the cheese was entirely unnecessary; the ketchup was probably dispensable. I think Burger Joint hits the mark with their use of mayonnaise, though — just enough to form a bulwark against soggy bun. They use good lettuce and tomato, but they aren’t necessary. I think I’d keep the red onion, though; it adds some crunch and some zing. But of course, the point of the hamburger is the meat. Burger Joint uses Niman Ranch beef, that talismanic meat, and they have a good touch with the grill. The burger is juicy without being oozy, and full of that elemental heft that is the hallmark of good beef, coppery and savory. (I’m tempted to say umami, but that’s a little overplayed, I think.) The patty was loose enough to avoid the dense rubbery quality of some oversquashed burgers, but held together throughout the whole meal. As I say, a damn tasty burger.

Their fries are pretty good, too — thick, square, crispy, and so fresh that the first few were really a bit too hot to eat. Not worth a separate trip, I think, but they come with the burger, so hey. My only complaint is that $1.75 for a soda is a bit on the excessive side. And, based on my recollection of a previous trip, I can’t really recommend the milkshakes.

370 Golden Gate Avenue (between Hyde and Larkin)

Taqueria el Castillito has been my default taqueria for the past few months, and I think I now have enough information to write a proper review.

I stand by what I said before about their burritos — good and solid, with a tasty salsa (though the price seems to have gone up to $4.65). I want to elaborate a bit on my ideas on burritos while I’m on the topic. Burritos come in various levels of moistness; I prefer mine on the dry side. A messy, dripping burrito is not my idea of a good lunch. This is why I like rice in burritos, and why I get pinto beans instead of refried. They provide solidity. This is also why I like a chunky salsa that’s more a pico de gallo than a sauce per se.

Taqueria el Castillito also makes a pretty good torta ($4.64) — Mexican sandwich, for those of you who don’t know them. To me, the main thing that distinguishes a torta is the grilled bun it goes on. After that, it depends on the restaurant. Some just slap on a portion of meat and have done; others add all the toppings they would put on a burrito and then some. Taqueria el Castillito adds cheese, avocado, sour cream, tomatoes, and lettuce; I had grilled chicken on mine. It’s a tasty, if fat-filled, sandwich. They avoid the trap of over-creaming a torta; I’ve had many a torta that sort of oozed out of its soggy bun. For this reason, I tend not to order them in restaurants I haven’t come to trust.

I’ve had a few more of their meats, too. The carnitas is good; the carne asada is okay. I haven’t tried the pastor or the chorizo yet. I’m a little scared of the lengua.

Finally, I tried the alambres plate ($7.58), or as I think of it, the heart attack platter. Alambres means “wires” in Spanish. It’s a mess of beef, bacon, bell pepper, and onions all fried up together — basically a Philly cheese steak with bacon. It comes with rice, beans, salsa, salad, and tortillas. It’s really good, but it’s hard not to feel you’re shaving years off your life.

I also want to note that I now recommend against the location on McAllister. The food is more or less the same, but the folks at the McAllister location have, on multiple occasions, “accidentally” upgraded me to a super burrito and then tried to charge me for it. That’s either dishonesty or ineptitude, and I’m not OK with it. Better to walk the extra two blocks.

265 Golden Gate (between Hyde and Leavenworth)

Le Petitt wins points for convenience, though I can’t say I’m crazy about running the gauntlet of random guys with shopping carts. I went for a slightly late lunch on a Friday, having passed a few other times on grounds of crowdedness. They don’t have a lot of space, and the line gets long around noon. I had a roast beef sandwich ($5.75) and macaroni salad ($.95).

The sandwich fillings were your standard sandwich shop fare: lettuce, tomato, red onion, cheese, mayo, mustard. They say they roast their own beef, and I believe it. The fillings, however, are not the noteworthy part of this sandwich. The reason to go to Le Petitt is the bread.

They bake their own sourdough rolls, and these are some damn good sandwich rolls. The crust is crunchy and chewy enough to give some heft to the roll, without being so tough that you squirt your sandwich’s innards out the back with every bite. It’s a mild sourdough, lending a nice twang to the sandwich while letting the other ingredients have their moment in the spotlight too. (Yeah, I like bread. You got a problem with that?) Some of you out there who may be fond of whole grains might be tempted to order your sandwich on wheat; don’t. You’ll get two slices of supermarket-grade whole wheat sandwich loaf, and miss out on a lot of what Le Petitt has to offer. The macaroni salad, meanwhile, was fine. If you like something like that to add some variety to your meal, go for it; I’m not sure I’ll bother next time.

They also give you a chocolate-covered mint with your order, which is a nice touch.

Originally published on Tournedos

Golden Gate between Hyde and Leavenworth, next to GAAP
San Francisco

I’ve mentioned my soft spot for small chaotic restaurants, and Amy’s Cafe definitely fit the bill. When I went in for lunch today, there were hand-written menus on every wall (making one wonder if they have an absurdly large menu, or just a large menu repeated in several places), a couple of cabinets strategically placed to block off part of the space they’re not using, and eight bars of Asian pop skipping on a CD player. My kind of place.

As I said, they have an extensive menu — mostly Chinese food, with a section for breakfast and American food selections. I ordered the broccoli beef rice plate ($4.25), which tends to be a pretty safe bet. Sadly, Amy’s Cafe let me down pretty comprehensively. The broccoli beef cowered by the side of a massive expanse of rice — more than I could finish, and I can eat a lot of rice. The sauce was bland and watery, and the beef was rubbery. The broccoli was fine, but a plate of steamed broccoli and rice is not a meal, but a joke about 70s macrobiotic cuisine. The hot and sour soup that came with it I didn’t even finish.

I feel like I should give the place another try some time — the American dishes looked better, and I tend to reserve judgment on a Chinese place until I try their fried rice. Still, at this moment, I can’t recommend Amy’s Cafe.

Lobby of 198 McAllister

This was a difficult meal to rate. I ate, from the Law Cafe (I can’t say “at” on account of the lack of seating), a turkey club wrap ($4.50) and a fruit cup ($2.50). Now, I have only good things to say about the convenience factor, and I have no complaints about the service. The wrap was merely OK. The insides were fine; the turkey was good, the lettuce and tomato seemed fresh, the bacon was bacon. They went a little overboard on the green condiment (some breed of aioli, I guess), but even with the ample saucing, I thought the wrap itself was sort of dry and heavy. This may just be a personal thing between me and lavash. It wasn’t terrible; it wasn’t great. I’d eat there again if I didn’t have time for anything else.

However — and here the difficulty arises — I cannot sing the praises of the Law Cafe fruit cup enough. Sure, $2.50 is a fair chunk of change, but you get a full pint of fruit, and the fruit is fresh and varied. Too often, a fruit cup is a small cup of soggy melon chunks, but the Law Cafe delivers strawberries and pineapple and grapes (and I have to say, this has been a damn good year for grapes) and bananas and yeah, some melon, but it’s fresh, sweet melon. It’s been my favorite afternoon slump snack for the last month or two. (I’m not sure they’re still doing it, but the fifty-cent hard-boiled egg was a pretty good snack too if you just need to put some food into your body between classes.) Sadly, as we move into winter, the fruit quality is ebbing a bit. The strawberries are not so good, and more and more melon appears. Even so, it’s still pretty good. Hence, the fruit cup elevates what would otherwise earn an OK rating into the Recommended band.

And the apple danishes are pretty good too. But those are mine, so back off.

Originally published at Tournedos

McAllister between Hyde and Leavenworth

Em’s Place is my all-purpose fall-back lunch spot. It’s extremely convenient to school, and they haven’t let me down yet. The decor may leave something to be desired, but hey, it’s the Tenderloin. And the food is good, which is what counts.

The menu includes breakfast, American food, and Chinese food. I haven’t explored their breakfast option much, but I can vouch for the #3 breakfast ($3.65) — grilled cheese sandwich, two eggs, and hashbrowns. It wasn’t a revelation in cuisine, but all three parts of the breakfast were well-made, and the hashbrowns were generously portioned.

The Chinese food is pretty good. Their great strength here is that they use good ingredients and don’t overcook them. So most of their dishes consist of good-quality meat and nicely tender vegetables, which gets you a long way in Chinese food. Their sauces tend to be a little syrupy for my tastes, alas. I recommend the black pepper chicken ($5.25), the teriyaki chicken ($4.75), or the broccoli chicken ($4.95) (I understand you can get beef or pork in any of these for 50 cents more, but I’m cheap and I like chicken). The pork fried rice ($4.95) is hit and miss; it’s been really good on some occasions, and sort of mushy on others. On the other hand, I have to respect a pork fried rice with actual slices of barbecue pork rather than rubbery cubes of extruded pork-like product. The curry chicken ($4.95) is mediocre; there are better places to go if you want curry.

The American food is also tasty. I highly recommend the grilled chicken sandwich with BBQ sauce ($4.50). The quality of their chicken helps here, and the syrupy quality of their sauces is actually a plus with BBQ. They make a perfectly serviceable burger ($3.75), a darn tasty turkey burger ($4.50), and as I mentioned, a pretty good grilled cheese sandwich ($2.95). I can’t endorse their breaded foods; the chicken club ($4.50) and chicken-fried steak ($5.50) are fine, but not great. There’s better stuff on the menu. Of the side orders, I recommend the potato salad. The fries, in my experience, are unexciting, and while the fruit cup is fresh, it’s basically a small cup of melon chunks.

Originally published on Tournedos

Larkin between Golden Gate and Turk

I like this place, but I have to back off from a recommend because I think my soft spot for quirky little places with character is clouding my judgment. For me, the strategically placed sign concealing a hole in the window is cute; others might feel differently. I ordered a turkey sandwich on a sweet roll, which was $4.95. It was a good sandwich, if nothing to write home about. They use fresh roast turkey, though, which is definitely a standout; I could see getting a yen for that at some point. I must warn you, however, not to get a soda from the cooler. I think they don’t get much sell-through, and my soda tasted a bit…off. When bottled soda is past its prime, something ain’t right. On the other hand, they also have fresh cookies, which are good but a bit pricy at $1.65.

Originally published at Tournedos