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Review: The Progress (San Francisco)
A little more than a year ago, almost to the day, I wrote a review about a popular SF restaurant, State Bird Provisions. Less than a year after, State Bird’s sister restaurant The Progress opened and through friends (Thanks Christina!) I was able to get a reservation. The Progress is right next door to its sister restaurant, but employs a different menu style. All items are served family style, and each table picks 6 items for $65/person. The chefs scale up the portions based on your party size, so it ends up being just the right amount of food. I certainly left the meal feeling full, but not stuffed. Overall, I…
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Review: State Bird Provisions (San Francisco)
A visit to State Bird Provisions in SF has been a LONG time coming. It’s been on my food to do list since it opened, and I can’t believe it has taken me this long to make it out there. Sorry I didn’t take many pictures (other than dessert), I was too busy eating! State Bird Provisions is self described as “an adventurous, inventive, delicious, thoughtful contemporary American restaurant [CA native].” It honestly is all of that and so much more. The environment is upscale yet casual and trendy yet unique. The dining room is warm and inviting, but has a lot of unique decor choices pinned to the walls.…
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Review: Coqueta (San Francisco)
Yesterday night I had dinner at Chef Michael Chiarello’s new SF restaurant Coqueta. Coqueta, in Spanish, means to flirt, and let me tell you, any man is welcome to flirt with me if he feeds me as well as this restaurant did last night. YUM. Chef Michael is a pretty popular chef. I’ve been watching ‘Easy Entertaining’ on the Food Network for years and enjoyed seeing him compete on The Next Iron Chef. I had been reading a lot about the opening of Coqueta so I was pretty excited to try it in its first month of existence in SF. The space at Coqueta is divided into two parts at…
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Review: Oyamel (DC)
This past weekend I had the pleasure of eating at one of Jose Andres’ restaurants, Oyamel, in DC. Jose Andres is a James Beard award winning chef from Spain who is credited with advancing the tapas (small plate) movement in the US. I’ve eaten at some of his other restaurants before in Las Vegas and DC, but Oyamel far surpassed the others. First off, I absolutely loved the decor and feeling of the Oyamel. It was warm and friendly with bold colors. There were orange flowers covering the ceiling and intricate Oaxacan carved animals on display. I wish I had taken a picture of the peacock hanging off the side…
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Review: Flea Street (Menlo Park)
My cousin and I recently tried Flea Street in Menlo Park. I honestly had never heard of it before I found it on Yelp, but I’m glad I did. The restaurant has a total farm to table approach to food. They really take care to present seasonal, fresh, local ingredients (many of which come from the owner’s personal farm!) Our meal in the order it was presented… 1. A beet and potato amuse bouche: just totally fresh and tasty. 2. The house made bread and biscuits with butter and pink seasalt: The biscuits were amazing. I could have eaten several more of them. Not sure what the seasalt added, but…
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Review: Calafia (Palo Alto)
I’ve been to calafia a few times, so I thought I should write about it. I’ve heard it was started by the ex-head chef of Google. Very Bay Area nerdy cool. Brunch Items: 1. Eggs chiapas without bacon and with poached eggs instead of fried. The tostada and eggs were well made. I wish the rojo sauce had a little more spice to it, but I asked for some hot sauce and it did the trick. 2. Blue Max without ham sub mushrooms. I love love love poached eggs with a good hollandaise and this did not disappoint. 3. Two Eggs with Biscuits and vegetarian Mushroom Gravy. LOVED this dish.…
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Review: Tamarine (Palo Alto)
I recently visited Tamarine in Palo Alto. This Vietnamese place has been on my “To Try” list for a long time, so I thought I should check it out. We ordered: Banh Mi Roti —> Really amazing, soft roti with a great panang curry dipping sauce. Could have used a bit more spice in the sauce, but it was scrumptious as is. Chili-Lime Aubergine —> I really love eggplant, so I had high hopes for this dish. It was just ok. I felt that the temperature was a little off and scallion shreds on top had a weird texture. Panko Crusted Pressed Tofu —> Wow! This dish was absolutely amazing.…
