Deep dish pizza in San Francisco?  Who knew!  Located in the Mission District, Little Star Pizza is a casual restaurant serving pizza, salads, appetizers, and beers.  The dining room had an exposed brick wall with different pieces of art.  We arrived at 6 p.m. and a small crowd of diners were already seated and enjoying their meals.  The bar area seemed like a good place to either wait for a table or for ordering a pizza to go.

My family and I split the mixed salad with mixed lettuces, cherry tomatoes, red bell pepper, red onion, Gorgonzola cheese and chopped walnuts with a vinaigrette dressing.  The salad was large enough to share among four people.  We ordered two pizzas: one was deep dish with mushrooms, onions, black olives, red bell pepper, garlic and roasted zucchini.  The veggies didn’t drown in the sauce or cheese; the cornmeal crust was probably just an inch or inch and a half thick.  In comparison to Chicago-style deep dish, this pizza was much easier to eat and enjoy. The second was a buffalo chicken pizza with blue cheese, carrots, and radishes.  It was considered the pizza of the day, and it did not disappoint.  If I lived in the Bay Area, I could easily eat that pizza once a week – the crust was cracker-like and crispy.  The chicken was coated with just enough hot sauce and blue cheese, but the heat wasn’t dialed up too much.  At the end of the meal, there was not a slice of pizza left!

Details:

Little Star Pizza

http://littlestarpizza.com/index.html

Mission District: 400 Valencia

Other locations:

Albany: 1175 Solano

Western Addition: 846 Divisadero

Always in search of a good latte or cappuccino, I struck espresso gold at Blue Bottle Coffee’s Mint Plaza location in San Francisco.  Located just a block or two south of Market Street and across the street from Nordstrom, Blue Bottle is tucked in a small corner building.  Look for the line of eager coffee fans.  Each customer’s order is taken one at a time and made one at a time.  I wouldn’t recommend going if you are on a deadline .. Starbucks is probably close by.    Breakfast and lunch are served during the weekdays, and brunch is available on weekends.  Breakfast items include Greek yogurt & berries, steel cut oatmeal, poached eggs, and delicious cinnamon rolls/brioche/olive oil shortbread.  While the cafe is known for it’s espresso, there is also a very cool & very science-y looking siphon bar that has limited hours each day.

One breakfast visit prompted me to order a latte with Clover milk, a fruit & yogurt parfait, and a fennel & Parmesan cheese brioche.  The parfait is not a regular breakfast item, so if it is featured on the cute tray by the sweets, get one.  A glass jar is filled with locally made yogurt that is topped with macerated berries.  Technically, I could have kept the jar as a “souvenir” but I decided to return it for the BB folks to reuse it.  The brioche was savory, salty, and downright delicious.  Fennel and Parmesan make a good flavor match.  The latte was creamy and didn’t require any sugar … although I peeked into the sugar/cream caddies placed around the cafe.

Another morning I got a cappuccino and a bowl of granola.  Like the latte, the cappuccino required no “extras” and was full of roasty notes.  The granola wasn’t too sweet and was actually quite filling.  I also purchased an olive oil shortbread for the plane ride home.  It was far better than any bag of unsalted peanuts airlines could dish out.

Details:

Blue Bottle Coffee

http://www.bluebottlecoffee.net/

66 Mint Plaza, San Francisco (plus other locations)

Weekend brunch

Breakfast & lunch weekdays only

View from my window seat

In typical local fashion, I had never been to the Cliffhouse in San Francisco. Venturing out to Ocean Beach only to freeze to death by the salty sea never appealed to me and so the historic Cliffhouse remained a mystery. Like with all famous towers, inside holds an elegant restaurant with floor-to-ceiling windows to reveal breathtaking views of the bay. When I discovered that Sutro’s at the Cliffhouse was offering a Dine About Town menu, I jumped at the opportunity to make reservations for lunch. I was lucky to get a window seat on a beautiful day in June. The first course was a creamy asparagus soup topped with slivers of almonds and lavender petals, making it almost difficult to plunge my spoon into such a work of art. This was followed by a grilled-chicken breast sandwich on a

Asparagus Soup

local dutch-crunch roll served with crispy fresh fries. For vegetarians, they offered a tasty spring vegetable pasta, which looked like a farmers’ market in a bowl. Two courses for $17.95, plus unlimited viewing of the waves beneath the tower was the best meal deal I’ve had in a while. Normal menu options and prices are a bit steeper, but still manageable for special occasions. They offer a wide range of local seafood and organic produce fit to satisfy both locals and our guests. 

Chicken-breast Sandwich

Spring Veggie Pasta

Sutro’s at the Cliffhouse

1090 Point Lobos Ave (between Great Hwy & Merrie Way)

San Francisco, CA 94121

(415) 386-3330

www.cliffhouse.com/sutro/index.html

Mon-Sat 11:30 am – 9:30 pm Sun 11 am – 9:30 pm

$$$

There are plenty of places that you can go to get great Mexican food in the Mission, but La Palma offers a slightly different vibe than many of the others. La Palma labels themselves as a “Mexicatessen.”

From the outside, La Palma looks like a grocery store with tortillas and Mexican sodas lining the walls. Once you enter through the double doors you can see the counter in the back and the menu plastered to the wall. I ordered a carne asada taco, which had the perfect amount of spice. What I really loved was my sister’s “quesadilla suiza,” which was a regular quesadilla with crispy carnitas and guacamole. The carnitas were so wonderfully fried and really played off of the guacamole.

La Palma is also a functioning Mexican supermarket. They sell items such as Mexican cola, cotija cheese and fresh handmade tortillas. The tortillas are really tasty and you can buy them in large packs to experiment making your own concoctions at home. Also, all of the cooks there were very friendly and answered our questions concerning the multiple types of pork that they sell. La Palma not only has great Mexican food like many other places in the Mission, but it has a plentiful selection of all the Mexican food items you could need!

I’ve eaten quite a few pizzas in my life. And as you can imagine, I’ve tried pies topped with a wide assortment of ingredients – everything from pepperoni, eggplant, artichoke hearts, and wild mushrooms to clams, soy chicken, radicchio, and prosciutto. Usually it’s sauced with traditional tomato sauce; but sometimes it was replaced by pesto, peanut sauce, ranch dressing, or a thin layer of olive oil.

Rarely have I met a pizza I didn’t find delicious. I often go for the more exotic ingredients – I’d rather shell out the extra bucks for rock shrimp or white truffle oil than just plain old Margherita. Unless, of course, the pizza is from the Cheeseboard. Even the fiercest carnivores must concede that the vegetarian pizzas are worth savoring to the last bite.

The freshest seasonal ingredients are used, and in delicious combinations. And even though the consensus is divided on the idea of corn on pizza, I’m an enthusiastic proponent. Come on, sweet corn with zucchini – you can’t not love that pairing. And even though tomato slices may not be the most exciting garnish for pizza, when it’s topped off with fresh parsley, and baked on top off a crispy sourdough crust, what is there to complain about?

I’m also one of those people that likes to have a menu of options when I go out to eat, but here I actually enjoy the single choice of pizza. I love to be surprised by the changing daily offerings – it makes my slice of corn with cheese, lime, and cilantro that much more special.

1512 Shattuck Ave, Berkeley

510-549-3055

Hours: Tue-Sat 11:30 a.m. – 3 p.m., 4:30 p.m. – 8 p.m.

When my dad first told me about this place, I wasn’t too sure if it was the place for me. The name Hard Knox Café reminded me a little too much of Annie. But once I got to this diner style place on Clement and 26^th. I knew I would be able to get over the musical theater reminder. They serve delicious Southern style food with a really great atmosphere.

I particularly love the booths that line the restaurant and the many signs that line the walls.

Every time I have gone to Hard Knox, I have always gotten an Arnold Palmer, in case some of you foodies don’t know an Arnold Palmer has half lemonade, half iced tea. I don’t know what it is, but I adore the Arnold Palmers there.

Now onto the food, I ordered the roasted pork loin sandwich with honey mustard. This was the first time I have ever had a sandwich there and it was great. The bread was fresh and all the vegetables in the sandwich were crunchy in the best way possible. Also with every entrée, they give you two warm corn muffins, which are a great addition to the meal. My sister got the Fried Red Snapper entrée, which she really enjoyed. Overall, if you want really great soul food (corn muffins!) and in a relaxed environment, you should go to Hard Knox.

Hard Knox Café

415-752-3770
2448 Clement St.
San Francisco, CA 94121

$6-$15

Also there is another location at:

415-648-3770
2526 3rd Street
San Francisco, CA 94107

http://www.hardknoxcafe.com/

It’s nearing the end of May and it’s pouring outside—wouldn’t expect anything else for summer in San Francisco. As the fog rolls in and raindrops fall, my appetite for warm, soupy, noodle-ly dishes intensifies. Friends of mine who are hardcore ramen connoisseurs have mesmerized me with stories about the delicious and authentic ramen served at Katana-Ya. According to those of superior ramen knowledge, Katana-Ya is the next-best thing to sitting in a ramen house in Japan. Having never been to Japan (except for an overnight layover many years ago), I was eager to try this tiny piece of magic hidden away by the bustling crowds of Union Square. Their menu is incredibly large for such a small restaurant and features, in addition to their famous ramen, various sushi rolls (which you can watch the chefs make if you sit at the counter), donburi rice bowls, curries, and appetizers. The Katanaya Ramen is a combination of fried chicken, chasu pork, pot stickers, seaweed, egg and corn. Other ramen soups include Spicy Tofu, Green Onion, Butter Corn, and Kimchi. Each is served in a rich broth of your choice: soy sauce, salt or miso. You can even get your soup extra spicy! It arrives in a large bowl, steaming with flavor and intensity. The noodles have the perfect amount of bite, encouraging the diner to slurp them down greedily for full effect. You can enjoy all this under red lighting and funky beats playing in the background. Please note that they don’t offer a vegetarian broth option and they do use MSG in the broth. After all, they have to maintain their authenticity.

Courtesy of Randy F. "Katanya Raman" Yelp.com

 Katana-Ya

430 Geary St (at Mason St)

San Francisco, CA 94102

(415) 771-1280

Mon-Fri 11:30 a.m. – 1 a.m. Sat-Sun 12 p.m. – 1 a.m.

$$

My biggest money-saving rule is to bring my own lunch to work. So when I started working in the Financial District where an average lunch is upwards of $10, my no-outside-lunch policy became even stricter, exhibited by my half-hour lunches to prevent me from wondering my neighborhood on an empty stomach. However, with rules come exceptions, and I on occasion find myself lunchless and hungry. That’s when I treat myself to a delicious, healthy salad or sandwich from Mixt Greens. Self-proclaimed as an “eco-gourmet” restaurant, Mixt Greens prides itself on its use of fresh organic ingredients all produced by local farmers. Even their building is made of recyclable, renewable materials. The menu offers a variety of inventive salads and sandwiches. The Siam with Tofu is a blend of mixed greens, papaya, jicama, mango, cucumber, red pepper, fresh herbs, spicy peanuts in a thai lemongrass vinaigrette topped with perfectly marinated tofu pieces. For something heartier than tofu, try the Bachelor and enjoy pieces of grilled flatiron steak over red leaf lettuce, roasted potatoes and blue cheese or the Maui and feast on coriander crusted seared ahi tuna on top of mixed veggies with mango and macadamia nuts. You can also build your own salad from their voluminous ingredient list. Specialty sandwiches include the Loafer (kobe meatloaf, tomatoes, garlic mayo, butter lettuce on an torpedo roll) and the vegetarian Farmer (burrata cheese, grilled zucchini, red peppers, portabella mushrooms, basil, aioli, balsamic reduction on an bread herb slab). Make time to wait in line as the lunch crowed gets serious. If you’re in a rush, they have plenty of already made salads freshly boxed-to-go. No need to feel guilty about using their containers or utensils—both are biodegradable and can be easily tossed in the compost. And my guilt about spending the $10+ for my salad? Well, I consider it a donation to Planet Earth and my stomach.

Courtesy of Dave B. "Always fresh fixings" Yelp.com

Mixt Greens

475 Sansome St

San Francisco, CA 94104

(415) 296-9292

www.mixtgreens.com

Mon-Fri: 10:30am- 3pm

$$

Other locations: 120 Sansome; 560 Mission St

Many of you readers probably have a place that consistently go, at least every few months. Well, PPQ, a Vietnamese restaurant in the Inner Sunset, is the place I have consistently gone for the last five years. In my opinion, they have the best pho I have ever tasted! But, there are many other items that are worth ordering off the menu other than the pho. When I think of or want Vietnamese food, PPQ is the place that comes to mind.

Last night, I went with my father and my sister to PPQ to get our Vietnamese fix. I ordered the Curry Coconut Chicken with Vermicelli Noodle soup ($6.75), it was spicy and had a distinctly coconut flavor. My sister ordered BBQ Beef and Vermicelli ($8.25), which comes with fish sauce and cucumbers. My dad ordered the same, but with pork (their charbroiled pork is fantastic!) Also, we shared the shredded pork spring rolls, which were incredibly fresh and tasty ($6.75).

PPQ can sometimes get crowded. We had to wait around ten minutes. But I am telling you, the food is definitely worth a short wait! PPQ also has a slightly more fancy restaurant in the Richmond that is known for their crab. Both are worth a visit and I am sure you will love Vietnamese food that much more!

Pho Phu Quoc (PPQ)

1816 Irving St
(between 19th Ave & 20th Ave)
San Francisco, CA 94122
Neighborhood: Outer Sunset

(415) 661-8869

House Special Chicken Wonton Noodle Soup www.washingtonbakerysf.com

My parents have been taking me to Washington Bakery & Restaurant since before I could see over the bakery counter. According to my mother, this is the only decent place in Chinatown to get a good meal at a fair price. With no authority to argue with her, I have continued to frequent this place into my adult age. Its causal, almost diner-like atmosphere sets the scene for delicious, no-fuss Cantonese comfort food. Chow down on some Hong Kong Style Beef Chow Fun or House Special Chow Mein. Their won-ton soups continue to be my comfort staple—savory, plump little balls of pork and vegetables in hot, soothing broth. When I dine with my parents, we always get our appetites ready for the House Special Chicken Wonton Noodle Soup served in a giant clay pot with won-tons, silver noodles, vegetables, and yellow chicken. For only $20, this dish can satisfy a party of four. My family, however, won’t settle for “satisfied” and so we’ll order in addition some tasty finger foods like Deep Fried Chicken Wings with Spicy Salt. For dessert, select from their colorful bakery of pastries and breads or their milk tea drinks with or without tapioca pearls. And just in case you’re not completely convinced this is the best deal Chinatown has to offer, it will actually accept your credit card ($15 min).

www.washingtonbakerysf.com

733 Washington Street (at Walter U Lum Pl)

San Francisco, CA 94108

(415) 397-3232

www.washingtonbakerysf.com

Mon-Sun 7:30am-9pm

$