Food/Friends-athon

Friends (who came from afar), Free Food, and Some Not-So-Free Food

Buttered-Corn Ramen @ Katana-ya
430 Geary Street (across from ACT)

Red Velvet Cupcake @ Cako
211 O’Farrell Street (at Powell)

Affogato @ Four Barrel (w/ Beer Ice Cream!!!)
375 Valencia Street (b/w 14th and 15th)

• The free food was actually free Slocombe for an art opening at Four Barrel. Picture of the icy goods not included because it was a little less epic than the Affogato.
  

Sausage, Sauerkraut, and Potato Salad @ Schmidt's
2400 Folsom Street San Francisco (@ 20th)

Break-Fast/Fast-Break: Members Style

RC + RP head to Philz for a quick breakfast. And believe me, we have mastered the art of quick coffee meets.

Purple (Blueberry?) Organic Vegan Donut from Pepples
Members Coffee (1/2 Silken Splendor and 1/2 Philtered Soul)

Coffee Rant #2

So, I realized that a countdown to the nom-est coffee would have been more exciting, but I got way too-excited and too ambitious (I was originally going to do it all in one post). Also, I realized numbering them off is a bit silly, since the numbers don't necessarily reflect how I rank each coffee. My preferences tend to fluctuate between 1-4 depending on mood and location. Nonetheless, here is the continuation of the Coffee Rants:

3) Sightglass Coffee: Somewhere between Blue Bottle and Ritual, Sightglass offers some pretty legit coffee. Apparently, the dudes who started it used to work at Four Barrel and before that Blue Bottle. Also, I believe that the peeps at Four Barrel were originally from Ritual, and the Ritual peeps actually came from Blue Bottle. So, basically every local roaster has worked or can be linked to every other local roaster...and it all goes back to Blue Bottle. Ha! Anyways, back to Sightglass. Every now and then I like to say that it's almost on par with Blue Bottle, but there are a couple of factors that keep me from this:

• I've only had "real" Sightglass once: But that once was definitely an amazing experience. I was lucky enough to head over there when they just started roasting their own beans. Try a Costa Rican. It's freaking awesome. However, I tend to blame the location for my lack of appearance there. SOMA: the bane of my existence. There is NOTHING there except for a few good restaurants. I'm sure it will blossom and boom in the next few years, but for now, walking down an empty street on a Sunday afternoon is a bit too eerie for me.

• I had a bad experience with Sightglass at Hapa Ramen: So, I don't want to blame Hapa Ramen, but the iced Sightglass coffee was kind of...really unsatisfying. The fact that it was served from a tub-type thing should have tipped me off. Don't get me wrong, serving agua fresca from aforementioned containers is totally cool, but maybe not so much with coffee. Trying to put this lightly, but basically it tasted like a bastardized version of Blue Bottle's New Orleans Style Iced Coffee. Conclusion: If you're at the Ferry Building, go to Blue Bottle.

4) Philz: This place has such a soft spot in my heart. A little less pretentious than the others, Philz is the place where you'll want to get your daily coffee, and the baristas will actually remember your face. They'll also help you choose a blend if you're having trouble! Another reason that makes them special: they offer various blends (>20?), that are mostly not single origin. So, we're talking 2-7 different beans per blend. Not conventional, but you kind of take Philz as it is. Like I said before, I go for what tastes good, and this stuff is definitely noms. People either love Philz or hate it. I'll leave that decision to you, but try it at least once.

P.S. I've actually seen Phil at the Berk location pretty often. He seems to hang around his coffee shops a lot. Or maybe it's because that location just opened about two months ago. Try to spot him! He's always wearing a fedora.

Sightglass Coffee Bar and Roastery
270 Seventh Street @ Folsom
San Francisco, CA

Philz Coffee
1600 Shattuck Ave. @ Cedar
Berkeley, CA
In the Mission? Go to the one on 24th. It's near Slocombe. Hella other locations around the Bay. Check for the others on the website.

Nom-ing on Namu Street Food

Today, I practiced something I like to call "speed lunching."

Setting: The Ferry Building.
Mission: Namu Street Food.
Here's the story: Ferry Plaza Farmers Market occurs every Tuesday, Thursday, and Saturday. Buttttt, there are only certain Street Food stands on Thursdays and Saturdays that serve what the Ferry Building's website likes to call "artisan street food" as well as "hot, delicious meals" from local restaurants. Jaja, I know that everyone is rolling their eyes by now, but stick with me here! For me Thursday is the golden day because both Hapa Ramen and Namu are there (I couldn't find Namu on Saturday). So, I ventured to the lovely tourist/yuppie ridden market during my lunch break on the quest for Namu. I call it "speed lunching" because I only had 2.5 hours to get there, order, eat, and get back to work (in Berk, mind you)! Definitely worth the trip though! I would suggest ordering the Real Korean Tacos. Seasoned rice, kalbi short ribs, daikon and kimchee salsa, kimchee remoulade, house-made teriyaki folded into Japanese and Korean toasted seaweeds! SUPER NOMS. I also ordered the Kimchee Fried Rice, which was good, but also pretty standard. (I did not try it with a free range egg, but maybe it tastes better that way.)

Ferry Building Marketplace
One Ferry Building

Spam Musubi

Touché my feline friend. I see your Coffee Rant 1.5 and raise you a Spam Musubi! That's right! This shit is "This is Why You're Fat" status. A certain K friend and I have been waiting to satisfy our musubi cravings for months, but every time we head to May's Coffee Shop in Japantown, they're sold out. We be sadpandas. So tonight, we made our own with special spam musubi mold, twice-fried Spam, and a couple diy musubi tats included.

If you are interested in taking part in the musubi madness, several recipes can be found online, but make sure you don't make too much rice! We cooked 3.5 cups and ended up making some makeshift Fried-Rice Musubi.

Fun Fact: There are quite a few stories for the origin of the word "Spam," but one explanation states that the name is actually a portmanteau of "Spiced Ham".

Coffee Rant #1

Let me start by mentioning that I am by no means a coffee expert. I drink things, and if it tastes good, I like it. I didn't become a coffee lover until recently, and I blame various friends for it. :P

There are a bajillion San Francisco based roasteries, and I will try to rank and comment on some of the local coffee that I've imbibed. This will be the first of a line of posts covering coffee.

1) Blue Bottle: Words cannot explain how amazing Blue Bottle is. Subtle sweetness in every sip, I keep going back despite having experimented with other coffees. Blue Bottle is actually offered in various locations around the Bay, especially the College/Rockridge area of Berkeley/Oakland. But for the full experience, head to one of the "official" locations in SF. The Ferry Building is still my fave, since it was the first place I ever had Blue Bottle coffee. (And also because I just heart the Ferry Building and hang out there as much as I do in the Mission.)

2) Ritual: Definitely a close-second, Ritual offers some hard-core coffee. We're talking you drink coffee because you like the coffee taste. Like you would be fine with nom-ing on coffee beans. And, I mean that in the best way possible. If I'm in the Mission, I definitely head here to re-energize myself. Warning: As with any of the other coffee shops mentioned, the second you walk in be ready to face a room filled with macbooks, hipsters, and at times an air of pretentiousness. Just get past all of that and grab a Heavy Drinker card when you pay because you'll probably want to come back whenever you're in the area, so you might as well get your 10th drink free. And yes, I carry one myself along with a bright red Ritual business card. To be fair, one of my friends works at Ritual...so I'm not totally some crazy coffee chick.

(top)
Blue Bottle Coffee
Ferry Building Marketplace, Shop #7, 1 Ferry Building
Check out the other locations on their website!

(bottom)
Ritual Coffee Roasters
1026 Valencia St.
If you are in wine country, check out Ritual in Oxbow Public Market, 610 First Street. I like to call it the mini-Napa version of the Ferry Building. :)

Mission: Ice Cream

Hihi. I be radpanda, and a ravenous one at that! The Mission is one of my favorite spots in SF, so my première post will concern one of the major ice cream locales in the area. Bi-Rite Creamery offers different flavors daily that range from classics, like Mint Chip, to not-your-run-of-the-mill flavors, like Balsamic Strawberrry. Checkcheckcheck it out: Bi-Rite Creamery 3692 18th Street(@ Dolores)

• Coffee Toffee