Humphry Slocombe

With Greyelf doing her version of a food tour in the Mission, we were sampling many different ethnic cuisines. The last thing that I expected to see was an ice cream store nestled among taquerias and Latin markets. Humphry Slocombe is a collaborative effort between Jake Godby and Chris Cosentino, Food Network star and of Incanto and Boccalone. Now, we are quite familiar with ice cream. You know, the dessert with cream, sugar and flavourings such as vanilla, chocolate and strawberry (a la Mitchell's). Hey, there are more hip flavours such as salted caramel and lavender (a la Bi-Rite)! But honestly, even these are getting boring. Everyone is doing it.

Now Humphry Slocombe goes a bit further with such flavours as Jesus Juice, Secret Breakfast and what I tried today - Prosciutto. I also went for something a bit more "normal" in the Dulce de Leche as my second scoop. Now, I love pork products, especially salted ones from Boccolone and I do like ice cream. Imagine my excitement when I saw the marriage of the 2. It brought a tear to my eye. Well, not really; but I thought that would sound dramatic. In a similar concept as salted caramel, the prosciutto offered up the salty component to amp the flavour quotient of the sweet ice cream. In this case though, there was a "je ne sais quoi" with the addition of meat. As for the Dulce de Leche, it was just plain sweet. Of course it is supposed to be since it is mainly comprised of sugar and milk. The ice cream itself was pretty smooth with a few ice crystals. Not bad at all. Some flavours seemed a bit weird; but give 'em props for trying out new things. As for me, I'll stick to the salted pork and cream.

The Good:
- Innovative flavours (whether they work or not)
- Not too pricey
- Intense flavour

The Bad:
- A bit too sweet
- Some flavours might sound better than they taste

Foreign Cinema

Last year, I had planned to visit the Mission while in San Francisco. Sadly, it didn't come to fruition. A full year later, I made sure of it by gathering up my cousins for brunch at Foreign Cinema. In fact, I made a reservation via Opentable to ensure that nothing would get in the way of it. Normally, the best meal to have at Foreign Cinema would be dinner. You see, as the name implies, foreign movies are shown on the large back wall of the outdoor courtyard for your viewing pleasure as you dine. Already having a reservation for dinner at Incanto later only allowed for a brunch. No matter, I still get to try out the food and that's not such a bad thing! Cable Car Guy and AZee picked me up from the hotel to meet up with Sal. Good thing too because it was absolutely pouring. What is up with that anyways? Every time I visit San Francisco, the rain seems to follow... At the very least, it washes away the plethora of dog poop off the sidewalks. Upon entering Foreign Cinema, we were greeted by a long hallway reminiscent of movie theatres of yesteryear. It lead into an outdoor courtyard with a large clear plastic tarp. So, even though it was raining, we could still sit outside and enjoy the natural light. Good for pictures too!

AZee suggested we order 4 dishes to share. It's like she read my mind! Not only are my friends trained to appease my needs, my relatives too! I decided to add a Baked Calamari to start for good measure. Tender pieces of squid and butter beans were bathed in a Romesco sauce topped with bread crumbs and aoili. As mentioned, the squid was easy to eat while the Romesco sauce had a nice kick to it. The bread crumbs offered up some crunchiness while the aoili helped temper the tang and spice from the Romesco. After this, there was a fairly long wait for our main dishes. It was so long of a delay that they voluntarily offered us a house made Pear Pop Tart. Unlike a store bought one, this was not too sweet and the pastry was flaky and crisp. Nothing amazing; but a nice treat nonetheless. I give them props for noticing that we were getting a little antsy. For my main, I went with the Seafood and Potato Frittata. Beautifully presented with 2 perfectly seared scallops, mesclun greens and crispy pancetta, the frittata was finished with a green goddess dressing. Fully cooked; yet still fluffy, this was a light frittata. The flavours were mild with a taste of freshness due to the greens and herbs.

Sal, the French-obsessed person that she is, predictably had the Croque Madame. Essentially a Croque Monsieur with a fried egg and bechamel on top, this was quite heavy. I liked the perfectly runny egg yolk, it is both aesthetically and texturally pleasing. However, there was probably too much bechamel sauce. So much so, that is all we could see. Nothing wrong with the sauce itself, although it was on the floury side. Otherwise, the French ham and Gruyere still came through, we just couldn't see it. For kicks, she added a side of slow-cooked, brown sugar smoked Bacon. Wow. This bacon was absolutely delicious. Having a texture much like freshly made soft beef jerky with a sweet gooey brown sugar glaze, I would gladly trade-in my health to eat this everyday if I could. Cable Car Guy had the Poached Eggs and Slow-Cooked Pork Shoulder with avocado, chickpeas topped off with mojo verde. As you can see, the poached eggs were perfectly cooked and aesthetically pleasing. Trust me, this is not always a given. Just because it is cooked right doesn't excuse it from looking like a disfigured Michelin Man. Hiding underneath were tender nuggets of pork in a balanced braising liquid that had depth. It's too bad that there was so little pork in relation to everything else. So little that it had not much impact in the dish even though it was the "meat".

AZee had the Champagne-Truffle Omelet - another dish featuring egg, which is not usual since it was brunch. The omelet was executed quite well. Maybe slightly on the more cooked side; but it was still fluffy. The Fontina and herbs complimented the truffle with a nice blend of earthiness and slight woodsy taste. The reason we ordered this dish was not really for the omelet; rather for the crispy Yukon potatoes. We spotted the people beside us enjoying the potatoes and wanted to have it. Turns out that they were just okay. They were indeed crispy with a nice soft potatoey inside; however, that was about it. It's too bad we didn't get to watch a movie since it was not dinner time. Although AZee and CCG assured me it's really neat (and the food is good too). For our brunch, it was mostly solid presented in a unique dining space.

The Good:
- Solid execution
- Attentive service
- Nice dining space

The Bad:
- A bit pricey
- Food expediting was slow (they did give us a pop tart though)

Dol Ho

Originally, our plan was to hit up Yank Sing in SOMA for our Dim Sum adventure during our stay in San Francisco. However, for some reason or another, we decided to change it up. Rather than relaxing in an upscale dining room with pricey Dim Sum, we ended up heading over to Chinatown instead. In the pouring rain no less! If Yank Sing is the fine-dining equivalent of Dim Sum, then our choice of eats would be the diviest of dives. Dol Ho can be seen as the antithesis of Yank Sing (or Mayflower and Zen Pennisula). Let's just say that white glove service is not available. In fact, there are no white tablecloths either - let alone white anything since everything is a shade of gray or light brown... Service? Looked more like self-serve with the tea and utensils. At one point, we were wondering if they knew we existed. Fortunately, we speak Cantonese and communication was not a problem. However, if one didn't, I can see a whole lot of confusion in their future. That is further exacerbated by the lack of any written menus, in either language! Well, they don't really need'em since most of the clientele are locals. Oh yeah, Kim and I were probably a good 20 years+ younger than the average customer. Definitely brings back memories of my childhood when I had Dim Sum in San Francisco. I remember my grandparents taking me to Chinatown for ol' skool eats (I guess modern back then?). Hmm... in fact, I remember my grandfather getting me treats such as pig intestine and sand worms which I snacked on like they were Cheetohs. Now you can see where I get my love for offal and strange food!

So we ended up ordering some dishes and to my dismay they didn't have tripe! Hey what type of place is this anyways? No tripe? That's offal! Sorry, dumb pun... Whatever, we started with the classics – Haw Gow and Sui Mai. The Haw Gow was pretty decent considering the venue. Sure, the dumpling skin was slightly thick and overcooked; but the shrimp filling was good (natural shrimp flavour and a nice snap). The Sui Mai, in my opinion was fantastic. Large in size and exhibiting a good combination of hand-cleavered pork, shiitake and shrimp, these dumplings were slightly chewy in texture and full of flavour (thanks to the mushroom). Next up were some of the biggest balls I've ever seen. Er... I mean Beef Meatballs. In terms of texture, the meatballs were on the softer side. I would've liked to see more meat texture; but at the very least, there was not a huge amount of baking soda aftertaste. I liked the ample amount of greens and water chestnuts, they were a nice textural addition. Of course, another test of good Dim Sum is the Rice Noodle Roll. We got shrimp and although it looked too thick, the noodle turned out to be quite soft and easy to eat. With that being said, we would've preferred it to be thinner. The shrimp was quite nice having a nice snap texture.
We also got the Phoenix Talons (or chicken feet). Generally, these are fried before they are steamed with an oyster sauce-based glaze. This particular version was lightly fried; thus retaining much of the natural texture of the skin and gelatin underneath. It was more like boiled chicken feet than fried. However, it was good in its own ways, especially since it was so soft. Flavourwise, it was not salty and I could still taste the “chickeness”. Call it the power of suggestion as we got an order of the Steamed Spareribs on the account everyone else seemed to have ordered it. The meat was good with a nice bounce and chewiness. Not too much fat or cartilage present. It was only moderately-seasoned; hence we could still taste pork. On the topic of pork, we got an order of the BBQ Pork Buns. The bun itself was a bit on the crumbly side where it began to fall apart when we split it open. Not a huge problem though. I liked the BBQ pork filling. It was slightly sweet with a good amount of savouriness.

So with all this food, the total bill came to a little over $17.00 including tax. Sure, the place is a dive which seems to be in a time warp from the 70's; but honestly, the food is decent especially for the price. Yah, service is none-existent with ambiance that would rival a dirty bingo hall. The customers here are probably the average age of bingo players. They just don't play bingo. Possibly Mah Jong? Big 2? Now I'm being stereotypical... Anyways, the overall look of the place would worry some people. But give it a chance. Just try to phonetically remember some of your favourite Dim Sum dishes in Cantonese before you go. Oh, and don't be shy, you will most likely have to share a table.

The Good:
- Cheap
- Food is not bad
- If you want retro-style Dim Sum

The Bad:
- Service? Hahahaha...
- No menus, no English
- If you dislike dives

Slanted Door

Returning from munching on some Banh Mi from Saigon Sandwich, I was both full and content. Hey, I've already had breakfast at Taylor Street Coffee Shop, a burger from Hamburgers in Sausalito, a few bites at the Foodbuzz tasting pavilion and the aforementioned Banh Mi. All I wanted to do was relax in my hotel room. Maybe even take a nap. Hold on a minute, that just seems too perfect... Imagine my reaction when I got a text from Mijune that she was waiting for me at The Slanted Door. OMFG. I forgot. I totally forgot! I had been meaning to give her a call upon returning from Sausalito; but I got caught up in eating. Well, I had no choice. I quickly hauled ass over to the BART and made my way down to the Ferry Building. Give me credit, it took only a little over 15 mins to do so from Union Square. Luckily for me, Mijune is a forgiving person. Hey, she didn't kill me for winning the Maple Leaf contest over her. Or so it seems...

One good thing about meeting up later in the afternoon was the menu. Specifically, it is extremely limited with only 6 choices. Why good? Uh, I wasn't hungry and the Foodbuzz gala dinner was up next! Sure, we didn't get to sample anything substantial; but honestly, this new location of the Slanted Door is more than the food. Modern, trendy and located in a touristy area, the clientele are not only here for the food (an inadvertent jab at Kim?). Hence, we only got a Salad Roll and a Green Papaya Salad to share. Naturally, being roughly around happy hour, we both got drinks. Our bartender did a good job and we were in Margaritaville (well, figuratively). I'm not sure what Mijune had; however, my drink, Agricole Rhum Punch, was selected by the bartender. It consisted of La Favorite rhum agricole ambre, lime, cane syrup, with dashes of Angostura and allspice dram, dusted with nutmeg and served on the rocks. This was a good drink, if not a quite strong.

As you can see, the Salad Roll was a smaller version you'd find at regular Vietnamese restaurants. It was a well-executed typical salad roll. No complaints. I really enjoyed the Green Papaya Salad. It was very fresh and crunchy with a tart dressing. Again, we were happy. Now, this where it gets a bit strange. While I was munching on the salad, I didn't notice Mijune chatting with the people beside us. Then, all of a sudden, we had a Vegetarian Roll sitting in front of us. WTF? Apparently, Mijune had sweet-talked her way to someone elses' food! I did not know what to say. The girl has no shame! I guess being cute and outgoing didn't hurt either. So reluctantly, I tried the veggie roll and it was pretty good. Better than the salad roll in fact. Nice crunch and I liked the abundance of shiitake mushrooms. Okay, I know we only sampled a few appies, so the jury is still out on the Slanted Door. However, the items we did try were good, if not overpriced. Yet, a place like the Slanted Door isn't about being an inexpensive place for authentic Vietnamese food. The concept is strictly about ambiance, location and catering to a specific clientele. I'm probably not in that group; but for those who are, the Slanted Door delivers in that respect.

The Good:
- Nice decor and location
- Trendy and hip
- For the items we tried, food ain't bad

The Bad:
- Expensive
- If you were only looking for value and authentic Vietnamese food, go to Larkin Street

Saigon Sandwich

Last year, I strolled through the TL in Downtown San Francisco in search of Brenda's French Soul Food. It was part sketchy and a whole lot of "why am I here" stared me in the face (literally) as I navigated the mean streets. This time around, it was for Banh Mi or the Vietnamese Sub. Kim joined me on my little adventure and I guess it feels more comfortable with numbers. Besides, he's experienced a lot worse areas and only proceeded to mock my lack of resolve. No matter, I tend to go anywhere for food, even if personal safety is compromised. In reality, it wasn't scary at all, other than the minefield known as doggy doo. What's with dog crap and sidewalks here???

Anyways, we finally made it to Saigon Sandwich. Located amongst the other Vietnamese establishments on Larkin, it is both non-descript and got dive written all over it (amongst other writing on the awning). As expected, there was already a lineup. Doing like what the Romans do, we queued up. The 2 ladies behind the counter were pumping out sandwiches like there was no tomorrow. We ended up getting one each of the Special and Roasted Pork. Unlike the Banh Mi that we get in Vancouver, the French roll here is quite a bit denser and has a thick crust. It's quite the chew! Personally, I would prefer a lighter crunchier bread; but this one was okay as well. Despite the abundance of meat, the density of the bread overshadowed everything. The flavours were a bit lost as a result. With all that being said, I did not dislike the sandwiches. They were definitely different from what I am used to; but they are good in their own way. Factor in the always reasonable price of Banh Mi and one can see why there is always a lineup here.

The Good:
- Inexpensive as always
- Lots of stuff inside the sub
- Friendly shop operators

The Bad:
- Bread is a bit too dense for me personally
- Dodgy neighborhood, if that matters to you

Roman Ristorante

I never really pay attention to coupons that arrive in the mail. Hey, most of them are for things that don't immediately impact me. You know, coupons for cleaning gutters, built-in vacuum units, transmission repair, knives and the sort. It goes straight into the recycling... until I find water streaming down the side of the house. I guess I shouldn't have thrown the gutter coupon out after all! Along with those "straight-to-recycle" coupons are a few ads for restaurants. I do admit to checking them out from time-to-time. For some reason or another, the coupon for Roman Ristorante caught my attention. Sure they had some dinner for 2 deal which looked pretty good. But it was the promise of big plates of pasta at a good price that sealed the deal. Now, when we think of large plates of pasta, inevitably places like Anton's and Amorosa come to mind. Honestly, I do not prefer large plates of overcooked pasta with enough sauce to drown it. Rather, I'm of the belief that pasta should be al dente tossed with just the right amount of sauce for flavour. Personal preference really.

Originally, I tried to get the hockey team to join me after an early game; but no dice. Gadget Girl had a food voucher for the Thirsty Penguin upstairs at the rink. No offense to the Thirsty Penguin; but one blog post is enough. Thus, I had to go with Plan B - gather up enough people to try more than one plate of pasta. So we met up with Vandelay, Donna Chang, Whipping Girl and Rich Guy for some Italian eats. Once again, it's nice to have willing diners waiting to be put into active duty on the roster. We were a bit late arriving, so we left the ordering up to Vandelay. What we started with was a large Roman's Caesar. The salad is indeed large with crisp romaine and a house-made dressing. It's such a shame that there was a lack of acid and saltiness that we look for in a Caesar. Not enough lemon juice and anchovies? I did like the Focaccia bread though.

After a relatively long wait (small operation, it's forgivable), our 2 pizzas arrived. The first being the Capriciossa with tomato sauce, salami, ham, artichokes, mushrooms, black olives, mozzarella and edam cheese. This was not too bad. The thin crust was crispy, if not a bit dense and the toppings were plentiful. However, once again, there was a lack of salt - both in the dough and the toppings (which is strange since most of the items should have salt). Now with that in mind, the Caprese consisting of tomato sauce, fresh sliced tomatoes, boccocini, onions, capers, basil, mozzarella and edam cheese, was super bland. Sure, I'm aware that this pizza is not suppose to be ultra savoury due to the lack of meat; however, it was bland even though we were expecting it. It also didn't help that the pizza itself was quite wet.

Our first pasta was the Linguine alla Vongole. I'm sure Vandelay ordered this for me since it is my favourite. Pictures cannot do this large plate of pasta justice. It is really big. Think nearly Anton's big. I appreciated that there was not too much sauce in the pasta; yet once again... this was bland. I could not taste the clams, even though I saw them. I tasted fresh tomato, some wine and garlic and not much else. Furthermore, the pasta was cooked a tad too long. It was probably al dente when removed from the boiling water; but was no longer so after being tossed in the sauce. Honestly, if they added just more salt, this would taste good. Now you can probably guess what I'm going to say about the Spaghetti & Meatballs... Needs salt! Once again, the pasta was past al dente and in dire need of flavour. I liked the fresh tomatoes in the Pomodoro. I know it is not supposed to be ultra flavourful; but at the same time, it needed something extra. I liked the meatballs. They were moist, surprisingly seasoned and meaty.

Our last dish was the Veal Parmigiana (breaded veal topped with ham and mozzarella cooked in tomato sauce and hot oven served with linguini tomato sauce). I was a bit confused with the ham - kinda resembled a Veal Cordon Bleu with tomato sauce. No real issue though because it did taste okay. The veal was not exactly tender; but was not overly tough either. Let's just say "ditto" to the side of pasta. Now with my whining about bland pasta, you'd think I'd immediately click "I don't like" on Urbanspoon. Wait a moment. The food wasn't terrible. It was just underseasoned. As an update, I returned for another visit with Costanza and asked for more aggressive seasoning and the pasta was fantastic. Considering the gigantic portions and reasonable price point (for the pastas, not the pizzas) combined with personable "family-owned" service, Roman is a much better choice than Anton's.

The Good:
- Large portions
- Reasonable prices (for the pastas only)
- Homey place, homey service

The Bad:
- Lack of seasoning (asked for more salt and it was fantastic)
- Pizzas are pricey
- If you have more than 4 ppl, make a reservation

Hamburgers

I'm not afraid to admit it. I love burgers. Yah, it ain't necessarily the most glamorous of things to eat; but something about meat in a bun. Who doesn't like meat in a bun? Right, vegetarians. Well, then tofu in a bun in that case. Now, to what lengths will I go to try a good burger? Well, I'm not really into lining up, so probably wouldn't do that much. I have traveled far for pizza, so I guess I would do the same for a burger. But how far? How about out of town and then heading out even further? Apparently to Kim, it means taking a ferry ride over to Sausalito from the Ferry Building. I was a bit perplexed at that idea; but it seemed wacky enough to make sense. So, I decided to tag along. Why not, it was nice and sunny day.

In fact, the ferry ride over was quite enjoyable, if not a bit touristy. We did get our requisite pictures of the San Francisco skyline, Bay Bridge, Alcatraz and Golden Gate Bridge. For me, arriving via ferry to Sausalito seems very much like a cruise ship docking at a Caribbean port of call. Well, either that or I'm seriously aching to go on a cruise. I hope Viv is reading this... So after we dock, it was only a short walk over to Hamburgers. Yes, that's the name of the place. Very original ain't it? I wonder how Chinese restaurants would be received if their English name reflected what they served? Tripes & Trotters? Not sure if that would have the same effect. I digress. So the draw here are the fresh burgers. In fact, they are merely balls of ground beef that are formed into a burger patty when you put in an order. It is cooked on a rotating BBQ until medium. We got one of their Cheeseburgers served with Jack cheese. The meat was cooked perfectly medium and was decently moist. Not juicy while not dry either. There was some meat flavour that was conservatively seasoned. A good amount of fresh toppings made for a really solid burger. Not outstanding; yet enjoyable to eat. The only thing that I would change is the bun. Very generic and a bit dense.

To add a little variety, we decided to try their Steak Sandwich as well. Honestly, we really shouldn't have. We should've taken a hint from the restaurant name. It's not named Steak Sandwiches for a reason. What we essentially got was a thinner than thin minute steak in a hamburger bun. The steak was really overcooked (can't help it, too thin) and chewy. Furthermore, being so thin, it got cold instantly. Cold, chewy meat on a dense bun. No good. Of course we also got an order of Fries. Despite appearing like your regular generic krinkle-cut chips, they were fried really well being crispy and not oily. Surprising. Overall, I would say the burgers and fries are indeed quite good, steak sandwich withstanding. Worth the trip out to Sausalito? Possibly. But it's something that would be good to visit if you were intending to be out there in the first place.

The Good:
- Fresh ingredients
- Burger cooked to a perfect medium

The Bad:
- Stick with the burgers, steak sandwich is no good
- Place is super small