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

Foodbuzz Gala Dinner

I can't believe a year has gone by since the last Foodbuzz Blogger's Festival. Time really flies when one is eating every day. *Burp*. Now unlike last year, there is a contingent of Vancouver bloggers, albeit a small one. Thus, it was slightly good and bad. Sure, I had people to hang out with who I already knew; yet I didn't get to meet as many other bloggers as last year. Was I being anti-social? Not sure, maybe... I was probably just being lazy to tell you the truth. Well, on that note, fresh off afternoon drinks and appies at the Slanted Door with Mijune, we were off to the 2010 Foodbuzz Gala Dinner. Conveniently held at the Ferry Building since we were there already! We met up with Kim and TS/JS just as they were setting up the for dinner. We were "held" in a separate area for cocktails and various appies. It's funny how we positioned ourselves near where the appies were prepared. That way, we could "intercept" them before they hit the hungry crowd. Starting from top left and going clockwise, we have the Madelaine with tuna. Then Gougère with Gruyere. After that we spotted some crunchy Fried Chicken Balls with a sweet glaze. Despite my propensity towards balls, this was only my second favourite. My
personal favourite was the soft Polenta with a Brunoise. Lastly, we had Beef Roll with scallions.

We were very much done with the appies and waited and waited and waited so more. Finally, we were seated at around 8:00pm, completely famished. I guess catering for 350 people is not an easy thing to do! Starting with the first course, Roasted Golden Beet Tart with crimson beets and arugula basil puree. This was a mild start to the meal as most of the components were quite understated, arugula withstanding. The beet tart was sweet and smooth and was accented quite nicely with the puree. Good stuff, just not my personal favourite.

Now the next dish was a favourite for sure! The Seared Scallops were some of the biggest I've ever seen. Resting underneath was braised fennel while on top was fried fennel fonds. The dish was finished with a Bonny Doon Vineyard Verjus beurre blanc. Honestly, it was all about the scallops though. They were perfectly seared (on one side) and just barely cooked. Perfection! They were naturally sweet and the mildness of the other components let it shine. I liked how the fennel still had some crunch too. Next up was the Rosemary and Garlic Infused Rack of Lamb. My portion was small and not picture-worthy, so I traded with Mijune. Now her rack was bigger and juicier... er... yah... Apparently it was "Frenched" as well... uh... Well, she was so impressed with the pictures of her rack, she wanted me to share it with everyone. So here you go... It was perfectly cooked and definitely flavourful. No complaints here. It was served with mushrooms, Pinot Noir sauce and a butternut squash puree. I found the mushrooms to be a good compliment to the lamb and the sauce and vice versa. Nice combination of woodsy and red wine flavour. Although I liked the squash puree, there seemed to be an overabundance of it.

For dessert, we were served an Almond Tart with oranges, Spanish Sherry sabayon finished with figs. The tart itself was buttery; yet curiously a bit dry. I liked how it was not too sweet and I could actually taste some of the individual components. Not too bad considering the silky sabayon on the side. A "safe" dessert for the differing tastes among the 350 guests. Pretty good dinner if we take account the venue and the large party size. Execution was pretty much spot on and the wait could be forgiven since they had to sear 700 scallops!

Cockney Kings

Way back when, over 2 years ago, I had blogged about Cockney Kings. In particular, their all-you-can-eat Cod 'n Chips for $9.50 including non-stop pop. That was early on in my blogging days and to tell you the truth, the pictures have been bugging me since. You see, I started taking pictures with my Blackberry (may it rest in peace...). It gradually elevated to my Canon SD600 point and shoot up until now with the DSLR. So, during these past 2 years, I have been waiting for my chance to return. I'm not sure why it took so long since I always drive by it. Yet, it took an innocent looking coupon to seal the deal. Rather than going for the AYCE dinner again, I went for the 2 Halibut or Salmon Dinners for $18.95. Sounded good to me! Of course for variety purposes, I asked if we could have one Halibut and one Salmon. A confirmation from our server meant it was good to go. Included in the meals were chips of course, coleslaw, dinner roll and refillable drinks.

Before my blogging days, I'd been to Cockney Kings quite a few times and I don't remember a bad meal. Sure, there would still be subtle variations each time; yet, if you have ever run a restaurant or worked in a restaurant, you will know how difficult it is to be exactly the same every time. All I look for is some resemblance of consistency and that is good enough for me. So before I could even set up my camera, the food arrived. Wow, talk about some quick frying. I started with the Wild Salmon 'n Chips first. Normally, fried salmon can get very tough and dry. I know it is a bad comparison; but the version at Red Robin is akin to eating shoe leather. So I wasn't holding much hope. To my surprise, not only was the salmon moist and tender, it was quite flavourful as well. I guess it has something to do with being wild. Viv thought it had a slight fishiness to it. For me, it tasted quite good and besides, salmon is a fatty fish, there will be some flavour there. As for the batter, it may not be necessarily the thinnest out there; but it is quite light and crisp. The fries are pretty much the same as I've had before. They are not overly crisp while not soggy either. I find them slightly starchy. It goes well with the mild tartar sauce (only some hint of zing, mostly smooth). We would've benefited from some lemon wedges.

Viv and I split the pieces of fish and I got to try the Halibut 'n Chips second. Once again, pretty solid, just like I remembered. The halibut was cooked perfectly. Flaky, moist and with some firm texture, this is how halibut should be prepared. The batter on this piece was about the same with good crunch in certain spots. The good thing about both pieces was that they weren't too greasy. What Viv particularly like was the Coleslaw. It was fresh and crispy with a good amount of zing. It wasn't too heavy on the dressing either. Just for the curiosity of it all, I added a bowl of Clam Chowder. For some reason or another, I had forgotten that it's not really my cup of tea. Neither creamy (Boston-style) or tomatoey (Manhattan-style), this was more like a strange pea soup than a chowder. It was actually quite thin and extremely salty. And believe me, I like salt. Furthermore, it was a seafood chowder rather than exclusively clams. It wasn't terrible. It just wasn't clam chowder. But honestly, it's the fish 'n chips that matter here. And they do it right. Another solid meal here. No surprises, honest service and a dining room in need of a makeover. That's about it. Just stay away from the chowder.

The Good:
- Consistently solid
- Reasonably-price (even w/o coupons)
- Decent AYCE cod 'n chips on Mon, Tues, Wed

The Bad:
- In past visits, I've had their other items - stick with the fish 'n chips
- It gets busy during AYCE, better arrive early or later on

Taylor Street Coffee Shop

All along, we were planning on paying Dottie's True Blue Cafe for some breakfast during our time in San Francisco. After all, it's only located 1/2 a block from the hotel. But for the love of everything, there was a lineup that looked to be 1 hour long. You know how much I love lineups. Scratch that plan. So off we went in search of other morning eats. Strolling around downtown, while dodging smeared dog poop all over the sidewalks, we ended up at Taylor Street Cafe. Well... with the help of the internet, specifically Yelp. Essentially a dive, it did not have a lineup and there were some items on the menu that looked a bit different from the ordinary. C'mon, breakfast is not rocket science. Anything a bit different catches my attention. You can get bacon and eggs anywhere.

We sat down at a table for 2 in the spatially-challenged dining room and started to strategize as what to order. No duplicates! So, as a baseline of sorts, we got a typical breakfast in the Meatlover's. 2 eggs, ham steak, bacon, chicken apple sausage ($1 more) and toast, pretty standard fare. Not much to complain about here, ample meat prepared correctly and the eggs were nicely runny, if not really sunny-side up (cooked with a lid on, thus the appearance). I liked how the toast was not pre-buttered, which allowed me to be conservative with it.

Kim ended up ordering something different and pricey in the Sailor's Hash. A unique combination of shrimp, crab, smoked salmon, scrambled eggs, cheddar, bacon and peppers atop a piece of crispy hashbrown, this was not a typical hash. It was not a hash in the normal sense since it really was a scramble on top of hashbrowns. But I liked it. The eggs were not too overcooked while the ample ingredients gave a mix of flavours. Not sure what flavour it was, it was pleasing though. The crispy hashbrown provided a nice textural contrast. Although this was a solid dish with good components, the price tag of $13.00 was a bit high considering the venue and location. With that being said, the eats here are solid, if not good. Staff are friendly and its got this homey, dive feeling about it. Yet, you can practically eat anywhere for $13.00, so I'm not sure if Taylor Street Coffee Shop would necessarily be considered a cheap place for breakfast.

The Good:
- Nice staff
- Solid eats
- Good portions

The Bad:
- Not really cheap
- Narrow dining space

Momoyama

Seeing how I visited Minake recently and have only 2 more Japanese restaurants left in the area of the Newton Wave Pool, I decided to knock off another today. Since I've already been to the Scott Road location of Toyko Sushi Express already, the natural choice was Momoyama. Located in the plaza across the street from Minake, Momoyama is one of many restaurants which include C-Lovers, India Gate and Lee's Chicken (yay!). Yes, no need to head all the way to Abbotsford for Lee's Chicken anymore! This one is "relatively" closer. As a side note, this area is terrible for those wanting to turn left into a plaza. You just can't. Either you have to be lucky enough to be traveling in the right direction or you have to literally go around on a scenic drive to align yourself going the right direction! I think practically every time I've been in the area, I've made a U-Turn somewhere to get to my destination (well, not in front of the cop shop though!).

Fortunately, this plaza had a side entrance once I made a left, so no circling around this time! I ended up with the Deluxe Bento Box in order to try out a variety of items. Normally, most bento boxes include an Ebi Sunomono and there is very little difference between all of them. So imagine my utter shock when I was presented with the bowl you see in the picture. If the 10+ pieces of shrimp weren't enough, there was a sushi ebi to top it all off. Unfortunately, the vermicelli underneath was super soft and warm. Furthermore, it was sweet with very little tang, I had to use the lemon to make up for it. Although, I do give them kudos for the massive amount of ebi. Included in the combo was a full size Dynamite Roll. It was indeed large and topped with a large amount of tobiko. With very little rice on the outside and a large amount of surimi and a crunchy ebi tempura, the roll was not bad. I would've liked that the rice wasn't so gummy; but it wasn't too bad. The rice itself did have some flavour; yet ever so slightly.

The Sashimi consisted of salmon and tuna. The salmon was fine; but the tuna was not. Still frozen and icy, I ate one and left the other to thaw. Even leaving it to the last thing I ate, the tuna was still frozen. Imagine frozen and mushy at the same time. Not good. The Tempura was not much better. With globs of batter on the exterior of most pieces, I had to physically remove the batter to eat it. Otherwise, I got chunks of doughiness mixed in with slightly crunchy bits. The green bean was particularly confusing. Not sure how they got a glob of batter to adhere. It looked like a growth or something. On the topic of doughy, the Chicken Teriyaki was subpar. The flour coating was not crisp at all; rather, there were mushy parts abound. It was like eating pieces of chicken with unmixed roux attached to it. On the positive, there was plenty of tender chicken. Furthermore the sauce was not too overpowering.

This was one large combo! I didn't even include the 3 pieces of Nigiri... There were also 3 Gyozas! These confused me though. They were definitely not fried gyozas; however, they seem to try very hard to be fried. The wrapper was hard and dry from top to bottom. Although I did appreciate that it was thin. As for the filling, it was mealy and flavourless. Although the meat filling was cooked, it had the texture of uncooked pork. I'm okay as I write this, so it was cooked. I was barely able to finish all the components of this bento box. There was so much food. Considering that it cost exactly the same price as the combo I had at Minake, this was a much better value. Now, in terms of execution, there was a lot to be desired. I think there was an issue with every single item. Not a ringing endorsement... Yet, if you are looking for a decent value and food that is edible, Momoyama is still an option. You must remember that I've been to many Japanese restaurants and I may just being picky.

The Good:
- Good value
- Large portions

The Bad:
-Execution issues
-Limited service since there is only one server (friendly though)