After a long walk in the botanical gardens, my friend and I walked down Haight and found Magnolia Pub and Brewery. It was a godsend that hydrated our souls (dehydrated our bodies) and lifted our spirits. Delicious homemade cask conditioned ales brewed in the basement of their Pub! Total drinkability.
Blue Bell Bitter
Gallows Hills Porter
Magnolia Pub and Brewery
1398 Haight St
San Francisco, CA 94117-2909
(415) 864-7468
Bi-Rite Creamery is:
Clockwise from top left: Vanilla Lavender (honey and lavender freshly gathered from nearby Mint Hill), Salted Caramel, Coffee Toffee (made with local Ritual coffee beans), and Creme Fraiche. All were outstanding, but I fell in love with the Creme Fraiche. Yum.
Bi-Rite Creamery
3692 18th St, San Francisco, CA
(415) 626-5600
This past week my boyfriend and I went out for dinner at the always satisfying restaurant Blue Plate. It has become a safety restaurant for us. It’s not too expensive, it’s not too far, and it’s not a Mexican restaurant. This tiny little nook on Montana raises the bar for comfort food. Unlike most restaurants that offer breakfast, lunch, and dinner, everything I’ve tried on the Blue Plate menu has been delicious and I always leave satisfied. This time around I ordered:
Matzo Ball Soup - Simple and delicious. It came with oyster crackers.
Chicken Chow Salad - I love this salad. Romaine lettuce, grilled chicken, grilled vegetables, feta cheese, avocado, cucumbers, and tomatoes. I could eat this everyday.
Coconut Ice Cream Ball - Vanilla ice cream rolled in toasted coconut served with chocolate syrup on the side. I never enjoyed coconut until recently, but it is as if a whole new world of delicious combination possibilities has opened up. Usually when I “share” with my boyfriend, he takes a bite and puts his utensil down. This was not the case, but instead turned into a barbaric spoon scooping war. Seriously. Chocolate syrup was shed. On the table, on the plate, on the floor, and on the face. Everywhere.
Blue Plate
1415 Montana Ave
Santa Monica, CA 90403-1711
(310) 260-8877
Brentwood is not the same as it was when I first moved here. And that is a good thing. For quite a number of months, I have watched the slow transformation of a Hamburger Hamlet (a restaurant I have never been) turn into a beautiful hot spot, Tavern (a restaurant I want to go to everyday). Tavern (and Larder) is the product of renowned restaurateurs Suzanne Goin and Caroline Styne. Their other amazing restaurants include A.O.C. and Lucques. Also, Suzanne Goin and her husband, David Lentz, own the delicious Hungry Cat.
A few weekends ago, my roommate and I decided we would go for drinks and appetizers at the bar. We went around six, which was early enough to avoid the dinner crowd. The stools at the bar counter were full, but the chairs and tables surrounding the bar were still available. The bar is beautiful. The design of the bar (and everywhere else) is well thought out; fluidly chic from the lighting to the upholstery on the chairs. The service was also excellent and consistent even as the place progressively became more crowded.
First drink: I had a glass of Cabernet. Instead of writing down the exact wine or trying to memorize what I ordered, I thought I could just go online and check their wine menu. Sadly, they don’t have it up. So I don’t know exactly which one I ordered.
Second Drink: Lucques Gimlet - Hangar One Vodka, fresh lime juice, and mint. Delicious. In my humble opinion, I prefer the cocktails to the wine. And in no way is that a criticism to the wine list, but instead a compliment to the cocktail menu. All their cocktails are creative and delicious. I would order any of them and be satisfied.
While I was there to just have a few drinks, my roommate ordered some bar food which I was fortunately able to sample:
Steak tartare with quail egg - It is hard to believe that I was a vegetarian for eight years, because I could eat this perfectly seasoned tartare with quail egg everyday. And part of me wants to only to catch up on the lost carnivorous years.
Gougères with french radishes - A gougères is a choux pastry (light pastry dough made from butter, water, fllour and eggs) filled with cheese. I think Tavern follows tradition and makes their gougères with gruyere cheese, but I could be wrong and plan to return soon to taste again. A French radish, also known as French Breakfast Radish, is an elongated red-skinned and white root base. I only had one, but that is all I needed to fall in love. It’s a cheese pastry in a ball form that you can pop into your mouth. What’s not to like about it?
The Tavern and the Larder (marketplace/café) are wonderful additions to my neighborhood. I love that in a short walk I can be consuming tasty drinks and amazing dishes. I plan to go back in the future, repeatedly.
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I haven’t posted in forever. I have a really bad cold right now. It sucks. This week has been very hard for me to get through. But, in more interesting news:
1. I went to Intelligentsia Venice. I love the way it looks. I enjoy the personalities found behind the counter and in fellow patrons. However, I think I prefer the Silver Lake Intelligentsia more simply because I find their assembly line of baristas (one to take your order, one to make your order, one to ring you up) works smoother and faster than Venice’s one stop barista (one person takes your order, makes your drink, and then finally rings you up). Maybe this is just a sign from above for me to put down my to do list, take a deep breath, and enjoy the processes of life.
1½. Speaking of Intelligentsia, I currently am sipping on the in season, direct trade, single origin, El Machete, Panama. Yum. Not the best part of waking up, but really the only reason I wake up.
2. I went to the Tavern with my roommate for drinks and bar snacks. I loved everything about this restaurant. I hope to write more about it soon. I know I have started the post, but have not gotten around to finishing it.
3. I just bought my first loaf of Woman’s Bread. I really like it. If you’re not a woman, there is also Men’s Bread. If you are not a woman, nor a man, there is gender unbiased / androgynous bread. French Meadow Bakery is healthy, organic, and tasty. I’ve used it for mainly turkey sandwich purposes.
4. I wish I could take some HiberNol.
5. Hope to update more this weekend. Have a happy Friday!
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The easiest part of this race was the running. It was everything else that made it hard. Correction: Technology made it hard. My shuffle, Shuffley, refused to turn on when the race began. This made no sense to me because I turned it on 30 minutes prior to ensure it was working and that there would be no repeats of Shuffley trouble (San Diego Half Marathon). Shuffley might be a race-ist. Or, maybe Shuffley is just race shy, because Shuffley did not work. Thus, I started the race upset. I tried to focus on the running, but I kept getting distracted and discouraged by the beautiful noises of others. For instance, the lovely woman that took deep, loud, vocal breaths; each time she exhaled, she panted out the words “oh my god.” I was too frustrated to find humor in this situation at the time and only grew more annoyed and conflicted. I couldn’t sprint ahead because that would ultimately lead me to burning out. And I couldn’t slow down because that would compromise my own time. Instead, I distracted myself with random thoughts. Like, what if that dog, that I guess was allowed to be racing, poops on the course. I would definitely be the one that stepped in it. Fortunately, the blasphemous breather disappeared in my dust, the dog never went to the bathroom, and Shuffley finally turned on around mile four. Shuffley’s resurrection significantly increased my speed and mood. I was able to recover some of the lost time and finished the race in under an hour (which means that I ran the race faster than I train). So, yay.
Now… the good stuff.
It has become tradition for my roommate and I to go out to Father’s Office II for post race celebration. After the Santa Monica Classic, I did not think tradition was going to be upheld. Instead, I took a 2 hour nap, went grocery shopping, and lounged around. That is until I got the text message from my roommate asking if I wanted to go out. Of course I did! Here are the highlights:
1. Carafe of Melville “Vernas” Pinor Noir ‘07
2. Rare Yellow Fin Tuna (a special that quickly sold out after I ordered it) - yuzu cherry tomato “ceviche”, shiso, and cilantro sprouts.
3. The Bruery Saison Rue
Father’s Office II.
Melville Syrah Wine (one of my favorite vineyards).
Beet Salad - with blue cheese and walnuts (and some lettuce hidden underneath it all)
Scaldís Noel Beer - A Winter Ale
Strangely, FO wouldn’t let me have the Scaldís bottle. Apparently there is a rule that they can’t let the bottle cross over the bar counter. Weird, huh? They did let me take a picture. This beer is a seasonal and delicious. It is thick, creamy, and had a hint of cherry and clove to it. It’s one of those beers you can’t drink too many of because it’s so filling and rich, but it was nice to sip on and perfect for the winter.