Taqueria Zorro

Not much to say about stop #10, Taqueria Zorro. Been there a couple of times before for a burrito and wasn’t too impressed. Decided to change things up this time and go with a veggie taco, again I wasn’t too impressed. Prices are good, food is mediocre at best, there are TVs if you want to watch sports, and they do sell beer. Lots of daily specials, but too bad the food is not special. Next!  

One Ciabatta loaf. 

Nizario's

Did you miss me? I sure missed eating unhealthy food like pizza, so I was thrilled that next on the list was Nizario’s. After a month long cleanse (go me!) I went to stop #9 with my fabulous sister Stanko for a slice of pizza. The little sis even decided to treat, very nice of my out of town guest. They had about six different slices available. I went for the cheese with pesto & she had ham & pineapple. It was $7.50 for two slices, about average in NB. Nizario’s is much more spacious on the inside than it looks from the outside, but its still fairly small. They have two flat screen TVs, but don’t think of this as a good spot to grab a beer and watch a game since they don’t serve alcohol. The pizza was decent, but not mind blowing, we both agreed it would probably taste better after a couple of beers (that you would have to consume elsewhere). Best part of this spot for sure was the company.  

http://www.nizarios.com/

Two Ciabatta loaves (one for each Ciabatta sister)

E Tutto Qua

 

Since Andrea the friendly & humorous guy at the door constantly tries to get me to dine at this establishment while I’m waiting to catch the bus to the ballpark I was excited to finally say yes to him and come in for a meal. Stop #8 was E Tutto Qua, which translates to "It's All Here" True story. This place has it all, amazing atmosphere, super engaging & attentive staff, and fabulous food. Even though I wasn’t going to the Giants game I of course still wanted to watch it, so what better way to do so than at a fun restaurant with my girls? Diane & Erin were able to join me and we were lucky enough to get a cozy corner table and a channel change so we could view the  

the game. The restaurant is nice from the outside but it is even more impressive inside. Extremely lively. The wait staff is so comfortable with each other they even yell orders out across the room and manage to do so in a non-distracting way. We started with the burrata pomodoro de rucola: creamy Italian mozzarella with cherry tomatoes, arugula, and Kalamata olives. When they say creamy it is not false advertising. Absolutely delish, a great combo of flavors. I just wish there were more tomatoes with it. For our main dishes, Di got the spaghetti Bolognese, I had the gnocchi in a gorgonzola sauce (big surprise) and Erin had one of the specials- spinach fettuccine with prosciutto, mushrooms & sweet green peas in a light cream sauce. We were all very happy with our pastas, spicy D just wished hers had a bit more spice. It felt like a traditional Italian meal where you truly get to sit for hours and enjoy wonderful rich food & conversation with good peeps. Erin called the wait staff ninjas since they would manage to fill up water glasses or clear dishes from the table with out us even noticing. I actually liked it better when the “ninjas” would stop by and chat with us. They were all very entertaining, which was a good thing since the game sucked. L For dessert I was talked into getting the panna cotta and I’m very happy about that. Andrea did not steer me wrong. It was decadent. Half of it was covered in strawberry sauce and the other in chocolate hazelnut. AMAZING. The girls both had gelato, Di had chocolate chip and Erin had chocolate hazelnut. The gelato was really good too and they have 12 flavors to chose from. Wonderful experience. The service was above and beyond (and easy on the eyes) and the food and atmosphere were just like being in Italy.  

I think you can guess how many Ciabatta loaves this one got:

Yokohama

Sushi restaurants in NB? There are three. Great sushi in NB? There are zero. Decent sushi in NB? There are two. Bad sushi in NB? There is one. Stop #7 brought me to me first bad review: Yokohama. My lunch companions were two out of towners, actually, out of the country-ers. Niamh from Ireland & Nate from Australia. Both lived in Tokoyo for several months. Now, I know what you are thinking, Why would you bring two peeps visiting SF with amazing sushi experience to a sushi place in Little Italy? Well, cause it was next on the tour, and I follow the rules! Upon entering the restaurant we were not greeted warmly, in fact we were barely greeted at all. After much deliberation we decided on the monkey ball (spicy tuna, shichimi, goma & sesame oil), the Broadway roll (halibut & cream cheese), and the tempura roll. Oh, and Nate got the chicken katsu one of his faves. The tempura was spelled tempera on the menu, which is defined as a permanent fast-drying painting medium. This might be the reason it did not taste very good. The texture was extremely different than i'm used to. The food didn't taste fresh, or unique, and wasn't anything I would want to order again. When we were leaving Nate noticed Polaroid pictures on the wall of past customers with quotes written on them about how great the food was. Notice I said Polaroids which should date these rave reviews, but just in case you need an actual date- they were from 2001- maybe the food was as well. Still in search of delish sushi in NB, but at least I have amazing Italian food to hold me over until I do. Sorry N&N for subjecting you to this, but at least you got a free meal. :) 

*This restaurant is not worthy of any Ciabatta bread. 

Brandy Ho's

Stop #6 was Brandy Ho's Hunan Food. I've gotten food delivered from here a couple of times, but never been inside the restaurant. It's large and was fairly busy for lunch time. They have amazing lunch specials. Upon being seated they serve you wonton crisps & tea. Both were good. I ordered the garlic chicken & steamed rice which came with hot & sour soup (my fave), cold noodles in peanut sauce, and a green onion cake. My lunch companion, Shawn, ordered the hunan style stewed beef which came with the soup & onion cake, but pickled veggies instead of cold noodles. Both these lunch specials were under 8 bux. A ton of food for that price. I really enjoyed the entire meal especially the soup & the garlic chicken. Luckily I ordered the chicken mild since my mouth was on fire by the end of my meal- but i'm a bit of a wuss when it comes to spicy food. Shawn enjoyed his as well and said it was pretty typical for what he would expect for a hunan lunch special but for the price it was well worth it. The service was also really good, extremely attentive, they were eager little beavers. Whether it's dine in or delivery i'm sure to eat here again.

www.brandyhos.com

4 out of 5 Ciabatta loaves

Brioche Bakery & Cafe

Living in NB i'm surrounded by tons of pasta options, don't get me wrong this is not a complaint, but one thing i've struggled to find is a good salad option. This is why I was really looking forward to checking out stop #5 Brioche Bakery & Cafe. In addition to the five salads they offer on their daily menu they also offer a salad du jour. I'm very familiar with a soup du jour (which they have as well) but a salad du jour? Yes, please. Today was a Greek Salad. I ordered a small one to accompany the Grilled Caprese Panini I wanted. I was informed that they were out of panini bread. I have to say this really took me by surprise- there are six panini sammys on the menu, how is it possible to be out of the bread used for them at 1pm on a Tuesday? They did offer to make the panini on another type of bread, but I wanted it to be authentic. However, my salad did not disappoint, it had all the typical ingredients of a Greek: romaine lettuce, tomatoes, red onion, Kalamata olives & feta cheese. It was really good. Still want to go back one day and get my panini & possibly one of their daily salads.

http://www.briochecafe.com

3 out of 5 Ciabatta loaves (simply due to the panini let down)

Comstock Saloon

Stop #4 brought me back to a place I have been to a couple of times before: Comstock Saloon (CS). In the past I have just gone for drinks and appys. I especially like the Pisco Punch (Pisco, pineapple gum & lime). This time we were all in for a full on meal- yay! It was technically a "business" dinner, but with friends. We sat in the dining area instead of the saloon so we could handle the business part of the evening in a quietter setting. I really enjoy the atmosphere at CS. Very lively and old school. Instead of the amazing cocktails CS serves we decided on a bottle of wine-  a lovely Pinot Noir, my fave! For appys we had BBQ chips with ranch dressing. Simple, but effective. The bite from the BBQ cooled by the ranch was a great combo. We also had the rabbit 3 way: bruschetta style, deep fried, and pate style. The best was the deep fried style, followed closely by the bruschetta, wasn't crazy about the pate- i'm a texture girl so this wasn't my style. We also had Pig in a Biscuit. The homemade biscuits were amazing, the crispy pork inside was a little bland, until I added the secret sauce. "You can put this stuff on anything & it's good," Shannon said referring to the spicy vinegar. She was right. The vinegar is marinated for five days in chillies. The mildness of the vinegar with the spiciness of the chillies was yummy on anything it was added to. For the main course I chose the Grilled Skirt Steak with avo. It was scrumptious. I loved everything about it. The meat was cooked to perfection, the tomatillo salsa had great flavor to compliment the meat, the beans and avo were nice additions as well, all wrapped in the tortillas made for a meal I hope to have again soon. Shannon had the Ricotta gnocchi with roasted maitake mushrooms, green & yellow wax beans, English peas & parmesan. I was lucky enough to taste it. This texture girl was pleased with the gnocchi- another fave of mine. 

Joey had the fried squash blossoms with mashed potatoes. Yet another impressive dish. Josh went with the 3 course prix fixe menu which included the squash blossoms, skirt streak, and dessert. This was available on the daily specials board. For dessert he chose the whiskey pudding & was kind enough to share it with the rest of us- well a couple of bites. I'm not a huge pudding fan, but I have to admit this was tasty. There were small pieces of granola on the top which was great with the smoothness of the pudding. Delish meal overall. "Best work meeting i've ever been to," said Shannon.

http://www.comstocksaloon.com/

5 out of 5 Ciabatta loaves