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

Caffe Macaroni Sciue Sciue

Stop # 3 brought me to Caffe Macaroni Sciue Sciue (Macaroni). For the first time on my journey I had a companion. My lovely friend Bethany (B) was able to join me. Yay! As soon as we stepped inside the energy in this place was beyond contagious. We were greeted by a very friendly gentleman, who we found out later was the owner, Mario. We sat at a candlelit high top table. There are two very small TVs on the wall, just large enough to catch the score of a game, which for a sports fan like myself was perfect. This was the best place for B & I to have our much needed catch up sesh. The wait staff were funny, helpful, and kind, checked on us often, but gave us our space to have an uninterrupted conversation. We occupied the table for hours (girls like to talk!) and we never once felt like they were trying to turn the table over, and for a Friday night in SF this is noteworthy.

Being that it was a Friday night, B & I decided to partake in adult beverages. She had the Pink Emotion, which is Prosecco flavored with guava juice and I had the Sweet Dream, Prosecco flavored with mango juice. They have little pieces of fresh strawberries and apples in them. Extremely refreshing. B said the guava taste hit her at the end and sat on the roof of her mouth in a good way!

My favorite taste of the night by far was the olive oil that accompanied the bread. It had chopped garlic, parsley, and sun-dried tomato. AMAZING. This should be available for purchase.  For starters we had the Insalata Caprese: fresh mozzarella, tomato, and basil & the Calamari Marinati: grilled calamari salad. The salads like the drinks were refreshing. Next B had the Carpaccio: thinly sliced raw beef, capers, and pecorino. B said, "Rally good. The saltiness of the capers, creaminess of the pecorino, and freshness of the meat is the perfect balance." Macaroni is known for their spaghetti & meatballs, but being the gnocchi connoisseur that I am that was my meal of choice. It was in a tomato sauce with mozzarella and not the typical al dente texture you usually get with gnocchi. It was good, but next time I think I will go for their signature dish or one of the specials   that were recommended.

To complete the evening B & I ordered the Chocolate Truffle Gelato. WOW. It came in a glass on a powdered sugar covered plate. The gelato was coated in a hard shell fudge with nuts. It was scrumptious.


Along with the check came two yummy limoncello shots. Score! After that an introduction to Mario, who was kind enough to give us a tour of The Purple Onion. This is the nightclub that is located downstairs and hosts comedy shows throughout the week and serves food from the Macaroni menu. I look forward to catching a show there in the near future. (http://www.caffemacaroni.com/purple.shtml)

I will return to Caffe Macaroni simply for the experience- great bluesy music, friendly people, and just a warm atmosphere all around. Oh and of course for that amazing olive oil!

http://www.caffemacaroni.com/sciue.shtml
3 out of 5 Ciabatta loaves

Macellato

I walked into stop number 2, Macellato,  to find a very happy young guy behind the counter. Immediately he greeted me with a high five and a "what's up cousin?" I was surprised but returned the fiver and muttered something about not much being up.
Here's how the rest of the conversation unfolded:
High-fiver (HF): "What can I get you?"
Me: "I will take the pulled pork sammy."
HF: "Great, it's on me."
Me: "Ummm..." I was thinking, wow! My blog is really starting to get noticed.
HF: "The owner told me you were coming in."
Me: "I don't know the owner."
HF: "You aren't his cousin?"
Me: "Nope. Oh so, that's why you called me cousin?!"
HF: Laughing, "So you just thought I called a random customer cousin?"
Me: Laughing, "Yep. I thought it was a little odd, but very friendly."
HF: "Well the owner said to look out for his pretty blonde cousin that would be coming in, so..."
Me: Smiling and noting the blog brownie points in my head for the compliment, I replied, "Now that we got that all straightened out, what do I owe you for the sammy?"
HF: Slightly flustered, he said, "Eight bucks."

I grabbed a table outside, another beautiful day in SF. Macellato is extremely small, more of a take out place, but they do have a couple of tables inside and outside. The menu is very limited  but all good options. They have ribs & a few "wiches" on their regular menu (see above left) and a couple of daily specials (see above right).

I went with one of the specials the "pulled porkwich" and it was delish. On a soft roll with BBQ sauce and and a very unique slaw. It was very tender and flavorful. I enjoyed every bite and look forward to checking out a second "wich" some time soon. The prices do include tax, but $8 for a sammy is a little high especially since it doesn't come with anything on the side, but fairly average for SF.  They do have sides available for a couple bux more. They also serve wine which is always a plus. So, that's what's up cousin!

www.macellato.com


4 out of 5 Ciabatta loaves

Yan's Kitchen

Gorgeous day for...Hunan cuisine! Finally started my Consuming Columbus (CC) journey today. The first restaurant on the tour was Yan's Kitchen, located at 57 Columbus Ave. I got a seat by the window with a partial view of the Transamerica Building. Very quiet & quick spot for lunch.
For sure this is a family owned business and they were extremely friendly. I ordered the hot & sour garlic chicken with veggies. It was delish, despite the over-abundance of bamboo shoots. The chicken was the best part, very tasty. The sauce was spicy, but not too overpowering. The portion was so big, it was enough for two, but since I was dining by my lonesome I now have leftovers for tomorrie. Score! The meal included hot tea, egg flour soup, two egg rolls or pork dumplings all for six bux. Great lunch deal. I did not partake in the rolls or dumplings, but the soup was decent. I would for sure dine or take out from here again. Cheers!


3 out of 5 Ciabatta loaves

Introduction

"Have you ever eaten at the Steps of Rome? What about Rose Pistola? You have to, the pasta is amazing!"

Since I moved to North Beach (NB) in San Francisco these are the typical questions & comments I get from my friends. I’m always left with the same thought, how does one check out all of the restaurants in NB? I have a few faves that I constantly return to, but what am I missing out on? Then I had a thought, what if I do check out EVERY restaurant in NB? Well that would be very ambitious, expensive, and well um not so good for the waistline. So I decided to limit it to the main street in NB: Columbus. How many restaurants could there possibly be on a 1.2 mile stretch? There are 50 to be exact! That is still quite overwhelming but not if I give myself a year to accomplish this mission. Game on!

Please follow me as I consume Columbus Avenue starting at Washington Street and ending my journey at Beach Street. Sometimes I will dine alone, but I’m encouraging my lovely friends to join me along the way. Buon Appetito! 

Cheers,

Ciabatta