Eating in SF

Been eating out a lot recently, but rapidly forgetting where. To keep track of where I've been so far for future reference...

Memphis Minnie's BBQ - 576 Haight St (between Fillmore and Steiner)
- Very yummy bbq. We got two 2-meat combos and tried the brisket, smoked pork, pork ribs, and beef ribs. My faves were the pork, his were the beef, it was all good. Sides were interesting - very vinegary greens that didn't taste like veggies, sweet & tart cole slaw, fairly standard potato salad, and well-spiced fries. Would definitely go again.

Sorabol Korean - in Westfield SF Shopping Center food court
- Not bad, especially for food court food. Flavors are good, though the meat is all rather gristly and chewy. Lots of tendons and fat and such still attached. But it's yummy and they give you a rather large portion of rice and cellophane/rice noodles. Also comes with kimchee except I'm not a kimchee eater so I left that behind.

Assab Eritrean Restaurant - 2845 Geary Blvd (between Collins & Wood - not far from Masonic)
- Not the biggest fan of Eritrean/Ethiopean food mostly b/c I'm slightly OCD about wiping my fingers while eating and eating with my hands is fun but kind of triggers that. Also, not a big fan of sharing food b/c I'm weird about that, and thus sharing food where everyone's licking their fingers and then digging back in...yeah, no. Also, the food is a bit spicy for my taste. But if you like the kind of food, this place does it well. Interesting experience.

Grandeho's Kamekyo (Cole Valley) - 943 Cole St (near N-Judah stop at Carl)
- Way too expensive for what it was. My bf's beef udon was $14, my beef sukiyaki & tempura (there was no sukiyaki-only option) was $20, the nigiri was $5 (or $4.50, don't quite remember) minimum... The food all tasted fine (though the tempura dipping sauce had ginger in it - ewwww) and my bf said the shiro maguro nigiri he got (shiro maguro rocks!) was good. But far too expensive, IMO.

Abacus - 2078 Hayes St (between Clayton and Cole)
- Gets great reviews on Yelp. IMO extremely unauthentic Chinese food, but on the other hand, I was with four white people who ordered the chicken w/ broccoli & walnuts, chicken kung pao, and chicken chow mein, which wouldn't exactly plumb the depths of authentic Chinese. It's got a nice feel to the place, it's a bit on the nice upscale side rather than a hole in the wall, it has some fusion-y-ish type dishes. I loved the dessert - we got a 4 ice cream sampler of coconut, lychee, banana walnut, and mango, and they were all delicious. I think I'll give it another try and try to order something different. The food was fine, it just wasn't particularly special IMO. Though points for not being particularly greasy.

Magnolia Pub & Brewery - 1398 Haight St (and Masonic)
- Pretty good food. We got the gnocchi dish and the duck dish (though I dunno if the menu changes) as well as the home-brewed grape soda and root beer. The duck dish (my bf's) was quite yummy. The gnocchi was good, too. The grape soda kind of tasted like a grape popsicle, not what I'm looking for, while the root beer tasted oddly like one of the weaker sweet canned root beers. Not what I would expect from a home-brewed root beer - for some reason I think it should be stronger. However, this is a place my bf's coworkers love and I hear the burgers are good, so I'd like to try it again and keep exploring the menu. Minuses are that I hear you generally have to wait to be seated, and their seating arrangement is weird. You have to go to the back corner of the restaurant to the bar to put your name down, and then there really isn't anywhere to stand and wait.

Asqew Grill - 1607 Haight St (between Belvedere and Clayton)
- My sister loves this place but my bf and I were underwhelmed. Skewers of meat served with a side (salad or some type of starch). Seems like they don't marinate the meat so you get generic grilled chicken with some sauce (not enough) on top. I've tried both the Haight and the SF Shopping Center locations, and it's just not my thing. Kind of bland, to be honest...

Crepes on Cole - 100 Carl St (and Cole, near N-Judah)
- I've been here like 3 times. My like for the place varies each time. The first time, I got the special crepe and decided that havarti cheese was the bomb (it was something like a chicken, avocado, havarti cheese, mushroom, etc etc crepe) and it was super-yummy. My bf was less impressed with his crepe though I forget what he got. The second time we got sweet crepes and for once, I didn't get nutella and was super-happy with my brown sugar and banana (I think?) crepe while he had a quite good brown sugar and strawberry crepe (with chocolate). The third time I went back for lunch and I thought got the same crepe as the first time but it was bland bland bland. The potatoes and the salad on the side have also never tasted that great. I think maybe I'll stick to sweet crepes there. Also, we tried the Mexican hot chocolate there and it was nothing but fairly unchocolatey normal hot chocolate with a cinnamon stick stuck in it. What a let-down.

Zazie - 941 Cole St (right next to Grandeho)
- Everyone says this place is excellent for brunch. I wouldn't know, b/c the few time I've gone by at that time, the line went out the door and then some. We went here for dinner one night, and I thought it was really good. I don't actually remember what I ordered but I remember really liking it. Not sure the bf was quite as impressed but I think overall it's good. French restaurant, btw.

Tea Garden (515 Mission St near 1st)
- Doesn't exactly qualify as a new discovery since it's close to work and I've been going here for quite a while. But I wanted to add it anyway. They have limited food options but it's all your Taiwanese train food (according to a review they have posted in the restaurant). Beef noodles, pork chop noodles (or rice), minced pork noodles (or rice), etc. Comes with a tea egg (or you could buy the tea eggs yourself) and is all a nice, warm meal for your tummy at lunch. There's not much room to eat in the store but no worries, it's right next to the stairs for a really nice terrace with grass and terraces to sit and chairs and tables, which is a wonderful place to eat lunch on a nice day. They also have a display case of stuff like pork buns, coconut buns, fan twan (i can't do pingyin - rice rolls with stuff inside), etc etc. Some of these are good, from what I understand, but I wouldn't advise getting the sesame balls b/c they tend to be sitting there for a while and that type of thing needs to be fresh or it's pretty gross. The bubble drinks - the fruit ones in particular - are yummy. The milk tea itself not so much - every time I've tried it it tastes slightly off, like the milk is funny or something. But the strawberry banana drink is pure yumminess (and I think they use real strawberries and real bananas, not powders, though the strawberry drink is definitely powder). I also like the pina colada with coconut jelly drink, and the chocolate strawberry icy..and the mango one... Yum yum.