More eats

Some more restaurants to add to the list.

Ploy II - 1770 Haight (between Cole & Shrader, on 2nd floor)
Great Thai food. A friend of a friend recommended this place, so we figured we'd try it out. I was really pleased! It's a cute little space on the 2nd floor (cute = crowded), basically someone's converted flat, with really yummy Thai food at quite reasonable prices. We had the pineapple fried rice (came with pork sung on top, which I've never seen before), Thai bbq chicken, and pan-fried combination in oyster sauce, and they were all quite yummy.

I think I've now got three favorite Thai restaurants for very different flavors. Ploy II is what I consider "standard" Thai - the same types of dishes as most other Thai restaurants I've been to, similar flavors, but done very well. Jitlada Thai was my favorite Thai restaurant for a while (it's only not quite that now because we went too many times and kind of burnt ourselves out) because it has extremely fresh-tasting food, and very different flavors than the "standard" Thai. The presentation there is also really nice, there are some quite different dishes, Chef Pai is a sweetie and started recognizing me after only my 2nd or 3rd time there and kept sending free salads to me when I went, and basically everyone I've taken there has loved it. The third Thai restaurant is Nipa-Pon on 25th Ave in San Mateo, which I like primarily for two dishes - the rama-I-forget-the-name-peanut sauce on chicken over a bed of spinach/mixed vegetables and the pineapple curry chicken. I'm a rather big fan of sweet food, both dishes are quite sweet, and I love them, as does my bf. The peanut sauce there is also my absolute favorite peanut sauce I've had so far. The rest of their food I've enjoyed as well, but it's those two dishes, which taste quite different than similar dishes at other restaurants, that keep me going back.

Espetus Churrascaria - 1686 Market St (at Haight & Gough)
Meat. Lots and lots and lots of meat. It's Brazilian BBQ, what do you expect? It's also not cheap - $45 for dinner. But it is quite good... I liked the space - it was bright and clean (helped that we were there at 6pm - lots of sun through the windows). I liked the service - very attentive but not intrusive. The garlic sirloin was delicious, as was the filet mignon. The pork loin was dry as hell and I didn't eat more than two bites. The top sirloin and other sirloines were quite good as well, flap steak was less impressive... chicken leg was ok... lamb was decent, very tender and not too lamby... um... the grilled pineapple was AWESOME - perfectly juicy with a smokey flavor that was just wonderful. The fried plantains were great but they didn't give us enough - it wasn't in their food bar, it was brought on a plate at the beginning of the meal and we had to ask for more... The hot food bar had a yummy chicken dish but I have absolutely no idea what it was... They had a pineapple mint drink that was interesting, and mango juice which was extraordinarily bland, and limeade that my bf liked. Overall it was a good experience though while I was waiting to use the bathroom, I could see into the kitchen and realized we'd missed out on several types of meat, including bacon-wrapped stuff. My sister likes the place we went to in San Diego more, one of my friends likes the place in Las Vegas more, and I'm not sure I disagree, but it was still good. Just don't eat much the day you go!

Sunflower Vietnamese Restaurant - 3111 16th St (at Valencia - there's also a Sunflower around the corner on Valencia)
Decent Vietnamese food. We came here b/c my sister was craving pho and somehow none of us ended up getting pho. The shaken beef didn't impress me much - I think I had really really good shaken beef at Tamarine Restaurant (in Palo Alto) and have been searching for it ever since. The crispy egg noodle with chicken/prawns/mixed veggies dish was pretty good, though. My bf and older sister got similar beef dishes in different form. They both seemed to enjoy their dishes though weren't sighing over them or anything..and they both ended up with stomach weirdness later that night. We're unclear if that was related to the food or the shaky camera work on the Bourne Ultimatum though...

Fuku Sushi - 1581 Webster St (between Post and Geary - in Japantown next to the stationary store and Sophie's Crepes)
My tummy came out very happy. My wallet less so. We just ordered a plethora of sushi - between my bf and I, we split an Alaska roll (smoked and fresh salmon, which blend to be an interesting combination of flavors), a Negi Toro (Toro and scallion roll - quite yummy but the Toro was probably a bit wasted b/c you can't really tell it's toro in there), a Kamikaze roll (tuna, tobiko, avocado...also yummy), and each got Shiro Maguro (aka Albacore) and Kanpachi (amberjack) nigiri. It was all really yummy. Not sure it was the best sushi ever, but it was good. Definitely expensive, though.

Squat & Gobble Cafe 2 - 1428 Haight St (between Masonic and Ashbury)
I figured it was a chain, and I remember reading reviews of a different location that weren't that good, so, how good can it be? But my bf's coworkers love this place so we went for brunch the other day. And I loved the options I saw on the menu. So many different combos of what I like with Nutella.. plus they had a banana-chocolate waffle that was nutella, banana and other yumminess. Ended up getting a fruity nutella - ie strawberries, blueberries, bananas, nutella, and whipped cream. Very yummy except I forgot how berries are tart and I've got enough of a sweet tooth to think they're too tart at times. My bf got the very berry nutella which was the same as mine without the bananas, and my sister got the apple pie one which she very much enjoyed. Very yummy and satisfying, and flavor combos I like more than the ones at Crepes on Cole.

Crepe O Chocolat - 75 O'Farrell St
This place gets rave reviews on Yelp so I had to go. Finally got there for lunch today. I want to rave but I'm not there yet. They have some very interesting stuff in the cases and in the drink case but I haven't tried any of them yet. All sorts of desserts and homemade truffles and stuff, along with drinks like Guava Lemonade, Watermelon Lemonade, Ginger Apple, etc etc... Many of the desserts are no sugar or no sugar/no flour or vegan, so I wonder how I'll like them. The brandy chicken club sandwich I had was a bit disappointing given that people were raving about it - chicken a bit dry and over-salty - but it was still pretty good. My bf I think liked his prosciutto/apple/gruyere cheese crepe, except he didn't like the buckwheat. His "melted chocolate" drink was rich chocolatey goodness, and my homemade chai with honey drink was quite good. I've never had chai before, it was interestingly like spiced apple cider, only heavy on the spices and light on the cider. I'd like to come back and try some other stuff sometime...