Introducing... What We Ate

Here's the first in what hopefully will be an on-going series of posts summarizing some of my dining experiences. I often find that when I am busy, especially with work (like I am now), I tend to let this blog go by the wayside. Hopefully, with this is condensed version, I can still share some of my stories, even when other things take over my life.

Friday, July 13

Lunch: Coco500, 500 Brannan Street; 415-543-2222

One of the perks of Karen's job is that they have summer hours, which means her weekend starts at 12:30pm Friday afternoon. This past Friday, I took a half-day off to join her in an early weekend.

What we ate:

• Braised duck panini: shredded duck on lightly toasted bread - dee-lish! Came with a watercress-orange salad on the side.


• Spaghettini: pasta with local squid in a ink-based sauce with a hint of lemon and olive oil. Also excellent.


• Truffled squash blossom flatbread: Also very good, though it seemed that it would be more appropriate as an appetizer (which is how we had it) instead of a main course

What we drank:

• Blueberry fizz: blueberry infused gin, milk, egg white, organic sugar, lemon, seltzer. The citrus was stronger than we expected, but it was still quite good.


• Samuel Smith's Organic Lager

Dinner: Chutney Restaurant, 511 Jones Street; 415-931-5541

Ah, nothing like dinner in the middle of the Tenderloin at 10pm on a Friday evening (Friday the 13th no less).

What we ate:

• Saag gosht: Nice tender pieces of lamb in a spinach-based sauce.


• Chicken Biryani: The rice was nicely flavored, but the chicken was a bit dry.


• Lamb Kofta: Tasty with a nice amount of spice and seasonings.


• Naan

Saturday, July 14

Brunch: Mayflower Restaurant, 428 Barber Lane, Milpitas; 408-922-2700

Karen and I went out to dim sum with my mom, who flew into town late the previous evening.

What we ate:

• Dim sum: We had a lot of our usual favorites, including shu mai, chive dumplings, shrimp rice noodle rolls, and fung zau

Dinner: Out the Door, 865 Market Street, Westfield San Francisco Centre; 415-541-9913

Karen and I stopped by for a quick dinner before the Ani DiFranco concert at the Warfield.

What we ate:

• Imperial rolls: With shrimp, pork, tree ear mushrooms, and glass noodles. Very tasty and quite filling.


• Grilled lemongrass pork over vermicelli noodles with lettuce, cucumber, and mint: A nice, fresh-tasting dish.


• Star Route Farm baby chard, kale, and mizuna: Sauteed with garlic just the way we like it.

What we drank:

• Ayinger Jahrhundert


• Trumer Pils: I'm not sure how we ended up ordering two European beers at a Vietnamese restaurant.