What We Ate... At Saha

Wednesday, October 17

Dinner: Saha, 1075 Sutter Street; 415-345-9547

Tonight was Date Night, so where does a guy take his lady? For a dining experience in the Tenderloin  the Tendernob Nob Hill, of course. For our date tonight, I decided to try something a little different, so I took Karen to Saha, a Middle Eastern restaurant in the Hotel Carlton. Named after the Arabic word meaning "a toast to good health", Saha serves up Middle Eastern fusion cuisine, combining the flavors of Yemeni cooking with Californian and French influences.

What we ate:

• Stuffed avocado: Knaffe (see below) coated & lightly fried avocado stuffed with pomegranate, couscous, tabouleh, and served with semi-soy marinated tofu and raspberry reduction. This starter had an interesting mix of textures and flavors with the crunchy coating contrasting nicely with the creamy avocado. The slices of tofu were surprising good as well.


• Kofta: Yemeni meatballs of ground lamb and beef marinated with allspice, cumin, mint, cilantro, onion, and olive oil. Served with zahaweg, a spicy tomato and chile sauce. The meatballs were nicely charred and tasty. The accompanying sauce provided quite a bit of kick.


• Classic Moroccan couscous: prepared with 7 seasonal vegetables and 8 spices in light saffron broth with chicken and merguez sausage. This dish was excellent, with the couscous soaking up the plentiful juices from the meat. This plate had an interesting mix of vegetables too, included what I thought may have been daikon.


• Lamb tagine: served with basmati rice. This was another excellent dish. The lamb was very flavorful, with a slight hint of sweetness, and fall-apart tender. This dish was a special addition to the menu tonight.


• Knaffe: a sweet dessert made with shredded phyllo and melted cheese. A fabulous dessert, not overly sweet, with an interesting contrast in textures between the phyllo and cheese. Worth the 20 minute wait.

What we drank:

• Sokol Blosser Evolution: a blend of 9 varietals, from Willamette Valley, Oregon

What We Ate... At The Alembic

Monday, July 30

Dinner: The Alembic Bar, 1725 Haight Street; 415-666-0822

Last Monday, we decided to check out The Alembic, a trendy new bar in the Haight-Ashbury neighborhood of San Francisco.

What we ate:

• Sliders: Moroccan spiced lamb burgers with harissa aioli and olive tapenade. Tasty, but I wish that we got more than two burgers for $10.


• Stout-braised oxtail: with melted cheese and roasted peppers on toast. Good, but also a bit expensive.


• Herb and Spice Dusted Fries: with lemongrass, garlic, and aromatic aioli.


• Spaetzle: with braised rabbit, bacon, gruyère, dijon mustard and tarragon. Absolutely delicious, our favorite dish of the evening.

What we drank:

• Bourbon Old Fashioned


• Mint Julep


• Mellow Yellow: not the soft drink, but rather a variation on a whiskey sour


• Sara's Ruby Mild from the Magnolia Pub and Brewery, The Alembic's sister restaurant

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.