#73 Popovers with strawberry butter at the Rotunda (2009 and 2010)

As A and I are currently ladies of leisure, we decided to become (for an afternoon at least) ladies of leisure who lunch. Therefore, there was one stop from the list that was clearly begging out for us to visit last Friday: the Rotunda restaurant at Neiman Marcus. As expected, it was packed to the hilt with coiffed and manicured ladies who lunch (and, we suspected, a few tourists as well). I had visited only once before, when I bridged these two groups of diners: my grandmother (a coiffed former Junior League member) had taken me (a tourist from San Diego) for an afternoon of shopping in San Francisco when I was eleven or twelve. I honestly don't remember much about that visit.

I'll start with the positives. The ambience of the restaurant is lovely, particularly on one of the strangely sunny days we've been having in San Francisco recently. You can approach from a special elevator on the street, which drops you off on the top level of the tiered restaurant. Each table has a view of flashy gilt and white columns, expanses of windows, and the aforementioned coiffed crowd. Little B felt right at home.

Each meal starts with two complimentary items: an espresso cup of chicken consomme and a puff pastry cracker, as well as a popover with strawberry butter. Clearly, we were visiting with the latter in mind, and sadly, we were a little bit disappointed. The popovers that A introduced me to (that I'd actually made earlier in the week) are superior. I'll admit that the strawberry butter was quite good, and unlike anything I've ever made (or am likely to make) at home.

The other negatives, however, tip the scales away from frequent (or perhaps any) trips back to the restaurant. Let's put it this way: the complimentary items, though pleasant, don't make up for the highway robbery prices on the rest of the menu. A and I split a Chinese chicken salad ($20) and a Dungeness crab sandwich off the specials menu ($28). If these items were truly delicious, the prices would be worth it, but they were a little bit too ordinary. We were also burdened by a slightly-too-chatty server, who dispensed baby advice to the two of us with gay abandon.

I'm not sorry to have eaten at the Rotunda for the second time (in twenty years), but I think I'll make my popovers at home from now on.

#11 Duck sugo with pappardelle at Delfina (2009 and 2010)

Faithful readers know that I love Delfina in all shapes and forms. It's inspired me more than once (read more here and here). Also, it's on a delicious block! B and I get Pizzeria Delfina take-out with great regularity (including on Friday night), but we hadn't been to the acclaimed restaurant in a very long time. The major reason for this, quite honestly, is that they don't accept OpenTable reservations. Why this is the case, I don't know, but it makes it challenging to eat there.

However, it was my birthday last week, and B had asked if there was anywhere special that I wanted to eat for dinner before the baby arrived, so we sucked it up and called Delfina for reservations. Perhaps because we chose a Monday night to dine, we had our pick of times, so I didn't mind having to negotiate with the reservationist.

We started with a burrata special (I have a weakness for anything with burrata, making it sort of surprising that we haven't yet tried #56 Caponatina with burrata at Beretta from the 2009 list) as well as a fantastic grilled squid and white bean appetizer. The flavors of both dishes worked perfectly, but most amazing was that the texture of the squid was absolutely perfect!

We then each ordered a pasta dish: B selected the wild nettle risotto (quite an attractive shade of green) and I the duck sugo from the list. Technically, the list calls for pork sugo, but that wasn't an option the night we went there. Also, the duck was fantastic! It was rich and tender, and the pappardelle was well-made and well-cooked. We rounded out the meal with a main of white bass served with flavorful, ever-so-lightly-pickled cherry tomatoes; the dish was good, but we were getting a little full at that point. It almost felt like "Top Chef," since we only ate savory dishes. We were too full for even the delicious-sounding chocolate budino on the dessert menu.

Our meal, overall, was fantastic. I'm not sure when we'll be back (this whole baby thing certainly threatens to crimp our dining out in San Francisco, as do our plans to move down the peninsula within the next year), but be back we will.

#76 Chicken hash at Ella's (2009 and 2010)

Last weekend, B and I made brunch plans with A&K (and little B). Where to go? It came down to Zazie's or Ella's. However, since B and I had never been to Ella's, that ended up as the winning location. The restaurant is located in Laurel Heights, at the corner of Presidio and California.

A and I both ordered the chicken hash, which comes as a fried mash of potatoes and shredded chicken topped with plenty of green onions and two eggs prepared any style. We both enjoyed our meal, which benefited from the addition of a few shakes from the tabasco bottle. B had the curried cauliflower scramble, which was tasty, but quite strange because the dish doesn't come with eggs (in a dish called a scramble!) unless you ask for them. K had the lemon-hazelnut-ricotta pancakes, which I don't think were his favorite, though I enjoyed my bite of them. Little B slept peacefully through the meal.

Tomorrow we're off to B Star for brunch with B's parents, and A has told us we must try the chicken croquette hash. The comparison should be interesting! Even though we didn't have to wait for a table at all at Ella's, I am a big fan of the fact that B Star takes reservations.

So where should you brunch in San Francisco? My absolute favorite spot is Foreign Cinema, and I think I slightly prefer Zazie's to Ella's. Soon we'll know where B Star fits into the rankings too!

#30 Burger at Fish & Farm (2010)

I'm not sure what happened to the original #30 (Laughing Buddha cocktail at Cantina from the 2009 list), but I don't really care. First off, I'm not drinking alcohol right now, and second, I'm quite pleased with its replacement! Last weekend, JMc came to visit from sunny San Diego, incidentally bringing the beautiful weather with her, and we headed to Fish & Farm near Union Square to try the burger. We were not disappointed.

There are a number of burgers on the two lists, none of which we had yet tried. B and I really like burgers, but we try to limit our red meat consumption for health and environmental consciousness. Nonetheless, now we're very excited to try #38 Burger and fries at the bar at Spruce, as well as #40 Cheeseburger with sweet potato fries at Taylor's Automatic Refresher (both from 2010). At some point, I think we'll also plan to sneak over to #6 Burger with fries at Slow Club from the 2009 list, though I have to wonder why the 7x7 editors knocked it off the list in favor of some sort of Basil gimlet at Rye for the 2010 version.

But these are all future adventures; I want to focus on the present. JMc and I both ordered the burger, which came piled with secret sauce, grilled onions, and housemade pickles on an Acme roll. A large mound of parsley-tossed French fries completed the plate (as did a weird homemade spicy ketchup that JMc and I both did not enjoy; thankfully the restaurant had normal ketchup readily available).

Notably, the portions are quite large. We'd eaten a lot of appetizers (the gnocchi with smoked ham hock and peas was divine), but both JMc and I only ate half the burger. She saved her half for breakfast the next morning, and B ate my other half. In terms of other entrees, M's halibut was reportedly quite good, as was B's salmon.

I do like a restaurant that focuses on organic and sustainable ingredients, which Fish & Farm does, and I do like a good burger. Once our burger tour of San Francisco is complete, we'll be back.

#1 Roast chicken and bread salad at Zuni (2009 and 2010)

A few weeks ago, thanks to the largesse of our family friends S&T, we headed to Zuni Cafe. My mom has loved the cookbook for years, and I've had fond feelings for proprietress Judy Rodgers since finding out she is both a Stanford and Chez Panisse alum. True to the CP ethos, she uses beautiful, farm-sourced ingredients, often presented with minimal intervention.

The menu changes frequently, but one of the standards is the roast chicken and bread salad, which takes an hour (cooked to order) and serves two. S&T split it for dinner, but I'm counting it on the blog because B and I each had a drumstick that night, and we took home a little bit for leftovers. Honestly, the leftovers were my favorite part; I made a delicious chicken sandwich for lunch the next day! It's good chicken (though maybe not "good frikin chicken"), don't get me wrong, but it just seems a little silly to order roast chicken in a restaurant when it's so easy to make at home. I know that the bread salad is not as easy to replicate as the rest of the dish, but, surprisingly for this carbo kid, it actually wasn't my favorite part (though I loved the currants, pine nuts, and arugula that the bread was tossed with).

The rest of our meal was great: we started with some fritti misti (including a fried lemon slice—who knew how delicious that would be!) and an excellent Caesar. B's entree was lamb prepared four ways, and I had carne asada.

It's a little too spendy for frequent visits, but Zuni is a San Francisco institution, and we'll certainly be back. In the future, though, I'll plan to make my roast chicken at home.

#85 Pulled-pork sandwich at Roadside BBQ (2009 and 2010)

Two nights ago, I wasn't in the mood to make dinner. This was not related to a lack of ingredients in the house (I'd been to the grocery store, and we'd received our CSA box a few days before), but rather to laziness. Nothing more, nothing less. So, first I made a caprese salad with some fresh heirloom tomatoes and the lovely imported buffalo mozzarella from Costco, and then we scanned the list. We headed for #85 pulled-pork sandwich at Roadside BBQ.

How did we choose it? Well, the 2010 version has pictures of some of the greatest hits including this tasty-looking sandwich, plus A&K had been to Roadside BBQ not long before and enjoyed it, plus we read on the website that the proprietors also run one of B's frequent lunch stops, Pancho's. It seemed fated.

I ordered the pulled-pork sandwich, which arrived on a pleasantly firm ciabatta-style roll. I added extra Carolina vinegar sauce to the sandwich, and dug in. The pulled pork was quite good, but I wish the coleslaw, so prominent in the picture, had provided a little bit more texture instead of just color. B went for the brisket plate, which was also tender and tasty. Between those orders, we had three sides: the mac and cheese (disappointing, which I knew it would be, but B wanted to order it), the sweet potato fries (pretty good), and baked beans (delicious!). We were pretty happy that we had had a caprese app at home, because we needed some fresh veggies in our systems.

What stood out most was the service, especially for an order-at-the-counter-style restaurant. When deciding on sides, I asked what the potato salad was like (vinegar-y or mayonnaise-y), and was offered a taste. The "taste" was essentially a side serving!

All in all, I prefer Carolina pulled pork (really, who doesn't?), but Roadside BBQ is a moderately-priced San Francisco alternative.

#63 Meatballs with grapes at Aziza

April was a difficult month for me in the ICU at the county hospital. Little sleep, lots of overnight call in the hospital, sick patients. To celebrate the end of the month (and a return to normalcy for the month of May), B and I had dinner at Aziza at the end of last week. We'd been there once before with my parents, and remembered having a good meal. This time, however, we had a truly excellent meal.

We started with the flatbreads, seasoned and artistically served with three dips (roasted eggplant, tzaziki, and roasted pepper). Then we moved on to the signature dish, which A had warned me ahead of time wasn't always on the menu. Thankfully, the meatballs with grapes were available when we dined last week. Succulent roasted purple grapes alternated space on each skewer with similarly-sized, harissa-spiced meatballs. They were fantastic! B also had a burrata, avocado, and beet salad to round out our appetizers.

For mains, B had Wagyu beef, and I had delicious scallops. I don't think either was quite as good as our appetizers, but we enjoyed both. We finished with a banana dessert: banana crepe, banana-date fritters, and a creme anglaise.

Chef Lahlou definitely meets his goal of combining Moroccan-inspired cuisine with sustainable, local ingredients. Aziza is worth its Michelin star in my book!

#80 Apple fritter at Bob's Donuts

I have one more catch-up entry before I move on! It'll be short. Sometime in the last few months, B brought home #80 Apple fritter at Bob's Donuts. (Actually, I also ate #46 Chips and salsa at Papalote, but since B wasn't there, it doesn't count for the purposes of this blog.) His office is on the same block of Polk Street, so I figured it was time for us to sample their wares. The reason this post will be short is because I really don't have much else to say. The fritter was fine—good, even. But it was simply an apple fritter, nothing more and nothing less. I didn't think it was list-worthy.

Before I dismiss Bob's outright, I should point out that A&K say there are specific times, usually in the wee hours of the morning, that the donuts come out piping hot and are particularly fresh and delicious. I will have to plan a follow-up expedition for apple fritter, take two.

#88 Buckwheat crepe and a French cider at Ti Couz

B and I went to Maui at the end of March, on a really awesome trip with my family and B's mom. We snorkeled, and saw whales, and hiked/biked up Haleakala, and saw blowholes, and B crashed his bike on the way down Haleakala and broke his arm! Everything was great until that last part I mentioned.

We took a red-eye back on a Friday night, and, as red-eyes typically do, we landed early. At 4:45am, which was really 1:45am. We were both quite tired, as you can imagine, so we came home and promptly fell asleep. However, we managed to wake up in time to head over to Ti Couz in the Mission to meet B's sister and parents for lunch.

Telling us to order a "buckwheat crepe" is sort of a cop-out on the part of the list, I think. Every single savory crepe is buckwheat! I had mushrooms and cheese and tomatoes (delicious), and B had scallops. We also shared a simple garden salad, but skipped out on the cider because it was lunchtime and we were jet-lagged.

The meal was enjoyed by all. I can't wait to head back for lunch again! So many great restaurants around there; if only parking were easier in the Mission, we might eat out even more.

#5 Chasu ramen at Katana-Ya

Um, so this is embarrassing. I thought I took big gaps in updating my other blog, but this really takes the cake. I bet some of you thought that I had abandoned this particular project! (Not the eating out, of course, but rather the writing up of those delicious meals.) Since I've updated this blog, which has been MONTHS, they've even come out with a new list. It is suspiciously similar to the old list. Since I've already started with the numbers from the old list, I'll stick with that whenever I can.

B and I have eaten at several places from the list in the past few months, so I'll try to remember all of them. Most recently, last week we tried the ramen at Katana-Ya, a hole in the wall in the Civic Center/TL district. They're open way past my bedtime (1AM!), but we went at 7:30, a more civilized time to eat dinner. We were accompanied, as we frequently are to new restaurants on the list, by A&K and D&R. However, after having our name on the list for over thirty minutes, we were offered the choice of being broken up into two tables. The hostess couldn't tell us how long it would be for us to wait to be seated together, so D&R went to one table, and the rest of us to another.

We started with great gyoza (though the spicy sauce overwhelmed the filling) and a decent spider roll, though nothing to write home about. And then, on to the ramen! I must point out that A&K are ramen snobs. On their honeymoon last year, they went to Japan, and even what has been dubbed "the best ramen in San Francisco" apparently has nothing on the ramen from Tokyo. K got the "salty" broth, which he was disappointed by, and A got the "salty/spicy" broth, which she thought was reasonably good. They were both disappointed by the noodles. My miso broth was, I thought, better than either of theirs, and B liked his shoyu.

However, in terms of my Asian noodle soups, I really prefer pho. Why oh why is there no pho on the list? A question for next year's list, I suppose. In the meantime, if you're willing to wait a while, and you're interested in trying the best ramen in San Francisco, head to Katana-Ya.

#26 A classic gin martini at Bourbon and Branch

A week ago tonight, we ventured downtown to the heart of the Tenderloin to celebrate K's birthday. Bourbon and Branch (or B&B, as it's affectionately known by many) is a modern-day speakeasy, complete with a bouncer requiring a password if you have a reservation. (Our password was "rum dum.") Additionally, the only sign outside is something about the San Francisco Temperance League, which could be authentic (and thus hilarious and apropos) or kitschy and extremely inauthentic.

The menu is a veritable book, so most of the guests either went with the classic gin martini from the list, or asked the waitress to pick something with a liquor they like. For reasons I don't quite understand (the waitress even told us that they cure their own olives), the bar does not offer a dirty martini. They are extremely precise about their ingredients, which the prices, averaging around $11, reflect.

Because I'm addicted to the list, I opted for the classic gin martini. I'm not much of a hard liquor drinker, let alone a martini drinker, but this one, served with a thick slice of lemon peel and sweet vermouth, was pretty tasty. Not tasty enough for this lightweight to finish, but enjoyable nonetheless!

The period ambience is very nice if you have a reservation (red velvet wallpaper, pressed-tin ceilings), though they hustled us out of our spot upstairs overlooking the bar at 11pm on the dot and then told us that the reservation-free "library" was too full to accommodate our party.

Definitely a spot to return to for their interesting, unique drinks, as long as you have a reservation!

#51 Maccaronara with ricotta salata at A16

Two nights ago, B and I went to A16 with my dad, who was in town (briefly) for a conference. We'd only been to A16 once before, but really enjoyed our meal (the burrata on crostini was particularly memorable). We hadn't headed back because 1) it's in the Marina, where parking is difficult even on a weeknight, and 2) well, actually, I don't know what the second reason was! The impetus this time around was that my dad has been wanting to try the restaurant for a while.

Parking proved to be difficult as usual, even at 6:30pm on a Monday night. We balls-ily walked in without a reservation, and were told it would be about an hour and fifteen minutes! We agreed to wait once the hostess told us she could take our phone number to call when the table was ready. That sort of trick gives A16 a very appealing neighborhood-restaurant feel, which is surprising considering the national acclaim it and its former chef Nate Appleman have garnered. To top it off, the seventy-five minutes ended up being only forty minutes, which we whiled away at the Apple Store down the street before being called back to the restaurant.

We started off the meal with the pizza capricciosa; that is, we let the pizzaiolo determine our toppings completely. I was sure that with no stated restrictions we would end up with a pork product on our pizza, but to our surprise, we were served a lovely four cheese topped with fresh wild arugula. Six slices, three diners: you do the math.

I, of course, had the maccaronara (large size) for my main course. Maccaronara is a thick-ish pasta, served here with tomato ragu, a few large leaves of basil, and the aforementioned grated ricotta salata. It was quite good overall, and I appreciated the size of the portion. Often, restaurants seem to think that if they work so hard to make their own pasta, they shouldn't waste a whole bunch on an individual diner; my position is that the homemade pasta is so much more delicious than the standard that one should be served a larger-than-standard portion! The pastas at flour+water in the Mission were possibly more delicious, but certainly much smaller.

For his main course, B selected the five meatball special (apparently we had arrived at the restaurant on their traditional Meatball Monday). I think my meatballs are slightly better in flavor, but the soft, melt-in-your-mouth texture of these was unbeatable. My dad had swordfish with a pine nut/basil relish that was also delish. We finished off the meal by sharing a farro pudding that sounded and tasted intriguing; the problem was that it was more intriguing than delicious.

We enjoyed our meal so much that we'll try not to make it so long between visits to A16. We'll also have to head to #52 Fried Brussels sprouts at SPQR, A16's cousin in Japantown.

#20 Chicken pot pie at Liberty Cafe

Though it comes in at #20, the chicken pot pie at Liberty Cafe is, in some sense, number one. This is not only because it is delicious (more on that in a minute), but also because it is so justifiably famous that this chicken pot pie was how I heard about the list! As some of you remember, I was chatting with my attending about restaurants in San Francisco when he told me that he had eaten at Liberty Cafe the night before and enjoyed their succulent pot pie. One thing led to another, and, well, you're right now reading some of the after-effects of that one conversation.

Until last night, B and I had never been to Liberty Cafe. For that matter, B and I (and two other of our dining companions) had never been to Cortland Street in Bernal Heights. We have clearly been missing out until now, as this neighborhoody main drag is lined with restaurants, bookstores, bars, and charming shops.

As we were going to be a party of six, I called Liberty Cafe a few days ahead for reservations; you can therefore imagine my surprise when we arrived and they had no record of our reservation. Though it meant that we had to wait for an extra half-hour to be seated (the restaurant is tiny), the staff were incredibly accommodating about the mistake. We were all offered glasses of wine, and dessert was comped too! We also happened to have chosen an evening with a two-pot-pies-for-$20 special, which we liberally took advantage of. Four of our party had the pot pies (three chicken and one vegetarian), B had skirt steak, and E had fresh pasta with meat sauce (a daily special).

The pot pie was very, very good. Served piping hot, it arrived at the table emanating a buttery aroma from the delicious puff pastry sealing in the pot pie. A few taps of the spoon later, I was deep into the chicken filling, a hearty mix of potatoes, peas, and carrots in a brown sauce. My one complaint was that the filling was slightly more peppery than I would have made it myself. Nonetheless, delicious.

According to R, Liberty also has great brunch. The good food and exceptional service guarntee that we'll be back to try that, and to explore the rest of downtown Bernal.