Dos Pinas Taqueria

251 Rhode Island, San Francisco
415.252.8220

On my way to Design Centres, I stoppped at Dos Pinas Taqueria. My friend recommended me the place. It is dark, lively with music, and the queue is LONG. It didn't take too long to get to order. I ordered a burrito carnitas($4.95), and my friend ordered a burrito with grilled prawns($7.25). They were quick and excellent, and HUGE!
My carnitas burrito came with beef (again?) instead of pork. But it was tender and there was just right amount of it tucked in rice and beans wrapped in a flour tortilla.
They also have wraps with teriyaki chicken, barbecued steak, Thai chicken, etc. along with traditional Mexican favourites like nachos and tacos. This is definitely a good place for quick bites, and it is cheap, too.

Le Soleil

133 Clement St. San Francisco
415.668.4848

Right where Clement Street starts at Arguello, many SE Asian Restaurants are popping out recently. Just between 2nd and 3rd St., Le Soleil is one of many Vietnamese restaurants in the area. Unlike other ethnic restaurants, this one is fancy. They juxtaposed beautiful dark furniture with a slight Asian/modern hint against nice yellow walls. I was expecting to pay a little more for the comfortable spaces, but surprisingly, food is just as reasonable as any other Vietnamese restaurant in the area.
We had crab bun, and beef bun. The bun, which is extruded rice noodles, was silky and smooth, in extremely flavourful clear soup. The noodle was a bit thicker than ones I had before. Actually I ordered escargot bun, but I got beef instead, which was quite ok. I can try escargot next time. The beef had a lot of flavour; in some Vietnamese restaurant, they serve beef that was used for broth making, and has no more flavour left. The beef at Le Soleil wasn't like that. It was cooked till tender, and there was lots of that. I got tendons as well. They say they are good for your joints, hahaha. They are gelatinous and I am starting to like them.
This is definitely a good lunch spot for future. I am glad we found this place.

Cafe Asia

Asian Art Museum
200 Larkin St. San Francisco

These days, all museums compete with good food they serve in their cafes. Asian Art Museum is no exception. Cafe Asia on the ground floor has been serving great and light fusion food for over two years. It is fairly small, but you can also sit outside on the terrace and enjoy the view of the City Hall and Library.
I usually have ready-made sandwiches or sushi, but today I tried Green Tea Soba Noodle and Tofu Salad ($6.75). It was a nice combination of soba (Japanese buckwheat noodles) and mizuna + red pepper + zucchini cut into juliennes. The salad was tossed in sasame oil, soy sauce and rice vinegar; it was a bit heavy on oil but still very good. Four pieces of cold tofu were placed in cardinal directions.
My friend had Soba Noodles and Shrimp Tempura Soup ($8.25). She said it was good but the broth was too salty. Other choices are Kai Korma Vegetable Curry ($7.25), Salmon Misoyaki ($9.75), Tibetan Lamb and Lentil Stew ($9.25), etc. They all sound good, and I will try them all.

Asian Pearl

3288 Pierce St. Richmond
510.526.6800

A new restaurant in Ranch 99 complex in Richmond. I used to haunt Saigon Harbor for good dim sum lunch, but this new comer is a lot more elegant. Have you ever heard of elegant and quiet and good Cantonese restaurants? This is a new concept.
For lunch, they push the traditional carts filled with delectable dim sum, and you point to the dish you like. Or you can order from the menu. We had crepes with chicken and bitter melons, cold baby octopus and green seaweed, ha gaw, tripe stew (yuk!), and sesame balls. Food was just as good as Saigon Harbor next door, but what makes a big difference is its atmosphere. It is quiet for a Chinese restaurant, and food is served in prestine and modern-looking plates and teapots. Staff are nice and pleasant, and I can recommend this restaurant even for a first date! (Are you kidding? A Chinese restaurant for a date? YES!)

Lalita Thai

96 McAllister St. San Francisco
415.552.5744

A quick lunch before visiting the Asian Art Museum on Friday. This restaurant is at the corner of McAllister and Leavenworth, very close to Market St. It is not overly noisy and they have nice space for talking comfortably. They have two types of seatings; regular chair or low table and floor. The pond used to be larger but I guess they gave that space to extra seating.
Their lunch is a great value! It comes with soup or salad, spring rolls and fried sweet potatoes, and the entree of your choice. All this for $7.99. They had two types of currie and BBQed chicken, and Pad Thai to choose from. I know the chicken is excellent but I tried Thai currie with pinapples.
We enjoyed the space, food, company with each other. It was a nice lunch.

de Young Cafe

Golden Gate Park, San Francisco

I was so happy to receive an invitation to the de Young preview. I had to go. The new de Young is large and impressive. The monumental architecture is emphasizing its horizontality and the tower made it look like Mayan ruins. The entire building is clad in perforated copper tiles, so I would imagine in a decade or so, it will start to take verdi-gris colour.
After art, I had to try the cafe. Naturally it was crowded and had to queue up. The menu consists mostly with salads and sandwiches. We had de Young Caesar ($8.00) and Roast Beef Sandwich ($9.00). Caesar salad had nice dressing with Parmesan cheese on top, and it came with chicken breast. Salad part was great, but I am not sure about the chicken. It was bland, and had stringy texture. Perhaps it was boiled, instead of grilled. It also had rosemary on the outside, which, in my opinion, didn't go with Caesar.
Roast Beef Sandwich, on the other hand, was excellent. It was presented on a narrow plate, had horseradish sauce in a small tin in the middle. The beef was in between nice piece of French bread, and god, the meat was tender, and medium-rare, just perfect for my taste.
They also have Vegetarian Sandwich, with buffalo mozzarella, spinach, heirloom tomato, and basil on Foccacia. That really sounds good. Pastry in the case also looked delicious. Ready-made food in packages are also available outside on the way to the sculpture garden. Next time, I would have a picnic on the grass in the sculpture garden.

Bamyan

227 Third St. San Rafael

Tucked in the quiet corner in Montecito Plaza, close to Trader Joe's, this is a jewel. It is not a most romantic restaurant, but the food is dynamite. Authentic Afghan cuisine prepared by real Afghan chefs, it has been making customers happy with true-to-core dishes.
We had ravioli-like Afghani pasta for a starter, followed by kebab and meatballs. The pasta had enough body yet it slid in your mouth in a most effortless way. It was topped with white (yogurt-based?) sauce, which in turn had meat sauce on top. Yummy. Kebab was done perfectly, enough meaty texture, on a bed of pilaf. Meatball dish was my favourite. Two huge meatballs had a slight hint of cinamon, and when you bite into it, meat juice fills your mouth. They were swimming in tomato sauce and were served with plain butter rice.
This place is really easy to get to, and if you like authentic, good food, you must try Bamyan.

Sushiko

Larkspur Landing Circle, Larkspur

This is the third time I am eating here this week. Food is really dependable whether you are having a quick lunch or inviting other people for dinner. No wonder this is Sean Penn's favourite hangout. It is rumored that he and his wife come to this tiny, quaint restaurant fairly often.
Today was one of very rare days when the place is almost deserted. That is bad for the restaurant and great for us. More attention and better service. We took four seats at the sushi bar. The hostess sent us edamame (thank you, Shino). Oysters were superb! They were on top of rice wrapped in nori (seaweed) and were topped by tobiko (red fish roe). Then we had hamachi (yeallow tails), spicy tuna rolls, ika (squid), mirugai (big clam), all the usuals. Then Yasu san, our sushi chef, suggested dynamite rolls. We all said "What!"
It has hamachi and avocado mixed with small and crunchy fried bits of tempura batter in a roll. Then the entier roll was rolled in wasabi tobiko. It is the red fish roe but somehow they marinated it in wasabi until the roe is pretty green. The rice was sprinkled with this unusual green glitter and the whole thing looked so pretty.
It was not only pretty, but tasted GREAT! Oily hamachi and avocado melts in your mouth, and as they melt, the fried crispy bits give accents in your mouth with tiny crunch. It is a superb combination. Then the crunchy green fish roes, that are put outside the roll, burst open in your mouth, giving you salty sea + spicy wasabi taste.
People next to us ordered a rainbow roll. Although they are not my favourites, it
looked very pretty. It is a huge roll of sushi and they wrap all kinds of fish, including maguro (tuna), hamachi, salmon, etc. To me, it has too many good things at the same time, and that dilutes the enjoyment of pure taste.
As usual, we finished our dinner with green tea ice cream, and mango mochi ice cream. It was another excellent meal.