A neighborhood spot revamped!

The old Emporio Rulli in the Marina district went through a complete renovation and is now the Ristobar.  A cute trendy italian joint with a long bar seating area as well as an outdoor patio seating area.  They have a great selection of salami and cheese plates, small pasta plates and great pizzas to share.

We started off with the Formaggi plate with 3 different cheeses

The vesta pizza - tomato sauce, ricotta, fennel sausage, speck, rucola

Paperdelle with a home made wild boar ragu

Underrated Pizza Joint

Pizza Inferno on Fillmore is casual little pizza joint on the corner of Fillmore Street right before Japantown.  This place has been around for years...since I was a kid and is still surviving!  They have changed their pizza styles over the years and recently I went back and was very impressed.  It's been years since I've been there and they have now hired a chef from Naples who makes excellent pizzas for much less than what you would have to pay at Delfina a couple blocks up.  Great pizzas, great quality, great variety and great price!

Pesto Chicken with sun dried tomatoes

 

Spicy Italian Sausage ,roasted Peppers ,mozzarella

 

Special of the day -  

House made potatoes, chopped roma tomatoes, smoked mozzarella and fresh basil

 

Complimentary Dessert Pizza filled with nutella and raspberry jam...

only because I was flirting with the chef ;) and also because the owner was super friendly!

Hole in the wall's are the best

Tani Kitchen in Westlake is your typical hole in the wall...a very tight spot that only seat about 15 people with the kitchen right in front of your face.  This little Japanese spot is known for their curry and donburi bowls.   So we ordered one of each...both of which were very good taste wise and price for the portion is great!

Katsu Curry - 

 Very tasty curry but not enough rice and not enough meat as half of it was fat!

Beef Donburi - 

Very good...one of the best donburi bowls I've had!

Brunch in the burbs

The Metro in Lafayette is what you call merging urban sophistication with a relaxes suburban attitude.  Sitting in an older strip mall, the place may not look trendy from the outside but the inside is quite stylish with a nice big bar in the front area.  The menu consists of a your very common contemporary American fare. Overall, the food is decent, nothing special but a fun spot if you're ever out in the area and have no idea where to go.

For brunch, they have a 3-course prix fixe meal for $33 which includes an appetizer and your choice of entree and an alcoholic beverage.

We started off with the Zeppole with Lemon Curd...basically donut holes
 but super tasty dipped in the lemon curd

 

Bacon wild mushroom tartine with gruyere

Corned beef hash with poached eggs

Trendy little asian fusion joint

Namu in the Inner Richmond is a trendy little Korean fusion restaurant known to spice up the traditional korean fare.  I have been hearing so much about these "Korean tacos" since they started participating at the weekly farmers market in the ferry building.  After my dinner experience here, I would say it's overpriced trendified Korean. food.  I would much rather go to a traditional Korean restaurant for some tasty BBQ!

The famous "Korean tacos" layered with seaweed, rice, kimchi salsa and korean kalbi (beef short ribs).  Tasty but very difficult and messy to eat, also not worth $4 each.  I much rather have a few pieces of BBQ kalbi over rice with some kimchi.

They have great sake flights which is fun to be able to try all different kinds of sake.

Bi Bim Bop - A very classic Korean entree with rice, veges and kobe steak cooked in a very hot stone pot.  The best thing about this dish is that the rice on the bottom is super crunchy.

Okonomiyaki - Another classic Korean dish with kimchi, ground beef, cabbage, scallion, egg yolk and bonito flakes.  It's a very heavy dish so if I were to order this again, I would be sure to leave out the creamy sauce heavily drizzled on top.

Quince's little sister

Cotogna is the new addition located right next door to it's sister restaurant Quince.  Also serving up Italian fare but in a much more casual environment and definitely less costly.  Known for their brick oven pizzas and small plate pastas as well as other various apps.

As always we brought our own bottle of bubbles and vino.  Do note that corkage is on the high end here at $25/bottle.

 

Monterey Bay Squid - 

Not worth ordering...extremely small portion and nothing unique

Halibut Tartare with Blood Orange - 

Perfectly paired with the blood orange but once again portion was on the small side.

 

Pizza with Nettles, Lamb Sausage & Ricotta - 

 Tasty but very soggy in the center and crust was not made well.

Pizza with Sea Urchin and Cauliflower - 

A very unique pizza with uni but once again very soggy in the middle

Papardelle with Braised Rabbit

Gnocchi with Duck Ragu

Special entree of the day...Pork Shank - 

 The best dish of the night...perfectly charred and super tender!

 

Affogato - Vanilla Gelato topped with Espresso - 

One was definitely not enough for me!

The newly earned 1 michelin star!

It currently takes about 3 months to get a reservation and it's the most talked about restaurant in town right now...Frances in the Castro district.  So the big question is...did it live up to all the hype?  Unfortunately I must say not so much...the service was great and the food was good but sadly not outstanding.  Just not a place to rave home about.  One thing I am not a fan of is limited choices...only 4 entrees to choose from so you better not be a picky eater!

My favorite thing about this restaurant is you only pay for what you drink when it comes to house wine.  $1 per ounce...what you don't finish they don't charge you!  And surprisingly the house wine is quite decent.

 

 
Panisse Frites - Crispy Chickpea Fritters w/Calabrese Chili Aioli

Applewood Smoked Bacon Beignets w/Maple Creme Fraiche & Chives (very dense and doughy)

Spugnole Pasta & Cotechino Sausage - Black Trumpets and Fiore Sardo Pecorino 
 (our favorite dish of the night but the portion was way too small)

Carmelized Atlantic Scallops - Sunchoke Puree, Sauteed Endive and Nicoise Olive

Five Dot Ranch Bavette Steak - Toasted Farro Ragout, Maitake and Baby Fava Beans

Chicory Root Pana Cotta - Satsuma mandarin, Espresso Gelee and Chocolate Seasalt Cookies