I really love this place, so much that I was even on the fence about even sharing it. The best thing though is the Tuesday special, $7 cheeseburger and fries! It’s printed on the table tent that sits on each table, otherwise you wouldn’t know about it unless you read…

Here’s the beautiful cheeseburger and fries! The burger is pretty darn big and the fries are crispy crinkle cut.

The french fries are crinkle cut – glorious, crispy, hot and salty. My very favorite kind!

The cheese is cheddar. It comes with a side of mayo.

Here’s a shot of the inside. It’s a real classic place, lots of locals, really laid back and really good food. All of the people who work there are very nice and friendly. I’ve never had anything I don’t like here, will definitely have to Fryhole some more stuff soon (the cheesesteak, the club, the danish meatball sandwich… omg).

The Lighthouse Cafe
12 Tamalpais Drive
Corte Madera, CA 94925

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My friend and I decided to try it out for lunch last weekend, and boy am I glad we did!

Here’s the outside. The Star is on Grand Ave, probably the last exciting thing on the street before it turns residential. Parking can be quite hellish in this neighborhood, just an FYI. You might have to park up the up the big hill on Elmwood (free) if there are no spots on Grand.

This is what it looks like when you walk in… There’s another dining area directly to the right (not pictured), that faces the street.

We started off with the Greek salad. It’s salty and tangy, and big enough to share.

They have roasted Brussels sprouts on the appetizer menu! They come covered in parmesan cheese and sprinkled with bacon.  They’re sooo good (I ate the whole bowl), I’m a huge weirdo for brussels sprouts.

You can order a personal size pizza during lunch hours, so I ordered a personal sized Golden Gate pizza. The Golden Gate features meatballs, ricotta, onions, and fresh mozzarella.

The pizza came out piping hot, plenty of steam. The mozzarella is baked into the crust, then the meatballs are sliced flat underneath the globs of ricotta. The meatball is sliced pretty thin and there’s a meatball slice on each piece of pizza.  The meatball itself is on the denser side. As you can see, the sauce is very thick. The sauce is sweet and savory, and chunky. I probably should have eaten my pizza with a fork and knife, but I picked it up and ate it with my hands (no shame).  The amount of sauce was a little overwhelming so I scraped some of it off… the crust is thick, crispy, sweet, corny and amazing.

Would I return? Definitely.

Have you been to The Star? How did you like it?

The Star on Grand
3425 Grand Ave, Oakland, CA 94610
www.thestarongrand.com

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Here’s the menu and place setting… you can see they serve a small bowl of fried spiced chickpeas which are very crunchy and tasty.

We started with an appetizer of the Totopos con Chile (tortilla chips, salsa de arbol, cotija cheese, onions, cilantro, crema and lime). The chips are coated in the salsa (which is extremely spicy) – it’s the closest equivalent to nachos meets chilaquiles.  I enjoyed the totopos very much, and couldn’t stop eating them despite being so spicy my eyes were watering and my face was red and hot and my mouth was on fire.

Here are the carnitas! I ordered this dish because it got amazing reviews and I wanted to see what all the hype was about.  As you can see it’s quite a large piece of meat, served with coleslaw and hot sauce.  This is the menu description: Braised pork, orange, bay leaf, milk, cinnamon, beer Cabbage salad, pickled jalapeño and salsa de tomatillo.  The dish is also served with a few hot tortillas.

Here’s a closeup!

The meat is tender and juicy with some charred bits that are super tasty.  I ended up making mini tacos with the meat, tortillas and slaw (“cabbage salad”)… I had to order a second order of tortillas and ate a total of about 5. Yummers!

When the check came they brought little mexican cookies – kind of nutty with powdered sugar on top.

That’s it!  Have you been to Nopalito? What did you think?

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Some background… one night Hav and I were watching tv and we saw a feature on KoJa Kitchen on the Food Network (I think?) about this place… I remember them talking about the rice buns and how they had the molds custom made… and the special hot sauce had a ton of ingredients. The buns were what initially peaked my interest. So we decided to go to the Off the Grid at UN Plaza in SF to check it out. I was so excited… !!

We got there right before lunch time so we just missed the long lines (whew), and as we were looking at their very high tech food truck (they have tv displays with the menu, whoaaa), I saw it….

KAMIKAZE FRIES. OMFG. So I ordered the KoJa combo with the beef koja and the kamikaze fries.

Here it is!! The presentation was amazing (that’s the vegetarian koja on the right… holy crap I couldn’t find a place fast enough to sit down and dig in!!

The Koja sandwich was AWESOME!!! The garlic rice bun was toasty and kind of crispy on the outside but still sticky rice-like on the inside. It was really good and a super unique alternative to traditional buns. The beef was very tender and flavorful! It was so good I ate every last bit.

Now for a truly life changing moment… THE KAMIKAZE FRIES. Let me just say that it has been almost 2 months now since I’ve had these fries and they are still a) on my mind almost daily, and b) have saved me from awkward situations as the topic of many conversation starters. When I’m bored and thinking about what I’d like to be eating at any moment, the kamikaze fries are either 1st or 2nd on my mind.. I’m not kidding.

If you didn’t know, I freaking love french fries. They are my favorite food EVER and it’s been a real challenge out here on the west coast to find a) good fries and b) disco fries of any kind. So hail to the fry gods, lord fry is here!

Take a good look at the fry pic. I know it’s not that good. That’s because I was so eager to eat that I just took a few really fast pics after I received the food from the window (because a long line was forming around me)… When we finally sat down I was too impatient and started eating right away so I messed up my opportunity to take amazing photos… but that’s ok because I know I’ll be back.

Anyway, back to the fries. They are WAFFLE fries and are topped with – or should I say drenched in korean bbq beef (ground up), sour cream, hot sauce, green onion, and probably some other stuff that I can’t remember – but it doesn’t matter because it’s A-MAZING and you’ll be snarfing this little paper tray of fries faster than you can breathe. The waffle fries are perfectly fried and crispy. I don’t know what kind of oil they fry them in but whatever it is, don’t change it!

Basically KoJa Kitchen is the freaking BOMB… you need to go there asap. Holy shiitake! Since experiencing KoJa Kitchen for the first time in Oct, I’ve definitely found myself first in line at 10:50am waiting for fries… need I say more?

KoJa Kitchen travels around the Bay Area – they’re always somewhere different everyday… so follow them on Facebook and Twitter to find out where they will be next!

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The place is literally a window down the middle of Ritch St. which is kind of near the ballpark, off 3rd street. It’s really a hidden gem – unless you know it’s there, you would never go there.

The guy working the window was really nice, and I liked him even more because he was wearing a Phillies hat!

Here’s the window, so cute!

They had a tiny skillet of 1.25″ buttons… I took one of course.

Here’s the menu…

And here’s the little area next to the food window where the hot sauce and other condiments are.

I preferred the honey jalapeno hot sauce on the right… omg so good – sweet and spicy!  So for my meal I ordered the chicken and waffles with 2 pieces of chicken.

OH MY GOD. This is the BEST FRIED CHICKEN IN SAN FRANCISCO.  Actually no, it’s the BEST FRIED CHICKEN IN THE WORLD.  I’ve never had such good fried chicken in my life. The first bite sent me right over the edge… I took a bite of the wing first.  The meat was tender and juicy and the skin was super crispy and thin (no chewy bits, not soggy), it was seasoned absolutely perfectly. Turn on the vacuum, this box of food is ready to get inhaled.

The skin was awesome because it wasn’t oily and greasy like a lot of fried chicken. It was absolutely perfect – thin, not too much breading, the seasoning was flavorful, and I ate it all down to the bone. I usually don’t go so far as to eat every last crumb of breading, but I couldn’t stop myself.  The chicken was really good to dip in the hot sauce, in between bites of waffle (I preferred the green one).

The waffle was also very excellent. It was crispy on the outside and soft and moist on the inside, which was perfect for the syrup, which was absorbed right away after pouring it on. The waffle was savory and filling yet it was not heavy and soggy, even after being covered in syrup. Together with the chicken it was the perfect combination.

There’s not really anywhere to sit and only a 3ft counter to stand at… but there’s a loading dock across the street that people sit on to eat… everything’s to go so you can either sit there or go back to your car or office.

So, the chicken is like a DRUG.  It’s been a day now and I’m still thinking about it… I definitely see myself measuring all future chicken and waffles against the chicken and waffles from Little Skillet… paradise in my mouth! I can’t wait for this chicken to get back in my body, it was that good (holy crap!).

Little Skillet
360 Ritch St
San Francisco, CA 94107
website

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The place is long and narrow inside with a long community table down the center of the restaurant, a some tables against the wall on either side. I didn’t take a photo because it was getting pretty crowded and they turned the lights down shortly after we sat down.

We ordered a couple of appetizers – the pork shoulder appetizer and what our server called the “phyllo dough”.  We didn’t know what that meant but when it came to the table we discovered they were fried spring rolls. In any case, they were delicious… perfectly crispy and not too greasy. Yummers.

Here is the pork shoulder appetizer. It came with a very tangy and spicy sauce…

The chicken pad thai! Sorry the photo is sloppy. When it was brought to the table, the food runner said it was “tofu pad thai” so it was given to my vegetarian friend, who picked at it and ate the top off (including my extra egg), until she realized there was chicken in it. Then she gave it to me (above).

Overall, I was very impressed with Lers Ros. It was affordable and super tasty… it suddenly got crowded after we sat down and by the time we were ready to leave, the line was out the door! We got there at 6:20ish and narrowly missed the dinner rush!

Lers Ros Thai
730 Larkin St
San Francisco, CA 94109

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The thing that makes Weezy’s Shed special is that is specializes in MINI BURGERS,  YAY! This place is awesome because it’s a burger joint that’s healthy! Yes, grass-fed, antibiotic-free organic, local beef. But that aside, it’s awesome because the burgers are 2oz. and you can order more than 1 of them so you can try all the flavors. What a great idea!

Here’s the outside it’s really cute and has a full length covered patio in the front. There was only 1 other person eating there at the time because we went around 2:30pm. I guess that’s a weird hour to eat lunch in Marin.  Better for us though, can’t complain about having the whole place to ourselves!

We sat outside because we had Harley and Penny… the ketchup, mustard, salt/pepper and napkins were on each table looking so cute….

One of the main doorways into the restaurant leads you into a small dining room with a few tables and this awesome cutout seating.

Here’s the menu when you walk in… love how rustic everything looks! Remember, this place is all about mini burgers… between me and hav we ordered the “6-Pack” and got 3 each and a basket of fries. FYI, Weezy’s has a veggie patty for vegetarians. I’m the meat eater so I got beef… went for these burgers:

• B-Rad Tillamook cheddar & apple cured bacon
• Contiki Kikkoman teriyaki glaze & grilled pineapple
• Bloody Hell BBQ & pepper jack cheese

The food came to our table… it looked AMAZING!

Here they are – from left to right is Bloody Hell, Contiki and B-Rad.

A large basket of mixed fries – regular french fries and sweet potato fries! I have to say, these were up there with some of the BEST FRIES ever. Why? Because they were thin cut, piping hot, super crispy and fried to perfection. They are fried in rice-bran oil instead of regular old vegetable oil… maybe this has something to do with it? I’m a french fry snob (hence fryhole) and I have to say, these fries RULE to the nth degree, even the burnt cripsy ones (that i usually leave behind)!!

Here’s the inside of the B-Rad burger. The bacon was crispy and the burger was cooked perfectly – a very nice medium well. I was very impressed by the buns – they are of course homemade and triangular in shape. It’s the perfect amount of bread, not too thick or dense, slightly sweet and soft on the inside, toasted on the outside. You can also substitute for a potato bun or they do “lettuce” buns for people who don’t want bread.

Here’s the Contiki burger. This one was my favorite. There’s nothing like grilled pineapple on burgers… the teriyaki sauce was so good and warm… the burger was juicy and the bread of course was so good I ate the extra bits after my burger was gone.

And of course I had to order 2 burger patty’s for my kids!

Good thing I work over there in Marin sometimes, can’t wait to hop back over to Weezy’s for lunch or dinner!

Weezy’s Shed
507 Miller Ave
Mill Valley, California
website

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I ordered the Short Rib Hash ($15) and side of Breakfast Potatoes ($3) because I was HUNGRY!!!  Oh, and a GIANT Pomegranate/Grapefruit mimosa.

Here’s the description of the hash:

Braised Prather Ranch short rib hash, brussel sprouts, sweet potatoes, golden yams, 2 eggs, horseradish, creme fraiche, au jus

When my dish came, I was very surprised.  I guess in my head I was envisioning a big plate of hash – lots of veggies, potatoes/etc with bits of short rib… you know, like corned beef hash but with short rib.  This dish was definitely a very modern interpretation – everything was purposefully placed, it looked so delicate and neat (see below).  After a half of a nanosecond I got over my “non-hash” surprise and broke the egg yolks and started mixing everything around. No time to eat like a sophisticated human being after waiting over an hour… lol.  This freaking dish was so AWESOME my plate was cleaned and wiped dry within minutes.

I ended up glopping forkfuls of the short rib and eggs onto the bread and eating it that way.  The (Acme) bread didn’t last long… then I ended up dipping my potatoes in it.  Overall the dish was very excellent.  So good that there was not even any liquid left in the bottom of the plate/bowl.  The meat was tender and juicy and a little bit smokey, just perfect!  I admit I was disappointed there weren’t more potatoes/veggies since it was supposed to be a hash… only got 1/2 piece of 1 brussel sprout (cut into 2 pieces), 2 tiny cubes of sweet potato and some onions.  Oh well.  It was good anyway, hehe.

The breakfast potatoes: these potatoes were A-MAZING!!!  I accidentally yelled “OMG!” after I took the first bite!!  They were crispy and hot and salty, buttery with dill sprinkled around.  The crispiness of these potatoes were what made them amazing and addictive! I didn’t care that I was already full from eating the entire bowl of short rib hash, I needed to finish this bowl of potatoes.  I swear to the gods I could eat a bowl of these potatoes at every meal for the rest of my life! And guess who much this bowl of potatoes cost? $3, yay!

Mission Beach Cafe

www.missionbeachcafesf.com

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HOLY CRAY to the 5th…. this place is AWESOME. It’s kind of fancy inside but don’t be fooled, you can be as dressy or casual as you want. There were people in jeans (including myself) and people semi-dressed up (after churchers). They were playing Barry White and Aretha Franklin… perfect!

I took one look at the menu and knew instantly what I would order: CHICKEN FRIED BENEDICT. I got a side of bacon too (applewood smoked) and Hav and I split an order of the beignets as a morning appetizer. I’m going to post the photo of the chicken fried benedict first, because I want that image to appear on the homepage…. lol.

NOTE: Bacon was extra… the dish doesn’t come with it, I just put it on the plate to make the plate look fuller. Basically, the dish is called “Chicken Fried Benedict”. It’s fried chicken (boneless) atop an English muffin, with a poached egg on top, covered in hollandaise sauce. They also give you a little side of their house special smokey hot sauce, mmm.

I’m not the hugest benedict person mainly because it’s too wet and mushy, but I decided to try this dish because the idea of juicy fried chicken in the morning sounded perfect. Let me tell you, this dish is AMAZING. Everything about it was awesome – I think the fried chicken really balanced out the soft liquidy/creaminess of the benedict. The hot sauce was also super yummy and it had the perfect ratio of heat to hotness to smokiness. My only suggestion would be to add toast or home fries or something else as a side item because I would’ve liked something to dip in the sauce.

Now check out the beignets:

The beinets were just simply to die for. They are soft and light and have a sweet sugary buttery flavor. The powdered sugar really give them an extra kick. They’re very rich for being so light… soooo good we even took the last one home!

Hav ordered grits with her meal. As much as I love corn, I’ve never really been a huge grits person – but the grits at Pican are seriously so good I would add them to my last meal list. These grits are so buttery and corny – you know what I mean! They have an extra kick of the corn flavor – salty, sweet and buttery corn. I was already stuffed from the chicken benedict and I couldn’t stop myself from eating these grits. I will definitely order a side for myself next time…. and had I known I was going to eat the grits I would’ve taken a photo of the dish without spoonmarks… sorry!

Lastly here’s a photo of my orange juice and latte. What a nice simple presentation!

Pican is A-CLASS… LOVE IT and can’t wait to go back and try something else!

Disco fries all the way baby!

2295 Broadway
(between Grand Ave & 23rd St)
Oakland, CA 94612
(510) 834-1000
www.picanrestaurant.com

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I was excited to find out that it was Hawaiian food… nothing better than eating a slab of fried meat, macaroni salad and a scoop of rice and feeling like a fatty in a food coma all night… so what did I order?  Hawaiian fried steak of course (yes, with rice and macaroni salad) and 2 orders of spam musubi (one for me, one for my friend).  Oh, and a raspberry iced tea.

Check out the Hawaiian Fried Steak (taken with my iphone):

I never had Hawaiian Fried Steak before.  Like its name implies, it’s like chicken fried steak only with the Hawaiian style gravy.  The fried steak was just perfect. It was fried and it stayed crispy and crunchy even after all that gravy was slopped all over it… pretty impressive! I can’t really describe the gravy – it’s kind of like, teriyaki sauce meets brown gravy.  It’s salty but tangy and a little sweet… and it goes perfectly with the crispy slab of sliced up fried steak.  There were two more scoops of rice underneath the meat… I couldn’t even touch the two scoops up top next to the macaroni salad…

All and all it was amazing.  In fact it was so good (I was eating this in the car) that I splattered gravy all over my shirt… need I say more?

The spam musubi was a TANK! You can see that they are stuffed chock full of rice.  (pic was taken with my iphone) Definitely more rice than I’m used to from L&L spam musubi… What I appreciated most about the 88 Ricebowl spam musubi was that when I finally got home and ate my roll 1/2 hour later it was still hot.  Yum!  Better yet, I ate the other roll for breakfast the next day and it was even tastier than the first one!!

Here’s a shot of the leftover spam musubi (taken with my real camera):

I am glad the nearest 88 Rice bowl is all the way down in Daly city otherwise I’d probably look like a spam musubi.

4 Fries!

88 Rice Bowl
1901 Junipero Serra Blvd
Daly City, CA 94014
(650) 991-8863

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