Last Saturday we went to the Mixing Bowl for some quick breakfast.  Generally speaking, I like this place very much, it’s in the neighborhood and I can bring Harley along (you can sit outside with your dog). I ordered the Farmer’s Scramble.  I never had this dish before so I was excited to try something new.  Here’s the blurb from the menu:

farmer’s scramble 9.35
with chard, caramelized onions, bacon, potatoes and cheddar cheese

This is one of those places where you order first and then they give you a number and then you sit down and they bring the food to you.  There was a white barking dog on the patio above the restaurant and some really bad fist pumping techno music blasting out of the windows which was kind of annoying… but the racket seemed to dissipate once the food was delivered and it looked GREAT.

I was pleasantly surprised with this scramble.  It was extremely flavorful and there was the perfect proportion of egg with the other ingredients (bacon, caramelized onion, chard, potatoes).  The sweetness of the onions went really well with the salty bacon and the chard added a nice extra leafy bite.  The scramble was also nice and hot.  It’s so annoying when you go somewhere for eggs and they come out warm but not hot – not this place.  This whole scramble was nice and super warm/hot not scalding, you could tell it was delivered straight from the kitchen, no warming lamps on this plate!  The scramble even stayed warm through the last bite, I really enjoyed this meal and would definitely order it again!!  It was the perfect amount of food, I left feeling comfortably full.

Mixing Bowl
4920 Telegraph Ave.
Oakland, CA 94609
(510) 655-5630
www.mixingbowloakland.com

Yesterday (Sunday) we went to the Mission Beach Cafe for brunch. When we got there, the line was out the door and there were people hovering around the entrance about halfway up both sides of the block (it is a corner building).  So we put our name on the list and walked around the neighborhood.  The entire wait was roughly an hour and we were finally seated along the bar facing the front window. Of course I forgot my REAL camera on this very special occasion, and had to use my iPhone, bleh.

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

It’s been 2 years, and Fryhole is back and kicking! What happened?  Well almost 2 years ago, sadly Fryhole got hit by a “bot”, causing the website to do all kinds of weird redirects to spammy sites, not to mention installing a Trojan virus on everyone’s computer (PC) who visited.  So I stopped updating the site and had to move the entire thing over to a brand new database.  It took me this long to do it – I’m so busy and I was procrastinating a little… but I’m ready to pump it back up!!

Some friends and I went over to the Cock-A-Doodle Cafe in Old Oakland for brunch last weekend.  This cafe is kind of a hole in the wall place off of 8th and Broadway.  There are rainbow flags all over the inside (sorry forgot to take a pic) and it’s a very gay-friendly place to eat (unlike some other places in downtown Oakland). The restaurant is small and narrow and the kitchen is semi-open to the dining area.

The place was packed.  Luckily we got the last table and didn’t have to wait… I ordered the Bacon Scramble which was one of the specials for the day.  It came with home fries and a side of toast (sourdough).

The dish kind of threw me off guard but in an ok way… I was expecting more of just eggs scrambled around with bacon… this was more like a veggie omelet with bacon in it too… there were olives, peppers, green onion, tomatoes and avocado on top.  It was good but not what I expected.  Cost about $11.

My friend got the strawberry ricotta stuffed french toast (with 2 slices of bacon).  I took a bite and it was REALLY GOOD.  I’m not a huge french toast person but I would definitely go back to this place to get this dish.

719 Washington St
(between 7th St & 8th St)
Oakland, CA 94607
(510) 465-5400
www.cockadoodlecafe.com

I was on my way to the post office when I walked past Jamba Juice and remembered that I always wanted to try their new flatbread pizzas.  On my way back from the post office, I stopped in and ordered the Smokehouse Chicken Flatbread.

Jamba Juice’s website describes this flatbreadas:

A thick and crispy crust topped with BBQ chicken, smokehouse roasted sweet corn, black beans, poblano chilies, red bell peppers, and a combination of mozzarella and cheddar.

First of all, the description does hold true however it’s not really a flatbread… it’s a freakin pizza, freakin A!  And this pizza was pretty much the biggest disappointment of my TGIF.  After I ordered the pizza, I saw the guy go into the back and walk out with a tiny round frozen pizza wrapped in cellophane.  He had to unwrap it before putting it into the oven, which took about 3 minutes to heat up.

A small 7-8″ or so pizza box was handed over to me with a tiny baby pizza inside.  I couldn’t wait to get back to the office to eat it so I set it on top of a huge tree planter outside the Jamba Juice building to take a pic of it before it got slammed it down my fryhole.

I wish I had something in the photo to help show scale.  I think this pizza is only about 6″ round.  It’s pretty tiny, no wonder there are supposedly only 300 calories.

Here’s another pic, closer up.  Sorry the quality is off, iPhone camera to blame (I doctored the pics up a bit before they made it in into the blog tho).

Yeah, so the pizza looks all hot and cooked through however it was hardly lukewarm when I took a bite.  The pizza was gone in about 2 minutes, more or less… since I was freakin starving.  I finished it while walking 1 San Francisco block.  The flavors are all there but the crust is kind of airy and dough-y.  It’s not super flavorful (maybe it’s because it wasn’t too warm) and again the size really threw me off.

For some reason from all the photos of these pizzas, I kind of got into my mind that they were cornmeal crust or something – THEY ARE NOT CORNMEAL CRUST, they just have the shape of most cornmeal crust pizzas (like the ones at Trader Joe’s anyway).

I probably won’t be eating another one of these pizzas in the near future… sorry Smokehouse Chicken Flatbread, I’m still hungry.

74 New Montgomery Street
San Francisco, CA 94105
(415) 597-5546
www.jambajuice.com

We went to Herbivore for a late lunch/brunch.  If you’ve never been to Herbivore, it’s a vegetarian restaurant.  Oh, oops, it’s actually vegan.  What’s that you say?  NO DAIRY, NO MEAT.  How can this possibly be delicious you ask?  Well, for certain items it is possible.  Being a vegetarian for 2 years (about 10 years ago) I can imagine myself really enjoying this restaurant for all of the close-to-meat items they offer… now that I’ve completely returned to my raw meat chomping self, I can’t wrap my mind around eating food that is supposed to taste like meat that isn’t, because I always end up feeling unsatisfied.  Ugh!

Anyway, everytime we go there on a Sunday when they have brunch I always order the same thing.  The Basil Pesto Tofu Scramble.  I can pretty much depend on this dish being pretty spot on each time – salty, pesto-y… the homefries are also pretty good although I usually add alot of salt… and the toast is pretty good too, usually pretty crunchy and sliced thick.

So there it is in all its glory… the scrambled tofu is the closest thing to eggs as you’ll get at Herbivore. All in all, this is a pretty good dish… so good in fact that I am afraid to venture off and try other things on the menu.

Just an FYI if you order coffee or a latte with your breakfast, they don’t have real milk or half and half.  It’s soy milk.  And they don’t have Splenda or sweet and low… only natural sugar and agave nectar.  They also don’t have coke or sprite or any of your favorite sodas.  Just San Pellegrino Aranciata and Limon and some other natural sodas… so don’t get your hopes up if you’re thirsting for a freakin Coke, you won’t get it.

Herbivore
2451 Shattuck Ave
Berkeley, CA 94704
(510) 665-1675
www.herbivorerestaurant.com

went to New Ming Chinese for some orange chicken… I was really craving hot fried balls of chicken coated in a slightly spicy orange sauce… not the other more “authentic” versions of orange chicken found out here on the west coast.

Let me be completely frank and tell you that I’ve been to this restaurant a handful of times before… each time I go there I’m not sure why I ever decided to eat there – but for some ungodly reason I always go back when I’m craving greasy chinese.  This was one of those days – BUT… it was extraordinarily awesome this time, and you know why?  Because I went long after the lunch rush – around 3pm, and they made it FRESH for me!  Now that I know the secret, I only go there after 2:30, when it’s almost a guarantee that the food is empty behind the counter, and they are forced to make my dish from scratch (or almost).  It really makes a difference, and this orange chicken was well worth it (see below).

As you can see,  I got a healthy portion of rice and chicken, and let me tell you – the chicken was fried perfectly and had a nice crunch, with a nice piece of chicken inside… the sauce was light and a little spicy – not too gooey like some orange chicken sauces.  It was awesome, and totally hit the spot!!

New Ming Chinese Restaurant
641 Mission Street
San Francisco, CA 94105-4126
(415) 989-8544

My bellz was RANGIN today and I wanted to keep my weight loss goals in mind so I decided that my lunch needed to be as filling yet “healthy” as possible.  My first instinct was to go get pad thai, but that isn’t healthy at all hahaha… I went through a mental list of the restaurants down the street when I remembered that Muffin’s Muffins has great vietnamese sandwiches!  SCORE!

Muffin’s Muffins is a tiny hole in the wall on 2nd between Mission and Howard.  You have probably walked by it a thousand times… in fact it took me about a year before I went in for the first time (for their fro-yo).  Today I ordered the Vientmase sandwich with chicken.  The woman who works there is friendly and pleasant, and a few people came in and out while I was waiting.  They are CASH ONLY!

Sorry the photo quality is bad today – I used my iPhone for this one.  I would usually wait until I have my nice camera with me but I felt like this sandwich deserved to be Fryhole’d.

This sandwich was excellent!  You can’t tell from the pic but it’s actually a pretty big sandwich.  There is a lot of chicken on it and the chicken is mostly white meat which is nice – the only difference between this sandwich and other vietnamese sandwiches I’ve had is this place added mayo (see it near the top).  I’m not a huge mayo freak but on this sandwich it worked because it was put on sparingly.  The carrots could have been a tad more pickled (or maybe just a little more fish sauce) but overall there was the perfect amount of sweet (sauce on chicken), fresh (mint) and heat (jalapenos).

I’m giving my sandy 4 fries!  The only thing holding it back from 5 fries is as I mentioned, it could’ve been a little pickley-er, and also the bread was a just a toasted soft roll, not french bread as in the traditional vietnamese sandwich (I like my french bread on the softer side tho, not the rock hard stuff).  I probably would’ve skipped the mayo too.

123 2nd Street
(between Minna St & Mission St)
San Francisco, CA 94105
(415) 882-7355

We went to Pican for brunch last weekend. Pican is a fairly new restaurant in downtown oakland, right next to Ozumo on the corner of W. Grand and Broadway. We drive past this place when we go to the Y across the street and it looked good so we went for brunch.

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

As many of you know, I’m a photographer. I shoot some assignments for a few different magazines and as you can imagine, one of the best perks about shooting food is getting to eat something afterwards.  This is precisely what happened last week…

I went to Fresca Restaurant in Noe Valley to shoot the restaurant and some food.  Fresca is a Peruvian restaurant and all of the dishes are rich and flavorful.  They even have a fresh oyster bar and serve ceviche and a number of other fresh seafood appetizers.  In the process of shooting, I met the chef’s mother, who insisted that I stay for dinner after the photoshoot was over (yay I was so happy!).  As I was shooting some food, one of the dishes that caught my eye (and nose) was a big bowl of what I thought was paella.  It smelled amazing and it reminded me of this awesome paella that I ate in New York City last fall.

Anyway, after all of the photos were taken, the chef asked me what I wanted and I told him I’d love to try the rice/paella dish with seafood.  They brought it out to me and I couldn’t wait to dig in.  All I can say… PARTY IN MY FREAKING MOUTH.  This was a total fiesta de mi boca… the most amazing rice and seafood dish I’ve ever eaten.  I seriously can’t even describe it… maybe it doesn’t even deserve words?  All I can say is that it’s been 2 days and I haven’t been able to stop thinking about it.

If you look closely at the photo, you’ll see that the dish is made up of seasoned rice, scallops, shrimp, mussells and calamari.  It’s also tossed with some peas.

I sat alone at the oyster bar and inhaled every last piece of rice.  All that was left were empty shells.  I can’t wait to go back and have it again (or try something new).  I’m really kickin myself for not taking a picture of my empty bowl to add to the Clean Plate Club gallery…

Fresca has 3 locations in San Francisco (Noe Valley, Fillmore and West Portal).  I visited the Noe Valley location.

3945 24th St
San Francisco, CA 94114
(415) 695-0549
www.frescasf.com