If you haven’t been to Homeroom yet, it is a mac and cheese restaurant. It’s really good and you should definitely go!

Here’s the outside. There’s usually a line, even on really hot days. I’m always surprised because it can be in the 70s and sweltering hot, yet people are still waiting around to stuff their gullets with creamy mac n cheese… I don’t get it, but whatever lol!

I start off with an iced tea. It’s house-brewed and has a floral essence to it… really good.

Ahhhhh the TRAILER MAC, my FAVORITE. Mac and Cheese mixed with hot dogs and topped with a generous handful of potato chips. BEST. In the spirit of my fat kid soul, I usually start inhaling this by the forkful – a few chews, but mostly so good I end up swallowing it whole before the heat wears off. I don’t suggest doing this – if you can, try to slow down and enjoy it.

OMG, the homemade oreo cookie. I don’t usually crave baked goods, but this cookie is too good to be true! It is NOT a cookie for sharing, get one of your own!

Homeroom Oakland
400 40th St
Oakland, CA 94609

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The line was terribly long and out the door.  People were standing around on the street waiting for their food.  The place is as small as a freaking closet.  There isn’t a clear menu on the wall either – I couldn’t remember the name of the sandwich I picked out on the website so I described it to the woman working there and she knew immediately which one it was – but she actually put my order in wrong anyway.  What I wanted was the King Koopa Sandwich – which is filled with meatballs, mozzarella sticks, jalapeno poppers and marinara sauce… what I got was the Super Mario Sandwich – which has meatballs and mozzarella sticks.

We waited a long time for our food to come out.  Apparently they were slammed and they even had one of their employees (who was there picking up food) log in to help take orders and work.  We waited a longass time for our food…. it was ok though, because we just snagged one of the very few tables outside after a really annoying family left.

Sidenote: Don’t you hate it when you go to a restaurant and you’re in close proximity to a table where everyone is complaining about something (really loud, then they complain to the people at the restaurant)?  Apparently they ordered a sandwich without the Dirty Sauce (which is standard on all sandwiches.  What they didn’t know is that the dirty sauce (a garlic aioli) is actually baked into the bread.  When their sandwiches came out they then decided that they wanted the dirty sauce after all and complained that they didn’t get any on their sandwiches.  They caused a scene, holding up the line inside and even made the cook come out, who had to explain that the sauce was baked into the bread but that they actually ordered their sandwiches without it anyway.  UGHHH.  People like this annoy the hell out of me.  Shut the EFF up already and eat your gddamn sandwich! OOohhh they were makin me so mad!

Ok, so here come our sandwiches.  The anticipation was killing me so bad that it made me forget that I ordered the most fattening greasy sandwich ever… I didn’t care… I just wanted stuff those meatballs and those crispy jalapeno poppers and mozz sticks right into my little fryhole….

When the sandwich came, IT WAS MISSING THE POPPERS!!  Take a good look… I just died… ohhh the poppers were the only thing I was truly looking forward to, but I didn’t have the patience to go back and order another one (or the gall to complain about it… at least the mozz sticks were there).

THE TASTE: I was sadly disappointed.  The hype about the mozz sticks and poppers definitely got me extra excited about this sandwich, and it ended up being a lukewarm mushy mess.  I gather that the mozzarella sticks were pre-fried in bulk because they were FAR from crispy and the cheese inside was not warm… with each bite the mozz stick just mushed along with the meatballs, you couldn’t really taste either of them separately – it was just a big mushy mess (and there’s nothing worse than eating something that’s supposed to be crispy and hot and sinking your teeth into a soggy mush instead).  The marinara sauce was not bad and the bread was pretty good, but overall what I thought would be a party in my mouth turned out to be a total buzzkill!

If you go to Ike’s Place, I recommend looking at the menu on their website at www.ilikeikesplace.com because it’s kind of difficult deciding what to get on the spot when your’e there.  The menu online is also huge and overwhelming – unless you know specifically which sandwich you want, you probably won’t find it on the wall at the actual location because the entire selection is not posted anywhere big and bold…. just an fyi.

Lastly, and this is very important info: THEY DO NOT SERVE FRENCH FRIES ON THE WEEKEND!  My little fried heart nearly stopped beating when I waited in line for the 2nd time because I forgot to order fries, and when I finally made it to the cashier 15 minutes later, she said they don’t serve fries on the weekend. Just shoot me why don’tcha! UGHHHH!!!!

Sorry Ike’s Place, you only get 3 fries.  It was good but not great.  If I return, I will probably try something way way different, and come during the week so I can have french fries.

3506 16th St
San Francisco, CA 94114
(415) 553-6888
www.ilikeikesplace.com

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Here’s the burrito bowl.  It is monstrous.  And I felt pretty sick after I ate the whole thing since I wasn’t so hungry to begin with…. but it was good.  …Not amazing like OMFG, but salty and tasty.

Chipotle
1050 Gilman St
(between 10th St & San Pablo Ave)
Berkeley, CA 94710
(510) 526-6047
www.chipotle.com

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The inside of the restaurant is a giant u-shaped bar.  Not a drinking bar… but a food bar – like in real diners.  There were pretty many people there too – I got there around noon.  Everyone inside was talking to each other and there was an Asian woman taking orders and another woman cooking.  It was pretty cozy inside and I felt right at home.  The place had a nice campy feel – kind of like a jersey diner meets a California chinese restaurant meets diner food… I loved it, and I didn’t mind being alone!

I ordered grilled cheese and fries.  I actually ordered hot ham and cheese but I don’t think she heard me say ham because I got only cheese.  It was ok though because it was a bangin sandy.

This was the best grilled cheese sandwich I’ve ever had.  Seriously… it was so cheesy and with every bite warm cheddar came stringing out… amazing!  I ordered it on wheat which was good but I think it would be even better on sourdough.  The fries were really good too – full of potato and fried perfectly… not too crisp, not too undercooked.  …I almost licked the plate clean!

Pretty Lady Restaurant
1733 Peralta St
Oakland, CA 94607
(510) 832-1213

[ratings]

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As you can see, these babies are little greaseballs.  No, that’s not the glare from lights above, it’s shiny griddle grease.  The fries are all fresh cut and Flames only uses Niman Ranch beef (antibiotic free).  The mini burgers came with bbq sauce, bacon, cheddar cheese, an onion ring, and lettuce, tomato and onion.

Now back to the french fries.  As I said before, these are fresh cut.  When I worked in a restaurant back in PA, I learned that you don’t change out the oil in the fryer very often – and that is what gives the fried treats their yummy flavor.  I think Flames changes their oil too much, because the fries (although crispy and chock full of potato) are kind of flavorless.  They taste like potato, but there isn’t anything buttery flavor and the assumed fry-like feeling wasn’t there.  They’re kind of like the fries at In-n-Out… how they taste so fresh cut or something?  Maybe that is my problem… maybe I only like crap fries and haven’t acquired a taste for fresh fries… but I’ve had fresh cut fries before at other places (T-Rex, for example) that were really good, so I think it all goes back to the oil.  Also, the potatoes that they use are small, so almost every french fry has one side that’s full of skin, and I’m not really into that.

…A cross-section of the burger.  It was good, greasy and had just the right amount of bbq sauce and bacon on it.  I usually don’t eat full on hamburgers because they leave you feeling like a big load afterwards, but I was really hungry on this day.

Flames
88 2nd St
(between Jessie St & Mission St)
San Francisco, CA 94105
(415) 896-5084

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I started off with Tamarindo’s daily aqua fresca – it was cucumber melon. The most amazing cucumber melon aqua fresca I’ve ever had… you could taste the freshness of the cucumbers and the sweetness of the melons… AMAZING…!! (I had 2)

Since “antojeria” means “place of little cravings” you can simply say it’s Mexican tapas. We ordered a bunch of different things, starting with (above) the sopecitos. OMG I’m freaking out right now, these aren’t on the online menu, I wonder if they took them off?! Anyhow, I can’t tell you offically what’s on them, but I can try to remember…. There were 3 different ones. the first one was vegetarian and had potatoes, spices, onion and cotija cheese, the second one had chicken asada and the third had carne asada, all topped with some onion and cotija. These little puppies were amazing!! The mini sopas are all warm, and the sopa itself is warm a little crispy on the bottom. The carne asade one was really really spicy…

Next we have the chilequiles. What are Chilequiles you ask? Well, at this place, they are heaven meets my last meal in jail. They are not nachos — basically they are tortilla chips, tossed in chipotle puree and topped with cotija (white cheese) and cilantro. At some other taquerias the chips come doused in red sauce, but not at Tamarindo. First of all, the chips are the thick, crunchy homemade kind. They are awesome because they’re the kind that stay crunchy through the meal… no sogginess here! And even though the chips are covered in sauce and cheese and the outsie might get a little soggy, the inside is still crunchy! If you go to Tamarindo, you HAVE to get this dish. In the time we were eating dinner, I think almost every table had a plate of them – they looked so good coming out of the kitchen that everyone started ordering it!!

This is the rice and plantains side dish. Now, words can’t really describe how delicious this side dish is. I could probably eat 2 or 3 of them as my meal. The rice was special. It wasn’t just a scoop of regular white rice. They definitely cook it with spices and maybe some coconut milk or something sweet, because it is a light, slightly salty sweet rice. The plantains were soft and warm, and very plantain-like… nothing over the top there… it was the rice that really sent this dish over the edge.

Here is the Sopa Azteca. This wasn’t one of my choices but I tasted it and took a pic anyway. This is one of the vegetarian options. It’s a chili puree soup and has chunks of cheese and avocado in it. It’s spicy and has a very rich and spicy flavor… spicy in the heavy, smokey way.

Lastly, some nachos and guacamole. I was still hungry so I ordered this, and boy was it good!! I think it’s the chips that finally did me in — after I ate half a plate of those chilequiles and then an order of nachos… The chips are the addictive kind, the kind that are buttery, salty and super crunchy – the kind when you eat one, you need to eat another and another and it snowballs until you’re left swiping the crumbs up with your finger to eat them too. The guacamole was really good – the mushy sweet kind with chunks of diced tomato and sprinkled with white cheese.

Tamarindo definitely gets a slam dunk for this meal, thanks to the chilequiles, the rice and plantains and the chips. Woo hoo!!

Tamarindo Antojeria
468 8th St
(between Broadway & Washington St)
Oakland, CA 94607
(510) 444-1944
www.tamarindoantojeria.com

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The turkey burger came with a chipotle mayo and the sweet potato fries are to die for. If nothing else, I would come to Zebulon just to stuff my little fryhole with those sweet potato fries… they are SO GOOD!!

The burger was AMAZING. It was juicy, HUGE and really messy. I think this was the best turkey burger I’ve ever had. And those sweet potato fries were sweet, salty and lightly crunchy on the outside and really soft on the inside.

15 minutes later….

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This soup is a great afternoon snack.

Eddie Rickenbacker’s
133 2nd St
(between Minna St & Natoma St)
San Francisco, CA 94105
(415) 543-3498

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There was a sign next to the sandwich counter saying that the ingredients that they use to make the sandwiches are if possible, local, organic and sustainable – there was also composting and recycling.  This was a nice bonus to my visit because it’s always nice to know that companies are being socially and environmentally responsible.  Anyway…

Please take a good look at the photo above and note the following:

• The bread is nicely toasted
• There is a generous amount of ham
• *2* slices of melted cheese (above and below the ham)

This sandwich was very good.  I ate all of it, and the cheese (jack) and the toast were nice and warm = perfect.

The post GAP, Inc Cafeteria: Hot Ham and Cheese Sandwich appeared first on Fryhole.

…Yes, I appreciate that Sellers Markets is eco friendly and sustainable and composts and recycles and uses spudware and biodegradable cups, etc (who doesn’t in SF these days tho?) but I am not going to use all of that as an excuse to give my hot ham and cheese sandy a better fry rating than it deserves (2 fries).

Ooooh I’m a little bitter…. and also frustrated because I went to Seller’s Market about a year ago when it opened to try the Hot Ham and Cheese and it was exactly the same. Today I was so hungry that i decided to give them another go… but my experience has turned out to be equally as disappointing. I will never order this sandwich again from this place! Oh and FYI, for some reason all of this (below) plus a soda cost me $11.18 big ones… go figure!

In this instance, do not judge a book by its cover.

Sellers Markets
595 Market Street
San Francisco, CA 94108
(415) 227-9850
www.sellersmarkets.com

Viewer Rating: [ratings]

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