SFGate has an interesting profile of chef Michael Mina.

Tags: michael mina

My wife and I spent four evenings in San Francisco, and one of the purposes of the trip (aside from R&R) was to eat great food, and for the most part, we did that. Most of the dining tips came from my friend Dave, a foodie who lives in SFO.

Westfield San Francisco Center Food Court
This mall has a surprisingly upscale food court like I've never seen before. With some offshoots from big restaurants, it has a nice selection of good eats. We enjoyed the Thai food at Coriander for lunch after our arrival. My wife especially liked the pumpkin curry, a pleasant and unusual dish. We were disappointed to find out the food court wasn't open on Sundays, but I think we would have eaten lunch there every day if we could. We went back on the Monday, but had to eat a light lunch to starve ourselves for Michael Mina.

The Slanted Door
Our first real meal came from the Slanted Door, a modern Vietnamese restaurant at the Ferry Building. Some highlights from this meal included the live scallops, grapefruit and jicama salad and roasted pork belly. Surprisingly good was their Hong Kong milk tea. Overall, it was a great way to start this eating expedition. The Slanted Door also has an offshoot in the Westfield San Francisco Center's food court.

Colibri
Colibri, a Mexican restaurant connected to our hotel, the Hotel Diva, was a nice meal. My friend Dave, who lived in Mexico for a time, said that this restaurant was as authentic as it gets, north of the the Mexican border. The biggest hindrance to enjoying the dinner there was that we had a big late lunch, which didn't go with an early dinner. We had their guacamole, which is made at your table. The tortilla soup was quite nice, and because I got stuffed on the guacamole, I can't even remember the other entrees. I remember something about chicken, and some pork carnitas. We did have a pitcher of mango Agua Fresca there, which was quite refreshing.

Michael Mina
Michael Mina, located in the Westin St. Francis Hotel, was to be the dining highlight of our trip. We had the tasting menu, which consisted of six courses. The meal was quite spectacular. My wife's favorite dishes were the amuse-bouche, which was a tiny little oyster, and the crispy skin branzino, which was perfectly accompanied with some beautifully prepared calamari. My personal favorite was the California squab breast, which came with fava beans and foie gras that just melted in your mouth. To give you an idea of how big a deal the squab was... I don't really like squab, so for it to be my favorite dish, it had to be incredibly good. Our least favorite dish was the Kobe Beef (both our first time), not because it was bad, but because a little went a long way. Hard to believe, but true. It was also nice that Michael Mina provides "alternative beverages" for non-drinkers. My wife had a fantastic faux-martini made with pomegranate juice and ginger beer. The restaurant is spendy, but highly recommended.

Lulu
On our final night, we went to Lulu. The best way to describe this restaurant is that it is a franco-italo version of one of my favorite Toronto restaurants, Seven Numbers. Some fantastic dishes there were the fresh mussels, rosemary scented chicken with warm potato and lettuce salad, and the endive and watercress salad.

All in all, we have to say that we thoroughly enjoyed the San Francisco restaurant scene. From what I've read, San Francisco has the among highest number of restaurants per capita in the US, so one can only expect good things. We would have liked to try French Laundry as well, but you can only do so many things over a four night stay. I'd also like to note that in general, service in San Francisco puts Toronto restaurants to shame. I don't know what it is about Toronto, but service generally sucks. Even the Starbucks out there put their GTA counterparts to shame.

Tags: westfield, michael mina, colibri, lulus, slanted door

The New York Times has an interesting article on making good food with a microwave. Who'da thunk it?

Tags: microwave, cooking

The Torontoist has a scrumptious profile of the places to get the best croissants in Toronto.

Tags: croissants, toronto

If you're interested in becoming a wine snob aficionado, WikiHow has an article on how to acquire the taste of wine. Myself? No thanks.

Tags: wine

I was supposed to meet a friend at one of my favorite Pho restaurants in the GTA, Pho St. Clair.

Who would think that at noon, on a Tuesday, it was closed.

There was tons of foot traffic around, so it was surprising that the Italian and Columbian restaurants across the street were closed as well.

Bizarre.

Tags: pho st. clair, st. clair, bathurst

Don't tell my wife, but Urban Outfitters is selling a Twinkie Bake Set.

Tags: twinkie, bake-your-own

The Torontoist has a detailed review of red bean buns in the GTA.

Can't say that I'm a fan of red bean buns. I'm more of a curry beef bun man myself.

Tags: red bean buns