Overworked. Underfed.

Recess Room

The Recess Room 18380 Brookhurst St. Fountain Valley, CA 92708 Yelp Fountain Valley doesn’t exactly bring to mind the trendiest or most food forward culinary scene. I think of cheap Asian eats. So it was surprising to learn something as trendy as The Recess Room had landed in Fountain Valley. The Yelp reviews seemed pretty…

Monsieur Benjamin

Monsieur Benjamin 451 Gough St. San Francisco, CA 94102 Yelp When I heard Chef Cory Lee of Benu opened up Monsieur Benjamin, I didn’t get too excited. First of all, I thought Benu was just good, but not great for its price point. Secondly, French bistro can come off as a little unexciting to me….

Kusakabe

Kusakabe 584 Washington St. San Francisco, CA 94111 Yelp As you’ve noticed, I eat a lot of sushi. It’s mainly because I know it makes The Annoyer very happy to have his “tasty fish.” Kusakabe is definitely one of the fancier sushi restaurants in the city. Omakase can be for $95 or $150. It…

Sons & Daughters

Sons & Daughters 708 Bush St. San Francisco, CA 94108 Yelp The Annoyer’s old friend New Sun asked us to go to Sons & Daughters. It’s not a place that was on my immediate to-try list, mostly because my fellow blogger Darin Dines didn’t seem all that impressed by the place. Granted, he visited the restaurant some…

Cotogna

Cotogna 490 Pacific Ave San Francisco, CA 94133 Yelp Out of the handful of very high end ($200+) dinners I’ve eaten in SF, I’d rank Quince near the top. I was excited to hear the chef/owners of Quince recently opened up Cotogna, as a more casual sister restaurant next door. Italian, pizzas, and pastas is…

Liholiho Yacht Club

Liho Liho Yacht Club 871 Sutter St. San Francisco, CA 94109 Yelp The much talked about Liholiho Yacht Club has been on my radar since it hit the SF scene. I don’t even live in SF so that probably means this place has made quite the splash, if word has spread to a SoCal resident about…

Cauldron

Cauldron 1421 W. MacArthur Blvd. Santa Ana, CA 92704 Yelp Ice cream falls in the top 5 of favorite desserts (the classic chocolate chip cookie being my first love). I love it even more because it’s something I can get really creative with when I make it at home. The invention of unique flavors is…

Swan Oyster Depot

Swan Oyster Depot 1517 Polk Ave. San Francisco, CA 94109 Yelp Swan Oyster Depot is a San Francisco institution. Anthony Bourdain has visited this place, not once, but twice, while filming “The Layover” in 2012 and “Parts Unknown” in 2015. It should be no surprise to know the place is overrun with tourists, myself and The Annoyer…

Kato

Kato 11925 Santa Monica Blvd. Los Angeles, CA 90025 Yelp I typically do a fair amount of research into any new restaurant I am checking out. However, it’s nice to be able to put my faith into another person’s hands. Ski Bum, a long time Angeleno, is quite attune to the LA dining scene. She…

LSXO

LSXO 21016 Pacific Coast Hwy. Huntington Beach, CA 92648 Yelp It’s not easy to justify a high price tag for fancified food from a third world country, in this case Vietnam and Southeast Asia. A lot of times, the food is far too dumbed down so as to appeal to the masses, but then misses the mark for…

Curry Up Now

Curry Up Now Multiple locations throughout the Bay Area + roving trucks Curry Up Now was one of the roving trucks parked for lunch at Spark Social SF, an outdoor urban space in Mission Bay that’s part food truck park, part biergarten, part event space, and entirely awesome. I haven’t seen anything like it in…

Bi-Rite Creamery

Bi-Rite Creamery 3692 18th Street San Francisco, CA 94110 Yelp Ever since I fell in love with the ice cream at Portland’s Salt ‘n Straw, I have been a big fan of ice cream eating and making. Over the years, that has probably morphed into ice cream snobbery. I’ve just developed a very discerning preference…