The Number 4 Combination Plate at Cordon Bleu

There are only two restaurants in San Francisco (well, three if you count Popeye’s) where I regularly order chicken as an entree. One is Zuni Cafe, where the Roast Chicken with Bread Salad is a longtime favorite. But you’re probably sick of hearing about Zuni’s chicken. The other is Cordon Bleu on California and Polk, next to the Lumiere Theater. Now, if you’re like most of my friends, you’re either thinking “Cordon Bleu? I haven’t been there in forever!” or “What’s Cordon Bleu?”. Everyone seems to have forgotten about this hole-in-the-wall or never knew about it in the first place. Include me in the crowd that forgets about it. Though I first ate here in 1985 and was a regular for a while when I was twentysomething, the only time that I’m reminded about Cordon Bleu is when my sister-in-law visits from New York. She lived in San Francisco for a year back in the mid ’90s and Cordon Bleu is on her “must eat” list every time she’s here. Maybe you have to leave town to appreciate this gem? Two recent visits are strongly imprinting Cordon Bleu back in my memory.

A counter with ten seats and two tables, one that is also used for food prep, make up this Vietnamese barbecue chicken shack in our old ‘hood (and four blocks from where I grew up). The Five Spiced Chicken Combo (Number 4) is, in my opinion, the thing to order here as it comes with 1/2 of a well-seasoned bird char-grilled right in front of your face. I’m of the mind that if I can see my food being cooked, it tastes better. Better yet, I’m pretty sure that the woman cooking my food is the same woman who was there back in ’85! The chicken skin is crispy and mostly burnt, how I like it. For the most part, the chicken remains moist though I encountered a few dry bites here and there. Not enough to bother me. Also, you get a heap of rice with a delicious, almost Bolognese-like, meat sauce unlike any I’ve ever tasted ladled on top (I like the sauce on my rice while Mrs. Stomach likes it on the side). It’s kind of a Vietnamese-Italian hybrid sauce. Finally, a scoop of “Country Salad” is balanced on the edge of the plate and its light, vinegary flavor and hefty crunch provide a refreshing contrast. Start with an order of Imperial Rolls, fresh fried. They’re not served with all of the accoutrements that you might find at The Slanted Door but, for $2.60 an order, I’m not complaining. The only other item that I’ve ever ordered here is the Shish Kebab and I don’t love it. The flavor is ok but the meat is so thin that it tends to get overcooked on the flames and, therefore, becomes tough.

If I can see the flames, it makes the food taste better.

In a city where restaurants and fads come and go, Cordon Bleu soldiers on, unconcerned with such trends but instead serving its mighty fine chicken at an impossibly high level of consistency day after day, night after night. Save a spot in your memory and drop by for a soul satisfying, cheap meal.

Cordon Bleu
1574 California St
(between Larkin St & Polk St)
San Francisco, CA 94109
(415) 673-5637
Tuesday-Saturday: 11:30 AM-10:00 PM, Sunday: 4:00PM-10:00PM
Number 4 Special (1/2 Five Spiced Chicken, Meat Sauce on Rice, Country Salad): $7.60
Imperial Roll: $2.60

When I think of the corner store sandwich, I envision a turkey or maybe a roast beef sandwich on a semi-stale, hard Italian roll with bland, rubbery cheese, lettuce, tomato and mayo or mustard. The guy behind the counter isn’t really that into making sandwiches and also serves as the cashier and is also probably the owner of the store. Boring sandwiches. Boring life. Recently though, mainly in the Mission District, there has been a complete reinvention of the corner store sandwich and its place on our palates. The bread is fresh. The ingredients more flavorful. The sandwich maker is enthusiastic. Exciting sandwiches. Exciting Life.

The Korean Steak Sandwich at Rhea's

Rhea’s Market and Deli had been on my omnipresent mental list of places to check out for some time but then faded from memory. However, when Jonathan Kauffman, the SF Weekly’s excellent new restaurant critic, recently proclaimed Rhea’s Korean Steak Sandwich to be “one of the best Korean fusion snacks in the city”, I was beyond intrigued. The first thing that I noticed during my lunchtime visit last week was the attention to detail going on behind the sandwich counter. There were three guys making sandwiches with one, presumably the owner, checking each sandwich for proper ingredient distribution and style. Two sandwiches, having failed inspection, were reopened for a quick addition of onions or a hit of hot sauce. Wow. Rhea’s menu lists the Korean Steak Sandwich’s ingredients as: “Marinated rib-eye in soy sauce, garlic, ginger, honey & spices served on an Acme organic roll, choice of cheese, chili garlic sauce, house pickled red onions & jalapenos, grilled onions, fresh red onions, iceberg lettuce and garlic aioli.” When reading this, I thought that this sandwich could be divine or it could be a total mess. I’m happy to report that it was divine! All good sandwiches start with good bread and this was no exception. The Acme roll was very fresh with a nice crunch to the crust yet an easy chew. I liked how the bread sopped up the delicious marinade juices, creating an extra level of flavor. Each bite was like a “best of” Korean barbecue flavors festival going on in my mouth. The attention to detail behind the counter paid off as every bite had an even spread of ingredients, a rare feat. Minor points off for one piece of gristle but otherwise, this is a pretty unique and fantastic sandwich.

The Chicken Milanese Torta at That's It

I was embarrassed to learn about the tortas at That’s It Market from the San Francisco episode of Tony Bourdain’s show, “No Reservations”. When Bourdain was munching on his torta on-screen, Mrs. Stomach shot me a look letting me know that I had let her down. How didn’t I know about this place until last summer? While That’s It looks like a typical corner store on the outside, inside they have a small counter that can seat six towards the back. Behind the counter stands Alicia, my Torta Queen, who is solely responsible for these masterpieces. While Rhea’s sandwich is a gourmet spin on a Korean classic (I’m guessing that Acme doesn’t have a bakery in Seoul), That’s It’s tortas are about as down-home as you can get. As per the menu board, the tortas are made “estilo DF”, meaning in the style typical of food stands and carts in Mexico City. Much like Rhea’s, the bread here is the engine that drives the sandwich. A quick turn on the griddle gives the roll a super light crisp and a faint buttery flavor. This is then stuffed, and I mean stuffed, with your choice of meat (I suggest the chicken milanese or the chorizo and egg), refried beans, queso fresco, avocado, onion and tomato. The end result is a sandwich that tastes like a lighter but more flavorful burrito. These tortas can easily feed two for lunch and maybe even dinner depending on your appetites. For $6.50! I’m now a regular making up for lost time.

Rhea’s Market and Deli
800 Valencia St. (at the corner of 19th St.)
San Francisco, CA 94110
415-282-5255
Deli counter open M-TH: 11:30 AM-7PM, F-SUN: 11:30 AM-8PM, Closed every 2nd Monday
Korean Steak Sandwich $8.75

That’s It Market
2699 Mission St. (at the corner of 23rd St.)
San Francisco, CA 94110
415-285-9883
Mon.-Sun.: 11AM-11:30 PM
Chicken Milanese Torta or Chorizo and Egg Torta: $6.50

Halo Halo (literally translated, means mix-mix) - sweetened white beans, sweetened red kidney beans, sweetened garbanzo beans , tapioca pearls (sago), agar-agar (gulaman), coconut gel (nata de coco), layered with shaved ice, and evaporated milk

Guinataan - yams, plantains, tapioca, jack fruit, and mochico flour balls in coconut milk served warm or cold

Puto - steamed cakes to serve with Dinuguan

Dinuguan - pork stomach and blood

Pancit Palabok - rice noodles (bihon) with ground pork, shrimp, tofu, green onions, hard boiled eggs, and crispy pork rinds

Paksiw na Lechon - Roast Pork Stew

Kilawin - Pig Stomach, Tripe, and Pork Fillet

Pinakbet - Vegetable Stew with Shrimp: string beans, okra, bitter melon, eggplant, and squash

Embutido - Stuffed Pork Sausage: ground pork, Chinese sausage, raisins, carrots, sweet relish, and whole hard boiled eggs

Rellenong Bangus - Whole Milkfish stuffed with a mixture of fish meat, ground pork, carrots and tomatoes

Rellenong Bangus - stuffed milkfish baked in banana leaves

Fresh Mango Salad with Vinegarette Dressing

Shanghai Lumpia with Ground Pork and Shrimp

Ukoy-Shrimp Fritters with Sweet Potato

Eden Canyon Vineyards, believed to be the only Filipino owned estate winery - Suerte meaning "luck" in many languages including Tagalog.

Chicken Adobo

Ground Pork and Vegetable Lumpia and Shanghai Lumpia with Ground Pork and Shrimp.

3 Types of San Miguel Beer Were Served

Barbecue Pork Sate marinated in mafran sauce (banana ketchup), soy sauce, sugar, garlic, and salt & pepper.

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We recently had the good fortune of being last minute fill-ins at a Filipino Feast for six guests here in San Francisco. Our friends Robert Aguirre and Lisa Fung had put together this meal as an auction item for our kids’ school and Robert recruited his mom to do all of the cooking (14 courses!) and his dad to hang out with us and teach us about Filipino traditions and history. Many of the foods that I tried at this meal were new to me and I was blown away by the variety, quality and quantity of what we were served. Thanks to Robert and Lisa and their family for an unforgettable night. To my memory, this was the most full that I’ve ever felt both during and after a meal…and that’s saying something!

Gourmet donuts make no sense to me. I’ve tried hard to love The Donut Plant in New York and Dynamo Donuts here in San Francisco but I just don’t get it. Why again am I paying $3 for a donut? I don’t care that donuts are organic or are baked with Indian spices or are filled with heirloom fruit. It’s a donut damnit! It should be cheap, a little greasy, and flavorful. The words “hint of” and “nuance” shouldn’t be spoken when discussing donuts. When I dream about donuts, I dream about Bob’s, one of the oldest of the old school haunts left in San Francisco.

My favorites at Bob’s are the Maple Filled, the Apple Fritter and the Plain Glazed. Each are exemplary of their donut genre. The Maple Filled is heavy on the external glaze and has a liberal spread of artificial maple frosting on top. Inside resides an eggy, almost pudding like custard that squirts uncontrollably with each bite. The Apple Fritter will sink you. It’s heavy, crusty and doughy and it tastes nothing like a real apple. Perfect. In contrast, the danger of the Plain Glazed is its lightness. With a thin layer of vanilla glaze and an airy interior, it’s easy to knock down two or three of these in one sitting (not that I ever have).

The Maple Glazed Donut At Bob's

Back in the day when Mrs. Stomach and I regularly were out past midnight, Bob’s was often a stop on the way home. Why? They make all of their donuts between midnight and 4AM. We knew the donut making schedule so well that it dictated our nightlife endgame. Feeling like an Old Fashioned? We better hustle over to Bob’s right now because they stop making them at 12:45. How about a Glazed? Let’s have another drink! The Glazed don’t come out until 2AM. Oh, how I miss those hot donuts! Coffee at Bob’s is a do-it-yourself affair utilizing glass coffee pots, filled with Maxwell House or maybe Folger’s, and uncompostable styrofoam cups. I don’t want to worry about the environment when I’m eating my donut.

Bob’s Donuts is exactly the same as it was when I first started going as a teenager and that is a big part of why I love it so much. I’m all for food fads and culinary progression but, sometimes, I just need something really simple and pleasing. Bob’s is just that.

Bob’s Donuts
1621 Polk Street (between Sacramento and Clay)
San Francisco, CA 94109
415-776-3141
Open 24 Hours

Roughly six years ago, I was up late one night frantically searching Chowhound (when Chowhound used to matter) for chicken wings. I was sure that there had to be something that I was missing. In college, wings were a staple of my umm, “balanced” diet. I once proudly ate 27 Mr. Spot’s jumbo wings in one sitting on a dare. How could San Francisco, with such a great diversity of food, be void of a decent wing joint? A place with cold beer on tap, maybe a few big screen tv’s with football on, and, most importantly, hot, greasy, messy wings by the basket with celery and processed blue cheese dressing on the side. Well I found that place…and it was called Hooters. At the Wharf.

But I also found San Tung, the venerable Chinese place on Irving and 11th. I didn’t even know that such a thing as Chinese style chicken wings existed but the Chowhound raves were so numerous, I had to trot out to the Inner Sunset for a taste. The Chowhounders were right. These wings, while completely different than my Mr. Spot’s memories, were a revelation. However, San Tung was nearly impossible to get into, especially with young kids who weren’t going to put up with a 45 minute wait for a table (ok, me). More Chowhound research ensued and the result was SO, a small place further down Irving at around 23rd. SO was owned by James, the son of the San Tung owners, and he smartly created a menu with San Tung’s greatest hits including the potstickers, the black bean sauce noodles and, yes, the wings. SO became a regular part of my Chinese food rotation until, one day around three years ago, there was a “CLOSED” sign in the window and, much to my disappointment, they never reopened.

So (no pun intended), I’m up late again surfing food sites a few weeks ago (some things haven’t changed in six years) when I notice that #3 on the “hot” restaurants on Yelp is a place called SO. “No Way!” , I thought to myself. Then, I saw the SOMA address and figured that this was a total coincidence. Maybe SO was yet another locavore, organic blah, blah, blah. But I clicked anyway and started reading Yelpers’ thoughts. Every single review mentioned chicken wings. Most reviews mentioned potstickers. SO was reopen! Five minutes away from our house!

Wanting to try a variety of dishes, I asked my cousins to join us for dinner this past Friday night. While the decor was a little bit nicer than the old Irving St. location, not much else had changed. To my memory, the menu was nearly identical with a variety of fried items, noodles, potstickers, and fried rice. I’m beyond happy to report that everything tasted exactly as I remembered it, maybe even better. Let’s start with the star of the show, the wings. SO’s wings are very lightly fried, to a point that you get a glassy crunch, and then tossed with a simple combination of roasted red pepper, garlic, and ginger soy sauce. The results are both stunning and addictive. If there weren’t six other hungry diners with me, I would have easily polished the whole order myself.

While the wings are my “essential order” at SO, the potstickers are also not to be missed. There’s no secret ingredient or anything unusual about them but rarely in San Francisco have I had potstickers this well executed. Well browned pillows of dough hug a perfectly balanced mixture of ground pork and ginger. Hint: Order the potstickers early as they tend to take longer than then other dishes to arrive at the table, a result of proper pan frying in the kitchen. Other winners included the SO Black Bean Sauce Noodles, a spicy mix of house made noodles, pork, and scrambled eggs and the Dried Sauteed String Beans, cooked with super fresh beans and a little bit on the garlicky side.

If you can’t tell by now, my excitement about the relaunch of SO is boiling over. It’s the perfect place for a quick dinner or to stop by on the way home from work for takeout. Prices are very reasonable with no dishes on the current menu costing more than $7.50. Including my two young daughters and two teenage boys, seven of us ate for $63 after tax and tip. So are these the best wings in San Francisco? Right now, I’d say a big yes.

SO
1010 Bryant St. (b/t 8th and 9th)
San Francisco, CA 94103
415-552-7676
Monday-Saturday, 11AM-9PM
Website

Is there such a thing as a curry high? After my first experience tonight with the Magic Curry Kart, I’d say yes and, three hours later at 1:30 AM, I still haven’t come down. Some background: During the past year, San Francisco has seen an explosion in food carts, especially in the Mission District. Most of these carts are run by one or two people who post their whereabouts on Twitter and/or their own blog. Brian Kimball, who operates the Magic Curry Kart, helped to start the street food trend when, hoping to make a little extra money, he started making curry in front of his apartment using a makeshift cooking setup. As word of an almost mythical “curry guy” spread, the crowds gathered quickly.

Cut to one year later. The Magic Curry Kart has evolved into a two burner, two rice cooker mobile machine. I was thrilled to learn from Brian’s tweets that the cart would be on 16th near Mission as I was getting off at the 16th St. BART station on my way home from the Warriors game (where the food sucks by the way). At 10:45, Brian had just finished setting up the cart and asked me to put my name on a list indicating what type of curry I’d like. Tonight’s choice was simple: Chicken red curry or Vegetable red curry. I opted for the chicken and was rewarded with a bowl of perfectly spiced, expertly cooked curry. Unlike the stringy pieces commonly found at Thai restaurants, the chicken was cut into small chunks The vegetables snapped perfectly in my mouth. The Kart’s curry is on the creamier side, how I like it, and the rice becomes well coated so that you still get many forkfuls of flavor after the chicken and vegetables are gone. Brian described the curry as being “medium spicy” yet for the first few bites, I wasn’t feeling it. Then, the heat slowly settled in on my tongue and remained at a perfect level for the remainder of the bowl. I love spicy food but not to the point that all other flavors are drowned out. Magic Curry nailed it.

As I’m beginning to delve into the street food scene, I’m curious to find out if the quality is there or if it’s the novelty that’s attracting the crowds. I have to admit that there was something cool about standing outside in the Mission District on a crisp night while eating from a cart that only some people even know exists. However, the Magic Curry Kart’s curry would make this stomach happy anywhere, anytime. For you early birds, the cart is often out in the afternoon and early evening. Follow the cart on Twitter and check it out.

Magic Curry Kart
$6 for a bowl of curry with rice
Check Twitter for times and locations
www.twitter.com/magiccurrykart
www.magiccurrykart.com