My own 7x7 List!

7x7 is the "insider's guide to the best of San Francisco." Every year, they come up with a list of 100 best things to eat at specific restaurants within the 7 mile radius of the city. As my journey in San Francisco comes to an end, I have decided to create my own list of my top 100 things to eat here (in no particular order)...

1. Breakfast Sandwich @ Lou’s Café
2. Dungenous Crab Eggs Benedict @ Zazie’s
3. Longanisa @ Mercury Lounge
4. Crawfish Beignets @ Brenda’s French Soul Food
5. Truffle Lobster Mac & Cheese @ Circa
6. Porchetta Sandwich @ Roli Roti Stand Ferry Building Farmer’s Market
7. Egg Salad Sandwich Crepe @ Sophie’s Crepes
8. Homemade Udon @ Sanuki Udon
9. Chicken Sandwich @ Saigon Sandwich
10. Shanghai Dumplings @ Shanghai Dumpling King
11. Pho Ga @ Turtle Tower
12. Prime Rib @ House of Prime Rib
13. Sashimi Platter @ Tekka
14. Bakudan Roll @ Ebisu
15. Cheese & Salumi Platter @ Amelie
16. Soondubu @ My Tofu House
17. Chan Pad Poo @ Marnee Thai
18. Tonkotsu Ramen @ Izakaya Sozai
19. Garlic noodles & roasted crab @ Thanh Long
20. Grass-fed Burger @ Nopa
21. Dungenous Crab Risotto @ Ducca
22. 7 Courses of Beef @ Anh Hong
23. Garlic Basa @ Marnee Thai
24. Rotisserie Chicken @ Limon Rotisserie
25. Home-made Tofu @ Eiji
26. Shio Ramen @ Santouka
27. Orenchi Ramen @ Orenchi
28. Kobe Beef Shabu Shabu @ Shabuway
29. Grilled Cheese Sandwich with Tomato Bisque @ Sauce
30. Flatbread Pizza @ Nopa
31. Raw Oysters @ Elite Café
32. Burrata @ Pizzeria Delfina
33. Spicy Chive & Pork Dumplings @ Shanghai Dumpling King
34. Cheese Grits @ Brenda’s French Soul Food
35. Mushroom Truffle Eggs Benedict @ Mission Beach Café
36. Short Ribs @ Hukilau
37. Short Ribs Hash @ Mission Beach Café
38. Pho Bo Kho @ Golden King Vietnamese Restaurant
39. Caesar Salad @ Butterfly
40. Short Ribs @ Butterfly
41. Roasted Bone Marrow @ Chez Papa Bistrot
42. Mac & Cheese @ Mission Cheese
43. Smoke Bomb @ Ace Wasabi
44. Aged Gouda @ Cowgirl Creamery
45. Biscuits @ Elite Café
46. Pot Roast @ Park Chow
47. Lemon Cookie Ice Cream @ Three Twins
48. Grasshopper Ice Cream @ Mitchell’s
49. Korean Tacos @ Hukilau
50. Crab Sandwich @ Crazy Crab’z Stand Giant’s Stadium
51. Clam Chowder @ Beach Chalet
52. Menage A Trois Sandwich @ Ike’s
53. BBQ Ribs @ Gorilla BBQ
54. Brisket @ Tommy’s
55. Salmon @ Thai House Express
56. Artichoke Bisque @ Caprice
57. Mussels @ Catch
58. Tri-Tip Sandwich @ Buckhorn Grill
59. Clam Chowder Bread Bowl @ Boudin
60. Burger @ Namu
61. Smoked Salmon Eggs Benedict @ The Butler & The Chef Bistro
62. Natural Viagra @ Yamasho
63. Spoonful of Happiness @ Koo
64. Beef Tongue @ Halu
65. Chicken Eggs Benedict @ Ella’s
66. Prosciutto Pie Pizza @ Pizzeria Delfina
67. White Wave Walu @ Rocketfish
68. Meatballs @ Vin Club
69. Dave’s Legacy Roll @ Sushi Bistro
70. Deviled Eggs @ Elite Café
71. Crab Cream Croquettes @ Izakaya Sozai
72. Potato Leek Soup @ Bushi-Tei
73. Filo Dough Specialty @ La Mediterranee  
74. Lobster Roll @ Woodhouse Fish Company
75. Mac & Cheese @ Delessio Market & Bakery
76. Vegetarian Sandwich @ Caffe Trieste
77. Uni Rissoto @ Ozumo
78. Brazillian BBQ @ Espetus Churrascaria
79. Hamachi Mango Roll @ Ariake Japanese Restaurant
80. Sisig Nachos @ Mercury
81. Murghi Korma Shahi @ Shalimar
82. Naked Lobster Roll @ Old Port Lobster Shack
83. Pho Bo Kho @ Pho Huynh Hiep 2
84. Chicken Katsu Curry with Cheese @ Volcano
85. Greek Plate @ Café Francisco
86. Miso Ramen @ Sapporo-Ya
87. Carne Asada Pie @ Chile Pies & Ice Cream
88. Galbi @ Muguboka Restaurant
89. Coconut Pudding @ Purple Kow
90. Cauliflower Truffle Crème Brule @ Twenty Five Lusk
91. Spicy Beef Pho @ Darren’s Café
92. Mussels @ Cha Cha Cha’s
93. Duck Fried Rice @ King of Thai
94. House Noodles @ Craw Station
95. The Stage Coach @ Fondue Cowboy
96. Shrimp With Garlic Butter @ Craw Station
97. Shrimp @ Cha Cha Cha’s
98. Dry Fried Chicken Wings @ San Tung
99. Tatter Tots @ Butter
100. Live Scallop @ Ebisu

Craw Station

Craw Station is known for their Vietnamese / NOLA style seafood boils, consisting of crawfish, dungenous crab, shrimp, clams, corn, potatoes, and their infamous house noodles. You get to choose what type of seafood you want, with what sauce (cajun, no spice, garlic butter, or lemon pepper), and what spiciness (none, mild, medium, dangerous).

house noodles - garlic, butter, topped with tobiko

1 lb each of crawfish, shrim, and clams - technically you're suppose to pour it all out on the table, but we decided to leave it in the bags

crawfish - cajun sauce, mild

shrimp - lemon pepper sauce, mild

clams - garlic butter sauce, mild

25 Lusk

25 Lusk is one of the newest hip restaurants/bars in the city. They are known for their sophisticated architecture and ambiance. You feel like you are a princess dining there. Over the past few months, they've been awarded Top Ten Local Hot Spots, Best New Restaurant, and one of the Top Hot Spot Restaurants in the United States. They have esquisite, top-notch food & wine, and I feel honored to have been able to dine at a place like this.

ahi sashimi appetizer

lobster with caviar

pork belly on sweet mashed potato

cheese & onion ravioli

scallop

wagyu ribeye - todiefor!

salmon

prawns

cauliflower & truffles creme brulee - one of my favorite dishes

japanese pepper grits

complimentary chocolate strawberries

cheese plate

dessert sampler

San Diego eats!

I'm pretty impressed that San Diego has so many unique eateries that I haven't tried before. In over 3 days, I ate some of the greatest things of my life.

Trail's Eatery - Heard about this place through the tv show called Restaurant Impossible. I was impressed - the food was great & so was the service! The pulled pork sando was delish. Homemade poppy seed dressing & croutons on salad were phenom!

Phil's BBQ - One of the most popular restaurants in SD! If you go during prime time, the wait is atleast an hour to order. They have the best fall off the bone baby back ribs in the city! Your meal comes with 2 sides - we picked fries & beans.

And the onion rings are so huge & to-die-for! They are served with buttermilk sauce.

Basic - It's a bar that serves pizza...REALLY good thin crust pizza! This was one of my favs & the best pizza I ever had in my life! The right side has mashed potatoes & bacon on it with a garlic, parmesan white sauce. I want to go back to SD just for this!

San Diego, home of carne asada fries. Topped with everything you can think of from beans to sour cream to salsa to meat & cheese. This one is from Fresh MXN Foods.

And last but not least, this BLT thin bagel sando is from Einstein Bros Bagels, a popular bagel chain. I wish they had a place like this in SF.

Marin French Cheese Company tour

Marin French Cheese Company, located in Petaluma, California near the coast, is a beautiful property with a quaint cheese factory, a large picnic area, & a crystal clear lake. The actual cheese factory is small, but they produce large amounts of brie-like cheese every week. I got to learn about the processing, aging, and how to eat it.

the cheese refrigerator

before we went into the actual factory, we had to be covered from head to toe - hair nets, mouth & nose, body suit, & booties

cheese fermentation

there are different stages of fermentation, multiple rooms, & unique flavors

you can see the rind growing

fully grown rind & definitely edible

cheese makers at work

our tasting - 7 different variations of fermentation stages starting from top left

all of the ones we tried in the above picture

The most interesting thing I learned is that many people think the rind is the most moldy part, however, the mold (cheese) grows from inside out, so the actual cheese in the middle is the moldiest!

Hukilau Poke Festival

Hukilau's poke festival in San Francisco is something I look forward to every year. This year, they celebrated their 10th year & I feel honored to have been to 8 of them! The poke fest is known for their infamous spam musubi eating contest - whoever can eat the most in 3 minutes. And of course, the poke contest where restaurant chefs create their best poke platter. This year, restaurants such as Butterfly, Ozumo, The Slanted Door, and Pacific Catch participated in the contest. 3 'celebrity' judges, as well as one 'normal' person, ME :) got to judge the poke on its taste, originality, & presentation. http://www.dahukilau.com/

ahi with wonton chips & nori

"bibimbop" served with uni, ahi, soft shell crab, tako, brown rice

this contestant had 3 different dishes - the "bibimbop" one, white dish with toro & foie groie, and a shooter with uni, ikura, and ahi

three different types of poke

poke with caviar mix with furikake chip

ahi in a spam can!

left: crab salad with poke cone, right: mango salsa ahi poke

ahi, avocado, tobiko mix

Cheeses of France

One of the best parts about living in the Bay Area is that cheese & wine are easily accessible. Two of my favorite things in life. There is so much interest in this topic that a woman, Daphnes Zepos, actually opened up her own Cheese School of San Francisco. Here, different classes are offered about cheese where you can learn about the history, where it's from, what kind of milk is used in it, and what it pairs well with. Since french cheese is one of my favs, I decided to try out one of the classes.

Don’t knock the French for sometimes acting like the world revolves around them. In the case of cheese, they’re right. France is undeniably the historic and cultural epicenter of all things fromage. This class will cover the age-old grand dames, small production treasures, and extraordinary everyday wheels that put the ‘ooh-la-la’ in French cuisine. Instructor Colette Hatch

8 different types of cheeses were served with 2 types of wine (1 red, 1 white). The cheeses consisted of cow, goat, and sheep milk, starting from the lightest (a triple cream) to heaviest (sheep's bleu). My favorite of the night was at 1:00. This cheese is a goat's milk and is known as a soft-ripened type. The texture is soft & oozy. It pairs well with figs and white wine. The cheese itself is a mellow flavor, whereas the moldy rind adds a mushroomy taste to it.

Other interesting facts I learned:
1) Softer cheeses have less butter fat than harder cheeses.
2) When storing cheese, do not put in plastic such as ziploc bags. Always put in paper like wax paper and remember to change the wax paper every time you eat the cheese, because bacteria grows on the paper while it's in the fridge.