EOS

901 Cole St, San Francisco, CA
(415) 566-3063
http://www.eossf.com/
 

It was after a long day of work on a Wednesday night, and there was nothing my friend and I wanted to do besides grabbing some drinks and dinner. We met up pretty late, and decided to take the muni to EOS on Cole Street for some sangrias and tapas. Tapas are perfect as small dinner especially late at night since I don't want to sleep with a full stomach.
 
The door front of EOS was pretty neat. Entering the restaurant, it was dim, but I was still able to see that it was still packed around 8 something at night. Our hostess led us to a corner with a red comfy couch, chair and table. This place contained a lot of small tables that are for party of 2 or 4. It looks like a place for romantic date. The place looks very artsy also, with paintings by local artists hanging on the walls, vase and a few nice red velvety couch.
 
EOS has a wall filled with wine because it is a wine bar. So the menu is mainly contained tapas, or wine food. I also notice that EOS' menu is very Asian inspired. Some of their dishes contains ingredients that are very common in Asian cuisine, like duck, shiitake mushroom, and ahi tuna. My friend and I decided to order two sangrias and some tapas to share. There were two items that contained mushrooms, and immediately I knew I wanted to order both...the Shiitake Mushroom Dumplings and Wild Mushroom Risotto. My friend is a fan of duck, and so we ordered the Roasted Duck with Pear Sauce.
 

Shiitake Mushroom Dumplings

The dumplings were very flavorful but also salty at the same time. I avoided the excess sauce when I could. Also, I could taste the shittake. I like it better when I ate a dumpling with the tomato. The sweetness in the fruit balanced out the saltiness of the sauce and dumpling.

 
 

Wild Mushroom Risotto

The risotto was really, really good! Usually the cheese used in a risotto dish tends to overpower the other ingredients in the dish, but not in this case. It was so good! The mushrooms also tasted really good. I couldn't tell what kind of mushroom was in it thoughnce the ambiance was quite dark. The aborio rice is just right, not too hard and not overly soft. You can still see the individual grain.

Roasted Duck with Pears

I never had ducks with pears or pear sauce before. I had roasted duck in Chinese cuisine, which serves with a sweet plum sauce. The duck and pear pair actually reminded me of duck with plum sauce, but not as sweet. I ate a piece of duck by itself, and it was very tender and juicy. Then I ate a piece of duck with some pear. The pear added some texture to the duck, because psychologically, the pear made the duck seems even more tender and sweet. From there on, I just ate the rest of my duck with the pears.

The sangria at EOS was okay. It was pretty light and refreshing. It wasn't dark at all like typical sangrias, it was also more translucent.
 
The experience at EOS was pretty unique. The dim light just made the atmosphere seems more upscale, which totally is, since their tapas cost around $10 to $20 a plate. It is definitely not a quiet place but I noticed that people tried not to talk too loud there. The service was not too good the night I went, but it was a busy night and it didn't seem like there were too many staffs. I would definitely go back, but with a small party of course or just whenever I want to relax by sipping on a drink and eating some tapas

Oh Filippi Pizza! You Have Flipped Me Head Over Heel!

Filippi's Pizza Grotto
1747 India St, San Diego, CA
(619) 232-5094
http://www.realcheesepizza.com/

I went to San Diego the week of New Year's Eve for three days, and as usual, I packed my itinerary with nothing but cafe and bakeries, dessert shops and restaurants. Filippi's Pizza Grotto was not on the itinerary but a nearby restaurant was. Filippi's and the restaurant were both located in Little Italy of San Diego. I passed by Filippi before and after my dinner, and it was as if the line never disappear. The line was still out the door of Filippi's in two hours period. So finally, on New Year's Eve, I decided that I must grab one of their pizzas to enjoy while counting down in the hotel room!

After I got my combo pizza, I made sure to eat a bite while it is still steamy hot before heading back to the hotel room. By the time I got the pizza back to the hotel room, the pizza was not hot anymore, but it was still so good!

Combination Pizza - sausage, pepperoni, mushroom, bell pepper, olives and tons of cheese.

This is one of the best pizza I ever had! The crust is medium thick, so it is somewhat bready. One look at it and it is thicker than regular pizza. It is also fully loaded with toppings. The tomato sauce is sweet but it goes very well with the salty meat on the pizza. What I find interesting is that Filippi tops cheese on top of their ingredients instead of the other way around. When the cheese melts, it seeps between the gaps created by the ingredients. So it was very cheesy every bite. Filippi's pizza definitely resembles a deep dish pizza since it is loaded with toppings, but differs in that it is not loaded with tomato sauce.

I found out they have a location in Napa. I never been to Napa but plan on visiting there, so I am sure I will be able to have another taste of Filippi's in the future!

Ramen House Ryowa

Ramen House Ryowa
2068 University Ave
Berkeley, CA 94704
(510) 883-0667

and

859 Villa Street
Mountain View, CA
(650) 965-8829

Ramen from Ryowa are super yummmy! Both Ryowa's offer the same ramen but some different entree items. Ryowa's noodle is thick and chewy. The soup is hot and rich, and it does not leave me thirsty right afterward like most ramen places. The chashus were thinly sliced but they give you a lot, and they were tender. The chashu was not overly salty nor overly fat. The ramen, depends on what you order, comes with lots of side stuff like fresh wakami as well as the dried one, green onions, bean sprout and half a boiled egg.

Buttercorn Ramen

Ryowa gives you huge portion. My friends and I are big eaters and we left with our bellies full. They also have a few condiments on the side, one being a jar of kimchee.

The service was okay at the Berkeley one, and the service at the Moutain View one was pretty good. The waiter from the Moutain View one kept refilling our barley tea, and when he didn't, he left a big jug of it in front of my friends and I, so we can pour more if we like. The place is pretty clean, with a shelf of comic.

So far I have tried the Buttercorn Ramen, which I highly recommend. I also tried the Shoyu Ramen and Vegetable Ramen, which is vegetarian and made with vegetable broth. I also recommend their Chicken Karaage, which is the best one I had so far out of all the ramen places. The mayo and the dipping sauce that comes with the Chicken Karaage are delicious. The cabbage salad that comes with the Chicken Karaage is very light and refreshing, which is a really great balance with the heavier fried chicken.

Chicken Karaage

I will go back to Ryowa again and again if I really want a hearty and carby bowl of Japanese ramen.

Steamed Cabbage Chicken Wraps

Ingredients:

3 whole leaves of napa cabbage

4 oz chicken breast, minced

3 wedges of tomato slices

dash of salt

dash of pepper
dash of chili pepper

3 toothpicks

Instruction:

1. Boil the napa cabbage leaves until soften. Drained out the water.

2. In a bowl, marinate the chicken breast with salt, pepper and chili.

3. Divide the chicken into three portions. Roll each into a ball.

4. Place cabbage flat on a plate. Place the chicken ball at the leaf end of the cabbage.

5. Roll the cabbage to cover the chicken ball. Tug in the side and roll the rest of the leaf up. Poke toothpick through the wrap to secure.

6. Place a tomato slice through the toothpick.

7. Boil a pot of water. Place the plate of cabbage chicken wraps in the pot. Steam for 15 minutes.

Low Carb Chocolate Thin Bread

These cookies are great for a low carb as well as low calories diet. This recipe is same as making meringue but minus the cream of tartar. If you want to have a harder meringue-liked texture, just add 1/4 tsp cream of tartar to the recipe below.


Serving Size: 2 cookies
Serving per Recipe: 2 cookies
Calories Per Serving: 19 calories

Ingredients:
2 egg whites
1/4 cup of sugar substitute
2 tbsp cocoa unsweeten powder
1/2 tsp vanilla extract

Instruction:
1. Preheat 250 degree oven.
2. Whisk egg white and cream of tartar together with an electric mixer at high speed.
3. Once the egg whites form soft peaks and hold their shape when lift, add in sugar substitute.
4. When peaks form stiffly, whisk in cocoa powder and vanilla extract.
5. Line a baking sheet with baking paper.
6. Fill a pastry bag with the mixture (if you don't have a pastry bag or pipe, use a regular zip lock bag and cut a corner at an angle). Pipe out 20 cookies onto the baking sheet.
7. Bake for 30 minutes or until cookies are crisp and dry.