II Cane Rosso

One Ferry Building # 41, San Francisco, CA
(415) 391-7599
www.canerossosf.com/

There are so many sandwiches to try on the 7x7.com SF Big Eat List, but luckily, all of them are pretty different, and one of them being Il Cane Rosso.

Sun Farms Beef Brisket Sandwich -- lemon aioli, spicy pickled red onions

I usually don't like beef brisket because they seem so fatty to me, but Il Cane Rosso's was not too fatty at all. The sandwich bread was grilled and spreaded with lemon aioli. The bread soaked up all the beef juice, so it was super tasty. The pickled red onions was a little bit tangy, which added so much flavor to the sandwich as a whole. The green that goes with the sandwich added that crunch with the moist, tender and mushy meat. So so fresh and so good!

If you have a chance and see it on the menu, do try it! Because it took me a couple times before I finally see the beef brisket sandwich on the menu since they change it weekly or so. You won't be disappointed!

Curry House Round 2--Cupertino

10350 S. De Anza Blvd., Cupertino, CA
(408) 517-1440
http://www.house-foods.com/CurryHouse/default.aspx

So the first time I had Curry House, I was in Los Angeles. So recently, I found out that they have one in Cupertino, and they serve the same menu!! Yay, so now I can have yummy Japanese curry without traveling so far.

So last time I ordered my curry hot, which I thought wasn't hot enough. This time I ordered one level higher--extra hot (which was 75 cents extra by the way) Boy, I was in trouble! I couldn't even finish half. It was so spicy that it burns every single bite. For the first time my rice wasn't covered and drenched with curry. It was rice coverng curry!

Curry Chicken Rice Plate -- Small curry rice, fried shrimp, soup and salad

I ordered a rice plate with my extra hot chicken curry. The fried shirmp was pretty okay. The batter was crunchy and wasn't as light as tempura. The corn chowder soup was so good and creamy! The cream was not super thick and it was super smooth. The corn aroma was strong and seem pretty fresh. The salad dressing was good. It was also very light and especially refreshing when you ordered an extra hot curry.

Deluxe Menchi Katsu Curry--Curry pilaf wrapped in egg, topped with beef hamburger cutlet. Served with curry sauce

The Menchi Katsu was sooo good! Even though it was hamburger, which meant grounded meat, it still tasted very beefy and non-burger liked. I didn't like the batter on the shrimp from the rice plate, but the same katsu batter was perfect with the texture of the hamburger meat. I straight up thought it was regular meat but very tender one. The rice was just okay, a little bland. The egg was thin and fluffy, tasted pretty good with curry.

Curry Pan - Fried bread stuffed with delicious curry made of plenty of vegetables

Oh my gosh! This bun was so good! It was super hot when the order came out, which I regret for not taking a bite of right away since I was full. But just hours later when it was lukewarm, it still tasted super delicious! The crispy fried bread and the mushy meat and vegetable filling, and the aroma of the curry was so rich, I could smell it even when the bag was closed. This would make a wonderful lunch! I am definitely getting some more when I go back next time.

The restaurant was very clean and the staffs were very friendly and attentative. I also realized that the Cupertino Curry House has special deals all the time, especially during the summer. The last time I went, kids eat free! But even without specials and deals, the meal there are very affordable and very fulfilling.

Pot Pot Pot Pot Pie!!!

Pot Pie Paradise
3522 Arden Road, Hayward, CA
(510)781-4994
http://potpieparadise.com/

My coworkers went to Pot Pie Paradise on the first week that our work moved to Hayward. It was the only restaurant we found in the area that serve decent and creative food...all in a pot pie! The restaurant was nothing fancy. The interior reminded me of a deli and Indian or Persian restaurants for some reasons. But other than that, unless you drive really slow and happen to see the sign, otherwise, it's like a pin in a sand pit because it is surrounded by warehouses.

The first time I'd been to Pot Pie Paradise, I ordered a sandwich. It was nothing special. Two months after the move, I finally decided to try a pot pie there.

Piccata Mushroom Vegan Pot Pie -- Assorted fresh mushrooms (shitake, button, oyster, portobello), capers, lemon juice, orzo, olive oil, onion, garlic, fresh herbs.

Wow, this pot pie tasted amazing! I am surprised how flavorful it is without using any butter and cream in the filling. But yeah, the vegan part only applies to the filling, I am sure the pie crust contains butter. The crust was flakey but wasn't flakey as I expected it to be. Oh yes, so this place charges 50 cents more if you want your pot pie hot, even when you were to dine in. I mean it was fine until I found out that all they did was take out a pre-made homemade pie and just put it in the microwave.

Broccoli Raisin Salad

For $1.50 more, you can get a side salad or soup with your pot pie. I decided to get a salad. Pot Pie Paradise has many side salad to choose from, like the Broccoli Raisin one above, as well as regular garden salad, caesar salad, fruit salad, pasta salad, etc. My Broccoli Raisin Salad was pretty good...crunchy broccoli and chewy raisin. The dressing was light even though it's creamy in color. This definitely worthed my $1.50.

Since there are so many unique pot pie variety to choose from and they also serve sandwiches and salad, I am sure I'll be going back to try something else! Also, it's probably one of the best restaraunts I have so close to my work.

Sketch Ice Cream

To Order: http://www.sketchicecream.com/Sketch/index.html or

http://www.facebook.com/#!/pages/Sketch-Ice-Cream/103500175674?ref=ts

On a nice sunny day, my boyfriend brought over a pint of delicious Earl Grey Tea ice cream from Sketch. He told me he ordered it for me two days ago...I got confused. You need to order ice cream? Apparently Sketch used to have a store front but the owners closed it so they can focus on their beautiful new born baby. According to my boyfriend, they still sell ice cream, but you would have to call in to order and pick it up at their apartment. Interesting!

I was never a fan of Earl Grey Tea, but I am a fan of Earl Grey Tea ice cream. My very first taste of it was at Birite Ice-Creamery in San Francisco. So when my boyfriend showed me the pint, I chuckled and told him that I didn't like Earl Grey Tea. Little did he know that I do like the ice cream made with Earl Grey Tea. Anyhow, Sketch's ice cream does not consist any eggs and cream, they made their ice cream with only Straus Organic milk, and whatever ingredients needed for the flavor.

Earl Grey Tea Ice Cream

This ice cream is simply guilt-free! It melts faster than regular ice cream and not as airy, but it was still pretty creamy and very light. If I am going to order it from Sketch in the future, I want to try something fruity and see how the texture turns out.

Wexler's

568 Sacramento Street, San Francisco, CA
(415) 983-0102
http://www.wexlerssf.com/

I went to Wexler's after a fun tiring day back in July. Wexler's Scrotch Eggs were on the 7x7.com 2010 SF Big Eat List, so I ended up there for dinner one night. I was running late, and so I called in to let the hostess know. She said that they will reserve my table for 15 minutes in a pretty rude tone. I was about ten minutes late on top of the 15 minutes and upon entering, I told her about my reservation and with a rude look, she said that I have lost my table since I was late but I can sit at the bar if I like. I said okay and ended up sitting at the bar. Then for the next 30 minutes or so, the table that was supposed to be reserved for me was still emtpy. WTH! I should have just gone onto Opentable.com and reserve again! For the rest of the night, that same hostess looked like she was "pms-ing". She hardly smiled and she stood around checking out her own nails. She made this dinner experience not a very good one.

BBQ Scotch Eggs -- Burnt Ends, House Made Hot Sauce, Sweet Tea Gastrique

I was quite excited about this dish since this lady in one of the Paper Source classes I went to said that this was the best thing she had eaten on the list so far. Anyhow, the BBQ Scotch Eggs are basically deep fried poached eggs with running yolks--sounds unhealthy eh? Indeed, but it tasted pretty good. The batter was a little to hard for my taste though. The inside just tasted like a regular poach eggs. I found that I kept eating it with the sauce and the garnishes; in other words, it was a bit bland. I must have overhyped myself about it. I don't think I will try this again since I am watching my diet.

Smoked Fulton Valley Chicken Breast -- King Trumpets, Spring Onions, Favas, Smoked Onion Chicken Jus

Onto something healthier! The chicken breast was delicious! It was very, very tender and juicy. It is probably one of the best chicken breast I had at a restaurant. The king trumpets and spring onions made the sauce really good. The chicken tasted good by itself, but I like dipping it into the sauce before I eat it. Becareful though, mthe spring onion in this dish was delicious but quite slimey and huge, so I almost got choked because the onion got stuck in my throat.  

Smoked Farrotto -- Shelburne Farms Cheddar, Green Garlic, Black Trumpet Mushrooms

This was my very first taste of farrotto. Before this, I never even heard of it. Farrotto, which is a risotto-liked dish made with farro! Farro is a relative of the wheat specie which originates from the Middle East. It needs to be soaked before use and is mainly used as a pasta. This Smoked Farrotto was very, very creamy and heavy. It was very thick, probably from the starch of the farro, but it was very flavorful. I couldn't really tell that it was cheddar cheese but I could tell that it had mushrooms in it. I think this dish should be shared since it's so bold and heavy.

Wexler's sure provided some interesting ingredients and dishes. The service was decent overall. The bartender was also our server since I was at the bar; she was very nice by the way. And as long as I don't have to deal with that hostess, I wouldn't mind going back again.