Category Archives: Coffee/Cafes/Tea

Farmers Market, Stacks, Russian Hill, Okoze Sushi

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Certainly had a fun filled, packed Saturday with the beautiful weather.

We got up surprisingly early, 7:30am! On a Saturday, that’s almost unheard of, we usually only get up early to go snowboarding or if we have to really go somewhere. But it was nice because we spent a quiet morning at home drinking our coffee and having a bit of breakfast and catching up on a few things. Maxwell enjoyed our early rising so that he could peek out the window to smell the morning air. He’s in mid-sniff:

I took the bus down to the Embarcadero to get some goodies at the Ferry Plaza Farmers Market and just enjoy the beautiful weather.

My treasures for the day: strawberries,

Pepper jelly and beautiful Pomelos,

A huge artichoke and brussel sprouts,

Garlic Quark and Red pepper Curds.

I enjoyed brunch at Stacks’ in Hayes Valley. My friends Kat & Jon had some to pick me up from Union Square to join them for brunch. I ordered a short stack (2 pancakes) of their banana macadamia nut and coconut pancakes, quite a mouthful to say and an even bigger mouthful to eat! I only ate like 2/3 of the portion and packed the rest in a doggie bag. I liked the macadamia nuts but probably too much coconut.

After brunch (which Stacks’ is open until 3:30pm on Sat/Sun), I invited myself over to my friend Kat & Jon’s place to spend the afternoon (I hope they didn’t mind) since we hadn’t hung out in a while. They live on top of Russian Hill and have a great view from their building. You can see all the beautiful San Francisco landmarks.

The Transamerica tower, Bay Bridge, Coit Tower.

The new span on the Bay Bridge to the left.

Alcatraz (which I’ve yet to visit…)

The Golden Gate Bridge.

Berkeley’s Campanile… in the middle, that tall skinny thing.

I wish I had a better lens.

We met up with some of their friends for drinks at Bistro Aix before having dinner at Okoze Sushi, where Ron joined us.

I remember dining at Bistro Aix before but I didn’t remember them having such a lovely outdoor dining area. The heat lamps were on and we were seated at a quiet table in the back corner. It was quite cozy and the service was very attentive. We were only there for an hour for wine and appetizers.

We had dinner at Okoze Sushi where Kat & Jon recommended. They had met one of the sushi chef’s on previous visits, his name is DJ, and he has always treated them well with good food on subsequent visits. Tonight, Jon asked him to prepare some things for our party of 7, whatever he thought would be appropriate. We started out with some edamame and this waygu beef carpaccio dish. Yummy!

The restaurant was too dark so I gave up on taking pictures with my phone’s camera and just decided to enjoy the meal. We had delicious sashimi, an extra large special roll that had soft shell crab inside and some sort of white fish outside with siracha sauce and salmon roe, tempura, and a few other little things. Everything had really strong flavors and seemed more fusion cuisine rather than traditional Japanese. My only complaint would be that it was quite loud inside the restaurant so it was hard to have a conversation but then you can really concentrate on eating.

What a wonderful activity packed day in San Francisco…

Stack’s Restaurant
501 Hayes Street

Bistro Aix
3340 Steiner St (between Lombard & Chestnut)

Okoze Sushi
1207 Union St (at Hyde)

Samovar Tea Lounge

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http://www.samovartea.com/

Since Ron was going to work all day, I thought I’d go to have high tea with some girlfriends. Vicki and Kat both came out in the pouring rain to try out Samovar Tea Lounge. I’ve been with Vicki to Secret Garden Tea House and have been wanting to try other tea houses in the city.

Samovar does not take reservations so we just arranged to meet there at 1:30pm. We were seated right away but it got pretty busy while we were waiting for Kat. We decided to try two of their tea services, the Russian and English tea service. At the bottom of the menu, it stated “please refrain from taking photos” so only took two photos with my phone… I didn’t want to pull out the big DSLR and get scolded…

The Russian tea service has a beet salad, seasame crackers, fish with horseradish sauce (nice and spicy), fresh fruits, and a deviled egg with caviar. The tea was prepared on the samovar near the kitchen and you had to get up to refill your tea but you could have as much as you wanted. I didn’t really enjoy the black tea, it was a bit too bitter for me and not as fragrant as I thought it would be.

The English tea service had a mushroom (or salmon) quiche with a baby green salad, a scone with jam and cream, and some fresh fruits. The tea was very traditional in flavor, I think a lighter red tea.

We also shared the ginger syrup waffles also served with fresh fruits (sorry no photo).

I don’t think any of us will be going back to Samovar though. It was an interesting experience and very different than the traditional English tea. The music in the background were chants, traditional Chinese, and other languages… so a bit strange. It’s also a bit touristy in this location but they do have a nice outdoor space so if it wasn’t raining, it would be a nice place to enjoy a pot of freshly brewed tea but the food didn’t wow me.

We’re going to try to make this a monthly excursion to try other tea or brunch places in the city… next is probably Lovejoy’s Tea Room in Noe Valley…

Samovar Tea Lounge
730 Howard Street (between 3rd and 4th Street)
Upper Terrace of Yerba Buena Gardens

Ping Pong Playa, Philz Coffee, and Golden Star Vietnamese

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We went to see this totally hilarious movie called “Ping Pong Playa”. It is playing at the Sony Metreon. The movie pokes fun about some part of Chinese culture and it’s a bit corny, but very funny. The actors tried to speak “Chinglish” and although it was a bit forced, it was still pretty hilarious. I’d recommend checking it out, but maybe when it’s available on DVD.

Afterwards we went to this fantastic coffee place near AT&T Park/SoMa called Philz Coffee. They blend their own coffee beans and they grind the coffee to order. I love dark roasted coffees and their “Ether” blend is a dream. The barista added the milk and sugar to the coffee as well and it was the perfect amount. I could have had another cup but I want to sleep tonight! It’s strong stuff! I hope I can visit there again… or if I can’t, apparently you can purchase their coffee beans online and have them delivered. I think Peet’s may lose my business soon…

We skipped lunch so we went to have early dinner at Golden Star Vietnamese nearby Chinatown. I had a noodle soup that I haven’t had for a long time: Bun bo Hue. I always know of it as a spicy beef, pork blood, noodle soup. I know pork blood sounds gross but it’s really good in the soup. This version wasn’t spicy enough for me though. When I was living in Stockton, there’s one Vietnamese place that makes it so spicy that you cry while eating, just the way I like it! I can’t believe I’m going to say that I want to go back to Stockton… but that place also has really good lemon grass chicken, too bad I can’t remember the name of the restaurant…

From 09-07-2008 Golden Star Vietnamese
From 09-07-2008 Golden Star Vietnamese