Category Archives: Italian

Little Star Pizza and Mitchell’s Ice Cream

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Last day of vacation, a good meal to end it.

Ron and I headed to Little Star Pizza in the Mission. Even though the one in Western Addition is closer to us, I wanted to head out for ice cream at Mitchell’s after dinner. Lucky for us, we arrived just at 6:30pm when the first group of diners were finished so that we were seated right away. They also have happy hour 5:30-6:30pm everyday where alcoholic drinks are $1 off.

Ron anticipating yummy pizza.

We ordered a thin crust pesto pizza as an appetizer because the deep dish takes about 25 minutes to cook. The pesto is squeezed right on top. The thin crust was really crunchy, sort of cracker-like but really good, not a single soggy spot anywhere. The pesto made it extra yummy.

The deep dish we ordered is a special called Brass Monkey (it’s the Little Star Deep Dish + sausage). The sausage was delicious. The crust is pretty much the same as the thin crust so quite crunchy but a bit more oily. I think I prefer the chewy crust of Zachary’s. But the spinach made it really fresh and the ricotta made it really creamy and delicious.

Although pretty full, I saved room for ice cream. We headed to Mitchell’s to a really long line. But they have a queuing system that goes really fast. If it’s really busy, remember to grab your number the first thing when you walk in then decide on your flavors.

Ron had the Kahlua Mocha Cream single scoop and I had a double sccop with buko (young coconut) and mango. The buko had chunks of coconut in it, oh so yummy. Mango tasted a bit more like dried mango than fresh mango but still yummy. I tried the cantaloupe flavor but it wasn’t as strong as I would’ve wanted.

A good way to end my vacation. Revived and re-engergized to get back to work.

Little Star Pizza
400 Valencia St

Mitchell’s Ice Cream
688 San Jose Ave

Berkeley… 9 years after graduation

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I had the sudden desire to visit Berkeley and have lunch at Intermezzo on Telegraph Ave, dreaming of their green salad and honey wheat bread sandwich.

On the way to campus, we got off the freeway at Ashby Avenue so stopped by Urban Ore. It’s a really cool place where they sell lots of reusable goods, including but not limited to: doors, blinds, sinks, tubs, toilets, wood, clothes, computers, chairs, desk, tables, cabinets, dishes, kitchenware, electronics, etc. It’s really useful if you need some stuff for home remodeling and don’t want to pay an arm and a leg for it but you also have to be patient and dig around for the gems. We got some simple stuff like plates and cups for me to keep at work but next time, I’d like to get a dresser, sand it down, and repaint and decorate it… I think it’ll be a fun project.

Afterwards, we headed to Telegraph Ave to find Intermezzo. We found the location but the restaurant has changed to Cafe Mattina but with the same menu as Intermezzo. Apparently ownership had changed and the name changed in December.

I ordered my favorite combo of half a green salad with poppy seed dressing and half a chicken salad sandwich. Plus a strawberry lemonade with free refills (the cashier was kind enough to let me know refills were free so that I didn’t have to order the large size). Lots of strawberry and lemon pulp in their strawberry lemonade, a good thirst quencher.

The salad seemed a bit smaller and the dressing a bit thinner but overall, still the same. It was missing the extra chunk of bread though that comes with the salad.

The chicken salad sandwich was thick with filling but the bread sliced thinner than usual. It’s still sufficiently too large to fit the entire sandwich into your mouth for a full bite but I remember it being at least 1cm thicker. Ron didn’t like this as much because it was too sweet, not enough dijon mustard is my guess.

After lunch, I went for a little walk on Telegraph and was sad to see how many of the stores that have changed. The Gap is now a Walgreens. Bath & Body Works is now American Apparel. The hair salon was closed. There’s a Subway Sandwich in one of the cafes. There was a Beard Papa’s on the corner. A lot has changed in the 9 years since graduation.

But some things remain the same, like Sather Gate (apparently newly restored). Beautiful weather at Sproul Plaza today.

After some additional shopping on Bancroft Ave, I met up with Ron at Caffe Strada. I ordered the drink that got me started drinking coffee: Strada Bianca Mocha topped with a dollop of whipped cream. I loved it back then but I think it’s too sweet for my taste now… but made me very nostalgic.

Good ol’ Berkeley. We bought Zachary’s Pizza for dinner to top off a great day. Yum yum. Order for pick-up, it’s the best choice if you don’t want to wait for a table.

Can’t wait for the next visit to Berkeley…

Urban Ore
900 Murray St

Cafe Mattina
2442 Telegraph Ave

Caffe Strada
2300 College Ave

Zachary’s Pizza
5801 College Ave

Delfina Pizzeria

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http://www.pizzeriadelfina.com/index.html

We went out to try out Delfina Pizzeria in Pac Heights tonight. We’ve heard rave reviews of their location in the Mission but wasn’t looking forward to a long wait in line at the Mission so chose the newly opened one close to our apt.

We shared a delicious bottle of wine and started off with their yummy breadsticks.

We started with their tripe appetizer served with chili oil (delicious! spicy that it gets you in the back of your throat at the end) and some sea salt.

This was a pork pasta dish. The pork was more of a thinly sliced pork roll with a side of very yummy mac ‘n’ cheese. The pork a bit fatty. The sauce was yummy.

Last but not least, the salsiccia pizza with homemade fennel sausage, tomato, bell pepers, onions, and mozzarella. Everything was very fresh and the dough nice and chewy. I felt the toppings were the right portion but Ron said he felt it a bit lacking, he needed a bit more toppings and more spice. On the side they provide a stick of dried rosemary (?), grated cheese, and dried red chili peppers.

Overall, a nice evening. We sat outside and with the heaters above, it was perfect Friday evening.

Pizzeria Delfina (or Delfina Pizzeria)
2406 California Street (between Fillmore St and Steiner St)

Homemade Pizzas

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Not made by us… but our friend Dan. He made his own dough and put on lots of yummy toppings. He mentioned he made pizza dough using Mario Batali’s recipe, I think this one, and also his own beer dough. It was thin crust and very crispy.

This is unagi pizza, yes, that’s eel. As Dan says, highly experimental, but actually not half bad, it was a bit too spicy though.

He also made his own wheat pasta. It was a little dense but had good flavor.

Again, men in the kitchen while the ladies enjoy a glass a wine… a good way to spend an evening.

Fort Bragg Weekend Trip Day 2

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Today we visited the Pacific Star Winery. It’s right on the coast and has a beautiful view. There’s a nice large picnic spot to just sit and whale watch (we didn’t see any though).

We went through their tasting and bought a couple bottles of wine. We had a relaxing light picnic. Just some photos to share.

One of their resident cats, Jack is his name I think.

Looks like he has a fiery mane.

Spot, a 15-year-old bearded collie. Reminds me of The Little Mermaid’s dog Max. He’s apparently deaf and almost blind and barks to herd the people. So cute.

The winery has two sheep too. As we were leaving in the car, we saw the sheep so I got out to take photos and this one started to come slowly toward me. I didn’t know what to do… should I get back in the car or what?

The other one stayed safely in the distance.

It ended up right next to me and allowed me to pet it on the head. They are really fluffy, like a pillow!

After the winery, we stopped by a beach along the way to check out the dogs running around and check out the beach. There were some really cool rock formations.

Later that evening we went out for dinner at Piaci Pizza, touted as “home of the adult pizza”. The place was full on a Sunday night but we managed to find a small table in the back. We ordered a couple of beers and two pizzas.

Ron ordered the 8″ Farmers’ Pizza which had sausage, carmelized onions, mozzarella, tomato sauce, and herbs. There is a fresh parmesan grater they give you to add it how you like. Pretty cool tool. Ron enjoyed his pizza.

I ordered the smoked salmon focaccia with capers, carmelized onions, and herbs. The crust was great. The salmon maybe a little too fishy for me.

So sad to return back to SF tomorrow…