Archive for american

eatin’ good

November 1, 2007 at 9:35 pm · Filed under american, the choicest

House of Prime Rib
1906 Van Ness Ave. (x Washington)

When you name your restaurant “House of Prime Rib” there are a couple things that come with the title. Firstly, you better have the best freakin prime rib in town. Next, if you’re successful with that first part, you can go ahead and offer nothing else at your restaurant.

House of Prime Rib meets both of these requirements.

Interestingly at a fancy-pants place like this one, there’s not a lot of choice. You can choose prime rib or fresh fish… But obviously you didn’t come here for the fish. Next, you can select the quantity of prime rib you will consume: a lot, a whole lot, or a freakin whole lot. Your pick. Then, how would you liked it cooked? Regular meat cooking choices apply.

Your entree comes with an array of side dishes. While you’re waiting with your drinks, there’s warm sourdough bread with butter. Next, a salad mixed right before your eyes. When your meat comes you also get your potatoes (baked potato with all the fixins or mashed potatoes with gravy), Yorkshire pudding, and creamed corn or creamed spinach. Whew, a lot. Let’s break it down.

The Meat: The main event, really. In a word, excellent. The meat is very tender and juicy. My knife slid through my city cut super easily. There was also a couple large veins of fat running through my cut, hence a premium piece of prime rib. The meat was flavorful and sort of melted in my mouth (if that’s even possible). It wasn’t tough or chewy, and my medium-well was still very moist. They offer mild and strong horseradish. Not sure I’d be able to handle strong, I asked for mild and the server quickly plopped a very large dollop on my bread plate. I swear, I could probably eat three large pieces of prime rib to use up all that horseradish. Sadly, it was too mild for my liking and I ended up slathering the stuff on to get a bit of that bite. Still good, though.

The meat is sliced at your table. It comes in a large, silver, torpedo shaped warmer/server thingy with your very own chef! He reads your order and fixes your plate with the appropriate cut and cook of meat, plus the sides you requested. It’s all about the show here, especially with the first course…

The Salad: Moving backwards, the first course is made right in front of you so you know it’s as fresh as it can be. The server brings out a little cart with everything she’ll need for the next five minutes. She shows you what’s in the large bowl she’s about to serve: iceberg lettuce, mixed greens, beets, red cabbage, and probably some other stuff I couldn’t taste. She shows it as if she’s asking for your approval, which is sort of silly, but you get into it.

She hands you chilled forks. That’s right, folks, chilled. They’re laid out on a plate and you pick yours up. She then spins the bowl of salad in a larger bowl of ice and pours the contents of a silver gravy boat on the salad. She adds some special seasoning and a bit of ground pepper (all as the bowl is spinning), gives it a toss, and divvies up the salad for the table on chilled plates. Yes, the plates are chilled, too.

Wow, two graphs and I haven’t talked about the taste yet. The salad is your typical American style salad. The dressing is thousand island and it smothers the lettuce. But, true to what the server tells you, the veggies are absolutely fresh and delicious. Gobbled that stuff up right quick.

The Potatoes: I opted for the mashed potatoes, but I’ll talk about the baked potato, too. The baked potato is served at your table on yet another little cart. The cart is wheeled out when the torpedo comes and it’s packed with all the fixings. The server slices up your potato and slops on two heaving spoonfuls of sour cream. You also can get butter, bacon, and chives on your potato. The result is a vegetable that is no longer a vegetable. It’s a heart attack on a plate.

My mashed potatoes were just fine. They come on the same plate as your meat and taste like butter. The gravy is thick and tasty and the potatoes manage to soak up some of the meat juices. MMmMmMMmmMMMm.

The Creamed Side: One person in my party got the creamed spinach. Looked gross. The creamed corn was so much better. The kernels were mostly whole or slightly mashed. Funny enough they actually came in a cream sort of mixture that was creamy and buttery flavored. That was tasty and I ate it up pretty quickly.

The Yorkshire Pudding: I’m not sure I’ve ever had this before, but I wouldn’t mind having it again. It’s like… a savory pancake/crepe. Somewhere in between the two in terms of thickness, it’s kind of like a soft, fluffy, flat bread. It’s baked in an oven in a shallow frying pan. The server whips it out fresh from the oven and divides one pan’s worth amongst two or three people. It’s a bit salty and fried tasting, and it’s meant to soak up the meat juices so you don’t miss any of the flavors. Personally, I didn’t like that use. It was nice all by itself.

The atmosphere is much like the food: classic and very showy. The interior is like an old English something or other, I’m not really sure. It’s dark inside, with dark red wood panels on the walls and low ceilings. Knick knacks are everywhere: fancy-ish, fake champagne bottles, impressionist paintings of farms and general countryside, and even a fireplace with a faux, but rustic-looking fire. You get the feel that you’re in a very important place.

While the surroundings are visually pleasing and the food superior, the company isn’t always so positive. We sat next to a table full of lawyers… Probably a bunch of litigators. Loud, obnoxious, not even really funny, and the wine was flowing like crazy. The result is you shouting across the table for conversation. The whole setup is nice, but not very great in terms of acoustics – you hear everything and everyone. The restaurant is pretty large, so that just means a ton of noise. Since it’s a popular restaurant, you’re always going to be at capacity. Bummer.

Let’s talk about price.  You’re crazy if you think you’ll be eating meat and paying less than $35+ per person.  So unless you’re just eating salad and a baked potato, you better shell out the cash.  Sum it up: worth it.

Overall: A really superb meal, but a costly one.  Worth it, though.

Rating: 10/10!

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dessert from down south

October 8, 2007 at 12:44 am · Filed under american, asian, dessert, health food

Papamingomingo1.jpg
2510 Channing Way (near Telegraph Ave.), Berkeley

For those who are savvy with pop culture, from LA, or watch The Hills on a regular basis, you’re familiar with Pinkberry. If not, click on the link and be informed and thus cool! Papamingo is just another reflection of the fact that the Bay is being invaded by the south. SoCal, that is.

Papamingo is part of the be fit/be cool trend, offering tasty yet healthy alternatives to fatty frozen yogurt. (To be fair, frozen yogurt isn’t as bad as ice cream, so it’s like saying you’re making a soda that’s more diet that diet soda. Or at least that’s how it works in my mind.) The frosty treat the shop has to offer is quite different from your typical frozen yogurt. It’s also topped with healthier toppings: mainly fresh fruit and cereal instead of candy and cookies. Mix in brightly painted walls, Ikea style furniture, and pop music and you’ve got the coolest hangout this side of campus.

The place is small and sort of basement-ish. No windows except in the front of the store, hence the lime, neon green painted walls. There are a few tables with chairs and the counter is towards the back. Behind the counter are a couple frozen yogurt machines as well as a display of the toppings! While you wait in line, you get to scope out the selection. There are things like granola and chocolate chips – usual stuff, but there’s some different things like fruity pebbles and rice balls! (Little chewy balls that are supposed to be mochi-ish, sadly they have a bit of a bitter after taste.) I opted for their fresh strawberries (there’s mango, pineapple, blueberry, etc.).

mingo3.jpgThe yogurt itself comes in three different flavors: regular, green tea, and pomagranete. Being my first time, I went with the regular, though I hear green tea is pretty good. Now for the taste. Let’s say you’ve never had frozen yogurt and you take things to be literal. If you’ve had regular yoplait before and someone gave you something called frozen yogurt, Papamingo is what you’d be expecting. The stuff is sweet but tart or tangy, like regular yogurt. It’s in the sour cream, cream cheese, yogurt subcategory of the dairy department. At first it’s strange, but if you reflect on other dairy stuff, it makes sense and becomes pleasant. It’s very refreshing and tasty and provides a nice balance with the natural sweet and tartness of the strawberries. I gobbled my cup up pretty quickly, especially when I stopped thinking of it as regular frozen yogurt.

The bad news is that this stuff comes at a hefty price. A small cup is a staggering $2.50 for something you could probably eat in five large bites (if only the spoons weren’t mini…). Plus toppings! You can get 1 topping for 95 cents or 3 toppings for an extra $1.50. So, unfortunately, you’re getting a taste of LA at LA prices. There’s a student discount, which was nice since I still have my old ID to whip out on such occasions. Still, my treat was just over $3 and thus, not something I’d do very often.

Overall: A trendy little spot with some tasty fare. Unfortunately, it’s a little steep in price to be more than a novel thing. Expect a lot of girls with bug-eye sunglasses and pink Razr phones to crowd the place. Yuck – I won’t be back soon.

Rating: 6/10

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the sandwich nazi

September 24, 2007 at 10:54 pm · Filed under american, sandwiches

Grinders Submarine Sandwiches
2069 Antioch Ct., Oakland (Montclair District)

Photo: mine except for Phil, that’s from the SF Chronicle.

Ever see that episode of Seinfeld? The one with the “Soup Nazi”? Well, there’s a Sandwich Nazi in Oakland for you to check out.

I think that “Nazi” is a strong term. The guy is just firm, especially if you dilly-dally around your order. He’s super efficient, which is fair since you can customize your sandwich with about a billion different options. Please don’t mind it when he asks you if you want pickles, yellow or spicy mustard, onions, your sandwich hot or cold and about 20 other sandwich specifications in a rapid-fire manner, he’s got people to feed and doesn’t have time to help you decide.

He also doesn’t allow you to be on your celly while you’re in his store. I actually appreciate this since people tend to talk HELLA loud while they’re on the phone. And I don’t care what people say, you’re also very, very distracted while you talk on the phone (I’m lookin at you girlies on the phone while you drive erratically).

Grinders is a tiny sandwich shop in downtown Montclair. Oh, Montclair, how do I describe thee? It’s not actually a town, it’s more like a section of Oakland near Piedmont. This particular area is filled with little shops and eateries that are upscale-ish. Sure, there’s a Starbucks, a Noah’s, and a Jamba, but there’s also a Peets and trendy mom and pop operations and boutiques that line the cramped sidewalks of what is essentially a 5 block area. There are occasional festivals (music, arts and crafts, and the like), plus a farmers’ market that probably rivals the one at Ferry Plaza. When there isn’t some kind of event, the place is still crowded and parking just as hard to come by.

But I digress.

Grinders sort of doesn’t fit with the place, but at the same time fits well. Montclair feels like a smaller version of Walnut Creek or maybe Laurel Heights, but it’s also very small town-ish, which is what Grinders feels like to me. This is because it’s a small operation, run by the same guy, day in and day out. There’s also another part to it: how you order. Go to Grinders, make your perfect sandwich, and then SAVE IT in what has got to be a massive database. That’s right, your order is saved and phil zackler wants you to stop changing his sandwich!next time you come in, just order the Joe Schmoe and you’re good. Neat, right? A warning: make your name hard to spell or don’t tell your friends your favorite place is Grinders. Apparently, any kid can come in off the street and edit your order. Don’t order the Phil Zackler… I’m told the guy would stop by Grinders for lunch a lot during his high school days and every time he’d order his beloved sandwich, someone had changed it. It ended with him buying a 20-inch sub, or something. Don’t feel bad for Phil, he’s going to be a senator or something.

I digress again.

The interior of Grinders is small. There’s a counter on one side with the sandwich nazi sitting in front of his computer, waiting for you to hurry up and order. To his right, several sandwich makers hard at work. Opposite the counter are boxes with a side cut out, displaying the variety of chips for your choosing. You can get fountain drinks or cans or bottles of whatever. There are cookies of varying age (fresh, day old, two day old, etc). As expected, there’s no place to sit and eat your sandwich. Please, you’d just be wasting space and making noise. Along the same lines, there isn’t really room to wait near the counter for your order, so most wait outside and shove their way in or out to get their sub. It’s not really customer-friendly is what I’m trying to say.

Near the ordering spot there’s luckily a paper menu outlining your choices. You can pick and choose everything off the menu. Say you want a turkey with bacon, avocado, no mayo. Sure, you can do that, but be prepared to answer a slew of questions about other toppings. The guy is a bit intimidating, so I tend to answer the questions before I can really think about what I truly would like. Overall, though, it doesn’t really make too much of a difference if I get black pepper on my sandwich or not. There are specific sandwiches you can order, like the Terminator, which is roast beef, ham, and cheese. You’ll still need to talk about bread type and other toppings, though.

The sandwiches themselves are tasty (they should be, I picked out everything myself!). The ingredients are fresh and quality. The sandwiches are made only after you’ve ordered and they’re pretty quick about it. While the ordering process is daunting, the range of choice is refreshing. You can also call in your order, which requires you to know the menu a bit or have a sandwich order on their database. You don’t get to talk to anyone, you just leave a message.

Overall: A tasty spot with super variety. Don’t expect service with a smile.

Rating: 9/10

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the restaurant at ahn’s burger park

September 18, 2007 at 12:28 am · Filed under american, breakfast, burger

Ahn’s 1/4 lb. Burger
439 Grand Ave., Oakland

photo: M. Sawicki, c. 2002. Courtesy BBG

In high school, BBG and his friends would play wiffle ball at Lake Merritt (who remembers angelfire?). They played on a little grassy patch near Grand Ave. After an afternoon of beaning each other in the head, hitting balls at sunbathers, and generally having some good clean fun, they’d pack up their lawn chairs, score sheets, wiffle bat, and a half a dozen wiffle balls and cross the street to Ahn’s burger.

So as you can see, there’s a bit of personal history here for BBG, and he was particularly excited to take me to the joint. This next bit contains a few inside jokes, sorry.

Ahn’s is 3/4ths of a strip mall front next to Lake Merritt on Grand Ave. The other fourth, if you’re wondering, is a 1-hour photo place that’s never ever open. Ever. I doubt it even exists. I hear it’s a front for cock fighting. Ahn’s exterior probably hasn’t changed since the 70s, along with its menu. You can order off of their small menu from the sidewalk through their small order window, or you can venture inside. There’s a counter and a couple small booths. In general, it’s small and kind of dirty inside, so basically something to avoid. Since you’re literally across the street from the lake, it’s better to walk over there with your grub anyway.

The menu is basic, at best. You can get your usual burger/diner fare: burger, cheeseburger, fries. You can get sandwiches which are probably equally greasy: BLT, chicken, BBQ, or an Ahn-wich (pastrami). Surprise! They have hot dogs, chili dogs, and corn dogs on the menu. There’s also a variety of milkshakes from your basic chocolate, vanilla, and strawberry to your more interesting – boysenberry and pineapple (which some would argue is the third most popular milkshake flavor – I swear!). Apparently you can get breakfast there. Based on what I could see, you can get your standard diner/brunch fare: eggs and breakfast meats, black coffee, and maybe pancakes. That’s admirable.

The burgers are good. Like I’ve said before, when you grind up beef and form it into patties, it’s hard to find fault in it unless it’s really really terrible. Ahn’s is pretty quality and has a nice meaty flavor. Burgers are topped with good ol’ orange American cheese, melted on the patty but not so much that it’s runny or sweaty, which is nice. Condiments include: lettuce, tomato, mayo, pickles, onion, and mustard. Everything comes together nicely, like any quality burger. A bit heavy on the mayo, but not in an overly disgusting way. The veggies are fresh, which is surprising for a hole-in-the-wall kind of place. And I love it when you automatically get mustard on burgers.

The fries are good in terms of texture, but lack a little in flavor. They’re crinkle cut and fried to perfection: very crispy on the outside and mushy on the inside. They come piping hot and with a bit of salt. Sadly, they don’t really taste like much of anything, a sign that they were once frozen fries. I like that they go easy on the salt and then realize they skimp on the salt (they give you extra salt packets) – but maybe going McDonald’s on those babies would make them a bit tastier. Ketchup solved that problem pretty quickly, though.

Although I didn’t try it, I hear the pineapple milkshake wasn’t very pineapple-y. It was like a vanilla milkshake with very few, minute chunks of pineapple at the bottom. At the end of it, the top of the shake was a bit foamy, which tells me it wasn’t a real milkshake. That’s disappointing. Next you’re going to tell me the lemonade is by Minute Maid.

The best thing about Ahn’s is its location. Lake Merritt (despite all the goose poop) is really truly beautiful and a fun place to hang out at. Summer evenings there are the best – as it cools off, people from all walks of life come out and wander around the lake. It’s a great spot to people watch while eating some fries. The geese like the fries, too. Plus walking around the lake a couple times after a meal from Ahn’s would probably do you some good.

The cost ain’t so bad either. Dinner Sunday night for three people was just under $20 (three cheeseburgers, two fries, and a pineapple milkshake). And their turnaround is great. We probably waited 15 minutes for our order, and it looked like there were two orders ahead of us.

The place wasn’t exactly hoppin’, but it was still good times on a nice evening.

Overall: A nice, tasty burger joint if things like your cholesterol and blood pressure don’t matter to you. Sophisticated palates need not apply, just people looking for a good ol’ fashioned fast food meal.

Rating: 6/10

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welcome to japantown

August 22, 2007 at 11:08 pm · Filed under american, asian, breakfast, brunch, hawaiian, japanese, sandwiches, sushi

May’s Coffee Shop08150712352.jpg
Kintetsu Mall, Japantown
1737 Post St. (near Buchanan St.)

So as stated in the last post, I got a new jobbie. Whoo hoo! While I’ll miss working in Chinatown (because, face it, where else will you get a nice lunch for under $1?), Japantown is my new love. I knew going into the area would be dangerous, it always is. You can lose an arm and a leg out there what with the good, expensive food and all the stuff you could buy! Never have I been so sad to have my cell phone – it doesn’t have a place to hook on a charm! And here I am, amongst a gazillion amazing charms. Life is rough.

Anyway, back to the food. Japanese food is a hardcore favorite of mine. When in doubt, Japanese will do just fine. Sadly, it’s almost always pricey. It would be a challenge to find an affordable lunch place…. We’ll see how I fare.

My first day consisted of a tour of the several different office buildings my organization is housed in. On the way from one to another, my supervisor took me on a detour and showed me a few things. We walked by May’s Coffee Shop and it looked less pricey than the rest. Sweet.

At lunchtime, my first official “working” lunch in Japantown, instead of opting for Denny’s (probably the most affordable place in the area, but not, uh, up to snuff for the area), I went back to the mall and checked out May’s menu. Lo and behold – they serve eggs! May’s became my new favorite spot.

The place isn’t really a restaurant.  It’s a little like an eatery with a counter you order at and picnic style tables surrounding it.  It’s nice in that it’s under skylights so it’s bright and sunny.  Not so great when it’s warm out, though.   You get the mall foot traffic walkin by and looking at you, but whatever.  This place is much better than any food court in any mall.  Ok, well, except for maybe the Westfield mall downtown.  It’s quaint and not intimidating at all (compared to the fancy Japanese restaurants throughout the mall).

Let’s back up for just a second. Last week bbg and I went to Mazatlan, Mexico for vacation. While there I had an epiphany: breakfast is my favorite meal. I love scrambled eggs with tons of pepper and a little bit of ketchup. Other than that, who doesn’t love sausage and pancakes and waffles and potatoes and everything else that comes with breakfast? Part of it has got to be sentimental. When I was growing up (and even today, though I don’t live there anymore) my dad would always make breakfast on the weekends. We’d have eggs and fried rice or potatoes and sausage or pancakes or whatever. So it’s a bit nostalgic for me. But seriously, most of it is because it tastes great. And it’s really difficult to mess up, so it’s always gonna be pretty satisfying.

Anyway, so yeah. For just under $5 you can get a combo with the following: eggs how you like them, toast, potatoes as you like them (hash or home fries with peppers and onions) or rice, and your choice of meat (sausage, spam!!, ham, bacon). Pretty amazing, I think, so I order that. The wait is about 10 minutes.

Beyond what I got, there are a variety of other combos to choose from and breakfast is served all day (again, hella awesome). You can order other breakfast items like waffles and omelettes. And of course, there are lunch items, the usual diner fare: sandwiches, salads, and hamburgers. There are Asian things like curries, Asian type sandwiches, hawaiian stuff, different udons, shaved ice (!), and spam masubi! There are specials everyday like spaghetti and stews, so basically it’s pretty hodgepodge (note the plethora of tags).

Like I said before, breakfast is easy, so no big complaints here. It was a bit greasy, so the shop on the whole is more of a diner than anything else. Or I guess coffee shop. Go figure. The eggs weren’t really fluffy, but they were good and cooked well. The home fried potatoes come cooked with slices of bell peppers and onions, which I tend to avoid in general. I tried a couple of the veggies, blah. Skipped the toast and the meat (I wasn’t that hungry), which was probably smart since those items would’ve increased my grease intake. Strangely, I couldn’t find any black pepper around for my eggs. I thought it’d be in the shaker next to the salt, but its contents turned out to be sesame seeds. Huh. Didn’t matter, they had ketchup and that’s just fine with me.

Overall: Probably your best bet in the neighborhood for lots of good-tasting food for a more than reasonable price. The menu’s filled with your basics, plus some Asian stuff, though a little greasy. But hey, I’m ok with that. I’ll be back. A lot.

Rating: 7/10

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new jobbie = celebration

July 25, 2007 at 10:17 pm · Filed under american, bar, irish

Kezar Pub and Restaurant0723072017.jpg
770 Stanyan St. (x Waller St.)

This week I was offered a jobbie, which is good because I’m in the market for a new one (seeing as summer camp is ending and all). To celebrate bbg took me out. Didn’t want to go far, so he suggested a bar near the Haight that he went to and got completely smashed at after law finals. Sounded like fun.

The bar itself is pretty great. You enter and there’s a standard bar on the right and tables and chairs on the left. High chairs and tables and then the regular kind, too. There are a TON of flat screen, HD tvs throughout the place. In the front area with the bar, probably about ten. In the back area where we sat there were ten different tvs playing four or so different things (soccer, then rugby, giants game, espn, and some auto show thing).

Past the bar and through an open doorway you come to the back area with two pool tables, a golf video game, and an updated jukebox. Yeah, classy. Plus more tables and chairs. The interior is a little dark, but not sleazy bar-like. The table was a little sticky, but not much more than your average Dennys. It’s actually pretty nice, like a nice Irish bar you’d see in a movie or something. There’s junk on the walls, but tastefully so. I enjoyed the old Niner pictures and photos of what Kezar stadium used to look like back in the day with the Niners played there.

There’s a wide variety of beers on tap. Sadly, the one that I wanted (hefeweizen) was all out. Blue Moon is just as good. I ordered the fish and chips, which I LOVE. While we were the only ones there eating a meal, the food took a little long to get to us. Not super long, just longer than I’d like. But it was worth the wait! The fish was yummy. The exterior was crunchy but not too greasy and not laid on too thick. Sometimes with fried food you get more of the fried stuff than the actual meat it’s covering. The meat itself was a nice cod – not very fishy, but tender and flavorful.

0723071925.jpgAnd the fries! They piled it on so much that I couldn’t finish them all – a rare occasion for me. The fries were a little under done, a little crispy and a little soft. Probably your standard frozen fare. I would have taken a nice little picture of the food, but I was in a daze from the beer and completely forgot until I had finished it all.

Unsurprisingly bbg ordered the pork bbq sandwich with fries and a sierra nevada. All were excellent, according to him. The sandwich was tasty and spicy so you’d order more beer. He couldn’t finish his fries either, tee hee.

Now, I haven’t had much bar food in my life time.  Call me dull, but it’s probably because I haven’t been to many bars.  My best comparison would be the nachos and pizza at Bear’s Lair, which sucks.  Sorry, but it does.  Against that, Kezar Pub is pretty excellent.  Hell, on it’s own it’s pretty good.  Beer’s relatively cheap, food’s good and at a reasonable price, atmosphere is pretty pleasant (ok, that last one’s just relative to other bars, not other restaurants).   The bar is a little noisy, especially with the Giants game over the PA system, but hey, it’s a bar.

Overall: A nice joint to watch the Cal game or Giants game and eat some dinner.  A fun change of pace.
Ranking: 8/10

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too cool for school

June 2, 2007 at 3:28 pm · Filed under american, burger

Taylor’s Automatic Refresher
1 Ferry Building (on the Embarcadero)
taylorsrefresher.com

photos: yelp.com

I’m such a huge fan of burgers and fries. If I could have my way, I’d eat a nice big ol’ burger with tons of greasy fries all day, everyday. When in doubt, you can never go wrong with a burger. It’s safe, it’s tasty, it’s so incredibly bad for you. But, we should indulge every once and awhile.

I went to Taylor’s with bbg and his family as a bon voyage dinner for his uncle. We met up after work for some good food since it’s not too far from where I work, it’s a short walk from BART and bbg’s dad’s office. What better way to start off a summer long bike ride across the country at 60 years old than a nice, heavy, fattening burger with a root beer float? Exactly what I thought.

Taylor’s represents the City well: it’s a hip, stylish, probably healthier version of something that’s probably not good for you. They take an ordinary hamburger and put a city spin on it while the restaurant itself is a modern, cooler version of old burger joints and malt shops you see in movies. It’s hipster. Taking what’s old and not-so-great and making it the thing everyone else wants. Such is the City, in so many ways. But I don’t mind it, especially when the food is good.

The interior of the place is much like a diner. There are stools to sit at high tables and counters. There’s a lot of metal to make everything sleek and diner-esque. There’s even a giant neon sign reminding you what you came to the restaurant to do, in case you forgot. Very smooth. There are large windows to let in tons of light, or maybe they’re there to let everyone walking on the Embarcadero see you eat at such a happenin’ place. Outside is where it’s at, though. There are tons of wooden picnic tables fenced off from the sidewalk where you’ll see dozens of twenty or thirty-somethings with stunna shades gather for a beer after work while the sun is still out. Very cool, like I said.

What’s great is that this isn’t a sit-down place. You order at a counter with some cool-talking cats, and wait for your number to be called (or buzzer to buzz). You pick up your food at the pick-up station and condiments at the condiment counter – no tip required! I’m a fan.

The food itself is great, but not so cheap. While most burger places have some kind of combo meal, Taylor’s ain’t no McDonalds. Everything is bought separately, which makes your meal deceptively pricey. It’s true that burgers are only $6 – $8, but when you had $2 fries and a $4 beer, your bill adds up pretty quickly. $15 for a meal? For burgers and fries? What?

so amazingly beautifulWhile you wouldn’t want to make this place a nightly affair, it’s more than worth splurging on every once and awhile (once a week, perhaps?). I opted for the Texas burger, which comes with jack cheese, guacamole, salsa fresca, and jalapeños on an egg bun. Man, that was tasty. The burgers are on the small side, but you’re paying for the guilt-free meat (natural, hormone free, that is). My burger was amazing. There was plenty of guac, which I think is the draw of that burger, so it makes sense. The guacamole was thick and a little spicy, but like most guacamoles, wasn’t much more than glorified mashed avocados. The salsa fresca was bland and watery, so basically little pieces of tomato. There were plenty of jalapeños which made my meal very spicy and therefore delicious. Overall, very nice.

There are lots of other burger choices like burgers on sourdough with bbq sauce, burgers with bleu cheese, burgers with bacon, and on and on and on. While there are about 10 different fancy burgers you could get, Taylor’s stays true to its Americana roots (or is it just inspiration?) and features plain burgers and cheeseburgers as well.

We also got side orders of regular fries and sweet potato fries (which are SO in right now). This being San Francisco and all, you can also order garlic fries. Other favorite sides include chili cheese fries and onion rings. I’m a fan of the sweet potato fries, which are sliced very thin so the fries are really crispy. They’re a dark, burnt orange color and very flavorful. The menu describes them as “dusted in chili spice”, but I didn’t notice. Maybe because of all the jalapeños. Regular french fries are of shoestring descent, so they’re pretty crispy too.

Besides burgers there are soups, sandwiches, salads, and of course, being on the Embarcadero, seafood. No one in my group got them, so I don’t know much about those. I’m going to be bold and say that if you don’t get a burger here, you’re an idiot. I mean, burgers are the whole point here, duh.

I appreciate that Taylor’s goes all out with the burger/diner theme and sells soda fountain drinks like shakes and root beer floats. The shakes can be simple (chocolate, vanilla, strawberry), but being SF, we gotta throw in flavors like espresso bean and white pistachio, too. I also like that Taylor’s has hot dogs and CORN DOGS!! I had a hankering for corn dogs a while back, but alas could not find any place that sold them (where’s a wiener schnitzel when you need one?). Sadly, I didn’t have a chance to try one, so I have good reason to go back.

Last best part of this place: local beers! If you’re eating red meat, real ice cream shakes, and deep fried potatoes, might as well go all out and drink some non-light beer too. They feature Anchor’s Steam and Fat Tire, plus other beers I can’t remember. If you’re feeling adventurous, try a beer called “Moose’s Drool” and let me know how that worked out for you.

Overall: A hip, stylish place to grab some amazingly delicious, American-style grub. A bit pricey, and possibly too cool for school, but worth the effort with all it’s great choices. Beautiful place to sit for a beer while the sun sets. Bring shades!

Rating: 9/10

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