Archive for bbq

korean food by japanese?

February 5, 2008 at 10:00 pm · Filed under asian, bbq, japanese, korean

Hahn’s Hibachi
535 Irving St. (x 6th Ave.)

Hahn’s is located in one of my favorite areas – Irving Street. Very Inner Sunset, this area is littered with restaurants and bars that are all pretty tasty and varied. A nice little walk from my apartment, bbg and I venture out there on weekend nights for grub. It’s a pretty good change in scenery, plus you feel better about gorging on (insert your favorite food here) and then walking the mile and a half home.

Anyway, we’ve passed by Hahn’s every time we’ve been to Irving. It’s one of those “oh we should go there some time” but you never ever go there type places. It’s small, couldn’t fit more than 20 people in the place that was probably once a cafe. The decor is simple if not lacking. There’s a counter immediately ahead of you when you enter the door. Many people stopped by to pick up orders, so it seems popular enough and convenient. When we first walked in, we were unsure of what we were supposed to do – order and sit or sit and wait to be served? No one was behind the counter, so we were bold and sat. The cashier/waitress came from out back and saw us and immediately brought us menus. It wasn’t hard to get her attention since we were the only customers there besides another couple. Perhaps it’d be slower if there were more take out orders or generally people in the place. It was quiet, but only because it was dead. A few times people came in to order and were talking with a friend or chatting on their cell phone and that was loud. I couldn’t imagine the ruckus if the place were packed. On to the food!

I ordered the soft tofu seafood soup for about $11 before tax and tip. The soup comes out boiling hot in one of those iron type bowls, which is set on a wooden plate. I was saddened that our waitress didn’t crack an egg in it, but oh well. The soup comes with rice and a lettuce salad. Waiting for the soup to cool down, I munched on the salad, which was pretty good eats. Typical iceberg lettuce, shredded, with some shredded carrots and topped with a miso-style dressing. Very good, maybe a bit too creamy.

The soups come at varying degrees of spiciness: mild, medium, and hot. I chose medium, which turned out to be a good idea since it was pretty spicy. Spicy, but not really more tasty. I think you just get to pick the level of burning your mouth experiences. The soup itself is very very very mildly fishy tasting, which is actually a good thing since I don’t like fishy-ness all that much. Sadly, that doesn’t mean that there were other flavors to compensate for the lack of fishy-ness. The soup is red, though I’m not sure why. It’s good, but pretty watery and doesn’t taste like much. Compared to other Korean tofu soups I’ve had, this was pretty mediocre.

As promised, the soup came with soft tofu, which was plentiful. I liked the big chunks throughout. They added substance to the plain soup. The soup had a couple pieces of shrimp and then pieces of an unidentified seafood. I want to say it was squid, but I really don’t know. It was white and came in skinny sort of tube shaped pieces and tasted mildly fishy. It was pretty chewy, but not impossibly so. Overall, it only slightly bothered me that I didn’t know what it was.

BBG got the BBQ spicy pork. The dish came with bean sprouts, salad, and rice. I ate his salad and he gobbled up the pork. It was spicy enough, but the portion was tiny (especially when compared to what you can get at Steve’s Korean BBQ in Berkeley). He was satisfied, but I’m sure he could’ve eaten a lot more.

Most people ordered the Bi Bim Bop and looking at other reviews on the place, it seems like that’s where it’s at. Maybe next time, if there is a next time for me. BBG said he’d go back, perhaps I’ll tag along. Lastly, aren’t hibachis Japanese? The place serves udon and tempura, so there’s more to the mystery.

Overall: Ok food for this small joint. Seems like it’s really made for takeout, generally nothing special. Considering the fact that there are about a billion other restaurants in the immediate area – ones I like a lot and others that I’d like to try, I probably won’t be back any time soon. Mediocre.

Rating: 3/10

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I’m back!

January 23, 2008 at 9:02 pm · Filed under asian, bbq, burger, hawaiian, smoothie

So it seems whenever I change jobs I end up forgetting about my blog for a bit of time. I’m sorry. 😦

But I’m back! The new job is settling down (at least I hope it is by now), so here’s a new post for your enjoyment. The first second of the new year. 🙂

Eva’s Hawaiian Cafe
731 Clement Ave. (x. 8th Ave.)

Photo: none. Still trying to get into the groove of things here.

Red A Bakery closed? No matter! Walk a couple blocks down Clement and you’ll find Eva’s Hawaiian Cafe. If you’ve ever been to L&L Hawaiian BBQ, then there are no surprises here. It seems that Eva’s is just another name for L&L as there’s L&L stuff throughout the place. I don’t really get why they call themselves Eva’s, maybe it’s a fancier version of L&L? Identity crisis? A franchise exercising independence? Mysteries abound, that didn’t stop us from trying.

Enter the place and you are immediately faced with a choice: take out or dine in? Cash register’s up front, so you could easily do either. In fact, whilst we ate many customers picked up food. The interior is brightly painted and pretty clean. There’s Hawaiian music blasting constantly, ranging from traditional sounding stuff to aloha-ized versions of pop songs. How could one not feel the aloha spirit here? The place tugs at your heart strings the entire time.

The menu is filled with Hawaiian favorites: loco moco, mix plate, pulled BBQ pork, etc. On this particular venture, bbg ordered the mix plate – rice only! And I had the teriyaki burger with fries and salad. All plates come with rice and the option of salad or macaroni salad. For myself, I picked the salad only because I thought burgers and fries AND macaroni salad would be overdoing it. My heart can only take so much! The menu also features tons of tropical drinks – smoothies and juices. I was loading up on fats, sugars would have to wait until next time. On a previous visit, bbg ordered the same thing (it’s his favorite) and I got the chicken katsu (the chicken version of my all time favorite Japanese dish).

The food! I thought the teriyaki burger would come with a slice of pineapple, but surprisingly it doesn’t. It did come with a single piece of tiny lettuce, a slice of tomato and onion, and the biggest glob of mayonnaise you’ve ever seen. Don’t get me wrong, I like mayo, but seriously, this was ridiculous. The burger was tasty, but I didn’t really get how it was Hawaiian since I didn’t really taste the teriyaki. I was disappointed with the lack of lettuce, but the other veggies (all two of them) were fresh and added to the flavor. I ended up scrapping off some of the mayo, but other than that, it was great. The fries reminded me of Ahn’s burger fries. They were crispy and plentiful, but not very flavorful. They needed more salt. The salad was average. It consisted of your general mixed greens, some shredded red cabbage, and some shredded carrots. The veggies, again, were fresh, which is great. The salad was tossed in a light dressing, so light that I couldn’t really taste it. I think it was ranch, but I’m not sure.

The mix plate, I’m told, was excellent. The beauty of a mix plate is that you get every type of meat: pork, chicken, and beef! All BBQ’d in the same sauce and grilled to perfection. Higher quality of meat than the Red A, but probably just as tasty since it’s cooked in the same sauce. My small bite of meat (chicken, I believe) was drowning in the BBQ sauce flavor and a bit chewy, but mostly tender.

I remember the chicken katsu being a big sub-par the time I went there. I think Hawaiian places don’t really get how to make the katsu without drying out the meat.  It’s either really dry or really greasy, never in between unless you go to a high end Japanese place.  The chicken katsu here was on the greasy side, unfortunately.  The chicken came with a layer of fat under the breaded/fried layer of goodness.  It came with the standard dipping sauce and sides of macaroni salad, rice, and salad.  Salad was the same: forgettable.  The macaroni salad was more or less noodles smothered in mayo.  Not very tasty, just squishy and bland.  There were bits of (probably) carrots in it, but that didn’t do much.  I wasn’t impressed.

The service is incredibly fast and friendly.  Both times we went we had the same waitress.  She seems to be the person usually in charge.  On our last trip, I overheard her talking on her cell phone, saying she had worked all week and long hours.  She had a migraine that night, but you couldn’t tell it by talking to her.  Very sweet and polite and attentive.   Nice, but if you don’t like leaving tips, you’ll hate this place!  I couldn’t help but leave a little more than usual since she was so nice and basically running the sitting area and register by herself (looked like one other person was there, just working the kitchen).

I’ve never been there earlier than 9pm, so it’s never crowded.  I think it’s a spot used by locals to pick up a quick and late bite.  Some drunk-ish people came in, but didn’t stay long.

Overall:  Ok food, nothing really special.  Tasty and reliably fattening.  Nice service, probably better items on the menu I haven’t tried yet. Open late, fast, and consistent, so I’ll be back.  Definitely nicer than the Red A. Mixed plate is supposed to be really good.

Rating: 7/10

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saturday night = date night

May 6, 2007 at 1:29 am · Filed under asian, bakery, bbq, date night, hawaiian

Red A Bakery0505071929a.jpg
634 Clement St. (x 7th Ave.)

BBG LOVES HAWAIIAN BBQ. We eat dinner on Clement a lot and this is a perenial favorite simply because he likes it so much. I myself am not the biggest fan, but on date night, you gotta be nice to your date. And I didn’t have to say yes twice.

The Red A Bakery doubles as an Asian bakery and a Hawaiian BBQ spot. It’s a semi-odd combination, but that sort of embodies what the place is all about. The interior is furnished with modern style tables, chairs, and carpet. It’s small, with about ten tables, and a counter in the back. The counter has the cash register plus a big display case filled with different kinds of pastries. There’s also a display fridge with not only drinks, but also cold baaus you can take home and re-heat yourself. Neat.

The pastries are mostly Asian. You can get your regular sponge cake in the form of a cupcake, red bean filled cookie thingys, egg tarts/dan tat, etc. Even the less Asian pastries (mini apple pies, for example) look like they’ve had an Asian twist. The baaus are gooooooood. We bought a six pack awhile back, and even though it was mislabled as BBQ pork, we enjoyed the regular chicken filled baaus. All in all, a pretty good selection of small pastries and cakes.

The restaurant part features mostly BBQ plates and some other easy Hawaiian or grill foods. There are different types of BBQ’d meats that come with rice and macaroni salad (which is how they roll in Hawaii). The BBQ is more or less teriyaki style, sweet and tender. They give you more than enough, which is always appreciated by BBG. While it’s not the best quality, it is the best in quantity, especially for a dish under $7. BBG says it’s like the Steve’s Korean BBQ of Hawaiian BBQ, a reference for all you Berkeley folks out there.

Since I’m not a big fan of Hawaiian BBQ, I’ve tried other plates. I love tonkatsu. It’s a Japanese dish that’s made of either chicken or pork meat, which is breaded then fried and served with a thick, dark A1/Worcestershire sauce. It makes sense that many Hawaiian places serve the dish, and the Red A Bakery is no exception. Their tonkatsu is made with chicken and overall, it’s pretty gross. There’s a lot of fat and thus a lot of grease that comes with the dish. The breaded outside is crispy and flavorful, and the sauce is good, but after a few pieces I got a little queasy. They give you a ton, though, so that counts for something.

Not to worry though, I found something on the menu I liked: cheeseburger and fries. At $3.50 for both, you can’t go wrong. The fries are thick and crispy, much like what you’ll find at Smokehouse in Berkeley (another reference). The burger looks like it’s actually grilled. Mine was medium-well done and slightly charred on the edges, which is perfect for me. It’s served with lettuce, tomato, pickles, onions, mustard and mayo. A little heavy on the mayo and onions, and the lettuce was a little limp, but otherwise a classic combo that was yummy. Can’t resist a good burger.

On this last visit I noticed they have fish and chips, which is also a long time favorite of mine. I saw it on a sign right after I ordered, so I’ll have to try it next time. For drinks they have milk tea (no boba! 😦 for shame), coffees, and a nice selection of milk shakes. They have classic flavors for shakes as well as a green tea flavor and a mixed fruit flavor. Sounds interesting, but I’m hesitant to pay $2.50 for something I might not like.

Every time we’ve been there a teenage-ish girl has been working the counter, so it seems as if this is a family operation. They talk on the phone or watch the TV, which is a good sized flat screen always playing kid cartoons (I’ve seen Dora and SpongeBob, plus weird PBS cartoons) – something we’ve found to be pretty strange. While the eating area looks pretty clean and simple, the back area is not so nice. I had to use the restroom on one occasion and it wasn’t a pretty sight. Down the hall to the bathroom the floor was greasy and slippery. The bathroom was small and felt grimy. The back area/kitchen was big, as if it could be used to cook for a much larger restaurant, but filled with junk and boxes of stuff. The whole area felt dirty, as if it hadn’t been cleaned in a loooooong time only because it wasn’t used for a long time. If that makes sense.

If it’s any consolation, I’m sure most restaurants look like this behind closed doors. And I didn’t see any mice or insects, so there’s a plus. Every time we’ve gone the place is pretty empty, with one or two people eating besides us. Since the place opens and closes so early (their hours are 7am – 8pm), it looks like their money maker is the bakery.

Overall: An ok Hawaiian BBQ place that’ll give you the most bang for your buck, especially if you don’t think about what goes on behind closed doors or are concerned about your health.  If you’re not into Hawaiian, though, use the place as a bakery.

Rating: 6/10

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playing catch up

April 27, 2007 at 4:15 am · Filed under asian, bbq, boba, drink, tea & coffee

Asqew Grillasqew grill
865 Market St. (x 5th St., SF Shopping Centre) – Show me!
asqewgrill.com
Cuisine: BBQ, Asian

Tuesday I had dinner with my long time pal, Sean. Long gone are our college days of staying up till 4am doing laundry and talking until the sun came up or when we stopped making sense, whichever came first. Such is the reality of being a grown-up. Kid came to visit the Yay Area for the week and we had plans for dinner at the new SF Shopping Centre food court and catch up on the past year or so.

The food court is much better than every other food court you’ve come across in a mall. The older side of the mall has old, gross mall staples like Wetzel’s Pretzels and Panda Express. The newer side boasts fancier foods at reasonable prices. There’s the popular Beard Papas, a eatery solely dedicated to cream puffs. You’ll aslo find Sorabel (Korean BBQ), Thai, SF Soup Co., and the like. This particular evening I tried out Asqew Grill and on of my over-hyped favorite, Teaz-Me (review below).

Asqew grill is located towards the back of the food court, near Bloomingdale’s. It looks cool and trendy with a big red sign and a grill you can slightly see behind the register to show that your food is actually grilled. The eatery serves BBQ, with either large portions of ribs or chicken or on skewers. You also have to pick a starch (rice, potatoes, etc) to accompany your meat. There are salads and some sweets to chose from, as well. I appreciate that there’s a full and half option for all dishes, so you can get one skewer instead of two or half a chicken instead of a whole one, if you feel you can’t eat that much. Or pay that much.

Thai bbq chicken skewerI got the Thai BBQ chicken skewer with jasmine rice (my starch). The rice was pretty plain if it was supposed to taste like jasmine, but that’s ok with me. Pretty sticky so you couldn’t separate grains, so part of the rice was a big glob. The skewer was a hit! The pieces of chicken were very tender and tasty. The veggies included: two pieces of broccoli, two pieces of squash, and two snow pea pods. The peas weren’t very good, but the other veggies were cooked well, but not mushy, and had soaked up the flavoring.

Before they hand over your plate, servers squirt your skewer with sauce. What kind of sauce depends on what you ordered. Mine was a sweet, brown, watery sauce. It was very light and the servers were sure not to drench my meat and rice with it (I hate that). I’m not sure how to describe it beyond saying it was sort of like teriyaki sauce. It mixed well with the lightly curried chicken. Very good. The dish came with a very small side of a spicy, little soggy sort of coleslaw. I think it was just shredded cabbage with the spicy Thai vinegarette that goes with their salad. While I don’t think I’d top my salad with it, it was great with the small bit of greens that came with the rest of my meal.

Total cost was almost $9 for what was a pretty small helping. Two skewers run about $11. Maybe it’s because I had a late lunch, or maybe my general small appetite, or it was probably the fact that I was drinking boba with my dinner, but the small plate was a perfect portion for me. Still, it was little for what I paid. 🙂

Overall: Probably a good date place, very flavorful, but I’m sure you could find a hole-in-the-wall joint that’s better. But, you might be in the chain restaurant thing. A great way to kill two hours with your college bff.

Rating: 7/10

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Teaz-Me
865 Market St. (x 5th St., SF Shopping Centre) – Show me!
Teaz-Me.com
Cuisine: drink, tea, boba

Photo: yelp.com to the right, the rest are mine.

At first glance, the place is pretty trendy looking. After staring at the menu for a little while, you can easily confirm this fact. I feel sort of like a sell out drinking stuff from here, but I also feel really really cool. Teaz-Me sells tea and tea infused drinks. There are juices, hot tea, sparkling teas, iced tea, and “freezes” which are basically glorified, healthier slushees.

So many options in exchage for $3-$5! You can get different kinds of tea (oolong, black, green), you can get your drink decaf, and my favorite option: pearl! If I were a math major or statistician, I would probably calculate hundreds of different combinations. It’s like Starbucks, but for tea, which is pretty cool. And very unnecessary.

Like Beard Papas (located in the same eating area of the mall), the small food stand dedicated to one simple item is sort of ridiculous. I feel so guilty, but I like it A LOT, so I don’t care. Plus, I’m sure people were critical of Jamba Juice when the smoothie craze first got going. Who knows, it could be the wave of the future.

so expensivo!My last visit I tried the pomegranate lemonade, decaf, with pearl (pictured left). The drink came in a tall cup with plenty of ice and a couple slices of lemon. The drink itself was pretty tangy, but not enough to make me pucker, which I liked. I could taste the pomegranate, but it wasn’t the dominant flavor. The tea infusion added a little bit of bitterness at the end that really went well with the tang. Overall, a nice thirst quencher. The tapioca pearls have been consistently subpar at the place. They’re a little hard in the middle and pretty flavorless. There’s also a lot of inconsistency in the size. Sometimes there are small bits of tapioca floating around, sometimes the balls are small, sometimes they’re too big to get through the straw. This last time some of the boba had congealed into a giant glob at the bottom of the cup. Disappointing.

Other times I tried a black cherry frost/freeze thing and that was delicious. Last time I had a tropical fruity juice blend that was good, but a little too sweet. I appreciate the bits of fruit they add, but in general, the stuff is overpriced and a novelty.

Overall: It’s fun but not something people like me can afford to get addicted to. A nice treat if you want to look stylish.

Rating: 5/10

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