Cheese review: Parmigiano Reggiano

Restaurant: Zuni Cafe (San Francisco)
Food description: Hard cow's milk cheese from Italy aged 12-36 months served with dates
Rating: 10+
Times eaten: 10+

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Food review: Halibut salad crostini

Restaurant: Zuni Cafe (San Francisco)
Food description: Halibut salad crostini with niçoise olives, kumquats, crème fraîche, shallot vinaigrette, with side of lamb's lettuce salad
Food rating: 7 out of 10
Times ordered: 1

The halibut salad crostini highlights the benefits of California cuisine with its freshness and fusion of ingredients. I always like it when a chef gets creative and can combine unlikely ingredients in a complementary way--in this case--kumquats, olives, and fish. I really liked how the acidity and sweetness of the kumquats balanced the saltiness and strength of the olives. The halibut and crème fraîche mellowed everything out and the crostini supplied the necessary crunch. I'd describe the flavors as light, tangy, salty, clean, and citrusy. I also loved that there was no mayo used in this dish, but a light shallot vinaigrette instead. It was the perfect alternative to a salad and didn't weigh me down afterwards. Although there was nothing bad about this dish (aside from an oily side salad), after having the amazing burger and other dishes at Zuni, I've come to expect more from them, especially for $13 they were charging. It's a shames because I really enjoyed and appreciated the uniqueness of this dish but, for what it was, I don't think it's worth ordering again.

Food review: Zuni burger

Restaurant: Zuni Cafe (San Francisco)
Food description: Mesquite-grilled house-ground chuck burger on rosemary foccacia with gruyère, garden lettuce, red onion, aioli, and Zuni pickles
Food rating: 9.5 out of 10
Times ordered: 1

Ok, so I'll get right to the point on this one: As of right now, this is the best (insert expletive here) burger I've eaten in San Francisco. Period! I've never had a burger so juicy, flavorful, and of this quality until now. I have since become obsessed with finding out the secret to these burgers and learned that Judy Rogers (the chef and owner) grinds the chuck in-house after marinating it with salt for 24 hours and voilà! The perfect burger. Sounds easy enough, so I intend on getting my hands on a meat grinder and testing it out myself.

So anyway, let me attempt to describe why this burger was so good. #1: The texture. This was by far the juiciest burger I've ever had, and when I say juicy I'm not talking about greasy. Huge difference there. The meat wasn't overground, resulting in a delicately constructed patty that was tender and easy to chew. I was worried about the foccacia not being able to support the weight of the burger, but it held strong and was a welcome variation on the traditional burger bun. #2: The flavor. It was deep and smoky with a touch of char, amazingly fresh, and didn't leave the palate greasy at all. Made from pure chuck, the flavor was greatly improved, and free of any sketchy bits of cartilage or other questionable beef parts typically found in ground beef patties. I'm not an Atkins fanatic, so when I say the burger patty was tasty enough to eat by itself, I mean it! No need for any cheese or onion or bread messing up this masterpiece! In all seriousness though, this burger is truly amazing and no matter what you put on it, it'll still be great. I've heard people complain that the burger was too rare, and my response to that would be: think of this burger as you would a steak. It's not your average bacteria-ridden ground beef, but premium house-ground chuck with very little processing, so you can afford to eat it a little rarer (the chefs know best). So sorry, if you're waiting for me to say something negative about this burger, you won't find it here!

Food review: Gnocchi bolognese pasta

Restaurant: Stelline (San Francisco)
Food description: Gnocchi (potato pasta) with bolognese meat sauce, pecorino cheese, and garlic bread
Food rating: 7 out of 10
Times ordered: 2

I'm a real sucker for pasta, so I'm really glad that Stelline is next door to keep that steady flow of pasta comin'. They must have realized this and went and raised all the prices on me, humph!! The ossobuco is now $13! Now I have to go back and edit that blog post (a cruel maneuver indeed). Of course this whole price adjustment is simply going to make me more critical of the food, so it goes both ways. I typically order penne bolognese, but the last couple of weeks, I finally tried the gnocchi. Gnocchi is sometimes annoying to eat because it's so dense, the center stays burning hot forever and it's not like you can blow on it to cool it off. So if you wanna eat this dish, just be prepared to lose a layer of skin from your upper palate. I'd say it's probably worth it because it's one of the better pasta dishes that Stelline offers. The gnocchi is decent, but the secret's in the bolognese sauce. It's nice and meaty and thick, with a little cream thrown in to tame the tang. I love it when the pasta sauce isn't overly tangy or sweet. There's some yummy pecorino cheese in the sauce, which adds that finishing touch of cheesy saltiness. Although the sauce is quite good, it's also quite heavy. You can actually see an orange layer of grease oozing out of the sauce, that is, if you care. I know it sure didn't stop me from sopping up every last bit of sauce with my garlic bread! Other than that, the garlic bread is useless. It's all dried out and has no taste. Oh yeah, I almost forgot: the second time I tried this pasta, they garnished it with some raw chopped tomatoes. What were they thinking? I could care less if my pasta looks cute, I just want it to taste good. No tomatoes next time por favor. Other than that, it's a top menu choice for Stelline.

Food review: Corned beef sandwich

Restaurant: Moishe's Pippic (San Francisco)
Food description: Hot corned beef sandwich on rye bread with spicy brown deli mustard and deli pickle
Food rating: 6.5 out of 10
Times ordered: 1

After being impressed by their pastrami, I put Moishe's corned beef to the test, as promised. The result? Good corned beef, as far as corned beef goes, but not nearly as tasty as the pastrami. The meat had flavor, but it was oh-so-boring and really relied on the mustard to help it do its job. The texture of the meat, however, was much much better than the pastrami, totally tender and no tough gristle to chew through. Very surprising, considering they are both made from the same brisket cut. I don't know, perhaps they are overcooking the pastrami or something? A simple mashup would solve everything: combining the texture of the corned beef with the flavor of the pastrami to create the Ultra Super Pastrami Deluxe. Oh yeah, wasn't I supposed to be talking about the corned beef? Well, there's not really much else to say, because why would I order this again when the pastrami was clearly better? Nuff said!! Oh actually, I heard they've got amazing beef brisket on Fridays only, so stay tuned for chapter 3...

Food review: Hot pastrami sandwich

Restaurant: Moishe's Pippic (San Francisco)
Food description: Hot pastrami sandwich on rye bread with spicy brown deli mustard and deli pickle
Food rating: 7 out of 10
Times ordered: 2

Updated 4/17/07
I gave another go at this sandwich, this time ordering the "fatty" version since the first time around was a little chewy. The fat definitely changed the flavor in a different-but-not-better way. I could see myself altering between the two versions equally depending on whether I'm feelin' East Coast or West Coast. The pastrami itself was exactly the same yumminess as before, thankfully. The extra fat mellowed out the flavor of the spices a little but also smoothed out the flavor in that way that good fat always does. I was hoping it would be a little more tender with the fat, but that wasn't the case. Unfortunately that's going to cost it a half point, netting out at a 7. Still very good, but I'm going to save those higher scores in the hopes that a better pastrami sandwich exists elsewhere in the foodiverse.

Original post from 2/24/07
Moishe's Pippic, what the f#@& is that? You mean Moses' bellybutton doesn't ring a bell? Sorry, I couldn't resist looking it up, but I can tell you what it translates to: an authentic Jewish Chicago deli with a kick-ass pastrami-on-rye sandwich. They use Vienna meat imported straight from Chicago, giving me a little taste of Chi-town right in my backyard. Loved the friendly staff and the homey kitschy decor too. But back to the sandwich: the bread was simple, soft, and fresh. The rye wasn't overpowering and not too seedy. The pastrami was very flavorful and not too garlicky or peppery, and was very lean, so it had some stringy tissue here and there. I didn't mind it so much because it tasted excellent. I heard you can order a fattier cut, which should take care of that. The mustard was spicy brown deli mustard, which I forgot how much I liked, and complemented the sandwich perfectly. Normally I require the presence of cheese on all my sandwiches, but I surprisingly did not miss the cheese at all in this case. The sandwich was light and felt healthy, and the pickle lived up to my expectations. Though it doesn't compare to Katz' Deli in NYC (no offense), it's still one of the best pastrami sandwiches I've had lately. Looking forward to checking out the corned beef next time.

Food review: Pommes frites

Restaurant: Frjtz (San Francisco)
Food description: Thick cut Belgian-style french fries with white truffle oil or fresh garlic topping and dipping sauce
Food rating: 6 out of 10
Times ordered: 3

Sorry guys, I just don't get all the hype about the fries at Frjtz. Maybe since it's one of the few (if only) Belgian frites places in the city, ignorance is bliss. I'd much prefer the ones I've had in NYC while living out there. So I've been to Frjtz several times just to make sure I wasn't crazy, and the experience has always been the same ole dense, starchy, chewy, and grease-drenched fries. They're just not that crispy at all (kinda like when you try to make french fries at home yourself). So instead of fixing their fries, this time they gave you a way to cover up the fries by adding toppings to them, such as fresh garlic or white truffle oil. I fell for it and ordered one of each. It didn't end up changing the fact that if the foundation is flawed, the building ain't gonna hold very long. The truffle oil was really tasty, but when added to the overwhelmingly oily fries, every bite I thought "hmm, can I get a little potato with my grease?" It also didn't help that I was reading an article on the anatomy of a heart attack (no joke!). And in terms of truffle fries in general, the one's I had at Harry's Bar were waaay better. The fries with the garlic topping had basically 4 cloves of raw garlic stuck on top of the fries, which is fine if you live and breathe garlic, but I don't, and it wasn't cute. I ordered the kalamata olive ketchup and peppercorn ranch dipping sauce, neither of which I really cared for, so ending up eating them plain. When I was finished, the fries left me feeling like a sluggish bear just emerging from hibernation. Though Frjtz is a cute little spot, I've given their fries enough chances to improve, so I'm switching them from the list of "Things I Eat" to the list of "Things I've Eaten".

Food review: "The Favorite" deep dish pizza

Restaurant: Patxi's (San Francisco)
Food description: Chicago-style deep dish pizza with pepperoni, mushrooms and black olives
Food rating: 8 out of 10
Times ordered: 4

After coming to Patxi's several times, I just found out that I've been saying the name like a tourist--it's actually pah-cheese, while I've been telling everyone it's pat-skeez. Stupid I know, but it's in my hood, and I have a social responsibility to know the correct pronunciations of all the decent places (like Frjtz and Moishe's Pippic). Ok, so back to the pizza. I'll admit I'm no pro on Chicago deep dish pizza, but pro or not, this is damn good pizza. And what a departure from the lame-excuse-for-a-salad I'd just eaten. I've had a few of their other specialty pizzas and so far, this one's my favorite (they did a good job naming it correctly). Although it takes 40 minutes to cook, it's worth the wait knowing that you're getting a freshly made pizza that's consistently very good. It's also one of the few things that can get me to eat canned black olives. The pizza crust is the key to why this pizza is so good. It's crunchier and flakier than regular pizza dough, sort of like a pie crust. The flavor is much more rich and buttery and is tasty enough to eat by itself. That being said, almost any toppings you put on the pizza will work. They're layered upside down from normal pizza: pepperoni, mushrooms, and cheese on the bottom, and sauce and olives on top. Normally I like the pepperoni to be on top of the sauce, so that it can have those nice crispy edges, but I didn't mind this execution at all. The tomato sauce is the next best thing. It's tangy, but not too sweet, and has lots of spices in it, and none of that canned flavor that I can't stand. There's no shortage of cheese, perhaps maybe a bit overkill on the cheese, because it drowned out the mushrooms completely. With the thick crust and all that cheese, each slice is really hefty, and must be eaten with a knife and fork. Unfortunately, the pizza tends to be a little too watery from all that tomato sauce, so by the second slice, it's all soggy. I imagine deep dish pizza is like this by nature, but soggy is still a little annoying. That's a minor detail though, and doesn't prevent me from continuing to come back. So if you're in the mood for some comfort food and aren't on a diet, pah-cheese's pizza will take care of you good.

Food review: Baby spinach salad

Restaurant: Patxi's (San Francisco)
Food description: Tender baby spinach with bacon, tomatoes, red onions, and croutons, with tomato-basil vinaigrette
Food rating: 5 out of 10
Times ordered: 1

I was just getting over being sick, so in a rare moment of health, decided that a non-caesar salad would make a good accompaniment to the Crisco-laden deep dish pizza I was about to have. Normally I'd say screw the salad, so I wasn't very familiar with their salad offerings and just picked one that sounded good. The salad achieved exactly was intended for--a vitamin supplement--but nothing more. Based on the picture, it looks like it should've been pretty good, but if you look closely, you'll notice that all the toppings are only on the top (thus the name toppings, yeah yeah). But underneath that thin layer of toppings was a good 3 inches of 100% pure spinach--no dressing, no croutons, not even a single bacon bit! I can't help but ask, why the laziness? It'd be next to impossible to try to toss the salad on the plate, so I didn't bother. I just dealt with the fact that the beginning of the salad was drenched in everything, and the rest of it tasted like a tree. And since the salad was gigantic, the ratio ended up being more tree than toppings. As for the toppings, the croutons were bland, the dressing was too sweet, tomatoes were decent, and the bacon bits tasted fake like Bac-Os. Because of this salad, I'm making a conscious effort to get sick less frequently--that way, I never have to eat it again.

Food review: Lamb ossobuco

Restaurant: Stelline (San Francisco)
Food description: Braised lamb shank with ossobuco sauce over soft polenta, served with string beans and cauliflower
Food rating: 7.5 out of 10
Times ordered: 7

Though I'd rather not admit it, I've tried almost every single entree on the menu at Stelline, so I can say that the lamb ossobuco is one of their better dishes (along with the lasagna special). And for $11.50, you'll be hard pressed to find a better value, especially given the quality. Like the caprese, it's not authentic ossobuco, but it's a really good lamb shank. Traditional ossobuco (literally "hole of bone") is made with veal and the flavor comes from the bone marrow, which is eaten out of the bone and the primary flavor constituent of the dish. As you can tell from the photo, using lamb for ossobuco precludes the whole hole-in-bone concept, so there's not really much marrow to be had. If you can live with this and just think of the dish as a braised lamb shank, you'll love it. Though this time it was slightly overcooked, it's normally very tender, falling right off the bone with just a pluck of the fork. The lamb is nice and lean, no trimming necessary, and has tons of flavor on it's own. The sauce is more of a tomato sauce than ossobuco sauce (given no marrow), but when mixed with the polenta and lamb, it makes a tasty combo. Though the ossobuco is consistently good, the vegetables are consistently overcooked and too garlicky. They round out the meal, but could and should be improved. Other than that, the dish is delicious and a great value, but lacks the authenticity and flavor of traditional ossobuco.

Food review: Fusilli pasta

Restaurant: Stelline (San Francisco)
Food description: Fusilli with sun dried tomatoes, arugula, pine nuts, garlic, red pepper flakes, and ricotta cheese
Food rating: 6.5 out of 10
Times ordered: 2

I'll sum up this pasta in 3 words: simple, savory, and SPICY! And thankfully, it's not ridiculously spicy like the farfalle, but a good spicy where I can actually taste the other ingredients. This dish is so simple I could probably make it at home. though I'd still rather be lazy and have them make it for me. There's very little sauce, just a little olive oil and garlic, so the sun dried tomatoes and pine nuts make up the bulk of the flavor. Since I love pine nuts and sun dried tomatoes, this dish worked for me, though it was a little too simple for me. Something seemed missing (aside from the obvious meat), more ricotta? Another vegetable? More sauce? Just as there was nothing glaringly bad about this pasta, there was nothing memorable about it either, thus the 6.5 score. Without meat, it probably won't be enough food for a dinner entree. Though I enjoyed it and wouldn't mind ordering it again, the best things at Stelline are still the ossobuco, lasagna (special), and any pasta with bolognese sauce.

Food review: Insalata caprese

Restaurant: Stelline (San Francisco)
Food description: Salad of fresh tomato, mozzarella, and basil drizzled with extra virgin olive oil
Food rating: 6.5 out of 10
Times ordered: 10+

If I'm at an Italian restaurant, you can bet money that I'm ordering a caprese salad. It's also really easy to make yourself at home (try using buffalo mozzarella and tomatoes from Whole Foods). Since it's such a simple recipe, a successful caprese salad really depends on the quality of its ingredients. That being said, the caprese at Stelline is often good, but sometimes not so good. I order it every time I go to Stelline, which is pretty frequent, being only a block away. This time the caprese was having one of its not-so-good moments, but I'd say the good times still outweigh the bad times. I realize tomatoes are out of season, so they were a little bland this time. At it's best, the tomatoes are usually ripe, red, and sweet. Now the mozzarella: I'm pretty sure they don't use buffalo mozzarella because it doesn't have that certain bite to it, which is a shame (plus that's the traditional recipe). It's typically above average--creamy, flavorful, and soft. This time though, it was really bland, and needed quite a bit of salt to get it going. The texture of the basil was slightly tough but nothing to complain about because it was very tasty. The olive oil was fine, but nothing really noticeable about it. So although this caprese is not really authentic and the kind I make at home is 10x better, I still think it's tasty enough to continue ordering again (though maybe I'll wait until spring this time).

Happy Saint Pattie's

Restaurant: Suppenkuche (San Francisco)
Food description: 5 liters of Erdinger beer in a giant boot

I'm not Irish, but Saint Pattie's Day is universal for beer! If you're looking to do something fun today, Suppenkuche, though German, has enormous beers (up to 5 liters!), perfect for Saint Pattie's festivities. The tradition is to pass it around the table and not set it back down until it's all gone. To sop up the beer, they've got nice hearty dishes to match (the jaagerschnitzel should do the trick). Happy celebratin'!

Food review: Pot de crème

Restaurant: Absinthe (San Francisco)
Food description: Scharffen Berger chocolate pot de crème with crème Chantilly
Food rating: 9 out of 10
Times ordered: 1

I'll describe this dish in two words or less: positively addictive. I've been fantasizing about having this dish over and over again, and with Absinthe just a block away, I'll be lucky if I dont' end up in rehab or Jenny Craig. Even if you hate chocolate (though I can't imagine such a person), you won't after trying this pot de crème. It's made from Scharffen Berger chocolate--for those of you who aren't familiar with the name--it's the granddaddy of American dark chocolate and was the key ingredient to this dish's success. The consistency of the pot de crème was thick and smooth, less thick than a chocolate mousse cake, but thick enough so that if you stuck your spoon all the way in and lifted, the entire dish would be picked up. The high density of the chocolate made each spoonful extremely rich and decadent and was almost too much, even for 2 people (of course we ate it all though). The Scharffen Berger chocolate used in this dish was the real deal, not your everyday wannabe Ghirardelli chocolate. It was bittersweet and probably at least 70% cacao (translation: high quality, very dark, more bitter than sweet), with a deep roasted flavor similar to coffee, and would thus accompany coffee perfectly.

Though I thought the crème Chantilly and shaved dark chocolate topping gave it a nice presentation, I sort of dug around those elements with my spoon, so as not to taint the perfection of the chocolate beneath. I tasted the shaved chocolate alone, and it wasn't the same chocolate flavor used in the pot de crème itself, and not nearly as good. The crème Chantilly was good by itself, but I didn't want anything messing with the pureness of the rich dark chocolate. I'm sensitive to desserts that are overwhelmingly sweet, and this dish delivered exactly what I look for in good dessert: high quality ingredients that can stand on their own without relying on sugar to make them good. I won't dock points for this, but the presentation was slightly lacking. If you'll notice in the picture, the dish was served on a piece of triangular paper. Perplexed, I unfolded the paper and realized it was a piece of an old menu folded in half. Did they run out of doilies or something? Nevertheless, after taking one bite, they could serve it on a Post-It note for all I care. It was some of the best dessert I've had in a while. Indulge yourself!

Food review: French toast

Restaurant: Absinthe (San Francisco)
Food description: Pain de mie with orange-ricotta filling, poached pineapple, whipped cream, and maple syrup
Food rating: 9 out of 10
Times ordered: 1

I'm an idiot for not going to Absinthe for brunch sooner. It's a block away from my place so I figured "I can go there anytime!" A completely ridiculous excuse, now that I realize I've been missing out some amazing food. I ordered the french toast because I figured a French restaurant would know how to make real french toast. I figured right, because it was exquisite. The dish had the effect of transporting me to a Parisian cafe while I exclaimed "Oh la la!" after every bite. Every slice was a slice of heaven. The bread was awesome and cut thick to hold the rich cheesecake-like filling. It was cooked to perfection, to a lovely golden brown and had a thin crust all around the outside, while remaining light and airy on the inside. Though the french toast could hold its own without the filling, the sweet ricotta with a touch of orange zest added some flair and extra creaminess which was a bonus. The syrup was very sweet and concentrated, so I liked having it served on the side so I could control the intensity. In terms of flavor, well, I didn't know french toast could be this good until now. It had just the right ratio of cinnamon, sugar, egg, vanilla, orange, ricotta, and bread, and if you wanted to splurge, you could add a dollop of crème Chantilly to the mix (vanilla whipped cream).

The french toast was near perfect, so why not give it a 10? To put it simply, the pineapple. It just didn't work for me at all. It was heavily dowsed in syrup, making it too sweet to eat alone. When I tried pairing it with the french toast to tone it down, the pineapple clashed with the orange zest. I wouldn't know the difference if I never had this pineapple again. So to sum things up, french toast: amazing, pineapple: not so amazing. I'll let you be the judge, but seriously, for only $9.75, you're never going to find french toast of this quality anywhere in SF.

Food review: Absinthe corned beef

Restaurant: Absinthe (San Francisco)
Food description: Corned beef hash served with two poached eggs atop grilled toast
Food rating: 8.5 out of 10
Times ordered: 1

Well, we really should have gone to Absinthe for brunch sooner, our meal was fantastic. I got the corned beef hash and it was the least tasty of our dishes (French Toast, and Pot o' Chocolate), and by least tasty I mean "still damn tasty!" The toast was great - toasted golden brown with a slight char on the edges. It was also very lightly buttered and it wasn't your run of the mill white bread, I think it was a french bread derivative. The eggs were poached perfectly with no runny whites while preserving the yummy liquid yolk so as to sop into the bread and hash. The corned beef was really the only part of the dish that I wish had been better. Don't get me wrong it was pretty good, extremely tender (broke apart at a touch) and well mixed with the potatos and herbs, but I had to say it lacked full flavor. It just didn't quite get there and was canceled by the herb flavors in the hash. If the corned beef had had more flavor I would have given this an 9. Overall we had a fantastic experience at Absinthe and are looking forward to going back. On a side note, it was actually less expensive than I thought it would be, we spent barely more than we might have at Home or something similar and the service was impeccable.

Food review: Cobb salad

Restaurant: The Crepe House (Gough St., San Francisco)
Food description: Mixed greens with grilled chicken, bacon, avocado, tomato, carrots, red onion, and red radish, tossed with balsamic vinaigrette
Food rating: 4 out of 10
Times ordered: 1

I ordered this salad specifically after someone recommended it to me, and boy did I regret remembering that conversation! Where do I start? A Cobb salad with balsamic vinaigrette, mixed greens, radish, no eggs, and no blue cheese? Looks like someone in the kitchen misplaced their recipe cards! Looks like those same people forgot to toss the salad and to chop up the ingredients into pieces that fit into regular-sized mouths. It took me an extra 5 minutes just to cut up the giant mound of chicken, lettuce leaves, avocado, and tomato that was carelessly plopped on top. The chicken was also burning hot and was thrown on top of the lettuce, rendering a once cool-and-refreshing salad warm and wilted. This is a huge pet peeve of mine and I can't imagine how anyone could actually enjoy their salad served this way. Forget the preparation, the ingredients themselves were below par. The avocado had tiny black spots all over it like it was diseased and they used the bitter tough end parts of the romaine lettuce that you'd normally throw out. What a mess. I ended up eating the bacon and chicken and leaving the rest. I had to go home and eat Triscuits to keep myself from starving to death. Need I say more? If you're looking for a decent Cobb salad, I'd go to Chow or Cafe Madeline.

Food review: Karlbsragout

Restaurant: Suppenkuche (San Francisco)
Food description: German veal stew with mushroom gravy sauce and pan-fried egg noodles (spatzle)
Food rating: 7.5 out of 10
Times ordered: 1

I've been to Suppenkuche and bunch of times (since it's in my hood and I can crawl home after the food knocks me out) so I like to check out the specials and try something new. The karlsragout was something I'd never had but was definitely a good choice. I knew I couldn't go wrong with the mushroom gravy, since I've had it many time before on the jagerschnitzel dish and love it. The veal was slow cooked, tender, and lean, but just slightly overcooked. The flavor of the veal, mushrooms, and gravy together was fantastic-from that alone, I'd definitely order it again. The spatzle was also yummy and is one of Suppenkuche's fortes. It goes great with the stew with it's rich and buttery flavor, but isn't overwhelmingly greasy. It's a shame this dish isn't on the permanent menu because it's one of the better thing's I've had at Suppenkuche.

Food review: Wiener Schnitzel

Restaurant: Suppenkuche (San Francisco)
Food description: Breaded sauteed pork loin with roasted potatoes and green salad
Food rating: 7 out of 10
Times ordered: 3

Suppenkuche is a neighborhood favorite of mine, so I know to prepare myself for the instant food coma that happens within minutes of eating there (you've been warned). The wiener schnitzel is one of the heaviest dishes on the menu, but a great beginner dish for those new to German food. The pork tenderloin is pounded until very thin and tender, and then breaded and pan fried. Squeeze a a couple lemons on top and voila! Simple and yummy. The portions are huge, but save room for the roasted potatoes-they don't look like much, but they're very tasty. And forget the salad, I've never seen anyone eat that stuff here. Overall, I find the dish a tad dry and too oily, so I always recommend it's sister dish, the jägerschnitzel: same thing, only with mushroom gravy instead of lemon. It's definitely the better choice.