Food review: Duck confit hash

Restaurant: Maverick (San Francisco)
Food description: Two poached eggs atop duck confit with crisp hash browns, oyster mushrooms in a mushroom cream sauce
Food rating: 9 out of 10
Times ordered: 1

How 'bout I cut to the chase and just say 'Holy crap! This dish was f*#&n incredible!' Definitely the best breakfast hash dish I've had in San Francisco. It's what happens when chefs put the same about of effort into brunch as they do for dinner. In case you didn't know, mushrooms and duck melt together like hot-butta-on-a-breakfast-toast. Something about the gameyness of the duck and the funginess of the mushrooms really work amazing together to create this deeply rich and hearty flavor without the grease of fattier meats. To make things even better, they threw in some crispy hash browns which retained their crispiness despite being drenched in mushroom sauce. This is a feat very rarely accomplished in a hash brunch dish! And mix all that together with the two poached eggs and it's simply perfection. Ok, nothing's perfect, and I'll admit that one of my eggs was slightly over-poached, but I'm a forgiving person and they can get another chance at that. There were also pieces of duck here and there a tiny bit dry, but it wasn't a big deal after the mushroom sauce kicked in. What really amazed me about this dish is that, given how heavy the ingredients were, how non-greasy the whole thing tasted. It was nice to finally eat a hash where your face and didn't end up covered in grease. Absolutely loved it, and what a 180° from the donut holes!

Food review: Peking duck special

Restaurant: Yank Sing (Stevenson St., San Francisco)
Food description: Crispy honey-coated duck skin and slices of house-roasted Peking duck, stuffed in a steamed seashell bun, with slivered scallions and hoisin sauce (dim sum)
Food rating: 5.5 out of 10
Times ordered: 1

The Peking duck is one of Yank Sing's specials, but let's just say it's a special I won't be ordering again. The main attraction of crispy duck for me is the "crispy" part--the skin. There's nothing grosser than gnawing through thick rubbery duck skin, aside from maybe the flavor of rubbery duck skin. Either way, I had to endure both, which was very unappetizing to say the least. The duck itself had little seasoning and tasted a little game-y. I guess that's what the scallions were for, but they were cut way too thick to be eaten together. And last but not least, like their pork bun counterparts, the bun was too dense instead of light and airy. Together with the duck, there was just hardly any discernible flavor aside from hoisin sauce. Overall I did not enjoy nor would I recommend this dish, and it certainly wasn't special.

Food review: Duck and vegetable spring rolls

Restaurant: Home (Market St., San Francisco)
Food description: Duck and vegetable spring rolls with spicy chili dipping sauce
Food rating: 7 out of 10
Times ordered: 2

Since Home's macaroni and cheese steals the show, there's really no need to try any other appetizers, right? Well yes, except for these spring rolls, which are the the only other starter worth ordering, as far as I'm concerned. The rest of the food at Home just ain't all that, but I do fancy these spring rolls. The duck is subtle with lots of ginger and other good stuff to balance everything out--I'd dare say even a person who doesn't really like duck might actually like these. The skin is crisped to perfection, not too thick, and won't give your jaw a workout. It's obviously deep-fried, so when combined with the richness of the duck, it borders on being a tad heavy. Unless you're a freak and don't like fried food, this should not be a problem at all. I guess if you wanted, you could dip it into that sugary, wannabe-spicy, generic, effortless sauce. That wouldn't ruin it or anything, would it? So yes, the sauce was terrible, as expected from an American restaurant, and they must have known this already and took the liberty of providing me with an alternative grease-fighting option: fresh mint leaves, which really did the trick. So my friends, the lesson learned today is that there's actually more to Home than mac-and-cheese. What a concept!