Absolutely. We used to stay at a hotel barely outside of Chinatown. When we would come down, Bob would drop me there, drive to Noe Valley (no restricted parking at that time), park and take MUNI to the hotel. Easy-peasy.
There are still parts of Noe Valley that aren’t residential permit parking, but even if you managed to find an unrestricted space there, Muni from there to Chinatown is 40 minutes.
The Financial District on Sundays is one of the few places there’s much free parking in SF.
2 posts were merged into an existing topic: What the fuck are you all even talking about: threat or menace?
Went to Left Bank again. Onion soup was excellent, maybe better than Zut’s. Will definitely order that again.
Fried chicken was good though I’d go somewhere else for that.
Ravioli with peas and mint was OK, same for duck confit with favas, fiddleheads, and Israeli couscous. Probably best to stick with the classic dishes rather than seasonal specials.
Maison Nico takeout
mine turned out a little bit burnt on top but not golden enough elsewhere. will have to order this again to reheat at home at the proper temp next time.
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same thing happened to mine 
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Recently at The Village Pub in Woodside.
tagliolini with lemon mascarpone and truffle
poached halibut with peas, onions, and saffron
beignets to finish, always
Solid spot. Sister restaurant of Spruce. Service is well-measured and the cooking is always dependable, with something for everyone. Nothing groundbreaking, but it’s the kind of restaurant that’s easy to return to anytime.
I think a little bit lower temp than advised, for a little longer. Sauce tasted a bit strong to me. Pithivier is an impressive dish to serve at a dinner party, but for savories next time I’ll be inclined to stick to a slice of pate en croute and a slice of aspic from Maison Nico and a 2" slice of pate maison and a jar duck rillettes from Fatted Calf.
I do like Maison Nico’s Flan Parisien, especially with a scoop of Tin Pot’s Four Barrel coffee or Mitchell’s buko coconut ice cream. Next time I’ll try Tarts de Feybesse’s caneles (and I could’ve sworn they also offered flan Parisien, too).
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Village Pub always looks interesting (and we don’t live far away) but the price for their three course dinner (I assume that’s what you had) looks quite steep with $100 (yes - everything is getting more expensive but they seem to be on the high side) - do you think it is worth the price compared to other places ?
“Worth it” is kind of subjective, but I’ll say that we do return fairly regularly. We like Spruce when we’re in San Francisco (and for parties), and Village Pub when we’re in the Peninsula. Yes, the dinner menus are now prix-fixe 3-course + usually there’s a supplement (it used to be a la carte). (My 3rd course, not pictured above, was the shellfish veloute. The pasta was a supplement). During covid, The Village Pub built a decent outdoor dining area that we liked for lunch (as good as a quick outdoor spot can be). The service is good.
Again, the food is not groundbreaking or blow you away good, but it’s dependable with something for everyone. I’d say that the overall food and dining experience is at the same level as maybe Evvia in Palo Alto but a little bit more polished / formal e.g. synchronized service for plating and a deeper wine list. It’s like a more relaxed version of Spruce. I like The Village Pub better than say Dio Dekka in Los Gatos. What sorts of other places are you considering? I’m not too familiar with restaurants in the Woodside area, but I thought that The Village Pub is kind of in this nice mid-point of not tasting menu, fits the bill for a nice occasion but not overly expensive but not too casual, easy enough to get in to on Opentable (about 1 week advance, no Tock or 1-month out stress),etc. Perhaps there is indeed a better value or restaurant in the area. I’m just tired of tasting menus except for a few places, so The Village Pub is a solid spot I can enjoy without having to think about or plan too much.
$100 is pocket change to the Village Pub’s regulars. The fact that the prix-fixe is that rather than $99 says a lot.
Another solid meal of classic dishes at Left Bank, nice weather so we sat outside. Onion soup excellent as it was last time.
Nice housemade sausage with potatoes and piperade.
Café liégeois. I’m an idiot, forgot that I stopped drinking coffee months ago. This was delicious but at 3:00 in the morning I was wondering why I wasn’t getting sleepy. Would have been just as good with decaf.
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Comal Next Door on Grand now has a lot of seating and a full bar.
Some of the best nachos I’ve had ($13). Next time I’ll get the crema on the side.
Mollete ($6), never seen this in the US before. Good though the wrong kind of bread.
Taco of the day, cochinita pibil ($5). Excellent and a lot of meat.
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Bartavelle now open in its new space and turning into Bar Sardine wine bar Thursday and Friday evenings. Brandade crostini were on the menu last night.
I see molletes in Seattle so surprised you haven’t seen them. Oops, just Googled for SF and there were a number of places.
They’re not common around here. Yelp finds six places out of the 200-plus Mexican restaurants in the Richmond-Berkeley-Oakland area.
Well, considering it’s generally classified as a breakfast food, maybe that’s why.
Tried United Dumplings on College on the glowing recommendation of my foodie hairdresser.
Nice. Not the usual spicy version I expected from some of the other dishes on the menu.
I’m not sure why the dan dan noodles were toss-it-yourself. Pretty good though I won’t order it again.
Singapore chicken curry fried rice. Mild, pretty good, not my order.
Grandma’s pork pot stickers were very good. Fried tofu was very light but still crunchy.
Beef celery dumplings were excellent, very juicy, beef falling apart like ropa vieja. I’ll definitely order these again. We’d taken a few before I took the photo, there are 8 to an order.
Nice addition to the Chinese offerings near Berkeley. Looking forward to going back to try more.
New Malaysian place in the Tenderloin, sadly underrepresented cuisine around here.
Had an errand in Pleasant Hill so tried Montesacro in Walnut Creek. I was curious about their Roman dishes (when I went to the one in SF they had no pasta or secondi).
Eggplant fritters ($15) were quite nice, delicate.
Porchetta ($16) was tasty but it was disappointing that the skin wasn’t crisp. Surprisingly large portion for the price.
Cacio e pepe ($23) was really, really cheesy. Not what I was expecting but tasty and I polished it off.
Carbonara ($26) had a lot of sauce. I would have liked more guanciale in bigger pieces and crisped up. Tasty but not really what I want in carbonara.
Also had agnello scottadito ($36), very nice fried potatoes ($9), bread ($5), ciambelline ($6), and a bunch of wine. It was a fun meal but for the price I’d rather go to Perbacco, Cotogna, or Belotti.
If I wanted somewhere to eat in Walnut Creek I might go back and get appetizers and pinsa like the Italians at a nearby table. One of them had the focaccia del muratore (plain pinsa stuffed with mortadella), which also looked great. They also have some wines you don’t see very often, like a Bellone.
I may have posted this before, but contrary to marketing nonsense pinsa is not a traditional Roman dish. It was invented around the early 90s (various people including Corrado Di Marco and Angelo Iezzi take credit), inspired by the ancient Roman practice of combining whatever grains were available.