Author Archives: admin

Pauline’s Pizza: Local Pizza with Great Ingredients

Posted on 6/26/2007 by admin

Pauline’s Pizza
260 Valencia
San Francisco, CA
415-552-2050
Tu-Sat 5-10pm
Dine-in or Take-out

Next to the old Levi Strauss building lies a clean, well-lit restaurant (not pizza parlor) that happens to serve kick-ass thin-crust pizza. The secret is in the fresh vegetables that are sourced from their own gardens in Berkeley and Angels’ Camp.

Though not dirt cheap, these pizzas provide great value in a nice ambience. I tried the Pesto (Medium, $13.50), and the Italian Combination (Medium, $17.25). The pesto is drizzled onto the pie after it’s baked. I usually sprinkle a ton of chili peppers and parmesan cheese on my pizzas by default, but this one was perfect without any additional tweaking.

Read the full post here...
Posted in Italy, Meals more than $15 per main course, Mission | Leave a comment

Best Value South Asian / Indian Cuisine in San Francisco?

Posted on 4/4/2007 by admin

Tomorrow I get to dine out with some friends that are fairly new to San Francisco. Fairly new equals lived in the city less than 3 years. We’re going to Shalimar on Polk, a place that in my circles, is known for wonderful Indian and Pakistani food and value. That is, my South Asian friends love to come here.
To share other grub-worthy Indian food cheap eats with my friends, I started thinking what other places that I took for granted in San Francisco:

  • Naan-n-Curry (though unfortunately they’ve had to increase their prices while seemingly decreasing their portion sizes)
Read the full post here...
Posted in Meals under $5 per main course, Mission, South Asian, Sunset - Outer, Tenderloin | Leave a comment

Recipe: Maple Bourbon Bread Pudding

Posted on 5/9/2006 by admin

Thanks to TBJ for the inspiration.

Ingredients:
4 slices white bread (or 2 slices whole wheat + 2 slices white) // You may remove the crusts
2 large egg yolks
3 Tbs. of Maple Syrup, plus more for drizzling
2 Tbs. bourbon (or whiskey) // Optional, but this is the whole point
3/4 c. heavy whipping cream
1/4 – 1/2 tsp. powdered cinnamon

Read the full post here...
Posted in Budget, Recipes, Meals under $5 per main course, USA | 1 Comment

How to Rate your Dim Sum

Posted on 5/8/2006 by admin

(This applies to meat eaters only, at this time)

Two simple tests using 2 dishes:

1) Siu Mai meat
This test measures the quality of ingredients being used by the restaurant.

These come in the small steam baskets and consist of something like a wonton skin wrapped around pork, with a little carrot cube place on top.

What form is the pork in? If it’s a pure ground pork meatball, then the restaurant has cut corners here. You should be able to see and taste individual cubes/chunks of real pork meat, along with real chopped mushrooms, dried shrimp, and maybe some bamboo shoots.

Read the full post here...
Posted in Kitchen, China | Leave a comment