Izzy's

Izzy's is a Marina District institution in San Francisco. Everyone else in our party of about 20 people had grown up knowing about this restaurant. It seemed to me like a throw back to the 1960's and most of the patrons looked like they had spent a lifetime there. And for good reason, if they are meat and potato kind of people.

The selection of cuts is broad and I suspect the grade of beef is prime or close enough to it to pass. My dinner companions ordered New York strip steaks, bone in rib eye, Fillet Mignon, and Porter House steaks. The routine at this restaurant was to order your meat and 2 sides of your choice. As you can see by the photos, the creamed spinach was over loaded with cream, and the mixed vegetables of onions and carrots left something to be desired in the way of an imaginative combination.

The gratin potatoes were cheesy alright, but not in a good way. That leaves us with the meat. Admittedly, this was the best prime rib I have ever eaten, better than House of Prime Rib. I ordered medium rare and received a moist, succulent cut of prime rib. I requested some horseradish and that fell short as it was not creamy, just served plain, but the meat made up for the shortfalls of everything that surrounded it on the plate.

http://www.izzyssteaks.com/

3345 Steiner St

San Francisco, CA 94123
(415) 563-0487

Elements Restaurant and Bar

If your plans include a trip to Santa Barbara, a visit to Elements is a necessity. A personal friend who used to live in Santa Barbara suggested we try this restaurant, and we have yet to thank him sufficiently. Our only regret is that it is not a local restaurant for us. This restaurant delivers California Cuisine at it's best in a casual, comfortable atmosphere that begs one to linger. We are actually planning our next visit south around being able to go back for lunch.

As you can see in the above photos, the food is beautifully plated and had great eye appeal. Our first appetizer was a spicy tuna tartar with house made taro chips. The next photo shows a beef carpaccio with mandarin orange, caper berries, Dijon mustard and parmigiano cheese. It was delicate and refreshing, but also very rich in taste.

The gnocchi with Gorgonzola sauce was a classic combination that worked beautifully with the red wine braised short rib that was fork tender. For me the highlight of the meal was a side of Brie mashed potatoes that were hidden under the mound of baby carrots, string beans, and braised apricots, prunes and currants that made up the condiment for what had to be the thickest center cut pork chop I have ever seen. The potatoes were buttery with an earthiness that could only be imparted by the cheese. The brie itself was more evident in the aftertaste. The pork chop was very tender and if I had been eating beef, it would most certainly be the fillet mignon cut. Delicious, but slightly undercooked.

The meal was filling, but dessert was ordered despite that, if only to see how it was plated. Another success both aesthetically and in taste. Lemon Mascarpone cheesecake with Macadamia crust and meringue deserves a place on every menu in the country!

http://www.elementsrestaurantandbar.com/


129 East Anapamu St
Santa Barbara CA 93101
(805)884-9218

La Super Rica

After dining at two Mexican restaurants that we found on our own in Santa Barbara, it was time to elicit the help of locals, so when I found myself talking to two elderly men at a local coffee shop I decided to see what they thought. When the first said La Super Rica, the second nodded his head with enthusiasm and kept saying Izzy's was the best. That was enough recommendation for me. The next day we were off and running to Izzy's when we discovered La Super Rica at the same address. It was well worth the trouble and name confusion to find it. Isidoro Gonzales is the owner and dedicated counter man who has served presidents and professional chefs (Ronald Regan and Julia Child).

Even though the kitchen was small and the lines long, everything moved along at a fast clip and it was heartwarming to see that he tortillas were being hand made. Though thin from the use of a tortilla press, they were delicious all the same, although I do prefer a thicker version.

As I wondered how a restaurant could afford to offer prices this low, I realized that these were the bait and the profit came with the volume of food sold. Judging by the number of people who went in before us and those waiting in line as we left, there were no doubts that this Santa Barbara institution would remain open for years to come; it's been open thirty years already. (It is interesting to note that La Super Rica made it to the "Saveur 100" list of readers' favorites in 2009. Since the list included things other than just restaurants, I'd say #62 was was a reasonably high status to achieve.)

Each taco order, whether it was chicken, carne asada or grilled pork came with two corn tortillas and enough filling to make two adequate tacos. Pico de gallo as well as red and green salsa were available on the side. These were a real bargain.

Does the above photo look like a $10 lunch to you? Me neither! People either love or hate this restaurant, but what's not to love at these prices?

We spent a few minutes splitting the fillings among the tortillas and then chowed down. The meats with the Pico de gallo and salsa were classic, but the richest and most unusual selection we made was the Raja, composed of roasted pasilla peppers with grilled onions and cheese. Truly a wonderful and unexpected treat. I'm always willing to try something new and this was a great find, as I have never eaten anything like it before. I had a chance to speak with the owner and he said that he was from Jalisco state, but the cooking was something he learned in Mexico City. This was the authentic Mexican food we'd been looking for.

I know that guacamole is a starter, but we couldn't resist adding it to the carne asada and grilled pork tacos for an added depth of flavor. It would have been perfect on its own, but we didn't eat it that way. We are planning our next trip south very carefully, so we can eat again at La Super Rica. Even thin tortillas won't keep us away. Be forewarned, it's closed on Wednesdays and if you want to skip the long lines, get there by 11:45 a.m.

622 North Milpas Street

Santa Barbara, CA 93103-3032

(805) 963-4940

Joe's Cafe of Santa Barbara

Joe's Cafe is the kind of mom and pop place that offers diners the predictable in American fare. Comfort food, to many people, is still good food, and with the old time atmosphere, this place appeals to many people. We did not order enough to make this a fair evaluation, but I can say the menu is broad enough to satisfy many people and the service was very good.

This may have seemed odd to most diners, bread served with a cooked tomato salsa, but it so happens my grandmother used to make a cooked salsa that she used primarily on meat loaf, that we often ate with bread. Surprisingly, this in itself was a comfort food for me and helped to define the restaurant. My grandmother's addition of bell peppers would have enhanced Joe's salsa. The Cesar salad was predictable and not the best, but passable.

Speaking of meatloaf, it was moist but lacked much flavor. I was initially annoyed that it came layered over toast (removed by me prior to this photo) but learned when the bill arrived, that the waitress had given me the meatloaf sandwich instead of the meatloaf dinner. I owed her a debt of gratitude, because the amount of meatloaf was plentiful and I paid 30% less for the sandwich. the gravy reminded me of Bisto, a British powdered product that when mixed with water created a brown gravy of questionable taste. This was not home made gravy and the salsa would have worked better.


536 State Street
Santa Barbara CA 93101-1602
(805) 966-4638

Sand Bar in Santa Barbara

If you're into bar scenes you could do worse than Sand Bar in the heart of the Santa Barbara downtown on State Street. We tried it at an odd hour and missed most of the crowd, but that was just fine with us. The food is competent, the delivery fast and we enjoyed ourselves. That is enough to recommend it in many cases, but this was not the best Mexican food that Santa Barbara has to offer although much more reasonably priced than El Paseo and more to our liking. Sand Bar offers an Americanized version of Mexican food with all the usual suspects on its menu fit for gringo tastes.

First of all, the guacamole was made with rich, well ripened avocados that needed little more than some onions and a nice dollop of tomato salsa to taste very good. The flautas were well crisped and the chicken was moist, not stringy. thumbs up for the first courses.

The chicken Enchiladas Verde could have used a bit more tomatillo sauce on the plate for color contrast as well as taste. They receded into the background and were overpowered by the sides. Still for under $9 they were a bargain lunch. The pork and fish tacos were decidedly better and more interesting visually.

To really get a good sense of them I ordered one each of the soft tacos, the Carnitas, the Carne Asada and the fish taco made of Mahi. Each soft taco had its own condiments and its own identity. All were very good and priced between $3.75 and $4.75. They added up to a greater price than the combination plate, but were more substantial than one taco with a side of bland rice and beans.

http://www.sandbarsb.com/sandbar_menu.html

514 State Street

Santa Barbara CA 93101-1602

(805) 966-1388

El Paseo Restaurant

Lovely to look at, but no place for a Mexican dinner. Being enthralled by the Spanish architecture and charmingly serene city of Santa Barbara, we decided to continue the historic California mood by going to eat at a highly polished Mexican restaurant in the El Paseo shopping Center on State Street. The interior was reminiscent of a hacienda patio, a very large hacienda at that, with a three tiered fountain and exterior stairs leading to the balcony. If you were to dine there during the day, the glass ceiling opens to allow more than the illusion of a patio with full sun and warm breezes. That alone would be worth a return trip, but for no more than drinks and appetizers.

The meal started well enough with a classic chicken taquito appetizer covered in the requisite guacamole; it was nice but lacked the strong, rich flavor of ripe avocado. The chicken was not stringy, but neither was it plentiful. On the plus side, it was a generous serving of 4 taquitos rather than the standard 2 served by most restaurants. Good but not an elevated, above normal taste. With high end restaurant prices I expected much more.

Having a fondness for Mexican Mole sauces, I chose the Chicken Mole dinner that came with rice and beans. If there were ala carte options, my preference would have been to opt out of the starches, but since they came with the chicken I tried them. Once again, nothing out of the ordinary and that is precisely why I usually don't order them. The Mole sauce itself was lighter than some but good and the sprinkling of pumpkin and sesame seeds was a much appreciated textural element that added well to the taste. The chicken itself was not cooked on the bone, lacked any complexity of taste and was a bit overcooked.

The other entree at our table looked fantastic on paper, but did not live up to its promise. It was definitely an enchilada plate and the meat filling was indeed filet Mignon, but the two did not go together well. The delicacy of the filet was completely lost in the enchilada sauce. For $26 it should have been more than it was.

El Paseo Restaurant

813 Anacapa St

Santa Barbara

Phone: (805) 962-6050

Hours: Tue-Thu 4pm-10pm

Fri-Sat 11:30am-10:30pm

Sun 10:30am-9pm

Pastuccio's in Santa Barbara

Nice dining room, pleasant ambiance, but please do not expect a great meal in this restaurant. My intention for this blog was to never even bother with bad restaurants, but this meal was inedible and I feel obliged to put an orange cone and flashing warning lights in front of this pot hole, before another accident occurs. In Italian the word pasticcio means "mess". I believe the name of this restaurant was no accident, just a matter of misspelling.

My dining companion was happy with his Cesar salad, but as long as it has parmigiano, romaine lettuce, croutons and a Cesar dressing, it will pass muster. Not being particularly hungry, he ordered an appetizer and called it a night. The baked brie and garlic with pear and walnuts was decent enough to be satisfying.

The car wreck started when I ordered the pumpkin ravioli with butter and sage sauce. Having had squash tortellini many times in Italy, I had a reasonable expectation as to what would be arriving at the table. Pumpkin, when roasted could be similar to the deep orange squash I had experienced eating in this classic Italian dish. Since I use Butternut squash when replicating this recipe, it was going to be nice to compare the pumpkin taste and texture to the butternut. That didn't happen. Pastuccio's uses canned and spiced pumpkin pie filling. Gag me with a spoon, or one of these ravioli. They arrived barely warm, not hot, the sage was burnt, and the pumpkin pie spices were inappropriate as well as intolerable.

Perilli

Proximity to our hotel was the only reason we selected Perilli as a restaurant to try in Rome, at least the first time. We now make a point to dine there whenever we are in town. Situated in the Testaccio section of Rome, it seems off the beaten path, and perhaps because of that, it is still an authentic trattoria serving classic Roman "cucina povera" specialties. Testaccio, at one time, was the epicenter of the butchering trade in Rome and workers could expect meager earnings, but were also sent home with the parts of the cattle that were considered "the fifth quarter", the offal and unpopular cuts of meat such as the ox tail. Necessity was certainly the mother of invention in difficult economic circumstances, and the Italians of Rome turned straw into gold. When it came to using the fifth quarter meats, Roman ingenuity turned giveaway organs into classic Roman cuisine.

Some classic foods in Rome are not meat based. Perilli starts off your meal with the classic Roman 5 pointed rosetta roll that typically is hollow inside. I love this little roll and am happy to see it being emulated by Grace Baking here in Northern California, although theirs is not hollow. For starters we ordered a generous plate of prosciutto that paired well with the roll.

I've always wanted to try puntarella, the escarole type green served very commonly in Rome with olive oil, anchovy and a squeeze of lemon. It was very refreshing with its slightly bitter taste. Even so, my favorite vegetable at Perilli's is the Carciofi Romana, a tender artichoke drizzled in olive oil and lemon. I panicked when I didn't initially see it on the menu, but it was eventually found in the contorni, not antipasti, section of the menu.

The next choice required nerves of steel and a strong determination to order. It was a rigatoni in tomato sauce, but the offal was quite unique and begged to be tried. Everyone at our table turned up their noses, but 2 out of 3 of them gave it a try and said they liked it. What was it? Pajata, a newborn lamb intestine that still held sheep's milk. It was very narrow as you can see by the closeup photo to the right (sitting diagonally in the center) and tasted like ricotta cheese. Delicious, but once was enough and I will most likely go back to ordering Coda alla Vaccinara, another rigatoni pasta dish smothered in an ox tail and tomato sauce.

We cannot go to Rome without ordering Carbonara and Perilli has an especially rich tasting one made with rigatoni instead of spaghetti. The meat course for this trip was braised lamb in red wine vinegar. The contrast of the vinegar with the rich meat was very good.

Via Marmorata 39,

Testaccio Rome

Phone: 06/5742415