El Mansour

Popular wisdom tells us "You can't go home again.", and I have discovered the truth in that with El Mansour. Just as charming as it was 20 years ago, my perception has changed and it does not seem as mysterious, exotic or entertaining as it once did for this patron. The food is still good, but my palate is more educated, my travels more broadened, and my idea of entertainment no longer satisfied by the theatrics of mint tea being poured into a glass 4 feet away, nor belly dancers gyrating several feet away, as I try to finish my meal. In truth, I never appreciated the belly dancing as much as did my dinner dates. On this occasion my dining companion was little more than annoyed, considering the show an interruption to his dinner and our conversation. In truth, we made the reservation early to avoid them altogether. Still the bastilla (bastela) is a dish everyone should get a chance to try and is worth any effort it takes to do so.
Part of the Moroccan tradition is to wash hands before the meal; a necessity since no utensils are used. El Mansour makes certain that happens by bringing hot, orange flower, scented water to your table and overseeing the operation. We started the meal with flat bread to transport eggplant and spiced carrots, along with other items from the plate to our mouths. This was a refreshing first since it is cold, and let me say here that the prices are very modest for what amounts to a four course meal. The next course is a light lentil and vegetable soup, seasoned well with spices and also served with the bread.

For me, the bastilla will forever be the star of the show at El Mansour. It's a succulent chicken pie, although I believe pigeon is more in keeping with tradition. The poultry is mixed with chopped almonds and spices, wrapped lovingly in buttered layers of phyllo dough, baked to tender, mouth watering perfection, then kissed with a heavy dusting of powdered sugar and tattooed with cinnamon. If the entire pie were the main course, I'd be eating here weekly.

One main course we ordered was the combination of chicken and lamb with vegetables on couscous. the lamb was a bit bony, maybe a shoulder cut, but nicely seasoned and falling off the bones tender.

Entree number two was the lamb with onions and olives. More savory than the chicken with honey and almonds, it too was satisfying, even though it did not come with vegetables. We could have ended our meal then and there, except for the tea that is traditional at the end of the meal.

The spearmint tea was not as cloyingly sweet as I had remembered, perhaps a ploy, since we felt it necessitated a dessert to go with it. Not such a bad idea.

We shared the fried bananas with the crisped phyllo.

http://www.elmansour.com/

3119 Clement Street (between 32nd and 33rd Avenues)

San Francisco CA

Telephone:(415) 751-2312
Dinner Tuesday through Sunday from 5:00 to 10:00 pm.

Los Jarritos

We find ourselves at this family run, authentic Mexican restaurant from time to time, usually on a Sunday at lunchtime, but should try it for dinner one of these days. Los Jarritos is casual and lively and usually filled to capacity. There are two things that make me recommend a Sunday visit; it's during the weekend when they serve goat (birra) as well as menudo, and it is also the day when I'm certain there will be a Mariachi band there in the early afternoon. The two men with guitars in the photo were followed by a four or five piece Mariachi band in full costume.

Sure, every Mexican restaurant in the state will serve tortilla chips, but these were freshly fried. Better yet, the corn tortillas are made on the premises. Tasting delightfully fresh and soft, they are also thicker than commercially made tortillas. Being able to order a nopale quesadia, Quesadia Arturo ($5.50), was a first for me. Seeing them so many times in small grocery stores in the Mission district, I've always wanted to see how they were cooked and this was my big chance. Nice, similar to a thick walled, roasted chile in texture, with a mild, slightly acidic taste. I'd order these again.

Undoubtedly, the Deanna's Enchiladas Mole is the item we order time and time again. It's so very good with chicken that it is the single handed reason for the non investigation of most other items available on the menu. For $12.95 the enchiladas come with both rice and refried beans for a complete meal. We've tried the chicken mole, but nothing beats the combination of mole sauce and corn tortillas. If they put just that on the menu, we'd be likely to order it.

Birra is something that is very common in many countries, yet seldom seen here, so the opportunity to eat it seldom escapes me. It is not as gamy as most people suspect, less so than some lamb, but it is stronger than pork or beef; all the better as far as I'm concerned. Texturally, goat reminds me of a chuck roast, it's stringy, but tender all the same.

UPDATE: In 2010 Los Jarritos became 

San Jalisco

901 S Van Ness Avenue(between 20th St & 21st St)

San Francisco, CA 94110

(415) 648-8383

Dosa

My first foray into Dosa was with a group of friends for a girls night out at their Valencia Street address. We ordered some of the specials including an item or two from the street food menu that they offer occasionally. Since I needed to see what a dosa actually was, I ordered one and was hooked on this Southern Indian cuisine, very different than what I had become accustomed to in Indian restaurants prior to that time. Until this revelation it was more usual to find food in the Madras, Vindaloo or Korma cooking styles.

A mango salad and samosas started the meal and everyone seemed pleased with their selections. I personally have yet to try these menu items, but they look appetizing.

Even now I am unable to find this soup or this tomato and tapioca pearl salad on the menu. They may only be offered seasonally or could it be that the menu had changed? It pleases me to think about seasonal elements to the food prepared at Dosa; always a good sign and seldom disappointing.
The standout item that was ordered had to be this bowl of fried rice noodles mixed with vegetables and heaven knows what else. It was on the street food menu and was very flavorful and quite a bargain for less than $9, as I recall.

The second location for Dosa on Filmore Street and Post is a much more generous space and more sophisticated in decor. Also dimly lit, it reeks atmosphere and lively spice fragrances. The space is split level with dining on the left and mezzanine, with a lively bar scene on the right as you walk in.

The menu at the Filmore Street address includes a cocktail list with some very interesting ingredient combinations. The one in the photo was made with coconut milk and had Bollywood in its name, but this does not match the description on the menu, so once again I suspect that the menu changes from time to time. Another mystery soup that does not fit a menu description, but it was good and again it had a coconut milk base. You can't go wrong with that.

This luscious menu item is the Prawn Chile Fry. Besides being quite beautiful, the spicy execution of the prawns is mouthwatering and we order them frequently for the eye appeal as well as the taste. They perk up the palate and ready it for the more creamy options on the menu. A micro greens salad is a nice addition to the plate, not only for color contrast, but for the contrast in temperature and texture.

The spiced lamb chop in lentil sauce was a very satisfying main course being served with a potato and cauliflower side as well as the lemon rice. The rices at Dosa are so good you need to try them all. The fish curry and lemon rice enhance one another in such a splendid way and one could eat the coconut rice with anything on the menu, or all by itself. Someone has put much thought into the Dosa menus and we, the dining public, reap the benefits. This is a menu worth working your way through instead of ordering the same thing every visit.

Now for the restaurant's namesake, the dosa. A simple but very large rice and lentil wrap, paper thin, that in the photo above has encompassed the Masala Dosa, filled modestly with potatoes, onions and cashews. I have yet to see a dosa that actually fits the plate. They may need to start rating these by how many inches the dosa overhangs the serving plate, not that size matters.

Each dosa, no matter which kind is served with several flavor enhancers. All unique and very different in taste from one another. The largest bowl is filled with Sambar, a lentil sauce which can sub as a soup course. Another bowl is filled with a coconut based chutney. The last is a spicy tomato chutney. Folded into a triangular shape is the Masala Chutney Dosa, that has the addition of a thin layer of an eggplant based chutney. Honestly, I could not tell the difference, as both the Masala and Masala Chutney dosas have been delicious adventures.

http://www.dosasf.com/

Dosa on Valencia

995 Valencia (near 21 St)

415 642 3672

Dosa on Fillmore

1700 Fillmore (at Post)

415 441 3672

Thanh Long

Truly a serene and inviting space, Thanh Long was not the restaurant I had hoped it would be. We didn't order the roasted crab, the dish they are known for, but this should have been more than a "one trick pony" of a dining experience. When the restaurant is owned by the same people that excelled in seafood at Crustacean and marketed their proprietary Asian sauces in stores throughout the country, one might expect to hold them to a higher standard than this. The menu has some very interesting things on offer, so I may need to go back and give it another try. In all fairness, one meal is not the best way to judge a restaurant.

Origami folded won tons made for an artful starter, but they were lackluster in flavor. Certainly we started with more than are seen in this photo.

The soft shelled crab made another nice starter and at $11.95, it was a reasonable price to pay for this crunchy yet tender and juicy delicacy. It also worked well with the tamarind chile sauce.

Here's where my opinion of Thanh Long took a nose dive. My partner in crime ordered the Colossal Royal Tiger Prawns and at market price they amounted to a cost of $34.50, exactly $25 more than the garlic noodles they were nestled on. that kind of math angers me as a consumer, especially when the prawns were by no means colossal. Not being very hungry, I just ordered the noodles and found them buttery, maybe too much so, and good tasting, although exceedingly too rich and salty for such a large portion.

http://www.anfamily.com/Restaurants/thanhlong_restaurant/displaypages/menuitems.html

4101 Judah StreetSan Francisco

CA 94122-1124

(415) 665-1146

Il Borgo

If you have to have a neighborhood restaurant you couldn't do much better than this authentic Italian trattoria, owned and operated by an Italian family from Milan. The wall murals create a sense of place and that place is an Italian village, hence the name Il Borgo. The table cloths are stereotypical red and white checked like my grandmother, and most likely every other Italian grandmother in this country, used to use on her kitchen table. I feel at home in Il Borgo, with the exception of the laundry hanging in the corner; a clever way to allow patrons to see and retrieve lost clothing, usually scarves, from their last visit. The murals alone are worth a trip to this restaurant.
Ordering pizza at Il borgo is a good bet because it is made in the classic Neapolitan style with a thin crispy crust, and not too much cheese or tomato sauce. We shared this one, but the size is perfect for a single entree serving if you like to just eat pizza for dinner. There are no soggy spots in these pizzas.

The pizza menu is not long, but the pizza is good, so settle on something they have like this sausage and mushroom pizza. It was excellent.

The Lasagnette is a rolled lasagna filled with cheese and prosciutto with an aurora sauce that provides beautiful color was well as fine taste. Of all the pastas, the Carbonara is another favorite of ours. The Veal Scaloppini with Marsala sauce was very tender and plentiful, but the Veal Saltimboca is even better. It's difficult to go wrong in this restaurant since the chef is using family recipes.

http://www.themenupage.com/ilborgomenu.html

500 Fell @ Laguna

San Francisco CA

415-255-9108

Bar Crudo

Sometimes the nicest things come in small packages and the most inventive restaurants come to small spaces. Bar Crudo was well established before it came to my neighborhood, but I was unfamiliar with it and was delighted to give it a try. As someone who seldom orders fish in restaurants it was a revelation to try some of Bar Crudo's small plates. I could go back again and again especially for the raw menu items, since sushi is a favorite of mine and Bar Crudo has a wonderful light hand with fish that does not involve Japanese traditions. Their oysters for $1 during Happy Hour, 5-6:30 p.m. are another reason to revisit.

Neither of these first courses seem to be on the menu so perhaps they were specials for the day and they were special indeed. The photo to the left shows a steak tartare with 4 separate toppings both savory and rich. The photo on the right shows a fish liver pate, but the type of fish escapes me at the moment. It too was rich in taste, but for my money, the tartare was the best of the 2 choices. Still, I have to admire the use of the fish liver in what seems to be a non traditional approach, yet so familiar to the pate lovers amongst us.

The Hamachi Collar for $13 was not the largest piece of fish I have eaten, but it was one of the best. It was moist, mild though very flavorful and beautifully cooked. The menu states garbanzo beans, but they served cannelini at the time this photo was taken. I've eaten sushi for very many years and Hamachi has always been my favorite raw fish, it is now my new favorite cooked fish as well.

The Head-On Louisiana Devil Prawns delivered the heat they promised and were a big hit at our table, but it would have been nice to serve them with some form of starch. I kept thinking about rice, as I tried one but bread would have been fine too. Anything to sop up the sauce would have worked to enhance this dish. I hated to walk away from the table with all that luscious sauce still on the plate.

http://www.barcrudo.com/menu.php

655 Divisadero St

San Francisco Ca 94117

415.409.0679

Hours
Mon - Sat 5 to 11pm

Sunday5 to 10pm