Sushi Hon - Japanese, San Francisco

2598 Harrison St, San Francisco CA 93123
(415) 525-4527
Parking: street parking
Hours: Daily 5pm-11pm
http://www.sushihonsf.com/

Last Visited: July 29, 2016

Food: 4 stars
Atmosphere: 4 stars
Service: 4 stars
Price: $$$$

I learned about Sushi Hon through an Eater SF article last week.  The article touted a premium omakase menu with 11 courses for only $65 which included nigiri made with fish that was line caught and flown in from the the Tsukiji Market in Japan.  How could I resist?  The article warned that Sushi Hon is going through a soft opening and won't officially be open yet for another couple of weeks, so with one week into the soft opening, and another week to go, I thought it would be a good time to visit.

Bottom line:  Based on the article, I thought I was getting more nigiri than what was offered, but it's clear from the menu that nigiri is just part of the omakase.  If you're a purist, go elsewhere.  If you want to have a dining experience with hot and cold dishes, this is a nice offering.  Overall, it's a modern take on Japanese food, and for the nigiri, the wasabi was a bit heavy handed.  My dining companion experienced the same, but for fewer pieces.  You'll find that the hot dishes will meet expectations for fusion between Japanese and California cuisine and be beautifully presented.  Since they're going through a soft opening, the long wait is forgivable, but the is staff friendly and the chef, Zhe Song, is very detail oriented.

Reservations can be made online through their website and over the phone.  I recommend the latter as you'll get a faster response if you call during business hours.  For now, my online request was met with a response to call anyway.

The space is modern with a regular bar; open kitchen/sushi bar; and long, wood, rectangular tables for communal style dining.  The decor contains a lot of wood, bamboo, metal, and gray.  The television was on behind the bar.  The sushi bar doesn't have the typical refrigerator that you find in traditional Japanese restaurants.  Instead, you'll be able to see the cutting boards and plates.

We arrived a little before 5:30pm this evening and they were still doing a lot of preparation.  We were able to watch several fish being filleted by the expert hands of the chef.  My understanding is that this work would normally be done before opening, but they were a little behind - if you don't like watching a stake go through the head of a fish, you might want to go a little later.  We were promptly given a drink menu with many options of sake and other typical items.

Two prix fixe options were available - the omakase for $65 (not 11 courses, but 7 courses - the chef says they never had 11 courses, so the article was wrong) - even if you count every piece of nigiri as a course, it still doesn't add to 11. Perhaps there were complimentary items during the writer's visit.   The other option is 12 pieces of chef's choice nigiri for $48.  All other items are offered a la carte as an add on.  Over the course of the evening, we were given three menus - each with a little more information - first the prix fixe, second the nigiri and prix fixe, and finally a full menu with all a la carte options like butter poached fish.  Clearly, another reason for a soft opening.  They do ask whether or not you have any allergies and can accommodate for that as needed.

- Hot tea -  What was strange was that the cups were American style.  Everything else was Asian, but these white cups without saucers didn't seem to fit the decor.  At least the tea was good though.  $3

- Ume Salted Edamame - Warm edamame is seasoned with ume salt (slightly sour  as it comes from a plum and slightly spicy).  I liked this twist on the cold edamame that you find elsewhere.  The warm temperature was nice, but for those whom are very sensitive to any kind of spice, you may want to ask for it on the side.

- Katsuo Tataki - Katsuo is also known as skipjack tuna.  The tuna is seared and cut into two pieces.  It was served with a puree of cucumber with a little bit of ginger for a refreshing taste.

- Hamachi Namazuke - Three pieces of yellowtail are lightly breaded and fried.  Thinly sliced marinated red onion, green onion, ginger, and I think bonito flakes (not completely positive on the last item) top the fish.  All of that is placed on top of a light tempura sauce.  I liked this dish, but would have preferred the sauce on the bottom to be served separately as the fish's breading had already soaked it in and the bottom piece was no longer crunchy.  The topping is refreshing and adds a nice balance to the fried fish.

While we were waiting for our nigiri, two complimentary dishes came - one was the geso karage (fried squid) which came with an aioli and the other was a mix of green beans and asparagus tossed in sesame paste.  Both were done very nicely.  As you can see from the photos, presentation is nicely done with little edible flowers on top of the katsuo and the green beans.

- Nigiri (Chef's choice - 6 pieces) - Today's fish included Akami (bluefin tuna), Isaki (grunt), Aji (horse mackerel), Washi (sardine), Muki Hotate (Japanese shucked scallop), and Anago (sea eel). As we were sitting at the bar and had waited for a long time, the chef gave us a bonus nigiri of flounder fin muscle which you see in the middle of the photo.  This piece is rare in the sense that there's very little of it - essentially only a couple of pieces per fish, so it's not listed on the menu.  Four of my six pieces of nigiri had a bit too much wasabi, and though the fish was certainly fresh and had good flavor, my pieces were quickly overpowered by the wasabi.  My dining companion only had two pieces with too much wasabi, and had a much more pleasant experience.  Depending on the fish, it was garnished with lemon juice, ginger, or just simply brushed with soy sauce.  I enjoyed the fish, but found the sardine flavor to be very strong and the sea eel to be not as tender as I would have liked.  The scallop was very good and for all pieces, the portion of rice to fish was just right.   Some of the rice was a bit too loose and did not hold up fully.  Each piece is presented on a leaf that is placed on the bar.  While this presentation is beautiful to start and makes for great photos, by the end of the course, the leaf has started to curl and looks less appetizing.  It might be better for the leaf to be placed on top of a plate to prevent it from drying out so quickly.

- Shiro Miso with Japanese Mushrooms - The soup was listed last on the menu, but came out before the maki.  It was the right temperature, but you can see it was served with a spoon (not traditional) in a rather wide mouthed bowl.  The mushrooms were good.


- Hoso Maki (Chef's choice - 6 pieces) - Other tables were given tekka maki, but ours was ume cucumber maki.  This was a nice palate cleanser and unique with the ume plum having a strong salty/sour flavor.

- Soft Shell Crab  - The soft shell crab is lightly battered, deep fried, and served with fresh cherry tomatoes over a blended tomato cucumber and basil gazpacho.  The crab was very plump and juicy - nicely done.  I liked the fresh tomatoes and while the combination of flavors were fresh, but I would have it would have been nice to have a spoon to enjoy the gazpacho.  It didn't feel like I had the right tools.

If you order the dishes a la carte, you would find that the total adds up to about $85 or thereabouts.  A la carte nigiri is sold per piece at a minimum price of $5 each or more.   Other dishes vary in price up to $18 for the butter poached fish.

I thought it was a good dining experience, although the total time was quite long for this visit - I was there for two and a half hours.  While the staff is friendly, since we were the only ones there for the first half an hour, and the staff was checking on everything, they're a little too attentive.  I was feeling chatty this evening, but I had a ton of interaction with the staff - had it not been a soft opening, I would say it was too much.  The chef was very generous in offering a few complimentary dishes to offset the wait and he was very welcoming which made it a great visit - I felt like we had our own personal chef since we had him to ourselves at the sushi bar for more than an hour. The omakase would have been better if there was something sweet at the end - even if it's just something little.  I wouldn't have minded paying another few dollars to end on a sweet note or to at least have a dessert menu to choose from.

For those whom are picky about this, the staff is not Japanese.  The chef has experience from Gintei in San Bruno, and the other sushi chef also has experience working at a Japanese restaurant, but you could see that the remainder of the staff is still learning about the fish, albeit learning quickly.

Hopefully they work out all of the kinks soon, but I would recommend Sushi Hon to those whom want to try modern dishes, good sushi, and friendly service.  Grand opening is next week.

Fantasy Restaurant - Chinese HK Style BBQ, Petaluma

1520 East Washington St, Petaluma CA 94954
(707) 658-1866
Parking: in parking lot

Last Visited: July 30, 2016

Food: 3 stars
Atmosphere: 3 stars
Service: 3 stars
Price: $ to $$

A few friends and family members had told us about how good the roast pork at Fantasy is with its crispy skin, and considering that there really aren't any Hong Kong style bbq places in the North Bay with the exception of a couple of markets carrying Chinese roasted products (like G&G Market), we definitely wanted to check it out.

Fantasy has been open for about three months.  When you walk in, you'll see the steam table containing a variety of cooked dishes and the roasted duck and roasted pork hanging behind the glass.  It's a common sight in the Chinese areas of San Francisco, but not so common here in wine country. Above the steam table are the television displays showing the self serve meal combo menu (you pick the size and fill a box from the steam table items) and the roast item menu showing prices for products sold by the pound.  The dining area is very clean with new tables and chairs and silk flowers and signs with the table number on each table.  You can tell that it's Chinese owned as every table number starts with an eight.  There is also a large screen television playing infomercials.  During this lunch visit, it was an informercial for hair products.

When we arrived, we were the only customers and it was a bit confusing whether there was a sit down option, but we soon learned that you can either choose from the combos or sit down and select from their regular made to order menu.  We opted to try a selection from both.  After we were seated,  we were promptly brought water, but noticed that others were given a choice of tea or water.

- 2 item BBQ Combo Plate - You have a choice of 2 BBQ items, rice or noodles, and a side of vegetables.  We selected the roast pork, roast duck, and noodles.  The chef came out and chopped the roasted items immediately after we had ordered it.  First, the portion is pretty good sized.  One person eating it should feel quite full.  The roast pork was evenly cut and nicely presented, but the skin was not very crispy.  It was crispy on the initial bite, but was chewy at the end, whereas really good roast pork has completely crispy skin that allows you to bite all the way through the skin.  Unfortunately, this didn't meet my expectations.  The roast pork was on the fatty side, and though it's the perfect cut for making Chinese tamales which tastes even better when there is a good quantity of fat, this was too much for just eating plain.   The roast duck had good flavor, not too strong, but it was a bit on the fatty side also. I thought the duck was better than the pork.   The noodles were from the steam table and had been cooked with onions and carrots, but they lacked flavor.  The side of vegetables contained celery, carrots, zucchini and broccoli and were very fresh tasting.  The people complaining about the portion need to remember that there isn't HK BBQ competition up here.  $11.99

- Salt and Pepper Pork Chop - This item was ordered from their menu.  While we expected it to be lightly battered as most Cantonese style versions of this dish would be and cooked with jalapeno peppers and bell peppers, it came out with a lot more batter than we expected and was stir fried with green onions and chili peppers.  It still tasted good, and fortunately had not been over-battered. This made to order item had good flavor and came out very hot. Good.  $8.95

Service is friendly, but still has room for opportunity.  The waitress was sharp in giving us plates since we were sharing our dishes, but she didn't come by during the middle of the meal to check on how things were going.  We also needed two boxes for leftovers, but were only given one (it was too small to hold everything) and had to ask for a second.

Fantasy certainly is better than having no HK BBQ, but the serving of roast pork I had didn't live up to the hype.  If I were to try it again, I would probably try more made to order items from the menu.

Cotogna - Italian, San Francisco

490 Pacific Ave, San Francisco CA 94133
(415) 775-8508
Parking: street parking
Hours: Mon-Thurs 11:30a-10:30p, Fri-Sat 11:30a-11p, Sun 5p-9:30p; Bar open throughout the day
http://cotognasf.com/

Last Visited: July 5, 2016

Food: 4 stars
Atmosphere: 4 stars
Service: 3 to 4 stars
Price: $$$ to $$$$

Chef Todd recommended Cotogna for housemade pasta.  Since I was in the neighborhood for a workshop, I decided to stop by for a super early dinner/snack.  It was barely 5pm when I arrived so they were just about to change to their dinner menu, which apparently is like the day menu, but with a few different drink options.

Cotogna is Quince's casual restaurant.  The decor has a lot of wood and the place feels cozy.

Menu items include a variety of pasta, several pizzas (you can see the oven depending on where you sit), hearty meat entrees, and local produce.  

- Tagliatelle al Ragout Modenese  - This pasta had a lot of depth of flavor.  Speck, oxtail, pork and two other kinds of meat - the sauce was rich and coated the pasta.  The sauce would be great over any carb - potatoes, rice, or something else.  The portion is pretty small - it's definitely a first course.  Don't let this dish get cool because then it might feel greasy. $23

- Strichetti con Pesto Genova - Bowtie pasta is coated in pesto and a lot of parmesan.  Green beans and purple potatoes are also mixed in with this toothsome pasta.  If you don't like your pasta al dente, you will probably want to skip this one, but it's great for vegetarians.  I really enjoyed the pesto. $20

Overall, the pasta was delicious. Prices are on the high side for the quantity.  The photos are pretty close up so you don't get a full sense of scale, but they're small.

Generally speaking, service could use some improvement.  Since we were there pretty early and not quite ready for a full meal, perhaps the staff thought we were ordering too little, but there is a hint of the staff being stuck up.  I didn't detect this at all from the hostess, but between our three servers (they seem to share all of the tables), I felt that at least two of them were disappointed that we weren't ordering more.  What they do well is that they check on you as dishes come out and give you plates for sharing the pasta, but there is just this hint of arrogance that I didn't enjoy.  Expect to spend a lot more if you are hungry or going for more than a snack.  For a snack, it's the right quantity, but expensive.

Starbread Bakery - Filipino, South San Francisco

2211 Gellert Blvd, South San Francisco, CA 94015

(650) 878-9524

Parking: street parking

Food: 0 stars
Atmosphere: N/A
Service: 0 stars
Price: $ 

I'll just summarize this review - don't eat here.  Plastic is not what you want in your bread.

Although the senorita bread tastes pretty good, it's not right to find something in it. The way they handle foreign objects found in the food is very disturbing.  I found a piece of broken plastic (about the diameter of a dime) in my senorita bread and called Starbread to tell them about it.  The woman who answered the phone told me to bring in the plastic before her shift ended and I did.  However, when I arrived, she told me she couldn't do anything about it since the boss wasn't there.  This doesn't make sense.  Why would you require that I come at a certain time if you don't have decision making power?  There was no apology on the phone nor in person. At first, she seemed to indicate that it might have come from something in their kitchen, but no sooner did she say that before she changed her mind.  She had me leave my name and number and the foreign object with her, but here we are more than 48 hours later, and nobody has called me back.  The lack of customer service is horrible and more disturbing is that they wouldn't even say sorry.  Completely disappointing!