STONE FRUIT SEASON HAS ARRIVED!

Those of you who know me you know that I love stone fruit (ok, at least Tom knows that). And I'm happy because the summer stone fruit season has arrived in CA. It started with cherries that appeared a couple weeks ago at the farmer's market. They were too expensive for me to buy then (at nearly $5/ lb.), but as the season stretches on, the prices start to drop. They were closer to $4 today, but I'm looking foward to going cherry picking later this summer, so I can pick my own cherries and pay around $2/lb.

Today I was thrilled to see the arrival of the first white peaches and white nectarines at the farmer's market. They are smaller than the ones we can get in Southern CA, but just seeing them made me happy, so I bought a few white peaches. I've just had one, and though it wasn't as sweet as I'd like, it was still pretty good, with firm, crunchy flesh and a nice flavor. I can't wait until we get even more into summer, so I can stuff myself with more stone fruits- finally, summer has arrive in the Bay Area.

A TASTY BURGER

Tom and I continue to check out the places in our neighborhood. One that we always drive by is a burger shack called Al's Big Burger. (to which I'll always shout "Al's Big Burger!" every time we drive by). We'd read some good things about it online, so for lunch on my day off, we decided to visit. It was still pretty early when we arrived (like before noon) so the place was pretty empty. Just one other customer, an older Asian couple manning the fries and grills and some Latina women taking orders. It wasn't a huge menu, so I ordered a turkey cheese burger and Tom got a regular hamburger with everything.

Here's the interior of the place- surprisingly it was super clean.

Meanwhile, here are our burgers. My turkey burger was super tasty and nicely charbroiled. It only lost a few points on the taste scale cause it contained mayo (and I'm not a mayo on the burger fan) but I covered that up with lots of mustard and ketchup.

Here's Tom's burger, and he also enjoyed it a lot. We got a side of fries to share, but they were nothing spectacular- we watched as they poured the frozen fries into the fryer, but they also weren't the worst fries I'd ever had (that award goes to the garlic fries we had at McAfee stadium).

We've become big fans of Al's and we've already been back an additional two times since our first visit about a month ago. It's nice to have a good, cheap burger place next door, especially when it's just a ten minute walk away.

BREAKFAST

As most of you know, Tom and I enjoy having breakfast out together. We're pretty early risers, and since we only share one day off, breakfast is one of those times that we can just spend time together, without being exhausted after a day of work. So we're always looking for new breakfast places to try out. One place that we'd heard about, but hadn't tried yet was a local neighborhood favorite- Nibs. We'd driven by before, and one morning, we finally decided to check it out.

So apparently Nibs used to be a local chain known for it's hamburgers. Most of them have closed, but this one remains and it's now owned by a Korean family. When we entered, the first thing we noticed was the size- it's tiny. Just a counter with chairs along the left and a handful of tables along the right. When we arrived, all the tables were taken, so we took a seat along the bar. The place was filled with locals, and the service was very friendly.

We started with coffee (which wasn't great, but I didn't expect it to be).

Tom ordered a breakfast of pancakes, eggs and bacon. We had no idea how massive the portions would be. Here's his below.

I ordered the "mini breakfast" and it was still huge. Just look at it! Of course I didn't finish it, but we both enjoyed it a lot. The food was super cheap, the service was friendly and the food was pretty good. We'll certainly make this place one of our regular spots (and have already been back since our first visit a month ago).

The last breakfast thing I'll show you is this massive breakfast omelette that Tom ordered at another breakfast place- this one down near Fisherman's Wharf, called Darren's Cafe. The thing really is the size of a plate, and stuffed with bbq chicken, cheese and I don't know what else. And the amazing thing is that Tom finished the whole thing. He said he was really hungry that day, which I guess he was.

SOME SAN FRANCISCO FAVORITES

As you all know, SF is a food lover's paradise. And in this town, there are a lot of famous places to try. Unfortunately you also know that SF is not some place that we visit that often. We've certainly gone more lately with all our visitors, but it's still just once every week or two. A few weeks ago, with Tom's friend in town, we decided to head over to some places in the Mission that we'd heard about, but still hadn't visited. One was Tartine and the other was Bi-rite Creamery.

We started off with Tartine, a place famous for it's pastries and sandwiches. We met Tom's friend right out front and got in line to order some food. The place was packed, but we were able to snag a table outside. I ordered a few items for us to try since it was our first time there- a croissant for Tom, a ham and cheese croissant for him to take home, two sandwiches and two drinks. All this came out to a whopping $40, and swallowing my sticker shock, I paid up and headed out doors with my numbered sign.

As we waited outside for our sandwiches to arrive, we were able to observe the line which never really got that short, and all the people from the neighborhood walking around with their dogs. Here's the croissant, which I thought was pretty good. Tom also enjoyed it (and he's pickier about breads than I am)

And here's my turkey sandwich. Ok, I gotta say, it was rather large, so a lot more worth the nearly $10 that I paid for it. I ended up taking most of it home. And it really was quite good, though kinda greasy with all that butter and cheese.

And here's Tom's goat cheese sandwich, which he also liked. And even he couldn't finish the whole thing- taking one part of it home. He thought that the sandwich was pretty heavy, though tasty.

I didn't have any dessert at Tartine, because I was saving space for the famed ice cream at Bi-rite Creamery- just a block down from Tartine. I expected a long long line, which I'd heared about, but there was hardly a wait at all and we walked right in to order our ice cream. I was actually really surprised at the price- they were so much lower than they could be charging with a small cup coming in at less than $3 (keep in mind that Ben and Jerry's charges around $4 now, and they're not using fresh, organic ingredients of making their stuff on site).

Everyone had told me to try two flavors at Bi-rite, the salty caramel and the coffee toffee. (they even make their own toffee for the coffee toffee). And I gotta say, that coffee toffee was amazing- some of the best ice cream I've ever had. The salty caramel was ok, I prefer the burnt caramel from Toscanini's. On the right you'll see Tom's fruit bar, which he enjoyed, but I teased him for ordering it.

Overall, I found Tartine to be good. For the prices, I don't think it's worth a drive all the way into the city, but I guess I'd go if I were in the neighborhood, which I do plan on being more often after having Bi-rite ice cream- that's worth a drive from anywhere.

A LITTLE TASTE OF TAIWAN RIGHT NEXT DOOR

Ok, I know. I haven't blogged in a long time. But I've been really busy at work, and up until yesterday, quite behind on all my TV shows. But now I've caught up on the shows and Tom's playing video games on the TV, so I've finally got some time to blog. And btw, don't expect many posts this month. I'll be dining out a lot (with a trip to LA this weekend and NYC at the end of the month- I've got reservations at Casa Mono and Sfoglia), but it's gonna be one long, busy month.

So about a month a go Tom and I decided to get dinner at the Pacific East Mall- home to Ranch 99 and other Asian eateries. We'd gotten kinda tired of our usual haunts, so decided to give Restaurant 168 a try, especially because it's a Taiwanese restaurant. When we entered, the place was fairly empty, but we got seated next to a table full of ppl speaking Taiwanese- not something I hear very often (except around my family), so this was a good sign.

Tom and I ordered a few dishes to share. I got some spicy cucumber pickles and pickled cabbage- neither of them were all that tasty or flavorful. They tasted more like they'd be sitting around in a fridge for quite some time. But the dish of sauteed pea leaves in back made up for it- they were super fresh and delicious.

Tom also ordered an entree to fried chicken pieces with my favorite- fried basil leaves. We'd eaten most of it before I even remembered to take a pic. I had gotten an order of traditional fried chicken on rice, but it seems they forgot it, which was just as well since we were pretty stuffed.

Meanwhile, I observed the table next to me, and to my surprise, they had ordered all these super traditional Taiwanese dishes- like things I normally only see in Taiwan or in the parts of :A where you only see Asian people. Even though I don't typically partake in those dishes, I was happy to see a place so close to us that serves that, and will keep it in mind if my parents are visiting.

After dinner we were ready to head home, but I'd forgotten that I'd promised my little cousin that I'd take him to 31 cent cone night at Baskin Robbin's. But his mom remembered, so we headed over there to pick him up for ice cream. Thing was when we got to the ice cream shop, the line was probably 100 people deep, and didn't seem to be moving. I made Tom stand in line while I attempted to distract my cousin. Luckily, the local fire department had brought out two engines, so Max got to climb into the truck and got a little fire hat. Still, when we got back to Tom, the line hadn't moved at all. So we gave up and decided we'd just buy the ice cream at full price (which didn't require standing in line).

We got two ice creams- one for Max and one for me. And here his is enjoying his first ice cream on a cone. Overall, it was a good dinner. We'll probably be back to 168 fairly soon, and now we know to avoid the Baskin Robbin's on 31 cent cone night.