Category Archives: Californian

The Monk’s Kettle

Excellent Fries and Beer

I’ll admit it.  I’m a total beer nincompoop.  Yes, there are beers I do like, though, and are high on my list of favourite beverages.  Might I be called an aficionado? That seems to imply a level of knowledge and savvy that I definitely don’t possess.  Beer enthusiast? I don’t drink enough beer for that.  To own that I practically know nothing about beer (except that it some of it tastes good) seems a bit retarded if one is going to a place like Monk’s Kettle, where there could be as many as  28 options of draught beer alone and pages and pages and pages of different kinds and styles of the liquid, from Lambics to small beer to porters and dubbel, tripel, and quadrupel Belgians!  My visit to Monk’s Kettle felt rather tantamount to casting pearls before swine, or cream-of-mushroom bean casserole before Thomas Keller, or er… something along those lines… you get the drift…   Anyhow, despite all this, I will still have the temerity to say that Monk’s Kettle is currently high on my list of Happy Places (and by this I mean awesome establishments in my hometown that serve amazing food and drink). Continue reading

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We love the Alembic

The Southern Exposure

We interrupt this stream of Japan-related posts to bring you this note from a much-beloved cocktail bar in the Upper Haight.  We returned from our 3 weeks in Japan to somewhat stressful workplaces; then just as we were about to leave work for the weekend on Friday afternoon, we received emails from DD’s grandmother reporting that DD’s dad and stepmom had been in a car accident in Florida.  (They were both injured but are recuperating.)

After DD was able to get as much information as he could from family members, he decided he needed a drink.  I met him at the Alembic and we ended up having dinner there.

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Blue Plate

Blue Light for Blue Plate

Sam of Becks & Posh recently posted on Blue Plate, one of my favourite restaurants in San Francisco. I’ve been there multiple times and have never been disappointed. It’s located in the outer Mission, near Bernal Heights, and I consider it similar to Luna Park (another favourite) and Emmy’s Spaghetti Shack close by — really great food at reasonable prices, all with a very down to earth, cozy-casual feel that I believe epitomizes the best of San Francisco dining. On all Hallow’s Eve eve Nora & I caught Spicy’s show, “Gruesome Tales of Death & Destruction” at the Odeon. We got out around 930pm, and, instead of having to grab a burrito at one of the inumerable taqueiras that surround the area, we were gratified to find a fantastic alternative just across the street.

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