Fillmore Street, San Francisco Part II (Picture heavy!)

Combining some posts again, and adding in new ones. Here are more food porn on Fillmore Street, in poor lighting that adds to their mysteriousness. Just kidding.

- La Mediterranee - Fillmore: my friend A. recommended this place to me and I owe her a big favor for it. This place singlehandedly made me a fan of Middle Eastern/Mediterranean food. I always thought my tastebuds are prejudice against the cuisine. Sure hubby and I loved the Turkish Kebab Truck in Yokohama, but since that was fast food it's not a fair comparison. In Japan we've also had authentic Arabian food, complete with a live belly dance performance (Al Ain, near Kannai Station, the chef used to be the executive chef at the Kuwaiti Embassy, this was not some pretend-exotic restaurant), and Greek (Sparta Restaurant, again near Kannai). Then there was also poshy Greek food in Manhattan, fancy Turkish elsewhere, blah blah blah. Nope, none of that did anything for me. They were good, but nothing to write home about. But La Mediterranee? I ate lunch there once with A. and immediately made a reservation for dinner with hubby the Friday after. Since then, I've ordered catering from there, had lunches and dinners. Thank goodness my tastebuds weren't prejudice - I just haven't had Middle Eastern/Mediterranean food that really impressed me. Until now. Whether you're new to this cuisine or a seasoned fan, you must try this place!


You know what's even better? La Mediterranee doesn't just serve great food, they do it at shockingly reasonable prices. When I first took hubby back we went for the Mediterranean Meza, a tasting course of 10 different items, meant for at least 2 people, and for just $16.95 per person! What, serious? How do they afford the rent on Fillmore Street charging that kind of price for their food? The portion is very reasonable too, not vulgarly humongous but definitely not skimpy either. For this Meza course hubby and I had, we came home with leftovers for lunch the next day! Whenever we go for subsequent lunches I could only eat half my plate.

- Hummus: they serve 2 versions, spicy (left) and regular (right). Both are equally delicious, although you should expect that I'm partial to the spicy one, which isn't spicy at all but instead is rather fragrant with paprika. Hubby and I could just eat this stuff for breakfast, lunch, and dinner. And dessert. Before trying the hummus here I really didn't get why people keep gushing about hummus. I tried hummus again and again, from different restaurants and stores. I kept thinking, what's so good about this mushy chickpea goo that tastes like gritty floury paste? Dammit, La Mediterranee, where have you been all my life?!? After the first bite of hummus here I looked down at my plate to make sure I didn't mistake something else for it. I could taste the olive oil in it. I could taste its lemony tang. I could taste the salt perfectly balancing the lemon. It was so delicious it was absurd! It suddenly dawned upon me why people gush. They weren't gushing about hummus. They were gushing about good hummus. And I've been missing out on good hummus, big time!

- Levant Sandwiches (left picture, far left 2 pieces): this was yummy and creamy, thanks to the cream cheese. When I wanted to order catering to bring to class, this was what I picked because they were small, relatively easy and clean for finger food, and they were good. 

- Armenian Potato Salad (left picture, middle): normally I don't like potato salad, because I prefer my potatoes salty and not sour. But I liked this potato salad. Very good.

- Dolma Grape Leaves (left picture, far right 2 pieces): these were grape leaves stuffed with rice and herbs. I didn't like these so much. Hubby didn't either. Growing up, I've had all sorts of food, snacks, and desserts wrapped in banana leaves, but I think it was actually the grape leaves we weren't used to. It made the rice smell and taste, well, off.

- Lamb Lule (right picture, at left): lamb meatballs, which hubby loved. I passed on these, because lamb and I don't get along. I can't stand the smell of lamb.

- Chicken Pomegranate (right picture, at right): one of the restaurant's most popular dish! It's chicken drumsticks marinaded with pomegranate sauce to give it a tangy taste and baked until the meat falls off the bone with just a slight prodding of your folk. So so tender and juicy. So so good. I actually ordered this plate a few times by now, for lunch (bottom picture).

- Avgolemono (bottom picture): lemon chicken and rice puree soup. My first impression was, woh, this is sour! My subsequent impression was, yum! Now I'm positively addicted and I order it every time I eat here.

- Rice Pilaf: I had the same epiphany with rice pilaf as I did with hummus here. Before, it was just plain and oddly yellow-colored rice I shrugged off. Here, I loved the chewy texture, the tart and sweet currants mingling in with the savory almonds. Wow, it's like me gushing about the standard nondescript house fried rice that they serve at every Chinese restaurant - it never happens. And yet I'm gushing about this rice pilaf. Amazing stuff!

- Chicken Cilicia Fillo (top, left 2 pieces): shredded chicken with cinnamon, almonds, chickpeas, and raisins, rolled in flaky fillo sheets and baked. They were served sprinkled with powder sugar and ground cinnamon, which made them looked and smelled like dessert. And they tasted like dessert too, sweet, which to me was odd because I don't associate chicken with sweetness. So I didn't click with this dish so much. Also, the shredded chicken was on the dry side.
- Spinach and Feta Fillo (top, right 2 pieces): I didn't like this either. I love my cheeses, but there are cheese I just cannot enjoy no matter how hard I try to - the pungent ones. That's why I don't like blue cheese, parmesan, and I guess feta is also on the list. You're probably thinking, what, Feta's pretty mild! Well, not mild enough for me. Hubby loved this though. Of course, he also loves blue cheese and parmesan whereas I can't even stand to have them on the table. My nose is very sensitive to smell and I could smell these cheeses from a mile away!


- Lamb Falafel: a seasonal special that's not always available. Hubby loved this and he made me take a bite, swearing up and down the lamb in it wasn't too strong. I did try a bite and he was partially correct that the lamb wasn't too strong. But the other thing about lamb I don't like is the texture. Yeah, lamb and I don't get along.

Bottom line is - TRY this place, at least try their spicy HUMMUS! You won't regret it.

- Sift Cupcake & Desserts Bar: hubby and I walked by here one day and I just had to come in. Since then, I've been a few times, mostly for cupcakes because you already know I'm devoted to the macarons at my one and only tea room.

I did stray once and tried the macarons here. Just once though. And once was enough for me to repent my unfaithfulness. These were okay, not bad, but not great either. The ones from Fillmore Bakeshop were better, and of course the ones from Crown and Crumpet are BEST.

Here are the cupcakes, which are hit or miss. They cakes themselves were moist enough, but very heavy and doughy. The icing were smooth, but very sweet. I know they're icing, but good buttercream icing is sweet but not overly so.

- Elite Cafe: a mid-price Cajun place with really neat semi-private booths with tall side panels insulating the diners from the rest of the room. The flip to that is if you are claustrophobic, this would make for some uncomfortable experience. Think dining in a confession booth LOL!

We've been to the Elite Cafe 3 times and each time they made a mistake on our order. We first time we ordered biscuits and they brought out cornbread. We didn't send it back and reordered the biscuits. They charged us for both, which was fine, although a more considerate restaurant would not charge as it was their mistake. The second time we ordered macaroni and cheese with a ham hock, and they brought out plain mac and cheese. We actually sent this back. The third time I ordered a house specialty, the California Seafood Gumbo and the gumbo came out completely tasteless with the vegetables crunchy and half cooked, all without any okra. 

Yup, the half cooked gumbo was the last straw. Too bad the restaurant couldn't seem to get their sh*t together, because every time we went we ordered a huge spread to sample and to take home. The leftovers were always satisfying and we were willing to come back despite the first two mistakes. But I'm not putting up with half cooked gumbos devoid of taste and okra. Fine, to okra or not is debatable, but shame on them for calling themselves "cajun" when they can't even cook their gumbo through and add some salt. And that was a house specialty to boot! Seriously? *laughs* 

These are probably our favorite 4: 

- Cajun shrimp and crawfish etouffee with rice and okra, which was tender (not mushy!) and flavorful and disappeared in a few bites. 

- The biscuits were fluffs of buttery heaven and I would stuff myself with those alone!

- Hubby loved the deviled eggs but I've had better and can probably do better :P 

- We both enjoyed the cornbread very much. When it was put down in front of us, we both were taken aback since we didn't order it but tempted with sweet savory fragrance all at the same time. So we told the waitress we'll keep it, but that she should bring us the biscuits we ordered anyway. May be this wasn't actually a mistake after all, and the restaurant knew we'd give in to the temptation of the cornbread. Hmm..., I wonder.

- Spicy, slow cooked collard greens (top left), which had an odd tart to it. May be I'm not just used to it.
- Red beans and rice was okay. Hubby makes a better version at home so I'm spoiled.
- I know I'm silly for ordering buffalo wings, but I'm a sucker for wings so I had to try. We asked for ranch but they served us blue cheese anyway. Hate blue cheese. Just look that that lumpy goop. Ick!
- And the cajun fries were okay. Hated that they were served with about half a jar of chipotle mayonnaise. Yuck. Ketchup, folks. Ketchup.

- Kobe style beef with caramelized vegetables and shallots. Definitely wasn't cajun, but whatever. Weirdly sweet so I didn't like it. This was a seasonal dish and they do no longer have this on the menu.
- Fried catfish in a black eyed peas tomato stew and shredded ham. This was delicious and hubby ordered it the second time we went. This was also a seasonal dish that's no longer on the menu.


Here's the dismal gumbo that broke our already strained patience with the place. It looked colorful and tasty enough. But it was not.

- The Grove: more like a pub with sidewalk seats to people-watch. Inside is spacious enough, and has some character. The menu is huge and so hubby and I picked something quick and boring instead. The myriads of choices flustered us.



Hubby ordered the pork and beef meatballs. They were supposedly large. We thought, well, okay, big. Well, they were humongous but unfortunately dry and not as moist as they should be. The slightly spicy red wine tomato sauce was not spicy, to me at least but you ought to just ignore me on this. Either way, it was also bland and not as flavorful as it could be.

I got a breakfast burrito was added house-roasted chicken. This was decent. At least it had more flavor than the tomato sauce for the meatballs. But again, the chicken was dry.

- Dosa: another mid-price poshy restaurant in the neighborhood of Fillmore. We were in the mood for Indian food and hubby took me here on a congratulatory date after finishing his intensive technical training. Sorry for the dark pictures, by the way. I wish they had better lighting but it seems places around here like to dine their patrons in the dim -.-''

The restaurant offers a 3-course tasting menu, but usually courses come with limited choices and we were eyeing a few other things on the menu. So we ended up ordering a la carte. I started with these Day Boat Scallops with Lotus Stems and hubby got the Lamb Kofta (meatballs). Hubby loved his appetizer, but I thought my scallops were a tad too sweet.

Supposedly, this Chennai Chicken is one of their most popular dishes, which is interesting because other than being a touch greasy, I didn't think it was anything special :/ I guess my tastebuds are just that spoiled. And I'm ignorant of Indian food.

We also ordered a Dosa, which we guessed is the restaurant's namesake. We both haven't had this lentil crepe before and one of the choices looked really interesting. It was a dosa with minced chili peppers that's supposedly the spiciest item on their menu, so of course I had to order it ^.^ The waiter looked at me with a wary warning, "It's reaaaally spicy."

I sure hoped so, and I got exactly what I wanted. It was spiiiicy, like Thai spicy. Yeshhhh!!! Finally, a restaurant that doesn't belittle how much heat its patrons can take! As you can see, it disappeared pretty quickly, with me and hubby inhaling it in between sniffles. The couple next to us were discussing the same item, and watching us eat they were tempted to take the plunge, but not before asking, "How spicy is that, by the way?" So I offered to cut them a piece from the far corner that we haven't touched. After one bite and they both guzzled down their glasses of water. Yes, it was spiiiicy, and it hurt sooooo good xD Too bad it seems Dosa took it off their menu, and in its place is another supposedly hot Roasted Chili and Garlic Masala. Hmm...may be they're trying to lure me back...

Anyway, I didn't get a chance to take pictures of hubby's main entree before he wolfed it down, but here's mine, the Prawn Masala, which was delicious, even if way overpriced :P

For desserts I ordered a Mango Pudding, which was yummy, but we both agreed hubby's Dates Ice Cream, a seasonal item that's no offered, was way better. Over all, it was an expensive meal, and we only loved about half of it, so I'm still ambivalent about going back.

See my previous Fillmore Street, San Francisco post.