Tag: Coffee | Winston Wanders

An Old World Italian Meatball Sandwich Diamond in the North Beach Rough

Post author:Winston
Post published:07.08.2015
Post category:Reviews
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Nestled amongst the many Fauxtalian sidewalk cafes clustered in San Francisco’s North Beach neighborhood, I have managed to find one authentic, non-touristy spot that’s actually worthy of your time and money – Mario’s Bohemian Cigar Store Cafe. Despite the shop’s name, it actually doesn’t have anything to do with cigars. They say it’s just more of a nod to a time when food was prepared fresh every day, the kind of simple, old fashioned Italian food you can still experience at Mario’s.

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An Odd Brunch Spot in Lower Pac Heights Where Eating on a Jewelry Case is the Norm

Post author:Winston
Post published:06.12.2015
Post category:Reviews
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I didn’t set out on this venture necessarily looking to have a full, sit-down brunch. In fact, it was coffee that drew us to this place called Dolce Amore on the cusp of Lower Pac Heights and Lower Nob Hill on this particular morning. We had pulled up Foursquare in search of a new or interesting place to get a quality cup and this cute cafe serving Illy was calling our name.

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Off-Menu Offal Loaded Soup at Zen Yai in the Tenderloin

Post author:Winston
Post published:01.27.2015
Post category:Reviews
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Offal-lovers, are you listening? Boy, have I got a dish for you.

If you’re like me, you probably really enjoy eating freaking unusual dishes. This dish I’ve got is definitely going to interest you. In the The Tenderloin, only a block or two from the other outstanding Thai restaurants I’ve already written about like Lers Ros Thai and Sai Jai Thai, I’ve found another place worth venturing through this crackhead-infested neighborhood to. This place is called Zen Yai and they have an off-menu dish I had been meaning to try that drew me in for a visit one morning.

You’d probably never even know to order this dish unless you had the ability read Thai or enjoy scraping the internet for food finds as much as I do. I can’t read Thai, but I did get word of this crazy dish somewhere and knew I had to see what all the fuss was about. I can’t even remember where I first heard about the dish, but one hungover day I was in the mood for soup and wanted to try something particularly funky and interesting. To be honest, I didn’t really even know anything about what I was ordering myself except that it involved plenty of offal. I was ready for the gastronomic adventure.

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Elizabeth St. Cafe is a Completely Adorable French-Vietnamese Breakfast Spot in Austin

Post author:Winston
Post published:12.17.2014
Post category:Reviews
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Austin, Texas is loaded with plenty of epic eating. Even breakfast – dominated by massive egg-filled breakfast tacos – is out of control awesome. But, for the most part, breakfast is limited to fast-casual options. So, if you want something sit-down and just a bit more formal, you’ve got to look a little bit harder. While I was in town looking for a nice, relaxed breakfast, we got a recommendation to head to a nearby spot called Elizabeth St. Cafe to get our fix.

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Load Up with Huge Platters of Puerto Rican Meats at Sol Food in San Rafael

Post author:Winston
Post published:09.26.2014
Post category:Reviews
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I absolutely love Puerto Rican food. To be fair, Dominican and Cuban food hit the same spot for me, but whichever nationality cuisine it is, as long as there’s heaping portions of roasted meat over rice and beans, I’m gonna be a happy camper.

One day, on a drive about a half hour north of San Francisco to the quaint and sunny town of San Rafael, Amy stumbled upon some serious Puerto Rican food at a place called Sol Food. Amy was so blown away by the food that only two weeks later she felt compelled to drive me up there to see for myself.

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Fantastic Northern Vietnamese Pho at Turtle Tower in the Tenderloin

Post author:Winston
Post published:09.12.2014
Post category:Reviews
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One random Sunday in San Francisco, I woke up with an awful hangover from a crazy night of drinking the night before. How on earth was I gonna remedy this situation? Then it struck me! Soup! And you know what, I had just the thing from my todo list that would fit the bill, pho at Turtle Tower.

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Fútbol & Foreign Food Truck Frenzy at SoMa StrEat Food

Post author:Winston
Post published:07.07.2014
Post category:Reviews Special Events
Post comments:3 Comments

If you’re looking to watch the World Cup in San Francisco you’ve certainly got plenty of options. In my mind, the most obvious two would be at home if you want to watch alone or at a sports bar if you want to watch in public. But if you’re looking for something a little different and also want a variety of unique food options and even more importantly want to be outdoors, read on!

In the shadow of both a highway and a gigantic Costco, in a remote corner of town that could barely still be called SoMa, there’s a really incredible place worth trekking to called SoMa StrEat Food. It’s a large, triangular outdoor lot that draws plenty of young, hip yuppies for food, drink, and various forms of entertainment.

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Super Fancy Scientifically Brewed Coffee & Fresh, Flavorful Brunch at Blue Bottle in SF

Post author:Winston
Post published:05.02.2014
Post category:Reviews
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Everyone has an opinion when it comes to coffee. I too am a bit of a snob and would rather cut myself than drink the burnt, ashy-tasting muck they serve at Starbucks. So, the San Francisco and New York based Blue Bottle has been a godsend for me. When it comes to coffee, they treat it more as an art and truly more like a science than anywhere else I’ve ever drank the stuff. This, of course, draws hoards of mustachioed hipsters who are happy to wait daily in long snaking lines, but Blue Bottle is one of the few places I’m willing to put up with it.

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A Whimsical Edible Danish Date Night at Aamanns-Copenhagen NYC

A Whimsical Edible Danish Date Night at The Copenhagen in NYC

Post author:Winston
Post published:04.02.2014
Post category:Reviews
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*Editor’s Note 11/13/14: This restaurant used to be called Aamanns-Copenhagen NYC but is now simply referred to as The Copenhagen.

*Editor’s Note 10/15/15: I’m sad to report that The Copenhagen has permanently closed.

When you hear Danish food, what comes to mind? Maybe that eponymous jam filled pastry? Maybe you literally have absolutely no clue what Danish people eat. I know I sure didn’t. That is before I checked out the New York outpost of the Scandinavian imported restaurant Aammanns-Copenhagen, known as The Copenhagen.

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New Zealand Style Meat Pies & More at Dub Pies

Post author:Winston
Post published:02.03.2014
Post category:Reviews
Post comments:2 Comments

*Editor’s Note: I’m sad to report that this restaurant is not longer open.

A year and a half ago, I spent a week in Sydney while my younger sister was studying abroad. Each night would involve some heavy drinking before we’d stumble our way into a local meat pie shop to help our bodies process all of the alcohol we had consumed.

This is where I first developed my love for savory Aussie meat pies. Recently, the meat pie has been taking Manhattan by storm with many pie shops popping up all over the city. Fortunately for me, this included the recent opening of Dub Pies, a New Zealand-style meat pie shop in Greenwich Village near my apartment.

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