Japantown

Read more about the article SF’s Perpetual Hot Spot Has Turned Dim Sum on Its Head

SF’s Perpetual Hot Spot Has Turned Dim Sum on Its Head

What:

State Bird Provisions
@StateBirdSF
This restaurant hardly needs an introduction. One of SF’s hardest tables to land. Theyare famed for the way they embrace the dim sum system to serve creative New-Californian cuisine.

Who:

The married chef-oweners, Nicole Krasinski and Stuart Brioza, have both earned themselves a James Beard award as Best Chefs: West in 2015 for the restaurant among many other accolades.

Where:

At the intersection of Japantown, Lower Pac Heights, and the Western Addition (aka NoPa)
1529 Fillmore St. San Francisco, CA 94115
[wpgmza id=”287″]

When:

Perfect for a special occasion splurge or super-impressive date night dinner. (more…)

Continue ReadingSF’s Perpetual Hot Spot Has Turned Dim Sum on Its Head
Read more about the article Mike Winston’s Best Meals of 2015

Mike Winston’s Best Meals of 2015

Yes, I know this year-end list is beyond belated. Actually, I’m probably over a month late. Normally, I’m not one to make these kinds of excuses, but my life has been pretty hectic lately.

As you may or may not know, I’m getting married in a couple of months, so my time has recently come at an extreme premium and I haven’t been able to commit as much attention as I’d like to this little publication obsession. With that being said, over the next couple of months, I’ll be playing around with post style and formatting a bit in an attempt to find new ways to rapidly pump out awesome food articles with fewer publishing limitations on my end. Please feel free to give me feedback on the new content — I’m planning to review this little experiment in a few months and we can take it from there.

(more…)

Continue ReadingMike Winston’s Best Meals of 2015
Read more about the article Where to Go For Boatloads of Fresh Sushi That Paddle Right Up to You

Where to Go For Boatloads of Fresh Sushi That Paddle Right Up to You

The Japan Center Mall is a mysterious maze-like shopping center full of stalls selling Asian miscellany and a wide variety of authentic Asian eats. There are many places you could choose to eat at – with specialists for just about every Japanese food type you could think of. There are in fact a number of sushi options, but there is only one sushi purveyor inside of this massive mall that I find myself consistently returning to. It’s called Isobune and its a truly special place.

(more…)

Continue ReadingWhere to Go For Boatloads of Fresh Sushi That Paddle Right Up to You
Read more about the article Find Rich, Porky Tonkotsu Ramen Hidden Deep in Japantown’s Labyrinthine Mall

Find Rich, Porky Tonkotsu Ramen Hidden Deep in Japantown’s Labyrinthine Mall

*Editor’s Note 1/6/16: This J-Town location of Ramen Underground has unfortunately shuttered, but their Financial District location still remains open.

I, like most food lovers over the past five years, have become obsessed with big, authentic bowls of ramen noodle soup. In my nationwide explorations, I’ve come across an extremely wide variety in terms of style and quality, but for some reason I have been struggling to find a great, comforting bowl in San Francisco. I’ve had a number of satisfactory bowls, but I was convinced that if I looked hard enough, I was going to find an outstanding version. For a city so close to Japan and the rest of Asian, I was finding it hard to believe that it would be so difficult to find – especially because I had already found perfection in Silicon Valley of all places.

(more…)

Continue ReadingFind Rich, Porky Tonkotsu Ramen Hidden Deep in Japantown’s Labyrinthine Mall
Read more about the article Wacky Japanese Double Date Night at Suzu & Pika Pika in Japantown

Wacky Japanese Double Date Night at Suzu & Pika Pika in Japantown

One night a few weeks back, a friend who lives in SF called me to up to ask if Amy and I were free that evening. She and her fiancé wanted to go out for a dinner double-date night and it was up to me to pick the place. Amy and I were not feeling particularly great that night so we decided that ramen would be the perfect pick for a low-key double date that could provide us a delicious meal and make us feel great. I had heard particularly good things about a strange, little place in Japantown called Suzu so I selected that as the destination for all four of us to head to that evening.

(more…)

Continue ReadingWacky Japanese Double Date Night at Suzu & Pika Pika in Japantown
Read more about the article Mike Winston’s Best Bites of 2014

Mike Winston’s Best Bites of 2014

What a year!! I did something like this last year too, but oh boy was 2014 a doozy. I started off living in NYC, then a started a new job that whisked me off the San Francisco and Silicon Valley for a few months before ultimately relocating to San Francisco permanently. And along the way, I squeezed in a couple of vacations too.

Sooooo, I did a LOT of epic eating this year. And truth be told, I found it particularly difficult to narrow down my list as concisely as last year’s, but I somehow managed. So, without further ado, I present the winners (and runner-ups) broken down by category. I tried to cluster similar dish types together, but really they are in no particular order. Let’s begin!

And if you wanna hear about the 2014’s Best Cocktails, read more here.
(more…)

Continue ReadingMike Winston’s Best Bites of 2014
Read more about the article Awesome Comfort Food & an Epic Beer List at Fat Angel in Japantown

Awesome Comfort Food & an Epic Beer List at Fat Angel in Japantown

Japantown is a really unique and interesting part of San Francisco. It’s a dinning hot spot for just about every kind of Japanese food you could think of – ramen, soba, udon, sushi, hot pot, katsu, and yakitori to name a few. But, if you look close enough, you can find some non-Japanese gems in the area as well such as the wonderful Fat Angel Food & Libation.

(more…)

Continue ReadingAwesome Comfort Food & an Epic Beer List at Fat Angel in Japantown