Cooking with Smoke and Direct Fire at Primitivo in the Garden District

What:

Primitivo
@EatPrimitivo
At this NOLA newcomer, our waitress explained that there isn’t really a theme or nationality that guides the menu Primitivo, just a philosophy. That philosophy is to use local, seasonal ingredients and prepare them in some manner that involves their gigantic open-flame hearth. Smoke is the key to nearly every dish they serve here.

Where:

Off-the-beaten path between the Garden District and Center City
1800 Oretha Castle Haley Blvd. New Orleans, LA 70113
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When:

Perfect for dude’s night out in NOLA.

The decor has a masculine German beer-hall vibe with gothic calligraphy typography and distressed wood defining a majority of the aesthetic. Between the huge, hearty portions and very reasonably priced cocktails, this place was made for the bachelor party “nice-meal”. While I do really like the place, I wouldn’t necessarily tell NOLA first-timers to go on their first trip — there’s plenty of other places in the city I think are more essential to go to first (see: Cochon, Commander’s Palace, Red’s Chinese, Compère Lapin, or Sylvain for example). (more…)

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Is It Sushi? Is It A Burrito? Or Is It Something Else Entirely?

It’s a strange concept. Take a dish that is naturally light, fresh, delicate, and dainty — supersize it — and throw as many crunchy, creamy, fusiony ingredients as you can into it. What do you get? A sushirrito.

Even before I had moved to San Francisco, Sushirrito was already near the top of my SF must-eat list. There was just something about that super-hyped, unusual sushi-burrito hybrid that I just couldn’t resist trying for myself. Yes, I know the concept sounds a little ridiculous — why would anyone want to shove sushi ingredients into a burrito format. And yes, I know that the Japanese have already mastered the supersized sushi form through handrolls. But, I do love sushi and I do love burritos, so I was curious enough to find out if this Bay Area combined evolution of the two would form a recipe for success.

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This Cozy, Neighborhood Cocktail Bar is Perfect at Any Time of Day

What:

Two Sister’s Bar and Books
@2sistersbar
The best cocktail spot in Hayes Valley also just so happens to serve up incredibly delicious bar bites.

Where:

Hayes Valley
579 Hayes St. San Francisco, CA 94102
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When:

Perfect for whenever you need a quiet bar and a great cocktail. It’s an ideal date night spot, works really well for brunch as well, and is excellent for solo dining/drinking too.

Their happy hour is also an excellent deal. Don’t miss out on that extra special value Tuesday through Friday from 4 to 6 pm and Saturday or Sunday from 1 to 4 pm where you can snag $3 draft beers, $5 house wines, a $5 happy hour cocktails, or a $5 happy hour snack. (more…)

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Burlingame Is Home To The Best Burmese Near SFO

What:

Mingalaba
A very authentically prepared and reasonable priced Burmese food. Also, super-close (only a twelve-minute drive) from SFO.

Where:

Downtown Burlingame
1213 Burlingame Ave. Burlingame, CA 94010
[wpgmza id=”286″]

When:

Elegant and stylish enough for a date night, but also casual enough for a cheap lunch in Burlingame. Also, if you’ve got a layover in SFO and want to get your Burmese fix, this is the place to go. (more…)

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Where to Find Incredibly Fragrant, Spice-Loaded Afghan Food in Sunnyvale

This is what happened when a craving that doesn’t often strike me, struck. Usually when I crave Middle Eastern food, it comes in the form of intense yearning for falafel or hummus. But, on this particular day, I needed to find an extremely meaty meal of kebab over rice and a quick search of the nearby Sunnyvale area brought Kabul, an highly-rated Afghan restaurant, to light.

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Where to Find Authentically Spicy Indian Frontier Cuisine in Monterey

Is it wrong that I want to eat Indian food surrounded by Indians? I don’t want this to come off sounding bad, but there’s something that just feels right about eating in an ethnic restaurant that’s actually filled with people of that ethnicity. I view it as a sort of tip of the hat to the place’s street cred and I’ve often found that it’s a pretty consistent indicator to determine if the place is going to be authentic and good. Just think about it, if Indians don’t want to eat this food when they’re dining out, why would I?

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A Hawaiian Oasis Hidden Away From The Santa Cruz Tourists

When people hear “California”, visions of sun-soaked, brah-filled, coastal, Southern California beach towns usually fill their minds. Imagine the level of surprise and disappointment we’ve seen on our unknowing out-of-towner guests’ faces when they come to visit us in San Francisco and are faced with our unusual patchwork of foggy and rather chilly micro-climates instead of a permanent summer. It always throws them for a (disappointed) loop. Really, Nor-Cal and So-Cal are so extremely different that it would probably make sense to consider them two separate states, but that’s a whole ‘nother conversation.

But, there is a place like this dreamlike version of California that does exist in Nor-Cal and it’s actually not that far from San Francisco. This place actually has that stereotypical beach bum vibe where surfers and skaters live their carefree suntanned lifestyles and tourists flock to catch rays of sunshine. This place is Santa Cruz.

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A Great Place to Experience Pan-Fried Soup Dumplings in Silicon Valley

If you’ve got a car and are willing to drive to strange strip malls in Silicon Valley, there are plenty of interesting Asian foods to find. It’s always hard to know if a dingy shop is one of the good ones or the bad ones until you try it for yourself, so as I approached Shanghai Flavor Shop in Sunnyvale, I prepared myself for the whichever side of the coin it was going to land.

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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.

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