Tag Archives: slanted door

Best Dishes in San Francisco, Part One

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Ok, I know you’re sick of the cleanse talk. Frankly, so am I. I’ve been saving up some posts that I know you will all love and revisit. I’m going to drop some of my favorite individual dishes in the city!

There was a survey going around facebook a while back that listed the 50 things you must eat in San Francisco. I had about 35 of them nailed. Some of them may overlap here, but for the most part, these are just the things I think you must eat. I’ll probably list about 20 or so over the course of the week, in no particular order.

Slanted Door Shaking Beef: I’ve heard mixed reviews from people about the consistency of SD these days. I’m drawing on my experiences from the early years, living down the street from the original on Valencia. I’ve had the dish in the Ferry Building and it held up as one of the finest pieces of meat I’ve put in my mouth. It even translates well in the Out the Door, prepare-at-home, variety. The meat they use is so tender, it nearly melts. The sauce of white onions, green onions, soy, a little butter – kissed with a salt, pepper and lime mixture – put a fork in me.

Slanted Door Shaking Beef

Slanted Door Shaking Beef

Slanted Door Half and Half Rolls: While we’re at SD, they capture another standout. If you’re dining with two and cannot decide on their exceptional fresh spring rolls or fried imperial rolls, use our trick and order half and half. I would say that both are equally tasty, but the fresh rolls are probably more of a standout versus other Vietnamese places. Tu Lan does a pretty damn good imperial roll. The peanut sauce is the kicker. Just enough spice and the perfect density to grab on to the yummy mint, pork, shrimp and rice noodles that fill the fresh roll. Of course the imperial rolls contrast a crispy fried treat with some cool fresh lettuce, noodles and a sweet sauce.

Delfina Spaghetti with Plum Tomatoes, Garlic, Extra Virgin Olive Oil and Peperoncini: Again, from the old neighborhood, Delfina has pleased me with this dish for years and years. It remains the best spaghetti in the city and the foundation for my perfect spaghetti recipe [LINK] which I have shared.

Delfina Spaghetti with Plum Tomatoes

Delfina Spaghetti with Plum Tomatoes

Delfina Panna Cotta: It’s two-for-Monday here. And Delfina takes the prize for my favorite dessert in the entire city. The flavors change seasonally, but their panna cotta is consistently one of the finest confections that will past your lips. It’s dense enough to hold it’s shape and coat the spoon, but so creamy that you’d be hard pressed to define what goes in it. Ethereal.

Delfina Grilled Fresh Calamari with Warm White Bean Salad: Ok, three-for. This isn’t for me – it was a favorite of Julie for years. I must admit, it’s pretty damn good. The squid is always fresh and tender – never chewy. The beans and herbs play so well off of the fruity olive oil – it is a perfect combination, often copied.

Tartine Morning Buns: Ok, we’ll round out the neighborhood. If Delfina’s panna cotta is one of the finest confections, Tartine’s morning bun is the finest confection. Words cannot describe the perfection achieved from the subtle combination of orange zest and a bready dough that retains it’s moisture on the inside and flakiness around the edges all day long. Though I strongly suggest getting some while they are hot. They will change your life, I promise.

Tartine Morning Buns

Tartine Morning Buns

Tartine Banana Cream Pie: Do I really need to give the details? Can you just trust me? Read and excerpt from my post about my birthday [LINK] this year:

The stand out of the evening was courtesy of my lovely wife……Banana Cream Tart from Tartine. This thing is off the charts. The texture of the cream reminds me of a merengue with the flavor of a custard. The bananas somehow remain fresh and crisp in all of the goop, the slivers of chocolate add even more pleasure and the crust is a tried and true winner (the same they use with their stellar quiche).

Admittedly this first list is nothing revelatory. If you’ve known me for any time or have been reading the blog these may have crossed your path. But what a start! Tomorrow we’ll start exploring the city a little deeper.

Hair of the Dog

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Oh Charles! Why oh why, Charles?

In the late 90s I lived on 18th and Valencia. Regularly, on my way home from work I would stop off at the Slanted Door for some Shaking Beef, Fresh Spring Rolls or Clay Pot Chicken. The energy of the first SD location was the epitome of the boom days of the .com era. Mission hipsters lined up down the block, the music was loud, the food was innovative and unique, the vibe was perfect.

Charles Phan at Heavens Dog

Charles Phan at Heaven's Dog

Perfect, so much so, the rest is the tale of San Francisco restaurant legend. First there was the temporary location in South Beach (never made it, sorry). Then the big Ferry Building gamble that paid off in spades (Slanted Door is one of the top grossing restaurants in the city). Next, another gamble on Out the Door, which I think the jury is still out-the-door on (man, I’m just kicking the puns this week!). They certainly seem consistently busy there and overcame a massive ceiling water burst, which closed them for a few weeks. Then there was the cafeteria at the Academy of Arts and Sciences, which I am guessing was an ego venture.

And now we have Heaven’s Dog, the latest venture from the Phan family located on the ground floor of the Soma Grand on Mission Street at 7th Street. I met my pal Tony for lunch, despite his protestations. It seems the “Dog” wasn’t getting good reviews. But, how could that be possible? At the least, with Charles’ influence, there had to be a sensible menu with a handful of well-executed gems. Right? Charles? Right?

Unfortunately this isn’t one of those happy endings. In fact, everything we ate (and we both agreed, so this isn’t my jaded view) was just plain bad. I know that this my second negative restaurant review in a row (see Gialina) but I can’t say a single positive thing about the food at Heaven’s Dog. Here’s the rundown:

Upon our server’s recommendation we had the pork belly & bun appetizer. This was probably the best dish, but it just came up dry. The meat was juicy and would have been fine in another vessel, but the bun was dry and needed some sort of sauce. Just a simple hit of a plum-type sauce would have done the trick. Or maybe an innovative fiery broth from the mind of Charles. But no.

Pork Belly Bun

Pork Belly Bun

Next were house-special dumplings, again upon recommendation. The skins were mushy, the broth inside wasn’t terribly tasty and the meat was just a lump of ground pork. They served it with a soy sauce and ginger – neither added anything. I kept thinking of the comparable dumpling at Yank Sing, which is on another planet by comparison. Everything about the Yang Sing dumpling screams exceptional. I don’t understand why Charles wouldn’t aspire to do better.

For mains we went with more suggestions (maybe our waitress wanted to torture us?) – Salt and Pepper Squid and Braised Kale. We expected the squid to be fresh and tender. What we got was greasy, chewy and salty fried calamari. Absolutely nothing innovative about it. We couldn’t even finish it. The Kale looked promising. It was bright green and seemed to be cooked perfectly. But then we tasted the sauce. It was essentially soy sauce. I tasted nothing but soy. So, I was eating bad calamari and kale soaked in soy.

As we finished up I looked around the room and started wondering where the name came from. Waiting for the check, the kale sat in front of me and I started to think that it smelled like a wet dog. It all made sense.

I still believe Charles is a superstar. Whenever we have guests in town I take them to the Ferry Building and brave the crowds for a nostalgic Shaking Beef or Imperial Roll. But if this meal was any example of what’s cooking at Heaven’s Dog, and other reviewers seem to confirm, Charles may be spread too thin. We have the right to expect more.