Weekend Explorations: Outer Sunset in San Francisco

One of my favorite things about San Francisco is the distinct personality of each neighborhood.  Z does not really care what we do on the weekend, but I have made it a point to start exploring more neighborhoods, and Z is kind enough to come along for the ride (and often drive!).

We visited the Sunset a few times over the past month, and both times we found great spots that we had to share.

Devil’s Teeth Baking Company: San Francisco sure does love its bakeries, and the Sunset has its own claim to fame with Devil’s Teeth. They are famous for their breakfast sandwiches of egg, bacon, cheese, avocado and lemon aioli on a freshly baked biscuit. We also tried their donut muffin and cinnamon roll, which were both delicious. Come willing to share the baked treats!

Andytown: I heard about this coffee roaster from colleagues at work. I particularly intrigued by the "Snowy Plover", an iced coffee drink named after a small bird. The drink is actually espresso, tonic water, and brown sugar over ice, topped with homemade whipped cream. It's delicious -- perfectly sweet and refreshing. They also have delicious scones and soda bread. Z and I shared the cheddar and scallion scone. Despite the line out the door, we would go again in a minute. Plus, one can't help but love their succulents.

Kauai Food Guide

Z and I just returned from Kauai! We had a great time hiking, swimming, and of course, eating. Traveling for me is equally about the food as it is about the sights. For our visit to Kauai, I researched food pretty extensively; I want to make sure that if I am spending money out, it’s worth it! 

Below are a few of the restaurant Z and I highly recommend if you are visiting the Garden Island of Kauai:

Java Kai: Z and I ended up stopping here almost every day for smoothies or coffee. They had a great selection of coffees they roast on site, and the smoothie menu has something for everyone. Z in particular loved the Acai smoothie that had acai berries and pineapple juice. 

Bar Acuda: By far the most acclaimed and famous restaurant on the island, Bar Acuda is the place to go for an extremely delicious (read: expensive) dinner. Their most popular dish is a $15 cheese plate of Humboldt Fog cheese, Fuji apples, and local honeycomb, but I also loved the lamb with feta and roasted tomatoes. 

Ha Coffee Roasters: A great space and good coffee makes this coffeeshop a score. It has a ton of space, wifi (in case your hotel doesn’t have it), and wide selection of coffee. I got the nitro cold brew, which was delicious and highly caffeinated, but Z’s salted caramel blended ice coffee was equally tasty. 

Moloa’a Juice Bar: This side of the road juice stand has all the tropical fruit your heart desires. Z and I loved the acai bowl here, which was a steal at $8 (compared to SF prices). It was giant (big enough to share!) and you get a great view. 

Tropical Taco: The fish tacos at this restaurant are so good that Z and I ate them three times on our trip. The use insanely fresh mahi mahi, and then fry it to a crisp for their tacos. This was bonkers. 

Koloa Fish Market: We tried two poke places, and this ended up being our favorite. Go for two scoops of rice, and then get the avocado poke. The ahi tuna is perfectly seasoned in an avocado sauce. At under $10 per person, it’s a great lunch spot. 

Wishing Well Shaved Ice: Splurge on the organic shaved ice here. It’s $8 for two flavors of shave ice in a large bowl, plus toppings. Lilikoi (passionfruit) was so heavenly. I shy away from fruity desserts (I almost always prefer ice cream), but shaved ice might make me change my mind. 

Lappert’s Hawaii: This Hawaiian ice cream staple is the place to go for macadamia nut and banana ice creams. In particular, I enjoyed their chocolate macadamia nut, which was chocolate ice cream with chocolate covered macadamia nuts. Also, go for the cone! They are quite fresh here. 

Kauai Brewing Company: This brewery in Lihue features food trucks every Wednesday. The beer was good, not amazing, and you can try all 8 for $16. The atmosphere was really fun, and it’s a great low-key outing for the evening. 

St. Regis Princeville Bar: The St. Regis bar has the most spectacular view of Hanalei Bay, and it’s worth the $16 cocktail to go watch the sunset. They saber a champagne bottle every evening which is also fun to watch. The snack mix which they give out for free is tasty as well. 

Restaurant Raves: Souvla

I love cooking at home, I really do! But every home chef eventually needs a break from the kitchen. One of my favorite things about food is it's ability to help foster community. Restaurants are a key part of that. Imagine the Mission without Tartine and the taquerias!

So, in the spirit of community, good food, and good value, I'm going to start showcasing some of my favorite restaurants here on Hilary Stone Soup.

Today's restaurant, Souvla, is one of my newest obsessions. Whenever Z wants to go out to eat, I almost immediately suggest eating at Souvla.

Souvla is a Greek-inspired casual dining spot in Hayes Valley, San Francisco. During dinner and lunch, they have four main offerings: feta-brined rotisserie chicken, roasted lamb leg, pork shoulder, and a sweet potato vegetarian medley. You can get any of these in a gyro sandwich or in a salad, all under $15.

My personal favorite is the chicken salad. The salad comes with delicious roast chicken (perfectly moist and seasoned) with orange slices, pickled red onions, pea shoots, and delicious Greek-inspired ranch dressing. The salad is addicting. When I think about the perfect salads I've had in my life, this one makes the short list.

Souvla's received a lot of press lately from Bon Appetit Magazine and others, but Souvla is worth the hype.

Plus, the space is just gorgeous, right?

The TLDR:
-Get the chicken salad
-Hayes Valley, San Francisco
-$$

All images courtesy of Souvla

Best Resaurant Apps

Every time I walk down 14th St. or Barrack's Row, there are almost always three or four new restaurants that catch my eye. So many restaurants, so little time.

To prioritize my weekend restaurant adventures, I use two apps, Ness and Chef's Feed, that I wanted to share with you all today!

Ness

Basically a better version of Yelp (if you want to be nerdy like me, you can read this economics paper on how Yelp could be improved). This app takes your own personal preferences into account based off of ratings you submit on restaurants to generate suggestions. Ness is almost always spot on.

Unfortunately, Ness is going away this month because it was recently purchased by Open Table. While I am excited to see what Open Table will do with Ness's recommendation algorithm, I am sad that Ness will no longer exist.

In the mean time, you might as well submit your preferences and spend a little bit of time looking through their recommendations while you still can! I'll be using the app to build a list of new restaurants to try. Ness is even letting you export your data, so you can save it for later.

Chef's Feed:

Chef's Feed is a restaurant recommendation app that profiles top chefs around the country (SF, DC, Atlanta, NYC, etc) and asks them what their favorite meal is. In the app, you can see top dishes recommended by some fantastic chefs, and you can filter by cuisine, price point, or location.

I like Chef's Feed because of its focus on dishes, rather than restaurants. Chef's Feed makes sure I don't miss out on the house specialty!  

On Chef's Feed, you can also rate the restaurants you have tried and share your thoughts with friends/followers. I enjoy seeing what new restaurants friends have been to and seeing how their ratings compare with chefs' ratings.

Next time you are looking for a food adventure, whether in your own city or traveling, I hope you reach for Ness or Chef's Feed!