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Gary Danko | San Francisco, CA

gary danko. when i was going to college at uc berkeley, we read that gary danko was voted best restaurant in the nation (yep. that was our reaction. what?! in the nation?!). as a poor college student, my roommates and i could not afford to dine here. therefore, i decided to put it on my bucket list. for our two year anniversary, we thought we would take a chance and try to get a reservation! score! we got one! on a saturday!

Gary Dank | San Francisco
Gary Dank | San Francisco
Gary Dank | San Francisco
Gary Dank | San Francisco
Gary Dank | San Francisco
Gary Dank | San Francisco
Gary Dank | San Francisco

it could be that we were overhyped about this place… or because the restaurant was having a bad day. our experience at gary dank was somewhat of a letdown. we weren’t greeted at all for 15 minutes, our server was barely around to answer any questions (because he was too busy attending to his other tables). when served, it was abrupt, very short and never with a smile. we felt bad just asking for more water. the meal was good but the bad service left a bad taste in our mouths.

  • with regard to food: food was good. we recommend the (i) risotto with lobster, rock shrimp, shimeji mushrooms, asparagus and peas (not pictured) and (ii) warm louisiana butter cake with apples, huckleberry sauce and vanilla bean ice cream. those were the two dishes that stood out from the rest.
  • service: lackluster. didn’t seem to want to serve us at all.
  • ambience: dark. could be a nice date place.
  • overall: i wish we could say better things about this place but we would probably never come back. that’s too bad given that they did win best restaurant of the year back in the day. for the price you pay for your meal, i would expect a lot more from gary danko… but that’s just me.

Gary Danko
800 N Point St
San Francisco, CA 94109

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By | May 30th, 2012 | Food, Restaurants | 0 Comments

Anniversay in NorCal | Part I

for our anniversary / memorial weekend, we took a trip up to norcal to visit friends, eat at a bucket list restaurant, see the city and spend some time in napa! bad news: my 50mm lens broke on sunday…the day we went to napa! sadness. good news: we had an amazing time! here are some pictures from our trip.

day one. we met up with stell to see a’s vs yankees. even though the a’s lost… we won in friendship. lol. which is the theme of the weekend.

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went to 900 grayson for brunch. best chicken and waffles. ever.

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By | May 30th, 2012 | California, Food, Friends, Life, Marriage, Restaurants, San Francisco / Oakland, Travel | 1 Comment

Sapp Coffee Shop | Los Angeles, CA

Sapp Coffee Cafe | Los Angeles

so. soup…in the morning. feelings? i know some people are a little weirded out by the idea of this… but the husband and i have been growing up eating soup for breakfast on the regs: pho (vietnamese), miso soup (japanese), menudo (mexican). and, we love it! we recently found an amazing thai soup that is eaten in the morning: thai boat noodles! this delicious (we got it spicy) soup is comforting and hearty, everything we were looking for this weekend!

what we ordered:

  • thai iced tea
  • thai ice coffee
  • boat noodles
  • jade noodles

Sapp Coffee Cafe | Los Angeles Sapp Coffee Cafe | Los Angelesi loved both noodles. boat noodles are wet and the jade noodles come dry. depends on what you are in the mood for. maybe it’s because i’m used to eating soup in the morning but they didn’t feel heavy at all.

the nice thing about this place that you wouldn’t expect to get amazing noodles here… it’s called sapp coffee shop! just a note: the jade noodles are a little sweet (which i loved… savory/sweet? bomb!).

Sapp Coffee Cafe | Los Angeles

  • ambience: small, quaint shop in thai town.
  • service: quiet but very nice. food came out quickly.
  • parking: there is a small lot right in front that you can park in. it fills up rather quickly so you might have to do street parking.
  • overall: i would definitely recommend this place for noodles!! be adventurous and try both!

Sapp Coffee Shop
5183 Hollywood Blvd
Los Angeles, CA 90027
Neighborhood: Los Feliz

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By | May 6th, 2012 | Food, Restaurants | 0 Comments