Rokuan

Seared Albacore

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Salmon Roll

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Rainbow Roll

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Maguro Nigiri

Alright, another sushi post coming so close on the heels of our singing the praises of Ryoko's may seem excessive, but Rokuan specializes in excess. Purists may argue that the thick slices of raw fish they heap upon each serving of maki or nigiri violate standards of elegance and proportion. But when the fish is as creamy and deliquescent as Rokuan's, more can only be better. Rosie and Victoria were roommates throughout all four years of college, which means they had plenty of time to enable each other's poor eating habits. Burrito at 2 A.M.? Why not? Third slice of corn and key lime pizza at Cheeseboard? But of course! When Rosie visited Victoria's hometown of Diamond Bar for three days, they were able to continue this tradition in full and then some, kicking off with this fantastic array. Rosie was amazed, and then intimidated as the rolls emerged with mammoth hunks of fish layered one over another and protruding well abreast of their nori and rice wrappings. The nigiri was even more wonderfully ridiculous, with the mounds of rice completely obscured by a generous blanket of the freshest tuna. Everything was so good that Rosie even liked the onions, her most detested food, in the albacore dish. Towards the end, as a kind server offered us another generous portion of salmon on the house, our eyes widened in horror as the plate neared our table. Victoria managed to exclaim, "No, we really can't! I'm about to throw up," and then commented that she probably should have mentioned that it was from overenthusiastic eating, not inferior food. It was perhaps the only time we've turned down complimentary food, much less complimentary sashimi. Rosie's only disappointment was that they were completely out of uni that day, and judging by the quality and quantity of their other offerings, (along with the awe and saliva- inspiring photos on Yelp), she missed out indeed.

The Sycamore

Pork Belly Donuts with Maple Makers Mark Glaze 

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Beer Battered Rock Cod with Sriracha Aioli and House Made Pickles

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Birite Brown Sugar and Earl Grey ice cream

Back when they both still lived in Berkeley, Caitlin and Rosie vowed to catch Ici Ice Cream on a day they were serving maple bacon. Sadly, a confluence of conflicting schedules, lapsed vigilance with regards to the flavors-of-the-day phone line, and scarcity of maple bacon itself meant that this plan went unrealized. Our second chance at tasting pork-product-as-dessert came when Caitlin discovered that a pub in the Mission was serving intrepidly unhealthy pork belly donuts. Upon actually biting into the with the crispy spheres on The Sycamore's patio, we realized that deep frying something that is already is mostly pure animal fat is probably too much of a good thing. Crossing the line from delicious decadence to grossness, the donuts were so oily and cloying that half of one was more than enough. Luckily, we also had sliders, which, while also containing lipid-heavy aioli and beer batter, were juicy rather that greasy. Also helping salvage the experience was the fact that The Sycamore had Connect Four to amuse us while we waited to recover. Resigning ourselves to a day of blatantly disregarding our health, we topped it all off with ice cream cones at BiRite and felt mostly great.

Ryoko's

White Tuna Toro Nigiri 

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Edamame

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Salmon Skin Roll: grilled salmon skin, shiso, cucumber, burdock root, flying fish roe 

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Big Mama Roll - spicy bbq eel, egg, shiso, cucumber, flying fish roe

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Tahoe Roll: tuna, avocado, flying fish roll

Our favorite haunt serves two of our most pressing needs: (1) Fresh, buttery raw fish and (2) Maximal laziness. In fact, we're not sure how its even possible that we've gone so long without posting about this fantastic sushi place literally around the corner from our apartment. With a staff that shout enthusiastic salutations as you enter and exit, a skull full of candy, a soundtrack of 90's R&B, 2:00 AM closing time, and complimentary edamame, what's not to love? We haven't managed to find a place that has sushi rolls that come anywhere close to Ryoko's, though we tend to order the Big Mama and Tahoe Roll over and over again, because why fix what isn't broken? They're generous with the wonderfully aromatic shiso leaf in the Big Mama roll, which nicely melds the sweet tamago with the savory unagi. The tuna in Tahoe Roll is simply creamy and perfect. We usually end up pathetically trying to salvage the last grains of tobiko from our dishes of soy sauce. The Salmon Skin roll is a bit salty, but the White Tuna Toro Nigiri simply melts in your mouth. Every time we come here, we wish they had some sort of frequent customer buy-ten-rolls-get-one-free stamp card, because we'd fill a pile of those up in no time.

Red Crawfish

Cajun Specialty Shrimp 

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Stir-fry Garlic Noodles 

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Honeydew Smoothie and Watermelon Juice

Rosie and Cheney's plans to eat Indian food on a drizzly Sunday were foiled when it turned out that Lahore Karahi was closed for the next month. Red Crawfish, our backup option, is the San Francisco version of Boiling Crab, a staple of our San Jose hometown. The concept behind both is offering bib-clad customers seafood sold by the pound, a-swim in cajun-style spicy sauce in a utilitarian set-up. Cheney insisted on mild seasoning, to the dismay of Rosie's Sichuan-trained palate, though the real shortfall of the resulting sauce was that it was nowhere near as concentrated and savory as Boiling Crab's. Disappointingly the shrimp stuck stubbornly to their shells, and were likely not as fresh as they could have been. Though the seafood may have been a barely serviceable replacement for B.C., the garlic noodles and drinks were a surprising standouts. The noodles had the particular delicious chewiness associated with being cooked at high heat in a large wok with noisy sizzling. Cheney's watermelon juice was a refreshing complement to the salty shrimp and Rosie's honeydew smoothie tasted exactly like a liquid version of those obscenely good Melona Creamsicles you can find at Asian grocery stores. Afterwards, we wandered over to the Asian Art Museum and were stunned by the marble grandeur of its interior. Being our usual high-brow selves, Rosie was completely transfixed by a Thai theatrical deer headdress, while Cheney occupied herself with taking pictures of particularly plump looking guardian spirit statues. With perfect timing, the rain stopped as we stepped out of the museum, capping off our afternoon of small unexpected pleasures.

Tony's Pizza Napoletana

Pinot Noir, Honeybuck, and Champagne Cocktail

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Bread and Olive Oils 

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Rosemary, White Rose Potato, & Chorizo: rustic medium crust with mozzarella, white rose potatoes, rosemary, calabrese peppers, cowgirl creamery's fromage blanc, lavender sea salt, two quail eggs  

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White Anchovy: rustic medium crust with mozzarella, arugula, italian white anchovy, piave, calabrese peppers, fresh lemon

The eponymous owner of Tony's apparently shamed Italians, Chicagoans, and New Yorkers alike by being the first American to win the Pizza World Cup with his margherita pie. Besides wondering how we could snag seats as judges at such a tournament, Cheney, Rosie, and Victoria were keen on going, but too greedy to order something as classic and elegant as a margherita pizza. The walk to North Beach was  torture as we were all ravenous and had to pass a slew of tempting dim sum places and delis in Chinatown, all with wonderful aromas wafting out their doors. Our seat in the sun, included a table that insisted on leaning sharply to the left, though Victoria managed to fix its wobble (Hence the tilt present in all pictures and liquids above). We chose two pizzas fired in the 900 degree wood oven and stared hopefully and hungrily as the waiters brought other patrons their food.  The spicy chorizo was Victoria's favorite, with its paper thin potatoes and dollops of mozarella, while Rosie and Cheney loved the sharp tang of the anchovies matched with the acidic lemon juice. Both pizzas dripped with spicy orange chili oil, which led to lots of poised and dignified mopping, and then the eventual familiar feelings of sleepy contentment that signal the conclusion of another overindulgence.

Eggs Benedict Galore at Mama's

Iced Tea and Lemonade

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Shrimp and Avocado Benedict with Grilled Tomatoes

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Smoked Salmon Eggs Benedict

After nearly a month without consuming much dairy, Rosie's first meal with Cheney upon returning from China was perhaps overambitiously, Mama's. We share a marked weakness for seafood eggs benedicts and spared ourselves the decision of deciding between shrimp and salmon by getting one of each and sharing. While Rosie was compelled to excavate the rich avocado from between the gooey egg and heavily-hollandaise-soaked biscuit in order to mitigate the deluge of butter, Cheney nonchalantly polished off everything on her plate and declared that she felt great. Sadly, Rosie's body rejected the good old hearty American food and she had to retreat to the North Beach library bathroom to stave off a wave of nausea. Luckily, though, nothing soothes the over-stimulated palate like a stroll through the charming magnolia and mosaic-lined steps of Telegraph Hill.

Hong Kong Megapost

Two days in Hong Kong meant a flurry of Japanese style izakaya, French macarons, and Cantonese clay pot homestyle cooking. There were blocks and blocks of specialized street markets and luxury stores both, as well as alleyways brimming with activity and life. In a city flush with boba milk tea, bakeries, and skewered street food, however, Rosie also had the worst pizza of her life. The toppings were curiously underneath the cheese, so that they were undercooked and mushy, while the cheese had congealed into a plasticky mass. Oh well, she assumes that the famous cooked goose, congee, and buffets she hadn't had the time to try more than make up for it.