Dan A.'s Profile

This used to be a mainstay of ours, but the quality seems to have fallen off a bit lately. The streamlined menu definitely is a bit lacking: they managed to drop not one but two of our favorites, both the buffalo chicken and the roasted new potatoes have disappeared. Then, last time we were in it seemed like there were just two people there, running around like crazy, and the artichoke (which is normally just outstanding) was still tasty but tiny and tough. Maybe that should be a seasonal item? And the garlic mashed potatoes were even iffy, it was almost like they were made from a mix or undercooked, or something.

We'll definitely give them another shot just because we love it - it's delicious, fresh and cheap - but hopefully they can turn around the slide.

I love this place. Perfect homey little neighborhood spot with a dash of history and food that was consistently decent before the remodel (six months ago-ish) and consistently great since then. The service is fun, friendly and cute. The sweet potato fries are the best, and they've been amazingly understanding about bringing honey as a side. The menu tends towards the basics - salads and sandwiches, but they execute on them so well. Nice brunch scene and nice crowd; always a pleasing mix of fun groups, couples of all makes and models and the stray tourist.

Quite disappointing. They were creating a fake line outside, as reported by other yelpees. It moved fairly quickly but come on, this is a silly game to play. The sound initially sounded pretty muddled, sort of that classic poorly-tuned system low-end muddiness, but it may have had to do with poor EQ decisions behind the decks. A couple tracks later it cleared up, and seemed to go in and out all night.

I'm not going to dis the DJs because I don't know, I'd never heard them and maybe they were having an off night or something. But no one seemed that into it except for the truly drunk - never a good sign.

Speaking of inebriation: the vibe seemed to vary between the people standing around who weren't that into it, the angry drunks and the screaming girls on e (how do we know they were on e? because they were screaming "I'm on eee!!!!"). Yikes.  Maybe that's a Saturday thing, probably not the best night to go out if you just want to dance a little and get smiles from friendly people.

Nice space, lotsa cuties, good stiff drinks and some degree of at least potential for less ugliness on a different night earn it 2 rather than 1.

OK, my memories of this are a bit more vague than is probably warranted for a proper review: I'd had a couple of drinks at the Redwood Room right beforehand.

But, it was pretty close to completely amazing. We got the filet, some carnitas, an ensalada mixta and some kind of corn bread drenched in deliciousness side. I recommend all of them. Top notch.

For a cheaper deal with similarly high quality food but less fancy/expensive tequila, try Velvet Cantina, but this is a great splurgy place downtown.

Wow. Stopped by for a dinner after a long day of thinking, talking and scheming at a conference. The menu sort of has two parts, fancier and simpler. I got the hanger steak with frites off  the simpler side and it was a knockout. Adam (I hope I'm remembering his name correctly) was super friendly and recommended a great scotch (Compass Box's Peat Monster, yum) and hooked me up with the perfect seat at the corner of the bar (just right for a slow meal and a read reading). Dishy bartender, too. Outstanding all around. Try the house made bar nuts, too; they were so good I asked for a doggy bag.

Best. Corner market. Ever. Just unbelievable. The people who run this place are so nice and they have done an astounding job of packing just the things you need into a tiny space and selling them at reasonable prices. When we moved in our landlords mentioned this place as being one of the reasons to live here. We thought they were joking. They weren't.

This existence of this market has - I'm serious - completely revolutionized my thinking about how civilized the process of obtaining food can be. Giant grocery stores seem almost impossibly harsh and overwhelming to me now, even fancy/overpriced ones. I'm probably ruined forever from shopping at them.

We live up the street and were going to avoid this place, because my darling yet eccentric wife had some kind of strange aversion to the name. (I admit, it is an odd name for a chinese joint) But our neighbors successfully convinced us to get take out from here the other night. It seemed a little on the spendy side, but damn was it ever good! And the portions were big, bordering on huge. There was a fried pork thing that seemed kind of naughty, but I nearly wept with how tasty it was. The spring rolls weren't that amazing, but they did come with the good hot spicy mustard. Eric's (over on Church) is certainly great and always packed, but I'm starting to think it's a little overrated. Despite Wild Pepper's weird name and kind of lonely location, you won't regret it.

We had a completely epihpanic experience here after shopping a couple days before Christmas. I wish I'd written this review immediately afterwards but wow, it was mindblowing. Admittedly, some of it I'm sure was just the crazy electric buzz from being in our mega-adorable neighborhood and being totally and disgustingly in love and it being Christmas, but even besides that, this was a good spot.

From what I dimly recall we had lots of little plates that were all fairly reasonably priced. We overordered a bit and still got out of there for like $70 including wine, which felt like a complete steal. The staff all seemed to be sixteen different kinds of adorable and we were booth deeply adrool over the woman who served us. The things I remember now had to with oysters and some kind of completely exceptional baked cheese thing. Good good stuff.

These guys did $800 extra of work - for free - on our battered Subaru that had been run into on the street here in SF after being attacked by wave after wave of drunken city college kids in Santa Barbara. And they kicked in for a rental car, although that probably had something to do with the fact that we were also getting a new clutch from SF Auto Works, the repair shop up the street (which is also a fine establishment). If 800 smackers of free stuff doesn't get you five stars, I don't know what does - if they'd thrown in some hubcaps I would've had to give them six!

Also, something to remember: if you're getting a rear bumper replaced - don't forget to peel the parking sticker off of it first. It comes off in pieces but even that will help when you go to get a new one from the city.

Atha Yoga is what Kristie Home calls her practice. When I moved to California from Virginia a decade ago, if you'd told me ten years from now I'd be going to yoga twice a week I never would've believed you. But Kristie made it happen! She's THAT good.

Open level classes (Mondays and Wednesday evenings, the ones I'm familiar with) run an hour and a half. Kristie mixes up the poses and the intensity of the class depending on who is there and what they are in the mood for. Like a good DJ, she is very responsive to the crowd. Interspersed throughout the class she sometimes gives her thoughts on everything from yoga to politics to the universe; she's a great thinker and her patter can be half the fun. She also teaches a more advanced class on Wednesdays.

It's spiritual without being froofy, intense without being frustrating, tiring yet energizing. It's just damn good yoga. One warning: if you get used to the quality of her classes, you may get spoiled and have a hard time going to anyone else!