Gott's

Half-day at work. I got out at noon, starving, wondering where to go grab lunch; I looked up at the sky. Cloudy but slowly clearing up. San Mateo usually has good weather this time of the year. I looked over the hills towards San Francisco. Heavily cloudy. No chance of clearing up anytime soon, even as per the forecast. The choice was clear. San Francisco's weather always wins.

I already knew what I wanted to eat, so after picking up a friend I started doing the rounds of Ferry Building on the Embarcadero. Why was it so crowded on a weekday afternoon? Why was I stuck in traffic as soon as I entered the city? The answer was in front of me- The Farmer's Market. Ordinarily this kind of traffic and the inability to find a parking spot would irk me. But not in this city. Every thing about this city is absolutely gorgeous and magical.

You might have not guessed the restaurant I'm hinting at since there are so many located there. Well my heart lies with Gott's. The burgers there are one of the best I've tasted, and the locale earns it brownie points. There is provision for both indoor and outdoor seating, plenty of space, and the menu not only includes burgers but salads, fries, milkshakes, the works. 

Any of the burgers listed can be made vegetarian, and thankfully their veggie patties don't taste chewy and inedible like certain soy patties. Fillings are generous and delicious, including a variety like salsa and avocado. A MUST-HAVE are the garlic fries because there are only a few things on earth that taste so good. Make it a point to ask for their special dipping sauce with your order. It's this amazing ranch-like sauce with garlic and herbs in it; but they call it Ranch so just go with it! Chocolate milkshake? Thick and sinful; but hey, if you pray hard enough, calories do make their way out of your body while you're sleeping. 

Go get yourself some Gott's; yeah, you're most welcome :)

Little Star Pizza

Comfortable little joint with not a crazy noise level, Little Star Pizza is on Divisadero Street, nestled between Fulton and McAllister streets, and boasts of a delicious menu. Rightly so.

Got a table for 4 easily on a Saturday afternoon with metered parking almost right outside! We got lucky with the parking bit though; It's San Francisco, I wouldn't guarantee parking ANYWHERE.

We started off with the garlic bread for appetizers, which did not disappoint. Warm, buttery, topped with garlic, mozzarella and some basil, just writing about it makes me want to go have some more!

Though the deep dish pizzas are supposed to be a specialty there, we decided to go with the thin crust ones. Ordered a large one half Classic paired with another half of Italian Combo, and another large one with half and half of Greek and the Little Star (although it is not mentioned in the Thin Crust section, they were nice enough to do it for us). For those of you who can satiate your appetite with 2-3 slices of pizza, DO NOT get the large ones! Even if you're splitting it. When they say LARGE, they mean LARGE!

Additional brownie points for their space-saver pizza serving dish! All the ingredients and the toppings seemed extremely fresh and well cooked. Even when I opened my to-go box the next morning and devoured the leftover slices after heating them in a microwave, they tasted good :)

The servers were very polite, and refrained from making small talk which made the lunch easier to get through! There was a table right behind us seating a small cute kid, who insisted on giving his opinion on everything from the size of the fork to the food being served. He was kept thoroughly entertained by the servers, much to our delight because when you're enjoying a nice meal, you do NOT want a wailing kid for company.

Would I go back there? Definitely!
4/5 stars. 

Yamo!

Yelp has been a great help (hey! that rhymes) to me since I started using it religiously about a year ago. If it was not for that, I probably would have missed this tiny hole-in-the-wall burmese restaurant in the Mission. No denying, a lot of these inconspicuous places in San Francisco serve some of the best food. Yamo is no exception.

You enter this place and a single long table with 8 bar stools and an open kitchen greets you. There is a constant rotation of people as they come and go, like some round of musical chairs.
The menu is not too elaborate which is good because it makes it easier for me to make up my mind :)

My husband got the house noodles with beef, and I requested the house noodles with some veggies. Even though it was not on the menu they were extremely accommodating about it and prepared it for me in no time. I wish I would have taken some pictures! But I was too hungry for that to cross my mind; so please make do with pictures from Yelp as of now!

Noodles are cooked to perfection, the veggies and beef both were sauteed in a wok till you could smell the deliciousness, thrown in together with the noodles in a bowl and garnished with some garlic on top (YUM). The chilli sauce is a great addition. We downed our bowls in record time and were wondering why we paid for an hour at the parking meter. Oh well.

Other items on the menu which we did not order (because we were only the two of us and the quantity of the noodles is a good amount for one person) but looked great on our neighbors' plates were the tea leaf salad and the curry prawns with noodles (my husband tried hard not to stare).

The prices are extremely affordable, the food tastes incredible, the only reason I may skip going to Yamo is if I see a line of 10 people outside (which I have). If you don't want to wait, go during lunch hours because even if it is full the wait is not too long.

Absolutely worth it, 4/5 stars in my book!
Going back again? Heck yeah!

Truly Mediterranean!

No, I am not talking about myself, most definitely not! This is one of the restaurants you HAVE TO eat at whenever you're visiting San Francisco. Nestled in the Mission district, it doesn't boast of a large space or great ambiance but the food is reason enough to attract hoards of people to it. You may miss it if you're not looking out for it; can't really call it a hole-in-the-wall place because it is usually packed with people! Not surprising, since the food they serve is so delicious. Parking can be a bit of a problem even on a weekday in the afternoon since the area has a dozen other restaurants to boast of as well as cute boutiques.

So, it was a warm Thursday afternoon and by a stroke of luck, my husband and I were both home, working and extremely hungry. Now when it is hot, and I am working and struck by hunger, the kitchen is usually left untouched. Why not explore the thousands of restaurants this great city has to offer? Thanks to Yelp, we headed to Truly Mediterranean at about 1:00 in the afternoon. It took us 10 minutes to find parking which is faster than the average time (welcome to San Francisco), so it wasn't that bad. And it was free :) Whenever I have to feed my precious quarters into those dreadful parking meters, a part of my soul withers in pain. So anyway, we went inside and luckily got place to sit. Quickly ordered a Mediterranean Combo Plate for me, and a Lamb Shawerma for him. We got our food within a few minutes and we knew it was fresh because they were making every order right when they got it in front of us.

So my plate consisted of fresh warm Pita, falafel, hummus, cucumber salad, tabouleh, baba ganoush, dolma, feta cheese, seasoned onions, and some tahini and hot sauces (forgive me if I have misspelt any of those words, middle easterns seemed to have liked to complicate the simple things). Considering the fact that the menu is dominated by meat items, this is a treat for a vegetarian! I devoured my plate slowly and contentedly. Needless to say, I left the restaurant extremely satisfied! The picture below should talk for it.

The Lamb Shawerma is apparently amazing too, judging by the speed with which he ate it up and the satisfied look on his face after that.

So, there. We were a happy, well-fed couple on a warm afternoon in one of the most active districts of San Francisco. But our cravings did not end there. Dolores street struck a chord in my heart, and I instantly thought of the joy the ice cream from Bi-Rite creamery brings to me! Within the next 5 minutes, I was holding a cup of salted caramel (I have not gotten around to liking this flavor even after trying it 4 times, but if it makes the husband happy...) and one of mint chocolate (now that's more like it) in my hands and hurrying towards the car which was in a 'no parking' spot.

I love random dates especially on weekdays. Makes it easier to get through the piles of work! We headed home, extremely content and well-fed. A smile on our faces :)