San Francisco Trip:
Me and a couple of my friends decided to take a week vacation up to San Francisco to wine and dine at some nice restaurants. Our trip was basically planned around restaruants, we made reservations for dinner for each night of the trip. It was a fun and memorable trip, we ate at a lot of different place and visted plenty of places.
On the first night we ate at a restaurant named Evvia, however since the picures were taken on a mobile phone, that post will probablly come at a later time. The second night we ate at a restaurant named ISA. ISA is nestled in the heart of San Francisco's Marina District and serves small plate French crusine. Executive Chef Luke Sung, who is talented beyond his years, creates the types of satisfying combinations one can eat every day. His food is deeply flavored, elegant, yet straightforward.
ISA Chef's background:
"Sung arrived the United States at the age of 14 from Taiwan. After working for his dad Tony Sung at Eric’s Restaurant in Noe Valley and his uncle Ping Sung at Eliza’s Restaurant on Potrero Hill in High School, he started cooking while attending college with Chef Roland Passot at La Folie (of which we later dined at) for almost two years.
He then moved on to Masa’s with Chef Julian Serrano (now at Picasso Restaurant in Las Vegas) and spent almost two years with him. He traveled to New York one summer and staged at Restaurant Daniel with Chef Daniel Boulud and Chef Alex Lee. He also staged at Les Panisse with Chef Gray Kunz. After returning to San Francisco, he spent three years with Chef Sylvain Portay at the Dining Room of Ritz Carlton San Francisco. Sung now owns and operates Isa, named after his daughter, Isabelle, where he prepares French-style tapas in the Marina District."
Courses from the menu are ment to be shared, family style. So my friends and I ordered a few things.
We started off with the organic Loch Duart salmon carpaccio with lemon, creme fraiche, cucumber, egg, capers & crostini. The salmon wasn't too salty and was soft, the the capers brought out the saltyness of the dish and the creme fraiche balanced it out with a settle cream flavor. The crostini, little toasts, were crunchy and when paired with the salmon carpaccio it was delicious! The taste of this dish reminded me of creme cheese on a toasted bagle, except this dish tasted better. The taste of this dish was accented by the various texture of the cucumber, egg, and capers as the differnt size changed the chewing feel and dynamic.
We then proceed with the Dungeness crab salad, with avocado, apple, grapefruit & tarragon dressing. The Dungeness crab brought it a tint of sweetness while the grapefruit added hints of sourness, it was both light and refreshing.
Next up we had the Grilled local calamari, with honey spice, flageolet beans, lemon zest & arugula. This dish was flavorful, it reminded me a little bit of how my mom cooks calamari, kind of Chinese in nature but with bit of French flare in the dish. When you take the first bite, the sweetness and hint of sourness from the lemon zest bursts in your mouth with flavor and fades away with the flavors of the flageolet beans. The dish was great; however, I was a little dissapointed because the insides of the calamari was remvoed, the part surrounding the plastic like lining of the squid, of which i enjoy quite a bit, but that's just my personal preferrence.
Following the previous dish, we had the Dutch valley Veal sweetbreads & mushroom fricassee, with mirepoix, white wine, mash potato & potato rosti. The dish was well balanced with just the right amount of ingredients, and the texture contrast of the dish is superb. The potato rosti was fried just right, crispy on the outside and soft and on inside; when eaten with the soft and tender sweetbread the texture of the two are a perfect match.
Next, we had the local petrale sole with mash potato, broccoli di ciccio, capers & lemon brown butter. The fish wasn't bad but it was not one of the more memorable dishes of the meal.
We then proceeded with the seared scallops, with brussels sprouts, bacon, potato puree & truffle jus de poulet. The scallops were good, the outter layer seared just right and tender on the inside. The mash potato has bits and pieces of bacon inside, it wasn't dry as it was flavored with bacon's natural oil. The mash potato was also in two dishes above (the fish and the sweetbread dish).
The most memorable dish of the night was the Hudson valley grade A foie gras, with apples, huckleberry, port & custard brioche. This dish made the night. The waiter told us that this is one of the best foie gras dish in town, and I would not disagree. First bite of the foie gras and my mouth was bursting with flavors. It was extremely soft, and almost melts to the touch. The huckleberry added a sour sweetness to the taste. This dish provided a ecstastic pallet experience and should not be missed.
-David
Ben and Jerry's is offering free ice cream at selected stores on Tuesday, March 23rd.
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After we ordered, we were served naan with some type of yogurt textured cheese sprinkled with pepper. Naan is a type of Indian bread, and it is delicious. This one was light, not flaky, and was a 
This was David's first course: a creamed corn soup with pork belly and a flavored foam. The dish was served first with only the pork belly, but then the server poured the soup into the bowl. David commented that it would have been better if he poured the soup in himself. Somehow, doing things yourself makes food taste better, he said. I have to agree, but still the taste of the soup was sweet from the corn and the frothy texture was warming nevertheless.
My first course was a wagyu tataki, with assorted vegetables on the side. The beef was very tender, and slightly sweet. The vegetables (which included carrots, cucumbers, tomatoes, and a type of small red onion) were slightly soured from vinegar and balanced out the sweetness of the meat.
My main course was halibut with veggies. I really enjoyed this dish because it surprised me. You know how if you cook fish, many times it tastes a little dry? This one was juicy through and through. It wasn't dry in the least. The veggies on the side were okay, though the spinach oddly seemed bland next to the fish. Still, good.
My dessert was a nutella creme brulee with a sour flavored foam and vanilla ice cream. There was also a type of cake or cookie inside the cup. Individually, the ingrediants didn't taste that great: the foam was too sour, the chocolate was too sweet. But when I mixed it together, it tasted great, and again gave a sense of balance to the dessert. Overall though, I think it was still overwhelmingly sweet. Not bad though.
We got a total of 12 cupcakes: banana, black and white, chocolate marshmallow, cinnamon sugar, coconut, dark chocolate, red valvet, straberry, and vanilla. See http://www.sprinkles.com/flavors.html for a list of flavors by day. Sprinkles cupcakes are a bit pricier, $3.25 per cupcake or $36 for a dozen, whereas Dots is $2.75 per cupcake. 
Sprinkles cupcakes are a bit on the sweet side, a little too sweet for me. The top is about half an inch thick of frosting/sweetness; the cupcake itself is pretty dense. I personally prefer Dots cupcakes, their cupcakes are more moist, lighter/fluffier and a bit cheaper. 
They served sliced French baguettes and what tasted like cinnamon-pumpkin muffins as soon as we sat down. The bread was soft on the inside and crunchy on the outside. YuM! The muffin was also yummie, it was moist and soft on the inside and a tad crispy on the top. 
We ordered two different sets of meals. My first course was Soup de Jour, "Soup of the day", which was some type of squash soup. The texture of the soup was fluffy and creamy, the taste was sweet and hearty, full of flavors. It is a little bit sweet but tasted great when I dipped the French baguettes in.
My first course was a salad. Typical, nothing special, but it seemed fresh at least. Although it wasn't anything to die for, I think I preferred it versus the soup. The soup was a little too hearty and I think just a taste of it was enough.
Since we were in a French style cafe, I figured I'd give the French Dip a try. The bread used in the sandwich was the same baguette that was served to us when we were first seated. The main difference is that there was Au Jus sauce that came with this one. The hot Au Jus sauce was pretty flavorful. The meat was rather tender and when you dip the sandwich in the Au Jus ~*it was a match in heaven*~ I let the sandwich soak in the sauce so that both the meat and the bread could absorb the flavor of the sauce. Even after soaking the bread in the Au Jus, the flaky layer of the baguette still remained crunchy, which I enjoyed quite a bit with the extra Au Jus flavoring. The french fries were crispy, and tasted great with a mixture of ketchup, tabasco and pepper. 
My main dish was the chicken crepe with mushroom cream sauce. It was also a hearty dish, though I did enjoy eating most of it. The flavors of the cream sauce mixed with the sun-dried tomatoes and the mushrooms was a good combination, but I would have wanted more tomatoes to really make the flavor tastier. The texture of the cream sauce and the crepe together made it all taste somewhat mushy, though I could tell the crepe was (at some point) almost like chewy pancake.
For the third course, I had pumpkin ice cream. The pumpkin ice cream had hints of cinnamon and it was kinda icy, like it had very, very smally ice. The ice cream itself tasted okay, but when combined with the apple tart it was a different story.
My dessert was a petite apple tart, though I'd say it was more a mini apple pie. The tartness of the apple was just right though the crust was a little too soft for my liking. At first I thought the whipped cream was ice cream and (to my disappointment) it wasn't. So I stole some of David's pumpkin ice cream to top it off. I think I just made their tart 5x better! I think it should be served warm and with a little ice cream a la carte. It brings out the spices better too.
