The Vestry

Shirley:

It's been a long time since I've had the typical Fried Chicken - Collards - Mac & Cheese combo. I even passed up the Meatballs. 
The Vestry is a good thing. It has tasty dishes, fun, professional staff and an intriguing history. We were there for dinner, but check out their website: thechapelsf.com. There is information about their Chapel Bar and entertainment venues.
The elements on my plate, individually and in combination, were in everyway delicious. The chicken had been brined and dipped in a thin batter and deep fried to perfection. The meat was juicy and well-seasoned, the coating stayed crispy until the very end. The collards were cooked just to chewable but not mushy. The leaves were sliced into long shreds and got to my mouth by twirling them around my fork like spaghetti. And the mac & cheese! Oh the mac & cheese! A tiny little bowl of the creamy, cheesey mac with a crispy, buttery breadcrumb crust. 

I completely supported Barb ordering the "It is It" ice cream with a hardened chocolate sauce. Poor Barb - she thought requesting 4 spoons would be a generous gesture when, in fact, it was just brought out the greed in her dinner partners. Or at least, in me.
I did not taste the other orders, but all plates were pretty much wiped clean. That was partly because of the quality of the food and the other part due to the size of portions. They were elegently minimal, yet not stingy, with portions more like a real restaurant instead of a truck stop. 
The building has a great history. I remember it as housing New College before sitting empty for years. It was a funeral home from 1914 until the 1970' s and, according to online sources, the restrooms were the elevator that transported bodies to and from the embalming room downstairs. (Look for the huge gears that worked the lift)
We had a changing of the guard during our visit and both servers were smart, funny and efficient. All and all, it was a great place. Not for everyday, but definitely for a special occasion. It's my second favorite place, so far. Beretta is a hard act to follow.

Jesse:

    This place is huge, it goes on and on, room after room. An outdoor dining area with strings of lights above, a main dining area with full bar, another large dining area with another full bar, but this room feels more for serious drinking and socializing, while enjoying the Vestry's full menu of course. It's closer to the Chapel itself, where all the music happens. And another full bar is located. They make it very easy to get a drink. I found the Chapel room gorgeous. High ceilings with arching religious ribs, complete with huge disco ball in the center. Nice place for a concert.

    Every wall is painted a dark, warm charcoal, which works except for the bathroom where you can hardly see where you're going it's so dimly lit and darkly painted.
    We arrived at 5:15pm. We had a reservation but it wasn't necessary. Had the place to ourselves pretty much. Tonight the joint didn't start to fill up until 7pm and then it was only half full. This place can hold a lot of people.
    The menu is outstanding. So enticing, we had to take a bit longer to ponder it.  

    I ordered the Mussels in a tomato sauce with preserved lemon, cream, chili flakes and a grilled baguette. The baguette is lightly coated with olive oil and garlic but due to my limitations I had the mussels without cream and baguette. All for $18. Tonight they offered $1 oysters on the half shell, so two of those please. They were accompanied by two sauces, a yummy, spicy red, and a salty, vinegary clear. The red sauce was my fave.
   For dessert we shared the house...It IS It, their take on the San Francisco classic -- a sundae with creamy vanilla ice cream, oatmeal cookie, and bittersweet chocolate magic shell for $9.
    Everything was delicious. My only ding would be that the portions were a wee bit small on 3 out of 4 dishes we ordered.
    Our waitstaff was very attentive, extremely pleasant, and added to the enjoyment of our evening.

Mary:

Not much left to say. I agree with everything both Shirley and Jesse said. The place was     almost empty when we arrived at 5:30, so we could choose our seating. Always fun to sit at the window in a restaurant on Valencia. The street traffic, both cars and people, is constantly interesting. When I got up to take pictures, I almost got lost inside the building. It goes on and on, and there are stairs leading up and down that I have no idea about their destinations. 

I ordered the meatballs. Wow. Probably the best I've ever had, and that's saying something. Only problem was I could eat several more when I was done. 

Fortunately Barb, who accompanied us this evening, couldn't eat the last of her pulled pork slider, so I got to eat that too and can say it was very good. I liked the help, I liked the food very much. The prices put the food into a "sometimes" category. 

Couldn't eat here often and mind the pocketbook too. But as a treat, it's not disappointing. I loved the way the silverware was presented, as if someone had tucked it into bed for the night.

Ali Baba's Cave

Mary:

I’ve eaten here before, years ago. Funny I don’t remember that until I get inside and see the “cave” or quasi-cave in the side room…an area just big enough for six people to sit on the floor around a low table, surrounded by material hanging from the ceiling and pulled to the sides. Kind of a junior-high school stage set made from old Indian madras bed covers.

And after I eat I know why I don’t remember. The lamb schawarma that I order is as tough as shoe leather. The rest of the food is good: hummus, salad, rice. Turns out that the schawarma spit is almost empty and I got close to the last carvings. Learned something. I’ll check that before I order next time at any restaurant that serves schawarma. It’s easy to do here because Ali Baba’s is deli style in the front, and sit down style in the back, so you can see everything before you order.

This is one of the oddest interiors I’ve been in. It has almost bare walls, and no official decorations except the “cave”. Coke bottles in cases stacked up one wall; three paintings of flowers way too small for the high-ceiling walls. It feels like it was designed by guys who just got out of dormitory life. I kinda like it. There’s nothing pretentious about it and I know that I’m not paying for the décor.

Shirley:

Ummm, Ali Babas. One of my favorites. How can you go wrong with lemon and garlic and olive oil? I always like eating here. I love the Mediterraen flavors that extend from Spain to Morroco, with all the coastal countries between. Except eggplant. Not sure why it has found a place on the planet. But throw in some mint and cumin and a little heat and I am in heaven. These are the cuisines closest to vegetarian that make me happy, body and soul.

I've tried everything on the menu and this time chose the Shawarma Plate with Lamb served on a rice pilaf. It includes Hummous and your choice of salad topped with Lavosh. I opted for the Tahini Salad; tomato, cucumber, parsley and mint mixed with tahini sauce. It was really good. The lamb had bits of charred edges, which gave it a smokey taste. The Hummous was creamy and lemony and the Tahini Salad was crisp and flavorful. I love the warm Lavosh and the finishing touches to the plate, like the olives and thinly sliced red onions.

Is it the best Middle Eastern food I have ever eaten? No. Is it consistently good and satisfying? You betcha. 

The cave part in the name is a little misleading in a comical sort of way. They do have a niche decorated in a Disney-esque Arabian Nights sort of way. The rest of the place is pretty utilitarian. It is more of a do-it-yourself place then full service, but the folks are polite and efficient. I like leaving a place feeling full but not stuffed and this type of food hits that mark every time.

Jesse:

    When you enter this joint, there's a long counter. Looks like a buffet counter but it isn't. You can see the food they offer and at the end of the counter you place your order. I ordered a lamb swerma dinner, the meat was dry and bland. I also ordered a mint tea. I received a cup of earl grey tea with a sprig of mint.
    This place looks like their food would be good but it just doesn't turn out that way.
    I would not recommend alibaba. If you want a good lamb swerma, go to Good Frickin Chicken on mission and 29th.

Valencia Pizza & Pasta

Jesse:

Mary:

This outside of this place is kinda faded. It has that look of invisibility that old restaurants get when they have been in the neighborhood for a long time and newer, trendier places have been built around it. The inside is more visually lively and includes a strange mix of old furniture and a Denny’s kinda menu on a white board. We originally said we would pass up pizza parlors because Jesse and I would find little to eat there; but this place had a menu more like a diner in spite of it’s name. In fact, I had a lot of possibilites—and I chose short ribs. I was looking forward to its melt-in-the-mouth tenderness. The ribs were disappointing, stringy and needing a lot of chewing. I kept looking at the other options that I had passed up for ribs, sorry for my choice.

The disappointment was made keener by the fact that I like the place. I appreciate the old feeling. I like the sense of a family operation and the aura of history that this place exuded. That aura accumulates in the walls; it can’t be built into a new place. I wanted to like the food. The staff (probably not quite the right term: mother and daughter or niece?) was welcoming, friendly and efficient. I watched several families with elementary school-age kids eating together, and reckoned that it was a good place to come to when mom or dad didn’t want to cook. It had that neighborhood status and the owners knew a lot of their customers by name. I can dis the ribs, but I can’t dis the place.

Shirley:

I was really looking forward to trying out this restaurant. I have often walked past but never tried it. It has a "not open" vibe that I just assumed was real. In fact, it is open most of the day; breakfast, lunch and dinner.

The place has multiple personalities. The exterior is "new, sweet, clean" with an interior that looks more like it has been kicked around by someone wearing combat boots. The menu that was handed to me read as simple diner food with a shallow overlay of Italian-American, but if you add the specials posted on the wall, it is a very complicated mixture of European cuisines, including a large range of seafood and speciality items.  All and all, it is a very courageous menu, not just for their chef, but for storage considerations as well.

I chose the Spaghetti With Meat Balls and tomato sauce from the table menu. It is my standard of comparison for any place that serves it. If you have ever eaten a really good meatball in marinara sauce on perfectly cooked pasta, then you know what life is for. There used to be a resataurant in New Jersey, call Bonvini's that actually had grandma Bonvini sitting at one of the red checkered cloth covered tables, shaping meatballs by hand, piling them up on a tray. I would watch as each layer built a taller and taller pyramid. Her son would carry the heavy tray to the kithchen where a miracle of flavors would be born.

Did the Valencia Pizza & Pasta live up to this idealized standard? Of course not. The marinara sauce was pretty good and the pasta was okay but the meatballs were a sad representation of the good stuff. They were spongey from some sort of filler and fairly bland. Texture is very important in a meatball and a too-high ratio of grain to meat completely ruins the chew quality. The plate included some excellently sauteed vegetables and okay dressed salad. Garlic bread was placed on the table as soon as we sat down. There was plenty of food. Mounds of medium cuisine.

Would I go there again? I think it would have been a great place to take my kids when they were young. I could have filled them up on okay stuff without a huge bill at the end of the meal except I raised them to appreciate good food and although they would have eaten everything put in fron of them, they would have had something to criticize for every bite. In fact, the powdery, industrial parmesian in the shaker jar on the table would have been immediately spotted and the comments would begin.

The folks were really friendly and helpful, It had the distinct feel of a relaxed family-run, down home restaurant, not the over-slick places popping up all over Valencia. No need to wax and buff anything, a good place for large portions at the end of your pay period.

Jesse:

overall rating: low prices for mundane food and ambiance

     The menu and ambiance of this place really reminded me of a midwestern town diner. The type of place where you could still order a blue plate special.  

     The ambiance was, well uh, not really to be found. There’s just one big dining area with 5 tables and an open kitchen in the rear. They probably bought the furniture from a used restaurant supply house and it hasn’t changed since they opened in 1995. 

     Not a lot of thought went into decorating. It’s more of a mish-mash with a huge odd flower painting on the main wall.

     The menu though, is extensive! You can order prawns, ahi tuna, meatballs, crab cakes, ravioli, salmon steak, pork chops, chicken, pot roast, lamb shank, catfish, meatloaf, calamari, and fried chicken. And they’re open for breakfast. wow.  

     The waitstaff is friendly and warmly welcomes your arrival. 

      I ordered a New York Steak with mushrooms and grilled onions. With a choice of soup, green salad, fries, mashed potatoes and pasta. Due to my food allergies, I had fries, mashed potatoes, a green salad and broccoli.  All for $17.95

     The steak and broccoli were cooked very well. A nice medium rare as ordered for the steak and the broccoli was pleasantly crisp. Mashed potatoes were a bit lumpy but good.

     I probably wouldn’t eat here again. There are just too many restaurants nearby that have outstanding food. Valencia Pizza has low prices but I would rather pay a little more and receive much better tasting food. And there are great cheap places around too. Granted, they’re starting to die out, but for now, I can do better with my food dollars.

      I did love their bathroom. It is a classic San Francisco  restroom setup. You go through the kitchen, through the back kitchen, down a very steep, short flight of stairs, to a TINY bathroom. Tall people beware. You might not fit. There’s not even enough room for a sink. For that, you go back outside, up the stairs and into the back kitchen to use their sink and towels. But it works and you have a tiny S.F. adventure.

Bon Appetite!