Cafe Bunn Mi
After returning to San Francisco, CA after a 1.5 week hiatus overseas, we decided to go to Cafe Bunn Mi for a quick bite on a Sunday morning per the recommendation of our friends Scott and Carmen. Our diet overseas had consisted of a variety of foods, many of which were fried and heavier, so we were looking for some light, comfort food. We walked into Cafe Bunn Mi soon after they had opened (November 4, 2012) so it wasn’t a problem to place our order, get seated, and get served our meals. The menu was written on 4 chalkboards but was extensive enough to have a good variety of foods to cover the gamut of Vietnamese sandwiches, rice plates, noodles, and pho.
A lot of things on the menu looked tasty but we knew we could only eat a couple of dishes by ourselves. In the end we ordered:
- Grilled Pork Saigon Noodles with Imperial Rolls
- Crab Noodle Soup Pho
There was a slight mixup of our order as a Chicken Noodle Soup Pho came out from the kitchen. We realized soon after taking a picture of it, and then sent it back. I had meant to ask the server if they were just going to toss it if they could just leave it for us to try but I was too slow . . . I blame it on the lack of sleep from spending the night at Newark International Airport, the early flight back to SF, and the lack of coffee! It’s too bad we didn’t get to try any of it but it did look tasty.
The good thing with pho is that it doesn’t take too long to prepare so it wasn’t long after that the correct order of Crab Noodle Soup Pho came out. From the picture below you might think that the crab noodle soup pho is a little spicy but that’s deceiving. The fresh tomatoes used in the dish made the soup seem spicier than it really was. There was also an ample amount of crab in the dish which was presented as an egg-crab mixture. The scrambled egg-crab mix had the texture of the brains of the crabs. Some people might not like that texture but I don’t mind it one bit – I’m usually the one clamoring for the crab heads!
The Grilled Pork Saigon Noodles with Imperial Rolls were great. The rolls, stuffed with pork, carrots, taro and clear noodles, were fried perfectly and were nice and crispy. There was also no oily feeling to the fried rolls which was great. The pork was well made and not too dry. The noodle bowl consisted of vermicelli noodles with pickled carrots and daikon topped with peanuts and green onions. Once the noodle bowl was mixed together with the pork and accompanying homemade fish sauce it was simply time to just sample the delicious flavors and enjoy our meal.
All of the dishes tasted great and the meal definitely hit the spot. The portion sizes were generous; some of us even had some leftovers to take home for an afternoon snack. I definitely recommend Cafe Bunn Mi and plan on hitting it up again in the future for more pho or to try their sandwiches.
Cafe Bunn Mi
417 Clement St
San Francisco, CA 94118
(415) 668-8908
Reposado
After a soccer game in Palo Alto, CA on Sunday morning (June 17th, 2012), my wife, our friend Meg and I were looking to grab a quick bite to eat in the area before headed back to the East Bay. Meg had grown up in the Palo Alto area and had thrown out some suggestions on some of her favorite places but doing a quick search on their business hours showed that all those places were closed on Sundays. By then we had narrowed our choices to Mexican cuisine so we headed towards downtown Palo Alto from the soccer fields while doing a Yelp search on our phones for a place to eat. Within a minute or two we heard Meg exclaim “Ah ha, I got it. Let’s try Reposado.”
As we continued toward Reposado, Meg described it as a more upscale sit down type place and told us she had wanted to try it for a while now, and shared that it had gotten decent Yelp reviews. Connie and I are not picky eaters and are always up for trying new places, preferably with delicious food, so we were looking forward to our upcoming dining experience especially since we had not gone out to eat in a while (hence the lack of new content for this blog!).
Once at Reposado we decided to sit at the bar and then contemplated the menu. Should we pick from the brunch menu, small plates or traditional style plates? Having just played soccer we were thinking a smaller portion size but we were still debating between the small plates vs traditional style plates. Fortunately, the bartender clarified that the small plates still had a decent amount of food on them. We ended up ordering a cerveza, a margarita (customized), some chips and guacamole and:
- Tacos De La Calle – Four “street” tacos, pollo & salsa verde, carnitas, pescado & mango salsa fresca, asada & guajillo salsa
- Ceviche de Hauchinango – Pacific Snapper in agua chile cucumber sauce, jicama, mango, and red onion
Being seated at the bar we had the advantage of being able to see the TV screens that were nestled in the bar shelves. They had one of the Euro 2012 soccer matches on (Netherlands vs Portugal) which was a bonus for soccer fans like us. Perhaps it was the distraction of the match but it didn’t seem too long after we had ordered that our food came out – a pleasant surprise since we had ventured into Reposado right at lunchtime. Furthermore, there did not seem to be any sort of detrimental influence of a crowded venue on our dishes, yet another plus.
First, the lowdown on the tacos. All the meats on the small tacos were cooked well – not underdone or overdone. I should clarify that by small, I mean each taco could be finished in two bites. All of the tacos packed a lot of flavor. Nothing too overpowering but enough to give the taste buds a nice tingle. For those that cannot do spicy foods some of the tacos did have a little bit of a kick, easily discernable visually.
The ceviche dish was presented nicely. A generous mound of ceviche topped with mango, red onions, and jicama on its own small dish set on one side of a long rectangular plate filled with tortilla chips. The ceviche smelled a lot fishier than it actually tasted. The pieces of snapper were a good texture and they were not totally overpowered by the limes or chile cucumber sauce which I thought was quite mild . . . was there really cucumber in there? Thinking about the overall dish, I think I’d make a recommendation to provide some more chips. Even with generous helpings of ceviche on my chips, I ran out of chips before I finished my ceviche.
Looking over at the diners next to us, their huevo (egg) dishes looked really good. I do like brunch foods but I might still pass on the huevo dishes. If I do come for brunch I’m going to order the Chipotle Beef Benedict – grilled chipotle seasoned filet mignon, toasted English muffin, roasted poblano hollandaise sauce, home fried potatoes – which is also part of the brunch menu.
Overall, I’d give Reposado a thumbs up for our dining experience. The yummy meal was enough to fill our stomachs to tide us over but I’d say a little pricier (tacos @ $15, ceviche @ $13). I guess we were in a nice establishment with good ambience in downtown Palo Alto, CA – I’m sure Reposado is a popular place at nights. Side note to self – maybe I should stop hitting up my local taco truck for $1.25 tacos.
Reposado
236 Hamilton Ave
Palo Alto, CA 94301
(650) 833-3151
Foodie Forays 