Cupola Pizzeria – San Francisco

Rated: ♣♣♣♣

While doing some damage at the SF Westfield mall, Cupola quickly caught my eye. At the very top of the shopping center is a brand new Italian restaurant from the Lark Creek Steak Restaurant Group serving up gourmet pizzas and pastas. If you’re planning on dining here, be prepared to wait. We waited about an hour for a table of 3, but you can also make a reservation. Though, it seems kind of silly to make a res for mall food, but here, it’s necessary and worth it.

Believe it or not, we were trying to eat light, so we decided to skip the pizza and order gnocchi with lamb ragu, fried calamari salad and warm mozzarella with broccoli rabe.

We started off with Warm Pulled-to-order Mozzarella with broccoli rabe and crusty crostinis. So rich, creamy and amazing. The toasted chili flakes were a nice compliment to the heavy dish.

Cupola Pulled Mozzarella

Next, we had the Fried Calamari Salad. A generous portion of deep fried calamari was topped on a bed of well-dressed arugula, red onion and thinly sliced lemon. The calamari was fried perfectly without tasting too greasy.

Cupola Calamari Salad

For our entree, we split the Potato Gnocchi with braised lamb, red kabocha squash, honey thyme vinegar and pecorino cheese. As if I couldn’t be more pleased, they bring me this dish. The gnocchi was light and airy, the lamb tender, the sauce sweet and creamy while still savory. The dish was completely amazing and I’m definitely ordering this again when I come back.

Cupola Gnocchi Lamb

Overall, I was thoroughly wow-ed by Cupola. For mall food, this was pretty darn good. Though, I’ll need to eat the pizza in order to tell if this is legit. Can’t wait to come back!

Cupola Pizzeria
Westfield Shopping Centre
845 Market St, 4th Fl, Ste 400
San Francisco, CA 94103
Neighborhoods: Union Square, SOMA

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El Toreador – San Francisco

El Toreador Store Front

Rated: ♣♣♣

When most of my Mexican food intake consists of ordering from a truck, I sometimes want to sit down at an incredibly themed Mexican restaurant with loud colors and frozen margaritas. That’s exactly what you’ll find at El Toreador in West Portal.

This West Portal landmark has been around for forever. They also have the most random things hanging on their wall and ceiling like cowboy hats and stuffed parrots.  I love the old autographed celebrity photos on the wall. Not only is this place quirky, it’s also a part of history.

El Toreador Celeb Pics

The best part about this place is the house chips and salsa. The salsa is completely different than any other kind of salsa I’ve ever had. It’s smooth, rich and spicy. No chunks whatsoever, and I actually like that! The only bad thing about this is that this is served prior to your meal. So, if you do not have any self-control (like me), you’ll end up getting really full on this before receiving your entree.

El Toreador Salsa Chips

For lunch, I had the carnitas burrito. K got the scrambled egg and chorizo burrito because he absolutely loves chorizo and will order anything with it in it. My burrito was stuffed with carnitas (deep fried pork), rice and pinto beans with salsa and guacamole on the side. The caranitas was moist, but cubed. Usually, I like my carnitas shredded, but if it’s moist, I’m not complaining. K’s chorizo burrito wasn’t too bad. The egg and chorizo was ground really fine. We would prefer the sausage and egg to be a little chunkier so we can taste each ingredient separately. I didn’t find any hot sauce on the table, so I lathered up my burrito with the house salsa that was served with the chips. I’m sure I wasn’t the first person to think of that.

El Toreador Carnitas Burrito

El Toreador Chorizo Egg Burrito

I love El Toreador. It’s fun, wacky and serves some pretty good Mexican fare. Enchiladas seem to be the hot item on the menu, so I’m sure to order that on my next visit.

El Toreador
50 W Portal Ave
(between Claremont Blvd & Portola Dr)
San Francisco, CA 94127
Neighborhood: West Portal

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CocoaBella Chocolates- San Francisco

CocoaBella Chocolates

Rated: ♣♣ (This review is solely on their hot chocolate.)

K and I have sipped a ton of hot chocolate in our time. From instant packets of Swiss Miss to Cacao Sampaka in Barcelona, we’ve probably consumed enough hot chocolate to fill a swimming pool. I was told that CocoaBella Chocolates in the Westfield Shopping Center in San Francisco has a  notable sipping chocolate.

The little chocolate stand at the front of the shopping center sells little pieces of gourmet chocolate, but if you walk to the back of their stand, you can order a full cup of rich, piping-hot liquid chocolate. They have a handful of flavors to choose from – peanut butter hot chocolate, spicy hot chocolate, mint hot chocolate, and a few others. You even have the option of ordering dark or milk chocolate for your drink. I tried to order the peanut butter, but they ran out, even before 12pm! So, instead I got the hazelnut and K got the mint. Ten dollars later, we each had 2 tiny cups of the thick drinking chocolate. I was a little disappointed by the size, but then concluded that I probably shouldn’t be drinking anymore than what I had.

CocoaBella Menu

After my first sip, it tasted like I was drinking liquid Nutella… and that’s a good thing. Though it was a little too watery to my liking, the flavor was still pretty good. The hazelnuts weren’t too overpowering and the texture of the drink was really smooth. K’s mint hot chocolate was okay. The mint was more of a fresh mint than a peppermint. It almost tasted like I was drinking regular hot chocolate after brushing my teeth with toothpaste. Not a great flavor.

CocoaBella Hot Chocolates

Overall, I was disappointed with CocoaBella’s hot chocolate, especially since they’re charging $5 per cup. If you’re looking for some stellar sipping chocolate, try Christopher Elbow Artisanal Chocolate in Hayes Valley for $4.50. Their chocolate is rich, velvety and topped with a home made (and complimentary) marshmallow.

CocoaBella Chocolates
Westfield San Francisco Centre
865 Market St
San Francisco, CA 94103
Neighborhoods: Union Square, SOMA

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The Liberty Café – San Francisco

Liberty Cafe Sign

Rated: ♣♣♣♣

If you were to ask K what his favorite pie was, what would you guess? Apple pie? Peach pie? Pecan pie? No, no, his favorite is chicken pot pie. And you’ll get a really good one here at The Liberty Café. This cute little bakery slash restaurant on Cortland St. serves up French cuisine using local Californian ingredients.

Ever since we got the house, K and I cut back on eating out. We’ve been trying to recoup our savings as well as acquire furniture! Well a few nights ago, we finally made a dinner date and tried The Liberty Café. We’ve been meaning to come here for years since everyone in my family has gone and raved about their famous chicken pot pie.

When walking through the door, we were first greeted with two very friendly waiters. I had a reservation, so we were quickly seated at what I think is the best seat in the house – a table nestled within the front bay window perfectly strung with white sparkle lights. We were about to order one pot pie each, but was quickly warned by the waitress that the portions were large. Wow, how nice of her to warn us! With one chicken pot pie though, we still managed to eat an obscene amount of food. But everything was so tasty, I did not regret one bite.

We started off with the night’s special, tuna tartare. Little pieces of fresh tuna were mixed with shallots, capers, micro greens and a little quail egg split in two. The dressing was very light and I think I tasted a hint of mustard. The tuna was also served with crusty crostinis. I was really impressed with this dish. I noticed that the chef put a lot of thought into the ingredients of the dish because the the shallots and capers were diced very small so that their pungent flavors wouldn’t over power the tuna.

Liberty Cafe Tuna Tartare

Next, was the star of the night… chicken pot pie! The pie was perfect. The gravy wasn’t too salty and it had a thick consistency. The carrots, potatoes and peas still had a slightly firm texture which meant that this pie was made to order. These babies were definitely not pre-made and frozen. Our side of kale was super tasty too. You can’t go wrong when it’s sauteed in garlic!

Liberty Cafe Pot Pie Inside

Liberty Cafe Kale

Alas, we come to dessert. Banana cream pie with 6 whole inches of homemade whipped cream. The bananas were thick cut and fresh. The crust was thin and flaky, and though the whipped cream looks heavy in the picture, it was light and airy.

Liberty Liberty Cafe Banana Cream Pie

Well, I think K and I found our new date spot at this well-established café in Bernal Heights. The place is quaint, romantic and yummy. Check out our cleaned plates!

Liberty Cafe Empty Plates

The Liberty Café
410 Cortland Ave
(between Bennington St & Wool St)
San Francisco, CA 94110
Neighborhood: Bernal Heights

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Sam’s Kitchen – Pizza Margherita

Sams Kitchen Pizza Margherita

To be honest, K and I hardly cook in our brand new kitchen. It’s really bad actually… We typically hang out at my parents house and eat meals like this, this and this.

One day, K and I made a real effort to get off work early and cook a dinner for ourselves. First meal on our list was pizza! We made a pizza margherita that night, and I surprised by how easy it was. Check out the recipe below:

Ingredients

Note: You will need a pizza stone for this recipe. I used this one.

1 large ball of fresh mozzarella cheese
1 bag of pizza dough from Trader Joe’s
6-8 fresh basil leaves

– Sauce –
2 cans peeled tomatoes
4-5 cloves of garlic, chopped
3 tbsp extra virgin olive oil
1 bay leaf
1 tsp oregano
5 fresh basil leaves, roughly chopped
Salt and pepper to taste
Pinch of chili flakes

Directions

Brown the garlic and chili flakes in the olive oil in a sauce pan. Add in the tomatoes and salt, and let it stew for 20 minutes. Take a potato masher and break up the tomatoes until it’s a thick and slightly chunky consistency. Add in the oregano, bay leaf and basil and let the sauce stew for another 15 minutes. Let the sauce cool down before smearing it on the pizza dough.

Sams Kitchen Pizza Sauce Cooked

Place dough on a floured surface and let it rest for 20 minutes.

Sams Kitchen Pizza Dough

Preheat oven to 450 degrees.

After it has rested, stretch the dough out to a round that’s 14 inches in diameter on a floured surface, then brush the dough with olive oil. Carefully transfer the dough to a pizza stone. Try not to press the dough into the stone. I made that mistake and lost some of my pizza crust. :( Take heaping spoonfuls of the sauce and spread it over the dough. Extra sauce can be reserved for some tasty spaghetti!

Sams Kitchen Pizza Add Sauce

Pinch off 1 inch chunks of the mozzarella and sprinkle it over the pizza. Take your fresh basil leaves and evenly space it over the pie.

Sams Kitchen Pizza Add Toppings

Pop the pizza with the stone into the oven and let it cook for 18-20 minutes or until the bottom of the pizza is golden brown. The pizza should be crispy on the bottom and gooey on the top. Enjoy!

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