What I Ate: June 2, 2010 (Kitchenette, Serpentine, Plearn Thai Palace)

Lunch: We arrived in San Francisco and went immediately to Hard Knox Cafe where we discovered a group of 30-40 high school or college age kids arrived just before us. There weren't even enough seats in the restaurant to deal with their whole party and after a few minutes it became apparent that we weren't going to be seated until after the entire group had been served. So, we headed across the street to Serpentine (2495 3rd Street, San Francisco, CA‎ - (415) 252-2000‎). But first, Dave Lu took me around the block to a somewhat secret kitchen based in the loading docks called Kitchenette (958 Illinois Street, San Francisco, CA) where we had to try their sandwiches. I got a fig wood smoked pastrami sandwich with caraway braised cabbage and onion, apple-ale pickle relish, and stoneground mustard which was absolutely delicious. The picture is a bit lame as we were rushing from Serpentine to Kitchenette and back.

After tasting the sandwich, I packed up the remainder so Tina could taste it and we could have our "proper" lunch at Serpentine. I had ordered the Seared California Yellowtail (frisee, arugula, cucumber, heart of palm, carrots, snap peas, and honey dijon vinaigrette). The fish came in a state that I wouldn't describe as "seared" but rather completely cooked through. The texture was tough and chewy with the fish breaking down into a mealy texture while being chewed. It was just overcooked to death. The fish itself had little flavor beyond the extremely strong lemon and pepper seasoning applied to the outside (not a surprise since the protein had been cooked through and through which generally obliterates the taste of mild fish). The salad wasn't bad except for the hearts of palm with were bitter.

Tina had the Crispy Calamari Sandwich (savoy cabbage & carrot slaw, smoked paprika aioli, pain de mie roll with greens) which I found much more appetizing. She wasn't in the mood for the fried calamari, so we swapped plates.

Papa had the Prather Ranch Burger and said it was pretty good.

Dinner: We joined Dave and Rachel at Plearn Thai Palace (1510 North Main Street, Walnut Creek, CA‎ - (925) 937-7999‎) for some decent Thai food.

Pumpkin Curry - Chicken in red curry with coconut milk, bell peppers, pumpkin, and Thai sweet basil

Pad Thai - Thai famous rice noodles prepared with chicken, egg, pan-fried with onions and bean sprouts

Ma Kuer Pad - Eggplant pan fried with pork, sweet basil, tomato, onion, zucchini, bell pepper, green chili and special Thai seasonings

Kang Keow Wan Seafood - Combination prawns, calamari, filet of sole, mussels, simmered in green curry, with coconut milk, and green beans, bamboo shoots, zucchini, bell pepper, and sweet basil

All the food tasted pretty good (although, we've had better Thai food, the flavors were very welcome to us since we hadn't had Thai cuisine in a while), but my favorite was the pumpkin curry.

Here are a couple more photos of Kitchenette.