Jasmine Tea House

Jasmine Jewel



Jasmine Tea House is one of my favorite places in the area for Chinese food and dim sum. Not only do they have a wide variety of entree choices, from vegetarian to non, from conventional offerings to unusual, from innovative to staid, but the quality is top-notch and they also deliver. I'd heard about Jasmine a while ago because it was President Clinton's favorite place (see his photo online or in the restaurant), but somehow I never made it there until I moved closeby. And what a mistake! Now it's my standby place for ordering out because it is one of the few places in San Francisco that delivers (often with free fried rice or low mein) and it's excellent. I also prefer brown rice with Chinese and they serve it. I like to take non-vegetarian friends here, order a meatless chicken entree and then fight with them over it. Everyone who has tried it says it's delicious and I enjoy tempting omnivores.

My favorite choices at Jasmine are ordering a full dinner of dim sum, including meatless chicken dumplings, gyoza, onion dumplings, potstickers and stuffed vegetables. For entrees, they will make anything on the menu vegetarian, so I've enjoyed sesame meatless chicken, cashew meatless chicken, plus the delicious regular items like happy buddha, string bean meatless chicken and kung pao tofu. Also, don't ignore their unusual offerings like pea sprout with garlic sauce. They also have ostrich and frog legs on the menu!

• Dim Sum (make sure to ask for the menu)
• Onion Dumpling
• Gyoza and Potstickers
• Happy Buddha
• Kung Pao
• String Bean with (choice)
• Any Vegetarian Chicken selection
• Combination Dinners
• Jasmine Tea


Full List of My Favorites

Gyoza

Sesame Vegetarian Chicken

Glowing Mystery

Un Autra Volta

Entombed Memories

Homelife

Balancing Act

Kika's Treats Closeup

Kika's Treats

'Treats' Truly Are


I found Kika's Treats at Bi-Rite Grocery. When I saw "Caramelized Graham Crackers with Dark Chocolate" there was nothing that could stop me from trying them. I'm glad I did. Kika's line of cookies are rich, deep and chocolaty, reflecting their handmade, artisanal manufacture. The dark chocolate graham crackers are a dark buttery flavor and one is enough to satisfy. I normally prefer dark chocolate, but the milk chocolate version is a better combination with the caramel-butter flavor of the graham cracker. A glass of milk best washes down and balances the richness of the grahams. The nib shortbread is the most conventional of the offerings, but with its triple chocolate bang it might be the finest of them all. The espresso cardamom shortbread is such a strong flavor with a crumbly bite that I prefer not to have it without proper tea or a coffee, as the bitterness of coffee or smoothness of tea helps balance the cardamom. Coffee or tea is required for the honey cakes because their immensity tends to leave their centers a bit dry. But make no mistake, they are fantastic.
So next time you are looking for a good gift, an easy dessert or just a gastronomic delight, grab Kika's Treats. Then figure out which one is your favorite. See where they are carried here.

• Espresso Cardamom Shortbread with Dark Chocolate
• Cocoa Nib Chocolate Shortbread with Dark Chocolate
• Caramelized Graham Crackers with Milk Chocolate
• Caramelized Graham Crackers with Dark Chocolate
• Brazilian Honey Cakes with Dark Chocolate


Full List of My Favorites

Kika's Dark Chocolate Carmelized Graham Cracker

Kika's Stack

Bonus Image of Slanted Door

How's that for crazy!

Inside Slanted Door

Slanted Door

‘Door’ is a gateway

The Slanted Door was my first Vietnamese food, what seems generations ago when they were on Valencia near 18th street. With one taste of the lemongrass tofu, I was astonished: savory, exotic, meaty…so refined and incredibly tasty. I don’t think I’ve been there without ordering that dish. The rest of the menu has been excellent as well, even with their subsequent moves to Brannan Street and their current location at the Ferry Building. Following Slanted Door’s success, Out the Door, the take-out spin-off, has opened around the corner in the Ferry Building hall, as well as at the Westfield Shopping Center in Union Square and on Bush Street at Fillmore in Pacific Heights. And yes, all of these locations serve lemongrass tofu.

I’ve been told the shaking beef, the restaurant’s specialty, is fantastic, but going vegetarian here will save you some money. My other favorites are the crispy imperial rolls, eaten traditionally with the mint, lettuce and sauce together, the som tum salad, the fresh spring rolls, in which the shiitake mushroom brings a special note of flavor, the seasonal vegetable sides and more than once I’ve been amazed by the desserts. I’ve been to Slanted Door many times over the years and it never fails to transport.

Must Haves:

• Lemongrass Tofu
• Crispy Imperial Rolls
• Fresh Spring Rolls
• Som Tum (Green Papaya Salad)
• A serious consideration of the dessert menu


Full List of My Favorites

Spring Rolls