Surprisingly Good Dim Sum at Sino - San Jose

For those of you too impatient to skip to the end, everything you need to know about this post is in the title.

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While walking around Santana Row with my friend after Fogo de Chao to digest our massive feast and get away from this stray cat following us, we walked past Sino. In the pre-blog days, I had eaten dinner at Sino before. The food was good, slightly generic but still tasty, and of course marked up per the usual Santana Row price structure. So when my friend told me that dim sum at Sino was good, I seriously doubted the legitimacy of her claim. And by doubted, I mean, "Girl you crazay!"

By the way, I always thought it was pronounced SEE-NO, but it's actually SIGN-O.

We went one Sunday morning to test out the claim that Sino at Santana Row has pretty good dim sum. She is not crazay. It's actually pretty good. And in an even more shocking turn of events, it is actually affordable! Here are photos of most of our dishes. I only forgot to capture maybe 2 dishes, and these were all shared between three people.

In traditional dim sum restaurants, Asian women in aprons wheel around carts with piping hot food through tight spaces between large circular banquet tables covered in questionably laundered tablecloths, calling out their food names in what can only be perceived as angry voices, then they stamp or mark your card with symbols that portray nothing about the cost of the gai lan dish you just ordered. Sino provides a refreshingly American take on ordering dim sum. You are given a checklist of categorized items like "steamed" and "fried" and after checking what you want, food is served as it is ready. The menu has labeled prices so you will not be surprised by things that cost more because the Chinese symbol marked on your sheet has more lines than others.

($4.75) Baked BBQ pork buns

Good. This is one of my favorite dim sum items and it tastes pretty legit.

($5) Shrimp noodle rolls
Large portion. Well executed. Served with way more sauce than at other dim sum places which is a good thing. It's good but not the best I've ever had. 

($4.75) Fried egg plant stuffed with shrimp
I'm not familiar with this as a traditional item. It seems a little fusion-ish to me. Nice sized portion, good taste. It's a bit heavy for lunch and goes better with some white rice for dinner.

($4.25) Chicken feet
Oh my goodies. Tastes almost legit except for the peppers. Shouldn't they be julienned and steamed with some black beans at the bottom of the dish? Can someone more Chinese than me confirm this?

($4.75) Steamed pork buns
See description for baked pork buns. Legit!

($4.75) Fried shrimp and chive dumplings

These are actually larger in real life than they appear in the photo if you could believe that. While I liked the taste overall and have no qualms about the dumpling. There is something hard about the stuffing and the wrapper. It's still a good dumpling, it's just not as supple.

($7.50) Kung Pao Chicken lollipops
Sino's highly marketed chicken lollipops appetizer. I am not a fan. Very nice Kung Pao sauce and that's about it. I've never really been a fan of tough and dry fried foods.

OVERALL IMPRESSIONS

If I recall correctly, the items not featured are shiu mai or har gow. I estimate the total bill to be about $50 for the food before tax and tip. Not too bad because it served 3 people with some leftovers for a doggie bag. Aside from the Kung Pao chicken lollipops which cost the most and I was the least enthusiastic about them, everything was good and close enough to authentic. For pricing, I think it's on average $1 more expensive than traditional dim sum at Asian restaurants. Some items may be fairly priced but some dumplings may cost a bit more than they would at an Asian restaurant. I'm no expert because usually when I eat dim sum, other people pay but this is my rough assessment on pricing. Service was good, nothing unpleasant happened. We were left in peace to eat. So in the end, Sino in Santana Row has surprisingly good dim sum. Try it out some time.

Sino on Yelp

Dim Sum menu

Kitchen Story in San Francisco

 By now, I've clearly established that I love brunch. I have amassed enough brunch posts to start a "Brunch" category. In fact, I'm brunched out. My relationship with brunch no longer satisfies me the way it used to. We lost the twinkle in our eyes when we meet; the nervous anticipation of our union has grown into an annoyance; the classic dishes have now become old tricks. I am taking a hiatus from the brunch game for a while. The last brunch I had was at Kitchen Story in San Francisco. This one is a stand out star and a good way to end my exhausting relationship with SF brunch...for now.

The team running Kitchen Story on this day spoke mostly in Thai. I can't surmise that the establishment is owned by a Thai family. All I know is I recognized Thai words being spoken by the staff to each other. 

We were seated at the bar, in front of the heat lamp used to keep food warm before serving. What a perfect place for a food blogger. I was able to see all the dishes being prepped for other customers. Unfortunately, the lamp's lighting turned out to be challenging to photograph food. I did get this shot of the adorable table setting with a small flower arrangement and used books underneath a lantern. The used books are a recurring theme in the decor and are even used as clipboards for receipts.

 

Here you see the books again. It was a wonderfully decorated place that made me feel like home. Sometimes it is nice when restaurants feel lavish and exciting and other times, it feels nice to eat at "home."

 ($14) Crab panini - crab, celery, garlic spread, caper, pimento, arugula, pepper jack

I was very insistent on not eating eggs for brunch again for the millionth time. The Kitchen Story menu has a variety of non-egg options to choose from. Among them was this panini which caught my attention because it had crab, capers, and pepper jack. Sounded like a winning combo and it was. Served on soft warm ciabatta and perfectly paired garlic spread.

($12) chicken mango melt - chicken mango sausage, spinach, roasted tomato, sweet basil, mild cheddar

This sandwich has a slight Asian flare to it with the mango. Just a tease of sweet. Everything else, including the bread with its photogenic grill marks, was perfect.

($14) California Burger - wagyu patty, grilled onion, tomato, avocado, sprout, arugula, balsamic glaze, mild goat cheese

Stephen ate this burger and here are his paraphrased thoughts: It tasted like real beef/meat flavor, mildly sweet from the balsamic glaze, which was a nice touch. Stamp of approval from a picky male eater.

Brunch friends! I know his eyes are closed in the photo on the right but Sherry looks too cute not to post. You may remember her from such photos as look this girl "is wearing leggings as pants." 

I actually came up to the city to take photos of this tree. All my photos turned out like crap.

OVERALL IMPRESSIONS

While the service is not lightning quick, the staff does well for their small kitchen and large crowd. I was privileged to observe the synchronized teamwork between kitchen and wait staff while sitting at the bar. Food comes out of the kitchen window and is garnished impeccably then moved to the heat lamp like clockwork by a staff member. Large glasses of Bloody Mary's and mimosas were mixed in the tiniest of bars hidden behind a wall only to magically appear on a tray ready for pick up by a waiter. The service was so organized and smooth that a little hiccup like their POS system shutting down for a few minutes could go unnoticed had I not been sitting right near it. I have no doubt that this type of teamwork attributes to the quality of food served to customers and furthers the familial warmth felt from the cozy decor. 

Kitchen Story's brunch menu is different because it has more options and even a few with a slightly Asian twist. The ingredients were fresh, the portions decent, and the combinations were creative. At least for $12-$14 you get something more imaginative than eggs Benedict on smoked salmon and an English muffin, though there's nothing wrong with that either. Perhaps I like this brunch more because the menu is mostly a lunch menu. The brunch time slot has typically extended so far as to roll into lunch time anyway. So what separates brunch from lunch? Is it the eggs? I can only answer with this memorable quote from Jacques in The Simpsons episode where Marge has an almost-affair.

It's not quite breakfast, it's not quite lunch, but it comes with a slice of canteloupe at the end. You don't get completely what you would at breakfast, but you get a good meal.

So that's it for my last brunch outing from 2013. One of my unofficial New Year's resolutions in 2014 is to try not to eat brunch in SF as often. Sorry San Francisco brunch scene, I'm just kind of over you now. You took up a lot of my money and my time and while we've all enjoyed the ride, all good things must come to an end. I need to give other cities and other meals a chance now. This is also a call to the South Bay: open more brunch spots please!

Kitchen Story on Yelp

Zazie - San Francisco

I like brunch. It's inexplicable. Brunch usually has pancakes, potatoes, or eggs, all of which are cheap and easy to make, but they cost a lot more at brunch. San Jose brunch is really weak. Everyone goes to Bill's or The Table and wait forever to be seated. And because I'm a genius, I extend that wait by going into San Francisco, waiting even longer than I would in San Jose, just to eat brunch. I've been trying different brunch places in SF even though I know what my heart wants is Brenda's. It's like finding a song you like on the radio but continuing to change the stations just to see if you're missing out on a better song.

Zazie was another brunch excursion and this time we waited almost 2 hours. There's no logic to it people -- I just sit around and wait for a restaurant to allow me to pay them money for food. See if Zazie was worth the wait.

This omelet was as plain as it appears in this picture. I forgot the name and the price and I don't care. Bland folded egg on top of cheesy mushrooms and some other things.
Even if I don't like something, I still try to remember and write about it for you readers, but I waited 2 hours for this, mind you. 2 hours!

($14) Fresh Grilled Ahi Tuna Sandwich with tomatoes provencales, aioli, and sun dried tomato pesto with greens on toasted levain - This was much better. Very tasty. I love ahi tuna anything and it was a perfect balance of tastes and textures. I only wish there were more.

($6) French Toast Tahiti stuffed with caramelized bananas and walnuts - French toast saves the day. You can buy it in different portion sizes. We only bought one slice to eat as dessert. The caramelized bananas and walnuts were a great addition to an already fluffy French toast. Love.

Sherry and I got milk tea and walked up the 16th Avenue mosaic tile steps afterwards. We even went up the little hill after the steps to take in the view of the city. I don't know why it is romantic in movies to go on a hill and look at the city. Wind is in your hair and drying out your eyes, it's cold as f*ck so you put on your hood, which creates a cave around your head and amplifies the sound so you're basically in a wind tunnel and can't hear anything. Did I just kill any gentlemen's notions of proposing on a hilltop in the city? Well bring your lady a motherf*ckin parka if you do. And text your proposal because she won't be able to hear you.

OVERALL IMPRESSIONS

Aside from the really plain omelet, Zazie was actually pretty good. We were seated on the back patio underneath a heated lamp which was really cozy and nice. The service was attentive. The prices are regular but the portions could be bigger and the food is not life changing or worth the wait. You can gather from the tone of this entry that I'm a bit grumpy as I recall the happenings of this day. I can't believe I came up there to wait 2 hours. I can't believe I was stupid enough to continue waiting! If you're already in SF and the wait isn't long, you should try Zazie. Under any other conditions, just go somewhere else. Your life will still go on if you've never had a chance to eat here.

Zazie on Yelp