Dinner With Vida
Thursday, November 04, 2010
Jenny's Burger Isobune Hamano Sushi
The other morning as I was getting up I heard a little peep from Vida in her new bunk bed. A little quiet “mama?” I went in to see what she needed and she poked her head up and said with a beautiful smile that she had a dream she and I were together all the time. There are other mothers I know who have daughters the same age who don’t care quite as much about being with them so I feel very fortunate. As I pondered the one hundredth installment of Dinner with Vida I had a panicked moment. As much as I appreciate my current audience of five, I wonder if Vida is going to have an interest in reading what I have had to say about her and our lives together. I feel as if I am coming to a crossroads. As she gets older she is going to appreciate less and less my musings about her. Everyone likes to know about how they were as babies and children—nobody much wants to hear about their adolescence.
The other night after soccer we went over to 9th and Irving to Jenny’s Burgers. When we walked in I was overwhelmed by the smell of cleaning products. 9th Ave is a very well trafficked street since it is a major entrance into Golden Gate Park and as such it isn’t very clean. I attributed some of the need for disinfectant to be related to the restaurants proximity to a very dirty street. After the chemical smell of recently cleaned floors I was suddenly inundated with the eau de health food store wafting in from next door. There was no question our food was going to be taken to go.
Vida and Victor sat by the window as I went to order. I believe it was Jenny herself who took my order—two plain burgers and one cheeseburger with an order of fries, onion rings and two sodas. There was a condiment bar so the kids enjoyed cups of pickles while they waited. When the order was ready “Jenny” took our to go containers and set them up on the condiment bar so we could doctor our burgers—I was a little embarrassed to be caught with more pickles than was probably necessary. As I finished putting the ketchup on she helped put the burgers in a bag. We ate the onion rings in the car on the way home. The burgers were delicious but I wouldn’t go out of my way to go back.
A couple of days later it was the Thursday night food truck gathering again. Victor is now the one intent on going. After I picked him up the first thing he asked was whether it was a taco truck night. There was an event at Kezar so parking was at a premium. I made two passes without any luck and was about to head home until I heard wailing from the back seat. Vida was fine with going home and having toast and eggs and tried to calm Victor down. I decided to try one more time and finally found parking a little over a block away. We went to the same taco truck and ordered Vida’s carne asada taco and two quesadilla with beans for Vic. Although I thought I was clear we had some confusion and Vida’s tacos were handed down laden with tomatillo salsa and pickled vegetables. I handed them back and was chewed out by the owner when I explained what happened.
I don’t love these taco truck people so with Vida and Vic’s food in hand we went wandering over to Seoul on Wheels. I ordered a rib eye “sammy” which was chopped steak in a soft roll with a sweet chili sauce and mayonnaise. I couldn’t resist the fries lightly dusted with chili. I’m happy to say that Vida is developing a slight tolerance for spice and happily ate a few fries after blowing some of the chili off. My sandwich was quite delicious—so much so that I had to share bites with both kids until we got down to the chili sauce.
Vida’s soccer practice has been moved to Geary and Steiner so on Thursday nights we are back to the Tony’s Cable Car routine that we had last year after the Hurricanes practice. Both kids love this place, sitting in the window twisting around in the orange plastic chairs. It’s the only hamburger place where Vida actually wants to stay and eat. They have added curly fries to the menu, another big attraction. Being so close to Japan Town on Tuesday Vida and I went searching for a new sushi restaurant. Once again we were in a hurry to get home for Glee. Vida spotted a place that she wanted to go and I found parking in front. I was pretty sure we had been there before so I wasn’t thrilled but when we walked in to Isobune I realized this would be a new experience. It was a sushi boat restaurant without a full menu—rather touristy. We seemed confused so the waitress explained that it was just sushi and nothing else. Vida was a bit upset that she couldn’t get “fish chicken” but we decided to stay anyway. As the rolls went around we were not seeing much that looked appetizing to us. If the rolls were people they would be rolling their eyes as they passed by us over and over.
The waitress was particularly solicitous as we sat there without choosing anything. I finally took a wakame salad nigiri and ordered a couple of avocado rolls for Vida. At least she is old enough now that when the waitress set them down in front of her she didn’t throw a fit that they didn’t come around to her on the boat. Vida kept eyeing the salmon nigiri but I was wary since I had never seen her even try a raw fish nigiri before but she braved it and amazingly enough liked it. We are reaching new horizons in the world of sushi. Then crispy little bits of grilled salmon belly came around and we grabbed one. It was so delicious we got three more. Vida had her “fish chicken” fix and was ready to go. As we left the waitress grabbed my shoulder to get my attention and hand me a sucker “for my son”.
At the rate we are going there may be a time when we have tried every last sushi restaurant in San Francisco. Last night Vida and I again had an opportunity to have dinner together and surprisingly she wanted sushi. I wanted to stay in the neighborhood so I chose Hamano Sushi on Castro and 24th. Once again we found parking in front. When we walked in the hostess asked if we wanted a table or sushi bar. I didn’t really want the exposure of the sushi bar but Vida really wanted to sit there. I was trying to explain that usually you order from the sushi chef when you sit there and that with our limited interest in real sushi we should sit at a table but none of it got across. We sat at the sushi bar. I immediately ordered a cold sake and hamachi kama. It wasn’t very busy and since there was no competition for our seats at the sushi bar I relaxed a little.
I thought I would continue our nigiri experience and ordered another salmon nigiri for us. This one came with wasabi so Vida picked the fish off the top in order to avoid it. Out of indecision I ordered a roll that was way too complicated—a “sunset roll” with seared salmon, spicy tuna, come other fish I didn’t recognize, avocado and ponzu sauce. It was tasty enough and definitely a meal in itself. Vida was thrilled with her hamachi kama, which seemed to have a sauce identical to that served at Ebisu. When the avocado rolls arrived Vida and I reminisced about the times when she was served avocado rolls with the rice on the outside and had a fit—I used to have to specify seaweed on the outside of the roll in order to not create a major drama. Now that she is becoming a little more adventurous I would like to try a different kind of restaurant—maybe Indian, Thai noodles, more Korean restaurants, pretty much anything but sushi.
Restaurant Total: 281
The other morning as I was getting up I heard a little peep from Vida in her new bunk bed. A little quiet “mama?” I went in to see what she needed and she poked her head up and said with a beautiful smile that she had a dream she and I were together all the time. There are other mothers I know who have daughters the same age who don’t care quite as much about being with them so I feel very fortunate. As I pondered the one hundredth installment of Dinner with Vida I had a panicked moment. As much as I appreciate my current audience of five, I wonder if Vida is going to have an interest in reading what I have had to say about her and our lives together. I feel as if I am coming to a crossroads. As she gets older she is going to appreciate less and less my musings about her. Everyone likes to know about how they were as babies and children—nobody much wants to hear about their adolescence.
The other night after soccer we went over to 9th and Irving to Jenny’s Burgers. When we walked in I was overwhelmed by the smell of cleaning products. 9th Ave is a very well trafficked street since it is a major entrance into Golden Gate Park and as such it isn’t very clean. I attributed some of the need for disinfectant to be related to the restaurants proximity to a very dirty street. After the chemical smell of recently cleaned floors I was suddenly inundated with the eau de health food store wafting in from next door. There was no question our food was going to be taken to go.
Vida and Victor sat by the window as I went to order. I believe it was Jenny herself who took my order—two plain burgers and one cheeseburger with an order of fries, onion rings and two sodas. There was a condiment bar so the kids enjoyed cups of pickles while they waited. When the order was ready “Jenny” took our to go containers and set them up on the condiment bar so we could doctor our burgers—I was a little embarrassed to be caught with more pickles than was probably necessary. As I finished putting the ketchup on she helped put the burgers in a bag. We ate the onion rings in the car on the way home. The burgers were delicious but I wouldn’t go out of my way to go back.
A couple of days later it was the Thursday night food truck gathering again. Victor is now the one intent on going. After I picked him up the first thing he asked was whether it was a taco truck night. There was an event at Kezar so parking was at a premium. I made two passes without any luck and was about to head home until I heard wailing from the back seat. Vida was fine with going home and having toast and eggs and tried to calm Victor down. I decided to try one more time and finally found parking a little over a block away. We went to the same taco truck and ordered Vida’s carne asada taco and two quesadilla with beans for Vic. Although I thought I was clear we had some confusion and Vida’s tacos were handed down laden with tomatillo salsa and pickled vegetables. I handed them back and was chewed out by the owner when I explained what happened.
I don’t love these taco truck people so with Vida and Vic’s food in hand we went wandering over to Seoul on Wheels. I ordered a rib eye “sammy” which was chopped steak in a soft roll with a sweet chili sauce and mayonnaise. I couldn’t resist the fries lightly dusted with chili. I’m happy to say that Vida is developing a slight tolerance for spice and happily ate a few fries after blowing some of the chili off. My sandwich was quite delicious—so much so that I had to share bites with both kids until we got down to the chili sauce.
Vida’s soccer practice has been moved to Geary and Steiner so on Thursday nights we are back to the Tony’s Cable Car routine that we had last year after the Hurricanes practice. Both kids love this place, sitting in the window twisting around in the orange plastic chairs. It’s the only hamburger place where Vida actually wants to stay and eat. They have added curly fries to the menu, another big attraction. Being so close to Japan Town on Tuesday Vida and I went searching for a new sushi restaurant. Once again we were in a hurry to get home for Glee. Vida spotted a place that she wanted to go and I found parking in front. I was pretty sure we had been there before so I wasn’t thrilled but when we walked in to Isobune I realized this would be a new experience. It was a sushi boat restaurant without a full menu—rather touristy. We seemed confused so the waitress explained that it was just sushi and nothing else. Vida was a bit upset that she couldn’t get “fish chicken” but we decided to stay anyway. As the rolls went around we were not seeing much that looked appetizing to us. If the rolls were people they would be rolling their eyes as they passed by us over and over.
The waitress was particularly solicitous as we sat there without choosing anything. I finally took a wakame salad nigiri and ordered a couple of avocado rolls for Vida. At least she is old enough now that when the waitress set them down in front of her she didn’t throw a fit that they didn’t come around to her on the boat. Vida kept eyeing the salmon nigiri but I was wary since I had never seen her even try a raw fish nigiri before but she braved it and amazingly enough liked it. We are reaching new horizons in the world of sushi. Then crispy little bits of grilled salmon belly came around and we grabbed one. It was so delicious we got three more. Vida had her “fish chicken” fix and was ready to go. As we left the waitress grabbed my shoulder to get my attention and hand me a sucker “for my son”.
At the rate we are going there may be a time when we have tried every last sushi restaurant in San Francisco. Last night Vida and I again had an opportunity to have dinner together and surprisingly she wanted sushi. I wanted to stay in the neighborhood so I chose Hamano Sushi on Castro and 24th. Once again we found parking in front. When we walked in the hostess asked if we wanted a table or sushi bar. I didn’t really want the exposure of the sushi bar but Vida really wanted to sit there. I was trying to explain that usually you order from the sushi chef when you sit there and that with our limited interest in real sushi we should sit at a table but none of it got across. We sat at the sushi bar. I immediately ordered a cold sake and hamachi kama. It wasn’t very busy and since there was no competition for our seats at the sushi bar I relaxed a little.
I thought I would continue our nigiri experience and ordered another salmon nigiri for us. This one came with wasabi so Vida picked the fish off the top in order to avoid it. Out of indecision I ordered a roll that was way too complicated—a “sunset roll” with seared salmon, spicy tuna, come other fish I didn’t recognize, avocado and ponzu sauce. It was tasty enough and definitely a meal in itself. Vida was thrilled with her hamachi kama, which seemed to have a sauce identical to that served at Ebisu. When the avocado rolls arrived Vida and I reminisced about the times when she was served avocado rolls with the rice on the outside and had a fit—I used to have to specify seaweed on the outside of the roll in order to not create a major drama. Now that she is becoming a little more adventurous I would like to try a different kind of restaurant—maybe Indian, Thai noodles, more Korean restaurants, pretty much anything but sushi.
Restaurant Total: 281
