The Yellow Submarine

The Yellow Submarine
503 Irving St
(between 6th Ave & 7th Ave)
San Francisco, CA 94122
(415) 681-5652

Grub-O-Meter: 4 out of 5 Bellies-Up
Cha-Ching-O-Meter: $ out of $$$$

The Pot's

The Pot's
2652 Judah Street
(between 31st Ave & 32nd Ave)
San Francisco, CA 94122

Grub-O-Meter: 4 out of 5 Bellies-Up
Cha-Ching-O-Meter: $$ out of $$$$

Limon Rotisserie

Limon Rotisserie
1001 S. Van Ness Ave.
(Between 21st and 22nd)
San Francisco, CA. 94110

Grub-O-Meter: 4 out of 5 Bellies-Up
Cha-Ching-O-Meter: $$ out of $$$$

Limon Rotisserie in the Mission is another restaurant that is starting to get popular in SF. My fiancee and I were looking for a cheap, ambient, and quality food restaurant for Valentines day. We went a little early around 5:30 and managed to grab a seat before it got really crowded. I must say for the price, ambience, and food, this place is a deal. We ordered the half rotisserie chicken, ceviche,  yucca fries, and for dessert rasberry cake. Overall really tasty and delicious and will definitley return.

Ariake Japanese Restaurant

Ariake Japanese Restaurant
5041 Geary Blvd. (between 14th and 15th)
San Francisco, CA. 94118

Grub-O-Meter: 4.5 out of 5 Bellies-Up
Cha-Ching-O-Meter: $$ out of $$$$

Ariake Japanese Restaurant is a hidden neighborhood gem that people don't seem to know about. Some of the freshest sushi I have had around SF, not many places have these type of sushi rows and also the quality of the fish. Some recommendations are the Tataki plate ( thinly sliced tuna with lemon and ponzu sauce, my favorite), the cherry blossom roll ( tuna, salmon, cucumber, and avocado-simple but great), and the Hamachi Mango Roll ( Hamachi, mango, asparagus, fish roe, and special sauce). Overall great chill atmosphere, service, and of course good food.

Los Angeles - Mario's Peruvian & Seafood

Mario's Peruvian Seafood

5786 Melrose Ave

Los Angeles, CA 90038

Grub-O-Meter: 4.5 out of 5 Bellies-Up

Cha-Ching-O-Meter: $$ out of $$$$

Marios down near Wilshire and Melrose is one of those hole-in the walls that you have to love. Great homestyle cooking Peruvian style with their emphasis on all things fried, especially the fish. Not in the best neighborhood and clientel but worth the trek to get some fried fish. I ordered the fried fish plate and it was pretty awesome, cooked with limes, tomatoes, and lots of onions all for a reasonable price. Not many good homestyle peruvian places around and would definitely come back when around this area again.

Los Angeles - Sushi-Gen

Sushi-Gen

422 E 2nd Street

Los Angeles, CA 90012

Grub-O-Meter: 5 out of 5 Bellies-Up

Cha-Ching-O-Meter: $$ out of $$$$

Sushi-Gen in little Tokyo downtown is a well known joint among sushi fanatics and locals for the super fresh  sashimi plates. Upon arriving there was already a huge crowd but luckily we had called ahead to be put down on the list, so our wait was only 10 minutes. So we sat down and ordered and 5 minute later our food came out, I guess because its all sashimi mainly that it would be fast. I must say upon ordering the sashimi plate for 15 bucks that this is definitely some of the freshest fish I have tasted and am glad I stopped by here. The tuna just melts in your mouth and the thin slices of scallop were awesome.  I would definitely come back here in a heartbeat, its just too bad they dont have something like this in SF.

Los Angeles - Pink's Hot Dogs

Pink's Hot Dogs

709 N La Brea Ave

Los Angeles, CA 90038

Grub-O-Meter: 4 out of 5 Bellies-Up

Cha-Ching-O-Meter: $$

The famous Pinks hotdogs in LA, an experience if your not from LA for sure. The menu includes a variety of dogs with crazy toppings from Guacamole, to bacon, to onion rings, the toppings are what make this place great. Besides all the hype not sure if I would wait another 2 hours just to get a dog but I must say that this is some good eating and I guess from what I hear waiting is just part of the experience. I had the Millenium dog (a 12-inch jalepeno dog with chili, tomatoes, and guacomole, and the Hollywood Walk of Fame dog( coleslaw with tomatos), onion rings, and fries. Talk about heart attack, the Millenium dog was good but the Hollywood dog was pretty gross. The coleslaw was mayonaised out to the max, just not my cup of tea. So all in all an experience to experience once but the wait just killed me.

Underdog's Sports Bar & Grill

Underdog's Sports Bar & Grill

1824 Irving Street

San Francisco, CA 94122

Grub-O-Meter: 4 out of 5 Bellies-Up

Cha-Ching-O-Meter: $$ out of $$$$

Checked this bar down the street with a friend last night, been wanting to try this place for a while since opening. From the owner of Nick's Crispy Tacos and Underdog hotdogs fame, its great to have this joint right near my house since the Sunset is in dire need of a mexican grubhub.  Not sure how authentic the food is but the tacos "Nicks Way" is the best. Nicks way is served with a crispy shell and also loaded with guacomole and other sauces. I tried the sampler platter which included all the meats, pork, chicken, and steak. Also ordered the quesadilla and the salsa/guacomole with chips. Overall pretty grubbing bar food. Despite being quite packed the service is really good and the energy in the place is quite loud and hectic but everyone their is just out to have a good time. Will definitely return to get my taco on.

La Mar Cebicheria Peruana

La Mar Cebicheria Peruana

Pier 1 1/2

San Francisco, CA. 94111

Grub-O-Meter: 3 out of 5 Bellies-Up

Cha-Ching-O-Meter: $$$$ out of $$$$

La Mar on the waterfront is a new peruvian restaurant that has been filled packed every night since its opening. The crowds are the young professionals, 20-30 somethings that are out to socialize and to get some peruvian food and drink. For our company party we all ended up here to cheer in holidays and I must say that the interior is quite impressive and nice and it looks alot bigger inside then it looks on the outside. The interior has a nice bar and open kitchen where you can see the cooks preparing your meal. So we all sat down to a pre-fix meal which was quite a deal because we got to sample 6-7 dishes of some of their signature dishes. When I ate here I was debating if I should put this in the blog since it is more upscale then most of the restaurants in the blog, but it's nice to have a range to compare. So with the 6-7 dishes we had lots of fish, beef, and rice dishes, cebiches, and much more. The seafood is quite fresh and the sauces are really tasty, lots of use of lime. There is nothing wrong with the food and I can appreciate it for what it is and when the occasion strikes places like these are appropriate, but for my tastes I think I would prefer a taco truck burrito over this, just a taste in preference. So overall for what it is nice environment, decent food, but a little bit out of the budget for me.

Toyose

Toyose

3814 Noriega Street

(between 45th and 46 Ave)

San Francisco, CA. 94122

Grub-O-Meter: 4.5 out of 5 Bellies-Up

Cha-Ching-O-Meter: $$ out of $$$$

Toyose in the Sunset right near the beach is a crazy hole in the wall Korean joint that I never knew about until my co-worker told me about it. What's funny i'm not sure if this place is legally set up since it's sort of in a large garage. But popular to the twenty somethings this place is a great late night place which opens at 6pm but closeses at 2am. Great for after drinking or after night on the town Toyose has really great dishes to share with larger groups of people. Upon entering it was a lot nicer then I thought, with about 8-10 tables and wooden benches and wooden beams on the ceiling. A funny addition was the doorbell you can use at your table to call for service kind of like the Bubba Gumps Restaurant sign. This place has great tasting dishes, the kimchi fried rice, spicy chicken wings, seafood pancakes, potato croquets and so much more that I wanted to try. They had some other dishes you don't typically see at korean restaurants such as hot pots and casseroles. Also a great addition is the soju, not as strong as I have experienced from before but a great social activity for lots of people. Overall a hidden gem and great food.