What a little gem hiding out in the Dogpatch! I never would have known about this place had it not been for a ScoutMob deal, but since visiting 2 days ago I’ve told at least 4 people that they absolutely have to try this place.
What really sent me over the top was the personal and excellent service from the owner, Richard. Since our waitress didn’t know how to ring up our order with the deal code, we had to wait for Richard to come by. I’m glad we did! He asked us about our meal, particularly if we had tried the Fava beans. A very enthusiastic yes assured him we had, and then he suggested we try the Chulpis, which are like Ecuadorian popcorn. He brought us a small dish to taste while he rang up our bill. Yummm! Richard even took the time to share a bit about the influences of the food for the restaurant, which was a really nice touch.
Back to the food. We shared each of these dishes:
Fava Beans – fried fava beans with salt – delicious! and addicting!
Arepas con queso – very tasty little patties filled with cheese and topped with an onion salad mixture
Empanadas – we had actually ordered the chicken, but received the beef. since they were quite tasty, we didn’t say anything. I’d like to try the chicken when we go back.
Chorizo sliders – ok, so I don’t eat any kind of pork, but on the menu, it says you can substitute for soyrizo – the veggie option. Since the boy loves chorizo, we asked if we could do one of each, since it came with 2. No problem. For the soyrizo – it was good, but the soy patty had a hard time staying together in the burger. I saw another review that mentioned the gorganzola was overpowering, but I wish it had more! Didn’t taste much of it at all. For me, this was the only semi-weak dish on the menu, but the boy, who devoured the chorizo, loved it.
Camarones al mojo de ajo – which was shrimp, garlic, onions, with white beans and spinach salad. The shrimp with the garlic onions were absolutely heavenly! The white bean puree wasn’t my fav.
And for desert – The empanadas de aire – wow wow wow. the perfect combo of sweet and salty. My only complaint here is that mine was spouting grease when I cut into into, but the boy got lucky and his was not overly greasy.
I definitely want to come back. The friendly service and the awesome food have got me sold. If only it were closer to where I live… oh well, it’s worth the trek!
2368 3rd St
San Francisco, CA 94107
(415) 643-3900
