Malibu Inn Cafe pic + being born in 1980 = F#ck my life, MAN!

That's not Menlo Park, is it?

Looks like the kind of joint Sammy the Bull would hang out in.

Of course stan!

There's some great photos of old Hollywood restaurants here, I especially love the interior shots of Sardi's and Nickodells! And Tiny Naylor's looks like it's straight out of Orbit City!
Toff's was like a Norm's JR.

http://hollywoodhistoricphotos.ipower.com/hhpstore/index.php/cPath/90_103_136

How many dog themed diners did L.A. have?? The old Bulldog Cafe was rescued from The Petersen Museum recently and resurrected outside a giant barrel shaped pub. L.A. was king of giant novelty shaped restaurants!

Swan's is where I first proclaimed my love to my lady over a bowl of fatty crab guts and sourdough... the same day we were moving in together! haha

What's your numero uno, YSR?

I know Thanh Long, I've been many times!

You're close enough to the Outter Richmond that you need to make a trek up to PPQ Dungeness Island on Clement between 24th and 25th for their spicy peppercorn roasted crab and garlic noodles- but wait until next winter when the dungeness are in season again!! I somehow haven't been in long over a year (though I'm feeling inspired anew by all this crab talk!) and it's always been my favorite of the uniquely-San Francisco Vietnamese crab restaurants.

We usually go to R&G in Chinatown these days because it's walking distance from our apartment and I generally don't like to schlep an Uber for Asian food on a burned-out Sunday night, but I'm starting to really miss living out on Stanyan (across from Golden Gate Park) when we had so many dynamite Asian places to chose from tiny cafes to family style banquet rooms- the best xiaolongbao and explosive soup dumplings, killer hand-pulled Shanghai style noodles, sizzling clay pots, black bean snails, authentic Chinese beef and green onion pancakes, salted fish, jiaozi, lion's head meatballs, cha siu bao, Xinjiang, Manchurian and Hunan dishes, Dongbei style crispy lamb ribs, Guilin rice noodles... not to mention slayin' Thai, Korean and Burmese.. and at least one or two solid izakaya bars!

We eat a lot less Chinese now and it's almost always Z&Y or R&G... unless we take a zipcar to Koi Palace in Daly City or Little Shanghai in San Mateo, which usually happens once a month! I slum through the Tenderloin every week for Lers Ros Thai or Zen Yai (we order-in A LOT!) and Hai Ky Mi Gia. I'm also addicted to Tuyet Mai (formerly Ngoc Mai) and really like Mong Thu Cafe for Vietnamese. I eat lunch almost daily at Hai Ky Mi Gia (Chaozhou style duck leg soup) or Turtle Tower (norther style pho) in 'Little Saigon' too. But it's always the same two spots for Chinese.

My newest fave rave is the incredibly unique Qishan saozi mian at Terra Cotta Warrior all the way out in the Excelsior though! It's a Qishan-style noodle (fat, long, hand-pulled) with minced pork in a sort of spicy-sour chili oil based broth that's loaded with tofu, dried lily flowers, wood ear mushrooms, kelp, chives and garlic sprouts! It's supernatural. I've also reeeally been digging Azalina's for Penang-style Malaysian street food; especially the hokkien mee, curry laksa, pineapple tea leaf salad and fermented sticky rice with coconut creme!

Last edited by Oliver (2015-05-14 21:00:21)