SevenWide

Girls Just Wanna Have Fun! And my girls are no exception to that!

Every two weeks, my best girlfriends and I make it a point to get together at a new and trendy restaurant and gossip over delicious food and tantalizing cocktails.

This time we headed over to Indigo Restaurant in Hayes Valley. First off, probably my favorite thing about the restaurant, is that they have no corkage fee. Cant go wrong with that! For dinner (after 8pm), they offer a 3 course, pre-fixed menu with unlimited wine for $59/person. My girlfriends and I decided to go with the option of bringing our own wine and ordered off the menu, instead. So with 9 girls, and 9 bottles of wine, you can imagine how much fun we had!

The ambiance in the restaurant was mediocre. It was completely empty. Not a single soul in the restaurant, other than the 9 of us. Which actually worked well for us; because when we all get together, we can get quite loud and obnoxious.

There weren’t a lot of options on the menu, and the only thing I was really tempted by was the Penne Pasta with Broccolini, a Sun Dried Tomato-Basil Pesto, and Grated Pecorino Romano. And it defintiely satisfied my cravings!

To top of the night, our server brought out a couple orders of Sorbet Trio’s on the house!! And speaking of our server, he was great! He was very attentive to our needs, constantly making sure wines of bottles were opened and that our glasses were filled.

Highly recommend this place for a Girls Night Out Dinner!

As much as I love living in the Soma/South Beach district of San Francisco, I hate that when the weekend rolls around, the streets feel like a ghost town. The sandwich shops, Specialty’s and Toaster Oven, are closed. And Starbucks closes early. Yeah, there are the restaurants on Steuart, but how many times can I eat at Ozumo, Boulevard, and Americano without burning a hole in my wallet. Today, with the help of a friend of mine, I found a spot on Rincon Hill that will likely become one of those spots in which the waitstaff and chefs will come to know me.

It’s called Local Kitchen and Wine Merchant.

And who knew that Sundays, of all days I could have gone there, was all-you-can-eat Pizza night. Score! When you walk in through the main door of the restaurant, you will find a quaint wine tasting room on the left hand side (where they offer wine tastings daily). Then you walk through another door, and find the main dining area, and an open kitchen in front of you. The ambiance is very warm and comforting. We got seated, and before we knew it, waiters started coming around to our table offering a slice of their wood-fired pizza: Tomato and Basil, Roasted Mushroom and Green Olive, Veggie, Pepperoni and Coppa, Shrimp and Pesto, Hawaiian and much more. The pizza’s just kept coming, and you could just keep eating. Can’t get better than that, right?

It can. All of this for just $12.95 per person. Furthermore, they also offer $9 carafe’s of red and white wines. How have I never stumble across this place before?

The pizza wasn’t quite near Delfina-calibur (my favorite pizza place in the city), but for the price and ambiance, I’m really not complaining. I am just glad that I found a place within walking distance from my pad that satisfies my Sunday night cravings.

Living in San Francisco, there really is no excuse to venture outside the city limits for good, quality food. From American Cuisine to Cuisine from the Yucatan, you can pretty much find something that fancies your cravings. However, when it comes to Indian Cuisine, San Francisco doesn’t quite meet the mark. I mean yes, you’ve got the fast-food-type Naan N Curry and the more fancy-sit-down-type New Delhi, but when it comes to the REAL kind of Indian food, nothing compares to Vik’s Chaat Corner in West Berkeley.

Roughly once every three to four weeks, I venture outside the city limits of San Francisco to get my monthly fix on two things: Eyebrow threading and Vik’s Chaat Corner.

Set on Allston Way, neighbored by empty warehouses and old houses, Vik’s Chaat Corner is probably Berkeley’s best kept secret. And having often been called the best Indian Restaurant in the Bay Area, Im surprised more people don’t know about it.

It is very fast paced in Vik’s. Usually, no matter what time of day you go, there is a line forming out the door. There is kind of a methodology to this place. Being a regular there, I pretty much know what to order: One Dahi Papdi Chaat, One Bhatura Chole, and a can of Diet Coke. As the not-so-regular patrons are looking at the large chalkboard menu posted on one of the walls, pondering what to order, my partner-in-crime heads straight to the counter and orders our dishes, while I scour the cafeteria-style warehouse for an empty table (which is a rarity, by the way). Wanting ambiance? Forget about it.Don’t expect much decor at Vik’s, its all about the food here.

While we’re sitting at our table, pretty much always sticky and dirty, we hear names being called out on a microphone. Sandra. Gopal. Dave. Madhu. All you’re doing as you sit there on your table, with your spoons (no forks and knives here) and stack of napkins (trust me, you’re going to need a stack of them), is waiting for your name to be called. As soon as you hear your name, nothing else in the world matters but the fact that you have your dish and are about to indulge in pure bliss.

Here are a few quick and easy facts about Vik’s Chaat Corner:

Cuisine: Indian roadside snacks, mostly vegetarian

Price: Everything ranges from $3-6

Best Item on Menu: Bhatura Chole, hands down

Noise level: When full, very loud. And it is pretty much always full.

Service point: Efficient, quick and to the point. Don’t come expecting fluffy, bubbly personalities.

Where: 726 Allston Way (@ 4th Street) –> they are moving to another location in July 2009 so check the website for updates on their location

Hours: 11 am – 6 pm, closed Mondays.