“Spring being a tough act to follow, God created June.” – Al Bernstein

I got through May’s SF heat wave (90 degree plus – happens maybe three times a year here), a little sunburned, with happy memories of warm nights at favorite neighborhood spots, on a friends’ deck overlooking the city skyline, or star-gazing on my roof with a great glass of Rose.

Every month, I share Top Tastes: favorite new dishes, drinks or bites from my culinary explorations. This month, in The Established, I list my picks for best Ethiopian restaurants. I take in (and take-out food) during lunch hour at a Noontime Concert On the Town. Wandering Traveler and Imbiber unite as we explore a couple of my favorite New York bars.

I’d love your feedback on any spots you visited from my site. You can leave comments through the site on the Perfect Spot Blog or email me directly.

Let me guide you to the perfect spot!

Virginia

FOOD

Indian Pumpkin (there’s also Chicken Pumpkin) Enchilada with jack & cheddar cheese, curry sauce, yoghurt and tamarind drizzle at Avatars in Sausalito (it’s not on the menu, but trust me and ask for it!)

Crawfish in spicy Cajun hot sauce with lime, pepper & salt at CoCo’s Crawfish (messy work to get a little meat, but a unique taste experience) in the Sunset

Niman Ranch Strip Loin – pepper crusted with a juicy apple soy dipping sauce at Yoshi’s San Francisco

Thick ‘n Thin Pizza (get to it through Castro’s The Lookout bar) – their deep dish pizza has an addictively sweet/spicy tomato sauce

Decadently creamy Anchor & Hope Chowder (what a great presentation!) with white corn and littleneck clams at Anchor & Hope; I was disappointed in their not-so-fresh Lobster Roll, however

Panzerotto alla Ricotta (fried ricotta cheese appetizer) at the Castro’s delightfully inviting new Calabresi Italian, Poesia

DRINK

Uva Enoteca’s nuanced Miele Frizzante: a Mead-based cocktail using Heidrun’s Sage Blossom Mead, mixed with Carpano Antique, orange and peach bitters

At CAV Wine Bar, an IGT di Toscana “Isistri”, Felsina, Tuscany, Chardonnay – yes, a Chardonnay from Toscana! – with layers of banana, cinnamon, nutmeg and vanilla with a buttery finish

Tipsy Lassi (a creamy Passion Fruit Lassi with Mango Rum) at Palo Alto’s Junnoon – like dessert!

DESSERT

Two well-crafted, organic gelatos at Cici in Mill Valley: Caffe Turco (Turkish Coffee & Cardamom) and Malaga (Marsala Soaked Raisins)

Black Forest Chocolate Cherry Cake: a dense vegan torte at Alive!

Yo Cup’s perfectly tart Blueberry Frozen Yogurt

ETHIOPIAN

Ethiopian is a comforting, homey cuisine: spicy, filling and best when made fresh by a loving hand. Though there are a number of decent Ethiopian spots in San Francisco, and more broadly, the East Bay, many blend into each other as fairly average (like Lower Haight’s Axum Café, Café Ethiopia in the Mission, or Western Addition’s quirky dive bar, Club Waziema). Here are a few I feel stand out above the rest.

SAN FRANCISCO

Sheba Piano Lounge: Sheba is a special, unique place and my favorite Ethiopian in SF (Café Colucci is my favorite East Bay Ethiopian). Similar to Rassela’s Jazz Club across the street, they have live jazz and Ethiopian food… but the similarities end there. Rassela’s requires a two drink minimum and occasionally a cover on top of that – and let’s just say the food is not like Sheba’s.

Sheba’s is a relaxed restaurant and piano bar serving heartwarming, just-like-Mom-makes Ethiopian. There’s a “bar bites” menu, which you can snack on in the lounge area’s comfy couches, but the traditional Ethiopian menu holds the real treasures: Tibs (meat or eggplant sautéed with onions, rosemary, garlic), Kik Alicha (a yellow split pea dish), Mesir Wat (lentils in a Berbere sauce with onions, garlic, ginger) and Gomen (collard greens). Though only a Vegetarian Sampler ($13) is listed, you can request a Meat Sampler to try the meat entrees in one large platter, which easily feeds two, if not three. They have a decent wine and beer selection and smooth Ethiopian Honey Wine.

Décor is clean, modern, comfortable. Nightly live piano jazz soothes with the sometimes added bonus of a vocalist (I was happy to hear Bossa Nova on one occasion). Ricardo Sales, an amazing local jazz pianist, often plays here. The effect is not unlike being in an Ethiopian friends’ home listening to musicians play while scooping up good home cooking. The Fillmore, and SF, needs a place just like this…

Assab Eritrean:
2845 Geary Boulevard (between Collins and Wood Streets)
San Francisco, CA 94118
415.441.7083
Hours: Monday-Thursday 4-9:30pmm
Friday-Saturday 4-10pm

A little neighborhood treasure in the Inner Richmond, Assab is an Ethiopian/Eritrean restaurant with a sparse, clean interior and a charming couple serving stomach pleasing food from their homeland. The Injera is addictive, warm. The meat and vegetarian platters ensure I can get all my favorites in one sitting. I love Zigni, cubed beef soft after simmering in clarified butter with hot pepper, onions and tomato. Shiro, ground chickpeas with onions, tomatoes, butter and pepper, and Bersin, a lentil dish (I like the red lentils, but they also serve it with brown), are two other winners… all with just the right amount of heat, creating a slow burn. The meat entrees are all around $11.95 ($13.95 for the platter) and the vegetarian around $8-10. Portions (again) are hearty, so The Renaissance Man and I share.

Massawa:
1538 Haight Street (between Ashbury and Clayton Streets)
San Francisco, CA 94117
415.621.4129
Hours: Sunday-Thursday 10am-10pm
Friday-Saturday 10am-11pm

If I want a great night out with Ethiopian food and live music, I hit Sheba. If I want the freshest? Café Colucci. But for a good, cheap, savory meal, Massawa does the trick and is my preferred stop over many average Ethiopian joints in town. The interior leaves a lot to be desired: dingy, ugly, it adds nothing to the experience. But traditional dishes are here in tasty, giant portions, and it’s open all day, every day. On upper Haight Street, dining options are often far from thrilling so it’s also a reliable Haight restaurant.

BERKELEY

Café Colucci: This humble East Bay gem offers some the best Ethiopian around, serving fresh, organic ingredients with a brilliant little shop next door selling Ethiopian groceries, spices, grains and lentils or pre-made sauces and Injera to take home.

Their informative website provides definitions of spices used in Ethiopian cooking, and a list of traditional sauces. They serve Teff Injera to sop up the food. Teff, the smallest grain in the world, is a flour indigenous to Ethiopia, packed with protein and iron.

The food comes in dense portions (entrees: $9-12, which easily serve two), and vegetarian offerings are as packed with flavor as the meat dishes. I like Buticha, a hummus-like “dip” made of chickpea, garlic, onions, jalapeno & olive oil. The spiciness of Messer-Wot, a lentil dish in Bebere (a red hot chili pepper sauce), satisfies. Favorites like Tibs (meat or eggplant sautéed with onions, rosemary, garlic) and Gomen (collard greens) are all done well and Ethiopian beer or Honey Wine show up as accompaniments.

The modest interior, tabletops filled with grains and legumes used in the cooking, is decorated with Ethiopian art, palm branches, and sidewalk seating that almost has an island feel. As is common with authentic Ethiopian spots, they are on Africa time so expect kindly but slow service … come prepared to linger.

I’ve begun planning lunches around this Summer’s Noontime Concerts happening every Tuesday, June 3rd-August 26th. This is one of those unique SF experiences providing a chance for quiet reflection during your lunch hour through classical music. Sharing in a tradition that also occurs in New York, London and Chicago, Noontime Concerts states that they’re “part of an international network of churches, museums and other venues offering a welcome midday respite amidst the hustle and bustle of urban life”. A lovely mission!

Each year, I’ve enjoyed slipping into a cool, quiet church for a 30 minute concert, performed by a varying number of excellent classical musicians: sometimes a pianist, a trio, a quartet. And it’s free… or for the suggested donation of $5. Location and day was different in past years – this year it’s Tuesdays at 12:30pm in Chinatown’s Old St. Mary’s Cathedral.

Checking out the calendar, I’d like to hear the 8/26 Chopin and Gershwin piano concert (two of my favorite composers), but there are many of interest, including the Mozart Festival Ensemble on 6/3 and7/1, or the Chorale on 7/29.

It’s a unique chance to stop and reflect, transported through live music… to close your eyes and just befor a few moments. I love living in a place that offers such unusual opportunities for transcendence.

For quick lunches or snacks within a couple blocks of Old St. Mary’s:

Boxed Foods Co. Open weekdays only, this is a breakfast/lunch spot from the owners of B Restaurant (in SF and Oakland) with 100% organic, creative sandwiches and salads. Not every sandwich hits the mark, but ingredients are always fresh and appetizing.

Eastern Bakery:  One of my favorite Chinese bakeries, this is a classic, if musty, SF spot. They’re known for a wide variety of Chinese Mooncakes. I love the Macaroons half-dipped in dark chocolate.

Fiona’s Sweetshoppe: This closet of a candy shop is easy to miss. Their website describes it as “bewitching candy” – an

enchanting tag line that signifies the rare selection of English and Scottish hard candies (with a few others kinds thrown in for good measure). The UK owner clearly has a passion for the candies of home, lined up behind the tiny counter in glass jars. Come find out what “Old Fashioned Humbugs” or “Gobstopping Gingers” are!

Muracci’s: Call your order in since the food at this take-out spot is made fresh, taking up to 10-15 minutes to dish up. Order large servings of Japanese curries with your

choice of mild, medium or hot curry and brown or white rice. I like the Katsu (breaded pork cutlet) Curry, but you can choose salmon, beef, chicken, prawns, seafood (prawns and scallops) or tofu and vegetable curries.

Paladar: A charming little Cuban café that serves decent Bocadillos (Cuban Sandwiches) with a smile. They have a few traditional Cuban dishes (like Lechon Asado) and Cuban coffees, namely a good Café Con Leche.

NEW YORK CITY

Back to my beloved New York City for double duty this month: we’ll imbibe as we travel! Sounds perfect to me. NYC has too many incredible, atmospheric drinking establishments to list… here are merely two.

Angel’s Share:
8 Stuyvesant Street, 2nd fl. (between 9th St & 3rd Ave)
Manhattan, NY, 10003
212.777.5415

It’s easy to miss this tiny East Village gem, tucked upstairs through a nondescript Japanese restaurant. I remember when my best friend first took me here, over 7 years ago, and it has been a favorite NY bar ever since. Though New Yorkers now know about this classic spot, it still retains the feel of an undiscovered secret, as the lack of a sign (or a website, for that matter), keep the air about it speakeasy-like. As at my favorite SF speakeasy, Bourbon and Branch, there are pleasing rules like” no standing” and “no loud talking” (maybe less pleasing is the rule that you can only bring parties of four or less, though this is understandable due to the small size). Such “rules” preserve this as a bar for adults… adults who enjoy expertly mixed cocktails. This is a mixologists’ bar; for those who appreciate the art of the cocktail. Sitting in a posh window seat, surrounded by pillows, lost in stimulating conversation with good friends, Angel’s Share has been an ideal backdrop for some favorite NY moments.

Brandy Library, Tribeca – Ah, Brandy Library… TriBeCa’s classy ode to hard liquor specializes in, naturally, Brandy, but also Cognac, Whiskey and Rum. The cocktail list (at $13 each) is impressive and categorized by alcohol type. Wood-paneled shelves are strategically lit to present bottles in their most appealing light. The service, mostly from older men in tuxedos, is not what you would think (what I’ve experienced in upscale bars in Midtown). It’s not stuffy or snobbish, rather, generous and attentive: my friend and I were treated with tastes of a French Cognac in its various stages of age – a 10, 20 and even 40 year aged – before choosing one to drink. Prices are steep but not unreasonable. With one glass, you can savor hours of conversation in a peaceful, elegant room while jazz drifts gently in the background. As a drinking establishment for adults (i.e. not hipsters), they won’t permit overcrowding, so make reservations for best chances at securing a comfy leather chair. They serve bites and cocktails, offer incredible Spirits classes, and have live jazz Sunday and Monday nights.