The Best Dishes Eater San Francisco's Editors Ate in May
Unfortunately, it took me more than two years to learn Balboa Street's Laundromat had gluten-free pizza. The times I tried to go upon its maddeningly popular debut, I couldn't get in, giving up over time as I thought, 'Well, what can I eat at a bagels and pizza place anyways?' I'd go by in the mornings, grabbing a cup of Grand Coffee, ever curious as my friends wolfed the bagels. On a sunny evening, I finally ordered my gluten-free pie. Stupendous. Stupid springy and crispy at the same time, crackly bits of cheese on the base with light slices of fennel reigning above all the indulgent lordliness below. After the Brussels sprouts, the goat cheese was nutty and rich enough that I thought there was a base of tahini beneath the dish, and I could barely finish. Fortunately, I have reason to wait in line next time.
The Laundromat (3725 Balboa Street) is open for dinner Wednesday and Thursday 5 to 9 p.m., Friday and Saturday 5 to 10 p.m., and Sunday 5 to 8 p.m.
— Paolo Bicchieri Devilish half chicken at Jules
Those who have attended Max Blachman-Gentile's pop-up, Jules, know very well the mastery of his pizzas, as he's toured them around town at various restaurants since 2023. Just this month, Blachman-Gentile opened his new permanent restaurant in the Lower Haight, and yes, the pizzas are amazing as always. But this location is also a chance to see Blachman-Gentile stretch beyond the pies. So I'm here to sing the praises of one of the (non pizza) showstoppers from a recent meal: this devilish half chicken. The nicely-salted, crisp, fried chicken skin is just the eye-popping start of this dish that employees in season vegetables and herbs — here, some snap peas and mint — along with deliciously-cooked chicken underneath. I was also truly impressed by the sauce, which packs a nice heat to it without being overwhelming, and it served as a nice accompaniment to the mushroom-loaded Fun Guy pizza on the table. If I may, while you're at it, don't skip the desserts: my dining companion and I split both options, including an incredible ice cream with chocolate shell and fennel pollen on top.
Jules (237 Fillmore Street) is open 5 p.m. to 9 p.m. Tuesday through Thursday, and 5 p.m. to 10 p.m. Friday through Saturday.
— Dianne de Guzman Squid ink fried rice at Le Soleil
Also in the Richmond District (can anyone tell I moved recently?) is the simple, unadorned treasure chest of a restaurant Le Soleil: This could very well be the lead ship in the west side's restaurant armada. The extended naval metaphor is in honor of this squid ink fried rice, crowned with tobiko as garlic and scallion dot the scene and encircle the dish. The chunks of squid are well placed throughout the elegant dome of rice, allowing for chew without texture overload. The pop from the fish egg and the crisp of the fried garlic provides further balance. Ordering the quail, flambéed table side, is a sharp move. Our server said he fires a ton of them every night. When you're a captain of San Francisco dining, that comes with the territory.
Le Soleil (133 Clement Street) is open Mondays 11:30 a.m. to 3:30 p.m. and 4:30 to 8:30 p.m., Wednesday through Saturday 11:30 a.m. to 3:30 p.m. and 4:30 to 8:30 p.m.
— Paolo Bicchieri Joojeh kabob at Lavash
As a food editor going out on the town often, when I dine with friends, I'm typically expected to be the one to pick the location. There's nothing wrong with that, as it comes with the territory, but what I'm usually interested in is where my friends love to go for a meal on their own. I have my own lists and (insane) Google map pins, but oftentimes when I force the decision on others, I find places that aren't yet on my radar. Such was the case at Lavash, a charming Persian restaurant on Irving Street, where I had a recent lunch this month. Letting my friend take the lead on ordering, it was a truly refreshing meal, including an herb-filled sabzi paneer platter, ghormeh sabzi, and this lovely joojeh kabob. Composed of chicken breast and thighs, the marinated meat sang against the grains of perfectly cooked basmati saffron rice. This friend, a regular, thankfully knew to ask if the kitchen could add zereshk, or barberries, atop the rice, which gave everything another dimension as we tore into each bite. Pairing with this food is a gorgeous space just bursting with flowers, and it's an all-around great place to drop in for a meal, and one I'll be coming back to in the future.
Lavash (511 Irving Street) is open from noon to 3 p.m. and 5 p.m. to 9 p.m. Tuesday through Friday, and noon to 9 p.m. Saturday and Sunday.
— Dianne de Guzman
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Condé Nast Traveler
4 days ago
- Condé Nast Traveler
Does the ‘Freakier Friday' Cast Know Their Movie Locations (ft. Lindsay Lohan & Jamie Lee Curtis)
Transcript Come on. Is that shrimp? If this is Conde Nast Traveler, you can do, [bleep], better. [Lindsay] I think they're trying to make it hard for you to figure out. Well, this is not the kitchen. It's not Donna's kitchen. Is it a table? No. There's a car. Oh wait. That's when you drove the car through, isn't it? That is the car moment. See, I'm not even on the show. No, and you probably watched it. Hi, I'm Lindsay Lohan. I'm Jamie Lee Curtis. We've both filmed in a lot of amazing locations. So let's see if we can remember where. [upbeat music] Oh, I completely know where this is. This is at a laundromat. This is Everything Everywhere All at Once. We're in a laundromat deep in the valley, city of Los Angeles. It's actually probably Van Nuys or even farther. Oh wow. I mean, it is way the F out there. What did my silly husband say to you? He told me about your situation. It's a legitimate laundromat in the middle of the valley, and it was at night, obviously. And you know, this movie was made in Simi Valley, California and then in the Valley it was all shot in Los Angeles. That's nice though, 'cause you're home. I mean, the thing that really got me about the laundromat it was when I actually understood what the movie was about. Because the truth is I didn't understand what this movie was about at all. And there was no need for me to, 'cause I understood what my job was. Like, I understood her- Who you were. And that's my only job. And then I watched Ke Quan and Michelle Yeoh, do their sort of reunification scene at the laundromat. And it was before we shot this scene outside. And so I was there on set and I was watching the monitors and at one point when they had this beautiful emotional bonding, I literally looked to the Daniels, and I went, Oh, the movie's about love. It's about love. [gentle music] Oh, wow. Because I didn't really know that. So that reminds me of it. And also that punk sweater that she was wearing that says punk on the back just kills me. Okay, so... Memory lane. Yes, I know, The Parent Trap. Yes. Do you remember where? Yeah, we shot this in Lake Arrowhead, California. [Jamie] Crestline. Either of you by any chance know how to play poker? Nah. Never played it before. We were in Lake Arrowhead and Big Bear a lot for Camp Walden scenes. And it was so fun for me because it was like a real life summer camp. There were just kids running around everywhere. My brother was there, he was like riding his dirt bike and it was just such a blast. I remember I have to get like taken away for schooling and I really hated that part of it. Well, of course. But just great memories of, I remember I, when I was taking fencing lessons and we had the fencing scene right up to the right. [swords clanging] Yeah. Sweet. You know, I watched that movie. I still don't understand. How old were you? 10. Oh yeah. [Hallie gasps] I love it. I don't understand. I-I really don't, I don't understand how you were that facile and that able to flip flop and to, I mean, it's just an extraordinary- You'll make me cry. Thank you. That's so sweet. It's extraordinary to have that complexity. It was so exciting for me, like, at the time to do that. And like, I think the hardest parts that we chose was timing because it was the wig and the short hair. And then I wanted her to have nail polish and Hallie had to have blue hard candy nail polish. And then Annie didn't have it. So that switching was really fun to deal with. I was gonna say, it's really fun as a concept until you have to take it off and put it on, take it off- And we did that in Freakier Friday with the switch with Harper, where I have the decals on my nails. And as shooting went on, I'm like, Why did I do this? Why did I come up with this idea again? Yes. But- But it's worth it. It's really a very impressive performance from a really young person. I actually, if I had to pick any characters that I could say like, I missed playing those like roles, it would be Hallie and Annie. Oh, this is hard. Dude, what is that? [Lindsay] Oh. Wow. The Bear. [Jamie] Is that The Bear? Yeah. How is that The Bear? I mean, I can see lobster. How would you know that's The Bear? I see fish. Come on. [Lindsay] Is that shrimp? If this is Conde Nast Traveler, you can do better fucking better food picture for the bear than an out of focus- I think they're trying to make it hard for you to figure out. Well, I mean, I don't, what is that meat or is that polenta? No, that looks like shrimp. And I was never in The Bear where they fed and, well, except in my kitchen. This is not the kitchen. This is not Donna's kitchen. Is it the table? No. There's a car. Oh. Oh wait. It's when you drove the car through, isn't it? That is the car moment. See, I'm not even on the show. Oh yes. That... You know, it just was a little bit of a surreal photograph. Now I understand. It is the- I think it's very artsy and nice actually. It is a beautiful photograph and it is the moment when, you know, Donna drives the car through the wall of the house as one does when you're maybe inebriated and angry. [car crashing] Yes. This was in Illinois. This is in Chicago, in Evanston actually. Ma, what did you do? Ma, open the door. Open the door, Ma. One of the great experiences of my life. All of it. And then when that goes off, I need to take the branzino out and don't forget to stir the gravy. [Girl] Oh my God. Why? What do we got gravy for? Because nobody eats this shit. If you had shown me a picture of Donna's kitchen, I would've known exactly where, just a splattered timer with some gravy on it, I would've been, look, I almost called it tomato sauce, but it's not tomato sauce, it's called gravy. I know that now. Where are we? Oh, okay, 'cause the car, at first I was looking at that from afar and I was like, is this Machete? But no, it's Mean Girls. [bell dings] It is Mean Girls. Are we in the United States? No, we shot this in Canada, in Toronto, and outside of Toronto. I forget exactly what area. ♪ La-la-la-la-La ♪ ♪ The boys are waiting ♪ Wow, your house is really nice. I know, right? I loved filming there in Toronto. It was really nice. It was nice to be like out of the states to film something like that. But you were talking earlier today with the girls about Mean Girls about the age disparity of all of the girls. On set? Yeah. Yeah. It was, it was funny because we were all, Rachel McAdams was so much older than me, so we had such a big gap. So we didn't all get to hang out all the time. Get in, loser, we're going shopping. Regina's like the Barbie doll I never had, I'd never seen anybody so glamorous. ♪ I don't care ♪ I remember I was rhinestoning phones for everyone as gifts. I would take, everyone's like, T-Mobile Sidekicks and like rhinestone their phones or Verizon's or whatever they had and I would rhinestone their phones. Wow. But we had a lot of fun this day with, this is the scene with Amy Poehler when she's like, I'm a cool mom. There are no rules in this house. I'm not like a regular mom. I'm a cool mom. Right, Regina? Please stop talking. We were all at the Sutton Place. We all stayed there and we had like, I was like, Everyone, let's do Thanksgiving together. But it was nice. It was nice because it became like a family. And when you're young and on set, you need to be able to talk to other people your age. You feel lucky when you have that on film and you're young. Oh please. So OG. Obviously it's Halloween. This is South Pasadena. [Lindsay] You can just tell because it looks so eerie. Well then it's 1978, and here's the thing that most people don't understand. So this was what in fact the house looked like. So when you see the movie and it's all those years later and Laurie's walking up the street and she's putting the key under the mat and the little boy's like, don't go in that house, it's a scary house. Lonnie Elamb said never to go up there. Lonnie Elamb said that's a haunted house. He said awful stuff happened there once. Lonnie Elamb probably won't get out of the sixth grade. But in the movie, at the beginning of the movie, the house looks like a fully- Yeah. Fancy house. What we did is, the whole crew, the last day of the movie, spent the day whitewashing this house, hanging curtains, hanging wallpaper in only the rooms that they were gonna need to see in that opening sequence. And then we shot the opening sequence of the movie that night, the last night of the movie. I remember literally we were painting the house and hanging curtains- That's such a nice moment. It was like total crew group together. It was cool. [Laurie screaming] [Laurie grunts] Please. [Lindsay] Oh, this is Freakier Friday. Yes it is. [bell dings] Where are we? We are in Hollywood. Yes, we are. [Lindsay] On, we're near Wilcox, right? Yeah, at that great record shop record store. [Lindsay] Which was such a cute record shop. [Jamie] Yeah. Super cute. That day was the day where you got a nomination for The Bear and we did the cake for you. Yes, it was. It was a very special day that day. It was a special day and you were very sweet. I surprised you with a little cake and speech. It was a beautiful speech. Okay, I'll let you know when it's time for you to make your sexy grand entrance. Sexy grand entrance. [upbeat music] Oh, like that. But this day was so funny when we were peeling out in the car, 'cause you were so excited to do the peel out. No. I like to drive. And she was ripping it. I like to rip it a bit. ♪ Come here, go with it ♪ [both screaming] I love driving! And what most people don't know, but when they see Freakier Friday is, we also shot Freaky Friday in Los Angeles. And it was really important and we worked really hard, both of us a lobby Disney to get us to be able to shoot in Los Angeles because it's as much a love letter of Los Angeles. And you know, sadly, of course a lot of the locations in Freakier Friday burned in the Palisades Fire and in the Altadena Fire. The pickleball tournament. Yeah, I heard about that. The pickleball center there burned and the house, and it's gonna take, you know, decades to ever look like that again. It was so green and beautiful. So it's very important for me to be able to shoot in Los Angeles and for you. Yeah. [Jamie] Eek. Why eek? Because for a second I didn't know what it was, but now I do. It's very hard, this one. I believe it's from Trading Places. Is that Grand Central Station? Is it in in Philly or in New York? Philly. It's in Philly. So I didn't remember where we shot that, but this is the scene in Trading Places where I believe she kisses him goodbye and he's about to go toward the end of the movie. You know, I was young and this was a bit of a blur. It's kind of the way the girls- Yeah, you're just going with the flow. I agree with that completely. Like if I think about films that I did when I was 21, which maybe I'll see something, but I don't have that many distinct memories from a lot of them. I remember that building, I remember the scene, Dan Aykroyd can Kiss is all I can say out loud. That man knows how to kiss. He's a soul man. [gentle music] You know, the truth of the matter is, I think Ophelia is a straight character in that movie. I think, for the most part, I'm the straight person. I mean, even in A Fish Called Wanda, I'm not, you don't go to me for the funny, you go to the comedians... No, I'm being honest. I'm not the one who's gonna deliver that. So I don't look at that movie as something where I'm funny. I think True Lies was probably the first time I ever actually understood- Started to feel it too more. That characters could have physical comedy aspects that then could develop it, and then you'll see that in that. And so I think I had more confidence then. So by Freaky Friday I felt emboldened to sort of go for it. Yeah a bit. We seem to be- I'm old! I beg your pardon? Oh, I'm like the Crypt Keeper. Okay. That's enough. [both screaming] [Lindsay] Oh, Irish Wish, the Cliffs of Moher in Ireland. We didn't actually film on the Cliffs of Moher, it was green screened, but everyone really believed it. That's green screen? Yeah. Wow. Oh no, they did exterior shots of the Cliffs of Moher. But when there's the wide of us there, it wasn't real. Cliffs of Moher. You know it. I've heard about it. Oh, interesting. I love Ireland. I'm half Irish, half Italian, but I loved Ireland. It was so magical. And when they say four seasons in one day, that place has four seasons in one day. Which is- Same with Chicago by the way. People are so nice. Same with Chicago. Yeah. Beautiful. The food. I love, I love it there. We lived in a place called Dalkey, which was just beautiful. Just like this really lovely town. And we'll walk down, go get food, super simple. It's just such a nice life there. And then jumping in the cold water and it was just a really great experience. I wanna go back. I wanna take my son to Ireland- Yeah, of course. What a fun trip that would be. [gentle music] This is Georgia Rule. We shot it in Monrovia, not Idaho, Monrovia? California. I think you should probably hire her to be a travel consultant. One of my like side things that I just do as a mom and a wife is I love booking trips and picking places and I have very good memory. Are you that person? Yeah, yeah, I love planning trips. Yeah. It's like one of my favorite things to do. What do you love about it? I just love the result of like how when I've picked a place to stay and we get there and everything is, everything just is pretty, like moves seamlessly. Like how everyone feels after it. Like the experience and the moments that we've shared in that place. So you love travel? Yeah, I love it. And I'm lucky because my husband loves travel too. But at the same time I'm a homebody. Like when I'm home, I don't love to always leave the house. Like I like to be home. That's like the Cancer sign in me. Do scorpions like to stay safe and comfortable? Or do they just sting people? I think they just sting people. Okay, great. Because I love that about you. I am not a traveler. I travel for work and I am like a- You travel a quite a bit? I travel a lot, but I don't travel for pleasure. I'm not a pleasure seeker. I think it's important too when you can. I know. I love you. I travel for work and I find the pleasure in the travel for work. And my secret of travel is that I am an autodidact. I went to school, but I didn't learn anything. And so I inculcate sort of the culture of where I'm going wherever I travel. So like we're going to Australia. So I'm reading Thorn Birds. I feel like I am learning about the place I am in. You're very immersed in the place that you go before you get there. So that's how I have to travel. Me, I'm like, I wanna find all the like foodie restaurants. Of course you do. That's me. I'm like, where's the food? [Crew] Lindsay, if you had to plan a trip for Jamie, that she would enjoy, where would you plan it? I think I would take you to Dubai. Well, I would love to go to Dubai. Yeah, I'd bring you to Dubai because it feels like a different world there to me because there's so much chaos in America. It feels very safe there. But aside from that, it'd be nice to take you to a different culture and show you just the kind of food and the lifestyle and the people and the friendliness and kind of just, and take you to the desert and show you how beautiful it is and just see a different side of things. Well now I put lip gloss on your knuckle. It's okay, it's usually in my hair. I kissed her hair one time, one time wearing lipstick and it may have left a lip print on her blonde hairs. It was actually a very cool image though. It was with blonde hair, with like a salmon colored lip print. And now I will never be able to live it down. [bright music]
Yahoo
6 days ago
- Yahoo
Music therapy charity raises £14,000 at Kendal Calling Festival
A charity based in Penrith has raised £14,000 to support its music therapy work. Annie Mawson's Sunbeams Music Trust secured the donations during its first appearance at the Kendal Calling Music Festival, held at Lowther Deer Park. The trust delivers community music therapy to more than 2,000 disabled and disadvantaged children and adults each month. Ollie, a Sunbeams friend, with his dad, visiting to give support (Image: Sunbeams Music Trust) Jules Blundell, fundraiser for the charity, said: "It's more than raising money – it's about raising awareness. "The conversations we've had over the weekend have just shown how many people believe in music being a force of healing, wellbeing, good health, inclusivity and bringing people together. "Thank you also to all the community who came to say hello and support and visited the Sunbeams gazebo." The trust credited the generosity of festival-goers and the support of Andy Smith and Ben Robinson, Kendal Calling directors. Liesl rocks with a festival goer (Image: Sunbeams Music Trust) According to the charity, the funds raised will support it's eight specialist musicians to continue delivering Music for Life and Music for Dignity sessions. These take place at the Sunbeams Music Centre, in more than 50 care homes and day centres, and online. The charity said that the message at the heart of it's 33-year history, "bringing the power of music to Cumbria" was reaffirmed at the festival. The trust thanked the volunteers connected with the charity, saying these 'tremendous' funds could not have been raised without their "passion, enthusiasm, and incredible commitment.
San Francisco Chronicle
04-08-2025
- San Francisco Chronicle
A new restaurant rating app is luring young Bay Area diners away from Yelp
Zo Mendez didn't have a reservation at the hot new San Francisco restaurant Jules. So he arrived early, inconspicuously dressed in all black from his beanie to his Adidas high tops, and settled into a seat at the bar. While he hardly stood out from the crowd, Mendez is, by one measure, among the most powerful food influencers in the city. Mendez dominates on Beli, a restaurant rating app that's sending thousands of Bay Area foodies, particularly younger ones, into a frenzy. Beli users have left 3.6 million restaurant reviews in the Bay Area, said Chief Technology Officer Eliot Frost, who runs the company in New York City with his wife and co-founder, CEO Judy Thelen. Unlike other apps, such as the 20-year-old Yelp, where everyone sees ratings from strangers, Beli users only see their friends' reviews. But Mendez appears on the app-wide leaderboard — in San Francisco, he's the top-ranked user. 'It's tasty, dude,' he remarked after a waiter brought out a crudo appetizer with yellowtail, blood orange and capers. What pleased Mendez more, though, was the down-to-earth, satisfying pepperoni pizza. Per his 'pepperoni pizza rule,' he tries the trustworthy pie at every pizza restaurant he goes to, as a reference point. The meal at Jules ultimately earned an 8.2 rating out of 10, which Beli calculates for users by asking a series of 'this or that' comparisons to other restaurants a user has visited. For San Francisco's number one reviewer, Mendez is surprisingly minimal with his posts. Like all the reviews before it, the Jules review was barren, with no photos or descriptions — which the app allows — just a rating. He pays for all his meals himself, except for lunches delivered to the office of the company where he works. At 34 years old, Mendez said he's the oldest person he knows that uses Beli. The app doesn't collect age-related data, Thelen told the Chronicle in an interview, but it's 'relatively split' between a Gen Z and millennial audience. Powered by this younger user base, Beli boasts 70 million restaurant ratings worldwide — more than Yelp — Frost claimed. But most local owners told the Chronicle they'd never heard of Beli. Gerad Gobel of Rose Pizzeria, which is among Mendez's top-ranked restaurants, said it's unclear if Beli is impacting his business. Mendez recently awarded it a 9.8, causing 87 of his followers to bookmark the restaurant as one to try. But Gobel said it was more obvious when rave reviews from Chronicle critics and New York Times lists boosted reservations at his neighborhood restaurant. 'I don't know when we started getting reviewed on Beli, but I would say, in the past four or five months, you can definitely tell we're getting a more 20-something crowd,' Gobel said. Still, the app wasn't personally appealing to him. 'I'm a millennial with creaking bones now,' he said. 'I am currently out of the Zeitgeist.' Brandon Rice, chef-owner of the San Francisco restaurant Ernest, was also unfamiliar with the app. But he downloaded Beli for the first time to check it out. 'Ernest is pretty good on it,' Rice said, referring to the restaurant's 8.8 average rating across over 4,000 reviews. 'Judy apparently didn't like it,' the chef noted, referring to the Beli CEO: New accounts like Rice's are prompted to follow Thelen after registering, contributing to her follower count of over 730,000. She gave Ernest a 6.2. Thelen said Beli doesn't consider itself a review platform, but rather a 'social restaurant list-keeping app' — a difference she strongly emphasized. The app helps users remember where they've been and where they'd like to go next. This list-keeping element was what drew Stanford masters student Matthew Lee onto the app during his undergraduate years at UC Berkeley. Lee said he'd embarked on a mission to try every restaurant in his college town just around the time that Beli emerged as a 'bandwagon' trend among friends. 'It became maybe a little competitive, somewhere along the way,' Lee said. He seems to be winning that competition: he's now the top-ranked Beli user in Berkeley. Compared to the Beli, Yelp reviews come with pressure, Lee said, recognizing how much those reviews impact business owners and are viewed by strangers looking for their next meal. Beli, on the other hand, is mostly for friends. 'There's just stuff that would not make it to Yelp,' Lee said, 'like 'Oh my god, I was so big-backed,' with a picture of a completely demolished plate,' he went on, using a popular Gen-Z slang for overeating. For Frost and Thelen, the focus remains on growing Beli's user base and virality. The company has raised $12 million since its founding in 2021. Thelen told the Chronicle, but she doesn't want Beli to operate like a 'traditional consumer tech startup.' 'We run as lean as possible,' Thelen said, referring to Beli's current full-time team of just four, including her and Frost. The company has a partnership with OpenTable, letting customers book restaurants through the app. And the Beli Supper Club, which is an invite-only subscription to top-ranked users, brings in cash for the company, but is currently limited to New York City. Perks include partnership dinners at elusive restaurants. 'We get loads of requests to bring it elsewhere,' Thelen said, 'and S.F. is top of the list.'
