greasepig reviews

Link: http://www.sfstation.com/business.php?blId=1440

This was my favorite place for lunch back in the late nineties, when I used to work for Preview Travel over at 747 Front Street. I went back there this day to remember. It did not disappoint.

First of all, it seemed unchanged, except for a fresh coat of orange paint on the walls and some new tables and chairs. The menu was identical to what it was in 1999 - for all I know it could be the exact same dry erase boards. I saw the Asparagus with Chicken on the menu, and even though I knew it wasn't in season, I had to try to order it, just in case there was some kind of weird out-of-season asparagus available. Of course it wasn't, so it ended up being Chicken with String Beans. Just like always, the soup (standard public utility hot and sour, although they have sweet corn in it which seems a little out of place) and drink (a Diet Coke) arrives approximately 20 seconds after I order it. And the meal itself, about 95 seconds. This was great when I came here for lunch during the time when I had a job and temporal limitations meant something. As for this time, however, I was going to take about an hour and a half to enjoy my meal and read the Guardian, so it didn't matter

Oh, what a fantastic pleasure I was reminded of! I had forgotten exactly why I liked this place: lots of ginger and garlic, and perfectly-sized portions. And as always, I choose chopsticks for the first 90% of the meal, because I like smaller bites to enjoy longer, and then because of the rice's consistency, I always had to revert to a fork for the remaining tenth just to be efficient. It was really reassuring to find out this place was exactly as delicious as I remembered it. I know Henry's brought me a little fame and a more substantial menu, but I must say Chef Jia is simply superior.

Rating: 4.5 Godzillas

Link: http://sanfrancisco.citysearch.com/profile/12035742/?specialty_id=28&

This was good because they do well with the portion sizes here. So many places that serve burgers have some bizarre fetish about serving serve four pounds of french fries, half of which are overcooked beyond edibility. These fries, on the other hand, showed evidence of real care taken during preparation. The skin was thin and crispy, and the inside fluffy as a bunny rabbit. The burger, a garden burger with bacon, again wasn't overwhelmed with toppings so much that I couldn't close it without removing a forest of greens. It was tasty, I got the wheat bun. Add to that eating outside, drinking a cold Tecate on a perfect 70F sunny day, and you'll understand why I gave this joint

Rating: 4 Godzillas

At first glance, this does not look like my kind of movie: 1) it's French 2) it has the word "romantic" in its description 3) The publicity photo, with Am

This restaurant is in the heart of that restaurant corridor on Mission Street between around Cortland and Cesar Chavez (Army). I've lived near this neighborhood for maybe eight years of my life, and yet there are still many restaurants here I haven't tried. (And a few that have come and gone that I'll never be able to try). So this is my part in trying a lot of them before I take off.

The door to this place is solid wood, and a large percentage of the windows have bamboo shades pulled over them, so it's difficult to see inside here. Also, since I went here for lunch, the interior lights were not turned on, and it was a rainy day (yes - rain in SF in June!), so the inside was dark but had a nice cool atmosphere that I enjoyed. First thing I noticed - there are no condiments on any of the tables, and I see that none of the patrons have asked for additional jars. This tells me that the food is so good that none of it needs to be spiced up at all. That or they don't supply condiments. I would soon find out.

I ordered Pad Khing with Pork, which was just pork with ginger, peppers, mushrooms and tomatoes. First, though, came the soup. It reminded me of soup my grandmother used to make: clear, bland broth with a few heavily cooked vegetables and that little seed-like pasta - looking this up I see it's called either orzo or seme di melone. Needed a little salt, but nothing available, and I wasn't going to ask yet. The main course sat on the plate prettily, although all the colors were kind of de-saturated from the rainy afternoon light. Unfortunately, the flavor was pretty bland as well, and was crying out for some chili sauce. But I didn't get any, because I was too involved in my book, and didn't look up frequently enough to flag the guy done. Oh well, it wouldn't have improved much, only masked it. Bottom line is I'm glad I started trying out restaurants like this, but I won't be going there again.

Rating: 2 Godzillas

Link: http://sanfrancisco.citysearch.com/profile/889364/?specialty_id=35&

I have ridden by this place on my bicycle probably over a thousand times, and yet this is maybe my third visit here. Why such infrequent patronage? I decided to have lunch here to find out.

The place is pretty clean, with those funky leather strap-covered mini chairs just like at Pancho Villa's. And as I just learned, it's owned by the same people. As I walk in, though, two things strike me: 1) there's no sign showing me where to order and pay and stuff. This turned out to be no big deal as a line formed quickly and I was able to follow all those helpful people. It's also a very picky non-issue. 2) The prices - about $1 to $2 higher than any other normal taqueria. There are four levels of burritos: Regular, Especial, and Super, all of them overpriced. The regular starts out over $5 right away. Come on, get real.

I had a Especial Spicy Chicken Burrito. Got black beans (choice of beans: good). I forgot to ask for it without cheese. And a strawberry agua fresca. The burrito was basically too salty, and not enough mixing of the ingredients. Good texture though. A very filling lunch, but it made me wish I had been filled up with something a little more flavorful.

Rating: 2.5 Godzillas

Hungry Joe's is the diner just around the block. I go there by default because of its proximity. They serve regular diner food, nothing really distinguishing. I guess their Hungry Joe's burger, which is just hamburger with some green onion mixed in, is the only thing that distingues the place. I've had some pretty good food there, like their blueberry pancakes and sausages. And a nice turkey club once. But I've also had some bad experiences, like the couple of times when I explicitly requested swiss cheese but was given shredded cheddar. And the one time I got this eggs benedict that looked so disgusting I just paid and left without taking a bite.

The worst part, though, is probably that the hot waitress that had been working there for the last year just left for Hong Kong :(.

Rating: 2.5 Godzillas

I have learned, actually only far too recently, to go into a movie like this with no preconceived expectations of what the experience should be like. Of course, I can't forget the previous twenty or so kaiju movies I've already seen, but that doesn't mean they have to have any bearing on this one.

This movie can be summed up in one word: non-stop. It starts out with Godzilla being buried at the South Pole by another improbable attack vehicle commanded by yet another incarnation of one of those Earth Defense forces. Apparently all the people of the world have joined together to fight man's common enemy: monsters. This is awesome, because the movie spends no more time setting up that plot point than it took you to read that sentence. That's all I need, bring on the monsters! This movie steals from nearly every single Godzilla movie of yore, and about half the recent sci-fi movies. The movie's protagonist is certainly a long-lost cousin of Keanu Reeves, and the resemblance goes even further than that, with Matrix-style cgi fight scenes, and lots of silly closeup reaction faces. Oh, and don't forget Ultimate Fighter Don Frye, who is absolutely perfectly cast as the rogue Earth Defense Force commander who is the only one left who can command the battleship thingy to save the earth. The great thing about his dialogue is that you can tell it was originally written in Japanese; i.e., it's pure Engrish.

Other memorable points of this movie:

• Godzilla fights the American version of himself from the 1998 American movie, and (of course) has little trouble dispatching the little guy. (BTW, unlike most rabid Godzilla fans you might hear of on the internet, I had no problem with that movie, enjoying it as much as anything else in the genre. I guess when it comes to kaiju movies, I'm not very picky).
• When G fights Hedora, the smog monster, sixties-style flower-children music reminiscent of the original movie is played. I thought this was a nice touch
• Rodan's attack on New York is very well done. He causes a lot of gratuitous destruction, and the scene where he stands triumphantly against the moon is brilliant. Even four years after 9/11 though, viewing buildings falling down onto the streets of New York City can be kind of disturbing
• A motorcycle fight that, although cheaply implemented, was still a lot of fun to watch. Not quite as good as the bike duel in Torque, but still a big hit
• The aliens wore the same goofy sunglasses as the ones from Monster Zero
• Most of these movies have either a hot reporter or a hot scientist. This one had both. They also didn't miss any opportunities for gratuitous sexist leg-shots. Hey, that's part of what these movies are for. I mean, yeah, it's a kid's movie, but someone has to take the kids to the movie, you know.

The only things that weren't so good were the music: the soundtrack was by Keith Emerson of ELP, and it just didn't do it for me, for the most part. They couldn't go wrong if they just had some of the old standby Godzilla themes from Akira Ifukube. Also, King Ghidorah's necks were too short and not articulated enough. I know he's a lot tougher than was demonstrated here.

When this movie came out, it was supposed to be the last Godzilla movie ever. While this would be a fine end to the series, there will most certainly be more of these. And I, for one, welcome our campy, city-stomping, fire-breathing overlord Godzilla into our theaters.

Rating: 4 Godzillas