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1-4 out of 4 reviews:
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May 22, 2007
We ordered a big assortment of BBQ goodies for my niece's birthday party. They seem to have a few styles of BBQ (like Texas brisket, St Louis ribs, a Memphis-style pulled pork). We ended up getting the beef ribs, smoked chicken, the pulled pork, and smoked turkey, as well as the collard greens, beans, cornbread, and slaw for sides.
The results were mixed. My favorite was the pulled pork. The meat was tender and juicy, and I liked the tangy sauce with a hint of honey mustard. They also have a devilishly hot sauce that sneaks up on you before going in for the kill. It's tasty, but it buries the flavor of anything you dip in it.
I wasn't crazy about most of the other meats. The beef ribs weren't tough, but they weren't fall-apart tender either, and they didn't seem very seasoned with either a dry rub or sauce. I think you're meant to dip them in BBQ sauce, but I didn't like their rib sauce much. I think it was heavy on cloves, which I found interesting, but overpowering and distracting.
The poultry items were both on the dry side, and again not very well-seasoned. I didn't taste much smoke in them either.
My reaction to the sides were mixed also. The collards were a bit sour for my taste. The cornbread was a bit dry, and had bits of hard cornmeal studded throughout them. I liked their light, spicy, mayo-less cole slaw; it actually reminds me of Chinese pickled cabbage.
So it could have been better, could have been worse. I'd like to try their beef brisket which seems to be quite popular.
Tags:
bbq
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May 10, 2007
Koi Palace is one of those rare restaurants whose food shines through despite the inconvenience and horrible service. The service is fast, but can be quite rude, especially when it's busy (which is just about all the time). I think my mom almost came to blows with the hostess about a year ago while trying to setup a reservation. Nevertheless, the food keeps us coming back. I got to enjoy a banquet for an early Mother's Day celebration last weekend.
We started with the Suckling Pig Combo which came with an assortment of roasted meats. The pig was very good, tender, smoky meat with a crispy, crunchy bit of skin. The other meats were good too. The surprising part of the dish were the soy beans cooked like Boston Baked Beans with a touch of 5 spice powder -- very tasty.
For our soup course, we requested a fish intestine soup with crab meat. It's not nearly as scary as it sounds. It's simple and light with a nice, subtle fish flavor. The intestines didn't seem to have a strong flavor by themselves and the texture was soft, and delicate like sea cucumber.
My favorite dish is always the smoked sea bass. It's hot smoked and colored red like char siu pork. The fish is very juicy, with a nice smoky finish. It's just perfect; I could have finished the entire dish by myself.
I also liked a sticky fried rice dish. I actually wasn't positive that it was sticky rice at first because the grains didn't clump together like I usually see.
Most of the other dishes were good, but not fantastic. The roast chicken was nice, but it was just a bit dry. I wish we had gotten one of the marinated, steamed chickens instead. The dried scallops sauteed with mushrooms and roast garlic also had a nice flavor, but the dried scallops are kind of tough. The deep-fried seaweed squid roll was tasty, but a bit greasy and heavy.
It ended up being about $40 per person for 10 courses. Not all the dishes were fantastic, so next time I think I'd rather pick and choose each dish rather than get a preset banquet.
Tags:
dim
sum
cantonese
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Apr 20, 2007
I tried out this restaurant on my last trip to SF, and I think I actually liked it better than the famous Spices in the city. Unfortunately, I only got to try three dishes here. The chicken wings with chili peppers, spicy boiled fish, and a stir fried potato.
The spicy boiled fish was good -- the fish was tender and the sauce spicy and flavorful. It seemed to lack the complexity of my favorite renditions of this dish, maybe because there wasn't as much Szechuan peppercorn, but I still liked it.
The stir-fried potato was a new dish to me -- thin slices of potato stir-fried with green peppers. The potato is kind of undercooked (by Western standards) so that it is still a bit crisp. It gives the dish a nice texture that you don't usually associate with a potato flavor.
The chicken wings were fried along with a mountain of dried red chili peppers. These were so spicy that I was literally weeping with pain. The funny thing is that as soon as my tongue calmed down a bit, I kept going back for more. These were crisp and flavorful and addictive. Again I probably could have used more numbing Szechuan peppercorn, but I still scarfed them down despite the pain.
Tags:
szechuan
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Spices
294 8th Ave
San Francisco, CA 94118
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Reviewed By howie
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Apr 20, 2007
I believe I'm writing a review for the right one. I know the sister restaurant is right around the corner, and one is supposed to be better than the other, but honestly, I'm not sure which is which.
Spices has been making a name for itself, serving up fiery authentic Szechuan-style favorites. For an area more famous for Cantonese restaurants, it's a welcome addition.
I went here about 8 months ago, and had high hopes. We ordered Twice Cooked Pork, the Fish Fillet Bowl With Flaming Red Oil, a spicy kidney dish, a stinky tofu casserole, Shrimp with Chili Pepper.
All the dishes looked delicious, a lot like my favorite Szechuan dishes at my favorite places in So Cal. But after tasting the dishes, somehow I felt like the seasoning was off on almost all of the dishes. I had the weird impression that after chewing the food, the sauce had dissipated and I was just eating plain, unseasoned food.
I'm not sure why the sauces and food didn't seem to marry well for me, but it might just be that they had a light hand with the salt that day. It could also be that they use a lot less numbing Szechuan Peppercorn than I like, but I've had Szechuan that was light on that I still liked it.
I'd like to go back and try it again and be proved wrong since people tell me that this is the best Szechuan food in the Bay Area.
Tags:
szechuan
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