E&O Asian

Change is coming for us!  We're headed to the Bay Area.  Spent a weekend house hunting and dining -- thanks to the company dime.  First item on the agenda upon finding a house (ok that's the first item on the agenda) is getting BACK on the waistline friendly diet plan (a.k.a. eating at home).  But not this trip.

On our first night we hmmmed and hawed after a LONG day of looking at houses (and really skipping all meals... and having headaches as a result) and ultimately decided on E&O Asian.  Asian food is our comfort food.  And after a fairly discouraging day... we didn't find the house of our dreams... shocking I know... we decided we needed some comfort.


A bit of a back history to this point.  First I wanted to eat at In Canto.  It's closed.  Also wanted to try Rick Bayless's mexican restaurant in the Macy's building.  Closed.  Same for several other places.  Hey Food Network!  Update your recommendations to places that stay open!!!  I guess it truly is a sign of the times.  It's tough to keep a restaurant open.  Even for people who have recognizable names to the moderate Coach Bag Foodie. 

So this place place did not register on our "must see" list because the recommendation came from Brian Boytano.  Ummmm.... weird.  Brian Boytano is welcome to recommend the best place I ever ice skated, but the best thing I ever ate?  I don't know how much I believe you.  As tasty as he made Indonesian corn fritters sound, it's still, well, a recommendation from Brian Boytano.  But the name kept coming up... on Yelp, in the hotel directory... so we gave it a try. 

Upon walking in I noticed it was near Banana Republic which we went to 6 years ago and I remembered eating at some restaurant that was laid back and fun at that point... and tasty.  We sat at the bar and chatted with the bar tender.  Couldn't have told you what kind of food they had, but I seem to remember small plates. And it was a nice place.  But that's as much memory as I could muster.

Inside the decor was quite swanky and cool.  Definitely had a young club-going vibe.  The menu was intriguing.  Lots of fusion items.  And we were HUNGRY.  Plus we basically had a "the world is your oyster" budget (and let me tell you that would have been worth a LOT of oysters... except we're not huge oysters fans.  Come to think of it this place had oysters....).  Anyway, we opted, nearly, to get "one of everything". 

First up, butternut squash dumplings.  They were good, spicy... strong curry flavor.  Pretty good way to start!

Second up... Indonesian corn fritters.  Ummmm... HELLO!  So crazy good.  The dipping sauce made everything better.  Ok Brian Boytano... I'll take your recommendations more seriously now.  Maybe. 

Third.  Short ribs.  Pretty good.  Very strong hoisin flavor.  And a lot of pepper.  The butternut squash dumplings had lots of pepper as well. 

Fourth.  Shaking beef.  Um... perfectly cooked.  Quite tasty.  Very good.

Fifth.  Green beans.  They were fine.  They were not Din Thai Fung green beans.  We keep trying to find those somewhere else.  There is nothing like DTF green beans.  Sigh.  So sad.

And last but NOT least, black cod.  In a word... sublime.  Just. So. Good. 

Finally (because why not when the company is paying?) we had dessert.  Chocolate devil's food cake with 5 spice ganache (couldn't taste the 5 spice) and salted caramel.  Yum.  And warm ginger cookies.  Very good... but they didn't last into the next day. 

So here's the best part of E&O.  While we are eating The Critic starts to wonder if THIS was the cool, laid back place we went to six years ago.  Before our foodie craze.  And before our Asian food obsession.  He said "I remember giraffes and bamboo decor".  So we asked our server if they had remodeled in the past few years.  Why yes they had... before it was covered in bamboo and jungle animals!  How funny is that?  Guess that's a way to welcome us (back and) to San Francisco!