Southpaw BBQ Restaurant Review

My time in San Francisco is usually so limited that I don't have the opportunity to explore all of the new additions to the food scene.  Now that I have settled in for a few weeks, I discovered that the Mission is an entirely new area than what it was 3 years ago.  It's super yuppy and I love it!  There are so many great new restaurants and fun bars. 

I winded up at Southpaw BBQ during my last trip to the city with some great friends from college.  Perhaps it was our common memory of piling food onto our dinning hall trays that led us to order an absurd amount of food, but whatever it was, we went all out! 

I shared the pulled pork (awesome) and tray of side dishes: mac & cheese, grits, zucchini, black eyed peas, collard greens, brussel sprouts and bacon, and hush puppies.  I could have eaten an entire pot of the mac & cheese.  Ashley and Edward split the pulled pork and fried oyster sandwiches - also good.  But the stars on their plates were those sweet potato, salt covered chips.  I stole half of Ashley's batch!  The most fun part of the meal, however, was trying out each of the six special sauces.  Sweet potato, habanero was my fav.  All in all, Southern comfort food at it's best!  Only downside was the bar's obsession with whiskey, but some things in San Francisco will never change.

Menu

Ashley and Edward

Pulled Pork, Mac & Cheese, and Grits

Tray of Side Dishes

Pulled Pork Sandwich

Fried Oyster Sandwich

Lansky's Jewish Deli

I knew I was in for a good meal at Lansky's when they brought out the warm LOAF of banana bread with housemade strawberry butter to start the meal.  So good in fact that my mom and I ate a half the loaf and I snuck the rest in my purse for later.  For the rest of our meal, I ordered the crab cake eggs benedict (hold the sauce because I hate hollandaise sauce) and my mom ordered matzo ball soup and a half sandwich.  Everything was awesome!  It may have been my favorite meal I had in NYC.  The crab to cake ratio was ideal, the poached eggs were cooked perfectly so I got all the runny yolk to act as a sauce.  The soup was the best we tried all week.  AND for brunch on the weekend you get bottomless mimosas or bloodymary's for free.  We didn't partake, but I liked the option and could see a time in the future where I compliment my eggs with a little champagne and OJ.  If you're a New Yorker and haven't gone to Lansky's, get there ASAP!!

Delicious Banana Bread

Eggs benedict.  Increible son!

Matzo ball soup

Meat topped with sandwich

A Los Angeles Picnic

I LOVE cheese.  I LOVE imported cheese.  I LOVE finding my favorite Argentine wine in Los Angeles for LESS than it costs in Argentina.  And most of all, I LOVE drinking wine and eating cheese with my best friends from college whom I haven't seen in months and months to cure a went-out-too-late-just-took-the-GRE-and-celebrated hangover (how'd you like that compound word GRE?). 

My friend Ashley Hovey and I went to Wally's wine store in Westwood and it has an amazing selection of not only Argentine wines, but every type of wine.  We followed it up with a trip to the Cheese Box next door where we ordered a grilled cheese on brioche and a fresh mozerella with veggies and pesto sandwich.  We also added some more bread, a sheep's cheese, a cheddar cheese, a salami, almonds, grapes, and chocolate to the mix.  I'd like to say we didn't devour the following spread, but that would be a lie.  We did and we loved it.