Downtown

Food

Work Lunch of Note: Sushirrito

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When I heard the buzz about Sushirrito a few months back, I knew I had to check it out. Still, the lines were said to be legendary. I bided my time. Today I met up with Tristan for a quickie lunch, and man, the lines are still brutal!

We were in line at least 30 minutes waiting just to order, and we ended up getting the same thing: the Crispy Ebi roll. From the website:

Crispy Ebi $10.50
Crispy Tempura Shrimp, Melted Pepperjack Cheese, Shredded Crab, Plantain, Avocado, Cucumber, Green Onion
Sauce: Sriracha Crema

Sounds yummy right? I got mine with a side of rice chips and chimichurri sauce (the green stuff).

I gotta say, I’ve heard mixed reviews about the service and the food, but I enjoyed my roll. It really hit the spot and filled me up without being way too heavy. It is in NO WAY a burrito, like say the Curry Up Now Tikka Masala Burritos, or the Korean Burritos at John’s Snack and Deli. It is just a giant awesome sushi roll that likes to fall apart.

So, not worth waiting 30 min in line for, but that is easily sidestepped I hear if you come early or late. Also the sushirrito is perhaps not worth 10+ dollars, but hey, where else are you going to get this? It’s so San Francisco it hurts.

Life

Goodbye Borders, My Personal Therapist
Everything must go

The Borders store at Union Square is in the midst of closing down, and it makes me immensely sad. Normally I don’t get all sniffy about non-independent bookstores shutting down, but for some reason this feels different.

For nearly four years now this Borders has been my go to spot whenever I was feeling down and out (and on my lunch break). I came here and perused the knitting mags, poked around the self-help section, and got excited by checking out the travel guides. I normally head straight to the comics whenever in a bookshop, but then I always came to Borders for “crisis” situations.

Now what will I do when I am feeling blue in the middle of the day? I love SF Library, but it is just not the same. Crackheads do not cheer you up! Also sometimes you just HAVE TO HAVE THE BOOK NOW.  If I want “Too Good to Leave, Too Bad to Stay” at 2 in the afternoon, or “A Severed Head,” or a quick present for a friend… Now what?

The store is getting pretty bare at this point. Not much else but lots of signs proclaiming 20-40% off!!! My coworker pointed out that the truly sad bit is this: even now Amazon’s prices are probably still lower than Border’s “We are bankrupt sale” price.

I remember when Cody’s Books closed.

And then Virgin Megastore.

And then Stacey’s Books.

I guess I will have to make friends with the Alexander Book Co.

Food

Work Lunch of Note

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I’ve had a bit of a love/hate relationship with Urban Picnic (which used to be Chill Cafe, same owner, different concept). Very slow service, inconsistent food and a relatively high price ($7-9 for BANH MI???) were what originally deterred me. I’ve come back recently and found that they’ve really cleaned their act up. The wait has been much shorter, the food tastier, and the staff nicer, although they do still seem unhappy to be at work.

Gotta give credit where credit is due- I LOVE their kale and quinoa salad. Today they were sold out by the time I dragged my butt to lunch, so I took a chance and got the “Slaw”.

Here’s what’s inside, according to their website: green cabbage, watermelon (pomelo for this one), daikon, carrots, shaved red onions, Thai basil-mint-scallion-cilantro medley, topped w/ crispy shallots & peanuts, with a garlic lime vinagrette. For $6.75.

Seriously seriously great. It was light and fresh and actually “enough” food.

The banh mi continue to be what I consider expensive, but hey, there’s always Cafe Dolci for that.