Fremont Diner: Slow down for slow food...

If you're ever on a road trip through the Napa/Sonoma area, and have a hankering for some American classics with locally-grown flair, The Fremont Diner might very well be your place. 

Located off the Carneros Highway, the revamped diner looks and feels incredibly down-home and local. You can take a seat up front on a bar stool, sit on tables alongside in their lawn area, or dine indoors surrounded by an air of nostalgia. This place does have an edge as it attracts a broad demographic, from foodies to people who've just happened to stumble across a curiously bustling place. There are no frills here, just honest good food.

Upon being seated, we're served glasses of water in mason jars with handles -- pretty cute. The menu is aesthetically pleasing too.

Grapefruit Avocado Salad, $8.25

The Grapefruit Avocado Salad is incredibly refreshing -- grapefruit, avocados, smoked bacon, and Point Reyes bleu cheese dressing on top of a wealthy bed of county line greens. I'm not normally a big fan of bleu cheese, but as part of this combination, it has won me over. Perhaps it could have been the fact that we were sitting in a sunny part of the diner, which made this salad so quenchable. 

Fremont Burger, $9.50

I had such a craving for a burger and french fries at the time (well, that's pretty much all the time anyway), so I went ahead and ordered the Fremont Burger. A Five Dot Ranch beef patty dripping in fantastic grease simply garnished with lettuce, cheddar cheese, and pickle on a potato bun along with hand-cut fries...what more can you ask for? The burger tastes quite freshly ground, giving it a unique taste. 

Oyster Po' Boy, $11.99

Po' Boy anything and I'm there. Here,  their Oyster Po' Boy is a must: Drake's Bay oysters, remoulade, lettuce, and Fremont bacon on an artisan roll. It's served with a side salad and pickled onions. The oysters are fried to perfection and it makes you want to savor every bite. It's a good idea that they serve a side salad as opposed to fries, as I think having both would just be overboard -- there needs to be something to cut the bad stuff, if you can handle it. 








Location: 

2660 Fremont Drive, Sonoma 

Open Monday to Friday, 8am-3-pm
Saturday and Sunday: 8am-4pm


In other words, open for Breakfast/Early lunch/Late Lunch/Really Early Dinner.

The Chairman's Pork Belly Baked Bun...Finally

I've been going to Off the Grid at their various Bay Area locations since last summer and every time is anything but a disappointment. I've always heard high praise about The Chairman and their Pork Belly buns but had never gotten around to trying it because they always have massive lines that my grumbling stomach had zero tolerance for. 

The Chairman Food Truck at Hiller Aviation Museum in San Carlos

But yesterday was finally the day that I would try the hyped sandwich (and all this time I thought it was a meat filled bun!). Pork belly = tons of fat. Upon picking it up, drips of grease fell upon my biodegradable take-out box...a sign that a marvelous thing is about to happen. My salivary glands kicked in at full gear. That first bite, as is with most things, is always the best. I found myself scarfing it down and not wanting it to end at the same time...

Pork Belly Baked Bun ($6.75) 

The truck offers other meat options: Red Sesame Chicken with Scallion and Bok Choy, Spiced Duck Confit with Fresh Mango Salad, Braised Pork with Savoy Cabbage and Preserved Mustard Seeds, as well as a vegetarian option: Crispy Garlic Tofu with Miso Greens. You can either get these in a baked bun (pictured above) or a small (3-bite size) steamed bun for $3.75. But you may as well go all the way with a baked bun if your passionate about one item over the others.

This line was probably the longest among all the trucks, as it always, and now I can say that is for a good and obvious reason.

You can follow The Chairman's weekly whereabouts on their Twitter and Facebook page...so stalk away.

Capacity:24, yet serving bottomless stomachs: Loi's Vietnamese Restaurant

I can't believe that in the 5 1/2 months I have been writing in the blog, I haven't shed light on what I think to be the best Vietnamese restaurant in the Sunset District. 

My family and I have been going to Loi's Vietnamese Restaurant for as long as we've lived here -- 15 years. Whenever the mood for Vietnamese rice noodle soup, Phở, strikes and we're in San Francisco, this is the place to be. You'll notice right away that it's a local favorite from the crowd that forms under its red awning, eagerly peeking through the windows to see if a table opens up because the hunger pains/salivation are too much to handle. The restaurant is tiny in size, but the portions and incredibly cheap prices are more than enough to compensate. You're here for the food, anyway. 

#1, Loi's Special Beef Noodle Soup, size XL ($5.75)

The picture of the soup above doesn't do it justice. Typically my family of 4 and I split this if we're going to order a couple dishes of BBQ Pork over rice. The soup practically arrives a couple minutes after you order it, steaming hot and fresh. The bits of beef are a bit raw but dipping and swishing it will cook it in an instant. The broth is rich and incredibly comforting that you'd want to slurp it all up (guilty!). And you can't go wrong with adding bits of Sriracha hot sauce, and I tend to do so to a point that I am sniffling and crying from how amazing the world is now that I am reveling in this soup. 

#16, Vietnamese Beef over rice noodle with egg roll ($5.50)

Pictured above is a noodle dish sans the soup, but instead topped with BBQ beef, egg roll, cabbage, carrots, and cucumber. I had this for the first time in Paris (where the best Asian food there would have to be Vietnamese, hands down). It's a refreshing combination, almost a bit like a form of Filipino pancit but with a tangy bite from the sweet chili sauce that is meant to be poured over. This is easily a dish that can be split between two people as well, but good luck even wanting to share. 

#26, BBQ Pork over rice with egg roll ($5.50)

I've always loved to order BBQ Pork over rice, because what's there not to love? You have perfectly cooked pieces of BBQ Pork topped with savory peanuts, a side of egg roll (or a fried egg for an extra buck), and that heavenly sweet chili sauce. 


How can food so good and authentic cost so little? Well that's the beauty and endless satisfaction of Vietnamese food.

Location: 

2228 Irving Street 

San Francisco

Weekdays: 11am-9pm

Weekends: 11am-9:30pm

Closed on Wednesdays