The Restaurant Where My First Date Didn’t Go Horribly Wrong
My friend Chris had a first date last month and he was stressed because picking the wrong restaurant can kill the vibe before it even starts. Too fancy feels try-hard. Too casual looks cheap. Loud places make conversation impossible. Quiet places make silence awkward. He picked Presidio Kebab because it seemed safe – good food,…
Read MoreThe Day I Discovered Turkish Takeaway Beats My Cooking
My girlfriend Amanda is one of those people who loves cooking. She meal preps on Sundays, has seventeen spices I can’t pronounce, watches cooking shows for fun. Last Thursday she was planning this elaborate Turkish dinner she’d been researching for weeks. Then her work meeting ran until 7pm and she called me defeated, saying we…
Read MoreThe Night Turkish Food Saved My Dinner Party
My friend Kevin invited eight people over for dinner last month and completely forgot to actually prepare food. He realized this at 6:40pm when his first guest texted they were parking. Full panic mode. He frantically searched for Turkish food delivery San Francisco and found Presidio Kebab, ordered like $150 worth of kebabs and mezze,…
Read MoreThe Restaurant My Picky Food Critic Friend Finally Admitted Was Good
My friend Steven reviews restaurants for a living and he’s impossible to impress. I’ve watched him send back dishes at Michelin-starred places because the salt balance was off. He complains about everything – the lighting, the music, the font on the menu. So when he agreed to meet me for dinner in Pacific Heights at…
Read MoreThe Meal That Made My Lebanese Friend Stop Complaining About SF Food
My friend Layla moved to San Francisco from Beirut three years ago and she hasn’t stopped complaining about how hard it is to find real Middle Eastern food here. She’s tried probably twenty different places and always finds something wrong – the hummus is too thick, the tabbouleh has too much bulgur, the shawarma is…
Read MoreThe Night My Couch and Turkish Food Became Best Friends
My friend Rachel had one of those weeks where everything went wrong – her car broke down, her boss was being impossible, her apartment flooded from the upstairs neighbor’s leaking dishwasher. By Friday she was done with humanity and refused to put on real pants or leave her apartment. But she was also starving and…
Read MoreThe Kebab That Made My Carnivore Dad Cry
My dad is this old-school meat guy who thinks vegetables are what food eats. He’s from Texas originally and grew up on BBQ, steaks, burgers – the whole American meat situation. Last year when he visited, I dragged him to Presidio Kebab because I was tired of eating at steakhouses every night. He ordered the…
Read MoreThat Gyro I Ate Standing on a Street Corner Changed Everything
My buddy Jake went to Greece for his bachelor party two years ago and came back completely obsessed with gyros. Not the sad meat-tube situation you get at most places here, but actual Greek gyros with lamb that’s been roasting all day, real tzatziki, fresh vegetables, warm pita that doesn’t taste like cardboard. He spent…
Read MoreThe Greek Food My Yiayia Would Actually Approve Of !
My friend Christina’s grandmother is Greek – like, born in Athens, still speaks Greek at home, super traditional Greek. She came to visit from back East last spring and Christina was freaking out about where to take her for dinner because San Francisco Greek food usually disappoints her. Everything’s either too fusion-y or just not…
Read MoreThe Time Our Office Party Actually Had Good Food (Thanks to Turkish Catering)
Last year my company threw this big client appreciation event and my boss put me in charge of food. I was stressed because San Francisco catering is usually one of two things – either boring sandwich platters that nobody gets excited about, or fancy stuff that costs a fortune and leaves everyone still hungry. Then…
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