Cesar fukufoodz

JouJou (@sfjoujou) arrived with serious expectations: a glamorous French dining room from the team behind Lazy Bear, timed for San Francisco’s ongoing bistro revival. In his latest review, critic Cesar Hernandez says the reality is far less dazzling.

Cesar finds a restaurant that misses on execution, stumbles on service and still delivers fine-dining prices. Read his full review at the link in our bio.

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In the Bay Area, anything can be a burrito, even Taiwanese fan tuan, sticky rice rolls packed with youtiao, pickles, pork floss and more. Local restaurants have taken to calling them "rice burritos."

Critic Cesar Hernandez tracked down the region’s best fan tuan from Hayward to Redwood City. The verdict: MITK Kitchen (@mitk1655) leads the pack, with standout contenders in San Mateo, Sunnyvale and Redwood City.

Visit the link in our bio for Cesar’s full ranking.

📸: @fukufoodz Less

REVIEW: Meet Black Forest Kitchen (@theblackforestkitchen), Oakland’s new obsession serving up Berlin-style döner kebabs. The restaurant, a former popup, was founded by Pierre Slack, who grew up in Frankfurt, Germany, before moving to the Bay Area eight years ago.

“Slack’s döner ($15-$16) is a brute. Mass is part of its allure, guaranteed to fill you and perhaps an adult St. Bernard. The chewy, crunchy bread is similar to ciabatta, with the requisite fortitude for holding a mountain of fillings. It’s stuffed with meat sliced from a vertical rotisserie (chicken or the weekend-only combo of and ground beef mixed with lamb), or stewed oyster mushrooms — the sleeper hit for its punchy berbere seasoning and lemony brightness. Then comes a blizzard of feta cheese crumbles, a nest of shredded lettuce, onions and sliced chiles, and streaks of sauce: garlicky yogurt and a Peri Peri-inspired hot sauce,” critic Cesar Hernandez writes.

Read more at the link in our bio.

📸: @fukufoodz/S.F. Chronicle, Colin Peck/S.F. Chronicle
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Vivid Bibim (@vivid_bibim), a new Korean restaurant in San Leandro, makes an enhanced version of a Korean classic rice dish, dolsot bibimbap.

It’s the best one restaurant critic Cesar Hernandez has tried.

“I like bibimbap. But I adore its dashing sibling: dolsot bibimbap. Prepared in a scorching hot stone pot, it improves on the classic Korean rice and veggie dish by giving rice the top billing. The grains slowly sear in oil against scalding rock, yielding a magical crust and unlocking flavors absent in a typical bibimbap,” Hernandez writes.

Read more at the link in our bio.
📹: @fukufoodz, @lsuzuki
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As food prices spike and the possibility of a recession looms, affordable dining options like Rusty Ladle are more vital than ever.

You leave the restaurant with a happy belly for under 15 bucks.

Housed in a narrow 700-square-foot building, the counter-service restaurant offers four options (cup for $7.50, bowl for $10.50).

Two are standbys, tomato soup and clam chowder, and the rest change weekly. You might find Mexican meatball stew, miso vegetable soup or gumbo.

Read more at the link in our bio.

📸: @yoshijames
📹: @fukufoodz Less