Last fall, we published the 10 Best Lunches Under $10 in Union Square. It was so popular, we decided to do it with every neighborhood. Rather than attack this subject as outsiders, we're approaching "hyperlocal" dwellers from each 'hood to give us their picks — in this case Ocean Beach Bulletin Associate Editor (and 7x7 contributor) Mark Lukach and departing Gizmodo Editorial Director Brian Lam, surfing buddies who both call the Outer Sunset home.

http://www.7x7.com/eat-drink/10-best-di ... ter-sunset

Mark's picks:

1. Turkey Sandwich from Outerlands Cafe

Outerlands is an Outer Sunset staple — its jumbo slices of homemade bread and reclaimed wood decor are worth making the trek out here. Their turkey sandwich (the turkey goes really well on their fantastic bread) is hearty, filling and just $8. There's always a line, so I'd recommend getting a coffee from Trouble Coffee down the street before your seat is called. $8. 4001 Judah Street, 415-661-6140

2. The Breakfast Sandwich from Devil's Teeth Baking Company

This neighborhood newcomer is already getting a lot of people excited. The breakfast sandwich is comprised of a housemaid biscuit, a fresh scrambled egg, a big smokey piece of bacon and two slices of cheddar. I eat one and I'm not hungry 'til dinner. $6. 3876 Noriega Street, 415-683-5533

3. The Shrimp and Steak Burrito from La Playa Taqueria.

The Outer Sunset's got nothing on burritos compared to the Mission, but there's something about this spot that makes it the best in the neighborhood. It's close to the beach and has short waits, plus great pictures of waves in Mexico lacquered to the counters. 90% of my trips to La Playa are barefoot, my hair still wet from surfing. The shrimp and steak for $7 is one of my favorite post-surf meals. $7. 3817 Noriega Street, 415-681-2007

4. Any Pizza from the Pizza Place on Noriega

This place is mostly awesome because of its vibe. For $7 you can get a half dozen of their very tasty buffalo wings, and in the pizza department, a huge slice with toppings adds up to about $4. Their trademark pizzas, like the Meathead, Rotten Robby and Timmy's Pie, are all top notch. 3901 Noriega Street, 415-759-5752

5. Miscellaneous Fusion from Mango Medley

This hidden gem on Judah Street has a menu that's the size of a small book, and almost everything is under $10. As a waiter there once told me, it's "slow food served by small people," so settle in and don't expect to rush. It's hard to go wrong here, but some sure-fire winners are the Tamarind Chicken with Vegetables ($9.25), Coconut-Lime Spaghetti ($8.95), and the Baked Pork Chop ($9.50). 3911 Judah Street, 415-681-3228

Brian's picks:

6. Spicy Beef Tendons from Kingdom of Dumpling

Some of the gnarliest dumplings in town can be found here, and you can even get them frozen to take home. I once walked in, short on time, and asked for one bag of every kind they had to go. $150 dollars and 6 months later, I ate them all. The pork and corn dumplings and shanghai soup dumplings are great, but I like the spicy beef tendon, which is sort of a chewy, super savory dish with a bunch of cilantro on top. I generally order it for my white friends like Mark before telling them what it is, and they love it too much to be grossed out. $6, 1713 Taraval Street, 415-566-6143

7. Five Spice Chicken Noodle Soup from PPQ Beef Noodle House

The beef noodle soup in this place is pretty good but I usually get the five spice chicken noodle soup which is basically a chicken thigh, boneless, fried in a pan, sliced up and served next to a bowl of hot noodles. Let their noodles steep a bit, and stir em up with some hot sauce and hoisin sauce and have at it. $6.75 for the medium. You probably don't need the large. 1816 Irving Street, 415-661-8869

8. A slab of Hammachi sashimi from Yum Yum Fish

I generally like my Chinese food prepped by Chinese people and my sushi prepped by a Japanese mom and pop but since this place doubles as a fish market, I like to stop in, grab a huge chunk of uni or hammachi and take it home to eat with a bowl of rice and some nori. Market Price. 2181 Irving Street. 415-566-6433

9. Salt and Pepper Rock Cod from Sunset's Best Seafood Restaurant

I took my father here and he loved this place. The thing that matters is that my dad grew up and lives in Hong Kong. The salt and pepper rock cod is pretty great, but I've eaten it so many times I'm not sure I can do it again. Thankfully the whole menu is pretty good, including the Lobster Noodles and fried chicken. $7. 3060 Taraval Street. 415-681-2899

10. Garlic Noodles from Thahn Long

There are cheaper places to get crab in the city but no place has garlic noodles that will stay on your breath for three days. Delicious, but pretty much the most nightmarish setting for a first date possible given the potency of the noodles. $9.50. 4101 Judah Street, 415-665-1146

Fuck 7x7. All their lists & covers are political and based on how many books they think they can sell(they are owned by Chronicle).

I'd rather hear what SF magazine, eater or anyone else has to say. I've been soured on 7x7 re: their food "choices".

sad news
ike's place doesn't serve the napoleon's complex nor the pride of castro (except during pride week).
two of my top 5 sandwiches.

went to mitchell's ice cream this past weekend to complete the s.f. trifecta of creameries.
bi rite was my favorite over all, but humphrey slocombe had my favorite ice cream in "harvey milk and honey."
mitchell's was good, but not amazing like the others.

I couldn't resist an invitation to have dinner at Frances the other night. We were fortunate to be offered a comfortable table right in the window, and from the moment we were seated, I understood why this a favorite restaurant in the city. The service was warm and attentive, and the food was stellar.


applewood smoked bacon beignets - maple creme fraiche & chive


crispy chickpea fritters, lemon and black olive aoli


grilled calamari, preserved meyer lemon, carrot, fennel and chermoula spice


toasted challah, stracciatella cheese and roasted figs


white corn soup, ancho chili creme fraiche, lime scented sea salt


carnaroli risotto, sauteed califronia porcini mushrooms, & parmesan


five dot ranch bavette steak, mission fig, porcini mushrooms, & parmesan


wild striped bass, creamed corn, chanterelles, and meyer lemon gremola
The dazzler of the evening. Perfectly cooked and flavorful fish, atop a bed of creamed corn. A balance of taste and texture, flawlessly executed.


warm bourbon 'pastel' - blackberry, sour cheery and bourbon cake, creme fraiche


'lumberjack' cake, lady apple, medjool dates, humphry slocombe maple walnut ice cream

What did you do, walk around the restaurant and ask everyone if you could take pix of their orders

Those beignets look and sound delicious as do the fritters. Gonna have to give them a try in the kitchen

all of that looks amazing!
this restaurant is now im my radar

Drool from the first pic.

I've been trekking to the Outer Sunset quite a bit lately (excellent produce at Other Avenues, a bit of sun on the dunes at Ocean Beach) and have been enjoying the weird bleached-sky surfer vibe out there. There are a few funky shops and cafes that make up for the long stretch of oblivion between Yuppietown (the Judah and 7th nexus ... or 9th or whatever) and the beach. I really want to try out Mango Medley. That place looks surreal and people seem to love it, although they seem to keep "when we feel like it" hours. Unfortunately the Celia's out there is supposed to be bad Mexican food hell, but I hear they sometimes have fantastic mariachis, something I'd never expect in any part of the Sunset District. The truly great restaurant out there is Outerlands. I haven't seen any local reviews but the NY Times loved it. (Why is the New York Times so much more in touch with SF than Michael Bauer?)

Alex if you managed to pick up the Ad Hoc book, try the summer squash gratin while you can still get the vegetables. Keller is always right.

Ever since they opened, I've been wanting to try Cotagna - the rustic side of big sister Quince. The pizzas made on a wood burning oven are blistered to perfection, and the pasta are handmade with sauces that cook all day.


a beautiful white gazpacho with peaches and basil


grilled mellons with prosciutto and roasted peppers


heirloom tomatoes with burrata


pizza blanca with burrata and cherry tomatoes


tagliatelle with suckling pig ragu - my favorite pasta of the night


gnochetti with cauliflower and crab - a bit fishy for my taste, with nice notes of lemon


triangoli with roasted corn - perhaps the table's favorite. my friends nearly came to blows
claiming rights to the last triangoli


gulf prawns with panzenella


bombolenni with berries and lemoncollo sauce - lightly fried doughnuts with a creamy heavenly inside

Wayfare Tavern:


am I the only one who thinks that a few popovers and a glass of red wine is a meal?


top of the season fog hollow peaches, watermellon radish, shaved fennel, black olives, mustard cress, olive oil


vegetarians may want to avert their gaze from the steak tartar - not that there's anything wrong with that


trust tyler florence to deliver a brilliant bone-in veal chop, summer panzenella, anchovy & roasted lemon


i contemplated this deceptively simple looking chocolate cream pie, until it vanished


light as air lime pudding competed with the speed of its disappearing act

oh man. so much good food on this page alone.

has anyone every been to RN74?
my sis in law received a gift card and we're going tonight.

RN74 is great. kind of a casual bistro by Michael Mina. Neat atmosphere. I think it's supposed to be some kind of train depot inside?

you will need to get the Rib Eye or try the lamb burger

will do!
i was eyeing that lamb burger. looks interesting.

They've got the best bone marrow in the city.

i must consume this!

took a break from burgers and ate some pasta and pizza at flour+water
meh.
oenotri in napa is still my favorite pizza and pasta. hands down.

Going to Morimoto's in Napa this weekend. Anyone been?

Also had one of the BEST Pastrami sandwiches ever today at Refuge in San Carlos. Certainly the best Pastrami i've had in the Bay Area... well, technically a Reuben... melt, melt, melt in your mouth pastrami....yummmy

http://www.yelp.com/biz/the-refuge-san-carlos

my brother has been. he went early on when they had recently opened.
he wasn't impressed... but since then i have heard a lot of good things.

BASK friends don't let BASK friends fall for the inexplicable hype about The Melt on New Montgomery. Good Gawd, what utter suckitude.

just bread with cheese?!

went to the american, and thought it was good.
i've heard other grilled cheeses on their menu are great though.
http://theamericansf.com/

i also like blue barn for grilled cheeses (good sandwiches too)
http://www.bluebarngourmet.com/

General consensus seems to be that The American is vastly superior to The Melt for about the same price. I haven't been there yet. I agree that a grilled cheese sandwich isn't exactly exciting but the point here was supposed to be quick comfort food with an eye to a big national chain in the near future, and the gimmick of being "high tech" and "eco friendly" (although they didn't appear to be either, actually. Very wasteful and nothing fancy tech-wise other than a screen on which you can see where your order is in the process. Big whoop.) Their best hope is their current location: There aren't enough fast lunch options in that area despite a Lee's next door and a (yikes) Chipotle across the street.

The Melt was hyped because Michael Mina is an investor (he should be embarrassed,) because the founder is the inventor of the since-discontinued Flip camera line, and because they promised very quick turn-around if you order ahead of time via some smartphone app. However avoiding the order line doesn't really seem to speed things up much. It then takes several workers awhile to process the orders because they only seem to have three machines that can handle one sandwich at a time. The promise is 90 seconds, but even though it wasn't busy when I visited, it took ten minutes. Also much has been made about their soup-blending and sandwich grilling tech, which to my eye looked like nothing more than contemporary panini presses and industrial scale blenders. A conventional grill would yield a much better grilled sandwich. Mine was awful ... soggy bread and cheese melted at such a high temperature that it actually liquified, spilling out onto the table when I took it out of its wrap. The tomato soup I ordered was just unbelievably bad. It tasted like something that had been in a can for too long. I probably wouldn't have mentioned it here had it not been for the widespread hype. I assumed that fellow Bay Area food lovers had probably seen some of that.

The other city sections on this board should put up places to eat as well.

this sucks. it's soooo easy to make the best grilled cheese sando. to hear that these guys can't even get the bread toasty crispy is sad. my only solace is that all the money Mina and the Flip dude spent will be down the drain unless they figure it out really quick.