Nopalito

The day after the Michelin 2016 event, Ken and I flew to San Francisco for the weekend to visit Teresa (his sister) and to attend his friend’s wedding in Sonoma. We landed, checked into our hotel in San Francisco, and then headed to Nopalito, a Mexican restaurant specializing in local, organic and sustainable ingredients. We started the meal with some fried chickpeas:

These are really delicious and sold in small bags in the to go area because they’re so popular. Teresa bought us a bag because Ken really liked them!

We ordered some guacamole for the table to start the meal:

The gaucamole was a little tasteless, which was surprising because the server said it was definitely worth ordering. Ken and I both liked the chips – they were super crunchy and delicious on their own.

For Ken’s main course, he ordered the fish tacos (two tacos of seared fish in ancho chile adobo, orange, onion, cilantro and salsa de morita y tomatillo):

Ken shared the dish with Adam, Teresa’s fiancé, but I ended up getting a bite from his taco. The flavors were all a bit muted and tasted mushy – I think it would have been much better if I had taken a bite when the dish first arrived at the table.

For my main course, I ordered the carnitas (braised pork, orange, bay leaf, milk, cinnamon, beer, cabbage salad, pickled jalapeño and salsa de tomatillo):

I was starving after getting off the plane and walking around San Francisco, so I knew it would be good to order something with a lot of meat! I had to douse the carnitas with lots of the tomatillo salsa because the pork was on the plain side, but the pork was cooked really well and it fell apart easily. The dish comes with tortilla wraps so Ken and Adam were also able to enjoy some of the pork.

Adam ordered the Huarache con Suadero y Chorizo (oval-shaped corn tortilla, pinquito beans, braised brisket, Oaxacan chorizo, queso fresco, crema, onions, cilantro and salsa arbol tomatillo):

I didn’t get to try the dish but they both enjoyed it (it looked like a dosa because the tortilla was so large!) Teresa ordered the huevos rancheros but I didn’t get a good picture of it – she enjoyed her meal, too.

For dessert, the server brings Mexican cookies to the table along with the check:

Me and Ken after lunch:

While I didn’t have the best experience at Nopalito, the place is really popular (there are two locations in SF!) and they’re the sister restaurant to Nopa, another popular restaurant that my friend’s like going to when they visit. Maybe we ordered the wrong thing (but how is guacamole at a Mexican restaurant the wrong thing to order?!) Next time we visit San Francisco, I’m heading to the mission district for a burrito!