An occasional collection of bites. Have you eaten anything good or bad, or seen a good scene while you munched? Send in your short bites to missionlocal@gmail.com. Full names only.
Mission Chinese Food. My mom had been reading a lot of reviews of this place, and when she and my sister came to visit from Mexico City, it was THE one place we had to try. We had a tiger salad, the salt cod fried rice and the smoked beef brisket soup noodles. I’m not sure if it was due to all the anticipation, but the food was very good and rich. I was a bit annoyed that they brought the entrée in the middle, but since we were all sharing, it wasn’t that big a deal. My mom loved it so much she even had Anthony Myint autograph a menu. — Andrea Valencia
I too liked Mission Chinese Food’s salt cod fried rice, but my new favorite is the chilled buckwheat noodles. It has yuba, tofu skin, grated radish and green chili sauce. The perfect noodle salad you crave on a warm San Francisco day. We also ordered the kung pao pastrami, which was very good but almost too spicy. — Hélène Goupil
Snap peas, fried potato bread and potatoes as appetizers at Bar Tartine. Delicious starters and a beautiful place to sit, but disappointment all around when we moved on to the main courses of sturgeon fish stew and stuffed chicken breast. The broth in the stew was fabulous, but the fish inedible. It just had an odd taste to both of us who shared it. The chicken breast? Too complex to enjoy. — Lydia Chávez
Pal’s Takeaway: How much do I like Pal’s Takeaway? I went through withdrawals over the three-day weekend. My favorite is the veg on wheat, and I am not even a vegetarian. Ingredients to make your mouth water: dressed “happy boy” broccolini, avocado, roasted peppers, some cheese, cucumber and Tabasco mayo. — Rigoberto Hernandez