Newly arrived SF Weekly critic Anna Roth just barely finished unloading her U-Haul and settling into her new San Francisco home last week, having just relocated here from L.A. We don’t yet have her first full review, but this week brings her first published writing in the paper, regarding the odd chicken-and-waffle taco at Nico’s Tacos in North Beach. Now, Nico’s didn’t quite make the cut for our big taco roundup this week, and Roth isn’t that impressed with the spin on chicken and waffles either (she notes the inferior waffle-to-chicken ratio, under-seasoned chicken, and the “overwhelmingly sweet” and not very waffle-like waffle “tortilla”). But, she says, you might like it if you’re extraordinarily drunk or “toxically hungover.” She sounds like our kinda girl. [SF Weekly]
Meanwhile, her cohort Alex Hochman writes a full-length column reviewing some of the city’s new sandwich spots. At Sweet Woodruff, the Lower Nob Hill offshoot of Sons & Daughters, he finds an extraordinary roast chicken sandwich with greens, ripe avocado, and chimichurri sauce. “I don’t recall ever being this excited over a chicken sandwich that wasn’t fried,” he writes. He’s less pleased with Ryan Scott’s Market & Rye, where they’re doing a couple of somewhat gimmicky sandwiches topped with Funyons and Cool Ranch Doritos, both of which he says are “plagued by excess,” along with a truffled egg salad sandwich which would have been better without the pile of capers, basil pesto, roasted tomatoes, and onions thrown on top. Scott’s falafel, though, he says is pretty great, as is the BLT. [SF Weekly]
And at the Guardian, it’s Best of the Bay time. Food writer Virginia Miller, who essentially took the place of critic Paul Reidinger last year, obviously had a heavy hand in this one, and we see her calling out favorites like Wise Sons Deli, Chubby Noodle, and Mission Bowling Club. She also awards State Bird Provisions with “Best a la Cart.” (Get it?) As for the Readers’ Poll winners, AQ and Central Kitchen tie for Best New Restaurant, and Nopa wins Best Overall Restaurant for the second or third year running. [SFBG]
