Ike's Place Sandwiches

There's a famous, word-of-mouth sandwich place in San Francisco called Ike's Place Sandwiches.  The word on the street is that the sandwiches are so good that people will wait an hour in line to get one and that the place is becoming so popular that they were kicked out of their former location for being too busy (i.e. too many people standing in line and blocking the sidewalk).  Thankfully, Ike's decided to open up a location at Stanford University, which is not too far from my apartment.  The bad news is that the Stanford location is only open from 10am to 7pm, Monday through Friday, so any chance I was going to have at getting to try it was going to have to be a day off from work.  Luckily, I had the day off a few weeks ago and decided to finally try the famous Ike's Place sandwiches.  I ordered the Nacho Boy sandwich which has roast beef, mushrooms, avocado and swiss and I added on some "Ike's dirty secret sauce" and tomato on french bread.  Thankfully, the Stanford location is not as busy as the SF location so my sandwich was waiting for me when I arrived.  Here's a picture of the sandwich:

I'm not sure if I had set my expectations too high based on the hype that I had heard but I didn't find the sandwich to be spectacular.  The Ike's dirty sauce was overpowering to me - it had a strong garlic aioli flavor with mayo mixed in, which destroyed any balance that the sandwich ingredients might have had with each other since all I tasted in each bite was the dirty sauce.  Next time I'll ask for less dirty sauce in the hopes that it will add flavor but not totally take over the sandwich.  Other than that, the sandwich was fine so I'd be willing to give Ike's another shot but not if I have to stand in line for an hour to pick it up.

Alexander's Steakhouse

Last month I had the opportunity to dine at Alexander's Steakhouse, an amazing steakhouse that recently received its first Michelin star.  As much as I enjoy food, I can count on one hand the number of Michelin-rated restaurants that I've eaten at because they tend to be very expensive and hard to get a reservation.  Luckily, I knew someone who had an "in" at Alexander's and so I was able to finally eat there.  Given that it's a nicer restaurant, I did not feel comfortable taking pictures of the dishes I ate so all I can do is list the information here (based on memory, which may be deficient).  Lest you all wonder if I've developed the appetite of an NFL linebacker, I went with a party of 5 people and we shared most of the items below:

Starter course
Hamachi shots - truffled ponzu sauce, chili, avocado, frizzled ginger, cilantro greens

Palate Cleanser
Shot of creamy truffle soup

Main Course
10 oz filet mignon - tarragon-mustard beurre blanc, demi-glace
Truffled french fries - white truffle oil, parmesan potato purée
Mac 'N Cheese - white truffle oil
Creamed Spinach - feta cheese, crisp filo
Potatoes Au Gratin

Palate Cleanser
Fruit sorbet

Dessert
Lemon Chamomile herbal tea
Housemade cotton candy - bubble gum flavor