Ike's Place, San Francisco

No, I haven't forgotten to post the picture for this one. Tonight, we actually have our first review that will not have a picture, because my Dec. 2009 visit to Ike's Place predates when I began taking pictures of the places I visited. So I'll try to describe things as best as I can without the use of visual aids.

Luckily, Ike's Place is so creative that this is probably the best place to have to do one without photos if I must. Those of you who read my Voodoo Doughnut review know that in addition to wonderful doughnuts, it's just as famous for its creative names that it bestows upon said doughnuts. 

What it is to breakfast, Ike's Place is to lunch. Owner Ike Shehadeh has come up with no fewer than 83 sandwiches that dot the Ike's Place menu, and that doesn't include discontinued sandwiches or sandwiches that are only available to Ike's fans that sign up via e-mail or social media for the restaurant's alerts. All sandwiches are available on your choice of freshly baked French, sourdough, wheat or Dutch crunch bread, and all sandwiches come toasted with lettuce, tomato and Dirty Sauce. If you want, you can add onions, pickles, banana peppers and mustard for free.

Plus, every sandwich has some kind of creative name, with the majority of the names having something to do with San Francisco, although that's by no means required. Here's a sampling of what you can find on Ike's menu:


Menage a Trois: Halal chicken, honey, honey mustard, barbecue sauce, pepper jack, Swiss, cheddar
Nacho Girl: Wild salmon burger, mushrooms, avocado, havarti
Paul Reubens: Pastrami, coleslaw, French dressing, Swiss
Peg Bundy: Breaded eggplant, French dressing, avocado, cheddar
Lincecum: Ham, turkey, bacon, avocado, havarti
Tom Brady: Vegan breaded chicken, garlic and herb sauce, mushrooms, avocado, cheddar
Kryptonite: Roast beef, corned beef, pastrami, salami, turkey, bacon, ham, mozzarella sticks, jalapeno poppers, onion rings, avocado, pesto, pepper jack (basically, just about every ingredient on Ike’s menu)


OK, if you've read this far, I'm sure you're wondering exactly what is Dirty Sauce? Quite simply, Dirty Sauce is the condiment that takes Ike's from being good to amazing. Dirty Sauce is Ike Shehadeh's garlic mayonnaise, with several secret spices for a simply fantastic taste.


Before any ingredients touch the sandwich, Ike's spreads the Dirty Sauce onto the bread and bakes it into the bread, giving the sandwich the distinct flavor of the Dirty Sauce in every bite. The sandwich is then toasted again once the ingredients are all loaded onto the bread, resulting in hot and fresh deliciousness that simply has to be tried to be believed.


On my visit, I went with the SF Giants, an incredible combination of turkey, bacon, mushrooms, Swiss and avocado. Quite honestly, it might very well be the best sandwich I've ever had. When combined with the Dirty Sauce throughout the sandwich, a bunch of things I already like become perfection.


Ike's is so incredible that it's won numerous awards in the short time it's been open and has become an indelible part of San Francisco and the Bay Area in just a couple years. When you manage to do that, it's because of one reason: you're really, really good at what you do.


Recap
Time to go: Lunch or dinner. Ike's is open between 10 a.m. and 7 p.m.


Wait during my visit: Oh boy. Ike's is the reason that San Franciscans need more than an hour for lunch. The line almost stretched to the end of the street, and Ike's location (at the time) on 16th Street is on a pretty long street. I waited approximately two hours for my sandwich. That I'm still giving this a high review speaks to just how good Ike's creations are.


The good news is that Ike's does allow you to call in your orders, and if you do, you can pick up your sandwich without having to wait in line. I highly recommend doing this. Even better, if you're not sure you can make it to Ike's by 7 p.m. and you call your order in, Ike's will hold your sandwich for up to an hour after its doors close so you can pick it up.


Location: You can find Ike's at 3489 16th Street, a new location across the street from the original Ike's. Ike's also operates a secondary location on the campus of Stanford University in Palo Alto.


Parking: Good luck. It's San Francisco, which means parking will be both costly and a nightmare. There are meters available, but they will cost you a few dollars for your wait. I would recommend finding a transit option of some kind. You can take BART to the Mission/16th Street stop, which would give you a half-mile walk to Ike's. Not ideal, but at least you don't have to find parking.


Cost: Average. Ike's sandwiches tend to cost roughly $10, which can be more or less depending on what you order.


Website: Ike's Place. Ike's offers a great website, allowing its patrons to rate their sandwiches and listing the ratings of each. It's a great feature.


Signature items: Sandwiches, Dirty Sauce

Voodoo Doughnut, Portland, Ore.

Perhaps no place lives up to the term "hole in the wall" better than Voodoo Doughnut. Located in downtown Portland, Oregon on the western side of the Willamette River, Voodoo Doughnut is hidden so well that you'll miss it if you don't know exactly where you're going. This actually happened to me, as I couldn't find it on my first trip to the City of Roses in 2009 and had to give it up so I could catch my flight from PDX.


Luckily, Idaho State plays at Portland State every year, so I got a second chance to find the elusive doughnuts a year later while I was still covering Bengal basketball. This time in better daylight and on foot, I was able to find what I was looking for, and I'm darn glad I did. Voodoo Doughnut is home to some of the most creative names and pastries available. Here's a list of some of what you can expect to be waiting for you at Voodoo, the No. 20 restaurant on the Chowdown Countdown.


Portland Cream: Chocolate yeast doughnut filled with Bavarian cream
Triple chocolate penetration: Chocolate cake doughnut with chocolate icing and Cocoa Puffs
Grape Ape: Yeast doughnut with vanilla frosting, grape dust and lavender sprinkles
Gay Bar: Yeast bar doughnut filled with cream, frosted and topped with a rainbow of Froot Loops
Marshall Matters: Vanilla frosted doughnut covered in M&M's
Memphis Mafia: Doughnut with banana chunks and cinnamon sugar, covered with peanut butter, chocolate frosting, peanuts and chocolate chips.

As you can tell, this place is creative, and I haven't even mentioned my doughnuts of choice yet. As you probably gathered from the main picture, I had to order a Voodoo Doll, which begins life as a bar doughnut, but then has its arms pulled apart to give it the doll look. It's frosted with chocolate, given a face and then has its bottom half injected with raspberry jelly. A pretzel stick is then added to complete the look. It tastes simply wonderful. If you like chocolate and raspberry, as my mom does, you will love this.


My other doughnut, I really don't wish to name, but I will: It's called an Old Dirty Bastard. What is it? It's a chocolate-frosted yeast doughnut, topped with Oreos and peanut butter. It is incredible, as you can see for yourself.

But that's not even the strangest thing about Voodoo Doughnut, nor is it their Maple Bacon Bar, which is served with actual bacon on top of a maple-frosted doughnut. Their strangest doughnuts aren't on the menu anymore because the health inspector told them they had to stop making two doughnuts, the Nyquil Glaze and the Vanilla Pepto Crushed Tums. 


Yes, for a time, they actually sold one doughnut with Nyquil and the other with Pepto-Bismol and Tums. Apparently, the goal of the second was to be used to try to help people recover from a night of drinking. Novel idea, but apparently the health inspectors disagreed. But that's not the strangest thing about this place. The strangest thing about this place is they perform weddings here.


No, I didn't make that up. For a couple hundred bucks, you can legitimately get married at any of Voodoo Doughnut's three locations, and these are legal marriages performed by a minister. No word on if anyone has attempted to marry a doughnut.


For sheer creativity, Voodoo Doughnut is worth a look. But it's the quality of the doughnuts that make this place amazing. This place takes quality so seriously that they will not ship doughnuts (they say the product's shelf-life is 8 to 12 hours) and they will not guarantee you can purchase a dozen doughnuts without calling ahead your order 24 hours in advance, because they don't want to serve sub-standard doughnuts. All restaurants should have those high standards of quality.


Recap
Time to go: Whenever the heck you want. Voodoo Doughnut is open 24 hours a day except for certain holidays at all three of its locations.


Wait during my visit: None, but I went at 6 a.m. It is possible the wait could increase with the original restaurant's expansion, as the size has greatly increased which could allow for people to eat at the restaurant.


Location: The original is located on 22 Southwest 3rd Avenue in Portland. They have a second location at 1501 Northeast Davis Street on the other side of the Willamette River in Portland, and a third two hours south in Eugene.


Parking: Don't bother. Portland is not a very car-friendly city, as most of the locals prefer to either bike or hop on public transportation. Your best bet is to take the Red or Blue Line of MAX (Portland's rail system) to the Skidmore Fountain Station, which is two blocks from Voodoo.
This only applies if you're going to the original location. If you're going to the Davis Street location, you'll be fine. That store has plenty of parking available.

Cost: Very wallet-friendly. Doughnuts are inexpensive, and this is no exception. You can buy a couple doughnuts and spend about three dollars.


Website: Voodoo Doughnut 


Signature items: Doughnuts

How it all began

Allow me to introduce myself. My name is Dan Angell, and I'm a sportswriter in Davenport, Iowa. Ever since graduating college and taking my first job in Idaho, I've discovered that in addition to sports, I love both travel and food. When they're together, there's almost no better experience, especially because I can usually involve a sporting event, fulfilling all of my passions.


When I first discovered Man vs. Food, I was intrigued to learn about the specialty foods of each city that appeared on an episode. I had always loved finding specialty foods in each location, but in most places, it was simply a generic food, with no idea what was the best that served it or what the signature dish even was in some cities. For instance, I'd never heard of a Juicy Lucy, a Minneapolis staple, or coffee milk, served in Rhode Island. Thanks to MvF and some of my own research, I had a guide to what I wanted and where to get it, and that led to me deciding to try visiting some of these iconic restaurants whenever I could.


As that continued, naturally, some friends started to get envious of the places I was able to see (thank you, Idaho State basketball beat) and the foods I was able to try. After hearing about several of them, one asked me to start taking pictures of the places I was visiting and post them online. Step two had been taken, and I began taking pictures in Tucson, Arizona, one year after getting the job in Idaho.


That was when I realized that trying these places had developed into more than just pictures for my friends. It had become a real hobby, and as the show kept visiting new places, I saw more and more things I wanted to try. Travel Channel followed Man vs. Food with their 101 Best Places to Chow Down, giving me even more restaurants that I wanted to experience for myself. Step three was the formation of my map, keeping track of every place I'd visited.


Now that I'm approaching having reached 70 of the show's restaurants, it's time to describe my experiences and share them with the public. That's what this blog will be.


Each post will be about a restaurant I've had the pleasure to visit, some on MvF, some from the Chowdown Countdown and some from neither show but worthy of inclusion because it was a great experience not to be missed. Many will have pictures. Some will not. Some of the places I've visited were so long ago that I will not review them, as it's been too long for me to give a good review. Sure, I've been to Chunky's Burgers in San Antonio and Arthur Bryant's in Kansas City, but that was almost four years ago. I'd need another visit to properly review it.


Three more things before we get going. First, I'm always open to suggestions. If you know of a place that I need to visit, please leave a comment or e-mail me at nighthawk892005@yahoo.com to let me know. I can't promise I'll get there immediately, but I'll put it on my list and I will try to get there when the opportunity arises.


Second, as I make each post, I'm going to tag them with the type of cuisine and the geographic location, including city, state and region. For example, a place with standard American food in Missouri will get a Midwest label. The geographic groups will be as follows: New England, Mid-Atlantic, Great Lakes, Southeast, Midwest, Southwest, Rocky Mountains and Pacific.


Third, since I've been to 66 MvF places, I've got a lot of posts that will be coming. As I add more and more restaurants, if there's a certain one I've been to that you want to see reviewed sooner rather than later, let me know. 


How do you know which places I've visited? Here's my map, with all the information you need:  

Dan's food map


Welcome to my ultimate hunger quest. This is Dan vs. Food.