Brenda's French Soul Food, 652 Polk, Tenderloin (EOPB)

This is our only "re-do" from 2011.  For whatever reason when we first went to Brenda's, we did not order Louisiana creole food.  Don't ask me why, but this time, we did, and it was fab!!!!!!!!!!!!!! 
In true French creole style, I had the hot Louisiana sausage sandwich with cheese & tomato on a fresh-baked french roll, with a creole sauce to DIE for!!!!!
Rosalie had the very French " Croque Monsieur", with a little touch of jam (French-Louisiana Soul style), suggested by our fab waitress. Pickled watermelon is always served on each plate and Brenda's offers "half fries/half coleslaw" as a side.
Our staff photographer had to practically slap me to keep me from biting into that sausage before she snapped the picture of our food.  Needless to say, we both found it delish!!!!!!!!!
Brenda's is a really cool restaurant, recently expanded, but still not too big to keep that neighborhood feel.  The staff was fantastic and the place was buzzing.  It has a sophisticated urban style and clearly attracts the young, San Francisco professional crowd.  It has to be the "coolest" place in that Tenderloin neighborhood.  An outrageous find, really!
When you enter the restaurant, you write your name on a huge chalk board that serves as the official "waiting list".  There are a few seats for waiting inside, but people line up outside after they sign in, and believe us, it's worth the wait. 
We think our "peer and food critic", Guy Fieri needs to try Brenda's.  We wouldn't want to upstage him with this great find, but that's the way we roll in the food blog game.
Y'all need to enjoy this place,  We did!!!!!

 

Rocco's Cafe, 1131 Folsom, SoMa (EOPB)

Rocco's is already pretty famous, thanks to  "View from the Bay" and the fab Guy Fieri's "Diners, Drive-ins & Dives".   But............if you don't know about this great spot, let us tell you it's soooooooo worth a trip to SoMa. 
This cool and casual, eclectic Italian restaurant is serving original Italian recipes handed down for three generations.  Famous for it's crab cioppino, I doubt there's a sandwich or pasta dish on Rocco's extensive menu that wouldn't make them famous.  Owner ("Chef Don") is clearly running the show and making sure each dish is perfection and each customer is happy when they eat it.
I splurged and had a Patty Melt on Rye with homemade Thousand Island dressing and a mound of perfectly crisp-fried french fries.  That "melt" was huge, juicy and required more than a few napkins, but oh, so delish!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Our "Italian" staff photographer chose the eggplant sandwich on a fresh-baked roll (just delivered from a little North Beach bakery) with Provolone and Parmesan.  Rosalie said it brought back memories of her grandmother's cooking.  This is the real deal! You can't fool our photographer when it comes to "authentic" Italian cuisine.
This cafe's ambiance is fantastic, with wall-to-wall pictures of family, customers, movie stars and memorabilia.  (We thought it was reminiscent of a casual "Sardi's" in NYC.)  Even the bathroom walls were covered in movie star posters and old "33" record covers.  Rocco's is clearly filled with history, including a huge sign over the front door, welcoming Mayor Alioto to San Francisco.
After the lunch-time rush, one of the customers at the counter performed a magic trick for Rocco's popular, hard-working staff.  They invited us to watch, so we eagerly accepted.  UNBELIEVABLE!! He turned 6 one-dollar bills into 6 one hundred-dollar bills over and over again. Rosalie snapped a picture of the trick, but we have NO idea how he did it!
This wasn't just lunch. This was a kick!..................and worth every minute and calorie.
Mama Mia!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Go to Rocco's. It's a top pic for us.
(Just for clarification, that's Liz's picture at the end, not our own staff photographer in her twenties - common mistake.)