Rooster & Rice

Rooster & Rice is a small chain of fast-casual Thai restaurants, with locations in California and Texas.  While I do like Thai food, and often lament the lack of what I consider great Thai food in San Francisco, Rooster & Rice is still a bit of an odd destination for me. You see, as the name implies, the concept focuses nearly entirely on, well, chicken and rice.  Two ingredients you frequently see me mention as things I don't particularly care for (although rice in desserts I'm totally on board with).  Rooster & Rice specializes in a single, particular dish: khao mun gai, basically, Thai chicken rice.

Not only is the focus on items I'm not a huge fan of, the aforementioned chicken and rice, the concept is also simple, healthy clean, cuisine.  If you know me, you know that those aren't really what I aim for.  That said, of course I do like to nourish my body well from time to time, and I was drawn in by the accolades for the sauces (ok, now we are talking!) and the fact that even though the concept sounds so, frankly, boring, it does get very strong Yelp reviews.

And thus, I set out, not once, but twice, to Rooster & Rice.

Setting

Rooster & Rice has several locations in San Francisco, I visited two of them, the ones nearest to my house.  Both have similar interior design, but one seemed more modern.

Soma / 2nd Street Location.

The first store I visited was the Soma location, on 2nd Street, inside an office park.  This one is only open during the week, and closes fairly early in the evenings, clearly catering to the office crowd.

The storefront was well marked, and the courtyard outside was clean.

2nd Street Dining.

Inside is a communal table with 3 chairs and 3 stools, and some benches along the side.  None looked particularly comfortable for sitting.  Clearly, most people take their food to go (likely back to their desks, out to the courtyard on a nice day, or, home at the end of the day).  The tables and inside were glistening clean, and it was clear the place is well maintained, with succulents on the table as a nice homey touch.

2nd Street Menu.

The digital menu board clearly lists the standard menu, add-ons, and specials.  The staff member also let me know that the ordering kiosks had photos available of the dishes, which helped as well.  You could order in person at the front, or via the kiosk.

Craft Tea/Lemonade.

I didn't get any of them, but the store had self-serve fancy ice teas and lemonades, along with a soda dispenser with a local brand of assorted sodas.  The other location only had bottled beverages.

Kearny Street Storefront.

The Kearny Street store is located right along busy Kearny Street, no outdoor seating here.

Kearny Street Dining.

Inside has more seating than the smaller 2nd Street location, with lots of little tables for 2-4, with a bench along the wall, and chairs placed orderly on the other side.

The store has a similar industrial feel with concrete floor, and vibrant street art inspired mural.  The music playing was hard rock, which kinda matched the decor well, although it wasn't really the most pleasant waiting/dining music.

Kearny Street Menu.

This store has a fixed chalkboard menu with only the basics on it, unlike the digital one at 2nd Street.  Some specials were on signs on the counter, but others, that were available, I didn't see signs for anywhere, but when I asked about them, I was told they were available.

Food

The concept at Rooster & Rice is fairly simple and basic.  Clean healthy food.  Mostly rice and chicken.  As in, there are essentially three options: chicken breast and thigh, just chicken breast, or tofu.  Served with or without rice.  Those are the entrees.  Some locations have an additional side or two.  I knew not to expect to be wowed by any of it. 

Bag.

My order was ready at the 2nd Street location within 4 minutes of placing the order.  I don't think anything was made fresh, just, assembled in the kitchen area off to the side.  It was all nicely packaged, and served warm enough.  It came in a branded bag.

Interestingly, my order from Kearny Street came in a plain, unbranded, bag.  It also took longer to be prepared.

The Vegetarian. $14.95.

"Organic tofu, purple rice berry, cucumber, cilantro, seasonal veggies, KMG sauce, and a side of vegetarian broth."

Since I don't like chicken, there was exactly one other entree available, dubbed "The Vegetarian".  Rather than chicken, it had tofu, rather than chicken rice, it had purple rice (or plain jasmine at some locations), and it had some additional veggies.

The dish was very bland looking - lots of white tofu, white cauliflower, and then green broccoli, cucumbers, and a bit of parsley garnish.  It didn't look bad, it looked fresh and healthy, but definitely not all that vibrant.  It wasn't the kind of dish that is made for Instagram.

The base of the dish was purple rice, a very generous portion.  The rice was well prepared, it had a nice chew, no clumps stuck together.  It didn't seem to have much flavor, but the purple rice was a bit more interesting than regular white rice.  Equally generous was the tofu.  Really, tons of tofu.  Triangle shaped pieces, slippery soft tofu.  It seemed reasonable quality, tasted soy-like.  Like the rice, fairly bland.  And really, it is just tofu.  Not sure how exciting non-fried, not seasoned tofu can be.

The other side of the container housed the veggies.  There was mostly cauliflower, but also a few smaller bits of broccoli, and one single slice of carrot.  The veggies seemed like they were just steamed, again, lacking any real flavor, but were well prepared, not mushy, slight bite to them.  Finally, a few slices of fresh cucumber, and a sprig of parsley completed the bowl.  The cucumber felt a bit odd alongside the warm cooked veggies.

Without any sauces, this was a very, very bland, but healthy, dish.  I liked the veggies, and did actually end up using some of the rice with leftover curry I had at home, but, I certainly wouldn't get this again.  At $14.95 it felt a bit pricey as well, given that I think it was just assembled, but not cooked, to order, and didn't use any real cooking skill.  ***, but, a very very boring ***.

Vegetarian Broth (included).

Since I had the vegetarian dish, it came with vegetarian broth rather than the chicken broth the others come with.

The veggie broth was also fairly bland, although salty at least.  I wished I had subbed in the chicken broth instead, as I'm not vegetarian.  I suspect it would have been more flavorful.  It was nice to have the warm broth to pour over the bowl though, adding some moisture.

**+.

Seasonal: Bowl Khao Tom Gai. $7.95.

"Chicken Rice Congee w/Egg."

My second visit, since I wasn't really all that into the vegetarian entree, and still didn't want chicken, I opted for what I think was considered a side, a seasonal offering of chicken congee.  While I knew this would still have chicken, it would be minimal, compared to the chicken entree that is literally just a big pile of chicken.  Plus, even though I don't like rice outside of desserts usually, I really do love congee.  That said, I normally have it when I'm traveling, I'm horribly jetlagged, and at a breakfast buffet that has an Asian setup with it (and, critical piece, toppings galore).  I was very curious what I'd think of it outside of that context, and with far less embellishments.  It does normally come with the egg and crispy chicken skin bits on top, but I asked for them on the side so I could heat it up better at home, and not have the crispy bits get soggy.  This was easily accommodated.

The congee was, well, congee.  Totally and completely comfort food.  The rice wasn't too soft, and the porridge was incredibly aromatic and flavorful.  It was served warm, but not hot.  The chicken was shredded and a minimal component, which, given that I don't care all that much for chicken, was a good thing.  It was more of an accent than the main attraction.  There were generous herbs on top as well.  The crispy chicken skins added a lovely crunch.

This really did eat well, and felt quite nourishing.  It was easy to jazz up with sauces, but if you are in the mood for something simple, or perhaps aren't feeling well, I think it was really pretty good just as it was.  Yes, of course, I'd like to have fried dough bits, fresh bean sprouts, fried garlic, etc to throw on, but, that wasn't necessary.

If I was in the mood for this, I'd get it again.  ***.

Sauces: Ginger Scallion, Thai Sriracha, Habanero, KMG. $1.95 each.

The sauces are where Rooster & Rice clearly shines, and I opted for all of them, given the rave reviews.    

The Thai sriracha seemed like any other sriracha.  I'm not really sure what was special about it.  That said, sriracha is a good thing, and I gladly used it later at home on other things.  The habanero hot sauce was a bit more spicy, it certainly had some kick.  

The included sauce, "KMG", was quite flavorful, and I'm not sure what KMG stands for, but it seemed to be a soy sauce of sorts, with chunks of soybean in it too.  A savory, salty sauce.  It definitely helped add flavor to the bowl.

The Ginger Scallion Sauce, is their newest addition.  It was a bit more fresh tasting and vibrant, although I didn't taste ginger quite as strong as I expected.

All together they definitely helped jazz up the bowl, and I gladly kept and used the leftovers for other purposes.  That said, none of these are sauces I'd go out of my way for, they weren't that memorable. ***.

My vegetarian bowl came with their signature KMG sauce by default, but you can sub any other sauce in instead, or, as I did, get them all for $1.95 each.  They also sell bottles of these to take home.

Crispy Chicken Skins.  $5.

And finally, the chicken skins!  Basically the only not healthy thing you can get at Rooster & Rice, and only available at some locations.

A friend had told me about these, and I'm glad I added them on.  They were crunchy, fried, horrible for you, and definitely packed with flavor.  They reminded me a bit of salted egg fish skins that I loved in Singapore, although they didn't have any of those components.  They were great to crumble on top for texture and flavor, but also just to munch on, although they were clearly not a light item and only a few at a time was necessary.

$5 for the fairly large side portion was quite reasonable.  These I'd get again, but wouldn't go out of my way for.  ***.  

Crispy Chicken Skins #2. $5.

I got the chicken skins at the other location as well, and they came packaged differently, in a more narrow, but taller, container. They were more fried tasting, more oily, darker.  Still good, but I think I preferred the first ones, and I think the portions were about the same, even though the containers were different. **+.

Egg. $2.

"Sous vide Egg w/ splash of maggi sauce."

I added on a side of egg, intentionally asking for it on the side rather than in the bowl, which was easily accommodated.  It looked pretty perfect, with a little drizzle of maggi sauce around it.

The maggi sauce added an umami and salty element, which was nice, but it is certainly a flavor you need to like.  The egg was nicely poached, but, I know this sounds odd, I didn't care for the taste of the egg itself.  I rarely like eggs in the US though, they really just don't taste as good to me as in other countries, so this wasn't a big surprise.  Kudos to them on proper poaching and not breaking the egg when packaging, but I wouldn't get another. **+.

Seasonal Side: Spicy Cucumber Salad. $3.95.

"Gochujang, onion, red peper flake."

Rooster & Rice doesn't normally have any sides, other than the fried chicken skins, but seasonally (fall?) they added spicy cucumber salad to the menu.  I got it to go along with my khao tom gai, thinking a spicy side would be great alongside the very simple savory bland porridge.

The cucumber was sliced in halves, thin slices.  It wasn't nearly as fresh and crisp as the cucumber that came in the bowl, and was fairly soggy/mushy really, I suspect as it had been made earlier in the day (or even the previous day?).  I did like the heat that came on the finish from the gochujang, but the mushy nature was just a bit too off putting.  I think if it was fresher, I would have liked it considerably more.  I never found the onion the menu listed, although it did have a piece of cilantro on top.

*** flavor, but **+ because of how mushy it was.

Side: Veggies. $2.95.

My second visit, I also opted for just a side of veggies to go with my khao tom gai.  The veggies were the same as I had in my vegetarian bowl from the other location, although with more carrots this time, and bigger pieces of broccoli.  The veggies were simply steamed, not too mushy, and healthy and fresh tasting.  They were nice to have alongside my porridge.

***+.