City by the nom-Bay Elite Party @ Nombe

My first YEE and it was an absolute blast! Took the bus to Nombe since I knew there would be free alcohol which can only mean I shouldn’t drive! When I got there I wasn’t surprised that I had never seen this place before, you could almost miss it.
Greeted by our Unilocal Ambassadors, I filled out my name tag and took a look around. I had arrived a bit late so didn’t get to sample too much of the food but was able to get my hands on some chicken wings, yakatori, rice, and some veggies. All was very good, my fav being the yakatori.
Then, of course, headed to the sake. Thank you to Diana for the Sho Chiku Bai… sooo smooth! Unfortunately, didn’t care for the Foggy City wine, and didn’t have a chance to grab a Sapporo before the night was over.
Thank you to Gil, the Sake Sommelier, for inviting us back to enjoy a sake pairing event he was throwing. It was great to meet you!
All the people I met were incredible! Saw a couple of new Elites that I had met at my newbie event, and met other Elites who easily started a conversation with me.
It was great talking about the kanaka way with the local hauli, David B.
Euge L, thank you for posting the pic of u, me, and Ed «Lover» (
) w/​your review (
).
And thank you Oleg H. for my shout out in your review (
).
We all left w/​happy smiles after making plans to meet at Velvet Cantina (
) to continue the socializing and mingling (read: drinking) for a belated celebration of Aaron V’s birthday!
Definitely a great first experience! Better believe I’m making any YEE I can! =)

Thanks Ruggy, Tammy and Monica (
), and Nombe (
) for a blast! Did not take BART to this YEE since it was in the City, so a few of us carpooled instead… cheaper that way.
— These Unilocalers (
) had their first YEE!
— Had a Sapporo Light (
) to start
— Started eats with a pickled bittermelon w/​pork belly and egg plant item, liked
— Plate of chicken wings
— Rice w/​seaweed for starch
— Then, Foggy Bridge Syrah and a Sho Chiku Bai sake shot (
)
— Yakitori plate of chicken chunks, chicken hearts, and chicken skins-​my favorite (
)
— More wings, more shots (
) and a glass of the syrah
— Checked out this room (
) before leaving
Note: Caught up to Ms. YEE in events count and considering taking a break, yeah. :D

SF YEE! Yep, you’ve heard it all before… another event that is nothing short from awesome! Can I give it more than 5 stars please?
Big high fives to the following:
*Thank you NOMBE/​SF City Dish for the delicious grub: glazed chicken skewers, spicy cucumber & tofu salad, bittermelon & pork belly, and absolutely loved the melt-​in-​your-​mouth beignets. I passed on the chicken hearts. I just couldn’t do it.
*Thank you Diana @SHO CHIKU BAI for being super friendly, all smiles, and for the numerous (yes, numerous) organic namazake shots taken w/​friends. Yikes!
*Thank you SAPPORO LIGHT. You can’t go wrong @115 calories a bottle. Nice!
Overall: what a great event by Ruggy, Monica, & Tiffany on a random Tuesday night. How wonderful it is to see the friendly faces behind all those great reviews.
Good people, good eats/​drinks, & overall good vibes! Graaaaacias!

What a fantastic and intimate event! Nombe isn’t a huge space, but we still packed it in there as comfortably as we could. And as the name «Nombe» implies, we were drinking heartily this fine Tuesday evening.
Sapporo Light, Foggy Bridge, Sho Chiku Bai. Beer, wine, sake — oh my! Nombe provided the bites once we’d picked our poison. My choice for the evening was the organic sake and Foggy Bridge’s chilled muscat. Yummy.
It was a fun night with friends old and new! I am excited to know that there’s another great late night spot in the Mission. Plus, I’ll have to check out their weekend brunch some time!

Look who finally made it to a YEE!!! Most of this year all the YEE’s were on days that i couldn’t make it to due to school, either that or I didn’t RSVP fast enough. The gf and I got there super early, like over a half hr early hahhaa. Better early than late, got to finally meet Ruggy and chat for a bit.
Nombe brought out an array of scrumptious food for Unilocalers to demolish and demolish we did. The gf and i managed to grab a table and eat before the crowd poured in. It got to the point where we were buried in the sea of ppl, to which i decided we needed to get up and walk around. Got to see some peeps that i haven’t seen in a while Peter L, David B and Darryl P. It was cool meeting Bobby L and Hannah C.
My favorite foods of the nite were the beef hearts and the Beignets.
Thanks and Props to Ruggy and his crew for putting together an awesome event! Can’t wait for the next one!

When I first found out about this event, it was too late to RSVP, so I got wait listed and was a bit bummed out.
But lo and behold my boy Eugene L. asked me to be his +1, not just yeah, but heck yeah!
So off we went to Nombe restaurant where the event is being held. It is a Japanese restaurant in the middle of Mission St. — which I thought was pretty cool.
Once we enter the doors we were greeted by our lovely Unilocal Ambassadors Tiffany and Monica at the check-​in table. They asked Eugene his name which he provided, then looking at me mystified they asked me if I was his +1 I said yes! And they asked me again if my real name is Ed Lover — That was the name Eugene gave them on the RSVP :)
And behind me was Eugene turning Avatar blue from laughing his heart out. Thanks buddy!
On the way to grab a beer we ran into SF CM Ruggy who coordinated this wonderful intimate event. A toast to you brah! Job well done… as always!
For drinks they had Sapporo Light beers, premium organic sake that was smooth as a baby’s butt and wine from Foggy Bridge Winery — I met the owner and his wife –who were really friendly, accommodating and down to earth. They were really enjoying socializing with us Unilocalers. they weren’t just there to promote their product but to have a good time as well. They had 3 different wines. However I just had the Chardonnay since the flavor wasn’t overpowering the simplicity of the Japanese food that I was nibbling.
For grub, they had chicken wings, a variety of yakitori chicken (heart, skin, meat, etc.) an eggplant entrée’, sushi rice w/​seaweed, pork belly, fish cakes, other vegetable dishes and beniets for dessert.
It was a great event in a cozy location to see and mingle w/​familiar Unilocalers and meet and chat w/​new ones to broaden my circle of friends.
Somebody told me once «I like to think that many of the folks that I am meeting with Unilocal’s assistance are destined to be lifelong pals».
Thank You Unilocal for making this wonderful Elite Events happen.

In the immortal words of J-​Pop sensation Hikaru Utada, «You’re easy breezy, and I’m Japanesey.» OK, I just wanted to write that lyric since it’s one of the dumbest rhyming couplets ever. But Nombe is anything but dumb, as it takes the so-​cool izakaya concept of Japanese tapas and sake into the right setting for such an eclectic urban culinary experience, the Mission. Leave it to Ruggy and crew to hold one of their more intimate and enjoyable Unilocal Elite gatherings here.
Free Sapporo Light beers made for a nice food-​waiting beverage as we all queued up for the small plates. Where else could I possible get a skewer of marinated chicken hearts? The pork belly with shichimi togarashi and the chicken wings in honey and serrano chile sauce were the other standouts. The eggplant, green beans and summer squash made nice accompaniments for all the protein being served. From my limited perspective, the plate-​stealers were clearly the beignets, which I was pleased to find were bite-​size since I could have easily hoarded those had there not been a crowd waiting for them.
The place is quite small, divided into two rooms, with compact tables for two, just enough for me and Jamie W. to nosh and glad-​hand some familiar old-​school Unilocalers (…nice to see you, Drue!). Alas, I’m feeling like a dinosaur when I see all the bright shiny faces at these parties. This represents yet another spectacular job by the Unilocal team. In fact, I am so inspired by Nombe that I will have to come back in my Harajuku outfit and sing a few Gwen Stefani songs. A few times I’ve been around that track. So it’s not just gonna happen like that. ‘Cause I ain’t no Hollaback Girl. I ain’t no Hollaback Girl.