I am really in the midst of an eating frenzy here in Paris, and thus I have to apologize if I seem to be lacking in enthusiasm while I finish out a few of these SF posts... I'm eager to start writing about my trip. I'll try my best though to give Rose's Cafe a fair look. Rose's is a small little restaurant on Union that has provided solid lunch fare for my occasional visits over the years. I went a while back with my mom for lunch; she's quite fond of the place. Once a sort of takeout/deli/restaurant hybrid, Rose's Cafe is now a full-fledged sit-down restaurant. The old take out counter thing has been replaced with a counter for the kitchen to put out all the food, with the pizza oven proudly burning behind. They have a great corner with outdoor seating to peoplewatch a bit on Union, but it was a bit chilly so we elected to sit inside. The room is bright and warm, just like you'd want from a neighborhood joint. 
marinated beets, arugula & goat cheese - $8.5 I've grown quite fond of beets over the past year or two, a trend that I think can be traced back originally to the beet salad at LuLu. These beets were very light and refreshing, and the mild goat cheese added a nice counterpoint to the sweet flavor. 
mozzarella di bufala, heirloom tomatoes & basil - $10 My mom went with the caprese, a big mistake to say the least. This was one of the worse preparations I can remember having - bland, stringy, all-out bad mozzarella with as sad an excuse for heirloom tomatoes as I've ever seen during summer in San Francisco. The tomatoes were sliced so thin that they were barely there, and tasteless to boot. At $10, a ripoff (which says something coming from me when my frame of reference right now is a tasting menu at Guy Savoy from last night). 
penne alla carbonara with english peas - $16 Luckily, the caprese was an anomaly - everything else was great. My penne was rich and creamy, and though not the most traditional of carbonaras, a tasty dish nonetheless. The big, plentiful peas were bouncy and refreshing. 
sweet corn, scallion & chiles de padron pizza with white truffle oil - $17 My mom's pizza was equally nice - hot, blistered, and crispy out of the oven. The chiles added a very slight amount of kick to boost the saltiness in the cheese and the sweetness in the corn. My only complaint was that this pizza cooled off rather quickly, and when that happened it became much less delicious. So with the exception of the mozzarella/tomato, it was a great lunch. You'd think that's a tough dish to really screw up, but hey, everything else was good. I wouldn't mind trying more pizza from here.