28 Feb
FILET MIGNON
THE DISH: FILET MIGNON (with morel mushrooms and truffle butter)
Chez Spencer serves up one of the best steaks in the San Francisco Bay Area, certainly among my favorite steaks for 2008. Just reading the ingredients on the menu is likely to make you drool: morel mushrooms and white truffle oil gravy….whew, why didn’t I [...]
28 Feb
The Dish: Lechon Asada (Pulled Pork Sandwich)
This is one awesome pulled pork sandwich, one of many great dishes at Fresca, a Peruvian restaurant with two locations in the city of San Francisco. Juicy, tender, pulled pork meat and a symphony of spices are layered between a Dutch Crunch roll to give a delightful mouthful of [...]
28 Feb
Schnitzel (Cafe Grundmann, Leipzig, Germany)
The Spot: Cafe Grundmann
With a most fantastic Art Deco interior, Café Grundmann is like a living museum. Nearly all of the 1920s furniture is intact, including wonderful old booths and tables hewn from elegant hardwoods. The giant, round light fixtures are perfect reproductions of the Art Deco style and, up near [...]
28 Feb
CHICKEN – Pressed Chicken
Bistro Don Giovanni, Napa CA
The Dish: Pressed Chicken
Simple, hearty dishes make Bistro Don Giovanni a favored dining spot for Wine Country locals in the know. I’ve dined at Bistro Don Giovanni a few times over the past year, and I really love their pressed chicken. It’s baked in the oven then finished in [...]
28 Feb
Sweetbreads in San Francisco
The Dish: Sweetbreads (vol. 1)
I’m the kind of guy who automatically orders certain things when they’re on the menu, no matter the restaurant, time of day, season of year, or price of the certain thing in question. One of those things is sweetbreads.
Sweetbreads are definitely not everyone’s idea of food. And contrary [...]
28 Feb
Pappardelle with Venison Ragu
The Dish: Pappardelle with Venison Ragu
I certainly enjoy hearty meaty pastas. And I usually enjoy the requisite napping that follows. As meaty pastas go, the pappardelle with venison ragu at Big Sur Bakery is outstanding. Rich and flavorful, the sauce puts a tingling in the mouth straight away. The venison is slow-cooked, [...]
28 Feb
DUCK CONFIT (roasted duck confit)
THE DISH: ROASTED DUCK CONFIT
Favorite of Francophiles, duck confit is made from the duck leg, which is salt-cured, then slowly cooked in an oven at low temperature so it poaches in its own fat. The curing usually takes a couple days, and the slow-poach roasting can vary from 2 to 10 [...]
28 Feb
EMPANADAS, BUENOS AIRES
THE SPOT: LA PULPERIA, BUENOS AIRES ARGENTINA
THE DISH: EMPANADAS (BEEF & ONION and many others)
It’s probably impossible to have an empanada in Argentina that’s not muy delicioso. La Pulperia is a small chain (with numerous locations throughout Buenos Aires) with an extensive menu of empanadas. They’re cheap, perfectly crispy on the outside and [...]
28 Feb
LAMB CHOP
THE DISH: LAMB CHOP BASQUAISE
The juicy, hearty lamb chop here is befriended by a lamb shoulder portion on one side and lamb loin on the other, across a bumpy tuft of gigante beans and a smattering of basil oil and what they call “zikiro” vinaigrette. Piperade offers three distinct lamb sections with great color, [...]
26 Feb
PORK BELLY SANDWICH
The Dish: Pork Belly Sandwich
Nice grill marks give stripes to the crispy roll, inside of which is a slathering of tender, juicy pork belly and Asian spices. Kudos to Chef Dominique Crenn to conceive this midday porcine rush; it’s a good lunchtime filler with a little edge. The spices’ flavors swirl between cool, [...]
