Grillades & Grits, Brenda’s French Soul Food (SF)

Grillades can be made from beef round steak, or sometimes veal or pork, depending on the local corner store butcher who makes them…and they’re best made at family-run stores with butchery back rooms in Louisiana. The meat’s generally pounded a bit and cooked in a tomato and onion gravy (or local variations thereof) until very soft and tender. Then the meat & dark gravy’s hit with grits. One of the rare occasions when you can lay off the grits butter.

Detail: Grillades & Grits, Brenda’s French Soul Food (SF)

The grillades (in this case, beef cutlets) are another awesome dish from Brenda’s. Paired with two unnecessary eggs and addictive, hockey puck-sized buttermilk biscuits that would be a wondrous meal unto themselves, the grillades & grits made my 45-minute brunch wait entirely satisfying. An incredible treat.

The Grade: Excellent / Awesome
The Damage: $10.50
The Tip: Brenda’s is CLOSED TUESDAYS and only open until 3pm
The Skinny: Brenda’s French Soul Food
652 Polk St, San Francisco, CA 94102-3328
Phone: (415) 345-8100

Brenda’s French Soul Food (SF)

Chicken, Sausage, Okra Gumbo (Brenda’s French Soul Food – SF)

Like most sane people, I rarely eat Cajun food outside of Louisiana. I’ve had awful “Cajun” food in New York and Los Angeles, and even Cajun food in Texas and Mississippi can be suspect. I also think blackening fish is criminal, and chain restaurants with anything Cajun on their menu need some schooling. By schooling I mean an old nun with a cane cut from a pecan tree bent on a proper instruction, the kind one remembers for life.

But when somebody moves to a city from New Orleans or Lafayette or any little town in between, my interest is piqued. Brenda’s is just that: literally a hole in the wall run by a New Orleans transplant who puts out authentic Southern, Creole, and Cajun style cuisine.

Only open for breakfast and lunch, Brenda’s has a 45-minute wait at any given brunch time on weekends. Minimum. Definitely worth it, if you had some breakfast already. (Do the folks outside Brenda’s windows look like Tenderloin locals or very hungry hungry brunch-sters? Yep, you know it.)

So, with the caveat that I’m not on a gumbo run, I can authoritatively say this is the best, most authentic gumbo I’ve had east of Lake Charles in as long as I can remember. Seriously good chunks of smoky sausage, juicy chicken, and okra in a nice, moderately dark roux: that little bowlful is richer than it looks, y’all.

The Grade: Excellent / Awesome
The Damage: $7.25
The Tip: Brenda’s is CLOSED TUESDAYS  and only open until 3pm
The Skinny: Brenda’s French Soul Food
652 Polk St, San Francisco, CA 94102-3328
Phone: (415) 345-8100

Bacon-wrapped pork tenderloin (Fringale SF)

The pork loin at Fringale is about as good as any pork dish I’ve had at a restaurant all year.  Thick, hammerhead-sized slices of tender pork are choked by their semi-crisp bacon muffler and, with a swirl through the braised savoy cabbage and a semi-sweet caramelized onion jus, it’s simple and sumptuous. What a treat to get cabbage when it’s done so miraculously: tender, crunchy, and looks like little bits of braised apple in there to complement the pork. It’s a perfectly balanced dish.

Fringale’s been around for over a generation in restaurant years; doesn’t get the yelpies or real press it deserves; but retains a status as a SOMA neighborhood gem and still serves up awesome dishes like this one. The owner is often there and when he’s not, un autre bon ami amicably fills in, and they are great fun to hang out with at the bar. They’re good storytellers, manage a busy tiny space with calm and grace, and make you want to go back just for an appetizer and glass of wine.

Bacon-wrapped pork tenderloin (Fringale SF)

And, not for overkill, but if the mood strikes…the potatoes gratin are wicked. See below for your personal ramekin of cheesy potato glory.

Fringale’s got wicked au gratin

The Grade: Awesome (highest grade)
The Damage: $19 (great deal for SF)
The Skinny: Fringale restaurant
570 4th St, San Francisco, CA 94107
Phone: (415) 543-0573

It takes a lot of effort to make prosciutto. Generally about 18 months or so, and some serious patience to watch it hang until it’s ready. But when it comes, it makes patience aphoristically virtuous. But thankfully, we can just order prosciutto without the watch and wait.

Duck prosciutto – Annabele’s Bar & Bistro (SF)

Annabelle’s Bar & Bistro recently offered a small plate of their special house-made duck prosciutto, paired with sweet, thick cantaloupe slices. It was more colorful than a circus: bright green, orange, purple-black, various hues of brown and tan, and blush. The duck was lush and not exceedingly smoky, striped with translucent fat. A small hailstorm fall of smoked almonds were scattered across the plate, most within a dazzling verdant swathe of arugula puree. And fig vino cotto, like an indigo oil spill, haunted the plate as a fabulous substitute for aged balsamic. A panoply of great color, taste and texture; a memorable prosciutto platter from Annabelle’s Bar & Bistro. (The dinner menu has a more Mediterranean prosciutto platter appetizer with pecorino cheese, olives, roasted peppers, and crostini for $15.)

The Grade: Excellent

The Damage: $15

The Tip: Annabelle’s has a three-course prix fixe nightly ($33)

The Skinny: Annabelle’s Bar & Bistro
68 – 4th Street, San Francisco CA
Phone: (415) 777-1200
Website: http://www.annabelles.net/

Executive Chef Larry Piaskowy of Annabelle’s Bar & Bistro

When a pork chop (or a pork loin, for that matter) is properly cooked, there’s not too many more things more satisfying. I’ve been rolling around (figuratively) on a pork chop run, and I find the pork chop at Annabelle’s to be very tasty and very satisfying. It’s nicely grilled with the familiar char-diamond argyle pattern, and slices open to a perfectly pale rose pink interior with lots of natural juices inside from proper rest.

Glazed baby carrots add curious color and crunch, and a mound of organic mushroom rice provides the starch to sop up the fantastic bourbon jus. And Executive Chef Larry Piaskowy is not shy about jus. He can pour out some mean (I mean absolutely delicious) jus for his meat dishes, and works the natural flavors together wonderfully. His pork chop is another great dish to eat at Annabelle’s.

Grilled Pork Chop – Annabelle’s Bar & Bistro (SF)

The Grade: Excellent (4 out of 5)

The Damage: $25

The Tip: Annabelle’s offers a three-course, prix fixe menu for $33.

The Skinny: Annabelle’s Bar & Bistro
68 – 4th Street, San Francisco CA
Phone: (415) 777-1200
Website: http://www.annabelles.net/ 

Chef Larry Piaskowy is not shy about jus.

ANNABELLE’S BAR & BISTRO, SAN FRANCISCO

Anchor Steam Braised Short Ribs, Annabelle’s Bar & Bistro (SF)

Annabelle’s Bar & Bistro is a hidden gem in plain view, with a solid selection of all-natural meat dishes that are carefully crafted by Executive Chef Larry Piaskowy. The pork chop is great there, and the steaks are amazing. But I can understand whey the Anchor Steam-braised short ribs might be the dish diners would talk about.

The short ribs have about a 4-hour braising period in the Anchor Steam bath, as it were, and are crisscrossed with a benediction of horseradish creme fraiche. (I think the creme fraiche is probably the right amount from a chef’s perspective, but it’s so good I really wanted a few spoonfuls more.)  The ribs sit folded over a structure of green beans like thick, dark teepee flaps. Actually, it resembles a hiding place of the princess in Kurosawa’s “The Hidden Fortress,” but that’s what you were thinking when you saw this photo anyway, right?

Braised short ribs – Annabelle’s Bar & Bistro

These are fuzzy-looking mud flaps, quite unlike any braised short ribs you’re ever likely to see. And the meat’s texture is remarkably like velvet, again unlike the chunky, canyon-like renderings typically seen of short ribs. It’s an extraordinary feeling to the palate and the combination of the ultra-soft ribs in jus, crisp green beans, and a little horseradish pep makes this a really outstanding dish.

The Grade: Awesome (highest grade)

The Damage: $25

The Skinny: Annabelle’s Bar & Bistro
68 – 4th Street, San Francisco CA
Phone: (415) 777-1200
Website: http://www.annabelles.net/

Because there was so much amazing food at SF Chefs. Food. Wine. 2009, I will make two exceptions by posting roundups of the best seafood and best vegetarian dishes. You gotta give those chefs the proper kudos. I thought a few of the seafood and vegetarian dishes were unreal; so incredibly good.

For richness, nobody topped the French bad boys of SF. Roland Passot’s corn soup and crabmeat came in a tiny package with a toy shovel and packed a wallop of corn flavor in a thick pudding. Amazing. One tiny bit of evidence why everyone who eats at La Folie froths with enthusiasm when they recommend it.

La Folie Corn Soup with Crabmeat

And Hubert Keller (Fleur de Lys) also got to the deepest core of flavor with his lobster essence. Kapow. Knockout. I drifted over with my lobster essence and pulled a spoon of crabmeat from Mark Dommen (One Market) to dip it in. Kapow again.

Lobster essence from Hubert Keller (Fleur de Lys)

Now you see the One Market crab….

…now Chef Mark Dommen is steadily replacing the crab.

And maybe all the people who think MoMo’s is a sports bar need to rethink what’s up to eat over there. MoMo’s Chef Damon Hall was slamming out the ahi tuna tartare by the monster trayload. Feeding frenzy ensued. Hard to screw that dish up, granted, but anytime it comes along, it’s a great treat. And he also made a smoked fish dish which was astounding, and handsome on the plate. Good stuff!

Damon Hall – MoMo’s – ahi tuna tartare

Damon Hall – MoMo’s – ahi tuna tartare

Damon Hall – MoMo’s – awesome smoked fish

Almost impossible to pick favorites in a stellar group like this, but if I had to, I’d say Justin Simoneaux of The Moss Room may have put out the best seafood bite. It was a tiny pastry cup filled with summer corn relish, tomato, chili, basil, and Monterey squid. Unbelievably good.

Monterey squid, corn relish, tomatoes – Justin Simoneaux of The Moss Room

OK, we’re wrapping up the small detour to blasphemy, giving kudos to a couple chefs who knocked out super vegetarian dishes at SF Chefs. Food. Wine. 2009, the food festival that wins the prize for ignoring iambic pentameter and simplicity and being very difficult to say or remember. No matter; the food and wine and panel events were all great and worth the frightening investment of time and money for that all day pass.

Pole Bean Salad, Fish & Farm, SF CA

1. FISH & FARM’S POLE BEAN SALAD (Chef Chad Newton)

Beans, beans…sometimes a magical fruit. Mostly not, and long waxy beans among them for many of us. Texturally challenging those skinny legumes, but Chef Chad Newton’s “pole bean salad” was another little veggie-lovers wonder. Roughly chopped yellow and green beans with diced sweet 100 tomatoes were tossed in a dill creme fraiche were enough to make the plate captivating, but the thinly julienned curlycues of crisp fried onions pulled the thing to brilliance. It’s Newton’s clever play on a white trash classic–Southern green bean casserole–but without the Velveeta and with an urban, haute cuisine twist. Smartly delicious; the dish was really bright and summery and refreshing. (But better as a tease for some of Newton’s amazing meat dishes at Fish & Farm…) And chopping the beans diminished the potentially unnerving waxiness…a good way to go.

The Grade: Awesome

FISH & FARM – 339 Taylor, SF CA (415) 474-3474

http://www.fishandfarmsf.com/

Chef Chad Newton, Fish & Farm SF

2. FARINA’S PESTO ON CROSTINI (Chef Danny Bowien)

Given the fantastically rich French food from Roland Passot of La Folie and Hubert Keller of Fleur de Lys, and some serious meat and seafood throw-downs from other chefs all over the tent, walking over to get “just pesto” from Farina seemed at first like “Gee, what a gyp.” Until the blazing Kentucky grass-green concoction was smeared across a perfect little crostini piqued your  interest. Or maybe angelically lit-pea green…you get it; it’s bright and captivating.

Then it hits the inside of your mouth like a shock of bliss and you think, “Oh yeah, I get it. This is among the best pestos I’ve ever had. Right up there will all the other amazing stuff I had today. And maybe even past a couple I thought were my favorites.”

When chefs keep topping each other and ones rise in your estimation quickly and unexpectedly, you could say it’s a pretty good food festival.

And after the festival I learned that Farina’s Executive Chef  taught his Chef Danny Bowien his mother’s Genovese pesto recipe, then Bowien goes out in April 2008 to Genoa and takes first prize at the Pesto World Championship there. Yep, just pesto on toast.  (No pic; sorry…think VERY GREEN)

The Grade: Awesome

FARINA - 3560 18th St, SF CA (415) 565-0360

http://farinafoods.com/ 

SHREDDED PORK TACO – SCOTT YOUKILIS

RYAN FARR’S BRISKET & TONGUE SANDWICH

 1. ELIZABETH FALKNER’S PORK BELLY WITH SUMMER MELON

Pulling out all the stops, Citizen Cake & Orson founder Chef Elizabeth Falkner and her crew served lovely pork belly chunks with cubed watermelon and a great, Dr. Seuss-green sauce. Rich and fantastic flavors, with the sweet melon calming the heart, the pork belly’s striation was like a painting in pork. Excellent.

Pork Belly with summer melon – Orson – Elizabeth Falkner

2. SHREDDED PORK TACOS (CARNITAS) – SCOTT YOUKILIS – MAVERICK

Down the aisle, Chef Scott Youkilis of Maverick was cranking out amazing little carnitas tacos on fresh-fried tortilla chips. This was a great bite, enhanced if you so desired, with a piquant dollop of his house-made hot sauce. Youkilis steals away for 4 days once a year to produce the limited run of mouth-burn, and his balance of heat and afterbite and flavor makes the sauce a great addition to the tacos (and lots of other things I can think of). Another excellent dish.

Carnitas tacos from Maverick with house-made hot sauce. Excellent.

Notice fire extinguisher? Yeah, Scott had house-made hot sauce!

3. BEEF BRISKET & TONGUE SANDWICHES – RYAN FARR – 4505 MEATS

Ryan’s a food star in the making, and you would be wise to attend any event that he’s cooking at because you will certainly be well fed. Ryan had amazing little brisket and tongue sandwiches on a great roll stuffed with cilantro. A guy asked about the sandwich and when Ryan got to “…and tongue,” the guy pulled his hand back. I chuckled and told him how great tongue is and what a soft, delicious meat it is. Ryan also gave him a soft sell. No dice. Ho hum. More for the foodios who know. Another excellent offering from Ryan.

Ryan Farr (4505 meats) – excellent brisket and tongue sandwich

Dude, it’s tongue! It’s good for you!