SF Chefs Food Wine – Wild Boar Hot Dogs

WILD BOAR CORN DOGS – CHEF RICHARD CORBO

PIZZERIA ZANNA BIANCA at SF CHEFS. FOOD. WINE. 2009

Wild Boar Corn Dogs – Richard Corbo at Zanna

One of the best meat dishes at the opening night party for the inaugural SF Chefs. Food. Wine. 2009 was Richard Corbo’s wild boar corn dogs. Fried in small batches, Richard and his sous chef were putting down dogs and they were snatched up immediately by hungry hands.  The meat was delicately soft, quite surprising for wild boar, and the corn dog texture and flavor around the chewy, lush pork was just great. A small dollop of sauce sat on the dog, like a bellybutton bindi.

Formerly of Ducca, Richard will be opening up his own restaurant in 2010 in Oakland’s Jack London Square. It will be called Pizzeria Zanna Bianca, and we look forward to it. (Zanna Bianca is Italian for “White Fang,” a famous Jack London novel.)

The Grade: Excellent (4 out of 5)
The Spot: SF Chefs. Food. Wine. Opening Night Party, Union Square, SF

Chef Richard Corbo manning the fryer

Wild boar corn dogs disappeared immediately

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Bacon Heart Attack Dinner (1) – Wild Boar Bacon

Chicken-Fried Wild Boar Bacon

For course 1 of Subculture Dining’s “Bacon Heart Attack Dinner,” the Dissident Chef served little chicken-fried wild boar bacon balls, paired with escarole,   The wild boar bacon’s chewiness and rough smokiness tastes not unlike a softer, more palatable form of jerky. The quick chicken fried style added a bit of texture to the fatty boar, which visually counterplayed the brilliant green salad of escarole and wild sugar snap peas. The slight bitterness of the escarole and the bright, mildly sweet peas were a great contrast against the fatty, smoky wild boar bacon ball. A great opening dish.

Chicken Fried Wild Boar - Bacon Heart Attack Dinner

Bacon Heart Attack Dinner Pairing, Course 1: Chateau Calabre´ Bergerac Rose´

The Bergerac Rose is a combination of merlot, cabernet franc, and cabernet sauvignon. Soft fruit tones here, a nice opening taste that brightens up the dark smokiness of the wild boar. In the glass, it’s a bright, zippy pink. And against the bright plated greens, it’s a pairing made in Laura Ashley / Ralph Lauren / prep school heaven. A visual feast, and great sipping with the escarole, wild snap peas and boar bacon ball.

 

Course 1 Pairing: Chateau Calabre - Bergerac Rose

BBQ Ribs (Crispy Wild Boar Ribs, Lambert’s, Austin TX)

CRISPY WILD BOAR RIBS

THE SPOT: LAMBERT’S DOWNTOWN BARBECUE, AUSTIN TX

It’s surprising, nay shocking, that Austin, Texas isn’t double-barrel loaded with heaps of great barbecue. And in a town full of cheap, great Tex-Mex joints and thousands of students on student budgets, the thought of a pricier barbecue restaurant in Austin seems a bit daring. The Lambert’s tagline “Fancy Barbecue?” summarizes both the dilemma and the solution. Because Austin, like every town in Texas (and Tennessee, Louisiana, the Carolinas, etc.) needs at least one reputable, if not great, BBQ place. Offering a solid selection of natural oak-smoked and oak-grilled meats in a stylishly converted historical building in downtown Austin, Lambert’s is a pretty neat joint that serves some very decent grub. And the couple dishes I had at Lambert’s set me right, so kudos to Executive Chef Larry McGuire and his compadres. 

Crispy Wild Boar BBQ Ribs, Lambert

THE DISH: BBQ RIBS / CRISPY WILD BOAR RIBS

Stacked like meaty Lincoln Logs, the crispy wild boar ribs is a wicked appetizer, great with a cold beer. The ribs are laden in a spicy sauce, and will vary somewhat by season. It’s a serious, hearty plate of little ribs that you should probably split with someone. Unless, like me, you’

re a fiend for sweet, gooey, spicy, delicious ribs; in which case, you should not.

THE DAMAGE: $10 (lunch)

THE GRADE: EXCELLENT (4 out of 5)

Lambert's Downtown Barbecue, Austin TX

THE SKINNY: LAMBERT’s DOWNTOWN BARBECUE

401 W 2nd St, Austin, TX 78701

Phone: (512) 494-1500

Website: http://www.lambertsaustin.com/

Lunch Menu: http://www.lambertsaustin.com/menus/LAMBERTS_LUNCH.pdf

Dinner Menu: http://www.lambertsaustin.com/menus/LAMBERTS_DINNER.pdf