Service interruption: While y’all slept and we threw down at a couple of Midtown saloons with two very large ladies [*wink*], my server crashed … so apologies there.
That aside, it’s obvious that I’m a slave to internet trends … right? So let me hop on one of the latest trends to get all crazy (The Shit _____ Say series). Today’s episode is “Shit Bartenders Mixologists Say.”
It comes complete with references to Tales of the Cocktail, a super huge drunkfest cocktail conference, and the ever awesome Imbibe Magazine. Watch and laugh:
In the linguistic sense, I’m pretty sure that boccalone in Italian translates to “big mouth” “a gullible person” in English. In the tangible sense, Boccalone is a ragingly popular San Francisco salumeria (meat store) from Mark Pastore and Chris Cosentino that’s located in the famed San Francisco Ferry Building. I can assure you the naming of the tiny market was no accident.
Thanks to these two dudes (who also prop up Incanto), Boccalone has become one of San Francisco’s most notable salumerias. By no means a full-fledged Italian delicatessen, Boccalone is a nationally acclaimed house of cured meats, pig parts, sausages, and similar forms of charcuterie. This meat swatch of indulgence is complimented with a handful of panini and plenty of take home packages. The slogan neatly wraps it up: “Tasty Salted Pig Parts.” That tagline alone was enough to get me in the door … but the lofty reputation alone didn’t hurt.
For some unexplained reason, blindness and food have popped up a couple of times in my life over the past few weeks. It started when I happened upon a couple of blind foodies who romp around New York City. This AM, through a series of unexplained link clicks, I hit upon this little bit of amazing courtesy of Wimpy, a fast food chain in South Africa. I sure hope someone in the states copies this idea.
Celebrity chef/TV personality Andrew Zimmern just wrapped up his IAmA over on Reddit. For those of you with better things to do than yours truly, you may not know what that means. Here’s the deal:
Reddit.com is a heavily trafficked website mostly reserved for sharing videos, pictures, internet memes, and so forth. The community occasionally dabbles in political movements and other things of ideological importance. Reddit consists of sub-reddits that are like hyper-focused forums for a specific topic. One of the coolest sub-reddits is the IAmA reddit. It’s an opportunity for a person to say “I Am A ______, ask me questions.”
Many times these are just everyday folks interested in talking about a whole bunch of stuff. However, notable and famous people do them from time to time. A few politicians have braved the waters, comedian Louis CK did one recently, and now Andrew Zimmern has gotten in on the fun.
Beneath a nondescript blue awning, in a tiny and simply adorned space, sits a little sandwich shop and breakfast stop that publishes one serious MOTHER TRUCKIN MUFFIN. These housemade muffins come courtesy of The Sentinel, a Dennis Leary [the chef … not the “Asshole”] helmed dispensary in San Francisco’s Financial District. Take note: it took just one bite of this crusty, intensely fruity breakfast treat to sell me.
When I touched down in San Francisco in mid-September, chef Dennis Leary was not an unknown commodity. The now mid-30s chef has been kicking out the grub at Canteen restaurant for the better part of the last decade. To this day, I still haven’t visited Canteen; but, I certainly heard about the place from my home some 2,473 miles away. Despite that familiarity with Leary, I had no idea of his tiny side project, the aforementioned Sentinel. Thank to all things holy (and sage advice from my SF hostess), I lucked into a little visit to Muffin Town.
When I tell you that I’ve had more than a handful of morning meditations about my breakfast at Tartine Bakery in San Francisco, take note. As shocked as you may be to read this, it needs to be written: Most mornings, when I wake up, food is the farthest thing from my mind. I’m not much of a breakfast guy and I usually have more stressful matters captive in my thought corral.
Be that as it may, Tartine has rocked that reality like Stockton dropped dimes – that is – with emphatic style. To put it in less esoteric terms: Tartine Bakery delivered the best croissant I’ve ever had, bar none. Granted, I’ve never stepped foot in France, but I suspect there are quite a number of folks in this country (and perhaps that one as well) who would agree with these sentiments.
A fine wine might impart images of palatial estates and smells of aromatic fruits and spices. It might offer a demonstrative mid-palate and a finish of rich chocolates. Then again, it might remind you of wet concrete …
That’s a great sales pitch. Meanwhile, I stop just short of looking for horse shit in my grape juice; however, other’s make more compelling arguments for manure in wine.
It’s not unreasonable to say that San Francisco’s Mission Chinese is currently the most buzzed about Chinese restaurant in the entire country. Seriously! Head cookmeister Danny Bowien has taken a dumpy, otherwise un-notable Chinese eatery, hidden himself in its kitchen, and promptly turned the food world on its head.
As is usually the case before an initial restaurant trip, I had not actually read what had already been written of MCF. However, by the time I left Atlanta for my West Coast trip, I was well aware of the chatter. Mission Chinese was hot … and I knew it … and so I waddled in there (literally in fact) as the clock ticked down on my San Francisco stay.
There’s a somewhat frustrating bit of information floating around these days that pertains to One Eared Stag in Inman Park. The restaurant, which features food from Robert Phalen and currently occupies the space of the fondly remembered Shaun’s, might be going away. The supposed end of days is set for the tail of February. Details after the jump!
A few months back, I stepped off the plane in San Francisco and realized I was beat. My foodie vacation was hard work and I had just completed six full days of cavorting around Los Angeles. I suddenly found myself without the energy to even get on the BART (SF’s rapid transit system); so I hoped a cab and set off to the home of one my dearest friends, his wife, and Pollack (their dog). One could argue that Pollack is the most important member of that trio … but that’s another issue for another post.
I arrived midday on a Monday and left that Thursday in the early afternoon. As time was short and food and drink was of the essence, I ventured into the ideal San Francisco breeze hell bent on consuming as many ounces of food as my frame could handle. At times joined by my friends, yet often alone, I invested in San Francisco’s amazing food scene with some fabulous results. There were some slip ups along the way, and I didn’t come close to hitting all of the stops on my wish list, but, it was ultimately a crown jewel in the self-indulgent journey.
Of the roughly 100 restaurants I visited during the tour (that list is actually incomplete), twelve of them are in San Francisco. So while this recounting of carelessness might not take a full-week, it’s about time we talked about my stopover in Fog City. So sit tight … the food porn is imminent. Oh, and check out this couple … they were awesome. They spent the whole time just being good to each other and his shirt was hilarious.
Celebrity chef/TV personality 
