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ABOUT ME:

Name: Gutenberg

Location: Somewhere near the Golden Gate Bridge.

Occupation: BRPR (Bunrab public relations.)

 
the BUNRAB blog spot
 

Do you need to answer back? You can send me comments if you want to.

If I want to, I'll post 'em in this very blog.

-Gutenberg



 

May 9-16, 2009

 

go to next week's blogs

 

  Saturday, May 16, 2009
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The flower shop was uprooted and a crop of crema is now rocking Gibraltars at the Ferry Building’s latest addition - Blue Bottle Coffee.

We sat down to caffeine and ate at these new chomping grounds. Coffee filters acted as chow cozies for a Recchuiti double chocolate cookie ($1.50):

... with a rich brownie-like texture studded with chocolate chips.

The spicy gingersnap made with Prather Ranch lard (50¢) had a nice, warm, ginger punch but it absorbed a bit of ambient moisture and would have had a superior texture if it was stored with plastic film over the display plate.

St. George Absinthe cigars ($1.00) rolled in a zig zag of sesame seeds were spliffy dough sticks that hovered between a scone and a cookie. If I channeled the fabled hallucinatory properties of the green goddess, I could imagine a hint of anise worming it’s way over my wooden palate. The nursery quality of these barely sweet, seed stems are a gateway baked good to cocktail hour.

We anxiously await their new neighbor, Il Cane Rosso, which will open in June:

This Daniel Patterson and Lauren Kiino Italian-style rotisserie and sandwich shop will serve breakfast and lunch. I wonder if they will serve up Blue Bottle Coi-fee.


Blue Bottle Coffee

San Francisco Ferry Building
San Francisco, CA
415.956.3331

Il Cane Rosso
San Francisco Ferry Building
415.391.7599

 

From today’s Bunrab email, Jiong writes:

Gutenberg,

The back of my head is in a photo on Bunrab! I have officially made it! Joking aside, I hope you were able to try the spinach and artichoke in gougere last night at the Drink Me party, that was my favorite bite of the night.

Jiong L.


Gutenberg replies:


Dear Jiong,

Those little warm veggie-filled pastry puffs were so good that we didn’t have the willpower to pause for a photo and the mini crème brulée weren’t bad either.

-G






 

 

  Friday, May 15, 2009
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We sipped our way through a Pineapple Pimm’s cup, Al Rojo Vivo, Velha Sour and Doorknocker Punch at the San Francisco Cocktail week’s “Bayou on the Bay” event at Epic Roasthouse this evening.

Duggan McDonnell:

... Camber Lay, Dominic Vengas:

... and Jon Santer’s:

... alcoholic alchemy alongside Epic’s portions of steak tartare:

... oysters:

... ceviche:

... and sliders kept the crowd content.

This event benefited the Museum of the American Cocktail and also acted as the issue 2 release party for Daniel and Eriq’s Drink Me.

The patio was overflowing:

... with writers, publicists, producers and imbibers during this bayou-tiful evening of excellent elixirs and superior snackage.

San Francisco Cocktail Week’s upcoming events include a distilling demonstration at Hangar One on Saturday, “Stomping Through the Savoy” at The Alembic on Sunday and the closing gala at Jardiniere on Monday. Check the schedule for all the deets.


San Francisco Cocktail Week
Epic Roasthouse
369 The Embarcadero
San Francisco, CA
415.369.9955





 

 

  Thursday, May 14, 2009
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Where the rubber meets the road house

It seems like every restaurant along Highway 1 offers barbecued oysters, but the plump Drake’s Bay bivalves ($16.00 for 6):

... at Nick’s cove are cooked to that perfect doneness where they’re just warmed through as they sit in their butter and garlic enhanced juices with exploded squibs of bbq sauce indicating their demise. We sopped up their vacated vats with La Brea bakery baguette with Hawaiian salted butter:

This is the sort of dish that you want to order in volume with a bottle of crisp white wine.

The Crabcake Sandwich ($21.00) with butter lettuce and tomato slices on toasted brioche:

... was spread with smoked paprika aioli. This Bodega-cious Dungeness crabby patty was worth shelling out the bread for this scavenging sea creature’s sweet meat with a pincher of spice. A reef of Kennebec fries had delicate, crisp, salty exoskeletons with pleasingly starchy centers. These same spud spikes came with the fish and chips ($21.00):

... made with Alaskan cod that had been battered and deep fried to a crunchy shelled, moist fleshed, greaseless delectability. The only clunker was the dull cabbage slaw that cried out for some flavorful addition such as onion, herbs, citrus or vinegar - it was more like an ornamental garnish than a side dish.

Whether or not you concern yourself with crabs or cod pieces, the restroom:

... is adorned with collectable casings for casings:

I couldn’t find the money slot for this vending machine, so I figured it was one of those break glass in case of emergency set ups.

Expertly prepared, high quality, fresh ingredients are the centerpiece of this waterside road stop, but there were several guests who bar-nacled themselves to the liquid lounge:

... until they could be scraped off during dry docking.

This restaurant suffered its own docking of funds during construction when they had to hire frog minders to insure the welfare of an indigenous amphibian. According to the menu, the expenses associated with paying all the toadies leapt to two million smackers. I guess things got a tadpolitical.

They serve 3 hots and have a bunch of cots if you want to spend a night conducting your own volunteer frog patrol or just downing oyster shooters.


Nick’s Cove

23240 Highway 1
Marshall, CA
415.663.1033

 




 

 

 

Wednesday, May 13, 2009
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Snout and About

The Ritz Carlton held a reception to celebrate the Traci Des Jardins restaurant that will occupy their Tahoe ski resort (scheduled to open in December.)

This slalom occasion wove together cocktails and some of Jardiniere’s dishes (in hors d’oeuvres form):

... such as perfectly seared Maine Diver scallops with palm puree and black truffle nage:

... and crostini with roasted artichoke, crescenza cheese and arugula:

This new eatery will be the sort of restaurant in which ski cap hair will fall within the dress code which is just the lift ticket for those who want to catch a black diamond run in the dining room as well as the slopes.

After chatting with some pals:

... we picked up the scent of pork and headed to Bloodhound:

... for a double feasture of Taylor-made, Farr-out dent-ertainment. Ryan Farr and Taylor Boetticher pulled a knife on a couple Hudson Ranch Gloucestershire Old Spot Pigs as they swine-multaneously cut them down to size.

Mesquite-minders kept meat moving:

... to the crowd as corn dogs:

... grilled sausage and those irresistible chicharrones kept appetites penned in.

Pig whistles where whetted with old fashions made with bacon infused bourbon:

... while the conversations also flowed - not surprisingly, they all turned to the topic of chow. We spoke with Chef Hoss Zaré about his upcoming Joyce Goldstein dinner and Sam White of OPENrestaurant about his Good Evening Thursdays at Bruno’s between bites of heritage hog.

There was a reason that this tag team, pig wrestling event was so popular that the waiting list topped 200 - these meat men know how to create troughic treats.



Ritz-Carlton Highlands, Lake Tahoe

Jardiniere
300 Grove St.
San Francisco, CA
415.861.5555


Ryan Farr - Ivy Elegance
4504 Chicharrones


Taylor Boetticher - Fatted Calf Charcuterie


Bloodhound
1145 Folsom St.
San Francisco, CA





 

 

  Tuesday, May 12, 2009
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Rosé Avengers and Producers 5th annual Pink Out! SF event filled Butterfly Restaurant with blush buffs interested in limited skin contact.

We saw our way through several rose tinted glasses and came upon what we both agreed to be our favorite - the 2008 Azur Rosé with the palest of copper color and a refreshing, balanced minerality. We spoke with the winemaker, Julien Fayard:

... who brings a provençal sensibility to this wonderful wine which he crafts in Napa.

Snacks fluttered by:

... as we enjoyed the crisp and charming Pine Ridge 2008 Encantado before we flew off to our next stop.

Opening night at the latest San Francisco steak stop - 5A5 filled the former Frisson:

... with a celebratory crowd:

Cocktails were shaking:

... as yellowtails were upended in the form of hamachi shooters:

Flavorful aged ribeye did not escape the ribs or eyes of those steaked out by the kitchen:

The procession of mastication continued with nibbles including poke and shrimp.

We are very picky about the texture of our fries and these twice fried, crispy crusted, starchy-bellied potato sticks tossed with herbs and salt were spud-tacular:

They topped these tubers with truffle oil and served them with sriracha aioli, but these terrific textured taters didn’t require adornment. The building however, requires adornment to alert customers to this new Eastern influenced meating place.

 

5A5 Steak Lounge
244 Jackson St.
San Francisco, CA
415.989.2539


Rosé Avengers and Producers





 

 

  Monday, May 11, 2009
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Week Drinks

Unless you’ve been living under the rocks, you probably know that it’s San Francisco Cocktail week. This evening’s kick off party took place at Le Colonial:

... where we started off with a Mary Pickford made from rum, Maraschino liqueur, grenadine, lime juice, pineapple juice and a Martinez composed of Gin, Noilly Prat dry vermouth, Maraschino liqueur, orange bitters with a lemon twist:

Elbows were both bent and rubbed at this mixer for mixers. We Hangared out with some proof-essionals:

... at the busy bar:

... with a lively soundtrack of rattling ice.

Trays of crisp-crusted coconut crab cakes:

... delectable pork ribs flavored with 5 spice rub, tuna tartare on shrimp chips, chicken skewers, and seared scallops wound their way around the crowd providing a neat balance to prevent guests from getting too muddled.

Upcoming events include parties, bar school and if you like to trek further than 12 steps, you can go bar hopping with San Francisco’s infamous Tablehopper, Marcia Gagliardi on a North Beach Historical Cocktail tour.

Check the website for the full schedule of events including “Bayou on the Bay” with an impressive lineup of bar-lebrities and Epic Roadhouse snacks as well as the Jardiniere closing gala which will make us wish that it was cocktail month.


San Francisco Cocktail Week

May 11-18






 

 

  Sunday, May 10, 2009
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We kicked off our Lers Ros dinner with haystack of green papaya which concealed chunks of raw dismembered blue crab in its shell ($7.25):

There were green beans and slices of anemic tomato in this tumble of crunchy, refreshing, cabbage hedged, lime licked, green papaya salad.

The two preparation options for frog with basil ($7.95) were “chopped” or “chunk”. We kermitted to the “chunk” variation:

... which leapt into our mouths with red peppers and hot green pepper corns still in cluster formation. This amph-bitious offering was princely.

The pork belly with crispy rind ($7.25) with rice:

... was boosted with basil, chopped green beans and red bell peppers. We will definitely order this belly pleaser again on our next visit.

The backbone was cut to maximize surface area before this spice rubbed trout ($12.95):

... swam into the fryer. The meat remained moist while the skin, tail and head became crunchy potato chips of the sea (the head being the best part.)

The service was friendly and efficient and they operate from 11 a.m to 2 a.m. daily. They even have free delivery for orders exceeding $15.00 (if you prefer to avoid their cramped and manky bathrooms:

...but hey, it’s the Tenderloin.)


Lers Ros Thai

730 Larkin St.
San Francisco, CA
415.931.6917





 

 

  Saturday, May 9, 2009
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We crossed Union Square
on our way to a friend’s art opening and walked through the Taiwanese America Goes Green Festival.

Although we didn’t have time to investigate the coloric nature of this ethnic celebration:

... we did notice that pink puffs were one of its imports.

Tom Mogensen’s:

...work will be familiar to anyone who has dined in the Dante room at Incanto. His exhibit at ACT:

...is a cool collection of portraits, still lifes and imagined lifes which will be on display until July 5th.


ACT Gallery

415 Geary St.
San Francisco, CA
415.749.2ACT





 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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