Daily Feed - February 9-18

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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

February 9-18, 2010

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Thursday, February 18, 2010
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I prefer whole slim leaves of Romaine to the chopped chunks in the Caesar salad ($8.00):

... at Howie’s Artisan Pizza. I also have a penchant for anchovies and cubed (rather than sliced baguette) croutons, but the citrusy dressing perked me up to this prelude to our pie.

The Margherita ($13.00):

... had a thin, pleasantly chewy crust with blisters bordering the cheese and basil and this round meal.

Even though this parlor was pretty populated, we got seated and sated with a speedy lunchtime efficiency.

Howie’s Artisan Pizza
Town & Country Village
855 El Camino Real
Palo Alto, CA
650.32-PIZZA

Mark your Calendar

We can’t maintain a neutral spirit when it comes to rare whiskies, fortunately, a cask-cade of distilled delights will check in at Hotel Nikko on March 27th for the Whiskies of the World event. This tasting will spotlight a dram-atic array of well vatted beverages along with an alcohol-buffering dinner buffet. For those who become more toasted than the charred wood characteristic in their glass, this handy hotel site can offer a haven from the highway patrol.

Whiskies of the World
Saturday, March 27th
Tickets $110-$120
Hotel Nikko
222 Mason St.
San Francisco, CA

Wednesday, February 17, 2010
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The beef carpaccio ($9.00):

... at Pizza Nostra was showered with crispy fried capers, shaved Pecorino cheese and olive oil. These neat meat sheets had an herbaceous rocket boost making this mesh of flesh worth a re-order.

We got a trio of their Neapolitan pizzas (along with a hearty serving of freshly picked pronunciation correction from the server). Our poorly articulated selections were the Marguerite ($11.00):

... adorned with basil leaves and a tangy tomato sauce, the slightly wet Regina ($12.00):

... with tomato, mozzarella and ham and the Caprese ($16.00):

... which was our favorite of this triad with mozzarella, dried and wet tomatoes, prosciutto and arugula. Although the crusts weren't as blistered as I prefer, we happily wedged in all of these crisp edged 'zas looking forward to Papito, the taqueria that the owner is opening on Connecticut St.

Pizza Nostra
300 DeHaro St.
San Francisco, CA
415.558.9493

Mark your Calendar

The Cheese Plus Winter Artisan Cheese Fair may sound a like a gigantic gala, but it's really more like a fun tasting/open house held at their well stocked, Polk Street shop.

This next fete features fondue and fromongers making the rounds while brie-fly uttering updates on their current creamy concoctions. If you're wheeling around the nabe, it's worth a stop.

Cheese Plus Winter Artisan Cheese Fair
Saturday, February 20th, 1 - 5 p.m.
CheesePlus
2001 Polk St.
San Francisco, CA

Tuesday, February 16, 2010
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Lunch at Crouching Tiger kept me from dragon with a bowl of hot and sour soup:

... and some YuShiang prawns ($8.95):

This colorful collection of bamboo-shot, slaw-biding elements chopped the spot by martialing in my pangs with fresh tasting fu and punched up service. I would come round this house again next time I want to chew the Chow Yun Fat.

Crouching Tiger
2644 Broadway St.
Redwood City, CA
650.298.8881

Mark your Calendar

J Vineyards, Keuka Spring Vineyards and Graton Ridge Cellars are among the winners of this year's Chronicle Wine Competition.

All of the contenders will continue to slug it out during the annual tasting taking place at Fort Mason on Saturday. So whether you fancy the Target Wine Cube Cabernet or the Jarvis Bordeaux blend you can swirl around the room conducting your own personal competition of these American wines.

2010 Chronicle Wine Competition Public Tasting
Saturday, February 20th 2 - 5 p.m.
Tickets $60 advance, $80 at the door if available
Festival Pavilion
Fort Mason
San Francisco, CA

Monday, February 15, 2010
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The barman filled our pint glasses to the 3/4 level with our cocktails before topping them up to the brim with extra tequila as we sat down for lunch at The Counter.

We followed up this alco-haul with a pint of Red Rocket Ale:

... before realizing that our enjoyment of the Olympics on the wall mounted television sets was becoming exaggerated. We relied on muscle memory to coordinate the ingestion of our burgers ($7.95 each):

... and sweet potato fries ($4.50):

... as we reflected on the variable alcohol content of any mixed libation.

Then it was off to the book store to walk off our two drink minimum.

The Counter
201 Corte Madera Town Center
Corte Madera, CA
415.924.7000

Sunday, February 14, 2010
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Pork carpaccio:

... may seem a little trichy to serve to a crowd, but we made a rare exception during this evening’s Porcine Valentine event at La Trappe Cafe:

David Budworth (aka Dave the Butcher) and Josh Kleinsmith broke down a whole pig:

... as they fielded questions from the audience.

The crowd carnibbled on braised boar in lettuce wraps:

... and stuck a knife in a heart:

... that was given a twist with goat cheese stuffed peri peri peppers.

Chris Arentz rolled with Dario Cecchini in Italy and imported his porchetta making technique to demonstrate for this audience of porkthusiasts:

His fennel pollinated, herb infused roast of delectability had crispy crackins to contrast with the rich, flavorful, garlicy, meat:

Chef Fai Visuthicho collaborated with these muscle men to create a suueet American/Italian menu with beer braised pig cheeks:

... chopped pork meatballs in almond cream:

... pulled pork vidée:

... and chocolate blood mousse:

Each dish arrived with a Belgian beer pairing at this snhoging session.

The discussion was lively and informative during this dissection of the cons and proteins involved in meting out meat.

The righteous roll that Chris assembled:

... will be served this week as a special at La Trappe. It is delicious enough to deserve a detour for this Fai-dining experience.

Sampling 10 Belgian brews was the perfect way to wrap up SF Beer Week and we were floored that over 6 hours had flown by as we trotted back to the hutch after this fed-ucational fun-ction.

La Trappe Cafe
Belgian Bistro & Trappist Lounge
800 Greenwich St.
San Francisco, CA
415.440.8727

Saturday, February 13, 2010
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A regular Bunrab reader told us about her victorious visit to the recently opened Woodlands Cafe:

... (the former site of Willie’s Café in Kentfield.)

We ordered and paid at the register and our breakfasts were delivered in short order.

They made their own English muffins to act as the foundation of their “Neptune” ($12.00):

... which was a salmon Benedict with seasonally anemic tomato slices and fish that was a little smokier than I prefer, but the properly poached eggs with hollandaise were perfectly pleasant.

Chubby selected the applewood smoked bacon, over easy eggs and toast in “The Works” ($11.00):

... which was a comforting collection of breakfast essentials with fruit standing in for the home fries.

Equator coffee added welcome warmth to our midsections at this casual breakfast and lunch spot.

We plan to return soon to check more of their tasty goods at this offshoot of Woodlands Market.

Woodlands Cafe
735 College Ave.
Kentfield, CA
415.457.8160

Friday, February 12, 2010
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The bittersweet chocolate souffle ($10.00):

... at Shokolaat had just the right subtle sweetness to further elevate this light-as-air, dark rum drum. This chocolate-sauced cylinder capped off our dinner which began with a velvety shrimp and crab bisque ($7.00):

... which flowed from their open kitchen:

... with a hint of spicy heat. The escargot gratin ($12.00):

... with spinach, mushrooms and onions was enriched with bone (appetite) marrow and served with little crescents of puff pastry .

Caramelized scallops ($24.00):

... rode on a wave of luscious butternut squash gnocchi with Swiss chard in this surfing of seared seafood while a rack of veal ($25.00):

... was cooked to a pleasing pink and presented with hen of the woods mushrooms and an herby pool of 'lenta.

A selection of their signature chocolates:

... sated the last of our cacao cravings at this friendly Palo Alto pod.

Shokolaat Restaurant
516 University Ave.
Palo Alto, CA
650.289.0710

Thursday, February 11, 2010
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The Dutch crunch roll surface texture acts as a herald to the belly stretch marks that await regular diners at Bonne Sante:

... (due to their advanced case of portion control disorder.) My "chop chop" sandwich ($7.39):

... arrived chop chop with layers of smoked turkey, salami, provolone and pepperoncini saturated with Caesar dressing.

It wasn't my thing, but this belly bomb bunker would suit those seeking to maximize the caloric content to cash ratio (to accompany their Dutch crunch abs.)

Bonne Sante
1184 Broadway
Burlingame, CA
650.342.1529

Wednesday, February 10, 2010
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Dollie Marie's daytime al fresco endeavor attracted me with the promise of smoky meat so I parked myself in the lot of this Southern sustenance site.

The ribs:

... didn't target smokiness so much a tenderness and when I finished my meat, the chef grilled me for my thoughts leading me to believe that he is refining his 'que so perhaps it's worth another visit once the smoke clears.

Dollie Marie's
1602 South El Camino Real
San Mateo, CA
650.638.9238

Tuesday, February 9, 2010
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We wheeled over to Ironside:

... to investigate their wild boar pizza ($13.00):

... with broccoli rabe. This tomato and pecorino populated pie was good, but left me wanting a little more spice and a few more blisters.

Meanwhile, we chambered a Cubano ($9.00):

This smooshed sandwich was a praiseworthy, porky pocket of gruyere fare with a crunchy crust yielding to a light loaf in this pickle punctuated porcine bullet to the belly worth shooting over for.