Daily Feed - April 11-20, 2011

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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

April 11-20, 2011

go to next week's blogs

Wednesday, April 20, 2011
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We lumbered to the Lime Tree Restaurant:

... where we dug into Singaporean curry noodles with chicken ($5.95):

The green-tinged curry sauce knit together strands of pasta and chick chunks in a pleasing poultry pile.

Indonesian fried rice ($6.99):

... was taken for a wok with chicken along with bean sprouts, cabbage and onion in this swell, savory, studenty sustenance.

This place was shaking during our bough break with friendly and efficient service to cut clear through any delay.

The Lime Tree logs in as a place to stick to for a well rooted repast.

The Lime Tree Restaurant
450A Irving St.
San Francisco, CA
415.665.1415

Tuesday, April 19, 2011
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I had an inkling that the squid in liver sauce ($4.50):

... would be my offal-cial favorite dish of our dinner at Kokko:

... (where we grabbed a seats at the counter cranny.) Slick strands of squid swam in a liquid liver lotion creating cuttle-able contentment before we moved on to the impaled portion of our meal.

Smoky stubs of bacon wrapped asparagus ($2.40):

... came with unneeded mayo, chicken hearts ($2.20) were crushed and grilled into unbeatable bites and tender pork cheeks ($3.00) were grinningly good:

Lime-lifted, bonito-flaked Sadachi rice ($3.50):

... is ingrained ordering.

Black sesame ramen ($9.50):

... was on the list of specials and we suc-seeded in securing a bowl of this ground pork and sesame slurp macraméd with noodles and enriched with an egg. We left with seed studded teeth (that our Sapporos didn't dislodge) and full bellies.

This bustling yakitorium was filled with diners that skewered right to the popular poultry and pig portions. Kokkos sticks out as a flaming fave.

Yakitori Kokko
509 2nd Ave.
San Mateo, CA
650.401.7008

Monday, April 18, 2011
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Robert Sinskey happened to be shopping at The Fatted Calf:

... where Taylor and Toponia are turning out a salumi made with Sinskey Pinot Noir. We cut into this pork and duck torpedo of flavor:

... and found it just ducky (and piggy). This inclusion of Mr. S's vino infusion sealed the deal on "Maria" (named for the winemaker's bride.)

We indulged in some insane lomo and spiced pork loin:

... that rolled our eyes back in their sockets. Paper thin yet packing a punch, we wallpapered our mouths with these translucent, transcendent luscious leaves and tucked into a Croque Monsieur ($8.50):

... with whole grain mustard and a hefty helping of ham in this gooey Gruyere gob-filler.

The sloppy dog ($7.50):

... was appropotentially stain inducing with a ladle of chili lavished over a snappy sausage. This napkin necessitater was nice noshing with a bottle of apple cider although Mr. Sinskey stated "you need wine with that" as he witnessed our meal on his way out of the shop.

The Fatted Calf
The Oxbow Market
644 C First Street
Napa, CA
707.256.3684

Hayes Valley Store
320 Fell St.
San Francisco, CA
415.400.5614

Mark your Calendar

La Cocina has already racked up $5k due to Traci Des Jardins' win on Top Chef Masters. You can watch more of her competition benefiting San Francisco's famed incubator kitchen during the Wednesday night 7 p.m. viewings at The Public House.

So cheer on our hometown chef on Wednesday nights (except for Giant home game nights, May 11 and 25th) and have a top chef worthy beer and dog while you're at it. Go Traci!

The Public House
24 Willie Mays Plaza
San Francisco, CA

Sunday, April 17, 2011
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Judging the San Francisco International Chocolate Salon is always a treat. Not only did we get to check in some of our longstanding favorites:

... there were also newcomers like Madecase:

This cocoalaboration was built by Peace Corps volunteers who developed connections in the region where they produce these madagas-bars.

Kika brought some new treats in the form of bittersweet chocolate covered caramels:

... She uses coconut palm sugar:

... to produce these pleasing coconut, cocoa nib and espresso lumps of lusciousness. We anxiously await her next project - candy bars!

Dolce Bella:

... topped Irish whisky chocolates with wisps of whipped cream:

... but these boozy bites weren't their only marvy morsels - their almond toffee had a perfect, crunchy balance of sweet nuttiness in these cracking cocao creations. We'll have to check out their new south bay café for sandwiches and profiteroles next time we're in San Jose.

The Xibalaba from Fabrica de Chocolate Momotombo:

... was a deeply flavored dark bar which we enjoyed before nib-ling on their notably noshable chocolate coated cocao seeds.

Those Socola sisters:

... supplied their sassy sweets including a garlic kissed Sriracha:

... in their chili chocolate chomp. Their famous durian may not be for those anchored in tradition, but for lovers of this funky fruit, a durian ganache filled Easter egg:

...will be basketable bounty.

The crowd conch-ientiously compared and contrasted the various poductions:

... at this annual opportunity to scope out sensational sweets.

The San Francisco International Chocolate Salon
Fort Mason
Festival Pavilion
San Francisco, CA

Saturday, April 16, 2011
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Silver Oak Cellars hosted a cluster of corespondents for a tour and tasting today.

President and CEO David Duncan:

... led us through his family's journey and discussed their varied vino ventures (including Twomey Cellars and a cooperage collaboration that keeps them in American oak.)

Director of winemaking, Daniel Baron:

... im-pressed us with the program they institute to keep TCA at bay as we oeno-filed past the sleek stainless steel tanks:

... to the bottling room.

A tasting of Silver Oak and Twomey Cellars Cabernets and Pinot Noirs:

... conveyed their desire to make food friendly formulations. A 2006 Twomey Merlot transitioned us to an al fresco lunch:

... prepared by winery chef Dominic Orsini:

Although there is no winery restaurant, Chef Orsini orchestrates special occasions by producing partnering portions for their pourable products. He pulled pesto and pork pizzas:

... from his wood burning oven, created a cauliflower caponata and roasted wagyu beef:

... with grapevines in his morel 'shroomed marvel with greens plucked from their kitchen garden. He even cultivated wild grape yeast for his breads to terri-wow the crowd.

It was fun to check out what the Duncan family and their winemakers are blending in their bottles for 'bibability at the time of release. This team's energy and passion comes together in their quality quaffs.

Silver Oak Cellars
915 Oakville Crossroad
Oakville, CA
707.942.7022

Friday, April 15, 2011
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We slid into the Plate Shop where barmen Chris and Paul set us up with a sensational Sazerac and a new drink that Chris developed this week called "the sandbar."

Basil, lemongrass and pineapple infused vodka with a hit of gingerbeer was a refreshing and relaxing relixir. This cooling concocktail took the edge off with its sparkly, herb and tropical punch. There is always a new twist at this top Sausalito whistle whetting warren.

The Plate Shop
39 Caledonia
Sausalito, CA
415.887.9047

Thursday, April 14, 2011
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Chef Thomas Keller:

... received the Insignia of Chevalier of the French Legion of Honor in New York, but the Yountville contingent needed to celebrate his epic accomplishment too, so Nicolas Fanucci MC'ed the afternoon's speakers which included Corey Lee:

... Alice Waters:

...Russ Parsons, Margrit Mondavi:

...Chuck Williams and Roland Henin:

Insanely delicious canapés:

... were engulfed in waves of champagne:

... as Chef Keller's community converged:

... to congratulate Thomas for his accomplishments and revel in the French cuisine that got President Nicolas Sarkozy's attention.

The French Laundry
6640 Washington St.
Yountville, CA
707.753.0088

Wednesday, April 13, 2011
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We hoped for better luck this evening as we bounced over to Bar Bocce:

... (since were were knocked out by the crowd cramming into this diminutive dugout last Friday night.)

The pet parking area:

... had available seating as a herald to possible placement in the roofed restaurant.

The house was full tonight, but we secured a seat in this noisy noshateria and dug into some cod fritters ($10.00):

These crisp, greaseless, bocce balls of garlic kissed salt cod were tossed down our throats with a touch of citrus aioli.

We pecked on Pecarino plumed, oven roasted asparagus ($8.00):

... which hit the spot with olive oiled, Springy spokes.

A bubbling lasagna ($16.00):

... had sheets of zukes and tender pasta bursting with burrata and ground kobe beef. This casser-rolled together into a fine forno ration of comfort chow.

It was difficult to forgo their swell pizza, but we wanted to try some of their other items on this visit and we'll loop back to this food (bocce) court for more of their sensational sourdough saucers... but probably on a weekday...

Bar Bocce
1250 Bridgeway
Sausalito, CA
415.331.0555

Mark your Calendar

Amano, William Dean and Vice will be among the many participants at this year's San Francisco International Chocolate Salon.

Guests can sample Clarine's Florentines and Kika's Treats while sampling wines and checking out demos at this annual collection of cocao constructions.

This fort-uitous festival is a good way to check out a plethora of pod-ducts.

San Francisco International Chocolate Salon
April 17th 10 a.m. - 6 p.m.
Tickets $25 advance, $30 door
Festival Pavilion
Fort Mason
San Francisco, CA

Tuesday, April 12, 2011
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The Mogo truck rolled up with some roll ups of Korean tacos ($3.00 each):

... which came with either chicken, pork, tofu or (as in my order) short ribs. These hunks of barbecue sauce marinated meat were showered with slaw to add tread to the corn tortilla based, spare tire inflaters.

This tweet meat fleet can be tracked on twitter if you want to tank up on Asian influenced filled tortillas, sliders or dogs.

MoGoBBQ.com

From our Bunrab mail, Emily writes:

Hi Gutenberg,

As a French Laundry expert, do you have any advice for a first-timer? Thanks to extremely generous friends, I am going in a couple weeks. Thanks! -E

Gutenberg replies:

Dear Emily,

Yea for extremely generous friends!

I wish we were experts, we are simply enthusiastic appreciators of The French Laundry...but we do have a few tips:

The most important thing to keep in mind during a visit to the French Laundry is to let them know what is up with you. We have witnessed diners push aside gorgeous plates of chow because they can't stomach the idea of caviar or raw seafood (our favorite quote from a roe-hater "I like them when they grow up"). So if there is something you don't eat, tell them - they will always substitute it with a delicious alternative.

The French Laundry has these nifty iPad based wine lists in custom cases that allow you to search and order some stellar swigs.

These are really fun, but you would be missing out if you didn't have a discussion with the sensational sommeliers who can tailor your tipple to your menu and budget.

It will be seriously tempting to munch your way through a pain au lait, a pretzel bread, and a whole wheat roll slathered with Andante Dairy butter on one side and Vermont butter on the other before chomping on the sun dried tomato roll but be careful not use up all your real estate on the (delicious) bread, just have a bit.

Skip lunch and just have the lightest of breakfasts on the day of your visit... seriously.

Take a pre-prandial walk in their gorgeous garden across the street from the restaurant.

The best time to take a bathroom break is right after plates are taken from your table. If you wait, you may cause a misfire for the kitchen as they redo a dish due to your exit as they are about to deliver the next course. There are bathrooms upstairs on both ends of the dining room as well as an exterior option.

Most importantly of all, don't be shy about asking the staff for advice. They are super cool and will clarify, decipher and steer you towards an incredible evening.

Hope that helps and have a great time.

-G