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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



 

July 16-21, 2009

 

go to next week's blogs

 

  Tuesday, July 21, 2009
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We devoured our Boccalone prosciutto cotto panini ($7.00):

This grilled sandwich keeps us coming back for its melty provolone dotted with whole grain mustard. Today we happened to have a bag of 4505 Chicharrones:

... that took this ham and cheese from porcine to obscene.


Boccalone Salumeria

San Francisco Ferry Building
San Francisco, CA
415.433.6500

 

 

Mark your Calendar

If you’re on Berkeley’s 4th Street on Saturday, hoof it over to The Pasta Shop to sample some pen-ultimate pork. You can taste Boccalone’s spreadable nduja, revel in La Quercia’s amazing prosciutto and crunch on our favorite addiction, 4505 Chicharrones.

There will be demonstrations of sausage making and grilling at this annual get-hog-ether. It’s a small event with top notch tastes. Check out our visit to last year’s event here.

Hog Heaven 2009
July 25th 1-4 p.m.
Pasta Shop
1786 Fourth St.
Berkeley, CA
510.250.6000

 

 

From today's BunRab e-mail, Joy needs some advice:

Gutenberg,

We liked Chez Panisse, Cheese Board pizza in Berkeley, Woodward Garden, Suppenkuchen, General Tsao's chicken from Tai Chi, Thanh Long garlic crab, Slanted Door, Mission for tacos.

We have not been back to SF in over 6yrs, could you recommend some of your fav restaurants - some of the ones we liked are mentioned above. We would like to try rest with good California wine list or good microbrewery. Also where to get the best hamburger and best sushi? We live in London now and miss those. Love your blog - but you should have a quick link to recommended restaurants.

Joy Y.


Gutenberg replies:


Dear Joy,

Your restaurant link suggestion is a good idea. We’ll make one up.

In the meanwhile, our current cravings include Contigo for their delicious chow and hospitality, Magnolia Brewery is an excellent microbrewery with good snacks, Sebo’s sushi is seriously swell, Canteen is a neat little nook, Zuni is always a good bet for a good meal and they have some domestic wines that you might find interesting, a nice late night burger can be found at Nopa.

I’d also check out the burgers that Ryan Farr has recently started making at the Thursday SF Farmers Market, and step inside of the Ferry Plaza wine merchant to taste some California wines before perusing the neighboring indoor shops for chocolates, olive oil and antique kitchen implements. Have a great visit!


-G





 

 

  Monday, July 20, 2009
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The Blue Bottle Coffee shop in the SF Ferry Building doesn’t tread the same grounds as other caffeination stations. Not only can you count on their beans, their innovative eats are made with some of our favorite local products like St. George Spirits. I hit the blue bottle with a Sauvignon Blanc brandy and Arborio rice cake ($3.00):

This slice of portable pudding lent a new meaning to getting baked. I quietly consumed my risotto dolce with its hushed creamy texture ingrained with grain and alcohol.

Their sensational snackage has recently been extended to sandwiches. They have a $10 lunch combo which includes a sandwich, fruit cup and sweet which we plan to check out soon.


Blue Bottle Coffee
San Francisco Ferry Building #7
San Francisco, CA

 

 

Mark your Calendar

A panel discussion of experts on sustainable meat and seafood is taking place this Thursday at Acme Chophouse. Seafood watch outreach manager, Sheila Bowman, Acme Chophouse Executive Chef Thom Fox and Nate Chisholm of Marin Sun Farms will be among the participants in this round table discussion which will be further rounded out with a buffet including Oregon pink shrimp salad, Quericia prosciutto panini and free range beef. Check here for the deets.


Surf ‘n’ Turf
The Realities of Sustainable Meat & Seafood from Industry Experts
Discussion and Buffet
Thursday, July 23, 6-9 p.m.
Tickets $55 each or $45 for SFPFS Members
Register Online
ACME Chophouse
24 Willie Mays Plaza
San Francisco, CA






 

 

  Sunday, July 19, 2009
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The Tour de France competed with soccer and basketball for our attention on the multiple screens lining the blackened walls of the Meridian International Sports Café.

We cycled through some corn soup ($5.00):

... with marjoram infused olive oil as well as vanilla and marjoram cream. This truthful presentation of pureed kernels captured their sweetness and depth husk-corted by a bright, summery 2007 Don Rodolfo Torrontes.

A salad of peppery, seared ahi ($14.00):

... sported Kalamata olives, carrots, red onion, cukes, tomatoes, capers and a slice of Humboldt Fog cheese.

We split a Hanger steak ($19.00):

... which was cooked sous vide and browned before gliding onto our plate with a shitake-garlic sauce capped with a tangle of fried shallots and gilded with a 2005 Azul Syrah.

Bloomsdale spinach was sauteed with house cured bacon and wedges of creamy bellied potatoes took a dunk in duck fat to deliciously round out the plate and our bellies.

Sticky toffee pudding ($6.00):

... arrived warm with crispy edges on this moist, date deluged cake balancing a ball of vanilla ice cream and chocolate topped English toffee. A moat of warm tangerine caramel could not keep us from invading this great British answer to afters.

Chef Brian Burris:

... recently took the reigns at this pub with an emphasis on grub. He’s making charcuterie, growing herbs on the roof and competing with world class athletes to keep you mind on your plate while your eye is on the ball.

It was a pleasant surprise to find this level of chow in the sort of venue that typically does not consider flavor and texture as a goooooooooooooooooal.


Meridian International Sports Café

2050 University Ave.
Berkeley, CA
510.705.1450

 

 

Mark your Calendar

Ryan Farr and Taylor Boetticher will butcher a grass fed, 21 day aged 175 pound hunk of Magruger Ranch beef, cue the shanks, grind some for burgers and serve up these meaty bits with pates, chicharrones, corn dogs and pancetta wrapped peaches to go with a peach infused bourbon cocktail.

This cud be the event for you if you want to beef-friend your single stomach,


Meat Locker
July 28th 6 p.m.-10 p.m.
Tickets $35 each
Bloodhound
1145 Folsom St.
San Francisco, CA






 

 

  Saturday, July 18, 2009
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The picnic tables at Yankee Pier require diners to execute a slow motion hurdle in order to lumber around the lumber that blocks a sideways approach. There are those who pier-fer to yank themselves into the conventional seating in the dining room, but it was such a warm day that we chose the open air option.

Their version of a tuna melt ($13.95):

... used East Coast style top loading buns toasted with lots of butter. The Tombo tuna salad and melted Monterey Jack combined to create a sand-rich which was like eating a buttery, fish filled, electric blanket set at high. Sometimes that’s just what you want, but it was not the thing to order on a hot day. We crunched on house made potato chips as we decided to hold off on ordering this dish again until winter.

The ceviche tacos ($11.95):

... were made from fish butchery trimmings bathed in lime juice and flecked with cilantro on a cot of cabbage with cumin sour cream and a tomatillo salsa. This mollifying marinated miscellaneous maritime meat mixture was a refreshing ration of remnants resting on maize mats.

Yankee Pier is a chain, but they do a good job of keeping that part to themselves. We’ve had mixed (but mostly good) experiences here, but what brings us back is the good quality ingredients in a casual setting (with an outdoor option.)

 

Yankee Pier
286 Magnolia Ave.
Larkspur, CA
415.924.7676





 

 

  Friday, July 17, 2009
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My previous red-iculously dogged attempts to dine at Il Cane Rosso were met with a plumbing-induced postponement and a snack-less stop (when a locust like crowd wiped out their chow by 2 p.m. while they were giving it away for free.) Today, the plumbing and the food were flowing but when I asked for a glass of wine, I learned that they were only unleashing soft drinks (due to a bottleneck in licensing that will be cleared up by Monday) but fortunately, there was chow.

The nectarine and fennel antipasti ($7.50):

... was a bowl of roasted ‘rines with toasted almonds standing in for the discarded stones. Thinly sliced segments of fennel were baked and tossed with arugula and a balsamic vinaigrette with shavings of Parmesan.

The bowl acted like a baggy running suit hiding the figure of the rosey fruit in a dressed down, yet delicious dish.

Prather Ranch porchetta ($9.00):

... was perfectly roasted to a moist magnificence and placed in an Acme baguette with mustard greens and mostarda. I relied on my personal stash of Maldon salt (since there was none on the tables) and yearned for a more even and plentiful application of the plum mostarda so that every bite could be as good as the coveted center section, but it was still a fine swinewich.

The staff was very kind in listening to my picky little mostarda meditation and salt suggestion before I thanked them for a nice meal at this new counter service corner in the San Francisco Ferry Building.


Il Cane Rosso
San Francisco Ferry Building
San Francisco, CA
415.391.7599





 

 

  Thursday, July 16, 2009
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The fried squash blossom ($10.00):

... at Five Restaurant is a prime number. This floral fritter was cheved full of tangy goat cheese and arranged in a sunny pool of saffron curry sauce. They pedal this tasty bud in the remodeled dining room of the Shattuck Hotel where Chef Scott Howard has recently planted himself.

We also dug into a bacon-bedecked burger ($9.00):

... on a brioche bun with a nice basket of fries and a side order of onion rings ($5.00):

... which were not so much rings as strings of nicely seasoned, battered, crisp, bulb bites. Although the burger was cooked beyond our requested doneness level, it was still a savorable sandwich that was slightly on the bready side, but that’s just being picky...

The friendly staff seems used to getting customers out the door in time to catch a show as they efficiently inquire about curtain times. There is also a full bar:

... shaking up classic cocktails for those who want to see what’s shaking at this new downtown Berkeley grub hub.


Five Restaurant
The Shattuck Hotel
2086 Allston Way
Berkeley, CA
510.845.7300

 

 

Mark your Calendar

Canteen Restaurant has some cool $38 prix fixe meals coming up:

July 23 - Suckling Pig Dinner

August 5 - Corn and Lobster Dinner

August 13 - King Salmon Dinner

They make great chow at this pint-sized place so book early.


Canteen Restaurant

817 Sutter St.
San Francisco, CA
Seatings at 6 p.m. and 7:45 p.m
Call 415.928.8870 to reserve a spot.





 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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