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ABOUT ME: Name: Gutenberg Location: Somewhere near the Golden Gate Bridge. Occupation: BRPR (Bunrab public relations.) |
the
BUNRAB blog spot
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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 |
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| April 16-23, 2006
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I ordered the beef kabab lunch ($7.95):
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Lois the Pie Queen:
... is a homey, no frills,
soul food place.
... with two pork chops, grits, 2 biscuits and 2 fried
eggs. This dish should come with a side of defribulator.
If Richard Simmons was using deal a meal cards here, he would have to
fold. This is comfort food (though this comfort does not extend to your
arteries.) The biscuits:
...got their flavor from fat and plenty of
it. I like biscuits that are lard or butter dependant, these
tasted like they were from the shortening school.
... which are my favorite celebrity food couple.
Forget TomKat or Bradgelina, Whiffen and Chaffles are a hot hook-up. Sadly,
the chicken was overcooked and the waffles didn’t stand out either.
I’ll leave this combo to the Chicken
and Waffles in Oakland (while in Northern California.)
... had a graham cracker crust and was crowned with
a NO2 influenced cluster of cream spikes. The temperature
of the pie verged on frozen which reinforced the Mrs. Smith’s vibe
to this citrusy slice.
... and the friendly service. The ingredients aren’t organic or top quality, they are just your ordinary chow made with pride. There was a couple who came in after closing time. When the server explained that they were closed, they told her how hungry they were and how far they had driven to get there. She allowed them to stay. Now that’s an accommodation. There are a lot of restaurant people who want to go home after a long, hard day of work and to allow stragglers to have a meal after hours is very generous. I hope they left an enormous tip.
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... three chandeliers:
... and a bird sitting in a cage guarding
the kitchen area.
I asked the (I’m guessing) owner and he told
me that it was “Persian watercress.” They
were peppery and made for a flavorful roll up with the lavosh and feta.
... arrived with a charred tomato and seasoned basmati. You could actually remove your teeth to eat this tender meat. Yes, I know, I have mentioned that tenderness was not the determining factor on the meat-o-meter scale, but it was very delicate. As I was tucking in, a plate of some of my favorite stuff arrived. I love the crispy layer:
... at the bottom of the rice pot.
Some of that lentil soup was poured over the crunchy rice brittle for
added flavor. Yum.
Gutenberg,
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A while back, Fatemeh wrote about the happy hour at Hawthorne Lane but I didn’t manage a visit between 4-6 during the week until today. Chubby and I decided to see the Calder exhibit at Moma . Moma is open late on Thursday nights and as an added bonus, they charge half price after 6:00 p.m. Between happy hour and discount Moma, you can save a lot of dough on Thursdays. To kick things off I got a Sake Mist ($11.00):
The cucumber infused vodka
was pleasantly fragrant. Shaken with sake, this refreshing ginger laced
cocktail is a great way to feel like your are eating your veggies when
your are really just getting polluted. |
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A cone of fries ($2.00) was showered with delicious, crisp, deep fried herbs. I loved biting into the bits of sage that herbaceously shattered upon tooth contact. I wish the pommes were more frite-ed. Although good, they could have used a little crispening to qualify them as craveworthy. | |
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Mac and Cheese ($2.50) was seriously cheesy and rich. Capped off with herbed breadcrumbs, this was good, but you can't eat one of these uninterrupted or you will get béchamel-itus and your taste buds will be spackled over. | |
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Lamb pastrami sandwich ($3.50) was the best of the group. This little sandwich with melted gruyere, sauerkraut (and a little too much 1000 island dressing) had more depth of flavor and textural interest than the other dishes.
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Chicken wings ($3.00) were on the sweet side of the sweet and sour sauce. They were okay, but I would stick with the lamb pastrami next time. |
But to be fair, the purpose of bar food is to: 1) make you thirsty and 2) delay alcohol absorption so that you don't get 86'ed before you tally up a reasonable bar tab. So when you think about this criteria, HL excels.
Hawthorne Lane
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There are 3 lunch specials each priced at 6 bucks. The choices are a pasta dish, a burger or the chicken. I chose dark meat for my quarter chicken.
The skin had a flabby quality from not being
subjected to cooking methods that crispen the skin. It did get a criss
cross over the grill before being served and it was moist but it did
not rival George Hamilton in the bronzing department. The slaw
of cabbage, crisp, think sliced asparagus and blanched carrots was good,
better still were the crunchy shoestring potatoes which didn’t need
any of the ketchup that accompanied them.
I looked around and all the tables had em. Ew. There’s nothing quite as vile as this sort of vial. But to be fair, it was a bargain lunch, so it’s kind of out of place to be uber-picky. I did shoot them a comment about the slimy stem situation anyway, just so they know…
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“It’s Happy Hour yo”:
... was spinning with people awaiting their Rosamunde
orders. These two establishments are the chocolate and peanut
butter of businesses. Tasty meat treats on one side, cold, hoppy, beverages
on the other.
...with a smoky, grilled patty piled with all the usual suspects and washed down with a giant mug of Radeberger Pilsner:
... or a pint of Blind Pig IPA yo. |
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... had the usual suspects of hamachi,
maguro, salmon, mirugai, ikura, a decent tasting slice of scallop, some
slightly overcooked eel, and some metallic tasting uni. I know that sushi
sets like this are a lowest common denom type of order, more often than
not, you get something phoned in rather than an example of the chef’s
“A” game.
Is it breakfast? Is it sushi? Hard to say. When they opened an outpost of Ebisu at SFO I was happy that there would be an non pre-packaged, pre-flight, sushi alternative, but I haven’t had luck with the terminal sushi and find the 9th Ave. mother ship the preferable of the two (but it’s hard to beat Kiss Sea Food if you’re in SF or Sushi Ran if you’re on the other side of the GGB.) |
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Ebisu |
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Gutenberg replies:
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From me and my peeps! ...your pal, Chubby
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The perfectly cooked, thick spears of asparagus
were adorned with paper-thin sheets of asparagus and coins of crunchy
radish. Hard boiled egg quarters and crisp pancetta gave a rich savoriness
to this fresh and delicious ode to Spring.
... had a nice balance among the dense salt
cod, herbaceous fennel frawns, celery leaves and crisp fennel.
... was my fave. This creature was not raised on old
cans and bald tires, it was flavorful and perfectly cooked. I
didn’t use the aioli on this succulent meat because it was so good
on it’s own.
...came with a green pool of mint salsa.
The meat was nicely textured and moist.
... that arrived with the entrees were crazy good. The perfectly browned, rosemary potatoes subscribed to the main objective of cooking – to create crispy bits. These were nicely salted with moist, starchy interiors and went well with the aioli (that was served with the goat.) Baby artichokes and cardoons filled out the green section of today’s food pyramid. The cardoons weren’t peeled but were blanched a few times to remove most of their bitterness. Chubby said that he could just eat a few platters of these and forget about dessert. But then he saw what was for dessert:
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Entire
contents copyright ©
2006 by BunRabCo. All rights reserved.
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