Category Archives: wander

first taste at Commonwealth

This was my first trip to Commonwealth.  It was unexpected so I didn’t have a good camera and thus only took two pics.  However, I loved it, the service was great and our waiter even gave us free dessert.  We had:

  • eggplant in various forms (one of them dehydrated), nardello peppers, shelling beans with lime and cardamom ($14)
  • charred octopus, smoked marrow, fingerlings, sea beans, horseradish ($15)
  • scallops, hearts of palm, snap peas, popcorn (yes, and it was really good together) squid cracker, some kind of yuzu stuff ($16)
  • sweet breads that were on the tasting menu but we got them anyone thanks to our waiter and they were FANTASTIC.  juicy on the inside, super perfectly crispy (maybe fried) not the outside — ask for them if they’re on the tasting menu anyway
  • pork loin grilled on cedar plank with mustard greens, pickled ramps (that were extra pickly, which I love, especially with the pork preparation), cherry jus ($15)
  • peanut butter semifreddo, chocolate ganache, frozen popcorn — again with popcorn and it worked — salty, chocolatey, peanut butter cookie

Commonwealth
2224 Mission Street — @ 18th

SF Street Food Festival 2011

The theme of this years festival?  Rip off drinks.  The best food was the simplest: ribs from Il Cane Rosso, a hard boiled egg, covered in pork, breaded and fried from Chiefo’s Kitchen and unassuming pastrami slider and a Chocolate Babka from Wise Sons Deli.  Peep.

The quiet before the storm:

A bready meatball from A16.

Korean Tacos and Okonomiyaki from Namu.

Pastrami Sliders and Chocolate Babka from Wise Sons Deli.  Really really tasty, house-made pastrami.  I highly recommend this place.

Cebiche Clasico from La Mar Cebicheria.

Pork belly rendering and exploding in the heat.

Scotch Eggs — hard boiled egg surround with ground pork, breaded and fried — from Chiefo’s Kitchen.

There may or may not have been New Orleans Style Blue Bottle Iced Coffee involved as well in addition to many other snacks along the way that you’ll just have to imagine.

Aziza for Moroccan in SF

I haven’t been to many Michelin One Star restaurants but Aziza was very worth it and the best Moroccan food I’ve ever had.  I ate:

Gin and Blueberry

Borlotti Bean Soup

Albacore Sashimi, squid, black olive oil, scallion, lime

Duck Confit Basteeya

Quail with a Giant Prawn and Fava Beans

Lavender Cake with Lemon Semifreddo, Almond Cream and Boysenberry Meringue

Mint Bavarian with Lime-Buttermilk Granita, Hibiscus, Pistachio

Grapefruit Gelee, Chocolate Cardamon, Macaron

Extra bomb.

Aziza
5800 Geary Boulevard

Dinner at Plum in Oakland

We had a great experience at Plum. The food was prepared with the utmost precision and care and re flavor combos were delicious. Some dishes that stood out: seared squid with sautéed melon, quinoa with a smoked egg, slow roasted pork with dumplings, blood sausage, peach and basil, and onion crisps.

The onion crisps are crazy. Im going to try to make them soon. The method is: sweat sliced onions, mix them with tapioca flour and cornmeal, steam the mixture in a shallow layer, slice into pieces, deep fry. Mmmmm. Theyre just below.

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Lunch at Cotogna

Cotogna served very delicious, locally sourced food.  The restaurant is also awesome because in the seating area there is an open fireplace where they cook various dishes and a wood burning pizza oven.  And it’s quite reasonable.  We sampled the squid salad, wood oven mussels, steak (I believe it was flank – cooked perfectly) and ricotta stuffed zucchini flours (coated in rice flour — gluten-free!).  I’d go back.  One of the best lunches I’ve had in San Francisco.