Monday, October 29, 2012

My SF Day: Ferry Building, Central Kitchen & Alton Brown


I spent Saturday in San Francisco basically geeking out about all things food – revisiting some favorites at the Ferry Building, trying out a new restaurant, and listening to Alton Brown wax poetic about endothermic reactions!

Ferry Building
ferrybuildingmarketplace.com

My first stop was at one of my favorite places in the city, the Ferry Building. It’s packed with wonderful shops and restaurants and you can’t beat the view. Some highlights include Cowgirl Creamery (cowgirlcreamery.com) for incredible cheese and Boccalone (boccalone.com) for incredible meats! I’m a big fan of their “Salumi Cones.” Genius.



Don’t fill up before you hit Hog Island Oyster Co. though. (hogislandoysters.com) There’s usually a line to be seated but it’s definitely worth it and they’ll serve you champagne while you wait!  The oysters are fantastic. If you know someone who is on the fence about them this is the perfect place to go and these two are the perfect varieties to order… 


Kusshi  
Deep Bay, British Columbia
The larger oysters at the top, these are very mild.

Sand Isle Kumamoto 
Humboldt Bay, CA
The smaller oysters at the bottom, these are mild as well but taste almost creamy. My favorite.

A bonus: They serve delicious sweet rustic bread from Acme Bread Company (acmebread.com), which is also in the Ferry Building. 

adorable recipe-wrapped candle



Central Kitchen
3000 20th St
San Francisco, CA

This is a new restaurant from the owners of the popular Flour + Water (still on my to-taste list). It's tucked away just down the street from F + W behind Salumeria, their fabulous delicatessen. I fell in love with it in the first five minutes based solely on the simple but creative décor in the indoor/outdoor space and our charming, enthusiastic server.  




I love the large format "tile" bolted to the back wall.
The back of a stucco building becomes modern bench seating.

We ordered quite a bit of food but here are the highlights...


crispy trotter with chopped clams & tonnato

This was my first time trying pig's feet! It tasted like pig face to me, which is delicious. I'm pretty sure these are a staple on the menu, they just swap out the accompaniments. It's a great way to start your meal - tender, flavorful pork deep fried with cream sauce and fried capers. Plus, you'll feel better knowing that you opened with something adventurous. 




chicken liver mousse with fig mostarda & spiced wine 


 If you're only going to order one starter, make it this one. It's beautiful and you won't be able to part with it until the jar is scraped clean. 

Confession: I kept eating it between courses and when the toasted bread ran out I put it on the homemade oat caraway rolls they serve to start. If we didn't have to get to the theatre I probably would have kept it around for the dessert course. It's that good. 


Last Stop - Castro Theatre... 

An Evening with Alton Brown
Presented by Bay Area Science Festival (Now through November 4th!)

I wasn’t quite sure what to expect with this one to be honest, but I was very excited about it. Turns out there were hand-drawn slides, experiments, and laugh out loud moments that even Alton didn’t see coming. (I'm pretty sure he was as entertained by San Francisco as we were by him.) Here’s what I learned… 

- There’s no such thing as cold.

- Alton’s position on organic vs. conventional produce: Buy local above all else.

- The secret to killer spare ribs: Sous vide for 72 hours and finish them off with a blowtorch!

- Bow ties are cool. 

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