Park Tavern

I somehow got a reso at the hot new Park Tavern owned by the same people that brought  us Marlowe.  The minute I walked in I was in love.  I knew right away I would like this place.  It was jammed packed!  There was such an amazing buzz.  I was instantly taken back to any hip Manhattan restaurant, so I immediately felt at home (Park Tavern is located in Washington Square Park, coincidence?)  Despite the fact that I truly think the restaurants in San Francisco are better than those in New York, they do lack the vibe.  You know, that energy, excitement and slap in the face that says, "YES I’M HERE!!  AND, I’M VERY COOL!"

The first thing I noticed about Park Tavern was the bar.  This is where I really wanted to be, to pony up, but, of course, it was way crowded (with cute guys, fyi).  We actually got a cool table for two right in the center of the restaurant, which was good for people watching.  We we’re quickly greeted by the super friendly waiter.  He schooled us on the menu, gave us our cocktails and we didn’t see him again for about 20 min. 

The menu is pretty straightforward divided into sections:  raw, fried, smoked, apps, sides and mains.  We started with two raw dishes and a salad app.  I chose the halibut, avocado and corn crudo while my fellow diner chose the steak crudo.  Mine was super light and the jalapeno that topped it added the right amount of spice, otherwise it would’ve been a bit bland.  Since I don’t dig on cow, I did not try the steak crudo, but she said it was good. 

Halibut

Our salad course was the wild arugula, mushroom conserva with porcini and charred onion vinaigrette.  The presentation was very appealing as the mushroom conserva was spread at the bottom of the plate. But overall, a bit boring.  

Next came the mains which we split:  pork chop and the twice baked potato.  I will start with the latter.  YUM!  Crème fraiche, cheddar and scallions topped this bad boy.  I couldn’t get enough! The chop was also very good.  Nicely cooked, juicy and served with dinosaur kale.  (Side bar:  Dear kale, you are the “it green” right now.  I do love you and will continue to eat you even when something like purple potatoes or yellow carrots become the next trendy food.)

I very much enjoyed my experience at Park Tavern.  The service could have been a little better, but the food made up for it.  Much better than Marlowe.  This could be the new hangout.

Disclaimer:  I apologize for the lack of photos until I get an iPhone.

Neighborhood Joints

Nob Hill Café

I pass Nob Hill Café (not to be confused with Nob Hill Grill, which is down the street) every day on my way to work.  It looks like a cozy neighborhood joint, the kind where regulars convene and order the usual.  The name doesn’t indicate as such, but Nob Hill Café is known for “authentic Tuscan cuisine.”  For high quality, inexpensive Italian food, this should be your "go to" spot. Ambiance is nothing to write home about, but the service was friendly and quick, and the food was solid.   I started with a special: cream of artichoke soup.  It came out within two seconds in a giant vat.  This was the largest soup bowl I’ve ever seen.  (Note for reference:  soup bowl was the same exact bowl pasta was served in).  The portion size for a starter soup was a little much, but it was not too overly creamy, and seasoned just right.  It hit the spot.  

Pasta (bad bberry pics)

"I've got sole but I'm not a soldier"

For mains, my mom ordered pasta with tomatoes, basil and garlic.  She also added sausage to the mix.  Nice call mom!  This came out steamin hot, but the flavor profile was tasty and there was more than enough for tomorrow’s lunch.  I chose the sole with lemon butter, white wine and capers served with  broccilini and a side of pasta.  All were de-lish.  The sauce on the sole was a little heavier than I thought (i.e., I was trying to opt for the healthy dish), but it seemed to be breaded and doused in butter and cream.  All made for a very good dish, however.  I enjoyed all of this with a very lovely St. Francis Old Vines Zin.  I highly recommend.  

Maverick

Maverick is located in the heart of the Mission.  It’s been on my list for a while and, in fact, I happened to dine here twice this week for brunch and dinner.  It’s a tiny spot with a cool vibe.  I would say Nuevo American food with the California influence.  (Whatever that means?)  For brunch I had to go with the duck confit hash with a fried egg.  Can you really go wrong with duck confit?  It’s a bit heavy to start the day off, but oh so yummy.  And, it paired well with my Sav B.  My friend had the shrimp po boy with fries, which looked tasty as well.  We also could not resist the creamy mac’n cheese as a side.  The sharpness of I don’t know how many cheeses punches you in the face with every bite.  This was money!

Dinner was equally as good.  I made a poor choice for my starter which I knew would be bland.  I was feeling the need for greens so I got the Maverick salad which was baby lettuces with empire apple, almonds and a sauvignon blanc vinaigrette.  Compared to the other choices like crab fritters, foie, yellowtail and sweetbreands, this was no doubt blah.

For mains we had russet potato gnocchi, which were the largest gnocchi I had ever seen.  The scallops were pretty good served with leeks, albeit a little cold.  The best dish of the night was the tagliatelle served with duck sugo, porcini mushrooms and a slow cooked egg. I swear it had bacon in it too.  I think the moral of the story with Maverick is to order something with duck. 

Firefly

My friends who live in Noe Valley recommended this local joint because on Tuesday’s they do a fried chicken special.  (This was my second time in Noe, btw.  The first was two days earlier.)  Firefly is great because they do a pre fix for 36 clams.  Really?  That’s a steal, especially since the food was great.  

For aps we got the following:  shrimp and scallop potstickers (the ethnic choice); an Heirloom apple and celery salad with Gorgonzola (a taste of fall!);  roasted brussels sprouts with parmesan and truffle oil (it would be rude not to); and yellow corn soup with Garlic–miso butter (not the best sharing item).  Potstickers: standard; salad: very good (I mean apples and blue cheese, hello!); the soup: ok, but the Brussels sprouts were the clear winner.  Of course, they cheated because anything doused in parm and truffle will trump most things.  There’s a reason they literally describe these as yummy on the menu.

Soup dumplings!

Well, for mains we all had to go with the fried chicken which was served with mashed potatoes and gravy, garlic broccilini and a biscuit.  I have to admit the chicken was a little dry.  Nothing a little dip in honey couldn’t fix.  It did put KFC to shame.  I think we all cleared our plates.  

Finger likin' good

For dessert, I will let the pics do the talking here.  Overall I enjoyed my meal here, but since I live so far away, don’t see myself making the trip back.

Warm Spiced Apple & Butternut Squash Upsidedown Cake
with Sour Cream Ice Cream and Brown Sugar Walnuts 

Greek Yogurt Cheesecake with Honey Rosemary Pinenuts,
Pomegranate and Persimmon   

Bittersweet Chocolate Torte with Caramelized Rice Crispy
Crunchies, Coffee Cardamom Ice Cream and
Mascarpone Sabayon  

Concord Grape Sorbet and Marcona Almond Sherbet with
Concord Grape–Almond Shortbread Cookies  

Heaven’s Dog

Heaven’s Dog is located on Mission Street in SOMA.  I was a little hesitant about going to a Chinese place with Dog in its name, but it got good reviews.  I think this place is mostly known for their cocktails and late service.  I’ll keep this one short.  The food was definitely tasty, pretty standard upscale Chinese food.  Better than delivery, but I definitely wasn’t blown away.  The scallion pancake begged for some sauce, the pot stickers and dumplings were standard fare.  The best dish was the sweet and sour spicy tiger prawns.  The pork spare ribs tasted like the ones I made (seriously!) and the vermicelli stir fry was pretty unique.  I can see where this would be a good late night spot, but for dinner I wouldn’t rush there. 

Prawns and ribs

Traci Eats NY

I’m back.  Sorry I’ve been on hiatus.  I took the summer off, so now that fall is here it’s time to eat!  What better way for me to be back in the saddle than to share some thoughts on food during my recent visit to the concrete jungle where dreams are made of.  This is very fitting because my foodie roots started in NYC.  When I first moved there, I hung out with a lot of chefs and was exposed to some pretty amazing food and wine.  Additionally, when I lived in my 200 sq foot studio on Orchard Street, I could not afford cable.  So, I stuck the cable in the wall and got six free channels, one of which of the Food Network.  I watched a lot of it.  I learned tips and tricks and also discovered some great restaurants, I would later try.  Living in the LES was also a culinary adventure, being so close to some NY staples like Russ & Daugthters, Gus’s pickles, Katz’ Deli and the markets of Chinatown. 

During my recent visit, I tried some oldies and some new joints.  The first stop was brunch at Mercer Kitchen.  Mercer is a SoHo fixture, always delivering quality food.  We ponied up to the bar, and since it was so damn humid, we wanted something refreshing.  We started with an ap of black mission figs, mozzarella and prosciutto.  It’s so simple and delicious.  Let’s put together a salad of my favorite things: figs, salted pork products and cheese! They all balance each other very well.  I will be making this one at home.  

Figs!

Next we ordered the salmon with crispy rice, chipotle mayo and ponzu.  It was like a sushi roll of sorts.  This dish didn’t ring my bell.  Finally, our main was:  steamed shrimp salad with avocado, mushroom and tomato in a champagne vinaigrette.   I was really enjoying this salad until about three bites into to it, my dining partner (we’ll call her JBo) notices a bug in our salad.  We’ve all experienced this, but while not super pleasant, depending on the size of it, I sometimes just ignore (it’s protein after all).  Well, this was not a tiny gnat.  This was a live, crawling black worm.  Very disgusting.  After a few apologies, we got a new salad.  Worm-free.  As nice as Mercer is, I was a bit surprised, especially when the salad was still on our check.   Seems like Mercer has gone a bit downhill since I left.

That night we had a reso at the new David Burke Kitchen in the James Hotel.  The atmosphere was cool, dark and there were a lot of good people watching, including David Burke himself.  We started with something that wasn’t even on the menu:  tuna tartar tacos.  This was a treat!  Gone in two bites.  Next, I had to order one of my favorite appetizers, dates and bacon.  This was no ordinary dates and bacon, it added peanut butter! Dates and bacon are so delicious on their own, you really don’t need to add anything.  I mean stuffed with blue cheese or an almond, maybe a drizzle of honey, but peanut butter?  I had to try.  They were served on mini skewers with a fried olive.  My verdict:  lose the peanut butter.  It overshadowed the salty-sweet combination of the dates and bacon.  Finally, we all ordered a roast chicken with some summer succotash.  This dish was very pleasing, the chicken was cooked perfectly and the veggies were light and flavorful.  Would I order it again? Probably not.  Overall, I thought DBK was pretty good, but I’ve been to better in SF.  

My last night we ventured to the Meatball Shop in the LES. It was great to be back in my old hood right across from where I used to live.  The Meatball Shop is very simple:  pick some meatballs (pork, chicken, beef, veggie) pick your sauce (classic marinara, spicy meat, mushroom gravy, pesto, parmesan cheese) and a host of unders or sides from spaghetti and polenta to spinach and salad.  You can also get sliders or subs.   What a great concept and the atmosphere was hoppin.

Meatballs (sorry, Blackberry camera = bad)

  

The special ball of the day was a buffalo chicken.  This tasted exactly like a wing.  We had three.  For my main, I had pork meatballs with classic marinara over polenta with a side of garlic green beans.  This was a great combo, the meatball was very moist and paired well with the polenta.  The chicken meatball was the best, however.  You know why?  There’s pork in there!  Everything is better with pork.   I really enjoyed this place as it was casual, inexpensive and fun.  If I still lived across the street, I could see myself eating a lot of balls. 

 

Cochon 555

I’m a Jew who loves Pork, so I couldn’t pass up the opportunity as a foodie and a food blogger to attend Cochon 555, a competition between five chefs cooking five pigs.  The event is a celebration of heritage breed, which are older blood lines and grass-raised vs. commercial pigs which are raised inside in a pen.  The event also utilized the whole pig – yep all of it from tail to snout (see below).  

 

The five chefs were Ravi Kapur, Prospect, Matt Accarino, SPQR, David Bazirgan, Fifth Floor, David Varley, Michael Min, and Brandon Jew, Bar Agricole.  The five wineries were Scott Paul (Mr. Scott Paul was there pouring), Peay, Failla, Behrens and Elk Cove.  I had only been to two of the five restaurants (SPQR and Prospect) but knew I was in good hands with all of these chefs.  

I wasn’t sure what to expect, but this was unlike any event I’ve ever been to. Before they opened the doors to the pigs, we got to sample oysters, cheese and wine.  Bartenders were also pouring cocktails and beer from Magnolia Brewery.  While waiting for the event to begin, I met Liz, one of the pig farmers from Tomales Bay.  In addition to Liz, I met so many fascinating people from pig farmers, to industry folks (chef from One Market, PR girl for Delfina, Bacon Girl – yeah some girl who had a calendar of her posing with bacon – weird!).  It was great! 

Finally the doors opened and the swine was upon us!  I felt like I was on Top Chef.  My first encounter was the butchering station before I ventured to the Michael Minna table.  First bite: crispy fried pork cracklins! I ate a lot of these in Thailand and it was a welcoming introduction to my night of pigging out.  I should’ve taken better notes on what each plate was, but I know there was a yummy pork tamale and a pâté of some kind.  This wasn’t my favorite.

 

Next was Fifth Floor.  Menu was:  Douglas Fir Connsumme, Pig’s Head Cappelecci, Brain Flan, Blood Espuma and Crispy Offal.  I didn't know what half this stuff was, but it was pretty damn good.  

My favorite of the night was Prospect.  I have two words for you Pork Jerky!  Now, I have two more Chorizo Michelada – yes a pork drink – brilliant.  Here is Prospect’s menu:  (the chocolate blood cake was not good, fyi).  

SPQR ended up winning.  His plate was a bacon éclair, a pork pastrami sandwich and another pork-tasting cake, which was ‘da bomb!  You know I don’t love desserts, but if they have pork in them, sign me up! 

 

Finally, after five plates of small bites, they rolled out the whole pigs.  This was served with rice and potatoes.  This pork was so fatty!  

I ended the night enjoying Magnolia Brewery’s Bacon Porter, which they brewed especially for this event.  It was delicious.  I made friends with the bartender and he gave me a growler to take home (naturally).  Pork Beer.  I mean, it keeps getting better!  In closing, I will leave you with a few more photos, including of the butchering demonstration.  Oink Oink!