Sorry I didn’t post last week. This is the time of year that I start to get a little scattered. I get a project in my head and it takes over everything else. Last week it was the transformation of my dining room, hot on the heels of returning from San Francisco. The weird thing is I usually just go with the flow about most things, but when I get an idea in my head…look out! Apologies, and I hope this one makes up for the absence of last week.
My sister in law, Bonnie and her wife, Gretchen, live in San Francisco and each year we travel up there and they reciprocate by coming to visit us here. Gretchen and I are cut from the same cloth and both of us love to cook AND EAT! And we enjoy cooking together, so whenever we get together there is plenty of cooking, eating and drinking. The last trip involved oyster shucking, whiskey drinking and discovery of wine that didn’t give me a headache. We always have a great time. This trip was made even better than usual by Top Chef Masters Winner Chef Chris Cosentino.
Chef Chris’ restaurant is Incanto and it is nearly impossible to get reservations on a Friday. I was really disappointed that I couldn’t snag a table at one of the places on my “Places to Visit” Pinterest board. I was, however, delighted to learn they had open seating at the bar. If you know me at all, you know I love to sit and eat at the bar and I love a chatty barkeep. So on a chilly Friday night we trekked to Incanto, hoping to find seats at the bar where I could dine and add to my collection (more on that later).
I wasn’t disappointed! The bar had seating and the full menu was offered, but the COOLEST thing about eating at the bar instead of a table was that Chef Chris himself spent the night chatting at the bar with all of the guests, touching base in his Garde Manger station and checking progress on the line in the kitchen. I am sure that he made the obligatory tour of the dining room, but it must have been pretty brief because it seemed to me he was at the bar the entire evening. The staff was attentive and offered suggestions to us first timers and a good time was had by all. For me the star of the evening was the Lamb Heart Tartare. Of course it was so good and I was so excited that I forgot to take a pic, even though we ordered it twice!
John and Chef Chris at the bar
Five Shades of Hay – John’s lamb dinner. He asked Chef Chris what he was most excited about on the menu and promptly ordered it!
The beautiful Charcuterie Plate – Charcuterie Slut strikes again!
Of course I HAD to have my photo taken with Chef. While taking the pic, John tells Chef, “She collects you guys like trading cards.” At first I was mildly embarrassed, but then just sucked it up. It wouldn’t be so funny if it weren’t partially true. I am a Chef Junkie. I like to meet them, talk to them, find out what makes them excited about food and listen to their stories. John thinks I should find a way to market Chef Trading Cards. They could be sold like baseball cards (Go Yankees!) with a photo of the Chef and a couple of his/her recipes in each pack. Of course they would have to be in oversized 3×5 format to fit into traditional recipe card boxes…hmm. Check out my FB page “Good for Spooning” and see “The Collection” so far.
In addition to a fab dinner at Incanto, we had all sorts of adventures. My first trip to the Ferry Building (where oysters were eaten and salumi was purchased), a visit to John’s Aunt Cathy and her urban apiary, and family dinners of pizza and slow cooked brisket. (Moment of Truth – the brisket and potatoes were so good, I fell into a food coma at around 8:30 in the recliner.)
Charcuterie at Monk’s Kettle
Cathy’s urban apiary – she has several hives. That’s me in the yellow bee keeper hat.
Deviled Eggs at Hogs & Rocks, and yes, those are fried oysters on top!
Clams and oysters on the half shell at the Ferry Building. For the record I only had 1 cherry stone clam for breakfast.
The curing cabinet at Boccalone
We always create Food Memories with Bonnie & Gretchen, and this trip was no exception. In addition to everything above I loved watching nephew Colin chatting in fluent French with the wine purveyor at a wine tasting event.
This past week’s Food Memories included eating at my new dining room table (Another Moment of Truth – this is my first REAL dining room table – all my other tables have been “kitchen” tables), finding an eggplant recipe that I actually loved, Caesar’s Buffet (don’t judge) with High School Friend Suanne, and a surprise visit from my son including Ren Faire Food and Brazilian BBQ.
Until next week, go out and make your OWN Food Memories!