Foie Gras & Flannel

By now you probably know that Kim and I celebrated our anniversary a week or so ago. And I’ve mentioned in the last few posts that we actually have two anniversaries; the friend that we asked to marry us was not able to obtain the proper credentials from the county, so we faked the formal ceremony. Tomorrow marks the anniversary of our visit to the courthouse to make things legal.

Anyway, I’ve been outlining all of the food stops on our anniversary trip to San Francisco (see previous: Cutija, Tartine, Brindisi Cucina di Mare and Cotogna). But the trip started with Hot City Barbecue in Los Banos. We brought some friends along to share the experience with TasteFresno, which will air on NoNetwork later this week.

This place is not to be missed. Honestly, it’s worth the drive, even if that’s your only destination (right, Nicole and Phillip?). So don’t even bother looking at my photos—just go. I highly recommend the pulled pork.

Kim and I celebrated six years of “marriage” ¹ this weekend with a trip to our favorite city by the bay. Each of our four meals on the road was memorable, so I’m sharing.

Previous: Brindisi Cucina di Mare | Tartine | Cutija Taco Shop

One of the things I love about San Francisco is that you’re never far away from something good to eat. So instead of wasting a meal on something boring, you can walk down the street and find something that excites you.

After paying our tab at Brindisi Cucina di Mare, I pulled up a recent list of recommendations from friends for a lunch spots in the Financial District. David (The Cured Ham) mentioned a couple in North Beach, so that’s where we headed, first stopping at Bix. The place was packed.

We walked a block further to find another crowd at Cotogna, but they had a table open. After a quick glance at the menu, we knew we had come to the right place.

First, the wine. The back of the menu listed dozens of imported Italian wines, which was a little intimidating at first. Every wine on the list is sold at $40 a bottle, so price doesn’t distract you from picking out something that pairs with the meal. We asked the waitress for a recommendation, and she steered us toward the Cortona syrah; a heavier, fruit-forward wine with notes of tart, young fruit.

For dinner, Kim ordered gnocchi with duck; it didn’t photograph well, but it tasted incredible—the gnocchi were like little cloud puffs. At the recommendation of our waitress, I ordered skirt steak with fingerling potatoes and green garlic (pictured at top). Skirt steak is a difficult cut; what impressed me about the dish was not that this was fork-tender, but that the chef didn’t use a heavily salted marinade, which is what I usually find. He let the flavor of the meat speak for itself.

We also ordered carrots roasted with anise and rooftop honey. When I asked about the source of the honey, the waitress pointed up, saying, “It comes from our rooftop. We keep our own bees up there.” As simple as it was, this may have been our favorite dish.

Dessert was bomboloni—think donut holes, with sliced kumquat and sweet milk to dip them in. Yum!

Overall, an incredible meal, and a memorable anniversary dinner. The lesson: Trust your friends first, and Yelp second.

Up next (and last): Hot City Barbecue.

¹ We asked a friend and missionary to marry us in front of our families, but due to a misunderstanding with the County of Fresno, he could only go through the motions. So we were married legally at the courthouse 11 days later.

Kim and I celebrated six years of “marriage” ¹ this weekend with a trip to our favorite city by the bay. Each of our four meals on the road was memorable, so I’m sharing.

Previous: Tartine | Cutija Taco Shop

Note: this is not one of the four meals referenced above. Let’s call this a lesson in convenience.

Kim and I sat in traffic at the base of the Bay Bridge for two and half hours thanks to a guy that thought he wanted to jump, so by the time we settled into the hotel, we were in desperate need of a drink. The wine bar down the block offered that, but six ounces later, we were hungry. We scrapped our plans to trek across town to A 16, and instead typed “Italian” into Yelp. I’m not even sure we read the reviews—we just saw that Brindisi Cucina di Mare was around the corner.

We waited a good five minutes before our waitress arrived; to her credit, she told us how busy she was, and how she had forgotten to check outside. No sweat! Then she told us how awesomely “not San Francisco” we were and made a few inappropriate jokes.

Still, that wasn’t what turned us. It was the bread—it wasn’t fresh-baked. It was the same fresh-thawed variety found in “Italian” chains around the country. So we ordered drinks and an appetizer to hold us over.

Behold, the clams:

They look tasty, right? Meh. It’s hard to screw up something with clarified butter. The dish confirmed that this was not where we wanted to celebrate our anniversary, so we headed to North Beach to salvage the evening.

Up next: Cotogna.

¹ We asked a friend and missionary to marry us in front of our families, but due to a misunderstanding with the County of Fresno, he could only go through the motions. So we were married legally at the courthouse 11 days later.

Kim and I celebrated six years of “marriage” ¹ this weekend with a trip to our favorite city by the bay. Each of our four meals on the road was memorable, so I’m sharing.

Previous: Cutija Taco Shop

I first heard of Tartine from Laura when we met up for Eat Retreat (recap), and I’ve since received no less than six recommendations from friends in and outside of the city. Kim and I missed out on our last trip, so we headed there for breakfast Sunday.

We weren’t alone; the line was out the door, and wrapped halfway up the block–we interpreted that as a sign that it was worth the drive. And 30 minutes later, we were getting close.

A little closer…

Once we hit the counter things went blurry. We resisted the temptation to buy everything in site, narrowing our selection to a chocolate croissant (pictured below), an almond rocher and the croque monsieur (pictured at top). Oh, and a chocolate hazelnut tart for a friend.

The croque monsieur was the standout for me, but Kim votes for the chocolate croissant.

Up next: Cotogna.

¹ We asked a friend and missionary to marry us in front of our families, but due to a misunderstanding with the County of Fresno, he could only go through the motions. So we were married legally at the courthouse 11 days later.

Kim and I celebrated six years of “marriage” ¹ yesterday with a trip to our favorite city by the bay. Each of our four meals on the road was memorable, so I’m sharing.

Meal #4

On our return trip through Los Banos, Kim and I toyed with another round of barbecue, but settled on tacos, once again turn to Yelp for insight. With 23 reviews, Cutija Taco Shop had an average of 4.5 stars, so we figured it was worth the stop. And excluding the adovada, it was. The asada was good, but the carnitas was the star—chunky, tender, and complemented (not overpowered) by the salsa. The rundown:

• Adovada – 1.5 (out of 5)
• Asada – 3.5
• Carnitas – 4.5

They offer a few other meats, but those will have to wait for another trip.

Up next: Tartine.

¹ We asked a friend and missionary to marry us in front of our families, but due to a misunderstanding with the County of Fresno, he could only go through the motions. So we were married legally at the courthouse 11 days later.

When Pictory launched a theme focused food extremes, I asked my friend Tracy if I could follow her around with a camera on a food adventure. The challenge:

“Share your captioned photos of still-wriggling octopus, radioactive energy drink, grandma’s traditional pickled vegetables, your aunt’s raw vegan concoctions, or whatever it is that makes you think again before digging in.”

First up: foraging for mulberries. Okay, it’s not quite the same as a live octopus, but it is illegal—when you trespass to find the honey hole, that is. These little morsels are easily overlooked, but Tracy promises that once you’ve found a few trees to pick, you’ll notice them all over. (And Tracy doesn’t let the fallen berries go to waste—she’ll eat those straight off the side of the road)

Fresh berry supply in hand, we ventured back to my office to meet up with…well, let’s just call him E. An experienced brewer of craft beer, E brought a sampling from his latest experiment: gin. And once he convinced us that we wouldn’t go blind, we imbibed. (Note: I’ve had homemade alcohol before, but not like this—it was impressive.) We tried it straight, then with fresh lime and tonic.

E also shared some of his beer creations, and brought a bottle of fernet to chase everything down. Thanks for sharing, E!

And that’s Round 1. For the next leg of the adventure, we’re talking about a raw beef Armenian sandwich, or colostrum from the nearby raw dairy. I’m still not sold on that last one…

Today I had fried basa with mustard greens, red beans and rice, and a cornbread muffin.

It made me smile.

I spent Friday in San Francisco for a research field trip. (What I was researching will, hopefully, be revealed soon!)

First stop: Foodspotting, where I met Matt from San Franola Granola. Here he is with Fiona (head of outreach for Foodspotting).

Next, I walked around South Park with fellow Eat Retreaters Kimberley and Emily. No surprise, we talked about food.

For first lunch, Ryan met me in the Financial District.

We walked around taking photos of strangers.

For second lunch, Ryan and I tracked down Mona.

She introduced me to the oyster po’ boy at Queen’s Louisiana, served with hushpuppies and sweet cream butter.

I didn’t want to leave, but at least the drive home was pretty.

Have I mentioned how much I love the city?

Saturday afternoon I found myself surrounded by gentle-rolling countryside neatly lined with luscious vineyards. “It’s hard to believe this is still Fresno,” someone noted as I readied the camera.

Kim and I were visiting the Tanielian Farm House for an Armenian dinner organized by Slow Food Madera. The event highlighted the Torigian family’s journey from Kharput, Armenia to Fresno, and featured traditional Armenian fare: toorshi (pickled vegetables), fresh string cheese, yalanchi, bulgar pilaf, grilled lamb, cheese berag, and soorj (sweet, “Turkish” coffee). Yum.

Fredo Martin, fellow Slow Food Madera board member and one of the event’s organizers, offered a summary of the Torigian family’s story, as told by daughter Tracy:

Tracy’s first American ancestor came to America in the early 1900s, and quickly made his way from the east coast to central California. Her emotional moment with the microphone said it all: this was a very important event for her family and for Fresno metro Armenian community–a moment to remember its history, celebrate its culture, resilience, strong family ties and tightly woven sense of belonging.

Her family lost an entire generation–her father, Marshall Torigian, pointed out to me that Armenian Americans of his age never had grandparents because of the genocide. The family members who could, fled to safety and reached Marseille in southern France, where they remained for a few years, then, made the long journey to the Americas, reaching Veracruz, Mexico. One of the four sisters decided to go north and married Kazar, the first American of the family, already settled in Fresno.

Tracy shared the family’s story while her father and brothers cooked (with help from a few others).

We ate feasted. We drank local wine (from Agajanian Vineyards). And we danced. I’m not sure photos can capture the importance of such an event, but for those who couldn’t be there: