Forking Tasty

Melted Simplicity

In the world of single cuisine food restaurants you have to expect there would be one dedicated to the grilled cheese. You wouldn’t expect it to be 2 blocks from my San Francisco office and you certainly wouldn’t expect it to be good. As a kid growing up the grilled cheese was called mozzarella en carozza. Many times it included tomatoes. Rarely it included sopressata. When it did I was extra psyched. As I moved on to college I continued this understated tradition with an illegal, in dorm, sandwich press and a hunk of Polly-O cheese.

The Piglet as it’s named speaks to the person ordering it as well as the ingredients. The artisan ham melted with the Tillamook sharp cheddar is a distinct and luxurious taste. Add in the thick cut perfectly toasted sourdough and you have heaven in a hand held triangle. As we dive deeper into this single minded restaurant trend, I applaud those who do it well. Those who do it fantastic I don’t have words, except those written on this page. Keep it up. Ohh yeah and the clementine accoutrements is refreshingly clever.

RECAP-The Lost Hour Supper

all photos: Kun Kim

A peek through the lowered rollgate revealed a narrow table of twenty that was nestled in between the towering wine shelves and the purposely dark hum of a refrigerator bank.

Through the steel and glass you could hear only muffled conversation, the clang of plates and the reverberation of laughter as it filled the converted shop and snuck out the cracks in the front windows. Last Saturday 20 lucky singles mingled it up after hours in a little Greenpoint wine shop to sip some vino, taste some edibles and meet their possible spring fling. I’d say the evening was a fantastic success being that our guests made a connection with more than the food. To pull this supper off we partnered up with Dandelion Wines to provide the space and wines that complimented our four course feast. We then summoned some singles who were…

Yes, I Milked My First Cow

Forking Tasty – Milking A Cow from Anthony Anello on Vimeo.

While the southerner and I were at the Middleton Place we just happen to be in the farm area when they were milking the cows. I got to produce my own milk in a bucket. It felt a little strange at first but all in all it was fun… for about 30 seconds. See in the video how I make a couple squirts of milk and then I was outta there.

The Opposite of a Fast Food Burger

Forking Tasty – Black Shack Burger Joint from Anthony Anello on Vimeo.

The Black Shack was a nice find. One correction from the video, The Steak House Burger does not have crispy fries on it, although that sounds great too, it has crispy onions, just like the Western Burger. After we were done eating the chief/owner came out to chat with us. The whole idea behind Black Shack Burger Joint is to give you a burger that the fast food chains of America have forgotten about when creating their burgers, essentially the correct way to make a burger. Those places like McDonald, Burger King, White Castle were the inspiration to show how a burger should really be made. White Castle is one of, if not the oldest burger joint. I’m sure their burgers were much better when they first came on the scene before the mass production line. Black Shack would be the opposite of White Castle, hence the name. Very clever.

I’m looking forward to heading back for a sloppy joe some time in the next couple weeks.

Haunted Deliciousness

Our last restaurant before heading out of Charleston was at Poogan’s Porch. Poogan is a dog that lived at the restaurant and passed away. They even have a statue of Poogan in the front yard.

The Blue Cheese Sprinkle

The southerner and I spent the day shopping on Kings St and it was getting late. We were hungry but didn’t want to eat too much and spoil our dinner later on that night. A friend of ours told us how she really enjoyed Sermet’s. We were not even looking for the restaurant when we decided to eat it was right in front of us. There are two Sermet’s, Sermet’s Corner (which is where we went, 276 King Street, Charleston – (843) 853-7775) and Sermet’s Courtyard.

Butter Milk Biscuits Are A Southern Favorite

Around the corner from our hotel was a breakfast place called Toast. Although breakfast is not usually a meal that I normally blog about I thought this was such an outstanding egg sandwich, even though the staff got my order wrong…. twice it was delicious. I ordered the Jumbo Breakfast Sandwich which is two eggs, melted cheese & your choice of bacon, sausage links or ham on toast or a homemade buttermilk biscuit. I asked for scrambled eggs and sausage but what I got was eggs over easy and bacon. They took it back and brought me the sandwich with sausage but the eggs were still over easy. I was starving at that point and the sandwich looked dam good the way it was so I dug in. That may have been one of the best egg sandwiches I have ever had. It was messy because of the egg yoke but the mess was well worth it….

A Chilling Experience

The southerner and I spent the day walking around town and soaking in the rich history that Charleston has to offer. Of course we got hungry. We ended up at a restaurant called Coast where they had half price bottles of wine that particular night, lucky us. We had a couple of fish dishes for dinner but that is not what this post is about. It was where we went after for dessert that is postable. We walked down to Market Street and went to Kaminsky’s Café. We wanted another glass of wine and a bite of dessert. The great thing about Kaminsky is they make their desserts fresh everyday which means that don’t always have the same desserts. They don’t put the desserts on the menu but in a glass case as soon as you walk in. Great placement for their glass case, and I am sure many people have to stop and come in as they walk by and see the gorgeous desserts in the window. We settled on a double chocolate cheesecake….

Jestine Is Genius

I spent a week in South Carolina visiting the southerner and we decided to head on over to Charleston. I had never been before and only hear great things about the city. About a two hour drive, a hotwire hotel for 2 nights in the heart of the city and tons of places to eat, we were ready to go. We did our fair share of eating in three days. There are a ton of restaurants all over.

The Lost Hour Supper

SOLD OUT

Get on the list so you don’t miss the next one.

Sunday, March 13th at 8:30pm
Join us for an evening of tasty, sippy, mysterious conversation.

Every year we lose an hour as we spring ahead to…well…spring. What if those lost 60 minutes held a secret? What if that secret was filled with attractive singles, delicious food and rich, luscious wine? Would you tell? Or, would you keep your mouth closed and smirk with content?

On March 13th we are teaming up with Dandelion Wines and converting a wine shop into a dining den to celebrate this seductive lost hour. As the rest of the world skips past these valuable and mysterious minutes ten single men and ten single women will be indulging with gluttonous disregard. A 4-course gourmet dinner will be crafted to perfectly match hand selected, small batch vintners favorite wines.

Quietly reserve one of the 20 seats below and treat yourself to an evening that will be full of visual surprises, olfactory inspirations, tongue tantalizing moments and perhaps, by the end of the evening, even those little hairs on the back of your neck will be at attention. Who knows, you might even share a bite and a sip with your new spring lover.

March 13th, 2011
Starts: 8:30pm
Ends: 11:30pm
Donation: $65 (make a reservation below)
Location: To be announced to guests only

Reservations

Reservations are required. Space is limited to 20 people. When booking please make sure to choose the proper button according to gender. In the note section let us know if there are any food restrictions anyone in your party has. Location and directions will be sent to guests one day before the event.

Seats for Guys-SORRY. SOLD OUT.

Seats for Girls-SORRY. SOLD OUT.

Get on the list so you don’t miss the next one.