Forking Tasty

Into the Fold

photo credit: Ricky Montalvo

My last good meal in SF this past trip was a treat. The food was delicious but the company made this meal. I was honored to be brought to La Mediterranee by my good friends Ricky and Britt. Their 10 plus year relationship had many Friday nights in this spot and they were now folding me into the La Mediterranee family. As soon as we walked in Arthur came over with a huge hug. Arthur is a 13 year veteran waiter who has much more than food knowledge to impart on his guests. The seemingly customary round of hugs, hellos and here’s-a-menu ended and Arthur asked what bottle we would be drinking tonight. As I learned, a bottle of wine is par for the course when the Montalvos visit. We settled on

Food from Heaven (aka San Francisco)

After getting back to San Fran from Seattle, I was hungry. I arrived back to Mulls’ place and like some sort of divine intervention there were a bunch a friends, a bunch of wine and a bunch of food in his kitchen. Ben was at the helm working on 5 to 6 dishes. Brit was making up a little snack plate and Ricky and Mulls were playing with their iPads. Kelly and I got into the wine and the conversation and before you knew it

SPICE Supper Club

You all know my love for underground dinners. Many of you have attended one of my own little backyard-gastro-movie-suppers. (New season opening soon). As I travel around the globe, I love to pop into supperclubs where ever I land. I have compiled quite the list with all the travel lately. In fact, upcoming dinners have started to influence my destination decisions. It’s even better when you attend a dinner you have been trying to get to for a long time. That’s exactly what happened a couple of weeks ago with SPICE.

Ben Long, a good friend and chef de cuisine, takes his club into a random restaurant each month and converts it into a SPICE evening. From the food to the ambiance to the service everything exudes Ben’s flavor. Knowing what a night like this entails, I immediately give Ben respect for the meal he is about to serve up. I poke around the kitchen checking out the walk in, peering over at the flat top and checking out his sous, Greg Clapp, finishing the mise en place. After my jealously fueled kitchen tour I

The Burrito and the Bull

Here is a closer look at my 10pm burrito from San Francisco last week. Eating a super burrito and then going to bed is not the smartest thing in the world but I am a real SUCKER for NorCal taquerias. I’d do it again in a heart beat.

Eatin’ SF

View SF March eat tour in a larger map
Follow the food with this map

Not surprisingly I was in San Francisco a week ago. If there is a place on earth that is my home away from home it is SF. Shhh, but I secretly hope to make it my “real” home again one day. My short, two year stint definitely left me with a bug to move back. This trip was a fast paced barrage of work, research, catching up with friends and eating that started with a 7am Saturday flt and ended with a Thurs redeye. I thought I swore those off last year?

Rather than dive deep into the stories, friends, reasons and circumstances which placed the food shown below in front of me, I thought I would “food porn” out by simply sharing the day and time these tasty morsels were consumed. Let’s jump right in with…

Sandwich Buzz

You can’t hate a job that takes you into the heart of San Francisco, buys you a sandwich and lets you “work” in the park over looking the bay for an afternoon. That’s what went down a few days ago as the Buzz Team and I started work on our next set of BIG ideas. This video will give you a peek into where the “magic” starts and how we do what we do.

Now that’s a sandwich!!!

Ike’s was recommended to me by my buddy Amit. It has taken a few trips to SF for me to get here but I finally made it.

I intended to order some veggie sandwich but once I looked at the board I couldn’t help but go meat. I settled on a (name of the girl I am dating) which consisted of Halal Chicken Breast, Honey Mustard, Avocado, PepperJack.

From there I squeezed out of the tiny, cramped space and stood on the sidewalk in the Sunday sun to await my sandwich. Watching their sandwich making and serving system I realized that Ike’s put some makeshift seating along the wall of the sushi restaurant next door. They also threw a dishwasher restaurant bin next to a tree for the empty sandwich baskets. Very San Fran the way they nonchalantly extended their restaurant a half of a block. My attention was turned back to the inside of the shop because I heard the words “number nine” and “mix up” shouted a few times.

Tony Baloney’s Breakfast

I just had to do a post about this deli. Great name and friendly owner. It sits on Howard and 6th st. in San Fran, a block from the hotel I was staying at. I visited each morning to get a large, hot coffee before starting the daily drive down to silicon valley. Each day the owner said hello, and asked how i was, remembering me by face. The first day I visited, I augmented my coffee with …

Good Pizza. Great Combo.

I stayed a second time at the Good Hotel, a small boutique hotel in San Francisco’s SOMA neighborhood. This time I tried out the pizza place in the lobby. Good Pizza makes a thin crust Napolitano style pizza. Toppings run the gamut from traditional pepperoni to the Scandinavian bacon and potato to the Californian walnut and apple.

I ordered two small pies for sampling purpose. First this..

Tequila, Beef and Rock

It was after a long day of hiking in Marin when I finally pulled into the alley that my friends Brit and Ricky call home. It has become a staple stop on my San Francisco itinerary and this trip was no exception.

I first went to the wrong floor and knocked on the wrong door, a standard mistake with each visit. When I finally made it into their beautiful loft apartment I was immediately greeted with…