January 16, 2010 (7 of 100 Foods consumed): 7% Completed
12. Porchetta sandwich at RoliRoti at the Saturday Ferry Plaza Farmers Market: Rotisserie pork loin, rolled with pork belly and spices and herbs, and covered in crackly pork skin on a spit for 4 hours. The bread roll is slathered with the juices from the spit, and the cut of meat is topped with sweet braised onions and tender greens. After a good 20-minute wait in line with growing anticipation, this sandwich completely satiated my appetite and set our expectations unbelievably high for the rest of day – I mean, this is a sandwich of DREAMS. It was a worthy beginning to our foodie endeavor.
91. Albondigas soup at Mijita: Beef and pork meatballs in a tomato based broth with vegetables. Coming off the high from the porchetta sandwich, this soup was sadly disappointing. It was a good soup, but it was no porchetta sandwich; it lacked any sort of Zing. However, the point of this whole exercise is to experience new foods and new restaurants that I wouldn’t have cared to even step into. If I ever want Mexican food while I’m at the Ferry Building, I will try the tacos and Quesadilla Mijita here; they looked amazing on everyone else’s plates. However, after having tried the aforementioned porchetta sandwich, I don’t imagine myself wanting anything else at the Ferry Building.
49. Ginger snaps at Miette: I had high expectations for these ginger snaps. Afterall, what’s not to love about perfectly designed tags, signs, and typography? Plus, Miette’s macarons are absolutely delicious – so maybe I had just missed the memo on their ginger snaps? I never cared much for ginger snaps, and upon the first bite, I wasn’t too impressed. However, you can taste real ginger in this cookie, and it is subtlely aromatic. The texture is interesting as well – it is neither very chewy nor brittle, but somewhere in between. After my 3rd cookie though, the flavor and texture both really grew on me. I probably would not buy another canister (because the price is a bit steep; $7 for 12 cookies), but they were good to try.
28. Gibraltar at lue Bottle Café: This is apparently the name of a country, a brand of guitar, a candy, and so on. Supposedly this drink is named after the glass that it is served in. But basically, at Blue Bottle, this is a super small cross between a latte and a macchiato/cappuccino. The menu board does not explicitly note that you can order this, but indeed you can. I don’t have enough experience with espressos, lattes, or macchiatos (Starbucks doesn’t really count) to judge this drink, but I still think it was really good. You can taste good coffee when you taste good coffee, and this is good coffee.
40. Cheeseburger at Taylor’s Automatic Refresher: A cheeseburger is a cheeseburger, so when THE LIST says you need to try this cheeseburger, you should expect that this cheeseburger will blow all cheeseburgers out of the water. Sadly, it didn’t do quite that. It was a good cheeseburger – something like what you’d get at In-N-Out, but for 3 times the price – but on an egg bun. The egg bun WAS quite good though. But not 3x-the-price good.
35. Salted-caramel ice cream at Bi-Rite Creamery: Okay, I am an excellent judge of icecream, if not by the sheer volume consumed, then by… I don’t know, the love of icecream. No icecream is a hard sell for me, since the only bad icecream I’ve had was the 1-year-old freezer-burned icecream from my freezer. But this salted-caramel scoop of icecream was so creamy and so delicious, it tasted like I was eating caramel, but in an icecream form – which is exactly what I was looking for. I’d get this again and again and again and again…
21. Pizza margherita at Pizzeria Delfina: I’ve had this before, yet I looked forward to it as if I never experienced it before and was promised, as Reid put so cleverly in his Yelp review, “heaven on dough”.
WHAT’S LEFT?
1. Roast chicken and bread salad at Zuni
2. Coffee-rubbed pork shoulder at Range
3. Carnitas taco at La Taqueria
4. Spicy crab and grits at the Front Porch
5. Chasu ramen at Katana-Ya
6. Burger with fries at Slow Club
7. Shaking beef at the Slanted Door
8. Morning bun at Tartine Bakery
9. Tofu soup with kimchi at My Tofu House
10. Baja-style fish tacos at Nick’s Crispy Tacos
11. Pork sugo with pappardelle at Delfina
13. Soup dumplings at Shanghai House
14. Beef brisket at Memphis Minnie’s
15. Oysters on the half shell at Swan Oyster Depot
16. Katsu curry from Muracci’s Japanese Curry & Grill
17. Tea-leaf salad at Burma Superstar
18. Salumi misti plate at Perbacco
19. Tuna tartare at Michael Mina
20. Chicken pot pie at Liberty Café
22. Vietnamese roasted pork sandwich at Saigon Sandwich
23. Beer sausage with sauerkraut and grilled onions at Rosamunde Sausage Grill
24. Blue Bell Bitter from the cask at Magnolia Pub
25. Loaf of bread straight out of the oven at Tartine (bonus: sliced while still warm and slathered with Brillat-Savarin cheese from Bi-Rite, down the block)
26. A classic gin martini at Bourbon & Branch
27. Papaya salad with salty crab at Sai Jai Thai
29. Spaetzle at Suppenküche
30. Laughing Buddha cocktail at Cantina
31. Pan con chocolate with sea salt and olive oil at Laïola
32. Pupusas at Balompie Café #3
33. Prime rib at House of Prime Rib
34. Yellowtail collar at Oyaji
36. Dry-fried chicken wings at San Tung
37. Rotisserie chicken at Limón Rotisserie
38. French fries at Hayes Street Grill
39. Pierna Enchilada torta at La Torta Gorda
41. Pho ga at Turtle Tower
42. Fried-shrimp po’boy at Brenda’s French Soul Food
43. Mint julep at Alembic
44. Cannelé at Boulangerie Bay Bread
45. Galapagos cocktail at Absinthe
46. Chips and salsa at Papalote
47. Ceviche at La Mar Cebichería Peruana
48. Angels on horseback at Anchor & Hope
50. Giant pretzel with mustard at The Monk’s Kettle
51. Maccaronara with ricotta salata at A16
52. Fried brussels sprouts at SPQR
53. Garlic soup at Piperade
54. Spiced-chocolate doughnut at Dynamo Donut with a Four Barrel coffee
55. Milk-roasted pork at L’Osteria del Forno
56. Caponatina with burrata at Beretta
57. Goat stew at Kokkari Estiatorio
58. Absinthe daiquiri at Jardinière
59. Huarache with cactus salad at El Huarache Loco (Saturdays at the Alemany farmers market)
60. The Brass Monkey at Little Star Pizza
61. Crab soufflé at Café Jacqueline
62. Shrimp-and-chive dumplings at Ton Kiang
63. Meatballs with grapes at Aziza
64. Paper masala dosa at Dosa
65. Crispy eggplant at Jai Yun
66. Pig parts at Incanto
67. Sand dabs at Tadich Grill
68. Irish coffee at the Buena Vista Cafe
69. Licorice parfait at South
70. Omakase menu at Sebo
71. A Fernet at R Bar
72. Arancini at Ducca
73. Popovers with strawberry butter at theRotunda
74. Corned-beef sandwich with Gruyère at theSentinel
75. Fried green beans at Coco500
76. Chicken hash at Ella’s
77. Eggs benedict on the back patio at Zazie
78. Chilaquiles with a fried egg at Pastores
79. Onion strings at Alfred’s Steakhouse
80. Apple fritter at Bob’s Donuts
81. Chicken curry at Punjab Kabab House
82. Fried chickpeas at Piqueo’s
83. Sweet-potato fries with banana catsup at Poleng Lounge
84. A margarita at Tommy’s Mexican Restaurant
85. Pulled-pork sandwich at Roadside BBQ
86. A cheese slice at Arinell Pizza
87. Fresh spring rolls at Out the Door
88. Buckwheat crepe and a French cider at Ti Couz
89. Lamb schawerma at Truly Mediterranean
90. Slow-cooked egg at Coi
92. Bacon-wrapped hot dog from a cart in the Mission (preferably when you’re drunk)
93. Seven courses of beef at Pagolac
94. Mango with chile, lemon and salt at Doña Tere’s cart (At the corner of 21 and Treat Streets, no phone)
95. 3 a.m. bowl of caldo verde soup at Grubstake
96. Baby-coconut ice cream from Mitchell’s
97. Sesame balls at Yank Sing
98. Basil gimlet at Rye
99. Clam chowder at Hog Island Oyster Co
100. Cheese course at Gary Danko