Gastronomie

De do do do, de da da da... I'm Walking on the Moon

Tags: Food+Wine, The Police, Police, Sting, Vancouver, San Francisco

Five Things About Meme!

It's been a long time since I was last tagged for a meme, so when my whore tagged me for this one, I decided to oblige (and, well, I don't want a lifetime ban at Delfina, now do I?)

So, since I'm up watching the Anna Nicole coverage (I'm currently sitting less than five miles away from where the hearing is being held -- I know, I'm horrible), I thought I

   
1. I grew up on Long Island, and it takes me about five minutes with a native New Yorker to lapse back into my old accent. It drives Californians crazy. Fortunately, it's a reversible affliction.
   
2. I might be addicted to my Blackberry. I like to pass it all off as work stuff, but the truth is I hate being disconnected from work OR play. The upside of this is that I actually manage to keep in regular contact with my friends when I just can't manage to pick up the phone from home.
   
3. I don't want kids. Ever. I like them just fine (and love playing auntie to my friends' kids), but I just don't want any of my own. I'm getting less grief for it every year. I think people have figured out that can't use the "you still have time" rationale much longer.
   
4. I'm a big believer in reaching out to long-lost friends and have been known to use networking sites like LinkedIn and Reunion.com (but NEVER MySpace!) to reconnect. I have several very special people back in my life this way.
   
5. I was once brainwashed by Home Shopping Network. In a moment of weakness, I found myself tearfully placing an order for a 21-piece set of Wolfgang Puck Bistro Cookware. Little did I know then that I'd actually like some of the pieces better than my uber-heavy All-Clad ones. It ended up being a great purchase, but man, I felt every ounce the sucker while I dialed that 800 number.

I'm not going to tag anyone for this, not least of all because, well, there's not one left to tag. But if you WANT to do this one, go for it and post back in a comment so I can link to ya!

Tags: Food, Food+Wine, Meme, Five Things, Blackberry, HSN, San Francisco

TWO - Hawthorne Lane's Reinvention

Last week, I had a date with a cute boy named C.

(Yes, that C. Practice patience, and perhaps you'll get the full story.)

I was picking him up at the airport, and we wanted to have a late-ish, low-key but delicious dinner. I'd heard a gentle bit of positive buzz about Two, and was able to get us a reservation for 9:15pm. Any menu that's friends with roasted marrow bones is a friend of mine.

A quick perusal of the "50 under $50" wine list found us a bottle of As Laxas Albarino ($34). This particular Albarino was nicely crisp, with a floral nose and lots of food-friendly acidity to make a great pairing for the seafood-heavy menu.

We started with Eastern fluke, over celery and cornichon salad ($9) -- sweet and tender slices of the freshest fluke were a nice appetite whetting bite. Moving on to Crispy-fried Hama Hama oysters, celery root remoulade and Slow roasted marrow bones, tomato stew, crusty bread (both $11), we got a nice idea of the breadth of the kitchen. The oysters were served on the half-shell, set it a rock salt bed as though they were raw. The remoulade with light and flavorful, far from the overly greasy remoulades that so often drown the flavor of delicate shellfish. Meanwhile, the marrow bones, while perhaps a bit on the smaller side than I would have preferred, were well-seasoned, and the tomato stew that accompanied them was incredibly rustic and delicious. We couldn't help but sop up every last drop with the crostini that were proferred.

The Duck confit pizza, caramelized onions, Swedish fontina, sage ($13) was heaven. Really. The crust was perfect. The duck? Perfect. Perfectly seasoned, perfectly cooked. Just one of the best dishes I've had all year. In fact, I took three slices home for lunch the next day, and never even had to heat them up. A GREAT pizza. C ordered the Bacon and egg raviolo ($9) which he proclaimed delicious, even though it had to sit several feet away from me on account of my runny-egg-yolk phobia.

We finished things off with the Cast iron pan half chicken, garlic, Italian parsley, quinoa salad ($16). Flavor-wise, this dish was firing on all cylinders -- crispy, delicious skin, great pairing in the quinoa, etc. Unfortunately, it was so badly oversalted that our tongues were burning after two bites. Regardless, I'd easily give the chicken another shot because it was so incredibly well-cooked.

David Gingrass has done a phenomenal redesign of the old Hawthorne Lane space, bringing it up to date with cork walls, sexy lighting, lots of warm woods and metals -- it's just an overwhelmingly warm and inviting space. Meanwhile, Bridget Batson has modernized her menu while keeping a sense of the familiar. Plus, it's incredibly reasonable as small plates in this city go.

Service was lovely, and even though we shut the place down and the staff were ready to go home, we were encouraged to take our time and enjoy the last of our wine. Two is one of those very rare, but often-sought restaurant reincarnations done right.

TWO
22 Hawthorne Lane
San Francisco, CA
415.777.9779

Tags: Food, Food + Wine, San Francisco, Restaurants