Gastronomie

A Cocktail to Celebrate By

I'm currently enamored of "cocktails" - those mixed marvels of juices and spirits, liqueurs and bitters which first saw their heyday in the 1930s, when Prohibition-era bartenders had the chance to practice their art with quality spirits, instead of the bathtub brews of earlier days.

Where we're located in Oakland, we're around 2 miles, as the crow flies, from the St. George Spirits/Hangar One distillery. I've raved about them before, so I won't go into details, but I credit them with a huge part of the resurgence of the "cocktail" in these parts. And to be honest, I think we in the Bay Area are paving the way for the rest of the country with bars like Bourbon & Branch, Rye, Cantina and Alembic -- let alone the incredible mixologists at restaurants like NoPa, Absinthe and even Bar Cesar.

Like I said, the cocktail is making a comeback.

What I love most about cocktailing is how it mimics cooking: take a base flavor, season it, add a spice or an herb (maybe both?), all the while paying attention to texture and balance. Thing is, cocktails provide instant gratification, and of course there's that delightful little buzz at the end.

My friends and I talk often about our affection for cocktailing, and how to play with the nearly endless variety of ingredients. In fact, one lovely lady's Limoncello has played a starring role in a LucianoDrop recently, while another's gift of a stunning shaker inspired a fanciful concoction only yesterday. But it was today's professional coups, both C's and mine, which led to the creation of tonight's most excellent cocktail.

The ChristianBerger

• Juice of one Ruby Red Grapefruit
• Juice of one Tangerine (a blood orange may be substituted)
• 1.5 oz Campari
• 1.5 oz St. Germain Elderflower Liqueur
• Champagne or other dry sparkling wine, chilled

1. Shake the first 4 ingredients vigorously with ice until frothy.
2. Fill your champagne flute 1/3 full with juice mixture
3. Top with fizzy good stuff (aka, bubbly, aka sparkling wine)
4. Enjoy

This will make 3 - 4 cocktails depending on how much juice you get out of your citrus; I suggest having enough on hand to make more than you think you'll need, because these babies go down way easier than you might expect.

If you're the garnishing type, you can pulverize some dried tangerine with sugar for a nice rim; I suggest dipping first in Campari, but you might prefer the sweetness of St. Germain. Salut!

Tags: Food, Food & Drink, Cocktails, San Francisco, Oakland, Mixology, Bar

Momofuku Ssam Bar, New York

This trip to NYC has been filled with surprises both gastronomical and otherwise. I caught up with an old college friend who I hadn't seen in over a decade, took C to McSorley's where we got unexpectedly soused mid-afternoon to celebrate my thirty-something birthday and paid a visit to a friend in Williamsburg where we went on an eating and drinking tour of her neighborhood (that's its own post, to come soon).

We basically came to the city this time without a single reservation anywhere. We planned to eat fairly inexpensively, and without any pre-planning. Sometimes that meant a slice at Ray's pizza whenever we felt hungry, other times that meant grabbing a last-minute reservation at Destino.

On Saturday night, we showed up at Momofuku around 10pm. I'd heard plenty about this place from friends and fellow-bloggers alike, so I figured that even that late, we'd have a solid wait. You can only imagine the shock when we were seated immediately (I attribute it to Colin's tragically hip fedora, but that's another post).

The menu here is super-eclectic (I'd link to it, except the damn site is built in 100% Flash, which means no individual pages), and we didn't have any trouble finding things we wanted to try. In fact, the bigger problem was narrowing down our choices to a manageable number.

They were out of two items from the Raw Bar we'd hoped to try (Maine Sear Urchin and Empress Jonah Crab Claws), so we started with Cured Hamachi ($16), a delightful presentation of six slices buttery fish with a wasabi cream, a few edamame and a handful of pea shoots.

We also ordered the Steamed Buns ($9) to share -- we'd heard these were the house specialty and OH MY, I understand why! Pork belly, hoisin, chewy/fluffy bun... wow. I just have nothing else to say about these.

We moved from there to the Four Story Hill Farm Chicken Ballotine ($15), a boneless disk of chicken, stuffed with chicken, mushrooms and walnuts, topped with raisins and a sweet preserve. This was not my favorite dish, as it was a bit heavier than I expected, but tasty nonetheless.

Now, Ssam Bar has an odd section on the menu called "Country Hams", which is exactly what you think -- four different American country-style hams, sliced paper thin and served with bread and a bit of delicious sweet-hot mustard. I'm not sure how this fits in with the otherwise Korean-centric menu, and I was a little disappointed that a "sampling" wasn't available. Regardless, we ordered the Benton's Smoky Mountain,  Tennessee ($10). Very salty, delicate smoke, slightly gamey, we really enjoyed this ham.

We ordered one large dish to share -- Spicy Pork Sausage & Rice Cakes ($18) -- which was phenomenal. Bite-sized nuggets of caramelized rice, sausage, crispy shallots and Chinese broccoli were swimming in a rich, lip-numbingly spicy broth.  My Auslese riesling and Colin's unfiltered sake were both sweet enough to foil the heat of the stew.

I was stuffed, but C had to order the Amish Cheddar Shortcake ($9). The shortcake itself was amazing, unique. Paired with roasted Empire Apples and Ham Cream (yes, you read right), though, it became an updated, modern version of apple pie with cheddar cheese. That's never been my thing, but this dessert was an amalgamation of flavors that just got my tongue excited.

We loved the service, and we loved the openness of the restaurant. And maybe more than anything, we loved the fact that the following sentence was printed on the menu: "We do not serve vegetarian friendly items". While I'm sure that sentence pisses off a lot of patrons, we kind of love the fact that chef Chang is unapologetic about his menu and his choices.

Momofuku Ssam Bar
207 2nd Avenue, New York
212.254.3500

Tags: Food, Food & Drink, New York, San Francisco, Momofuku, David Chang, Restaurant Review

Fish & Farm, a New Local Gem

We're in the midst of a restaurant explosion of sorts in San Francisco, one which shows few signs of letting up. Part of what I love is how spread out these new restaurants are -- Serpentine in Dogpatch, Local on 1st Street (something of a culinary wasteland, to be sure), and my current favorite, Fish & Farm in the Tenderloin.

My first taste of Fish & Farm was a couple of months ago, as part of a media dinner. I didn't feel right writing about that meal since it was fully comped, but I was torn because I knew that I'd be back on my own dime, and soon. I've now been to F&F three times, and I may be a little bit enamored.

The focus here is on local and sustainable, and while those concepts are currently being abused to within an inch of their lives, Fish & Farm is trying to do them right. For example, they're growing herbs on their rooftop garden, and they've committed to supporting local purveyors by sourcing most of their fish, meat and produce from within 100 miles of the restaurant.

All this sounds great, but without delicious food to back it up, it doesn't go very far. So how 'bout that food?

So far, I have enjoyed everything I've eaten at Fish & Farm -- and that covers a LOT of ground. A few key highlights for your enjoyment:

• Oyster & Pumpkin Salad ($11) blew my socks off. The roasted pumpkin was tender and sweet, while the panko-battered oysters were briny and crisp. I can't remember the last time I had such an innovative salad that I enjoyed.
• Pan-Seared Corvina ($25) has been on the menu in a few iterations, and both versions I've tried have been great. The delicate fish is never overpowered by the preparation, but makes a great vehicle for subtle but rich flavors. (One of the accompaniments was a sweetbread raviolo. The pasta was perfect, even if I didn't adore the filling, so I can't wait to try a main pasta dish soon.)
• And then there's the grand-daddy of them all -- a Marin Sun Farms (if I recall correctly) Rib Eye Steak ($38). That may seem pricy, but it's very much in line considering the cost of MSF's beef at retail. Anyway, I have told anyone who wants to listen that this was the best steak I ate in 2007. It's a very generous cut, easily shareable (unless you are C, who can eat his weight in good beef).
• Smashed Potatoes (~$6)... Catherine has already written about these here, and they really are that good.

The wine list is superb and extremely interesting, with maybe my favorite policy in the city: if a wine from the bottle list appeals to you, but you want only a glass, you can have it for a third the price of the bottle. Considering that 90% of the list is under $50, this is an easy way to try a wine you're curious about.

Cocktails are strong and delicious -- none was overly sweet, and all the herby/fruity ingredients are local and/or organic. In fact, the rosemary in the San Francisco Martini ($8) comes from the aforementioned rooftop garden. Bartenders are funny and charming, and great at making cool drinks on the fly, or picking a wine from a bare bones description of what you like. (Even when you  insist you don't care for Chardonnay, you might eat crow when they make you taste a Chard they know you'll like. Hmph.)

As to desserts... I have admittedly not been wooed by any of them yet, though the Pug's Leap Goat's Milk Buche from the Cheese Course ($12 for 3), made me want to start rediscovering goat's milk cheeses again. The dessert menu doesn't seem to change as frequently as the savory menu, and frankly, I think that's a wise choice for a place this small and without a pastry chef.

Fish & Farm is a small place -- maybe 40 or so seats -- so you may find yourself waiting a little while, even with reservations. Because of how comfortable the room is, I've noticed that people linger long after dessert. Practice patience, enjoy a cocktail at the bar, and you'll be richly rewarded.

Fish & Farm
339 Taylor Street (inside the Mark Twain Hotel)
San Francisco, CA
415.474.3474

Tags: Food, Food & Drink, Wine, San Francisco, Local, Cocktails, Restaurant Review

Bo Says...

HAPPY NEW YEAR, INTERWEBS!