Gastronomie

Around the Globe in 60 Days

Globe.

It's one of those restaurants that everyone knows, but only a handful ever take the time to visit. San Francisco being an early-to-bed type of town, there is fairly little love for a gem like Globe. Generally speaking, late-night-eats in this city are limited to a selection of ethnic eateries and a less than a handful of pricey and loud hipster joints.

But Globe? It's dim, and brick, and sexy. With its bar, stocked with the best small-batches, and its gleaming open kitchen and dreamy brick oven... Globe is like that cherished, bejeweled music box you had when you were a little girl.

After too many months away from Globe, it has re-entered the rotation, in a special, almost reverential, way. In the past two months, I've spent no fewer than five hours here, across three visits. So I feel qualified to make the following statements:

1. Why, when we talk about pizza in San Francisco, do we NEVER mention Globe? I've never had a bad pie here, and when you ask for them a bit "done", they come out perfectly charred at the edges.
2. You'll never feel sexier than when you're basking in the dimness that is Globe, being taken care of like the late-night rockstar that you are. Of course, in these parts, we actually eat the food as opposed to picking at it like a Los-Angelean rockstar-anorexic.
3. Instead of the blood-roiling bass that most of our late-night restaurants play, Globe sticks to the divinely enervating downtempo -- extraordinary talents like Zero 7, Sweetback, Bebel Gilberto and Goldfrapp.
4. What? You want to hear about the food? Again? OK.
5. They have some of the best Spaghetti this side of New Jersey. Perfectly cooked pasta against a simple but savory red sauce.
6. Their wine list is impeccable, especially considering that perhaps a third of their total clientele are so drunk when they come in that the quality of what they're drinking is purely happenstance.
7. Oh. And the "Mac & Cheese". Simple. Satisfying. Devoid of frou-frou toppings and unnecessary additions, this is a purist's version of the dish. Rigatoni. Excellent cheese. Perhaps some cream. Done to perfection. So there.

Look, I realize that there are many more "refined" restaurants in the City. I also realize that Globe is an old standard, perhaps best left to the pre-boom guard -- those of us who lived here before a rash of 25-year-olds started making six-figures, and people who couldn't afford a mortgage rode around in $80,000 cars.

I don't mind that. I'm happy to have fallen in love with Globe. Again. I'm glad to be able to walk into this precious place at 11pm after a performance and get a table, to linger over a bottle of wine and a simple but perfectl(ly) satisfying meal, making eyes across the table at my love.

Globe Restaurant
290 Pacific Avenue
San Francisco
415.391.4132

Tags: Food, Food+Wine, San Francisco, Globe, Arts, Restaurant Reviews

A Shilling for Your Thoughts

Back in July of 2005, I wrote a fairly negative review of Montclair Bistro in Oakland. The thing is, I prefaced in my post that it was a review from a single meal, and how much I hated writing those. But really, the meal was so poor, and a service issue so poorly handled, that I felt the need to write about it, and let future potential visitors to the restaurant form their own opinions, because Montclair Bistro? She ain't cheap.

That, in my opinion, is the beauty of a blog or a site like Yelp - you can make judgments based on what the reviewer has written -- in this case, that I'd only visited the one time, on my own dime, and wouldn't go back because it was a meal that made me feel ripped off.

Yesterday, I got a comment from someone defending the restaurant. Which, you know, I am fine with. In fact, Faith (someone I've met and respect), wrote a comment about some good meals there, and I responded openly and honestly.

However. This comment? It's pissy, and derogatory, and sounded like a shill. So I checked Statcounter, and realized that someone had been doing a Google search on "Montclair Bistro Bad Reviews"; a bit more digging revealed that the IP address of the person who linked through belonged to Henry Vortriede DBA. Henry Vortriede is the chef and owner of Montclair Bistro.

I wrote to the person who posted, Maria Maras, and told her I'd be removing the comment since she didn't reveal her affiliation to the restaurant; I also suggested that if Mr. Vortriede wanted someone to do his dirty work for him, he should at least have it done somewhere other than his office!. (Yea, I realize that latter part was catty. Oh well.)

The reply came back from one "Rachel Stroud", saying:

I searched out bad reviews because the guests that are attending dinner with me, brought to my attention about a bad review on the Restaurant.I searched it out and found your review. Don't be so quick to judge, try it again. I have a right to my opinion. As do you.....maybe I think your review was badly written, that is my opinion. I don't know the owner. If I did don't you think that the dirty work should have been done before this. Erase my comment it is a free world.

Now, I didn't want to turn this into a pissing match, so I pretty much left it alone, except to remind her that the computer she wrote the post from was, in fact, registered on Mr. Vortriede's network.

But I ask you, dear reader, what would YOU have done? Would you have called out a shill in a situation like this?

I want Gastronomie to be a place where anyone feels comfortable about commenting and being part of the exchange of ideas and community. But I worry that when someone DOESN'T reveal their affiliation to a relevant party to the discussion, and posts a comment like what Rachel/Maria posted, it affects the integrity of what you read here.

Let's chat - tell me your thoughts, tell me how you would handle this, and how you want to see your favorite bloggers (foodie or otherwise) handle situations like this.

Oh, and HAPPY WEEKEND TO YOU ALL!

Jack London Square Crab Crawl

A few weeks ago, I was taking Bo for a walk through Jack London Square when I stumbled across signs for The Crab Crawl. "FUN!", I thought, "I should invite C."

About 5 yards later, I realized that those people setting up booths? They had crabs. And garlic noodles. And today? It wasn't Sunday. Huh. Unless I called C pretty quickly, there'd be nothing left to invite him to!

He met us down at the Square a little while later, where we proceeded to check out the booty, and grab some goodies to nosh on while we polished off pints of Anchor  Steam.

As it turned out, we were less than tempted by the crab dishes that were left a mere two hours after the even started; one of the booths, whose garlic noodles we tried and loved, told us that they had no idea the event was going to be so popular, and they couldn't believe they'd already run out of their cajun cracked crab.

Those oysters up there, though? Those were really, really great.  Big, plump, juicy specimens from Johnson's Oyster Farm were shucked and daubed with garlic, then grilled up, one order at a time.  Each of us in line spent more than a few minutes waiting, but OH MAMA, was it ever worth it.

Generously sprinkled with Green Tabasco (my personal preference on grilled oysters), I slurped more than my share of these, nearly ready to go back for more.

The Crab Crawl's food stands were picked clean HOURS before they expected to be, which I love to see -- it just proves that Oakland is really finding her own voice and people are coming to hear what she's saying.

Tags: Food, Wine, Food & Drink, San Francisco, Oakland, Jack London Square, Festivals

My New Favorite Restaurant -- Wood Tavern

You know how sometimes, you walk into a house or a restaurant or a bar or a cute little boutique and know, just KNOW, it's going to be your home away from home?

C and I instantly felt that way about Wood Tavern, Rebekah and Rich Wood's new place in Oakland's Rockridge district. It's just that good, and that comfortable, and that pleasant a place to go.

At a recent lazy Sunday lunch (after the most hellacious travel day possible - stay tuned for details), we shared a bottle of our favorite white wine -- Movia Ribolla ($38), which we first tried at Frasca in Boulder.

We started, as always, with their Butcher Block ($5 per item). After a few tries, we've decided that we're happiest foregoing the Fra' Mani salumis for Wood Tavern's own housemade Smoked Duck Breast and Rabbit Rillettes. The rillettes have a texture that is much finer and less overtly "fatty" than most of those I've tried; this makes me want to eat them with a spoon. My only "whine" here is that the duck breast is served in portions of three slices, which makes it difficult for two greedy bitches to share.

Next, we shared a salad of Arugula and Asparagus ($8) which the kitchen kindly split for us. Simply dressed with a light and bright lemon vinaigrette, and punctuated* with toasted almonds, paper-thin slices of fennel, and pecorino shavings, this was a perfect early Spring salad. Nothing you couldn't replicate fairly well at home, but nicely solid.

I moved on to a luscious, spicy, toothsome "Sugo & Shells"  ($16). Their lamb sugo is already the stuff of legend, and with good reason. It's one of those dishes which works on a warm day, a chilly evening, whenever. There's something really satisfying about a bright, piquant sauce loaded with tender and gamey lamb that actually TASTES like lamb. Even C was happy to steal a few bites, while  I cleverly used my fork to stab his other hand.

So now it gets interesting.

C is an avowed Luka's burger junkie. So much so, in fact, that in two years of nearly-monthly visits, I think I've only ever seen him order something different once. Now, this says nothing about his adventurous nature; but, it does speak VOLUMES about the quality of that burger. Luka's really does have a "perfect" hamburger.

So when he ordered the Hamburger, Add Bacon & Cheddar ($12), I was ready for a throwdown. What arrived to the table was clearly not even TRYING to compete for top honors in the "Traditional" category. It was served on a baguette, but one which had softened up nicely (nothing like destroying the roof of your mouth on hard, crusty bread) and the meat was juicy,  flavorful and seasoned well. The fries were "OK", but nothing that would compel me to order them separately, the way we do at Luka's and some other places.

But.

Oh, heaven the pickles. Thick disks of crunchy, tart, salty, slightly sweet, and deliciously spiced pickle. Pickles so good that, when C shared his last one, I felt incredibly guilty about that earlier stabbing incident. Where do I find pickles like this???

After all this, we were both quite full, but managed to make room in our bellies for a lovely Panna Cotta with Strawberry Salad and Granita and Creme Caramel Profiteroles (both $7). Both were very, very good -- better, in fact, than what I expect from a restaurant that is barely cutting its teeth, and which doesn't (as far as I know) have a dedicated pastry chef.

So, clearly, we loved the food. But what is it that brings us back over and over again? What is it that has us making reservations for our next meal before we pay even our bill?

It's that (seemingly) elusive combination of food and ambience, space and service. I'm not all crazy into the Feng Shui thing, but I can tell you that whatever the Woods did, walking into the Tavern feels like stepping into a beautiful but cozy living room. They walk the room, checking on tables, smiling, and making sure people waiting for a table have a drink to tide them over. They are the ultimate hosts, and you can tell that they adore what they do.

*Don't you hate it when people use $5 words completely out of context? Me too.

Wood Tavern
6317 College Avenue
Oakland, CA
510.654.6607

Tags: Food, Wine, Food & Drink, San Francisco, Oakland, Wood Tavern, Restaurants