The Fro Fro Blog

Slow Food Nation '08

Throughout Labor Day Weekend, San Francisco is hosting Slow Food Nation '08 at various venues throughout the city.  The event delivers on its mission to catalyze the growing sustainable food movement and celebrate food that is good, clean and fair.

It may be Slow Food, but the event sold out quickly after tickets went on sale -- but luckily not before Rebecca was able to score two Tasting Pavilions entries.  Here's what it looked like when we came to the table (click on thumbnails for larger images):

 

The Slow crowd.

Candy, little girl?

I scream.

A sample of a Ruby Jewel -- honey lavender ice cream sandwiched between two lemon cookies.  You can buy them (and other flavors) at Whole Foods and Rainbow Grocery.  Unless I get there first.

The olive garden.

Salmon crostini.  Yes, we ate dessert first.  Life is short.

Nice buns, Bread Man!

There ain't naan better.

Heavenly pizza, cooked in the brick ovens built on site for the event.

Back inside, there was a dizzying array of "Nose to Tail Eating" at the Charcuterie Pavilion.

Crema di Lardo -- yup, that's fat spread -- with garlic and rosemary.

Why, yes -- I'll have some of that beef jerky.  And some of the liverwurst, and the rabbit and hazelnut pate over there too!

A lovely macchiato.

The line for the Cheese Pavilion was waaay too long.  So we had seconds on ice cream instead. 

Top Chefs Tell All + Dinner at Mission Beach Cafe

My reality television world collided with my reality once again last week, when the Commonwealth Club presented a panel of this past season's Top Chef-testants.   Jen Biesty, Zoi Antonitsas and Ryan Scott gave us some juicy tidbits thanks to expert moderating by Tablehopper's Marcia Gagliardi. 

What's the scoop you didn't see on the show?  There was lots of love for ranch dressing on pizza, not so much for Tom and Padma.  The chefs also shared their philosophies of cooking, eating out, critics and more.  (Thanks, Ryan for the blogger love!)  The full audiocast hasn't been posted yet, but keep checking the Commonwealth Club archive if you want the full meal.

Then, a lucky group including yours truly made its way over to Mission Beach Cafe, where Chef Ryan and his crew made us an outstanding dinner. 

Aperativo
Campari with fresh citrus

First: Sweet Corn Soup with Avocado, Tomato Oil and Pancetta
Cabo Wabo Blanco Tequila, sweet pepper syrup, cucumber, fresh lime

Second: Rocket Salad with Parmesan, Plums, Dates and White Balsamic Dressing
Skyy Infusions All-Natural Citrus, fresh citrus, organic basil, agave nectar

Third: Fusilli Pasta with Tomato Confit, Baked Ricotta and Toasted Bread Crumbs
Thyme and black peppercorn infused Jean Marc XO Vodka, fresh lemon, heirloom tomato water

Fourth: Champagne Grape Stuffed Quail with Summer Squash and Roasted Romano Beans
Tullamore Dew Irish Whiskey, Maple-Pinot Gastrique, bay leaf, fresh lemon

Fifth: Chocolate-Hazelnut Mousse with Salted Brittle and Summer Fruit
Flor de Cana 7 Year Grand Reserve Rum, muddled bing cherries, apricot liqueur, allspice dram, Blue Bottle Brazilian chipada coffee diamantina

Everything was great, but the most memorable dishes were the fusilli (rich and hearty sauce, and I can still taste those buttery, crunchy breadcrumbs) and the dessert (the mousse was just the right consistency, and the hazelnut brittle was made with salty hazelnut butter...soooo decadent...)  

At the end of the meal, Chef Ryan introduced us to his talented and crew of recruits -- explaining that when he took over the restaurant a few months ago, the existing staff all up and left.  

The  restaurant's atmosphere was intimate, warm and lovely, and thanks to the Commonwealth Club, I met some nice new friends.  I also checked out the regular dinner menu, and I definitely plan to go back to the Beach.

NOPA (San Francisco)

It was sad -- no, pathetic -- that I hadn't been to NOPA.  The restaurant put North-of-the-Panhandle on many people's maps, gastronomic and otherwise, and has been garnering their raves for some time.  I finally got there when Francesca took me for our traditional birthday celebration dinner.  (Yes, my birthday was a month ago, but we're both busy bees.)

I loved the place from the moment we walked in.  High, high ceilings.  Tons of light.  Lots of wood.  A big communal table, and several others filled with happy diners.  Always a good sign.  The bar area filled up quickly and everyone seemed to be having fun over there, too.

Photo from NOPA's web site

We were amuse-d by apples with almond butter...

...and then moved on to Sweet Corn Soup and Warm Goat Cheese, Crostini and Marinated Cherry and Sungold Tomatoes.  The produce was bright and fresh, the goat cheese was decadent, and the crostini possessed the perfect thickness and buttery crunch.  They weren't modest, though -- hogging the spotlight in this photo.

I had my heart set on NOPA's Grass-Fed Hamburger for my main course, and the waiter earned big points by suggesting I add Cheddar and their house bacon to it.  He egged me on with "It's your birthday, right?"  Little did he know I hardly need that excuse to go hog wild.  The resulting burger was beautifully cooked and came on a puffy roll with pickled onions and fries.  The fries were cut a bit too thick for my taste, but the Genovese basil aioli that accompanied them made everything right.  Francesca had the succulent Rotisserie Herbed Chicken, Yellow Beans and Early Girl Tomatoes. 

 For dessert, we had the Stone Fruit Cobbler with "Smoke and Whisky" Ice Cream.  A nice mix of the traditional, known favorite and the unexpected -- and the ice cream really did taste like smoke and whisky.  I know it sounds bizarre, but it was definitely worth trying.  

It was my birthday, after all -- and if more and more birthdays have taught me anything, it's that life is short so don't skimp on new adventures.

Quote of the Day

"Tell her you've been to a different rodeo, and don't you-know-what with me, sister."  -- Tim Gunn on this week's Project Runway

In other words, stand up for yourself and your ideas.  An inspired, inspiring turn-of-phrase from Tim during an otherwise dull-licious season.

Gramercy Tavern (New York)

I was so looking forward to dinner at Gramercy Tavern last night.  For one, one Michelin star.  Zagat claims it's harder to get into than Harvard, and OpenTable's diners are currently voting it #4 in their list of "Best Overall" in the Tri-State Area.  

In preparation, I'd read and heard nothing but great things about Michael Anthony's food, and the superior service -- including a review by the NY Times' Frank Bruni, who asked, "Is there a restaurant in this city more beloved than Gramercy Tavern?" and went on to proclaim: "...like a solid marriage rather than a heady love affair, it has stood the test of time, righting itself when it starts to go wrong, knowing what's at stake are a great many warm memories, some yet to be made."  How appropriate, I thought, since it was my parents' anniversary and we were headed to Gramercy Tavern to celebrate the greatest marriage of all-time.

Turns out -- at least on this particular night -- owner Danny Meyer and chef Michael Anthony have nothing on Joanne and Eddie.  There were things we really enjoyed:  the ample space between tables, the champagne Uncle Robby chose (sorry folks, I didn't get the name), and certain dishes that tasted as beautiful as they looked.  On the other hand, the service I'd heard raves about was unremarkable in my opinion.  It seemed to take forever for each course to arrive, and when it did, it was tepid.  

We started out with an amuse bouche of sweet corn soup and quail egg.  Yum.  Great start.

For my app, I had the Black Tagliatelle with Lobster, Mussels and Chorizo. It had an incredibly flavorful lobster-infused broth that I held in my mouth with my eyes closed.  I love when food makes me do that.  

LeBro James also let me sample his Kampachi with Grapefruit and Coriander.  The fish was perfectly textured, just the right temperature, and the grapefruit complemented it both texture- and flavor-wise.

For my main, I had -- you guessed it -- the pork.  Rack of Pork & Braised Belly, Baby Beets and Fingerling Potatoes, to be exact. It was good, but I'd take Oliveto's Porchetta over it any day of the week. 

 

I did like it best of any of the mains at our table, though, which also included beef, duck and two kinds of fish. (My family has grown accustomed to me sampling and photographing their food, too.)  Pictured left to right, top to bottom are:  Sirloin & Braised Flatiron with Flat Beans and Fairytale Eggplant; Braised Duck Breast & Leg Confit with Braised Fennel and Swiss Chard; Striped Bass with String Beans, Mussels and Lemon-Mustard Sauce; and Halibut with Vegetable Minestrone.

 

  

Next was a strawberry-tomato puree palate cleanser in a sugar-rimmed glass.  Sounds good, in theory.  In practice the two flavors didn't complement each other so well. 

So after that, I needed to cleanse my cleansed palate with some dessert.  Game over when I saw Warm Chocolate Bread Pudding with Cacao Nib Ice Cream on the menu, since bread pudding is among my favorite desserts, period.  But there's a spectrum, you know.  Some bread puddings are more bread-y; you can see the cubes of bread, and ideally taste the toasted edges on your tongue.  That's my kind of bread pudding.  Unfortunately Gramercy Tavern's Nancy Olson makes the other kind, more pudding-y and mushy.  Uncle Robby's Selection of Sorbets sure did look lovely, though.

 

We ended this relationship on a sweet note -- with peanut butter truffles to cap the evening, and raspberry coffee cakes to take with us for breakfast in the morning.  

 

I certainly didn't go to bed mad.   

How I Spent My Summer Vacation 2008

Happy summer, everyone!  I've missed you, darlings, but as you'll see from this post, I've been frolicking about, conjuring up content for you.   There's soooo much to tell, and so many photos.  So what I'll do is give you the brief overview and a few of the photos here -- then you can head over to Webshots and see the full album.  How's that?

Fourth of July Weekend
The official start of the season, and what a treat -- my cousin Dana came for a visit from Chicago for a friend's wedding.  We camped out at the Claremont, shopped in Berkeley and brunched at Bette's Oceanview Diner. (Read the full Bette's post here.)

While Dana went to the wedding, I dined on Tagliatelle with Rabbit Ragu Balsamico, Porchetta (basically pork and more pork) and not one but two desserts at Oliveto.  I've become something of an SF snob lately, so it was great to have such a delish meal over in the East Bay.  The hostess was on to me, though -- she said "I love your dress. You got that in the city, right?"  Right you are.

Martha's Vineyard
The Vineyard is one of my favorite places on Earth.  I had three goals for this trip and I'm pleased to report I achieved them all:
1) Spend quality family time with the 'rents, Uncle Robby, Helen, Ray and little John
2) Get a nice tan
3) Finally finish Calvin Trillin's The Tummy Trilogy    
The first two were easy.  The last one had been a challenge  -- I'd been reading that book for about five months or so, as you may have noticed in my Recent Reads column on this page.  Why?  Trillin chronicles his gastronomic adventures so vividly that I'd read three or four pages and have to put the book down because it made me too hungry.  I'm even seriously contemplating a trip to Kansas City just to sample some of Arthur Bryant's BBQ, especially the burned edges of the brisket.

We dined at Bleu in Mashpee Commons prior to catching the ferry at Woods Hole.  The Vineyard menu included Lobster Rolls at the Edgartown Yacht Club, Ice Cream at Mad Martha's, Murdick's Fudge (Uncle Robby's fave -- we taste-tested it ourselves in the car before anyone else could have at it), a lovely albeit long dinner at L'etoile, and a day that included both breakfast and lunch at Espresso Love.  There was also a delicious dinner at the Schapiros' place in Chilmark featuring super-fresh local fare.  Fish, salad, freshly-baked bread, and fruit pies for dessert. Then there were beautiful morning runs and tennis games to keep my caloric karma balanced.

New York, New York
Hot town, summer in the city.  Made my obligatory (yes, it's such a chore) trip to Nellie M. to make some choice additions to my wardrobe.  Did you know Citizens of Humanity makes petite-size jeans?  Oh, the humanity - no shortening!

Then Mom, Dad and LeBro James and I went to BLT Steak for my NY birthday celebration.  Best. Popovers. Ever.  We ordered so much food that they had to open the leaves of the square table to make it round so it could hold everything.  

The next day, there was a Cupcake Chowdown on the Upper West Side.  Read all about Magnolia vs. Crumbs here.

Birthday Weekend in Wine Country
In my younger years, I developed something of a reputation for throwing memorable birthday bashes.  Yes, why not celebrate me!  However, this year I decided to forgo the big production number in favor of a Napa Valley getaway.  I stayed for three days, and on Saturday Rebecca and Greg came up to spend time with the birthday girl.

The weekend included a breakfast at Bouchon Bakery, brunches at 25º Brix (the Yountville outpost of TWO's David Gingrass) and Redd, and dinners at Go Fish and Cindy's Backstreet Kitchen.

I stayed at Villagio Inn & Spa, which has undergone a multi-million dollar renovation. (Thanks to Vezeo for the tip!)  I had a 90-minute wrap and sports massage, and my hypothesis that it would be wonderful was proven correct.  The resort is right on the main drag of Washington Street in Yountville.  Walking-distance neighbors include a few Thomas Keller establishments (French Laundry, ad hoc and the aforementioned Bouchon), Michael Chiarello's NapaStyle and Bistro Jeanty.

On Monday back in San Francisco, JoJo organized a birthday dinner for me at Sushi Groove South.  What a blessing to have such great friends.  Bring on the Cilantro Rolls! 

The 3-day affair turned out to be the perfect way to celebrate the big 4-1.  That's right, Dara Torres and I are gonna take on the world this year. 41 and fabulous!

Click here to see my "How I Spent My Summer Vacation 2008" photos Webshots.

Quote of the Day: Brett Favre's a Jet

"All the speculation in the world never prepares you for the reality of the moment."

-- Eric Allen on NYJets.com

Brett's a Jet.  Let the games begin.

Race Report: San Francisco Marathon - 2nd Half

Back-to-back weeks of Race Reports, aren't you lucky!  Last week was the Windmill 10K - and since it's already August (I know, can you believe it?) today was the San Francisco Marathon.  Racers may register to run the full marathon, the first half or the second half.  For the second year running, I chose the second half for several reasons:

a) later start time

b) the course has a better elevation profile than the first half -- more flat-to-downhill than the first half

c) the main feature of the first half is to cross the Golden Gate Bridge, which is lovely, but not a lot of fun for a race.  Click here and JoJo will tell you why.

d) this bod ain't doing the full megillah any more.  I can do a half with no more training than my regular workout schedule.  A full would be too much meshugaas.

Saturday - The Expo

So, second half it is.  I showed up at the Expo yesterday for the usual routine:  pick up bib, get timing chip, and shop.  Upon arrival, I was pleased to get a photo opp with Cardboard Barack, who was getting out the vote with his nice but large-thumbed volunteer.

Once inside, I learned that the race organizers had decided to use the new disposable tags to time the race instead of ChampionChips.  Kind of a bummer, since I own my own ChampionChip in order to track all my races together on their web site.  However, I recently discovered Athlinks, which lets me do the same for most races so it should all work out in the end. 

Besides, I'm certainly not one to pooh-pooh progress, and as I meandered around the show, I discovered two other exciting race innovations.  

First was BazuMedia -- who for $5 will text your split times to up to five friends' cell phones real-time on race day.  

Second was WearYourNumber.com.  Sanctioned by race organizers, they'll silkscreen your number bib with a personalized phrase onto your race apparel, so no more dealing with pesky safety pins, unflattering number belts or rustling paper bibs, period.  And they do it right there at the Expo while you wait.  How cool is that!   They have a few moisture-wicking microfiber styles to choose from, or they'll put it on a shirt you provide.  I chose the Women's Sleeveless for $29.95.

Another thing I noticed at the Expo was that the running skirt trend is definitely picking up.  I used to secretly mock the skirt when I saw women wearing them at races.  Then I tried one.  I'm a believer! They're comfortable, and I must say I have even more of a spring in my step when I'm feeling cute and feminine.  You know what I'm saying, ladies?  Both RunningSkirts.com and  atalanta athleticwear were there with some really cute apparel, but since I already had my Nike skirt picked out for today. I restrained myself.  This time. 

One More Mile was also there with their myriad of mantra t-shirts.  My favorite said:  "Running is my Happy Hour."

I took that as my cue, and headed out to do some pre-race prep -- in the form of a salad and pasta dinner from Polk Street prepared foods proprietor Andrew & Company.

That evening, I realized I hadn't really been paying attention when the volunteer was telling me how to affix the disposable number tag to my sneaker.  (Perhaps I was still having separation anxiety from my cheerful yellow ChampionChip.)  As luck would have it, there's this amazing thing called the Internet -- and I was able to find an instructional video on the ChronoTrack manufacturer's web site -- along with all kinds of other useful information about the contraption.  Maybe this thing isn't so bad after all.  

   

Sunday - The Race

Although my wave wouldn't start until 8:25, I woke up at 5:45 in order to drive to the Embarcadero Center and catch the race shuttle to the start in Golden Gate Park.  This would allow me to have my car close at hand when I finished at AT&T Park.  However, what it also meant was I spent the better part of an hour and a half shivering (serves me right for not doing the sweats check again) and nauseated from the smell of port-o-potties.  Why am I doing this again?  I banished the question from my head, stretched and munched on my CLIF Builder's Bar.  

We were called to the starting line and the gun went off at 8:27 on my watch.  I started running and although I'd stretched, it was just so cold that I wasn't warmed up.  My IT band decided it wanted to be difficult and my right leg cramped right up.  Scary.  For a minute I thought I wouldn't be able to do the race, but it turned out it was nothing a little extra stretching couldn't cure, and soon I was trotting along normally.  Whew.  

As we wound our way through Golden Gate Park, we saw the First Half runners finishing.  Isn't it nice that they're already done!

Throughout the entire course, there were signs designed to entertain and educate everyone with a little trivia about running and/or the Bay Area.  One sign would ask a question, then several yards later another sign would provide the answer.   For example, Question: What is the state bird of California?  There were also several inspirational quotes.  Here are two of my favorites:

"How you respond to the challenge in the second half will determine what you become after the game, whether you are a winner or a loser." -- Lou Holtz

"If you feel like eating, eat.  Let your body tell you what it wants." -- Joan Benoit Samuelson

There were lots of photographers along the way, so hopefully there's a decent shot of me in my cute running skirt and paper-and pin-less t-shirt.  If there is, I'll post an update. (UPDATE: Posted at the end of this entry.)

You may also be wondering how those Bazu real-time-texts worked out.  Unfortunately, they had network errors, but luckily I was able to get the most important text of all -- my finish time of 2:13:50, which was a minute and 10 seconds faster than my 2:15 goal!  

So, another one down.  Next up:  See Jane Tri in Pleasanton 9/27.  In the meantime, watch this space for updates on my "training regimen" of great food and other fun stuff.  (Latest discoveries are the Italian fare at Ducca in SOMA and the burger with fried onions and chipotle aioli at Long Bar and Bistro on Fillmore.)

 

Answer: California Valley Quail.