For the emergency post bar knife sharpening. October 22, 2008
Saw this at 18th and Castro. Kinda strange but in this city kinda makes sense. We are foodies hear us roar, or at least chop.
Stopped me dead in my tracks October 21, 2008
Behold the beauty that is fried pork skin. Saw these beautiful chicharron at a bodega at 25th and misson. Nothing against the nonovore crowd but how could you say no? Pork rinds and the such get a rather bad reputation in todays food culture but almost every culture that partakes of the pig has some tasty snack made of the skin, tail, ears, or and other fleshy facet of the pork. While high in fat and sodium there is something amazing about the salty, crispy, somtimes spicy crunch that is craved by all, even the most elitist foodie. So take a moment to drool over the near orgasmic crunch of the chicharron. The pork rind abides.
through my eyes: 10/17-10/20 October 20, 2008
The weekend of October 17th through October 20th through my eyes.
Live Review: NOPA October 10, 2008
NOPA:
Ambiance: Great space, crowded but not cramped.
Drinks: Great Pisco Sour, staff very knowledgable about drinks and flavors therein.
Amuse bouche: crostini with house made ricotta, orange honey, and sea salt; balenced and well thought out.
Appitizers: flatbread with apples, bacon, garlic confit, grueyere, arugula; great interplay of sweet, salty, and savory. Absolutely brilliant.
Entrée: seared duck breast with kale, fingerling potatos, and lipstick peppers. Beautiful, just beautiful, tender with crispy skin and the lipstick peppers: fabulous.
Bonus side: squash medley, perfect perfect perfect, all the warmth of Thanksgiving with none of the bullshit.
Overall. This was one of the most perfect meals I have ever had. I am absolutly blown away by the balance and sophistication of NOPA. Everything was executed to the T and the best part: Jacob and I left full.
Daly City in a way its never been seen before. October 9, 2008
Pretty. It’s usually so foggy by our house and tonight was so clear in our neighborhood this was the view from our hill. Even Daly City looks nice.
I’m back. October 8, 2008
After a (too) long of a hiatus The Hungry Tanuki is back. Look for new posts soon. Here is some words of wisdom for now.
Catering Annoucement: SF Fetish Ball VIP Room February 27, 2008
Thats right Hungry Tanuki Catering will be catering the VIP room at the SF Fetish Ball on March 8th. I will be feeding the models (no i am not serving vodka, vicodin, and cigarettes), designers, and staff but its over a hundred people and I am very excited.
Quote of the Week #1 November 27, 2007
“I need money cause “Chickanini” needs Fritos and a frozen burrito”, drunken (possibly high) tranny to Trouble in response to him taking pictures of her at Castro and 18th.
Adventures in Eating Out - Pony @ Chez Spencer November 6, 2007
So, first of all it had been forever since I posted but I am gonna try to post more just lots of work drama and falling in love made it difficult to get the time to gat a post together. But that said I am in total productive mode and you my faithful reader(s?) will be hearing much more from me.
So tonight Pony and I met up to have dinner after work and we had a couple of ideas of where to go. First, we tried O Izakaya Lounge at the Hotel Kabuki in Japantown, well it doesn’t open til next week. Next we were going to try SPQR in the Fillmore but it was closed (damn you mondays). Then we tried NOPA in … well NOPA and the parking gods were very angry at us cause after fifteen minutes of looking for parking we gave up. After some random driving around through Hayes Valley and The Mission and some searching through Pony’s handy dandy Zagat Map-guide we found Chez Spencer a place that we both had been wanting to try, was open, and had parking.
Boy, it was worth the trip. This was one of the best all around meals I have had in a very long time. The service, ambiance, decor, and most importantly food were all spectacular. We started out at the bar with a few cocktails, Pony had the “French 75″ a great gin/champagne (flouncy) drink and I had an classic Sazerac Old Fashioned. We then shared a butter lettuce salad with a lemon mustard vinaigrette, very good very French. For entrees I had The Arctic Char ‘Mi-Cuit’ Persillade, which was cooked absolutely perfect and had enough sauce to sop up with bread to continue the truffle/butter/char-gasm even after the fish was happily in my tummy. Pony was also well blessed with his choice, Wood Grilled Flat Iron Steak with Morels a la creme and truffle butter. We then finished out meal with The Hazelnut Parfait ‘a la neige’, a heavenly milk poached meringue atop a bed of hazelnuts dripping with espresso caramel, I thought I was going to die it was so good. Overall it was a fabulous dining experience and I highly recommend it to anyone who wants a great grown up but not stuffy meal.
