V's Birthday

Sunday May 30th 2004

After our trip to Bay Meadows, in celebration of V's birthday we all returned to his cool new loft in China Basin to let him cook us dinner. V is a dab-hand with the bread dough and he had prepared some earlier so that he could bake us Chicago-style pizzas for dinner. Whilst the rest of us supped wine over heated discussions about religion and politics, V and D slaved away in the kitchen to create us delicious pizzas with the deepest crusts I think I have ever seen. You can forget about the world's problems once you sink your teeth into one of these slices of cheese heaven...

V learnt his bread making skills here

V's Birthday

The Day After Tomorrow Wrap Party

Wednesday May 26th 2004

This was a low-key party held at work. For a change, the crew were allowed to invite guests which meant I could join in. A small tent was put up in the courtyard where pre-movie drinks and nibbles were served. A giant ice sculpture of the Statue of Liberty made an apt centrepiece for the spread which included tomato and basil bruschetta with fontina cheese, smoked salmon mousse profiteroles and meatballs in a delicious creamy mushroom sauce.

Visit The Day After Tomorrow

The Day After Tomorrow Wrap Party

More Ferry Building Points of View

SF Gate published another great article recently, about the Bay Area Foodie Shrine to everything delicious.

More Ferry Building Points of View

The Slow Club

Monday May 24th 2004, 8.30pm

Girls night out with D and P. The Slow Club is just about equidistant between our 3 homes in SoMa, Bernal Heights and China Basin. This Industrial-styled bar/eaterie (which has nothing to do with 'clubbing' in case you were wondering) doesn't accept reservations so Monday is a convenient time to visit and acquire a table immediately.


The first couple of times the waitress visited our table we were so lost in the depths of catching up on news and gossip that we hadn't even glanced at a menu let alone chosen a drink. She declared she would start us off with water and shamed us into looking at the cocktail menu to make our beverage choices before she returned with the bottle of San Pelligrino.

Over the course of the evening we got into a little bit of confusion about the glasses of wine by the glass we were trying. The long of short of it was: Myself and D both like the Bordeaux, P and myself both liked the Pinot Noir. None of us liked the Shiraz and D didn't care much for the taster of Italian she tried. I can't remember it's name.

For an appetizer, we shared a flat bread. This turned out to be a crispy cheesey pizza-like concoction as large as a dinner plate. It was wickedly delicious and I was glad that we hadn't ordered more. We needed to reserve room for our entrees.

P and I both chose the pork chop. This huge chunk of pig leg was deliciously tender and moist served with steamed spinach, cherries and their reduction. On the side were two corn fritters which didn't live up to the rest of the dish. They were a little greasy and would have been improved by a little more corn and a lot less batter. Nevertheless, acting like the animal we were consuming, we both finished everything on our plates, not leaving a scrap. D took the healthier option of fish with white beans and beets. I think the fish was halibut, and it was certainly clean-tasting and tasty too - we know because D kindly let us both try it.

Flat bread $10
Entrees $15 -$18ish
Wines $6-$8.50
Total $40 each plus tip.

How I updated the report of my visit to Zagat:
It'a great to have a quality, cool place in the 'hood where you know you can just drop in for absolutely delicious, well prepared and cooked food without having to make a reservation. Nothing about this place has ever disappointed me. Brunch and dinner are both equally desirable.

The Slow Club

Simon and The Sock Monster

Sunday May 23rd 2004

KO held an afternoon party at the home she shares with husband D, for the launch of her new book, Simon and the Sock Monster.

D had been up until 4.30 am in the morning creating the most delicious and impressive assortment of exquisite canapes and petits fours. Little home-baked cheese biscuits and toasts topped with marinated salmon, some white bean puree (I think?), delicious scallops, or tiny tomatoes with feta and herbs. Huge plates of succulent spicy marinated chicken were also on offer. A dessert plate covered in a mix of sweet treats, coconut and raspberry jam cookies plus biscotti and brownies, all homemade, was just as tempting.
As the kids splashed in the pool and the adults quaffed french red wines, KO signed copies of her beautifully illustrated new book.

Buy One Here Now.

Simon and The Sock Monster

Flavours of Tunisia

Sunday May 23rd 2004

P, the manager of Cafe Bastille on Belden Lane, by chance of fate is also our neighbour. This makes us conveniently close enough for impromptu dinner party invitations. He and his roomate, A, the sophistically suave young real estate agent, called us up on Sunday and asked us over for dinner. Other guests included R (who appears to be 'dating' A) and S, a manager of two hotels in downtown, who was appointed chef for the evening. S is a Tunisian raised in Paris who decided to revisit his roots when making Sunday's meal. A large bowl of steaming couscous was served with a huge potful of some kind of tender chicken stew with vegetables and chickpeas in a thin spicy gravy. The meal was fulfilling and comforting with just the perfect balance of spices. My first taste of Tunisian food hopefully won't be my last.

Flavours of Tunisia

The Foreign Cinema

Saturday May 22nd 2004

One year after we first met at 'The Foreign Cinema', F and myself revisited this Mission-district eaterie to celebrate. I made the reservation online and whilst filling in the form mentioned that we were going to be celebrating our first year together at the very same place we met. On our arrival, after being seated, we were pleasantly suprised when the waitress presented us with a glass each of complimentary champagne in celebration of the fact. It was a really thoughtful gesture - thank you Foreign Cinema.

The Foreign Cinema

The Case of the Margaux.

About 10 years ago I won a case of wine in a competition back in England. They have been sitting in my parents wine cellar ever since. Back then I was more interested in cheap wine than good wine, but in the decade since then my tastes have naturally matured to the point where I can envisage myself sharing a case of outstanding Margaux with my serious wine-loving friends. (that sure would be a lot of brownie points!). Unfortunately it is not possible to ship wines from the UK to the US without a licence which I don't have. Additionally I owe my mother a lot of money and selling the case would help me to pay off the debt. Consequently, my father has been talking to one of his wine friends to see how interesting this case of wine is and how much we could realistically expect for it.



There are 12 wines dated 1978, 80, 81, 82, 83 84, 85, 86 87, 88, 89, and 90. They are all Chateau Palmer Margaux and each bottle is personally signed by Peter Sichel who I learnt, sadly, died a few years ago.



Here is the reply from my father's wine friend:


>
>A fascinating case of wine and most certainly worth its £500 - probably
>net of auctioneers charges!
>The signature appears to be that of Peter N Sichel who was one of the
>very first people in the wine trade that I met back in the late fifties
>and who sadly died about 4-5 years ago. Curiously I was at the London
>Wine Fair yesterday and spent ten minutes talking to Charles, one of his
>four sons, who continue to run a successful Bordeaux wine merchants
>called Sichel & Co.
>The family have for over fifty years held a substantial share in Chateau
>Palmer which is very much one of the leading chateaux in the region,
>possibly second only to Chateau Margaux itself.
>I am very much interested in this case of wine as I belong to a"wine
>club" who may well be interested in purchasing it in order to hold a
>vertical tasting of the twelve vintages.



He sounds very interested in my case of wine. Eager to snap it up, I'd say. I am worried that we might have valued it too low. I have found a website that shows the starting prices of these wines at auction. We have to bear in mind that mine is a complete set and each bottle is signed too, which makes it unique. I am going to go through these prices for each year and make sure we are not about to be ripped off. What do you think...?

The Case of the Margaux.

Woodside High Cheese Club

In April I read an article on SF Gate about some schoolkids who had started a cheese club. I thought it was a great idea so I wrote to the newspaper to see if I could help the kids out by making a donation. SF Gate put me in touch with Nathan Hillier who wrote this to me today to thank me for my contribution...

Dear Sam,
Thank you very much for your donation to our club. It went towards some Boursin, Raclette, and Petit Basque for our presentation on French cheeses two weeks ago. In case you are interested, we will be appearing on "Evening Magazine" on CBS (Channel 5 - KPIX in the Bay Area) on the 26th of May, and will also be featured on Unwrapped on the Food Network at a later date. We can only attribute our success to the strong support we have received from people like you and we are therefore endlessly grateful.
Yours in Cheese,
Nathan Hillier

Woodside High Cheese Club

Amici's Pizza - San Rafael - Marin

1242 Fourth Street San Rafael, CA 94901 415-455-9777
Update November 2004
Amicis Website

Since our first visit to Amici's back in May, Fred and I have become real fans. The service is efficient friendly and fast, making a great place for a speedy no-fills lunch. We love the mini sized pizzas, exactly the prefect amount for one person. The pizzas are tasty and the thin crusts are consistently of great quality.

Fred nearly always chooses a pepperoni whilst I fluctuate my choices between the margherita (no sauce), the margherita with extra Boston fried eggplant topping or the Trentino which is a piquant little pizza with Mozzarella, Parmesan, Crumbled Feta, Baby Spinach, Pancetta (Italian Bacon), Red Onions, Herbs, and Lemon Infused Olive Oil, again no tomato Sauce. The pizzas are always cutely served each on a little metal tray with an extra plate for eating off of.


Click to enlarge, Amici's margherita pizza at their San Rafael Branch

--old Amici Post:
CPK loses favour

After the battering I have had from my office mates for dining at California Pizza Kitchen from time to time, F and I decided to try Pizza at another locale, Amicis in San Rafael. The pizza's at Amicis have a nice thin crust, good choice of toppings and, best of all, come in a mini 7" size which is a better choice for your wallet, your waistline and the environment.

Amici's Pizza - San Rafael - Marin

Vino E Cucina

Thursday May 20th, with my girl friend MBH

MBH and I decided to visit Vino E Cucina mainly due to its close proximity (we both live within a few blocks from each other in SoMa). MB had already visited and declared it to be adequate food at decent prices. Pigishly, we couldn't resist an appetizer and opted to share a helping of Arancini which I hadn't seen on a menu since my London days. The little fried balls of risotto rice with mozarella were disappointing. The aborio were so sweet they tasted like rice pudding and the cheese didn't have enough pungency to beef up the blandness. Next!
I'd read about VeC's lasagne and as it contained some of my favourite ingredients (italian ham, gruyere and spinach), I chose it for my main course whilst MB requested the pizza special of the day, Cappriciosa, with a topping of artichokes. The lasagne was non-standard assembly, presented as 3 little pockets filled with the aforementioned ingredients. As such, the size of the dish was less daunting than I had anticipated. However, the deliciously wicked creamy cheese sauce on which the pasta was floating, soon threatened to close down my arteries. Ummmmm! Death by comfort food! MB seemed to be enjoying her pizza, especially the crusts (a girl after my own heart). We'd shared half a bottle of Bordeaux at MB's prior to dinner and after sharing a further bottle of Barbera during our meal, we were internally satisfied enough to wend our separate ways home for the night.
As we left we looked up and saw a giant tomato impaled on the restaurant frontage but I am sure we hadn't had that much to drink...

Vino E Cucina

Nettle Fettucini

Pronto Pasta San Rafael

I often go to Pronto Pasta, close to my work, for lunch. The Italian chef owner is friendly and sometimes gives us free appetizers of cheese or ham. The food is generally very good but it can be hit or miss. Today was a miss day. I ordered a special: Homemade nettle fettucine with duck, goat cheese and mushrooms. The grass-green fettucine was perfectly cooked, al dente, without the nettles overpowering the flavour as I wondered if they might. The duck was so tender that it had the texture of jello rather than meat which caused me to be wary of it. There was no visual evidence of the goats cheese but I assume it was an ingredient of the watery sauce that was so overpowered by the inclusion of chillis that the flavour of the tomatoes, shitakes and the mushy duck was completely lost. A garnish of 'too salty' olives did nothing to improve or save the dish from miserable failure.

Nettle Fettucini

Good Middle Eastern Food in SF?

My officemate, K, just asked me for a Middle Eastern restaurant recommendation. I don't heisitate for one second to recommend Baraka. It's one of my favourite restaurants in the Bay Area.

Good Middle Eastern Food in SF?

Ferry Market Eggs Update

I have had further correspondence with the journalist (2 emails) from SF Gate:

1) Just found out that Farmer's Garden now sells organic eggs - just the
past few weeks.

2)We run some letters to the editor (on a space available basis). Would
you give permission to use all or part of your letter? If so, we need
your city of residence - no further ID needed. Thanks - k

Ferry Market Eggs Update

Eggs at the SF Ferry Market Plaza

Campaign for Eggs

I wrote to the journalist who wrote the Ferry Building article I linked to in my previous post to let her know that none of the stores there sell eggs. I was suggesting we start a campaign for the sale of eggs there. She agreed. It's no good trying to do your weekly shop at the Ferry Building if you have to go all the way to Wholefoods afterwards just to buy half a dozen eggs.

here is the email Karola Crabb, the journalist wrote me:

You are right - I don't recall seeing eggs, except outside on Saturday.
Can't remember the name, but in back - on the pier - there was a stand
that sells eggs. I'll forward your message to the people who do
publicity for the market and who work closely with CUESA. - k

Eggs at the SF Ferry Market Plaza

San Francisco Ferry Building

A gourmande's paradise.



As someone who loves food, I absolutely LOVE the San Francisco Ferry Market Building. Luckily for me, it is only a few blocks from my house so I walk there every weekend, when time allows and pick up a few edible goodies. Check it out soon, if you haven't already.

San Francisco Ferry Building

Egg Sandwiches

Tuesday May 18th 2004

In English English: Egg Sandwich or Egg mayonnaise
In American English: Egg salad sandwich.

Hard boil 3 x organic brown eggs. Drain the hot water from the pan and plunge the just-cooked eggs under plenty of cold running water until they cool down. This will make them easier to peel, stop them from cooking further and stop the yellows from going black around the edges. Peel off the shells (Do this underwater - it makes them more slippery and helps the shells ease off). Pat the shellless eggs dry with some kitchen roll, then place in a bowl with a big dollop of mayonnaise. Season liberally with New Maldon Sea Salt and plenty of freshly ground black pepper and mash until the desired consistency. F suggested I add some praprika, which I did on this occasion. It gave them a pretty orange colour and a little added flavour too. We ate it for lunch, on Pain au Levain bread.
I like to serve them with plain, salted crisps (potato chips)

In England we would skip the paprika and garnish the sandwich with 'mustard and cress' which is impossible to buy in America. I miss it - i wish I could get it here. It looks like the green stuff in this picture

Here is a classic english recipe for mustard and cress sandwiches

Schoolchildren in Britain learn about life by growing mustard and cress from an early age.

Egg Sandwiches

Wholefood's Samosas et al

Monday May 17th 2004

Wholefoods is the most expensive food shop in the area (apart, maybe from Andronicas). People round here refer to it jokingly as "WholePayCheck". I went there last night to buy practically nothing and left the store $87 lighter. Wholefoods has a section where you can buy ready-cooked foods to eat in the cafe or take home. Because of the hoards of customers buzzing around them, it is always difficult to get to the coveted vegetable samosas. These warm, crisp, spicy, curried parcels of delight are the most popular item in the store. I took a boxful home for F, who is particularly fond of them. I served them with the antithesis in salad. Insalata Tricolore, in the colours of the Italian flag: fresh organic tomatoes (which are beginning to taste alright, at last, now summer is arriving), fresh mozzarella cheese and avocado dressed with fresh basil. olive oil, sherry vinegar and seasoning. Very fresh, healthy and delicious served with a little Levain bread.

Wholefood's Samosas et al

Warming House at S and D's in North Beach

Sunday May 15th 2004

They had been cooking all day. We took them 3 bottles of vin - 2 rouge est 1 Tattainger (real french champagne). S had been making his delicious quiches and D had made some excellent brownies. Also they made some really good meringues and there was a tasty spinach salad. The food certainly made up for what was lacking at Denny's. Oh yes. I met some nice people there: apart from the hosts, and my special friends H and K, there were loads of other good people, old friends and new.
Merci, S et D, pour la bonne fete. A bien tot...

Warming House at S and D's in North Beach

Dennys Corte Madera

Sunday May 16th 2004

I told F I have some bad news: "The meeting place for lunch (on our S2K drive) has changed, it's going to be Denny's in Corte Madera". He didnt mind, though cos he'd never been to Denny's before. We sat at the Denny's bar (where NO alcohol is served) next to Charlie from our S2K run who had earlier been really nice and given us all (40+ people) a really cool key chain. Each. Charlie fell asleep at the formica table. I nervously anticipated the food. I don't know how F was feeling. He ordered a burger, figuring that no one can mess up a burger. Oh, he'd never been to Denny's before! I dont know what I ordered. Some chicken fajitas thing. It was repulsive. You can taste the BAD oil they use on every morsel of food. I dont like green peppers. Ususally I dont eat them if they are in a dish I order. Get this: at Denny's I was pcking out the green peppers fom my dish and eating them because they were the only part of the dish that was edible. I checked out Denny's web page and realised, later, that I'd been robbed. They were meant to serve my skillet with salsa. I am sure it would've tasted much much better if drowned in a fresh, grease-cutting spicy sauce.

Make Denny's Chicken Fajita Breakfast Skillet in the comfort of your own home

Dennys Corte Madera

Plouf on Belden Alley

Friday May 14th 2004, with F, and later H and K.

It was already 9pm when we decided to go to our regular Friday night haunt, Belden Alley in San Francisco. Belden is a little slice of Europe in America. Cafe tables from the collection of French, Italian and Spanish restaurants spill out onto the paved street attracting a lively bunch of customers hooked on eating outside even on chillier nights. (Hier soir sa caillait). Wall heaters and awnings always warm things up quand il fait froid, whilst strings of lights hanging across from the buildings on each side breathe magic into the atmosphere as the night draws darker.
As always, we started at Bastille for our aperitifs. A Kir Royal for moi and a regular Kir for the F homme. Half way through the glass I had one of those low blood sugar moments and I felt shaky and needed something a manger tout de suite. Luckily O, the owner of several restaurants in the street, appeared at that very moment with a complimentary plate of grilled toast with serrano ham and tomato for myself and F that he'd had delivered for us from B44 further up the street. I dived into the plateful as if I hadnt eaten for a week and soon felt well enough to finish the remaining half glass of my champagne avec cassis.

But tonight's mission was Plouf. Plouf is the French word for 'plop', when a pebble hits the water, makes a 'plouf' and causes a little ripple of rings. That same ripple is the restaurant's logo, in neon bleu and the restaurant specializes in seafood, especially les moules - for which it is famous. We arrived, kissed all the waiters as is de riguer with friends (bisous, bisous, bisous), and settled at the bar which tonight seemed a little livelier than outside. B the bartender started us off with a drink. F had another Kir whilst I settled for a glass of Bordeaux, St Emilion. Since discovering the delicousness of clams a couple of weeks ago, I just cant get enough of them, so ordered a bowlful flavoured with coconut and lemongrass avec une salad de polenta on the side. F ne mange pas seafood or fish so he settled for lamb chops instead from the limited carnivorous section of their menu.
When the food arrived, instead of clams, I was presented with a huge steaming bowl of mussels. "I didn't order those, I ordered clams". To which the waiter replied they had run out of clams. "Oi, B" (the bartenter who had taken our order), "You didn't tell me there were no clams". "Its ok, he said "the mussels are on me". He winked and refilled my glass without asking. The mussels were delicious, soaking in the same spicy thai-inspired coconut creamy sauce that the clams would also have drowned in. The polenta salad is one of my regular orders at plouf. I dont even care for polenta much but the Plouf version is something else. The creamiest hot centre, the perfect texture, not to sloppy, not too mealy, not too hard, brickette-shaped and surrounded by a perfectly crisp crust. The mixed green leaf salad accompanying is dressed with a smokey tomato sauce that tastes slightly unusual, but anything the polenta does more than makes up for anything the salad dressing doesnt.
H and K called, they were at an Orphanage wrap party for Day after Tomorrow and World of Tomorrow. They decided to whizz over to Belden and meet us as they hadnt had a proper meal. Joining us on the tall wobbly stools at the bar they quickly put in the orders before the kitchen closed for the night. H, the big guy, needed the full lamb entree but I recommended to K, who only wanted an appetizer, to try the tuna tartare which is excellent here. She ordered that and enjoyed the small cubes of tuna marinated in a dressing with sesame with a soupcon of citrus. H and K were served bad wine, the St Emilion was corked, so their glasses were swapped and a fresh bottle opened. Later B came to top up our glasses as way of an aplogy for the earlier corked one, but this bottle was corked too. He then opened a brand new bottle, four clean glasses and poured us the whole thing. This was our lucky night as far as complimentarys being served. So far a plate of jambon toast, a couple of glasses of wine and bowl of mussels. But there was still more to come. We moved on to finish the evening with a night cap at Voda, Belden's hip Vodka Bar run by T and D, ex waiters of Bastille. The other three had a shot each of Zubrowka, the Polish bison Grass vodka which is very difficult to buy in the States, while I had a shot of the Dutch Effen Cherry vodka which is strong, smooth and not too sweet. H and K left as F and I finished up the last drops of our spirits ready to go home and dodo (short for dormir, to sleep). But before we could get away from the bar, D had already poured us each another glass of the bison grass liquor which he knows we both particularly enjoy. It would have been rude not to accept his kind gift so stay we did, a while longer...

Plouf on Belden Alley

Friday Pancake Party with Chopper, live

the show i am working on is very short, hence our wonderful production team's eagerness to get in as many parties as possible before the whole thing is over. This one was livened up by the appearance of MDC's band playing a little set on the outside terrace of Trailer Nine. The setting sun hotted up for their performance as the pancake guys hotted up their skillets to make crepes. I declined, having already eaten a biscotti not much earlier. Actually, the truth be known, last time the pancake guys came to work I tried one of their savoury cheese and guacamole crepes which was one of the single most repulsive things I have ever put into my mouth. I had to spit it out and dump the whole thing in a trash can far away from my desk so I wouldn't have to suffer the scent of it fuming from its rejection as I worked.
If you are going to splurge on a fattening crepe, then visit 'Ti Couz' (on Valencia at 16th in the Mission in SF). Their savoury crepes, especially the mushroom, cheese and almond, or the complete (french jambon, gruyere and fried egg) are the inspiration of dreams. Nothing like those nightmare crepes at work.
Otherwise try the excellent new Crepuscule I reviewed here

Visit Ti Couz

Visit Crepuscule

Friday Pancake Party with Chopper, live

Biscotti

May 14 2004, Afternoon T

K just bought everyone in our office a homemade biscotti. Apparently they were hand baked by JS's wife. What a treat. Biscotti aren't too bad for you as they have little fat. Also, these ones aren't very sweet which makes them even more diet friendly. Additionally they contain nuts and dried apricots which makes them poisitively HEALTHY!
Lets eat more in future.

Look here for an Apricot Almond Biscotti Recipe

Biscotti

F is for Foodles

Foodles Cafe and Restaurant, Kerner Blvd, San Rafael, CA 94901, May 14th 2004 with F

When I first came to work in San Rafael nearly 3 and a half years ago it quickly became apparent that Foodles was a popular and convenient place to eat lunch. However, being a bit of a food snob and after taking offence at the ugly plastic orange Foodles sign adorning the dreary pebbledashed concrete frontage, I determined it would be a locale I would purposely never visit. My resolve faltered a few months into my employment when my friend J from the old country persuaded me to try it out. He spoke with such fondness of the tuna melt, that despite my disdain for tinned tuna, I felt compelled to try one. Ugh, it was disgusting, I never went back again. That was until recently, when F and I, trying to conserve a few pennies, decided we would have to make Foodles more of a regular stop on our lunchtime forage for food.
The first thing to hit you when you enter Foodles, are lots of little grease particles suspended in a smokey film that can hardly be described as air. Make sure you are not wearing your best Dry Clean Only outfit because after less than 5 minutes any delicate perfumes you applied a few hours earlier in your boudoir will quickly be reduced to a stench of grease and fat.
I always make a beeline straight for the salad bar where I kid myself I am going to eat the most healthy meal imaginable. As it is serve yourself, you can indeed make all the right choices. However, as happened today, there are several less holy temptations on offer with which to dress up your pile of spinach leaves and grated carrots. Irresistible pasta salad with ham drowning in a heavy mayonnaise sauce, little deep fried chicken nuggets, boiled eggs halved to flaunt their solid golden yolks and glassy noodles in a sweet and seductive sesame dressing. A little of each cant hurt that much I thought to myself as I crowned my pile of edibles with a large flat square of tofu topped with a tart chilli sauce.
F usually goes for a salad too (a startlingly different selection from mine, always) but today he had an egg salad sandwich, a bag of crisps and a box of marlboro reds. The girl behind the cash register is always pleased to see F because she likes to practice her French on him. Her 'Bonjour, comment ca va?' is almost perfect now. We dive out of the cafe as quickly as possible and eat on one of the little tables outside in order to catch the breeze and hopefully blow away some of Foodle's unique scent from the rest of our day.

F is for Foodles

Sushi Groove South, Folsom @ 11th, San Francisco CA

May 12th 2004 wiv me old china's E and P.

P and I arrived just before the regular, E, and ordered a couple of sakitinis. They were huge and we couldnt drink them fast enough as E let us into her little secret: there's a waiter here who fills up her sake bottle for free, over and over and over again. A bottomless flask of hot sake. oh yes. This was going to be a good night. E is also on first name terms with one of the sexy sushi chef's too, so after munching on a bowlful of plump edamames she paid him a visit to find out what was good from today's catch. He sent us a plateful of the freshest sashimi and four perfectly arranged New Zealand Green Lipped Mussel appetizers. Each mussel was adorned with something crunchy, piquant and delicious whilst sharing its carefully balanced shell with the yolk of a little quail's egg. P doesn't do mussels so E and I landed two each. Those mussels delivered some punch. P doesn't know what she missed. A bowl of seaweed salad later, we ordered more sushi. My california roll was overly stodgy and lacking delicacy. I ended up picking out the crab avocado centres and rejecting the chewy rice. P's kamikaze roll was better, but E really scored with the wild salmon nigiri. It had the most amazing smoky taste, almost as if the fish really had gone wild and spent his last night downing Laphroaig followed by a last wish cup of Lapsong Souchon the next morning to settle his hangover before his execution. So instead of dessert we ordered a final plate of that wild, wild salmon, sashimi style and none of us missed the mochi we could otherwise have chosen. By the time we left we were a happy trio - the waiter who had been refilling that sake flask and sharing 'cheers' with us in a different language everytime he stopped by told us we were all beautiful. From the number of languages we'd used through put the night, sante, prosit, salud, skol, Kam Pai and Gom Bay as well as cheers, I can't ignore the fact that, gorgeous as we all are, he was probably viewing us, and the world, through his Sake Goggles as we disappeared into the SoMa night...

Sushi Groove South Details Here

Sushi Groove South, Folsom @ 11th, San Francisco CA