It’s time to get back to focusing on San Francisco, so I’m just sticking the last few items from my trip to New York here in a big photo post. Includes Shake Shack, Lunch at Jean George, Brooklyn Brewery and Russ & Daughters.  Enjoy!

Shake Shack:

Lunch at Jean Georges:

Brooklyn Brewery:

Russ & Daughters:

Thanks for good time NYC.  I’ll be back.  Just maybe when it’s warmer, OK?

After a brisk walk through a orthodox Jewish neighborhood, the restaurant was easy to pick out: it was the one with no hebrew sign, and instead, a pig. Upon sitting down the waitress asked if we have any food allergies.  ”No” we replied, “Good – there is shellfish is just about everything.”   My kind of place.

The drinks, complete with smokey and spicy touches, were just OK.  On message, sure, but not my favorite (PDT, on the other hand, was great) Of course, I have no idea what they are now.  But they are pretty!

Heritage Pork Ribs with smoked fish-palm syrup, Indonesian long pepper.  The sauce is outstanding.  But maybe because it was just the edge of the rack, the tenderness of meat left something to be desired.

Broccoli Salad, charred and raw, lemon preserve, lardo, toasted dry chili.  Outstanding.  I was a particular fan of the raw stalks, shaved into thin noodles.  Little bits of lardo punctuated the dish perfectly.

Smoky Bone Broth: smoked bone broth with galangal, Chinese celery.  I love a dish that simply stands as a statement of purpose.  Simple but with complex flavors, nothing to hide behind, and a great warmer on a cold winter night.

Brandt Ranch Beef Brisket with chili jam, aioli, bao, pickled red onion, bone broth. Now we’re getting to the good stuff.  Great smokey flavor and texture on the brisket, perfectly packaged as a makr your own bun.

Add a touch of the house sauce (the same that came on the ribs), which is sweet, but balanced with smoke and heat, and you’ve got something.

Our last dish was one of the highlights of the trip: Smoked Blue Crab Laksa.  Loaded with crab, and a deep, rich broth overflowing with crabby goodness, it actually gave me pause to which side of the dungeness vs blue crab fight I stood on.

My friend Aaron heartily approved.

I came to New York demanding to be impressed.  Show me the differences between SF and NYC food I thought.  Fatty Cue did just that.  While slightly uneven, the highs easy smoothed over my complaints, and left an impression on me. I could really go for a bowl of Crab Laksa right now.

After all of the hype regarding David Chang and the Momofuko restaurants over the last few years. maybe it’s to be expected that they can’t possibly live up to expectations.  I went in looking to really see the difference between New York City and San Francisco dining.  What I found was a good restaurant – with some great dishes, some I was less impressed with. Maybe it’s a matter of the influence of Momofuko spreading well beyond its own doors in the ensuing years, what the restaurant I found could easily be at home in San Francisco, and be a popular neighborhood spot.

First a beer: Pretty Thing’s Saint Botolph’s Town.  Malty with a great yeasty twang.  Outstanding.

Special Pork Bun with Crispy Belly, avocado and smoked mayo.

Pickle plate.  Quite possibly the highlight of the meal.  Simply Outstanding.

Benton’s Country Ham, Served with red-eye gravy.  The Benton’s ham as just as aggressively smokey as it is back home.  The Red Eye gravy was an inspired touch.

Veal sweetbreads with almond, sauerkraut, thai chili.  Good, but unremarkable.

Roasted duck with cashew, plum, endive.  Also good, but someone what disjointed, and it turns out, lentils are very hard to eat with chopsticks.

The terrine, while smooth in texture, was surprisingly springy and dense.

After we completed the savory portion of the meal, we headed next door for crack pie at the Milk Bar.

The crack pie was great.  Insanely rich, with something akin to the texture of a lemon bar, but with butter flavor instead.

]]> http://beerandnosh.com/2011/01/momofuko-ssam-bar-nyc/feed/ 1 http://beerandnosh.com/2009/09/firestone-walker-brewery-tour/?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=firestone-walker-brewery-tour http://beerandnosh.com/2009/09/firestone-walker-brewery-tour/#comments Tue, 15 Sep 2009 23:41:25 +0000 Jesse http://beerandnosh.com/?p=2065

Read on for more, or jump into the full photo set slideshow.

]]> http://beerandnosh.com/2009/09/firestone-walker-brewery-tour/feed/ 2 http://beerandnosh.com/2009/05/kolsh-and-cans-at-21st-amendment/?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=kolsh-and-cans-at-21st-amendment http://beerandnosh.com/2009/05/kolsh-and-cans-at-21st-amendment/#comments Tue, 26 May 2009 17:38:32 +0000 Jesse http://beerandnosh.com/?p=1727 I recently joined Twitter, and while I might not be the ardent anti-twitter fanatic I once was, I’m not quite yet 100% sold on the medium either.  That balance is slowly shifting though, as I find the sweet spot for how twitter can be most useful. For example, when about to head out to a Giants game, I posted a tweet asking where to grab a beer. A few tweets later, and I had been convinced to pop my head into 21st Amendment to see the freshly filtered Kölsh they’ve been working on. 

It turned out to be a good call – their kölsh is light and clean, and taking on that almost-a-lager like flavor that makes it so identifiable.  The finish has a hint of barely toasted malt and reflects typical german precision brewing.  I’m told it’ll be on tap this week, just as soon as the specialty glassware arrives.  I’m thrilled to see that they’re holding out to make sure it’s served just so.  It’s crystal clear, and deserves a glass that shows it off.  While there, I also got to try their black IPA.  Darkened with carafa malt, it has hints of red in the edges and is kölsh is not.  Where the kölsh is crisp, clean, and precise, the IPA is big, brutish and aggressive - I loved it. 

After the game I popped back in to pick up a few cans of their Watermelon Wheat. It was a HUGE hit with family visiting from out of town.  21st Amendment has been playing with the recipe slightly as they’ve transitioned to being a big time canning operation, and if the response from my family is any indication, they’ve just about nailed it.  It is reminiscent of a Jolly Rancher without being cloyingly sweet and wheat flavor is subdued but balances nicely with the fruit.   While it isn’t a beer with thick layers of overflowing flavor, it is a great quencher on a hot summer day.  Keeping a six-pack on hand might be the secret to peaceful family get-togethers. 

They’re namesake IPA is also available in cans, rechristened “Brew Free or Die IPA.”  I’m thinking a canned craft beer roundup might be in order – what else should make the list?  Oskar Blues, Big Sky Brewing, New Belgium, Uncommon Brewers come to mind off the top of my bald head.  Send me your favorites canned beer recommendations on twitter @beerandnosh

Jewish Delis in San Francisco suck. 

There.  I said it. I really mean it too. 

This city has a perfectly decent size Jewish population – why is a really good deli such an impossible task?  In a city with such a taste for restaurants with a strong point of culinary view, a Jewish deli would seem like a natural.  Cure your own corned beef and make your own pickles, and we’ve got the Alice Waters-inspired deli this city deserves. 

Sadly, this hasn’t happened yet, so for the time being, I get my fix every time I’m in LA at Brent’s Deli in Northridge. They also have a newer, cleaner, more gentrified offshoot in Westlake, but I figure if I’ll go to the trouble to being in LA, I want the real deal. So I collected a cadre of Nice Jewish Boys, and set out for brunch. 

As usual, Brent’s did not disappoint. There a are a few keys to a successful Jewish Deli (by my measure, being Kosher isn’t one of them.  It’s a cultural thing.) 

Unadorned Deli Sandwiches

No mayo, no lettuce, and mustard is already on the table, and the meat is freshly cut to order. Rye bread is the preferred choice, but egg bread is acceptable too. 

Now just to be clear – these aren’t the only sandwiches on the menu.  In fact, corned beef has many, many great incarnations at a deli like this: like the Reuben, another benchmark to judge a deli by. And if you make a really great corned beef hash, you can make Zak make this face:

(Psst! don’t tell Barry, Zak’s dad we went to Brents.  He’s more of an Agoura Deli man, and this is the sort of betrayal that gets you disowned.)

Smoked Fish for Breakfast.

I don’t know where this tradition really comes from, but once it  gets into you, there is no getting out.  There is just something about smoked salmon on a good bagel for breakfast that really does it for me.  I think it might be conditioned from a young age.  Important note: HOT smoked salmon does not cut it.  It has to be cold smoked lox. Also good is whitefish salad, which is what I had this morning. It was great – rich and creamy, with an aggressive smoky flavor.  On a toasted bagel, I was a happy, happy camper.

Mediocre Coffee and Sassy Waitresses Who Don’t Take No Shit From No One. 

Maybe this is a carry over from the Jewish Deli’s goy cousin, The East Coast Diner, but I’d be willing to bend on the poor coffee rule here in San Francisco.  The crabby waitresses, are a must. Actually, towards the end of our brunch, our waitress actually become quite friendly and chatty with us.  It kinda creeped me out. 

Black and White Cookies the Size of Your Head

Also, Hamantashen year-round. 

Finally, A Serious Deli Counter. 

Pushy grandmothers who refuse to wait in line for their order optional, but recommended. 

So am I missing anything?  I’m sure there are some serious east coasters out there with their own list of requirements.  Any San Francisco institutions I’m missing out on? The Refuge is next on my hit list, and I’ve heard good things. 

After breakfast on the Friday of GABF, we had some time, so we joined many other fellow beer travelers, and headed over to the Great Divide Brewery, which had opened it’s doors wide open for visitors during the conference.

Inside, the brewers were freely pouring samples in their brewery, as well as in the tap room. Conference goers mingled on the brewery floor, enjoying the samples.  In the center of the room, a large stack of barrels stood aging, while behind them, Brewer Taylor Rees actively worked on a batch of wort. Even with the crowds and visitors, this is an active brewery making beer. There were also lines of plastic kegs, apparently bound for Europe.

I was particularly smitten with a very special brew that they had brewed just for the conference – and I wasn’t the only one. The Baumer, as explained to me by Taylor, was made with Hades and Samurai worts, both of which had been fermented using Brett yeast, and aged in barrels.  It also had a hint of fresh raspberries, and was specially blended to pour this weekend.  The resulting beer was lightly sour, with a delightful golden hue.  It was perfectly representative of the kind of experimentation and beer exploration I find most exciting at breweries.

I then got a short tour of the brewery from Brian, one of their sales reps. It included an amazing bottling machine, as well as a very active fermentation room, where foam was overflowing from buckets onto the cement floor.

I left Great Divide mightily impressed. Not only with with the beers, but the people.  Taylor and I reconnected on the GABF floor later that day, and we talked pretty extensively about what it’s like to work there, while sampling beers from Jolly Pumpkin. What really impressed me was how he had been brought up, and trained by the brewery.  They were striving to take care of their own, and that sort of care seems to be reflected in the beer.

]]> http://beerandnosh.com/2008/10/great-divide-brewing/feed/ 2 http://beerandnosh.com/2008/10/humboldt-breweries-adventure-part-three-eel-river/?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=humboldt-breweries-adventure-part-three-eel-river http://beerandnosh.com/2008/10/humboldt-breweries-adventure-part-three-eel-river/#comments Thu, 23 Oct 2008 18:13:06 +0000 Jesse http://beerandnosh.com/?p=357   

As I packed my car and prepared for the drive back from Humbolt to San Francisco, I was pretty sure I was done with my beer adventures for the day.  After all, I had to drive a fair distance, and it seemed a shame to only be able to sip a few beers.  But as I headed south, several of the signs on the highway reminded me that I was passing by the Eel River Brewery. My morning coffee was starting to catch up with me, and i figured I was entitled to a bathroom break.  It seemed like a safe bet that their tap room would have a restroom, so I pulled off the highway.

It turned out to be one of the highlights of the trip. The restaurant was mostly empty since 11 am is a wee bit early for too many beers (discounting the one or two dedicated individuals who looked to be a few pints in already), so i was able to monopolize a bartenders time.  Understanding my driver’s dilemma, she graciously poured me a wide selection of very small samples so i might try a few different beers.  Nearly all of their beers are certified organic, and I made my way through the list.  The California Blonde was particularly good, and in keeping with the theme started at other breweries, i also tried their Acai Berry Wheat – the berry flavors were overt, but worked, melding nicely with the wheat.  Also good was the Triple with it’s malty backbone.

Finishing my samples, i asked if i might be able to see the brewery.  As it turns out, like Lost Coast, their brewery was no located in a second facility ten miles south in the next town of Scotia.  A few phone calls and polite begging later, and I was finding my way to the brewery, where a tour awaited me. 

The actual building is located in a mostly abandoned industrial park, along a small river.  A crane and several smaller birds were resting in the river as i pulled up, but quickly took off when i pulled over to take a few pictures. 

Inside the brewery, I was greeted by Matt, one of Eel River’s brewers, who took me around the brewery for my tour.  Unlike the confined spaces of the other breweries I visited on my trip, Eel River has plenty of space to play inside of their large warehouse.  In the center of the giant space was their new bottling line, which was actively churning out twelve ounce bottles of porter. 

Matt was an enthusiastic tour guide – he was excited to show off their equipment and their process, especially their shiny new bottling line which was actively humming in the background.   Compared to the creaking mechanical series of gears that bottled beers at Mad River, this was a technological wonder, quickly filling bottles and capping them off through a series of sterile Plexiglas chambers. 

All around the brewery, employees were busily bottling, kegging, cleaning, and brewing. 

They take great pride in their ingredients, as he walked me through their mill room, where everything had a veneer of malt dust, even the vacuum.  Matt also led me out back, where he showed me the hop rysome they were growing – no where near enough to hop a batch of beer, but the horticulture experiment showed them trying to get closer to the ingredients they brewed with – an admirable goal, especially for an organic brewery.  Finally, he brought tout the freeze dried acai berry powder that they use to infuse the berry wheat I tried earlier in the day. 

As our tour wound down, I left with a six pack of their porter with crooked labels.  The labels are off – but the beer isn’t – it’s a chocolately rich brew, with dark malt and coffee notes.  I’m thinking it’d be great paired with a dark chocolate desert – maybe something studded with cocoa nibs?

And with that, I said my goodbyes and resumed driving through the coastal redwood forest back to San Francisco.

Who doesn’t love brunch?  It has everything you could want in a meal: a leisurely pace, drinks and pancakes.   In Denver, Brian, Kimberley and I asked what was a good spot for brunch, we were told in no uncertain terms to get over to Snooze as quickly as possible. 

Once there, we found the place packed.  Luckily, they provided coffee while you waited.  Kimberley opted for a latte, which came with a nice flourish in the foam.  I opted for standard drip coffee (the only disappointment in the meal.  Maybe I was doing something wrong, but the coffee in Denver really left something to be desired.) 

While we waited for our table, I decided to channel my father.  I walked around the restaurant (recognizing many GABF passes hanging around people’s necks) seeing what they were eating.  I even asked a few people eating at the bar what they had ordered, and if they’d recommend it (Pancakes. Yes.) After only a few minutes, it was clear that pancakes were in our future.   Once seated, we ordered the “Pancake Flight” as our brunch appetizer.

Snooze takes it’s pancakes very seriously.  In front is the off-the-menu special, Reese’s Peanut butter cup pancake, on the right was our upside down pineapple pancake, and in back is the seasonal special blueberry ginger.  Delicious. Then came our main courses: the Pork’s Benedictian, an Eggs Benedict with pulled pork, (and pickle garnish, a nice touch) and a hash browns made to order with cheese, broccoli and cheese. 

Service was friendly and courteous, and the place felt trendy without trying too hard.  The food was delicious, reasonably priced, and even well lit, making for easy brunch-time photography.  I think I might have surprised our waitress with the camera – i suppose food blogging isn’t the natural past time in Denver it is in San Francisco. (My solution: open a Snooze in the Mission in SF!) After licking our plates clean, we headed across the street to Great Divide Brewery for our post-brunch beers. 

One theme became readily apparent at these sessions: less is more.  The logistics and complexity of serving in a conference like this, with everything going out on small paper plates made those who tried to cook and serve full dishes bound for difficulty.  In contrast, those who used simpler preparations (namely, cheese and chocolate, which are ready to go) were able to accomplishing more, by not biting off more than they could chew.

The Power of Aroma in Flavor Perception:  Fine cheese and The Vermonster beer with Brewer Matt Nadeau of Rock Art Brewery.

Matt of Rock Art set the bar very high at the very first presentation.  He paired his Vermonster, a very big barleywine with two different cheeses: a sharper cow’s milk cheese, and a second smoked gouda.  The first selection brought out the hops, the while in contrast the smokey gouda brought out the malt.  It was at once an interesting pairing, and an intellectual exercise in how to emphasize different parts of the beer.  Matt guided us through the pairing, and explained what to look for.  It was a simple, but highly effective pairing demo that’ll be great fun to replicate at home.  Also, as a big promoter of California and Wisconsin cheeses, it pains me to admit that Vermont makes some mighty fine cheeses as well.

Beer and Chocolate: Sam Calagione, Founder & President, Dogfish Head Craft Brewery and Shawn Askinosie, Founder and Chocolate Maker, Askinosie Chocolate present a pairing of threechocolates with three beers including Dogfish Head World Wide Stout, Maui Coconut Porter and New Belgium’s La Folie.

Sam and Shawn also did a bang up job.  Both were natural on stage, and Shawn provided great pictures of him visiting the South American sources for his chocolate (he only works with places he’s personally been.) Sam works with a lot of food ingredients in his beers, including chocolate from Askinosie in his Theobroma. The very first pairing the sent out… wow.  Just wow.  New Belgium’s La Folie, a tart, sour belgium ale with white chocolate, studded with pistachios. I’m not normally a white chocolate fan, but in this case I was completely taken in.  The tart beer cut through the richness of the white chocolate, and melded perfectly with the pistachios pieces. The other samples of dark beers with darker chocolate were good, but didn’t have the same impact on me that the first one did.

Contemporary Italian Cuisine & Belgian Style Beer: Mark Marrocco, executive Chef at Magnolias at the Mill in Purcellville, Virginia demonstrates Italian cuisine paired with Belgian Style Beer from Rob Tod’s Allagash Brewing Co.

Here is where things started to get a little hairy.  Chef Marrocco served a olive oil poached salmon over a fennel salad made with an Allagash White Vinaigrette. When the food came out, the vinaigrette was so mild you couldn’t taste the beer at all, and the salmon was cold and starting to go somewhat rubbery.  (I think the samples they handed out had been cooked MUCH earlier.) They tried to demonstrate some cooking on stage, but in this case, just seemed to be having trouble getting the points they wanted across. Eventually the two of them got to talking about beer pairings, and had some good suggestions.  Unfortunately, I didn’t think the intent translated particularly well to the plate, and didn’t reach into the creative options out there as well as it could of, or really dig into the IItalian flavors that can be paired with Belgium ales. 

Beer Pairings to Compliment a Main Course: Jim Koch – Founder and Brewer, Samuel Adams and Chef Jorge de la Torre, Dean of Culinary Education, Johnson & Wales University share beer pairings that will compliment heartier dishes. Sample Samuel Adams Boston Lager and Samuel Adams OctoberFest.

Although the pairing being handed out sounded great – I didn’t get a chance to try anything.  Thanks to portion problems and logistical nightmares, and having trouble even hearing what was being made, entire swaths of the seated audience didn’t get a chance to try anything.  Luckily, Jim kept up entertained with a steady stream of sage advice.

Beer and BBQ: “The Beer Chef” Bruce Paton, CEC, Cathedral Hill Hotel and Arne Johnson, Brewer, Marin Brewing Co. pair Point Reyes Porter and a Spicy Hoisin Barbeque Sauce.

The Beer Chef, who I know can really cook, also had some of the logistical problems that stymied earlier presentations.  He prepared a doctored hoisin sauce to go over pork, and paired it was a Porter.  The malty porter was a natural choice, but i would like to see it taken a bit farther.  On the grill, the sauce would caramelize and burn a little, leading to much deeper flavors.  Here, it was served over a small piece of cold pork tenderloin, and left us wanting.

More Beer and Chocolate: Jeremy Cowen, Owner, Schmaltz Brewing pairs up with artisan chocolate maker Steve DeVries of DeVries Chocolates.

The last tasting session was blast.  Jeremy, the founder and owner of He’Brew proved to be a natural on stage, which is no surprise from the man bringing us Coney Island Lagers.  He, along with Steve DeVries provided a series of tastes of tastes surrounding chocolate, and caramelized cocoa nibs.  The nibs turned out to be the perfect foil for the beer: not too sweet, very nutty, and with an almost “bar snack” like nosh-ability, they brought out the malty chocolate notes in the beer better than most chocolate samples.  This was especially true with Jewbelation 12, their winter seasonal.  A very, very big beer, the deep malt tones land it somewhere between a dark barleywine and an imperial stout.  The nibs slightly unfinished bitterness played against the residual sugar in the beer, and resulted in a delightful final pairing.

Final Thoughts: In the end, it might have been ambition that got the better of some of the pairings.  Hot dishes suffered from logistical snafus, while simple taste pairings that required no cooking excelled.  For next year, I think it would behoove presenters to think of cold preparations for this arena.  Charcuterie perhaps?  I also think the tastings could be expanded to serve more, especially if they center and cheese and chocolate.  Perhaps a food pairing pavilion where the samples and beer are laid out together? If they were to model it after a taste pavilion at Slow Food, I think they could really be on to something.

Overall, I took away a few great pairings (light sour ales & white chocolate, smoked gouda & barelywine) and a lot of lessons about how hard these sort of events can be to pull off just right. But when it is done just right, the results can be worth all the effort.