Wild Thyme

I have no idea if any of you has ever heard of poutine, which is Quebec's own version of fast food. It consists of French fries, cheese curds and gravy and it's the kind of food you're always a bit ashamed to eat. Fast food restaurants around the province have been coming up with their own versions of poutine for years now, some of them adding meat sauce (italian version) and some of them adding veggies, hoping to make this deadly meal a little healthier.

Poutine was invented in the 70's but didn't get popular across the province until the mid 80s. Sound like it might get world famous now, as the New York Times just published an article about it. A famous Montreal chef has invented yet a new version of the poutine, this time adding foie gras (picture) to the greasy mélange.

My liver hurts just thinking about it. Still, I'll have to give it a try...

Will I ever walk past the intersection of Haight and Fillmore without ducking into Rosamunde for a grilled sausage?

I doubt it. On my way home from errands today I did it again even though I needed to get to work. Last time, in late January, I ordered the wild boar:

I hadn't been to Rosamunde for a while. Mmm, sausage. Grilled sausage. Practically every kind you could imagine. Duck with cherry? Yep. Wild boar? Bien sur. Lamb, chicken, beef, tofu, veal, pork eight ways til Sunday? Checkmatey. I opted for the wild boar. $4, split lengthwise and grilled, placed in a sesame seed roll (which could've used a few seconds on the grill, too -- must remember to ask next time), and garni'ed with spicy honey dijon and caramelized onions. It was a wee bit dry, but quite tasty. I ate it piping hot and could have eaten another.

This time, I went for the Hungarian with sauerkraut, mustard and both hot and sweet peppers. I forgot to ask for my roll grilled, but as usual I savored every bite. I think I'll start drinking at the Toronado just so I can pop next door.

Note: Rosamunde has recently trimmed the number of sausages on offer and eliminated the beef sandwich from its menu. It still took me 5 minutes to choose my order.

I've more or less stopped eating the food at Pac Bell Park, partially because it's not very good but mostly because it's a fucking ripoff. This is not news.

But at Monday night's game, one of the few the Giants have won in recent memory, my dad asked me if I wanted anything from the concession stand. Despite the Quizno's sub I ate an hour and a half before, I could not help but answer, "A dog with mustard and kraut."

The next morning...do you really want to know?

Let's just say things were not as firm as usual. I don't know if it was the Quizno's or the dog. Perhaps Quizno's isn't guilty of bad hygiene on the turkey club, but I'm not going back any time soon. I can still rustle up a far better sandwich in my own kitchen. Toasted buns--BFD.

The breakneck development of the ballpark area, however, means more cheap pre-game food options to test. Across from the Quizno's on King St. is a chain pizzeria--Amici's, I think. I'll try that next time and report back.

My favorite pre-game food ritual remains a cool dry martini (or two!) and some nosh at the bar at the South Park Cafe. No meathead crowds, no blaring Sportscenter. The martini is powerful enough to make you forget you haven't eaten a full dinner and, once in the bleachers, to fuel some spirited repartee with the opposing left fielder. Alas, the discretionary spending budget isn't what it used to be, so it's pizza slices or homemade sandwiches for the foreseeable future.

Before I get into the post, please note: We have new titles. When you go to the edit mode, there will be a "Title:" field. Please use it. It looks nice, and if we ever want our blog syndicated, it makes for much easier reading elsewhere. Onward...

If you are ever on Geary St. with three other people and you're looking for a light evening meal, do not go to the Brothers Korean BBQ and order the Dinner "A" for four people.

It is enormous. It is obscene. It is really good, but you won't be able to eat half of it.

Fanch and I took Ed and Martine there after making the mistake of eating bread, cheese and olives for an hour. We knew that portions were large, but when we saw the dinner for four on the menu we figured it was just enough.

Just enough to nearly kill us, it turns out.

First came the thousands of tiny condiment dishes--little pickled fish, kim chee, gelatinous things, bean sprouts, hot chili paste, seaweed, etc., etc. Soon the meat arrived, a platter of raw pork and raw beef separated by a flimsy berm of lettuce. I would guess it was nearly 2 lbs. of meat, most of which we had to desperately grill at the end of the meal in order to take home cooked meat, not raw.

Then the other dishes spewed forth from the kitchen: silver noodles, veggie tempura, small bowls of soup, yet more tempura-like stuff--zucchini, oysters, and perhaps mushrooms, but in a more eggy batter.

Was there more? Perhaps. It's hard to recall, in the same way victims of a bomb attack on a building have a hard time recalling what exactly happened and in what order. We were lucky. We made it out alive. Unfortunately, tempura and eggy-batter stuff doesn't make for great leftovers.

Alex: Groveland Grub

If you're ever in Groveland, northern gateway to Yosemite National Park, stop at the Cafe Charlotte. It's on the ground floor of the Hotel Charlotte, where we stayed this weekend in the cheerful company of the owner Lynn and the outfit's mascot, Bob the Hotel Dog.

Our free breakfasts were nothing to blog home about unless you like chewy pancakes, presweetened granola and weak coffee, but our dinner Saturday night hit the spot. Emily had the Jerusalem chicken with artichokes and a cream sauce. Anthony and I had the Charlotte Steaks, 10 peppercorn-sauced ounces for $12.99. I ordered mine medium and it came medium-rare to rare, otherwise no complaints. Tasty, lightly-steamed green beans and carrots, and the low-carb option of extra green beans, no potatoes if requested. A decent house wine for $15 a bottle. After a 10-mile hike, it was just fine.

Alex: Juan's the Big Deal?

Thanks to my mom's seder dinner Tuesday, I haven't had much food news to report. I've just been trying to get through the leftover lamb, gefilte fish, motzah ball soup, roasted potatoes and carrots and asparagus.

But I was in Berkeley a couple days this week and finally had a chance to visit the hallowed Juan's Place, Mexican sit-down joint of renown across the street from Fantasy Studios (9th and Carleton, I believe).

I did not sit down. I ordered a chicken burrito to go, which the waiter brought to me in a take-out pie-tin shaped receptacle. Back at the office where I was working, I found that it was an unwrapped burrito, ie, one you're expected to eat with knife and fork.

If I wanted to eat a burrito with a knife and fork, I'd order a dinner plate and corn tortillas on the side, entiendes?

It got worse. The rice was voluminous, the beans were bland, the hot sauce wasn't very hot, and the chicken was hard to find amongst the rice grains.

What's the deal? Has anyone else been to Juan's? Comments welcome...on our BRAND NEW COMMENT TRACKING SYSTEM!! Free of charge, too. Now we can thread to our hearts' delight(s).