i used to work literally across the street from the american and was there during the hype. it's good/solid, but not amazing. i've replicated my own cheesy/bacon concoction with artisan breads at home that have satisfied the same urge for a tasty grilled cheese.

haven't tried the melt, but i'll trust you guys and the sentiments shared from others. sigh, sad for mina and "flip founder" for sure, especially if they don't get their act together.

seriously..

The 2 best grilled cheese sandwiches in the city are at the following establishments Go there immediately. Afterwards I DARE you to call me a liar.

1. The grilled cheese at Hog Island in the Ferry Building. I was skeptical that a place that is known for oysters would have a grilled cheese that was worth a shit. I said to the ladies that worked for me "its 12 dollars?? forget it." Well one day a girl brought over a piece for me to try. The rest is history. I'd pay 18 bucks for it. Try it.

2. The girlled cheese at Outerlands. It's straight up regoddamndiculous. HUGE. HUGE perfect bread to cheese ratio.

now keep in mind that neither of these 2 are traditional grilled cheese sandwiches. If you want a flat traditional one I say try the toasty melts truck.

Excellent. An excuse to return to Outerlands, and to try a sandwich at the Ferry Bldg. other than my usual Prosciutto Cotta at Boccalone.

I can just imagine Alex typing that up like this...

haha, alright alex. gonna have to check out those grilled cheeses.

sweet! we have a hog island in napa. might go try one after work this week.
and outerland's grilled cheese at $5? yes, please.

Didn't know about Anthony's but I just looked up their site. I'm impressed that they do periodic and seasonal specials ... way to keep it lively. So, that photo looks super-delicious ... howzabout some words, too? Were they as good as they look?

BTW before hitting DoublePunch last night I had dinner at L'Osteria del Forno on Columbus, an old favorite. It'd been a couple of years since I'd been there but they're as good as ever. Had the pasta e fagioli soup (made with prosciutto stock ... whoa, earthy) and pumpkin ravioli in brown butter/sage, one of their signature weekend specials, which was awesome and a great way to start Fall foodness. This place is a "best kept secret" in North Beach despite being right there on Tourism Row. More locals than tourists go there, probably because it's super-small and non-flashy. It's like walking into a Milanese trattoria. Perfect simple dishes, great pizzas and a good wine list. Cash only so don't get caught with plastic only like I did. Fortunately the server was super-cool about it and trusted me to go hit an ATM.

they are delicious!
top is a cookies & cream. my favorite
middle is a white chocolate. loved the crunchy and gooey texture and the candied like flavor.
bottom is german chocolate. has coconut in the middle. great cookie!

my wife had double chocolate chip, which she loved
and a toffee, which was similar in style to the white chocolate, but with bits of smooth toffee instead.

Anthony's is the best!

Any good places in NYC that cater to those w/ food allergies (wheat/dairy) let me know! TY!

Though this topic is for the bay area, I guess I can help with NYC suggestions.

I heard these guys have the best pizza in NYC



thanks for the tip Michael Scott

It's my impression that most of the BASK foodies aren't all that into home cooking, but if I'm wrong or if you just like having some good cookbooks around, check out Ferran Adria's "The Family Meal" which was just published by Phaidon. It's not molecular gastronomy fanciness ... totally the opposite. It's relatively easy home cooking that gets to the heart of things in a simple manner with a number of cultural references. What few "fancy" techniques there are aren't even all that fancy (e.g. using a blowtorch or a soda water dispenser now and then, or crushing methol candies to sprinkle on fresh melon.) If you're a beginner, it's not intimidating, and if you're a longtime home cook, it's not patronizing. Super-cheap at Amazon. The maestro was in town this week (he went to La Taqueria, Humphrey Slocombe and Mission Chinese Food) to plug the book so I thought I'd give it a mention in case anyone's interested. I'm having a lot of fun with the book. Made some steamed egg custards yesterday that are way too addictive.

Finally posting pics of our dinner at Morimoto in Napa. It was fun. Really nice relaxing experience. good day trip from SF. Was I blown away by the food? no. Was it good? Not bad. Expensive? yes.

probably the best dish. King Crab legs. Seasoned on the top to make 'em look like a shell, but it's all meat!

Morimoto Napa by toybot studios, on Flickr

this one is weird. potstickers under Alien skin

Morimoto Napa by toybot studios, on Flickr

Sashimi Plate. A+ for presentation. B- on taste

Morimoto Napa by toybot studios, on Flickr
Porkbelly. not bad, but i've had better. (at RED)

Morimoto Napa by toybot studios, on Flickr

Desert. Kind of a tapioca thing here. looks great, tastes ok

Morimoto Napa by toybot studios, on Flickr

Essentially donut holes. These were great and had yummy dipping sauces. but $9 for donut holes?

Morimoto Napa by toybot studios, on Flickr

pics of the interior / exterior here:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/toybotstud ... 886044428/

Great photos K ... I enjoyed the whole Flickr series. Man that place looks soooo Napa, with the open "it's a restaurant! It's a store!" sort of layout. Beautiful sake wall and art (and it looks like there's another fancy cookbook to pick up.)

What is the alien skin? It's hard to tell but it looks like an egg or fat foam that got skin-ized somehow (?)

Also what are the liquids with the straws in those little ampules? Looks like puréed fruits and vegetables.

Definitely a class act on presentation across the board.

The alien skin was trippy. supposed to be some kind of fusion dish. I'm not sure how it was made or what it was made out of. I want to say rice paper that was steamed.

the ampules are the sauces for the sashimi cubes which were stacked with 3 or 4 different kinds of fish. really interesting presentation. yeah, the sauces were spicy, sweet and savory.

I looked it up ... apparently it's a bacon cream foam / skin. Sounds delicious!

Dean, it's a great book and as you can guess....I went to the Castro for the talk. It was honestly inspirational, mind blowing at points. I enjoyed his defense of what he does and why he does it. His ideas behind what creativity is/should be,was great. he did lose me at points with what he is turning el Bulli into. Over all though I really enjoyed it. The book is great, interesting since Phaidon does mostly text books. It reads like one.

Let's be honest though, did you think that I would walk away from that presentation without being the person that you expect me to be

So I may have stolen the world's greatest Chef's pear, straight from his bag of fruit.

lets talk about some food:

-Went to Absinthe last week. Had the lamb shoulder with cous cous w. pine nuts and roasted zucchini au gratin. Honestly it was one of the best plates I've had since I moved here. I wasn't expecting it at all. It's a shame because it's already off the menu. Also had the soft gralic pretzels with warm vermont cheddar. Also surprised by how much I liked it. Last but not least I got the "PB&J". It was a peanut financier, grape sorbet and peanut butter ganache.

-Went back to suppenkuche recently had a great roasted chicken(special as well). I figured, it's october, I should probably eat something German.

-Seriously, Elizabeth Falkner can fuck off with her mediocre places and now she is jumping ship and turning citizen cake into an ice cream place? Maybe she should spend sometime off of TV and work on her recipes. Jesus H Christ. (yes thats my competitive side speaking but there is truth in all of it)

-Source in Soma. A vegan/vegetarian place worth checking out. Especially if you have some people with dietary restrictions in town. The cashew cheese fondue is really good and the chocolate truffle(w/ ghost chili) is interesting. I always get the tri-color Quinoa. If the idea of going to vegan place turns you off, you're missing out. You're also missing out on Gracias Madre which is, as far as I'm concerned, one of the best places in the city. Top 10 for sure.

-Dosa on Fillmore, I like it better than the mission one. They had a great Heirloom tomato Rice (that of course if now off the menu as well ). Had the Rava Masala Dosa(Crispy Semolina wheat dosa w/Indian potatoes, onions and cashews) and a seasonal vegetable curry. they were all great.

What's up SB? where have you been?

Thanks for the stunning photos of Morimotto! The king crab looks awesome (and clever). Since one sushi meal can meld into the next, at least Morimotto is trying something different. The plates sure are beautiful.

To be honest, I never really cared for the actual cakes at Citizen Cake. Elizabeth Falkner - cool hair, dry cake. But I do think they're the squarest little things I've ever seen. an A+ for perfect corners. sadly, I thought Orson was underwhelming.

Dosa in Filmore was awesome when I was there.

Wasn't sure how many of you read Sam Sifton's last restaurant review in the NY Times, a wonderful review of Per Se. I have to say, though I've eaten at the french laundry a few imes, lunch at Per Se was one of the best and most memorable meals of my life. I've posted the link to Sam's review, and the accompanying notes in the diner's journal.

http://www.nytimes.com/2011/10/12/dinin ... eal&st=cse

http://dinersjournal.blogs.nytimes.com/ ... ef=reviews

Alex you've probably seen it, but in Bourdain's so-so episode on the closing of El Bulli, he and Adria talked a whole lot of conceptual nothingness about its rebirth as some sort of institute. But I trust Adria ... it'll probably all work out and earn a great reputation once it gets going.

So did you eat that pear? How was it? It's not like any I'm seeing in the markets here.

As for dessert chefs, Faulkner and Iuzzini seem like cool people but their books are over-the-top ridiculous. I have no idea why they win such high praise. Especially Iuzzini ... his stuff is totally impractical outside of the restaurant biz. I think people just like his rockabilly image or something. I want useful recipes more than a coffee table book experience. David Lebowitz all the way ... he gets it exactly right, what people actually want. I made his German Chocolate Cake a couple of years ago and it was a huge hit at the party I brought it to. One of those froofy Iuzzini sculptures or one of Faulkner's trying-too-hard-to-be-punk-rock desserts would have just sat on the table, barely touched.

Totally enjoyed Sifton's articles about Per Se. Sorry he's leaving the NYT gig so soon after Bruni left. But they always manage to get good writers, and recently picked up David Tanis, who's perfect for their outlook.

As another recommendation, if you haven't already, pick up a copy of Lucky Peach issue No. 1, spearheaded by David Chang and published by the folks at McSweeney's. Almost the entire first issue is about ramen. It's absolutely awesome ... can't wait for the next issues.

Brought a box of Anthony's to my friend in NY since she missed their cookies so much.
Thought I'd share w/ you Dean.
If you haven't gone there yet, definitely find some time to.

Copying this over from the Burger Files...

If you guys are ever in NY, definitely try out Shake Shack. It is fucking delicious!
Maybe it was my first meal after an overnight flight or maybe it was NY, but I thoroughly enjoyed it.
After that first meal, I wanted to go back every day just to grab a burger.

Stopped by the one in Madison Square Park first.



Here's the menu. Slightly better res HERE.



Ordered the classic ShackBurger w/ some fries.



Let's see, what can I say about it.
I love the bun they used, it was like Hawaiian bread.
All soft and sticky and it formed a nice pocket for all the other deliciousness they stuff in it.
Meat was juicy and cooked to perfection, everything else was fresh.
I dig the thicker cut fries fried to perfection.

It was good enough that I HAD to go back during my stay in NY.
Went the second time and this time I ordered two Singles since one wasn't enough before.
I barely managed to finish that, might have to just do a Double next time.
Aaron & Shannon both got Doubles and I think that was manageable.
This time around I also got a shake, go figure w/ their name.
Their Fair Shake (vanilla w/ coffee) is highly recommended.