That was great! Please do more. I'm going to make a beeline to Alembic next time I'm in the City. I love good cafe/bar food where you can try a number of different dishes. The chicken hearts and bone marrow sound yummy. And vegetarian at that.

Kirkland! We still need to edit this.

For the record: I was lying about the porchetta sandwich. Take a look at that huge chunk of fat that comes off there. Gross.

I'm a certified jackass.

alex,
you see the ad hoc e-mail?
april 22nd might be a good time for you to finally go there.

the video was fun! Thanks!

"somewhere my vegan friends are in pain, but they don't know why"

fredd perry wearing pork loving hippy hating
this is the best food video ever
keep them coming
did he share any of these item with you kirkland

My wife is taking me to Ad Hoc this weekend. I'll have to sneak Alex in on the date.

For the sandwich lovers:
Here's a weekend favorite of mine to get.
Crab melt sandwich from Toasties (http://www.yelp.com/biz/toasties-san-francisco).
Dungeness crab meat, artichoke hearts, shallots, onion, parmesan cheese & spices Top with Monterey Jack cheese.
They have two locations, one in West Portal and the other on Irving.
I go to the Irving one since they have a nice patio in the back to sit at.
Thanks to midnight26man for putting me up on this.

I get mine w/o tomatoes.



I hear adding jalapenos takes it to the next level.
I think I might be missing out on some awesomeness.

Can you taste the crab meat? I have had a handful of crab meat sandwiches and the taste of crab gets lost under the bread, sauces, and greens. I would rather have it straight or as a crabcake. But if you can taste it then I gotta hit that place. I'm guessing that might be why you take the tomatoes out.

The photo looks great, but I kinda have an aversion to any kind of fish sandwich. I want the fish where i can see it.

On the topic of crab though, Capo in Venice Beach does an excellent kind of crab cake..."crab torta" on the menu, so delicious it may make you tear up...if the price doesn't first ($28)...

Yea, you can taste the crab meat.
Only thing that slightly overpowers everything is the shallots.
I take the tomatoes out because I don't really like raw ones.

ok, just had this crab sandwich at Toasties. Not bad, not great. Mine was mediocre. Might have been the West Portal franchise. The bread was toasted, but not totally crunchy toasted which is a pet peeve of mine. Garlicky Crab spread.

I will have to take you guys to the Submarine Center in West Portal. Still think it's one of the best sandos in the city.

but before that, i'm making the call to meet up this Saturday at 11am at the Ferry Building to try this mythical Rol Roti pork sandwich. who's down?

That is probably the only review of Alembic, ever, which didn't talk about their oft-lauded drinks.

However I must take issue. There is at least one other place that makes upper Haight worth enduring the pseudo-hippies, the crowds of boutique shoppers, the bizarre co-mingling smells of cheap patchouli and McDonald's and the unpleasant spacey contact high that the area induces even if you are perfectly sober, and that is Amoeba Records.

I want meat in a cup. Meat in a cup.

Urgh, tried watching the vid but damn, got me dizzy as hell.
Is your image stabilization on the camera turned on Kirkland?
As for Saturday, I'm down for a sandwich.

Yea, Orson doesn't have a great review.
Will have to check out Marlowe.

Visited two new places last week.
First off is Baker & Banker (http://www.yelp.com/biz/baker-and-banke ... rancisco-3).
Not a bad place, food was pretty good.
Nothing amazing that I'd recommend it though.

For starters we ordered House smoked trout, potato latke, horseradish crème fraîche, pickled beets, shaved fennel.
The smoked trout was good but the latke was a bit burnt so overpowered everything.
The pickled beets I wasn't a fan of.
Also ordered the bone marrow which I thought was a bit better than the one at Alembic.
Is it the norm to prepare marrow with capers?
I did like how B&B fried some capers so they were crunchy.

For the entrees I got the Grilled pork chop, Anson Mills grit cake, bacon braised greens, dried fruit mostarda.
The pork chop was quite a thick cut and grilled perfectly.
The grit cake was pretty good. Was a fan of that.

My friend ordered the Pozzi Farm lamb shoulder, farro, spring vegetables, San Marzano tomato sauce, Niçoise olives.
Lamb was tasty, wasn't too lambish.
First time having farro and it was good. A lot like barley.

As for desserts, went with PB&J doughnuts-strawberry jam filled doughnuts, peanut butter dipping sauce.
Nothing special IMO.

Overall, I'd say the place was good.
I'd go back if someone suggested they wanted to go.
I wouldn't recommend it though based on the fact that the food wasn't that memorable and the price was up there.
The restaurant is a cozy little place and the chefs were nice enough to sign a menu for my friend's birthday.

i'm in.

has anyone tried Nettie's on Union? they're right across from Osha.

Second review is Maverick (http://www.yelp.com/biz/maverick-san-francisco) in the Mission.
Wasn't planning on going for brunch but somehow ended up parking right in front of the restaurant.
I remembered my sister recommending the place so though I'd check it out w/ some friends.

We started with Maverick Doughnut Holes - Five doughnuts dusted with cinnamon and sugar.
There were good. I'd recommend them.

I got the Duck Hash - Duck confit, russet potatoes, medjool dates, sunny side up eggs, mustard sauce, fresh picked herbs.
I've been on a duck craving lately for some reason and this was pretty good.
I'd order it again.

My friend ordered the Andouille Sausage “Benedict”- Grilled andouille sausage, poached eggs, crawfish and jalapeno hollandaise, English muffin, home fries.
He said it was great.
I didn't try the benedict but did steal some home fries which was good w/ the restaurant's fresh made house ketchup.

Other friend ordered the Cincinnati BBQ Pork Sandwich - Pulled pork, barbecue sauce, coleslaw, Pinkie’s round bun, Saratoga chips.
This was also very good.
I couldn't stop stealing bits of the pulled pork.
The bun it was on was nicely buttered and toasted.
I'd get this for myself next time.

I'd recommended checking out Maverick for brunch.
I'm interested in going back to try their dinner menu.

The LA Times has a story on the recent "fad" of food blogging and how some chefs are getting a bit annoyed at all the people photographing their food (they say it disrupts the dinner and delays service). One example cited was a party of two requesting a table for 4 so that they would have room to set up their tripod. I take pics once in a while (when I remember to) but I don't go to those lengths.

That was an outstanding article. It came quickly on the heels of remarks that Grant Achatz cautiously made about would-be bloggers ruining their own experience (and that of others) by photographing every single thing delivered to table, often with annoying flash. It's gotten out of hand and he was right to speak out. He was cool about it, going so far as to ask people if they thought he was out of line or not. Almost all of the responses I saw supported his concern.

But realistically, what folks are doing in this thread isn't quite the same thing, given that so far as I'm aware, none of the places reviewed are "fine dining" restaurants where the service's timing is crucial, or where other diners are likely to be annoyed.

Yea, I find this fucking annoying myself.
I'll bust out w/ the camera at places that I know won't interrupt other people's dining experience.
And the flash is the worst. Most people need to use it since most restaurants are dark.
But when you take pics of food w/ flash that close, the pic just looks like ass.

Oh yea, my new favorite place lately is Izakaya Sozai (http://www.yelp.com/biz/izakaya-sozai-san-francisco).
Great food & great service.
Make reservations.

I'd recommend:
- Ritsu tonkotsu ramen
- hamachi carpaccio mustard miso vinaigrette, jalapeno
- nankotsu karaage chicken cartilage
- bacon wrap enoki mushroom yakitori
- bacon wrap mochi yakitori
- chicken gizzard yakitori
- chicken heart yakitori
- beef tongue yakitori

They also have specials on the wall that are all pretty good.

I saw that article. I remember when Ludo first started doing Ludobites, he was not thrilled with photo taking. This from a guy whose 'cookbook' is mostly photos of him posing half nude, and from his not long ago preening phase when he presided over Bastide.

You have to be considerate, but honestly, if they banned photos, they're taking themselves a bit too seriously, and I'd be reluctant to go (consider that before you go to chateau marmont). More often than not, when I've taken photos at a restaurant, other diners have offered to assist. A food photo taken indoors at night without a flash is simply not going to come out.

If anyone would like to read them, Chef Achatz' controversial post on this topic is HERE.

The LA Times article that Henry referred to is HERE.

To my mind, this speaks to the same conundrum that irked the hell out of me when I was in Paris last year. The experience of visiting some of the world's great art in that city's museum was severely compromised by the hordes of incredibly thoughtless people who now visit museums as souvenir hunters rather than to have an actual in-the-moment experience of the art. They thought nothing of stepping right in front of visitors to get their little snapshot before moving on to the next thing-to-record. Big difference between actually experiencing something and taking photos to show off that you were there, or to document it for the ten billionth blog on the subject.

In a restaurant, especially one where diners conventionally sit down to enjoy a meal and conversation rather than simply dropping in to get a bite to eat, the kitchen's and service's timing is often thrown off when people interfere for the sake of getting their photos. The ambience is compromised or ruined for others when too much fuss is made over getting those precious pictures.

The art of fine dining isn't just about what the house brings to you, it's also about what you bring to table.


But again, I see a big difference between the photos and video posted to this thread, and what this debate is really about. It wouldn't bother me at all to see someone taking photos at a sandwich joint or inexpensive restaurant. However if I saw the same at, say, Fleur de Lys, I'd think "what a jerk."

Then I'd scream "FOOD FIGHT!" and let the chips fall as they may.

Grant was actually quite nice when I took photos there, and even posed for them, but i guess times have changed.

He's not totally against it. It's just gotten out of hand to the extent that it's disrupting the service. He's gotten a lot of complaints from regular diners. I think he's the first to admit that he contributed to this by playing the "celebrity chef" game. Alinea is supposed to be a destination restaurant, so there's no way he could get away with forbidding photography completely. As usual, I think common courtesy is the key.