It's always cold and windy in San Francisco

Mmmmmm, Pork Store

I just absolutely love the weather in San Francisco. Cool, windy, overcast with occassional sunshine. You can walk around outside for hours without breaking a sweat, and then come inside and eat. And oh, how we ate.

I met my oldest and dearest friends in San Francisco for a bunch of days around New Year's. Two of my closest friends moved out there from New York a couple years ago, so it was the first time that the six of us had been together in nearly two years. They live a couple blocks from the Pacific Ocean in a world totally different than Downtown San Francisco. From the numbers in the water, it's a surfer's paradise.

We spent the nights of the 30th and 31st at a club called Mezzanine downtown. It's a cool place to see live music, and I highly recommend it. We saw Tea Leaf Green both nights, the next generation of great live rock n' roll jam band. Think young Phish. Bottles of bourbon, vodka, and a special NYE treat, Veuve Clicquot Rose were enjoyed by all.

There were two restaurants of note: Q and The Pork Store. Q was described as quintessential comfort food (the owner uses the term Funky American Comfort), and it did not fail to deliver. It's located at 225 Clement Street in the Richmond District. The place was jammed for dinner on New Year's Day, as expected, and after negotiating with the amiable hostess, we crammed into the street front window booth. The wine list was standard, but consistent with the comfort food, it was the beer list that impressed. As opposed to the now fairly common practice of overwhelming number of choices, Q sticks with quality. Any establishment serving Chimay and Hoegaarden gets my attention. But I decided to try the Deschutes Black Butte Porter and I was not disappointed. We started our feast with several apps: Fried Calamari with chile-lime aoli, wings (grilled) with tropical fruit-habanero dipping sauce (fantastic), Tate R Tots (perfectly fried), and the baked Cypress Grove goat cheese on mixed greens with roasted peppers, roasted garlic and and grilled focaccia. This was scrumptious. Unfortunately they were out of my first choice, the Southern Fried Fulton Valley Natural Chicken, but alas, second choice was out of this world: Smilin' Andy's Applewood Smoked Pork Spare Ribs, served with Mom's Baked Beans, garlic fries and spicy slaw. I ordered this on the spicy side, and I was not disappointed. It was a bbq heaven of the first order. Others in the group enjoyed the burger, the Portabello Risotto, and the Grilled Loch Duart Salmon. We topped it off with homemade chocolate cookies and whipped cream, and a cold glass of milk. Comfort food indeed. Next time I think I'll try the Grilled Harris Ranch Angus meatloaf or the Macaroni n Cheesy with tots.

Saturday morning my friend H promised me a great breakfast at this greasy spoon in the Haight, and The Pork Store Cafe at 1451 Haight was a winner. It's not much on decor, which is exactly what a breakfast/lunch joint should be: functionally decorated with good food. And despite the name, there were plenty of vegetarian options as well. I had a broccoli and feta omelet with avocado. I said it at breakfast, and I'll repeat it, the avocado rules and California is it's kingdom. I love how you can get avocado with just about anything in California. The square, large, warm, oven fresh bisquits that accompanied the omelet melted in your mouth.

And the hash browns, OMG. Hash browns should not be that difficult to perfect, but rarely is it accomplished. The potato needs to be fried crispy, but not burnt. The Pork Store has perfected them. Somehow greasy and crispy at once. H enjoyed his chicken fried steak, and someone else got the Chorizo special. We rolled out onto Haight with the meat sweats. What a way to start a Saturday of NFL playoffs!

Another two places to note if you are going to be around the Zoo or the beach were the new Java Beach Cafe on Sloat at 45th across from the zoo, and John's Ocean Beach Cafe at 47th and Sloat. Our friends live a couple blocks away, and we stayed at a hotel around the corner, so the first morning stop (and several late afternoon ones too!) were made at Java Beach. Loved the staff, the coffee and hot chocolate is great, and so is the food. John's was a classic diner decorated like a 50's basement with old movie posters, but the multiple benedict options were wonderful.

It was good eats in San Francisco indeed. I'm back home, and packing for India, which I leave for on the 8th. I'm hoping to post several times while I'm there, I just need to figure out the mobile posting stuff. Bon appetit and Happy New Year.