New York has its mile-high pastrami sandwiches. Los Angeles is home to the French dip.
But no place has sammies like San Jose’s Clover Bakery does.
Get ready for some jaw-dropping concoctions, including a hot dog bun, filled not with a wiener, but a heap of chow mein or even a tangle of spaghetti with red sauce. I kid you not.
Who wouldn’t want to be able to photograph food as lovely and luminous as those images above?
I know I sure would.
The pics of Point Reyes glorious cheeses and scenery were taken by Eric Wolfinger, who has regularly chronicled the San Francisco food scene at such restaurants as Tartine, Slanted Door and Delfina. In fact, you can see his work in the upcoming “Tartine Bread” (Chronicle Books).
Sept. 20, you can meet him in person and pepper him with photography questions when he hosts a special dinner at Outerlands in San Francisco.
The dinner will both celebrate his new exhibition at the nearby Carville Annex, which runs through Oct. 6, and benefit Marimed, an organization working to bring health care and medical care to post-quake Haiti.
Oh sure, folks go on and on about the burger at Epic Roasthouse in San Francisco, a half-pound behemoth ($20) made from the trimmings of all that primo Prime grade beef on the menu.
But one cannot live by burgers alone. Well, not all the time, anyway.
To that end, there’s also brunch. The restaurant, a short hop from the Harbor Court Hotel, offers brunch, 11 a.m. to 3 p.m. Saturdays and Sundays.
Take a seat inside or outside this restaurant, which is right on the Embarcadero and boasts picturesque views of the Bay.
A $40 prix-fixe option offers your choice of mimosa or Bloody Mary plus an organic yogurt parfait or cup of creamy corn soup, then a choice of entrees such as an open-face Meyer lemon shrimp sandwich on brioche or New York steak and poached eggs, plus beignets.
My husband gets obsessed easily.
For months, he’s been incessantly researching the next car he should buy — in 2015.
He often contemplates where we should own a second home if we ever win the Lotto — even though we haven’t bought a ticket in four years.
And of course, with the nickname of Meat Boy, he is rather single-minded when it comes to meat, as in the more, the better.
His latest compulsion?
As you know, it’s a ceramic cooker that can grill and smoke foods. It also weighs 10,000 pounds. I exaggerate — but barely.
This behemoth looks like a cross between a giant landmine and a prehistoric egg.
Spice Kit in San Francisco’s South of Market neighborhood is not your average sandwich joint.
Not with its state-of-the-art sous vide equipment in the kitchen.
And not with a founder, who used to work at the French Laundry in Yountville, and a chef, who hails from the celebrated Dining Room at the Ritz-Carlton in San Francisco.
The duo, which opened Spice Kit two months ago, near the Hotel Vitale, is elevating the bold, irresistible flavors of Korean, Chinese and Vietnamese street food to a higher level with organic tofu, organic greens and high-quality meats. They even make their own paté in-house for the banh mi sammies.
Chef Fred Tang and Founder Will Pacio, who not only cooked at the French Laundry, but also Thomas Keller’s outpost in New York, Per Se, invited me in recently to try their offerings. (Full disclosure: Will is the brother of one of my former San Jose Mercury News colleagues, fashion writer Nerissa Pacio, who now does the stylish blog, NerissasNotebook.)
How could I refuse? Especially when French Laundry chef de cuisine alums, Corey Lee of the new, nearby Benu restaurant in San Francisco, and Ron Siegel of the Dining Room, have already been in for their fill? In fact, here’s a pic of Siegel placing his order at the counter.
The fast-casual spot offers salads, banh mi and ssams (Korean wraps) with your choice of five-spice chicken, beef short ribs, roasted pork or tofu. The prices are higher than your typical Mom-and-Pop Vietnamese cafe, but the most expensive item is only $7.95. And the caliber of ingredients and cooking really shines through.