Espetus Currascaria

Of all the restaurants I've been to, Espetus must be the grandaddy of the Meat & Potato genre, although in this case it's more like meat and yucca root. Even so, when you arrive you'll be greeted by your waiter, said yucca, gourgeres, and potato croquettes. After your order has been taken and you have milled around the salad and hot side dish bar, take note of the gizmo on your table with the small wheel that is red on one side and green on the other; it will come in handy.

 

Massive amounts of meat must be consumed here each month. If you're a quantity eater you will find this restaurant very appealing. Don't be alarmed, be forewarned; shortly after settling in back at your table,  you will be approached by several young men dressed as gauchos cum servers, wielding large butcher knives in one hand, and  larger swords piercing through various types of animal flesh in the other. They will keep approaching you until you stop them. Like the Living Dead, if I may use the comparison, they just keep coming, but in this case you do not shoot them in the head. That's where the wheelie gizmo comes in. Quickly flip the wheel to red and the onslaught will end. You will have vanquished the approaching evil. It's not all red meat however. Along with the beef and lamb, they also serve pork,  house made sausages, chicken and even shrimp. If it can be grilled, Espetus can serve it.

Although I would not encourage you to bring a vegetarian or vegan to this restaurant, Espetus does offer grilled vegetables, and salads  to amuse the palate between meat courses. They also serve Feijoada, the classic Brazilian black bean and pork stew, as well as a fish stew called Moqueca de Peixe and paella.

Espetus Website

1686 Market St at Gough
San Francisco CA 94102
(415) 552-8792

Una Pizza Napoletana

Within the last few years I was watching a TV program on the food Network about pizza. They were counting down the 10 best pizza in the country and when they got to the last two I jotted down the names and locations of the Pizzerias that placed 1st and 2nd. The runner up was in Arizona and the very best, Una Pizza Napoletana was in New York City. I immediately sourced their address in the East Village and placed it into a travel folder. Since we love visiting NYC, it seemed entirely possible that I would one day be able to try this restaurant. I didn't have to wait very long, because it moved to San Francisco last year. Luckily the owner, Anthony Mangieri wanted to move to the West coast where he could get more use out of his mountain bike than he had in his native New Jersey or NYC.

Mr. Mangieri's approach to pizza is intense, single minded, and artful. Everyone writing about him discusses jazz, zen and inflexibility. From where I sit, he appears to be an artist, working on technique until it becomes second nature and he can literally feel when the pizza (or art piece) is completed. As a former production potter, I know this first hand; the more repetition, the more perfection. We, the dining public, benefit from his dedication, because his dough is remarkable. It takes 3 days to become leavened naturally from the yeast in the air. With our sour dough legacy, San Francisco seems the perfect place for this flour and water artist to indulge his passion. He sets up the dough for the night and when it's used up, he closes the doors. That can be early on some evenings, so our routine is to get there when the doors open and work our way into the first seating. That approach is almost as flawless as his pizze.

Pizza Margherita is one of the 5 or 6 pizze that is offered at the restaurant along with water, Neapolitan wines, and beer. No soup, salads, or desserts. Why, you might ask? Because Mr. Mangieri wants to concentrate on making the perfect pizza. With a limited menu, he can have a small staff, few ingredients  to stock, and low overhead; there is little room for waste. The bow on the railing dividing the oven from the tables was the Christmas decoration. This man must have the lowest overhead in the business; he doesn't even buy yeast! I also suspect he has the smallest garbage pickup in the city, no one leaves a crumb on their plate. I digress, let's talk about the pizza.

The Margherita is poetry in motion. It's simplicity astounds and mesmerizes the palate. Tomato sauce, Mozzerella, fresh basil leaves, extra virgin olive oil, along with a bit of sea salt and of course, the dough, are all it takes to be a completely satisfying meal, in the expert hands of this American born pizzaiolo. The dough is crisp on the bottom, due to the wood fired oven, but light and chewy on the top. It's the best I have ever tasted either here or in Italy. It is flawless.

The Pizza Bianca is very good with the introduction of fresh garlic and the deletion of tomato sauce. As usual the crust was remarkable and the taste outstanding. Time to confess, I did bring my own porcini salt to the restaurant one evening and I loved it on this pizza, but I hope Mr. Mangieri never reads this or I may just get barred from his restaurant. There is no Soup Nazi vibe here, but I still don't believe my defilement of the Pizza Bianca would be appreciated. Now I wonder if anyone else has slipped red pepper flakes into their pockets, to smuggle into the restaurant.

 

Here's the Apollonia, named after Anthony's daughter. I believe it's served only on weekends, but a quick look at their menu should tell the tale. Think of it as the Bianca with egg, salami (looks like cotto salami, cooked) and black pepper flakes. Makes me want to experiment with a Carbonara pizza at home. In summation, I hope the perfect pizza is never achieved to Anthony Mangieri's satisfaction, because I fear he will take off on that mountain bike of his and never look back. I admire his ambition and the fact that he could make more money by adding menu items, but declines to do so because "it's not right".

Una Pizza Napoletana Website

210 11th St. at Howard
San Francisco CA
(415) 861-3444
Open: Wed.-Sat. 5 p.m. (until the dough runs out)

Boulangerie-Patisserie Banette

You can be some things to all people, or all things to some people, or even just some things to some people, but you can never be all things to all people. No wonder the French had a revolution, and perhaps it started when lines started blurring between boulangeries and patisseries. Even Marie Antoinette was confused suggesting that cake was a suitable substitute for daily bread. A boulangerie is a bread bakery while a patisserie is a pastry and cake bakery, but more and more you see hybrids on the streets of Paris and we're not talking automobiles. Some of us need more consistency in life, clearly defined parameters, but we won't find them in Parisian bakeries. Boulangerie Patisserie Banette is a good example of the new hybrid bakeries. Located on the Contrescarpe it is where I picked up croissants an pain du chocolat while staying at Hotel Des Grandes Ecoles.

 

Banette goes one step further to blur the lines because it offers sandwiches and salads, clearly the realm of the cafe in Parisian culture. Is it the European Union that is responsible for this blurring of definition? As one who has traveled quite a bit over the years, I have noticed a big change in individual European countries since the Union began. You can find macarons in Italian bakeries, pizza in French bakeries and Guinness just about everywhere. There is no longer a bargain country, because as soon as the currency converted, inflation in the lesser expensive countries filled in the gap.

    

No matter what you call it Banette does have some strong points, croissants and pain au chocolat are two of them. Their pain au chocolate were so good and so low in price, that I made a point to buy a plastic container, so they could be transported home on our last day in Paris. It worked out beautifully and co-workers at the office were delighted with the surprise. During our return to Paris this year, my plastic container will be in tow. I admit, the 6 euro lunches where you select a sandwich, a drink and a dessert looked like a real bargain too.

  

The pastry can't be faulted, but the Banette selection was not as extensive as in many other shops. In all honesty, the shop wasn't large enough for a bigger selection. Maybe they're not trying to be all things to all people, but with a small chain bakery such as this one, they may be attempting to reach all people. There is a big controversy about the use of industrialized frozen bread in France and Banette is a part of it because their brand is associated with the frozen bread and what some consider the beginning of the end for the classic baguette. The frozen product is much cheaper to make and sells at lower prices. Unfair competition, yes.

   

Speaking of blurred lines, do you see doughnuts? I've seen a few Italian doughnuts in my day, but didn't realize the French made them.  And cookies like those in the photo below, are they French? The financier and cannele  are definitely traditional French pastries, but somehow the brownies look out of place, even though the Coca Cola on the signboards does not. It's definitely a crazy mixed up world.

 

French Bread Information from About-France 

Banette Website

Rue Mouffetard at Rue Thouin 75005 Paris France

Patisserie Blavette Daniel

To this day, I'm not certain of the actual name of this patisserie, but the labels on their cakes read "Patisserie Blavette", the awning out front reads "Blavette" and the Internet follows it as Blavette Daniel and due in part to my original entries on Foodspotting, Daniel Blavette. Whatever you choose to call it, it's one wonderful bakery filled with classic French pastry.

  

The four photos above were the first taken of Blavette. We had looked into the window on Rue Mouffetard and noticed a sweet display of boxed macarons that seemed like a nice gift to bring to friends in Bologna, our next stop on that particular trip. The variety of pastries was  striking, because they were all very classic and beautifully executed. Not wanting to overstay the welcome, it seemed these four shots would be enough to give anyone an overall view of what was offered by the patisserie. Upon our return home, while editing the photos, it seemed far too few and I knew I would be returning for more photos, more macarons and a few pastries to try while I was at it.

    

 

It wasn't until my second trip that all the savory tarts, tortes and quiches were even noticed. Even pizza was represented in the bakery; the smoked salmon and creme fraiche pizza is on my short list of must try items. As I continued to look around there were breads and baguettes lined up against the back wall, like wallflowers at a dance, but these would find partners in no time, judging by the line forming behind me in the shop . One could furnish themselves three meals a day in this establishment and not repeat anything for a month.

   

Tucked in amongst the quiche and tortes were these two sandwiches. This place was a treasure trove of culinary gold! It's mystifying that so much was missed on the first trip. I must have been in a macaron induced haze at the time, or merely fixated upon the sweet pastries. They are definitely glazed to make them shimmer and sparkle in the pastry cases, so they cannot be missed as the light plays across their surfaces; it's a conspiracy.

   

    

Ah, the dainty, innocent looking macarons that beckoned us into the bakery from the street the first time, then lured us back a second and third time. A charming little item that distracts and delights, dances on the palate, then vanishes into thin air, leaving one hungry for more and in various other flavors. You have to try them all, don't you? One pays a hefty price for that moment of pleasure. At almost a euro each, the addiction can eat up a snack budget in a hurry. I found myself pricing them at every bakery I saw, trying to find a bargain. Even the large macarons at Blavette were reasonably priced compared to the more renowned patisseries (2.4 euro compared to 4 euro each). The way I calculate, if I buy Balvette macarons instead of some from say Lauderee, I'll save so much money I'll be able to afford a Hermes scarf in three more trips!

 

If you couldn't tell that I'm completely besotted by macarons, you might think so after I mention that I purchased two French cookbooks on the subject , and I neither read nor write French. Still, hope springs eternal and I have plans for making them one day, although I seem to be able to easily find them now, everywhere I go in Europe and even at home. I've saved the best for last, as one should always do with dessert.