Celebrate Good Times!

There are a lot of people who think I live the life of a cloistered nun...or maybe I should say a starving musician..I don't, not all all. Life is not all pain and suffering for me....really. I do have fun, and I do enjoy the finer things in life on occasion.

And when I do this, I really  do this right!

True, I tend to stick to a fairly rigid and calculated diet most of the time, but I also love food and wine and I love to let loose and celebrate, for no other reason than I feel alive!

Saturday David and I went to the Ferry Plaza Market in San Francisco. It is usually an eating and shopping extravaganza when we go.  We always (always) start off with fish taco's and red wine at Mijita. We sit outside and people watch.

Then off to the bread shop (Acme) and to get some cheeses too.

Next is Hog Island Oyster Farm. David eats several different oysters before he decides to buy dozens of the usual Sweetwater's....

I get three dozen mussels so I can make steamed mussels for lunch on Sunday. 

We stop at the Wine Merchant's for a glass....I have something sparkling and David has something still. I think it's about 11:00 am so that means it is 8:00 pm in Spain- time for a drink!

We are hungry again so off to Zuni Cafe for lunch, they hold 1/3 of their tables from reservations to accommodate walk ins - they value the neighborhood people! (good to know huh?) So you can almost always get a table just by wandering in!

We always order the shoestring fries, they cannot be topped. I believe they make their own ketchup too.

I love Ceasar salad and theirs has a good anchovy taste.

David orders arugula and shaved purple asparagus with citrus.  I think he just wanted the goat cheese toasts.

Burger time! They have some killer burgers here....I am really looking forward to this.

Rare...just the way I order it! On homemade foccacia with housemade pickles and onions and aioli.

 Yup, just what I needed.

I almost ordered the sand dab but David did and I figured it wouldn't be enough protein for me. But it looked great huh?

Dessert. Gateau Victoire...I have written about this cake before...It is so good it has been on the menu every single day since the restaurant introduced it in 1982!!! I am beside myself. 

Don't even try to take any from me!! But David and I will share this one piece.

Home, I unpack my bag of two boxes of Recchiuti chocolates...the Fleur de Sel Caramels  and the Peanut Butter Pucks. 

Sunday I will train hard and not regret the fun and food I enjoyed on Saturday!

Zuni Cafe

Zuni Cafe in San Francisco, one of our favorite places! The chef, as so many of the great ones in the United States have, once worked at Chez Panisse in Berkeley.

The Zuni has a great wood burning oven in the middle of the small restaurant, they cook many things in there, pizzas, pork, and their famous whole chicken with bread salad. I have never had it at the Zuni, but I have their cookbook and I have made it numerous times at home, it is simply to die for. 

 
My lunch above caught my eye for two reasons, it had fresh shell beans and chicken wings, two of my favorite foods. Many people have never had fresh shell beans and are not familiar with them. The beans you buy in a can were once fresh shell beans- cannellini is what I have here. And the wings? Well, they are an item that I rarely eat as they are covered with skin...

The chicken wings? Not your "hooters" style, thank you very much, but tender, spiced, falling off the bone wings that had been slow braised.

The dish was actually called: Chicken wings braised with carrots, prosciutto, cinnamon, tomato and clove, fresh cannellini beans and chard. 

I love all the fresh vegetables, spices and juices.  There is no thick gravy like sauce, only a broth that warms the soul, and keeps the bread moist that I shall dip in it!

David had: Devils Gulch Ranch rabbit salad with frisee, fennel, watermelon radishes, hard cooked egg, creamy mustard vinaigrette, and fried capers.

I love food, and this food is quality, not quantity. I savor each bite. The restaurant is funky, it has small tables, situated very close together. The menu changes daily, but there are a few things that are never absent, and that is the roast chicken and their fabulous burger. They grind the meat there, make their own buns, pickles and ketchup. It's always a struggle for me, "the burger or the??"

And in the end, I had the Gateau Victoire, a flour less chocolate cake inspired by Julia Child that has been on their menu everyday since 1982. You can find the recipe online, or even better, visit the Zuni.

They take reservations on open table, but a little known fact is that they hold aside 1/3 of their tables at all times for walk ins!