Scowl, Nu?

Turkey? Not our style. This time we decided to go Italian…

The Main: Porchetta

Take a pork shoulder, stuff it with pesto, a sofrito made of sage, rosemary, garlic, thyme and olive oil, pecorino toscana cheese and San Daniele proscuitto.

Roll, cover with pepper bacon and tie up.

Finally, add vegetables (beets, carrots, parsnip, sweet onions and garlic).

The Side: Wild Mushroom Risotto

Crimini, Chanterelle and White Oyster Mushrooms, shallots and lots of great herbed stock…

This evening, we decided to go to plouf for mussels. The food was good and the wine was a little overpriced, but the real nice thing about plouf is being able to sit outside in a street packed with restaurants, just like in France, Italy or Belgium…

Why is it that when people think of Irish stout that the first thing that comes to mind is Guinness? Don’t get me wrong, my family has a long connection to the Dublin brewery, having imported it into New York in the mid 1900s… but it pales to the great beer from our sister city, Cork – Murphy’s.

Over the last few weeks, we’ve been searching out pints of the obsidian elixir as we paitently wait for O’Neill’s to open down the street.

Last week, it was Johnny Foley’s, a beautiful Irish bar near Union Square. Though the crowds were annoying, the bar was fantastic, the Murphy’s was fresh and the glasses were clean.

This weekend, while coming back from Ritual to pick up more beans and have a couple of cappuccinos, we noticed The Phoenix, a nice Irish bar with lots of nooks to hide in on Valencia near 19th street. Again, fresh Murphys and great graffiti in the bathroom…

Nothing like the search for the perfect pint!

(Lots of glasses to be washed…)

Yesterday afternoon, we decided to stop off at the Toronado for the Wet Hop Festival. Now, we figured they were just going to have some wet hopped beers available by the pint. Boy, were we wrong.

Wet Hop Festival
Description:A selection of wet hop beers made from hops thathave not been dried, which imparts a different aroma and flavor profile than normal.

Location: Toronado, 547 Haight, San Francisco, California
Time(s): 11:30 AM till closing
Admission: no charge

Toronado Events Calendar

Unexpectedly, we walked in to a typical Barleywine festival sort of madhouse… the bar packed to the rafters with not just the regular beer geeks, but scores of people who had seen a recent review of the Toronado in the Chronicle and read about Saturday’s festival.

(the list with our sloppy annotated notes)

There were 25 beers available (the 26th never made it to the bar)… and throughout the night, we were able to go through all of them. The highlights:

It was great to see Tad and Ian together once again behind the bar, the beer fantastic, and aside from Rosamunde closing at SEVEN-FREAKING-THIRTY, it was a perfect way to pass the afternoon.