It’s a Hard Knox Life…

Review of: Hard Knox

By: Avery Glasser

Rating: 4

Read review on Judy’s Book.

Ever since Art’s Country Kitchen closed down, I’ve been looking for some good soul food. You know what I mean… the sort of food that makes you gain a dozen or so pounds just looking at the menu. Places where collard greens and okra happily give up their lives to become something so much better than just plain vegetables. Places where the only thing better than something fried or something smothered in gravy is something fried THEN smothered in gravy. Mmm…. gravy.

In a strange way, the Hard Knox is and isn’t that sort of soul food place. It’s fantastic… the Jambalaya was great, the corn bread inspired, and the red beans and rice were absolutely amazing. However, it gets better… so, so much better. The mac and cheese is an experience in itself: perfectly creamy cheese sauce combined with al dente elbow macaroni. It’s quite possibly the perfect pot mac and cheese (which is completely different from baked mac and cheese). Even better: the country fried steak, covered in a thick gravy that just bursts with flavor. Add a couple of shots of Crystal hot sauce and a Sierra Nevada and you have yourself a great meal.

However, the purveyors of the Hard Knox don’t have fried okra on the menu, a staple when it comes to soul food in my book… and I would have loved to see some biscuits and sawmill gravy, even though I know it is more of a southern breakfast thing than a lunch menu item.

The only thing is that sometimes the food is a little too measured. There’s enough grease, butter and/or fat to make it tasty, but not enough to really stir your soul. It’s possibly because the owner trained in the south, but is from Vietnam… he learned it but didn’t live it. Still, it’s some of the best soul food you’ll find in the city… and once the 3rd street light rail starts running, it will probably become more popular than ever.

An Attempt at New Haven Pizza

Review of: Amici’s East Coast Pizzeria

By: Avery Glasser

Rating: 3

Read review on Judy’s Book.

Calling Amici’s an “East Coast Pizzeria” is a complete misnomer, as there are two styles of pizza typically found on the East Coast. First off, you have New York pizza, typified by a thin crust that is foldable which is topped with a rich combination of tomato sauce and cheese. This can be found at Arinell, not Amici’s. Amici’s is trying to replicate, with some success, the pizza from New Haven, Connecticut.

When it comes to New Haven style pizza, there are some significant characteristics: the crust should be very thin, seasoned with olive oil and salt and should never get floppy. This base can be covered with chopped clams, olive oil and grated cheese or it can be covered with a little red sauce, mozzarella and some toppings. Not a mountain of toppings, but some sausage, pepperoni, peppers, onions, anchovies and other bits to enhance the flavor of the pizza. Shape isn’t as important, nor is cutting it into symmetrical wedges… but color is, as the bottom should have areas of jet black char from the heat of the wood or coal fired brick oven, and the top of the pizza should blister from the heat anywhere where it is not covered with cheese. Is your mouth watering yet?

Amici’s tries to replicate this, and in some ways they have: the cheese mix is pretty dead on, and the crust exhibits the sort of charring and blistering you would expect, though it isn’t oiled and salted first, which makes it lose out a little on the flavor. For the past few months, I usually have Amici’s delivered three times a month – and the pies are consistantly good, but nowhere as good as when you get it served hot at the restaurant.

Points off for their prices, the occasional delivery issue (getting a pie with the cheese all slid over to one side), and the piece of metal my wife unfortunately found in her chicken pesto pasta one time.

British Treats in the Lower Haight

Review of: Sunrise Market

By: Avery Glasser

Rating: 4

Read review on Judy’s Book.

Though their selection isn’t as good as it was a few years ago, Sunrise Market is a great place to go when you need your British food fix. HP sauce, Baked Beanz, PG Tips Tea and Flake bars can be found here, as well as probably 100 other British imports ranging from soup to soda to candy.

Perfect when you’re out of tea and you’re just craving a good cuppa…

The joys of beer in the sun…

Review of: Zeitgeist

By: Avery Glasser

Rating: 4

Read review on Judy’s Book.

After living in Munich for two years, I learned something about the magical powers of the beer garden: a gravel and tree lined area where you can sit outside with some grilled food and a fresh liter of beer and while away the day.

Now, in Munich, beer gardens can be found all over the place, some, like the Augustiner Keller biergarten seat over 8000 people, mostly self-service style. In San Francisco, the closest you can come to that is Zeitgeist, which can seat maybe a couple hundred outside in the gravelled picnic-tabled garden.

Unline the beer gardens of Munich which typically offer one lager and a hefeweizen beer, Zeitgeist has over a dozen on tap. Though this is great in itself, it does create a small logjam at the bar area, especially when you’re dealing with a massive crowd constantly trying to figure out what they want to have next. Here’s the trick… when it’s warm out and you get to sit in the sun (or shade), any beer tastes good, so pick one thing, get a pitcher of it and enjoy being outside with a tasty beverage.

So, yes. I guarantee if the weather is good, the bar will be crowded. You just have to deal with it. But if the sun is shining and the grill is fired up, having to wait a few minutes to get your drink just shouldn’t matter all that much, should it?

One of the top 3 Beer Bars in America…

Review of: Brickskeller Inn

By: Avery Glasser

Rating: 5

Read review on Judy’s Book.

They say the best nights are the ones you don’t remember. Enter the Brickskeller. At the suggestion of the owner of San Francisco’s venerable Toronado, one of the best beer bars on the Left Coast, I went to the Brickskeller back in 1998 when in DC for a business meeting. I remember the physical layout of the bar, the fact that they had Old Potrero Single Rye Whisky, and that they had a kick-ass burger. What I can’t recall is what I had after the burger, or getting back to the hotel, or pretty much any details about that night. Needless to say, I list that night as one of my best business travel experiences of the past decade.

Yesterday, after meetings in DC, I introduced my new colleagues to the Brickskeller – and by the end of the night, nine of us were searching through the list of over 1000 well maintained beers for hidden gems, having top notch burgers (and the spinach and artichoke dip was pretty darned good as well)!

For a world-travelling beer geek, the Brickskeller is the place to go to bring up memories of brews past… Adnams from Suffolk, Boon Gueuze from Belgium, Augustiner from Munich, Rauchbier from Bamberg (with all its smoky goodness), perfectly sour Berliner Weisse, Gaffel and Reissdorf Koelsch from Cologne, Uerige Doppelsticke from Duesseldorf, Geary Pale Ale from Maine, Hitachino Nest Lacto Stout from Japan… every bottle bringing forth a memory of places visited and beers shared with friends.

Or even better failing to bring up any memories at all…

Everything’s good… but the coffee

Review of: Latte Express

By: Avery Glasser

Rating: 3

Read review on Judy’s Book.

Where do you go when you have a 6am conference call and you desperately need a large cup of coffee to prevent yourself from passing out when you’re supposed to be brilliant on the phone? If you live near the ballpark, there’s only one choice: Latte Express.

Jam-packed with construction workers, people in suits working East Coast hours and folks heading to an early morning Caltrain just a block away, Latte Express has some of the sketchiest coffee in the area… flavors like Irish Coffee, raspberry, french vanilla as well as some normal coffee “flavors” such as french roast, kona, etc. Trust me, Blue Bottle and Ritual don’t have anything to worry about.

Still, at 6am, it’s there for your caffeine fix.

Aside from the coffee, they do make some darned good pastries – kick-ass bear claws, eclairs and these little rolls stuffed with a half of a fried egg and some ham (it tastes much better than it sounds).

What really sets Latte Express apart is the quality of their sandwiches. Even though the coffee barely gets a single star, I practically live on their turkey-bacon-cheese with avocado sandwich on freshly baked dutch crunch bread, having it on average two times a week. Freshly made ham, egg and cheese bagels for breakfast are excellent as well, but take note – they’re much greasier than those at Choppers down the street.

Prices are fair, they have three coolers full of various drinks (including Jones Organics mandarin green tea, a favorite), and the people there really do their best to get through a busy lunch crowd quickly.

It’s a block away from Subway – and a world better. Recommended for commuters, Ballpark denizens and the occasional neighborhood early bird.