Where to Eat - Locanda

I finally tried Locanda the other night and it totally lived up to the hype. I sipped on a Helen di Montenegro while my brother tried the Strawberry Fizz. The bartenders were super accomodating and adorable while we waited for a table. My drink had tequila, amaro, agave, grapefruit and lime. It was delish. Chris' drink had bourbon, strawberry, lemon, egg white, and seltzer. It was yummy but I could definitely see it as going down a little too easy. Fair warning!

When we sat down we got some of the best focaccia I've ever had. Salty with the perfect amount of good quality olive oil. I ate my two slices embarrassingly fast.

We started with the Dungeness Crab and Sorrel Soup with chili and croutons. I was really excited for this, in fact I picked it as the starter I wanted. Sadly, I was not into it. The soup itself was good and the crab and croutons great but I realized unfortunately I am not a fan of sorrel so it never had a chance. Not a reflection of the food but more of my taste.

Next we had the Carciofi Crudi. This salad of shaved artichokes, grilled ricotta, wild arugula and avocado was simple and perfect. I'm not sure I've ever had grilled ricotta before but it's pretty genius. I really enjoyed how light and fresh it was.

We had the Fried Sweetbreads with Artichokes and capers next. These were probably the best sweetbreads I've ever had. In my previous post I said the sweetbreads at Park Tavern were great starter sweetbreads for hesitant first timers. These sweetbreads were sweetbreads for people who enjoy them. They were so lightly breaded, not over salted or too greasy. The capers and lemon gave it a nice touch too.

We finished with a pasta each. Chris had the Linguini with littleneck clams, guanciale and ramps. It looked great and he said as much. I had the above Bucatini all'Amatriciana. The simple pasta with guanciale, tomato, peperoncini and pecorino was perfect. It wasn't trying to hard, it just let the quality ingredients speak.

I can't wait to go back and try another pasta and the Pizza Bianca.

Where to Eat - Park Tavern

I was really excited to try Park Tavern after my great experience at Marlowe. Overall it was pretty wonderful. The place itself is huge but we showed up with three on a Saturday right as dinner service began and still couldn't get a table. We settled for a bar communal table, which was fine with me.

We started with the Mendocino uni served with puffed rice, avocado-blood orange oil and chili. I'm a huge fan of uni to begin with so I bit into mine already a happy camper. The texture of the puffed rice and acidity of the oil added with the spice from the chili and complimentary buttery avocado flavor made pretty much the perfect bite. Well balanced and fresh, I loved this raw course.

We moved on to the Fried oyster "Caesar." I immediately fell in love with this. The fried oysters weren't greasy so I didn't feel as guilty as I should about smothering them in Caesar aioli and wrapping them in a piece of Romaine lettuce - got to have your greens right? Basically I am now refusing chicken in my Caesar salad and demanding fried oysters.

Next we had the grilled delta asparagus topped with a slow-cooked farm egg, Parmesan cream and Mangalista prosciutto. This was my least favorite dish. It didn't thrill me and, with so many interesting things other places are doing with slow-cooked eggs, it stood out as lack luster. Apologies on the picture - bit of a glare!

Another not so great picture, but a really great dish. These are the chicken fried sweetbreads with buttermilk cream and madeira jus and they taste like the best chicken nuggets you'll ever have! They are the perfect starter sweetbreads for hesitant eaters. Plus anything with buttermilk is usually amazing in my opinion.

The Five Star Angus beef tartare with farm egg yolk, micro-head lettuces and grilled baguette. This tartare had a great kick to it with some Tabasco. The contrast to the usual dijon mustard was unexpected and delicious. From now on I'm asking for hot sauce with my tartare.

The waiter kindly brought us out the deviled eggs topped with bacon, pickled jalapeno and chives. Bacon and eggs is a solid combination but the pickled jalapenos were a nice surprise.

The waiter also brought out the roasted brussels sprout heats with Parmesan, sage and chili. These were a good bar snack but at this point I think I had too much salt. (Actually too much everything!)

For me, an entree was out of the question so I went with the Dungeness crab and Maine lobster bisque. Unfortunately it was beyond over salted. There is nothing worse than tasting a dish that should taste amazing but is flawed due to a heavy hand.

All in all I had a really great, if indulgent, meal at Park Tavern. My companions got entrees as they apparently have no belts or shame, but they said they were not super impressive. I think it's a great place for cocktails and small plates. I would definitely be interested in checking out more of the raw items and the housemade charcuterie.

Weekly Obsession - My New Table!

I found this super amazing, perfect for my space table at Leftovers on Van Ness for a great price. This picture shows it expanded to full size but you can fold it on the hinge and rotate it for a smaller rectangle shape. I also picked up two sets of the Heath Ceramics dinner set I've been eyeing and that super cute succulent trough against the wall. Total upgrade!