Palmabella's Passions

Last Friday, we drove into San Francisco, and began the day by parking close to the restaurant where we would end up for dinner in Noe Valley, then taking the muni to the the Montgomery Street station. I must admit, even though I lived in the bay area for 18 years, I had never ridden the muni!

From there we walked 14 city blocks in the cold wind, mostly uphill. WHY did this couch potato do that, you ask? There must have been the promise of fabulous food at the end of the walk, and we were not disappointed! Nothing else could have me briskly walking in those temperatures. We ate lunch at the American Grilled Cheese Kitchen.

I trust my friend, Jerry, on food/restaurant recommendations. When it comes to comfort food he would know what I would like, and since he had recently blogged about this place, how could I be in San Francisco and not try it? Oh my. He was absolutely right. YUM!

Brad and I shared two sandwiches: The first was a "Mousetrap" (Tillamook sharp cheddar, creamy havarti, monterey jack, on artisan sour dough with applewood-smoked bacon!). This was the beginning of a pork fest, as you will see!

The other sandwich was a "Piglet": Tillamook sharp cheddar, artisan cured ham, apple mustard and rosemary butter. OMG!

We walked along the Embarcadero for many blocks, back to the Ferry building and its host of markets and shops. I made purchases from two vendors. The first was Blue Bottle Coffee (I also learned about this from Jerry's blog.). It was SO good, I had to sample both the espresso and the drip blend. Some say it is as good as in a cafe' in Italy. Pretty darn close!

Next we went to Boccalone, a salumeria in the Ferry Building, run by Chef Chris Cosentino and Mark Pastore of the restaurant, Incanto.

After some tasting, I came home with soppressata, orange and wild fennel salami, and brown sugar and fennel salami! And so continued our "Day of the Pig".

After a cold, windy walk, cookbook shopping at Omnivore Books, another coffee, and quite a bit of wine, our "Evening of the Pig" began. But you will have to wait until tomorrow for the 4 course pigfest!