Day One

After a large cup of steaming Joe at PEETS, we began to wake up to a sunny San Francisco day.  Our first stop.....the        market.

The Farmers Market in One Ferry Building:  Wharfside

A beautiful eclectic menagerie of food shops from the famous Cowgirl Creamery to the San Francisco Fish Company.  The whole shebang a foodies delight!  Cara and I were on a bit of a mission to buy our ingredients for dinner:  Momo’s Rosemary Chicken and Risotto.  (This was a special request for our dinner that I was making that evening for dear friends I haven’t seen in 2 decades). 

KOMBUCHA ON TAP!!!!

HANDMADE ARTISAN SALUMI FROM BOCCALONE

As we wandered around and hit the mushroom cantina, I couldn’t resist the fresh porcini mushrooms.....and there they were beautiful Oregonian White Truffles.  Hmmmmm 18.75/ounce or Italian white truffles 250$/ounce?  Which one do you think I purchased?

We continued cruising around, sucked up a couple of Kumamoto oyster’s...to gorgeous not to eat.

And then we happened upon a real gem BOULETTES LARDER ... cool chef Amaryll Schwertner.  I have a sixth sense of finding these places.  I can stiff them out like a truffle dog finds the motherload at the the bottom of an oak tree.

A beautiful long wooden communal dining table alongside an open kitchen.  Chef’s buzzing around.  It seemed liike everyone knew one another, and it was my feeling that there were a couple of SF big chefs sitting right there.  I don’t really know any of the West Coast chefs, so it was difficult for me to recognize anyone....but they were there for sure.

Cara and I sat down for a wonderful lunch:    

Winter Salad: romaine and white chickory
apricots, walnuts, shaved citron, mustard-apple & date cream vinaigrette

Spanish Mackerel Rice Bowl
short grain rice, gingered carrots and yuzu soy butter, nori

Open Kitchen at Boulettes Larder

And then the story of the day began to unfold.  The waiter suggested we try a piece of the Lemon Meringue Tart.  They only make one a day and it one of their prized dishes.

Ok.  Let’s try it!   Wow...amazing.  A beautiful balance of Meyer lemon custard, and buttery almond crust, with perfect dollops of meringue dusted with powdered sugar.

Somebody else thought it was amazing too:  MARTHA STEWART.  She loved it so much that she wrote about it 3 times in her blog.  She also walked out with 600$ worth of to go food for the plane.  

Meyer Lemon Meringue Tart

Shopping complete, we headed up to Marin, to Petaluma to visit some beautiful old friends Bill and Jo.  A  great reunion over Rosemary Chicken and White Truffle Risotto....and of couse, some California wine.  And to top if off, dark chocolate mousse specially made from Bill, and a fine sip of Vin Santo to wrap it up.  What a nice evening!

Momo's Rosemary Chicken with White Truffle Risotto and Fresh Porcini Mushrooms

Dinnertime!

On the way to Petaluma....Golden Gate Bridge

Rainbow tunnel to Marin!