One reason I love living in SF is that this crazy city holds events like a grilled cheese invitational which happened this past Saturday: http://www.grilledcheeseinvitational.com/norcal
Molly, Theo, and I got up and were out the door by 11:15 to make sure we'd be early enough in line to be one of the 500 judges. We power walked our way from Potrero Hill to Dolores Park, burning off some calories to make room for the grilled cheese! Sadly, when we got in line they announced that they had fewer judges than expected and were reducing the numbers even more. So we didn't make it in.
But somehow, if you can believe it, it turned out to be a very awesome grilled-cheese-free day. Here are some highlights:
Tartine: We met up with Vandna and Derek in the line and headed to Tartine to pick up some delicious treats and then settled down in Dolores Park to eat (pics below) There were tons of silly dogs...one in particular who romped over to us, licked Derek's cream tart, and rolled over on his side knocking over Theo's water with his tongue hanging out in excitement :)
Katamari in Dolores Park: As we were getting up to wander over to watch a few minutes of the grilled cheesing, I happened to see my two friends from Seattle who were in town also sitting at the park to eat their Tartine treats! So they joined our group and wandered over to the grilled cheese mob. As we were standing back to watch the chaos, we ran into another of our friends who was with a friend. So two more joined us for our wandering adventures. From our arrival at Dolores Park, we went from 3 to a group of 9.
Omnivore: When I was at Tartine I flipped through a Noe Valley newspaper which advertised an event at a local bookstore where Lori Narlock, author of Small Plates, Perfect Wines would be talking about pairing wine with small plates. "Wine and appetizers will be available". Our big group strolled over to the Omnivore bookstore which turned out to be an awesome store focused on all things food. Lori made two delicious dishes that we all got to try along with a Chardonnay. Molly bought her book so I will definitely post again when we get a chance to cook some of the dishes in the book.
Pirate store!: Did you know there is a pirate store in the Mission? How excellent. And they're charitable pirates...they provide tutoring and workshops to help students develop their writing skills.
Shoe Biz: Across the street from the pirate store was a fun shoe store where I picked up a new pair (in one of the pics below).
Little Otsu: While I was in the shoe store, the rest of the gang went to a cute vegan boutique nearby where they make some really great prints.
Luna Park (bar/restaurant): By this point in the day, we were back down to 4 people. Molly, Theo, Vandna and I hit Luna Park to sit down after all that walking. And we ordered a sangria punch bowl :) It was not sangria, but it was still very tasty and a nice way to kill some time before dinner.
Mission St Food: Very cool SF thing where every Thurs and Sat the Mission St. Food organizers feature a local guest chef who makes a set of small dishes.
"Ideally, this will be part of an indie cooking movement that will let talented cooks reach the public without the risks of opening a conventional restaurant—and let the public enjoy great food without the costs of dining at a conventional restaurant." They used to do this out of a taco truck, but have made the move to a Chinese restaurant to have more room for these guest chefs. Profits go to a food-related charity. The food was pretty good - we tried all the savory items on the menu and I think our favorite was the Peking Crepes.
Theo, Molly, and I managed to catch a bus back, pick up some white russian materials for our Big Lebowski viewing and get home just as the rain started. Perfect.
Comments [3]