Menu: I Left My Heart in San Francisco
Inspired by our fair city we hosted a San Francisco dinner menu that coupled some familiar comforts with a few surprises and unusual facts. For example, did you know the Bay Area is home to the martini? The Mai Tai? Folgers Coffee? Irish Coffee? Or Pisco Punch? How about the Popsicle? Or Crab Louis?
Our menu was inspired by many San Francisco Food Firsts, and we spent a lot of time researching just the right recipes to mirror the originals–as best as we know how, anyway.
Menu: I Left My Heart in San Francisco
Appetizer
Oysters Kirkpatrick (recipe)
We probably wouldn’t have thought to combine ketchup, clarified butter, crispy pancetta and Parmesan on top of a freshly shucked Blue Point Oyster, but apparently in 1900 Chef Ernest Arbogast of The Palace Hotel did in honor of the Hotel Manager, Colonel John C. Kirkpatrick. Sit back and slurp!
Bread
Dead Duck Bread
Everyone knows that Boudin’s San Francisco Sourdough is legendary, a staple since 1849 and a culinary feat that can only be created here owing to a combination of killer motherdough and a unique climate, so our meal wouldn’t be complete without an attempt. Why do we call it Dead Duck Bread? Ever see About a Boy? Ya…our first attempt wasn’t that great. Neither were the second, third or fourth attempts…can’t make dough rise to save our lives!
Salad
Green Goddess Salad (recipe)
Named after the play, and in honor of the actor George Arliss, The Palace Hotel came up with this dressing combining house made Mayonnaise, sour cream, parsley, scallions, lemon juice, vinegar and anchovies and poured it on a simple bed of lettuce and tomatoes in 1915.
Main Dish
Tadich Grill Cioppino (recipe)
Also in 1900, Cioppino was invented at Alioto’s. Cioppino is what happens when Italian and Portuguese immigrants have infinite access to cheap seafood. A North Beach favorite, we’ve found a recipe for the Cioppino at Tadich Grill, California’s oldest restaurant and nearly oldest business, operating continuously since 1849.
Side Dishes
Rice-A-Roni (recipe)
“The San Francisco Treat.” After listening to an NPR episode back in 2008 describing how a Canadian woman married to an American working at a pasta factory and living with an Armenian immigrant in San Francisco in 1958 came up with the idea of a rice-based quick to make side dish for Americans, we have wanted to try our hand at it. We’ve taken the original recipe (not the boxed stuff), shared in the memoirs of Pailadzo Captanian, the Armenian lady who took the young couple in, rented them a room, and taught the wife to cook.
Celery Victor (recipe)
A simple but flavorful dish; in 1910 Chef Victor Hertler of the St. Francis boiled celery in a variety of chicken, veal and vegetable stocks, cooled and seasoned with herbs, vinegar and olive oil.
Dessert
Ghirardelli Soft Center Cake (recipe)
In 1849, Domingo Ghirardelli opened his first shop in Stockton, California to sell confections and supplies to miners, but it wasn’t until 1865, and 5 stores later, that someone discovers the a new way to process chocolate, later renamed the “Broma process” in San Francisco where the current Ghirardelli Square still stands. No San Francisco meal would be complete without at least a splash of the world famous chocolate, and we took 60% chocolate bars, melted them with butter, folded them into some whipped eggs, and baked until just solid, but still melty in the middle.
Olive Oil Ice Cream (recipe)
While this dish isn’t world famous yet, San Francisco is famous for Slow, Organic, Natural, Raw, Local, and Whole foods. We took five amazing ingredients; olive oil, heavy cream, half and half, eggs and sugar and created a creamy concoction that celebrates all that is the San Francisco food movement. We think Alice Waters would be proud. Paired with our chocolate cake and a garnish of blackberries, it was positively sinful!