drewmckinney.net

I feel horrible for writing this because generally I like shitty beer. That being said, wow. Calabaza Blanca is the worst beer I’ve ever had in my life. It really does taste like fermented goat piss. To answer your question: Yes, but I won’t explain how.

This was good shit man. On Union Street at Octavia. The dining room has high ceilings that give the place a spacious feel but I felt the noise level was a bit louder than it should have been. Noise be damned though, this was some good eatin’.

Chianti – they were out of stock of the kind I first ordered but since the wine list is pretty extensive there was no trouble finding another. Seems like a lot of great wines. The bar looked small but fun.

Insalata mista – pretty standard mista. Had walnuts, greens, some sort of soft cheese and a vinaigrette. Very nice and fresh.

Risotto with squid ink and scallops – very damn tasty. The scallops were cooked to perfection and the risotto was nice and black. The garnish sauce was good and was a very nice color, something between a tomato and a tomato truck.

Ravioli with buffalo mozzarella and prosciutto – hot damn! Cheesy, tomatoey, proscituttoey and ravioliey (yes, I have problems). These pockets of cheese and meat slide over your tongue and swan dive gracefully down your throat producing smiles and mmm-ing noises.

Brick-pressed chicken – wow. Didn’t know chicken could be so flavorful. Big chicken too, but tender, like some sort of Hulkinated chicken that has been beaten into delicious submission.

Cow short ribs – so delicious the cow must have been raised on a cloud of butter. This was beaten into delicious submission also. Like eating a piece of cow-flavored chocolate mousse. I don’t know why sandwiches of this stuff aren’t available.

Sicilian style cannoli – nice finish. Not too sweet because of the espresso creme but sweet enough. Went nicely with a tawny port.

Earlier during the week I posted about how Vanilla Coke was getting the axe in the UK and I asked how we could get rid of it over here. The wait is over according the BBC in their article Coke Ditches Three Flavours in the US. Aw yeah. Not only is the vile liquid going to be eradicated from our soil but Coke is also giving us Diet Cherry Coke, which I’ve been wanting for years. Regular Cherry Coke is fine and all but I have to worry about my girly figure (diet soda is probably unhealthy due to the chemicals used to replace sugar but at least we’ll look good).

Take THAT Jessica! Your precious Vanilla Coke will be no more, mua ha ha ha! Seriously though, Jessica seems very nice and I wish her all the best in her search for a replacement beverage.

Earlier today I found on the BBC that Coke will be halting sales of Vanilla Coke in the UK. I think this is wonderful news for our brethren across the pond. Vanilla Coke has got to be one of the most vile substances that has ever crossed my lips (this coming from a guy that was made to take cod liver oil every morning before school) and I say good riddance. Now, what do we need to do to get rid of it over here?

One of the wonderful things about living in San Francisco, particularly in the Mission, is the staggering number of tacquerias to choose from. Are you around 24th and York? Go to Tacqueria San Francisco. Folsom and 20th? Go to El Faro, the guys that invented the super burrito. Are you in the cruelly-named Inner Sunset? La Fonda is the place to go. There are hundreds of tacquerias here but not all of them are worthy of your hard-earned buck. You can figure out which ones to go to (or not go to ) by the traditional method of visiting every tacqueria that you come across and keeping copious notes about them but my experience with that method has left a rotten taste in my mouth one too many times. Enter the BurritoEater website, dedicated to providing up-to-the-minute (I could be making that up) information about tacquerias in San Francisco.

Specificity (thank you Ms. Loadholt, my ninth grade english teacher) is something that can be hard to find on the web and when I see it in action I get all gooey inside. This site doesn’t try to rate all of the food in San Francisco like many other sites do, instead they stick with tacquerias, and more specifically, burritos. Sort by name, neighborhood, and probably other ways. It’s all here – links to maps, links to the Department of Health for every tacqueria so you can see who is posioning you and who is merely just bad cooks, reviews, cool stuff like that with little mustaches everywhere.

If you live in San Francisco or are planning to visit then it would be a crime to not check out BurritoEater because let’s face it, if you’re here you’re going to have a burrito at some point.