Marin County Real Estate – Do you Forage? A Culinary Event Worthy of a Trip to San Francisco
Marin County Real Estate – Do you Forage? A Culinary Event Worthy of a Trip to San Francisco
The San Francisco Bay Area is a culinary hot spot with over 4,000 restaurants in San Francisco alone. It has been said that you could eat breakfast, lunch and dinner every day for a year and not hit all of them. When Marinites want a unique culinary experience where do they go? Yes, San Francisco (or if they are really adventurous, The East Bay). It’s known that many Marinites do not like to leave the county, especially if they have to cross a bridge. It’s not a long journey but for many in Marin the “City” is intimidating.
On Friday, February 11th, I discovered a truly worthy event worth the trek to San Francisco! It’s called the Underground Dinner hosted by Chef and founder of ForageSF, Iso. It’s a delicious, delectable journey into a world of found (foraged) and local ingredients masterfully prepared and presented to a group of curious diners at a chosen San Francisco restaurant. Join ForageSF mailing list on their website . Once a member of the email/updates you will receive announcements about the secret dinners and the underground market (a topic for another article).
I have been on the mailing list for a few months now and every time the email arrives we are tempted and curious but the timing never worked out. As an early V-day gift I was surprised with tickets (I may have forwarded the announcement with a hint that I wanted to go).
The event was at The Summit on Valencia Street. To be honest, it started a little rough. Logistics of where to seat us was unclear and we ordered the wine pairing with the meal and there didn’t seem to be a system in place for identifying the wine drinkers! There was no pro-active beverage service or communication for the first 30 minutes or so and since we are all conditioned to order a drink of some sort shortly after being seated at a restaurant we were anxious and confused. It seemed the wait staff was busy buzzing around doing everything but “waiting”.
We then learned that all the servers were volunteers and since it’s a a different venue each time the typical cohesiveness of a restaurant staff was non existent. So…have a little patience when you attend because it turns out it was worth it. We quickly forgot about that first 30 minutes as soon as we got our first course. Each course is paired with a wine (if you chose that option) and an explanation from Iso (the chef/founder) of where the ingredients came from and how they were acquired.
You can preview the menu prior to the event but the location (somewhere in the Mission) is divulged just one day before the event date. The cool thing is you not only get to experience a new culinary experience you also get to check out a new San Francisco restaurant. All participants sit family style at a table (or the bar) so you can go with a group or meet new friends and discuss the courses as they arrive. We were placed next to an adorable young couple that had just moved to the area from Chicago. He worked as a chef in a commercial R&D kitchen and she worked in Starbucks management. They took Bart from Walnut Creek for the experience. By the end of the evening we were taking pictures of each other and exchanging business cards. We shared Ooohs and Aaaaah while we tasted each course.
Wines were provided by Adam Nelson, Two Mile Wines in Berkeley? Yep, Berkeley and they were fantastic! Most are organically and bio-dynamically produced. “The wines are balanced, food-friendly, and eminently drinkable, with the personality of an old, charming friend (but not the one who sleeps on your couch).”from the website.
Course 1: Fresh Local oysters with Herring Row. Herring enter the bay only two times per year to spawn so when they arrive, eager fisherman at the ready swarm to capture the fish mainly for the row. Delish! Paired with a sparkling white wine.
Course 2: Miners lettuce salad with lardons and an egg poached (cooked in the shell with a thermal immersion circulator). If you watch Top Chef you have seen them vacuum seal meats and other protein and cook them in the immersion circulator. So cool we all wanted to run out and purchase one but turns out they start at $900. The salad was Paired with White wine from Two-Mile
Course 3: Fish soup with crostini topped with a spicy Nori aoli. Paired with a 2007 Dry Creek Sangiovese
Course 4: Wild Boar stew with homemade gnocchi. paired with a 2008 Founders Syrah/Petite Syrah blend
Course 5: Desert of sorbet and macaroons from . Paired with, not sure but some kind of aperitif I couldn’t drink that was clear and well too strong for me to drink.
They were also serving a cocktail of Root (root beer liquor) and ginger beer over ice. Dangerous and delicious if you like Root Beer.
I highly recommend a foray into a foraged dinner at the Wild Kitchen with Iso. Lovely and engaging man who is passionate about hyper local food and it’s preparation. The meals seem to run $50-80 per person for 5 courses per person but they offer some trade and cheaper ticket options on Twitter.
Sign up, attend an event and then come back and let me know what you thought. I am still drooling over the oysters with Herring row and the homemade gnocchi. Can’t wait for my next Wild Kitchen experience!
p.s. My pictures, well, not great and we were so absorbed in the food and the experience we didn’t snap any shots of all the yummy food. I guess you will have to go and experience it for yourself.