Camino & World Champion Latte Artist at The Proxy Project

The report on the last 20 hours of food prowling.

Latte art by Hiroshi Sawada. Baked goods in background from Sandbox Bakery and Black Jet Bakery.

• 7:00pm Friday - It started Friday night at Oakland's Camino, which is easily among the best restaurants I have been to in years. Communal tables, open-flame cooking, unpretentious service, first-rate Californian cuisine. More at the end of this post.

• 10:00am Saturday - Ferry Building farmers' market for beans and eggs at Primavera's booth.  Then, a visit to the Farmhouse Culture stand, where I tried three kinds of sauerkraut: horseradish leek, apple fennel, and garlic dill pickle.  I took back a container filled with the first.  The salty-tartness and crunch of the sauerkraut pairs superbly with roasted beets!   

• 11:00am Saturday - Ritual Coffee at the The Proxy Project to see Hiroshi Sawada, THE master of latte art--the man who literally wrote the book on the subject.  He is also featured in this NY Times article from yesterday about Tokyo coffee.  

Hiroshi-san creating one of his ephemeral masterpieces.

As soon as I arrived at Ritual on this sun-drenched Saturday I began to envy everyone living in Hayes Valley (all the tail-wagging dogs and toddlers included).  Why? On the other side of Ritual is liquid nitrogen fueled Smitten Ice Cream; in front of it are two fashionable food trucks; and a stone's throw away are Blue Bottle, Absinthe, Miette, and probably many other awesome places that I would rather not know about. 

As I said, the day was bathing in sunshine and mildness for a winter day.

Smitten Ice Cream just upon opening. The Santa hat tells you it's December.

Attention carnivores!

Wha??  "Brighter Faster" is what the Proxy Project landmark says. Below is Casey's pizza truck,

This is why I sing "I left My Heart in San Francisco."

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More on Camino

Here is what three of us ordered (verbatim from the menu). My favorites are asterisked.

• Avocado, orange and rutabaga salad with pomegranate and walnuts *
• Wood oven-baked local oysters with absinthe, breadcrumbs and carrot salad
• Wood oven-roasted chanterelle mushrooms with pounded wild nettles and grilled flatbread
• Half a Dungeness crab grilled in the fireplace with radicchio salad and aioli*
• Grilled local ling cod, rockfish and artichokes with new onions, Yukon Gold potatoes and chile broth*
• For dessert: persimmon pudding (tasted like a milder version of pumpkin pie).  

Every dish had a "WOW!" factor. This means that every time I took a bite of a new dish, I interupted the table conversation or chewing silence to repeat (yet again that night), "Wow! That is good!"  Camino uses fireplaces and wood ovens rather than stoves to cook its food.  Also unlike the majority of kitchens, theirs is not made of stainless steel or plastic, but stone. The resulting look and feel of Camino is warmth--chestnuts-on-an-open fire lighting. (This is truer the closer you are to the kitchen, which we were.)

This gorgeous hearthy kitchen is also an open kitchen.   The colorful mis en place preens for onlookers.   Last week's Good Food show featured an interview with the chef, Russ Moore, a/k/a the "Gentle Griller." His kitchen is decidedly anti-macho--he said it himself! Here's to you Chef Russ!

My trip to Camino should have taken 45 minutes from Palo Alto, where I was coming from.  Instead, it took two dreadful hours, much of which was spent muttering obscenities, along with: I should have left earlier. Why am I doing this? I should have stayed home tonight!  Nothing like a good Friday evening traffic jam to soothe your nerves following an intense day at work.

But when I sat down and took my first taste of the avocado, orange and rutabaga salad,  all cares went POOF!  

Find: "C" is for Cozy, Chocolate and Chuao

This is what winters are made for:

Venezuelan hot chocolate

I discovered "Winter" this weekend at the Whole Foods in Palo Alto.  But I first discovered Chuao brand at Coupa Café.  Their addicting hot chocolate is made from the same stuff.

Spicy Maya

Now, the difference between Winter and Spicy Maya are two supremely cozy ingredients:  nutmeg and ginger.

Follow the directions and you will get a cup spanking with flavor.  I actually prefer it milder so I double the amount of milk.  Oh does it "arouse your senses."  I took one sip and there appeared a grin on my face, a brick fireplace in my kitchen, and chestnuts crackling over it...

Dangerous Find: Cloud-like Cheesecake

Airy and light with a mousse-like consistency, it is nothing at all like your typical-American, brick-like version. 

Sweet, whipped, creamy fluff topped with coarse graham cracker crumb topping.

So soft, it comes with fishing line for serving. 

An SF Chronicle food writer describes this cheesecake as a cloud.  

That's true.

The friend of mine, who tipped me off to this place described this cheesecake as deliciously satisfying dessert, even after having eaten so much that you are wheezing.

That's true too.

Right now, the cheesecakes are also available with a pumpkin topping. Zanze's, located in the residential neighborhood of Balboa Terrace, makes only cheesecakes.  These cakes make elegant gifts that will make people happy. 

More on Zanze's with prices and bios in a review from SF Weekly.

Zanze's Cheesecake 
2405 Ocean Avenue  
San Francisco,CA 94127-2606

(415) 334-2264

Simple Pleasures in Oakland

Three reasons why I am crazy for Temescal:

1. Breakfast at Pizzaiolo.

Doughnut hole and morning bun at Pizzaiolo. 

These deadly delights, along with Blue Bottle cappuccino mend all.  (OMG--the morning bun.)

So far, I have every reason to believe that the Pizzaiolo folks really mean it with their hearts.

2. Bakesale Betty's, on the corner.  

At 10:00 AM on a recent Saturday, this place was preparing for the lunchtime invasion of customers   who line up for their fried chicken sandwich.

Fried chicken sandwiches  on tap at Bakeale Betty's.

 I wasn't quite in the mood at 10-in-the-morning so I bought cookies instead: oatmeal raisin and molasses. 

Oatmeal raisin cookie with bits of walnuts.

These are extremely recommended for those who love a soft cookie.  They are pliable in your hands, like a firm dough.  This was especially true of the molasses' cookie.  I found the sweetness of both cookies, and the spiciness of the molasses cookie, to be very pleasant.

Molasses cookie. (Not all of it made it to the photo shoot.)

The service here on this day was as sweet as the cookies. Makes me really want to come back. Very, very soon.

3. La Calaca Loca (no website available at this writing).
La Calaca Loca--is that a kick to say or what. It's the stylish-looking Mexican place on the other side of Pizzaiolo. I haven't been there yet, but it is on my list, especially as I love a Mexican breakfast and this place is open from 9am on weekends. There is a nice outdoor patio in the back, says my knowledgeable foodie insider friend. 

There are plenty more social, political,  cultural and sun-drenched reasons to love this irresistible section of Temescal...as if one needed any more reasons.