Foodhoe's Foraging

previous visits: 3.22.09 | 2.05.09

Yes again.  I just couldn’t help it and found myself back at Mission Street Foods last Thursday, this time for some very interesting food that at times challenged my taste buds (gypsy pickles) but was for the most part delightful.  That’s what I like about eating there, the menu is always different, the chefs change, so it’s very worthwhile coming back again and again to check it out.  This is in addition to the fact that the proceeds after cost go to some really great local causes. 

Now you can follow them on twitter @missionstfood where they post encouraging updates on table and food availability.  Examples:   Empty table for four, no line. Get here!  Half hour wait; we have everything but garlic soup.  Running out–all done for the night. Signing off.  This is very useful information to check before heading out there only to find them closed or out of the garlic soup or fritters that you were craving…

Last week’s Thursday chef was Roger Feely of Nopalito and founder of Soul Cocina, a San Francisco based culinary arts project.  He has been cooking for years and has travelled both ends of the Gypsy trail – Spain and India, to study the culinary arts.  The menu featured the flavors of North Africa and Southern Spain which sounded interesting to me, so I met my friend DebbieG for dinner. 

Our first dish was Ajo Blanco, which the menu described as marcona almonds, olive oil powder – $5.  Perplexed, we asked our server who said it was garlic with almonds and powdered olive oil, so we were expecting a bowl of almonds dusted with garlic and olive oil powder.  What arrived was a chilly, white colored soup, a dish from the South of Spain that is similar to gazpacho because it is made with garlic, olive oil, stale bread and wine vinegar.   It was silky and rich, tart and savory – it looked a little like dessert with the mountain of fluffy white (still not sure if that was powdered almonds or olive oil) stuff on a crispy crouton.  There was lots going on with this dish flavorwise and texturally, it was a different concept of soup that I liked very much.

The soup had a grainy texture from the ground up almonds, it was thick and rich and addictively delicious. 

Bastilla of slow poached Soul Food Farm chicken – $12 was beautifully presented with deep crimson and golden orange rose petals.  Bastilla (pronounced Bastiyya) is a north African delicacy that consists of a savory spice mixture, minced chicken, eggs, onion and crushed almonds encased in flaky buttery phyllo pastry.

 A garnish of powdered sugar and cinnamon adds to the fragrant blend of flavors.  Every bite offers an array of tastes and textures, crunchy, crispy, chewy, buttery, sweet and savory.  It’s like a magnificent chicken baklava.  I liked this dish, but DebbieG was unimpressed, which meant I got to finish it all! Sometimes I love going out with picky eaters…

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Our favorite dish was the fried lamb belly, goat cheese tatziki, beet, chorizo on a homemade flatbread – $7.  I’ve had the flatbread here before, but this was a heady combination of  rich belly meat served with tart tatziki and roasted beets.

I was mesmerized by the glistening sheen on the fatty flesh that sported a streak of brilliant crimson from contact with a beet.  It was like an airy cloud of gamey rich butter nestled within gelatinous tender flesh.  The tangy herbal infused yogurt tsaziki sauce was brilliant with the rich meat, which included crispy cubes of spicy chorizo.

The Duqqa lavash, goat milk yogurt, gypsy pickles [root veggies and wild fennel], green almonds, green garbanzos, fava greens – $6, was one dish that neither of us could find appreciation for.  Duqqa is an egyptian spice mix that liberally coated the flatbread, along with a lot of garlic and seeds.  This dish was not for the faint of heart!  Neither of us were big fans of pickles, which brought to mind an odd image of the maniacal character Borat who harbored a strong aversion to gypsies.  I kinda felt that way about those gypsy pickles… 

 The spicy coating on the bread was harsh, like the everything topping on a bagel but spread on really thick and the acidity of the pickles was not working together with the tart yogurt. Don’t get me wrong, I love pickled and salty things and am especially fond of umeboshi, pepperoncinis, and saltidos which are the dried pickled plums that no one I know will even put in their mouths. I like vegemite on buttered toast.  My point is that I feel that I am capable of appreciating tastebud numbing, tongue withering pickles and salty things, but I was defeated by this plate.

The dessert was an intriguingly named Black Sphynx Ma’amoul, Humphry Slocombe olive oil ice cream, rhubarb, strawberry, rose.  I found a post on the chef’s blog with a recipe for the ma’amoul, which is a Middle eastern pastry that he makes using a cookie press form that he found in Chinatown.  The cookies were filled with the black sphynx date and it was served with tart crunchy rhubart and strawberry slices over a deliciously sticky caramel sauce.  And that  Humphrey Slocombe ice cream has a dense rich texture that goes with everything.

details:
Thurs and Sat, 6pm til they run out of food.  2234 Mission St , SF (Lung Shan Restaurant)
Cash Only | No reservations–first come, first served.

Final note, the fire escape directly above the entrance sucks because there are pigeons who roost there and I was mortified when DebbieG pointed out the bird poop that had thwupped unnoticed onto my hand.  Yuck.  We looked up and saw there were at least 4 pigeons up there.  If you are standing in line, stand out far enough that you are not in the line of fire…