West Coast Review: The Buckshot

Full disclosure: I love this place. I would live there if I could Decor that tends toward the hunting lodge kitsch—I’ve never seen more animal heads in one place at once—with a smattering of metal and skate punk memorabilia. Cheap beer, shuffle board, pool, and skee-ball, people. In addition to this nexus of happiness, The Buckshot has a kitchen that serves, along with delicious southern-style fare, chicken fried bacon. I moved out to the West Coast from New York without ever having had the opportunity to try this recent phenomenon. I spent hours on the internet looking for a place in San Francisco that served it, only to find complaints on Yelp that it was no where to be found. So yes, I may have spilled my beer on my companions at seeing it on their chalkboard menu.

The bacon is both chewy and crunchy and lightly breaded with a crust that tends to flake off. The bacon flavor and it’s saltiness gets lost a bit in the seasoning of the batter; a thicker cut of bacon could be in order. The eight piece serving comes in a parchment lined tin cup with a side of maple syrup, which as a dipping sauce is absolutely key. Though not as thrilling as my imagination had built it up to be, I have not yet been there without ordering it; a fantastic bar snack.

As if a serving of that between two people weren’t enough, I had to try the Miss Piggy’s Mac ‘N’Cheese. It’s made with three cheeses, (Bleu, Cheddar, and either Jack or Pepper Jack—whichever they have that day), bacon, herbs and garlic bread crumbs. The portions could easily feed three, the macaroni nothing fancy and comfortingly reminiscent of good ol’ Kraft. In this dish, the bacon and Bleu are king. It is incredibly rich and creamy with bacon chunks throughout, not just as a garnish. It is well cooked and in good sized chunks, that retain their crunch despite the cheesy dousing. It's a salty dish, and the rosemary and parsley nicely balance its throat coating quality without diminishing the bacon flavor that permeates every bite.

Review by Kajsa Sexton.