West Coast Review: Starbelly’s

I never thought I’d be reviewing a BLT. The proliferation of the sandwich and the endless variety of add-ons, (I recently heard of a BLAST: Bacon, Lettuce, Avocado, Shrimp and Tomato), would make writing about them a herculean task. But this one. THIS one. It was perfect.

Starbelly’s BLT is built around some of the best tasting bacon I’ve had in months. It is very thick cut, chewy and extremely flavorful with a slight pepper kick; three fat slabs of delicious. The bread is a squishy, lightly toasted ciabatta roll, about eight inches long and smothered in basil aioli. The tomatoes were, (as are all the restaurant’s produce), farm fresh and perfectly ripe. I especially appreciated the pile of wild baby arugula, dressed lightly in oil, that echoed the pepper in the bacon.

Now it may seem that I am not the lightest of eaters, but I am. I love food, but can only handle small portions and generally end up taking quite a bit home when I dine out, as inelegant as that is seen to be. I ate the whole thing. It was bigger than my head.

(honorable mention goes to the Old Bay remoulade served with the fries)

Review by Kajsa Sexton. Photo by Suzanne Ray.

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.

West Coast Review: Pirate Cat Radio

A review from my new West Coast correspondent, Kajsa:

I recently had the pleasure of visiting Pirate Cat Radio in the Outer Mission district of San Francisco. While I was ostensibly there to watch my friends’ band, Veil Veil Vanish be interviewed for their latest CD release, I may have had ulterior motives for insisting on coming and lending my support. I’ve been dying to try their café’s Bacon Maple Latte since Anthony Bourdain, (yeah, yeah), aired his SF No Reservations episode.

The initial smell is most definitely bacon, and the first few sips are intensely smokey. The bacon bits that act as a garnish work well to give you that first nose-full of salty, fatty char, but are a bit off-putting in their texture. They are miniscule and with the high fat to meat ratio that is what is so wonderful about bacon you are left with more tiny pieces of stale lard between your teeth than even I'd prefer.

It does get better as you go along. The maple is hardly detectable, but does add just the right amount of sweet for me, (which to be honest is very little). The oils start to rise and collect at the top, which gives each sip a silky effect, and is not as tongue coating as I expected. I did not catch the note in the corner of their blackboard that all their drinks are doubles and was unable to finish unless I wanted to shake the rings off my fingers, but the coffee flavor was needless to say present and held up to the flavor of the bacon.

Overall, definitely worth checking out and the music wasn't half bad either.

Photo by Suzanne Ray.

Bacon Beware!

If you dress as bacon, be prepared to be licked by a shirtless man with a spear. These guys were in the Bay to Breakers race in SF—or maybe they were just racing towards this. Thanks to baconista fan Kelly for sending in the photo! 

West Coast Wake Up

California restaurants seem to be specializing in some very bacon-y breakfast treats. There are of course the maple bacon donuts in SF that I have been pining over. Another great way to wake up is to this amazing bacon crusted french toast being served at Santa Monica bar West 4th/Jane. Owners Lieberman and O’Brian (former New Yorkers) named the bar in honor of NYC’s popular Corner Bistro which I’m sorry to say, is a bit overrated. Besides, the bistro doesn’t serve brunch—much less this delicious looking french toast! LA Times talks to Leiberman about his creation:

“Bacon with maple syrup is one of the greatest flavor combinations ever invented. I've had every kind of crusted French toast out there, from Captain Crunch to corn flakes. But no one had ever done it with bacon.”

I have to say, Captain Crunch-crusted french toast is pretty tasty so I can only imagine... Someone please tell me this dish in some way, shape or form exists in the real W4th area—or anywhere in NYC? Until I make another trip over, ILWTR will have to let me know how it is. 

West Coast Temptations

After some fantastic news today I hope I’ll be visiting SF again soon. And if I do, Four Barrel Coffee is #1 on my list of places to eat. Via ILWTR.

How Deep is Your Love?

Apparently, not that deep. I spotted this lovely necklace at a very cute boutique in SF this past November. The moment I saw it I thought “Oh! I do love bacon!” until I saw the price tag and thought “Well... not that much.” Don't question my devotion—we're in a recession, damn it!

Why, NY??

Why is the west coast getting all the bacon donut love?? In LA, Nickel Diner’s Maple-glazed Bacon donuts are making news. And lucky SFers can get Maple-glazed Bacon Apple donuts at Dynamo Donuts. Why didn't someone take me there when I was in SF in November? (Yeah, I'm talking to you ILWTR!) Someone PLEASE correct me if I'm wrong—but it seems there are no bacon donuts in New York!