Our favorite gourmand, Ruth Reichl was spotted around town in San Francisco, in addition to tweeting about her experiences. A tablehopper reader saw her at Quince, which was closed for a private event. Of Quince, she said, “the mysteriously tender crunch of abalone. Ethereal pillows of pasta. Cauliflower mousse. Chanterelles. Memorable white beans.” She also hit up Boulettes Larder at the Ferry Building (“Breakfast beneath the Bay Bridge at Boulette’s. Gently poached eggs on yogurt-laced dal, crisp pappadums. Warm toast. Apricot jam. Happy.”) and Little Skillet (“Long hungry line. Standing on Skillet’s sunny sidewalk, waiting for fried chicken. Preppy pink shirt jogs past. Oh SF! [Worth the wait.]”). Zuni continues its thrill: “Sweet, slippery anchovies nuzzle sharp shards of cheese. Add the ancient flavor of olives; soften with celery’s crunch. Perfect. Zuni.”
She also hit up the Thursday Market and visited the Namu stand (“A joyful jumble of sweet meat, salty seaweed, spice, scallions and fragrant rice. Gloriously messy Korean tacos at the Ferry Building.”) and chomped into a Zilla dog from 4505 Meats: “chicharron curls on bacon-laced hot dogs zinged with kimchee. Irresistible. Maddeningly delicious porchetta line’s too long.” Seems the call of some oysters also reeled her in: “And finally, the sheer briny simplicity of just-opened oysters, naked on ice, with a view of the Bay. San Francisco: pure pleasure.”
