Foodie Digest

We were wandering through Potrero Hill with the dogs and needed a relatively quick, relatively healthy place for lunch. Oh, and it needed to have outside seating. Since we’d just had pizza from Gialina’s last night, we ruled out Piccinos. The last few meals we’d had at Aperto were nice surprises so we drove by.
Seats were available outside so we parked the car and wandered over. Small looked at the specials board and noted: huevos ranchero, huevos w/ chorizo, enchiladas verde, veggie sandwich, and orechette w/ lamb ragu.
If you’ve ever been here you know it’s a predominately italian menu. We’ve noticed that weekend brunches introduce some mexican options. In the past we’ve had the enchiladas verdes and remembered them being quite good. The menu is rounded out with classics like french toast and pancakes, along with lunchy items like a grilled chicken salad and sandwiches.
Small opted for the huevos rancheros but requested scrambled egg whites instead of eggs over medium and no sour cream.
Big went for the Orechette w/ lamb ragu pasta of the day.
Our server brought our drinks along with complimentary mini banana muffins. Big ate them so I forgot to ask if they were good.
The outdoor seating was roomy enough to fit two large dogs. There was one other couple seated outside; they also had a dog.
The huevos rancheros arrive. It’s 3 corn tortillas each topped slightly differently. One is with scrambled egg whites and a green salsa; the second scrambled egg whites with a red salsa, and the third with black beans. Both salsa have a fantastic flavor. The beans are nicely spiced as well. Something between the green salsa and the beans add a great smokey taste. This dish is very successful and very healthy.
The orechette is well-prepared (maybe a tad overcooked for Small’s al dente preference but perfectly suited for Big). The sauce is rich and flavorful. This dish is polished off by Big with Small stealing bites of the orechette.
Service is warm and friendly. Food is good. Definitely recommended. Small’s only complaint with the place is they almost ALWAYS have lilies inside. Small can’t be near lilies and usually dings restaurants a star in ratings for having something so fragrant interfering with her food. Sitting outside, tho, means the lilies are forgotten. Still, if you have the same allergies I do something to be aware of before you plan indoor dining.

Overall thumbs: Two thumbs up. Good relaxing place for brunch.

Tastiness rating: high. The food is always well prepared. The mexican dishes are a great weekend bonus and the salsas are rich and flavorful without being robust.

Service: Good. Our server was nice. We were checked on but not very frequently.

Dog friendliness: Very good. Our dogs were fine under the table and it’s not too crowded. They also keep a dog bowl filled in front of the restaurant.

WW points: 4.5 for the huevos rancheros (Small only ate 2 of the 3 corn tortillas for 2 points, plus the egg whites and beans). 

mall was craving pizza two days in a row, and managed to convince Big it was a good option for Friday night. She’d been curious about Gialina so we called them up and placed an order.
Service on the phone was pleasant and friendly. We ordered three pizzas from the web site menu:

• the Atomica pizza with the addition of italian sausage: Atomica- tomato, mushrooms, mozzarella, spicy chilies & red onions $14.50
• Wild Nettles w/ pancetta & provolone $15
• Speck w/ tomato, mozzarella, basil & arugula $15

Total with tax was $51.

I’ll admit that 3 pizzas is a bit much for 2 people. Big was really hungry but we still had plenty leftover.

Big would rank his preferences as Atomica, Speck and Nettles. Small goes in the exact opposite order.

The Atomica was loved for its simplicity. The onions were grilled, which was a lovely touch. The tomato sauce was nicely flavored. Not overly spiced. The chilies added a spicy touch

The Speck pizza continued with the simple tomato sauce. The speck was like a thinly shaved proscuitto with fresh arugula tossed on top.

The Nettles pizza had sauteed nettles on top of a sauce-less crust. The pancetta was a perfectly crisped bacon. Big thought this was greasy. I did not, but maybe it was wishful thinking.

The crust on all three pizzas was perfectly prepared. Crispy around the edges and a little chewy in the center.

The place itself was cute. I’d probably think about stopping in on our way home from the South bay some evening.

Celebrating a beautiful sunny Sunday in San Francisco Big and Small ventured out with a final destination of Bi-Rite Creamery in mind. That, combined with the desire to sit outside, led us to Farina. We’ve gone to Farina for lunch one time before and remembered really enjoying it.

We head to the Mission and drive around the church-infused parking lot streets. As luck would have it church was just getting out and parking spaces were freeing up. We drive past Farina and into a parking lot across the street. Score!

We pop in to Farina and ask for 2 seats outside. We get prime seating right in the sunshine. We’re given glasses and a bottle of water, and we each order iced teas. We lean forward to relax and read the menus and OUCH. The outdoor tables are topped with steel and can get very hot. Well-placed napkins become your friend here. Big immediately orders a Salumi plate to get us started. 

We’re also served some nice bread. We ask about the daily specials (there’s always a pasta and soup of the day) and order our entrees. Service the entire time is warm and friendly. Our iced teas are constantly refilled and silverware is changed out between the salumi course and our main courses.

Our choices:

• Tagliere Di Salumi Misti this was the salumi plate. It came with normal thick slices of salami and shaved thin slices of both speck and bresola(sp?). The salami was fine but could have used more pepper or spice. The speck was my favorite. The bresola (dry cured beef) was Big’s. Both of these were very lean pieces of meat with great flavors. 
• Taglierni with meat sauce the sauce on this was more a braised beef sugo. Very rich flavor and perfectly prepared pasta. This was Big’s main.
• Spinach tortellini This had a much more interesting Italian name. It was handmade tortellini that were a cross between tortellini and ravioli. Filled with spinach, cheese and nuts. The recommended sauce for this was a walnut cream sauce but Small (in an attempt to make it slightly healthier) asked for tomato sauce. I was happily accommodated. I LOVED this dish. The pasta was perfectly prepared; it was delicate with robust flavor. I’ll dream about this.

Overall thumbs: Two thumbs up. Service is great, the pastas are incredible and the patio is really comfortable.

Tastiness rating: Very high. I think these are some of my favorite pastas in the city. The salumi plate also had some interesting additions. Oh! and they gave us cookies with meringue along with our check that were also very tasty.

Service: Very good. Our server was warm and friendly. Our iced teas were constantly refilled and we had plenty of water. Plates were cleared quickly and fresh silverware was provided.

Dog friendliness: Very good. We’ve been here before with our two big dogs. They also have a dog bowl outside.

WW points: 8 for the ravioli, 2 for the salumi (small avoided the salami).

Sunday workouts have left both Big and Small hungry. The planned exploration to a new to us vietnamese restaurant finds the restaurant closed, so the backup plan—a return visit to Poc Chuc—is put in place.

We’d first gone to Poc Chuc a few weeks ago. It was closer than our original destination of El Metate. The first time around Small (me) ordered a turkey taco and a ground pork taco. Big ordered the signature Poc Chuc. The combination of these 3 things was quite substantial. And given that the tacos were under $3 each, the meal was quite economical and incredibly satisfying.

This time around Small stuck with the two taco combo, this time opting for turkey mole and carne asada. Big ordered a pork pibil (I can’t remember the exact menu description). 

Even though the selections below spanned two visits, I’ll do my best to remember the details of each.

• Housemade tortillas: I break this out because this was the base for each of the tacos and also served on the side of the main dishes. These were some of the best I’ve had in a while. Perfectly prepared with a great texture.
• Shredded turkey taco: This was served with pickled onions. Good flavor.
• Ground pork taco: Served on a black bean puree with a roasted tomato sauce and avocado. The flavors of this were Small’s favorite and her motivation for a return visit.
• Poc Chuc: Grilled and marinated pork served with a side of black bean puree. The citrus flavor of the marinade comes through wonderfully here. The portion is substantial and the accompanying tortillas let you make your own tacos. This was another favorite.
• Carne asada taco: This has the same presentation as the ground pork taco above. On a black bean puree with roasted tomato sauce. This also has roasted peppers and satisfying Small’s craving for the return visit (the ground pork weren’t available).
• Turkey mole taco: This was Big’s favorite. The mole was more a black pepper sauce than what we’d consider a traditional chocolate based mole. The flavors were great and very unique. The turkey was shredded (same as the turkey taco above). 
• Pork stew: because I can’t remember the exact menu selection. This was a large bowl of shredded pork and broth. It comes with a side of bean puree and tortillas. This was rich and flavorful. Between the two I preferred the poc chuc, but that may be because I really loved the poc chuc.

With the exception of the Poc Chuc, everything we’ve ordered is from the daily specials menu. There are no tacos on the regular menu.

Overall thumbs: Two thumbs up. The food is consistently good and flavorful. The prices make this place a great value. Both time we’ve visited there’s been no wait for a table.

Tastiness Rating: High. The flavors are unique for a mission Mexican restaurant. 

Service Rating: Good. Service is friendly and accommodating, though sometimes a teeny bit slow. 

Dog friendliness factor: No outside seating. No spot for dogs.

Weight watcher points (Small’s selections): 6.5

Every month a group of friends join Small (me) for a night out. Small’s friends pick the place (with input from all attending). Some months have been great discoveries, some returns to fond memories, some forgettable, and others just unsatisfying.

This month’s location was Conduit, a relatively new place just barely in the Mission district.

First impressions once I figure out what door to go in, I’m greeted by a warm fireplace and a friendly host. The decor is cool and industrial but the fireplace tempers this and creates a warm ambiance.

Since we haven’t all arrived I’m welcomed to wait at the bar. My friends are all late (we’ve picked a rather early dining time) but we’re offered our table when only half of are present. We sit and wait for our delayed friends. Our server is nice and unobtrusive. We don’t feel rushed whatsoever as we linger over wine and read the menus.

By the time we’ve all arrived and are ready to order it’s an hour after our original reservation. The restaurant doesn’t seem to mind. This is constant throughout the evening; we never felt hurried and relaxed for hours.

The food: We start with some shared appetizers:

• skate—I can’t remember the description, but it’s 3 thin slices of pan fried fish. I enjoyed this; others did not.
• quail—the description said something about bacon. I resisted trying it when others raved about it. I finally tasted it and wasn’t a fan. Then again, I don’t like dark meat in chicken, turkey, or any duck so not so surprising. 
• fettucine—this was with some type of sugo and shaved truffle. Both pastas were incredibly small portions (which we were warned about). 7 of the 8 of us were able to get a taste (as in 1 bite). This was really good but I probably wouldn’t order pasta here again. The portion sizes are really just too delicate.
• gnocchi—this was served with crab and arugula. It came 6 to an order to our table of 8 ordered two of these. The gnocchi were very light and delicate. The portion was quite as, um, Small as the fettucine but was still on the petite side.

We’re all pleased with the appetizers, but realize we haven’t even ordered dinner yet. So we do. Across the 8 of us we sample:

• Halibut ordered by me because it seemed the most calorie conscious choice and preparation on the menu. Ordered by a couple others because the description sounded good. The dish arrives and it’s cooked for flavor rather than calorie conservation. The fish appears pan seared (can’t remember the description) and is served on what was described as a vinagerette but seems more like a light cream sauce. There are also artichokes below the fish. This is quite tasty.
• NY Steak served with root vegetables. This was prepared properly but those who had this and also tasted fish decided the restaurant really excelled at preparing fish.
• Sable served with chickpeas. This was also tasty; I must admit I preferred the halibut.
• Game hen cooked sous vide (I know, you’re reading this as I did; this must be the calorie conscious entree) served with pea ravioli. The server assures me this is indeed tasty because the breast is cooked sous vide but the leg meat is sauteed with butter and mushrooms and is served on the ravioli. I opt out of this one but get a taste anyway. Really good.

Overall verdict on the food by now is very good. Out comes the dessert menus.

A few decline but the table orders:

sundae with some really decadent caramel description served with a homemade graham cracker type concoction that’s really an excuse to caramelize butter. The table got 2 of these.

some chocolate espresso thing this looked almost like a small molten chocolate cake that was served with a potent coffee ice cream (so said all those who tasted it).

By this time we’ve been here over 3 hours. It was a very leisurely paced meal that worked out well with a group of friends trying to catch up.

Overall thumbs: 8 thumbs up

Food tastiness: Really high. There wasn’t anything that wasn’t good, and there quite a few standouts.

Service rating: Very high. The bartender and our server were really nice. Plates were cleared and water was constantly refilled. 

Weirdness factor: Well, I couldn’t exactly do dog friendliness rating here except to say it isn’t. But I will give a caveat on the bathroom. It’s coed ala Slanted Door in that there are 4 stalls and a single trough sink. Two of the stalls have a M; two have a W. The weirdness part? The stalls themselves are made of frosted glass so you can see the shadow/color/shape of the person next to you. This proved uncomfortable for some of us; others didn’t really care. Just figured you should know.
Weight watcher points: 11

We’re lucky to live in a neighborhood with a bunch of weekly lunch options. Unfortunately we don’t work in this neighborhood, but on the coveted Work at home days we can pretend we’re the dot.com hipsters we used to be.

This past Friday I (Small, that is) was feeling a little under the weather and craved some healing Asian soup. The closest holder of my elixir? Grab n Go Vietnamese restaurant. I stress Vietnamese because Grab n Go used to be Grab n Go Italian (which was also a purveyor of healing soup but has been replaced). I called ahead and ordered a chicken noodle soup.  It’s a version of pho (usually beef) made with grilled chicken.

The soup is packaged much like a bun (Vietnamese grilled meat served on rice noodles with assorted stuff). Noodles and chicken are in one container. A second container holds steamy broth. And a third container, a plastic bag, contains mint, bean sprouts, and a lime. I’m also given a small container (yes, a fourth container) of 2 different sauces (rooster sauce and a brown sauce).

I head home and dump container one in a bowl. Then, I pour on the contents of container two. I’m using a large bowl but there’s so much broth I need to reserve some of the liquid. I top it off with the contents of the bag and keep the sauces on the side.

And… inhale. The broth is either really salty or spicy or something, (or I’m even more on the verge of a cold than I think) but I go through many glasses of water. Useful if you’re catching a cold to stay hydrated. The chicken is grilled almost teriyaki-style and is quite flavorful. There are a huge amount of bean sprouts. I’m almost full eating sprouts and chicken before I even get to the noodles! I have to say the dish is immensely satisfying and really reasonably priced.

Overall thumbs: Up. Service is warm, the soup was nourishing but I’ve also had the banh mi (vietnamese sandwiches) in the past here and really enjoyed that. Location can’t be beat.

Tastiness rating: Grilled dishes, soup, and sandwiches are all hits here. Not the best in the city but combined with the location and flavors a pretty solid win.

Service: Good. Not white tablecloth wait on you service (though I’ve only done takeout) but definitely bend over backwards make sure you’re happy service.

Dog friendliness: Fair. There are sometimes tables outside but the location on 6th street isn’t a winner. They do always smile at the dogs, tho, so I know they’d be welcomed (outside).

Beautiful Sunday and Big and Small are hanging in the park with the dogs. We decide it’s almost time for a bite to eat so we head over to Piccino Cafe. Piccino Cafe is in Potrero Hill right near Just For You.

We arrive just as they begin their lunch menu for the day. A little confusion as to ordering inside or staying outside at our seat. We figure it out (stay outside) and a friendly server brings us menus and water. Our two good-sized dogs fit comfortably around our table. They don’t stand out as there are many good sized dogs hanging out. This place is definitely high on the dog friendliness factor, tho no special accomodations—such as snacks or water—are provided for the dogs

Still, it’s a beautiful day to be outside. We order an antipasti plate and two pizzas. We get

• Antipasti plate This is an interesting combination of fresh peas (fresh in the pod), pickled baby carrots, olives, cheese, chickpea spread, some fatted calf speck and some flatbread. The highlights here: the chickpea spread is light and lemony. Doesn’t fall into hummus flavors at all. The olives are well flavored and rustic. The peas are a nice touch but I wanted more.
• Margherita pizza This was a very simple pizza. The crust is very homemade tasting and almost pretzel like. Rustic, again, would describe the food. The sauce is inoffensive but nothing special. The cheese is lightly applied. The pizza is almost what one would order if they were trying to conserve calories. It’s not greasy or oily whatsoever and there’s only a small amount of cheese. We both thought the pizza tasted fine, but wouldn’t proclaim it tasty or special.
• Broccolini pizza This looked very much like the margherita pizza but has small amounts of broccolini and shredded cheese instead of slices. Again, a very calorie friendly pizza. Still the two pizzas were so similar we would have been better off with one of the white pizza combos.

Overall verdict? There’s nothing wrong with the pizza here and it really is kinder to your waistline than most of our other options. The corner location was pleasant and relaxing and very dog friendly. Still, pizzas at places like South Beach Cafe are similar in size, a little bit cheaper, and offer much more flavor (and calories).

Overall thumbs Flatlined. There was nothing we didn’t like about the place, but there was nothing to rave about, either.

Tastiness rating A slight increase from flatlined. The olives and chickpea spread were standouts but not enough to lift the place up. Still, nothing was bad.

Service rating Good. Service here was very warm and friendly.

Dog friendly rating Good. Dogs are accommodated outside and have many friends nearby.

Big and Small are lazy during the week and like having a good standby place to eat.
And, of course, Small is a big fan of conserving calories.

Live Sushi Bar has become our regular Thursday night dinner. So much so that we confuse them when we come in some other night during the week.

Since this is quick bites, we’ll give you a list of why we love Live.

• They greet us when we arrive. They even gave us our own chopsticks (that they store with our names written on the chopsticks boxes).
• They have live uni. This is by far the best uni we’ve had in the bay area. Add to the awe-factor it induces in spectators at the sushi bar. Yes, they serve it on its shell. And yes, you can poke the quills and it’s still moving. Yes, it’s very cool (and a bit sadistic).
• The sushi is always fresh. They don’t necessarily have the uber intriguing selection you might find at Sakae, but they do have great takes on the standbys. Usually a few types of toro. The aji is always amazing here and the live scallops always impress our friends.
• It’s easy parking and usually easy to get a seat. But they’re on Open Table so you can plan in advance!

Overall thumbs: always up.

Tastiness rating: consistently good.

Service rating: Good. Service is warm and friendly.

Sometimes food is just, well, food. But calories are too precious to eat food that’s not tasty. Welcome to our weekend lunch dilemma. Big wants a satisfying meal; Small wants to optimize for proper calorie intake. Today’s breakfast/lunch satisfied. We chose one of our regular standby’s—Rocco’s.

Rocco’s is a favorite because of the expansive list of options. Weekends lets you choose breakfast, lunch or dinner-type entrees. Even better, you can mix and match as you please.

Today’s feast: Small chose the heart-healthy (and calorie-conscious) veggie egg white omelet, served with grilled tomatoes. Mmm. breakfast. Then added the lunch option of a pastina soup. The omelet contained sauteed carrots, mushrooms, and zucchini, and was much more flavorful than a typical healthy-ish omelet. The soup arrived less hot than Small expected so her usual addition of ice cubes rendered the soup, um, cold. (Small’s fault). Still, homey, tasty, healthy. Big opted for blueberry pancakes with a side of meatballs. The pancakes came doused with melted butter. The meatballs were a little on the crispy side but still quite good. Service was friendly as usual. And Small and Big giggled—as admittedly they usually do—when the bill included “side balls”.

Overall thumbs: Pointing skyward.

Tastiness rating: High. As long as you know to expect hearty standard fare, you won’t be disappointed. Not a gastronomic wonder but always a good use of calories.

Service rating: High. This isn’t a cloth napkin tablecloth kind of place. But service is always warm, friendly, and accommodating.

Small and Big decided to try explore dining options to celebrate Big’s birthday. Besides, Orson had just opened in our neighborhood and we’re a fan of dining local.

First impressions: Great space. Large and LOUD as in SF Gate would need multiple bombs to rate it. It was a Friday night a little before 9 and the place was booming. We wondered where all these beautiful people live (it ain’t our neighborhood). We checked in with the hostess (we DID have 9 p.m. reservations) who apologetically said (yes, I’m paraphrasing) “We haven’t quite figured out the reservations yet—tables are staying longer than we anticipated. We hope to seat you soon so make yourselves comfortable and we’ll come find you”. There’s a very large bar. We had plenty of places to go make ourselves comfortable and the combo of Small and Big makes us easy to spot. To bullet first impressions:

• loud and booming space
• cool decor
• friendly but apologetic host
• disappointment that reservations didn’t seem to help

Off to the bar

We get to the bar area where there is one available seat. Big insists Small take it, so Small did. Moments later the couple next to us was approached by the host asking if they’d like to stay at the bar or go to their available table. An odd question one thinks, and the couple chooses the table. Big and Small both score seats at the bar. Things start picking up. The loudness seems to fade and converations are easy to be had. (as in the first impression of LOUD doesn’t last, though the place is lively). After a half hour of waiting for a table Big and Small decide it’s time to sample some food. Small is getting noticeably smaller (Small needs to self-sustain often). The bartender—who is fabulous—takes our order for a dozen oysters and two foie gras bon bons.

Next set of impressions Service here is phenomenal (well, except the host but we’ll come back to that). The main bartender in our area is incredibly attentive but any time her attention is somewhere else there is someone else nearby checking up on us. Runners bring out food quickly; servers walking by check in to see how we’re doing. Feedback on the food is encouraged and welcomed.

And now, the food.

1. First up, foie gras bon bons. These arrive and look like perfectly round truffles. Foi gras rolled in chocolate with orange zest and cocoa powder. Interesting, right? Should be delectable. These are one bite each. First taste is SALT. Next taste is orange. Then chocolate. Small thinks she can detect a little foie gras in a taste; Big says no. These were deemed unacceptable.
2. Next up, miyagi oysters. We’d requested not to have the garlic lemon whatever drizzled on them so they were pure. Mostly. We requested lemon to squeeze on them ourselves. Oysters were sweet. and salty. Which makese sense since they were oysters. But they were, well, extra salty. Looks like the oysters got a dusting themselves.

We start to realize there will be no hostess coming for us so it’s time to venture into the menu deeper. Sure, the first two dishes weren’t so promising. But we’re here, it’s in our hood and you can’t judge a restaurant on just two dishes. We order a larger sampling.

1. Market special of the day asparagus: This was served with a black garlic saboyan. We were greeted with Huge young asparagus. The black garlic saboyan was an upscale take on a french onion dip. For the most part this dish worked (only teeny bits were oversalted) but the uber large asparagus needed some extra trimming they didn’t get).
2. Charred octopus, beef tendon, sprouted nuts As served, this dish didn’t work. This is a vietnamese style salad take but was missing the necessary citrus. We asked for lime wedges to doctor up the dish ourselves and were much more impressed. Big really liked this. Small thought it was just OK.
3. Pork buns These model the baked donut style pork bun rather than the steamed style.Big proclaimed these would be good with more pork in them; Small shared half of one of hers that was appropriately proportioned. This is served with 3 pork buns; 2 out our 3 were appropriately proportioned. Both Big and Small deemed this dish good and recommended.
4. Carrot dumplings, blood orange, ricotta salata The dumplings were light, airy and lovely. The blood orange foam was delicate and the ricotta salata brought the appropriate contrast to the dish. Would return for this dish. Delicate, small, and not intimidating. Big and Smallwere both happy.
5. Roasted pig This was pig served 4 ways. Pork tenderloin, pork belly, pork, um, cake, and pork dumpling with pork jus. The pork belly worked. The tenderloin was NOT tender. Actually, was not edible. Big and Small struggled and subtlely placed said pork in napkins. The pork, um, cake could be described as crab cake with pork instead of crab. It was OK. The dumpling was missing pork (it was empty!) but maybe was just there to capture the pork jus (which was good). Oh, and the pork belly was perfectly prepared. This was one of the more expensive dishes on the menu. Big and Small would not recommend this.
6. Smoked fish, black rice, bacon The fish was a smoked trout. This was not substantial portion. There was a very lovely smokiness to this. Small liked this a lot. Big wasn’t convinced to change his opinion on cooked fish. Would recommend this to fish eaters.

By now we’re really going with a mixed bag here. A couple good things but nothing that made us say Yes, we’ll come back (except for the service at the bar. phenomenal). We’ve given up on being offered a table. We’re looking for the next thing to try. Something hearty. Something rustic. Something that’s not SWEET. We go for:

1. Chicken sausage with dino kale and pistachio pesto. Finally. This was a substantial portion of sausage (as in one big sausage) with little gnocchi. And Small loves dino kale. Only occasional bites of over-saltiness. The extra layer of salt that adorned the sausage was easily scraped away by Big. Big took one bite and said “that’s a fantastic sausage”. And trust me, midwestern Big knows sausage. The gnocchi were just OK—not quite delicate enough. Still, we both deemed this dish a huge success and could see returning for this.
2. Short ribs, spinach, espesso Small doesn’t like short ribs or most meat the requires this much slow cooking. Except these short ribs. They come out looking like tender filet. They’ve been cooked in a bag with moisture for 5 hours and taste like a perfectly rare corned beef (if you can imagine a perfectly rare corned beef). This was served with potato foam. Some bites of the foam worked-—the flavor really showed through. Others tasted like empty foam. Still, both Big and Small would order this again. Big recommends that Orson consider shaving truffle across the top of this dish for perfection.

Our bartender is now happy because we’ve had dishes we liked versus dishes we considered mediocre. We asked for the dessert menu. From here, we order:

• Pigwich This is reminiscent of one of our favorite desserts from Blackbird in Chicago. The Orson version has pizelles that are ginger snap like, with bacon ice cream and bits of maple bacon. This worked. Wonderfully.
• Gleaming the cube Described as date soft chocolate, stout foam, caramel gelato. The date soft chocolate is in a log and tastes like frosting (not a bad thing, mind you). The stout foam is most impressive. Still, this is just OK .

So all in all, it was OK. Very expensive for just OK but worth it to try some interesting takes on food. Now comes the highlight; our bartender and other servers have been asking us all along what we think of things. And we’ve been honest. Not complaining or whining, just honest. Because some dishes would work with a little help, and some dishes work. Out comes Elizabeth Faulkner to get some more detail. Many chefs have asked our opinion in the past, but we really felt like she meant it. She was incredibly open to our thoughts, acknowledged and agreed with some of our comments, and responded with “that was fair”. Her openness to our feedback made me decide I would come back again and give it another shot.

Overall thumbs: Trending upward. Some dishes rate thumbs up and others rate thumbs down. But the sum of atmosphere, service, and food is angling up.

Tastiness rating: Medium. Some dishes were yummy. Many needed work.

Service rating: With the exception of our reservations not working for us, incredibly High.