VinDivine - Living it Up John & Janine Style

Brick - Tendernob

Hey, I am blessed. No, not just 'cuz of my bodacious wife. Nope, not 'cuz I still have all my hair. Why then, you ask? Because I don't get hangovers, baby!  Sure, I occasionally wake up in the A.M. with R.B. (Residual Buzz...who hasn't?!), but no throbbing headaches here. Never had 'em never will. So, how do I know when I mighta pushed it a tad too hard? I forget to take out my contacts at night and wake up with them cemented to my corneas.

Relevance to this post, you ask? Caveat Emptor on this post, my little friends. The VinDivine troupe (including our pals Neil Patrick Harris, oops I mean Enzo, Aarti and Patrick) partied like there was no tomorrow the other night, and we took it on the road to Brick,  then Ambassador, then a wine bar off of Geary. ...cocktails-o-plenty. But right now let's talk about Brick.

Atmosphere: Very cool, the large bar is a central element (big points!) and integrates well with the main dining area (not counting the bizarre little room to the right as you walk in, seemed like a take-out area). Very warm, lots of...you guessed...Brick, nice timbers and some subtle varying levels. Big wood slab tables and nice lighting all comes together for a nice vibe.

Service: Super-nice people, from Eleana behind the bar to the hostess, to our waiter and the wine guy. All laid back, fun and attentive.

Food: Hmmm, the menu is just kinda kooky. There are ~18 or so items, including appys and main dishes. But for all that, few things really jumped out at any of us. An eerie silence fell over the table when it came time to order, which is not common for this group. Don’t get me wrong, a little random-ness* is great, but it also seemed like  a lot of filler. A 'for instance, VdV?' Sure, here ya go:

Five dishes in a row: • Winter Salad • Citrus Salad • Squash Salad • Mushroom Soup • Mushroom Gratin.  I dunno, just seems redundant and, as Simon Cowell would say "Sooo Whaat?"

Anyhoo, here's what we had:

*Confit Buffalo Wings w/ Gorgonzola Foam, These ain’t your daddy's buffalo wings, kids! They are barely even wings, to be anatomically correct and all. I think they have an assembly line in the back room putting these together – if not, I wanna see that chicken. But these funky suckers are lip-smakin’ tasty, that’s for sure.

Salume (aka Salami for you Oscar Meyer types) - Tuscano, Gentile, Tescanoe. Nice plate. Nothing compared to the salume at Perbacco though. Not even close.

*“Chicken and Waffles” – Yee haw! Pure marketing genius at work here. ‘Cuz there’s no chicken and barely a waffle in sight. But I couldn’t turn down a dish named Chicken & Waffles. It’s like something you’d find on the menu at Stuckey’s. But not, because this one seems like 5 different people brought their individual favorite dishes to work and just threw ‘em together – Quail (deep-fried, so wtf knows what kinda bird it is), on a foie gras-thyme waffle (huh?), with a poached egg, and this overbearing huckleberry purée on the side. This is one of those dishes that causes some crazy-ass dreams.

Pork Belly – Hey let's honor the year of the pig. Porky was OK. A decent, tender portion served on butternut squash something or other, with collard greens and little pearl onions. I still think it was a little strange combo of tastes. Enzo was a fan.

And what would we be if we didn’t order steak? Rib Eye, medium-rare served on a spinach purée, with celery root, w/ espresso jus and chocolate salt. Chocolate salt?! Come on guys. Now you’re just tryin' too hard. And there was nothing ‘chocolate’ about that salt BTW. It was OK.

I wanted, but got vetoed (or just forgot to order) the Anson Mills Vanilla Grits – with horseradish caramel, pickled quince, mint and blue cheese salad with saffron salt. I think this is a dessert. Who knows. I was prolly better off without it.

So that’s the word. Brick is great to stop in, have a drink and grab somma those funky-ass wings but I wouldn’t run back to it for a real dinner. Make it a drinks and appy night, go there for the cool, friendly laid-back vibe and you’ll be a happy camper.

Brick Restaurant
1085 Sutter St
San Francisco 94109
(415) 441-4232

Venticello - Nob Hill

As the cable car drops you off on Nob Hill to a Victorian on the corner with a cool Italian feel...who the F needs North Beach? Kidding. We love North Beach, but we also stumbled upon this freaking fantastic Italian number.

Venticello is awesome. This spot isn't exactly 'happenin' or 'trendy' or 'chic', it's just Italian romantic. Yeah I said it. You want a hood spot where you can romance your baby? You want to keep to yourselves in the corner cuz you're romancin' someone elses' baby? (I did NOT say that, wow. It does seem like a place you can do that though, I saw it on TV, Sex And The City I think. Yeah Big kept taking Carrie to that Chinese Place. Anyhoo, I digress.) There's a good buzz going on here all the time.

The waiter brought over slow baked garlic to spread onto bread. I thought I was gonna die. Then we had the Crostini with Buffalo Mozzarella, and for those who appreciate Buffalo vs. plain, it's awesome! The Gnocchi is OTT, and really any fresh pasta dish they have here is great!

Then the meat comes out. They have a Rabbit Stew, yes, rabbit, thumper, cute little suckers. It's good! OR have your own pasta and then split the Filet Mignon. That's a good way to go too.

Wines you ask? Well would this be a John and Janine Post if we didn't mention SOME form of alcohol? Here screw those Cali wines, go straight for a glass of Proseco, Italian bubbly for those not in the know, then definitely buy a bottle of the Tignanello, one of our faves.

See, not ALL good Italian happens in North Beach. A strong 7.5 outta 10

Venticello Ristorante
1257 Taylor St.
San Francisco, CA 94108
(415) 922-2545