Chef's Crab Fest at Bistro Boudin, Fisherman's Wharf, SF.

Bistro Boudin and Glodow Nead were kind enough to invite me to a special media dinner previewing crab season at Boudin.

We started off the evening with a little tour of the vast Bistro Boudin space (upstairs) at Fisherman's Wharf. Among other attractions, they have a neat Boudin museum and private banquet room. You can schedule to tour the museum and bakery here.

The Boudin bakers must have so much fun with these creations.

The main dining room. I love all of the dark beams and openness.

We were seated in a cozy private table in the Buena Vista Carneros Tasting Room, which was perfect for our event.

Chef Misael Reyes with Casey Shaughnessy-Gray of Glodow Nead. Chef Reyes, who is originally from El Salvador, was once Francis Ford Coppola's personal chef. He is also the only non-family keeper of Francis Ford Coppola's mother's recipe book--very cool.

Chef Reyes and prepared a lovely, crab-centric menu for us that was nicely paired by Sam, the Buena Vista Carneros Tasting Room manager.

Dungeness Crab Louis - Fresh Picked DUngeness Crab with Deviled Eggs, Avocado, Bibb Lettuce, Asparagus, RIpe Tomatoes & Louis Dressing.

Paired with 2008 Condes de Albarei Albarino

The crab was fresh, light and delicious. It went perfectly with the slightly tangy Louis (Thousand Island) dressing and mix of vegetables.

Dungeness Crab Mac & Cheese - Aged Vermont Cheddar Cheese, Fresh Cream & Freshly Picked Dungeness Crab with Buttered Soughdough Breadcrumbs

Paired with 2007 Buena Vista Carneros Chardonnay

Light, creamy and delicious. The crab wasn't overwhelming, but was present and, most importantly, the mac & cheese wasn't too salty or greasy. I happen to particularly love mac & cheese with shell pasta, too.

Soughdough Tortilla Taco - Fresh Dungeness Crab with Avocado, Red & Green Cabbage, Cilantro, Crema Fresca, Pico de Gallo & Roasted Tomato Salsa

Paired with 2008 Sagelands Riesling

Boudin's twist on fish tacos? A soughdough tortilla, of course! What a fantastic and fantastically Boudin idea! The tortillas were great, especially since I'm not typically a huge fan of corn tortillas. The crab was, of course, wonderful although they also offer fish tacos on their menu. The Roasted Tomato Salsa could have used a little more kick though--it was a little bland for my taste. The wine was my favorite wine of the evening though, and, more than the others, really enhanced the flavors in this dish.

Here is a photo of the full-sized portion of the Sourdough Tortilla Tacos. Thank goodness they cut down the portions for our dinner--even with our portions I walked out absolutely stuffed!

Cioppino - Dungeness Crab, Shrimp, Calamari, Mussels & Fish Simmered in a Spicy Saffron-Tomato Broth

Paired with 2007 XYZIN Zinfandel

What a beautiful dish. The calamari and mussels were just divine. They were cooked perfectly. My shrimp was a bit overcooked, but other than that, I really loved this dish. The crab was fresh and succulent and the broth--oh goodness, the broth! I loved the broth, especially with the toasty sourdough garlic bread.

The full-sized portion. Again, such beautiful presentation.

Left to right: Casey of Glodow Nead; Jason and Lizzie of ABC 7Live; Scott of Bistro Boudin; Susannah of YumSugar; Alison of Glodow Nead; Steven of the Nob Hill Gazette and myself.

I had to get a shot of all of us with our crab bibs on! What a fabulous group of people to enjoy a wonderful evening of food and wine with. It was lovely meeting you all.

Trio of Creme Brulee - Double Vanilla with Wafer Cookies; Peanut Butter with Ginger Snaps; Bittersweet Chocolate with Manjari Wafer.

Paired with 2007 King Estates Pinot Gris Vin Glace

What can I say.. I love dessert and I love modern creme brulees! I was already completely stuffed, but couldn't help myself! The peanut butter and dark chocolate were my favorite--so lovely.

A nice little cappuccino to finish off the evening. I only wish I wasn't too full to finish it!

Scott Shuttleworth, a managing partner at Bistro Boudin, and fabulous co-host this evening. Scott was a generous to provide each of us with a Boudin tote filled with all sorts of goodies--very classy.

I really love this tote. I'm going to cary it everywhere.

This limited Boudin baseball cap isn't even available in the gift shop!

Buena Vista Carneros 2007 Chardonnay and Pinot Noir.

A crab, of course! This is surprisingly soft, too. And as much as I love dungeness crab, I think I'm really going to enjoy this soughdough crab, too!

Bistro Boudin, Glodow Nead, Buena Vista, Casey, Alison, Scott, Chef Reyes and Sam, thank you all so much for such a lovely evening. Cheers to crab season!

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Sports filled $5 BBQ Sundays at Elixir, Mission, SF.

My cheeseburger with a side of potato salad. The patty was over cooked, but I'm not complaining! It's more about the burger, beer and the game experience, right? :)

Giants win!

So the Elixir does $5 all you can eat BBQ during football season...I'm not sure if it's Saturdays and Sundays, or only on Sundays, but it's a great deal at a fun bar. They also do 2 for 1 pitchers of beer, if I'm remembering correctly. ;) Here's their sports schedule page.

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Woodhouse Fish Co., Lower Pacific Heights, SF.

Lobster Roll. SO yummy. I shard this and the Dungeness Crab Roll with Richard. Both were amazing. Lobster is just yummy, but I almost preferred the crab roll, which was surprising! They aren't the biggest rolls (you can definitely finish) but from the soft, toasted bread to the fresh, delicious seafood fillings, they are worth the price. Also, the fries are super crisp!

Fish tacos. Sarah said they were very good! :)

Sarah and Richard were so kind as to treat me to lunch. Thanks, guys! Having them over was so fun, and we definitely got in some good eats! :)

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Momo's before Opera at the Ballpark, South Beach, SF.

Onion rings. Very nicely battered and fried.

Momo's is Richard's favorite so we went to have some drinks and food before heading to Opera at the Ballpark! I had press entry so it was nice not having to wait in the massive lines! Thank you SO much, SF Opera!

Cheese fries. These are just okay.

Wings. No complaints.

AT&T Field, home of the SF Giants. I love seeing crowds like this and it's always so fun to be out on the field, hanging out, eating and drinking with friends. :)

The SF Opera's Aida, telecasted from the Veterans War Memorial on Van Ness. The opera was fantastic, but we only stayed through the first half because it was freezing!

California Pizza Kitchen salad and Escape From New York Pizza.

California Pizza Kitchen's BBQ Chicken Salad. To this day one of my favorite salads! :)

Joe had some leftover pizza from Escape from New York and was raving about it so I had to try some. It was really very good.

Thanks, Joe!

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Post-softball raspberry shake at Flipper's, Hayes Valley, SF.

Filpper's is a great spot for us to head over to after our softball games! :)

I was still absolutely stuffed after brunch at Namu though so I just went for a milkshake. I wanted a strawberry milkshake, but they only had raspberry. I'd never had a raspberry milkshake before so I tried it and it was okay, but definitely make with syrup, which I don't love. :(

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Doggie Diner Giants Dog at AT&T Park, South Beach, SF.

Doggie Diner had the shortest line, but great food! I think they are one of the cheaper eats at the ballpark, too.

Gotta keep 'em grillin'!

My brat with onions. This was amazing. Okay, I was really hungry, but this was honestly a very good hotdog. Great flavor.

Tony, super excited, obviously! ;)

Ahh, there's nothing like hotdogs and baseball. :)

Thanks for the yummy hotdog and for not leaving me during the game, Tony! (We somehow managed to lose everyone else we went to the game with!) Haha. ;)

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Lunching at Gott's, Ferry Building, Embarcadero, SF.

After those burgers at the Four Seasons, and keeping my diet in mind, I decided to go for a salad, even at Gott's! Luckily, their salads are great. I got the Chinese Chicken Salad (left), AR got their house salad (middle) and sweet potato fries. Their fries are so yummy! M got a burger and (back). The new mango smoothies are pretty delicious, too.

Mmmmmmmm. Definitely a thumbs up.

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Zachary's fabulous Chicago-style Pizza, Berkeley, CA.

The wonderful Maddy brought this pizza out for Chris' birthday and I snagged a slice! Zach, it's been way too long! :)

Mmmmmm! I'm not sure which one it was, but it had chicken and a lot love super yummy fresh cilantro! Looooove.

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Must try: The Burger Lounge at The Four Seasons, Downtown, SF.

I was invited out to The Four Seasons restaurant to try their The Burger Lounge, which launched just last month. So get this--on Sundays and Mondays, you can order a burger, fries AND a cocktail/wine pairing for just $20. Amazing. I ordered the Duck Fat Burger and chose to get the cocktail pairing--this huge, delicious coffee cocktail that I would definitely get again.

We started with the tuna tartare. This tartare has great flavor and texture balances.

Olive platter: pickled olives, fried cheese-stuffed olives, olive tapenade. I had never seen fried olives before, but this was brilliant! They could have used a tiny bit more cheese, but such a great idea. The tapenade was really fantastic, too. It had the perfect saltiness to it.

Duck Fat Burger with pickles, perfectly crisp fries, peppercorn ranch spread/dip. These burgers are no small feat!

Yes, that would be thick, delicious slabs of pork belly in their BLT! Un-real. The pork belly was so tender and succulent--it really added to the burger and tasted amazing. I actually preferred this burger to the Duck Fat Burger, although they were both SO good. After the appetizers I couldn't even get through half of my burger, but was excited to wrap it up for later!

We finished with the Fondue plate. The Four Seasons has a new pastry chef for NYC that I'm going to get the scoop on soon! He's created a few new dishes and just take a look at the photo--do I even need to say anything?!

On one side you have fresh berries, and on the other you have a mix of two-bite brownies, marshmallows, rice crispies, and the most amazing banana bread I've ever had in my life. And then you get to dunk it all in warm caramel and/or a heavenly dark chocolate sauce! Now that's what I call a fun, fantastic dessert. :)

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Fenton's Ice Cream Challenge, Oakland, CA.

The famous Fenton's (featured in Pixar's Up.).

My slice of mocha mud ice cream pie. This was pretty good. There wasn't as much coffee flavor as I was hoping for. Also, their ice cream texture is more whip cream like, which I don't like as much so I wouldn't head out to Oakland again specifically for Fenton's, but understand the appeal. :)

One of the sundaes!

One of my roommates, who claims ice cream as his favorite food, decided to try the Fenton's Ice Cream Challenge! It's a massive three-scoop (Fenton's scoops are about the size of a softball!), banana split with crushed pineapple, chocolate fudge, strawberry syrup, whip cream and a cherry on top! The goal is to finish this in 15 minutes!

They are strict about the 15 minutes, too. Our waiter, who wasn't my favorite person, started the stop watch, came back at the 6 minute and 9 minute marks and then of course, at the 15 minute mark. My roommate had finished about 1/3rd of his ice cream. He said the toughest part was that the ice cream was so cold that your teeth hurt so you couldn't eat it very quickly!

And about half an hour later.. finished! Or at least as finished as it was going to be!

I wouldn't recommend the challenge, although it is on the menu and would be good to split with 3-5 people, depending on your ice cream appetites!

So Fenton's is fun, and I'm so glad I finally got to go! I definitely want to come back for the food--oh goodness the onion rings, curly fries and burgers looked just amazing! I'm not huge on the texture of their ice cream though.

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