Wild Game Week at The Big 4

I was lucky enough to get an invite last week from my Urban Daddy editor pal to nosh on all kinds of wild game at old-school ritzy resto (think burnished brass, gleaming wood and leather banquettes) The Big 4 in The Huntington Hotel on Nob Hill.

Following is the parade of deliciously succulent and meaty dishes that came streaming out of the kitchen.


My fave app: coffee-cacao and spice rubbed black buck antelope medallions lightly smoked and pan seared with a preserve of white fig and Seville orange, accompanied by a Vermont cheddar crisp, corn-goat cheese fritter and vanilla bean gastrique.


My second-fave app: burnt brown sugar, orange confit, thyme crispy potato crusted wild Nigerian salt prawn with a grilled habañero pineapple, tropical slaw, shaved candied coconut, passion fruit gastrique, and sumac aioli.


Roasted beet and arugula salad with shaved house cured duck prosciutto, ruby grapefruit, roasted red onion confit, with a sherry vinaigrette and pomegranate syrup drizzle.


Crispy chipotle barbequed wild boar carnitas enchiladas rolled in ancho chile crepes, baked with tetila cheese, roasted tomato-chipotle coulis salsa fresca, lime crème fraîche and roasted pumpkin seeds.


SS's main: Wild paella (Valencia country style stew) — giant crispy frog legs, house-made rabbit-rattlesnake sausage (sounds gross, but wow was this tasty), snails, wild Nigerian salt prawns, mussels, spicy saffron rice (crisped up nicely on the bottom of the pan) pequillo peppers, roasted tomatoes, artichokes, garbanzo beans and herbs.


My lumberjack-sized main: roasted rack of Nilgai antelope and saddle of black buck antelope with spiced peach jam-goat cheese blintz, vanilla bean roasted acorn squash, huckleberry gastrique, crispy plantains, candied cherries and huckleberries.


Dessert: a medley of fruit sorbets plus a bubbling hot apple cobbler with vanilla bean ice cream ... Needless to say, we were stuffed to the gills. In a good way.