Bratwurst on a Bun at Pig & Pie

Pig & Pie in the outer Mission has two of my favorite things though I have yet to try the latter. Maybe next time I'll make room for a slice of one of their daily specials (Wow, today's line-up includes Mississippi Mud, Pear Blueberry, Chocolate Cheesecake, Lemon Shaker and Apple ... mouth is salivating).

On this visit, I settled on the bratwurst on a bun, which came with a healthy helping of crunchy sauerkraut and a tasty squeeze of spicy beer mustard.

A bit on the pricy side at $8.50 (Really? For a hot dog?). But considering everything's made from scratch, and all of their porky pig comes from a "consortium of small family farms in Texas, hormone and antibiotic free," I figured it was worth the "splurge."

Indeed it was. After all, who doesn't love a good brat? 

And now for that pie ... 

Blue Plate Special

YH and I popped into Blue Plate one weekend last month with the hope that the always hoppin' outer Mission eatery might be able to take us sans rezzies. Success. The hostess squeezed us in between two seatings with the stipulation that we'd need to hightail it in an hour and change. We were happy to oblige.


What you see here: a big block of creamy chicken liver pate with a drizzle of pomegranate and aperol, honey, pistachios, caramelized cocoa and grilled bread to spread the lovely goodness on.

We had a few other Blue Plate specials as well—including the soft and springy grilled Monterey Bay squid with chickpeas, blackened eggplant, pimenton and sorrel. We rolled out of there and on to our next party super happy and beyond satisfied.

Lovely Locavore

I'm happy to report that outer Mission has got another great restaurant to brag about (the other one being Blue Plate, and Front Porch is pretty good too). JA and I dropped in to not-quite-year-old Locavore last weekend and loved the freshness of the food, the showcasing of the SF Bay Area's seasonal ingredients, and the super friendly service.


Among other things, we had the fish croquettes, which were blistering hot and deep-fried to perfection. (My queen-of-the-deep-fryer mom would've been proud.) They sat atop a mellow sauce of roasted garlic aioli, along with tangy pickled onion slivers, and sharp shoots of cilantro and watercress.


My crumbly beef meatballs were well-seasoned, the whole wheat noodles al dente. The dish came in a savory beef broth, accompanied by wilted spinach, vella cheese and sweet roasted onion. It was exactly the kind of rich, comforting food I wanted on a blustery winter night.