Sunday, May 27, 2018
Slept in. Breakfast: leftovers, water. Recharge Medical work: edits. Snacks: sesame-glazed almonds, cheesy crackers, water. Nap. Rode UberX with Patrick to the Castro. Walked in the Castro. Dinner at Finn Town: cocktails (? for Patrick; da mayor for me), wedge salad, roast half chicken, fanny farmer rolls: about $100 after tip. The tavern with a twist provided many delights on this visit. The fanny farmer rolls are served in a small cast iron pan and in the shape of a donut with an herbed butter in a stainless steel cup in the center. The buns tasted a tad dry to me, but the salted egg wash and almost-pull-apart donut presentation easily made up for it. The wedge salad is not a wedge at all but rather delightfully a horizontal slice of iceberg topped with green goddess dressing, pecan, bacon, date, blue cheese, and (we think) pea shoots—an atypical combination of flavors that works really well. The result is a circular slab of lettuce about an inch tall, and when I first saw it, I thought they should have given us a pizza cutter with it and laughed. The roast half chicken was also perfectly prepared—crispy and dark golden outside, tender and juicy inside, on a bed of pureed potatoes with swiss chard and jus. The thing that makes Finn Town an instant gem is its inventiveness on top of excellent quality. As far as we know, no one else in San Francisco serves rolls this way. No one else serves a wedge salad quite like this. The chicken is achingly perfect at first bite where elsewhere I might not feel the same way. Too full for dessert. About $100 after tip. Afterwards we wandered the streets looking for a bar that wasn't too crowded and ended at Blush where we enjoyed two glasses of wine by the glass and the company of the two bartenders. Tried again to find a bar with something interesting happening but was not too crowded and failed. Rode UberX home.