Butcher's Happy Hour at Fatted Calf Charcuterie, San Francisco

Fatted Calf is an artisinal charcuterie that specializes in high-quality local, organic, hormone-free and hand crafted meats. Packed into their little store front is a myriad of meats and artisan products. You can get pretty much any meat you desire offering everything from beef shoulder, bone-in lamb leg roast, boston butt to pork trotters, pork offal, Spanish style chorizo, house made sausages, rilletes and pates.

In addition to their butcher counter, they also offer a small menu of soups, salads and sandwiches. Their classic meatloaf sandwich with pickled red onion, leaf lettuce and whole grain mustard is a local favorite. But it's not far off from their pulled pork sandwich with bourbon and blue bottle BBQ sauce, or porchetta sandwich with meyer lemon mayonnaise, fennel, carrot and radish slaw.

Every Wednesday, between 5:30 - 7:00PM, you can stop in for Butcher's Happy Hour where you can sip, eat and talk meat with the butcher's at no cost.

If you've always wanted to learn how to chop up a whole hog, prepare pates and terrines or make your own black truffle sausage, regular classes are offered ranging from $175-200/person.

Fatted Calf Charcuterie
320 Fell Street
San Francisco, Califonia, USA
Telephone: 415-400-5614

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Gilead Café, Toronto

The reason why we chose Gilead Café was not because we wanted fresh local food, or to be able to choose from a great deli and cheese selection, but because we had heard that they have one of the best poutines in town!

I know I know, shame on me. Regardless, I am so glad we came here because it was a great place with great food! Another one of Jamie Kennedy's creations, Gilead café is a little hidden gem in Toronto's historic Corktown neighborhood.

While this place does offer an à la carte lunch menu, heaps of people were also coming in just to buy meats and cheeses (from their deli counter) to take home.

CK and I started our meal with a cappuccino and a mocha.

CK, of course, ordered their poutine. That was the main reason why we came here in the first place. Today, it was the rabbit and mushroom poutine with Canadian artisan cheeses. I tried a few bites of the poutine, and it was amazing! It was lightly sprinkled with cheese, and the smaller portion helped minimize the guilt of eating a meal that consisted of only fries, meat, cheese, and gravy.

It doesn't look like there is a lot of gravy at first, but as soon as you dig in, you'll notice that the gravy is all at the bottom because it is much thinner than the gravy that is normally served in a poutine.

I ordered the marinated beet sandwich with fresh chèvre and wild arugula. This was a great sandwich, and the beets went really well with the chèvre. Their coleslaw was also seasoned perfectly. It was creamy but also sour like an oil and vinegar coleslaw.

I highly recommend this place. It may be hard to find but it is worth the search.

Gilead Café

4 Gilead Place
Toronto, Ontario, Canada

Telephone: 647-288-0680

Daily Menu

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Murray Street, Ottawa

This weekend, I had lunch at Murray Street, Ottawa's first charcuterie bar. Charcuterie, as defined in wiki, is the branch of cooking devoted to prepared meat products. This restaurant first opened its doors back in June, and was started by former Social executive chef and general manager, Steve Mitton and Paddy Whelan.

Murray street had a nice, Canadian rustic feel to it. The door had maple leaves etched all over, and the coat racks consisted of metal elk heads that had huge antlers for you to hang your jacket on.

I met up with Beebs for lunch here, and we both thoroughly enjoyed our charcuterie sandwiches. The charcuterie sandwich is made any way you like...your choice of bread, cheese, and 2 meats.

I had the Pine River 7 year cheddar with elk salami and smoked ostrich, and Beebs had the pepato fresca goat cheese with elk salami and smoked duck breast. We both decided on the multi-grain bread.

The sandwiches were served on meat boards, with artichoke hearts, sun dried tomatoes, and salad on the side. We were also each presented with a condiments platter of grainy mustard, olives, and spiced mayo. There was a bit of food envy on Beebs' part because the plating wasn't consistent. I was given more sun dried tomatoes, and my condiments platter came with an extra piece of candied orange peel.

The one downside to this place was the poor service we received. First off, our waitress seemed completely indifferent to the menu. When looking for assistance with the menu, she didn't offer any help or information, and said that everything was equally as good. That made my enthusiasm for the place plummet. On top of that, the service was extremely slow, and on many occasions, she forgot that we were there.

I did get a chance to talk to Paddy near the end of our meal, and he was very helpful and enthusiastic. I was looking to try something that was made in house, and learned that they make some of their own terrines and sausages...if only I had found out earlier.

I would go back a second time for the food, but the service would have to improve for regular repeat visits. From reviews I have read, the service is a hit or miss. I will do dinner the next time around...there's a duck confit poutine I am eyeing.

After lunch, we ran across the street to French Baker because I was craving a fresh butter croissant. To my disappointment, they had run out of croissants. Instead of sulking about it, I ordered the sablés aux confiture and palmiers instead...problem solved :) They use pure butter in all of their pastries and desserts, so everything here tastes wonderful. It was a great way to finish our afternoon.

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