And there I am, directly beneath the wristwatch on the pouring arm.

This is our third major news article having to do with obsessions with food and drink. Not sure what says about us, except hopefully we’re fun to be around…

Once again we had no breakage or theft, in spite of packing everything in our suitcases (because of the War On Moisture), including two bottles that cost more than $100 each…

In addition to stories and so on, he’s also got recipes and histories of favorite cocktails. While I’d certainly make a different choice for tequila than he does, the recipes all sound interesting, especially the Richmond Gimlet and the Brisa, both his own creations. Recommended reading.

I have written previously, in Tequila 101 and Everything you need to know about ordering tequila, some basic facts about tequila; what follows here is more opinion and personal preference. You can read the prior articles for background, or simply go with this summary: always look for and verify that your tequila says “100% agave” on the label. If it does not say that, it’s not a quality tequila.

Specific Tequila Recommendations

I’ve drunk more than 150 different tequilas at this point, and when I go to Tommy’s I have more than 200 options to choose from. While I enjoy tasting new things, more often than not I fall back on my favorites. When I’m not at Tommy’s, and the selection is much more limited, I can still usually find one of my preferred products, at least if the bar has any selection at all. Note that these are not the only tequilas that I love, they are simply the ones that most often come to mind when I am ordering.

I would drink any of these tequilas neat or in a margarita. Don’t let anyone tell you these are “too good to drink in a margarita;” I’ll have more on this in a future article. These are in no specific order:

• Herradura Silver, Reposado, and Añejo
• Oro Azul Blanco and Añejo
• El Tesoro, everything they make
• Don Julio Reposado and Añejo
• El Charro Reposado and Añejo
• Chinaco Reposado and Añejo
• Regional Reposado and Añejo (you won’t find this outside of Mexico)
• Centinela Reposado
• Arette Reposado, especially the Suave

I also have a few “special occasion” tequilas, which I will only order if I am celebrating something, or feeling especially flush with funds. As you might expect, these are more expensive; a 2 oz. pour of the Chinaco Black Label is more expensive than a bottle of any of the above tequilas. I would only ever drink these tequilas neat, in a nice snifter or glass.

• Chinaco Black Label (very rare, not made anymore)
• San Matias Rey Sol
• Herradura Seleccion Suprema
• Don Julio 1942
• Arette Gran Clase
• Jose Cuervo Reserva de Familia

Rochelle’s preferences are similar, but she also has a few that she likes better than I do, primarily Siete Leguas, of which I am not particularly fond.

We also have a few “workhorse” tequilas, which we happily order in a bar if none of the above are available, and some we also buy in bulk when we’re having a party. These are fine tequilas, but we don’t reach for them in the same way.

• Pura Sangre
• Pueblo Viejo
• Gran Centenario
• Cazadores
• Cabrito

Finally, one last “special purpose” tequila. We personally love the San Matias Carmessi, but we think it’s especially useful for introducing people to fine tequilas. It’s great for people who have never tried tequila, and even people who think they don’t like tequila usually find they enjoy it.

Just Say No

I don’t really want to recommend against specific products, because everyone’s taste is different, and if you like it, drink it. But these are products which I personally don’t care for, or find over-priced or over-rated. You make your own decision.

• Cuervo Especial, Gold, 1800 — I’ll order a beer if these are the only selections
• Sauza — the Tres Generations bottlings are OK, but there is no Sauza product I genuinely like
• Don Eduardo — we gave this up forever the last time we drank it, 2-3 years ago; it’s just not good, and often expensive
• Patrón — actually a decent tequila, but over-priced

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Tequila trail leads to innovation gives some of the highlights, which we remember well, and alludes to the impact of the more intense moments of the trip (of which we remember little ;-), by describing the author’s regimen of no alcohol and lots of exercise for 10 days before the trip, and no activity at all for 3 days afterwards.

Entertaining and educational to read, there’s some good new tequila drink recipes as well. We will have to visit the local bartenders mentioned, and try them all out!

We didn’t do nearly as much as we’d have liked to accomplish on our various projects, but that just means we had a good time. This assertion is supported by some of the debris we left behind in the room, our empties, mostly champagne and vodka bottles…

Since getting back I’ve had my birthday. We went out for three straight nights, once for my birthday, once to someone’s Halloween party, and once to someone else’s birthday gathering. At least for me, the most fun was on Friday at Tres Agaves, which just opened last week. (Highly recommended, even though they are struggling under the load of instant success.) We started with drinks in the (packed) bar, and then moved to dinner. Where it turned out there was yet another birthday going on at the table next to us, except the ladies dressed up in theme. It was destiny that we would meet:

No wonder we still haven’t unpacked completely! Anyway, if you’ve been waiting for a phone call or email, we should be back to normal after this weekend. Talk to you soon.

Romolo’s is open again after their remodel. Easy to get to, right off of El Camino Real, and just a few blocks from the Hillsdale exit of Highway 101. Go check ‘em out.

What’s kind of funny is the weird visual sensation I had while eating. The restaurant has an Asian-style glyph, which the staff all wear on their black shirts (photo at right). The glyph, rendered in white, has shape elements to it — most of a cross-hatch, loop-ish strokes at three corners — that it looks, out of the corner of your eye, like the Macintosh Command symbol: ⌘

So, the effect — of the clean lines of the restaurant’s brightly-lit interior, and of the couple dozen staff whizzing around in their black pants and black shirts with the Command symbol on it — is that you’re eating in the Apple Store.

Zen vegetarian food, beautifully prepared and presented, served in a clean, simple environment. I think Steve Jobs would be a fan.

Live the dream this September!

(No, really, this is not a joke. Click the graphic for the full details!)

Worst of all, we forgot to take any photos during the event, especially of people in the kitchen. We’ll just have to try harder (or drink less) next time.

Keeping Up With The Jones Poverty Party

We started the year on a good note by getting rid of lots of crap, but alas, during a routinue appliance swap, we got sucked into a kitchen remodel. We’re only through Stage One (structural), and we’re broke.

So it’s time for a party! We’ll celebrate Rochelle’s birthday and our folly. Come by and make fun of us!

We’ll be serving cheap but good food like bread & dip, deviled eggs and…well…you haven’t lived ‘til you’ve had a fried baloney sandwich made on a Viking Range! We’ll have red wine & tequila (& mixers) from our existing but not insubstantial stash. We’ll also serve whatever beer is on sale that week.

From all you iPoders out there, Rochelle has a special birthday request — bring a playlist of not more than 10 songs from any time I have been alive (May 31, 1962 to present). They can be all from one year [extra points for great years: (birth)1962, (college)1980-84, (move to SF)1985, (move to 569)1992, (guess)1995, and (married Michael)1999], have a groovy theme, or just be 10 cool songs you love. We’ll take take turns jacking into the system, so it’s your chance to be a DJ.

And if you like dressing up, come as your favorite Jones (Davey, Shirley, Starr, Bridget?). Since I suspect there will be at least one Tom Jones, bring panties to throw.

PS – We highly, highly recommend coming via cab or public transit because parking is virtually impossible in the Lower Haight on weekend evenings. Seriously.

Cunning bakers have responded, not with an authentic baguette but with a preservative-laden, turd-shaped travesty called — with callous humour — a French Stick. It’s exactly the same rubbish they extrude into white loaves but delivered in a staggeringly inconvenient shape. Trying to eat a sandwich made with one is like trying to fellate a torpedo.

But where he really got me was with his description of real fast food, as in, food prepared by a short order cook. In Boston last year I sat at the counter in Charlie’s Sandwich Shop, and watched one man prepare maybe 35 dishes while I waited for and then ate my breakfast. The cook, who reminded me of Robert Forster, was an absolute machine, keeping as many as 8-10 dishes on the stove and griddle at once, keeping everything going in parallel, but staggered so as to bring each table up together, without making other dishes wait and get cold.

Most impressively, he never seemed hurried, let alone overwhelmed. Indeed, when a second guy showed up to help plate finished dishes, it seemed like the two of them were less efficient than the cook had been by himself. It was amazing. Although I’ve eaten at the kitchen table at Charlie Trotter’s, where I’ve seen fine food at its finest, that morning in Charlie’s Sandwich Shop was the virtuoso cooking performance I’ve seen in my life.

But after lunch, our contractor went by to have a look, and voila!, the doors are open, and there is bustling activity. I went in, and had a nice chat with one of the owners, and got a beautiful pecan bun.

They are not officially open yet, just offering the neighborhood some free samples of their pastry; there remains a signature from the city to obtain before they can serve other food, or drink. But it’s expected today, and tomorrow should be their first official day open.

The menu looks delightful; fresh, open-faced sandwiches, salads (the Caesar with chicken, which they were sampling, looked fabulous — it’s been years since we had a decent salad in the neighborhood), their spectacular pastry, good coffee, and an excellent selection of beer and French wine.

I am going to eat there every day for a month.

Update: I went back and took a photo of their menus, to provide full details on the food to be served. (I put them in the wrong order: the evening menu is on the left in the photo, and the morning/afternoon menu is on the right. I guess I was a little excited…)

Click the photo to see a full-size version

If a month goes by and Pascal Rigo doesn’t buy something or open a new cafe, I feel like I’m missing something. Well, he’s back at it. Eight months after opening Rigolo, he has bought Movida Lounge at 200 Fillmore St. (at Waller Street) in San Francisco, and will turn it into Le Cafe di Soleil.

Monsieur Rigo is the restaurateur behind our favorite bakeries, Boulangerie Bay Bread and Boulange De Cole Valley, among other establishments. The croissants made at his bakeries are better than most I had in Paris, and their walnut baguette is a staple at our parties, because it goes so perfectly with cheese.

I’m not kidding about tearing up when I read this; it’s the most exciting food news for our neighborhood since Memphis Minnie’s opened up across the street. Having one of M. Rigo’s establishments right around the corner will probably not be good for my waistline, but I will certainly enjoy the fight!

The mixer for 2005 is definitely Trader Joe’s Organic Strawberry Lemonade, $3.99, located in the refrigerated juice section in Trader Joe’s. It’s great by itself, but it begs to be mixed with your distilled spirit of choice.

We’ve tried it with vodka and tequila. Overall, we like the tequila version — but that’s no surprise, given our well-known fondness for tequila. With vodka we’ve found that the sweetness of the juice renders the drink a bit too sweet for our taste; the additional flavors of tequila cut the sweetness just enough.

I recommend 2 oz. of tequila to 2-3 oz. of Strawberry Lemonade; to my taste, a 50/50 ratio makes a perfect, strong drink. We usually squeeze in a bit of lime, to finish it off. This is especially important if you’re using vodka, the acid in the lime cuts the sweetness of the juice, providing better overall balance.

I think rum would also work well, but I haven’t tried it. I question gin, and think Scotch and bourbon would be right out. (Though Scotch is the alcohol of choice for our cocktail discovery of 2004, the Randy Scotsman: Scotch and ginger ale, roughly 40/60. Sounds horrible, but it’s fabulous.)

And hey. It’s organic. To your health!