Adventures in Eating

Earlier this week the foodie in me had a giant nerd out moment. Monday night I had the opportunity to dine at Incanto, Chris Cosentino's San Francisco restaurant. Cosentino has competed on Iron Chef and was the winner of last season's Top Chef Masters on Bravo. And just announced, he's a 2013 James Beard nominee. The restaurant on Church St in the Noe Valley neighborhood. Once you walk in, the decor let's you know you're in the right place for a "nose to tail" eating experience. Cosentino is famous for his whole animal approach to cooking, which is reflected in the animal decor and the dishes on the menu. Sadly I didn't get to see him in the kitchen when I was there.

After the red wine was poured, we began our dining adventure. First up were the beginners dishes. You can't have a meal of all meat (which I actually think can be debated), so we ordered the petit radishes, which were served with a smoked butter for the radish root and green pesto-like sauce for the leaves. I'm going to be honest, I wasn't a fan and was wondering what I had gotten myself into. I'm not a rabbit and even if you smother radish in butter, it still tastes like root. The table had mixed opinions on this, so to each their own on this issue. Luckily I adored everything else that hit my taste buds that night, proving that one should not get easily scared away. Next up we had black bread, which achieves its color by being soaked in squid ink. On top was sea urchin, radish (again! but this time masked by bolder flavors), and Ilberico di bellota lardo (which I thought was Spanish cheese but after research is in fact acorn-fed pig backfat- also from Spain). The bite I had was rich but balanced, tasting like sea urchin with a smoky bacon-esque undertone. Third was the spicy pork belly, with shaved asparagus, scallions, pistachio and mint. This was my favorite dish of the night. First off, you can't go wrong with pork belly. Usually the pork belly I've had is served as thickly diced cubes. This pork belly was thinly shaved to complement the rest of the dish. It was a little bit lighter and seemed to soak up the rest of the dish's flavors a bit more. 

Next up came the pastas. While we didn't order it, I love that he has a dandelions pasta dish named "bitter hipster." Perfect for a restaurant abutting the Mission District. My favorite pasta dish we ordered was the spaghettini with cured tuna heat, egg yolk and parsley. Spaghettini is basically thicker spaghetti-like noodles. This dish displayed what Cosentino calls his culinary secret weapon, single varietal extra-virgin olive oil. We also tried the pasta special of the day, which was pig skin turned into pasta after being put through a spaghetti press. Had I not heard the server's description, I would have never know. The dish just seemed to have an air of bacon essence to it. 

For supper we ordered the lamb neck off the menu, which was server atop polenta, stridoli (greens) and horseradish (much better than regular radish) gremolata. I'm not sure on the cooking method but the lamb neck almost seemed to be slow cooked. It was so tender it easily fell off the bone. We also has another special of the evening, which was a strew with tripe (stomach lining) and vegetables. It was one of those theatrical experiences where the waitress brings over the bowl of meat and vegetables, with a Campbell's looking soup can that's custom labeled inCANto, which she actually has to use a can opener on. There is something about the smell wafting toward you after the broth is poured though. Overall, this probably ranked right above the radishes for me but not because it was ill-prepared, I just don't like tripe. It's too chewy for my taste. For dessert, we ordered cream puffs, the amuse bouche of dessert. These bite-sized puff pastries were filled with either chocolate ice cream or orange creme.

For all adventurous eaters out there, Incanto is the best experience I could recommend. They also host annual head-to-tail dinners, which I would imagine is quite the feast. And $85 for a 5 course dinner is a great deal for this caliber of cooking!