Italian Cookie Walk

 

With the holiday season in full swing, the HEAD Society’s thoughts turn to cookies! And everyone knows that the Italians know their cookies. And where better to find Italian cookies than North Beach? Our next HEAD Trip, the Italian Cookie Walk will head out on a journey of tasty exploration on Saturday, December 10, 2011.

We’ll meet at the Comstock Saloon (155 Columbus Ave. @ Kearny) at 2:30pm. This year the Comstock was selected as the 9^th best cocktail bar in America by GQ Magazine. It’s been a bar since 1907 when it opened as the Andromeda Saloon. It was described as a place where “angling executives, sharp-talking politicians and homesick sailors all rubbed elbows while brazen prostitutes flaunted coquettish charms at the brass rail of the ornate bar.” It is the last of the old Barbary Coast bars still standing (and serving drinks).

The original bar has been restored. It made from a single twenty foot long slab of Cuban mahogany and they serve Pre-Prohibition cocktails including Pisco Punch, Hop Toad and the Martinez (remember that one?).

We’ll take in some pre-walk refreshment before our band of HEAD Trippers sets out on our Italian Cookie Walk. From the Comstock we’ll head up Columbus Avenue into the heart of North Beach Our first stop will be the Italian French Pastry Company (1501 Grant Ave.). This place bakes bread and breadsticks for many San Francisco restaurants in their huge brick oven from the 1920s. They also bake a number of delicious cookies and biscotti but the star of the show is their macaroon – sweet as a kiss with coconut and chocolate.

This wonderful cookie was born in Italy, introduced by Catherine de Medicis chef in 1533. They were served at Catherine’s  wedding. She married the Duc d'Orleans who later became king of France (Henry II). The name "macaroon" has the same origin as that the word "macaroni" - both mean "fine dough".

Next stop? Mara’s Italian Pastry (503 Columbus Ave.) for the house specialty, cannoli. These tube-shaped shells of fried pastry dough are filled with a sweet, creamy ricotta filling. Cannoli were first prepared as a treat during Carnevale (a Sicilian version of Mardi Gras). They were also seen as a fertility symbol (those Italians). Cannoli are an essential part of Sicilian cuisine.  The name means "little tube". Italian immigrants brought this treat to America. In Italy, these Sicilian pastry treats are commonly known as "cannoli Siciliani" or, Sicilian cannoli. They range in size from "cannulicchi", no bigger than a finger, to  fist-sized proportions.

A little ways down the street we’ll find our next bakery, Stella Pastry and Café (446 Columbus Ave.). This place has been a San Francisco landmark since it opened in 1942. The house specialty is the Sacripantina, a multilayered cake made with a “pan di spagna” (vanilla sponge cake), zabaione (delicate custard made with egg yolks, sweet butter, Marsala and sherry), cream, and rum. It's like eating a delicious cloud – a cloud full of flavor.

Sacripantina  was created in 1851 by Giovanni Preti in his pastry shop in Genoa. The name was inspired by the character Sacripante in the Italian romantic epic “Orlando Furioso” (“The Frenzy of Orlando” or “Mad Orlando”). Sacripante was a king and leader of knights. He was tormented by his love for Angelica (the most beautiful woman he had ever seen). He wanted her and fought to defend her.

Full yet? I don’t think so because we’ve saved the best for last, Victoria Pastry Company (1362 Stockton St.). Founded by Sicilian immigrants in 1914, Victoria specializes in a dizzying array of Italian cookies, biscotti, tortes and cakes. They still use the original Sicilian recipes and the same brick oven which is now almost 100 years old.  

At this point, we’ll walk around digesting and burning of a calorie or two. As our appetites revive, we’ll head over to Tommaso’s (1042 Kearny St.). Tommaso’s was the first pizzeria on the west coast. It was opened in 1935 by an immigrant family from Naples. They still use the original wood-fired brick pizza oven.

The whole walk is only .8 of a mile. An advance team from the HEAD Society’s crack research unit pre-walked the route. We learned a valuable lesson – eat a light lunch!

Martini Memories

Yes, I know its been a long time since we traveled to Martinez, I've completely sobered up, and I've been meaning to write - I really have...I've been experiencing a bit of blogger's block, though, and I think its because although I only drank one martini (a lemon drop - it was pretty good although very strong but the rim of the glass was coated with sugar! The bar had good sandwiches, too...) I put away a whole lot of wine. Here's what happened:

 Jeneva, Harald and I, thinking we were leading a much larger group, headed out from the bar toward Main Street to  get our glasses and join the Wine Stroll. When I turned around to reconnoiter with the group, I discovered that nobody else was coming with us. Since Jeneva and Harald are two of my very favorite people in the world, this was fine but a little surprising mainly because I really don't think martinis taste all that good...Apparently that was not the majority opinion.

Wine glasses were sold in an art gallery that had some really pretty watercolors and photographs adorning the walls. I got a watercolor still life and Jeneva got a beautiful framed photograph of Yosemite in addition to our glasses. We were tutored on Wine Stroll procedure, ergo - any store displaying purple balloons was a participating store. Each participant served a taste of wine and some hors d'oeuvres.

By the third or fourth store, we had figured out the system - the wine was kept in the back of each shop. This necessitated a thorough examination of all the very cool merchandise by lots of progressively drunker and drunker shoppers. It worked! The shops were awesome and doing a land office business. I totally want to run a store there, now!

Early on, we also noticed that the wines were paired with shops that suited them. For example, the sweet shop served a port. They also gave out samples of their caramel apples. We bought some. We figured that there was no reason to check out the store that was serving Two Buck Chuck, but we kind of just wanted to poke our heads in and say..."Really?"...

The only problem with tasting wine this way (20 small sips - one after another) is that you get really drunk and you can't read any of your notes when you get home. Plus you might try to sing along with the couple from The Lawrence Welk Show in the clock shop and get shushed. And when you meet everybody back at the bar for recon before you go home, you might think it was a really good idea to order two orders of onion rings and eat most of them yourself...sparking a bout of heartburn that could torch a barn.

All in all, it was a really fun HEAD trip and made me appreciate what a cool little berg Martinez is! That and the pre-cookie walk we did with the Westendorfs today made me excited for our next outing - The Italian Christmas Cookie Walk on December 10. It's a lot of walking and you'll need a bag to carry your pastries in, but it is gonna be FUN!!! See you there!