Summer Celebration by Cuesa

Tonight, I attended Cuesa's Summer event rather than volunteering. It feels good to be on the other side just enjoying food for 2 hours. There's a lot of people but not too crowded. There's no rush, me and my wife were able to taste almost all the dishes and just enjoy the freshest ingredients and the different flavor combinations these restaurants have to offer.

Whole beast carving station. Happy Pig!

My favorite drink! Blackberry swizzle from Elixir

This is event was packed with SF's most talented chefs. All the dishes were amazing. Each booth tells you where they got their fresh ingredients from. It makes you feel good that you are eating the freshest ingredients sourced from the Ferry building farmer's market. For me the highlights were the Buttermilk Panna Cotta with berries from Scala's bistro, Soy tofu cheesecake from Ozumo, Roasted pork with chiles, lime and stone fruit from 4505, Tomato Gelee with buratta from Cotogna and the Panna Gelato from Beretta. Here are the pictures to recap almost everything me and my wife ate that night.

Tofu cheesecake, fried tofu skin and berries from Ozumo. This was really surprisingly good. It's like "taho" cheesecake.

Summer salad from Origen. The restaurant is opening in August 2011 in Berkeley



Marinated squid, pickled melon and padron peppers from Blue Plate



Marinated sardines, charred peppers and olives from Gitane

Smoked boysenberry, cream soda float and cinnamon cracker from La Victoria bakery

Summer squash tacos from Nopalito

Seared Shiro Maguro Tataki from Ichi Sushi

Fish Po'boy from Marketbar

Plum salad from Millenium. Hodo Soy Tofu, sweet 100's, cucumber, kaffir lime dressing

Buttermilk Panna Cotta with Peaches from Scala's Bistro.

Duck Prosciutto, smoked plum, mushrooms and onions from Bon appetit Management Co

Chicharrones

Radish, stone fruit and lime

Finished product. 4505's roasted pork tacos with stone fruit slaw topped with chicharrones

Strawberry sliders with honey mascarpone and caramelized blackberries from One Market

Cotogna's Tomato Gelee with Buratta. Most interesting dish for me. It tastes different than it seems. Very creative and great presentation.

Chicken cracklings, shaved zucchini and watercress from Flour+Water

Papa al Pomodoro - traditional Tuscan tomato soup from Delarosa

Salmon rillette from Serpentine.

Beretta's Panna Gelato with extra virgin olive oil and sea salt. Creamy Gelato. One of the best!

Tacolicious' Adobo marinated skirt steak.

"Green eggs and Lamb" - lamb belly, wasabi tobiko on a brown rice crepe - Gastronaut

House cured anchovies with salsa verde from Barbacco

Poached cod on a zucchini bread with mint cilantro chutney from Technique at the CCA.

Duck confit with shiso, walnut duck butter and cherry chutney. They are hiding on the cherries! Great presentation

Pork sandwiches with Arugula from Bix

To summarize, it was an evening of duck goodness with prosciutto and confit, stone fruits, berries on almost everything, sardines and anchovies and the smell of roasted pork all over the ferry building. It's truly a celebration of what Summer has to offer!