Lamb Jam SF

The 3rd Annual Lamb Jam was held last Sunday at the Presidio in SF. It's all about lamb at this event. It was an Iron chef competition with lamb as its secret ingredient. It was a very unique event. There was a butchery demo, a competition of lamb dishes where you get to be the judge, they have beer and wine plus a lot of lamb goodies and stuff. What's also cool about it was that the place was divided by the lamb parts they were serving. The shank, loin and leg have their own places. Lamb fanatics were definitely in heaven that day.

There was a DIY lamb rub spice kit where you get to choose the different spices that goes in your kit

Butchery demo from Dave the butcher, Chef John Fink and Don Watson

Also a place where art is inspired!

Lamb is a little tricky to cook. It has to be cooked right, often medium rare and shouldn't be too gamey. With this event, all the lamb dishes I've tasted were all amazing and cooked perfectly. Dishes had a perfect balance of acidity, sweetness, some crunchiness, freshness from the herbs and citrus all without overpowering the flavor of the animal.

I have to say, this was the best drink for me that day. Genius! Bourbon Coke slushy..

I love all the lamb dishes but if I have to pick the least, it would be the one from Tacolicious. The meatball was good and the sauce has a kick but I just hoped there was some bread or something that can mellow down the strong flavor. Also compared to the other dishes, there were a lot more different flavors complementing each other but their meatball was good.

CIA shots (Chefs in action)

Chef Adam from Brasserie S&P

One Market chefs

Jackson's

Chef Jen Biesty of Scala's Bistro as the "sheep"

Grand Cafe chefs

The Whole Beast crew

Chef Alicia Jenish and Chef Jen Biesty

The winners this year were:

Jaff Mall (Zin) - People's choice

Dino Vasquez (Eastside West) - Best shank

Antelmo Faria (Tacolicious) - Best leg

Mark Dommen (One Market) - Best shoulder

Vernon Morales (Town Hall) - Best in show/Best loin

Dish shots:

From Brasserie S&P. Grilled lamb loin, fennel confit, meyer lemon relish

Lamb Shoulder tacos from Jackson's. Fresh tortilla, "lava lake lamb", lemon verbena salsa. I can eat a dozen of these

One Market's Lamb shoulder lettuce cups. Very fresh, alot of herbs with a hint of fish sauce. Tasty asian inspired dish

Jake's spiced lamb loin with Chimichurri and Farro salad. Lamb was just perfectly cooked and the salad was amazing

Five's Cocoa and chile crusted lamb loin, roasted fresno chili agrodolce and bean salad. Didn't really tasted the cocoa but the lamb was cooked right.

Zin's red-eye braised lamb with sweet corn grits and Eastside farm chow chow

Puccini and Pinetti's herb braised lamb shank with wild mushroom polenta.

Top chef Jen Biesty's coriander marinated roasted leg of lamb, heirloom carrots, almond olive salad with octopus crackling. Perfect citrus acid balance. 

Tacolicious' lamb meatballs with chipotle sauce. It has a nice kick!

They all deserve to win since all chefs showed different ways to highlight and complement the great flavor of lamb. For me there were 3 standout dishes. Looking back, these dishes show the complexity of each elements. It may look simple but there were a lot of things that those ingredients went through.

Here are my top 3 dishes:

3. Grand Cafe's Lamb merguez with yogurt foam, crispy spiced pita, pickled veggies, plum gelee and roasted tomato. It was definitely flavorful. I took that perfect bite with almost all the ingredients and it worked perfectly. It was also plated beautifully for me so that's a plus.

2. Eastside West's Achiote braised lamb shank with stuffed swiss chard, green olive salsa and that cheesy plantain chips. Great combination of flavors especially that plantains chips dusted with Queso de bola. The swiss chard was also stuffed with ground lamb for that extra lamb kick. It was definitely memorable.

1. Best dish that day for me was Town Hall's The Lamb and the Fig. It was lamb loin wrapped in fig leaf with tomato and fig marmalade, sheep's milk yogurt, and a chickpea polenta. First it looks amazing. It's art in a plate. Second, lamb and fig just marries well together. Great flavors all together and definitely shows how all of them complements each other. You can definitely see the complexity of each component. Amazing dish!

It was a learning experience for me attending this event. It was inspiring. I tasted some of the best lamb dishes in SF. I learned different ways to complement this protein and let it shine. Thanks to the staff of this event for making it a successful event and for letting me experience it! Thanks Courtney! :)

For more Lamb Jam pics visit my facebook page at Fer's Bite.

Backstage pass at Behind the Cart: NOLA

It was the 4th installment of Behind the Cart and this time they're bringing New Orleans to SF! It was a night of crawfish, shrimp, gumbo, hush puppies and great music. It was a sold out event of about 66 guests and all I can say is that Old Skool Cafe was definitely transformed into the streets of Nola.

table set up

Who put that jacket there?

The V.I.P. table!

For those who don't know, BTC is a mobile underground restaurant brought to you by cheesiest grilled cheese master himself Michael Davidson. Its purpose is to showcase the local food entrepreneurs, share stories, eat amazing food and have a good time. Last Saturday's dinner didn't fail to do all of that. It was definitely LOUD, literally. MJ's Brass Boppers were responsible for having the guests get off their seats, dance and do the train. The people behind the food served that night were: S+S Gastro Grub, Angry Man Eats, Fat Alley Foods, Grilled Cheez Guy, Suite Foods, Frozen Kuhsterd and The Uncommon pickle.

Happy chefs

Simone of S+S Gastro Grub sharing what she knows best

MJ Brass Boppers

I got the chance to get behind the scenes and help out with prepping food in the kitchen and also serve dinner. The mood in the kitchen was definitely intense. Imagine different chefs cooking, plating food, and having a great time. Whew! It was definitely a challenge I enjoyed being a part of. I met great people and ate some delicious food. I must say, the restaurant itself definitely has some character. It was sleek, classy, and the set up was great too. 66+ people were seated comfortably and with the band playing, it really got loud and cozy! It was located around the Bayview area of San Francisco and walking towards the restaurant kinda scared me at first. Just a little bit.. A lot of people were hanging out around the corners and you can actually smell their business. I had to do the "no eye contact" walk since I have a back pack with my camera on it. Once I enter the restaurant though I was transported to a different place.

Intense talk by the captain

Michael Davidson sharing his masterplan for the night

Angry Man Eats prepping his honey butter

Fat Alley Foods cooking the Shrimp Etouffee

Caught in the act by Nicole Quihuis (Thanks for the photo Niki)

Let's talk about the food. My favorite was the Gumbo Pot Pie by S+S Gastro Grub. The dough was flaky and buttery and the gumbo is just rich and packed with crawfish, chicken and sausages. I also like the combination of the crawfish wonton with creole mustard aioli and satsuma bourbon marmalade. It was sweet and crunchy. S+S really did a great job in terms of utilizing the crawfish. Some of their crawfish actually came from Louisiana and some were live ones from the Bay Area. Angry Man Eats' Hush puppies were addictive too especially with that honey butter and home made pepper jelly. I can eat a whole bag of those fried balls. I've heard great things about the dessert as well. I didn't get the chance to stay for dessert though and I know I missed a lot since people have been raving about the Leige waffle with the salted caramel frozen custard. Thanks to Nicole of Pretty Hungry for some of the pictures. I didn't get to take shots of the Shrimp Etouffee and the dessert but Nicole did. Check out her facebook page for some amazing action shots! :)

The Menu

Here are some food shots from the kitchen.



Amuse bouche: crawfish tail meat with water chestnuts mixed with creole mustard topped with crispy wonton and satsuma bourbon marmalade



Fat Alley Foods in action (photo by Nicole Q.)

Shrimp Etouffee (photo by Nicole Q.)

Gumbo pot pies waiting for their sauna moment

Crawfish on a calamansi balsamic salad

Partners in crime; Gumbo Pot Pie by S+S Gastro Grub

Hush Puppies by Angry Man Eats

Stinky Cheese Swamp. Red Hawk by cowgirl creamery, Inna Jam's jalapeno jelly and walnuts. Creation by the GrilledCheezGuy himself

Frozen Kuhsterd in action (photo by Nicole Q.)

Collaboration dessert by Suite foods and Frozen Kuhsterd. Salted caramel frozen custard with Liege waffle topped with coffee caramel drizzle (photo by Nicole Q.)

The Uncommon Pickle

The Grilled Cheez guy has done it again. Another successful event! These events are one of the reasons why I love San Francisco. I love the underground scene especially when it involves supporting your local and talented food entrepreneurs. Till next time, rumor has it it won't be that long.. Check out the website for further details.