Foreign Cinema

Eastside Road, October 15, 2013—

SAN FRANCISCO: in town today for a meeting of the Baker's Dozen, about which I have written elsewhere. We get to two or three of these meetings a year, I think, and are always interested in their presentations, and rewarded with lunch, as the group meets in a favorite restaurant of ours. Today's lunch:

Sliced San Daniele prosciutto with bread, olive oil, and olives
Pappa al Pomodoro with new olive oil and Piave
Cobb salad: grilled chicken, avocado, egg, blue cheese, and bacon on butter lettuce, with Green Goddess dressing
Crème brûlée

The tomato-bread soup was really beautifully made, smooth and substantial and flavorful; the salad — a complete meal in itself — was full of detailed textures and flavors. You can't ask for more at a lunch like this, unless maybe a glass of rosé…

• Foreign Cinema, 2534 Mission Street, San Francisco; (415) 648-7600

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THAT WAS OF COURSE the principal meal of the day: nothing needed in the evening but the last of the pulses and grains left over from previous evenings. They hold up very well, the lentil soup gaining in depth of flavor as various enzymes do their work even in the icebox. And look at that slice of bread, from our friends at Kenter Canyon Farms! I'll write more about them when I discuss the Baker's Dozen further, over at The Eastside View…