Wednesday, July 2, 2014

German

soup.jpg
San Francisco, July 1, 2014—
I HATE EATING in a hurry, but sometimes you just don't have an option. We were in the Mission with less than forty-five minutes to spare. Fortunately, a restaurant we'd been wanting to try was just around the corner.

I ordered two items, a bit recklessly: this bowl of delicious thick hot spicy soljanka — tomato-cabbage soup with salami, bacon, and pickles — and matjes herring in sour cream with apples, onions, and more pickles. Both came with delicious pumpernickel bread. I nearly burned my mouth on the soup, so quickly did I down it — disgracefully drinking from the bowl; spooning was too slow — and I confess I wasn't able to finish all the herring salad.

Both were delicious. I spoke to the chef on our way out, and we agreed about the benefits of eating herring raw, with only a few chopped onions and maybe a glass of genever. But I commended him on his treatment: this herring was delicious, like the soup, and we'll be back for more one of these days. With more time.
Weltenburger Helles on draft
Walzwerk, 381 South Van Ness Ave, San Francisco; (415) 551-7181

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