SUNDAY BRUNCH AT THE GALILEO CLUB

The football playoffs are about to begin. It may be a good idea to lay a brunch foundation for all of the revelry and couch coaching ahead. We are going to Sunday brunch at the Galileo Club in Richmond California. My application was recently put in for an associate membership. I have been accepted and only have to attend the business meeting to make it official. I can only apply for an associate membership even though I love pasta, Dean Martin and grew up in the Rockridge District an Italian neighborhood. My heritage is not Italian but I am privileged and honored to be accepted as an associate member. We now have dining privileges and will be partaking in Sunday brunch.

The Galileo Club was founded in 1932 in Richmond California. Richmond has seen better days.  During World War II this neighborhood thrived with its ship building community. The building is plain except for its marquee sign and Italian colors but once inside you are amazed at the beauty and warmth of this social club. There are two large halls with bars, amenities and even several bocce ball courts. Then there is the main dining hall where the food action happens. Let the brunch begin.

What a spread we have today. Eggs, bacon, sausage, ham, pancakes, potatoes, mimosas, and even a special station for biscuits & gravy were available. Now that is what I am talking about. There was a very special station of home baked goods made by the women’s auxiliary. Cakes, cookies and my all-time favorite, biscotti made for many choices. I had to use restraint with all this great food. I did grab a piece of fruit to make this a healthy meal. This was the perfect way to start out a football Sunday. Look out couch, here I come.

BERKSHIRE PORK SHOULDER STEAK

The Berkshire breed of pig is one of the heritage breeds. The Berkshire can be traced back to the herds from the British House of Windsor. Its dark meat is known for having a lot of intramuscular fat which translates to flavor and tenderness.  We had some very tasty chops the other night so when we saw some Berkshire for sale at the farmers market we were happy. Hanson Family Farms who also offers dog training sold frozen cuts of Berkshire pork. We found a pork shoulder steak which weighed out at 2.7 pounds at 10.00/pd. Let’s fire up the smoker.

The Weber Smokey Mountain cooker was put into action tonight. A few chunks of apple wood fired by charcoal briquettes would be our fuel. The preparation would be simple dusting of our rub of the day. The meat was smoked for approximately 3 hours at 240 degrees. We did not really have a target temperature today. We just pulled it 20 minutes before dinner. It was pulled at 165 degrees and given a 15 minute rest. (Pork is done at 145 degrees and shoulder is usually cooked to 190 or higher for pulled pork).  This steak looked and smelled fantastic.

The pork had a nutty mild beefy like flavor. This was porky delicious. Berkshire has a pork flavor that needs to be experienced. The texture was firm with a little chew and that may only because of our ending cooking temperature. Flavor trumped all on this meal. We served our pork in chunks with sides of stuffing and broccoli mustard slaw. Berkshire pork is a treat and we want to experience more.

Hanson Family Farms

BLACK BARK BBQ

There is a lot of excitement going on in the ‘City’ with the long anticipated 'Grand Opening' of the bbq restaurant Black Bark. We broke the cardinal rule of going to a new restaurant on day three of its Grand Opening. I guess we had the ‘hardly can waits’. The Great White Hunter and I were on a mission to see what all the hype was about. I know it pains The Great White Hunter to admit, I really do have good parking karma. Granted, I pulled a highly illegal maneuver to secure said spot but we parked almost right in front. We got in line and prepared ourselves to experience Black Bark.

David Lawrence is the chef/co-owner of this new dinning establishment. He owns another successful restaurant across the street; “1300 on Fillmore”. He made an investment of buying two brand new ‘Ole Hickory’ smokers to feed the bbq hungry masses of San Francisco. He also hired a former pittmaster Lance Nicholson  from  iconic bbq restaurant Memphis Minnie’s. He hopes this combination will be a success. The place was jumping and packed with fellow hungry bbq enthusiats. David Lawrence took the time to come greet and talk to customers even though he was definitely very busy. If the crowd is any indicator, Black Bark is off to a good start.

We move through the line and make our bbq choices from a menu billboard. The usual suspects for bbq are available with meats sold by the half pound.  Our orders are placed and we received a number. We luckily grabbed one of the last tables available even though the place had only been open half an hour. Our orders were delivered very promptly which was impressive because of the crowd.
Each table has three house made bbq sauces. Two were tomato based sauces, one hot and the other mild. The third was a mustard based sauce. They all were tasty with the mustard being my favorite. Our plates were delivered and they looked fantastic. The entrées are served on a butcher paper lined cafeteria style trays. The Great White Hunter had a Cheshire grin with his delivered tray. Okay, drum roll please.

I ordered a three way combo of pork ribs, brisket and pulled pork with the sides of slaw and beans. I also had to order a side of corn bread and house made cucumber pickles. Let’s start with the brisket. Wow! This could have been entered into any competition. It was beautiful with its smoke ring. It was tender, had a flavorful bark and just the right amount of smoke. The pork ribs were spare ribs with the rib tips attached. These were cooked to perfection. The seasoning was not overly assertive but pleasant. I dipped them into all three sauces and finished with finger licking. (Sorry Mrs. Macintosh). The pulled pork had perfect smoke flavor, tasty bark and was tender. I especially liked this with the mustard based sauce.

Side dishes are so often pedestrian at bbq joints. Not at Black Barks. The beans were not traditional bbq beans but more of a creamy white bean cassoulet style. They were fantastic. The slaw was tangy. The cornbread was moist and corny good. House made pickles rocked my boat. They had a vinegar tang that was sweet and fresh. We are hitting the mark on all cylinders today.
     Black Bark is a reason to get excited about Barbeque again. I was impressed by the quality and enjoyment of all my food offerings today. The Great White Hunter will finally have to admit that parking karma is real. He enjoyed himself but only communicated this by his usual grunting. We wish David Lawrence the best with his new bbq restaurant. Black Bark is open and ready to impress.

Black Bark
1325 Fillmore St.
San Francisco, CA.

BONEHEAD’S TEXAS BBQ

“No Mo Bo’s”

Bo’s bbq restaurant located in Lafayette, California was loved by many. Bo has relinquished this location for Bonehead’s Texas BBQ. We were not enamored with our visit to Bo’s so we return with a clean slate to give Bonehead’s a try. We park in their convenient parking lot around 11:30 am. The place is totally empty and I even wonder if they are open until I am greeted with a familiar odor. The smell of sweet bbq smoke permeates the premise. No visible smoke is present but the odor is teetering on the verge of being toxic. We scan a familiar bbq restaurant menu on the wall and place our order.

The interior has been cleaned up and has a modern industrial style look. With no customers it is empty and has a cold feel. We are tasked with retrieving our plastic silverware and drinks at a self-serve station. Here two bbq sauces are offered; one plain and one hot. These are tomato based sauces that are decent. The hot is the best and has no real heat unless you believe ‘Taco Bell’ sauce is hot. Our orders are delivered promptly.
Ribs and brisket with a side of Cole slaw & beans are both my friend Ted and my choice of entre today. The meal is served on a paper plate. The first thing I notice is the slicing with the grain of the brisket. This raises a red flag because this is ‘BBQ 101” to slice brisket against the grain to insure a more tender bite. I slice a bite with my plastic knife and taste. Like the aroma of the restaurant this piece of brisket is very smoky. It is so smoky it is teetering on the verge of being over smoked.  It is seasoned nicely with a good tasting bark. It is on the dry side so a dousing of the bbq sauce helped with this offering. The ribs were also smoky and dry. They also have a texture like a cured ham. We are the first customers of the day and the ribs just seemed like they have been held for hours before serving.  They are not terrible and with another dousing of sauce they were consumed.

The sides were unmemorable. The cornbread was served with rock-hard butter and was so dry I literally had to take a sip of water to unstick the bite from my throat. I later found out this was honey butter but never sampled because my plastic knife was useless to serve.  Boneheads Texas BBQ has big shoes to fill by occupying this location. Looking back at our dining experience nothing here excited us about bbq. The food was not terrible but it is not a place I would return to.

Bonehead’s Texas BBQ
3422 Mt. Diablo Blvd.
Lafayette , California

FAT CAT BACON-FLAVORED SRIRACHA

This is not a review or an endorsement by any means. In fact this is a miniature rant and or observation. As you may know the mere mention of bacon will open the purse strings for my purchase. Fat Cat brand hot sauces makes quality fun hot sauces. This sauce, Bacon-Flavored Sriracha is a quality good sauce. But. Why do they feel the need to put bacon on the label? I have smelled, tasted, and retested this sauce to not find an iota of bacon essence. A fellow hot sauce reviewer suggested the bacon flavor was nuanced. This may be true if you close your eyes and wish very hard. My issue is the label states and or promises bacon. This sauce is a good sriracha style of sauce but lose the 'Bacon' promise on  the label. Ok, I am done. (till the next bacon product arrives)

BERKSHIRE CHOPS, STUFFING & A BUCKET OF GRAVY

Ms. Goofy's favorite comfort dish is pork chops and stuffing. Do you ever have the conversation; What do you want for dinner? Well, Ms. Goofy volunteered to make pork chops and stuffing if I procured the chops. Say no more. Faster than you can say 'pig in a poke', 'when pigs can fly' and 'this little piggy went to market, I went to 'Clove & Hoof' in Oakland. This meat market had some beautiful brined Berkshire Porterhouse pork chops. These chops looked elegant with a price tag reinforcing the decadence. I raced home to give Ms. Goofy our prize.

Ms. Goofy is wonderful cook when she makes dishes from her vast repertoire of comfort food. Her stuffing is made from scratch. Plenty of fresh vegetables and even a small amount of sausage goes into her stuffing. She lightly browned the chops on the stove-top and then finished them in the oven cradled in a stuffing cocoon. The house smelled fantastic. What a treat! You have to experience Berkshire pork. This is pork the way pork should taste. I hate to admit but even the huge fat cap was delicious. I almost forgot. This meal included a bucket of gravy to gild the lily. Oh my! This was a memorable feast.

CINCO DE MAYO

Sunny California has been gifted with a much needed soaking of rain these last several days. This was the perfect opportunity to continue our search for the best Chile Verde. Our journey brings us to Martinez California to sample the Chile Verde offered by the small chain of Cinco de Mayo. Parking karma did not apply today because they do have a small lot right in front. Once inside there is a counter with a signboard menu offering many food combinations.  The prices are very reasonable. An order is placed and you are directed to a small self-service salsa bar.

A good indicator of the food to come is the salsa bar. Does the restaurant take the time to make quality salsas? This salsa bar will receive only a passing grade. It was the standard fair of canned pickled carrots and jalapenos, verde & red salsa and a fair rendition of pico de gallo. This salsa bar did not pop with excitement. Our orders were delivered to our table very quickly. We did time our dinning perfectly. We arrived seconds before a big lunch rush.

Both of our plates looked great. The proportions were generous. My Chile Verde was seasoned nicely. The green sauce did have pepper flavor. The cubes of pork were leaning to the chewy side. The beans and rice were filling. This rendition of Chile Verde was decent but just did not sing out with pizzazz and vibrancy. Ms. Goofy was not enamored with her “Wet” Super Carnitas Burrito.

Cinco de Mayo is an inexpensive place to grab a decent meal. It is popular with the local residents. My Chile Verde was decent, the salsa okay and Ms. Goofy’s burrito not memorable. With so many other Mexican restaurants to try our journey will continue.
Cinco de Mayo.
2250 Pacheco Blvd
 Martinez, CA 94553