Tuesday, February 14, 2017

Cheesy macaroni - classic to short rib - at Potrero's Mac Daddy



I was viciously hung over the first time I visited Mac Daddy. It wasn’t planned, but one thing led to another and there I was: in the perfect state of mind to enjoy a restaurant specializing in massive portions of macaroni and cheese.

The restaurant did not let me down. Most of its 14 seats are at a counter facing an open range, allowing you to observe exactly how much cheese, bechamel and other artery-clogging ingredients chef Brandon Peacock is adding to the pan. Witnessing this excess makes for a glorious sort of anticipation.

What kind of mac does Mac Daddy specialize in? The menu proclaims that it’s “not yo mamma’s mac and cheese,” a construction that generally annoys me (what do you know about my mother’s cooking?) but in this case is accurate. My childhood mac was baked, not cooked on the stove, which made for a wonderfully crunchy noodle-and-cheese crust.


I often miss that textural variation in gloppy restaurant mac, but thankfully, at Mac Daddy they’ve given texture some thought. Each bowl is finished in the oven under a blanket of garlicky panko breadcrumbs and then topped with fresh green onion; some macs are even crowned with crispy onions or Fritos. Add-in fillings like walnuts and edamame also offer some crunch.

There are a dozen varieties on the menu, from carbonara to truffle, but on that first visit I got the simplest: just Pecorino and aged extra-sharp cheddar, which formed a zesty, creamy sauce that filled every cranny of the al dente macaroni. It was an excellent bowl of macaroni and cheese, one that I did not want to share or stop eating. I wish I felt the same way about the bowls that I had down the line.

Mac Daddy is the latest restaurant from Jocelyn Bulow (Chez Maman), and the latest iteration of a Potrero Hill space that has been in transition for almost a year. When Chez Maman moved to bigger digs around the corner, Bulow hung onto the narrow restaurant. He first tried a rotisserie concept called Dat Spot, but that didn’t take; while it served the neighborhood, it didn’t have the destination volume he needed.

Bulow found inspiration for Mac Daddy after a visit to Oakland’s Homeroom, a restaurant so famous for its near-endless variations of mac and cheese that it opened a takeout-only operation down the street. He and Peacock test-drove several dozen macs before landing on their menu, which follows Homeroom’s playbook, down to the huge portions (a half-order option would be welcome). Every mac can be made gluten-free, and for the mac-averse, there’s also fried chicken, cassoulet, and fish and chips.

Some flavor combos that sounded unnecessarily complicated actually came together, like the hearty Short Rib Mac, which includes mushrooms, rosemary and Mount Tam cheese — a little extra of the funky cheese would have sent it over the top, but the kitchen had a judicious hand. Others, like the South of the Border, could have used more flavor; despite fillings like chorizo and chipotle, it didn’t have much heat.

Veggies are important for a rich meal like this, but these offered roughage and little else. The kale salad had a sharp, Asian-style peanut vinaigrette that could have worked elsewhere but seemed at odds here with creamy macaroni, and the broccolini’s black garlic tasted unpleasantly muddy. And though the texture on the charred cauliflower was the perfect balance between crispy and mushy, I wanted the kitchen to dial back the curry spice blend just a bit.


Perhaps the biggest disappointment was the truffle mac. I was sitting next to college kids on a date on that first visit, and they had ordered mac and cheese perfumed with freshly shaved black truffles. I couldn’t wait to come back and try it, but when I ordered it at lunch the following week, the perfume was an echo of its former self and I could barely taste the expensive fungus, despite truffle oil and truffle brie along with the freshly shaved curls on top.

Which leads me to one of two conclusions: There was a different chef or another inconsistency in the kitchen, or my senses had been slightly compromised the previous visit. I’m not suggesting that an altered state is the best or only way to enjoy Mac Daddy — the restaurant was full of families, and a big serving of creamy macaroni is a panacea for many of the world’s ills. But if you do happen to find yourself in desperate need of a cheese-and-carb infusion, a bowl of Mac Daddy is not a bad place to start.

Tuesday, February 7, 2017

Photo by Leela Cyd
(By Justin Phillips / SFGate.com)


Beloved Portland-based ice cream outfit Salt & Straw has an official address for what will be its second Bay Area location: 580 Hayes St.

When owners Kim and Tyler Malek announced their plans for the San Francisco expansion late last year, they weren’t ready to nail down specifics when it came to the Hayes Valley space. Now with everything seeming to be moving forward, they’re committing to the logistics.

The Hayes and Laguna address was the former site of Mediterranean restaurant Hayes & Kebab which was demolished in 2015 and has since been replaced by a 5-story mixed-use building. The upper floors are market-rate condos and the bottom floor, where Salt & Straw is setting up, is a few thousand square feet of retail space.

If everything goes as planned, the Salt & Straw team said their first location (2201 Fillmore St.) will open in mid-March, followed by Hayes Valley in May.

This rapid growth isn’t unfamiliar for the brand. Since launching roughly five years ago, Salt & Straw has grown to include three shops in its hometown of Portland, and an additional four in Los Angeles.

Both Tyler and Kim said the culinary similarities between Portland and the Bay Area – specifically the locally sourced and seasonal offerings – influenced the move to San Francisco.

They also said their already quirky menu is going to be infused with local flavors. Some of the classic Portland offerings are honey lavender, pear and blue cheese ganache. Los Angeles has things like chocolate gooey brownie, and black olive brittle and goat cheese, among others.

We’ll get versions of those, along with the classic almond brittle (made from a Malek family recipe) and sea salt with caramel ribbons.


Salt & Straw: 580 Hayes St.; set to open in May; www.saltandstraw.com

Monday, July 18, 2016

The Hottest Restaurants in San Francisco: July 2016


(By Ellen Fort, Eater San Francisco) Tipsters, readers, friends and family of Eater usually all have the same question: Where should I eat right now?Restaurant obsessives want to know what's new, what's hot, which favorite chef just launched a sophomore effort, where to sip the cocktail of the moment. And while the Eater 38 is a crucial resource covering old standbys and neighborhood essentials across the city, it is not a chronicle of the 'it' places of the moment. Thus, we offer the Eater Heatmap, which will change continually to highlight where the foodie crowds are flocking at the moment — even if that might be an older spot.