San Francisco – I love this city for its energy, its physical beauty, its sense of humor, its style.
But most of all, I love it for its food.
And I’ve been stuffing myself. There was dinner at Limón, a Peruvian restaurant in the Mission district with mouth- melting ceviche. There was dim sum at Hang Ah Tea Room in Chinatown, with shut-up-I’m-eating pork buns. There was an exquisite tasting menu dinner at Quince, one of the toughest reservations in town, with pristine Ital0-Californian dishes and inspired wine pairings.
One meal, at the new-and-still- finding-its-legs Two (located in the space previously occupied by the legendary Hawthorne Place restaurant), was a three-hour small-plate orgy of housemade head cheese, broiled marrow, squab ravioli and pork schnitzel. Some of it was good, some of it was so-so, but it was mostly fun because of the company.
We were a party of five, from New York, Boston, San Francisco, Amsterdam and Denver. And discussion was lively, from wild and careless predictions about the national political landscape to speculation about where the NRA gets all its money to who will replace Rosie O’Donnell on “The View.”
But one question stumped us all. It came from Chris Schlesinger, a renowned chef (Boston’s East Coast Grill) and cookbook author (“The Thrill of the Grill,” “Let the Flames Begin,” both co-written fellow attendee John Willoughby).
“What are,” he asked, “the top five food cities in the country?”
Consensus led us to name New York, Chicago, and San Francisco. From there we started to waver. Los Angeles, we supposed, could be on the list, what with the vastness of it. New Orleans, maybe, given the depth of its culinary heritage. Perhaps Portland, Ore., even though it’s fairly small, what with its great access to excellent produce, fish, and wine. Miami? Houston? Seattle? Boston? Washington, D.C.?
We couldn’t decide, so Chris decided to stump us again. “What makes a great food town?” he asked.
“Great chefs,” said one of us. “Great local ingredients,” said another. “Money,” said another.
“I disagree,” said Chris. “All that matters is the clientele.”
In other words, he believes that a city can have a critical mass of world-class chefs and the greatest gardens and stockyards on the planet, but unless a city also has enough dedicated, demanding people willing to spend time, money and effort on going out to eat (and to stick with restaurants as they develop and grow), it will languish.
It made me think about Denver, and I wondered: Are we, as an eating public, truly dedicated to food and restaurants? Are we demanding enough? Are we willing to spend the time and money that’s required to encourage our chefs to ever-higher heights? Do we have enough desire and commitment to spur our food scene to a nationally relevant level?
Do we, collectively, care enough about food in Denver?
You tell me. E-mail me and let me know what you think about the state of Denver dining, and what we, as customers, can do to improve it.
Dining critic Tucker Shaw can be reached at 303-954-1958 or at dining@denverpost.com.
