Guy Fieri & the Hangtown Fry

11Sep07

 

Bellies growl as we genuflect before Julia Child’s alter—her pots and pans hung like copper relics from a punch-board wall in the town of Napa. It’s “Copia: The American Center for Wine, Food and the Arts.” Elsewhere, Cal-culinary pioneers Alice Waters and Sonoma County’s John Ash innovate, using the creme de la creme of local edibles. Healdsburg’s Cyrus, by impressing haughty French critics, plucks two prized Michelin stars. Thomas Keller’s French Laundry, naturally, snags three. It’s just the dawning of another day in the epicurean capital of the western world.

Our San Francisco Bay Area boasts a galaxy of culinary superstars ranging from “Can Cook” Martin Yan to Citizen Cake’s Elizabeth Falkner. Michael Chiarello moved Napa Valley’s style from PBS to the the Food Network. Santa Rosa’s own skyrocketing star is Guy Fieri, host of not one, but two smash-hit foodie shows. And talk about bridging cuisines—Fieri’s restaurant, Tex Wasabe’s, pairs ornate Japanese sushi with “off the hook” white trash Texas BBQ.

Northern California, with its ocean, rivers and streams; mountains, hills and valleys—and the San Francisco Bay itself, provide an unsurpassed year ’round bounty. Our seafood, dairy products, meats, grains, fruits, herbs and vegetables are so prized they grace dinner tables worldwide.

Choosing meal beverages can be a chore. Thousands of ultra-premium wines are produced here, along with microbrewed beers, ales and ciders, and pricey boutique hard liquors. Natural bubbly gets bottled in Calistoga, and the High Sierras provide San Francisco some of this nation’s purest municipal water.

Famed horticulturist Luther Burbank developed vegetable and fruit hybrids we still eat today. Burbank proclaimed our region unequaled to the task of growing delicious fruits, vegetables and the unending flower varieties which festively decorate even our most modest of affairs. With its mild weather and many microclimates Northern California has perfect nooks and hidden crannies growing a wider array of non-tropical foodstuffs than practically anywhere else on Earth.

California’s dairy industry was founded by Point Reyes Italians and Azore Islanders. Today, master cheesemakers—like Sonoma’s Ig Vella, produce such a range of exquisite cheeses that unending columns could be entirely devoted simply to their praise. Petaluma still celebrates its “Egg Capital of the World” heritage. Gourmet Mushroom Inc., of Sebastopol, grows fungal exotics, including the delectably rich and meaty Trumpet Royales I enjoyed just this week. We Bay folk haunt scores of farmers’ markets. They feature artisan breads, fresh seafood and smoked meats, exotic varieties of locally grown cured olives and fresh pressed oils. We choose from a dizzying array of hand made pastas and delight in organic produce farmed locally on tiny plots of dirt.

But, holy cow—have Bay Area food tastes changed over time.

“In 1850 typical restaurant entrees might include baked hog’s head with cranberry sauce, calf’s head, dressed heart, mutton pie, and fricasseed oxtail. There was an abundance of game: venison, hare, antelope, elk, bear, curlew, goose, partridge, snipe, plover, quail, duck—a good assortment of which appeared on every menu.”
—Doris Muscatine, Old San Francisco

Anyone up for a good ol’ fashion snipe, curlew, heart and plover party? Sounds more like a law firm than a meal.

Daily restaurant dining was born, ironically, from economic necessity in Gold Rush San Francisco. Housing then was even higher than the stratospheric costs we suffer today. Most 49ers couldn’t afford homes with a kitchen. Hell, most couldn’t even afford their own room. So, practically everyone took their meals at commercial eateries. That’s why, even today, San Francisco has the highest ratio of restaurants to city dwellers in the entire country.

Clarence E. Edwords’ culinary history book, Bohemian San Francisco, was first published in 1914. It has nothing much to do with artist-type Bohemians, nor members of the exclusive Boho fraternity, but has everything to do with classic San Francisco food, restaurants and recipes. Near the end of his book Edwords presents us with “A Good Bohemian Dinner” menu. Imagine indulging in this sumptuous fifteen course affair. You’ll feast on Bisque of Ecrevisse, Sand-Dabs Edward VII, Cassolette of Terrapin, Maryland—as well as everyday favorites like Tagliarini des Beaux Arts and Chicken Portola. Now imagine that while savoring two of these fifteen courses you’re provided with and expected to—smoke cigarettes.

Now that’s livin’!

Enormous gold and silver wealth paid for some of the finest dining of its day. It’s said that San Francisco millionaire Francois Pioche lured forty Parisian chefs to San Francisco in the mid 1800’s. Ernest Arbogast, chef at the old Palace Hotel, was celebrated for his Oyster Omelet, a concoction that included six eggs, an onion and one hundred oysters! But Arbogast’s omelet merely hinted at the most famous creation of those Gold Rush days—the Hangtown Fry:

“A scramble of oysters, eggs, and bacon, it originated in Placerville, then Hangtown, supposedly as the last dinner for a condemned prisoner, whose request was designed to delay his execution as long as possible.”
—Doris Muscatine

The origin of this classic dish, hangee notwithstanding (egg scarcity, not plentiful oysters, being his shun-the-necktie card), has at least two other plausible versions, but like many contested dishes, any story told well piques the rapt listener’s appetite for more. Which brings us to other oft disputed regional creations: Green Goddess dressing, cioppino, Crab Louis, chop suey, fortune cookies, Monterey Jack cheese and the beloved martini. Each has its own wonderful story—to be told at some later date.

San Francisco has always catered to the open-minded gourmand. At Bab’s, for example, “….one dined off a coffin and was lighted by green colored tapers, affixed to skulls.”

One of San Francisco’s most beloved early restaurants was the Poulet d’Or, universally known as the Poodle Dog. It had its imitators. The Poodle Dog was, of course, a French restaurant. Back then, however, “French restaurant” meant something quite different than it does today. Take, for example, the five floors comprising the Poodle Dog. Floor one was what we would expect of any fine public dining room’s decorum and cuisine. Floor two serviced banquets and special events. Ahhh, yes—but floors three, four and five—these were each reserved for discreet affairs of the heart,….and such. These private suites provided luxury accommodations, bath and bed included. Entering required taking a special elevator. Occupant identities were jealously guarded by discreet and attentive Poodle Dog staff.

While touting today’s culinary daring-do, we might still appreciate bygone Bay times when, like today, gastronomic creativity flourished. Though these aging recipes may no longer be in vogue, who among us could resist a delicious “Italian Salad” featuring salt herring in milk tossed with cold veal, boiled carrots and boiled tongue, raw apples, potatoes, capers and beets?

Yum, yum….yum.

Filed under: Alice Waters, Bohemians, Copia, Julia Childs, Napa Valley, San Francisco, San Francisco Bay Area, San Francisco Bay Area History, Santa Rosa, Sebastopol, Sonoma County, Thomas Keller, famous hotels, farms, food, gold rush, grape vines, guy fieri, home prices, john ash, restaurants, wine   |  Leave a Comment