My two biggest fans and supporters of the food list decided to cook me a birthday dinner. I took the ferry north across the bay to Marin where Cousin David and Janey were whipping up something magnificent at Jane's parent's house.
It was my first escape from the city in months since being committed to a restaurant's kitchen. Yet David and Jane surprised me by bringing a little piece of San Francisco to Marin... number sixty-eight on my list.
I had ventured to Liguria Bakery in North Beach a couple months earlier to pick up a loaf of foccacia, and even at four oclock in the pm, they were closed. Liguria sells their foccacia until they run out, and considering the focaccia is the only thing they sell, they run out quickly then close down shop for the rest of the day.
The bakery is by no means the cutesy italian deli one might expect in North Beach. It is slightly run down, and their menu is written on one of those tacky ice skating rink boards where one can switch out individual letters to create words. The menu, as aforementioned, is only comprised of different types of focaccia... plain, olive, rosemary, garlic, onion, and a few others.
Some people go to eateries and stores for the ambiance and not the quality of food. Liguria Bakery could only survive if their food were knee slapping good. And it is.
To put it simply, their focaccia is better than any focaccia I ate while in Liguria Italy this November (sorry my dear Italians). David and Jane bought a plain loaf, and it was by no means plane. The focaccia comes in thin square loaves and is light as a feather with a crisp and salty outer edge. It leaves behind the finest olive oil lip gloss.
The rest of my birthday dinner was fantastic. David seared tuna steaks while Jane cooked couscous and a spicy Basque roasted red pepper dish. They also made Jane's mom's world famous three-hour roasted tomatoes. It is comprised of canned plum tomatoes roasted for three hours until the sugars have become concentrated and the tomatoes take on a sweet toasty quality. Bursting with flavor, Jane and David topped slices of the focaccia with these tomatoes. Thank you, David and Jane, for your efforts of cooking tomatoes for three hours but the focaccia really doesn't need any accompaniment. It is just that tasty.
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