slbunge

I mistakenly bought baked 'Kettle Krisps' rather than 'Kettle Chips' at the store a week ago. I have never met a baked chip I liked until I had these. What I like most about them is that you get a really substantial potato flavor with no greasiness but there is just enough oil (sprayed on after baking apparently) so that the salt sticks. I haven't tried any of their flavors because I am partial to having only salt on my potato chips.

I've had salads with cantaloupe, honeydew, and mint (also red onion, pinenuts and feta). Also had soupe with cantaloupe and mint. In both cases, the flavors seemed to go well together. Not sure if it would work as a smoothie but it might be worth a try.

As a newbie, I have quite enjoyed monitoring this thread. Interesting display of the open forum as sociological experiment, particularly for a Midwesterner. Anyway, to the point. I have never been to Babbo so my opinion comes purely from afar, reading board comments about declining service. Since the service problems appear to be felt most acutely in the front of the house, I wonder if the problem is simply that they are experiencing the downside of the gain in popularity of their celebrity chef owner. The television shows, the cookbooks, and the fact that the kitchen in Mario's home was featured in the NYTimes would cause the sort of stir (within and without NewYork) that might crush the part of the staff that deals with reservations, seating, and a general drive to turning over tables. The crush of people should never be an excuse for poor service, regardless of the customer, so it seems that the folks at Babbo should take heart when they receive letters from customers (and they should be monitoring boards such as this one) because they are indications that work needs to be done in order to maintain high quality experiences of the customers. Those willing to pay for the experience of a meal at Babbo have many options in New York the same price range. Hope Mario is reading and hope they get they pull it together, for the sake of the food.

I spent a brief weekend in SF (stayed in the Financial District) this past March and would strongly encourage saving your stomach for the food at the Ferry Plaza Farmers' Market. Though I live in Wisconsin, I was blown away by the dairy selections at the market. Had an amazing tub of clabbard cottage cheese from the Cowgirl dairy mentioned above. June Taylor Jams has a stand and I imagine that a summer's worth of fantastic fruit will have been put up into jams, marmalades, and preserves by the time you go. In addition to that, it looked like some good chow was coming from the makeshift restaurants at one end of the parking lot where the market was located...unfortunately I was full by the time I realized what they were serving. Other highlights include a slice of cake from Citizen Cake. Zuni Cafe is strongly recommended (the best restaurant bread we had...and SF is a great city for bread). The outstanding tomato soup at Jeanty at Jack's would make a nice lunch if you are in the area. Have a great trip.