Guy inspired...

My obsession began with a creole cookin' codger and a funny talking lady, both on my local PBS station after my weekly Saturday morning cartoons. What a babysitter that TV was on those Saturdays. Cartoons galore only interrupted to push sugary cereals with prizes. After those cartoons ended I mustered the strength to lift myself from the couch to the television to turn the knob to 13 for the "I guar-ahn-tee"s and silly warblings of an amazonian sex kitten who were the celebrity chefs of my youth. Their food was exotic..for an Arkansas boy, but it was their palatable passion for their craft that most amazed me and helped define my want to experience as many food things as possible within this lifetime.



Which brings us to this blog. Our homage to Guy Fieri, http://www.guyfieri.com/ , due to seeing him on TV at the Raiders vs. 49ers pre-season game. Guy Fieri was on the first season of "Next Food Network Star"..I think..and now look at him. He's an empire. He's in line to be the next Rachel Ray. He's so upbeat that he makes your teeth hurt ... and that's okay! He's the embodiment of why I fell in love with food. People smiling, cooking and most importantly...eating. The bones of this Tuesday's with Pookie is all about the Triple D.....Also known as Diners, Drive-ins and Dives. We knew the dive portion due to Andy's desire to check out a dive in the Haight highlighted on Anthony Bourdain's TLC show No Reservations, http://www.anthonybourdain.net/ . The diner and drive-in part were still up in the air because A) Neither of us are fans of "chain" diners...a la Mel's or Lori's. I'm sure these establishments are great for some people, but not us. and B) We wanted something authentic. A quick google search and we were on our way.





Our Tuesday started like each one before. Leslie picks me up at the back gates of my complex and then we take off with hopes of locating our destination without the assistance of a GPS. Today was no different as we made a few circles and wrong turns before landing at our first stop. It's Tops Coffee Shop; 1801 Market, SF, CA (415) 431.6395. This "coffee shop" has been a mainstay at this busy intersection since 1935! Can you even imagine? Once inside, you're immediately transported back in time as the smell of waffles invades your nostrils. Warm wood panelling covers all the walls which are packed with memorabilia and write ups from every paper in the City and every era since 1935. They even go so far as to dress the lone waitress in a hot pink outfit reminiscent of a 1950's diner. Even before sitting down, you know you're in for a good meal. The menu lists specials that one would expect in a diner and a large selection of California inspired burgers that had our tongues wagging. We opted for the California pig * burger with cheese, bacon and avocado* This was a nearly perfect burger. Not too large that you felt full even before your first bite and all of the toppings were nestled tightly on top of a perfectly cooked pattie. The hand cut fries that accompanied were just fine, albeit a little greasy. What did we care? We were at a diner, greasy spoon or whatever you want to call them. We came for food that was going to stick to our ribs and we were not disappointed.





We had very few options for our Drive-In spot. In fact we were only able to come up with one place in San Francisco that could actually be called a "drive-in". After pounding the diner burger, we made our way to Whiz Burgers Drive-In; 700 South Van Ness, SF, CA. (415)824.5888. This old school drive in is everything you want a drive in to be. No frills, a menu full of fried items, fountain sodas and whipped cream topped milk shakes. By the time we made our way to this side of town, we were ready for the dive portion of this Tuesday and had only intended to get a drink and a loo break. Although, once we spotted the menu we couldn't resist ordering a corn dog and a tang! We were both children, again. Sitting at the outdoor counter, sharing a corn dog and tang and giggling. We were now in perfect shape to start happy hour a little early.



We hopped back into the car and made our way to the Haight district for a quick happy hour at Aub Zam Zam; 1633 Haight, SF, CA. (415)861.2545. When we came up with this week's theme of Triple D, I screamed out this bar! I'd been wanting to check it out ever since Anthony Bourdain threw back a few here during a taping of his TLC show. This was the kind of watering hold where you come to be invisible. Where you come to be a regular...heck it's just a great bar with a massive selection of libations. I could extol on and on about the interior and the theme and the funky juke box, but I'll let you go to those sites dedicated to letting folks extol on such things. I'll keep it simple. We ordered our drinks. I dropped $5 in the juke box, picked a few select tunes and left credits for the other patrons to use and we made friends with the bartender. We chatted about nothing and everything..Hell, I couldn't even tell you what we really talked about..other than Leslie giving me emotional support to take my art to the next step and raising our glasses to zukra bakery's first retail store! Should you find yourself in the Castro, stop in to Buffalo Whole Food; 598 Castro, SF, CA. (415)626.7038 and pick up your week's worth of zukra's gluten-free baked goods!



Take your own Triple D tour of your own city, try a new recipe, cook with a new ingredient and order something other than your usual next time you're out. There's a whole world of food out there just waiting to be gobbled up. What are you waiting for?



Pookie's Loo Review of Aub Zam Zam



3 flushes



The Ladies restroom was just what you would expect at a dive bar...grungy. Although, it did have everything one would need. Toilet paper, paper towels, hand soap and a working sink. I looked around fully expecting to see the onslaught of the "Sarah *hearts* Daniel" and the "Chris Erickson is an asshole" s. ...but to my surprise there was nary a thing on the wall with the exception of the red(ish) walls which were merely hiding the old graffiti. AHA! Just as I had expected. What dive bar is complete without a graffiti covered loo? At least not one in San Francisco. All in all...this loo was fairly clean and served its purpose.