madbaker | Cockscomb

Four months later, we went out for our anniversary. My dad gave us a gift certificate to Chris Cosentino's place; we'd wanted to try it but hadn't made the effort.

We were overdressed, which I expected. Most men aren't wearing ties these days, let alone a hat. (But if we can't put in a little effort for our anniversary, when can we?) The vibe of the place is fairly casual, with some vaguely dance-type music playing. Lots of exposed wood and animal-related things on the walls: a bison head, a pig prodder, and so forth. The bathrooms have amusing death bunny wallpaper.

We started off with San Francisco-titled cocktails. The wife had a gin fizz variant, which she liked. I had a Manhattan variant (rye, amaro, grapefruit bitters) which was excellent. Many things on the menu sounded good but we knew we couldn't eat all of them. Or even try. So we bypassed the gold leaf-gilded pig head, and split the surf & turf - which was actually a braised pork belly in delicious five spice sauce along with lobster. The lobster was, sadly, just okay. Honestly I prefer Dungeness crab. We also had lovely roasted carrots with Berbere seasoning, which I may have to try at home. A fruit crumble to finish, and I had a flight of three Amaros. One was definitely in the Fernet Branca mouthwash category, which might be okay in a mixed drink but I did not care for straight.

All the rich food and booze meant that I didn't sleep well, but it was a good time. I wouldn't put this on our "must return" list but I would go back, preferably with more people to try more things.