SFoodie's countdown of our favorite 50 things to eat and drink, 2012 edition
Although Ti Kouz has stopped serving krampouz, Bay Area eaters are still struggling to pronounce Breton words thanks to Starter Bakery. Its signature pastry, the kouign amman (queen ah-mahn), is a butter cake from Brittany that, in the hands of American patissiers like Starter's Brian Wood, has become single-serving pastry with flavorful centers. Wood, a former baking instructor who wrote the book on pastry (hyperbole alert: he actually wrote portions of a textbook on pastry) sells his croissants and kouignoù amman (that'd be the plural of kouign) at farmers markets, Bi-Rite, and cafes around the Bay.
The genius of the kouign amman is how much butter Wood secrets in the dough, sprinkling sugar as he folds so that the pastry puffs and separates into dozens of layers as it bakes. But it's no airy, fragile croissant. In the oven, butter and sugar meld and melt together to form grainy, transparent spikes and twists of caramel that cling to the rim, crackling when you bite into them. There's just enough salt in the mix to push the pastry to that liminal state where savory and sweet coexist.
Other favorites in this series:
23: 2 a.m. apple fritter at Bob's
24: Le Sanctuaire's vadouvan
25: Crab louis salad at Nettie's Crab Shack
26: Soy sauce chicken from Happy Bakery & Deli
27: Locanda's Jewish-style artichoke
28: Local: Mission Eatery's asparagus-egg sandwich
29: Memphis Minnie's 18-hour brisket
30: Custard buns from City View
31: Mission Chinese Food's kung pao pastrami
32: Panisse frites from Frances
33: Izakaya Yuzuki's chawanmushi
34: Fatted Calf's chorizo
35: Silvanas from House of Silvanas
36: Linden Street Brewery's black lager
37: Aged oolongs from Red Blossom Tea Company
38: Broken Record's crawfish grits
39: Cebiche mixto from La Mar
