"Cuisine Spontan�" with a View - Doing Lunch in Dolores Park

"Cuisine Spontan�" is just a fancy French term for wandering around a market, without any preconceived plans, grabbing whatever looks enticing, and then heading back to the kitchen to create a meal in a sort of culinary stream of consciousness. It�s a really fun way to cook. By the way, I�m sure there are a few soccer moms out there reading this right now thinking, �wow, I do that like 5 times a week�so that�s what it�s called!� And you thought you were just rushing through the grocery store throwing things in the basket.

For my wife Michele and I, this "Cuisine Spontan�" approach was applied quite deliciously to a recent picnic lunch we enjoyed in beautiful Dolores Park. It ended up being a two-course meal. The elements were picked up on 24th Street in Noe Valley, on the same walk I wrote about in the Farmers Market post.

The first course was spicy chicken served in heart of romaine lettuce cups with fresh cilantro. We bought a pint container of some wonderful stewed chicken at a small Taqueria. It was falling-apart-tender and cooked with onions and peppers in a light, but fiery, tomato and chili sauce. This location also served as the source for our plastic silverware, napkins, and a small plastic cup of chopped fresh cilantro.

We finished this two-course meal with some �fresh out of the oven� walnut bread, topped with creamy Mozzarella Di Bufala Campana (Italian Buffalo Mozzarella cheese) and slices of perfectly ripe peaches from Farmer's Market. The sweet, juicy, golden peach with the snow-white, slightly tangy cheese, on the dense, nutty bread was truly amazing.

It would have been a great picnic lunch without the view, but eating with the San Francisco skyline as our backdrop just made everything taste that much better.