Aw, shucks.
My parents tell a legendary story (which we kids have all heard, by now, a half-dozen times) about going to a game supper one fall night in Vermont. There, curiosity piqued, they tried squirrel, bear, moose and deer, raccoon and grouse. They enjoyed everything, left the dinner full and happy, and then awoke in the middle of the night, stomachs rolling, sick. Was it the bear?
Still, game dinners are starting to catch on, and it’s only a matter of time before “full-forest” meals catch on like “whole hog” dinners already have. In fact, lately I’ve noticed venison is making menus all over town. I saw venison carpaccio on the menu at Lolo, the restaurant that replaced Trattoria Vogalonga, and at the new Australian restaurant South, on Townsend Street across from the Caltrain station, there’s a venison burger with beet chutney. Last night at the newly opened Fish and Farm, in the Mark Twain hotel, I saw venison spare ribs—doesn’t it only require three to make it, officially, a trend?
Finally, today I got a press release about the annual Wild Game Week at the newly remodeled Big Four restaurant in the Huntington Hotel. It’s a five-day extravaganza running from November 6th until the 10th, featuring dishes like coffee rubbed antelope tenderloin, pancetta crusted Himalayan yak and braised rocky mountain elk osso bucco.
Too bad my parents aren’t in town—I’d like to bring them to a game supper that would, undoubtedly, have a happier ending.
