Dan Pelosi Eats Out

Dan Pelosi

Dan and I both consider ourselves big eaters as well as feeders. We’ll both spend hours in our kitchens creating food so that we can feed or give it away to our hungry friends. It’s an illness. And one I think both of us will never get over. We once went on a date to the Ferry Buildings Farmers Market and I got to watch Dan smell fresh summer tomatoes. It looked like he was getting high. I knew at that moment that we would be friends forever. We’ve shared a lot of meals around town – but its been the meals at my table that have proven most memorable. Dan is a great conversationalist with a whip smart sense of humor. After dinner he always offers to do the dishes – but is really in the kitchen scrapping up the bottom of the pot and eating it with a spoon.

Dan & I on a date.

Dan answers my foodie questionnaire here:

What is your favorite dessert?

Lillian’s Cherry Nut Cake. My grandmother’s best friend Lillian used to make it all the time when i was little. It’s incredible- not too sweet and the perfect texture . My mom got her hands on the recipe and would always make it for me for my birthday. I would spend the whole week following my birthday sitting in front of the fridge with a fork (or 2) eating away at it. It only got better with time. The recipe has now been passed into my hands, and when i am making a cherry nut cake, it’s always for someone special. If you ask nicely, i will share the recipe with you.

Dan’s kitchen

What restaurant would you call your home?

Anyone who knows me at all knows the answer to this question is Bar Jules. I live in Hayes Valley, and from the moment Bar Jules opened, I have been obsessed. Jessica (the owner) and her staff treat me like family. I have spent so many special occasions there. Jessica has taken all the things that make Northern California cuisine so wonderful and has simplified them into a tiny delicious menu that changes daily. Many nights i am eating dinner alone at the bar chatting with a stranger, and many mornings i wake up dreaming of their burger.

Dan & Grandpa Pelosi – the meatball maker!

What is the strangest or most inspiring thing you’ve ever eaten?

On my parents’ 30th wedding anniversary, my grandparents made my parents 30 pounds of homemade cavatelli to celebrate  (they are known to make meatballs in batches of 100, so this feat was something they were ready for.) The cavatelli lasted (frozen) for a while. On the christmas after my Grandmother died, we gathered as a family and ate the last few pounds of cavatelli that she had ever made as a tribute to her. Everyone was crying and laughing as we all told stories about her and shared one of her greatest gifts, food. Before she died, my grandmother taught me how to make her cavatelli, and now i get to pass her recipe on to the next generation.

What was your favorite breakfast cereal as a kid?

I don’t think i knew other cereals besides Lucky Charms even existed when i was a kid. The way that the marshmallows got really weird in the milk was fascinating to me. The milk would turn all kinds of cuckoo colors. And it only got better once it was all in my mouth. Also, any leftover milk was transformed into a sip-able sugary form of crystal meth.

Dan and his mom.

What is your favorite food to pig-out on after the club?

Well as of late there have been no clubs, and i am pretty much a full-time stay-at-home lesbian. So that means lots of crumbs in the sheets from Goldfish Crackers or my homemade chocolate chip cookies. In my glory days as a Booty Call Wednesday regular, though, if i wasn’t eating my own tears after the club, i was definitely eating some form of pizza from that place on 18th or chicken fingers at one of those 24 hour diner places that somehow exist despite strict health codes.

Dan Pelosi

After leaving his job in July as a designer for GAP after 5 years, he has been working as Creative Director for an experiential retail design firm. The job has had him very busy traveling, and eating, all over the country. I know the minute he lands in  San Francisco – he smells the croissants baking at Tartine – and heads straight there.