Mindy Knows

Photo source and buy them here. 

The scene: Hog & Rocks – a pig, oyster, and whiskey bar in SF’s Mission District.

The characters: Shaun, myself, Chrissy, Matt, and you may recognize a few others from Pliny and this dinner party!

At 4p we pretty much had the run of the place. Loved the look and feel and the fact that they focus on a few key ingredients — pig, oysters, and whiskey — and doing them really well.

Major props on the beautiful presentation of their drinks and dishes, creative cocktails, and I can honestly say that was one of the the best burgers and fish & chips I’ve had since – I can’t remember!

{My old fashioned made with the house whiskey, burger, and fish & chips. All were outstanding and I’d go back just for these!}

{Ham from Italy, Spain, and Iowa. Fresh shucked oysters from Washington, B.C., and Tomales Bay, plus a couple of BBQ-ed ones.}

{I special ordered a bloody mary with bacon in it based on my love for the one I had a week earlier at Chop Bar in Oakland. Noticed a couple more got ordered at our table when mine came out. While it’s very pretty and was tasty-enough, I have to say it wasn’t nearly as good as the original!}

By 530p our group had worked our way through a good majority of the menu and were ready to move on. My take: I can see this being a really fabulous happy hour spot after the daily grind. Stop in for a beer and a couple of oysters (at a fraction of the regular cost) or a burger before heading home on BART. (The 16th & Mission stop is just 3 blocks north.) This is just not my place to marinate on a Saturday night. I can only eat so many (itty bitty!) $4 oysters (one in particular was obscenely skimping on meat. I wish I’d taken a photo!) and $14 burgers before the street tacos and pizza-by-the-slice we passed while making the trek from BART start to sound really good. Albeit, it’s not just the price tag. Several in our party will attest, oysters and ham – especially prosciutto – do not provide a solid foundation for a night of drinking. SO GLAD we got that burger and basket of fish & chips! Even if we split it 4 ways it helped me soldier on til I could hit the sack at 3a!

{The tab Chrissy, Matt, Shaun, and I ran up in 1 hour.}

PS The Latin America Club is just a couple of blocks south if you’re looking for a fun dive bar in the Mission! It also happens to be on the way to Baretta Pizzeria where we had 8:15p dinner reservations.

Here’s our route mapped out. It was approximately 1 mile from start to finish.

{Image c/o Google Maps}

For my other SF walking/eating tour, see here!