Rich, flaky Australian meat pies and other great Bay Area foods I ate this past week

Over the past few weeks I’ve put together a regular column devoted to the most delicious things I’ve eaten in the Bay Area lately. Not just to inspire FOMO, but to get you excited to try something new! It’s not usually in the newsletter, but I thought I’d share it here as a little Costco sampler of what you can find in the column.

While the list may only include Instagram deals or seasonal tasting menu items, I’ll be sure to only include things that you could reasonably get right now.

This week’s edition features an Australian meat pie, smoky chicken wing skewers and a giant mushroom toast. You can see my previous recommendations here.

Australian meat pie from Aussie Pies and Sausages

Over the weekend, an Australian friend and I went to Golden Gate Park to supposedly see football – but in reality we went there for the meat pies. Los Angeles’ Aussie Pies and Sausages, operated by an immigrant via Melbourne, set up a stand in the field selling classic beef pies ($ 6.65), sausage rolls ($ 4), and turnover-style vegetable pies to the voracious masses to distribute.

My friend instructed me to pour ketchup over the cake, which freaked me out at first, to be honest: shouldn’t we try the cake as it is and season it appropriately? But no, you have to make that thing look like Carrie White on ball night to eat it right. The buttery pastry peeled off like a good croissant, and the ground beef filling (or “minced meat” for the Aussies) was pickled in a flavorful sauce. The ketchup added a crucial acid component that made a lot of sense. The Golden Gate Park pop-up was a one-off, but watch out for future Aussie Pie events in the Bay Area.

Aussie pies and sausages. Shipping nationwide, with some special events in the Bay Area. 857 San Pedro St., Los Angeles. (310) 895-3672 or https://aussiepiesandsausages.com/

Grilled Chicken Wings from Tori Man, a Bay Area pop-up.

Soleil Ho / The Chronicle

Chicken wing skewers from Tori Man

The yakitori in the Tori Man pop-up is intense: a masterful blend of chicken fat and fire. Unlike most yakitori-inclusive places in the Bay Area, Tori Man gives you many cuts: kneecap, cartilage, heart, gizzard, and skin that is bundled up like a ribbon on a skewer. Yuko Asaoka and Kaito “Dallas” Akimoto, who also operate the pop-up those who work at Rintaro in San Francisco bring their grill to special events and breweries in the Bay Area.

Akimoto, in charge of the cooking, dips every skewer, from crispy okra to pork belly, in an aromatic bath of mother sauce (soy sauce, mirin, and some secret ingredients) before grilling over hot Japanese charcoal. At Tori Man’s recent appearance at Broc Cellars in Berkeley, the highlight was the chicken wing, flat pieces skewered across the bones. The bones came out easily, leaving only tight, slightly charred skin and juicy flesh. It felt like a luxury to have such lovingly cared for grand pianos that were so often an afterthought on bar menus.

Tori man. Check Instagram for pop-up locations. https://www.instagram.com/yakitori_toriman/

Roast Mushrooms from Bodega in North Beach, San Francisco.

Soleil Ho / The Chronicle

Mushroom toast from Bodega

North Beach isn’t really about following the latest trends – the culture is more often about timelessness – so Bodega, a wine bar and restaurant on Columbus Avenue, stands out. It’s probably the only place in the neighborhood where you can choose from a variety of orange wines, for example, which makes it popular with the natural wine crowd. The menu complements this approach to drinking with generous flavors of Firebrand sourdough bread, accompanied by platters of aged meat, grilled cheese sandwiches, and steamed mussels.

A mushroom toast ($ 14) loomed above his plate with a sultry mix of grated oyster mushrooms, cream, and garlic spooned over a bread base. To just call it “disc” would not do it justice. Similar to bunny chow, the South African-Indian curry dish that is served in a hollowed-out loaf of bread, the dish developed while sitting, the bread melted with cream in a firm crust and became a third thing of its own. Think of it like a cookie soaking up itself.

Bodega. 16-23 p.m. Tuesday-Friday; 9 a.m. – 11 p.m. Saturday; Sunday 9 am-6pm. Indoor and outdoor dining. 700 Columbus Avenue, San Francisco. 415-634-7002 or www.bodegasf.com/

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