Farmer in the Tenderloin

As I was taking photos of farmerbrown (25 Mason Street, San Francisco), a homeless woman asked me for money.

farmerbrown's interior bears no resemblance to its neighborhood. Dark but warm and inviting. A healthy clamor.

I met volenti and EastSideFluffy for the first time here, and, yes, I brought my camera.

I took pictures only of food. Sorry. I know what they look like, and you don't.

Complimentary warm corn muffins and strawberry butter.

Like dessert for an appetizer. Oh, yeah.

El Caballo Loco ($9). Vodka, fresh muddled kiwi and cilantro, shaken.

Tartastic. Tartablous. Tartful. Really enjoyed this even though I had no idea what made it a crazy horse.

Bring the Beet Back ($9). Beet gin, homemade kumquat marmalade, fresh berry nectar.

volenti sipped this happily. The swig I had was sweet and delish.

Seafood jambalaya with red snapper, mussels, and prawns ($19.95).

My nibble of volenti's dish was pleasant. Ok, it wasn't just a nibble. I swiped a full shrimp.

Rocky Range fried chicken, hamhock greens, macaroni and Tillamook cheese ($16.95).

I had high hopes for my pick. Perhaps my hopes were too high. The chicken was ok. I wish the skin had been crunchier. The mac 'n' cheese was so very sad. The shredded cheese on top wouldn't melt, no matter how much I asked it to. Oddly, the greens were probably the best thing on the plate, and I don't even like collard greens that much -- proof positive that pig makes everything better.

Crispy cornmeal catfish, hush puppies, candied yams, pickled onions, garlic yellow beans, homemade remoulade ($17.95).

Winner, winner, catfish dinner! EastSideFluffy triumphed with her meal. The fish was crisp and tender, and the yams were sugary nuggets of joy. Easily the best entree on the table.

Lemon cheesecake with kumquat jelly ($7).

Rich, dense, heavy, creamy. Kumquats provided a nice contrast. The three of us didn't even make it through half. Weaksauce.

Real deal red velvet cake ($7).

Moist and sexy. Yes, this cake was sexy. We couldn't handle the sexy. We only got through less than half of the sexy. I mean, did you see what we ate before this? Not sexy.

farmerbrown needs some tweaking. I had to salt my mac 'n' cheese. That's a problem.

Thankfully, neither EastSideFluffy nor volenti needs any tweaking. Each is enjoyably salty on her own.