Julia Child also loved Vietnamese dive Tu Lan, which Boulware says is "in the hellish Market/6th corridor. Excellent spring rolls and lemon beef salad, accompanied by random schizophrenics and cockroaches, and an 89-year-old man upstairs, carefully making the rolls by himself." When shopping for ingredients, Boulware checks out Bombay Bazaar, which is "a great place to buy spices in bulk, even if you don’t know how to use them. Plus there’s the stacks of 1980s Bollywood VHS tapes. And the cardamom ice cream next door." Boulware’s guilty local food pleasure is "The infamous heart-clogging Mission burrito, carnitas and super, of course, but only once in awhile. Gotta let the arteries recover." Note he would not share exactly where he gets his belly bombs.

Date night is an order-in affair, with Zante’s Indian pizza in the outer Mission. "But get it delivered and order extra meat. Also their chicken korma is really great." This writer has spotted Boulware at Beretta/The Last Supper Club for weekend brunch. Boulware also is partial to Farmer Brown, for "Sunday jazz brunch buffet. What else do you need to know? Superb bloody Marys also." Cheers to that.

Mary Ladd has volunteered and done event work for Litquake, and has a husband who is on the Advisory Board.

Photo Credit: Silke Tudor

Jack BoulwareJack Boulware

Food Secrets of a Writer and Litquake Co-Founder: Jack Boulware