Cheesy Goodness, followed by more Cheesy Goodness

After far too long, I was able to hang out with good friend Renee. She’s also a fantastic editor, and we’ve collaborated on a few projects including my fantasy cookbook. When Nick Olivero, Founding Artistic Director of Boxcar Theatre as well as originator of The Speakeasy (see a brief review here), announced a limited run of Hedwig and the Angry Inch it seemed like an opportune time to hang out, especially considering I missed Nick’s first round of Hedwig.

Here, Renee and I are being super excited to watch Hedwig!

But we’ll get to that later. First we grabbed some dinner at Fondue Cowboy. Located at the corner of Folsom and Russ, it offers a bit of quirky Western flair in its part of San Francisco.

I arrived a bit before 5:30 and it was pleasantly sparse, having beaten the after work crowd, which started to populate the restaurant in earnest around 6:30-7.

The menu features six savory fondues, three sweet renditions, as well as some protein additions and salads. The drink menu was respectably populated as well, though unfortunately they were low on some cider offerings for Renee, but according to the staff, that was a problem with the supplier rather than a lack of foresight.

It had some very nice touches for ambiance. I appreciated having a Western to watch while having a beer and waiting.

The wood paneling was quite polished, and perhaps a bit too slick if they were going for a rougher more genuine feel of the West, but who am I kidding, I was there for Fondue.

And boy, the Fondue! Well. I think the pictures speak for themselves. The dipping items were cut cleanly and presented well, and the Rawhide (Italian Dolce Gorgonzola, Emmenthaler, White Wine, Bacon, Roasted Garlic) fondue was fantastically gooey, with a nice bit of tang to it. And the bacon bits were bonus bites of deliciousness.

 

We did pretty good. With the extra protein perhaps slightly less cheese than we could have used to polish off everything, as you can see from the slight remainder of gherkins and olives, but we were both quite satisfied.

For dessert, we opted for the dark chocolate and cayenne fondue. For dipping there were pieces of fruit (kiwi, pineapple, bananas, and strawberries), chocolate bread, a quartered marshmallow and some madeleines.

Chocolate bread and melted chocolate was an amazing combination, I liked that the most on the right tray. And pineapple was my favorite from the fruits.

Yeaaaaaaaaaah.

No problem finishing off everything here!

In case anyone wanted to know if they kept up the décor in the bathroom…

Sated in our appetites, we made the short walk to Boxcar to check out Hedwig.

I was not prepared for how glorious it would be.

There were custom cocktails as well, and apparently the Sugar Daddy was quite good.

And so many Hedwigs. So many.

This greeted us upon entry. I neglected to take a selfie in it and I am ashamed, because I thought for some reason it would have been doable after the show. I was wrong.

If you go, SELFIE IT UP.

I didn’t take pictures during the show because that would be rude.

I did however scribble down some thoughts on my notepad throughout the performance, which I shall duplicate (mostly faithfully) here.

Holy shit.

Fierce

Uncomfortable

Phenomenon.

Dry eyes in the house, but not mine.

Sugar daddy is a cosmo with Blue Curacao

A shot of fireball

I think I lost my ability to take notes after that, just being overwhelmed and immersing myself in the whole experience. I didn’t always understand what was going on, but I knew I was enraptured by all of it. This bears repeated watches, and I have been listening to the Hedwig and the Angry Inch motion picture soundtrack on repeat trying to recapture the feeling.

There are decent synopses online so I will suggest you use “The Googles” if you want a better perspective than that.

I’m sorry I am not able to give a deeper more insightful review of what I experienced that night, but if you are supportive of LGBTQ, and the arts in an Off Broadway sort of way, I can’t recommend you go enough.

I did however manage to take a selfie with Nick Olivero. Come on, who wouldn’t want to see something directed by this guy?

There’s only a few spots left this weekend, so I recommend you jump on it. And use the “10OFF” code to save some bucks if that will help!

(Full disclosure, I am friends with Nick and he has bought me a drink before).

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