I Have an Edible Complex. But I like Simplicity, Too.

It's called Dungeness crab with spaghetti in lobster cream. It's delicious.

You can get it at Bix on Gold St., which is a couple blocks north of the Transamerica Pyramid. The place is no secret. My wife had a two-day seminar in downtown San Francisco on the fine art of negotiation -- this may be my last post; finally I will be completely in her power. So I said I will come over on the BART train and we will go someplace nice. I did the lazy thing and hooked up with the Chron's list of top 100 Bay Area restaurants and used the location filter.

Bix is not that close to Union Square, people. But the review was right: super good food.

I am writing this, however, to praise the description of the food. Think about it. The restaurant could have said the dish was Dungeness crab (thank you Wikipedia) with:

Shaped pasta

• Campanelle — small cones (literally "little bells")
• Casarecci — short lengths rolled into an "S"
• Cavatelli — seashell shaped with rolled edges
• Conchiglie — seashell shaped
• Conchiglioni — large, stuffable seashell shaped
• Creste di galli — short, curved and ruffled
• Farfalle — bow tie or butterfly shaped (from farfalla, meaning butterfly)
• Farfallone — larger bow ties
• Fiori — shaped like a flower (literally "flowers")
• Fusilli — rotini
• Fusilli Bucati — a more spring shaped variety
• Gemelli — two short stands of pasta twisted together (Literally "twins")
• Gigli — cone or flower shaped
• Gramigna — short curled lengths of pasta
• Lumache — snail shaped (from lumaca, meaning snail)
• Lumaconi — jumbo Lumache
• Maltagliati — flat roughly cut triangles (literally "badly cut")
• Orecchiette — bowl or ear shaped pasta
• Pipe — larger versions of macaroni
• Quadrefiore — square with rippled edges
• Radiatori — shaped like radiators
• Ricciolini — short wide noodles with a 90—degree twist
• Rotelle — wagon wheel shaped pasta
• Rotini — fusilli
• Spiralini — more tightly—coiled fusilli
• Strozzapreti — rolled across their width
• Torchio — torch shaped
• Trofie — thin twisted pasta

Tubular pasta

• Bucatini — hollow spaghetti
• Calamarata — wide ring shaped pasta
• Calamaretti — smaller Calamarata
• Cannelloni — large stuffable tubes
• Cavatappi — "S" shaped macaroni also known as Scoobi Do
• Cellentani — corkscrew shaped tube
• Chifferi — short and wide macaroni
• Ditalini — short tubes; like elbows but shorter and without a bend
• Fideuà - short and thin tubes;
• Elbow macaroni — bent tubes
• Elicoidali — slightly ribbed tube pasta
• Fagioloni — short narrow tube
• Garganelli — square egg noodle rolled into a tube
• Macaroni — any narrow tube pasta
• Maccheroni — longer macaroni
• Maccheroncelli — hollow pencil shaped pasta
• Maltagliati — short wide pasta with diagonally cut ends
• Manicotti — large stuffable ridged tubes
• Mezzani — short curved tube
• Mezze Penne — short version of penne
• Mezzi Bombardoni — wide short tubes
• Mostaccioli — Another name for Penne
• Paccheri — large tube
• Pasta al ceppo — shaped like a cinnamon stick
• Penne — medium length tubes with diagonally cut ends
• Penne rigate — penne with ridged sides
• Penne Zita — wider version of penne
• Pennette — short thin version of penne
• Pennoni — wider version of penne
• Perciatelli — thicker bucatini
• Rigatoncini — smaller version of rigatoni
• Rigatoni — large and slightly curved tube
• Sagne Incannulate — long tube formed of twisted ribbon
• Scoobi Do — "S" shaped macaroni also known as Cavatappi
• Trenne — penne shaped as a triangle
• Trennette — smaller version of trenne
• Tortiglioni — narrower rigatoni
• Tuffoli — ridged rigatoni
• Ziti — long narrow hose—like tubes
• Zitoni — wider version of Ziti

Strand noodles

• Angel Hair — thicker than capellini
• Barbina — thin strands often coiled into nests
• Capellini — even thinner than angel hair; thinnest spaghetti—like noodle. (from capelli, meaning hair)
• Chitarra — similar to spaghetti, except square rather than round
• Ciriole — thicker version of chitarra
• Fedelini — thinner than spaghettini
• Fusilli lunghi — very long fusilli
• Pici — very thick, found in Tuscany
• Spaghetti — long, round, and thin. Thicker than spaghettini. (from Spago, meaning string)
• Spaghettini — thinner than spaghetti, thicker than fedelini
• Vermicelli — thinner or thicker (in Italy) than spaghetti. (from vermi, meaning worms)

Ribbon pasta noodles

• Bavette — narrower version of tagliatelle
• Bavettine — narrower version of bavette
• Fettuce — wider version of fettuccine
• Fettuccine — ribbon of pasta approximately one centimeter wide
• Fettucelle — narrower version of fettucine
• Lagane — wide noodles
• Lasagne — very wide noodles that often have fluted edges
• Lasagnette — narrower version of lasagna
• Lasagnotte — longer version of lasagna
• Linguettine — narrower version of linguine
• Linguine — flattened spaghetti
• Mafalde — short rectangular ribbons
• Mafaldine — long ribbons with ruffled sides
• Pappardelle — thick flat ribbon
• Pillus — very thin ribbons
• Pizzoccheri — ribbon pasta made from buckwheat
• Reginette wide ribbon with rippled edges
• Sagnarelli — rectangular ribbons with fluted edges
• Scialatelli of Scilatielli — homemade long spaghetti with a twisted long spiral
• Stringozzi — similar to shoelaces
• Tagliatelle — ribbon fairly thinner than fettuccine
• Taglierini — thinner version of Tagliatelle
• Trenette — thin ribbon ridged on one side
• Tripoline — thick ribbon ridged on one side

Micro pasta

• Acini di pepe - bead-like pasta, (literally "Peppercorns")
• Alphabets — pasta shaped as letters of the alphabet
• Anelli — small rings of pasta
• Anellini — smaller version of anelli
• Conchigliette — small shell shaped pasta
• Corallini — small short tubes of pasta
• Ditali — small short tubes
• Ditalini — smaller versions of ditali
• Farfalline — small bow tie shaped pasta
• Fideos — short thin noodles
• Filini — smaller version of fideos
• Funghini — small mushroom shaped pasta
• Occhi di pernice — very small rings of pasta
• Orzo - rice shaped pasta
• Pastina — small spheres about the same size or smaller than acini di pepe
• Pearl Pasta — spheres slightly larger than acini di pepe
• Quadrettini — small flat squares of pasta
• Risi — smaller version of orzo
• Seme di melone — small seed shaped pasta
• Stelle — small star shaped pasta
• Stelline — smaller version of stelle
• Stortini — smaller version of elbow macaroni
• Trachana — granular, irregular shaped pasta of Greek origin

Stuffed pasta

• Ravioli
• Tortellini and Tortelloni
• Sacchettini
• Panzerotti

Irregular Shapes

• Spätzle - German egg pasta that is either round in shape from being squeezed through a press, often reminding people of worms because of their soft consistency, or completely irregular, when hand made (without a press). Their name means "little sparrow" in German.

But they kept it homey: spaghetti. Kudos to you, Bix. The food's the thing wherein we'll catch the conscience of the king.