Smack dab in the middle of spring, asparagus is adorning menus. Here are a three choice dishes (two found at local restaurants, one you can make yourself) featuring the herbaceous, perennial plant.

Gitane: As pictured above, this asparagus dish is classic asparagus with shaved ends, egg yolk, prosciutto and greens. Perfect with a glass or three of rosé.
6 Claude Lane, S.F., 415-788-6686

Gialina/Ragazza: Grab their asparagus pizza with preserved lemon, green garlic, farmer's pecorino and egg. Grab two. They're that good. Reservations are not accepted, but you can call for pick-up.
Glen Park: 2842 Diamond (at Bosworth), 415-239-8500; Divis: 311 Divisadero (at Page), S.F.; 415-255-1133

Raw Asparagus Salad: This is our favorite way to enjoy asparagus. People either love it or hate it in its raw state. We're staunchly in the former category. Kellan Hori, private chef and recipe developer for Blue Moon Brewing Company, suggests a simple chopped asparagus salad (around 1/4-inch cuts, we'd guess) with chive oil, lemon zest, and Caramailzed shallots. "A great raw application to a seasonal ingredient, " she adds.

And as for that post-digestion odor? Here's a fun quote from Treatise of All Sorts of Foods (1745) by Louis Lemery, "[Asparagus] cause a filthy and disagreeable smell in the urine, as every Body knows." Indeed, we all do.