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Look at recent openings in San Francisco, and you'll notice a trend: Wine bars are making a big comeback. Three spots have opened for business in the past month, each offering a different concept, and all worth a second look. Besides an impressive wine list stocked with European wines, craft beers, and Spanish sherries, Heart (1270 Valencia at 24th St.) wine bar and gallery is doing an exciting foray into small plates with an American tapas menu by Kitchenette owner Douglas Monsalud, who was inspired by all things smoked, salted, and pickled. For information, call 285-1200. It's open noon-10 p.m. daily.
In Pacific Heights, Fat Angel (1740 O'Farrell at Fillmore) opened last week, boasting a hearty list of three dozen wines by the glass, two wines on tap, and six local beers. The food menu is studded with comfort classics like braised pork shoulder, mac 'n' cheese, and flatbread. Decorated with reclaimed and repurposed building materials (including the namesake angel from a former Napa church), the general concept is casual, old-world charm, and the easy-to-swallow prices back up the claim, with most glasses between $6 and $13. Fat Angel is open 4-11:30 p.m. Monday through Thursday, 4 p.m.-12:30 a.m. Friday and Saturday, and 4-11 p.m. Sunday. For information, call 690-3783.
You won't find a huge variety of wines at Red + White (678 Chenery at Diamond) in Glen Park, but you will find a carefully honed list of 13 wines that leans heavily toward California vineyards. Owners Peter Bell and Juliana Flores have taken the same minimalist approach on the bold decor and the food menu (a smattering of fancy grilled sandwiches, cheese plates, and charcuterie).
But there is one area where they've taken a more extravagant approach: The wine descriptions, written by Bell, take unusual poetic license, comparing various glasses to, among other things, Michigan's Bayshore Marathon and the Willie Nelson tune "Red-Headed Stranger." For more information, call 333-2200. |
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The Center for Urban Education about Sustainable Agriculture — which runs the Ferry Building Farmers' Market — and the California Culinary Academy have teamed up for a cool new series of lunches and dinners that are helping to shape the next generation of chefs. Each month, a local producer from the farmers' market will work with a cadre of graduating culinary students to school them in the finer points of the farm-to-table movement. These brainstorming sessions will result in three-course prix-fixe menus that will be prepared and served by the students at the academy's restaurant, Careme 350 (350 Rhode Island at 16th St.). The idea is to expose emerging professionals to as many local farmers and their products as possible, and to make personal and business connections that will serve the local farming and dining scenes for years to come.
The next meal is happening this Thursday, Feb. 11, with a menu featuring fruits and vegetables from Bill Crepps' Everything Under the Sun Farm in Winters, CA. Lunch runs from 11:30 a.m. to 1 p.m., and dinner from 6 to 8 p.m. Menu details are still under wraps, but guests will have three options of appetizers and entrées, plus dessert. Each menu costs just $20 per person — well worth the price. It's too late to book a table, but the organizers are encouraging walk-ins. |
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Love it or hate it, Valentine's Day is coming soon, along with a delightful deluge of special menus across the city. To help hapless lovers narrow down the choices, we've gathered three of our favorites, all promising a V-Day your taste buds will remember.
Acclaimed Persian-inspired spot Zare at Flytrap (606 Folsom at Second St.) is serving a $69 four-course, wine-paired menu with delicious options like squash soup with chestnut cream and pumpkin seeds and roasted ribeye with bone-marrow butter, fresh turmeric, new potatoes, yogurt, and sumac. There will be two seatings on Valentine's Day: 5-6 p.m. and 8-8:30 p.m. For more information and reservations, call 243-0580.
For killer views of the bay and a refined, romantic setting — not to mention amazing prime rib — check out Epic Roasthouse (369 Embarcadero at Folsom). The four-course Valentine's Day dinner is served with wine pairings and, again, plenty of options. Highlights include lobster-butternut squash bisque with lobster oil and honey pears and pan-roasted capon for two with cornbread crawfish stuffing, sauce écrevisse, and blood orange-mizuna salad. Dinner costs $85 per person, plus $40 for wine pairings.
At Japanese/izakaya newcomer Nombe (2491 Mission at 21st St.), chef Nick Balla will be preparing a haiseki Valentine's Day menu featuring five courses and suggested sake and wine pairings. Highlights include hassun (shrimp ceviche, lobster dumpling, rillet with truffle, mussel with spring onion, sea urchin with yuba, sashimi assortment), and takiawase and yakimono (duck and gobo suimono with escarole and black cod with fennel, leek, and miso). The menu is available Saturday, Feb. 13, and Sunday, Feb. 14, and costs $60 per person (add $25 for sake pairings), with seatings at 6:30, 8:30, and 10:30 p.m. Vegetarian substitutions are available. For reservations, call 681-7150.
If sharing a Southern-style brunch is your idea of the perfect Valentine's Day date, then check out farmerbrown (25 Mason at Market), which is gearing up for an all-you-can-eat brunch buffet that includes mimosas, fried chicken, biscuits and gravy, pancakes, grits, and a lot more gut-busting fare, all for $25 per person. Call 409-FARM for reservations.
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In February, San Francisco is all beer, all the time. S.F. Beer Week is still under way, but that's only the beginning. Local watering holes Magnolia Pub and Brewery (1398 Haight at Masonic) and 21st Amendment (563 Second St. at Bryant) are both getting into the act with the eighth annual Strong Beer Month, because a week of strong beer just isn't enough.
Inspired by as many far-flung brewing cultures and traditions as they can find, these confirmed beer nerds are back with 12 special beers — six from each brewery — all of them bold and memorable and possessing remarkably high alcohol content. A sampling of the strongest beers on the menu should have your liver quaking in fear.
From Magnolia, there's Promised Land Imperial IPA (10.4 percent) and Old Thunderpussy Barleywine (10.8 percent). From 21st Amendment, there's Hop Crisis! (10.8 percent) and the strongest of them all, Lower De Boom (11.2 percent). Check out the full list.
Throughout February, stop in to either bar and get started, and get your Strong Beer card punched for each different brew you drink. Try all 12 and earn a commemorative beer glass (while supplies last). The beers cost $6 for 12 ounces, or $2 for a four-ounce taste.
If that isn't enough, check out Magnolia's special event, Beer from the Vault, this Friday, Feb. 12. From 4 to 7 p.m., it's hosting a rare tasting of vintage and barrel-aged strong beers from its collection. |
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