Subject: Food and Cooking

• The Eight Best Places on Earth for Foodie Vacations

  San Francisco may be the food capital of the United States (at least in our minds), but that doesn't mean there aren't plenty of other destinations worthy of gastro-tourism this fall. Fasten your seat belt (and undo the top button of your jeans) as we take you to some of our global favorites.​1. Barcelona, SpainFrom tapas and vast food markets to flowing cava and even a burgeoning gastronomical deconstructionist movement (you know, at that restaurant outside the city you'll never, ever ge

  October 5, 2009

• John's Snack and Deli, the FiDi's Original Mom-Style Taco Fusion

  nerd.loveKimbap sushi, a meaty take on maki.​Long before Kung Fu Tacos began selling Asian-fusion tacos out of a truck in the Financial District, John from John's Snack and Deli was serving Korean fusion from an unassuming convenience store in the same 'hood. At first glance, John's looks like a tiny market with little more to offer beyond Lotto tickets, gum, and cigarettes, but behind the counter lies a small kitchen that serves mom-inspired Korean dishes. Some days, John's mom is actuall

  October 2, 2009

• Golden Island Cafe: Hong Kong-Style Sago Sweets in the Outer Sunset

  amorimur/FlickrThe sampler: From left, mango sago, mixed fruit, sago with coconut milk, and ice cream.​A unique alternative for late-night cravings in the Outer Sunset, Golden Island Café serves a variety of traditional Hong Kong-style desserts. The specialty here is sago, tiny translucent tapioca pearls served with shaved ice and fresh fruit. There's a variety of options -- strawberry, mango, kiwi, lychee, cantaloupe, watermelon, honeydew -- and you can order with our without coconut mil

  October 2, 2009

• Hidden in Plain Sight: 'Secret' Menus Make Everybody Feel Like an Insider

  joeywan/FlickrSooner or later, everybody's gonna know.​Last week, CNN picked up a Mental Floss story running down secret menu items at fast food restaurants, whispering of such sneaky exit-ramp pleasures as the grotesque four-patty Meat Cube at Wendy's, Taco Bell's unadvertised green chile sauce, and Fatburger's Hypocrite (a veggie burger crowned with bacon). A few days later, Eater hollered about Hidden Menu, a brand-new Bay Area Web site dedicated to uncovering and sharing off-menu del

  October 5, 2009

• Flour Water Pizza Chef Jon Darsky: The SFoodie Interview

  Before he was a pizzaiolo, Darsky scouted talent for the KC Royals.​Go ahead, call Jon Darsky a pizzaiolo, though the Flour Water pizza maker really prefers "dough guy" instead. Since opening last May in the Mission (2401 Harrison at 20th St.), the restaurant has stayed smoking hot, and Darsky's prowess with a peel has made it as far as the pages of the New York Times (a recent piece called him a "skilled operator"). Still, the 30-year-old dough guy has kept a profile practically on par

  October 5, 2009

• Early Bird Special: Starbelly

  An early nibble from the Weekly's Wednesday food review. Jen Siska​It's merely the latest eatery to embody the übercasual, thin-crust pie, salumi sandwich, and beer ethos of the moment, the way Beretta, its restaurant sib, embodied the artisanal cocktail spirit of mid-2008. Crown the ownership duo geniuses, then, and not just for getting Starbelly's menu right. They're also gastro pioneers in a neighborhood better known for restaurants that lay down post-party calorie bombs or gently tw

  October 6, 2009

• Feds Swoop In to Nail Bay Area Sandwich-Maker Accused of Serving Bacteria On White

  ​Say it's lunchtime and you're at the local gas station trying to choose between the chili cheese dog withering away under the heat lamp or the pre-packaged chicken salad sandwich -- which is going to be healthier? Your instincts might say: Sterile-looking, triangle-shaped sandwich. But the Department of Justice says: If it's a REL's sandwich, go with the cheese dog. The DOJ filed a federal suit yesterday in San Francisco District Court against Oakland-based REL's Food, Inc. -- which makes the

  October 6, 2009

• Castro's Starbelly dishes out a truly memorable meal

  October 7, 2009

• Curried Favors

  October 7, 2009

• Why You Should Hear Andrew Coe Talk About Bad Chinese Food Tonight at Omnivore Books

  Ankou/FlickrChop suey, America's gateway dish.​Apparently, we have some New York City bohos to thank (or curse) for the birth of chop suey, the slippery Americanized dish that still shows up at many of the approximately 40,000 Chinese restaurants around the country. Chop suey, a "mixed pieces" hodgepodge of meat cooked quickly with veggies and doused with cornstarch-thickened sauce, has its detractors, and rightly so. But history suggests it single-handedly helped grow America's interest i

  October 8, 2009

• This Italian Beef Sandwich Might Be Da Best A Homesick Chicagoan Could Hope For

  J. BirdsallFor Chicagoans, a big old whiff of home.​In Chicago, where, outside of restaurants with $30 entrees, the quality of lunch is calculated partly by its girth, the Italian beef sandwich draws epic love. Soft-cooked, thinly sliced pot roast meat -- chuck, maybe -- packed into rolls just as soft, especially ordered "wet," which means soaked in the meat's jus. Comes with a scatter of giardiniera; ask for it "hot," and it comes with pickled chiles. There's no way to eat without getting

  October 8, 2009

• What To Do This Weekend: Make Emily Luchetti's Gingerbread with Apple Sabayon

  emilylucchettiblog.comWho doesn't like somethng sweet and fluffy when it's nippy?​There's a nip in the air, and we hear it might rain next week -- perfect time to whip up some tangy gingerbread. Emily Luchetti, executive pastry chef at both Farallon and Waterbar, dresses up the classic fall cake with apple compôte and a luscious apple sabayon. Check out Luchetti's blog for links to her three cookbooks (Classic Stars Desserts, A Passion for Ice Cream, and A Passion for Desserts) and more r

  October 9, 2009

• Sweet Beat: Italian Gelato (in Some Very Un-Italian Flavors) at Marco Polo

  Randy F./YelpDurian (left) and mango gelati.​A gelato craving might make you think of heading straight to North Beach this weekend, but Marco Polo Italian Ice Cream in Parkside provides authentic, homemade gelato with an array of unique flavors, minus the trek across town. The tiny, no-frills shop serves gelato made daily in its kitchen with fresh ingredients. You won't find shiny displays, cute cups, and uniformed employees, but you will have some of the best gelato available in San Franc

  October 9, 2009

• Michelin Unveils Its Latest Budget Dining List, Forgets to Put 'Budget' in Quotes

  *christopher*/FlickrFlour Water: Cheap eats?​When researching its 2010 restaurant guide for San Francisco (it goes on sale Oct. 20), Michelin found that San Franciscans are eating out as frequently as ever, despite the economy -- but "are more conscious of value when choosing a dining destination." To suit that discerning, value-hungry audience, Michelin put together a list of its famously anonymous inspectors' favorites for good value under the rubric of Bib Gourmand. This year's gui

  October 12, 2009

• Il Cane Rosso's Lauren Kiino: The SFoodie Interview

  Kiino, working the Cane Rosso lunch line.​We confess: We have no clue what the hell environmental geologists do. But if studying to be one means you walk away with an acute understanding of stuff like terroir, and how foods grow, then it was the perfect education for Lauren Kiino. The 37-year-old chef is partner with Daniel Patterson in Cane Rosso in the Ferry Building and Bracina, slated to launch this winter in Jack London Square. Along with Patterson -- a kind of mentor -- Kiino is beco

  October 12, 2009

• Panam, a Parisian Bistro and Lounge, is Opening in the Castro Next Week

  The restaurant occupies the space downstairs from The Café.​The luxe bar trend that swept through the Castro earlier this year just might be finding its equivalent in eateries. The restaurant space on the ground floor below recently refurbished The Café (2369 Market at 17th St.) is slated to open next week as Panam, a stylish French bistro with an affordable menu that'll dally with global influences. The name is Parisian slang for the French capital, according to owners Mickael Azoulay a

  October 13, 2009

• Early Bird Special: Beijing Restaurant

  foodnut.com/FlickrThe Tower: Addictive fried potatoes.​An early nibble from the Weekly's Wednesday food review. What would Yao eat? That's Yao Ming, the hella lanky Houston Rockets center, who dribbles chili oil and black vinegar on northern Chinese dishes like fennel dumplings and meat pancakes at a Mission Terrace hole in the wall -- or so we like to think. According to Yelp legend, the Shanghai native is so crazy about tiny Beijing Restaurant (1801 Alemany at Ocean) that his limo make

  October 13, 2009

• Friday's Weekly Beast Menu at One Market Was All About the Duroc Pig

  M. LaddOink-oink: Maple-pecan crêpes with caramelized bacon ice cream.​One Market Restaurant (One Market at the Embarcadero) started an intriguing meaty menu option earlier this month called The Weekly Beast. The prix fixe meals -- the restaurant calls them Head to Hoof dinners -- drop Fridays and Saturdays, side by side with chef Mark Dommen's regular menu. First week up, the beast was goat. Last weekend, it was all about pork -- specifically, Duroc pig from Beeler Pork in Iowa (Duroc i

  October 13, 2009

• Waterbar's OysterFest Experiences a Bit of Shrinkage

  ​So maybe it's not the best time to expect diners to shell out for fancy prix-fixe evenings. Sluggish ticket sales caused Waterbar's OysterFest to shrink from a three-day event to a single three-hour session this Saturday, noon-3 p.m. Original plans called for an expanded oyster selection on Waterbar's regular menu, and oyster-themed dinners in the restaurant's private dining room Thursday and Friday. Saturday's event at Waterbar (399 The Embarcadero S. at Folsom) is still on. Expect a s

  October 13, 2009

• Beijing Restaurant, Yao Ming's favorite S.F. spot, offers unusual delights

  October 14, 2009

• Pastry Chef Luis Villavelazquez Wants to Do More Than Sell You a Cupcake. He Wants to Blow Your Mind

  7x7Can Villavelazquez spark a bakery revival from a stall at Ferry Plaza?​At 7x7's Bits Bites yesterday, Jessica Battilana broke the news that, as of next week, Absinthe and Arlequin To Go pastry chef Luis Villavelazquez will start selling pastries at the Thursday Ferry Plaza farmers' market. Today SFoodie asked Villavelazquez to say more -- like, what's a brilliant fine-dining pastry chef doing hawking cupcakes at a sidewalk stand? Villavelazquez told us he sees it as just another way t

  October 14, 2009

• Wondering What to Make for Divali? Dosa Chef Anjan Mitra Hooks You Up

  m kasahara/FlickrDivali central: Dosa on Fillmore.​Dosa is celebrating Divali (aka Diwali or Deepavaili), the Festival of Lights, a holiday as important to Hindus as Christmas is to Episcopalians (okay, other Christians too). Starting tonight, Dosa is offering special Divali dinners at both locations (995 Valencia at 21st St., and 1700 Fillmore at Post); they continue through Sunday, Oct. 18 (Divali itself runs Saturday through Monday). Dosa chef Anjan Mitra's holiday menu includes chickpe

  October 15, 2009

• Doggy Bag: She Said, She Said

  ​Our favorite morsel from the blogs. Double in the bubble: Unbeknownst to the other, 7x7's Sara Deseran and Jessica Battilana made separate rezzies at SPQR. They went, they ate, they wrote. Only instead of merging both reviews or scrapping one, they opted to publish side by side at Bits Bites. It's a "Don't You Want Me" double-take on the Pac Heights osteria that, judging from both descriptions, might no longer be eligible for the term. Instead of dishes with Appleman's muscle, new chef

  October 16, 2009

• Should S.F. Be Taking to the Barricades to Demand RN74's Super-Posh Burger?

  Paul TrapaniRN74: Sworn enemy of democracy?​Tom Robbins once wrote: "Columbus discovered America, Jefferson invented it, Lincoln unified it, Goldwyn mythologized it, and Kroc Big Mac'd it. It could have been an omniscient computer that provided this land with its prevailing ambiance, it might have been an irresistible new weapons system, a political revolution, an art movement, or some gene-altering drug. Isn't it just a little bit wonderful that it was a hamburger?" In September's burger-

  October 19, 2009

• Blue Bottle Oakland is Due Tomorrow. You'll Have to Wait for the Bookmaker's Sandwiches

  cscotta/FlickrA traditional letterpress: Good for wedding invitations, and also sandwiches.​It looks like tomorrow will see the dawn of primo caffeine in Oakland, as Blue Bottle's new roasting facility (with attached retail café) is slated to open at 300 Webster (at Third St.), a circa-1923 warehouse blocks from Jack London Square. The site will also house Blue Bottle's production kitchen (they've been renting kitchen space in Hunter's Point). Late last week, Blue Bottle was in the proces

  October 19, 2009

• DeLise Dessert Café Brings New Life to Bay Street

  T. PalmerEloise and Dennis Leung: A sweet couple.​DeLise Dessert Café (327 Bay at Powell), which opened Oct. 16., is a new venture from Dennis and Eloise Leung, pastry chefs for the shuttered Bong Su."They let us create whatever we wanted," Dennis Leung told SFoodie of the couple's former employer. "It was a really great place to work." But the Leungs have a lot to celebrate these days. Besides opening their first café, they're also expecting their first child next month.T. PalmerChocolate a

  October 19, 2009

• Flooding on Folsom Knocks out Batter Bakery, Stable Cafe

  amendz/FlickrKnee-deep water knocked out Stable Cafe and the Mission Creek Kitchen it houses.​One sweet casualty of yesterday's downpour: Batter Bakery, which bakes for its downtown kiosk at Mission Creek Kitchen behind Stable Café on Folsom between 17th and 18th Streets. Yesterday afternoon, knee-deep water flooded the building. "Within half an hour after the rains, we noticed that the streets started to flood a little bit," said Batter owner Jen Musty. "We ran downstairs -- we didn't r

  October 20, 2009

• Pal's Takeaway, Rhea's Deli, and Mission Burger offer handheld delights

  October 21, 2009

• Hot Meal: Good Morning Breakfast at Bar Tartine

  J. BirdsallThe breakfast sandwich: Quietly deft.​Used to be only prep cooks and cleaning crews who showed up early mornings at restaurants. But eateries are trying to get you in the doors -- whenever they can get you, frankly -- and if that means staffing up with a short-order a.m. line cook and server, so be it. This morning, Bar Tartine joined Pizzaiolo and Salt House as members of the Bay Area's Breakfast Club, dinner-focused restaurants with casual morning service. Tartine's Good Morn

  October 21, 2009

• Sans Cart

  October 21, 2009

• Teatro ZinZanni's Every-Other-Saturday Brunch: Tiaras Optional

  everydaydude/FlickrThe Saturday brunch show is in abbreviated form.​Last month, Teatro ZinZanni -- the city's swirling, dinner-theater mix of drinks, food, music, divas, and trapeze flights at Pier 29 on the Embarcadero -- launched an every-other-Saturday brunch called Brevé. ZinZanni bills is as "the perfect excuse to wear your tiara at noon." The three-course brunch unfolds in the midst of ZinZanni's typical mashup of hula hoops and gypsy story lines, though in abbreviated form. It can

  October 22, 2009

• Cali Cheeses Rack Up Awards, But the Real Winners Might Be Ones You've Never Heard Of

  Gordonzola.netGordon Edgar, Rainbow's cheesemonger: New California artisans are making magic.​A half dozen California cow's milk cheeses snagged more than a dozen awards at the 2009 World Cheese Awards earlier this month in Las Palmas, Gran Canaria. The annual event is a slugfest of more than 2,000 entries and dozens of countries. California winners included Le Petit Dejeuner from Marin French Cheese in Petaluma, Bellwether Farms' Carmody, and smoked mozzarella from West Berkeley's Belfior

  October 22, 2009

• Doggy Bag: Act Now and Get a Set of Steak Knives!

  ​Our favorite morsel from the food blogs. This is just sad: Heston Blumenthal is one of the greatest chefs of his generation. His restaurant, The Fat Duck in Berkshire in England, has the stature of the French Laundry. In 2007 and 2009, the Good Food Guide named it the best restaurant in the U.K., and its owner has engineered weird-science dishes that've become the signature expressions of the age, like egg and bacon ice cream and ultra-low heat cooking. All the sadder that Blumenthal s

  October 22, 2009

• Cane Rosso is Expanding Its Family-Style Sunday Suppers to Every Night

  muirwood/FlickrThe three-course menus will change nightly.​Starting next month, Il Cane Rosso (One Ferry Building #41 at the Embarcadero) is expanding its two-month-old Sunday Supper concept to seven nights. The evening meals will take Cane Rosso's signature spit-roasted pastured meats out of the sandwich and pile them onto platters, Ad Hoc-like, in three-course menus that change nightly. Cost: $25 ($12.50 for kids 10 and under), with wine, beer, and other drinks extra. As at Sunday Supper

  October 23, 2009

• Organizers at U.C. Berkeley Want to Make the World's Longest California Roll. Why?

  revjim5000/FlickrThe length to beat: 300 feet.​Yeah, this is how we roll: Food history may be made on Sunday, Nov. 8, when a group in Berkeley attempts to make the world's longest California roll. Eight years ago, a group in Maui set a record for a 300-foot-long roll. The Cal organizers hope to beat the record and "bring the California roll record back to Cal!" Eaters, you will be able to eat the results of the sushi made with crab (or, um, krab), cucumber, and avocado, all wrapped in vin

  October 26, 2009

• Muguboka offers homey Korean fare that goes beyond meat

  October 28, 2009

• Maverick's Halloween Mystery Night: No, Smartass, 'Mystery Meat' Is Not on the Menu

  AC:MP/FlickrThis is what you won't be getting -- a menu.​Searching for a mystery thriller for your Halloween dinner? Maverick (3316 17th St. at Mission) is organizing another Mystery Night this Saturday, a dining adventure designed to seriously test your food and wine game. You won't get a menu. Instead, you'll receive a three-course prix-fixe for $40; mystery wine pairings cost an extra $15. You'll get a treat and scorecard, and it'll be up to you to suss out what's on the plate (or in yo

  October 28, 2009

• David Chang: S.F. Reaction to Fig-Gate 'Retardedly Stupid'

  timeoutnewyork/FlickrChang: A bad case of produce envy.​The day after publication of his book, the wonderful Momofuku (Clarkson Potter, $40), SFoodie spoke wiith New York chef David Chang. You know, the guy who stirred up a shit storm earlier this month with the comment that "fuckin' every restaurant in San Francisco is just serving figs on a plate." In the aftermath, the NorCal Asia Society canceled an event with Chang scheduled for early November, when the chef will be in town to promote

  October 28, 2009

• RIP, Vegan Burger. The Mission Won't Be the Same Without You!

  Jared Zimmerman/FlickrStick a fork in it.​Mission Burger, our heart is broken, too! Ever since we tried the vegan burger served at Duc Loi Market (2200 Mission at 18th St.), we've talked it up as one of the best burgers around. Sad to read that the vegan burger is being canceled due to a deep-fryer cross contamination complaint that led to what Mission Burger describes on its Yelp page as a broken heart. Unfortunately, yes we will cancel it pretty soon because it takes a lot of work to mak

  October 28, 2009

• Burger Bar Sort of Sucks, But the Dessert Burgers are Adorable

  M. BrodyThe chocolate ganache burger -- the bun's a hole-less doughnut.​We still think the best thing about Hubert Keller's Burger Bar in Macy's (170 O'Farrell at Geary) are the sweeping views over Union Square. But, credit where credit is due, the two dessert burgers on the menu are cute, especially the chocolate ganache version, an exact simulacrum of a cheeseburger, down to the translucent sheet of jellied passion fruit doubling for American cheese. And at $5.75, they're bargains. M. B

  October 28, 2009

• Mission Burger Shares Its Recipe for the Dearly Departed Vegan Variety

  vegansaurus.comThe vegan burger in better days.​Yesterday, SFoodie's Mary Ladd reported on the demise of Mission Burger's beloved vegan burger. Perhaps in response to an impassioned plea by Vegansaurus to reconsider ("We love that vegan burger more than we love animals, and we're vegan! That means we love animals a lot!"), MB kindly offered the site the recipe, which includes goodies like kale, maitake, shiitake, edamame, wakame -- and, apparently, some dearly departed magic.Even the quickest

  October 29, 2009

• Melissa Perello of the Castro's Long-Awaited Frances: The SFoodie Interview

  Melissa Perello was born in Nutley, N.J., lived in Houston, and went to cooking school in upstate New York, but San Francisco is where the 32-year-old chef formed her restaurant bones. She arrived here fresh from the Culinary Institute of America in Hyde Park, N.Y., to gig with mentor Michael Mina at Aqua. She later moved to Aqua's sister eatery, Charles Nob Hill, to work alongside Ron Siegel, eventually moving up to executive chef. Perello: Not feeling S.F.'s raging pig cult.​It was at

  October 29, 2009

• 'Free Murat': Vendors Urge Show of Support for Amuse Bouche at Tonight's Street-Food Party

  Feel free to customize.​This afternoon, Steven Gdula of Gobba Gobba Hey was urging fellow street-food vendors to show support for Amuse Bouche vendor Murat Celebi-Ariner at tonight's post-Commonwealth Club street food party at 111 Minna Gallery by wearing t-shirts that read "Free Murat." Murat was reportedly picked up by Homeland Secutiry for a visa violation, though SFoodie hasn't been able to confirm the information. Gdula told SFoodie the idea came from Curtis Kimball of Crème Brûlée

  October 29, 2009

• Snacktion: Edamame & Chocolate

  T. Palmer​Name: Edamame & Chocolate Brand: Jade Chocolates Origin: San Francisco Found at: Chocolate Covered (4069 24th St. at Noe) Cost: $12 Ingredients: Bittersweet chocolate, dry roasted edamame, sea salt. Calories per serving: Not listed The word: Local independent confectioner Jade Chocolates packages these party-sized treats in Chinese take-out boxes. Edamame, the green soybeans that are a staple at sushi joints, are roasted, dipped in dark chocolate and dusted with cocoa powder. T

  November 2, 2009

• Pop Review: Mission Burger's New Fried Chicken Sandwich

  a w./YelpThe fried chicken sandwich: At some point, this was flapping around.​As we learned last week, Mission Burger at Duc Loi Supermarket (2200 Mission at 18th St.) has swapped a fried chicken sandwich ($8) for its vegan burger -- a deservedly well-loved delectable a good many non-vegans are sad to see depart. Unfortunately, between the time-consuming process by which the crunchy patties were crafted, and the ire of a solitary vegan over a single and exceedingly minor case of fishy cros

  November 2, 2009

• Ex-Top Chef Player (and Circa Chef) Erik Hopfinger Resurfaces at Brunch

  Mary LaddThen-Circa chef Hopfinger at the SF Chefs. Food. Wine. opening party in August.​What happens to former Top Chef contestants when the memory of their last elimination challenge has faded into some bitter barstool tale of judges' prejudice and shitty luck? In the case of ex-Circa chef Erik Hopfinger, they eventually hunker down making Benedicts. For the past month or so, the Top Chef Season Four contestant has been masterminding weekend brunch at the AT&T-proximate Nova Bar and Rest

  November 2, 2009

• Mission Eateries (and You) Can Help Support Local Kids at Next Week's Food for Thought Fundraiser

  ​Dine out at one of the participating spots in the Mission next Wednesday, Nov. 11, and the restaurant will donate between 25 and 100 percent of the proceeds to Mission Graduates, a nonprofit focused on fostering college preparedness in K-12 students in the Mission District. It's all in honor of MG's annual Food for Thought campaign.Peep the full list of of the 25 restaurants participating in Food for Thought after the jump.

  November 3, 2009

• Early-Bird Special: Yu-Zen

  cygnoir/FlickrYu-Zen's futo maki.​An early nibble from the Weekly's Wednesday food review. We all know the taste of mid-grade sushi-joint food like we know the taste of a McDonald's burger: starchy tempura, elaborately gooshy fantasy rolls, watery miso soup. Get something better, and it seems like revelation. That's the case at Yu-Zen (4036 Balboa at 42nd Ave.), a no-frills Outer Richmond sushi bar where the sprawling menu offers up modest delights in the form of chirashi sushi, izakaya

  November 3, 2009

• Yu-Zen and the art of sushi

  November 4, 2009

• Daniel Patterson: S.F. is Killing the Upscale Neighborhood Restaurant

  fOtOdOjO/Flickr​We started out seeking to challenge the current meme that Oakland is the new locus of Bay Area chef talent. (In the East Bay Express, Carolyn Jung even called it America's next great dining destination.) We thought, sure, a handful of chefs are opening second restaurants in O-Town. And despite Commis, could the East Bay city we love for taco trucks and Lao food ever really challenge San Francisco's fine-dining dominance? We turned to Daniel Patterson, Coi chef and owner, Ca

  November 6, 2009