Subject: Mary Ladd

• Spin Zone: Pizza Pro Tony Gemignani Rocks Sunday's North Beach Festival

  Mary LaddDough boy: Twirl master Tony Gemignani.Hey, mambo! World pizza-tossing champion Tony Gemignani rocked the dough in his self-described "truly Italian" fashion at Sunday's North Beach Festival. Beer-swilling fans called out, danced, and jumped up and down as Gemignani performed. His crowd-pleasing tricks? Twirling dough into a shade-providing disc, pinching it into ever-growing size while in midair, then rolling it across his shoulders. The grand finale: catching the dough on his back. A

  June 15, 2009

• Who Knew? Mission Pie Now Taking a Walk on the Savory Side

  Mary LaddMary LaddKrystin Rubin with a savory quiche.Wanna get down in a savory and sweet way? Belly up to Mission Pie (2901 Mission at 25th St.) for a nibble. Since February, the shop has been quietly showcasing fresh, seasonal ingredients from California farms in a savory line of quiches ($4.50/slice), galettes ($5.50), pot pies ($7.50), and salads ($5). Offerings depend on what's available from Mission Pie's farmer network. Mission Pie definitely faces hurdles in moving its savory foods --

  June 17, 2009

• Duc Loi: A Market on Mission Becomes Something Truly Super

  Mary LaddThrow money at something, and it just might blossom into something wonderfulMary Ladd. Eons ago, SFoodie talked to a source detailing plans for Duc Loi Supermarket (2200 Mission at 18th St.). Established in 1987, Duc Loi was a store with "international" ingredients but didn't stand out as a particularly shop-worthy food market. My, how things have changed. When Duc Loi reopened earlier this year, the place had morphed into something special: a spacious, shiny, clean, and well-priced gro

  June 19, 2009

• Queer Food Capital: Four Sweet Brunch Places for Gay Dads and Everyone Else

  What are Daddy and Papa to do? Father's Day is a twofer in households with two dads, which means extra pressure to do it up right. To help, we've rounded up four special but affordable places to have brunch on Sunday with the little ones. Pack the kids in the stroller, grab the Sunday Times or that issue of Out magazine you never got to. Gay, straight, questioning, whatever -- you're doing brunch. Home 2100 Market (at 14th St.), 503-0333. Unlike, say, Lime, this Castro stalwart has a -- duh --

  June 19, 2009

• It Isn't a Party Until Somebody Cries: The Week in SFoodie

  • It was an unapologetic week of eating, with a tear or two thrown in for good measure. New SFoodie blogger Mary Ladd was busted gorging on the tasty but little-known savory foods at Mission Pie. Meanwhile, Matthew Stafford downed a mai tai (or two) in anticipation of summer. • We dropped our bag lunch in the bin and checked out two places still too new to have scuff marks on the baseboards or gum under the seats: Marino in Hayes Valley and Wexler's in the FiDi. • SFoodie blogger Tamara

  June 19, 2009

• Let's Get Lifted: The Week in SFoodie

  Grundlepuck/FlickrChillax, brainiac, and enjoy the show.Yes, it was all about elevating this week. With Blue Bottle drips from Cento in our system, we shook our lingering hangover from Pride and turned our remaining brain cells to summer reading. Made us feel smarter, anyway. Contributor Tamara Palmer broke down the city's most beloved food mascots, past and present. Oh, Samurai Chef, how we love you. With salsa stains on her sweater, food critic Meredith Brody told us all about the new Thursd

  July 3, 2009

• City of Burgers: Thrill of the Grill's Kobe

  Mary Ladd Double the meat, double the delcious.Though some may gripe that this place has all the makings of a restaurant that exists solely to cater to drunks, Thrill of the Grill has more to offer than that. Sure, it's a super casual restaurant that may at first glance seem like a logical meeting spot for the wasted. And it does fulfill all the criteria for drunk hangout: prime Valencia corridor location; carb-o-riffic menu of burgers, cheesesteaks, and pizza; late hours; piped in techno

  July 6, 2009

• Pi Bar Still Has Some Work to Do to Remake Shuttered Thai Space

  Mary Ladd The former Suriya Thai on Valencia is undergoing a transformation. Seventeen is a long time in restaurant years. It was sad to see a Valencia Street fave, Suriya Thai (1432 Valencia at 25th St.), shutter earlier this year on March 4th. Suriya was an oasis of calm, offering delectable and balanced Thai dishes in an attractive yet comfy setting. Once Suriya left, the space sat empty for over two months. New owners have moved in -- they've announced plans for Pi Bar, a thin-crust

  July 6, 2009

• New Bottled Iced Teas from Peet's: Rrefreshment Without the Weirdness

  Alfred Peet's tea legacy lives on -- in the fridge. Peet was originally from Holland, and grew up in the coffee and tea trade before opening his first store in Berkeley's Gourmet Ghetto in 1966, long before there was such a thing. Now, just in time for S.F.'s fog-shrouded summer, Peet's bottled iced teas have hit the market. The drinks come in 15-ounce bottles, with flavors that include Snow Leopard, Little Dragon, Jade Green, and Moroccan Mint. Exotic, no? The unsweetened Summer House Citrus

  July 8, 2009

• Tabasco-Spiked Tequila Sparks a Three-Alarm Buzz

  Mary LaddSpirits snobs may gag over the notion of spicy tequila, but heat lovers (including this blogger) have definitely warmed up to the notion of adult drinks with a kick. Tabasco's premium tequila is labeled hecho en Mexico. It adds a touch of heat to the usual margarita, Bloody Mary, or shot. Expect to feel the burn on the back of your tongue within seconds of imbibing. On a heat spectrum of one to ten (ten being unbearably hot), Tabasco tequila ranks a respectable six or seven. And it do

  July 15, 2009

• Be the Change You Wish to Eat: The Week in SFoodie

  shunafish/FlickrAppleman: armed with new challenges.• It was a week all about moving on, starting with Meredith Brody's Hot Meal report on Five, the luxe-y Berkeley hotel eatery that marks the re-appearance of beloved S.F. chef Scott Howard. She's dreaming about a return. • Mary Ladd tracked another re-appearance: After breaking hearts for departing the Mission, Suriya Thai surfaced in SOMA. Hey Valencia Street: see ya, wouldn't wanna be ya. • Tamara Palmer took a late-night stroll throu

  July 17, 2009

• Beef Brisket Sandwich Offers a Whole New Reason to Visit Betty

  Mary LaddGet in the car, go to Betty's.Lunch alert, road-trip style: Yeah, you've stood in line at Bakesale Betty (5098 Telegraph at 51st St., Oakland) for the scones, fried chicken sandwiches, and Lamingtons. Now there's a fresh reason to jockey for a seat at one of the ironing board tables out front: the beef brisket sandwich ($7.75). It's made a sporadic appearance on the menu since April. Packed with caramelized onions, creamy horseradish, potato chips (in the sandwich) and arugula, it's a

  July 20, 2009

• Peruvian Barley-Flavored Tonic is Smooth, but Beware the Sugar High

  Mary LaddCapable of slaking a thirst and curing lumbago?  How can one popular Peruvian nonalcoholic bottled drink be both an aperitif-slash-digestif and help with back pain? SFoodie followed a tip from a Peruvian friend and ran straight to the store to find out. Inca's Food Emoliente barley drink ($2.29 for a 16-ounce bottle at various stores around the Mission) is a self-described "emollient," made with water, sugar, toasted barley, linseed, horse tail, couch grass, and preservatives by

  July 23, 2009

• Eating Away the Blahs: The Week in SFoodie

  Meredith BrodyWhy stop at one? • We ate like 15-year-olds with a thyroid condition this week -- call it consolation for the relentlessly shitty weather, the kind that drizzles just enough moisture onto the filthy hood of your Sentra to make it seem permanently flocked with grime. Meredith Brody kicked things off at the Ferry Building with a mouthful of rotisserie. • Tamara Palmer made herself feel better for missing this weekend's Gilroy Garlic Festival by acquiring some seriously reek

  July 24, 2009

• Taco Truck Confidential: My Moment with Tony

  mangoandtabasco/FlickrDon't ask -- we won't tell.​We're counting down to the August 10 broadcast of the San Francisco/Oakland episode of No Reservations, the Anthony Bourdain food-and-travel show with an avidly sweaty following. Tomorrow we'll launch details of a contest that will yield five committed readers access to a private viewing party with eats and a stellar guest list. In the meantime, we're spilling selective details about our taping with Tony. When Bourdain and his production c

  July 28, 2009

• Estancia Dinner at Jardiniere: Local? Grass Fed? We'll Settle for Tasty

  Mary LaddThe roasted skirt steak was beefy and tender.​Before digging in to the Estancia grass-fed beef prix fixe at Jardiniere (300 Grove at Franklin) last night, SFoodie and überblogger Amy Sherman chatted with Traci Des Jardins, who admitted to nursing a 14-hours-ahead jet lag (she'd just returned from a trip to Outer Mongolia). Chef Des Jardins reported that the Mongolian town close to the Russian border where she and her companions stayed is by no means a tourist attraction. "The may

  July 28, 2009

• Market Report: More Earnestness Than Glamour in Noe Valley

  Mary Ladd The Noe Valley Tuesday farmers' market: Call it cozy. A visit to the rather bare-bones Noe Valley farmer's market on a foggy summer day is probably best kept to earnest local food geeks eager to support their 'hood. The Tuesday afternoon market (3-7 p.m.) launched in May, in the parking lot of what's destined to be Whole Foods (3940 24th St. at Sanchez).  Mary Ladd Where else on 24th can you score these? Yesterday's cold weather and the market's chain-link fen

  July 29, 2009

• The Afternoon I Holed Up in Bender's with Anthony Bourdain

  Mary LaddThe nasty bits: The Bender's Bloody Mary, crowned with a beef stick.​Filming the San Francisco episode of No Reservations (the show airs on the Travel Channel network August 10) was similar to the other times I've hung out with Anthony Bourdain. It was all drinking and eating, only this time with cameras around. A little back story: Tony and my husband, Oscar Villalon (former books editor for the Chronicle), have been friends since Kitchen Confidential first came out in 2000. In

  July 29, 2009

• At Bloodhound Last Night, Nervous Chefs Watch Themselves in 'No Reservations'

  Joseph Schell Incanto's Chris Cosentino (left) and Sebo's Michael Black react to the broadcast. A handful of chefs and others who appeared in the San Francisco episode of Anthony Bourdain's No Reservations gathered at Bloodhound in SOMA last night to watch the broadcast. Incanto chef Chris Cosentino had organized the viewing party -- the show included a scene of Bourdain slurping an all-offal menu during one of Incanto's annual Head to Tail dinners, at a table with Boulevard chef de cuisi

  August 11, 2009

• Fish & Farm's Chad Newton: The SFoodie Interview

  C. NewtonChad Newton: Wants Gordon to keep yelling.​Growing up in Mountain View, Chad Newton got a taste of restaurant glory via family trips to Stars, Jeremiah Tower's watershed Cali brasserie. "I used to always gravitate toward the regular menu, not the kid's menu," Newton said. He graduated from the Restaurant Management program at S.F. State, and in 2001 scored a front of the house job as food runner at Postrio during the reign of Steven and Mitchell Rosenthal (now the forces behind To

  September 15, 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

• 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

• Thanksgiving is Coming Fast. Know What You'll Be Serving?

  4505Meats.comTurducken from 4505 Meats: Why settle for one bird when you can have three?​Mission dwellers have a grazing option today. Starting at 5 p.m., Bi-Rite Market (3639 18th St. at Guerrero) is setting up a Thanksgiving tasting station set up in front of the store -- samples of Bill Niman's BN Ranch heritage turkey, cranberry relish made with honey from the Bi-Rite Sonoma farm, pumpkin and pecan pies, and related Thanksgiving dishes. Bi-Rite is the only San Francisco retailer to car

  November 2, 2009