Ubuntu

Haven: Big Portions, Bold Flavors Have Mass Appeal

James Beard Awards Announce Semifinalists: Bay Area's Well Represented, Obviously

​The day has come for the James Beard Foundation to announce the semifinalists for the 2012 Restaurant Awards. As SFoodie has written before, the finals can resemble the Oscars in that they're often career awards rather than a measure of how the nominees are performing at this very moment. Tha ... More >>

Wise Sons Readies, Sushi Taka Opens, and La Terrasse Closes

The past 24 hours in gossip, innuendo, and cold hard facts about the San Francisco food scene. All things pastrami and pickles: The popular pop-up Wise Sons Jewish deli is nearly ready to open their new brick-and-mortar. Thrillist notes that this Sunday they'll soft launch with a brunch in their ne ... More >>

Q&A With Park Tavern's Jennifer Puccio: On Ed Moose, Ovens, and Burgers

MarloweJennifer Puccio, chef of Marlowe and the new Park Tavern.​Jennifer Puccio, the chef of Park Tavern -- the subject of this week's full-length restaurant review -- cooked at Cortez, Ubuntu, and Ramblas before settling in at Marlowe almost two years ago. As I was gearing up for this week's rev ... More >>

Kim Alter Exits Plate Shop, Oakland Gets a TacoBike, and Place Pigalle Returns

The past 24 hours in gossip, innuendo, and cold hard facts about the San Francisco food scene. That was quick. Inside Scoop reports Kim Alter is already out as executive chef of Sausalito's Plate Shop. Opened in February, Atler took an executive role for the first time, after working in the kitchen ... More >>

Chef-Crushing on London, Discovering Anda Piroshki: This Week in Food Bloggery

Nick Vasilopoulos/StoqqGialina's Atomica.​ Highlights from the blog this week:1. Laura Beck eats at Ubuntu, faints, then interviews chef Aaron London as soon as she recovers. London reveals that he does indeed work 100 hours a week and strives to make every part of the artichoke edible, which is p ... More >>

Ubuntu's Aaron London: Cooking Like Meat Doesn't Matter

UbuntuJames Beard Rising Star Chef finalist Aaron London.​When Ubuntu opened in 2007, there was great fanfare across the land. Jeremy Fox was the undisputed king of vegetables, and the restaurant topped pretty much every Best Of list. Critics (literally?) crapped their pants over its amazingne ... More >>

How the World's Best Restaurants Awards Got Famous, How Scotch Became Classy

​Today's notes on national stories, local trends, random tastes, and other bycatch dredged up from the food media. 1. World's Best Restaurants. I've skimmed over most of the press involving the San Pellegrino-sponsored annual "World's 50 Best Restaurants" awards, which were announced a few days ... More >>

Plate Shop: Sprightly All-American Cooking, Fresh from the Garden

Kim Alter's Plate Shop: A New New-American Cuisine

Kimberly SandiePlate Shop's warm winter salad.​For this week's review, I visited Plate Shop in Sausalito, Kim Alter's first restaurant, where the veteran of Aqua, Manresa, and Ubuntu ― not to mention sometime waiter at Acquerello ― is unfurling her own sensibility.

Rising Stars, Sugar Myths, and Snack Granola

UbuntuUbuntu chef Aaron London.​​Today's notes on national stories, local trends, random tastes, and other bycatch dredged up from the food media. 1. Young Turks. Yesterday, the Chron named this year's crop of "rising star chefs". Having been impressed by most of them ― I haven't eaten at Oen ... More >>

Plum: Daniel Patterson's intricate and affordable cuisine

The Year in Food: Vegan Goes Mainstream

Jun BelenLunch plate at Oakland's No Worries, featuring afritada (right) made from soy "chicken."​Twelve months, ten storylines: It's SFoodie's annual look back at the year in food. In 2010 vegan food exploded ― all over our faces, deliciously. Sorry, that image is gross, but really: It was ... More >>

Ubuntu Offers Rare Chance to Pinch Its Leaves

travisreitter/FlickrThe cost: $120. Expensive, but you can tear as many leaves in the garden as you like.​Fact: 80 percent of what ends up on the plate at Michelin-starred Ubuntu is grown in the restaurant's biodynamic garden. Next month, Ubuntu is offering a rare peek at the source, including ... More >>

New Jeremy Fox Gig, Quick Opening Date for Bourbon Steak, and Lots of Other Food Gossip

​ ​The past 24 hours in gossip, innuendo, and cold hard facts about the San Francisco restaurant scene.It always happens: Yesterday, SFoodie was faced with a dearth of restaurant gossip, while today we have a surfeit:Paolo L. of Inside Scoop comes through with the big celebrity-chef news of the ... More >>

Micropatisseries in S.F.: Our guide to the city's best pastry shops

This Weekend in Napa, Primal Celebrates the Art of the Hack

kentbrew/FlickrAt last year's Primal, a guest grabs a knife and lends a hand.​A bunch of butchers and chefs will be wielding cleavers against major protein at Primal in Napa this weekend, a repeat of last year's event in the same outdoor location. A bacon taste-off is planned, and expect a sle ... More >>

Plum Announces an Opening Date (Soon), La Rondalla Resurfaces (Later)

​ ​The past 24 hours in gossip, innuendo, and cold hard facts about the San Francisco restaurant scene.At Inside Scoop, Paolo L. reports that Daniel Patterson's Plum (2214 Broadway, 510-444-7586, www.plumoakland.com) is opening next Wednesday -- and has just started taking reservation ... More >>

Alexander's Steakhouse Invades SOMA, Carnelian by the Bay Docks at Ferry Plaza

​ ​The past 24 hours in gossip, innuendo, and cold hard facts about the San Francisco restaurant scene. Paolo L. at Inside Scoop reports that Alexander's Steakhouse (448 Brannan, 495-1111, www.alexanderssteakhouse.com) will open in the old Bacar space on Sept. 13. The pitch: steakhouse with Jap ... More >>

Jeremy Fox Abandons Plum, Bumzy's Opens

​​ ​The past 72 hours in gossip, innuendo, and cold hard facts about the San Francisco restaurant scene.Breaking news from Paolo L. at the Inside Scoop: Jeremy Fox (you know, the chef from Ubuntu) has abandoned his plans to be the opening chef for Plum, the new Oakland restaurant from Daniel ... More >>

Papito Esta Abriendo, Viva Goa Lives!, Plum Ripens

​ ​The past 24 hours in gossip, innuendo, and cold hard facts about the San Francisco restaurant scene.At Inside Scoop, Paolo L. reports that Papito (317 Connecticut, 695-0147, www.papitosf.com) should finally open on Friday for dinner. And although Papito comes from Chez Papa owner Jocelyn Bu ... More >>

Big-Ticket Summer: S.F.'s Pricey New Restaurants

​Everyone who writes about food in San Francisco has spent the past year talking about how the city's restaurant scene is downscaling. Evidence: The proliferation of street carts and food trucks, pizza and burgers, and sandwiches of every shade and stripe, not to mention the migration of chefs to ... More >>

James Syhabout Makes F&W Best New Chefs List (Probably)

James Syhabout of Ouest Coast Chef's Assistant.​Yesterday afternoon, Dana Cowin, editor of Food & Wine, started up a guessing game: On her Twitter feed she dropped hints as to the identity of the 10 chefs the magazine had just picked for its 2010 Best New Chefs issue. The ensuing tweets didn't ... More >>

Ubuntu Calls Split with Jeremy Fox 'Amicable'

​Calling the split "amicable," a hot-off-the PR machine statement says the departure of Ubuntu chef Jeremy Fox was a "resignation" that'll allow the chef to "pursue other interests," the departed chef equivalent of a resigned politician explaining that he wants to spend more time with his fami ... More >>

James Beard Semifinalists Announced

​The semifinalists for the 2010 James Beard Restaurant Awards were announced today, and not surprisingly, the Bay Area has shown well. Also not surprising are many of the people on the list. Of the 35 Bay Area semifinalists named, 14 are repeats from the semifinals last year (marked with an asteri ... More >>

Chron's Scoop: Jeremy Fox Says Goodbye to Ubuntu

Jeremy Fox.​At SFGate, Scoop is reporting that nationally known chef Jeremy Fox has rolled up his yoga mat and departed from Ubuntu, the boundary-pushing vegetarian restaurant (and yoga studio) in Napa. Scoop said it didn't know the reason for Fox's exit, but said it happened at 3 a.m. today, ... More >>

Everything You Ever Wanted to Pick Off a Pig (Times Two)

This meme can be traced directly back to Oliveto.​As sure as Punxsutawney Phil popping his head out of the ground, as inevitable as kindergarteners slathering themselves in pink paint and red glitter, so February brings to the Bay Area one of its favorite annual rituals. Of course, this one involv ... More >>

Is Ubuntu Still Open to Serving Meat? Technically, Yes. In Practice, Not So Much

star5112/FlickrJames Syhabout, guest chef at Ubuntu's first Tuesday night prix fixe.​A month ago, we reported that Ubuntu -- Napa's Michelin-starred vegetarian restaurant -- was organizing occasional Tuesday night prix fixe dinners called No Holds Barred. At least some of the dinners would fea ... More >>

Another Display of Butchery and Upscale Eats, This Time in Napa

J. BirdsallRyan Farr dispatching a beast at Bloodhound.​Yet another butcher-chef-fire event (this one called Primal) is happening Saturday in Napa -- observe the breakdown of a pig, a goat, a cow, and a lamb, and taste the results. Incanto's Chris Cosentino, Perbacco's Staffan Terje, Fatted Ca ... More >>

Napa Vegetarian Restaurant Ubuntu Likely to Serve Meat at Special Tuesday Night Dinners

Food Snob/FlickrUbuntu: Will the temple of pristine vegeterianism be serving up pork belly?​Ubuntu owner Sandy Lawrence told SFoodie that, as early as next month, the Napa vegetarian restaurant is launching a series of Tuesday night dinners that'll feature appearances by what she called some o ... More >>

Knives Out

How the Bay Area Fared at James Beard Restaurant Awards

Douglas Keane Douglas Keane of Cyrus Surprise Winner for Best Chef, Pacific, and Nate Appleman's Third Time is Charm as He Wins Best Rising Star ChefAt last night's James Beard Awards, in something of an upset, Douglas Keane of Cyrus in Healdsburg won Best Chef, Pacific, over fellow nominees Jeremy ... More >>

Ubuntu's Fox Shakes Ass for Hammered Chefs

peter_rJeremy Fox: Worked ItConfine seriously kickass chefs in a tight space, add cocktails and the superheated buzz around the James Beard Awards and what do you get? Two words: Stripper pole. Ubuntu chef and Beard nominee Jeremy Fox admitted to SFoodie this morning that things got so off the chain ... More >>

Bay Area Chefs Up For Beard Awards: A Remarkably Collegial Bunch

Jennifer SauerChef Jeremy FoxThe James Beard Awards (popularly known as the Oscars of the food world) will be awarded Monday, May 4. This year all five chefs nominated for the category of Best Chef: Pacific - an area that covers California and Hawaii -- come from the Bay Area: Jeremy Fox of Ubuntu i ... More >>