Blogs

Going Retro on Your Ass!

By Chef John from Food Wishes Video Recipes

Growing up, one of my favorite “special occasion” meals was grilled lamb chops, and of course the always present, bright green, jar of mint jelly. What a great combination! Now, this just wasn’t my Mom’s secret combo, every restaurant we ever dined at, that served lamb chops would always serve the same green (artificially colored of course) jelly, just like at home. So, you can image my surprise and confusion when arriving in San Francisco, to start my culinary career, discovering that nobody served green mint jelly...

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Surprise, surprise. There's another twist in the tale of one-cup-at-a-time brewers Philz Coffee. After abandoning their 18th and Sanchez location a few months ago, they popped up in new digs just down the street. Meanwhile, their old locale kept the coffee concept, got a crazy-ass bright orange paint job and reopened as Bean There, Brew That (worst name ever, by the way).

But apparently it just didn't work out for Bean There because today we walked by to find the place shuttered. It's not exactly surprising, considering that Bean There boasted the same expensive, handmade coffee prices and long waits, but seemed to lack the awesome richness and flavor of Philz.

Plus, how many handmade coffee joints can one neighborhood really stand? Judging by the near-constant line at Philz, the public has spoken loud and clear.

Bean Here, Brew That pic from Jennifer V. on Yelp

-- Brian Bernbaum

With so many Bay Area food blogs focused on actually growing your own produce and cooking your own food -- rather than just dining out -- we were starting to get a case of home cook envy. Our kitchen is about the size of a matchbook and watering the houseplant is as close to gardening as we get. But this is the digital age, and there are ways around reality. No, not drugs -- video games!

Armed with only a PC (sorry Macs) and a copy of Alice Greenfingers (download the free trial version here) you too can become a crop-sowing, barnyard-raising farmer, without all the messy blight, drought and financial hardship.

When you're done reaping the harvest or whatever, just pop over to your Nintendo DS for a little session with Cooking Mama, where you can chop, fry, mix and plate delicious virtual food to your heart's content.

Then you can finish that bag of Doritos and try not to cry over the broken shards of your depressing life. Loser.

-- Brian Bernbaum

And, why most vegetable pastas aren’t very good

By Chef John from Food Wishes Video Recipes

Today's recipe video is a very simple broccoli "alia olia," but it's also a good example of the proper way to use vegetables in pasta. I almost never order veggie pasta in a restaurant. The main reason is that the vegetables are almost never cooked properly, or I should say prepped properly. Take this broccoli pasta as an example. In a restaurant the same ingredients would be used, but all broccoli pieces would be added at the same time. So, by the time the stems were tender the tops would be mush, or even worse, the tops would be perfect and the stems hard and crunchy.

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Hang on to your tofu everyone! South San Francisco company Quong Hop and Co. has recalled all of its Soy Deli brand tofu after health officials detected the nasty listeria monocytogenes bacteria in a package of Quong Hop's 12-ounce Soy Deli Firm Organic Nigari Tofu. Thankfully, we prefer the soft variety. Mmmm, Mapo Tofu.

No illnesses associated with the tofu have been reported, but the company has recalled all of its Soy Deli brand tofu bearing the date code of Dec. 17, 2007, as well as three other brands. Click here for those details. Although listeria monocytogenes can be fatal in newborns, the elderly and the immune deficient, healthy people can get off easier, with fever, headache, nausea and possibly a case of the old trouser chili.

If you bought any of the recalled tofu, either throw it out or take it back to the store where you got it.

-- Brian Bernbaum

Welcome to part II in which Cafe Gratitude owner Terces Engelhart apologizes profusely for her staff's apparent ingratitude.

It all started with a shocking account of a local blogger being violently mugged in the Mission and wandering into said cafe looking for some help. When none came, word spread, and it wasn't long before Engelhart stepped up to the plate, writing: "Please let your friends know that we apologize for overlooking their needs that night and are grateful for the opportunity to take responsibility and learn from our mistake."

While it's impossible to say whether Cafe Gratitude's staff knew what was going on and simply ignored the poor mugging victim or were just too busy or distracted to help, we have to hand to Engelhart for trying to make it right after the fact.

-- Brian Bernbaum

Hot on the heels of the 2008 Zagat guide results where Bay Area restaurant service scored an abysmally low 18 out of 30, Michael Bauer today turns his attention to bad service. In this case it's someone pissed off about having to wait for a table because other tables insist on hanging out after the meal.

While the whiney complainer in question blames both the restaurant (for not kicking people out quicker) and the diners (for being so goddamned slow), in the end, Bauer comes down hard against the diners: "Lingering after the bill has been paid is simply rude and inconsiderate."

Oh sure Bauer, blame the customer. While we can certainly relate with both sides here, isn't it ultimately the restaurant's responsibility to keep traffic moving? After all, they're the ones running the show. If space is tight and waits are long, we say the service needs to grow some balls and start turning tables.

Waiter pic from NetEng on Flickr

-- Brian Bernbaum

Easy, Exotic, and a Great Case for Gender Bias!

By Chef John from Food Wishes Video Recipes

Today’s post is perfect for the person that’s afraid to try anything that seems exotic because they think it’s going to be hard to prepare. Couscous has to be one of the easiest things on the planet to make. Can you boil stock and pour it into a bowl of Couscous? Then this dish is for you. This was a hard demo to edit down to a reasonable length, so I did go pretty fast with some of the steps and I thought I better give some additional info to help you follow along. So, I’ve put a few steps along with the usual ingredient list...

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The Chronicle scores a big win in the you're-fucking-kidding-me-right? department today with their "news" about this crazy new eating utensil called -- wait for it -- the "spork" (their quotes, not mine).

Yes folks, under the headline "What's New," writer Lynne Char Bennett informs us that the spork is, in fact, a spoon combined with a fork. But wait! There's more! If you buy one of these magical devices, you'll "never worry about having to use disposable plastic forks or spoons again." Whew, what a relief!

Oh wait. Apparently sporks aren't so new after all. Besides being ubiquitous in school cafeteria lunches and KFC meals since time memoriam, they've also been mass-maufactured since at least the late 1800s.

Who says newspapers aren't relevant anymore?

-- Brian Bernbaum

Check out this "Baconfest 2007" posting from Tribe.net:

It's that time of the year again. Time to come up with some great Bacon dishes and party down. It starts around 5pm Oct 6th @ 91 Lobos street in Sanfran(right off the 280) Bring a Bacon dish,extra bacon and party materials(and extra camping stove would be nice too). I'll be making Prawns stuffed with blue cheese, wrapped in Bacon AND Bacon Bloody Mary's Spread the word and I'll see you all there (it's the night before Decom)
-Otto Von Danger

Hell yeah. The world's most perfect food! (Well, actually that would be bacon and pepperoni pizza, but I digress.) Still, I don't get it — he mentions Decompression, which means that he's a Burner, but surely 99.9 percent of all Burners are fuckin' vegan, right? A meat-eating, bacon-frying, Bloody Mary-chugging hippie? Since when? -- John Graham, Listings Editor

French Laundry impresario Thomas Keller may officially be the new Britney Spears of the food press, with stories far and near popping up to declare his fall from the dizzying apex of fine dining.

With five Keller-brand restaurants under his belt -- three restaurants, two bistros -- as well as two bakeries and a catering business, inquiring minds want to know: Is the king of French-American cuisine getting too big for his britches?

As if all those ambitious projects weren't enough, there are also plans in the works for "an inn, butcher shop and burger joint," according to Bloomberg News, and -- like the final nail in the coffin of doubters everywhere -- the line of Thomas Keller frozen food, as well as the admission that Bouchon uses frozen French fries. There's nothing like frozen food to raise the ire of high-falutin' foodies.

While Michael Bauer today shrugs off the hullabaloo over Keller's use of frozen French fries saying "Fresh or frozen, I don't really care. To me, the proof is in the eating," over at the New York Times, Frank Bruni seems disappointed by Keller's new directions, saying " ... it represents a diversification and division of interests that arguably contradict Mr. Keller's words and posture in the past."

Frankly, we don't give a shit if he uses frozen French fries, it's not like we can afford to eat at Keller's restaurants anyway.

-- Brian Bernbaum

The Foggy Bridge Wine Cruise has been sailing San Francisco Bay less than a month, but already most of the cruises -- offered for evenings and Sunday brunch, $130 a pop -- have been booked solid. As we stood in line on Pier E, next to the Ferry Building, and looked around at the crowd, it made sense why: Foggy Bridge knows their target demographic. Silver hair, and lots of it.

Urged by the pamphlet to "dress as if you are having Sunday brunch with the president on his yacht," most guests were formally clad, with a few of the snappiest dressers wielding Panama hats and folded handkerchiefs -- a little cheesy, but then, it's not so different than any other theme party.

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How do you say "to die for" in Portuguese?

By Chef John from Food Wishes Video Recipes

I stole this amazing soup recipe from the well-known, after-hours San Francisco diner Grubstake. It is traditionally enjoyed at 3AM, slurped while gazing at the usual wild assortment of late night characters. By the way, its hangover preventing goodness is legendary! A bowl of this after a night on the town is all you need…that, and maybe a couple aspirin. This is a wonderful and extremely easy soup that will really hit the spot on a chilly fall night. You can use any spicy sausage in this, but the Portuguese Linguisa is traditional. Here I used a Spanish Chorizo, which was very nice...

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Slow Food for Fast Times

By Chef John from Food Wishes Video Recipes

Braising is such a great cooking technique in general, and in particular for the new cook. It's such a forgiving method; The meat is always moist, the timing doesn’t have to be exact since it’s virtually impossible to overcook, and easy to put back in to cook longer, and best of all…most braised recipes make there our sauce or jus (natural juice)! This is a classic beef brisket dish I learned from...

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If you were wondering why all those plots of makeshift green were invading precious parking spaces in San Francisco last Friday, wonder no more: Park(ing) Day was all about reclaiming urban space, and turning parking spaces into temporary public parks.

But our favorite moralizing foodie, the Ethicurean, took the concept one step further by transforming one space -- on 3rd between Brannan and Bryant -- into a barnyard, complete with bales of hay and a couple of chickens whose "black outlines around their bronze feathers made them look like crocheted lace."

Damn, we never knew chickens could be so beautiful. Do you want to eat them or paint a picture of them?

The idea was to spread the word about sustainable agriculture and pastured vs. factory chickens. And maybe less importantly, but more entertaining: subject the poor chickens to canine assaults.

Check out more Park(ing) Day photos on Flickr.

-- Brian Bernbaum