New Year's Eve - known to legendary boozer Humphrey Bogart as "amateur night" - is a holiday fraught with potholes and land mines. On this wind-chilled evening of manufactured revelry, people from every walk of life take it upon themselves to have a great time or die trying. This grim determination to usher in the new year at a transcendent, life-altering level is as doomed to failure as any keenly anticipated dinner cruise or senior prom. The barkeep runs out of the good stuff. The throngs are too loud, too grating, too avid. And as the evening drones on and the cheap champagne flows and the bitterness and disappointment mount, the best option is to hightail it to some distant continent where the new year begins in late spring, or not at all.
A pleasant and even memorable New Year's Eve isn't absolutely unattainable, however; I've enjoyed more than a few myself. Once a friend and I packed a hamper with champagne and Hershey bars, made our way up Mt. Tam to a ledge overhanging Blithedale Canyon and at the stroke of midnight were rewarded with a roar of merrymaking from the valley below. At the close of the worst year of my life, staring dimly at the time-delayed revelry of Times Square through a mist of bourbon, I watched with great satisfaction as the big ball dropped to the pavement, muttering to myself "thank God THAT'S over." And for the biggest New Year's in a millennium - the dawn of the 21st century - I set out to consume a martini at each of my favorite watering holes, beginning with the Pied Piper Lounge and ending at an all-night Chinatown dive specializing in rice gruel.
You may have noticed that there's precious little new stuff to watch during the holidays - a period which The New York Times describes as "a profound holiday slumber of repeats and musical specials." But we can't even find any musical specials, and are reduced to re-watching A Colbert Christmas , which in a marketing stroke of genius was broadcast before Thanksgiving and available on DVD immediately thereafter. ("Remember, every time you buy a copy of A Colbert Christmas, an angel gets it wings.")
So far we haven't tired of watching Colbert and his guests Toby Keith, John Legend, Feist, Willie Nelson, Jon Stewart, and most especially Elvis Costello, whose own Spectacle talk-and-music show on the Sundance Channel has continued to program new episodes during the holidays and is both erudite and entertaining. (Catch the marathon on New Year's Eve - four episodes featuring Elton John, Lou Reed and Julian Schnabel, Bill Clinton, and Tony Bennett!)
But HBO has thankfully enlivened the holiday slumbertime by programming a new documentary, Le Cirque: A Table In Heaven, which premiered Monday December 29th, and will be in heavy rotation on all the HBO channels.
(Palermo vs. Tokyo by Chef Ian Muntzert for Mission Street Food)
By Tamara Palmer
It's only been a few months since I became your faithful daily food blogger, but it's a position I've been unconsciously training for all of my life. I have always been interested in the world of eating, from the political and scientific levels all the way down to an unabashed love of snacking. I'm making a concerted effort to try the new and different as much as possible, but have yet to achieve an Anthony Bourdain-level of experimentation. (That may well never come; I'm realistic and doubt I'd ever eat a boiled grasscutter in Ghana.)
I'm sure I'll continue to be more adventurous in 2009, especially if it gives someone else a vicarious boost to just read about it. I did manage to push some of my own personal tasting boundaries this year at least 10 times, and while not every bite was appealing, the thrill of the new remained. These are my top food firsts for 2008 in no particular order, with the hope that there will be many more to come.
This week marks the anticipated opening of Humphry Slocombe, an ice cream parlor featuring inventive flavors from owner/chef Jake Godby, who has worked as a pastry chef for more than 15 years for fine restaurants like Fifth Floor, Boulevard and Coi. The name comes from Mr Humphries and Mrs. Slocombe, two colorful characters from the classic Britcom Are You Being Served? and is a perfect odd moniker to go with these leftfield flavors.
Inaugural ice cream offerings include the pleasantly sweet Blue Bottle Vietnamese coffee, a rich Balsamic caramel, the yin-yang of Guinness gingerbread and, in a nod to Fifties housewives everywhere, Secret Breakfast (bourbon ice cream with caramelized Corn Flakes). After trying everything, I ultimately chose the Thai chili lime sorbet (which warms without shocking with spice) with some super-smooth coconut sherbet, a soothing after-lunch choice.
The Web site lists many other flavor possibilities to come, and I also
heard a rumble about sandwiches made with ginger snaps and -- brace
yourselves -- foie gras ice cream.
Origin: San Francisco Found at: Miette (449 Octavia)
Cost: $4
Ingredients: Chocolate, corn syrup, sugar, dry-roasted peanuts, xanthan gum, invert sugar, gelatin, water, sorbitol, vanilla. Calories per serving: Not listed Why I bought it: I was charmed by the name, tag line ("a good addiction") and homegrown origin.
Alcademics creator Camper English would have been a great source for that New York Times article we just discussed. I've long been a fan of the San Francisco-based freelance writer and author of Party Like a Rock Star: Even When You're Poor as Dirt. But Alcademics, which is subtitled "The Study of Booze" and launched nine months ago, represents a new and smart level of focus for the witty English. It's not only good for him, it's good for our spirited culture, which, as we have just learned, is getting attention outside our area.
Alcademics showcases English's work in magazines like Imbibe as well as his roundups and analyses of other alcohol-related articles and news headlines appearing online and in print. He regularly drops hints about upcoming bars, drinks and trends, and also offers the A-Plus email list (sign up on the site), where he often gives away freebies from books to dinners for those aspiring alcademicians out there. -- Tamara Palmer
(Alembic photo by Heidi Schumann via New York Times)
Yesterday's New York Times weaves a magical tale of our spirited culture with Gregory Dicum's "In San Francisco Bars, a Cocktail Is Not Just a Drink," which profiles The Alembic (1725 Haight), Beretta (1199 Valencia), Bourbon and Branch (501 Jones), and Clock Bar (335 Powell) and also makes mention of Anchor Distillery, Distillery No. 209 (Pier 50) and retail store Cask (17 3rd St). Now is as good a time as any to frequent these places and appreciate that they've been shown respect by such an esteemed source; sometimes it takes an outsider to remind us what we've got. Don't forget to tip your bartender or mixologist well. -- Tamara Palmer
If you fried up a whole lot of latkes (potato pancakes) or sufganyot (doughnuts) for Hanukkah, or sautéed sweet potatoes in oil or fried tamales in lard for Christmas, or maybe the turkey frier you hauled out for Thanksgiving is still lurking in the garage, full of congealed fat (lovely thought). PLEASE don't dump the grease down the drain.
Starting Saturday, December 27, and running through Tuesday, December 30, you can bring your used cooking oil to the Costco warehouse at 10th and Bryant, or three Whole Foods Market locations: California and Franklin streets, Rhode Island Street in Potrero Hill, and Fourth Street in SOMA. (And while you're there, maybe there are some post-Christmas bargains to be snapped up.) The used oil and grease will be turned into biodiesel and used to power city vehicles.
This is part of the SFGreasecycle program, run by the San Francisco Public Utilities Commission. It will, in addition to contributing to a lower use of fossil fuels, and saving money for the city, also reduce the amount of oil and grease that clogs up the sewer system as effectively as it does your arteries - and costs the city around $3.5 million a year to clean up. It's a classic example of a win-win situation.
Which begs the question: why isn't such a free drop-off program available year-round?
On first reading, this bright idea seems heaven-sent for combining two New Year's resolutions: contributing to a greener planet by using less gasoline, and, hey, dropping a few pounds while you're at it.
Alas, this Beverly Hills (where else?) liposuction doctor's simple plan - using the fat he sucked out of his patients' bodies to fuel his Ford SUV and his girlfriend's Lincoln Navigator (nice gas-sucking choices, by the way, doc!), turned out to be illegal.
Not if Dr. Craig Alan Bittner had been performing the procedures at his now-shuttered Beverly Hills Liposculpture on chickens, beef, and pigs, that would have been perfectly OK. Fat (animal or vegetable) contains triglycerides that can be extracted and turned into diesel.
Open for just over three weeks, Loving Cup (2356 Polk St.) specializes in rice pudding and frozen yogurt. The latter is sweet and not the tart variety that seems to dominate the dozens of fro-yo shops in the area; it comes in blocks of vanilla or chocolate that are broken down and blended with the mix-in of your choice, toppings like frozen fruit, animal crackers, Junior Mints and Nutella. But the real star of the show here is the rice pudding, flavors of which change on a daily basis.
On our visit, we tasted the pistachio, pecan praline, egg nog and Madagascar vanilla bean varieties, ultimately choosing a large container of the pistachio to bring home. The pudding has its own creative topping choices that range from a shot of espresso to a black bottom, wherein a rich chocolate ganache coats the bottom of your bowl. The latter is amazing with the peanut butter rice pudding, according to Loving Cup's Christine Kennedy, who kindly helped us make our decisions. -- Tamara Palmer
Amongst all the temptations of Ici (2948 College Avenue in Berkeley) is the delicious affogato di gelato ($5.75), an Italian sundae of vanilla bean ice cream crowned with freshly brewed warm espresso and chewy candied orange peel. The sundae pictured above is the to-go version, but if you savor it there it comes served in a coffee cup. Be careful if you're as caffeine-sensitive as this writer, however, because the espresso delivers the expected punch, especially if you adopt the same method of slurping the melted espresso-vanilla mixture with abandon. -- Tamara Palmer
We're beyond excited to be one of the latest food-related blogs to be added to the scrumptious feed that is the food section of Alltop.com. It's a great way to have a birds' eye view of headlines from SFoodie and many, many others. Alltop even offers a widget to embed on your own blog or site for easy access to food headlines from around the country, which looks like this:
We'd also like to remind you that we have a convenient Twitter feed for those tweeps that prefer to follow their headlines that way. -- Tamara Palmer
The newest flavor courtesy of Healdsburg's Sonoma Sparkler is this gorgeous sparkling blood orange juice. The bubbles are restrained but still manage to elevate the seriousness of the blood orange. It tastes especially luxurious when sipping out of a long-stemmed wine glass.
I may have to get some more for NYE. -- Tamara Palmer
Relative newcomer Four Barrel Coffee (375 Valencia) is getting a lot of attention for its coffee and its prices. But the joint is not receiving nearly enough praise for its very festive restroom.
It instantly transports the user to the hunting grounds of Scotland. Or something. -- Tamara Palmer
Free clothes, free books, free knick-knacks, and free food! This month's installment of the Really Really Free Market takes place this Saturday, December 27 from noon to "5 p.m.-ish" at Dolores Park (19th St. at Dolores). Bring any of the above (especially food, which remains the most unexplored goldmine within the Market) or just arrive in a good mood and ready to find yourself some fabulous freeness. -- Tamara Palmer
Christmas dinner is the great afterthought of the holiday season. So much time is spent shopping and card-writing and party-going and eggnog-sipping, there's barely enough time to think about what to eat for supper once the presents are unwrapped and the stockings are emptied.
Choosing a holiday menu under these circumstances can be problematic, especially if you're opting for something on the traditional side. In my family we've tried standing rib roast (awesome), baked ham with cloves and apricot preserves (always a winner), stuffed turkey (yawn) and even roast goose (don't believe the hype); and after years, decades, of compare and contrast we've more or less settled on planked porterhouse steak.
I know, I know, there was no planked porterhouse steak at Plymouth Plantation or in the collected works of Charles Dickens, and it's barely mentioned at all at caroling time, but it's a dish that admirably meets the prerequisites of a top-shelf festive centerpiece.
Yes, it's now officially the last minute, but luckily Restaurant.com is continuing its massive, $3 million Feed It Forward giveaway until the 25th. Register to the site (free) and it will allow you to email three people each day from now until then with $10 gift certificates that may be redeemed at restaurants. This is something that you can send to friends and family outside the state, but if you send them locally there are 178 participating restaurants within 15 miles of the San Francisco zip code of 94117 (which is in the middle of the city, in the Haight area). Some of the local options include Anzu (222 Mason), Bushi-Tei (1638 Post), Helmand Palace (2424 Van Ness) and Zuppa (564 4th St.). -- Tamara Palmer
Saturday was the grand opening of Candy Darling (798 Sutter), a confectioner that's been longer than 15 minutes in the planning. Okay, so that was a bad Andy Warhol reference to describe this clever one--Candy Darling is the name of a transsexual beloved by Warhol who appeared in two of Warhol's art films.
This sign has been up at the corner of Sutter and Jones for what seems like at least a year or more, but its location seemed to suggest that Candy Darling would be a chic clothing shop.
Instead, it's a chic shop of sweets without the obnoxious chocolate boutique prices that abound around town. At only $10 a pound, Candy Darling's truffles, caramels, dipped fruits and brittle (all made on the premises) are really a steal.
We weren't consciously aware of longing for Trader Joe's Almond Snowman Cookies over the past year, so when our heart leapt up when we saw them on the shelves again we were slightly embarrassed.
Last year we'd passed them by, thinking $4.99 a box was, well, too much, but eventually broke down and bought one.
And then promptly went nuts and purchased every box in sight until they disappeared (within a few days after Christmas, alas).
This year we bought four boxes - in their cheery, red-green-teal blue-chartreuse-and-white-sriped box, with nifty snowmen careening across the cover - right away. (Three of the boxes' contents have since mysteriously vanished.)
From hemp to rice, it seems one can get milk out of anything. Signs & Wonders Peanut Milk was invented at KK Cafe (252 Divisadero) and is currently the only place in the world to get it; previously available in independent grocery stores around town, they are temporarily unavailable while they are switching to a new shelf-stable package. It can be an acquired taste, but I've certainly developed a love for both the flavor and the instant energy it provides. Stop at KK to pick up a container, indulge in a peanut milk smoothie or just add some nuttiness to your coffee. -- Tamara Palmer
At Omnivore Books on Food, our favorite new SF bookstore,a glamorous display of cocktail books both new (The Craft of the Cocktail, by Dale DeGroff, Classic Cocktails: A Modern Shake, by Mark Kingwell) and old (the 1948 Drink by Andre Simon, The Commonsense Book of Drinking, from 1960, by Leon D. Adams) reminded us that if you pair such a volume with a nice bottle of alcohol, hey presto! You've got an excellent themed gift. (A volume that neatly combines both old and new is the reprint edition of the excellent Savoy Cocktail Book.)
If you want to go the extra mile, muddlers, bar measures, and cocktail stirrers are available all over town, from such relatively posh locales as Williams-Sonoma, Pottery Barn, and Crate and Barrel right down to your local hardware store.
And if you really want to go the extra mile, Omnivore has in stock a rare first edition copy of the 1869 cocktail book Cooling Cups and Dainty Drinks, which includes recipes for "Yankee Punch," "Elephant's Milk," and "Elixir de Violettes, and priced at only $500! --Meredith Brody
On a recent trip to Costco to patronize their amazingly low-cost pharmacy - well, a second trip (note to self, and others: the pharmacy at the Richmond location is NOT open on Sunday!) - we wanted to stay as far away from the five-pound hunks of cheese and the six-pack of fresh raspberries that we buy with such optimism and feelings of economy and then find ourselves throwing more than half away.
So, since it was lunchtime, we thought we'd buy one of those huge Costco hot dogs, which come with a 20-ounce cup that you can refill (ostensibly once, but I've never caught any employee policing the dispensers) with soda, iced tea (raspberry-flavored, alas), or lemonade (pink, but at least it doesn't taste pink). (The price of the combo has apparently held steady for a quarter-century.)
But on this day, as we walked towards the pharmacy, we were already tripping over those little food demo tables Costco sets up in its aisles, featuring little treats set out cautiously by Costco's demonstrators, trained, it seems, to dole food out at a measured pace. Before we'd dropped off our prescription, we'd gotten samples of a nut-encrusted power bar, and a green energy drink that you stirred up with powder from a jar.
We've written previously of our love of Mission Street Food, the brainchild of Bar Tartine line chef Anthony Myint that began life as a truck in October and now takes place most Thursday nights at Lung Shan (2234 Mission). Guest chefs are now a part of the mix each time, and this evening was called Mash-Up Night in honor of the different hybrid styles that came out of the kitchen.
A mash-up is also a term widely used in the music and video worlds to refer to the work that emerges out of multiple disparate elements. Mash-up songs were played on the stereo during dinner, and one of the funnier ones I took in came from San Francisco-based DJ Party Ben: His "Single Ladies (In Mayberry)" mixes Beyonce's "Single Ladies" with the whistling theme song to Andy Griffith.
San Francisco's underground food scene is alive and flavorful, and still thankfully peppered with secret affairs that even I'd never ruin by exposing. These tasty (and sometimes illicit) indulgences are rarely cheap, but Jenn Garbee's book Secret Suppers is a good holiday gift idea that is an affordable and satisfying substitute for those whose experimental food budgets are quickly slimming down.
Garbee's narrative takes her across the country (including a stop at S.F.'s Cook With James) to experience meals in all sorts of different settings. But the collected recipes from the various chefs all share a common spirit of playfulness, from date-stuffed hangar steak to oatmeal-infused vodka, and could provide a nice spark for executing new ideas in one's own kitchen.
One of the finest aspects of the urban holiday experience is meeting friends for a hot toddy in an elegant and festively decorated saloon: a modern-day variation on those ancient winter festivals our forebears conjured up to distance the damp, cold darkness.
My favorite rendezvous is the Big Four, a cozy little bar just off the Huntington Hotel lobby at Taylor and California, where the questing merrymaker can sip a perfectly crafted cocktail by the crackling hearth while the resident piano man noodles his way through the Vince Guaraldi songbook.
The city's finest hot buttered rum is prepared at the handsome new Clock Bar off the St. Francis lobby at Geary and Powell: sweet, spicy cream-laden rocket fuel in a sleek, slender package. The Grandviews Lounge atop the Hyatt Union Square offers toddies, eggnog and other holiday restoratives as well as a stellar view of the city 36 floors below, and Schroeder's on Front Street is an excellent source for hearty German ales and lagers and that Old World black-forest gemutlichkeit. Prosit! --Matthew Stafford
Things Cooks Love: Implements, Ingredients, Recipes is a valuable reference guide of foundational cooking knowledge, from what to keep stocked in the pantry to the best tools to make your ideas come alive in the kitchen. Chef and author Marie Simmons will host a special hour of discussion of her book (written in partnership with Sur La Table) tonight at 5 p.m. at Omnivore Books on Food (3885A Cesar Chavez). -- Tamara Palmer
The first time I headed up to Lake Tahoe a decade or so ago, I figured the place would be lined with rustic, pine-timbered ski lodges where grizzled mountain men grilled trout fresh from the lake and served it on a plank with a few huckleberries and a mug of hard cider. Imagine my disappointment when upon arrival at the lake's southern shores I beheld instead a sort of alpine Anaheim brimming with pizza parlors, chop suey joints, frat-boy cantinas, golden arches and (a favorite motif) Swiss-chalet pancake establishments. I was on a regional food kick at the time, and my outrage was keen. Where were the High Sierra variations on the New England clam shack, the Deep South catfish parlor, the Pacific Coast oyster bar?
Although Lake Tahoe Boulevard still offers up its share of
formica-limned fast food joints, the local restaurant scene has
improved exponentially in the last few years. Topping the list is the
Blue Water Bistro (3411 Lake Tahoe Blvd., Timber Cove Marina), a temple
of cutting-edge California cuisine and one of the few local dining
establishments, believe it or not, that's situated right on the lake.
From the restaurant's second-floor perch, the lucky diner can gaze out
at jewel-toned water and distant alp while sipping one of the
soul-warming house-infused toddies (the pear-apple-rum concoction is
especially bracing). My favorite entree is the filet mignon salad, a
bountiful bowl of fresh greens, caramelized red onion, roasted walnuts,
chunks of silky-pungent Point Reyes Blue and thick filets of tender,
juicy steak. Housemade persimmon cobbler is the ideal cold-weather
meal-closer.
By Matthew Stafford
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