San Francisco Food Blog

Lea Suzuki/Chronicle via Yelp

The $10 deal is available in the lounge at 1300 on Fillmore.

​For the rest of the month, $10 will get you an ample dose of jazzy -- we'd even say sexy -- atmosphere, along with an andouille hot dog and Oktoberfest Spaten beer. The lounge at 1300 on Fillmore (1300 Fillmore at Eddy) is celebrating beer month by giving lounge patrons (only) a relatively cheap deal. What makes it all a little more special is knowing that the kitchen makes its andouille in house, as well as the soft and buttery brioche buns and tangy country chow-chow relish (i.e., pickled cabbage) that go with. Creole mustard and potato chips are also included. A source at the restaurant confirmed via phone that guests can indulge an unlimited number of 10-buck specials, available from 4:30 p.m. till closing. By the way, according to a recent profile in the San Francisco Chronicle, 1300 on Fillmore chef David Lawrence has taken up running of late and has lost 20 pounds. But rest assured, the source said, that the svelte new Lawrence "does taste-test all of the food we produce." So there.

​Oaktown is the site of tomorrow's appropriately named Oaktoberfest in the Dimond District (Ground Zero: MacArthur and Fruitvale), 11 a.m.-6 p.m. It's continuing a longstanding tradition: In the early 1900s, the area was full of beer gardens and German-owned vacation spots for S.F. families.

Expect fresh brews from Lagunitas, Trumer Pils, Linden Street Brewery, Santa Cruz Ale Works, Thirsty Bear, and others, in a giant covered beer hall. Sip away in the biergarten while the kids enjoy their own root beer-filled sippy cups; there's a kids' area with Root Biergarten for them to go wild. An intriguing German-style Homebrew Competition (in conjunction with the Mad Zymurgists Club) is scheduled. Entries were collected in San Leandro, Livermore, and Berkeley last month. Other attractions include music, pub food, and -- because this isn't the early 1900s but it is the Bay Area -- an eco fair.

schmickie/Flickr

Clinking steins at Schroeder's: Pace yourself, okay?

​Beer drinkers: You already know that Oktoberfest is officially here. The German tradition, which dates back as far as the 16th century, kicks off in late September for one reason: to drink the old stocks of beer and make room for new. History lesson aside, the fact remains that the Bay Area has ample places to celebrate Oktoberfest. Here are SFoodie's highlighted destinations in the coming weeks for beer and grub:

• Suppenküche (525 Laguna at Hayes) has lunch (in honor of Oktoberfest) and beer specials. More info here.
• Special German beer can be found at Toronado (547 Haight near Fillmore).
• In the Mission, Monk's Kettle (3141 16th St. at Albion) will have both beer and German food.
• Schroeder's German Restaurant's (240 Front at Sacramento) annual Oktoberfest kickoff is today. Take in the Joe Smiell's Fest band, folk dancers, and German elves -- otherwise known as hostesses. It is too easy to get completely sloshed here, and pacing is key. The festivities continue every Friday through October.
• If you're craving more crowds in a decidedly less intimate setting, Oktoberfest By the Bay at Pier 48 near AT&T Park is billing itself as "bigger and better" this year. Events run from October 2 to 4. Tickets are $30 to $35; beer, German food, music, and general festivities are scheduled. Happy guzzling.

Suppenkuche

It doesn't look nearly this scary in person.

​Now through October 4 -- in honor of Oktoberfest -- Suppenküche (525 Laguna at Hayes) is offering a special daytime menu,11 a.m.-2 p.m. The midday hours (they started last Saturday) are new for the Hayes Valley outpost of Bavarian cooking, which can best be described as simple and hearty. Fans of stuff on bread will be happy to note the Lunchtoberfest menu's selection of sandwiches, all $8. You can get leberkäse, a kind of Bavarian meatloaf, sausage with sauerkraut, roasted pork with sea salt, or house cured salmon. Side dishes include potato salad, sauerkraut, cucumber salad, and späetzle (all $4). Giant pretzels with cheese spread are also $4.

And where there's Oktoberfest, naturally, there's beer. Suppenküche's beer special is called, simply enough, Oktoberfest, available as Hefeweizen or lager, both $4 a half liter or $8 a liter. Indulge during Lunchtoberfest, and you'll probably end up to sloppy to return to the office. Start trying out possible excuses now.

We're giving you plenty of notice. Just so you'll be prepared to turn down whatever play dates and church picnics you might otherwise have to drag yourself to.

beerandnosh.com

​On Saturday, October 10, some new-school, food-focused beer-drinking is going down in SOMA. NOToberfest is a "beer and nosh" event featuring, among other things, the ubiquitous 4505 Meats, Humphry Slocombe, and a special, bourbon barrel-aged NOToberfest lager from Valley Brewing. According to Jesse Friedman of beerandnosh.com, Ryan Farr and the 4505 team will prepare a feast that sounds like it could be filed under "epic." That includes such satisfyingly rustic eats as a center-cut slab of grass-fed Magruder Ranch beef roasted over an open fire, and something called "hopped rolled pig face." Naturally, Humphry Slocombe is engineering beer-infused ice cream and other treats to go with.

NOToberfest drops at Mars Bar (798 Brannan at Seventh St.), October 10, 1-5 p.m. Pre-event tickets are $50, and include all beer, food, and a tasting glass. Door tickets will run you $60.

M. Ladd

Sunday's clouds didn't douse beer aficionados' zeal for getting hammered.

​This weekend's sixth annual Brews on the Bay -- held on the water, aboard the historic WWII Liberty Ship S.S. Jeremiah O'Brien -- left us feeling tipsy and happy, contemplating good beer and great views. Participating breweries for the two-day event included Thirsty Bear, Magnolia, Gordon Biersch, San Francisco Brewing Company, Speakeasy, and 21st Amendment. Watermelon, IPA, kolsch, märzen, and other varieties were on tap. Oola fans seemed pleased with the Rib Shack's offerings of ribs, fries, and hearty veggie and chicken sandwiches.

M. Ladd

What's beer without fried stuff?

​Luring locals to Pier 45, which the city has pretty much ceded to tourists, may have seemed a dicey venture, but the bribe of high quality, handcrafted brews seemed to work. On Sunday, the ship appeared to be nearly full with beer-swigging crowds.

The first sign that this wasn't your usual beer event was seeing the liability waiver each attendee had to sign before boarding. Throughout the afternoon, the ship swayed gently back and forth, and chances of injury were everywhere: Spilled beer and rain dampened floors, a wobbly entrance staircase, and ladders leading guests higher and higher on the ship. Organizers yelled at a handful of guests for jumping on some stairs -- we watched to see who would fall to their death or otherwise suffer major injury, but everyone exited safely. Then there were the gals who decided to wear oh-so-fashionable but dangerous high-heeled boots -- cute but silly. It was particularly nice to get called out by more than one brew babe, "Empty glass! Empty glass!" The ladies would then offer a prompt refill to our 8-ounce plastic beer cups. All in all, a very tasty afternoon. And no one died.

WhatKnot/Flickr

​This weekend offers beer drinkers a chance to imbibe at the sixth annual Brews on the Bay, September 12 and 13. Over 40 handcrafted local artisan breweries are participating, with the drinking happening on the historic S.S. Jeremiah O'Brien, the World War II-era Liberty Ship docked at Pier 45, and with stunning sea and city views. Tickets are $35-$45, available here. Eats from Oola at the Rib Shack -- that'll run you extra money, so bring some bills. Live music from Zepparella and Zoo Station are slated. The Beach Chalet, Magnolia Pub & Brewery, Gordon Biersch, San Francisco Brewing Company, Thirsty Bear, 21st Amendment, and San Francisco Speakeasy Ales & Lagers will all be pouring. Designate a driver, and dive in.

helgasms!/Flickr

She's totally strengthening her bones.

​No excuses needed for grabbing an Anchor Steam. Just in time for the weekend, Nutrition Journal has some gulp-worthy news for female beer drinkers. In short, drinking beer on a regular basis is good for your bone health, ladies.

The study asked nearly 1,700 healthy women (average age: 48) to come clean about their drinking habits. Researchers than performed ultrasounds of their hands. Surprise: beer-drinkers' bones were denser. Why hands? Simple -- the bones in the fingers are usually the first to show signs of osteoporosis, the bone disease that opens the door to fractures.

Women who downed less than a pint on a daily basis (so-called light beer drinkers) had bones just as strong as those in women who were moderate drinkers. What does it mean? Well, even sipping small amounts of suds regularly can make bones healthier. The researchers believe that beer's silicon and phytoestrogens (plant versions of oestrogen) cause the bones of women who imbibe to end up stronger.

Bottoms up to that.

WhatKnot/Flickr

Beer goes with the Fourth of July like hot buttered rum at Christmas or a sazerac on Bourbon Street. All those thick burgers, molten enchiladas, smoky platters of barbecue, and big slabs of pepperoni pizza cry out for a tall, cool beaker of suds in all its thirst-quenching glory.

The Bay Area is packed with brewpubs where you can toast Dr. Seuss, Jackson Pollock, Miles Davis, César Chavez, Jonas Salk, Ava Gardner, and other all-American worthies with a stein of beer and a bowl of gumbo as the shortstop turns the double play on the plasma widescreen. The Marin Brewing Co., Dempsey's of Petaluma, and ThirstyBear and the Beach Chalet here in S.F. are among our favorites.

Or if you want to fire up the grill in the comfort of your own backyard, Presley and Puente at the ready, be sure to stock the cooler with a potent array of local brews: Anderson Valley's downright nourishing Barney Flats Oatmeal Stout, for instance, or the Humboldt Brewing Company's creamy, spicy Red Nectar Ale, or Anchor's crisp, refreshing seasonal wheat beer, the perfect potable on a warm summer's day. And don't forget the blackberry pie.

Tambako the Jaguar/Flickr

Slake your thirst -- for nerd-grade beer knowledge, that is. Today's SF Weekly comes bearing a nifty summer guide that includes a stein-by-stein breakdown of the city's breweries by SFoodie blogger and Weekly restaurant critic Matthew Stafford. Eager for a taste of Shock and Awe Double Daddy, Fleishhacker Stout, or Daddy's Chocolate Milk? First have a read at www.sfweekly.com, then head out for some serious guzzling at places like Magnolia, 21st Amendment, and Elizabeth Street Brewery. Added bonus: Stafford offers food-pairing tips that go well beyond Bugles and pickled bar eggs. Um, dude? You got a little foam in your mustache.

Some years ago, B. United International, a New York-based importer and distributor, started commissioning limited-edition, vintage-labeled beers, ciders, and sakes intended for aging,  cellaring them until ready to drink, and only then releasing them to market under its Master's Collection label.

Case in point, the Hanssens Oudbeitje Lambic 2000. Hanssens, located in Dworp, Belgium, is not a brewery but a blender: the house buys lambics (beers spontaneously fermented with wild yeast) from breweries, then blends and ages them, playing a role much like that of négociants in the French wine trade. Hanssens started in May 2000 by putting two-year-old lambics from Boon and Girardin into 600-liter wooden barrels with 150 kilos of peak-season fresh strawberries, sparking a secondary fermentation of the sugars in the fruit. The beer aged in the barrels until the following March, when it was bottled.

Church Key (1402 Grant, 986-3511), a recent addition to North Beach's ever-vibrant drinking scene, is perhaps the prettiest beer bar in town. Eight taps feature a rotating selection of domestic and imported craft brews, and another 60 or so beers from the US, Belgium, Brazil, Canada, Denmark, England, Germany, Japan, Norway, and Scotland are available by the bottle. (The bar doesn't have a Web site, but Thrillist has a sample menu from January.)

I made a special trip because I wanted to try Allagash Curieux on tap before they finished the keg and swapped in something else. Unfortunately, the draft version hadn't picked up nearly as much flavor from the recycled Jim Beam barrels as the bottles I've had. Still, kudos to Church Key for giving me the chance to find out!

In the "Bubbles & Belgian Beer Garden," Wednesdays and Fridays from 4-8 at The Cosmopolitan (121 Spear), $4 will get you a glass of cava or a bottle of Affligem Blond, Duvel, Grimbergen Dubbel, or Unibroue La Fin du Monde (regularly $8-9). You can get a free taste to see if you like a beer before ordering a whole bottle. (I confirmed this with owner Mick Suverkrubbe, since I overheard another customer ask about it and the server hadn't heard about that.)

There are also some special snacks on offer. I tried the tempura-like beer battered asparagus ($2) and the smoked ham and gruyere pressed sandwich ($4). Both were good and went well with the beer.

Despite the name, the beer garden menu is available both outside and indoors at the bar. You can also order from the regular Monday-Friday 3:30-7 happy hour menu, which offers $3 Bud, $4 house wine and well drinks, $6 Cosmos and Herradura margaritas, and $4-6 snacks.

Santa Cruz's Uncommon Brewers is a rarity among micro-breweries in that its beer is canned rather than bottled. That makes the brewery's Siamese Twin Ale doubly rare: it's made with lemongrass, coriander, and kaffir lime leaves, which, if not completely original, is, I'm pretty sure, the first such brew to be commercialized.

Despite these unusual spices, the beer at first encounter seems like a fairly conventional Belgian-style double: brown, malty, strong (8.5%), and slightly sweet--not too different from the Afflingen Dobble and Anderson Valley Brother David's Double I usually keep on hand. The big difference comes in the slightly bitter, assertively spicy finish.

This tasty local beer is priced quite competitively, at least at City Beer, where I found it. Each $3 can is 16 ounces, which is to say, one pint. Brother David's and Afflingen come in 22 ounce bottles, and my most recent purchases cost me $6.50 and $7 respectively, which works out to around $5 a pint. See uncommonbrewers.com for other places to find Siamese Twin and Uncommon Brewers' other organic beers, both in cans and on tap.

The French name notwithstanding, Duchesse de Bourgogne is a Flemish red ale, made by the family-owned Brouwerij Verhaeghe in Vichte, West Flanders. Part of the beer goes through three fermentations, the last while being aged for 18 months in oak casks. That's blended with 8-month-old beer, resulting in an exceedingly complex brew.

The beer is brown with glints of red, has a slightly sour and yeasty aroma, a fruity flavor, like good hard cider, with hints of cinnamon and stout, and a sweet-sour finish. It's very nice with nutty cheeses such as Gruyère or aged Gouda, or with blue cheese.

I recently found the Duchesse in bottle at Bi-Rite Market (3639 18th St) and City Beer (1169 Folsom), and on tap at La Trappe Cafe (800 Greenwich). It also turns up at Toronado (547 Haight) and The Trappist (460 8th St, Oakland, 4 blocks from 12th ST BART).

City Beer (1169 Folsom) is doubly unique. First, it's SF's only beer-and-nothing-but-beer store: 350 bottles from around the world, all craft brews, no Bud, Miller, Coors, or other macrobrews. If you're looking for a hard-to-find beer, this is the first place to check.

Second, it's a small but great beer bar, with a rotating selection of six beers on tap and about half of the bottled beers in two refrigerators. Drafts are $4 & up, bottles consumed on premises are $1 over the retail price. Every Thursday night from 5pm until the beer runs out there's a theme flight of three or four 4-oz. tastes for $5-10; sign up for the weekly email newsletter to find out what they're pouring in advance.

The only problem with the place, from the prospective drinker's point of view, is that it's so small that it's often full. Best times to find a free stool are weekdays before 4:00 and Tuesday and Saturday evenings.

San Francisco has a longstanding tradition of bars offering free food to customers. In the hard-drinking Victorian era, the "free lunch" was a staple of the city's saloons. By the 1970s, the free buffets had shifted to happy hour, and poor SF State and City College students flocked to places such as the Iron Pot (torn down for a high-rise office building) and the Assay Office (now the far-from-free Bix), where they could get an ample dinner for the price of one beer.

These days, free food is hard to find. One place that keeps up this noble tradition is Schroeder's (240 Front). On Wednesdays, Thursdays, and Fridays, from 4-6pm, happy hour customers can help themselves from a rotating selection of appetizers, usually including delicious spicy meatballs, decent garlic fries, and edible fried chicken, while enjoying selected German draft or bottled beers at reduced prices.

Beer Lao is a relatively recent addition to the global beer menu. Commercial brewing dates back only to 1973, when some French colonists partnered with local businessmen to start what eventually became the state-controlled Lao Brewery Company. The current beers were developed by head brewer Sivilay Lasachack, who replaced most of the imported barley with domestic rice, producing a less bitter brew more appealing to local palates.

Beer Lao Lager has a good balance of malt and hops with a dry finish. It's similar in style to other Asian lagers such as Phuket, Singha, and Tsingtao, but better, and matches perfectly with Laotian cuisine.

I overheard one of the bartenders at The Trappist (460 8th St, Oakland, three blocks from BART) tell another customer that Petrus Aged Pale was one of his favorites, so I ordered it. Now it's one of mine, too.

Like many barrel-aged Flemish beers, the tart, refreshing flavor has more in common with good dry cider than most other beers around. I gave a friend a taste, and she said, laughing, "It tastes like beer with lemon juice!" She later clarified that this was not a complaint.

SF Beer Week starts today, and a lot of events have been added to the schedule since I posted about it last week. Here are a few more to consider for your short list:

• Saturday, 2/7, noon-3pm, La Trappe (800 Greenwich): introduction to Belgian beer, $65 includes snacks
• Sunday, 2/8, noon-3pm, 21st Amendment (563 2nd St): strong beer tasting, $30 includes 10 tasting tickets and lunch
• Monday, 2/9, 6:30pm, Horizons (558 Bridgeway, Sausalito): five-course dinner with Sierra Nevada brewers, $45 ($40 if you mention sfbeerweek.org when reserving) includes charter bus ride back to SF
• Tuesday, 2/10, 7:30pm, Magnolia Pub (1398 Haight): six-course Feast of Meat dinner with lots of local, sustainable meat featuring Fatted Calf products, $100
• Wednesay, 2/11, 6pm, Oliveto (5565 College, Oakland, across the street from Rockridge BART): dinner featuring Russian River Brewing beers, $TBA
• Thursday-Saturday, 2/12-2/14, 5pm-10pm, O Izakaya: four-course dinner featuring Anchor brews, $40
• Friday, 2/13, 5pm-10pm, The Moss Room (55 Music Concourse, in the Academy of Sciences): four-course dinner with Belgian-style beers from North Coast, $65
• Saturday, 2/14, 10am: Incredible Adventures bus tour of bars and restaurants featuring German and Belgian beers, concludes at Toronado Barleywine Festival, $59
  
• Sunday, 2/15, 1pm and 3pm, The Englander (101 Parrott, San Leandro, six blocks from BART): Beer Judging 101 (beginning) and 201 (advanced), $25 each or $45 for both
  

San Francisco's annual Beer Week draws beer geeks from all over the world for ten days of tasting, guzzling, and chugging, culminating on the 15th with the Celebrator-sponsored "Best of the West" mega-pouring at the Oakland Convention Center. Here's my short list of the most interesting of the many events:

• Saturday, 2/7, 11am on, The Bistro, 1001 B St., Hayward (4 blocks from Hayward BART): Double IPA Festival, $25 admission includes 5 tastes
• Sunday, 2/8, 1pm on, Jupiter Brewing, 2181 Shattuck, Berkeley, and Triple Rock Brewery, 1920 Shattuck, Berkeley (both near downtown Berkeley BART): barrel-aged sour ale tasting, $10 admission includes two tastes
• Tuesday, 2/10, 6pm-midnight, Toronado Pub, 547 Haight: Russian River brewer Vinnie Cilurzo in person
• Wednesday, 2/11, 5-11pm, Thirsty Bear, 661 Howard: tasting of local cask-conditioned ales, $35
• Thursday, 2/12, 5-9pm, City Beer, 1168 Folsom: sour Belgian red ales paired with chocolate
• Saturday, 2/14, 11am on, Toronado Pub: Barleywine festival
• Sunday, 2/15, noon-3pm, City Beer: tasting of five beers from Scandinavia, $tba
  
  

Like the taste of bourbon but not all its alcohol? Check out Allagash's Curieux, a Belgian-style Tripel ale aged for two months in barrels previously used to age Jim Beam. The result is a complex brew with nutty and fruity flavors from the oak and a definite bourbon aftertaste. At $16-$17 for a 750ml bottle, it's one of the more expensive beers on the market, but a little goes a long way: I serve it after dinner in small glasses, just as I would hard liquor. I've seen it intermittently at Bevmo, City Beer, and K&L, and reportedly it's served at Church Key (1402 Grant at Green), a new bar in North Beach.

As it says on the label, Russian River Brewing's Sanctification "is one of the most unique beers you will ever taste." Inspired by Belgian practices used in making lambic beers such as Mort Subite, this blonde ale is fermented with 100 percent Brettanomyces, a strain of wild yeast best known for contaminating grapes and barrels, producing a usually undesirable barnyard aroma in wines. However, in the hands of the right winemaker, a judicious touch of "brett" can be a plus, most notably in Côtes du Rhône reds.

Even so, the resulting pungent aromas and sharp flavors aren't for everybody, especially in the extreme achieved by Sanctification. I enjoy this tart, bracing beer much as I would a strong cheese such as Limburger or ripe Münster, but none of the three friends I shared a bottle with the other night wanted a second taste, and one described the bouquet as "bad breath."

Sanctification is currently on tap at the Russian River brewpub in Santa Rosa, and available  bottled at The Trappist in Oakland. When the next batch is released, you'll probably find some at Toronado, City Beer, and Monk's Kettle in SF and Ledger's Liquors in Berkeley. In the meantime, these are also good places to find Russian River's other Brettanomyces-fermented brews, Beatification, Temptation. and Supplication, (Thanks to the folks at beerlabels.com for the image.)